Biosignatures in the Search for Life: Terminologies, Universal Biomarkers, and Multi-Method Detection in Astrobiology
To the point
Researchers Nishtha Sah, Utkarsh Jain, and Nidhi Chauhan review how scientists search for life beyond Earth by examining biosignatures—signs in organic and inorganic materials, fossils, patterns, and objects that can persist from micro to macro scales—and how detection techniques identify them, to determine if a planet is habitable or a promising target for closer life-detection work, explain how to distinguish genuine biosignatures from abiosignatures and related terms, and propose combining multiple methods to improve reliability in astrobiology.
