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Scientists might have find a new way of detecting life on other planets.
For years, scientists have been combing the Earth looking for particular molecules on other worlds that might be signs of life. But new research suggests that there might be another, more revealing way of finding them: not by looking for the molecules, but what scientists believe is a hidden order that connects them together.
The research could prove useful by allowing scientists to search through other planets using a statistical approach, rather than relying on any particular special instrument. In fact, it might be possible to find the pattern in data from instruments that have already been sent into space.
In the study, researchers borrowed an idea from ecology that measures biodiversity by how many species are present, or richness, as well as how uniformly those species are distributed, or evenness. They then applied that to extraterrestrial chemistry, looking at amino acids and fatty acids that were taken from locations including asteroids and fossils.
They found that biological samples were notably different from nonliving chemistry, with the former showing clear organisational patterns. That let them consistently and reliably separate the two different kinds of samples, as well as seeing the ways that life was preserved.
Even very degraded samples – such as fossilised dinosaur eggshells – showed those detectable statistical signatures of alien life.
The researchers noted that no one method, including the new one, is likely to prove the existence of alien life on its own. But they hope that it could become an important way of contributing to that search for alien life.
“Our approach is one more way to assess whether life may have been there,” said Fabian Klenner, who co-authored the new study. “And if different techniques all point in the same direction, then that becomes very powerful.”
The work is described in a paper, ‘Molecular diversity as a biosignature’, published in Nature Astronomy.