Good morning, fellow Bees!
Lately I haven't been so active on this platform and I barely noticed there was a new upgrade to the network. I still don't know what changed. Everything seems to be the same... 🤪
The main reason for my absence is that I've been watching a lot of Podcasts with interviews with very interesting people about a wide variety of subjects, but mostly about Bitcoin. The latest one I watched was a really awesome talk between Lex Fridman and Clara Sousa-Silva. They talked about her work and the possibility of encountering life on other planets.
This interview made me feel quite proud of my little country, since it's not everyday a scientist from Portugal gets international recognition.
Clara Sousa-Silva has made the news recently due to a study she participated in, where she and her colleagues describe how they have found the existence of a molecule (phosphine) on Venus which is usually associated with the presence of nasty forms of life.
She describes herself as a Computational Quantum Astrochemist and her job consists on studying molecules that are produced by lifeforms, so that she hopefully can detect life on distant planets, without even visiting them. It's a complex and complicated process and it's utterly fascinating.
Truth be told, two weeks ago, I didn't even knew there was something such as a Computational Quantum Astrochemist, let alone that there was a Portuguese one. 😁
In her interview with Lex Fridman she shares several wonderful thoughts about life, the universe and everything... and I specially enjoyed the part where they discuss the possibility of finding life on other planets and galaxies. It was really funny to see her share her thoughts on how the American Government is so incompetent that if by any chance an intelligent civilization landed on Earth, the US Government wouldn't be able to capture and keep such an advanced being under custody, let alone keeping it a secret for long. 🤭
Another funny part was when she described herself as a bad programmer, claiming she learned just enough about computer programming so that she could get the job done... but that she was so bad at it that, 6 months later, she couldn't even remember what a particular piece of code she wrote... was supposed to achieve. I can relate to that. 🤣
She doesn't appear to be a huge fan of Elon Musk, claiming that humans should let go of their conquering tendencies and ideas of invading other planets, in order to focus more on what life on this planet has to offer. 🤗
She thinks that we, as a species, have a strange fetish about planting a flag every here and there. And ain't that true? 🤔
I don't know if these subjects interest you at all... but if they do, I advise you to watch this interview. It is really cool and you'll learn some new stuff, too:
If you do watch it... feel free to leave a comment down below, and tell me what you thought of it all.
