Episodes

  • #35 Lee Cronin - Chemputation, Origin of Life, Assembly Theory
    Aug 19 2026

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    In this week's episode, David is joined by Lee Cronin, Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Glasgow University, where he holds the Regius Chair. He is also the Founder and CEO of Chemify (https://www.chemify.io/).

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 44 mins
  • #34 Solo Episode - We Need to Talk About That "First Exomoon" Discovery
    Aug 7 2026

    Special solo episode about the recent news of the first exomoon discovery.

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    REFERENCES

    - Hoy et al. 2026, "Planetary-mass exosatellite detected around the substellar companion of a star": https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.05193 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10751-w#Bib1 - Kral et al. 2026, "Exomoon search with VLTI/GRAVITY around the substellar companion HD 206893 B": https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20091 - Todorov et al. 2010, "Discovery of a Planetary-mass Companion to a Brown Dwarf in Taurus": https://arxiv.org/abs/1004.0539 - Chauvin et al. 2004, "A Giant Planet Candidate near a Young Brown Dwarf": https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0409323 - IAU Commission F2, "The IAU Working Definition of an Exoplanet": https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.09520

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • #33 Sarah Rugheimer - LIFE Mission, Prebiosignatures, Mountains
    Jun 27 2026

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    In this week's episode, David is joined by Sarah Rugheimer, Reader (Assoc Prof) at the Institute of Astronomy, Edinburgh University. Check out Sarah's new Great Courses series at https://shop.thegreatcourses.com/experiencing-james-webb-the-invisible-universe-revealed, her Audible Originals at https://www.audible.com/pd/Searching-for-Extraterrestrial-Life-Audiobook/B08N5CHQF8 and her fantastic TED talk at https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_rugheimer_the_search_for_microscopic_aliens

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support Cool Worlds Podcast Theme by Hill [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]

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    1 hr and 55 mins
  • #32 Chris Lintott - Technosignatures, Citizen Science, Scicomm
    Apr 13 2026

    In this week's episode, David is joined by Chris Lintott, Professor of Astronomy at Oxford University and presenter of BBC's "The Sky At Night".

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • #31 Joshua Winn - Exoplanet History, Discoveries and Future
    Feb 12 2026

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    In this week's episode, David is joined by Joshua Winn, Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and author of "The Little Book of Exoplanets".

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • #30 Solo Episode - We Need To Talk About AI
    Feb 1 2026

    This episode is a bit different in that it's a solo-episode! I spent this week visiting the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, and one meeting in particular shook me so much I felt compelled to make this special episode.

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • #29 Nick Bostrom - Simulation Theory, Anthropic Reasoning, Great Filters
    Jan 28 2026

    Use code coolworldspodcast at https://incogni.com/coolworldspodcast to get an exclusive 60% off. In this week's episode, David is joined by Nick Bostrom, Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University and author of several books including "Deep Utopia", "Superintelligence" and "Anthropic Reasoning".

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • #28 Néstor Espinoza - JWST, Exoplanet Atmospheres, Molecule Detection
    Dec 5 2025

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    In this week's episode, David is joined by Néstor Espinoza - Associate Astronomer and Mission Scientist of Exoplanet Science at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Néstor is a prolific researcher, developing state-of-the-art statistical tools and performing some of the most exciting analyses of exoplanets with JWST.

    To support this podcast and our research lab, head to https://coolworldslab.com/support

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    1 hr and 41 mins