··Course Background

Every child, at some point in their life, will inevitably ask a question in their mind:​Are humans the only beings in the universe? If there are aliens, where are they?

In the past, parents could only smile and shake their heads, unable to answer, or use UFO photographs to prove: Look, this is the spaceship of aliens~

Nowadays, the scientific community has a clear answer:

Yes, but they have never visited Earth.

The children will definitely ask: How do scientists know this?

Don't underestimate this question, the conclusion of scientists is not something arbitrary, but has rigorous scientific logic.

Children are likely to continue to ask: so where are the aliens?

This leads to the answer that scientists have been trying to find for over a hundred years:

··Lecture

Wang Jie

·Science Communicator

·Science film and television director

·Screenwriter

· A member of the China Science Popularization Writers Association and one of the founders of "Science Voice"
· His representative work "The Shape of Time: A History of Relativity" won the 8th Wenjin Book Award
· His science fiction novel "Prison of Time" won the 2019 Ba Hua Literature Award
· He directed and wrote the special effects film "The Amazing Universe" for the Science and Technology Museum, which won the Gold Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Works (Film and Animation) at the 6th China Science Popularization Writers Association Award
· He directed and wrote "Nature's Secrets," which won the Silver Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Works (Film and Animation) at the 7th China Science Popularization Writers Association Award
· He has written more than ten books, including "Strings of the Starry Sky," "Loneliness of Billions of Years," "Children's Science Thinking Training Series," "A Brief History of the Solar System," "The Spark of Civilization," "You Won't Believe It Until You Hear It," and "Plants in Battle"

··Course overview

In Season 1 you will see:

Episode 1: Are humans lonely?

Starting with humans' exploration of extraterrestrials, what is the biggest difference between scientific thinking and ordinary thinking?

Episode 2: The "Early Martian Civilization" in the Remote Origin

At the end of the 19th century, several astronomers were obsessed with observing Mars in Italy and France. By using the most advanced telescope of the time, they actually discovered "canals" on Mars and even a colorful "Martian civilization"!

Episode 3: If it is not the Martian Canal, what is it?

Scientific conclusions must withstand peer review. The Martian canal was strongly questioned by other scientists. So what should be done?

Episode 4: Is UFO the evidence of extraterrestrial beings?

The discovery of "flying saucers" and the Roswell incident made extraterrestrial research a hot topic from civilian groups to legitimate academic institutions.

Episode 5: A fascinating and difficult challenge: Finding extra solar planets

Starting from the 1950s, searching for planets outside the solar system has become the most fascinating observation activity. Telescopes cannot fulfill this mission, but the clever "astrometry method" seems to have hope, while the "Dyson sphere" theory is even more amazing.

Episode 6: Drake and his clever search plan

In the search for extraterrestrial beings, astrophysicist Drake is a key figure. He not only designed a clever plan to search for extraterrestrial beings, but also proposed the "Drake formula" for calculating the number of extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations.

Episode 7: Arecibo

Heroes need sharp weapons: good theories also need powerful tools to exert their power. In the 1960s, Americans finally built an unparalleled giant radio telescope at the time-Arecibo.

Episode 8: "Little Green Men" signal and Murchison meteorite

During the search for extraterrestrial civilization signals, there were unexpected discoveries. The famous "Little Green Men" signal is one of the most famous. The discoverer even won the Nobel Prize for it. Moreover, a meteorite falling from the sky brought information about the existence of extraterrestrial life to humans.

Episode 9: "WOW Signal" and gifts to extraterrestrial beings

Continuous exploration of signals from extraterrestrial civilizations has finally led to a major event, and the discovery of the "WOW signal" has made the SETI plan reach an unprecedented high. At the same time, scientists have implemented a plan to send gifts to extraterrestrial beings. How did they design this gift?

Episode 10: Calling Aliens

Scientists are not satisfied with the search like needle in a haystack for extraterrestrial signals, and have proposed the METI program to actively call out to alien civilizations. The responsibility of sending the calling message fell on Drake again. He designed the famous "Arecibo message" for this purpose.

··Target audience

1.Adolescents in junior high school to high school, in the golden age of constructing scientific thinking.

2.Adults interested in hardcore scientific topics

3.Parent-child families who want to explore the scientific world togethe

··Benefits

1.Help children understand how scientists view and solve such "wild" questions.

2.Show children how humans continuously improve scientific theories and methods in the search for evidence.

3.Enable children to have a better understanding of the twists and turns of scientific exploration; and improve their ability to identify pseudoscience.