In the show this time, we interview Jamie Drew and Danny Price from the Breakthrough Initiatives, author Stephen Baxter joins us to talk about the interface between science and science-fiction, and your astronomical questions are answered by Mat Malenta in Ask an Astronomer.
Interview with Jamie Drew and Danny Price
Jamie Drew and Danny Price are from the Breakthrough Initiatives based at the University of California Berkeley. Breakthrough is a program of scientific and technological exploration, probing the big questions of life in the Universe: Are we alone? Are there habitable worlds in our galactic neighborhood? Can we make the great leap to the stars? We talk about bringing SETI into the academic arena, the current and future goals of Breakthrough Listen and the importance of philanthropic funding in science.
Interview with Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is a world renowned science fiction author and we were lucky enough to catch him for an interview after the conference where he gave a talk on perceptions of first contact using the Martians from H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds'. We discussed the SETI enterprise, the role of science fiction in popular culture and the impacts that science and science fiction have on each other. He also tells us how he became a sci-fi author, and his impressions on the current climate of SETI.
Ask an Astronomer
As the speed of light is such a critical factor in the search for ET, we rounded up all our questions related to c and gave them to Francesca Pearce. With Mateusz Malenta, she tackles questions from Ben Dyer, Henning Vester Jorgensen and Tom Perry who all have concerns about the nature and propagation of light, and time.
Show Credits
| Interview: | Jamie Drew and Danny Price, with Hayden Rampadarath and Jean-Francois Robitaille |
| Interview: | Stephen Baxter, with Hayden Rampadarath and Jean-Francois Robitaille |
| Ask An Astronomer: | Francesca Pearce and Mat Malenta |
| Presenters: | Monique Henson, Hayden Rampadarath, Jean-Francois Robitaille and Prof. Mike Garrett |
| Editor: | Alex Clarke, Naomi Asabre-Frimpong, Ian Evans and Thomas Scragg |
| Website: | Jake Morgan, Benjamin Shaw and Stuart Lowe |
| Producer: | Jake Morgan and Benjamin Shaw |
| Cover art: | The Lovell and 42ft telescopes at Jodrell Bank. CREDIT: University of Manchester |