Podcasts about solitude the search

Follow John on Instagram @jpmonten & if you live in Seattle, check out Supreme in either West Seattle or University District.The books John chose were Artisan Baking Across America: The Breads, the Bakers, the Best Recipes by Maggie Glezer & Ben Fink, and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Other books discussed were Team of Rivals and No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars by Lee Billings, & Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.Food places referenced were Acme in San Francisco; Chez Panisse Restaurant; The Bread Farm in Edison, WA; Dahlia Bakery, Le Panier, Columbia City Bakery, & Macrina in Seattle.

It’s a big cosmos out there. It wasn’t too long ago that we couldn’t be sure that any planets existed anywhere outside of our own solar system. But in just the past handful of years, we’ve learned that planets orbiting stars are the rule, not the exception, which suggests that there may be 200 billion planets just in our galaxy alone, and trillions upon trillions of planets throughout the known universe. Surely, many of the planets in the Milky Way must be home to life forms, and even technologically advanced civilizations. So where the heck are they? Why can’t we find them? Why won’t they talk to us? Would we even know it if they did? To talk about the prospects for life on other worlds, intelligent and otherwise, Point of Inquiry host Paul Fidalgo talks to journalist Lee Billings. Lee is a reporter and editor for Scientific American covering space and physics, as well as the author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars. Billings explains how this quest, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has become increasingly daunting even as our knowledge of the cosmos grows richer. It is a quest rife with pitfalls, paradoxes, and plain old speculation, and so far, it has proven fruitless. But despite our apparent solitude, we keep looking. We keep listening. And we keep reaching out. Do we have the patience and the will to continue searching and waiting for a sign that may never come?

Discovering bacteria on Mars would be big news. But nothing would scratch our alien itch like making contact with intelligent life. Hear why one man is impatient for the discovery, and also about the new tools that may speed up the “eureka” moment. One novel telescope may help us find E.T. at home, by detecting the heat of his cities. Also, the father of modern SETI research and how decoding the squeals of dolphins could teach us how to communicate with aliens. Guests: •  Lee Billings – Journalist and author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars •  Oliver Guyon – Optical physicist, astronomer, University of Arizona and Suburu telescope; 2012 McArthur Genius award winner •  Jeff Kuhn – Physicist, Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Colossus Telescope •  Frank Drake – Astronomer, SETI Institute •  Denise Herzing – Behavioral biologist and research director of the Wild Dolphin Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discovering bacteria on Mars would be big news. But nothing would scratch our alien itch like making contact with intelligent life. Hear why one man is impatient for the discovery, and also about the new tools that may speed up the “eureka” moment. One novel telescope may help us find E.T. at home, by detecting the heat of his cities. Also, the father of modern SETI research and how decoding the squeals of dolphins could teach us how to communicate with aliens. Guests: •   Lee Billings – Journalist and author of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars •   Oliver Guyon – Optical physicist, astronomer, University of Arizona and Suburu telescope; 2012 McArthur Genius award winner •   Jeff Kuhn – Physicist, Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Colossus Telescope •   Frank Drake – Astronomer, SETI Institute •   Denise Herzing – Behavioral biologist and research director of the Wild Dolphin Project

Lee Billings ("Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars") joins the show. We discuss the fascinating history of Earth as well as the ongoing search for other planets in the solar system.

This week Matt, Jesse and Andy are joined by Caltech Planetary Science Postdoctoral Scholar Bjoern Benneke and author Lee Billings to talk about the many topics covered in Lee's new book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars, including: Hunting for exoplanets! Dating sites for farmers! The Drake equation! Earth's recent trend toward radio silence! Oxygen: The first great pollution crisis! Harold Urey's pessimistic time capsule predictions! Energy-hungry alien civilizations creating Dyson spheres! Competition in the exoplanet field! The philosophical reasons for searching for extraterrestrial life!

Lee Billings is a science writer whose work has appeared in Scientific American, New Scientist, and Popular Mechanics, among other publications. His new book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars, is an intimate history of Earth and the quest for life beyond the solar system. In this exclusive interview, he reveals why we may never find life on other planets.