What is the relation between science and culture in defining our response to the world.  How does it shape our choices for the human future?

Astrophysicist Adam Frank is a leading expert on the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun, and his computational research group at the University of Rochester has developed advanced supercomputer tools for studying how stars form and how they die. A self-described “evangelist of science,” he is also committed to showing others the beauty and power of science, and exploring the proper context of science in culture.

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New Book: The Little Book of Aliens

  • With wit and brio, Frank separates current nonsense about aliens from the serious and fascinating search for extraterrestrial life.
    Carlo Rovelli, New York Times bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
  • This wonderful book unravels the tangled ball of humanity’s thinking about aliens, and tells the whole story with high humor and immense clarity. Adam Frank helpfully explains what scientists are doing now to explore the galaxy remotely in search of answers to this fascinating mystery. Read this and you’ll know as much as anyone does on the topic— it’s as clear as a map, as clear as Drake’s Equation.
    Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future and the Mars trilogy
  • From the details of the origins of life on Earth, to the physics (and hypothetical future physics) of interstellar travel, The Little Book of Aliens is a comprehensive exploration of the seemingly limitless potential of intelligent life, human and beyond. Frank’s book is science writing at its best, revealing the awe-inspiring capacity of science to help us understand, and navigate, the universe.
    Annaka Harris, New York Times bestselling author of Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind
  • Aliens and UFOs have held perennial fascination for us all. Now, Adam Frank gives us an entertaining romp through our quickly changing attitudes to these topics. In just the last decade, biologists have achieved genuine insights into life’s origin, and astronomers have discovered thousands of ‘exoplanets’ orbiting distant stars. At last, we understand what to look for and where, and Adam Frank has written it down for us.
    Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and author of From Here to Infinity and On the Future
  • The Little Book of Aliens is not little at all. Its scope is vast and the questions it answers as well as those it asks are as mind-blowing as they are essential. Here you will learn what modern science has to teach about life in the universe from a true master, who is knowledgeable, clear, patient, generous, and really funny. If aliens do land on Earth one day, I hope they choose Adam Frank’s backyard. They will be up for an awesome first encounter with a first-rate scientist and human being.
    Marcelo Gleiser, author of The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity’s Future, and 2019 Templeton Prize laureate
  • Full of the excitement of the scientific enterprise! At the bottom of this engaging book is the profound question: Are we alone in the universe? In clear and accessible writing, Professor Frank provides a critical history of the belief in aliens and their conjectured visitations to Earth, and discusses the methods scientists are using now to search for extraterrestrial life.
    Alan Paige Lightman, physicist and author of Einstein’s Dreams and The Accidental Universe
  • The Little Book of Aliens is a captivating guide. With a chatty mix of wit and wisdom, Adam Frank comprehensively covers a wide range of topics from historical details to claims of modern-day sightings, while shedding light on our enduring fascination with the concept of aliens.
    Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at MIT, author of The Smallest Lights in the Universe

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