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Searching for Extraterrestrial Life  By  cover art

Searching for Extraterrestrial Life

By: Sarah Rugheimer
Narrated by: Sarah Rugheimer
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About the Creator and Performer

Dr. Sarah Rugheimer is an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. Her work focuses on how to detect life on an exoplanet by looking for atmospheric biosignatures. Dr. Rugheimer’s research interests include modeling the atmosphere and climate of extrasolar planets, with a particular focus on atmospheric biosignatures in Earth-like planets, as well as modeling early Earth conditions.
Dr. Rugheimer earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the University of Calgary, and her MA and PhD in Astrophysics at Harvard University. She moved to the United Kingdom in 2015 to take the Simons Origins of Life Research Fellowship at the University of St. Andrews and is now at the University of Oxford with a Glasstone Research Fellowship and Hugh Price Fellowship at Jesus College.
Dr. Rugheimer is an advocate for Women in STEM, hosting a resource page as well as mentoring students. She is the cohost of a podcast, Self-care with Drs. Sarah, which is aimed at junior scientists navigating academia. Dr. Rugheimer has been on NPR and BBC discussing her work on modeling the atmosphere and climate of extrasolar planets. Her other passions include dance and high-altitude mountaineering.

What listeners say about Searching for Extraterrestrial Life

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An up date of astrophysics and related subjects.

Very well presented. It deals with astrophysics and living organisms. Easy to read with essential up date on practical current thinking.

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Highly Interesting

I loved this lecture! If you are expecting the sort of sensationalist, ancient alien content of something like the “history” channel this is not for you. This was a thoughtful and engaging exploration into the scientific fields that are searching for possible life in the universe and the implications that it may have on science, culture, and life as a whole. I recommend this to anyone interested in space in general!

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Fascinating and Approachable

A really interesting series of lectures that together give a great overview of the current state of the field of Astrobiology. I particularly appreciated the tone of the lectures, they were welcoming and approachable without being patronizing. They avoided using unnecessary technical jargon or deep diving into esoteric/expert topics, but still respected the audience and didn't resort to pop science style surface level fun facts. I also really appreciated how the author explains and champions the scientific method, and makes sure to illustrate how every discovery or announcement is rightly up for scrutiny from the scientific community, and how many things we cannot know for certain. It was a refreshingly honest and humble take.

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Fun listen, while it made my mind wander/wonder

This was true enjoyment from beginning to end. I gave myself and employees some good topics for discussion (fun topics)
- the book was informative and not in a 'lecturing way' more of a "check this out, isnt this exciting/interesting?"

- I am hoping to find something that I enjoyed as much as this (also see "The Science of SciFy") type of audiobook.

well done !

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Astrobiology

This book was an interesting presentation on astrobiology. Very thought-provoking. It was time well spent.

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Clear and interesting

This set of talks was consistently informative and fun to listen to. One would get a lot out of these talks whether or not you had a science background.

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Great book and worth the credit

Very good set of lectures and very interesting. I find all of this very interesting and Dr. Sarah Rugheimer does a great job of not over doing it like some authors do. She sticks to the facts it seems and does a great job of helping people like me start to understand things that are way over my head! I definitely recommend this book.

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Eye-opening stuff.

Loved the steady and firm control of the arguments presented. If you’re a person interested in science, you probably knew some of the facts presented in the lectures. But the true power of this series is about connecting the dots and putting everything into a wide frame of reference. Makes you want to become an astrobiologist!

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2 people found this helpful

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A fantastic introduction to one of the hottest topics in science

Sarah is a force to be reckoned with and this course is extremely well organized, well thought out, and a delight to listen to. Everybody from Sci fi to hard core science fans with delight in this lovely, lovely discussion of aliens and their possible origin stories.

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Anazing Stuff

I was into astronomy in the thitd grade (around 1949), ham radio by 1955,, computing by 1964, telesco making by 1970, personal computing by 1976, and AI in the early 90's. I even attended some of Project Cyclops lectures, not realizing how Barney Oliver's shirt pocket would change my life. So Rugheimer could be my baby sister! The depyh and breadth of her knowledge is stunning. I think I will play these lectures again, while polishing my next mirror!

Are we alone? Most certainly not! But space is BIG. The aliens are so far away, we might as well be alone. And let us hope they do not get curious and try to map earth by radar astronomy- the required power would toasr us!

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