Entrepreneur Pledges $100M to UC Berkeley's Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Michael Krasny

Jul 21, 2015 at

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(Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Russian Internet investor Yuri Milner is funding a $100 million project to search for life beyond Earth. The project, Breakthrough Listen, is the biggest effort of its kind. The search for extraterrestrial life, often referred to as SETI, started in 1960 and has yet to find any evidence of alien life. Milner didn’t say if he thought the scientists would actually find extraterrestrial life, but he did say that he hopes we are not alone.

More: Designing the Interstellar Doorbell (Or How to Talk to ET)

Guests:

Andrew Siemion, astrophysicist at UC Berkeley and director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center

Natalie Batalha, astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center and the mission scientist for NASA's Kepler Mission

Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute

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