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S y n o
p s i s
We've all asked ourselves the question. It's impossible to look up at the stars and NOT think about it: Are we alone in the universe? Books, movies and television shows proliferate that attempt to answer this question and explore it.
Tonight's guest treats that question as merely the beginning, touching
off a wild ride of exploration into the final frontier. He considers, for
instance, the myriad of questions that would arise once we do discover life
beyond Earth (an eventuality which, top NASA officials told Wall, is only
drawing closer).
What would the first aliens we meet look like?
Would they be little green men or mere microbes?
Would they be found on a planet in our own solar system
or orbiting a star far, far away?
Would they intend to harm us, and if so, how might they
do it?
And might they already have visited?
We discuss the insights of some of the leading lights in
space exploration today, and shows how the next space age might be brighter
than ever.
B i o
Dr. Michael Wall is a senior writer at Space.com who has written extensively about the search for alien life. His work also has appeared in Scientific American, NBC News, Fox News and a number of other outlets. He holds a graduate certificate in science journalism from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Before becoming a writer, Dr. Wall worked as a biologist; he earned a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Sydney in Australia and has 15 peer-reviewed publications. He's based in San Francisco, where he also chronicles the space tech revolution in Silicon Valley.
