You're listening to an a giant leap forward. The experiment known

as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is getting a boost as the use of a large

radio telescope in northern New Mexico is scanning the skies for signals from

alien civilizations. This experiment known as, will be the most ambitious SETI search ever undertaken.

Could it lead to the detection of a civilization elsewhere in our galaxy?

And if so, what would be the consequences. This is Big Picture

Science from the SETI Institute and I'm Seth Shostak. I'm Molly Bentley.

In this episode we provide an update on the search for intelligent life in the universe, a conversation with writer Ted

Chang about his speculative visions for how alien contact might unfold, and why some scientists

don't only want to listen for messages but also broadcast them.

Is that wise and if we did it, what would we say?

We explore all of that in this episode, Calling All Aliens. I've worked as a SETI astronomer since 1988. That's a long time now.

And since the start of SETI back in 1960, you know, astronomers have used existing radio

telescopes which are really nothing more than giant antennas to try and

eavesdrop on alien radio traffic. That's true for CEDI's newest experiment, but this one is far more ambitious than what's come before.

You might be familiar with the image of Jody Foster wearing headphones as she listens for

extra-terrestrial signals in the movie Contact.

Well, Jody was listening using the very large array or VLA in the New Mexico desert.

The array is a collection of 27 radio telescopes, but that type of listening experiment hasn't been done very often or for very long in the past.

But now the VLA is being used 24-7 in a project called Cosmic.

Cosmic piggybacks on conventional radio astronomy observations made with the array,

meaning that the search can be done without tying up one of the world's most popular instruments for doing astronomical research.

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