Somewhere in the vast, cold dark of the cosmos, a planet orbits a distant star. It’s not a place you’d expect to find life—but if Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan is right, that assumption may soon be history.

Dr. Madhusudhan, a leading Indian-British astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, has long been on the frontlines of the search for extraterrestrial life or what we call the alien life. This month, his team made headlines around the world after revealing what could be the strongest evidence yet of life beyond Earth—on a distant exoplanet known as K2-18b.

Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Madhusudhan and his collaborators detected atmospheric signatures of molecules commonly associated with biological processes on Earth—specifically, gases produced by marine phytoplankton and certain bacteria. Their analysis suggests a staggering 99.7% probability that these molecules could be linked to living organisms.

“This marked the first detection of carbon-bearing molecules in the atmosphere of an exoplanet located within the habitable zone,” the University of Cambridge said in a press statement. “The findings align with theoretical models of a ‘Hycean’ planet — a potentially habitable, ocean-covered world enveloped by a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.”

Born in India, Dr. Madhusudhan began his journey in science with an engineering degree from IIT (BHU) Varanasi

In addition, a fainter signal suggested there could be other unexplained processes occurring on K2-18b. “We didn’t know for sure whether the signal we saw last time was due to DMS, but just the hint of it was exciting enough for us to have another look with JWST using a different instrument,” said Professor Nikku Madhusudhan in a news report released by the University of Cambridge.

The man behind the mission

Born in India, Dr. Madhusudhan began his journey in science with an engineering degree from IIT (BHU) Varanasi. But it was during his time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), under the mentorship of exoplanet pioneer Prof. Sara Seager, that he found his calling. His doctoral work—developing methods to retrieve data from exoplanet atmospheres—would go on to form the backbone of much of today’s planetary climate modeling.

Now a professor at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, Madhusudhan leads research that straddles the line between science fiction and frontier science.

A Universe of Firsts

Over the years, his work has broken new ground in our understanding of alien worlds. He was among the first to suggest the concept of “Hycean planets”—oceans of liquid water beneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres, conditions which may be ideal for life. He also led the detection of titanium oxide in the atmosphere of WASP-19b and pioneered studies of K2-18b, the same exoplanet now back in the spotlight.

His team’s recent findings on K2-18b may be the closest humanity has ever come to detecting life elsewhere in the universe.

Accolades and impact

Madhusudhan’s contributions have earned him global recognition. He received the prestigious IUPAP Young Scientist Medal in 2016 and the MERAC Prize in Theoretical Astrophysics in 2019. In 2014, the Astronomical Society of India awarded him the Vainu Bappu Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to astrophysics by a scientist under 35.

But for Madhusudhan, the real reward lies in the questions that remain unanswered.

Looking ahead

Madhusudhan cautions that, while the findings are promising, more data is needed before drawing conclusions about the presence of life on another planet. He remains cautiously optimistic but notes that the observations on K2-18b could also be explained by previously unknown chemical processes. Together with his colleagues, he plans to pursue further theoretical and experimental studies to investigate whether compounds like DMS and DMDS could be produced through non-biological means at the levels currently detected.

Beyond the lab, Madhusudhan remains dedicated to mentoring students and advancing scientific outreach. He’s a firm believer that the next big discovery might come from a student inspired by the stars, just as he once was.

As scientists prepare for the next wave of data and the world watches closely, one thing is clear: thanks to minds like Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan’s, the search for life beyond Earth is no longer a distant dream—it’s a scientific reality within reach.

On Wednesday, a paper published in the pre-print server, arXiv did the rounds on social media after its authors claimed possible signs of life in an alien planet.

Its host star system – K2-18 – is located some 125 light years away in the direction of Leo. In 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected possible signs of an exotic rare organic molecule – dimethyl sulphide – in planet K2-18b’s atmosphere. Although evidence was not conclusive enough, scientists were intrigued. This is because on earth, dimethyl sulphide is produced in biochemical reactions occurring in living organisms. As such, astronomers have taken to pondering whether K2-18b has its own share of living organisms thriving today. But these remain speculations at best.

Separating fact from fiction

Astronomers contend dimethyl sulphide’s presence isn’t necessarily the smoking gun for biological life. There is too limited data for astronomers to ever settle on positively detecting a bio-signature. Our limited understanding of what life could look like also contributes to this uncertainty. Any signs of life require a holistic examination of numerous variables. Our assumption of what constitutes bio-signatures is biased to what conditions we expect to prevail on earth.

Simpler life forms exhibit some versatility that complex organisms don’t show. For example, phytoplankton in marine environments are known to thrive in oxygen-derived conditions. But in K2-18b’s atmosphere, dimethyl sulphide occurs at concentrations many times those present on earth. Scientists are blind to the nature of chemical reactions unfolding in the atmosphere in the first place.

As such, contending theories about the surface conditions prevailing on the planet remain. In one interpretation of the facts, studies predict the planet hosts a hospitable climate. Perhaps even with an ocean, going by the 2019 detection of water vapour in its atmosphere. That is, if temperatures on K2-18b are low enough, thanks to its optimal distance from its host star, which like our sun is a dwarf star, except slightly dimmer and redder in appearance. But then if another interpretation is to go by, then the surface must be subsumed by a lava ocean. Scientists are none the wiser about these facts either.

Worlds apart

Our state-of-the-art space telescopes themselves have limited ability to capture adequate signal. For one, the K2-18 star system and our earth are separated by about 125 light years. This is about a million times that of the distance between the earth and the sun. This leaves both the host star and the planet faint sources for even JWST’s sensitive detectors. But JWST compensates for this, tracking the planet’s transit across its host star – which luckily exists along our line of sight.

From this, astronomers can retrieve tell-tale signs of the planet’s chemical makeup. This is because some of the starlight grazes past the planet’s atmosphere before it reaches JWST’s sensors. But despite JWST’s powerful sensitivity, it would require a statistically large enough sample to easily discriminate against any noise backdrop surrounding the telescope.

Saying that, more sophisticated telescopes, such as NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, could possibly resolve any technical limitations to detecting fainter signs of any other chemical compounds. Thereby precision science would unlock doors, making measurements precise and put hypotheses up to the challenge.

MIT researchers have unveiled an insect-scale robot capable of hopping across treacherous terrain—offering a new mobility solution for disaster response scenarios like collapsed buildings after earthquakes.

Unlike traditional crawling robots that struggle with tall obstacles or aerial robots that quickly drain power, this thumb-sized machine combines both approaches. By using a spring-loaded leg and four flapping-wing modules, the robot can leap over debris and uneven ground while using 60 percent less energy than a flying robot.

“Being able to put batteries, circuits, and sensors on board has become much more feasible with a hopping robot than a flying one. Our hope is that one day this robot could go out of the lab and be useful in real-world scenarios,” says Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao, an MIT graduate student and co-lead author of a new paper published today in Science Advances.

The hopping mechanism allows the robot to jump nearly 20 centimeters—four times its height—at speeds up to 30 centimeters per second. It easily navigates ice, wet surfaces, and even dynamic environments, including hopping onto a hovering drone without damage.

Co-led by researchers from MIT and the City University of Hong Kong, the team engineered the robot with an elastic compression-spring leg and soft actuator-powered wings. These wings not only stabilize the robot mid-air but also compensate for any energy lost during impact with the ground.

“If you have an ideal spring, your robot can just hop along without losing any energy. But since our spring is not quite ideal, we use the flapping modules to compensate for the small amount of energy it loses when it makes contact with the ground,” Hsiao explains.

Its robust control system determines orientation and takeoff velocity based on real-time sensing data. The robot’s agility and light weight allow it to survive harsh impacts and perform acrobatic flips.

“We have been using the same robot for this entire series of experiments, and we never needed to stop and fix it,” Hsiao adds.

The robot has already shown promise on various surfaces—grass, ice, soil, wet glass—and can adapt its jump depending on the terrain. According to Hsiao, “The robot doesn’t really care about the angle of the surface it is landing on. As long as it doesn’t slip when it strikes the ground, it will be fine.”

Future developments aim to enhance autonomy by equipping the robot with onboard batteries and sensors, potentially enabling it to assist in search-and-rescue missions beyond the lab.