# The search for microscopic aliens

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED Fellows: Shape Your Future
- Speaker: Sarah Rugheimer
- Year: 2021
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Biology, Astronomy and space
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_rugheimer_the_search_for_microscopic_aliens)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Sarah Rugheimer searches for aliens -- but not the cartoony green kind. She's looking for extraterrestrial microbes by studying how these single-celled organisms emit gases, which could reveal evidence of them throughout the cosmos. Wondering if we're really alone in the universe, Rugheimer identifies two big hurdles to confirming life on another world and offers insight into what finding it might mean for us.

## Lectures

1. [The search for microscopic aliens](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/sarah_rugheimer_the_search_for_microscopic_aliens/9fd589cf66d5), 6 min (TED's player)