A Conversation with Dr. Scott Solomon about "Becoming Martian"
May 19, 2026
Will Space Travel Generate a New Species of Human? Hear/ Watch the full podcast at The Enlightened Cynic
If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at the billionaire space race, I want to make you a deal: set that aside for an hour, and let a real biologist explain what the conversation is actually missing.
This week on The Enlightened Cynic, I sat down with Dr. Scott Solomon — evolutionary biologist, Rice University professor, author of the new MIT Press book Becoming Martian — and I came away genuinely unsettled. In the best possible way.
Here’s what Scott argues, and he makes a compelling case: the question of whether to go to Mars is not primarily a question of engineering, or geopolitics, or national pride. It’s a question of biology. Of evolution. Of what happens when you take a small group of humans, drop them into a radically different environment, and leave them there long enough for their grandchildren to be born.
The short answer? They change. Permanently. Possibly into something that can’t come back.
We talk about the NASA Twin Study — when astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year on the International Space Station while his identical twin Mark stayed on Earth, and Scott’s DNA actually changed. We talk about why Mars, with no magnetosphere and almost no atmosphere, bathes its surface in radiation that acts as an accelerant for evolutionary mutation. We talk about whether humans can reproduce in space (honest answer: we don’t know, and the research gap is startling). And we talk about what might happen when a child born on Mars — adapted to one-third gravity and a radically limited microbial environment — tries to come home to Earth.
Scott calls it a reverse War of the Worlds scenario. H.G. Wells imagined Martians dying when exposed to our bacteria. Scott raises the possibility that future Martians — our descendants — might face something similar in reverse, arriving on Earth as immunological strangers.
There’s also a genuinely surprising detour through the Polynesian navigators, a discussion of ant colonies as a model for underground Martian habitation (not as absurd as it sounds), and a careful, honest grappling with CRISPR and the ethics of editing human DNA to make people better suited to another planet.
Scott’s conclusion — held until the final pages of the book and shared here — is not the triumphalist “let’s go!” you might expect. It’s something more interesting: eventually, probably yes. But we’re not ready. And we need to admit that.
That’s the kind of earned skepticism we try to make room for on this show.
Join the conversation.
This is exactly the kind of episode we want to dig into together. What stood out to you? What questions did it raise? Have you watched any of the Rule of Law 101 videos — and if so, which ones?
Come talk to us in the chat. That’s what it’s there for— Dr. Larry Barsh and The Enlightened Cynic
Join us on our podcast the Enlightened Cynic, where satire meets substance and storytelling sparks civic engagement. Each episode dives into topics like authoritarianism, political spectacle, environmental justice, humor, history and even fly fishing and more—layered with metaphor, wit, and historical insight. We feature compelling guest interviews that challenge, inspire, and empower, especially for senior audiences and civic storytellers. Listen to the audio on all major podcast platforms, watch full video episodes on YouTube, or explore more at our website.
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