So, did astronomers REALLY find the best evidence yet of alien life on another planet? I'm gonna go with "no". badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/no-astrono... 🔭🧪

The negative of this is really interesting. What is the current best evidence yet of alien life? If this isn't it.

There isn't any

Aren't there weird questions out there about experiments on Mars? This is from a person I trust on the other site. I know none of it is sure fire. But "There isn't any" feels like more of a political answer than a question which honors the spirit of the question.

Saying that there isn't any evidence of alien life isn't the same as saying that it isn't there, though. Planetary protection is all about planning for the circumstance that alien life does exist. All we have is varying evidence of potentially-habitable environments for past or present alien life.

What I mean is that for planetary protection to be valued by the public I think the public really needs to know places we can visit aren't dead. And indeed are still host to many mysteries.

I'm almost certain if you asked most planetary scientists to give a probability that there is life in the similar system. Their probability would be significantly higher than the average Americans. And that's a problem.