Listeners, it has been way too long since we’ve talked about aliens. Let’s fix that! In this episode, Meagan is joined again by Substitute Sister and astronomer, Dr. Allison Kirkpatrick, to talk about the Fermi Paradox, which asks us to consider why we haven’t heard from any intelligent extraterrestrial life yet, especially given the likely large number of habitable planets in our own galaxy that could host it. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and more.
Allison can be found on Twitter @AkAstronomy.
The Drake Equation and another example of a solution can be found here: https://askanearthspacescientist.asu.edu/drake-equation
The Barbie-doll woman Allison references is in the “Diagram of vertebrate evolution” seen here: https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/images-on-the-golden-record/#gallery-24
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Here are our sources:
- https://www.seti.org/fermi-paradox-0
- https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1350/are-we-alone-in-the-universe-revisiting-the-drake-equation
- https://askanearthspacescientist.asu.edu/drake-equation
- https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l12_p5.html
- https://www.livescience.com/fermi-paradox
- https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/enrico-fermi/
- https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-fermi-paradox-is-not-fermi-s-and-it-is-not-a-paradox
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1605.09187.pdf
- https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-great-filter-a-possible-solution-to-the-fermi-paradox/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2023/03/25/nasa-technologist-talks-whats-needed-for-interstellar-travel/?sh=73efb0553486
- https://science.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-program/10-things-going-interstellar