SETI Live

Astronomers may have found the missing link in the story of the Milky Way's most common planets.
In this SETI Live, host Moiya McTier is joined by exoplanet scientist John H. Livingston to explore a new discovery that helps connect the dots between small rocky worlds like Earth and the larger "sub-Neptunes" that dominate our galaxy.
Using cutting-edge observations and statistical analysis, researchers have identified a population of planets that appears to bridge a long-standing gap in our understanding of planetary formation. For years, astronomers have known that planets of sizes between Earth and Neptune are incredibly common—but their origins and evolutionary paths have remained puzzling. This new result may finally clarify how these worlds form, evolve, and sometimes transform.
What does this mean for:
• How do planetary systems assemble?
• Why does our Solar System look so unusual?
• The search for habitable worlds beyond Earth?
Join us as we break down the science, the methods, and the bigger implications for exoplanet research and the search for life.
Press release: https://www.abc-nins.jp/en/2026/01/08/10010/
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09840-z
(Recorded live 26 February 2026.)

Our Cosmic Consciousness residency artists daniela brill estrada, Bart Kuipers, and Julie-Michèle Morin, discuss an art-science collaboration that imagines how language might emerge from alien worlds. Hosts: Bettina Forget and Cosmic Consciousness residency advisor Gregory Betts.
Join SETI AIR program Director Bettina Forget for a conversation with Cosmic Consciousness artists in residence daniela brill estrada, Bart Kuipers, and Julie-Michèle Morin, joined by residency advisor Gregory Betts. Together, they will discuss Exoplanetary Poetry, an art-science collaboration that imagines how language might emerge from alien worlds.
Using atmospheric data from real exoplanets, the team trains an artificial intelligence to write poems alongside human collaborators. The resulting texts are translated back into chemistry, forming multisensory installations where reactions generate visual forms, textures, and scent. How can molecules become metaphors? What does it mean to co-author with a nonhuman intelligence shaped by planetary science? And can poetry help us think differently about life beyond Earth?
Exoplanetary Poetry: https://exoplanetarypoetry.space/
Sara Walker: https://search.asu.edu/profile/1731899
Learn more about the SETI AIR program: https://www.seti.org/air/
(Recorded live 19 February 2026.)

Are we finally uncovering hidden pulsars at the center of the Milky Way? Join host Beth Johnson and William J. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow Karen Perez for a deep dive into a newly announced discovery of a possible pulsar near our galaxy's core. Using data from the Breakthrough Listen Deep Pulsar Survey and observations with the NSF Green Bank Telescope, researchers are probing one of the most extreme and mysterious regions in the Milky Way. The Galactic Center is a chaotic environment dominated by the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. For decades, astronomers have predicted that many pulsars should orbit this region — yet very few have been detected. Why are they so hard to find? And what would discovering more of them mean for testing gravity, mapping the Galactic Center, and understanding extreme astrophysics?
Press release: https://news.columbia.edu/news/researchers-announce-discovery-possible-pulsar-milky-ways-center
Paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae336c
Datasets: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/research/group/breakthrough-listen/deep-pulsar-survey-results-galactic-center 
(Recorded live 12 February 2026.)

Humanity is heading back to the Moon—and Artemis II is the mission that makes it real. In this SETI Live, host Simon Steel is joined by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens, assistant research scientist at NASA Goddard, to explore how Artemis II will prepare the way for future astronaut missions. Artemis II isn't landing on the Moon—but it is laying the groundwork. From mapping the lunar environment to understanding how radiation, extreme cold, and surface conditions affect both spacecraft and humans, this mission is a crucial scouting expedition. The data gathered will directly inform how astronauts live, work, and explore when boots return to lunar soil. Together, we'll unpack how lunar scientists are using Artemis II to test assumptions, close knowledge gaps, and turn decades of robotic exploration into a sustainable human presence beyond Earth. This is the Moon as a proving ground—not just for technology, but for the future of deep-space exploration. (Recorded live 2 February 2026.)

In this SETI Live episode, host Simon Steel (Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center) chats with evolutionary biologist Philipp Schiffer (Worm Lab) about one of the most astonishing discoveries in modern biology: scientists have revived a microscopic worm that had been frozen in Siberian permafrost for roughly 46,000 years. These nematodes entered a state of cryptobiosis — a kind of biological "pause" — and came back to life when gently thawed in the lab. They didn't just wiggle; they fed, reproduced, and gave us a window into life's extreme resilience. Simon and Philipp dive into the role of cryptobiosis, how radiocarbon dating places these organisms back in the late Pleistocene when woolly mammoths roamed, and what it means for the limits of suspended animation. This is biology meeting deep time — and you're invited to stretch your imagination along with the science. (Recorded live 29 January 2026.)