October 9, 2024

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Speaker: Michael L. Wong, NHFP Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow, Science’s Earth & Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon

Host: Brandon Jones

Title: Pondering Our Place in the Universe

Abstract: Astrobiology seeks to answer the age-old questions “Are we alone?” and “Where did we come from?” To advance these queries, my research takes on a unique blend of planetary science, data science, and philosophy. This talk will cover four of my most exciting projects. First, I will explore how the topologies of atmospheric chemical reaction networks of Solar System bodies are distinct from one another, with potential applications to exoplanet biosignatures. Second, I will show how we can look for in-situ biosignatures by combining pyrolysis–GC–MS measurements of a wide variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial carbonaceous materials with machine learning, achieving >90% accuracy in the differentiation between samples of abiotic origins vs. biotic specimens. Third, I will propose a new time-asymmetric law that states that the functional information of a system will increase over time when subjected to selection for function(s). And finally, I will introduce four novel principles of “astrobioethics” that can serve to guide our future investigations of extraterrestrial environments.

Biography: Dr. Michael L. Wong is an NHFP Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Science’s Earth & Planets Laboratory. His primary scientific interests are planetary atmospheres, habitability, biosignatures, and the emergence of life. In his spare time, he hosts a podcast called Strange New Worlds, which examines science, technology, and culture through the lens of Star Trek.