© 2024 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
StudioTulsa

"The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos"

Published April 18, 2023 at 11:41 AM CDT
Aired on Tuesday, April 18th.
Aired on Tuesday, April 18th.

"What if there's life out there? What would that mean for us? Ms. Green's book, alive with the color and drama of science fiction as well as scientific fact, helps us grasp that process of imagining -- its limits and its greater purpose." -- The Wall Street Journal

Our guest is Jaime Green, a science writer, essayist, editor, and teacher; she's also the series editor of The Best American Science and Nature Writing. She joins us to discuss her new book, "The Possibility of Life," which looks at how we as human beings imagine extraterrestrial life -- both in science and in science fiction. As was noted of this work by a critic writing for BookRiot: "A thought-provoking and entertaining read about not just the cosmos, but humanity."

Tags
StudioTulsa Outer SpaceAliens and UFOsScienceHistory of ScienceScience JournalismScience and TechnologyScientific ResearchScience FictionWriters on WritingPopular CultureLiteratureRockets and Space FlightBiologyEarth ScienceThe Moon
Related Content
  • NASA's Mars rover Curiosity cut a wheel scuff mark into a wind-formed ripple at the "Rocknest" site to give researchers a better opportunity to examine the particle-size distribution of the material forming the ripple.
    Signs Of Life On Mars? Not Exactly
    Joe Palca
    There's a possibility the Mars rover has found signs of carbon-containing molecules on the red planet. That discovery is exciting because of what it might say about the Martian environment where the rover is sitting at the bottom of Gale crater.
  • Some scientists are looking away from Mars to Saturn's moon, Enceladus, for life beyond Earth.
    Life On Mars? Try One Of Saturn's Moons Instead
    NPR Staff
    When it comes to the search for life beyond Earth, most of the focus is in on Mars. But a growing number of scientists are looking at Saturn's moon, Enceladus, instead. Scientists believe the moon has water and organic materials that are the building blocks of life.
  • The images used to create this view of Venus were acquired by the Mariner 10 craft on Feb. 7 and 8, 1974. Decades after the Mariner 2 flew by the planet in 1962, much about the planet remains unknown.
    NPR National News
    A Possible Sign Of Life Right Next Door To Earth, On Venus
    Nell Greenfieldboyce
    Scientists have found a gas associated with living organisms in a region of Venus' atmosphere. They can't figure out how it got there if it didn't come from life.
  • Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, seen after he completed a year-long mission in Mars, in 2016, is one of 16 researchers selected for the study.
    NPR National News
    NASA announces the team members for its UFO study
    Giulia Heyward
    The 16-member team will begin the study on Monday. The research, which will use unclassified data, will lead to a report that will be made available to the public next year.
  • Dr. Jill Tarter has spent 35 years searching for extraterrestrial life in the universe. She has a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley.
    Jill Tarter: A Scientist Searching For Alien Life
    Jill Tarter works at the SETI Institute, where scientists seek evidence of extraterrestrial life in the universe by looking for some signatures of its technology. "The amount of searching that we've done in 50 years is equivalent to scooping one 8-ounce glass out of the Earth's ocean," she says.
  • NPR National News
    New Debate over How to Contact Alien Life
    David Kestenbaum
    Researchers argue that radio signals are not the most efficient way of alerting an extraterrestrial intelligence to our existence. The scientists recommend sending, and searching for, an interstellar message in a bottle. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.
  • What a telescope in Australia detected that began a search for alien life
    Geoff Brumfiel
    A few years back, a telescope picked up a radio signal that seemed to be coming from a nearby star. One possibility? Aliens! The story on how this real-life hunt for ET unfolded.
  • NPR National News
    Voyager Spacecraft Hits Interstellar Turbulence
    Melissa Block
    The first man-made object to enter the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space appears to have reached a turbulent zone. NASA's Voyager 1 has hit a spot where the solar wind begins to give way to interstellar space in a cosmic cataclysm known as "termination shock." California Institute of Technology physicist Edward C. Stone, the mission's chief scientist, fills Melissa Block in on the details.
  • NASA's Voyager Program Turns 40
    NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Ed Stone, a chief scientist at NASA, about the Voyager program as it approaches its 40th anniversary. He's 81 years old and has spent half his life on the project.
Load More