The movie Contact was inspired by scientist, Jill Tarter! Sarah and Beth discuss: What it was like to meet (and then write about) her childhood mentor, Jill Tarter How Sarah met Jill and asked to write the story of Jill’s life- all from a bus?!? The impression left on you growing up with rocket launches in your backyard And… what the future of SETI might bring us – answers to our deepest questions- are we alone in the universe?   About Sarah Scoles: http://www.sarahscoles.com/ “I'm a Denver-based freelance science writer, a contributing writer at WIRED Science, a contributing editor at Popular Science, and the author of the book ​Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. A writing portfolio lives here. In previous lives, I was an associate editor at Astronomy and a public education person at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. When I'm not making sentences or recording our conversations, I enjoy reading short story collections, running weirdly long distances in the wilderness, teaching my dog English, and trying to become a better navigator.” Learn more about SETI: https://seti.org/ Watch Jill Tarter’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_tarter_s_call_to_join_the_seti_search