Reflecting on our First Attempt to Speak with the Stars

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of a transmission from the Arecibo Observatory, intended as our first attempt to send a message to intelligent life across the universe. Journalist Nadia Drake talks about the careful crafting of the signal and her personal connection with the astronomer who authored the transmission: her father Frank Drake. Recommended reading: The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50 Arecibo Observatory Shuts Down Its Science E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Nadia Drake. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:38.3	On November 16, 1974, humanity sent an unprecedented message into the stars.
0:44.3	If we go as far away as Mars or the other planets and look back, even with a powerful spacecraft,
0:51.3	it is essentially impossible to know human life on Earth.
0:55.0	But now, by this radar transmitter, the Earth is exceedingly visible.
1:01.5	That was the voice of Frank Drake, a late astronomer and astrophysicist,
1:06.2	who was instrumental in sending what's now known as the Erecibo message.
1:10.5	Here to tell us more about
1:11.6	humankind's first attempts at finding intelligent life in the cosmos and what's changed in the last 50
1:16.8	years is freelance science journalist Nadia Drake. Nadia, thanks so much for joining us today.
1:23.5	Thank you. It's good to be here. Let's start with some basic context for our listeners.
1:27.8	What was Erecebo and what anniversary are we talking about today?
1:31.4	The Erescebo Observatory was formerly the world's largest radio telescope.
1:38.1	And that was until China built their bigger radio telescope more recently.
	...

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