SETI Live

A New Way to Search for Alien Civilizations

Are we searching for extraterrestrial intelligence the wrong way? For decades, SETI researchers have focused on finding narrowband radio signals that might stand out fr

Alien Skies Under Fire: What UV Radiation Does to Exoplanets

Could hazy exoplanet atmospheres be hiding important clues about alien worlds? Many potentially habitable planets orbit small, active stars that frequently unleash powe

How Clouds Hide Alien Worlds—and How Astronomers See Through Them

The James Webb Space Telescope is transforming our understanding of exoplanets—but what happens when clouds get in the way? Astronomers have developed a new method to det

Humanity's Plan for First Contact: Who Speaks for Earth?

What happens after we discover evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence? The International Academy of Astronautics has just ratified the first major update to the SETI

What Juice Revealed About Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

What can a visitor from another star system teach us about our own cosmic neighborhood? Join host Dr. Franck Marchis and guest Dr. Cecilia Tubiana (INAF) for a conversa

Life is But a Stream: Planetary Systems Along Stellar Streams

In this episode of SETI Live, Jeremy Webb joins Moiya McTier to discuss Life is But a Stream: The Distribution of Planetary Systems Along Stellar Streams and Their Proper

Not Planets, Not Stars: NASA Volunteers Doubled the Number of Known Brown Dwarfs

What happens when hundreds of thousands of volunteers team up with NASA to explore the sky? In the case of Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, thousands of new brown dwarfs. NAS

The Sounds of Intelligence: A Conversation with 2026 Drake Award Recipient Lori Marino

What does intelligence sound like? For decades, scientists studying whales and dolphins have uncovered remarkable evidence of sophisticated communication, social comple

Lava Worlds & Nightside Volcanoes on K2-141 b

How do you study volcanoes on a planet more than 200 light-years away? Join us for SETI Live as host Moiya McTier talks with planetary scientist Claire Marie Guimond ab

Galactic Islands of Tranquility: How "Little Red Dots" May Brew Life's Building Blocks

A newly identified class of distant galaxies—nicknamed "little red dots"—may be doing something extraordinary: quietly creating the raw ingredients for life. Join host

The 45 Best Places to Look for Alien Life

Where should we actually be looking for life beyond Earth? Astronomers have identified 45 Earth-like worlds that could be among the most promising places to search for

SkyMapper is Live! Explore the Sky in Real Time

Join us for a special episode of SETI Live as host Lauren Sgro sits down with astronomer and entrepreneur Franck Marchis to explore the newly launched SkyMapper platform—

Planet Crash: Cosmic Collision Caught in Action

Astronomers may have just witnessed the aftermath of a massive planetary collision in another star system—offering a rare glimpse into how worlds are destroyed… and possi

From Moon to Mars: What Artemis II Means for the Future

As NASA prepares to return humans to the Moon with Artemis II, what does it really take to live and work on the lunar surface? Join host Simon Steel and planetary scien

The Science of SETI: Inside the First Modern Textbook

How do scientists actually search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Astronomer, professor, and Drake Award winner Jason Wright joins host Beth Johnson on SETI Live to

The Titan Impact: Saturn's Moon System May Have Had a Catastrophic Past

Saturn's largest moon may have had a violent birth. New research led by SETI Institute scientist Matija Ćuk proposes that Titan formed when two earlier Saturnian moons

Rethinking Radio: A New Way to Hear the Universe?

Astronomers have unveiled a novel technique for detecting faint signals from stellar and exoplanetary systems — potentially opening new pathways in the search for extrate

Unistellar + Citizen Science (Part 8): 2025 Observations, An Exoplanet Candidate, and Rockets!

Dr. Franck Marchis, Director of Citizen Science at the SETI Institute and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of SkyMapper, and Dr. Lauren Sgro, Outreach Manager at th

Missing Link Found: A Breakthrough in Exoplanet Science

Astronomers may have found the missing link in the story of the Milky Way's most common planets. In this SETI Live, host Moiya McTier is joined by exoplanet scientist J

Exoplanetary Poetry: AI, Chemistry, and Alien Communication

Our Cosmic Consciousness residency artists daniela brill estrada, Bart Kuipers, and Julie-Michèle Morin, discuss an art-science collaboration that imagines how language m