According to science.org, we’ve likely only found about half of the “city-killer” asteroids, which are objects larger than 140 meters in diameter. To solve this, NASA is launching the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, a space-based asteroid hunter designed to spot large objects that could hit Earth. The key mission is to find asteroids hiding in the Sun’s glare, a major blind spot for ground telescopes. Separately, research from Harvard Ph.D. candidate Wendy Valencia-Montoya suggests infrared radiation might be the oldest cue plants use to attract pollinators, even more ancient than color. This week’s episode of the podcast was produced with help from Podigy, featuring guests Robin George Andrews and Wendy Valencia-Montoya.
The sun-proof asteroid hunter
Here’s the thing about looking for asteroids from Earth: the Sun is a massive problem. Our star’s glare completely washes out a huge zone of the sky, creating a perfect hiding spot for space rocks on potentially dangerous orbits. That’s why putting a telescope like the Near-Earth Object Surveyor in space is such a game-changer. It can stare in directions we simply can’t from the ground. So, finding that missing 50% of city-killers isn’t just about counting rocks. It’s about finally getting a complete map of potential threats. Think of it as turning on the lights in the cosmic blind spot.
A hotter, older language
Now, the plant-pollinator story is fascinating because it flips the script on how we think about these relationships. We always focus on bright colors and patterns, right? But what if, long before flowers evolved vivid petals, they were having heated conversations? Wendy Valencia-Montoya’s work points to infrared radiation—basically, heat—as a potential ancient signal. It’s a cue that doesn’t rely on fancy pigments, which are evolutionarily expensive to make. Could heat be the original “open for business” sign? It makes you wonder what other fundamental languages in nature we’re still missing because we’re only looking with our human senses.
From cosmic threats to earthly signals
So what do these two stories have in common? At their core, they’re both about detecting critical signals we can’t easily perceive. For NASA, it’s a physical object obscured by overwhelming light. For biologists, it’s a biological signal outside our visual spectrum. Both require specialized tools—a space telescope and sensitive thermal imaging—to reveal a hidden layer of reality. One deals with existential risks, the other with fundamental evolutionary partnerships. But the principle is the same: to understand the full picture, you often have to look in the places, and in the ways, that are hardest for us. It’s a good reminder that the most important things are frequently hiding in plain sight, just outside our default mode of observation.
