When the Map Is Wrong cover
Part of seriesLimits of Habitability StoryThe Goldilocks Problem · Episode 2 of 2
New to this series? Start from Episode 1.1

When the Map Is Wrong

Researchers

Sep 13, 2026·16 min·Audio

In 2013, a group of scientists sat down to redraw the habitable zone using better physics and better data, and when they finished, something unsettling had happened. Earth, our one confirmed living planet, was suddenly right at the edge. This episode is about what happens when a "settled" scientific concept gets unsettled. And about a second finding, hiding in the same recalculation, that quietly changed the question the field was really asking.

More like this from other labs