The Drake Awards honor Frank Drake's bold spirit, scientific ingenuity, and enduring contributions to SETI and astrobiology. Since 2001—when Frank Drake became the first recipient—we’ve celebrated visionary scientists who expand the frontiers of our understanding of life in the cosmos.
We’re thrilled to invite you to The #DrakeAwards2025, taking place on May 20 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, and streaming online.
Played #SETI for the first time yesterday. It's *a lot* but I still won because my one super power is winning games the first time I play them (and then not so much afterwards).
Early bird tickets for The #DrakeAwards2025 are available!
You’re cordially invited to join the SETI Institute on May 20, 2025, for an unforgettable evening celebrating scientific discovery, innovation, and the search for life beyond Earth. Connect with pioneering researchers in #SETI, #astrobiology, and #space #science, enjoy a gala dinner and awards ceremony, and engage with the brightest minds in the field.
Act now! The Early Bird sale ends in five days!
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drake-awards-2025-tickets-1251126907259
If aliens are using lasers to communicate with each other, or trying to send a message to us Earthlings, there’s a good chance the instruments on Richard Factor’s roof will detect them.
But only if the night sky over Sedona is clear.
“This is one of my big hopes, big hobbies, big aspirations — to discover space aliens,” Factor said.
It’s why he offered his rooftop to host one of several optical instruments that form the growing LaserSETI network.
Centaurians. Shifty lot, don’t trust them to not cheat at cards, invade Narn, or lie to Earth saying we’re related… #BoardGames #BrettSpiele @brettspiele
Hi, everyone! We're curious to know what #SETI mentions have been circulating from pop culture of late. Anything fun? Interesting? We'd love to play in the sandbox with the big kids... let us know in the comments/replies!
Do I think Elon Musk is so racist that he hates actual Space Aliens and will close down anything SETI or Exobiological at NASA?
I guess we're going to find out, aren't we?
This month at the SETI Institute, exciting developments are shaping our understanding of the cosmos and the search for extraterrestrial life.
Read the full stories: https://www.seti.org/seti-institute-news-february-roundup
Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients
Scientists studying samples that #NASA collected from #asteroid #Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose. The chemistry that produced them might be going on today on the ice moons of #Jupiter and #Saturn.
“Our odds of finding life elsewhere are increasing,” said Daniel Glavin, a senior scientist for sample return at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/science/nasa-bennu-asteroid-molecules.html
https://archive.ph/us0yc #SETI
https://www.seti.org/detecting-earth-how-far-away-can-we-detect-earths-technosignatures
How detectable is Earth to others with technology similar to our own?
In a recent SETI Live, Dr. Sofia Sheikh and Dr. Simon Steel from the SETI Institute explored Dr. Sheikh’s study examining how detectable Earth is to extraterrestrial civilizations. Rather than focusing on advanced megastructures like Dyson spheres, the research investigates the signals humankind currently emits and how they might be observed from afar.
In this week's #SETILive podcast, Dr. Sofia Sheikh discusses her recent research paper examining whether other advanced civilizations could detect Earth from our technosignatures alone. She also answers Simon Steel's question about what types of signals other than radio she analyzed.
Listen to the full podcast: https://www.seti.org/seti-live
Milestone reached! We've finally determined the intensity of the Wow! Signal—one of its long-standing mysteries. Previous estimates were 54 Jy or 212 Jy. This new finding is just one of the key insights we’ll present in our upcoming paper, #AreciboWow II. #Astronomy #RadioAstronomy #SETI
Is humanity alone in the Universe? What scientists really think
During Feb-June 2024, they carried out four surveys regarding likely existence of basic, complex, and intelligent #extraterrestriallife
In total, 521 #astrobiologists responded, and we received 534 non-astrobiologist responses. Results reveal that 86.6% of surveyed astrobiologists responded either “agree” or “strongly agree” that it’s likely that #extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in the universe.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/01/is-humanity-alone-in-the-universe-what-scientists-really-think/ #SETI
#ICYMI - SETI Live: Earth Detecting Earth
Findings of a recent study revealed that radio signals, such as planetary radar emissions from the former Arecibo Observatory, are Earth’s most detectable technosignatures, potentially visible from up to 12,000 light-years away. Simon Steel chatted with lead author Sofia Sheikh about the research's findings and their implications for the search for technosignatures.
Watch here: https://youtube.com/live/Od-1V9ZR2Kc
Next #SETILive: Earth Detecting Earth
TODAY, Thursday, Feb 13, 2:30 PM PST
Findings of a recent study revealed that radio signals, such as planetary radar emissions from the former Arecibo Observatory, are Earth’s most detectable technosignatures, potentially visible from up to 12,000 light-years away. Join Simon Steel to chat with lead author Sofia Sheikh about the research's findings and their implications for the search for technosignatures. WATCH LIVE: https://youtube.com/live/Od-1V9ZR2Kc
Search for ET Highlighted in Free eBook: https://www.leonarddavid.com/search-for-et-highlighted-in-free-ebook/
A signal is detected from other star folks. But what happens now?
The International Academy of Astronautics has outlined protocols for what to do if we discover extraterrestrials.
If you’re curious about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, download a free eBook produced by the SETI Institute.
https://bigthink.com/13-8/at-what-distance-could-a-twin-earth-detect-our-signals/
A new study uses present-day technology to explore how far away an Earth-like civilization could detect Earth’s technosignatures, such as planetary radar, deep-space transmissions, and atmospheric pollution. The findings reveal that while some signals, like planetary radar, could be detected from thousands of light-years away, others, like city lights, remain visible only at very close distances.
https://www.leonarddavid.com/search-for-et-technosignatures-getting-down-to-earth/
If an extraterrestrial civilization existed with technology similar to ours, would they be able to detect Earth and evidence of humanity? If so, what signals would they detect, and from how far away?
A research team led by Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, in collaboration with the Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures project and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center, set out to detect answers.
https://www.seti.org/have-we-really-detected-dyson-spheres
Dr. Franck Marchis, a senior planetary astronomer and director of Citizen Science at the SETI Institute, and Dr. Lauren Sgro, outreach manager for LaserSETI and astronomer at the SETI Institute, discussed the possibility of Dyson spheres and recent research in a SETI Institute video. While no aliens have been found (yet!), Dr. Marchis explained that a Dyson Sphere is a hypothetical megastructure built around a star by aliens to harness energy.
In February 1995, a small research organization known as the SETI Institute launched what was then the most comprehensive search for an answer to a centuries-old question: are we alone in the universe?
This Sunday marks the 30th anniversary of the first astronomical observations conducted for the search, named Project Phoenix. These observations were done at the Parkes Observatory on Wiradjuri country in the central west of New South Wales, Australia.
