Reconstructing Earth’s past biospheres and searching for life beyond Earth share a mathematical challenge: inferring biological processes from incomplete, indirect evidence. This strategic workshop will connect the mathematical sciences, palaeobiology and astrobiology through the study of biosphere dynamics and the signals they produce. Earth’s record of environmental change, mass extinction and recovery provides a starting point for testing models of biosphere persistence and exploring which mechanisms might apply to other planets.
Discussions will link dynamical systems and stochastic models of life–environment feedbacks with inverse problems in biosignature detection. Information theory and complexity will be explored as tools for developing operational definitions of life: measurable criteria for recognising living systems without assuming Earth-like biochemistry. From interpreting evidence, the focus will extend to choosing where and how to search, bringing optimisation and decision theory into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Building on the Isaac Newton Institute Research Network Mathematics of Life in Deep Time and Space, the workshop will bring together mathematical scientists, palaeontologists, geoscientists and astronomers. Short talks and focused working groups will identify mathematical problems emerging from these scientific challenges, develop new collaborations and shape a shared research agenda.
