FURTHER is an original series exploring the intersection of science and humanity. In the wake of Kepler-452b, Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at SETI Research weighs in on the potential for alien life. Producer: Marco Patricio & Vinny Verma Director: Vinny Verma & Stuart Langfield Animation: Stuart Langfield Additional Animation: Jennifer Mackie Original Composition: Jim Guthrie …
Are we alone in the universe? We’ve found hundreds of planets orbiting distant stars, including several dozen in their star’s habitable zone. But do any of them host life? To find out, we’ll need to look for telltale molecules like oxygen or methane. The next generation of telescopes may answer this question when they take …
This panel discussion from NASA headquarters focuses on recent discoveries of water and organics in our solar system, the role our sun plays in water-loss in neighboring planets, and our search for habitable worlds among the stars.
Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ, Planetary Scientist, Vatican Observatory Research Group. Throughout history, our definition of ‘life’ reflects our assumptions about how the Universe works – and why we ask the question. The ways different human cultures, ancient and current, have talked about life provide some sense of how we have defined life, and illustrate the …
This extreme oasis of life deep in the Caribbean Sea may hold clues to life on other planetary bodies, including Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Is humanity on Earth special or unexceptional? Extraordinary discoveries in astronomy and biology have revealed a universe filled with endlessly diverse planetary systems, and a picture of life as a phenomenon intimately linked with the most fundamental aspects of physics. But just where these discoveries will lead us is not yet clear. We may need …
While comets were historically thought to be ill omens of war and famine, recent science has revealed that these celestial wonders actually contain amino acids, the building blocks of life on Earth. Justin Dowd explores the implications of this magnificent discovery.
The seven-mirror Giant Magellan Telescope is being built at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, on an 8,500-foot peak in the Andes Mountains. It is expected to be operational for initial science observations in 2020. After spending three months cooling, the GMT’s third mirror was removed from its rotating furnace on Dec. 6, 2013 and …
Are we alone or is the universe teeming with life? is one of the most fundamental questions in science. The answer could have a dramatic impact on society and culture. Over the next decade, advances in technology will allow astronomers to address this question in new ways. Abraham (Avi) Loeb will describe a few novel …
NASA space-based observatories are making unprecedented new discoveries and revealing worlds never before seen. During a televised panel discussion of leading science and engineering experts at NASA Headquarters on Monday, July 14, a scientific and technological roadmap to lead to the discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars was addressed. The agency’s next step, …
Charles Cockell, about exobiology research and the potential benefits of biomining on other celestial bodies. ESA has a long history of experiments exposing life to the harsh conditions of space. Can life survive space travel? Can life hitchhike across the galaxy and where did life come from to begin with?
In this talk hosted by the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, Dr. Seth Shostak talks about the search for intelligent life in the universe. A half-century ago, astronomers began trying to “eavesdrop” for radio messages from nearby star systems. Today, SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) researchers continue to point their telescopes at individual stars, on the …
Hosted by the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, in a talk held on March 9, 2011. Dr. Chris McKay from NASA’s Ames Research Center talks about Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite. Titan is the only moon with a thick atmosphere. In many ways, Titan is a cold twin of the Earth, with liquid methane playing the same …
A SETI Institute Hangout with Nathalie Cabrol (Senior researcher at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute), Liam Pedersen (Senior Robotics Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley / NASA Ames Research Center), and Leslie E. Bebout (Microbial Ecologist at NASA Ames) on the exploration of the Titan Lakes.
A NASA Mars Curiosity rover team member gives an update on developments and status of the planetary exploration mission.
A discussion with Michael Russel, a citizen scientist, and SETI Institute Scientists Niki Parenteau and Adrian Brown on the origin of life in hydrothermal vents and the implications for life of Mars. Moderated by SETI Institute Scientist, Franck Marchis.
A discussion at SETI Chatts on the recent Kepler exoplanet findings, and Fomalhaut b, Hubble Space Telescope revealed rogue planet. Participants; Paul Kalas (SETI Institute/UC-Berkeley), Jon Jenkins (SETI Institute), Franck Marchis (SETI Institute) and Adam Mann (WIRED).
SETI Talks presents a discussion with Marc Kaufman, Jill Tarter, Frank Drake and Seth Shostak on the topic of first contact with extra terrestial life (and perhaps intelligent life). This session begins with a presentation on astrobiology by journalist Marc Kaufman.
SETI talks presents Nathalie Cabrol who talks about the potential of life Beyond Earth in the wake of the discovery of life in Lake Vida, one several sub-glacial lakes at Antarctica. The investigation of the sub-glacial lakes continues and we have previously written about Lake Vida.
Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like — and how we might find it. From inventing Dyson Spheres, a sci-fi conceit postulating habitable shells around …
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