Week of February 12, 2012
Imagine the headline that could change the lives of everyone on earth. Bold print, banner type, four words: We Are Not Alone. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why astronomers believe that one day soon – within a decade – you’ll wake up to that headline. To the news of life, on another planet.
Are we alone in the universe? Almost certainly not. The young science of astrobiology is closing in on a discovery that will rock our world: there IS life beyond earth. New telescopes, new missions, and new discoveries in outer space and in the most remote areas of our own planet all point to one conclusion. Extra terrestrial life exists, and we're very close to finding it. Science writer Marc Kaufman explains what's changed.
Scientists are combing the universe for signs of exoplanets -- planets that orbit a star other than our sun. They're finding them in record numbers. Most believe it's only a matter of time before they find an exoplanet that can -- and perhaps does -- suppport life. Sara Seager is a planetary scientist at M.I.T. and one of the pioneers of the field.
From the tiniest microscopic particles to some of the biggest structures on earth, the new science of astrobiology is leading the way to the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe. Dimitar Sasselov explains why the creation of the world's first artificial cells will revolutionize lifeon our planet.
Guy Consolmagno is an American planetary researcher and a Jesuit priest. He's the curator of one of the world's great collections of meteorites, at the Vatican Observatory. He gets a lot of questions about how he can be both a priest and a scientist. Luckily, he has a sense of humor about it -- witness a recent appearance on the Colbert Report -- and believes science and religion can work together.
How will we react, the day we hear the news that scientists have found life on another planet? Science fiction writer Orson Scott Card has dreamed up many first contact scenarios. His classic science fiction novel, "Ender's Game" is all about the consequences of a first contact gone badly wrong. He's just published a long-awaited sequel.
That’s the question underlying seven years of arguments, negotiations and revisions between thewriter, John D’Agata, and his fact-checker, Jim Fingal. We’ll meet D’Agata and Fingal next time on TO THE BEST OF OURKNOWLEDGEas we explore the slippery slope between fiction andnonfiction. Also, literary pioneer William Gibson on his discomfort with his nonfiction.
William Gibson talks about his first collection of nonfiction, "Distrust That Particular Flavor."
Author John D'Agata and fact-checker Jim Fingal talk about the boundaries of literary nonfiction as chronicled in their book, "The Lifespan of a Fact."
Jonathan Lethem talks about his role as a novelist, which he explores in his new book, "The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, etc."
Joan Didion talks about her new book, "Blue Nights," which explores her thoughts about children, illness and growing old in the wake of the death of her daughter, Quintana.
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