Scientists have created a way to detect signs of life on other planets using AI

Researchers from Osaka University, in collaboration with American scientists, have developed a device that can identify individual amino acid molecules and determine their type - using an analysis of electric current. It's from sb.by.

The journal Nature Communications reports that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins vital to any organism. They exist in two forms, mirroring each other (like right and left gloves). On our planet, living beings mainly use only one of these forms, whereas in inanimate nature both occur in approximately equal proportions. Therefore, a pronounced predominance of any one form could serve as a potential marker of biological activity – and is therefore important for the search for life beyond Earth.

The principle of operation of the device is based on the fixation of short-term changes in electric current when the molecule passes through a microscopic gap in a thin gold wire. Signal processing is performed by a special program created using artificial intelligence technologies.

During the tests, the device was tested on 19 varieties of amino acids - the recognition accuracy was on average 88%. Next, the scientists applied the device to real samples: a fragment of the Murchison meteorite and soil from the Chilean Atacama Desert (its conditions are partially comparable to those of Mars). The device revealed certain compositional features, although in some cases its data did not fully coincide with the results obtained on standard laboratory equipment.

At the same time, the authors of the study emphasize that even if one form of amino acids is found to dominate the sample, this in itself will not become evidence of the existence of life. To draw reasonable conclusions, a comprehensive analysis of additional characteristics of the substance will be required.

At the moment, the device remains a laboratory prototype. In the future, scientists plan to significantly reduce its dimensions and adapt it for use in space missions. If successful, the technology will allow rapid analysis of samples directly on Mars, asteroids or icy moons of planets – without the need to deliver samples to Earth. In Peru, on the Nazca plateau, archaeologists first found the burial of a baby with cyclopia