Professor Clara Sousa-Silva is a quantum astrochemist at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, and, no, I don’t know what she does for a living apart from teaching something unknowable. Dr Sousa-Silva’s favorite molecule is phosphine because it’s formed by life. You find that sucker on another planet, and boom chock-a-lock-a, you maybe find life (never mind that it smells like rotting fish). This is the point in science stories where I fall off the astrochemical sled since it’s usually followed by a quote like, “Molecules behave on a quantum level, and they interact with light on a quantum level,” Sousa-Silva says. “I’m using quantum behavior of molecules — so, chemistry — to study space.” Still, she’s on to something and here’s what it is.
© 2024 John Oliver
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