Dimethyl sulfide, also known as DMS, sounds like it could be a chemical compound you'd try to avoid on an ingredient label, or the poisonous ingredient in a murder mystery. But some scientists view this simple compound as a biosignature — a key indicator of life. So there was great excitement when DMS was discovered on a "sub-Neptune planet" far from our solar system – 124 light years away, or about 17 trillion miles, in the constellation Leo.
“We want to be a bit careful in claiming any evidence of life at this stage,” cautioned lead author Nikku Madhusudhan, of Cambridge University, about the findings he published last month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a publication of the American Astronomical Society, with other researchers from two American space institutes and two British physics and astronomy departments.
