Episode Summary

From the moment we first gazed upon the stars humans have wondered if there is life beyond our own planet.  Dr. Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist at NASA, has traveled to the far reaches of our own planet, including to the bottom of the ocean with James Cameron, to learn what life might be like on another planet.  Kevin talks with Syd about why we are searching for Goldilocks, how the universe is like a campfire, and the upcoming NASA mission to Europa, in this episode of The Sydcast. 

Syd Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.  He holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.”  He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus.  Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. 

Dr. Kevin Hand

Dr. Kevin P. Hand is a planetary scientist and astrobiologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he directs the Ocean Worlds Lab.  His research focuses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the solar system with an emphasis on moons of the outer solar system that likely harbor liquid water oceans.  He is the pre-Project Scientist for NASA’s Europa Lander mission concept and was co-chair of the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team.  From 2011-2016, Hand served as Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration at JPL.  His fieldwork has brought him to Antarctica, the Arctic, the depths of Earth’s ocean, the glaciers of Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, and the desert of Namibia. His popular science book, Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space, was published by Princeton University Press in April of 2020.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on what the search for extraterrestrial life entails and what we are likely to find when life is discovered.
• Reasons why communication, specifically writing, is important in scientific discovery.
• Information that can be gained from comparing Earth to other celestial bodies and how that is helping to direct the search.
• Difficulties that are impeding the search for life including technology, funding, and time.
• Details on Kevin’s work with James Cameron, their exploration of the Earth’s oceans, and how what they saw influenced their individual projects.
• Benefits commercial industries receive from NASA’s explorations.

Quotes from the show:

• “When we look at life on Earth, from the most extreme of microbes to the most extreme of human beings, we are all connected by the tree of life.  We are all connected by biochemistry.” – Kevin Hand
• “You need to know how to communicate your scientific arguments, that’s not to say writing is the most important thing, but it is an incredibly important skill.” – Kevin Hand
• “Communication and scientific discovery do not necessarily go hand in hand.” – Syd Finkelstein
• “If we’ve learned anything from Earth’s biosphere it’s that; where you find the liquid water, you generally find life.” – Kevin Hand
• “A mission to the surface of Europa is not just about searching for life, it’s also about understanding oceans as a planetary process.” – Kevin Hand
• “One of the great things about NASA and this kind of exploration is that, for the most part, it does get broad, bi-partisan support.” – Kevin Hand
• “What these missions to search for life really do is open the doorway to a much broader scientific community.” – Kevin Hand
• “It’s important to remember that the goal of NASA … is in truly pushing the frontier, daring the mighty things.” – Kevin Hand
• “I like to think of NASA as a venture capital organization that helps seed innovation at the most extraordinary levels.” – Kevin Hand
• “I can see the spiritual side of the explorations that you’re doing, it’s very spiritual.” – Syd Finkelstein

Resources:

Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space by Dr. Kevin Hand

Alien Ocean: NASA’s Mission to Europa - YouTube

Bouyant Rover for Under Ice Exploration (BRUIE)

Stay Connected:

Syd Finkelstein

Website: http://thesydcast.com

LinkedIn: Sydney Finkelstein

Twitter: @sydfinkelstein

Facebook: The Sydcast

Instagram: The Sydcast

Dr. Kevin Hand

Website: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hand/

Twitter: @Alienoceans

LinkedIn: Kevin Hand

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)