Science Magazine Podcast

The hunt for habitable exoplanets, and how a warming world could intensify urban air pollution

Jun 20, 2024

Scientists are hunting for habitable exoplanets, worried about detecting atmospheres on turbulent stars. Urban air pollution in Los Angeles worsens due to volatile organic compounds from plants during hot days.

32:03

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Quick takeaways

Research expands to habitable exoplanets with varied atmospheres and water worlds like TRAPPIST-1 system.

Los Angeles air pollution worsens on hot days due to natural VOCs, highlighting the need for emission regulations.

Deep dives

Hunt for Habitable Exoplanets Expands

Research on habitable exoplanets has progressed beyond Earth-like rocky planets to include those with thicker atmospheres or submerged in water, like the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Living on these planets would be surreal due to perpetual sunsets and close proximity to neighboring large planets.

Intro

2min

Hunting for Habitable Exoplanets with the JWST

13min

Exploring Future Telescope Technologies for Observing Exoplanets

2min

Urban Air Pollution and Volatile Organic Compounds

6min

Research on Air Pollutant Formation Through Aircraft Measurements in Los Angeles

3min

Heat-Induced VOC Emissions from Plants

5min

On this week’s show: Scientists are expanding the hunt for habitable exoplanets to bigger worlds, and why improvements in air quality have stagnated in Los Angeles, especially during summer, despite cleaner cars and increased regulations

Staff Writer Daniel Clery joins producer Meagan Cantwell to talk through the major contenders for habitable exoplanets—from Earth-like rocky planets to water worlds. Preliminary results from two rocky exoplanets have some researchers concerned about whether they will be able to detect atmospheres around planets orbiting turbulent stars.

Next, producer Ariana Remmel talks with Eva Pfannerstill, an atmospheric chemist at the Jülich Research Center, about how volatile organic compounds, mostly from plants, are causing an increase in air pollution during hot days in Los Angeles.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Daniel Clery; Meagan Cantwell; Arianna Remmel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zxi

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