Dr. Starkid

24 Episodes

Reverse

Would We Even Recognize Alien Life If We Found It?

2026-11-0701:18:19

Could we recognize life that looks nothing like us? Before we can answer that, we have to decide what counts as alive. Even here on Earth, that question gets complicated quickly. Expect to learn why movement, growth, and energy use aren’t enough to identify life, why viruses sit near the boundary, and why depending on a host doesn’t disqualify a parasite from being alive. I also talk through siphonophores, hypothetical reproducing machines, and the ways ideas can spread and evolve without bei...

They Say Science Isn't Spiritual. But I Disagree. Here's Why.

2026-10-3001:03:48

What has science confirmed that people once understood as a spiritual belief? Someone asked me that recently, and it turned into a much bigger conversation about what I believe and why. Expect to learn how the elements in our bodies connect us to the history of the universe, how those ingredients get recycled here on Earth, and how common ancestry connects us to other living things. I explain why I find personal meaning in those discoveries, while distinguishing that interpretation from what ...

Could Earth Life Survive on Enceladus? Inside the Alien Ocean Experiment

2026-09-2930:14

Could something alive on Earth survive in the ocean beneath an alien moon’s ice? Researchers tested that question by recreating some of the conditions thought to exist on Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn. The archaea they introduced survived and multiplied under some of those simulated conditions. I wanted to understand how you even design that experiment when the ocean you’re studying is buried beneath ice. We talk through Cassini’s encounters with Enceladus’s plumes, how tidal heating keep...

Sunscreen, Skin Cancer, and How Medical Advice Fails Black Patients | Dr. Adewole Adamson, M.D.

2026-09-2801:19:10

Relevant studies mentioned: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2774113 - melanoma https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2790089 (free version: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8943625/) - Keratinocyte carcinoma (aka Non-melanoma skin cancer) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10896812/ — The evolution of human skin coloration https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43630-026-00940-x — Blindspot: how sun exposure guidelines have ignor...

How Fast Can a Planet Form? The Youngest Planet Ever Discovered

2026-09-2446:42

Elias 2-24b is already several times Jupiter’s mass, yet its star system is estimated to be less than a million years old. This episode follows the discovery and asks how a gas giant can grow so massive, so quickly. We cover how astronomers use infrared and radio observations to study young planets, how they estimate ages, and why growing from tiny grains into a giant planet is a bit more complicated than it sounds. We also look at how an early forming giant planet can influence the fut...

#box-pro-ellipsis-179442567401358{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}Dr. Starkid