Regina Barber

Hey Shore Wavers, Regina Barber here.

And Emily Kwong.

With our bi-weekly science news roundup featuring the hosts of All Things Considered.

And today we have the legendary Elsa Chang from LA.

Thank you for having me yet again.

So what are we learning about today?

So Elsa, we're giving you an update on the chances of life on an Earth-sized planet that orbits another star.

And why sick ants let nest mates destroy them.

Dark.

Okay.

All of that on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

Okay, so astronomers have already discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets, and those are planets that are orbiting other stars, not our sun.

And some of them are more promising spots to look for life than others, like this exoplanet called TRAPPIST-1e.

And this planet is rocky like Earth.

It's the same size.

It's orbiting at a distance that's smack dab in the habitable zone of the star, sometimes called the Goldilocks zone.

That atmosphere allows liquid water to stick around, which is definitely good for life.

But Elsa, there are other places in our solar system that scientists are looking at for possible life that also have atmospheres like Earth, places like Saturn's moon Titan.

So this study looked at TRAPPIST-1e and the potential existence of Titan-like exoplanets.

So when TRAPPIST-1e orbits its star, it occasionally passes between the star and us viewing it, sort of eclipsing the star.