92 | Kevin Hand on Life Elsewhere in the Solar System

92 | Kevin Hand on Life Elsewhere in the Solar System

It’s hard doing science when you only have one data point, especially when that data point is subject to an enormous selection bias. That’s the situation faced by people studying the nature and prevalence of life in the universe. The only biosphere we know about is our own, and our knowing anything at all is predicated on its existence, so it’s unclear how much it can teach us about the bigger picture. That’s why it’s so important to search for life elsewhere. Today’s guest is Kevin Hand, a planetary scientist and astrobiologist who knows as much as anyone about the prospects for finding life right in our planetary backyard, on moons and planets in the Solar System. We talk about how life comes to be, and reasons why it might be lurking on Europa, Titan, or elsewhere.

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Kevin Hand received his Ph.D. in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. He is currently Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has collaborated with director James Cameron, and is a frequent consultant on films, including acting as a science advisor to the movie Europa Report. His a cofounder of Cosmos Education, a non-profit organization devoted to science education in developing countries. His new book is Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space.


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Episoder(411)

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214 | Antonio Padilla on Large Numbers and the Scope of the Universe

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213 | Timiebi Aganaba on Law and Governance in Space

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212 | Chiara Mingarelli on Searching for Black Holes with Pulsars

212 | Chiara Mingarelli on Searching for Black Holes with Pulsars

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26 Sep 20221h 26min

211 | Solo: Secrets of Einstein's Equation

211 | Solo: Secrets of Einstein's Equation

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19 Sep 20221h 51min

210 | Randall Munroe on Imagining What If...?

210 | Randall Munroe on Imagining What If...?

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209 | Brad DeLong on Why the 20th Century Fell Short of Utopia

209 | Brad DeLong on Why the 20th Century Fell Short of Utopia

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AMA | September 2022

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