Dr Douglas Vakoch: Should we try to contact aliens?

In this week’s episode, we talk to Dr Douglas Vakoch, President of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or METI.

We talk about whether we should be broadcasting messages into space to signal our existence to intelligent alien species.

We also discuss how we could create a message that an unknown species of alien could understand.

• Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
• Read the full transcription [this will open in a new window]

Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:

• Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?
• Bergur Finnbogason: Project Discovery and its search for exoplanets
• What if the Earth’s magnetic field died? – Jim Al-Khalili
• Building a base on the Moon, and crafting believable sci-fi – Andy Weir
• Dr Becky Smethurst: How do you actually find a black hole?
• Kathryn D. Sullivan: What is it really like to walk in space?