An AI to locate traces of life on rocks on Earth and on Mars

Scientific result

5 April 2023

Improved knowledge about the conditions under which life arose about 3.8 billion years ago and the recognition of the remarkable resilience of extremophilic microorganisms have sparked new interest in the search for life in the solar system. An international research team, including GEOLAB, GET and LEFE laboratories, has shown that fossil traces left on rocks by microbial consortia can be recognized in images by trained artificial intelligence (AI). This opens new perspectives for the search of biogeomorphological signatures of life on rocks on Mars.

© Dov Corenblit
Read more

Sources :

Corenblit D., Decaux O., Delmotte S., Toumazet J.-P., Arrignon F., André M.-F., Darrozes J., Davies N.S., Julien F., Otto T., Ramillien G., Roussel E., Steiger J., and Viles H. (2023). Signatures of life detected in images of rocks using Neural Network analysis demonstrate new potential for searching for biosignatures on the surface of Mars. Astrobiology.

More news

How can uranium isotopes help trace the history of the Earth’s oxygenation?

A recent study reveals the existence of a uranium isotopic signature specific to oxygen-depleted environments. This discovery could help to better understand the history of the co-evolution between animal life […]

Uranium and thorium in coastal sediments in the central Gulf of Gabès (SE Tunisia): alarming contamination with environmental and health impacts

The central part of the Gulf of Gabès (SE Tunisia) is one of the most chemically and radioactively polluted sites in the Mediterranean, and indeed worldwide, due to massive discharges […]

In Chile, inhabitants and plants unite to reveal air pollution

Chile is one of the countries most affected by environmental pollution in South America. This is particularly true in the province of Chacabuco, north of the capital Santiago, where the […]

Search