Media

Part of the joy of being a scientist is the opportunity to openly share and exchange ideas. Like many of his colleagues, Dr. Schmidt is eager to talk with those in the media who share that interest in science, medicine, human performance, human cognition, human nutrition, and human spaceflight. These discussions also often delve into human motivation, human empathy, expeditionary fitness, why we do what we do, what drives our insatiable curiosity to discover new things, how do we foster connection between humans, and how do we build a civilization based on deeply human values in space and on Earth.

Selected samples of Dr. Schmidt’s human performance and spaceflight interviews are provided below.

STEM-Talk

STEM-Talk features conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world of science and has been downloaded by more than 4.3 million people across the world since its launch in 2016.  In 2024, it won the bronze award in the third Annual Signal Awards for best General Health and Wellness podcast. In 2020, the show was nominated for a Webby Award in Science and Education. In 2019 and 2017, STEM-Talk won first place in the Science and Medicine category of the annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards. STEM-Talk is a product of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, a not-for-profit research lab pioneering ground-breaking technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human cognition, perception, locomotion and resilience.

STEM-Talk Episode 182

  • In part one, Dr. Michael Schmidt discusses with Drs. Ken Ford and Dawn Kerganis the cognitive and physical challenges astronauts experience in spaceflight. We also dive into the many ways that precision medicine is facilitating human performance and resilience here on Earth, and its translation to spaceflight destinations such as low Earth orbit and the Moon.
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STEM-Talk Episode 183

  • In part two of our conversation, Dr. Schmidt talks about his work with NASA and SpaceX on the challenges of civilian spaceflight and the future of Mars exploration, including the construction of permanent colonies on the Moon and Mars.
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Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: Genomics in Space at the Bioastronautics Symposium

In the near future, government spaceflight will become more ambitious, with the NASA Artemis program sending people back to the Moon (and later missions going on to Mars). At the same time, commercial spaceflight providers (SpaceX, Axiom, Blue Origin) are sending civilians into space who might not have the same levels of health and fitness as government astronauts. Both of these circumstances will challenge the ability of humans to tolerate spaceflight and perform inflight tasks in this extreme environment. Among the approaches to address this issue is genomic analysis: assessing a given person’s genetic predisposition to tolerate the stressors of spaceflight, measuring changes in genetic (SNPs, epigenetic, transcriptomic) dynamics as a consequence of spaceflight, and developing countermeasures to the effects of spaceflight, based on these individualized and personalized responses. The speakers in this symposium are experts in this field, and are at the forefront of research into the effects of spaceflight on the genome and on how an individual’s genome effects the response to spaceflight.

Genomics in Space

  • Dr. Schmidt and colleagues present at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Bioastronautics Symposium. The title of Dr. Schmidt’s talk is “Genomics in Space: How to Think About Translating Functional Genomics into Practical Applications.” This is followed by presentations by Drs. Chris Mason and Christopher Bradburne, and then a discussion among all the presenters, including the moderator Dr. Mark Shelhamer of Johns Hopkins.
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The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists flagship science show brings you a lighthearted look at the latest scientific breakthroughs, interviews with the world’s top scientists, answers to your science questions, and science experiments to try at home. The Naked Scientists, hosted by Dr. Chris Smith of the University of Cambridge (Adenbrookes Hospital), has racked up 150 million downloads worldwide since 2001. Over the last ten years the team has won 9 national and international awards for science communication, including the Royal Society’s Kohn Medal.

Human Performance in Extreme Environments

  • Humans have always striven to push boundaries: to go higher, further, faster, deeper and especially where no man – or woman – has been before. And that often includes into unnatural environments that humans have not evolved to accommodate, such as space. On the one hand, this presents an opportunity to study human physiology at the extremes, and learn how to better manage more mundane situations and conditions back here on Earth. But on the other hand, keeping people fit, healthy, and safe when they’re operating under these pressures is also a major priority. Speaking with Dr. Chris Smith of the University of Cambridge (UK), “this is what Dr. Michael Schmidt – CEO and Chief Scientific Officer at Sovaris Aerospace – does for a living…”
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The Space Show

The Space Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Dr. David Livingston, featuring interviews with experts and guests on space commerce and tourism. It started in 2001 and has over 4,000 episodes, covering topics such as SpaceShipOne, Phobos-Grunt, and space-based solar power.

The Space Show has been described as “a platform for knowledgeable, educational exchanges on humanity’s space future and opportunities”. Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today and co-host of Astronomy Cast, described The Space Show as a “favorite” and that he was “astonished and jealous at the caliber of guests”

Space Omics and SpaceX Inspiration4

  • Drs. Michael Schmidt and Chris Mason (Cornell) discuss their new series of papers in the journal Nature entitled, “Space Omics.” The research covers a range of space missions with significant attention to the findings of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, including how those findings relate to longer missions, such as the NASA Twins Study of One Year in Space. The research covers advances in multiomics applied to human spaceflight (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics), which includes new patterns identified and new possibilities for countermeasures.
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Precision Medicine in Space

  • Drs. Michael Schmidt and Chris Mason (Cornell) discuss their paper in The New Space Journal, “Why Personalized Medicine Is The Frontier Of Medicine and Performance For Humans in Space” plus updates regarding personalized medicine for human spaceflight.
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Pharmacogenomics in Human Spaceflight

  • Drs. Michael Schmidt and Tom Goodwin of NASA JSC discuss Pharmacogenomics in spaceflight, personalize spaceflight genomics for improved drug safety and effectiveness, drug issues in space, the Moon, Mars, risk factors, metabolism and much more. This program reviewed their new textbook chapter, “Pharmacogenomics in Spaceflight” which is part of the new Springer textbook, Handbook of Space Pharmaceuticals.
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Artificial Gravity In Human Spaceflight

  • Drs. Michael Schmidt and Tom Goodwin of NASA JSC discuss artificial gravity in human spaceflight. They give specific attention to how multiomics and other molecular tools may help us to better understand the optimum application of artificial gravity countermeasures and much more.
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