How to Find 'Strange Life' on Alien Planets

Detecting signs of life very different from that of Earth in the atmospheres of alien planets may be difficult, but it is possible, researchers say. The team, led by Sara Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), did not focus solely on Earth-like life. "What we've been trying to do is move away from that," William Bains, also of MIT, said during the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago in June.