The Habitable Zone

In this episode, we explore two discoveries reshaping the search for habitable worlds beyond our Solar System. First, we examine LHS 1140 b, a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone that has retained an atmosphere despite orbiting an active red dwarf, and how detecting escaping helium could help scientists understand its potential for habitability.  Then, we investigate the hidden challenge of exozodiacal dust and how leftover cosmic dust can distort exoplanet spectra, mimic clouds, and potentially obscure the atmospheric signatures scientists rely on when searching for signs of life.  Together, these discoveries reveal both the promise and the challenges of characterizing distant worlds in humanity's search for life beyond Earth.

Sources:

LHS 1140 b:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea9708

Exozodi Effect: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.14329

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we explore two discoveries reshaping our understanding of the universe. First, we discuss rocky exoplanets with helium-dominated atmospheres and how these unusual worlds could remain habitable while becoming ideal targets for future telescopes. Then, we examine the first confirmed discovery of newborn stars and complex organic molecules inside a supernova remnant, challenging long-held ideas about how stellar explosions influence the formation of future stars, planets, and the building blocks of life.

Sources:

Helium worlds: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.06857

Supernova remnant: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae6fba

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will discuss NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and a new theory suggesting that life may have originated in land-based environments rather than deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

Sources:

Roman Space Telescope: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/

Wet-dry cycle: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15311074261434368

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will discuss how asteroid impacts may have helped early life evolve on Earth, and the discovery of a giant exoplanet with permanently cloudy mornings and clear evenings.

Sources:

Asteroid Impact Sites: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03206-7

WASP-94A b: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adx5903

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will discuss the existence of Nucleobases in the universe, and a new planet with an ultra-short period.

Sources:

Nucleobases: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02824-7

TOI-4552 B: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.18233

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will be covering new research suggesting Jupiter’s icy moons may have received the chemical building blocks for life during their formation, as well as a study searching for the first extragalactic exoplanets in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy stream using data from the TESS space telescope. We will also explore what these discoveries mean for the origins of life and the possibility of planets beyond the Milky Way.

Sources:

Jupiter's Moon:

https://doi.org/10.3847/psj/ae3559

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf2074

Hot Jupiters:

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.15105

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will be covering new findings from asteroid Bennu samples returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and how they suggest that the building blocks of life may have formed in cold regions of space long before Earth existed.

Sources:

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2512461122

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will be covering how the James Webb Space Telescope uncovered complex organic molecules inside a dust-hidden galaxy and what this discovery reveals about how chemistry forms in extreme cosmic environments.

Sources:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02750-0

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will be covering the discovery of a new earth-sized exoplanet candidate and circumbinary systems. 

Sources:

Exoplanet: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adf06f

Circumbinary system:  https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae21d8

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal. 

Contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, we will be covering the discovery of a new planet in the TOI-2267 Binary system.

Source:

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2512.10007

This will be the final episode of 2025.

This Episode was Filmed and Edited by Aidan Chan and Vriddhi Mittal.

Contact us at [email protected]