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Meet Our Hosts
Franck Marchis is a senior planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute and Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Unistellar. He has dedicated his work to the study of our solar system, specifically the search for asteroids with moons, using mainly ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics.
Simon Steel is Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute. As an observational astrophysicist, he specialized in optical spectrophotometry, with an interest in the star formation histories of galaxies.
Bettina Forget is an art-science researcher, educator, and visual artist who joined the SETI Artist-in-Residence program in 2016 as a Researcher in Residence and became its Director in 2020. In this capacity, she facilitates collaboration between artists and the SETI Institute’s scientists, promotes art-science research, and weaves a network of institutional partners active in art, science, and technology.
Humanity's Plan for First Contact: Who Speaks for Earth?
The International Academy of Astronautics has just ratified the first major update to the SETI post-detection protocols in more than 15 years. These new guidelines address the realities of today's world, including social media, AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes, international coordination, and the challenge of responsibly communicating extraordinary discoveries.
At the same time, the SETI Institute has launched the Discovery and Futures Lab, a new interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to exploring the scientific, social, ethical, legal, and cultural implications of discovering life beyond Earth.
Join host Dr. Lauren Sgro and guests Dr. Lucian Walkowicz and Dr. Chelsea Haramia as they discuss what these new protocols mean, why humanity needs to prepare for transformative discoveries before they happen, and how scientists, policymakers, communicators, and the public might respond if we ever receive convincing evidence that we are not alone.
Could humanity agree on how to respond? How do we combat misinformation? Who gets to speak for Earth? And what can history teach us about one of the biggest discoveries in human history?
Tune in for a fascinating conversation about the future of discovery, responsibility, and our place in the cosmos.
Press release on the updated protocols: https://www.seti.org/news/beyond-disclosure-day/
Press release on the Discovery and Futures Lab: https://www.seti.org/news/seti-institute-launches-discovery-and-futures-lab-to-explore-the-human-dimensions-of-life-beyond-earth/
Jun 18, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
SETI Live: How Clouds Hide Alien Worlds—and How Astronomers See Through Them
#SETI Live #Lauren Sgro
Jun 16, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
SETI Live: Humanity's Plan for First Contact: Who Speaks for Earth?
What happens after we discover evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence? #SETI Live #Lauren Sgro #Lucian Walkowicz #Chelsea Haramia
Jun 11, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
SETI Live: What Juice Revealed About Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
#SETI Live #Franck Marchis
Jun 1, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
SETI Live: Life is But a Stream
Planetary Systems Along Stellar Streams #SETI Live #Moiya McTier
May 28, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
SETI Live: Not Planets. Not Stars.
NASA Volunteers Doubled the Number of Known Brown Dwarfs #SETI Live #Lauren Sgro
May 13, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
SETI Live: The Sounds of Intelligence
A Conversation with 2026 Drake Award Recipient Lori Marino #SETI Live #Lori Marino #Drake Awards
Jun 18, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
#SETI Live
#Lauren Sgro
Jun 16, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
SETI Live: Humanity's Plan for First Contact: Who Speaks for Earth?
What happens after we discover evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence?
#SETI Live
#Lauren Sgro
#Lucian Walkowicz
#Chelsea Haramia
Jun 11, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
#SETI Live
#Franck Marchis
SETI Live: What Juice Revealed About Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Jun 1, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
SETI Live: Life is But a Stream
Planetary Systems Along Stellar Streams
#SETI Live
#Moiya McTier
May 28, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
SETI Live: Not Planets. Not Stars.
NASA Volunteers Doubled the Number of Known Brown Dwarfs
#SETI Live
#Lauren Sgro
May 13, 2026 | 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
SETI Live: The Sounds of Intelligence
A Conversation with 2026 Drake Award Recipient Lori Marino
#SETI Live
#Lori Marino
#Drake Awards
Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity’s quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the Universe and to share that knowledge with the world.
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