Contact
- Author
- John E. Moores & Catherine Neish
- Published
- Sat 31 May 2025
- Episode Link
- https://popcornscience.ca/contact/
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the
science behind the 1997 movie "Contact".
Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Carl Sagan, Contact
explores what would happen if humanity were to receive a message from
an extraterrestrial civilization.
Topics
- Science Gripes (4:37)
- Headphones? (6:01)
- Opening Sequence (9:40)
- Hitler, Messenger of Earth (11:20)
- Arecibo Message (12:28)
- Arecibo Geography (16:00)
- Ellie the Astronaut (17:28)
- Funding (20:08)
- Arecibo v. VLA (21:15)
- Timeline Issue (48:35)
- Headphones? (6:01)
- The Good Things (24:59)
- On Location (25:05)
- Science Culture (27:40)
- Signal from Vega (30:32)
- Is Space Exploration Worth it? (34:48)
- Crewed Spaceflight (38:50)
- Transit Network / Wormholes (#42:25)
- On Location (25:05)
- Of Their Time (44:35)
- Computer Technology (44:53)
- Bill Clinton (47:00)
- Space Industrialists (49:56)
- Science v. Faith (52:52)
- Fragile Institutions (54:59)
- Computer Technology (44:53)
- Accuracy and Significance (56:39)
