“Science Nomad,” Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, Looks for Habitable Planets

By Emily Harari Dr. Daniel Angerhausen is an astrophysicist and astrobiologist at ETH Zürich. Ask him what the oldest question of humankind is and he’ll immediately jump to life on other planets: Are we alone, or are other planets outside our solar system similarly habitable? But Angerhausen doubles back:  “That’s also a bit exaggerated. Maybe the oldest question is, ‘Can I eat this?’ But I really think [habitability] is one of the biggest scientific questions and also one that is […]

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Podcast: Habitabily Metrics for Astrobiology

Our “Beer with BMSIS” podcast for July features a conversation with Dr. Abel Méndez of the University of Puerto Rico about his research on “Habitabily Metrics for Astrobiology“. Habitability is often defined as the ability of a planet to have liquid water on its surface, but can one planet be “more habitable” than another? Is Earth at optimal habitable conditions? Dr. Abel Méndez raises such questions in his efforts to quantify habitability using analytical tools borrowed from ecology. He describes […]

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