This is well worth a read. It is essentially qualitative, which some might baulk at, but sometimes that's the way to start fleshing out an idea.

Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean is "one of the most fascinating histories of space exploration we know," according to Nautilus, because it shows how "space exploration doesn’t distract us from urgent Earthy issues; it helps us solve threats to Earth." #EnvHist nautil.us/the-nautilus...

New paper on evolution, emergence, and novelty generation. I had a lot of fun working with my philosophy of science colleagues on this one!

🍣💙

Happy holidays, all!

A new, long paper on evolution - natural induction - split into 2: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsfs/article... royalsocietypublishing.org/rsfs/article... @RichardWatson90 and Tim Lewens

Thanks for a fun time, #agu25! See you next year in San Francisco!

Calling all CA-based undergrads. It's time to apply for #CASSI 2026! CASSI interns spend 10 weeks of their summer at the @CarnegieScience Observatories exploring the cosmos alongside world-class scientists. Apply Today👇 carnegiescience.edu/cassi

Bartlett & Wong are at it again! Here's our latest paper about "lyfe" ⬇️

Part II of the "Workshop on Information, Selection and Evolution" theme issue is now out in @royalsocietypublishing.org! Special shout-out to @carnegiescience.bsky.social artist Navid Marvi for producing the journal cover image—funneling between function landscapes.

Always a pleasure to catch up with my thesis advisor (now that he can’t tell me what to do anymore hahahahahaha)! #agu25

Time’s Second Arrow: coming February 10, 2026, from @wwnorton.com 📖 #agu25

My officemate Don Ngo always has the best conference-presentation attire! He also has the best R package for batch-processing crystallographic data, in case you were wondering 💎 #agu25

A new #InterfaceFocus issue explores the directionality of complexity and #evolution, a philosophical treatise on natural laws in a timeless, holographic universe and a new community-curated database for origins-of-life chemistry: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsfs/issue/1... @miquai.bsky.social

Come check out my philosophy of science talk this morning at 10:45 am in Room 346! (SY22A-02) #AGU25

Worlds collide! My current @carnegiescience.bsky.social collaborator @anirudhprabhu.bsky.social explains our latest work to my undergrad advisor Burkhard Militzer at #agu25!

See you soon, #AGU25!

Part I of the "Workshop on Information, Selection and Evolution" theme issue is now out in @royalsocietypublishing.org! Special shout-out to study author Bruno Cuevas-Zuviria for producing the journal cover image—the origin of life as cave art.

Undergrads, this could be you! Applications are officially open for #EPIIC2026. 📌 Earth & Planets Laboratory (in D.C.) 📆 June 1 - August 7 🔬 Hands-on research in planetary science, geophysics, geochemistry, & more 💪 Professional development & mentorship Learn more & apply👇 https://bit.ly/4oOlRZy

Goodreads is running a giveaway of Time's Second Arrow! Enter to win your very own copy of my first popular science book!

Truly, one of the best parts of living in DC is that @npr.org is here and every once in a while they let me come downtown to blabber about how cool the universe is and stuff 🎙️

Omggggggg for the first time in living memory, when you search my name on the @agu.org app, I’m listed first!!! 😱 #AGU26

Phoenix things 🍕

Joshua Tree things ⛺️

Reading things like this is a big reason why I do what I do 💫

Are you working on how space inspires awe, alters worldviews, and shapes human behaviors? Submit an abstract to the session that @cosmobiologist.bsky.social, Julia DeMarines, Mark Neyrinck, and I are convening at #AbSciCon26!

Are you working on problems at the intersection of astrobiology and philosophy? Submit an abstract to the session that @spacesword.bsky.social, Emilie Lafleche, and I are convening at #AbSciCon26!

Are you working on new ways to understand the transition between abiotic chemistry and life? I hope you'll submit an abstract to the session that Doron Lancet, Roy Yaniv, George Cody, and I are convening at #AbSciCon26!

ICYMI: Our team used machine learning, trained on organic chemical data, to identify evidence for life in 3.3-billion-year-old rocks!

Night sky in Joshua Tree National Park

REMINDER: We are currently accepting applications to the Mino Postdoctoral Fellowship. This research program offers an exceptional opportunity for talented early-career scientists worldwide to contribute significant advances in the following fields: 🧪

Are you using AI to fuel breakthroughs in astrobiology? Submit your abstract to the session I'm convening with Floyd Nichols, Victoria Da Poian, and Ryan Felton at #AbSciCon26. Hope to see you in Madison, WI!

I'm proud to report that our little astrobioethics collective has submitted its second paper! While you wait for the sequel to traverse the peer-review jungle, go ahead and enjoy revisiting our first 😊

“Conflating intelligence & technology is an assumption worth challenging. True intelligence may know not to use the technologies we so dearly cling to as we plumb our planet’s riches to exhaustion.” — @miquai.bsky.social

One thing I’m super grateful for is living in a world where there are far more good books to read than one can ever hope to finish in a lifetime.

I'll be co-convening four sessions at #AbSciCon26 on topics ranging from AI-driven discovery to the origins of life to the intersection of astrobiology and philosophy. Please consider submitting your abstracts to any and all of them!

“In life you have to learn to count the good days. You have to tuck them in your pocket and carry them around with you. So I’m putting today in my pocket and I’m off to bed.” —Richard Osman

Back in the Bay 💙

One of the great things about being a scientist with an interview-style podcast is that I get to "play dumb" and ask questions that I'm supposed to know the answer to. Nobody has to know whether I actually do know the answer.

Organic Geochemical Evidence For Life In Archean Rocks Identified By Pyrolysis–GC–MS and Supervised Machine Learning astrobiology.com/2025/11/orga... #astrobiology #tricorder #AI #biosignature

Come for the ancient biomolecules, stay for the wasp nests. Thanks for covering our latest paper for @sciam.bsky.social, @leebillings.bsky.social!

Dr. Munazza Alam, an assistant astronomer at STScI, was named in The City University of New York's 50 Under 50 alumni awards in 2025. Each year the school celebrates a class of distinguished graduates who have made headway in their respective fields over the past year. 👏

Thanks for covering our recent scientific findings in the @economist.com, @eaterofsun.bsky.social!

“Ancient rocks are full of interesting puzzles that tell us the story of life on Earth, but a few of the pieces are always missing. Pairing chemical analysis and machine learning has revealed biological clues about ancient life that were previously invisible.” —Katie Maloney

Hey, that's our study! 😄

Time’s Second Arrow is one of Apple Books’ most anticipated books of winter 2026! Pre-order your copy today! wwnorton.com/books/978132...

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been much more interested in what was above my head than what was below my feet. But this project showed me that looking down and back in time can be an important step toward the future of how we study worlds beyond.

A must listen…!

New podcast episode! 🪨🧪🤖🎙🖖 Dr. @anirudhprabhu.bsky.social joins me to discuss how we use machine learning trained on organic chemical data to detect the "whispers" of life—specifically photosynthetic life—in ancient rocks.

Our new biosignatures paper is out in @pnas.org! This time we're using machine learning trained on organic chemical data to identify signs of life—including photosynthetic life—in ancient rocks.