The Drake Awards are less than a month away! Did you know that you can attend virtually? You'll see the awards presentations, plus you'll have access to our fantastic host, Marco Larsen, and two of our scientists as guests: Laurance Doyle (CETI) and Ann Marie Cody (astrophysics). Tickets are only $15! Get yours today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drake-awards-2025-tickets-1251126907259?aff=oddtdtcreator

Life on K2-18b? Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Just Yet - Last week, the mainstream news was filled with headlines about K2-18b — an exoplan... - https://hackaday.com/2025/04/28/life-on-k2-18b-dont-get-your-hopes-up-just-yet/ #jameswebbspacetelescope #extraterrestriallife #currentevents #featured #k2-18b #space #seti

Signs of life on a distant planet? Not so fast, say these astronomers - via Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01264-z

The #DrakeAwards2025 is more than an event—it’s a celebration of humanity’s boldest space scientists and their transformative contributions to our understanding of life in the cosmos. Join us on May 20, 2025, in Mountain View, CA, or stream online, as we honor the pioneers shaping the future of astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Get your tickets for both in-person and virtual events: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drake-awards-2025-tickets-1251126907259

Next #SETILive: Is Intelligent Life Easy?
TODAY, Thursday, Apr 24, 11:00 AM PDT

Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in an in-depth discussion with Dr. Dan Mills about why intelligent life may be common and how this could affect our search for life beyond Earth.

WATCH LIVE: https://youtube.com/live/hEQJfyW5yt4

PRESS RELEASE: https://www.seti.org/press-release/seti-institute-launches-arise-lab-bringing-seti-and-radio-astronomy-community-colleges

The SETI Institute announced it will expand its pilot program funded through a grant from the Amateur Radio and Digital Communication (ARDC) Foundation, now called ARISE Lab (arise.seti.org). This initiative brings SETI science to community colleges and provides hands-on training for community college instructors and students in astronomy, digital signal processing, and radio science.

[tentative!] Is this a hint of life on another world, or just a lot of hot air?
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/16/nx-s1-5364805/signs-life-alien-planet-biosignatures-exoplanet

Strongest hints yet of biological activity outside the solar system
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250416204034.htm

*astronomers detect most promising sign yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system
* on Earth DMS, DMDS only produced by life
* primarily microbial life: marine phytoplankton
* they remain cautious

An Infinity of Worlds: Giordano Bruno, Adi Granth (Sikh Scriptures), Odes of Solomon:
https://medium.com/sant-mat-meditation-and-spirituality/infinity-of-worlds-4e05e42b756b

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

Big Picture Science for Mar 24, 2025: Disappearing Data

Firing federal workers and freezing grants has upended research institutions, prompting uncertainty about their futures. We look at the real-world impacts these policy changes may have for our mechanisms for collecting and sharing important data. An NIH grant recipient considers the future of her lab’s ability to do basic research, including studying complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s and heart disease. An interruption in reliable access to CDC data comes as highly contagious avian influenza continues to evolve and spread in the U.S. And what does the gutting of NOAA imply for collecting essential weather data, including those used to forecast hurricanes?

Guests:

* Kimberly Cooper – Developmental biologist at the University of California, San Diego
* Amy Maxmen – Public health reporter at KFF Health News
* Alan Sealls – Retired broadcast meteorologist, adjust professor at the University of South Alabama and president-elect of the American Meteorological Society
* Bernadette Woods Placky – Chief meteorologist and Climate Matters director at the nonprofit organization, Climate Central

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/disappearing-data

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

How Far Human Civilisation is Detectable in Space 
Earth’s most detectable techno-signatures are the planetary radar transmissions from the erstwhile Arecibo Observatory............
#Arecibomessage #AreciboObservatory #ETI #ExtraTerrestrial #Extraterrestrialintelligence #SETI
Umesh Prasad

https://www.scientificeuropean.co.uk/sciences/space/how-far-human-civilisation-is-detectable-in-space/

Controversial Avi Loeb.....actually quite dull and rambling Avi Loeb.

Centauri Dreams is much better, I should be reading that instead of wasting time with that PT Barnum of SETI....

https://www.centauri-dreams.org

Could Be, Should Be #Headlines : #UAP Collides with #SETI Radio Astronomy Dish , Plows into Renovated 1890’s Whorehouse, accelerates away at Mach 4….

Excited to launch the next season of #Cosmoimaginaries.  Tomorrow we begin with a presentation from Gabriela Radulescu:

Earthly and extraterrestrial connections: CETI/SETI in Armenia and Czechoslovakia (Spojeni s mimozemskymi intelligencemi / the search for extraterrestrial intelligence)

Thurs, Mar 20 4pm EST / 8pm GMT / 9pm CET

Friday, 21 March 9am NZDT/7am AEDT

All welcome.

Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/JL-yhGskSLi74izOB6CoSw

NASA have written this up here: https://www.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18-b/

“The abundance of methane and carbon dioxide, and shortage of ammonia, support the hypothesis that there may be a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere in K2-18 b. These initial #Webb observations also provided a possible detection of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS). On Earth, this is only produced by life. The bulk of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments.”

#JamesWebb #Space #SETI (well, life, not intelligence…) #Science https://mastodon.social/@pomaranc/114187617832956778