Searching for ALIENS with Sarah Rugheimer (#381)

Remastered from our interview in October 2021. 

In this otherworldly edition of Into the Impossible, I talk to renowned astrophysicist and astrobiologist Dr. Sarah Rugheimer about microscopic aliens, the Fermi paradox, the origin of life, the Drake equation, and much more!

Dr. Rugheimer is a Glasstone Research Fellow and a Hugh Price Fellow at Jesus College Oxford. Her research interests are modeling the atmosphere and climate of extrasolar planets with a particular focus on atmospheric biosignatures in Earth-like planets as well as modeling early Earth conditions. Her Audible Exclusive book Searching for Extraterrestrial Life reveals through 10 amazing lectures what we know about detecting life on other planets. 

Tune in! 

Key Takeaways: 

Intro (00:00)

00:00:46 Sarah’s thoughts on the private sector space race

00:04:18 Should we look for intelligent ET or microbial life in the Universe? 

00:05:56 How did you get interested in astrobiology? 

00:11:28 What would be the impact of finding microbial ET?

00:15:49 What do we do about the risk of error in science? 

00:20:12 What is the possibility of alternative forms of life? (not carbon-based) 

00:27:34 The future and Sarah's career

00:30:14 What do you think of Avi Loeb's theories about Oumuamua? 

00:40:41 The Drake Equation (Happy 60th anniversary) 

00:44:45 Outro

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