The Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences (CAPS) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has released a review of the workshop report produced following the Standards of Evidence workshop held in July of 2021.The Standards of Evidence workshop was convened to discuss the need to increase scientific confidence in biosignature detections and how to convey this continuum of confidence to a broader audience, and to initiate discussion on biosignature detection reporting protocols.

The workshop was organized by two NASA research coordination networks, the Network for Life Detection (NfoLD) and the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), and was held from July 19-22, 2021. A workshop report, Community Report from the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop, produced by participants and the Science Organizing Committee, resulted from the discussions and is available at: https://www.nfold.org/soe-report-in-progress

Following release of the workshop report, NASA Science Mission Directorate Planetary Science Division leadership requested that CAPS provide an independent review of the white paper to assess “the accuracy, assumptions, and conclusions” of the Community Report from the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop. The CAPS review was informed by external community members who responded to a call for input in February of 2022.

The CAPS report, Independent Review of the Community Report from the Biosignature Standards of Evidence Workshop, is now available here.

Related Links:
Standards of Evidence (SoE) Workshop Report (NfoLD)
Astrobiology Learning Progressions: What is a Biosignature?
’Agnostic Biosignatures,’ And the Path to Life as We Don’t Know It
Astrobiology Graphic History #8: Biosignatures
Are We Alone in the Universe? NASA Calls for New Framework (NASA)
Green, J. et al. (2021) “Call for a framework for reporting evidence for life beyond Earth,” Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03804-9