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Is there life in the Universe? It doesn’t get deeper than this, does it? And yet, why do we care about that? In the very small chance that there is other life in the Universe, we have even less chance to discover it, talk to it and meet it. So, why do we care?

Well, it may surprise you but Bayesian statistics helps us think about these astronomical and — dare I say? — philosophical topics, as my guest, David Kipping, will brilliantly explain in this episode.

David is an Associate Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, where he leads the Cool Worlds Lab — I know, the name is awesome. His team’s research spans exoplanet discovery and characterization, the search for life in the Universe and developing novel approaches to our exploration of the cosmos.

David also teaches astrostatistics, and his contributions to Bayesian statistics span astrobiology to exoplanet detection. He also hosts the Cool Worlds YouTube channel, with over half a million subscribers, that discusses his team’s work and broader topics within the field.

Cool worlds, cool guest, cool episode.

Our theme music is « Good Bayesian », by Baba Brinkman (feat MC Lars and Mega Ran). Check out his awesome work at https://bababrinkman.com/ !

Thank you to my Patrons for making this episode possible!

Yusuke Saito, Avi Bryant, Ero Carrera, Giuliano Cruz, Tim Gasser, James Wade, Tradd Salvo, Adam Bartonicek, William Benton, Alan O'Donnell, Mark Ormsby, James Ahloy, Robin Taylor, Thomas Wiecki, Chad Scherrer, Nathaniel Neitzke, Zwelithini Tunyiswa, Elea McDonnell Feit, Bertrand Wilden, James Thompson, Stephen Oates, Gian Luca Di Tanna, Jack Wells, Matthew Maldonado, Ian Costley, Ally Salim, Larry Gill, Joshua Duncan, Ian Moran, Paul Oreto, Colin Caprani, George Ho, Colin Carroll, Nathaniel Burbank, Michael Osthege, Rémi Louf, Clive Edelsten, Henri Wallen, Hugo Botha, Vinh Nguyen, Raul Maldonado, Marcin Elantkowski, Adam C. Smith, Will Kurt, Andrew Moskowitz, Hector Munoz, Marco Gorelli, Simon Kessell, Bradley Rode, Patrick Kelley, Rick Anderson, Casper de Bruin, Philippe Labonde, Matthew McAnear, Michael Hankin, Cameron Smith, Luis Iberico, Tomáš Frýda, Ryan Wesslen, Andreas Netti, Riley King, Aaron Jones, Yoshiyuki Hamajima, Sven De Maeyer, Michael DeCrescenzo, Fergal M, Mason Yahr, Naoya Kanai, Steven Rowland, Aubrey Clayton, Jeannine Sue, Omri Har Shemesh, Lin Yu Sha, Scott Anthony Robson, David Haas and Robert Yolken.

Visit https://www.patreon.com/learnbayesstats to unlock exclusive Bayesian swag ;)

Links from the show:

• David’s website: http://user.astro.columbia.edu/~dkipping/
• David on Twitter: https://twitter.com/david_kipping
• David’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/coolworldslab
• David’s research group: https://www.coolworldslab.com/
• Bayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of life’s early emergence on Earth : https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1111694108
• We Have No Idea – A Guide to the Unknown Universe : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31625636-we-have-no-idea
• Leonardo da Vinci’s biography by Walter Isaacson: https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139169/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=leonardo+da+vinci+book&qid=1660142880&sprefix=leonardo+%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1