Shostak Videos

Will the real ET be little green men or little green bacteria? SETI Institute Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak theorizes what our first alien encounter might be like.

A loud radio hiss is coming from the cosmos. Is it the swan song of the first giant stars of the universe? Find out from stargazers attending the American Astronomical Society meeting in California... the brightest flash in the universe illuminates how a galaxy grows up... a planet hunter closes in on Earth-size prey. Also, find out how to spy on the universe from the comfort of your living room. Plus, the four-century-old history of the telescope... and Galileo didn't invent it! It's the kick off to the International Year of Astronomy - so scope it out! Visit the MicroObservatory Guests: David Charbonneau - Astronomer, Harvard University Alan Kogut - Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center Xavier Prochaska - Astronomer, University of California at Santa Cruz Simon Steel - Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Kris Koenig - Producer, Interstellar Studios, Chico, California Mark Slater - Film composer

ENCORE There are two kinds of people: those who are unstylish, socially inept, yet academically gifted, and those who tease them. Being a nerd is rough; it's no fun to sit alone in the cafeteria or be forced to dine on beach sandwiches. But revenge is sweet: the world depends more than ever on the witty and gifted to keep it technologically and scientifically turning. So who gets the last laugh? Just ask Bill Gates. Then again, have attitudes towards eggheads really matured? Just ask Al Gore. Hear why America has contempt for nerds, while other countries treat them as rock stars. Also, how to solve a Rubik's Cube in seconds, and a Geeksta Rap sing-along. Guests: David Anderegg - Author of Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them Jessica Fridrich - Electrical and computer engineer at Binghamton University in New York Sun Kwok - Physicist and astronomer at the University of Hong Kong Peter Hartlaub - Pop Culture Critic for the San Francisco Chronicle Christian Ternus - Sophomore at MIT Fred Hall - Space Physicist

ENCORE Leonardo da Vinci is considered a genius for combining art and science. But how usual is this for us mere mortals? Can science and art sucessfully inform each other? We'll hear how the insights of French writer Marcel Proust anticipated modern neuroscience. Also, a debate over the evolutionary function of art. Does it have survival value? We meet a robot whose painting talents have garnered it a job in one of America's top museums. And, hear - or don't hear - why some of our relatives don't monkey around with music. Guests: Jonah Lehrer - science journalist, editor-at-large, Seed magazine and author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist David Sloan Wilson - evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University, and author of Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives Ellen Dissanayake - independent scholar and author of Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began Leonel Moura - conceptual artist Find out more about RAP, including a picture, at the American Museum of Natural History website! Whip up some madeleines (click here for a recipe) and savor your own remembrance of things past.

Half of all Americans believe in ghosts - despite any compelling evidence of their existence. Find out why we believe in what we can't see, and why loneliness may increase our chances of a poltergeist experience. Hear the tale of the Toys R Us ghost, and scope out the latest in haunted real estate. Also, why our Hollywood skeptic is tired of wild ghost chases and Phil Plait speaks out on lapses in critical thinking. This week: vaccination and autism. It's Skeptical Sunday... but don't take our word for it! Guests: Phil Plait - Keeper of website, badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies! Mary Pope-Handy - Estate Agent, Silicon Valley and keeper of the website hauntedrealestate.com Christopher French - Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, University of London, U.K. and co-editor of The Skeptic magazine Nicholas Epley - Behavioral Scientist, University of Chicago James Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles Wayne Thatcher - Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey

What makes up the universe? Lots of tiny particles with strange names: bosons, leptons, quarks and neutrinos. But physicists think there are more members to be discovered in this particle zoo. From strange particles to dark matter to vibrating strings, find out why you have to think small to understand the physics of the universe. Plus, other cosmic connections: is SETI a religion? Guests: Murray Gell-Mann - Physics Nobel Laureate, Professor Emeritus - California Institute of Technology, Distinguished Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico Brian Greene - Mathematician and physicist, Columbia University, author of The Elegant Universe and, most recently, Icarus at the Edge of Time Lisa Randall - Physicist, Harvard University, author of Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions David Wilkinson - Theologian, University of Durham, U.K.

"Spore" is the ultimate game of life. Play it wisely and you can evolve from a single-celled organism, swimming in salt water, to an intelligent being rocketing through the galaxy. It's survival of the cleverest - are you game? Join us as we attend the "Spore" launch party. Hear how the game's primary author, Will Wright (of "SimCity" fame) simulated the arc of evolution; whether complex life is inevitable; and how SETI scientists inspired one of the most anticipated video games in history. Also, why real human evolution is picking up the pace (did you know that blue eyes are relatively new?)... and a doctor's film about the meaning of life. Click here to become a Spore-TeamSETI Member! Guests: Will Wright - Creator of "Spore" and "Sim City" Howard Weiner - Neurologist, Harvard Medical School John Hawks - Anthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison

From human settlers to alien visitors - when one society meets another, the results can be messy. The Jamestown settlement may have kicked off the colonization of the New World. But, you'll hear how it also left an indelible mark on its ecosystem and the human landscape. Plus, why the Galapagos Islands haven't been the same since their most celebrated visitor set foot on their rocky shores more than a century ago. Also: how a spider led the re-population of Krakatau after a devastating volcanic eruption... the "raining" threat of alien microbes... and one man's emergency plan for when Mars attacks. Guests: Charles C. Mann - author and journalist. His article "America Found and Lost" is in the May issue of National Geographic Magazine Travis Taylor - author of An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extraterrestrial Invasion Robert Whittaker - Professor of Biogeography at the University of Oxford John Rummel - Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA Timothy Silcott - Director for Information and Development for the Charles Darwin Foundation based in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands

Smoking is good for you! Doctors want you to light up! Discover how cigarette companies of the 1950s manipulated the media to peddle their tobacco - and why not much has changed since then. Also, what goes on in our brain when we buy; the results of a global neuroscience study. Plus, our Hollywood Skeptic tests the purifying claims of Kinoki pads and Brains on Vacation debunks Carl Sagan ufology. Guests: Martin Lindstrom- Marketing expert and author of Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy Robert Jackler - Associate Dean, Continuing Medical Education, Stanford University School of Medicine and organizer of the exhibition Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking James Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles Phil Plait - Astronomer, author and keeper of badastronomy.com

Ever since Einstein, we've known that time doesn't barrel willy-nilly into the future. Moving clocks tick at a different rates, and by riding a fast rocket, we can slow time to a crawl. Such tricks may give you a way to see the distant future, but can you go back in time? Discover one man's quest to build a time machine. Also learn how to put the brakes on aging by getting near a black hole. Plus, does your entire life really pass before your eyes if you jump off the Brooklyn Bridge? Our perception of time. Guests: Roy Gould - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Ronald Mallett - Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut, and author of Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality Simon Steel - Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics David Eagleman - Neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, and Director of the Laboratory for Perception and Action

Time's a mystery, yet we've invented clever ways to capture it. From sundials to atomic clocks, trace the history of time-keeping. Also, discover the surprising accuracy of nature's dating schemes - from the decay of carbon to laying down tree rings. Plus, why the "New York minute," stretches to hours in Rio de Janeiro: cultural differences in the perception of time. Guests: Chris Turney - Geologist at the University of Wollongong, Australia and the author of Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened Demetrios Matsakis - Head of the U.S. Naval Observatory's Time Service Steven Jefferts - Physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado Robert Levine - Psychologist at California State University in Fresno and the author of The Geography of Time Norman Mohr - Owner, Mohr Clocks, Mountain View, California

It's been 70 years since malevolent Martians landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Orson Welles described the dramatic events as they unfolded on CBS's Mercury Theater On The Air. Some listeners were so frightened, they became hysterical and fled their homes. We revisit the famous radio adaptation of H.G. Well's novel and examine its cultural legacy. Also, what do modern invasion movies say about today's public fears? Plus, the religious response to an alien invasion... how to protect Earth from Martian microbes... and, what Percival Lowell thought he saw on Mars. Guests: Aeon Skoble - Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State College Kevin Schindler - Outreach Manager at the Lowell Observatory Brother Guy Consolmagno - Astronomer at the Vatican Observatory Margaret Race - Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute John Gosling - Writer

Say what you mean. That's difficult, if you don't know what you're thinking. But the neuromarketers do, and they'll be happy to tell Madison Avenue what's on your mind. Discover why this marketing strategy is wired for success. Also, Steven Pinker on how language reveals private thoughts as well as why the big-brained Homo neanderthalensis couldn't out-compete Homo sapiens. And, we tease your gray matter with the "Monty Hall Problem." Guests: Steven Pinker - Psychologist, Harvard University and author, most recently, of The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature A. K. Pradeep - Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Neurofocus in Berkeley, California Quentin Baldwin - Client Services Engineer at Neurofocus Richard Klein - Paleoanthropologist at Stanford University Deborah Bennett - Mathematician at New Jersey City University

REPEAT Don't worry if you've lost your senses - we've found them. Find out why we've evolved taste, sight, hearing, touch, and smell the way we have, and why we don't sense our world through antennae or echolocation. Discover what part of the tongue recognizes anchovies and why cats can't taste candy. And, in need of some virtual surgery? Visit the robotics lab where computers are wired with the sense of touch. Also, release yourself from the limits of your biology: from bionic limbs to infrared vision; join humans of the future who are enhanced with super-senses. Now that you have a feel for the taste of this show by nosing about this blurb, you can see that it's worth a listen. Make sense? Guests: Tom Finger - Cell and Developmental Biologist at University of Colorado Medical School and Co-Director of the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center. Ken Salisbury - Computer Scientist in the Bio-Robotics Laboratory, Stanford. James Hughes - Sociologist and Bioethicist at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Executive Director of the Institute of Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Nina Jablonski - Anthropologist at Penn State University and author of Skin: A Natural History.

When the economy's down, will humans still be going up - into space, that is? We investigate the future of human spaceflight at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland and find out whether sending Homo sapiens to the Moon and Mars is still a good idea. Also, the chief of Virgin Galactic is happy to send you into space on a private flight - but it may max out your credit card. Plus, an Apollo astronaut's view from orbit... dining with South Korea's first astronaut... and one of Britain's great science fiction authors on how space science fuels the imagination. Guests: Rusty Schweickart - Former NASA astronaut and Chairman of the Board of the B612 Foundation John Mankins - 25-year NASA veteran who managed the Agency's exploration technology activities Sanjoy Som - Planetary scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle Will Whitehorn - President of Virgin Galactic Yi So-yeon - Biomechanical engineer and South Korean astronaut Stephen Baxter - Science fiction author, most recently of Weaver

Show description REPEAT When it comes to contacting ET, SETI scientists do the math. They've been filling in values for the Drake Equation ever since 1961. That's when Frank Drake proposed his simple formula for estimating the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy. It's one equation that everyone can understand. We'll talk about the current best estimates for the terms in Drake's famous formulation - from the number of Earth-size planets to the life expectancy of advanced civilizations. Also, with all this number crunching, why haven't we yet heard from ET? Guests: Frank Drake - Senior Scientist, SETI Institute Charley Lineweaver - Astrobiologist at the Australian National University Lori Marino - Behavioral Biologist at Emory University J. Richard Gott - Physicist at Princeton University Natalie Batalha - Professor of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State University, and science team member, Kepler Mission

What happens when particles collide? The answer may tell us the dark secrets of the cosmos. At least, that's the hope for the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator. When it fires up this summer, colliding protons may produce the elusive Higgs Boson - the so-called God particle - and reveal the building blocks of the universe. We talk to the Director of CERN, home of this massive device, about what happens when they throw the big switch. Also, what if black holes happen? Find out how these weird gravity pits are created, and whether they're actually two-way streets that allow information to escape after all. Also, plans are already underway for the next particle accelerator, and playing with fire: a new fusion reactor in France. Guests: Robert Aymar - Director General of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland Barry Barish - Physicist Emeritus, California Institute of Technology and Director of the International Linear Collider Global Design Effort Norbert Holtkamp - Principle Deputy Director General of ITER and physicist at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Simon Steel - Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

When we're in love, we do some crazy things. And that's OK. But when we merge lanes on the highway, sign up for a credit card, or just order a book, we're as irrational as a teenager who's got a crush. Find out why we're mad in money matters, why we're suckers for designer aspirin, are willing to believe in the paranormal, and anything but logical in traffic. It's Skeptical Sunday, but be rational - don't take our word for it! Guests: Tom Vanderbilt - Author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What it Says About Us) Dan Ariely - Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, and author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions James Underdown - Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles Phil Plait - Author of badastronomy.com Michael Shermer - Founder of "Skeptic Magazine" and author, most recently, of The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics

From iPods to Google to Facebook - information swims at our fingertips and friends are just a txt msg away. Digital devices have re-defined what it means to be connected - but how else are they shaping behavior? Join us for the second of a two-part series on how the network is changing how we think and act. Part II: Behavior: how computers compel us to interact with them... why your iPod may improve your health... why Facebook may leave you friendless... the unintended consequences of past innovation... and the growing threat of "videophilia." Guests: BJ Fogg - Experimental Psychologist and Director of Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab James Levine - Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Andrew Keen - Author of The Cult of the Amateur; How the Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting our Economy Patricia Zaradic - Conservation Ecologist with the Red Rock Institute Edward Tenner - Writer and consultant on technology and culture at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences and, most recently, Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity

From iPods to Google to Facebook - information swims at our fingertips and friends are just a txt msg away. Digital devices have re-defined what it means to be connected - but how else are they shaping behavior? Join us for the first of a two-part series on how the network is changing how we think and act. Part I: Thought: whether Google is making us stupid... how the Internet is curtailing creativity... and the future of a hyper-networked world that does all our thinking for us. Guests: Nick Carr - Journalist and author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google. His article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" is the cover story of the July/August 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly Jonathan Grudin - Researches human-computer interaction at Microsoft Corporation David Kirsh - Cognitive scientist, University of California, San Diego Jonathan Zittrain - Author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It and co-founder of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society