How does life begin? This intriguing question touches on science, philosophy, and the imagination. Artist and INCUBATOR Art Lab Director Jennifer Willet created an artwork that visualizes the theories of SETI Institute Drake Award recipients Dr. David Deamer and Dr. John Baross. Willet’s work, Dreams of Biogenesis, imagines the birth of life on our planet as a reverie of molecules, cells, micro and multicellular organisms assembling and evolving under unique environmental conditions. Join SETI AIR Director Bettina Forget and Jennifer Willet for a conversation about creative research that combines fine arts practices with applied biotechnologies. INCUBATOR Art Lab: https://incubatorartlab.com/ (Recorded live 3 July 2025.)

Last week, the NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory released its First Look images, including stunning views of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae, an astounding Cosmic Treasure Chest of stars and galaxies, and a "swarm" of newly discovered asteroids. Captured in a mere ten hours of observing time, this preview gave us a taste of what is to come for the groundbreaking observatory. As the press release states, "Rubin’s innovative 8.4-meter telescope has the largest digital camera ever built, which feeds a powerful data processing system. Later in 2025, Rubin will begin its primary mission, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), in which it will ceaselessly scan the sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change." Join SETI Institute communications specialist Beth Johnson and CEO of the LSST Discovery Alliance Beth Willman in a special SETI Live event, talking about these First Look images, the future of the LSST mission, and what all the new data could mean for astrobiology and planetary defense. Press release: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/first-imagery-rubin (Recorded live 1 July 2025.)

A major new exhibition at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, runs from May 17, 2025, to January 4, 2026, and will feature a complete LaserSETI instrument on display. The exhibit explores one of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe? The exhibition brings together cutting-edge science, captivating artifacts, and the latest research in astrobiology, exoplanets, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. LaserSETI represents a new frontier in SETI, using a global network of instruments to continuously scan the night sky for brief laser pulses—potential signs of technology from beyond Earth. The first two sites were in California, at the Ferguson Observatory in Sonoma County, and on Haleakala in Maui, Hawaii. Last year, a third site went online in Sonora, Arizona; now, a new station is being installed in Puerto Rico. Join communications specialist Beth Johnson, Simon Steel (Deputy Director, Carl Sagan Center) and Outreach Manager for LaserSETI Lauren Sgro to talk about the London exhibition, the new observatories, and what this all means in the search for life beyond Earth. (Recorded live 26 June 2025.)

🌍 What Will Earth Look Like in 1000 Years? Will humanity collapse, thrive, or colonize the stars—and could alien civilizations detect us? Join senior planetary astronomer Dr. Franck Marchis for a fascinating conversation with Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra, astrobiologist and lead author of a groundbreaking study exploring 10 possible futures for Earth’s technosphere—the global network of our technologies—and what these futures mean for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). 🚀 From stable zero-growth societies to interstellar expansion, Dr. Haqq-Misra’s team models how Earth’s trajectory might look over the next millennium and what clues we might be sending into space. Could future Earth resemble a sci-fi utopia—or become invisible to alien observers? 👽 Learn how technosignatures like atmospheric pollution (yes, even nitrogen dioxide!) could help us find—or hide from—civilizations across the galaxy. 🔭 Whether you’re into space exploration, science fiction, or the future of humanity, this interview dives deep into the cosmic implications of our technological choices. (Recorded live 12 June 2025.)

Join planetary scientist Beth Johnson as we explore a groundbreaking discovery from NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. Scientists have identified siderite—a rare iron carbonate mineral—within ancient Martian rocks, offering new insights into Mars' once-thicker atmosphere and its now-lost carbon cycle. This discovery reshapes our understanding of the Red Planet's climate history and helps us draw powerful parallels to Earth's carbon processes. Dr. Ben Tutolo, associate professor at the University of Calgary and participating scientist on NASA's Curiosity rover team, explains that as Mars' atmosphere thinned over time, carbon dioxide was sequestered into rock formations, leading to a dramatic climate shift from a warm, wet environment to the cold, arid planet we see today. These findings provide evidence that ancient Mars was habitable and offer insights into the fragility of planetary climates. Dr. Tutolo emphasizes the parallels between Mars' atmospheric changes and current efforts on Earth to mitigate climate change by converting anthropogenic CO₂ into stable carbonates. Understanding the mechanisms of carbon sequestration on Mars could inform strategies to address climate challenges on our own planet. (Recorded live 5 June 2025.)

Why are Titan’s river deltas missing? Planetary astronomer Franck Marchis taps in for Beth Johnson to chat with Brown University’s Sam Birch and explore a strange and unexpected mystery on Saturn’s largest moon. Using data from NASA’s Cassini mission and advanced computer modeling, Birch’s team reveals that Titan's shorelines defy Earth-like expectations. Despite Titan's known rivers and seas of liquid methane, the team found a surprising absence of deltas—landforms typically formed when rivers deposit sediment at their mouths. This finding challenges existing geological expectations, as deltas are common on Earth where rivers meet larger bodies of water, and suggests that Titan's geological and climatic processes differ significantly. This discovery opens new avenues for research into Titan's sediment transport mechanisms and its potential to preserve signs of past environmental conditions or even life. (Recorded live 29 May 2025.)

What if the origin of life isn’t a one-in-a-billion cosmic fluke, but something that happens whenever the conditions are just right? Join communications specialist Beth Johnson as we explore groundbreaking research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where scientists have identified over 270 self-replicating chemical reactions that may have sparked life, not just on Earth, but potentially anywhere in the universe. Led by astrobiologist Dr. Betül Kaçar, this study reframes our understanding of how life can emerge from simple chemistry. Discover how these "chemical recipes" might reveal a universal pattern for life, help us search distant planets more effectively, and bring us one step closer to answering one of humanity’s biggest questions: Are we alone? (Recorded live 15 May 2025.)

A groundbreaking study from the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that ancient Mars was far from the cold, arid planet we know today. Led by Amanda Steckel, the research team utilized computer simulations to reveal that billions of years ago, Mars experienced significant precipitation—either rain or snow—that carved out extensive networks of valleys and channels across its surface. These findings challenge previous theories that Mars was predominantly cold and dry, instead supporting the idea of a warmer, wetter climate during the Noachian epoch, approximately 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago. The study provides compelling evidence that precipitation played a crucial role in shaping the Martian landscape, offering new insights into the planet's climatic history and its potential to have supported life. Join planetary scientist Beth Johnson and Dr. Steckel as they discuss the results of this study and its implications for finding life, especially past life, on Mars. (Recorded live 8 May 2025.)

One significant threat to life here on Earth is the possibility that a massive asteroid will collide with our planet and destroy life as we know it. To understand the possibilities, large surveys of the sky have found around 95% of potentially hazardous asteroids larger than a kilometer. Smaller asteroids, however, can also cause massive amounts of damage. Estimates range from 40 to 60 percent when it comes to asteroids over 100 meters in diameter, which would be considered city-killers. Even smaller asteroids, such as the 20-meter one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013, can cause destruction and injury. The more asteroids we can find, the better our predictions and future protections will be. In light of this threat, scientists have used the JWST to detect 138 of the smallest asteroids (as small as 10 meters) ever observed in the asteroid belt. These tiny asteroids are important because they can become near-Earth objects (NEOs), posing a risk to Earth through possible impacts, including powerful explosions. By analyzing the size and frequency of asteroids, researchers found a significant change in the population of asteroids around 100 meters in size, likely due to collisions breaking larger asteroids into smaller ones. The observed asteroids originated from known asteroid families and were detected using advanced tracking and infrared imaging techniques. This research enhances our understanding of asteroid behavior and may aid in predicting and mitigating future asteroid threats. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in a conversation with lead authors Artem Y. Burdanov and Julien de Wit as they discuss these smaller asteroids and what they can reveal about potential threats to our planet. (Recorded live 1 May 2025.)

​A recent study proposes a new model for the evolution of intelligent life, which challenges the long-standing "hard steps" theory that the emergence of intelligent life is an exceedingly rare event due to a series of improbable evolutionary milestones. A team led by postdoctoral researcher Dan Mills from the University of Munich suggests that the development of intelligent life is a natural outcome of planetary evolution. They argue that Earth's environment underwent sequential "windows of habitability," periods when conditions became favorable for complex life to emerge. (Past Drake Award winner Jason Wright is a co-author on the study.) The study emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between astrophysics and geobiology to understand the evolution of life. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in an in-depth discussion with Dr. Mills about why intelligent life may be common and how this could affect our search for life beyond Earth. (Recorded live 24 April 2025.)