032-The Wow! Signal

In August 1977, Ohio astronomer Jerry Ehman discovered a radio signal so exciting that he wrote "Wow!" in the margin of its computer printout. Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the signal bore all the characteristics of an alien transmission. But despite decades of eager listening, astronomers have never heard it repeated. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll review the story of the "Wow! signal," which remains an intriguing, unexplained anomaly in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

We'll also share some more nuggets from Greg's database of oddities and puzzle over why a man chooses to drive a long distance at only 15 mph.

Sources for our segment on the Wow! signal:

Robert H. Gray, The Elusive Wow, 2012.

Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison, "Searching for Interstellar Communication," Nature, Sept. 19, 1959.

Frank White, The SETI Factor, 1990.

David W. Swift, SETI Pioneers, 1990.

David Darling, The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia, 2000.

Michael Brooks, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, 2008.

"Humanity Responds to 'Alien' Wow Signal, 35 Years Later," space.com, Aug. 17, 2012 (accessed Oct. 31, 2014).

Notes and sources for our miscellany from Greg's notes:

Iowa City's web page explains that Lyman Dillon plowed a furrow from Iowa City to Dubuque in 1839.

The item on oil pit squids is from George Eberhart's 2002 book Mysterious Creatures. The squids were found in "oil-emulsion pits containing antifreeze, stripper, oil, and chemicals used in manufacturing plastic automobile bumpers." Eberhart cites Ken de la Bastide, "Creature in Plant 9 Pits," Anderson (Ind.) Herald Bulletin, March 5, 1997.

Thanks to reader John McKenna for letter from the ancient Greek boy Theon to his father. It's from the Oxyrhynchus papyri, from the 2nd or 3rd century:

Theon to his father Theon, greeting.  It was a fine thing of you not to take me with you to the city!  If you won't take me with you to Alexandria I won't write you a letter or speak to you or say goodbye to you; and if you go to Alexandria I won't take your hand nor ever greet you again.  That is what will happen if you won't take me.  Mother said to Archelaus, 'it quite upsets him to be left behind.' It was good of you to send me presents ... on the 12th, the day you sailed.  Send me a lyre, I implore you.  If you don't, I won't eat, I won't drink; there now!

The item on William and Henry James is from Vincent Barry's 2007 book Philosophical Thinking About Dying.

According to the Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages (2006), Gaff's command to Deckard in Blade Runner is Monsieur, azonnal kövessen engem bitte ("Sir, follow me immediately please").

The anecdote about Alfred Lunt and the green umbrella is from the Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre (2013).

This week's lateral thinking puzzle comes from Paul Sloane and Des MacHale's 1998 book Ingenious Lateral Thinking Puzzles.

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Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!