Scientists searching for a reliable test to determine whether there is life on other planets or not, have claimed to develop a simple test using artificial intelligence that determines whether a sample is biological or not, and the result is 90% accurate, The Independent reported citing a study paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Claiming the breakthrough to be the “holy grail” of astrobiology, the researchers said the test it could be used even on existing samples. The scientists hope that the test could be used also on data collected by the Mars Curiosity rover.
“We have developed a robust method that combines pyrolysis GC-MS measurements of a wide variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial carbonaceous materials with machine-learning-based classification to achieve ~90% accuracy in the differentiation between samples of abiotic origins vs. biotic specimens, including highly-degraded, ancient, biologically-derived samples,” the researchers claimed PNAS.
They said the findings could also help tell us more about our own planet, revealing the history of mysterious and ancient rocks found on Earth.
“The search for extraterrestrial life remains one of the most tantalizing endeavors in modern science,” the Independent quoted the lead author Jim Cleaves of the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC.
“The implications of this new research are many, but there are three big takeaways: First, at some deep level, biochemistry differs from abiotic organic chemistry; second, we can look at Mars and ancient Earth samples to tell if they were once alive; and third, it is likely this new method could distinguish alternative biospheres from those of Earth, with significant implications for future astrobiology missions,” he added.
The technique does not look for specific molecules or compounds that could be indicative of life, as much previous work has done. Instead, it looks for small differences in the molecular patterns of samples using different kinds of analysis, the report claimed.
The scientists said the test was built by giving an artificial intelligent system data about 134 known samples, with information about whether they are biotic or abiotic.
To test the new developed system, the scientists used new samples – including those from living things, remnants of ancient life and other abiotic samples that did not point to life– and surprisingly the result was with 90% accuracy.
The scientists said the previous the researchers used to struggle because organic molecules tend to degrade over time, but this new method works even when the samples is decayed and changed significantly.
“This routine analytical method has the potential to revolutionize the search for extraterrestrial life and deepen our understanding of both the origin and chemistry of the earliest life on Earth,” Robert Hazen, of the Carnegie Institution for Science, one of the leaders of the research was reported as saying.
“It opens the way to using smart sensors on robotic spacecraft, landers and rovers to search for signs of life before the samples return to Earth,” he added.
These machine-learning methods do not rely on precise compound identification: Rather, the relational aspects of chromatographic and mass peaks provide the needed information, which underscores this method’s utility for detecting alien biology.
“We’re applying our methods right now to address these long-standing questions about the biogenicity of the organic material in these rocks,” Hazen added
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Updated: 11 Oct 2023, 09:28 PM IST