Technosignatures vs. Biosignatures: Which Will Succeed First?

Our mission is to explore, understand, and explainthe origin and nature of life in the universe --and to share it with the world.

SETI Institute

Featuring SETI Institute co-founder Jill Tarter and 2018 Drake Award recipient Victoria Meadows.

SRI International: Headquarters

Thirty-five years ago, a group of entrepreneurs and scientists founded the SETI Institute – the first scientific institute dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life in the universe. We’re excited to commemorate this anniversary. We invited SETI Institute co-founder Jill Tarter and 2018 Drake Award Recipient Vikki Meadows to discuss the challenges and possible future strategies for the detection of life.Initiated by Jill Tarter in 1990s, Project Phoenix marked the first systematic search for technosignatures. Today, the Allen Telescope Array and Laser SETI are driving our technosignature search.The discovery that exoplanets are common has radically changed our view of the universe. The likelihood that there are habitable worlds elsewhere in the universe seems more plausible than ever before. Astronomers, including Vikki Meadows, are developing new instruments to help search for life on other planets. By analyzing data from exoplanets and identifying biosignatures, we will be able to search for habitable planets and the presence of life.Which approach will discover the first evidence of extraterrestrial life? Will technosignatures or biosignatures confirm our hypothesis that life exists outside our watery, shimmering planet and that, indeed, we are not alone?<a href="https://www.seti.org/molly-bentley" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Molly Bentley</a>, the co-host and producer of the radio program and podcast, <a href="https://www.bigpicturescience.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Big Picture Science</a>, will be the moderator.

Jill Tarter received her Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree with Distinction from Cornell University and her Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley. She served as Project Scientist for NASA’s SETI program, the High Resolution Microwave Survey, and has conducted numerous observational programs at radio observatories worldwide. Since the termination of funding for NASA’s SETI program in 1993, she has served in a leadership role to secure private funding to continue the exploratory science. Currently, she serves on the management board for the Allen Telescope Array, an innovative array of 350 (when fully realized) 6-m antennas at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, it will simultaneously survey the radio universe for known and unexpected sources of astrophysical emissions, and speed up the search for radio emissions from other distant technologies by orders of magnitude.Tarter’s work has brought her wide recognition in the scientific community, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, two Public Service Medals from NASA, Chabot Observatory’s Person of the Year award (1997), Women of Achievement Award in the Science and Technology category by the Women’s Fund and the San Jose Mercury News (1998), and the Tesla Award of Technology at the Telluride Tech Festival (2001). She was elected an AAAS Fellow in 2002 and a California Academy of Sciences Fellow in 2003. In 2004 Time Magazine named her one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2005 Tarter was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization at Wonderfest, the biannual San Francisco Bay Area Festival of Science.Tarter is deeply involved in the education of future citizens and scientists. In addition to her scientific leadership at NASA and SETI Institute, Tarter was the Principal Investigator for two curriculum development projects funded by NSF, NASA, and others. The first, the Life in the Universe series, created 6 science teaching guides for grades 3-9 (published 1994-96). Her second project, Voyages Through Time, is an integrated high school science curriculum on the fundamental theme of evolution in six modules: Cosmic Evolution, Planetary Evolution, Origin of Life, Evolution of Life, Hominid Evolution and Evolution of Technology (published 2003). Tarter is a frequent speaker for science teacher meetings and at museums and science centers, bringing her commitment to science and education to both teachers and the public. Many people are now familiar with her work as portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact.

Victoria Meadows is an astrobiologist and planetary astronomer whose research interests focus on acquisition and analysis of remote-sensing observations of planetary atmospheres and surfaces. In addition to studying planets within our own Solar System, she is interested in exoplanets, planetary habitability, and biosignatures. Since 2000, she has been the Principal Investigator for the Virtual Planetary Laboratory Lead Team of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Her NAI team uses models of planets, including planet-star interactions, to generate plausible planetary environments and spectra for extrasolar terrestrial planets and the early Earth. This research is being used to help define signs of habitability and life for future extrasolar terrestrial planet detection and characterization missions.

Disclosure Day with the SETI Institute

Century Cinema 16

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Technosignatures vs. Biosignatures: Which Will Succeed First?

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