Aurum Iodide Virtual Meeting

Iota Sigma Pi: Aurum Iodide Chapter Announcement for October 2025 Meeting – Virtual

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, 7:00 PM CST

Speaker: Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, Rice University

Title: A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

Abstract: Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no X—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? My co-author/husband and I are sci-fi geeks who set out to write a book about the glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, we aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In this talk, I'll tackle questions like: Where are we most likely to settle? What will life in space be like? Is it safe to have babies in space? What is the future of bathrooms in space? What laws will govern humanity when we become interplanetary? Get in, we're going to Mars.

Bio: Dr. Kelly Weinersmith is an adjunct faculty member at Rice University. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic, National Geographic, BBC World, Science, Nature, and more. Kelly co-wrote the New York Times bestsellers Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve And/Or Ruin Everything and A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through. In 2024, she and her co-author/husband Zach received a Hugo Award and the Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize for A City on Mars. Kelly is also co-host of the podcast Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, October 1, 2025, to gshearerdgs@gmail.com.  The meeting link will be sent to you by Wednesday, October 1, 2025.