Feb 8, 2016
Feature Guest: Don Lincoln
Humanoid... grey in colour… almond shaped eyes. You all know
exactly what I’m describing, but have you ever wondered just how
the public’s perception of aliens came to be? Today we’re joined at
The Star Spot by Professor Don Lincoln, renowned particle physicist
and author of Alien Universe: Extraterrestrial Life in Our Minds
and in the Cosmos. Does our conversation and beliefs about aliens
tell us more about us than them, and how might first contact with
an alien intelligence change everything.
Current in Space
Star Trek-like alien interactions might be possible after all... if you live at the centre of a globular cluster. Then, we look at a conspiracy theory that's no longer so out there, because Planet X is back, with a vengeance. And gardening arrives at the ISS, meaning astronauts may eventually enjoy the fruits of their labour. Extremophiles are also heading to the space station, as we test their habitability in Mars-like conditions.
About Our Guest
Don Lincoln is a senior physicist at Fermilab, America’s flagship particle physics laboratory, and adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame. He is co-discover of the top quark and was part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson in 2012. Professor Lincoln is the author of several public science books, including Understanding the Universe: From Quarks to the Cosmos, The Large Hadron Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Things That Will Blow Your Mind and Alien Universe: Extraterrestrials in our Minds and in the Cosmos.