Morgan O'Neill, the paper's lead author and a former PhD student in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), says the team's model may eventually be used to gauge atmospheric
conditions on planets outside the solar system.
Researchers from Bern have developed a method to simplify the search for Earth - like
planets: By using new theoretical models they rule out the possibility of Earth - like
conditions, and therefore life,
on certain
planets outside our
solar system — and limit their search by doing so.