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Signature of alien life 'found' 120 light years from Earth

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Scientists say they have detected the most promising signs of life outside our solar system.

The molecules have been detected in the atmosphere of K2-18b , which is 124 light-years from Earth .

The compounds are only produced by living organisms on Earth .

They are thought to be thousands of times stronger than those found on Earth 's planet.

The discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

DMS and DMDS are molecules from the same chemical family, and both are predicted to be biosignatures.

Both molecules have overlapping spectral features in the observed wavelength range.

The team say their observations have reached the ' three -sigma' level of statistical significance meaning there is a 0.3 per cent probability that they occurred by chance.

To reach the accepted classification for scientific discovery, the observations would have to cross the five -Sigma threshold.

Further observations will help differentiate between the two molecules.