It Sounds Funny, But Laughing Gas Could Be the Key to Detecting Aliens

• The use of biosignatures in the search for space-based life should include nitrous oxide, researchers say.

• The presence of laughing gas—or N2O—can signify the presence of living organisms.

• Nitrous oxide may be easier to see with current technology than previously thought.

Don’t laugh off the potential value in finding nitrous oxide (N2O) in space atmospheres—scientists say the laughing gas could be a key biosignature in the search for life beyond our own planet.
Add in that our current technology (looking at you, James Webb Space Telescope) is adept at locating N20, and it’s clear why researchers at the University of California, Riverside want us to take laughing gas seriously.
In a paper published earlier this month in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers from UCR’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, including astrobiologist Eddie Schwieterman, say we’ve focused plenty on oxygen and methane as biosignatures, but skipping out on nitrous oxide “may be a mistake.”
As scientists study exoplanets in the search for extraterrestrial life, they strain for a view of biosignatures, typically the same gases found in abundance in Earth’s atmosphere— because, well, they’re what we personally know can support life. But Schwieterman and his team used simulations to show that with different stars from the sun we know and love, the biosignature search could well include N2O. Better yet, the James Webb Space Telescope could easily detect the colorless gas, famously used as a dental anesthetic and in preparing homemade whipped cream.

It Sounds Funny, But Laughing Gas Could Be the Key to Detecting Aliens