Guest: Dr. Don Lincoln. Topics: We discussed Dr. Lincoln’s new book, “Alien Universe: Extraterrestrial Life in Our Minds and in the Cosmos,” plus the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Dr. Don Lincoln back to the show to discuss his new book “Alien Universe: Extraterrestrial Life in Our Minds and in the Cosmo.” During the first segment of our 1 hour 29 minute program, Dr. Lincoln discussed why he wrote this book, especially given his position as a senior scientist at the Fermilab plus his work in Cern at the Large Hadron Collider. After the introduction, he took us through major events, both physical and cultural that have fueled alien interest including the Betty and Barney Hill case, Roswell, and more. He took us through these events with an actual historical timeline which put the events in a somewhat different perspective than we are used to hearing. We also talked about the Drake & Fermi equations and the seven parameters of the Drake Equation, many of which have been upgraded due to new scientific information coming to light in recent years from the Kepler mission and other tools/events. SETI was a topic of discussion as was the use of radio waves and light for ET detection. The subject of alien abduction came up and Don pointed us to the 1835 media buzz known at the moon hoax appearing in the first tabloid style newspaper. This was an interesting history lesson that was new to me and probably to many listeners as well. Marshall called in to talk about Drake radio waves, the signal to noise ration, and a planet being either too close to the center of the galaxy or too far from the center of the galaxy which causes the planet to be a metal poor planet. Dr. Lincoln had much to on this subject. Next, we talked about microbial life on Mars. John from Ft. Worth called to talk about impractical physics given the need to cross interstellar space. Don agreed and talked about the possibility of using probes.; The subject of technology & options such as a mother ship plus scout ships came up. John and Don talked about the lack of objective studies and the difficulty in working with assumptions. Don also talked about the high standards used in science which are hard to apply to the alien visitation theories. Scientists are not usually inclined to lower their standards so true scientific studies on alien visitation are a challenge. In the second segment, we talked about the Roswell event. Our guest had much to say about this event so don’t miss this part of our discussion. Some scientific studies were mentioned such as Project Blue Book. I asked about studies by other nations and scientists outside the U.S. We came back to microbial life off Earth which is an important study subject by scientists across many nations. Near the end of the program, Dr. Lincoln talked about the idea of First Contact, Star Trek, and comments made by Professor Stephen Hawking. In the concluding minutes of our discussion, I asked our guest about part of his subtitle, “Life in our Minds” & Don talked about how this subject has come to our minds. He left us with a good summary and strongly urged us to separate sociology issues from astrobiology, the latter being a credible science in search of life off Earth. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Dr. Lincoln through me.
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