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OBJECTIVE:   I will be able to relate one way that scientists are searching for extraterrestrial intelligence after today's class.

WORD FOR TODAY:

• SETI
• Fermi's Paradox
• Drake Equation

WORK O' THE DAY: 

Let's have some fun with the Drake Equation. That equation is really just a tool to help us wonder 'what if..' It is by no means anything resembling an exact calcuation-- and it was never meant to be!

Please click on that link and make your best suggestion for each value

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Please write "Fermi's Paradox" in your own words.

Today we're going to imagine that the events in Contact actually occurred just a few weeks ago (March 31st, 2025) but not *quite* the same way the happened in the movie.

You'll have to come up with your own 'method' for how Dr Arroway discovered evidence of an alien civilization.

To recap: Dr. Arroway used the Arecibo Radio Telescope to 'listen' for radio signals that were not random. She had some false readings-- for example when she detected a rapidly spinning neutron star that made regular pulses of radio waves.

When she did make 'contact' with the alien civilization she had compelling evidence that the radio signal was not natural because it arrived in pulses that were prime numbers up to 100.

Additionally, the radio signal was broadcast on a frequency that corresponded to the frequency of (natural hydrogen gas vibrations in space) x pi.

That method should be either in use today or proposed by scientists as a way to confirm the existence of an alien civilization.

Let's start by working with your team to have a conversation with chatGPT about various methods that could be used to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.

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Your class work today is to write a newspaper article about that event to meet the following parameters:

• The scientist making the discovery is Dr. Eleanor Arroway.
• The discovery occurred on March 31st, 2025
• The discovery was made using currently available processes and technology (You'll need to research that).
• The aliens are outside our solar system.
• Your article will need a picture of Dr Arroway as well as a picture of the device used to make the discovery.
• Please keep in mind that just like in the film at this point in time we know *nothing* about the aliens.
• This article will be practice and therefore not graded - Please do not use AI to write your article (research conversations are fine) but once you start writing I want that all yours.
• We will do a follow-up article that WILL be graded.

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Each person in your group will write their own article and then you'll assemble those article into a newspaper page (or pages) using Google Docs.

Using Google Docs to write a newspaper is HERE

 

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