Scientists find molecular patterns that may help identify extraterrestrial life

Scientists find molecular patterns that may help identify extraterrestrial life: Scientists have begun the search for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System in earnest, but such life may be subtly or profoundly different from Earth-life, and methods based on detecting particular molecules as biosignatures may not work with life with a different evolutionary history. A new study by a joint Japan/US-based team has developed a machine learning technique that assesses complex organic mixtures using mass spectrometry to reliably classify them as biological or abiological.