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Origins: Where are the Aliens?
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Program Overview
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Origins: Earth is Born Program Overview
Origins: How Life Began Program Overview
Origins: Back to the Beginning Program Overview
NOVA explores the search for extraterrestrial life.
The program:
reviews how aliens are depicted in visual media. describes the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a program
that scans star systems for radio transmissions from advanced
extraterrestrial civilizations. introduces the Drake equation, created by SETI founder Frank Drake, which
attempts to quantify the probability of intelligent life in the Milky Way
galaxy. shows how scientists detect faraway planets by looking for the
characteristic wobble exhibited by a star when a Jupiter-sized planet is in
orbit around it. reviews the first of more than 100 discoveries of stars with planetary
wobbles. notes the importance of finding Jupiter-sized planets that could attract
passing asteroids and slingshot them out of the solar system, thereby
protecting smaller nearby planets from bombardment and allowing them a higher
probability of forming life. explains why carbon and liquid water may be conducive to life. speculates that ancient oceans on the surface of Mars indicate the planet
may have once had liquid water. investigates the intelligence of cephalopods and posits that intelligence
may be a natural outcome in the evolution of complicated life forms. concludes with the question of whether humans would be able to
communicate with intelligent life—that was also technologically advanced
enough to communicate—if it did exist.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air.
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