The Wow! Signal Podcast

We welcome back Professor Abel Mendez from the University of Puerto Rico to tell us about recent research into data from the Arecibo radio telescope focused on cold hydrogen clouds and a proposed natural explanation for the Big Ear Wow! Signal that we covered in depth in Episode 19. We recommend you download the draft paper so you can follow along. Links: Arecibo Wow! I: An Astrophysical Explanation for the Wow! Signal Our episode (#19) with Big Ear scientist Bob Dixon A previous appearance by Abel Mendez on this podcast. Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico The Arecibo Radio Telescope Collapse The FAST Radio Telescope Astrophysical MASERs (microwave lasers) Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: Masers Population Inversion (Wikipedia) The Hydrogen 21 cm line MASERs, Interstellar and Circumstellar, Theory. Credits Host, editor, producer: Paul Carr Music: Quincas Moreira (Black Swan), George Hrab (Far), Jason Robinson Episode 50 of the Wow! Signal Podcast by Paul Carr is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Released: 4 February 2021 Duration: 58 minutes 44 seconds Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela DePaulis are joined by author Thomas Moynihan. The subject is the idea of human extinction and how it evolved into our present day understand of Existential Risk. Guest Bio: I am a writer and researcher from the UK. In 2019, I completed a PhD at Oriel College on the history of human extinction. Currently, I am a visiting Research Associate in History at St Benet's College, Oxford University, and I am working for Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute with a grant from the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative. I am interested in the history of existential risk and of existential hope: that is, how people first came to understand the perils and promises that face us as a species. I see this as the central philosophical drama of the modern world: how we came to appreciate our position—and precarity—as intelligent beings within an otherwise seemingly silent and sterile universe. My goal is to reveal how contemporary research into global risks can be seen as part of the wider story of our 'coming of age' as a civilisation and a species. Links: Thomas Moynihan - https://thomasmoynihan.xyz X-Risk at MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/x-risk Mary Shelley - The Last Man Churchill - Shall We All Commit Suicide? The Order of the Dolphin Frank Drakę: A Speculation on the Influence of Biological Immortality on SETI Natural Selection of Stellar Civilizations by the Limits of Growth The Jaws of Darkness The Ethics of METI Credits: Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, DJ Spooky

Released: 7 November 2020 Duration: 57 minutes, 36 seconds Co hosts Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis welcome space historian David Skogerboe to talk about the pro-space activism of Arthur C. Clarke. Guest Bio: David Skogerboe is a space historian and science communicator. He recently earned his MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he focused his research on the intersection of space science, science fiction, and science communication. During his masters, he interned at the NASA History Division in Washington DC, where he spent countless hours perusing the most interesting historical reference collections on the planet. He is presently a freelance writer and editor while he awaits the emergence of his first child, and he hopes to soon begin a PhD and a fruitful career as a professional nerd. Links: The Godfather of Satellites: Arthur C. Clarke and the Battle for Narrative Space in the Popular Culture of Spaceflight, 1945-1995, David Skogerboe, full master's thesis Apollo 12: Why Don't You Know Me? You Should., David Skogerboe, NASA News & Notes Wireless World Feb. & Oct. 1945, Scans of Clarke's articles proposing the geostationary satellite How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village, Arthur C. Clarke (1992), Clarke's overview of the impact of communication technology on society The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program, Arthur C. Clarke (1957), Clarke's pre-history of satellite technology, first published before Sputnik The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke (1979), Clarke's sci-fi that features the space elevator and "project clean-up" Arthur C. Clarke's official website An expansive bibliography of Clarke's work. An impressive reminder of just how hard he pushed to propel humans into space, and keep them there. Credits: Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Music: DJ Spooky and Lloyd Rogers

Released: 31 March 2020 Duration: 54 minutes, 8 seconds Co-hosts Paul Carr and Daniela DePaulis welcome Dr. Paola Castaño to talk about her research among the science teams working on the International Space Station. For more information, please visit our blog at https://wowsignalpodcast.com Guest Bio Paola Castaño is a sociologist of science. She recently completed a Newton International Fellow funded by The British Academy at Cardiff University and is working on a book about the meanings and valuations of scientific research on the International Space Station. On the basis of ethnographic work following the life course of experiments sent to the station, the book examines the fields of particle physics, plant biology and biomedical research. She has a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago, and has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, the Free University of Berlin, and Waseda University in Tokyo. Links: The International Space Station goes under the microscope Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop 2020: Day 1 Cosmic-ray positron fraction measurement from 1 to 30 GeV with AMS-01 Scott Kelly's genes and NASA's twin study on him, explained Keyworkers Daniela De Paulis on the Unseen Podcast Daniela De Paulis discusses Cogito in Episode 35. Cogito in Space Castaño's article on Cogito The Wow! Signal podcast on Reddit Our YouTube Channel Credits: Co-hosts: Paul Carr and Daniela De Paulis Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Blue Dot Sessions, Lee Maddeford, and Lloyd Rogers

Released: 22 January 2020 Live recording: 20 January 2020 Duration: 66 minutes 45 seconds Thread: Astronomy and Astrophysics Host Paul Carr along with Daniela De Paulis and Ciro Villa welcome astronomer Stella Kafka, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). We talk about the recent and possibly unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, among many other astronomy topics. For complete show notes, please visit https://wowsignalpodcast.com Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Panelists: Daniela De Paulis, Ciro Villa Music: Claudio Nuñes, Felipe Sarro (playing Ravel) Software: Zoom, OBS, Auphonic, Reaper, OS X Mojave Hardware: Apple, Shure, Focusrite, Cloud, Elgato, Logitech

Released: 11 December 2019 Duration: 48 minutes, 30 seconds Co-hosts Daniela DePaulis and Paul Carr welcome Julia DeMarines (@LifeNSpace) to talk about bouncing radio signals off the moon. Julia is involved in a moon bounce research project for Berkeley SETI, and Daniela has used moonbounce in her art projects, including Cogito. We also get into a discussion of METI, and the importance of message composition to humans. For more information, please visit https://wowisgnalpodcast.com Guest bio: Julia DeMarines is an Astrobiologist and science communicator working at the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center and with Blue Marble Space. She is a 2019 National Geographic Explorer and 2018 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, and a 2019 AGU Voices for Science advocate. Her research involves detecting life in the Universe through biosignatures and technosignatures and the ethics of sending powerful, intentional messages into space. She is passionate about inspiring the next generation of scientists and teaches to underserved students around the world through the Ad Astra Academy. Julia also runs her own outreach events called "Space in Your Face!" – a space variety show involving comedy, local artists, and cover songs. http://juliademarines.com/ Twitter: @LifeNspace Instagram: @mote_of_dust Facebook: @JuliaDeMarines Links Sullivan (1979), Radio leakage and eavesdropping Sullivan and Knowles(1985), Lunar Reflections of Terrestrial Radio Leakage. DeMarines+ (2019), Observing the Earth as a Communicating Exoplanet The One Earth Message The LUVOIR telescope The HabEx Observatory HawkEye 360 David Grinspoon's appearances on this podcast: first, second, third. Andrew Siemion's appearances: first, second. Follow Us on Twitter. Our Discord Server Dream of the Open Channel Credits: Co-hosts: Daniela DePaulis and Paul Carr Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, George Hrab Software: Zoom, Loopback, Reaper, Focusrite, Auphonic, OS X Mojave Hardware: Shure, Cloud,Focusrite, Apple. This podcast is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license.

Released: 16 October 2019 Duration: 54 minutes, 51 seconds Interstellar Languages is a forthcoming book about the human quest to craft messages that can be understood across interstellar distances. We may want to tell ET about ourselves, or it may be help ET send message to us that we will know how to interpret. Daniel Oberhaus is a staff writer at Wired Magazine, where he covers space and energy. His first book, Extraterrestrial Languages, will be released by MIT Press on October 22, 2019. For more information, please visit wowsignalpodcast.com Support the podcast at Patreon.com. Links MIT Press Page for Interstellar Languages Daniela DePaulis The 2017 Sonar message There is Here The Risks of METI and Religious Aliens The Question: the ontological status of mathematics Credits Host and Producer: Paul Carr Co-Host: Daniela DiPaulis Music: DJ Spooky, Jason Robinson, George Hrab Announcer: Erin Carr The Wow! Signal is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike license

Released: 18 February 2019 Duration: 6 minutes, 48 seconds Paul Carr summarizes why we want to know more about this star, and how you can get involved. Links: Please see wowsignalpodcast.com for the most detailed information. The Most Mysterious Star in the Universe (Tabby's TED Talk) Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, Part 1 The Slow and Fast Dimming of Tabby's Star (Brad Schaefer) Ben Montet Makes a Star Weirder The KIC8462852_Analysis subreddit Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: DJ Spooky

A not quite so short announcement from the producer of the Unseen Podcast and the Wow! Signal. This is for those who have not seen the video. Unseen Podcast Episode Planning Sheet

Released: 23 April 2018 Duration:12 minutes, 21 seconds Paul Carr reviews what has been happening over the Winter and early Spring with respect to Boyajian's Star. We review the Winter observations, the Castelaz and Barker paper, and the two surprise March dips, Caral-Supe and Evangeline. We also talk about the upcoming Gaia Data Release 2 and what it might mean. Links Burst 24 and Burst 25 KIC 8462852: Maria Mitchell Observatory Photographic Photometry 1922 to 1991 Where's The Flux? Bruce Gary's Boyajian's Star Page Boyajian's R Gaia DR2 Credits Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson

Released: 25 January 2018 Duration: 21 minutes, 51 seconds A hundred years ago cosmologists were struggling to understand the nature and structure of the universe, and at the heart of this struggle was the island universe hypothesis. Today we find ourselves confronted with a similar question posed at a far greater scale. As we confront these great questions of cosmology, whether a hundred years ago or today, we find ourselves faced with as many philosophical questions as scientific questions when we challenge the boundaries of our understanding. In Part II we focus on cosmological scales of time and what this means for human observation of a very old universe. Links: The Realm of the Nebula, Edwin Hubble Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, Immanuel Kant The Great Debate The Scale of the Universe, Shapley and Curtis The 1920 Shapley-Curtis Discussion: Background,Issues, and Aftermath, V. Trimble NGC 6822, a remote stellar system, Edwin Hubble F. H. Bradley deep time Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe, Arthur Eddington The Retrodiction Wall Addendum on the Retrodiction Wall Eternity in six hours: Intergalactic spreading of intelligent life and sharpening the Fermi paradox, Stuart Armstrong and Anders Sandberg The End of Cosmology? Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer Credits: Writer and Host: Nick Nielsen Voiceover and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson

Released: 3 January 2018 Duration: 15 minutes, 37 seconds Host Paul Carr goes over the new paper by Tabetha Boyajian and 206 coauthors: The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852. Links: Burst 13 - Tabby's Star for the Perplexed, part 1 Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian's on Elsie Burst 24 - The Summer of Tabby's Star Where's The Flux The KIC 8462852 subreddit The KIC 8462852 subreddit wiki The Dream of the Open Channel AAVSO Boyajians_R Credits: Host, producer, writer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson

Released: 3 December 2017 Duration: 11 minutes 43 seconds Host Paul Carr covers some recent developments with respect to Boyajian's Star, especially the 4 dips of the Summer of 2017. Links: wherestheflux.com Burst 23 - Tabby Boyajian discusses Elsie Where Is the Flux Going? The Long-Term Photometric Variability of Boyajian's Star Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852 Optical Polarimetry of KIC 8462852 in May-August 2017 Modelling the KIC8462852 light curves: compatibility of the dips and secular dimming with an exocomet interpretation NEOWISE The script for the episode Credits: Host and Producer: Paul Carr Music: Jason Robinson