Dyson

A google hangout this afternoon: "Today, September 18, 2:00 PM SETI Institute researchers Jill Tarter and Franck Marchis (host & moderator) will hangout with Jason Wright, professor of astronomy at Penn State, Matt Povich, professor of astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona and Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician at the Institute for Advance Study. These scientists will discuss the potential for the WISE telescope to detect extraterrestrial super-civilizations that acquired a large energy supply by building a mega-structure to harvest the energy of their star("Dyson Sphere") or…

Continued slow liveblog of the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology Conference at the Franklin Institute. Lunch is almost over and we are headed into the final session of research presentations, clearly saving the best for last... I am also reminded why we have these meetings, in person, the chats during break and back and forth in sessions provides very dense information transmission and tight feedback loops on news. Big Question IV - Are we Alone in the universe? Or, are there other life and intelligence beyond the solar system? 1) Jonathan Lunine from Cornell on "The search for life…