Editor's note

With more than 4,000 exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our sun – discovered to date, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard about a new discovery. And the truth is that scientists tend to know very little about such worlds, often just their mass and radius.

That said, there are at least a dozen exoplanets with the potential to support life. But even in these cases, there’s often little information to go on. A planet is thought to lie in its star’s “habitable zone” if it orbits at the right distance for liquid water to stably exist on its surface. Another promising sign is if the planet is rocky rather than gaseous. But what we really want to know is what is going on in its atmosphere.

Now, scientists have made a major breakthrough, for the first time detecting water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet thought to be rocky and in the habitable zone – making it the best candidate for hosting life to date.

Meanwhile, on planet Earth, consider our ongoing coverage of Brexit, vaping and a host of other topical issues.

Miriam Frankel

Science Editor

Top stories

Artist’s impression of planet K2-18 b, its host star and an accompanying planet in this system. ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser

How we detected water on a potentially habitable exoplanet for the first time

Angelos Tsiaras, UCL

K2-18 b is now the exoplanet most likely to be habitable.

Brexit is dominating headlines. Shutterstock

Brexit: how the people are using ‘news avoidance’ to escape the post-truth world of politics

Andrew Calcutt, University of East London

The political class is tearing itself to pieces, and journalists are making sure we can read all about it. But beyond Westminster, why would people care about things they can do nothing about?

A man exhales after vaping Aug. 28, 2019 in Portland, Maine. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Vaping likely has dangers that could take years for scientists to even know about

Ilona Jaspers, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

As vaping-related illnesses increase and deaths reported, an inhalation toxicologist explains why comparing the dangers of vaping to the dangers from cigarettes doesn't make sense.

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