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
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Anirudh: https://bsky.app/profile/anirudhprabhu.bsky.social
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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
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Anirudh: https://bsky.app/profile/anirudhprabhu.bsky.social
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim
Fungi are everywhere—from forests to deserts to cities to Star Trek! Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim beams back aboard to talk about some of the latest developments in fungal research.
"Can Fungi Save This Endangered Hawaiian Tree?" by Shi En Kim for Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-fungi-save-this-endangered-hawaiian-tree-180985171/
"Why scientists are enlisting fungi to save endangered plants" by Shi En Kim for Knowable Magazine: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2025/mycorrhizal-fungi-help-save-endangered-plants-ecosystems
"Biocrusts: The secret world living at the surface of drylands" by Shi En Kim for BioScience: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biae119/7927803
"The Netherlands’ Surprising Bus Stop Bounty" by Shi En Kim for bioGraphic: https://www.biographic.com/the-netherlands-surprising-bus-stop-bounty/
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Kim: https://bsky.app/profile/goesbykim.bsky.social
Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast
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
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Anirudh: https://bsky.app/profile/anirudhprabhu.bsky.social
