I still remember my dismay in the summer of 2007 when - for the first time in the history of planet Earth… — Seth Shostak America 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 Astronomy Copy Share Image
The number of habitable worlds in our galaxy is certainly in the tens of billions, minimum, and we haven't even talked about… — Seth Shostak Billions 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
Of course, Sol is a big ball of hot gas, but one that - thanks to its endlessly boiling innards - shakes… — Seth Shostak About 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
In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab, you could make major scientific discoveries in your own home. Right? Because… — Seth Shostak 19th century 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 Afternoon Copy Share Image
Nine out of 10 Hollywood aliens look like us. Oh, sure, they might be short, big-eyed and hairless - decked out in… — Seth Shostak Afar Copy Share Image
If the cosmos isn't finite, then far, far away, floating duplicates of your brain - with all its experiences, thoughts, and emotions… — Seth Shostak Astronomy Copy Share Image
The split between religion and science is relatively new. Isaac Newton, who first worked out the laws by which gravity held the… — Seth Shostak God Copy Share Image
Ever since the infamous quiz show scandals of the 1950s, the feds had insisted that TV game shows be honest - or… — Seth Shostak Answers Copy Share Image
Five centuries from now - barring unimaginable catastrophe - the moon will be developed real estate. There's economic incentive to exploit the… — Seth Shostak Catastrophe Copy Share Image
The Earth has been lawned with life for something over 3.5 billion years. That's a span of time great enough to encompass… — Seth Shostak Been Copy Share Image
The most attractive habitats for synthetic sentience might be the vicinities of exceptional sources of energy - for example black holes, or… — Seth Shostak Attractive Copy Share Image
Of course there is still unexplored terrestrial territory, but most of it is waterlogged. Submersed secret places, such as the Challenger Deep,… — Seth Shostak Cameron 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
Data from orbiting telescopes like NASA's Kepler Mission hint that the tally of habitable planets in our galaxy is many billion. If… — Seth Shostak Billion Copy Share Image
NASA's Office of Commercial Exploration has been concerned about protecting the landing zones where humans first walked on the Moon, and one… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
Are we the only members of the Galaxy that can actually understand what a galaxy is? Could Homo sapiens really be the… — Seth Shostak Actually 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
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
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
No heating system can deliver perfectly uniform temperatures throughout a house, and drafts can magnify the perceived difference in temperatures. Try walking… — Seth Shostak Differences 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
Even if the Moon didn't exist - even if it had been vaporized billions of years ago by cantankerous Klingons - there… — Seth Shostak Been Copy Share Image
[O]ne might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth… — Seth Shostak Aliens 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
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
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
The usual metric for whether a planet is habitable or not is to ascertain whether liquid water could exist on its surface.… — Seth Shostak Ascertain Copy Share Image
While it may be disappointing, I have to confess to people who ask for my insights on the meaning of it all… — Seth Shostak Any Copy Share Image
In days gone by, scientists would speak solemnly about our solar system's 'habitable zone' - a theoretical region extending from Venus to… — Seth Shostak About 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
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
When I was a kid, which was just after Edison invented moving pictures, there were films that involved aliens coming to Earth… — Seth Shostak After Copy Share Image
Typically, only about 2 percent of the American populace tunes in to PBS's 'Nova' series - the most successful science show on… — Seth Shostak About Copy Share Image
Mountains aren't eternal: even the most imposing massifs are smoothed away by weathering in a few hundred million years or less. Plate… — Seth Shostak Away 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
![“[O]ne might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth at all. It would be as if every vertebrate in North America somehow felt drawn to a particular house in Peoria, Illinois. Are we really that interesting?” quote by Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/223/seth-shostak-2047_aliens_o-ne-might-ask-why-in-a-galaxy-of-a-few_2866062.jpg)
