ArticleAstrobiology2018
The Ladder of Life Detection.
Article in Astrobiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed.
- Chiral discrimination of amino acids in meteorite and desert soil extracts via single-molecule nanogap conductance.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Emergence of biosignatures on Earth and implications for life detection.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Proto-Biosignatures and Planetary Geochemical Metabolism: A Thermodynamic Screening Model of Prebiotic Geochemical Organization.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- In Situ Analytical Chemistry Laboratory for the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor.ACS measurement science au · 2026Article
- Life resists chemistry not conditions.FEMS microbes · 2026Article
- Multi-technique characterization of iron reduction by an AntarcticApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- What the earliest evidence for life tells us about the early evolution of the biosphere.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Thermodynamic Constraints on the Citric Acid Cycle and Related Reactions in Ocean World Interiors.ACS earth & space chemistry · 2025Article
- Are climate change adaptation strategies working? A call to expedite learning.Conservation science and practice · 2025Article
- Exploring Life Detection on Mars: Understanding Challenges in DNA Amplification in Martian Regolith Analogue After Fe Ion Irradiation.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Metabolic Responses, Cell Recoverability, and Protein Signatures of Three Extremophiles: Sustained Life During Long-Term Subzero Incubations.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Extant life detection using label-free video microscopy in analog aquatic environments.PloS one · 2025Article
- Assembly theory and its relationship with computational complexity.Npj complexity · 2025Article
- Early Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Development of the Microfluidic Inorganic Conductivity Detector for Europa and the Solenoid-Based Actuator Assembly for Impact Penetrators.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A multiple biomolecules-based rapid life detection protocol embedded in a rover scientific subsystem for soil sample analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The HOMO-LUMO Gap as Discriminator of Biotic from Abiotic Chemistries.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Development of capillary electrophoresis methods for the detection of microbial metabolites on potential future spaceflight missions.Electrophoresis · 2024Article
- Detecting life by behavior, the overlooked sensitivity of behavioral assays.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Biosignature Molecules Accumulate and Persist in Evaporitic Brines: Implications for Planetary Exploration.Astrobiology · 2024Article
- How to identify cell material in a single ice grain emitted from Enceladus or Europa.Science advances · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We describe the history and features of the Ladder of Life Detection, a tool intended to guide the design of investigations to detect microbial life within the practical constraints of robotic space missions. To build the Ladder, we have drawn from lessons learned from previous attempts at detecting life and derived criteria for a measurement (or suite of measurements) to constitute convincing evidence for indigenous life. We summarize features of life as we know it, how specific they are to life, and how they can be measured, and sort these features in a general sense based on their likelihood of indicating life. Because indigenous life is the hypothesis of last resort in interpreting life-detection measurements, we propose a small but expandable set of decision rules determining whether the abiotic hypothesis is disproved. In light of these rules, we evaluate past and upcoming attempts at life detection. The Ladder of Life Detection is not intended to endorse specific biosignatures or instruments for life-detection measurements, and is by no means a definitive, final product. It is intended as a starting point to stimulate discussion, debate, and further research on the characteristics of life, what constitutes a biosignature, and the means to measure them.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.