Sixty years ago Frank Drake wrote down an equation that has become one of the most famous in astronomy - the Drake Equation. This formula, aiming to estimate the number of alien civilizations communicating within the galaxy, has been celebrated, abused and criticized. Today, we are taking a deep dive into this special equation in a two part special. Written and presented by Prof David Kipping. Thanks to Jason Wright and Nadia Drake for help with this video. This video was sponsored by CuriosityStream - sign up for CuriosityStream here: https://curiositystream.com/CoolWorlds and be sure to use the code: "CoolWorlds" WATCH PART TWO HERE: https://youtu.be/kliJ-CFVLeE You can support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store Thank-you to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, J. Allen, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, T. Leger, L. Skov, G. Suter, M. Elliot, M. Wallstab, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, N. Geisler, P. Cleeves, R. Case & B. Desormeaux. ::References:: ► Kipping, D., 2021, "A Stationary Drake Equation Distribution as a Balance of Birth-death Processes", RNAAS, 5, 44: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/abeb7b ::Check out Dr. Sutter's videos for more:: ► Paul M. Sutter - The Equation is Useless (Part 1): https://youtu.be/6B8yAxiPbk0 ► Paul M. Sutter - The Equation is Useless (Part 2): https://youtu.be/B8-k8ZoMaa0 ::Music:: Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with