Outreach, blog and press
Our work made accessible through news media and blog posts
The Tartan Tardigrade
Mia Frothingham, PhD student in the PPG, runs the UK Centre for Astrobiology's podcast, the Tartan Tardigrade — in which Mia and other scientists from the UKCA talk to guests from around the world about their research in astrobiology, their careers, and life in the universe.. You can find this here, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Selected outreach
September 2025: Signs of life may have been found in Martian rock - Sean McMahon in The Conversation
January 2025: Do aliens exist? We studied what scientists really think - Sean McMahon in The Conversation
July 2024: Has Nasa found evidence of life on Mars? - Sean McMahon in The Conversation
April 2023: Sean and Mia featured in the BBC's Sky at Night television programme: The Search for Alien Life.
March 2022: Sean speaks at the Oxford Union
Selected recent press
October 2025: 88% des scientifiques croient en une vie extraterrestre - Sciences et Avenir
March 2023: Press release: "Fossil site is 'Rosetta Stone' for understanding early life".
Coverage: Express, Sciences Avenir, The National, Yahoo! News
January 2022: Sean quoted in New Scientist: "Bacteria survive extremes that may have existed in ancient Mars lakes" by Chen Ly.
November 2021: Press release: "Life on Mars search could be misled by false fossils".
Coverage: The Independent, Forbes, MSN, Cosmos Magazine, Daily Mail, The Register
May 2021: Sean quoted in: "Signs of Ancient Microbial Life Abundant in Earth's Crust: Study" by Catherine Offord @ The Scientist.
February 2021: Sean quoted in New Scientist: "Deepest land-dwelling microbes found at bottom of 5km hole in China" by Colin Barras [paywall].
February 2021: Sean quoted in: "Fossil mimics may be more common in ancient rocks than actual fossils" by Carolyn Gramling @ Science News.
January 2021: Press release: "Fossils shed light on puzzle that vexed Darwin".
Coverage: IFLScience
Sean's blog
3rd August 2022: New work: origins, habitability, false biosignatures
13th July 2021: New collaboration: philosophy of astrobiology
28th October 2020: Astrobiology before astrobiologists
18th October 2020: New paper: could we find life's fingerprints in mineral veins on Mars?