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Call for a framework for reporting evidence for life beyond Earth — Nature

Revision f3bed33e-b9e7-4ca8-8b53-34eccee8acad · 11/5/2026, 11:06:44 PM UTC
Key
green2021cold
Authors
Green, James; Hoehler, Tori; Neveu, Marc; Domagal-Goldman, Shawn; Scalice, Daniella; Voytek, Mary
Issued
2021-10-27
Type
article-journal
Container
Nature
Volume
598
Issue
7882
Pages
575-579
Raw CSL JSON
{
  "DOI": "10.1038/s41586-021-03804-9",
  "URL": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.10975",
  "page": "575-579",
  "type": "article-journal",
  "issue": "7882",
  "title": "Call for a framework for reporting evidence for life beyond Earth",
  "author": [
    {
      "given": "James",
      "family": "Green"
    },
    {
      "given": "Tori",
      "family": "Hoehler"
    },
    {
      "given": "Marc",
      "family": "Neveu"
    },
    {
      "given": "Shawn",
      "family": "Domagal-Goldman"
    },
    {
      "given": "Daniella",
      "family": "Scalice"
    },
    {
      "given": "Mary",
      "family": "Voytek"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2021,
        10,
        27
      ]
    ]
  },
  "volume": "598",
  "accessed": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2026,
        11,
        6
      ]
    ]
  },
  "container-title": "Nature"
}

Claims

  1. Many past claims of life detection later proved incorrect or ambiguous, such as the 1996 report of possible fossils in the Martian meteorite ALH84001. The authors propose a seven-level Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale: the lowest levels cover the first identification of a possible biosignature; higher levels require corroboration by independent lines of evidence and ruling out alternative, non-biological explanations.
    "history includes many claims of life detection that later proved incorrect or ambiguous"
    Quote language: en
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