Can Life Exist Around Red Dwarf Stars?

Red Dwarfs will be the longest living stars in the Universe. Many of them have planetary systems, like the famous Trappist-1. But there is a big problem, as red dwarfs can emit mega-flares which could render planets uninhabitable. Finding out, if there is any hope for finding life and how can we study red dwarfs better with Dr Ward Howard.

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00:00 Intro
01:31 How bad are red dwarf flares
16:28 How to solve the flares problem
21:43 Lifecycle of red dwarfs and their planets
30:02 Any hope for life?
35:25 Brown dwarf
36:40 Our place in the Universe
41:21 Future of explanatory research

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[angie]

When I was a kid Cosmos was about the only thing that we had for good science content on TV and I remember watching Carl Sagan give a demonstration of finding a planet by watching the light of the star dim and finding a planet by watching the star wobble. And I remember him saying to those kids who were all about my age "when you're my age you will know for all the nearest Stars whether or not there are planets." And I love to think that people who are in the early part of their life now will know by the time they're my age whether or not there's life on those planets. It's absolutely wild that in my lifetime we have gone from no known exoplanets to 5, 000.

[animistchannel]

Wonderful conversation! Also, I really liked having your closing comments/summation at the end while the credits rolled off to the side. Great production choice! Yes, we tune in for the expertise of your interviewees; but as a long-time overviewer of the field, your own thoughts on the process of the process, as it were, are also greatly valued. At this point, your own perspectives on the state of the field are entirely valuable content as well.

[maxmanlyman]

Amazing interview as always, thank you Fraser I always enjoy the depth of your 1h long interviews.
One thing I find troubling with the whole ozone layer depletion, sterilizing uvc radiation narrative is that when we consider: earths primordial atmosphere and second atmosphere did not contain significant amounts of oxygen and therefore could not contribute to any ozone layer, yet life still flourished and let to the ancestors of cyanobacteria generate oxygen and subsequently led to the build-up of an ozone layer. How does this fit together. Maybe this question could be addressed in one of your upcoming question answers. Much appreciated, thank you!

[dahbrezel]

Wow I think this is one of the most interesting interviews I have seen on this channel. Really enjoyable to watch!

[nerufer]

haha, patience for decades yes, but please in our lifetime.
All in all this interview gave me hope. Because I thought the Trappist 1 data was already collected and wasn't what we all hoped for, and that was why we hadnt heared anything yet. After hearing this interview im not so sure its that, but rather its more in the realm of; its really hard to give an accurate enough result to the public. We don't want another Venus phosphine maybe result. Btw, I had my hopes on Trappist1-e, but he kept mentioning g. I thought that was surprising. Thnx Fraser for the excellent and timely interview on Trappist 1!

[cafaque]

Holy cow, this kid is amazing. good job Dr Howard!

[SeaTacDelta]

This was a great interview. Audio was fantastic as well. Thanks, other guests should use this as an example of excellent guest audio. This made it enjoyable to listen to.

[Roguescienceguy]

Doctor Howard you got my two thumbs up for the clear explanation. It frustrated me to no avail that scientists were hyping up earthlike planets around red dwarfs. The probability for life around red dwarfs in the habitable zone is damn near zero. A large moon circling a neptunelike planet at the outer edge of the habitable zone might harbour some simple lifeforms though. That's why Doctor Kipping is soo passionate about exomoons f.e.
Fraser, the dimethylsulfidedetection had a sigma of 1, 5. Shouldn't even been mentioned actually.

[I.amthatrealJuan]

Fraser asked the questions I would have liked to ask within the first five minutes. Very nice

[jamesw]

Super interesting, this guy was good! (Ward)

[annoyed]

This reinforces the importance of K type stars.

[Tayken]

If red dwarfs aren't habitable, at least not yet (they may calm down in their old age, the universe just isn't old enough yet), then it could go a long way to solving the Fermi Paradox or at least ameliorating it!

[karlpk]

Great interview, Fraser, of Howell who comes across as both extremely knowledgeable and personable. I bet he is a great teacher. Of course Howell underscores the key problem in astrophysics, cosmology and exoplanet research: too many great thoughtful ideas, not enough resources. David Kipping of the Cool Worlds channel, and a true YouTube star, did a brief vid on his team’s proposal for time on JWST being rejected. You ought to have him on your podcast. As for Howell, I wish him luck. But he’s right most likely: Mom and Dad are probably going to say no.

[lurkstr]

loved this interview, Doc Howard was fascinating!

[CokeCheese]

in a few decades, Red Dwarf stars have gone from potentially the best place to find life, to, can life even exist around them? I'm guessing there is a miniscule green zone around the outer boundaries of older, less active Red Dwarfs. The world would likely be cold, but potentially green and possibly not tidally locked. Ideally speaking.

[rJaune]

Again with the great interviews! Besides, flares, exomoons, and new telescope quirks, is there anything else that can hamper a clean exoplanet signal?

[karlputz]

Are you and JMG the same person, just doing back-to-back interviews for different channels? I think this is the second in a row!

[BitcoinMeister]

Dr. Howard pulling off a nice double header! Event Horizon and now this channel!

[CaliforniaBushman]

Most Earth Mass & higher exoplanets could have much thicker (Venus Density) atmospheres. Earth's being very thin, giving Trappist D - H... radius orbits around larger (0.3+Solar Mass) Red Dwarfs a much better chance of survival.

[BlueNeonBeasty]

this was such a fascinating interview 💚