[{"totalItems":"32,397","totalPages":10799,"currentPage":0,"items":[{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/235429","site":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":235429,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/235429","url":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/nasa-almost-never-existed","path_alias":"nasa-almost-never-existed","label":"NASA almost never came to be. Its creation is a lesson in political power.","content":" The battle over America\u2019s space program shows how to turn science into a winning issue. A space shuttle launch. NASA President Trump\u2019s proposed 2019 budget calls for deep cuts to research, and while it is unlikely to gain traction in Congress, it is a troubling statement of the administration\u2019s priorities. As Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted, \u201cThe fastest way to Make a America Weak Again: Cut science funds to our agencies that support it.\u201d Though it\u2019s impossible to imagine today, NASA almost never existed. Even at the height of the Cold War, space exploration was a contentious political issue. The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science. Astronaut in space. NASA The launch of the first human-made satellite, Sputnik, spurred fears of an ascendant Soviet Union, triggering broad support in the United States for the creation for a civilian space agency. The only problem with that narrative is that it\u2019s more than a little ahistorical. Initially, many in Washington and Moscow disagreed on the significance of Sputnik\u200a\u2014\u200aa 23-inch aluminum ball with a single radio transmitter that orbited the Earth once every 96 minutes. On October 5, 1957, the day after it launched, the Soviet newspaper Pravda ran a short, dry account of the launch on the righthand column of the front page. The only reference to the nascent space race came in a few words of garbled Newspeak at the end of the story, promising the West would \u201cwitness how the freed and conscientious labor of the people of the new socialist society makes the most daring dreams of mankind a reality.\u201d In Washington, the initial reaction was tepid. President Eisenhower knew from reconnaissance photos that the Soviets were developing rockets that could hurl a small satellite into space, and responded to the news of Sputnik\u2019s launch with characteristic restraint. Eisenhower told his staff, \u201cThere\u2019s no reason for hand wringing, just because the Russians got up there first.\u201d He maintained this view in a press conference a few days later, saying, \u201cNow, so far as the satellite itself is concerned, that does not raise my apprehensions, not one iota.\u201d At first, Americans largely shared Eisenhower\u2019s view. \u201cMost of the people, at that point in time\u200a\u2014\u200athis is two or three days after the launch\u200a\u2014\u200awere not scared by it,\u201d said former NASA chief historian Roger Launius, describing public opinion research from that time. \u201cThey were sort of excited by it. A new age had begun\u200a\u2014\u200athe Space Age, if you will.\u201d Cover of The New York Times announcing the launch of Sputnik. The New York Times Not everyone was so sanguine. The New York Times ran a big front-page story on the first \u201cman-made moon,\u201d which noted the launch \u201ccould provide valuable information that might be applied to flight studies for intercontinental ballistic missiles.\u201d If the Soviets could send a satellite into space, the thinking went, they might also be able to deliver a nuclear weapon to American shores. The New York Times made the stakes clear to readers. Following its lead, Pravda devoted the next day\u2019s front page to Sputnik with the headline, \u201cThe world\u2019s first artificial earth satellite was created in the Soviet country!\u201d Democrats in Congress jumped on Sputnik as an opportunity to score political points while pushing for more funding for research, education, and space exploration. Republicans had used fears of communism to win public support and hostility toward racial integration to divide Democrats. Democratic congressional aide Charles Brewton said Sputnik was the weapon they needed to fight back, an issue that could \u201cfirst of all, clobber the Republicans, secondly, lead to tremendous advances and, third, elect Lyndon Johnson as president.\u201d Sputnik. NASA Lyndon Johnson, then majority leader in the Senate, used Sputnik to earn a national following on his way to a presidential run. He offered a fantastical\u200a\u2014\u200aand implausible\u200a\u2014\u200avision of a future where the country that dominated space \u201cwould have the power to control the earth\u2019s weather, to cause drought and flood, to change the tides and raise the levels of the sea, to divert the Gulf Stream and change temperate climates to frigid.\u201d To Johnson\u2019s credit, Sputnik represented a grave threat to U.S. national security, and its looming presence in the night sky was a blow to American prestige. The senator rightly argued for \u201cfull wartime mobilization\u201d to catch up to the Soviet Union, saying, \u201cIf more money is needed, let\u2019s spend it. If more resources are needed, let\u2019s use them. If more hours are needed, let\u2019s work them. Let us do what ever it takes.\u201d Johnson wasted no time launching a congressional investigation into the state of the U.S. space program. Space race cartoon. Thomas Flannery, Baltimore Sun \u201cAs we\u2019re all aware, hearings are not about fact-finding. They\u2019re about theater,\u201d Launius said. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress sent the message, he said, that \u201cRepublicans and, specifically, Eisenhower had fallen down on the job.\u201d Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey mocked Eisenhower\u2019s \u201cpseudo-optimism.\u201d Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams wrote a poem lampooning the golf-loving president for his muted response to Sputnik. Oh little Sputnik, flying high With made-in-Moscow beep, You tell the world it\u2019s a Commie sky and Uncle Sam\u2019s asleep. You say on fairway and on rough The Kremlin knows it all, We hope our golfer knows enough To get us on the ball. Eisenhower dismissed critics, saying, \u201cLyndon Johnson can keep his head in the stars if he wants. I\u2019m going to keep my feet on the ground.\u201d But Democratic efforts succeeded in shifting public opinion, as Americans came to see the satellite as a symbol of the Soviet threat. \u201cIt\u2019s after it\u2019s made into a political issue that people start to attach fear to it,\u201d Launius said. Making the situation worse, a month after Sputnik, the Soviets successfully launched a small spacecraft carrying a stray dog. The following month, the United States tried launching its own satellite, but the rocket blew up on the launch pad. Together, these events made it seem like the Soviet Union had finally pulled ahead in the race for technological supremacy. \u201cThe United States explodes an atomic bomb in 1945,\u201d Launius said. \u201cIn 1949, the Soviet Union explodes their first atomic bomb, so four years later. In 1952, the Americans explode a hydrogen bomb. In 1953, the Soviets do it. It looks like they\u2019re catching up. And now, in 1957, they\u2019re ahead. And if you start looking at this trajectory, then you can be concerned.\u201d In 1958, a plurality of Americans believed the Russians led the United States in long-range missile capability, and it hurt Eisenhower in the polls. Ike watched his approval rating drop to a career-low of 49 percent in the months after Sputnik, after peaking at 79 percent only a year prior. In the face of declining public support and sustained political pressure, he capitulated to Democrats. Lyndon Johnson (left) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (right) in 1965. Yoichi Robert Okamoto In 1958, Eisenhower would acknowledge that \u201cthe USSR has surpassed the United States and the free world in scientific and technological accomplishments in outer space\u201d and called for the \u201cdevelopment and exploitation of U.S. outer space capabilities.\u201d That same year, he also worked with Congress to pass a slate of policies to accelerate U.S. scientific and technological progress, including: The creation of NASA, which brought a small collection of agencies already invested in space exploration under one roof. NASA was radically scaled up under President Kennedy. (For comparison, Trump wants to cut funding for NASA to an all-time low.) The creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which researched advanced military technologies. The agency would eventually produce ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet. (Trump wants to get rid of the Advanced Research Projects Agency.) The passage of the National Defense Education Act, which bolstered science education by, among other things, providing student loans for those who excelled in math, science or engineering. (Trump has called for significant cuts to science education.) Johnson and his allies succeeded in passing these measures despite initial objections from the White House. \u201cIn Eisenhower\u2019s mind, he had a reasonable space program before Sputnik, and at some level, he did. He was spending a not insignificant amount of money, but it was all for national security-type things: rockets, ballistic missiles, and a spy satellite,\u201d said Launius. \u201cThe creation of a new bureaucracy was something he didn\u2019t think was necessary. He was sort of forced to do it.\u201d Astronaut David R. Scott on the Moon, 1971. NASA Asked if NASA would have been created without political pressure from Johnson and his allies, Launius said, \u201cNo, probably not. Were we going to do space activities? Of course. Would it have been the purview of a separate civilian agency that has no military role? Probably not\u200a\u2014\u200aat least not yet.\u201d Launius said Sputnik is an example of punctuated equilibrium. \u201cThings roll along on an even keel for a while, and then something happens that changes the dynamic, and you seize that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people who had been wanting to do the things that came to pass in the aftermath of Sputnik, but they never had the capability before, because there was too much inertia in the political system. And now they had the opportunity to do that.\u201d There are lessons in this story for lawmakers working to ramp up funding, say, for clean energy research. Rather than working toward consensus, they might take a lesson from Lyndon Johnson circa 1957. Wind turbines. Pexels Just as Democrats once warned of Soviet technological supremacy, lawmakers today might invoke the rise of China, which is well on its way to becoming a clean-energy superpower in a century that will be defined by the shift away from fossil fuels. China is currently on track to double funding for clean-energy research. To stay competitive, the United States must do the same. Already, a majority of Americans are worried about losing jobs to China, while eight in 10 want more funding for clean energy research. Politicians working to dramatically increase research funding needn\u2019t wait for consensus in Congress. Rather, they might, like Lyndon Johnson, use an urgent issue with broad public support to bludgeon their political opponents. They might argue that Trump is asleep at the wheel, letting U.S. research flounder while China positions itself as the next great economic power. Or they might point out that China is exporting its solar panels all over the world, while U.S. manufacturers are struggling to keep up. Or they might clamor for the federal government to restore American prestige by investing in the programs that made the United States the world\u2019s only superpower. Saving science might mean slinging mud. But sometimes that\u2019s what it takes to get the job done. As Johnson once said, \u201cWhile you\u2019re saving your face, you\u2019re losing your ass.\u201d Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy. ","teaser":" The battle over America\u2019s space program shows how to turn science into a winning issue. A space shuttle launch. NASA President Trump\u2019s proposed 2019 budget calls for deep cuts to research, and while it is unlikely to gain traction in Congress, it is a troubling statement of the administration\u2019s","ss_name":"climatenexus","tos_name":"climatenexus","ss_name_formatted":"climatenexus","tos_name_formatted":"climatenexus","is_uid":1387,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2018-03-16T18:30:00Z","ds_changed":"2018-03-16T20:45:41Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2018-03-16T20:45:41Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_use_sir_trevor_body":true,"bs_field_flag_gallery":false,"bs_field_flag_video":true,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"bs_in_nps":false,"bs_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":true,"bs_field_x90_hide":false,"bs_field_last_updated":false,"bs_field_exclude_from_cl":false,"ts_field_credit":"Nexus Media<\/a>\n","ts_bonnier_summary":"
The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_summary_long":"
The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"\n
\n Nexus Media News<\/a> <\/div>\n","timestamp":"2018-03-16T20:45:42.262Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"sm_field_image":["https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/325_4x3\/public\/images\/2018\/03\/shuttle_0.jpeg?itok=xMn2j2SQ&fc=50,50"],"bm_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":[true],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"bm_field_flag_gallery":[false],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_flag_video":[true],"sm_field_credit":["[Nexus Media](https:\/\/nexusmedianews.com\/)"],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"bm_use_sir_trevor_body":[true],"bm_field_x90_hide":[false],"tid":[62,212416,224111,210520,200249,69,220786],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"sm_field_primary_channel":["environment"],"tm_vid_2_names":["Jeremy Deaton"],"tm_vid_1_names":["Science Space NASA Langley Research Center sputnik climate change Environment"],"spell":["NASA almost never came to be. Its creation is a lesson in political power."," The battle over America\u2019s space program shows how to turn science into a winning issue. A space shuttle launch. NASA President Trump\u2019s proposed 2019 budget calls for deep cuts to research, and while it is unlikely to gain traction in Congress, it is a troubling statement of the administration\u2019s priorities. As Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted, \u201cThe fastest way to Make a America Weak Again: Cut science funds to our agencies that support it.\u201d Though it\u2019s impossible to imagine today, NASA almost never existed. Even at the height of the Cold War, space exploration was a contentious political issue. The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science. Astronaut in space. NASA The launch of the first human-made satellite, Sputnik, spurred fears of an ascendant Soviet Union, triggering broad support in the United States for the creation for a civilian space agency. The only problem with that narrative is that it\u2019s more than a little ahistorical. Initially, many in Washington and Moscow disagreed on the significance of Sputnik\u200a\u2014\u200aa 23-inch aluminum ball with a single radio transmitter that orbited the Earth once every 96 minutes. On October 5, 1957, the day after it launched, the Soviet newspaper Pravda ran a short, dry account of the launch on the righthand column of the front page. The only reference to the nascent space race came in a few words of garbled Newspeak at the end of the story, promising the West would \u201cwitness how the freed and conscientious labor of the people of the new socialist society makes the most daring dreams of mankind a reality.\u201d In Washington, the initial reaction was tepid. President Eisenhower knew from reconnaissance photos that the Soviets were developing rockets that could hurl a small satellite into space, and responded to the news of Sputnik\u2019s launch with characteristic restraint. Eisenhower told his staff, \u201cThere\u2019s no reason for hand wringing, just because the Russians got up there first.\u201d He maintained this view in a press conference a few days later, saying, \u201cNow, so far as the satellite itself is concerned, that does not raise my apprehensions, not one iota.\u201d At first, Americans largely shared Eisenhower\u2019s view. \u201cMost of the people, at that point in time\u200a\u2014\u200athis is two or three days after the launch\u200a\u2014\u200awere not scared by it,\u201d said former NASA chief historian Roger Launius, describing public opinion research from that time. \u201cThey were sort of excited by it. A new age had begun\u200a\u2014\u200athe Space Age, if you will.\u201d Cover of The New York Times announcing the launch of Sputnik. The New York Times Not everyone was so sanguine. The New York Times ran a big front-page story on the first \u201cman-made moon,\u201d which noted the launch \u201ccould provide valuable information that might be applied to flight studies for intercontinental ballistic missiles.\u201d If the Soviets could send a satellite into space, the thinking went, they might also be able to deliver a nuclear weapon to American shores. The New York Times made the stakes clear to readers. Following its lead, Pravda devoted the next day\u2019s front page to Sputnik with the headline, \u201cThe world\u2019s first artificial earth satellite was created in the Soviet country!\u201d Democrats in Congress jumped on Sputnik as an opportunity to score political points while pushing for more funding for research, education, and space exploration. Republicans had used fears of communism to win public support and hostility toward racial integration to divide Democrats. Democratic congressional aide Charles Brewton said Sputnik was the weapon they needed to fight back, an issue that could \u201cfirst of all, clobber the Republicans, secondly, lead to tremendous advances and, third, elect Lyndon Johnson as president.\u201d Sputnik. NASA Lyndon Johnson, then majority leader in the Senate, used Sputnik to earn a national following on his way to a presidential run. He offered a fantastical\u200a\u2014\u200aand implausible\u200a\u2014\u200avision of a future where the country that dominated space \u201cwould have the power to control the earth\u2019s weather, to cause drought and flood, to change the tides and raise the levels of the sea, to divert the Gulf Stream and change temperate climates to frigid.\u201d To Johnson\u2019s credit, Sputnik represented a grave threat to U.S. national security, and its looming presence in the night sky was a blow to American prestige. The senator rightly argued for \u201cfull wartime mobilization\u201d to catch up to the Soviet Union, saying, \u201cIf more money is needed, let\u2019s spend it. If more resources are needed, let\u2019s use them. If more hours are needed, let\u2019s work them. Let us do what ever it takes.\u201d Johnson wasted no time launching a congressional investigation into the state of the U.S. space program. Space race cartoon. Thomas Flannery, Baltimore Sun \u201cAs we\u2019re all aware, hearings are not about fact-finding. They\u2019re about theater,\u201d Launius said. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress sent the message, he said, that \u201cRepublicans and, specifically, Eisenhower had fallen down on the job.\u201d Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey mocked Eisenhower\u2019s \u201cpseudo-optimism.\u201d Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams wrote a poem lampooning the golf-loving president for his muted response to Sputnik. Oh little Sputnik, flying high With made-in-Moscow beep, You tell the world it\u2019s a Commie sky and Uncle Sam\u2019s asleep. You say on fairway and on rough The Kremlin knows it all, We hope our golfer knows enough To get us on the ball. Eisenhower dismissed critics, saying, \u201cLyndon Johnson can keep his head in the stars if he wants. I\u2019m going to keep my feet on the ground.\u201d But Democratic efforts succeeded in shifting public opinion, as Americans came to see the satellite as a symbol of the Soviet threat. \u201cIt\u2019s after it\u2019s made into a political issue that people start to attach fear to it,\u201d Launius said. Making the situation worse, a month after Sputnik, the Soviets successfully launched a small spacecraft carrying a stray dog. The following month, the United States tried launching its own satellite, but the rocket blew up on the launch pad. Together, these events made it seem like the Soviet Union had finally pulled ahead in the race for technological supremacy. \u201cThe United States explodes an atomic bomb in 1945,\u201d Launius said. \u201cIn 1949, the Soviet Union explodes their first atomic bomb, so four years later. In 1952, the Americans explode a hydrogen bomb. In 1953, the Soviets do it. It looks like they\u2019re catching up. And now, in 1957, they\u2019re ahead. And if you start looking at this trajectory, then you can be concerned.\u201d In 1958, a plurality of Americans believed the Russians led the United States in long-range missile capability, and it hurt Eisenhower in the polls. Ike watched his approval rating drop to a career-low of 49 percent in the months after Sputnik, after peaking at 79 percent only a year prior. In the face of declining public support and sustained political pressure, he capitulated to Democrats. Lyndon Johnson (left) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (right) in 1965. Yoichi Robert Okamoto In 1958, Eisenhower would acknowledge that \u201cthe USSR has surpassed the United States and the free world in scientific and technological accomplishments in outer space\u201d and called for the \u201cdevelopment and exploitation of U.S. outer space capabilities.\u201d That same year, he also worked with Congress to pass a slate of policies to accelerate U.S. scientific and technological progress, including: The creation of NASA, which brought a small collection of agencies already invested in space exploration under one roof. NASA was radically scaled up under President Kennedy. (For comparison, Trump wants to cut funding for NASA to an all-time low.) The creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which researched advanced military technologies. The agency would eventually produce ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet. (Trump wants to get rid of the Advanced Research Projects Agency.) The passage of the National Defense Education Act, which bolstered science education by, among other things, providing student loans for those who excelled in math, science or engineering. (Trump has called for significant cuts to science education.) Johnson and his allies succeeded in passing these measures despite initial objections from the White House. \u201cIn Eisenhower\u2019s mind, he had a reasonable space program before Sputnik, and at some level, he did. He was spending a not insignificant amount of money, but it was all for national security-type things: rockets, ballistic missiles, and a spy satellite,\u201d said Launius. \u201cThe creation of a new bureaucracy was something he didn\u2019t think was necessary. He was sort of forced to do it.\u201d Astronaut David R. Scott on the Moon, 1971. NASA Asked if NASA would have been created without political pressure from Johnson and his allies, Launius said, \u201cNo, probably not. Were we going to do space activities? Of course. Would it have been the purview of a separate civilian agency that has no military role? Probably not\u200a\u2014\u200aat least not yet.\u201d Launius said Sputnik is an example of punctuated equilibrium. \u201cThings roll along on an even keel for a while, and then something happens that changes the dynamic, and you seize that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are people who had been wanting to do the things that came to pass in the aftermath of Sputnik, but they never had the capability before, because there was too much inertia in the political system. And now they had the opportunity to do that.\u201d There are lessons in this story for lawmakers working to ramp up funding, say, for clean energy research. Rather than working toward consensus, they might take a lesson from Lyndon Johnson circa 1957. Wind turbines. Pexels Just as Democrats once warned of Soviet technological supremacy, lawmakers today might invoke the rise of China, which is well on its way to becoming a clean-energy superpower in a century that will be defined by the shift away from fossil fuels. China is currently on track to double funding for clean-energy research. To stay competitive, the United States must do the same. Already, a majority of Americans are worried about losing jobs to China, while eight in 10 want more funding for clean energy research. Politicians working to dramatically increase research funding needn\u2019t wait for consensus in Congress. Rather, they might, like Lyndon Johnson, use an urgent issue with broad public support to bludgeon their political opponents. They might argue that Trump is asleep at the wheel, letting U.S. research flounder while China positions itself as the next great economic power. Or they might point out that China is exporting its solar panels all over the world, while U.S. manufacturers are struggling to keep up. Or they might clamor for the federal government to restore American prestige by investing in the programs that made the United States the world\u2019s only superpower. Saving science might mean slinging mud. But sometimes that\u2019s what it takes to get the job done. As Johnson once said, \u201cWhile you\u2019re saving your face, you\u2019re losing your ass.\u201d Jeremy Deaton writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture. You can follow him @deaton_jeremy. ","Science Space NASA Langley Research Center sputnik climate change Environment","Jeremy Deaton","Nexus Media<\/a>\n","
The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science.<\/div>","
The creation of the space agency is a triumph of political gamesmanship and public pressure, and a vital lesson to lawmakers fighting for science.<\/div>","\n
\n Nexus Media News<\/a> <\/div>\n"],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"im_field_author":[220786],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"bm_field_exclude_from_cl":[false],"bm_field_last_updated":[false],"bm_in_nps":[false],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"sm_field_subtitle":["The battle over America\u2019s space program shows how to turn science into a winning issue.\n"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"im_field_tags":[62,212416,224111,210520,200249,69],"im_vid_2":[220786],"sm_vid_Authors":["Jeremy Deaton"],"im_vid_1":[62,212416,224111,210520,200249,69],"sm_multi_blog_blog_reference":["multi_blog:47"],"sm_vid_Tags":["Science","Space","NASA Langley Research Center","sputnik","climate change","Environment"]},{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/235375","site":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":235375,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/235375","url":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/where-we-are-looking-for-intelligent-life","path_alias":"where-we-are-looking-for-intelligent-life","label":"Here's where we're actually looking for intelligent life","content":" Because it sure isn't here. All you have to do is call. John Kuehn Ever wish E.T. would phone your home? The scientists at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute do. They seek unnatural variations in light and radio waves that may indicate alien civilizations. Some scientists even hope to send signals of our own out to the black, but it\u2019s not easy to be seen and heard over all the stars, asteroids, and interstellar dust. We don\u2019t have beacons powerful enough to reach the whole universe, nor receivers capable of monitoring the entire expanse. Other civilizations might, but there\u2019s no way to tell until they finally hail us. All we know is how far our strongest signals could travel. Here\u2019s where we\u2019re searching\u2014and where we fall short. Don't blink To keep an eye out for distant lasers that could head toward our neighborhood, we have to watch the entire sky. SETI plans to put 96 cameras at 12 sites across the world to monitor for flashes as brief as a millisecond or less. Shine on, aliens. Atmosphere is key. John Kuehn Start simple Life doesn\u2019t have to be intelligent. By looking for planets with out-of-whack atmospheres (like ours, with its imbalance of oxygen and methane), we could figure out what worlds may have developed life. That narrows the search for interstellar smarties. Laser If aliens use light-\u00adpropelled spacecraft\u2014like those proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot program\u2014we might spot flashes from across the galaxy. We could also shine a laser of our own, hoping to strike where an alien is paying attention. We are here \u201cWe joke that the first message extraterrestrials will pick up is I Love Lucy,\u201d says SETI\u2019s Jill Tarter\u2014it was among the first big broadcasts. But Lucy\u2019s light-speed antics are pretty garbled by now. If whatever signal remains has reached anyone, it clearly hasn\u2019t inspired a reply. Radio nowhere You can make a radio outburst travel farther by narrowing its beam. Radio telescopes send out pointed broadcasts that should persist halfway to the center of the galaxy (we\u2019re near the edge) before blending into the noise of cosmic radiation. This article was originally published in the Spring 2018 Intelligence issue of Popular Science. ","teaser":" Because it sure isn't here. All you have to do is call. John Kuehn Ever wish E.T. would phone your home? The scientists at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute do. They seek unnatural variations in light and radio waves that may indicate alien civilizations. Some","ss_name":"kkelley","tos_name":"kkelley","ss_name_formatted":"kkelley","tos_name_formatted":"kkelley","is_uid":1980,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2018-03-16T17:00:00Z","ds_changed":"2018-03-19T14:38:56Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2018-03-19T14:38:56Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_use_sir_trevor_body":true,"bs_field_flag_gallery":false,"bs_field_flag_video":false,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"bs_in_nps":false,"bs_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":true,"bs_field_x90_hide":false,"bs_field_last_updated":false,"bs_field_exclude_from_cl":false,"ts_bonnier_summary":"
Scientists at SETI send out signals in hopes of hailing alien life\u2014and put out all sorts of telescopes and sensors in case one of them tries to flag us down. Here's…<\/div>","ts_bonnier_summary_long":"
Scientists at SETI send out signals in hopes of hailing alien life\u2014and put out all sorts of telescopes and sensors in case one of them tries to flag us down. Here's where we're searching\u2014and where we fall short. It's a big universe.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"
Science<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2018-03-19T14:39:01.401Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"sm_field_image":["https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/325_4x3\/public\/images\/2018\/03\/milky-way-galaxy.jpg?itok=vjXqbuxv"],"bm_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":[true],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"bm_field_flag_gallery":[false],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_flag_video":[false],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"bm_use_sir_trevor_body":[true],"bm_field_x90_hide":[false],"tid":[205907,62,224584,212470],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"sm_field_primary_channel":["science"],"tm_vid_2_names":["Mary Beth Griggs"],"tm_vid_1_names":["intelligence Science Spring 2018"],"spell":["Here's where we're actually looking for intelligent life"," Because it sure isn't here. All you have to do is call. John Kuehn Ever wish E.T. would phone your home? The scientists at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute do. They seek unnatural variations in light and radio waves that may indicate alien civilizations. Some scientists even hope to send signals of our own out to the black, but it\u2019s not easy to be seen and heard over all the stars, asteroids, and interstellar dust. We don\u2019t have beacons powerful enough to reach the whole universe, nor receivers capable of monitoring the entire expanse. Other civilizations might, but there\u2019s no way to tell until they finally hail us. All we know is how far our strongest signals could travel. Here\u2019s where we\u2019re searching\u2014and where we fall short. Don't blink To keep an eye out for distant lasers that could head toward our neighborhood, we have to watch the entire sky. SETI plans to put 96 cameras at 12 sites across the world to monitor for flashes as brief as a millisecond or less. Shine on, aliens. Atmosphere is key. John Kuehn Start simple Life doesn\u2019t have to be intelligent. By looking for planets with out-of-whack atmospheres (like ours, with its imbalance of oxygen and methane), we could figure out what worlds may have developed life. That narrows the search for interstellar smarties. Laser If aliens use light-\u00adpropelled spacecraft\u2014like those proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot program\u2014we might spot flashes from across the galaxy. We could also shine a laser of our own, hoping to strike where an alien is paying attention. We are here \u201cWe joke that the first message extraterrestrials will pick up is I Love Lucy,\u201d says SETI\u2019s Jill Tarter\u2014it was among the first big broadcasts. But Lucy\u2019s light-speed antics are pretty garbled by now. If whatever signal remains has reached anyone, it clearly hasn\u2019t inspired a reply. Radio nowhere You can make a radio outburst travel farther by narrowing its beam. Radio telescopes send out pointed broadcasts that should persist halfway to the center of the galaxy (we\u2019re near the edge) before blending into the noise of cosmic radiation. This article was originally published in the Spring 2018 Intelligence issue of Popular Science. ","intelligence Science Spring 2018","Mary Beth Griggs","
Scientists at SETI send out signals in hopes of hailing alien life\u2014and put out all sorts of telescopes and sensors in case one of them tries to flag us down. Here's…<\/div>","
Scientists at SETI send out signals in hopes of hailing alien life\u2014and put out all sorts of telescopes and sensors in case one of them tries to flag us down. Here's where we're searching\u2014and where we fall short. It's a big universe.<\/div>","
Science<\/a><\/div>"],"bm_field_feed_builder_exclusion":[false],"im_field_author":[212470],"bm_field_display_social":[true],"bm_field_exclude_from_cl":[false],"bm_field_last_updated":[false],"sm_field_sponsor_label":[""],"bm_in_nps":[false],"sm_field_subtitle":["Because it sure isn't here.\n"],"bm_field_display_author_bio":[true],"im_field_tags":[205907,62,224584],"im_vid_2":[212470],"sm_vid_Authors":["Mary Beth Griggs"],"im_vid_1":[205907,62,224584],"sm_vid_Tags":["intelligence","Science","Spring 2018"]},{"id":"phhg4e\/node\/235399","site":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/","hash":"phhg4e","entity_id":235399,"entity_type":"node","bundle":"basic_content","bundle_name":"Basic content","ss_language":"und","path":"node\/235399","url":"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/rad-and-random-music-gear","path_alias":"rad-and-random-music-gear","label":"Five rad and random music products I found this week","content":" The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 42. My job is to find cool stuff. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are useful or fun or ridiculously cheap. Often times, these choices coalesce into a guide of like items\u2014for example, the ultimate guide to making cafe-style coffee in your own home or 19 things that make traveling less stressful. But I often stumble across some pretty awesome gear that doesn\u2019t really fit into a list. So I made a list for those. Standalone Automatic Smart Guitar Tuner Roadie 2 Amazon Buy Now! Tuning your guitar can be a pain, especially when you're on stage or in a rush. The Roadie 2 is a smart tuner that can automatically tune all stringed instruments. It uses a vibration sensor instead of a microphone to determine whether your ukelele or cello is in tune\u2014that's super helpful in noisy environments. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and comes with 40 preset tuning options. $129. Light-up drumsticks ROCKSTIX 2 Amazon Buy Now! If you want to give your drumming a little extra flair, check out these drum sticks light up in the dark. The poly-carbonate, 5B sticks\u2014one of the most common sizes\u2014have battery-powered, motioned-activated LEDs that fade through 13 colors. Batteries are included. $25. Lightshow Guitar Pick Firefly Pick Amazon Buy Now! If you aren't a drummer but still want your playing to stand out in a dark room, these light-diffusing, polycarbonate guitar picks glow in the dark and hold a charge for more than an hour. They're charge via a MicroUSB cable and shine two different colors depending on whether you're picking up or down on the strings. $40. Video Game Songs on Vinyl Namco Museum's Greatest Hits. Think Geek Buy Now! Relive your childhood\u2014presuming you're older than 30ish\u2014with this Namco Museum Greatest Hits LP, which plays songs from Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaga. The 19-song album comes with a 8-page booklet with artwork from all the games. $35. Rainbow Roll-Up Piano JouerNow Amazon Buy Now! I got a chance to play the JouerNow keyboard at a toy fair a few weeks ago and had way too much fun messing around on it. The roll-up 49-key keyboard has a built-in speaker, hums with eight different sounds, and lets you record your performances. It's battery-powered\u2014three AAs\u2014or can be plugged in via USB chord. $53. Interested in talking about deals and gadgets? Request to join our exclusive Facebook group. With all our product stories, the goal is simple: more information about the stuff you're thinking about buying. We may sometimes get a cut from a purchase, but if something shows up on one of our pages, it\u2019s because we like it. Period. ","teaser":" The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 42. My job is to find cool stuff. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are useful or fun or ridiculously cheap. Often times, these choices coalesce into a guide of like items\u2014for example, the ultimate","ss_name":"billycadden","tos_name":"billycadden","ss_name_formatted":"billycadden","tos_name_formatted":"billycadden","is_uid":1680,"bs_status":true,"bs_sticky":false,"bs_promote":true,"is_tnid":0,"bs_translate":false,"ds_created":"2018-03-16T16:30:00Z","ds_changed":"2018-03-16T16:47:04Z","ds_last_comment_or_change":"2018-03-16T16:47:04Z","bs_field_sponsored":false,"bs_field_custom_page":false,"bs_field_display_social":true,"bs_field_feed_builder_exclusion":false,"bs_field_display_author_bio":true,"bs_field_display_bottom_recirc":true,"bs_use_sir_trevor_body":true,"bs_field_flag_gallery":true,"bs_field_flag_video":false,"bs_field_display_off_ramp":true,"bs_in_nps":false,"bs_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":true,"bs_field_x90_hide":false,"bs_field_last_updated":false,"bs_field_exclude_from_cl":false,"ts_bonnier_summary":"
Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_summary_long":"
Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap.<\/div>","ts_bonnier_eyebrow":"
Gadgets<\/a><\/div>","timestamp":"2018-03-16T16:47:05.335Z","bm_field_display_off_ramp":[true],"sm_field_image":["https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/sites\/popsci.com\/files\/styles\/325_4x3\/public\/images\/2018\/03\/namcovinyl.jpg?itok=YitX0gP8"],"bm_use_sir_trevor_custom_page":[true],"bm_field_sponsored":[false],"bm_field_flag_gallery":[true],"bm_field_custom_page":[false],"bm_field_flag_video":[false],"bm_field_display_bottom_recirc":[true],"bm_use_sir_trevor_body":[true],"bm_field_x90_hide":[false],"tid":[224382,224045,204971,207545,224413,213486,212943,224561,208558,60,224025],"sm_field_layout_standard":["right-sidebar"],"sm_field_primary_channel":["gadgets"],"tm_vid_2_names":["Billy Cadden"],"tm_vid_1_names":["rad and random Commerce goods music tech sound video games drums pianos Gadgets"],"spell":["Five rad and random music products I found this week"," The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 42. My job is to find cool stuff. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are useful or fun or ridiculously cheap. Often times, these choices coalesce into a guide of like items\u2014for example, the ultimate guide to making cafe-style coffee in your own home or 19 things that make traveling less stressful. But I often stumble across some pretty awesome gear that doesn\u2019t really fit into a list. So I made a list for those. Standalone Automatic Smart Guitar Tuner Roadie 2 Amazon Buy Now! Tuning your guitar can be a pain, especially when you're on stage or in a rush. The Roadie 2 is a smart tuner that can automatically tune all stringed instruments. It uses a vibration sensor instead of a microphone to determine whether your ukelele or cello is in tune\u2014that's super helpful in noisy environments. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and comes with 40 preset tuning options. $129. Light-up drumsticks ROCKSTIX 2 Amazon Buy Now! If you want to give your drumming a little extra flair, check out these drum sticks light up in the dark. The poly-carbonate, 5B sticks\u2014one of the most common sizes\u2014have battery-powered, motioned-activated LEDs that fade through 13 colors. Batteries are included. $25. Lightshow Guitar Pick Firefly Pick Amazon Buy Now! If you aren't a drummer but still want your playing to stand out in a dark room, these light-diffusing, polycarbonate guitar picks glow in the dark and hold a charge for more than an hour. They're charge via a MicroUSB cable and shine two different colors depending on whether you're picking up or down on the strings. $40. Video Game Songs on Vinyl Namco Museum's Greatest Hits. Think Geek Buy Now! Relive your childhood\u2014presuming you're older than 30ish\u2014with this Namco Museum Greatest Hits LP, which plays songs from Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaga. The 19-song album comes with a 8-page booklet with artwork from all the games. $35. Rainbow Roll-Up Piano JouerNow Amazon Buy Now! I got a chance to play the JouerNow keyboard at a toy fair a few weeks ago and had way too much fun messing around on it. The roll-up 49-key keyboard has a built-in speaker, hums with eight different sounds, and lets you record your performances. It's battery-powered\u2014three AAs\u2014or can be plugged in via USB chord. $53. Interested in talking about deals and gadgets? Request to join our exclusive Facebook group. With all our product stories, the goal is simple: more information about the stuff you're thinking about buying. We may sometimes get a cut from a purchase, but if something shows up on one of our pages, it\u2019s because we like it. Period. ","rad and random Commerce goods music tech sound video games drums pianos Gadgets","Billy Cadden","
Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap.<\/div>","
Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap.<\/div>","
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