In this special interview episode of The Box of Oddities, Jethro sits down with acclaimed science journalist Becky Ferreira—author of the new book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens. Together they explore humanity’s oldest question: Are we alone?

Ferreira, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Popular Science, MIT Technology Review, and NPR’s Science Friday, guides us through the deep history of alien speculation—from ancient Greek and Roman philosophers to Hopi star-people traditions to the modern UAP debate.

Jethro taps into his inner UFO enthusiast as they dive into:
• Why ancient cultures believed the sky itself was communicating with them
• The earliest “alien life” theories from Christian and Muslim scholars
• The Fermi Paradox, Drake Equation, and what science gets wrong about “Where is everybody?”
• Water worlds like Europa and Enceladus, and why alien life may be hiding inside dark interior oceans
• Whether interdimensional phenomena at places like Skinwalker Ranch could explain UAP encounters
• How humans might emotionally—and chaotically—respond if we picked up an alien signal
• The surprising ways religion is preparing for extraterrestrial discovery
• Whether we’ll make contact in our lifetime… and what form it might take

Ferreira’s insights blend cutting-edge astronomy with anthropology, psychology, and the strange human tendency to project our own fears and hopes onto the stars. Equal parts science, myth, and cosmic mystery, this conversation asks why the idea of alien life has been with us since the beginning—and why we can’t stop looking up.

Becky Ferreira’s book First Contact is available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook wherever books are sold.

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