Press and outreach
In the news
News stories, releases and interviews about our research, newest first. For interviews, email luis.welbanks@asu.edu.
Podcast · October 2026
The Tartan Tardigrade
Mia Belle Parkinson, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, interviewed me at the CHEWIE workshop in Leiden for the UK Centre for Astrobiology's podcast. We talked about the claims of biosignatures on K2-18 b and what astrobiologists should weigh before the next claim of life on another planet.
Open in Spotify
NASA · May 2024
Webb cracks case of inflated exoplanet
The release on our WASP-107 b results.
The New York Times · May 2025
New Studies Dismiss Signs of Life on Distant Planet
Coverage of our Nature Astronomy paper on K2-18 b.
Gates Cambridge podcast · Apr 2025
What can astronomy tell us about our place in the universe?
With Rebecca Charbonneau and Yinuo Han.
Excélsior TV · May 2021
Television interview
In Spanish.
The Tartan Tardigrade podcast: Meet Luis Welbanks: Controversial Biosignatures & We are All Aliens (UK Centre for Astrobiology)
ASU astronomers advance NASA's Pandora mission to study planetary atmospheres (ASU News)
ASU astronomers reveal how clouds shape hidden interiors of galaxy's most common planets (ASU News)
Astronomers get a peek at exoplanet atmospheres with new cloud-detecting method (ASU News)
New study revises our picture of the most common types of planets in the galaxy (ASU News)
The New York Times: coverage of K2-18 b and our Nature Astronomy paper on gas detections. I also spoke with CNN and Big Think about the paper.
Gates Cambridge podcast So, now what?: What can astronomy tell us about our place in the universe?, with Rebecca Charbonneau and Yinuo Han
ASU to host 2 new 51 Pegasi b Fellows, cementing leadership in exoplanet research (ASU News)
ASU forges strategic partnership to solve the mystery of planet formation (ASU News)
'More to munch on': The 'popcorn planet' unveils new atmospheric details (ASU News)
Astronomers sniff out pungent exoplanet using James Webb Space Telescope (ASU News)
Sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of the sub-Neptune GJ 3470 b (ASU News)
James Webb Space Telescope observes methane in exoplanet's atmosphere (ASU News)
Carbon dioxide observed in exoplanet atmosphere by James Webb Space Telescope (ASU News)
NASA Hubble Fellowship Program 2021 Fellows (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Excélsior TV: television interview (in Spanish)
Large exoplanet could have the right conditions for life (University of Cambridge)
Water common, yet scarce, in exoplanets (University of Cambridge)
Aluminium oxide found in an ultra-hot Jupiter (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)
Multiple metals, and possible signs of water, found in unique exoplanet (University of Cambridge)
Exploring a new frontier in planetary discovery (Gates Cambridge)
FRACTAL: television interview (in Spanish)
Profile in Spanish: Ciencia MX.
Outreach
In 2025 I founded Astronomy on Tap: Valley of the Sun, the Phoenix-area satellite of the Astronomy on Tap series of public science talks, which serves Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Glendale, Peoria and Surprise.
I am a subject matter expert for NASA's Universe of Learning and for the Schiele Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in Gastonia, North Carolina, and I give public lectures for astronomy clubs in Arizona and Nebraska. I also speak about exoplanets in Spanish, including talks for Mexico's Instituto Politécnico Nacional. There is a short biography in Spanish.
