Now you sea them...

Yes, Seth and Molly really did record this week's show at the beach. Not only did it give the show its authentically beachy sound, it also gave our portable recording equipment a much needed shot of salty sea air. We may have to fake it if we do a show about a microphone incineration plant.

Interpreting your PhD thesis... through dance

What if you were challenged to describe your PhD thesis without words, slides, or anything other than dance? Here are some examples, described in this week's show, which you can review to see how effective their interpretation is.

Boldly Going Nowhere - Seth writes for the NYT

This week, Seth expanded on an earlier article for an op-ed piece in the New York Times. In it, Seth describes the near future of space 'travel' being conducted visually and robotically. After all, it would take as long as homo sapiens have walked the earth to get to the nearest star and back. And it may not be worth the wait. Better yet, Seth suggests, we should be sending unmanned craft, like the Mars rovers, to survey and capture data that we can analyze from the safety of our living rooms. You can read the whole editorial HERE.

Seth on Fora.tv

Seth discusses SETI, skepticism, close encounters, building his first telescope, the Allen Telescope Array, and other detection methods on Fora.tv with Blaise Zerega.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, it's a Coffee Lid UFO!

Actually, they're IFOs - identified as plastic Mr. Coffee lids strung up with fishing string and photographed by Jim Underdown to look like unidentified flying objects.

Find out what you need for this alien craft crafts project on Hollywood Reality Check
on "Skeptical Sunday: Take A Number" this week!

Turning Water into Slime

Here's a quick one minute video demonstrating the slime power of the hagfish. The animal is anesthetized, given a small pulse of electrical current, and when the tiny bit of slime extracted from it is put into a glass of water, well... You've Been Slimed!

Hagfish aren't really fish, as they have no jaw. In fact, they're the only animal that has a skull and no vertebral column. Their slime is believed to be used primarily as an escape mechanism. They secrete it when captured, but it is also believed that they use it as a lubricant to free themselves from the carcasses on which they feed. The slime also acts to clog up the gills of predator fish, and so the hagfish has developed a peculiar way of keeping its own gills free of slime. When agitated, the hagfish secretes enough slime to turn a 20 liter bucket of water into pure slime in a matter of minutes. To clear itself of this immense amount of slime, the hagfish ties itself into a knot, which then travels the length of its body, thereby wringing out the slime, and likely freeing it from its captor.

I've Been Slimed!

In our most recent program, "You've Been Slimed", Seth & Molly make slime in the SETI kitchen with guest Tori Hoeler. Here's how: Fill one cup with water and add a spoonful of the Borax powder and stir it up. Fill another cup with about 1/2 inch of glue. Add three tablespoons of water to the glue and stir. Add a few drops of food coloring and stir again. Add two tablespoons of the Borax solution and stir well and voila! You've been slimed! Of course, for the above photo, I'm the one forced to pose with the slime. It was kind of slick, viscous, sticky. I wish there were a single word to use to describe it. Blimey! I'm stymied.