PRE-LAUNCH · Anomaly Daily opens September 21.Get the launch dispatch →
PLATE 00 · The Anomaly Field Guide · Vol. I
CASE Nº 0048 · Frontier Science · 2026LIVE
JWST Cycle 5: The Next Shot at K2-18b's Alleged Biosignature
JWST Cycle 5 begins observations around July 2026, and among its targets: K2-18b, the sub-Neptune 124 light-years away where a 2023 Cambridge-led team claimed to detect dimethyl sulfide — a molecule produced by marine life on Earth. A 2025 NASA-led reanalysis (Welbanks et al., arXiv:2508.05961) found the evidence does not meet the scientific standard of detection. Cycle 5 data could settle it — or complicate it further. This is the scientific method running in public, in real time.
TodaySunday, September 13the band's gone quiet for nowToday's puzzleLatest filed: JWST Cycle 5: The Next Shot at K2-18b's Alleged Biosignature
Nº 00 · CONTENTS · Eleven kinds of unexplained.
Contents of the Guide.
On the record · PURSUE Release 02
Project Blue Book closed in 1969 with 701 officially unexplained cases. The Air Force has not reopened any of them. PURSUE's first 162 files didn't either. Release 02 landed May 22 — and it didn't close the record so much as lengthen it: green fireballs over New Mexico, 1949; glowing orbs splitting apart over a military range, late 2025. Seventy-six years, the same report filed twice. Nobody has explained either one.
Filed this week
Recent cases.
- Nº 0048Class IIOpen
JWST Cycle 5: The Next Shot at K2-18b's Alleged Biosignature
JWST Cycle 5 begins observations around July 2026, and among its targets: K2-18b, the sub-Neptune 124 light-years away where a 2023 Cambridge-led team claimed to detect dimethyl sulfide — a molecule produced by marine life on Earth. A 2025 NASA-led reanalysis (Welbanks et al., arXiv:2508.05961) found the evidence does not meet the scientific standard of detection. Cycle 5 data could settle it — or complicate it further. This is the scientific method running in public, in real time.
Frontier Science2026-07-013 SOURCES - Nº 0047Class IIUnconfirmed
Hurricane Season Opens: NOAA's Below-Normal 2026 Outlook
The Atlantic hurricane season opened June 1 with NOAA putting below-normal activity at 55%, near-normal at 35%, and above-normal at 10%. The useful tension is inside the forecast: El Niño should suppress activity, warmer Atlantic water and weaker trade winds push the other way, and none of it predicts who gets hit.
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Source-cited cases. One puzzle a day. No breathless takes, no debunky condescension. Launches September 21 — we'll email you when the doors open.
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