#116 – Sara Seager: Search for Planets and Life Outside Our Solar System

Sara Seager is a planetary scientist at MIT, known for her work
on the search for exoplanets.


Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors. Click links, get
discount:
– Public Goods at https://publicgoods.com/lex and use code
LEX
– PowerDot: https://powerdot.com/lex and use code LEX
– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
– Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe
– Cash App (Google Play): https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w


Episode links:
Sara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/profsaraseager
Sara’s Website: https://www.saraseager.com/
The Smallest Lights in the Universe (book):
https://amzn.to/3g3LfHA


If you would like to get more information about this podcast go
to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can
watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the
podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on
Spotify, or support it on Patreon.


Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you
should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.


OUTLINE:
00:00 – Introduction
05:32 – Falling in love with the stars
09:55 – Are we alone in the universe?
15:27 – Seager equation for number of habitable planets
27:48 – Exoplanets
34:44 – Earth-like exoplanets
40:43 – Intelligent life
52:34 – Number of planets per star
55:09 – Space exploration
57:36 – Traveling to Proxima Centauri
1:00:52 – Starshade
1:07:34 – Using the sun as a gravitational lens
1:09:44 – Starshot
1:12:45 – Rogue planets
1:15:44 – The Smallest Lights in the Universe
1:30:15 – Book recommendations
1:37:48 – Advice for a young person
1:39:29 – Meaning of life