Regina Barber

And before we go, we want to say a big thank you if you're one of the listeners who answered the call in the last few months and supported our show by signing up for NPR+. That support is so important to keeping our week going. So thank you. And if you've heard about NPR+, but you haven't supported us yet, it's really easy to sign up. Just go to plus.npr.org.

And before we go, we want to say a big thank you if you're one of the listeners who answered the call in the last few months and supported our show by signing up for NPR+. That support is so important to keeping our week going. So thank you. And if you've heard about NPR+, but you haven't supported us yet, it's really easy to sign up. Just go to plus.npr.org.

And before we go, we want to say a big thank you if you're one of the listeners who answered the call in the last few months and supported our show by signing up for NPR+. That support is so important to keeping our week going. So thank you. And if you've heard about NPR+, but you haven't supported us yet, it's really easy to sign up. Just go to plus.npr.org.

Tyler Jones checked the facts. Ko Takasuki Chernovan and Becky Brown were the audio engineers. I'm Regina Barber.

Tyler Jones checked the facts. Ko Takasuki Chernovan and Becky Brown were the audio engineers. I'm Regina Barber.

Tyler Jones checked the facts. Ko Takasuki Chernovan and Becky Brown were the audio engineers. I'm Regina Barber.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. When I was a teenager in the late 90s, I downloaded a special screensaver. It had lots of pretty colors and graphs, but that's not why I wanted it. My goal was to humbly contribute to humankind's search for intelligent life in the universe, a.k.a. aliens. This effort is officially called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. When I was a teenager in the late 90s, I downloaded a special screensaver. It had lots of pretty colors and graphs, but that's not why I wanted it. My goal was to humbly contribute to humankind's search for intelligent life in the universe, a.k.a. aliens. This effort is officially called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. When I was a teenager in the late 90s, I downloaded a special screensaver. It had lots of pretty colors and graphs, but that's not why I wanted it. My goal was to humbly contribute to humankind's search for intelligent life in the universe, a.k.a. aliens. This effort is officially called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI.

The screensaver I downloaded, called SETI at Home, was part of a large-scale community project to use people's everyday PCs to comb through radio signals that hit Earth from space, mostly from stars. These signals have particular patterns. So if astronomers find a signal that doesn't quite fit those patterns, it could mean some intelligent life is sending them.

The screensaver I downloaded, called SETI at Home, was part of a large-scale community project to use people's everyday PCs to comb through radio signals that hit Earth from space, mostly from stars. These signals have particular patterns. So if astronomers find a signal that doesn't quite fit those patterns, it could mean some intelligent life is sending them.

The screensaver I downloaded, called SETI at Home, was part of a large-scale community project to use people's everyday PCs to comb through radio signals that hit Earth from space, mostly from stars. These signals have particular patterns. So if astronomers find a signal that doesn't quite fit those patterns, it could mean some intelligent life is sending them.

Within a few years, the SETI at Home project recruited 3.8 million people.

Within a few years, the SETI at Home project recruited 3.8 million people.

Within a few years, the SETI at Home project recruited 3.8 million people.

That's my friend James Davenport. He's an astronomer at the University of Washington, and his focus is on stars. And I talked to him recently because, importantly for this episode, he's a collaborator with the SETI Institute, a nonprofit research organization that combs through astronomical data in search of signs of life outside of Earth.

That's my friend James Davenport. He's an astronomer at the University of Washington, and his focus is on stars. And I talked to him recently because, importantly for this episode, he's a collaborator with the SETI Institute, a nonprofit research organization that combs through astronomical data in search of signs of life outside of Earth.

That's my friend James Davenport. He's an astronomer at the University of Washington, and his focus is on stars. And I talked to him recently because, importantly for this episode, he's a collaborator with the SETI Institute, a nonprofit research organization that combs through astronomical data in search of signs of life outside of Earth.

It's a search that goes way back, way before James and I took control of our family's computers, to 1924. when many researchers were excited about Mars, and Mars' orbit was close to Earth, making it a prime time to listen to signals from the planet. And so an unconventional astronomer named David Todd convinced multiple radio stations in the U.S. and one in South America to go silent.

It's a search that goes way back, way before James and I took control of our family's computers, to 1924. when many researchers were excited about Mars, and Mars' orbit was close to Earth, making it a prime time to listen to signals from the planet. And so an unconventional astronomer named David Todd convinced multiple radio stations in the U.S. and one in South America to go silent.