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Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch received his Ph.D. in geosciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Afterwards he took up a fellowship at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, worked as Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, and later as Associate and Full Professor at Washington State University. In 2010 he received the Friedrich-Wilhelm Bessel Award from the Humboldt Foundation for extraordinary achievements in theoretical biology. Since 2013 he is a faculty member at the Technical University Berlin in Germany and holds a professorship for planetary habitability and astrobiology, leading the Astrobiology Research Group. He still is Adjunct Professor at Washington State University and also an Associate Member of SETI. Dirk published more than 200 papers and eight books in the field of planetary habitability and astrobiology, including the 3rd edition of Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints and The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds, first published in 2017. Since 2016, Dirk is President of the German Astrobiological Society and Council Member of the European Astrobiology Network. He gave interviews in scientific television documentaries such as National Geographic and Discovery Channel (USA), NHK-TV (Japan), ARD and RTL (Germany), and reports about his research appeared in media and news outlets such as Science, Popular Science, Discovery Magazine, New Scientist, World Science, Natural History Magazine, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, etc. More information can be found on his website.

dirk schulze-makuch

Three children stand under a mysterious green light in a suburban street at night, looking upward. Floating objects are illuminated around them.

If aliens visit Earth, let’s hope they’ve overcome their savage past

Here’s the dark side of first contact.

Aerial image of a Martian landscape with rough, textured surface featuring blue and reddish-brown hues marked by undulating ridges and valleys.

“Follow the salt”: A new strategy for finding life on Mars

Scientists might be looking for Martian life in the wrong place.

Six images of lunar craters including Centra Mare Fecunditatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Ingenii, Southweast, Schlieter Crater, Highland 1, Highland 2, and Mare Smth.

Finding caves on the Moon is great. On Mars? Even better.

The recent discovery of a large cave on the Moon highlights the importance of caves not just for future space explorers but astrobiology as well.

Close-up of a brown beetle viewed from the side under a microscope, showing its detailed body structure against a plain white background.

Extreme dormancy helps life survive on Earth — and possibly alien planets

A long view of biological survival might point us to new possibilities for finding life elsewhere in the Universe.

Black and white image of the moon's surface covered with numerous craters of varying sizes under a stark black sky.

How China’s Moon mission could reveal the origins of life on Earth

The Moon is the most likely place for evidence from the dawn of life on Earth to be preserved in cold storage.

A view of Earth from space with a bright sunburst at the planet's edge. Stars and a dark expanse of space serve as the background.

The “Goldilocks zone” of habitable planets is likely outdated. Here’s why.

The number of planets that could support life may be far greater than previously thought, a recent discovery suggests.

A collage depicting a radio telescope on the left and an abstract celestial body on the right, separated by a vertical band of black and white dashes.

The case for stopping efforts to contact aliens

Since 1962, humanity has been sending messages into space with the intent to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. Are those efforts worth the risks?

Artwork of a giant spider attacking a city, with buildings in flames and text in japanese.

Could our first alien contact be with intelligent spiders?

Aliens are often portrayed in popular culture as humanoid. But in reality, intelligent extraterrestrials might take far stranger forms.

Nasa's curiosity rover on mars.

How to get Mars life-detection missions back on track

The case for why NASA should pivot to searching for current — not ancient — signs of life.

A black background with the earth in the foreground.

Life in the Universe: It’s either everywhere or nowhere

Two scientists recently wagered a bottle of whiskey. The bet? Whether we’ll find evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life in the next 15 years.

An image of the Martian surface.

How AI could help the hunt for life on Mars

Sophisticated rovers have found the conditions for Martian life, as well as the building blocks of life, but never life itself. AI can help.

A mummy inside a casket found in Mexico.

Life

How could we tell if those “alien bodies” in Mexico are legit?

Every astrobiologist wants to find an alien. But the public should be skeptical when the “aliens” look like tiny humans.

a red planet with stars in the background.

We might have accidentally killed the only life we ever found on Mars nearly 50 years ago

In one experiment, the Viking landers added water to Martian soil samples. That might have been a very bad idea.

a picture of a mountain with a blue circle in the middle.

A new Earth-sized, volcanic planet is a good candidate for harboring life

Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.

a painting of a green and a blue planet.

Is there a planet out there even better than Earth?

“Superhabitable” planets might be real, but Earth is probably as good as it gets.

a futuristic living room with a large round window.

Humanity’s long-term survival requires space colonization

Does humanity have a moral imperative to seed life on lifeless worlds? And should we avoid colonizing a planet if life already exists there?

alpha centauri

The hunt for life in Alpha Centauri

This oddball system of three stars might be our best chance at finding nearby life in the Universe.

a group of people standing in front of a large UFO

Why aliens are likely to be AI

Perhaps we should be searching for “other Mercurys” rather than “other Earths.”

a very cute looking animal with a button on it's head.

Life

How tardigrades and other extremophiles adapt to alien-like environments

At least one of Earth’s creatures is able to survive the vacuum of space.

How will the world end, naturally or by our own hands?

The nature of civilizational threats has changed in a mere decade.

Curiosity rover on Mars

How the “Face on Mars” and other false positives impact the search for alien life

We may have discovered alien life already but rejected the evidence too quickly because it seemed false at first glance.

iceberg antarctica

Is there life on our Solar System’s icy moons? Extreme places on Earth may hold clues

Some microbes can withstand Earth’s most inhospitable corners, hinting that life may be able to survive similarly extreme conditions on other worlds.

Where is everybody? A new hope for solving the Fermi Paradox

If life is common in the Universe, then where is everybody? Known as the Fermi Paradox, a new project may help solve the riddle.

life io

There could be life on hot, volcanic Io, Jupiter’s “pizza moon”

On Earth, microbial growth is common in lava tubes no matter the location and climate, whether it’s ice-volcano interactions in Iceland or hot, sand-floored lava tubes in Saudi Arabia.

What sort of ethics would aliens practice?

If aliens are driven mostly by biological imperatives, humanity could be in big trouble if we ever meet technologically advanced beings.

What dead whales can teach us about finding aliens on Mars

Dead whales inspire a way to find extraterrestrial life on Mars.

moon base

We could do some amazing science with a human base on the Moon

From astrobiology to geology, a Moon base could serve as a laboratory unlike anything on Earth.

Life

Who — or what — would survive an all-out nuclear war?

Scorpions would probably survive.

mars life

Life

Newly found organic molecules on Mars raise the question: Did life make them?

Organic molecules can be produced by living or non-living systems. But the recent findings are very intriguing.

Why technologically advanced aliens would have to be social creatures

Cooperation was the first technology.