The Tartan Tardigrade - Astrobiology Chats
The Tartan Tardigrade is a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
Episodes
December 15, 2025 • 44 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Paul Rimmer from the University of Cambridge. We talk about what "Experimental Astrophysics" is, what happened after the discovery of phosphene on Venus, and where we might find alien life first (Venus? In our solar system? On exoplanets?).
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November 18, 2025 • 25 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Frances Westall, leader of the Exobiology Group of the CNRS in Orléans (France). We talk about Frances's diverse and inspiring path, the dramatic and divisive period after a Martian meteorite found (ALH84001) in Antarctica in 1984, and the politic motivations behind false pretences of the discovery of extrat...
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November 3, 2025 • 45 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Nick Lane, Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at the University College London. We talk about Nick's motivation to dethrone the primordial soup theory, what is directed panspermia, and the connection between the origin of life and consciousness.
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October 18, 2025 • 27 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Christopher Cowie, philosopher and associate professor at the University of Durham. We talk about Chris's interesting work in the intersection between philosophy and astrobiology, what's behind some claims of alien spacecraft in recent news, and how astrobiologists should adopt a different framework for the ...
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July 23, 2025 • 53 mins
In this special Tartan Tardigrade episode, Mia Belle Parkinson, PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, interviews 5 MSc students currently in the Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences MSc at Edinburgh. We will learn about their individual interest in astrobiology, what astrobiology question they are working on, and how the programme has benefitted their long term career goals.
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July 8, 2025 • 35 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Graeme Ackland, professor of computer science at the University of Edinburgh. We talk about Dr Ackland's unusual path to astrobiology in regards to hypermolecules, how it feels to see your experiment produce something cooler than you expected, and his work in various fields and projects (including COVID-19) and what it taught h...
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March 5, 2025 • 22 mins
This episode, The University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Katherine Baxter from the University of Glasgow. We talk Dr Baxter's innovation in bio-imaging, the impact of microgravity on skin microorganisms, and what the biggest challenges we might face in maintaining astronaut health in future missions.
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February 7, 2025 • 24 mins
This episode, The University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Andrew Bissette, the Editor in Chief of Cell Reports Physical Science. We talk about what a "recovering chemist" means, what to expect when submitting a paper and publishing in a journal, and how Dr Bissette sees the discoveries in astrobiology impact the work in chemistry.
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November 14, 2024 • 25 mins
This episode, The University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Dr Ralph Lorenz from the University of Arizona and Johns Hopkins University. We talk about the Dragonfly mission, Dr Lorenz’s role as mission architect, why Titan is so fascinating, and an out-of-this-world keyring souvenir!
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October 24, 2024 • 43 mins
This episode, University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mia Belle Parkinson chats with Professor David Deamer from the University of California Santa Cruz. We talk about Deamer’s exciting career path, what to consider when becoming a scientist, and future missions in the search for life!
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September 5, 2023 • 29 mins
This episode University of Edinburgh MScR student Mia Frothingham speaks to PhD candidate Caprice Phillips from The Ohio State University. We talk about her exciting research on gas dwarf planets and the fact that scientists are people, too!
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August 19, 2020 • 34 mins
Episode 10 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
In this episode we talk to Peter Vickers from Durham University, a philosopher who approaches astrobiology from a fresh perspective. We discuss how astrobiology fits in with the philos...
In this episode we talk to Peter Vickers from Durham University, a philosopher who approaches astrobiology from a fresh perspective. We discuss how astrobiology fits in with the philos...
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April 8, 2020 • 16 mins
Episode 9 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
In this episode we talk to Roberto Orosei from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, who told us about his recent discovery of a subsurface lake on Mars and his research of...
In this episode we talk to Roberto Orosei from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, who told us about his recent discovery of a subsurface lake on Mars and his research of...
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September 30, 2019 • 16 mins
Episode 7 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe. In this episode we talk to Mohit Melwani from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who told us about the possibility for life and geochemical limits of habitability on Icy Moons (and a lit...
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August 12, 2019 • 29 mins
Episode 6 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe. In this episode we talk to Mark Van Zuilen from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, who told us about their work on determining whether biosignatures we observe in the environment are ...
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May 22, 2019 • 18 mins
Episode 5 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
In this episode we talk to Kathryn Harriss from the University of Kent, who studies impacts in the solar system, and tells us about their effects on life.
In this episode we talk to Kathryn Harriss from the University of Kent, who studies impacts in the solar system, and tells us about their effects on life.
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April 8, 2019 • 24 mins
Episode 4 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
This episode features Rosaly Lopes, an interplanetary volcanologist who works at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
This episode features Rosaly Lopes, an interplanetary volcanologist who works at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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March 3, 2019 • 14 mins
Episode 3 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
This episode features Axel Hagermann from the University of Stirling, who investigates ices on other worlds in the solar system and works on a number of space missions.
This episode features Axel Hagermann from the University of Stirling, who investigates ices on other worlds in the solar system and works on a number of space missions.
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February 3, 2019 • 18 mins
Episode 2 of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
This we were talking with Magnus Ivarrson from the Natural History Museum of Stockholm. Magnus told us about his work on the deep biosphere, how he ended up working in palaeon...
This we were talking with Magnus Ivarrson from the Natural History Museum of Stockholm. Magnus told us about his work on the deep biosphere, how he ended up working in palaeon...
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January 14, 2019 • 17 mins
The first episode of the Tartan Tardigrade, a podcast where scientists from the UK Centre for Astrobiology talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and the prospects for life in the universe.
This episode features a chat with Susannah Porter from the University of California Santa Barbara about her work on fossil evidence for early eukaryotes, and signs that vampire-like preda...
This episode features a chat with Susannah Porter from the University of California Santa Barbara about her work on fossil evidence for early eukaryotes, and signs that vampire-like preda...
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