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
In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab, you could make major scientific discoveries in your own home. Right? Because… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
People don't learn science in movies. You don't go to the movies thinking, 'I hope I learn some quantum mechanics this afternoon.'… — Seth Shostak 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 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 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 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
Thanks to the fact that the Earth isn't a perfect sphere, and invoking a bunch of Newtonian physics, you can deduce that… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Consider: The human genome consists of about 3.3 billion base pairs. Since there are only four types of pair, that amounts to… — Seth Shostak 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 Copy Share Image
You may not see massive UFO exhibits at your local science museum, but there's no dearth of saucer stories infesting my email.… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
We'll be 'outsourcing' our creativity and our thought processes to manufactured components that could be inconspicuously implanted beneath our coiffeurs. Welcome to… — Seth Shostak 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 Copy Share Image
The next time you check your moves in the mirror and reflect on how special you are, consider that somewhere in this… — Seth Shostak 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 Copy Share Image
When was the last time you bought an American-made radio or television? If you're Gen X or younger, the answer is 'never.'… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
The bottom line is that the position of the Sun relative to the stars slowly changes for any given date, and over… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Three-fourths of the universe is hydrogen, and oxygen is incredibly abundant, too. So H2O is something you can find nearly everywhere. — 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
Engineers are now experimenting with 4,096-line TV systems, suggesting that with the next generation of sets you'll be able to count the… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
It's always a tough call deciding whether, as a scientist, you should argue publicly with the creationists. It's a dilemma that I… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Five centuries ago, Copernicus upset humanity's applecart with the news that the Earth is not the center of the cosmos. It could… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Here's a news flash: scientists can be wrong. That's no big deal (unless the scientist is you), since research is self-correcting. Consequently,… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Explorers tend to be the aggressive types - why else would they risk scurvy, mutiny and other bad things to go out… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
As far as I can tell, the only unambiguous consequence of the claimed invasion of Earth by beings from another star system… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
'Dating Game' wasn't social commentary, political analysis, Shakespearean-level drama or even blunt-force comedy. It was just the televised equivalent of meeting someone… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
It will be the mother of all telescopes, and you can bet it will do for astronomy what genome sequencing is doing… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
If you could drive straight down, into a tunnel bored through the crust of the planet, you'd hit this molten mess in… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
We're interested in things that have big teeth, and you can see the evolutionary value of that, and you can also see… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
There's no doubt that the Moon is more than a handy night light and a hair restorer for werewolves. It's responsible for… — Seth Shostak Copy Share Image
On Mars, where the air is spare - a hundred times less dense than on Earth - someone could hear you scream.… — 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
