Think Forward EP 142 - Hunting for Another Earth with Dr Sara Seager

Welcome to this special crossover episode from our other show, Going Off World.

In this episode, the hunt for alien life isn’t a sci-fi dream. It’s a patient, high-stakes investigation unfolding across labs, observatories, and space missions—and Sarah Seager is charting the course. We sit down with the MIT exoplanet pioneer to unpack how a field once defined by four puzzling worlds grew into a catalog of thousands, each challenging our assumptions about what planets can be and where life might take hold.

We trace Dr Sarah Seager’s path from early skepticism about hot Jupiters to leading-edge missions seeking signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres and even the acid clouds of Venus. The conversation blends technology, theory, and personal resilience to map the long road to finding another Earth.

If you care about exoplanets, biosignatures, Venus, and the future of discovery, this conversation is a guided tour of what it will take to spot another Earth and how that finding could reshape our place in the cosmos. If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves space, and leave a review to help more curious minds find us.

• how exoplanet science matured from four planets to thousands
• why hot Jupiters reshaped formation theories
• Kepler’s impact and TESS’s role in finding follow-up targets
• what biosignature gases are and why they matter
• starshade and direct imaging to see Earthlike worlds
• red dwarf habitability, tidal locking, and stellar flares
• Venus phosphine debate and sulfuric acid cloud chemistry
• realistic timelines, tech limits, and the long view
• career foundations, generalist leadership, and mentorship

Find her over at SarahSeager.com. She is also on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and a bunch of other social media platforms. You can just search for her name, Sarah Seager.

Thanks for listening to the Think Forward Podcast. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms and at www.thinkforwardshow.com as well as on YouTube under Think Forward Show.

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🎧 Listen Now On:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-forward-conversations-with-futurists-innovators-and-big-thinkers/id1736144515

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IOn8PZCMMC04uixlATqoO

Web: https://thinkforward.buzzsprout.com/

Thank you for joining me on this ongoing journey into the future. Until next time, stay curious, and always think forward.