{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T00:04:06Z","timestamp":1784160246810,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":93,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000275","name":"Leverhulme Trust","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["ECF-2023-202"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ECF-2023-202"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000275","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Human Frontier Science Program","award":["RGP006\/2024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGP006\/2024"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Astrobiology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Biological evolution confronts situations in which the modification of a trait to improve the performance of one function may diminish the performance of another. Similar trade-offs occur in economics and engineering, where they are evaluated with the concept of Pareto optimality. \u201cPareto optimal\u201d solutions are solutions such that performance cannot be improved for any task without sacrificing performance for another task. Solutions outside the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Pareto optimal<\/jats:italic>\n                    set are likely to be uncompetitive in that they could be improved without negative consequences. Biologists have argued that optimization for multiple biological functions restricts the variety of evolutionarily stable phenotypes to a Pareto set within traitspace, while promoting diversity within this set. Here, we consider whether evidence for such optimality could serve as evidence of life in astrobiology. We propose that objects whose properties lie demonstrably within a region constrained by trade-offs between biologically relevant functions are more likely to be biogenic; examples discussed here include bacterial morphology, mycelial networks, and the selection of molecules. Conversely, objects with comparable characteristics to known forms of life that exist outside the relevant Pareto set are less likely to be biological. We conclude that the detection of Pareto optimality may disclose functionality and, hence, biogenicity in unfamiliar materials.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/15311074261464011","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T15:16:41Z","timestamp":1782227801000},"page":"492-499","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Can Pareto Optimality Be Evidence of Life?"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3936-2709","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Niall","family":"Rodgers","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"UK Centre for Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Corentin C.","family":"Loron","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UK Centre for Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom."},{"name":"Discipline of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"H. James","family":"Cleaves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA."},{"name":"Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, District of Columbia, USA."},{"name":"Blue Marble Space Institute for Science, Seattle, Washington, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mark A.","family":"van Zuilen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8589-2041","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sean","family":"McMahon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UK Centre for Astrobiology, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom."},{"name":"School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/molbev\/msab297"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s43705-021-00085-1"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1201\/9780429283321"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2014.0881"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2013.0530"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","article-title":"Generalized inverse optimal control and its application in biology","author":"Banga JR","year":"2024","unstructured":"Banga JR, , Sager S. 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