Explore every episode of the podcast The Wow! Signal Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A short message of farewell | 09 sept. 2026 | 00:06:58 | |
This is the last recording I will make for this podcast. It is time to finally move on. I began this podcast with Episode 1 near the end of 2012 when I was in my mid 50s. Although we have been on a very long hiatus since Episode 50, I had the intention that when I retired I would either bring the podcast out of hiatus or permanently end it. As I got closer to that time, I understood that I only wanted to restart the podcast if I could put a fair bit of time and energy into it and put out frequent, quality content. Like the previous episodes, the new ones would be commercial free, audio only, go as deep as we could on our core topics, and would sometimes refer to Douglas Adams. Now that I am retired, and things are much more real, I have decided that I am not going to do this. I won't revisit all my thinking about this, but part of it is that similar content is now widely available on multiple platforms, often accompanied by skillfully produced video. David Kipping's Cool Worlds is a good example. So, while I am not necessarily exiting podcasting forever, I am going to meet the commitment that I made to myself not to fade the Wow! Signal without notice, but to unambiguously announce the end of the podcast while expressing my deep gratitude to everyone who participated and who made the content much, much better than I could have made it by myself. I'm proud of our 50 Episodes and 34 Bursts - shorter, more focused episodes - and even the pubs I hosted and enjoyed immensely. The podcast rss feed and the wowsignalpodcast.com domain will remain up for some time to come, but if you want to listen to any past episodes, I suggest you go to wowsignalpodcast.com and download the .mp3 files that interest you to listen to them at your convenience. I will have many of the episodes available on YouTube as well. If there is an episode you would really like a transcript of, I can probably supply one - just get in touch and I'll see what I can do. I'm going to thank everyone I can think of, and I apologize in advance if I left anyone out. I'll start with the folks who actually helped me create the podcast, and often had the idea for an episode or burst: Daniela DePaulis, Nick Nielsen, James Garrison, and Mike Mongo. I'm sorry I've been out of touch and hope we can meet up someday. Now, my many great guests. I'll list their names now. Some of them appeared more than once. There were people I never had on that I regret missing, and if you think I should have emailed you with an appearance request, you may well be right. Our first guest was Antonio Paris, founder of Aerial Phenomena Investigations. This was followed by:
Geoffrey Landis (twice) Nikola Danaylov David Grinspoon (3 times) Seth Shostak Bing Garthright Duncan Forgan (twice), Isaac Stott, Ben Wright McGee Fraser Cain Paul Shuch Geoff Marcy + Ana Heras Daniel Cartin Nicholas Joll Heath Rezabek, Robin Hanson Steven Dick, Betul Kacar Duncan Lunan , Alan Penny Abel Mendez (twice) Bob Dixon JL Galache + Duncan Lunan Tom Barbalet Andrew Siemion Martin Elvis Bradley Schaefer Tabetha Boyajian Stella Kafka Bradley Schaefer Douglas Vakoch (twice) Nathaniel Comfort Ben Montet Doug Vakoch Jon Lomborg Frank White Sofia Sheikh Daniel Oberhaus Beatriz Villarroel Julia Demarines Adam Dipert Stella Kafka Paolo Costaño Wade Roush David Skogerboe Chelsea Haramia Thomas Moynihan In addition, the following people were guests on Bursts:
Mike Mongo Nora Noffke Daniel Cartin Jeff Nosanov Josh Grindlay Jason Hessels Beatriz Villarroel (twice) Tabetha Boyajian (twice) David Blank
Also, thanks to our Patreon donors and our Wow! Signal Pub participants, and Erin Carr and Joyce Abma for voiceover help. Finally, thanks to all the musicians who let me use their music: Ahleuchatistas, Mike Griffin, DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd, Sleep Research Facility, House Band of the Universe, George Hrab, Eben Brooks, and many others. Well, everything ends sooner or later, and this podcast is ending now. It ran for 12 years, we had a good run, and I am happy I did it. I hope I'll run into you in real life, or on other platforms or in other projects. I have largely curtailed my social media presence in recent years, but you can still find me on Bluesky. Hey, we may even do another pub someday. See you there?
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| Episode 50 - Arecibo Wow! with Professor Abel Mendez | 12 sept. 2024 | 01:07:20 | |
We welcome back Professor Abel Mendez from the University of Puerto Rico to tell us about recent research into data from the Arecibo radio telescope focused on cold hydrogen clouds and a proposed natural explanation for the Big Ear Wow! Signal that we covered in depth in Episode 19. We recommend you download the draft paper so you can follow along. Links:Arecibo Wow! I: An Astrophysical Explanation for the Wow! Signal Our episode (#19) with Big Ear scientist Bob Dixon A previous appearance by Abel Mendez on this podcast. Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico The Arecibo Radio Telescope Collapse Astrophysical MASERs (microwave lasers) Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: Masers Population Inversion (Wikipedia) MASERs, Interstellar and Circumstellar, Theory. CreditsHost, editor, producer: Paul Carr Music: Quincas Moreira (Black Swan), George Hrab (Far), Jason Robinson Episode 50 of the Wow! Signal Podcast by Paul Carr is licensed under CC BY 4.0 | |||
| Burst 34 - The Mystery of the Nine Transients | 14 juil. 2021 | 00:21:34 | |
Interview recorded: 11 July 2021 Released: 16 July 2021 Duration: 21 minutes, 33 seconds Beatriz Villarroel discusses her latest VASCO paper in Nature Scientific Reports, "Exploring nine simultaneously occurring transients on April 12th 1950." Links:Villarroel+ , Exploring Nine simultaneously occurring transients on April 12th 1950. Burst 19: Our Sky Now and Then (August 2016) Episode 41: The Vanishing Sources with Beatriz Villarroel (November 2019) The Palomar Digital Sky Survey The United States Nuclear Testing Program CreditsHost and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Ahleuchatistas and Erika Lloyd
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| Episode 49 - Existential Risk | 04 févr. 2021 | 00:58:45 | |
Duration: 58 minutes 44 seconds Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela DePaulis are joined by author Thomas Moynihan. The subject is the idea of human extinction and how it evolved into our present day understand of Existential Risk. Guest Bio:I am a writer and researcher from the UK. In 2019, I completed a PhD at Oriel College on the history of human extinction. Currently, I am a visiting Research Associate in History at St Benet's College, Oxford University, and I am working for Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute with a grant from the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative. Thomas Moynihan - https://thomasmoynihan.xyz X-Risk at MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/x-risk Mary Shelley - The Last Man Churchill - Shall We All Commit Suicide? Frank Drakę: A Speculation on the Influence of Biological Immortality on SETI Natural Selection of Stellar Civilizations by the Limits of Growth Credits:Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, DJ Spooky | |||
| Episode 48 - Chelsea Haramia on the Ethics of METI | 26 nov. 2020 | 01:10:40 | |
Released: 28 November 2020 Duration: 70 minutes, 39 seconds Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis engage philosopher Chelsea Haramia on the ethics of sending signals into space that might be received by intelligent beings in the cosmos. For more information about this episode, include a rich set of links, please see the blog entry for Episode 48 at: https://wowsignalpodcast.com Guest BioChelsea Haramia received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she specialized in ethics. She is now an assistant professor in the philosophy department at Spring Hill College. She is also co-editor of the online journal 1000-Word Philosophy, which houses a growing set of original 1000-word essays on philosophical questions, figures, and arguments aimed at an audience of philosophers and non-philosophers alike. She has published in the areas of normative ethics, bioethics, animal ethics, aesthetics, feminist philosophy, and astrobiology ethics. Her current work involves ethical and metaethical analyses of space exploration and of the search for intelligent life in particular. Credits:Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniel De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Nest, Erika Lloyd.
The Wow! Signal is published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. | |||
| Episode 47 - Arthur C. Clarke, Godfather of Satellites | 07 nov. 2020 | 00:57:36 | |
Released: 7 November 2020 Duration: 57 minutes, 36 seconds
Co hosts Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis welcome space historian David Skogerboe to talk about the pro-space activism of Arthur C. Clarke. Guest Bio:David Skogerboe is a space historian and science communicator. He recently earned his MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he focused his research on the intersection of space science, science fiction, and science communication. During his masters, he interned at the NASA History Division in Washington DC, where he spent countless hours perusing the most interesting historical reference collections on the planet. He is presently a freelance writer and editor while he awaits the emergence of his first child, and he hopes to soon begin a PhD and a fruitful career as a professional nerd. Links:The Godfather of Satellites: Arthur C. Clarke and the Battle for Narrative Space in the Popular Culture of Spaceflight, 1945-1995, David Skogerboe, full master's thesis Apollo 12: Why Don't You Know Me? You Should., David Skogerboe, NASA News & Notes Wireless World Feb. & Oct. 1945, Scans of Clarke's articles proposing the geostationary satellite How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village, Arthur C. Clarke (1992), Clarke's overview of the impact of communication technology on society The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program, Arthur C. Clarke (1957), Clarke's pre-history of satellite technology, first published before Sputnik The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke (1979), Clarke's sci-fi that features the space elevator and "project clean-up" Arthur C. Clarke's official website An expansive bibliography of Clarke's work. An impressive reminder of just how hard he pushed to propel humans into space, and keep them there. Credits:Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Music: DJ Spooky and Lloyd Rogers
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| Episode 46 - Extraterrestrials | 06 avr. 2020 | 00:53:55 | |
Released: 6 April 2020 Duration: 53 minutes, 55 seconds
Author and podcaster Wade Roush talks about his forthcoming book from MIT Press, Extraterrestrials. The book covers astrobiology, SETI, the Fermi paradox and more for a literate but non-specialist audience. WADE ROUSH, a Boston-based science and technology journalist, is a columnist at Scientific American and the producer and host of Soonish, an independent podcast about the future. He has served as Boston bureau reporter for Science, senior editor and San Francisco bureau chief at MIT Technology Review, chief correspondent and San Francisco editor for Xconomy, and acting director of MIT's Knight Science Journalism program. He holds a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. For more information, please visit us at https://wowsignalpodcast.com Links:The Extraterrestrial page at MIT Press Six Strange Facts about Oumuamua Sofia Sheikh and the Nine Axes Stephen Webb's Book on the Fermi Paradox Seth Shostak on the Zoo Hypothesis
The Hub and Spoke Podcast Network
Credits Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Lloyd Rogers and Jason Robinson
The Wow! Signal is released under the Creative Commons Attribution License | |||
| Episode 45 - Among the Space People with Paola Castaño | 30 mars 2020 | 00:54:09 | |
Released: 31 March 2020 Duration: 54 minutes, 8 seconds
Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela DePaulis welcome Dr. Paola Castaño to talk about her research among the science teams working on the International Space Station. For more information, please visit our blog at https://wowsignalpodcast.com Guest BioPaola Castaño is a sociologist of science. She recently completed a Newton International Fellow funded by The British Academy at Cardiff University and is working on a book about the meanings and valuations of scientific research on the International Space Station. On the basis of ethnographic work following the life course of experiments sent to the station, the book examines the fields of particle physics, plant biology and biomedical research. She has a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago, and has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, the Free University of Berlin, and Waseda University in Tokyo. Links:The International Space Station goes under the microscope Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop 2020: Day 1 Cosmic-ray positron fraction measurement from 1 to 30 GeV with AMS-01 Scott Kelly's genes and NASA's twin study on him, explained
Daniela De Paulis on the Unseen Podcast Daniela De Paulis discusses Cogito in Episode 35.
The Wow! Signal podcast on Reddit Credits:Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Blue Dot Sessions, Lee Maddeford, and Lloyd Rogers | |||
| Burst 33 - Astronomer David Blank Comments on Episode 41 | 20 mars 2020 | 00:31:42 | |
Released: 20 March 2020 Duration: 31 minutes, 42 seconds
Astronomer David Blank responded to our invitation to comment on the Villarroel+ paper we covered in Episode 41, which he describes as "very fascinating." Links Dorrit Hoffleit and her autobiography: Misfortunes as Blessings in Disguise Bradley Schaefer and the Harvard Plates The Very Large Array Sky Survey The VASCO Citizen Science Project Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Lloyd Rogers
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| Episode 44 - The Night Watch | 22 janv. 2020 | 01:06:45 | |
Released: 22 January 2020 Live recording: 20 January 2020 Duration: 66 minutes 45 seconds Thread: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Host Paul Carr along with Daniela De Paulis and Ciro Villa welcome astronomer Stella Kafka, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). We talk about the recent and possibly unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, among many other astronomy topics. For complete show notes, please visit https://wowsignalpodcast.com Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Panelists: Daniela De Paulis, Ciro Villa Music: Claudio Nuñes, Felipe Sarro (playing Ravel) Software: Zoom, OBS, Auphonic, Reaper, OS X Mojave Hardware: Apple, Shure, Focusrite, Cloud, Elgato, Logitech
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| Episode 43 - Adam Dipert Moves in Zero G | 22 déc. 2019 | 00:55:38 | |
Released: Duration: 55 minutes, 36 seconds
Adam Dipert is a veteran circus performer and dancer who recently received his PhD in physics from Arizona State University. Her has brought his various interests together by researching human movement in microgravity. We are going to let him tell you all about that. Adam will be presenting about this work at the Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces in Providence, Rhode Island, USA at Brown University, March 5-7 2020. Link to conference here: http://www.choreotech.com/vision Links:Orienting Beyond Gravity: Training with Kitsou Dubois Skylab Astronauts Doing Gymnastics in Zero G Credits: Co-hosts: Daniela DePaulis and Paul Carr Producer Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky
This podcast is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. | |||
| Episode 42 - Moon bouncing with Julia DeMarines | 11 déc. 2019 | 00:48:32 | |
Released: 11 December 2019 Duration: 48 minutes, 30 seconds
Co-hosts Daniela DePaulis and Paul Carr welcome Julia DeMarines (@LifeNSpace) to talk about bouncing radio signals off the moon. Julia is involved in a moon bounce research project for Berkeley SETI, and Daniela has used moonbounce in her art projects, including Cogito. We also get into a discussion of METI, and the importance of message composition to humans. For more information, please visit https://wowisgnalpodcast.com Guest bio:Julia DeMarines is an Astrobiologist and science communicator working at the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center and with Blue Marble Space. She is a 2019 National Geographic Explorer and 2018 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, and a 2019 AGU Voices for Science advocate. Her research involves detecting life in the Universe through biosignatures and technosignatures and the ethics of sending powerful, intentional messages into space. She is passionate about inspiring the next generation of scientists and teaches to underserved students around the world through the Ad Astra Academy. Julia also runs her own outreach events called "Space in Your Face!" – a space variety show involving comedy, local artists, and cover songs. Twitter: @LifeNspace Instagram: @mote_of_dust Facebook: @JuliaDeMarines Links Sullivan (1979), Radio leakage and eavesdropping Sullivan and Knowles(1985), Lunar Reflections of Terrestrial Radio Leakage. DeMarines+ (2019), Observing the Earth as a Communicating Exoplanet David Grinspoon's appearances on this podcast: first, second, third. Andrew Siemion's appearances: first, second.
Dream of the Open Channel Credits:Co-hosts: Daniela DePaulis and Paul Carr Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, George Hrab Software: Zoom, Loopback, Reaper, Focusrite, Auphonic, OS X Mojave Hardware: Shure, Cloud,Focusrite, Apple.
This podcast is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. | |||
| Episode 41 - The Vanishing Sources with Beatriz Villarroel | 15 nov. 2019 | 00:42:24 | |
Released: 15 November 2019 Duration: 42 minutes, 24 seconds Our guest on Burst 19 in 2016, Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, returns to give us an update on the vanishing star, following the release of a new paper detailing a much more ambitious project along the same lines that finds a number of new candidate objects. For more information, please visit https://wowsignalpodcast.com Links:Burst 19: Our Sky Now and Then Chasing Disclosure (work of fiction that mentions the earlier research) Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky and Jason Robinson Announcer: Erin Carr This podcast is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-alike license. | |||
| Episode 40 - Extraterrestrial Languages | 16 oct. 2019 | 00:54:51 | |
Released: 16 October 2019 Duration: 54 minutes, 51 seconds
Interstellar Languages is a forthcoming book about the human quest to craft messages that can be understood across interstellar distances. We may want to tell ET about ourselves, or it may be help ET send message to us that we will know how to interpret. Daniel Oberhaus is a staff writer at Wired Magazine, where he covers space and energy. His first book, Extraterrestrial Languages, will be released by MIT Press on October 22, 2019.For more information, please visit wowsignalpodcast.com Support the podcast at Patreon.com. LinksMIT Press Page for Interstellar Languages The Risks of METI and Religious Aliens The Question: the ontological status of mathematics CreditsHost and Producer: Paul Carr Co-Host: Daniela DiPaulis Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, George Hrab Announcer: Erin Carr
The Wow! Signal is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license | |||
| Episode 39 - Sofia Sheik and The Nine Axes | 29 sept. 2019 | 00:49:53 | |
Released: 29 September 2019 Duration: 49 minutes, 52 seconds Download Sofia's paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.02683 A conversation with SETI researcher Sofia Sheikh about how we should evaluate technosignature search strategies. We cover three examples of technosignature searches and their relative advantages. Sofia Sheikh is a third-year graduate student at the Pennsylvania State University working with Dr. Jason Wright. She did her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became involved with the Breakthrough Listen Initiative. Her work incorporates both theoretical approaches to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and observational radio searches for technosignatures. She intends to be the first woman to complete a SETI PhD thesis. LinksAndrew Siemion on SETI at the SKA The Truth about Alien Megastructures CreditsHost and Producer: Paul Carr Announcer: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Erika Lloyd, Jason Robinson Hardware: Shure, Audio Technica, Pro Art, Behringer, Focusrite, Apple. Software: Skype, Loopback, Reaper, Auphonic Desktop Hosting: Libsyn
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| Burst 32 - Become a Boyajian's Star Scientist in Your Spare Time | 19 févr. 2019 | 00:06:49 | |
Released: 18 February 2019 Duration: 6 minutes, 48 seconds
Paul Carr summarizes why we want to know more about this star, and how you can get involved. Links:Please see wowsignalpodcast.com for the most detailed information. The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe (Tabby's TED Talk) Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 The Slow and Fast Dimming of Tabby's Star (Brad Schaefer) Ben Montet Makes a Star Weirder
The KIC8462852_Analysis subreddit Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky | |||
| Burst 31 Beyond the SETI Paradigm | 05 févr. 2019 | 00:16:51 | |
Released: 10 February 2019 Duration: 16 Minutes, 51 Seconds
Abraham Loeb and Shmuel Bialy kicked up a kerfuffle when they wrote a paper suggesting that one possible explanation for 'Oumuamua was that it could be an artificial object, in other words, an alien spacecraft—specifically, a lightsail. The two have been praised for their boldness and condemned for their recklessness, but little has been said concerning the possibility of detecting a lightsail as a technosignature in comparison to detecting a "conventional" technosignature such as the radio and laser beacons that SETI searches for. When we look out into the universe for signs of intelligence, if there are technosignatures to be seen, what technologies ought we to expect to be the most common? Links Stagnant Supercivilizations and Interstellar Travel "Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain 'Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?" Bialy and Loeb lightsail (Wikipedia) The Interstellar Age: The Story of the NASA Men and Women Who Flew the Forty-Year Voyager Mission by Jim Bell NASA Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space The Great Filter—Are We Almost Past It? by Robin Hanson SETI as a Process of Elimination CreditsWritten and Presented by: Nick Nielsen Postproduction: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky
This podcast episode is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license | |||
| Unseen Podcast announcement | 14 oct. 2018 | 00:12:36 | |
A not quite so short announcement from the producer of the Unseen Podcast and the Wow! Signal. This is for those who have not seen the video.
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| Burst 30 - The Gaia DR2 Release and Boyajian's Star | 26 avr. 2018 | 00:10:01 | |
Released: 24 April 2018 Duration: 10 minutes, 1 second
Paul Carr talks about today's much more accurate distance estimate to Boyajian's Star from Gaia Data Release 2, and what, if anything, this rules out. Links: Clemens+ (2018) - Proper Motion of the Faint Star near KIC 8462852 (Boyajian's Star) - Not a Binary System Boyajian+ (2015) - Where's the Flux? Ben Montet Makes a Star Weirder Castelaz and Barker (2018) - KIC 8462852: Maria Mitchell Observatory Photographic Photometry 1922 to 1991 Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson
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| Burst 29 - Caral Supe and Evangeline | 24 avr. 2018 | 00:12:21 | |
Released: 23 April 2018 Duration:12 minutes, 21 seconds
Paul Carr reviews what has been happening over the Winter and early Spring with respect to Boyajian's Star. We review the Winter observations, the Castelaz and Barker paper, and the two surprise March dips, Caral-Supe and Evangeline. We also talk about the upcoming Gaia Data Release 2 and what it might mean. Links KIC 8462852: Maria Mitchell Observatory Photographic Photometry 1922 to 1991 Bruce Gary's Boyajian's Star Page Credits Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 28 - The Cosmic Archipelago, part III | 07 févr. 2018 | 00:24:48 | |
Released: 6 February 2018 Duration: 24 minutes, 48 seconds
A hundred years ago cosmologists were struggling to understand the nature and structure of the universe, and at the heart of this struggle was the island universe hypothesis. Today we find ourselves confronted with a similar question posed at a far greater scale. In order to resolve our cosmic archipelago problem we will have to attempt to reconstruct a history of our universe as a part of a far larger cosmological system, and to do this we will have to extend cosmology beyond the observable universe -- but what, exactly, is the observable universe? Links:
Radio Technology and Existential Risk Boyajian's Star (KIC 8462852) Supernova iPTF14hls The Face of the Past The Face of the Past, Part Two Credits: Writer and Host: Nick Nielsen Producer and Announcer: Paul Carr Music: by kind permission of the artist, Jason Robinson
The Wow! Signal is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. | |||
| Burst 27 - The Cosmic Archipelago - Part 2 | 26 janv. 2018 | 00:21:51 | |
Released: 25 January 2018 Duration: 21 minutes, 51 seconds
A hundred years ago cosmologists were struggling to understand the nature and structure of the universe, and at the heart of this struggle was the island universe hypothesis. Today we find ourselves confronted with a similar question posed at a far greater scale. As we confront these great questions of cosmology, whether a hundred years ago or today, we find ourselves faced with as many philosophical questions as scientific questions when we challenge the boundaries of our understanding. In Part II we focus on cosmological scales of time and what this means for human observation of a very old universe. Links:The Realm of the Nebula, Edwin Hubble Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, Immanuel Kant The Great Debate The Scale of the Universe, Shapley and Curtis The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion: Background,Issues, and Aftermath, V. Trimble NGC 6822, a remote stellar system, Edwin Hubble F. H. Bradley deep time Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe, Arthur Eddington The Retrodiction Wall Addendum on the Retrodiction Wall Eternity in six hours: Intergalactic spreading of intelligent life and sharpening the Fermi paradox, Stuart Armstrong and Anders Sandberg The End of Cosmology? Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer Credits: Writer and Host: Nick Nielsen Voiceover and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 26 - The Cosmic Archipelago, Part 1. | 21 janv. 2018 | 00:19:01 | |
Released: 21 January 2018 Duration: 19 minutes
A hundred years ago cosmologists were struggling to understand the nature and structure of the universe, and at the heart of this struggle was the island universe hypothesis. Today we find ourselves confronted with a similar question posed at a far greater scale. As we confront these great questions of cosmology, whether a hundred years ago or today, we find ourselves faced with as many philosophical questions as scientific questions when we challenge the boundaries of our understanding. In Part I we focus on the original problems of constructing the cosmological distance ladder. Links: The Realm of the Nebula, Edwin Hubble Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, Immanuel Kant The Great Debate The Scale of the Universe, Shapley and Curtis The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion: Background,Issues, and Aftermath, V. Trimble NGC 6822, a remote stellar system, Edwin Hubble F. H. Bradley deep time Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe, Arthur Eddington The Retrodiction Wall Addendum on the Retrodiction Wall Eternity in six hours: Intergalactic spreading of intelligent life and sharpening the Fermi paradox, Stuart Armstrong and Anders Sandberg The End of Cosmology? Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer Credits: Writer and Host: Nick Nielsen Producer and Voiceover: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 25 - The Elsie Paper | 03 janv. 2018 | 00:15:37 | |
Released: 3 January 2018 Duration: 15 minutes, 37 seconds
Host Paul Carr goes over the new paper by Tabetha Boyajian and 206 coauthors: The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852. Links: Burst 13 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 1 Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian's on Elsie Burst 24 - The Summer of Tabby's Star The KIC 8462852 subreddit wiki Credits: Host, producer, writer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Episode 38 - The Overview Effect | 17 déc. 2017 | 01:05:20 | |
Released: 31 December 2017 Duration: 65 minutes, 20 seconds Daniela DePaulis and Nick Nielsen in conversation with Frank White on the Overview Effect.
Detailed show notes To Be Supplied. Please see wowsignalpodcast.com for more information.
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| Burst 24- The Summer of Tabby's Star | 03 déc. 2017 | 00:11:44 | |
Released: 3 December 2017 Duration: 11 minutes 43 seconds
Host Paul Carr covers some recent developments with respect to Boyajian's Star, especially the 4 dips of the Summer of 2017. Links: wherestheflux.com Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian discusses Elsie Where Is the Flux Going? The Long-Term Photometric Variability of Boyajian's Star Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852 Optical Polarimetry of KIC 8462852 in May-August 2017 Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Episode 37 - Sonar Calling GJ 273B | 16 nov. 2017 | 00:48:06 | |
Released: 16 November 2017 Duration: 48 minutes, 5 seconds
Host Paul Carr talks to Douglas Vakoch of METI.org about a recent transmission using a powerful radar transmitter to the star GJ 273, which has a super-Earth planet circling it in the habitable zone. Links: GJ 273 in the Open Exoplanet Catalog The Unseen Podcast Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson Announcer: Erin Carr | |||
| A short note for listeners - November 2017 | 15 nov. 2017 | 00:04:47 | |
Released: 14 November 2017 A short note from Paul Carr to please stay tuned for more content. Sorry for the lull, but we are not fading - we wouldn't do that to you. Meanwhile, if you haven't already, check out the Unseen Podcast. | |||
| Episode 36 - The One Earth Message | 03 sept. 2017 | 01:02:38 | |
Released: 3 September 2017 Duration: 62 minutes, 37 seconds
Host Daniela De Paulis along with Paul Carr in conversation with artist Jon Lomborg, designer of Carl Sagan's Voyager Golden Record, on his new crowdfunded project, the One Earth Message. Links: The One Earth Message Kickstarter Credits:Host and co-producer: Daniela De Paulis Co-producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Erika Lloyd Announcer: Erin Carr | |||
| Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian talks about the May 2017 dip | 06 juin 2017 | 00:18:33 | |
Released: 5 June 2017 Duration: 18 minutes 33 seconds
Paul Carr talks with Tabetha Boyajian about the flurry of observations of KIC 8462852 conducted when the star dipped in brightness last month, and what might happen in the near future. Links: Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 22 - Tabby's Star is Dimming | 19 mai 2017 | 00:12:58 | |
Released: 19 May 2017 Duration: 12 minutes 57 seconds
Host Paul Carr provides some brief remarks and one or two speculations about the dimming of Tabby's Star that began today. Links: Tabby's Star for the Perplexed Part 1
The Wow! Signal podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons/Attribution Share-Alike license. | |||
| Episode 35 - There is Here | 13 févr. 2017 | 01:30:39 | |
Released: 13 February 2017 Duration:90 minutes, 38 seconds
In this episode we explore Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or METI, with METI.org President Douglas Vakoch and interdisciplinary artist Daniela de Paulis. Nick Nielsen joins us for a discussion of Daniela's new project Cogito - how do we send our thoughts into the cosmos? Links: Daniela de Paulis on the Unseen Podcast Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Co-hosts: Daniela de Paulis and Nick Nielsen Music: DJ Spooky, George Hrab, Erika Llloyd Voiceover: Erin Carr
The Wow! Signal podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike license.
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| Burst 21 - The Absolute, Definitive Truth about Alien Megastructures | 02 janv. 2017 | 00:15:38 | |
Released: 2 January 2017 Duration: 15 minutes, 37 seconds
Based upon a Dream of the Open Channel blog entry, we discuss why there may not be any galaxy-scale megastructures, but what sort of stellar class megastructures could we possibly observe out there. Please visit wowsignalpodcast.com for more information about this podcast. Links:Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies GHAT III: The Reddest Extended Sources from WISE The Tully-Fisher relation as a probe of Dysonian astroengineering in disk galaxies Searching for Cost Optimized Interstellar Beacons
Credits: Host, Writer and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson
The Wow! Signal Podcast is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license. | |||
| S3 Ep. 10 - Human Up | 29 nov. 2016 | 00:59:03 | |
Released: 28 November 2016 Duration: 59 minutes, 2 seconds
Astrobiologist and Author David Grinspoon joins us to talk about his new book, Earth in Human Hands - Shaping Our Planet's Future. Following all the great demotions, humanity is about to get a great promotion - and we're not ready for it, but we have no choice. Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Announcer: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Erika Lloyd, George Hrab
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| Burst 20 - The Gaia Data Release 1 and the WTF Star | 15 sept. 2016 | 00:22:27 | |
Recorded: 14 September 2016 Released: 14 September 2016 Duration:22 minutes, 22 seconds
Astronomer Tabetha "Tabby" Boyajian joined Paul Carr, Roger Wehbe, and Rusty Schweikart in a Google Hangout to talk about the implications of the Gaia Data Release 1 for a better understanding of KIC 8462852. Links: Gaia Parallax for KIC 8462852 is 2.554887 mas Jason Wright: What Could be Going on with Boyajian's Star? Part X: Wrap-up and Gaia's Promise Credits: Producer and Host: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson
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| Season 3 Episode 9 - Ben Montet Makes a Star Weirder | 08 août 2016 | 00:47:44 | |
Released: 8 August 2016 Duration:47 minutes 44 seconds
Host Paul Carr talks to CalTech astronomer Ben Montet,who has, with his colleague Joshua Simon, just published the result that Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) dimmed considerably over the four year course of the Kepler Space Telescope prime mission. Links: Montet and Simon, KIC 8462852 Faded Throughout the Kepler Mission Interview with Bradley Schaefer on Dimming of Tabby's Star Boyajian, et. al., KIC 8462852 - Where's The Flux? Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Announcer:Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd
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| Burst 19 - Lost Stars | 01 août 2016 | 00:24:12 | |
Released: 31 July 2016 Duration: 24 minutes, 11 seconds
Host Paul Carr discusses the recent paper "Our Sky Now and Then" with lead author and astronomer Beatriz Villarroel,a PhD student at the University of Upsalla in Sweden, Ms. Villarroel's team was undertaking an alternative approach to SETI, looking for evidence of effects in astronomical data that could not be due to natural effects. Links: Our Sky Now and Then The USNO B1.0 Catalog The Nearby Infrared WISE object Jason Wright: A WISE Search for Large Extraterrestrial Civilizations Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Season 3 Episode 8 - Nathaniel Comfort and the Biography of DNA | 29 juil. 2016 | 00:43:15 | |
Released: 28 July 2016 Duration: 43 minutes, 45 seconds
James Garrison speaks with latest holder of the Library of Congress Baruch Blumberg chair of astrobiology, Nathaniel Comfort. His current book project is the biography of DNA. Links: New Study Outlines "Water World" Theory of the Origin of Life Credits: Host: James Garrison Producer: Paul Carr Announcer: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky and Frank Dorritke
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| Burst 18 - Nick Nielsen on the Spoor of Civilizations | 04 juil. 2016 | 00:20:42 | |
Released: 4 July 2016 Duration: 20 minutes, 41 seconds SETI research is much like the traditional task of a tracker, who seeks the spoor of elusive quarry through a wilderness. In the search for life, intelligence, and exocivilizations we find ourselves in the position of seeking the spoor of these higher emergent complexities in the cosmological wilderness. Links: SETI as a Process of Elimiation (Wow! Signal Burst) SETI as a Process of Elimination (Medium post) The Eerie Silence: Renewing our Search for Alien Intelligence, Paul Davies The Wilderness Hypothesis (Wow! Signal Burst) The Halos of Vanished Civilizations (Wow! Signal Burst) Writer and Presenter: Nick Nielsen Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| S3 Episode 7 - Journey Into the World of Alien Hunting | 23 juin 2016 | 00:41:20 | |
Released: 22 June 2016 Duration: 41 minutes, 19 seconds
Daniela De Paulis hosts a conversation with the team producing the crowdfunded feature-length SETI documentary Earthlings Quest, and one of the scientists profiled in the film, Douglas Vakoch. We urge you to consider contributing to the Kickstarter for this film.
METI Interinational The SETI Institute The Earthling's Quest Kickstarter Credits:Host: Daniela De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Announcer: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Erika Lloyd, George Hrab | |||
| Season 3 Episode 6 - Not a Glimmer of an Idea | 27 mai 2016 | 01:07:17 | |
Released: 27 May 2016 Duration: 67 minutes, 16 seconds
We interview LSU astronomer Bradley Schaefer about why is sticking to his guns about the century-long dimming of Tabby's Star (KIC 8462952), why some popular explanations fail, and what can be done to further explore the reason that this star's behavior is so behavior. In particular, Brad wants to encourage us to contribute to Tabetha Boyajian's kickstarter to buy telescope time to monitor the star. Links: The Fast and Slow Dimming of Tabby's Star Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe Brad Schaefer: KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989 Brad Schaefer on Centauri Dreams: Further Thoughts on the Dimming of KIC 8462852
Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Announcer: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky, George Hrab
The Wow! Signal is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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| Burst 17 - The Where's The Flux Kickstarter | 19 mai 2016 | 00:03:34 | |
Released: 18 May 2016 Durations: 3 minutes, 33 seconds
A short Burst to briefly explain today's development and to ask listeners to seriously consider donating to the new Kickstarter to monitor KIC 8462852 with a network of telescopes using standardized photometry. The hope is that we will reliably catch the star in the act of dimming. Please share this and the link to the kickstarter widely. Together, we can catch Tabby's Star in the act. Links: The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 (Burst 13) Interview With Tabetha Boyajian (Season 3, Episode 4) Interview with Stella Kafka of the AAVSO (Season 3, Episode 5) Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson Postprocessing: Auphonic.com Hosting: Libsyn.com
The Wow! Signal is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license | |||
| Season 3, Episode 5 - Catching Tabby's Star in the Act | 03 mai 2016 | 00:35:44 | |
Released: 3 May 2016 Duration: 35 minutes, 43 seconds
Stella Kafka, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) tells us about how her organization observes variable stars and how they hope to catch Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) in the act of dimming. Also, a brief update on Bradley Schaefer's work.
please see wowsignalpodcast.com for a full set of links AAAVSO.org Donate to the AAVSO Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 1 The Fast and Slow Dimming of Tabby's Star Interview with Tabetha Boyajian Script for this episode Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, Erika Lloyd, George Hrab Announcer: Erin Carr Hardware: Shure, Pro Art, Focusrite, Apple Software: Skype, Reaper, Loopback, OS X Yosemite Postprocessing: Auphonic.com Hosting: Libsyn.com
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| Season 3 Episode 4 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 3 | 07 avr. 2016 | 00:43:46 | |
Released: 6 April 2016 Duration: 43 minutes, 45 seconds Thread: Astronomy and Astrophysics
In Tabbys' Star for the Perplexed Part 1, we explained why this is puzzling star. In Part 2, we talked about some of the explanations put forth and their weaknesses. In the third and last (for now) part of the series, we talk to Tabby herself, and she answers several reasonably informed questions about her team's work, past, present and future.
Boyajian, et. al., Planet Hunters IX: KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux? Tabby's Star for the Perplexed (blog post) Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 2
Schaefer, KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165 +/- 0.014 Magnitudes Per Century from 1890 to 1989. LCOGT Planet Hunters Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr VO: Erin Carr Music: DJ Spooky and Sleep Research Facility
The spoken content of the Wow! Signal is distributed under the | |||
| Burst 16 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 2. | 01 avr. 2016 | 00:13:22 | |
Released: 31 March 2016 Duration: 13 minutes, 21 seconds
Paul Carr continues with our series explaining just what is so puzzling about Tabby's Star, aka KIC 8462852. In this part we talk about some of the candidate explanations, including alien megastructures, including a Dyson Swarm. Links Please see wowsignalpodcast.com The Slow and Fast Dimming of Tabby's Star AstroWright Credits: Written, Produced, and Voiced by Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson
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| Burst 15 - Nick Nielsen on the Social Context of SETI | 17 mars 2016 | 00:13:26 | |
Released: 16 March 2016 Duration: 13 minutes, 25 seconds
Science does not occur in a vacuum, and this is doubly true in the case of SETI, which is said to suffer from a "giggle factor." How does social context shape the scientific research program of SETI? The public at times shows great interest in SETI, but this attention can cut two ways, both benefiting and harming the discipline. Nowhere is this more true than in funding for SETI research.
Credits: Written and Read by: Nick Nielsen Producer and VO: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 14 - Jason Hessels on the Repeating Fast Radio Burst | 14 mars 2016 | 00:22:56 | |
Released: 14 March 2016 Duration:22 minutes, 55 seconds
We talk to Netherlands astronomer Jason Hessels, corresponding author on a recent paper in Nature describing a repeating fast radio burst. For more information please visit wowsignalpodcast.com Links: The Unseen Podcast Discussion of FRBs Credits:Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 13 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 | 10 mars 2016 | 00:18:02 | |
Released: 10 March 2016 Duration: 18 minutes, 1 second
In Part 1, Paul Carr provides a non-technical explanation of why the star informally known as Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is so perplexing after all. What was observed, and why doesn't it fit a conventional explanation? Please see our companion blog post at Dream of the Open Channel.
Written, Produced and Read by Paul Carr Music by Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 12 - Nick Nielsen on SETI as a Process of Elimination | 13 févr. 2016 | 00:20:36 | |
Released: 13 February 2016 Duration:20 minutes, 35 seconds
Nick Nielsens's show notes: In so far as SETI is a science -- and it aspires to be a science even as its critics argue that it falls short -- should its emphasis fall upon confirmation or disconfirmation? I argue that the falsification of narrowly formulated hypotheses about exocivilizations can both demonstrate the scientificity of SETI as well as refine our conception of exocivilizations, hence refining our idea of the exact nature of the object of our search. The origin of this Wow! Signal Burst (now revised and updated so that little remains of the original except the central idea) is a blog post that I wrote some time ago, SETI as a Process of Elimination, which was part of a series of posts about SETI, including Methodological Naturalism and the Eerie Silence, Why the Fermi Paradox Must be Taken Seriously, Addendum on the Fermi Paradox, The Visibility Presumption, and Searching the Sky.Credits Written and Read by: Nick Nielsen Producer and VO: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson | |||
| Burst 11- DASCH Photometry with Dr. Josh Grindlay | 06 févr. 2016 | 00:22:19 | |
Released: 6 February 2016 Duration: 22 minutes, 18 seconds An edited interview with Dr. Josh Grindlay concerning the use of measurements of star brightness from the Digital Access to a Sky Century @HArvard to measure the dimming (or not) of Tabby's Star over a Century. Grandly critiques Hippke's paper that found dimming in several stars in the DASCH data, and also Schaefer's claim that Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is slowly dimming. Links: Boyajian, et. al. Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux? Schaefer: KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989 Hippke and Angerhausen: KIC 8462852 did likely not fade during the last 100 years Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson and Erika Lloyd
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