Exploration is an oft-lauded human activity, and one that resonates in the same way that music and good stories do. It's hard-wired… — Seth Shostak 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 Copy Share Image
We've accounted for 95 percent of all the stars in the Milky Way. The other 5 percent are big, bright stars -… — Seth Shostak 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 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 Copy Share Image
It's the default premise in science: If you observe something in nature only once, you assume that what you've seen is typical.… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
It bears mentioning that the Milky Way is only one of 150 billion galaxies visible to our telescopes - and each of… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Disasters happen. We still have no way to eliminate earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, floods or droughts. We cope as best we can by… — Seth Shostak 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 Copy Share Image
In archaeology, context is the basis of many discoveries that are imputed to the deliberate workings of intelligence. If I find a… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
The central region of the Milky Way, known as the bulge, is stuffed with literally tens of billions of stars. And most… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
A factory that can turn carbon nanotubes into a sheet a yard wide and long enough to stretch one-fourth of the way… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
A practical way to travel between the stars is a must-have for space opera, and a sine qua non for our frequently… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Junk, redundancy, and inefficiency characterize astrophysical signals. It seems they characterize cells and sea lions, too. These biological constructions have lots of… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Estimates are that at least 70 per cent of all stars are accompanied by planets, and since the latter can occur in… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Many people suggest using mathematics to talk to the aliens, and Dutch computer scientist Alexander Ollongren has developed an entire language (Lincos)… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Studying Sol's interior by looking for analogous patterns on its incandescent face is known as helioseismology, an active - if largely unpronounceable - research… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Some pundits have proposed that the aliens have come here to breed with us. Apparently, too much bike riding or something similar has rendered… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
As far as I can tell, the only unambiguous consequence of the claimed invasion of Earth by beings from another star system has been… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Look, science is hard, it has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard, and that's the result of 400… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Give consideration to the fact that alien astronomers could have scrutinized Earth for more than 4 billion years without detecting any radio signals, despite… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
In a movie, it's often important to have aliens whose gestures and facial expressions can be 'read' by humans. And in the days before… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Sure, nobody will make a fortune if we figure out why the Big Bang happened. But just about everyone would like to know. — Seth Shostak Copy Share
If you could drive straight down, into a tunnel bored through the crust of the planet, you'd hit this molten mess in about an… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
While I have always thought that the motivation for looking for E.T. was both self-evident and patently worthy, it's possible that I'm a victim… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
I studied Latin in high school, and I was reading stuff from Cicero. And that signal took a few thousand years to get to… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
About the only things that are unique to Earth are our biota and our culture. If aliens ever come here, they'd most likely be… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
This plucky NASA telescope is able to find planets en masse. If you compare planet hunting to prospecting for gold, then Kepler is equivalent… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
The most attractive habitats for synthetic sentience might be the vicinities of exceptional sources of energy - for example black holes, or even the… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Buying insurance is no one's idea of fun. And it's especially easy to berate something as funky-sounding as writing checks to defend our neighborhoods… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
Plate tectonics is not all havoc and destruction. The slow movement of continents and ocean floors recycles carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans back… — Seth Shostak Copy Share
