January 19, 2027 | Dr. Scott Saleska

"Endless Forms Most Beautiful:" From Microbes to Forests and the Making of a Living Planet

Journey backward through time—from the human-dominated planet of today, through the rise of forests and the transformation of Earth’s atmosphere, to the earliest stirrings of life itself. Along the way, a scientific narrative of theory and evidence alternates with a classical music performance that responds to and reimagines the same great transformations: the emergence of complexity from simplicity, the evolution of photosynthesis and an oxygen-rich world, and the extraordinary interplay between life and the non-living Earth.

In this talk, Dr. Scott Saleska, Professor at the University of Arizona, will present his collaboration with classical pianist Simone Gorete Machado, Professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, that explores how Darwin’s “endless forms most beautiful” have transformed our planet—and how one of those forms in particular, humanity, drives new transformations today. 

January 26, 2027 | Dr. Barbara Carrapa

Plate Tectonics and Life on Earth: From Volcanoes to Whales and Capybaras

Earth is special because it sustains life—and plate tectonics is the key ingredient: it builds mountains that shape life, from capybaras crossing continents to volcanic nutrients sustaining marine ecosystems and whales.

In this talk, Dr. Barbara Carrapa, Professor at the University of Arizona, will explore how Earth’s active tectonics has shaped Earth’s surface controlling the migration and productivity of life on land and in the oceans. From mountains that create barriers and pathways for mammals to volcanoes that deliver nutrients to the sea, plate tectonics influences evolution, climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity on a planetary scale. These connections reveal the profound role of tectonic processes in shaping the history of life and why our active planet is unlike any other planet we know. 

February 9, 2027 | Dr. Dante Lauretta

Asteroid Bennu: From Stardust to the Origins of Life

How did the ingredients for life become part of a young planet like Earth? Some of the answers may be preserved in asteroid Bennu, a small world that contains a rich record of ancient minerals, water-driven chemistry, and organic compounds that formed before the planets themselves were complete.

In this talk, Dr. Dante Lauretta, Regents Professor at the University of Arizona, will take audiences inside NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, from the journey to Bennu and the dramatic collection and return of its sample to the remarkable discoveries now emerging from material brought back to Earth. It’s a story that begins with stardust, continues through the formation of asteroids and planets, and ultimately leads to one of humanity’s deepest questions: How did our solar system give rise to a living world?

February 16, 2027 | Dr. Brian Schmidt

From the Big Bang Until the End of Time: Element Creation and Cosmic Epoch of Earths

How did a sterile universe of fundamental particles become one capable of building rocky worlds and living organisms? Every atom on Earth, and every planet capable of supporting life, is the product of a cosmic supply chain stretching back to the Big Bang.

In this talk, Dr. Brian Schmidt, a University of Arizona alum and 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics recipient, will explore how the creation and accumulation of chemical elements over the Universe’s history transformed a sterile universe of fundamental particles into one capable of building stars, rocky planets and living organisms. We inhabit a specific, ephemeral time in cosmic history where conditions for Earth-like planets are near their peak. By tracing the elemental baseline back to primordial nucleosynthesis and looking ahead to the eventual cessation of star formation, we examine why Earth exists today, and why this cosmic window for life will not last forever.