SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA — “Dad, did you ever imagine that your formula would become so famous?” I ask the kind-eyed, 91-year-old person next to me on the patio. My dad, Frank Drake, is quiet for a ...

Differential equations are fundamental tools in physics: they are used to describe phenomena ranging from fluid dynamics to general relativity. But when these equations become stiff (i.e. they involve ...

Is there really a way that we can estimate the number of technologically advanced civilizations that might exist in the Milky Way galaxy? In 1961, while working as a radio astronomer at the National ...