Podcast appearances and mentions of jonathan lunine

This week, the White House posted an executive order which details the administration's intent to stop ‘dangerous gain-of-function research'. We talk to Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist and biosecurity expert at Johns Hopkins University who fears the timing and added bureaucracy could stop all sorts of important biosciences unnecessarily, and that the order is somewhat ideologically driven.Also, Nasa's Juno mission has provided data on the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded, which took place on the planet Io, one of Jupiter's moons. Hellish Io, squeezed as it is by the immense gravity of Jupiter, has not been observed from its poles before in this manner. Last week at EGU25, Science in Action got to speak with the mission's principal investigator, Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute.Still on Jupiter's moons, we also ask whether there could there be life on Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa? Scientists believe their glaciated oceans may harbour conditions suitable for life. Also at the EGU meeting were Jonathan Lunine, chief scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab, and Athena Coustenis, director of research at the Paris Observatory in Meudon.Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield with Tabby Taylor-Buck Production co-ordinator: Josie Hardy(Photo: Clinical support technician extracts viruses from swab samples. Credit: Jane Barlow/Getty Images)

Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture, a more general framework that explains the origin and evolution of functions and complexity in a world governed by uncaring laws of physics? I talk with planetary scientist and astrobiologist Michael Wong about how we can define what "functions" are and the role they play in the evolution of the universe.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/16/299-michael-wong-on-information-function-and-the-origin-of-life/Michael Wong received his Ph.D. in planetary science from Caltech. He is currently a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Scienceʼs Earth & Planets Laboratory. He is in the process of co-authoring two books: A Missing Law: Evolution, Information, and the Inevitability of Cosmic Complexity with Robert M. Hazen, and a revised edition of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Jonathan Lunine.Web siteCarnegie web pageStrange New Worlds podcastWong et al. (2023), "On the Roles of Function and Selection in Evolving Systems."Wong and Prabhu (2023), "Cells as the First Data Scientists."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Space telescopes don't just observe space, they're located in space. The Hubble Telescope (1990) and the James Webb Space Telescope (2021) marked major turning points in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe. So just how big, how far, how powerful can the next telescopes go?Host Roma Agrawal zooms into this topic with the help of:Garth Illingworth, recipient of the 2016 American Astronomical Society Lancelot M. Berkeley New York Community Trust Prize for his work on the most-distant galaxies viewed with Hubble.Jonathan Lunine, part of the science team for the James Webb Space Telescope.New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday.Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more info. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments (methane lakes, etc.) might host a kind of chemistry sophisticated enough to be called "life". He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He works with data from the James Webb Space Telescope, is co-investigator on the Juno mission orbiting Jupiter, and is a team member on the JUICE mission enroute to the Jovian moons, and Europa Clipper to be launched in 2024. Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in or chaired a number of advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA. He was the inaugural McDonald Agape Visiting Scholar at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, in the spring semester of 2023.

This lecture was given on April 19th, 2023, at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: https://thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events Speaker Bio: Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments (methane lakes, etc.) might host a kind of chemistry sophisticated enough to be called "life". He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He works with the radar and other instruments on Cassini, continues to work on mass spectrometer data from Huygens, and is co-investigator on the Juno mission launched in 2011 to Jupiter. He is on the science team for the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on characterization of extrasolar planets and Kuiper Belt objects. Lunine is currently PI for a JPL-led study to send a probe into Saturn's atmosphere and has contributed to mission concept studies for space-based astrometry and microlensing missions. Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in or chaired a number of advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA.

Search For Alien Life In The Solar System The Science And Theology | Jonathan Lunine by Angelicum Thomistic Institute

The Future Of The Solar System A Scientific View | Jonathan Lunine by Angelicum Thomistic Institute

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Jonathan Lunine about his latest Thomistic Institute lecture, "Catholicism and Evolution from an Astronomical Perspective.” Catholicism and Evolution w/ Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/evolution-and-catholicism-from-an-astronomical-perspective-prof-jonathan-lunine For more information on upcoming events, please visit www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Jonathan I. Lunine is The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, His research focuses on astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, he serves as Interdisciplinary Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope project and is a coinvestigator on the Juno mission currently in orbit around Jupiter. Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union. He is the author of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach and Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World. Lunine obtained a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester (1980), an M.S. (1983) and a Ph.D. (1985) in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Ithaca New York, where he is a member of St. Catherine of Siena parish. In 2016 Lunine helped to found the Society of Catholic Scientists and currently serves as its vice president.

Prof. Lunine's slides can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/4fce6w7w This talk was given on October 6, 2022, at the University of Rochester. For more information, please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Jonathan I. Lunine is The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, His research focuses on astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, he serves as Interdisciplinary Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope project and is a coinvestigator on the Juno mission currently in orbit around Jupiter. Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union. He is the author of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach and Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World. Lunine obtained a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester (1980), an M.S. (1983) and a Ph.D. (1985) in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Ithaca New York, where he is a member of St. Catherine of Siena parish. In 2016 Lunine helped to found the Society of Catholic Scientists and currently serves as its vice president.

This talk was given on October 14, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies for the 2022 Fall Thomistic Circles conference: Life in the Cosmos: Contemporary Science, Philosophy, and Theology on the Origin and Persistence of Life on Earth (and Beyond?). Prof. Lunine's slides may be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/22vs3mdv For more information, please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Jonathan I. Lunine is The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, His research focuses on astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, he serves as Interdisciplinary Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope project and is a coinvestigator on the Juno mission currently in orbit around Jupiter. Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union. He is the author of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach and Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World. Lunine obtained a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester (1980), an M.S. (1983) and a Ph.D. (1985) in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Ithaca New York, where he is a member of St. Catherine of Siena parish. In 2016 Lunine helped to found the Society of Catholic Scientists. About the conference: What is life? How did biological life arise? What makes life persist and might it exist elsewhere in the cosmos? What would that mean? Consider these questions and more with the Thomistic Institute at the Fall Thomistic Circles conference, Life in the Cosmos: Contemporary Science, Philosophy, and Theology on the Origin and Persistence of Life on Earth (and Beyond?). The two-day conference at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. features a stellar, cross-disciplinary lineup of speakers, scientists Jonathan Lunine (Cornell University) and Maureen Condic (University of Utah), philosopher Christopher Frey (University of South Carolina), and theologian Fr. Mauriusz Tabaczek, O.P. (Angelicum). This conference is part of the Thomistic Institute's Scientia Project.

The co-hosts announce that the TSSM podcast, now posting our 146th episode, will begin a hiatus, but all programs and show notes will continue to be archived and accessible. This episode allows Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt to look back on their four-and-a-half years of interviews and discussions seeking a greater synthesis of knowledge: an exploration of science and religion, philosophy and spirituality, neuroscience and quantum physics, policies and principles, history and the future, to better understand ourselves and the values and virtues in our lives. Our curiosity and concerns are grounded in our experiences as cradle Catholics, a confidence that faith and reason can grow together as essentials for problem-solving wisdom, and a desire to honor the Church a central source of guidance and continuing growth. Our first episode was posted on April 2, 2018, more than four-and-a-half years ago. We have welcomed a long list of well-known guests with expertise in a variety of fields, seizing the opportunity for rigorous but highly accessible, interdisciplinary and inspirational, conversations that transcend silos of specialization. We are grateful for the grand adventure of pursuing truth and reality, both visible and invisible, with the scholars and thought-leaders who shared their insights. That's So Second Millennium was the first podcast to provide structured news coverage and commentary on the conferences and lectures of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and we interviewed a number of SCS members. Both Paul and Bill have been members of the growing, international organization. Paul, who holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Notre Dame, presented a lecture on uranium and nuclear power at the SCS 2022 conference in Chicago. In this episode, we made references to Billy Joel's “We Didn't Start the Fire” and to “Sing God a Simple Song”—from Leonard Bernstein's We talked about Wyoming Catholic College, where Paul is on the faculty, and we talked Holy Cross College, where Bill taught as an adjunct professor for three semesters before moving from South Bend, IN, to Troy, NY, in 2022. Both solidly Catholic colleges, we agreed, excel in their efforts to integrate the different aspects of our humanity and the various forms of knowledge within the hearts and minds of students. Paul and Bill are inveterate Catholic communicators and educators. Learn more about Paul's background in teaching, consulting, and public service. Learn more about Bill's life as writer-editor, broadcaster-blogger, and author. Here are some of the people we have been privileged to interview: SCS president Stephen Barr; planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine; astrophysicist and astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ; theologian Paul Seongh Chung; Magis Center president and EWTN series host Father Robert Spitzer, SJ; astrochemist Karin Oberg; neurobiologist Maureen Condic; speaker-evangelist Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers; pro-life experts Richard Doerflinger and Christopher Bell; geologist Anne Hofmeister; cybersecurity expert Michael Cloud; psychologist Darcia Narvaez; business professor-author Anjan Thakor; and soul and spiritual musician Micki Miller. Learn more about them in the show notes accompanying their TSSM episodes. Thanks also to our friend, composer and performer Vin Marquardt, for writing our podcast's closing theme for a long time, “Igneous Grok.”

We talk to Cornell Professor Dr. Jonathan Lunine about the new images from the James Webb telescope.

Special guest Dr Jonathan Lunine, distinguished American planetary scientist and physicist, joins the ongoing discussion with: - Shinzen Young, meditation teacher and neuroscience research consultant - Chelsey Fasano, a Columbia University neuroscience student Dr Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Dr Lunine has published over 380 research papers and is at the forefront of research into planet formation, evolution, and habitability. Dr Lunine's work includes the Cassini mission to Saturn, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Juno Mission to Jupiter. Dr Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in and chaired advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA. In this episode, the group question the compatibility of faith and science, explore the writings of St Thomas Aquinas and the radical theology of T.S Eliot, and consider the controversial theories of Sir Roger Penrose. Dr Lunine also discusses his research into life on other planets, reveals the possibility of cyanide-based life, and speculates about the role of God in the universe of the Big Bang. … Video version: www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep145-faith-and-science-jonathan-lunine-shinzen-young-chesley-fasano Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 01:23 - Faith and Reason 04:42 - How big is life? 07:57 - Physics & God 08:57 - Buddhist exceptionalism 09:33 - Are science and faith compatible? 13:59 - The Society of Catholic Scientists 15:17 - Georges Lemaître and the Big Bang 16:03 - Dr Lunine's search for life on other planets and moons 17:36 - Titan's methane seas and hydrogen bonding mechanisms 20:03 - Cyanide-based life and information molecules 28:52 - Future missions to Titan 30:57 - Definition of a habitable zone 33:20 - Detecting water on extra-solar planets 37:04 - How big is life and where is information stored? 43:55 - Is life on Earth the ultimate pinnacle of self-organisation? 45:42 - Meta-life and Sir Roger Penrose 48:04 - The radical theology of T.S Eliot 50:24 - Aquinas on diversity as an expression of order 52:14 - Time and timelessness 55:44 - God as the Infinite and eternal foundation of all reality 56:46 - Chaos and Dr Sanguinetti … Previous episodes in this series: - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlkzlKFgdknxjhwG5wmXRVfrkeGczVPVI … To find out more about Dr Lunine, visit: - https://astro.cornell.edu/jonathan-lunine To find out more about Shinzen, visit: - https://www.guruviking.com/ep37-shinzen-young-pandemic-edition-guru-viking-podcast/ - www.shinzen.org To find out more about Chelsey, visit: - www.chelseyfasano.com For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

This lecture was delivered on June 18, 2021 as part of the third annual Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Symposium: Chance and Indeterminacy in the Natural World. For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Jonathan I. Lunine is The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, His research focuses on astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, he serves as Interdisciplinary Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope project and is a coinvestigator on the Juno mission currently in orbit around Jupiter. Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union. He is the author of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach and Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World. Lunine obtained a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester (1980), an M.S. (1983) and a Ph.D. (1985) in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Ithaca New York, where he is a member of St. Catherine of Siena parish. In 2016 Lunine helped to found the Society of Catholic Scientists and currently serves as its vice president.

This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Jonathan Lunine, chair of the astronomy department at Cornell University to the show, telling us all about the volcanoes of Venus! But first, we journey out to the L 98-59 planetary system, exploring a trio of intriguing exoplanets. Next, we take a trip out to the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter, along with the Lucy spacecraft, as it readies for launch. Finally, we ready for the Perseid meteor shower, due to rain down to Earth on the nights of the 12th and 13th of August. New examination of the L 98–59 planetary system reveals hidden details of three exoplanets in that planetary system. One of these is found to have a mass just half that of Venus, while another appears to be a water world. This new study by researchers at the European Southern Observatory also shows evidence for a fourth, and possibly even a fifth world in that stellar system, a mere 35 light years from Earth. Listen to the podcast version of the episode here, or watch this show as a video at: https://youtu.be/e0kxpujd1Ok. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-cosmic-companion/support

Word on Fire will be holding a Faith and Science Summit August 9-12 (starting tomorrow!). It will feature at least nine speakers, including the SCS' own Jonathan Lunine and Karin Oberg. Among the topics discussed will be - The history of the Church and science, including a wealth of details that get glossed over by the "conflict hypothesis" - Specific coverage of what went wrong between the Pope, cardinals, and Galileo, and why that's far from a typical example of how the Church treats scientists - The counterexample of George LeMaitre - Theological motivations *for* doing science from the perspective of the Christian faith - Insights from science that have enriched our appreciation of creation, the physical universe, and our own human origins - Catholic theology and speculation about the possibility of extraterrestrial life Find out more at: https://wordonfire.institute/faith-and-science-summit If you're a Word on Fire Institute member: https://wordonfire.institute/faith-and-science-summit-wofimembers

Dr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists. In this “part 5” of our interview, Dr. Lunine notes that planetary science was not always a distinct field. It drew upon components of astronomy or the geological study of the moon, for example. Astrobiology, with a goal of studying microbial life forms that may be found on exoplanets, is now at the point of relative infancy where planetary science stood about 50 years ago. Enceladus, one of the dozens of moons orbiting Saturn, is one site worth inspecting in the search for life. It could be based on carbon-bearing molecules different from those found in Earth life. The Cassini mission reported on plumes of water vapor and ice emanating from that moon. Dr. Lunine was part of a group proposing a mission called Enceladus Life Finder. Saturn’s moon Titan has seas filled with liquid methane. Could there be a form of biochemistry that works in liquid methane? It’s worth looking for, Dr. Lunine said. The Society of Catholic Scientists, with more than 1,000 members, is expanding its activities. The international group’s next annual meeting will consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the implications of such discoveries relevant to faith. The conference will be held in June 2020 at Providence College. Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

In this week's episode, we discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our own solar system. Dr. Lunine talked about extraterrestrial life. It’s very possible that at least microbial life exists on other planets, he said, but the chances of complex, multicellular life are much more difficult to estimate. We simply don't know what the possibilities are for life beyond the chemistry that it uses here on Earth. A potential tragedy that we would want to avoid at almost any cost would be the introduction of terrestrial microbes into a viable environment elsewhere, where they could become invasive species, grow and potentially outcompete the native life, which we would never get the chance to study and understand. NASA and other space agencies have policies in place to address this risk... hopefully, they will work. Dr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists. Christianity and Extraterrestrials?: A Catholic Perspective , by Marie George, is a book worth reading, Dr. Lunine said. He thanked all those who spoke at the 2019 conference of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and he commented on the high quality of the event. The website provides links to several TSSM episodes interviewing conference speakers. Watch videos of speakers here. Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

Dr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists. In this “part 3” of our interview, Dr. Lunine talked about exoplanets. The discovery of planets outside our Solar System has revolutionized planetary science. The Kepler space telescope mission, with its nine-year voyage which ended last year, made possible the detection of thousands of planets. It’s now understood, Lunine said, that planet formation is a common part of star formation. Lunine noted that Cornell University, where he is on the faculty, has many new avenues of astrophysics and planetary science research. The Carl Sagan Institute hosts a multidisciplinary team studying exoplanets. Half of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics went to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their discovery of the first exoplanet around an ordinary star. Image by ChadoNihi from Pixabay

Dr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists. In this “part 2” of our interview, Dr. Lunine cited the book Secularity and Science by Elaine Ecklund (mentioned and linked in episode 79) and co-authors. The perceived conflict between faith and science is largely a Western phenomenon, according to Ecklund’s research, and it’s especially visible in the United States. Elsewhere, cultural education more fully incorporates an education about religion, so these people are more comfortable with the integration of the two. He said Catholic news services and The Christian Science Monitor are among the organizations where journalists are more likely interested in the combination of topics in science and religion.

Dr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists. Here is information about the Vatican Observatory. It was one of the starting points for Lunine’s exploration of the compatibility between science and the Catholic faith. He met Stephen Barr in 2014, and this led to their discussions about establishing the Society of Catholic Scientists. Here is a talk given by Barr at the University of Chicago. Here is a talk by Lunine about Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest recognized as an originator of the Big Bang theory. In our conversation, Lunine described a presentation on Lemaitre that he gave at Cornell as a kind of “coming-out party” for him as a Catholic convert with his own story to tell. He has addressed Catholic students with the advice to share one’s faith story but to be judicious, following the practice of St. Paul, who adapted his messages to his audiences. A recommendation for discussions of faith: “There’s a time and a place for everything.” Lunine mentioned Elaine Ecklund, who has studied what scientists think about the American culture’s understanding that science and religion are incompatible. Harvard physicist Lisa Randall, who has said belief in God is incompatible with science, is an example of the resistance to faith that many scientists encounter in academia, Lunine said. Our culture gives much credibility to scientists, who owe it to their audiences to be clear about when they are speaking as individuals rather than scholarly experts. Lunine also mentioned the Thomistic Institute, which has a chapter on the Cornell campus founded by a graduate student. Part of the difficulty in the dialogue between science and religion is a popular but erroneous view that the Bible was intended to be a book of science. Here is a discussion of St. Augustine’s examination of this claim. Another challenge, Lunine said, is that our children generally grow up without a substantive education in religion.

Paul here. A short episode this week. We're taking a little time off to celebrate the milestone of releasing our last SCS 2019 conference speaker interview with Megan Levis last week. The pace of interviews is likely to slow a bit, but we have several that we're looking forward to. Next week we have Fr John Hollowell, an engaging priest, campus minister, prison chaplain, blogger and social media personality here in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. We will be talking to Jonathan Lunine again soon to further explore his fascinating perspective. Bill is in discussions with John Cavadini, theologian at Notre Dame, and hopefully we will get the chance to explore some issues related to education and culture from a Catholic perspective. Paul is also getting ready to record the first version of a talk on faith and science in his own life that he hopes to begin giving at colleges and perhaps parishes, which we will release here as well. Discussions are still underway for Gold Masses here in central Indiana. It's possible that Indiana University, IUPUI in Indianapolis, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Purdue University might have Gold Masses, depending on whether more people get involved and help make the events happen. Now some thoughts from Bill: Friends, this episode is a short, simple, heartfelt note befitting an approach that has been at the heart of “That’s So Second Millennium” right from its start nearly a year and half ago. The approach springs from the vision that prompted Dr. Paul Giesting to start this podcast and which resonated strongly with Bill Schmitt—yours truly, Paul’s co-host and the “show notes” writer. What is the vision? As Paul says at the beginning of each episode, “we look forward to the new synthesis in the new millennium between faith, philosophy and science.” We seek to celebrate continuous inquiry in all three fields by talking with great guests about how their own pursuits of knowledge and wisdom have brought deeper, broader insights from which we all can benefit. There’s good reason to pursue the benefit because this third millennium has brought us more challenging questions which must be addressed with a full toolkit for understanding. Inspired by our passion to spread updated, holistic, well-grounded understanding of many aspects of human life, visible and invisible, this podcast aims to generate authentic conversations with you, our listeners. The authenticity includes candor about another aspect of life in this millennium (or any millennium): It’s tough out there on Planet Earth. One must give voice to the frustrations marking our past, present and future as earthen vessels who are called to carry forward graces inextricably submerged in mystery. Paul’s inviting us to share the frustration and mystery with him in order to deepen our conversations. It’s our intention to continue expanding the conversations on our side of the podcast. If we don’t do that, there’s no chance to help achieve the synthesis that can bring greater happiness and healing in our very exciting world of cracked pots. Paul outlines some of our planned interviews and collaborations as an invitation for greater outreach on your side of the podcast. Let’s keep the amazing momentum of 77 episodes going and growing!

In this episode we have Jonathan Lunine on the podcast, this time talking to him about his own spiritual journey from Judaism to Catholic Christianity, and from the secular surface of life as a scientist to a deeper life where the beauty of science is one prominent part of a larger whole of human experience. We also get the chance to discuss some of his work in studying the planets during the era when they changed from objects seen through a telescope to worlds we can map and even sample and bring back to our laboratories. Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist at Cornell University, is a member of the board of the Society of Catholic Scientists. He spoke of the influence of reading Carl Sagan’s The Cosmic Connection and receiving Sagan’s advice for pursuing a career in astronomy. Dr. Lunine has been on the scientific teams leading several missions of space exploration, including Cassini and, now, the James Webb Space Telescope. He described his early spiritual journey, seeing how science and religion could be intertwined. The journey took him from Jewish family roots to a Methodist church and then to Catholicism. He spoke of being impressed by the connection between the Catholic faith and its Jewish roots. Astronomers have been excited to learn of the abundance of planets to be found in our galaxy. As Dr. Lunine pointed out, thanks to initiatives like the New Horizons spacecraft, we have turned our “cosmic backyard” into a place where we can study an enormous variety of geology “and even, potentially, biology.” He expressed gratitude for astronomers and others who became role models embracing the compatibility between science and faith. A key figure, about whom he has made presentations, is the Belgian priest Georges LeMaitre, known as the father of the big bang theory. This was one of our most enjoyable conversations, and we definitely hope to have Dr. Lunine back on the podcast again.

We had more insane audio problems on this episode; Paul's audio from Zencastr was unusable. I had to record a new introduction and first question, then splice in our backup recording from Zoom. Jonathan Lunine is a prominent planetary scientist. He teaches at Cornell and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; he has won a Urey award and holds a number of other academic distinctions. He worked with the radar and other instruments on the Cassini mission to Saturn and is co-investigator on the Juno mission now in orbit at Jupiter as well as on the MISE instrument for the Europa Clipper mission. He is on the science team for the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on characterization of extrasolar planets and Kuiper Belt objects. I opened the interview by asking his side of the story of the beginning of the Society of Catholic Scientists. We discuss its growth so far and how it is reaching the point where hopefully more members will become involved in planning and carrying out activities. We discussed the overall trajectory of conference themes so far. (Remember, kids, two points may suffice to draw a straight line, but not to define a trend!) The first SCS conference topic was Origins (mostly of the physical universe). The second focused on the Human Mind and Physicalism. This third one zooms out somewhat again and covers humanity more broadly, and touches on two hot-button points: - If we have all these distinctively human features (consciousness, free will, etc.), is there any way of knowing when in absolute, archeological/geological time those came into existence? - Given all our biological and electronic capabilities, we can change our own bodies and brains in radical ways, and these capabilities are only going to grow. Where should we stop? What channels should these abilities be directed into, and where do the dikes belong? Jonathan hopes that the diversity of speakers, not just from different sciences but across the science-facing pieces of the humanities, will become a hallmark of the SCS conferences: a place where badly needed interdisciplinary conversations are fostered. We discuss the difficulties inherent in our siloing, not just of academic disciplines, but of journalism, too. Once again, SCS conference will happen June 7-9 at the University of Notre Dame. We will be providing bonus episodes during the conference as we discuss the topics and speakers with conference attendees, and will have breakdowns of the conference and speaker interviews rolling out over the ensuing weeks. Also be sure to check the SCS website for videos of the actual talks!

Enceladus is the best candidate in our solar system to find extraterrestrial life - so why has NASA not yet funded a mission there? Jonathan Lunine is at the forefront of planetary research and the Principal Investigator of the Enceladus Life Finder (ELF) mission - a missionthat has been proposed to NASA to find out if aliens exist on Saturns moon Enceladus. Based on the hardest science we have.

We welcome Stephen Barr back to the show. We are humbled and delighted to be your podcast hosts for the Society of Catholic Scientists Conference 2019 and hopefully beyond. In that context, today we interview Dr. Barr about his experience as a writer and speaker on the relationship between Catholic faith and science that led up to an eventful conversation between himself and Jonathan Lunine. He discusses the formation of the Society of Catholic Scientists in 2016 and the conferences they immediately began holding in 2017. Credit should be given to First Things for giving him a platform to become known to the wider community, and the Lumen Christi Institute for being instrumental in putting together the logistics for the first SCS conference in Chicago. If you are a Catholic scientist, whether a student or a graduate, there is still time to register for the Society and the conference coming up June 7-9 at Notre Dame. The deadline for registration is May 15.

This talk was offered at UC Berkeley on April 8th, 2019. For more information on upcoming TI events, visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events/the-search-for-life-beyond-earth Speak Bio: Jonathan I. Lunine is The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences at Cornell University and Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, His research focuses on astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, he serves as Interdisciplinary Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope project and is a coinvestigator on the Juno mission currently in orbit around Jupiter. Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2014 recipient of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union. He is the author of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach and Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World. Lunine obtained a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester (1980), an M.S. (1983) and a Ph.D. (1985) in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology. He lives in Ithaca New York, where he is a member of St. Catherine of Siena parish. In 2016 Lunine helped to found the Society of Catholic Scientists and currently serves as its vice president.

Jonathan Lunine, astronomy professor and director, Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell University, examines the origin of our planet’s water.

Jonathan Lunine (Cornell University) delivered this lecture on October 31, 2018 at the University of Chicago. To view the video of the lecture, which includes the Q and A, please visit lumenchristi.org/event/2018/10/georges-lemaitre-his-science-faith-why-hubble-s-law-ought-to-be-renamed-jonathan-lunine.

Carl Sagan inspired him to embark a career that would lead him to some of NASA's most important missions. Listen to our podcast interview with one of the leading Catholic Christian astronomers, Professor Jonathan Lunine, PhD. In this episode, we discuss with him the exciting possibility of finding alien life, right in our own solar system, living on the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. We also discuss his journey into the top echelon of science, starting with being a child of wonder growing up in New York City to spending decades working on the teams responsible for some of the most successful and longest running space exploration missions in NASA history. Dr. Lunine's science journey included Carl Sagan and Francis Drake, but it was also journey that almost did not happen -- if not for a spare ticket to a science talk. We'll also hear his decades long journey to faith, from a Jewish family to an Arizona preacher to Vatican astronomers. Prof. Jonathan Lunine's biography: http://www.purposenation.org/jonathan-lunine-phd The organization Prof Lunine founded along with Stephen Barr, PhD: https://www.catholicscientists.org/ Books recommended by Prof. Lunine: "How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard" by Aurora Griffin: https://www.ignatius.com/Products/SCH-P/how-i-stayed-catholic-at-harvard.aspx "God's Mechanics" by Guy Consolmagno: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118087313/

Jonathan Lunine from the University of Rome discusses Titan in this short course (May 25, 2010).

Jonathan Lunine from the University of Rome discusses Titan in this short course (May 25, 2010).

Jonathan Lunine from the University of Rome discusses Titan in this short course (May 25, 2010).

Jonathan Lunine from the University of Rome discusses Titan in this short course (May 25, 2010).

On 14 January 2005, the European Space Agency probe Huygens made a spectacular touch-down on Saturn’s enigmatic moon titan, and an international team of scientists continues to analyse data radioed back during Huygens’s 2-1/-hour descent. This week, the 42nd Cassini-Huygens project science group meeting is being held in Athens, Greece. Scientists are expected to announce many new findings based on an in-depth analysis of Huygens data and on comparisons between Huygens data and results recently gathered by Cassini, which continues to explore the Saturn system and gather images of Titan. ESAPod speaks with Dr Jonathan Lunine, a Cassini interdisciplinary scientist at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, USA.ESApod audio programme