WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.080 Virgin Media broadband is smooth. How smooth you ask? Well, 2 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:08.640 Imagine you're a big old Walruss and rather than lumbering 3 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:12.119 around a glacier avoiding polar bears, you're on a lake, 4 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:18.320 driving a speedboat three thousand kilos of mollusk, munching magnificence, 5 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:21.519 feeling the wind in your whiskers and the sun on 6 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:26.519 your big blubbery face. That's the kind of smoothness you feel. 7 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:32.079 With ninety nine point nine percent broadband reliability available nationwide 8 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.600 Virgin Media, It's playtime subject. 9 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:36.280 To ACATAL availability. 10 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:39.079 Tacncys apply for broadband reliability see Virgin Media, dot I 11 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.079 E Forward Slashproof. 12 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:43.159 Do you know what real power is? It's knowing you're 13 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:45.920 on the same rate for energy all day, every day 14 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.840 with a smart all day plan from board Gosh Energy, 15 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.240 save up to eight hundred and eighty euro on dual 16 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.719 fuel plus get a two hundred and thirty five You're 17 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:57.079 a welcome bonus switch today at board gash Energy, dot 18 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:01.439 I E Board Gosh Energy. Know your power ESTIMATIOND. 19 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:02.920 On your bill of twenty six and twenty nine your 20 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:05.920 new customer zone thirst percentis gentof smash all day Electricity 21 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.879 unit rates in twenty nine percent of glass unit rates. 22 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:09.879 Spokoshenijydttai for full teas. 23 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:13.560 And seas smologites, here you are. This is a short, 24 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:17.120 classroom friendly version of a classic Ologies episode. It's perfect 25 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.000 for a quick listen or one where there are potentially 26 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:21.439 smologites present. 27 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:22.760 What a week for this. 28 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:25.680 In case you missed it, NASA just released images from 29 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:29.480 the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the largest optical 30 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.920 telescope in space. It launched in late twenty twenty one 31 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:35.040 and it cruised into its orbit about a million miles 32 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:38.159 away in January. We saw the first images come out 33 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:41.159 this week July twenty twenty two, and it was a 34 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.439 big deal, a bigger deal than any of our brains 35 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:48.200 can comprehend, because it produced the deepest and sharpest infrared 36 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.480 image of the universe ever to date. And NASA says 37 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:56.239 thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in 38 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:59.519 the infrared, have appeared in Webb's view for the first time. 39 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.480 And this slice of the vast universe is approximately the 40 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.480 size of a grain of sand held at arm's length 41 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.520 by someone on the ground. It is a tiny slice, 42 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.360 and in that tiny slice. There are thousands of little 43 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.400 dots in the photo, each one a galaxy, and in 44 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:24.199 each galaxy potentially hundreds of billions, maybe trillions of stars. 45 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.879 There is a lot out there, and how exciting to 46 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:32.199 be on Earth as it's discovered. So enjoy this somologies 47 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.719 episode about what might be out there. Oh hey, it's 48 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.120 that guy in your video editing class who choose so 49 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:44.199 much gum you're actually worried about him. Ali Ward back 50 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.000 with another episode of Ologies. So this episode, I'm just 51 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:49.479 I'm gonna say this up top. 52 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:51.919 Just get out of the way. It's out of this world. 53 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:53.879 Okay, I said it, It's out of this world. 54 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:54.400 Okay. 55 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:58.599 Astrobiology, let's get to it. Once called exobiology, but let's 56 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:03.000 consult the Greek so astro comes from the word for star, 57 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:06.159 and biology has its roots in the verb to live. 58 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:10.240 So what is out there living on those ding dang stars? 59 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.280 What's on the planets? That's the big question? Is anything 60 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.319 alive out there? What are the odds? Is it big? 61 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.479 Is it small? Is it cooler than us? So to 62 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:24.319 get some answers, will consult a professional. So over the 63 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:29.960 course of eleven months and twenty seven gentle desperate emails 64 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.439 for me. This ologist kindly obliged, and the resulting interview 65 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.520 is I was literally about to say stellar. I'm not 66 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.800 going to I swear that was an accident, but it 67 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:40.960 was a stellar interview. 68 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:43.639 He's such a great dude. So he has been a. 69 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:48.599 Researcher at the SETI Institute, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 70 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:51.680 that was founded by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake. He's 71 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:55.840 a national geographic explorer who has stretched the Arctic and 72 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.280 down to the depths of the Sea. You may have 73 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.360 seen him in James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep and 74 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.639 is currently the Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration 75 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.879 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. And side note, 76 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.960 the opinions he expresses therein are his own and not 77 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.879 those of JPL or NASA, because when you're in charge 78 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.319 of looking for space aliens for NASA, you got to 79 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.079 toss out some disclaimers. He stopped by last week after 80 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.680 work and we settled in for an evening talk about 81 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:32.519 Icy Moon's ty, extraterrestrials, subsurface oceans, various voyages made by 82 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:36.920 NASA spacecraft, and essentially what is lurking in the great. 83 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:38.560 Darkness of the universe. 84 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.879 So make some space in your brain for the brilliant 85 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:48.879 and wonderful astrobiologist, doctor Kevin Peter hadgious. 86 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:55.480 Hour. 87 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.360 Okay, that's what I thought. But just in case it 88 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.920 was hond and I've never said it aloud, I thought 89 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:17.079 i'd ask, now, you are an astrobiologist, correct, what exactly 90 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:17.680 does it mean? 91 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:20.680 It's a it's a very good question, many different ways 92 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:25.120 to answer it, but simply put, astrobiology is the study 93 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:29.399 of the living universe. And yeah, that's that's it, in 94 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:30.360 a nutshell. 95 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:35.839 The study of the living universe. So this is excluding rocks, air. 96 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.839 Well, keep going, and welcome back to some of that. 97 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:42.959 Rocks, air light. 98 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:48.040 Cars well. 99 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:51.040 So what's important about it being the study of the 100 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.199 living universe is that oftentimes when people think about astrobiology, 101 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:56.120 they say, you know, okay, this is the search for 102 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:02.800 life beyond Earth. And that's correct, that's certainly part of astrobiology. 103 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.800 But what's also very central to astrobiology is the study 104 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.759 of the origin, evolution, and future of life on Earth. 105 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:13.680 Where did we come from, where we going? How did 106 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:18.720 life originate? And so when you think about the living universe. 107 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:23.800 Of course, right now all we know of is life 108 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:26.560 on Earth. We have yet to find even a little 109 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.480 speck of life beyond Earth. But based on what we 110 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:36.079 know from life on Earth, and based on what we 111 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:41.000 know about the other major sciences physics, chemistry, geology, we 112 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:43.439 can make the prediction that if the conditions are right, 113 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:48.600 life should potentially arise beyond Earth. For me, what that 114 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:54.240 means is a focus on worlds in our Solar system 115 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:55.920 that could harbor life. 116 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.560 Sorry, just a mouth therem over here. 117 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.959 I focused most of my time, both from a research 118 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.199 standpoint and a mission standpoint, on Jupiter's moon Europa and 119 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:15.240 to a slightly lesser extent, Saturn's moon Enceladus. 120 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:19.399 Why are we looking at moons so much rather than 121 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:20.240 the planets? 122 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.759 Yeah, So this has been one of the big game 123 00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:26.600 changers in astrobiology, what I like to call sort of 124 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:27.879 a new Goldilocks. 125 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:31.800 I think I see where this is going. 126 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:36.079 So in the early days of astronomy and planetary science 127 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:42.439 and astrobiology, back in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, when 128 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:48.959 planetary scientists, astronomers, exobiologists thought about what it takes for 129 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:53.839 a world to be habitable. That framework was largely based 130 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:00.800 on our Earth biases. Wherever we luck can find liquid 131 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:03.120 water on Earth, we generally find life. Therefore, you need 132 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.920 liquid water for life, and in order for a planet 133 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.120 to harbor liquid water, you've got to have liquid water 134 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.759 on the surface in contact with a nice atmosphere. And 135 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.360 for a planet to be able to sustain those kind 136 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:20.319 of conditions, you have to be at just the right 137 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.720 distance from your parent star so that you're not too 138 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:24.680 hot or not too cold. 139 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.600 And it was neither too hot nor too cold, it 140 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:28.519 was just right. 141 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:31.639 What we've learned in the past few decades, and this 142 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:35.399 was largely informed by the Voyager spacecraft and then the 143 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.600 Galleo spacecraft and then the Cassini spacecraft that went into 144 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.240 the Outer Solar System, is that these moons of the 145 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:47.360 Outer Solar System are presenting us with a new Goldilock scenario. 146 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:51.600 It's a Goldilock scenario where the energy to maintain and 147 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:55.399 sustain liquid water comes not from the energy of your 148 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:00.720 parent star, but rather from the energy of it's the 149 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:04.399 tug and pull that these moons experience as they go 150 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.120 around their gas giants or their ice giants, and so 151 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.080 the Jovian system. The moons of Jupiter are a great 152 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:18.799 example of this. There are four large moons Io, you Rope, Aganamine, 153 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:22.320 and Chlisto. Io does not have an ocean. Io doesn't 154 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:27.240 really have any water. Io orbits Jupiter, and Io is 155 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.720 tugged to such a great degree that it is the 156 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.519 most volcanically active body in our solar system, more volcanically 157 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:39.000 active than the Earth. Volcanoes are erupting on Io right now. 158 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.519 It's just a beautiful, beautiful gem of a world. And 159 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:44.279 it really does kind of look like a gemstone when 160 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:45.519 you look at pictures. 161 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.360 It's a lava party happening so far away it is. 162 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.519 It is break out the popcorn and just wa wash 163 00:09:54.679 --> 00:10:00.559 so so in this new Goldilocks paradig it's kind of 164 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:03.759 like Venus. It's got too much tidal energy. It's too closer. 165 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:08.799 It's Venus is too close to warm. Io has got 166 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.440 too much tidal activity. Let's go to the further furthest 167 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.080 out of the large moons, Calisto. Now Calisto, we think 168 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:17.279 it does have an ocean trapped beneath a very thick 169 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:20.600 ice shell. But Calisto has very little tidal energy dissipation 170 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.120 going on in it. So in that scenario, Callisto's kind 171 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.600 of like Mars. It's it's maybe doesn't have quite enough 172 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:30.639 energy to really make it an ocean that we could 173 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:34.200 explore and think could sustain life today. But in the 174 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.600 middle we've got Europa and Ganymede, and Europa in particular 175 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:42.679 we think occupies this new Goldilocks sweet spot where it's 176 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.840 got just the right amount of tidal energy dissipation. So 177 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:53.360 it's to sustain a global salty liquid water ocean that's 178 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.279 one hundred kilometers or sixty miles in depth. 179 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:58.679 Oh my god, yeah, that's the right response. 180 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:00.639 How deeper our oceans? 181 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:02.639 So it's about ten times as deep as our ocean. 182 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:05.639 Oh, the smokes the octopods must have. 183 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:08.320 So in the Mariana Trench were about seven miles deep, 184 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:11.519 eleven kilometers down, europos ocean ten times as deep. 185 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:15.240 So there's plenty of water on Jupiter's moon Europa, both 186 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.000 in ice and in liquid form, and is deep. Now 187 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:23.879 could extraterrestrials be lurking in those deep dark waters? 188 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.600 The Europe is small, it's about the size of our moon. 189 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:32.240 It's Europe is about one seventh of the Earth's gravity. 190 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:35.360 So when you do the math the pressure within europas ocean, 191 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.159 it's comparable to it's a it's a bit more, but 192 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.240 it's comparable to the pressure found within the deepest trenches 193 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:41.879 of our ocean. 194 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:43.279 Oh and so. 195 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:45.759 When we think about, well, you know, could life survive 196 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.320 within europas ocean, we can actually do the experiment and 197 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:53.080 look at places on planet Earth where the conditions are 198 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:57.759 comparable and say, oh wow, life, life found a way 199 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:02.320 in that environment that has is similar to Europa's ocean, 200 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:04.480 or enceladus is ocean, and so on and so forth. 201 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.559 Life will find a way if you want so eloquently 202 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:11.000 put it, and we can make the sort of biological 203 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.000 plausibility connection. 204 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:15.320 And now Europa is that where we're really looking in 205 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:20.039 terms of searching for something alive? Is that really where 206 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:21.840 all eyes are kind of on Europa? 207 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:28.879 Well, I love to highlight three prime ocean world candidates, 208 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:36.679 Europa and Soladus and Titan Titan. When we talk about 209 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.440 Titan briefly first, and we can come back to it. 210 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:42.440 Titan is just an amazing world with its atmosphere and 211 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.519 liquid methane ethane lakes carving out its icy surface, and 212 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:51.799 there's a liquid water ocean beneath its ice crust, and 213 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:56.519 from the standpoint of astrobiology, Titan is my favorite place 214 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:00.360 to go and look for weird life. And what I 215 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:04.039 mean by weird life is life unlike life as we 216 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:07.679 know it. Life as we know it is based on 217 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:12.080 liquid water as the solvent, the substance in which the 218 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:16.120 chemical reactions of life take place, and those chemical reactions 219 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.080 and the building blocks are of course based on carbon. 220 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.840 We are a carbon and water based life form. On Titan, 221 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:29.039 life would potentially also be carbon based, but the solvent 222 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:32.399 might be liquid methane and ethane. In those lakes that 223 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:36.200 we see on Titan. Could life? Could the business of 224 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.879 life get done? Could life originate? Is there a weird 225 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.759 life form that could arise in those lakes and seas? 226 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:45.039 I don't know, but I'd sure love to get there 227 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:49.440 and explore. And then Titan could, of course, within its 228 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:54.559 liquid water ocean beneath its icy shell, harbor water and 229 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.360 carbon based life similar to what we know and love 230 00:13:58.519 --> 00:13:59.159 here on Earth. 231 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:00.799 Flammable. 232 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:07.799 Can you start tightened on fire? This short answer is no, 233 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.639 because in order to light something on fire, what do 234 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:11.919 you need? 235 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:12.559 Oxygen? 236 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:21.039 Yes, And so Titan's atmosphere has basically no oxygen, and 237 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:24.279 so that actually is one of the limiting factors for 238 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.399 me when I think about the feasibility of life on Titan. 239 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.919 Okay, so back to general habitability, Kevin says liquid water 240 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:35.519 is one of the keystones. So what else is on 241 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:37.200 our intergalactic shopping list? 242 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:39.799 The other keystones for life are that you need the 243 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:43.759 building blocks, the stuff that life is made of, the 244 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:48.600 bricks and mortar. For us, that's carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, 245 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:52.399 a smattering of some fifty four elements from the periodic table. 246 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:58.440 Then the third kind of lesser appreciated keystone is life 247 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:02.080 needs energy. It needs a power source. It needs something 248 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:08.559 that can sustain the growth and reproduction and the maintenance 249 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:13.320 of life. Technically, we call that the redox gradients that 250 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:18.320 that life harnesses. You bring together a reductant, a compound 251 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:22.279 that likes to give up electrons, with an oxidant that 252 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:28.159 likes to accept electrons. And for us, we Homo sapiens, 253 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:35.039 that redox reaction is eat some carbohydrates, eat some food, 254 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:39.600 and breathe in oxygen, and then we do a slow 255 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:45.720 burn in our stomachs and biology in us we're glorified 256 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.480 campfire and so we're doing a slow burn with our 257 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:52.519 redox chemistry inside our bodies. 258 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.000 So next time you're eating fistfuls of cookie, doat just holler, 259 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.559 I'm redoxing. Microbes however, can vary quite a bit and 260 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:03.600 have all kinds of metabolic pathways. So by studying how 261 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:05.679 they do it at the bottom of trenches and in 262 00:16:05.799 --> 00:16:08.120 the Arctic and next to volcanoes, we can try to 263 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:11.360 determine how those little bibis on other planets and moons 264 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.039 might go about their business. Okay, are you ready for 265 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:15.080 some Patreon questions? 266 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:15.480 Sure? 267 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:18.559 Okay, but before we get to listener questions from Patreon, 268 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:21.200 a quick word from our sponsors, who have allowed me 269 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:23.320 to raise the pay of the folks who helped me 270 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:26.559 make ologies. Also let me donate to a cause of 271 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:30.679 the ologists choosing this week, Doctor Kevin Peterhand chose to 272 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.120 support the work of Traveling Telescope and this is a 273 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.080 cause started by Susan Marrabona and her husband Chu and 274 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:39.559 colleagues to share astronomy with school kids and the general 275 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.960 public in Kenya. So that is Traveling Telescope. And there 276 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:44.639 will be a link in the show notes if you 277 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:45.240 want to know more. 278 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:45.720 About them now. 279 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:49.039 An additional donation this week was made to Vermont's Manchester 280 00:16:49.159 --> 00:16:52.919 Rescue Squad in memory of Peter Hand, Kevin's father, who 281 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.159 passed away last summer, and the Manchester Rescue Squad provides 282 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.840 twenty four hour three sixty five paramedic level emergency care. 283 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:03.120 We have paid staff and volunteers. They also do CPR 284 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:06.680 and first aid classes. So on. Behalf of all the ologites. 285 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:09.680 Our heart goes out to the hands. Okay, now, some 286 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.279 messages from a few sponsors. 287 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:17.640 Bionantma got Boga, the hardnir, the Holla, the Hayman ahead, 288 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:22.759 call ah ers as Lance La Dani, the tained Nudov 289 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:28.200 Shookatarhu la Hula shomparods on us as lanse is phaser 290 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:36.400 Latgun's throw, Tasha Tapa sierraanashka aga is FuGO more h 291 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.119 i a punk i e is called on tudoros or 292 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.119 raslanse if we real this, na hearn. 293 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:48.119 All right? Your questions okay, Patreon questions, We got a 294 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:53.640 gozilion I okay, uh, it's kind of a lightning round. 295 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:58.240 I categorize them as best I could, Okay, so Jasmine Wells, 296 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.240 Vincent Maddie Worker and Mike Marlowe all kind of want 297 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:05.279 to know, as a firm believer of other forms of life, 298 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:09.079 what's the most probable planet for alien life to exist on? Like, 299 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:14.799 one of the most likely places. 300 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:18.160 Mars is fantastic. Mars is still a wonderful place to 301 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:22.440 look for evidence of past life and potentially life that's 302 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:24.519 alive today. We'll just have to dig a lot deeper. 303 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:30.440 So I put Mars, Europa, Enceladus, and Titan, Okay, And 304 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.000 when it comes to the search for extant life, I 305 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:37.720 really prioritize Europa and Thenceladus for extant life similar to 306 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:40.079 life as we know it. And then if we go 307 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:45.039 one layer deeper, I prioritize Europa over Enceladus for a 308 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:50.480 couple of different reasons. Europa, we have good reason to predict, 309 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:54.960 has had an ocean for the history of the Solar System. Yeah, 310 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:58.799 so it's an ocean that's been around for a while. Enceladus, 311 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:02.279 there's still some question marks. The reason Saturn has rings 312 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:06.279 is because some sort of collision, some sort of impact 313 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:10.359 event happened in the neighborhood of the moons of Saturn 314 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.640 in the past tens to hundreds of millions of years ago. 315 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.119 Okay, So remember Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. Kevin says 316 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:22.640 that Saturn had had some drama. 317 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:23.839 So didn't sell this form From that is it's ocean 318 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:25.880 relatively young. We don't know. 319 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:30.599 Other people had questions about the oceans, trying to settle 320 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:34.200 a debate Oceanna Reese as are deep sea creatures aliens? 321 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:35.119 I think they are? 322 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:37.119 And also are we looking at the deep sea to 323 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.640 provide any clues of what could exist on other planets? 324 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:43.519 Yeah? Great questions. The answer to the first one is 325 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:46.720 as alien as they are, and I've gotten to see 326 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.319 some of them up close, and as astonishing and beautiful 327 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:55.000 and bizarre as they are, they are very well connected 328 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.880 into our tree of life. They are based on DNA 329 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:02.559 and RNA and the ATP paradigm with proteins, etc. So yeah, 330 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.960 they are not different from life as we know it. 331 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.599 So are we looking in our own oceans to see 332 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.039 whether or not or search for life elsewhere it can 333 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:18.680 be informed by life that works in these deep ocean environments. 334 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:21.920 The answer is absolutely, And it's something that I'm very 335 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:24.839 passionate about and I've been fortunate to be able to 336 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.960 take part in some of that exploration and science. 337 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:30.880 What about your favorite thing about astrobiology or your job 338 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:33.559 the best? You know. 339 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:35.279 I've got a lot of great colleagues and we love 340 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:38.920 brainstorming about forcing each other to think out of the 341 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.160 box about how to explore planet Earth and understand life 342 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.920 on Earth and how to apply that to worlds and 343 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:51.960 wonders beyond Earth. So that kind of intellectual popping the 344 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.680 popcorn is a lot of fun. 345 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:56.119 If someone wanted to be an astrobiologist, what would you 346 00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:56.440 tell them? 347 00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:57.160 Where do they start? 348 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:01.160 Yeah, it's a great question. In the field of biology today, 349 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:09.160 there's biologists, chemist, geologists, geochemists, oceanographers. My own background physics 350 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:14.480 and astronomy and geological environmental sciences. I also did a 351 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:19.599 master's in robotics. It takes all kinds to get this 352 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:26.799 sort of Let me use a few buzzwords interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary 353 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.519 trendsdisciplinary kind of research done. And so what I tell 354 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:36.519 students and folks interested is within the framework of sciences 355 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:43.599 that feed into astrobology, follow your passion biology, geology, physics, astronomy, 356 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:50.680 et cetera, et cetera, chemistry, and enjoy that fundamental research 357 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.119 and then extend and bridge it into astrobiology. 358 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.400 It's just the sound of so many people changing their 359 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:00.839 majors right now. Thank you first aliens. 360 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:05.599 Thanks for having me a here to talk about aliens. 361 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:11.920 So ask interesting people intergalactic questions because you never know 362 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.359 what you might learn. There is a lot out there 363 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:21.000 to understand, and smart people love getting asked questions. You 364 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:24.480 can check out doctor Kevin Hand's book Alien Oceans, The 365 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:28.440 Search for Life in the Depths of Space. He is amazing. 366 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.799 He is at Alien Oceans on Twitter. I'm at ali 367 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:35.599 Ward with one l Ologies is at Ologies on Twitter 368 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.319 and Instagram too. And we like to keep these episodes short, 369 00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:42.240 so the full list of credits is in the show notes. 370 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.880 Special thanks, of course to Zeke Rodriguez Thomas and Mercedes 371 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.680 Maitland of mind jam Media and Jarret Sleeper of mind 372 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.039 gam Media for helping edit all these together. And if 373 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.279 you stick around at the very very end of the episode, 374 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.680 I give you a little bit of life advice. And 375 00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.519 this week this is a life advice taught to me 376 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.359 by my so just so last who was a reporter. 377 00:23:01.799 --> 00:23:04.640 And if someone is telling you a long story and 378 00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:07.039 you kind of like want them to cut to the chase, 379 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:13.119 you can politely prompt them to do that by saying, Wow, 380 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:16.480 how did it end? And then that's how you kind 381 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:20.519 of get to the conclusion. So that's sometimes helpful. I 382 00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:23.039 hope that's helpful. My sister told me that a million 383 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:25.880 years ago, that I use it all the time. Okay, 384 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:28.039 all right, until next time, smologites. 385 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:31.839 Bye Byelogies. 386 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:52.319 Alogy anologists knowledges. I see aliens.