Our retinas and brains have been wired by a hundred million years of evolution to find outlines in a visually complex landscape.… — Seth Shostak Been Copy Share Image
Sure, nobody will make a fortune if we figure out why the Big Bang happened. But just about everyone would like to… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
We haven't yet found a speck of evidence for biology on another world, so we have no objective way to judge whether… — Seth Shostak Another Copy Share Image
'E.T.' was far-fetched. 'E.T.' was this wimpy-looking kid that came to Earth to pick some plants, but he came from the Andromeda… — Seth Shostak Came Copy Share Image
Planets that don't currently sport plate tectonics, such as Venus and Mars, are scarcely habitable. Tectonics might be a requirement of any… — Seth Shostak Any Copy Share Image
If you took all the sand from all the beaches, all the desserts, and all the oceans and called that the Universe,… — Seth Shostak Beach Copy Share Image
If gravity were somewhat stronger or weaker, stars wouldn't exist, and neither would you. And the same can be said of other… — Seth Shostak Astronomy Copy Share Image
Frankly, I'll believe in horoscopes the day I can describe my personality to an astrologer and they tell me what date I… — Seth Shostak Astrologer Copy Share Image
Judging by informal observation, most young Americans burn up their spare time buffing their emotional IQ and self-esteem with social media and… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
It seems that 'rocket scientist' is a job category that's here for the long haul, like 'mortician.' But all this activity masks… — Seth Shostak Activity Copy Share Image
Plate tectonics is not all havoc and destruction. The slow movement of continents and ocean floors recycles carbon dioxide dissolved in the… — Seth Shostak Atmosphere Copy Share Image
It's worth noting that invoking God as the entity who set our universe in motion isn't contradicted by the data. Of course,… — Seth Shostak Being Copy Share Image
Heads are a good deal, and I think they would be a common feature. It's hard to think of species that don't… — Seth Shostak Although Copy Share Image
The era during which only governments could put hardware on the Moon is coming to an end. There are 26 private teams… — Seth Shostak Awarded Copy Share Image
Forecasting Armageddon has become trendy of late, with a great deal of attention being given to an interpretation of the Mayan Calendar… — Seth Shostak Armageddon Copy Share Image
The principal reason for the universe's poker face is that its constituents are far away. Stars careen through space, and galaxies spin… — Seth Shostak Appearance Copy Share Image
There is little chance that aliens from two societies anywhere in the Galaxy will be culturally close enough to really 'get along.'… — Seth Shostak Aliens Copy Share Image
There is a point of view among astronomical researchers that is generally referred to as the Principle of Mediocrity. ... If the… — Seth Shostak Be prepared Copy Share Image
Faith is a personal matter, and should never be a cudgel to stifle inquiry. We tried that approach about 1,200 years ago.… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
Virtually any pointed edifice is considered a candidate for alien engineering. After all, how could the Egyptians or Mayans have possibly stacked… — Seth Shostak After Copy Share Image
'Eternal inflation,' as it's called - the endless generation of new universes - may be a hyper-cosmic imperative. It seems that it… — Seth Shostak Endless Copy Share Image
Certainly the history of astronomy shows that every time we thought we were special, we were wrong. — Seth Shostak Astronomy Copy Share Image
I studied Latin in high school, and I was reading stuff from Cicero. And that signal took a few thousand years to… — Seth Shostak Cicero Copy Share Image
There will be an end point to how good TV pictures can get. The boob tube has hugely benefited from the rapid… — Seth Shostak Advance Copy Share Image
When it comes to brains, size matters. It's not all that matters, of course. Whales and dolphins have brains that are larger… — Seth Shostak Also Copy Share Image
In a movie, it's often important to have aliens whose gestures and facial expressions can be 'read' by humans. And in the… — Seth Shostak Alien Copy Share Image
We can no better imagine what will be happening on the moon 500 years from now than Columbus could imagine contemporary Manhattan.… — Seth Shostak Better Copy Share Image
Clearly, unless thinking beings inevitably wipe themselves out soon after developing technology, extraterrestrial intelligence could often be millions or billions of years… — Seth Shostak Advance Copy Share Image
The majority of my UFO diet consists of reports describing suspected encounters. This is not surprising, as there are thousands of sightings… — Seth Shostak Alien Copy Share Image
Ever since the Second World War, television signals (as well as FM radio and radar) have served as Homo sapiens' emissaries into… — Seth Shostak Bubble Copy Share Image
I think there's a lot of intelligence out there, but that's just my guess. Question is: Are they peaceable or hostile? You… — Seth Shostak Any Copy Share Image
This plucky NASA telescope is able to find planets en masse. If you compare planet hunting to prospecting for gold, then Kepler… — Seth Shostak Able Copy Share Image
Our computers double in capability on time scales of only a few years. It's hardly outrageous to believe that we will successfully… — Seth Shostak Artificial Copy Share Image
In 1908, there was a persuasive demonstration of the power of high-speed, low-mass asteroids in rural Siberia. The Tunguska impactor iced millions… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
Very few societies on Earth developed science as we know it today. On the other hand, the number is not zero -… — Seth Shostak Among Copy Share Image
I you look at the drawings of aliens made by people who believe that Earth is under saucer attack, you'll quickly note… — Seth Shostak Admit Copy Share Image
Any society that could come here could pick up the lights from New York. What should we do about that? Should we… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
Just knowing that there's somebody else out there - that what's happened on this planet has also happened in many other places… — Seth Shostak Also Copy Share Image
Look, science is hard, it has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard, and that's the result… — Seth Shostak 18th century Copy Share Image
We're hard-wired by 200,000 years of evolution to be sensitive to the idea that someone might be watching us. They might be… — Seth Shostak Bus Copy Share Image
