Why This Astronomer Thinks Aliens Are Out There | Laura Kreidberg

Laura Kreidberg believes there is life out there in the universe.

An astrophysicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, Laura is one of the youngest directors ever appointed to a Max Planck Institute. Her work uses the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes to explore the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars. I sat down with Laura to discuss how astronomers study worlds too far away to photograph, why intelligence may not be evolutionarily favorable, and why Laura thinks we'll discover life on other worlds in the next 30 years.

Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/the-hunt-for-alien-life-on-distant

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

03:10 The Atmospheres of Other Worlds

08:14 In Astronomy, Bigger is Better

10:50 Earth-like Planets

20:04 The Huge Variety of Exoplanets

26:03 Science Communication

27:30 Intelligence is Not Evolutionary Favorable

33:30 Signs of Life on Exoplanets

40:19 Discovering Aliens in 30 Years

45:44 Science as Soft Power

Laura Kreidberg is the Director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, where she studies the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of life.

Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-kreidberg-3a08581b7

Laura on X: https://x.com/lkreidberg

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Profile: https://www.mpia.de/en/laura-kreidberg

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Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12

Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/

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