Nathalie Cabrol, astrobiologist and Director of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, spoke to the Wall Street Journal about her work hunting for life in extreme environments. While people may think of human-like beings in spaceships far away when they hear the word extraterrestrials, Cabrol points out that the search begins closer to home – in our very own Solar System. Indeed, the Martians we find might be quite a bit smaller than science fiction has depicted. The first extraterrestrials we encounter are likely to be microbes:

“Microbial life, simple life, is what we’re really after in the Solar System,” she says. “That doesn’t mean it’s not going to be intelligent in its own way.”

Thanks to advances in technology, from AI to lasers (see, for instance, the Laser SETI project), the search for signs of alien technology has never been more promising. But the significance of finding even a few resilient bacteria enduring on Mars can’t be overstated, as Cabrol highlighted:

Say we find life on Mars tomorrow. That tells us that out of eight planets in the Solar System, 25% of them support life. That’s a staggering number. That changes our perspective on how inhabited the universe is. The issue is that it’s difficult to search for something we don’t know. So, we start with something we know and have a base of something to search for.

• The Wall Street Journal: A Researcher’s Hunt for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  Note: Wall Street Journal content is behind a paywall and requires a subscription

Visitors from Space: Truth or Fiction?

Some people believe, despite the dearth of verifiable evidence, that our planet is regularly being visited by extraterrestrials. An article for RVA Mag looked into the stories of UFO enthusiasts in the Richmond, Virginia, area, and consulted SETI Institute senior astronomer Seth Shostak to offer a scientist’s perspective on life beyond Earth. Shostak noted that the belief in alien visitors is fairly widespread:

“I get phone calls every day from people who are seeing things in the sky, and believe that they are alien craft,” said Shostak. “That’s because one-third of the population thinks that’s true: that the aliens are here, sailing the skies.”

Why is there such fascination among the public with stories of UFOs and abductions, despite a lack of material evidence? Perhaps it’s a longing for mystery, as Shostak suggests in a 2018 article for SETI.org:

In the era of Google Earth, when every square yard of the continents has been photographed and put online, it’s hardly surprising that we have an unsatisfied craving to explore the unknown, to do what Columbus, Magellan, Cook, and others did a half-millennium ago.

Of course, in the 21st century, a sailing vessel may no longer satisfy that need. A sailing saucer just might.

While skeptical of the idea that extraterrestrial craft are cruising the skies, leaving behind only blurry photographs, Shostak told RVA Mag he is confident that life beyond Earth will be found, thanks to advances in technology and our growing understanding of the cosmos:

“There’s all this real estate. Could it be that it’s all just sterile? Or does some of it have life?” said Shostak, of potentially-habitable planets like the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. “And, of course, that’s what we’re trying to find out.”

As far as our chances of finding life goes, Shostak is optimistic. Our technology and knowledge of astronomy is more advanced than any culture before us.

“There have been ten or fifteen thousand generations of humans before us; none of them could have found any of this life,” said Shostak. “The Neanderthals had a very limited space program.”

• RVA Mag: The Truth is Out There
• SETI.org: UFO believers got one thing right. Here's what they get wrong

Last week’s episode explores the elusive property of liquids, from Earth’s molten core to your bloodstream, in Go with the Flow. Our previous week’s episode celebrated women in science, from astronomers to code breakers, in DecodeHer.

Last time on Facebook Live, SETI Institute's Franck Marchis sat down with The Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla, Senior Editor and Planetary Evangelist Editor for The Planetary Report. Videos of all past Facebook Live events can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SETIInstitute/

• SETI Talks: April 17, 2019 Menlo Park, CA What is the Origin of Life on Earth? Speakers include David Deamer, Lynn Rothschild, and Bruce Damer.
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Astrobiology: April 1-29, Santa Clara, CA Instructors will include SETI Institute scientists Margaret, Race, Michael Busch, Franck Marchis, Janice Bishop, and Seth Shostak.
• Stockton Astronomical Society: April 11, 2019 Stockton City, CA SETI Institute scientist Meng Jin will give a presentation.
• National Conference on Science Education: April 11-14, 2019 St. Louis, MO. The SETI Institute’s Airborne Astronomy Ambassador team will be participating including Pamela Harman, Dana Backman and Coral Clark.
• Golden Gate Bridging: April 27, 2019, San Francisco, CA SETI Institute Director of Education Pamela Harman will be previewing the new Cadette Space Science Researcher badge at Chrissy Field.
• 2019 Drake Awards: May 8, 2019, Menlo Park, CA Special guests include Frank Drake, Jill Tarter, Ed Lu, Bill Borucki, Seth Shostak, and Drake Award recipient Jason Wright.
• AI for Good Global Summit: May 28-13, 2019, Geneva, Switzerland Bill Diamond, President and CEO of the SETI Institute, and James Parr, Director of Frontier Development Lab (FDL) will be participating in sessions exploring AI and space.
• AbSciCon: June 24-28, 2019, Bellevue WA The SETI Institute will be a participating sponsor.