Let’s introduce Dr. Dante Lauretta to our audience! Who are you? If you had to describe yourself in 1 sentence, what would you say?

I am, at heart, an explorer driven by an insatiable curiosity to venture where no one has gone before, whether that’s unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos or tackling profound questions about the origin of life and the nature of consciousness.

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What are the most

A- Fascinating research

B- Impactful research

C- Fun and whimsical research

You are leading these days?

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Fascinating research: One of the most fascinating areas of research for me right now is astrobiology, especially the profound mystery of life itself. While life surrounds us, when you start to dig into the details, it becomes clear how little we actually understand about some of the most fundamental concepts—like what life really is and how it originated. It’s both daunting and exciting to confront these questions. We take life for granted, yet we’re still on the frontier of comprehending its true nature, especially in the context of the broader cosmos. I find it exhilarating to explore the potential for life beyond Earth and how the building blocks of life might be scattered across the universe.

Impactful research: The OSIRIS-REx mission is by far the most impactful research I’ve been involved with. The samples from asteroid Bennu provide us with a record of the early solar system, including prebiotic chemistry that may offer crucial insights into how the building blocks of life formed. Beyond that, the mission has broader implications for planetary defense, helping us understand how to mitigate the threat of hazardous asteroids in the future. It also opens doors to the potential of asteroid mining, with the valuable resources locked inside these space rocks, and contributes to our fundamental knowledge in astronomy. The mission not only pushes the boundaries of planetary science but has real-world applications that could shape humanity's future.

Fun and whimsical research: One of the most fun and whimsical aspects of my work has been designing the *Xtronaut* board game. I wanted to create a way to engage people of all ages with space exploration in an interactive, playful way. The game allows players to build and launch their own space missions, simulating the real-world challenges of planetary exploration. It was a creative outlet for me, blending my love for space science with game design. Developing *Xtronaut* and its follow-up games has been an enjoyable and quirky side project, allowing me to connect with the public in a unique way—while also sneaking in a bit of science education along the way!

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Consciousness… what a mystery. Can cosmology help us crack the code?

With colleagues Stuart Hameroff and Anirban Bandyopadhyay, we explore the fascinating idea that consciousness might have existed before life began, and that quantum physics could help us understand both. Building on the work of Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, we suggest that consciousness arises from quantum processes—tiny, almost magical events happening inside cells, particularly in structures called microtubules. These processes allow particles to exist in multiple states at once before collapsing into one outcome, and this collapse might be what generates conscious experience.

This theory could also help explain how our brains merge all the information from our senses—sight, sound, touch—into one coherent, conscious experience. Quantum mechanics, with its ability to unify different possibilities into a single reality, may be key to understanding this.

We also discuss how molecules from ancient asteroids, like those found in the samples returned from Bennu, show patterns and behaviors that might point to early signs of life and even consciousness. These molecules exhibit quantum-like behaviors, such as vibrations and repeating patterns, that could have played a role in the very first steps of life on Earth. If true, this suggests that consciousness might have been part of life’s journey from the very beginning, guiding its evolution.

By connecting ideas from quantum physics, biology, and cosmology, our work aims to take us closer to answering one of humanity’s biggest questions: where does consciousness come from, and how is it connected to the universe?

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Bennu, an ancient asteroid from the early solar system, is like the ultimate time capsule. What’s the craziest, most mind-blowing thing we’ve discovered from it so far?

One of the most exciting discoveries from the Bennu samples is the detection of magnesium-sodium phosphate material. Phosphates are incredibly important because they form the backbone of DNA and RNA, the molecules essential for life, and are also crucial for energy processes in cells. Finding these phosphates on Bennu offers a glimpse into the types of chemical environments that may have been necessary for the origin of life, both on Earth and potentially on other planets or moons.

What makes this discovery even more fascinating is that these phosphates are similar to those found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which has a subsurface ocean. This suggests that distant places in our solar system might share similar chemical processes, creating environments where the building blocks of life could form.

On Bennu, these phosphates likely formed when water interacted with its rocky material, filling cracks and voids. By studying these samples, we can better understand how phosphates became concentrated in water-rich environments, which is key to understanding how life might have started. This discovery could help us unlock not just the history of Bennu, but also the conditions that may have led to life on Earth—and perhaps on other worlds like Enceladus.

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AI…AI…AI…is AI doing anything useful in your field as a planetary scientist?

AI is playing an increasingly exciting role in planetary science, and one of the best examples from the OSIRIS-REx mission is the Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) system. Bennu turned out to be far rockier and more hazardous than we expected, making a manual landing almost impossible. That’s where the NFT system came in—using advanced image recognition, it allowed the spacecraft to autonomously navigate Bennu’s unpredictable surface and zero in on the perfect spot for sample collection.

NFT works by comparing real-time images of Bennu’s terrain with preloaded maps, using surface features as landmarks. As the spacecraft approached, NFT adjusted its course in real time to ensure it avoided obstacles and landed in a safe area. This system was crucial for our success, as it let the spacecraft 'see' Bennu and make rapid decisions with pinpoint accuracy.

Now, while the NFT system is incredibly advanced, it’s more of a high-powered navigation tool than a true AI system. Unlike AI that learns and adapts, NFT uses pre-programmed algorithms for real-time decision-making based on known data. But it shows how close we are to fully integrating AI into space exploration—and as AI continues to evolve, its potential for autonomous data analysis and even detecting signs of life could be revolutionary for future missions.

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If you could design an experiment without any limitations of time or money, what would it be?

If I could design an experiment without any limitations of time or money, it would be the ultimate solar system sampling mission. Cosmochemistry is a dynamic field with a bright future, and at the forefront of solar system exploration are missions like Hayabusa2, which returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu, and OSIRIS-REx, which successfully collected material from asteroid Bennu. These missions have already provided groundbreaking insights into the building blocks of our solar system, but there’s so much more to discover.

My dream experiment would expand on these successes by sending spacecraft to systematically collect samples from every corner of the solar system—not just asteroids and comets, but also more challenging targets like Venus, Mercury, the Galilean moons, and the icy bodies of the outer solar system. Each of these celestial objects holds unique clues to the solar system’s formation and evolution, and many remain unexplored at the detailed, geochemical level.

With unlimited resources, we could send highly autonomous spacecraft equipped with advanced robotics and AI to these distant bodies. They would return samples to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis, much like Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, but on a much larger scale. This comprehensive geologic inventory would allow us to piece together the chemical history of the solar system—from the fiery beginnings of Mercury and Venus to the potential for life in the oceans of Europa and Enceladus.

The success of recent sample-return missions shows us what’s possible, but the ultimate experiment would bring back samples from every major body in the solar system. This would be humanity’s most ambitious scientific endeavor, revealing the full history of planetary formation, the processes that shaped our world, and perhaps even the origins of life itself.

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‍If you could have a superhero power, what would it be?

If I could have any superhero power, I would want the ability to commune with the universal mind—the collective consciousness or intelligence that holds all the answers to the most challenging questions in the universe. Imagine instantly understanding the deepest mysteries of the cosmos: the origins of life, the nature of consciousness, the forces that shaped the solar system, and even the fabric of reality itself.

With this power, I could tap into the knowledge of the universe in real time, unraveling complex scientific puzzles and pushing the boundaries of what humanity knows. It would allow me to explore not just the physical universe, but also the fundamental questions of existence, bridging the gap between science, philosophy, and the unknown. The pursuit of knowledge is what drives me, and this power would be the ultimate key to unlocking the secrets of the cosmos.

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Mystery dinner party… Dead or Alive, who would be 3 guests you would invite to your dinner party?

If I could invite anyone, dead or alive, to a dinner party, I’d choose John Wheeler, Claude Shannon, and Buddha. It would be an unforgettable gathering of minds, blending science, information theory, and spirituality.

John Wheeler, the legendary physicist, brought us profound concepts like 'it from bit,' where he suggested that at the fundamental level, everything in the universe might be made of information. His insights into quantum mechanics and the nature of reality would ignite fascinating discussions about the fabric of the cosmos and consciousness.

Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, would complement Wheeler’s ideas by exploring how information shapes the universe. His pioneering work laid the groundwork for modern computing and communications, but I’d be most curious to hear his thoughts on how information plays a role in the evolution of life and the complexity of systems—from the micro to the macro scale.

Finally, Buddha would bring a perspective beyond science, focused on the nature of consciousness and the human experience. His insights into mindfulness, suffering, and the interconnectedness of all things would round out the conversation, grounding the scientific ideas in the deeper questions of existence and purpose.

With these three brilliant minds at the table, the conversation would span the full spectrum—from the fundamental nature of reality and information to the mysteries of life, consciousness, and the universe.

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Question from the previous guest: What is the most exciting discovery you've made that you did not expect?

The most exciting discovery I didn’t expect was realizing that Bennu is a fragment of an ancient ocean world. This finding suggests that large bodies of water were present in the early solar system, much earlier and more widespread than we previously thought. Bennu’s serpentinization—where water interacts with rock to produce hydrogen and heat—and its carbonate-rich environments may have been key locations for prebiotic evolution, the very processes that might have led to the origins of life.

This discovery opens up new possibilities for understanding how and where life could have begun, not just on Earth, but potentially elsewhere in the solar system. It’s thrilling to think that studying this small asteroid could help us piece together the larger puzzle of how life emerged, using environments that may have once harbored oceans and provided the right conditions for life's building blocks to form.