Data and the Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe: A Conversation with Carolyn Porco

THE Q FACTOR

It's among the biggest questions our species faces: is there intelligent life in the universe, away from our planet? Data has been powering mankind's search for intelligent life in the universe ever since we first gazed up at the heavens, and began to ponder our place in the cosmos. In this episode, Gregg Fisher speaks with Dr. Carolyn Porco, who for decades has been one of the most accomplished and distinguished members of the US space program. Dr. Porco is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, and the former leader of the Cassini Imaging team. In this episode, Dr. Porco takes Gregg from her humble beginnings in the Bronx, through her remarkable experience looking for signs of life on Saturn's rings, all the way up to the questions she continues to wrestle with, including the meaning of life, which - believe it or not - Dr. Porco claims to have an answer for.