Becoming Martian with Scott Solomon

We’ve spent years talking about what it means to be an aspiring Martian. This week, we take the next step: what does it mean to start becoming Martian?

In this surprise Everyday Mars episode, Joe sits down with evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Solomon to explore the very real biological consequences of leaving Earth behind. Scott, an Associate Teaching Professor at Rice University and Research Associate at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, has spent his career studying how organisms adapt to extreme environments. In his new book Becoming Martian, released today, he turns that lens toward us.

Because Mars won’t just be another destination. It will be a pressure cooker for evolution. Radiation levels far beyond what we experience on Earth. Lower gravity reshaping bones, muscles, and development. Closed habitats altering immune systems and microbiomes. Isolation changing psychology and potentially even behavior across generations.

In this conversation, we explore what happens to children born on Mars, whether humans could eventually diverge into a new branch of our species, and how tools like gene editing might be used to help future settlers survive. We talk about what astronauts like Scott Kelly are already teaching us, what scientists are learning from extreme environments here on Earth, and what unintended consequences could emerge from well-intentioned exploration.

And beneath all of it is a bigger question: knowing what we now understand about biology, adaptation, and evolution… should we go?

If being an aspiring Martian means preparing for the realities of settlement, then this episode pushes us to confront the deepest one of all. Mars won’t just change our address. It may change what it means to be human.

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