Peering beyond the haze of alien worlds, and how failures help us make new discoveries

Data on hazes and clouds may be key to understanding exoplanets, and NextGen letter writers share the upside of failure

Hazes and clouds could keep exoplanets’ secrets hidden, unless researchers can re-create them here on Earth. After celebrating JWST and its ability to look far back in time and help us look for habitable exoplanets as the 2022 Science Breakthrough of the Year, News Intern Zack Savitsky talks with host Sarah Crespi about an overlooked problem with using telescopes to examine exoplanets’ atmospheres. 

What was your greatest mistake? In a chat with producer Kevin McLean, Letters Editor Jennifer Sills shares stories from NextGen Voices about failures that led them in unexpected directions in their science careers.

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

[Image: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: exoplanet with cloudy and hazy atmosphere with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jennifer Sills; Zack Savitsky 

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg6078

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast 

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