DiscoverStrange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek PodcastEpisode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks
Episode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks

Episode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks

Update: 2025-11-17
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Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu

Mike brings aboard Dr. Anirudh Prabhu to discuss an exciting new study of theirs that uses machine learning trained on organic chemical data to detect the "whispers" of life—including photosynthetic life—in ancient rocks. This exciting technique could one day be used to seek out new life on strange new worlds.

Mike & Anirudh's paper, "Organic geochemical evidence for life in Archean rocks identified by pyrolysis–GC–MS and supervised machine learning": https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2514534122

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Anirudh: https://bsky.app/profile/anirudhprabhu.bsky.social
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Episode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks

Episode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks

Michael L. Wong