The biggest red herring in our search for alien life | Sara Seager

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This interview is an episode from ‪The Well‬, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the ‪John Templeton Foundation‬. Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube Watch all of Seager’s interviews ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_B7bI1QVmJDd11yscOAGnGrt6CGLiN_r Astrophysicist Sara Seager has redefined how we search for life, shifting the focus from definitive proof to the subtler, messier realm of possibility. By detecting biosignature gases — molecules that might indicate life in a planet’s atmosphere — her work explores what discovery looks like when certainty isn’t guaranteed. Volcanic gases and unknown chemistry can mimic life’s signals, meaning we may never get a perfect answer. But Seager sees beauty in that ambiguity. In adapting the famous Drake Equation, she offers a new framework for discovery, one that embraces the “maybes” as part of the scientific process. For the first time in human history, she says, we’re finally in a position to try. And that alone is extraordinary. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/the-biggest-obstacle-to-discovering-life-beyond-earth/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description_bigthink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sara Seager: Professor Seager is Director for the MIT-led Venus Morning Star Missions to Venus and lead for Project Starshade. In the past she was Deputy Science Director for the MIT-led NASA mission TESS and PI for the on-orbit JPL/MIT CubeSat ASTERIA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About The Well Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds. Together, let's learn from them. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter ► https://bit.ly/thewellemailsignup ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join The Well on your favorite platforms: ► Facebook: https://bit.ly/thewellFB ► Instagram: https://bit.ly/thewellIG