Coursera Spring Sale
40% Off Coursera Plus Annual!
Grab it
Explore the groundbreaking results from over two decades of SETI@home citizen science in this 48-minute livestream featuring UC Berkeley scientist Eric Korpela, one of the original architects of the distributed computing project. Discover how millions of volunteers transformed their home computers into components of a planet-scale telescope, contributing idle processing power to search for extraterrestrial intelligence from the project's inception through its conclusion in 2020. Learn about the rigorous new analysis of the vast SETI@home data archive that has identified approximately 100 intriguing signals requiring further investigation. Understand the sophisticated methods researchers use to distinguish genuine cosmic phenomena from background noise, and examine what these signals represent—both what they are and what they are not. Delve into the technical aspects of distributed computing that made this massive undertaking possible, the signal vetting processes that ensure scientific rigor, and the implications for future SETI research. Gain insight into how citizen science continues to contribute to our understanding of the universe and our search for technological signatures beyond Earth, while exploring what the next phase of investigation means for the field of astrobiology and the ongoing quest to answer one of humanity's most profound questions about our place in the cosmos.