CultureLab: On the hunt for alien life with Lisa Kaltenegger

New Scientist Podcasts

If (or maybe when) we find alien life in the universe, will it look like us? As telescopes become bigger, our ability to peer into the cosmos is only getting better. So the question may not be “will we find something?” but rather “what exactly should we be looking for?”

Lisa Kaltenegger is an astrophysicist and founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute. She even works out of Sagan’s old office and shares the same optimism and enthusiasm he brought to the search for extraterrestrial life.

Abby Beall speaks to her about her new book Alien Earths: Planet Hunting in the Cosmos, which takes readers on a cosmic adventure to faraway exoplanets with oceans of lava and multiple suns.

Through the conversation Lisa explains how Earth’s geological history can help inform our search for life, while acknowledging alien life may not look the same as us. She discusses the technology that has allowed us to enter a new epoch of exploration – and what technological advancements are needed to help advance our search for alien life. And she examines the alien worlds that feature in various science fiction worlds, like those in Star Wars and Avatar, and whether they could actually exist somewhere in the universe.

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