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Moving toward a framework for communicating the confidence of life detection

Nature Astronomy volume 8, pages 2–3 (2024)Cite this article

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With the publication of our 2021 Perspective article1, we sought to motivate a community-level discussion concerning best practices for communicating astrobiological discoveries in a subject matter that is diverse, complicated and has a high potential to be sensationalized. Our paper1 stimulated a debate and gathered some criticism. We share the concerns stated by Lenardic et al.2 regarding clear communication of potentially controversial findings with the scientific community and the broader public. The authors focused their critique on the Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale, which was included in our paper as an example of a formal tool to communicate steps toward evidence of life beyond Earth. Our chief focus was not on prescribing a specific tool but, rather, on suggesting a proof of concept with the purpose of catalysing the discourse itself. We did indeed stress that1: “the broader community should modify or supplant the scale to ensure its applicability across the diversity of targets and methods that may become part of the search for evidence of life beyond Earth.” Three important instances of such dialogue have, indeed, taken place during the two years since the publication of our Perspective article. Uniformly, these community-level discussions have acknowledged the value of a formal framework for communicating life-detection results.

In July 2021, more than 300 members of the international scientific community participated in the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence workshop, which focused on science communication relating to possible biosignature detections. The workshop produced a framework for biosignature assessment, open for public commentary and co-signed by about 150 members of the community3. The framework has several points in common with the CoLD scale, including the considerations of signal detection, signal contamination, abiotic mimics, consistency with environmental context, and complementarity between lines of evidence3. However, the workshop’s assessment framework is not a scale, but it is structured into two levels linked by mutual influences and feedback: the considerations of signal detection and contamination (Level 1) and mimics, environmental context, and evidence complementarity (Level 2). The report recognized “the importance of portraying the life detection process as a multi-step, multi-mission quest”3.

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References

  1. Green, J. et al. Nature 598, 575–579 (2021).

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  2. Lenardic, A., Seales, J., Moore, W. B. & Jellinek, A. M. Nat. Astron. 7, 1009 (2023).

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  3. Meadows, V. et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.14293 (2022).

  4. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Independent Review of the Community Report from the Biosignature Standards of Evidence Workshop: Report Series—Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences (CAPS) (The National Academies Press, 2022).

  5. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023–2032 (The National Academies Press, 2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Science Endeavors, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    James Green

  2. Exobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Tori Hoehler

  3. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Marc Neveu

  4. Planetary Environments Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Marc Neveu

  5. Planetary Systems Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Shawn Domagal-Goldman

  6. NASA Astrobiology Program, Paragon TEC/NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, USA

    Daniella Scalice

  7. NASA Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, USA

    Mary Voytek

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  1. James Green
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  2. Tori Hoehler
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  4. Shawn Domagal-Goldman
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  5. Daniella Scalice
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  6. Mary Voytek
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All authors contributed to writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to James Green.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Green, J., Hoehler, T., Neveu, M. et al. Moving toward a framework for communicating the confidence of life detection. Nat Astron 8, 2–3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02135-1

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