The Truth is Out There?

One of my students is an extremely bright young man. He might be the kindest, most unassuming person I have ever met. I asked him what he would like to study in college. He said, "I would like to be a mechanical engineer, or a chemical engineer, or an electrical engineer, or a xenologist." I asked him what a xenologist was. "One who studies alien life form" he said. I laughed and said, "good work if you can get it!"
This happened last week and today he came up to me after class with a small correction: "It's either xenology or astrobiology." I said, "Yeah, depending on if you can put what you find under a microscope." He concurred.