Episodes
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A short message of farewell
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...
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Episode 50 - Arecibo Wow! with Professor Abel Mendez
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...
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Burst 34 - The Mystery of the Nine Transients
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...
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Episode 49 - Existential Risk
Released: 4 February 2021 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...
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Episode 48 - Chelsea Haramia on the Ethics of METI
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…
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Episode 47 - Arthur C. Clarke, Godfather of Satellites
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…
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Episode 46 - Extraterrestrials
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...
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Episode 45 - Among the Space People with Paola Castaño
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…
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Burst 33 - Astronomer David Blank Comments on Episode 41
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 The VASCO project: I. USNO objects missing in modern sky surveys and follow-up...
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Episode 44 - The Night Watch
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...
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Episode 43 - Adam Dipert Moves in Zero G
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…
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Episode 42 - Moon bouncing with Julia DeMarines
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…
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Episode 41 - The Vanishing Sources with Beatriz Villarroel
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...
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Episode 40 - Extraterrestrial Languages
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…
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Episode 39 - Sofia Sheik and The Nine Axes
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...
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Burst 32 - Become a Boyajian's Star Scientist in Your Spare Time
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…
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Burst 31 Beyond the SETI Paradigm
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....
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Unseen Podcast announcement
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. Unseen Podcast Episode Planning Sheet
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Burst 30 - The Gaia DR2 Release and Boyajian's Star
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)…
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Burst 29 - Caral Supe and Evangeline
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...
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Burst 28 - The Cosmic Archipelago, part III
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…
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Burst 27 - The Cosmic Archipelago - Part 2
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…
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Burst 26 - The Cosmic Archipelago, Part 1.
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...
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Burst 25 - The Elsie Paper
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…
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Episode 38 - The Overview Effect
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
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...
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Episode 37 - Sonar Calling GJ 273B
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 on SIMBAD The HARPS…
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A short note for listeners - November 2017
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.
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Episode 36 - The One Earth Message
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 The New...
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Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian talks about the May 2017 dip
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: /r/KIC8462852 The Subreddit FAQ Credits: Host and...
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Burst 22 - Tabby's Star is Dimming
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: The Reddit Discussion Forum Jason Wright's Video Tabby's Star for the Perplexed Part 1 The Wow! Signal podcast is...
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Episode 35 - There is Here
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…
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Burst 21 - The Absolute, Definitive Truth about Alien Megastructures
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…
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S3 Ep. 10 - Human Up
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,...
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Burst 20 - The Gaia Data Release 1 and the WTF Star
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....
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Season 3 Episode 9 - Ben Montet Makes a Star Weirder
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…
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Burst 19 - Lost Stars
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,...
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Season 3 Episode 8 - Nathaniel Comfort and the Biography of DNA
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: Mike Russell New Study Outlines "Water World" Theory of…
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Burst 18 - Nick Nielsen on the Spoor of Civilizations
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…
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S3 Episode 7 - Journey Into the World of Alien Hunting
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...
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Season 3 Episode 6 - Not a Glimmer of an Idea
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…
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Burst 17 - The Where's The Flux Kickstarter
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…
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Season 3, Episode 5 - Catching Tabby's Star in the Act
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...
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Season 3 Episode 4 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 3
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...
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Burst 16 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 2.
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…
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Burst 15 - Nick Nielsen on the Social Context of SETI
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...
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Burst 14 - Jason Hessels on the Repeating Fast Radio Burst
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: A Repeating Fast Radio Burst The Unseen...
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Burst 13 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1
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…
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Burst 12 - Nick Nielsen on SETI as a Process of Elimination
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...
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Burst 11- DASCH Photometry with Dr. Josh Grindlay
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...