Date: August 26, 2010

Title: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life – Vox Pops

Podcaster: Marc West

Link: http://www.mrscienceshow.com

Description: Opinions of the people of Surry Hills in Australia on the search for extraterrestrial life.

Bio: Marc West was a University Medallist in Chemistry at Sydney University, completed a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication at ANU and a Masters of Operations Research and Statistics at UNSW. Having grown up in Sydney, he ventured to Canberra and then London to be editor of Plus Magazine, and now works in Operations Research back in Sydney. Marc has written freelance for a number of magazines and newspapers, including G Magazine, The Canberra Times, The Helix and All Out Cricket Magazine, his article Political Music was published as one of top 50 science blogs of 2008 in The Open Laboratory 2008: The Best Science Writing on Blogs, whilst A sorry saga – the crumbling cookie made the 2009 version. Marc set up the Mr Science Show when on a trip to China, frequently talks on radio with The Diffusion Science Radio Show on 2SER, and co-founded The Beer Drinking Scientists podcast.

Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by the NASA Lunar Science Institute at lunarscience.nasa.gov/, proud co-Founders of International Observe the Moon Night, around the globe on September 18th. More information at bit.ly/nomn

Transcript:

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life – Vox Pops

INTRO:

Marc West: Greetings and welcome to the 365 days of astronomy podcast. My name is Marc West, and you may have heard me before on this podcast, or you’ve perhaps heard me on the Mr Science Show, the podcast where science meets pop culture www.mrscienceshow.com. How, like a number of scientists, I like to ponder science over a beer. I occasionally put out a podcast with a mate of mine Darren Osborne, called the Beer Drinking Scientists. You can find that at www.beerdrinkingscientists.com. In these shows we get out to the pub, have a beer, chat about a relevant scientific topic and also then have a chat to the people in the pub about the scientific topic of the day.

In this episode of the 365 days of astronomy podcast, I’m bring to you the opinions of the people of Surry Hills on the search for extraterrestrial life. Here’s what they had to say.

Darren Osborne: So I was just wondering, do you think that there’s life out there?

Guest 1: Absolutely, I’ve seen a UFO, and a lot of people never believed me, I’ve only told a few people and they think I’m crazy, but yeah I saw a UFO one night and it freaked the hell out of me!

DO: So where did you encounter this UFO and can you tell us a bit about it?

G1: I was living not far from Blacktown, I was doing my HSC and I lived around the corner from this big lookout, so I went and had a cigarette break from studying, and all of a sudden all the lights went out in town and things got really freaky. I looked up in the sky and there was this huge flying saucer with lights going around the circumference, like you see in the movies, it was outrageous. And of course I was a little bit panicky – started running home, around the corner and the UFO was flying thru the air. And where I lived we had a flat above the garage, so I sat out on the steps for about 10 minutes, and this is where you’re gonna think I’m really nuts, it spat out a baby ship! And I only wished I had a camera on the night. The ship looked like it was flying towards to house – God knows how far away it was. Anyway, I went to bed that night, the radio wasn’t working properly, the TV was flickering, the lights weren’t working and I hid under the covers. I actually wrote a letter to my mother saying if I’m not here in the morning I’ve been abducted by aliens! I really thought I was a goner!

Anyway I woke up, I was all right, nothing happened, there were no little green men in my flat – there you go, true story!

DO: You mentioned people don’t believe you, how do they react when you tell them the story?

G1: Oh they ask me if I was on drugs – but I didn’t even know what a lot of stuff was back then – I was pretty innocent as far as that stuff goes! So totally sober, black coffee, cigarettes, that was it. People just think I was making it up or having a joke with them, but no, dead-set true. I don’t know if anyone else saw anything that night – but if they looked up in the sky that night, they couldn’t have missed it! HAHA

Marc West: So you’re firmly in the “yes category” to is there alien life out there?

G1: Abso-bloody-lutely! May the force be with you!

BREAK

G2: Yeah I don’t know if there is alien life out there, but you’d like to hope we’re not the smartest creatures in the Universe cause we don’t seem to be doing a very good job of managing our own planet. So hopefully someone else can do a better job.

DO: Do you believe we’ve been visited, do you believe in the idea of UFOs and aliens that have come to visit Planet Earth?

G2: Pooh, I believe that there are too many things that have happened on Earth, like, people cant determine how ancient civilisations constructed things the way they did, pyramids, ah, the Incas, so yeah, I think so.

MW: You don’t think the world is going to end in 2012 then, like the Incas did?

G2: I saw that movie a couple of weeks ago, and um, yeah it didn’t look promising, so yeah, I hope not cause Ill still be alive then!

MW: Well it wasn’t a documentary, I don’t think…

G2: Yeah, well let’s hope not.

BREAK

DO: So do you believe that there’s like beyond Earth?

G3: Yeah I probably think that there must be something else existing, but I don’t know what kind of form, or how intelligent, or how active they are in the whole solar system.

DO: What about UFOs, are we being visited – do you think that’s all made up or is there a chance we could be being visited?

G3: I think a lot of people would like to believe that, so that’s enough for them but I’m not really positive.

MW: So you’ve never seen a UFO yourself?

G3: No, not yet, there’s time.

BREAK

DO: Do you believe in UFOs and alien life?

G4: Err, I’ve never really thought about it, but I guess… well where did we come from, there has to be something else out there before us, and I reckon after also, so I’m sure there would be something there.

G5: If you look into the sky, and you see a star its generally a Sun, um… which will have a galaxy around it, and we’re too small – we cant even fathom how big the universe is and yeah, there’s definitely life out there.

DO: What about the idea of UFOs, that UFOs with aliens have come and visited us, do you support that idea?

G5: Err, possibly… Are we an experiment? Was Jesus an alien?

MW: I hadn’t thought of that idea before….

DO: There are some who are critical of the search for extra-terrestrial life, whether it be radio telescopes listening out for aliens, or sending spacecraft out to Mars to search for life, is it a waste of time or should we continue to do it?

G5: Well it’s out there, you gotta have a look!

BREAK

MW: Well that’s all we have time for in today’s edition of the 365 days of astronomy podcast. Have you seen an alien? Do you think Jesus Christ was an alien? Let us know on the website – www.365daysofastronomy.org – My name’s Marc West and to find out more about me, my website’s www.mrscienceshow.com. I’d love to see you over there if you have any comments, questions or queries. Over there, and at www.beerdrinkingscientists.com you’ll find the full Beer Drinking Scientists episode on the search for extraterrestrial life. Thanks very much for joining me, my name’s Marc West, Ill catch you, hopefully soon, on the 365 days of astronomy podcast.

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy
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