Agnostic Biosignatures: LAB’s Reimagining the Search for Life Beyond Earth

To the point

Led by Sarah Stewart Johnson at Georgetown, LAB is pursuing agnostic biosignatures—signs of life not tied to Earth-like chemistry—by focusing on molecular complexity and disequilibrium (via assembly theory) and testing ideas from cell-surface binding to patterns in rocks and meteorites to help build instruments for missions to ocean worlds like Europa, Enceladus and Titan, with Victoria Meadows arguing for including planetary context even as some remain skeptical.