Join The Explorers Club on November 9th to learn about the surprising effects of space habitation on the human body.
Plans are underway to build a base on the Moon, to be followed by a settlement on Mars. But what will happen to the human occupants of these outposts… and their descendants? Could children born on other worlds return to Earth? Would future generations adapt to the conditions of their home planet and evolve into a new species? Join Scott Solomon, an evolutionary biologist, professor, and science communicator for a discussion of how space affects the human body and mind and the ways in which humanity’s migration into space could challenge the very definition of what it means to be human.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Scott Solomon
Scott Solomon is a biologist, professor, and science communicator. He teaches ecology, evolutionary biology, and scientific communication as a Teaching Professor at Rice University in Houston where is the Director of the Center for Science Communication and Public Engagement. Dr. Solomon is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and a Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society Distinguished Lecturer. He has a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin where his research examined the evolutionary basis of biological diversity in the Amazon Basin. He has taught field biology courses in the savannahs of East Africa, in the rainforests and reefs of Belize, and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He developed a series of online introductory biology courses through Coursera as well as two complete digital series with The Great Courses called Why Insects Matter: Earth’s Most Essential Species and What Darwin Didn’t Know: The Modern Science of Evolution. He is a Fellow National (‘23) of The Explorers Club and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society, and the Society for the Study of Evolution. His latest book, Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds was published by MIT Press on Feb 17, 2026. He is also the author of Future Humans: Inside the Science of Our Continuing Evolution (Yale University Press), which was included on the 2017 Best Book List by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His writing and photography have also appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Globe and Mail, Slate, Aeon, Nautilus, MIT Technology Review, NBC News, and Wired. He is the host of the podcast Wild World with Scott Solomon.
Photo credit: Rafael Rojas/Rice University
