with Dr. Dan Werthimer of the University of California, BerkeleyWhat is the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe and how might we detect signals from alien civilizations?  Dr. Werthimer describes current and future projects searching for such signals, including the new $100-million Breakthrough Prize Foundation "Listen" project  to "tune in" on messages that civilizations around other stars might be sending out.  He shows how new technologies are revolutionizing the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI).  Dr. Werthimer was one of the founders of the SETI@home project, which analyzed data from the world's largest radio telescope using the desktop computers and cell phones of millions of volunteers.Recorded on March 15, 2017

With Dr. Natalie Batalha (NASA, Kepler Mission Project Scientist)NASA's Kepler Mission launched in 2009 with the objective of finding "Goldilocks planets" orbiting other stars like our Sun -- those that are not too hot, not too cold, but just right. The space telescope opened our eyes to the many terrestrial-sized planets that populate the galaxy (including several right in our neighborhood,) as well as to exotic worlds unlike anything that exists in the solar system.  Dr. Batalha gives an overview of the science legacy of the Kepler Mission and other key planet discoveries (including some results that were then only a few weeks old).  She also gives a preview of planet-finding missions to come.  Recorded Nov. 8, 2017

In this episode, Dr. Victoria Kaspi (McGill University) introduces us to a brand-new mystery in the skies -- superfast bursts of radio waves whose source is still unknown.  These energetic bursts come from all over the sky (and all over the universe,) pack a huge amount of energy, and typically last a few thousandths of a second.  Like a detective in the middle of a case, Dr. Kaspi fills us in on the story of how new observations (especially with the CHIME telescope project which she heads) have been revealing tantalizing new aspects of these bursts, without yet giving us a solution to their ultimate cause.  She shares both the thrills and frustrations of a new phenomenon in science, still in the process of being explored.  Recorded on Oct. 19, 2022.Victoria Kaspi is the inaugural director of the McGill Space Institute and holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology at McGill University.  She is the winner of the 2021 Shaw Prize in astronomy and the 2022 Albert Einstein World Award in Science.

with Prof. Eliot Quataert (University of California, Berkeley)In the previous decade, one third of the world's astronomers became involved in a single project --  observing a distant and violent event,  when two "star corpses" called neutron stars collided and exploded.  This represented the first time in the history of astronomy that a cosmic event was observed with both gravity waves (first predicted by Einstein) and light.   We now call this event the birth of "multi-messenger astronomy."  Dr. Quataert gives a non-technical history of how we are now able to find gravity waves, what happens during such a merger, and why we now believe that much of the gold, platinum, uranium and other heavy elements in the universe is assembled in such "star corpse" mergers.  Recorded Jan. 24, 2018.

Speaker: Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory For five years, Curiosity explored Gale Crater, one of the most intriguing locations on Mars -- once the site of an ancient lake.  In this talk, the mission's Project Scientist discussed what the rover was capable of and the many things it discovered on and about  the red planet.  In particular, he fills us in on the evidence that ancient Mars, billions of years ago, was much more like the Earth -- with a thicker atmosphere and flowing water on its surface. (Recorded Feb. 28, 2018)

with Dr, Michael Busch (SETI Institute)Near-Earth asteroids are a population of small bodies whose orbits around the Sun cross or come near our planet’s orbit.  They turn out to be unusual physical environments: essentially rubble piles. They represent a natural hazard we ignore at our peril, because some of these bodies have the potential to impact Earth.  Dr. Busch reviews the near-Earth asteroid population, programs to track and characterize such asteroids, and current efforts to address the danger of asteroid impacts.

"Chasing New Horizons" features Alan Stern and David Grinspoon, sharing insights on the New Horizons spacecraft mission to Pluto. They discuss the challenges of obtaining funding, naming the planet, and the incredible excitement surrounding the Pluto flyby. The podcast also dives into Pluto's fascinating features and the development of software for spacecraft hibernation.

Dr. Sandra Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz)Do Humans Have What it Takes to Thrive in this Universe?In this thought-provoking talk, cosmologist (and National Medal of Science winner) Dr. Sandra Faber takes a look at our cosmic origins, the future of the Earth as a habitable planet, and what humans need to do to thrive in the long-term future.  She draws some sobering conclusions from the laws of physics and the sustainability of our present-day use of energy and resources.  And she provides some clear guidelines on what we will need to do, as a species, to continue living on Earth for as long as our durable planet can provide an inviting home for us.  (Recorded May 25, 2022)

When light from space enters Earth’s atmosphere, it is distorted and displaced, something our eyes perceive as “twinkling.”  Adaptive optics can remove a great deal of this distortion, essentially restoring much of the detail we’ve been robbed off in our view of the stars and galaxies.  Dr. Max, a world-renowned pioneer in this technique, shows us how modern lasers allow her to do this very precisely.  And she discusses how this technique is giving us sharper views of such cosmic events as the collision of nearby galaxies.Speaker: Dr. Claire Max (University of California Observatories)Oct. 3, 2018

In this talk, astrobiologist Charles Lineweaver discusses the history of life on Earth and what we can deduce from our understanding of the universe about the existence and history of life elsewhere.  He recounts the ongoing discovery of large numbers of exoplanets -- planets orbiting other stars -- and what we can learn from the varieties of planets that are being found.  He challenges us to think about what parts in the development of intelligent life on Earth would necessarily happen elsewhere and what parts might be unique to our planet. Charles Lineweaver is an honorary associate professor at the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Research School of Earth Science. His research areas include exoplanetology (the statistical analysis of exoplanets and their habitability), cosmobiology (using our new knowledge of cosmology to constrain life in the Universe) and the study of cancer. He recently completed an online video course at: arewealone.us. Dr. Lineweaver earned a BA in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton, an MA in English from Brown University, a BS is physics from Ludwig Maximillian's University in Munich, and a PhD in physics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1994.