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April 1, 2025, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute announced today two recipients for the 2025 Drake Award: Dr. David Deamer (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Dr. John Baross (University of Washington, Seattle). Deamer and Baross are known for their pioneering work in astrobiology, focused on understanding the origins of life. However, each approaches the question from a different perspective. Deamer, a biomolecular engineer who focuses on membranes and RNA formation in shallow wat…

When Frank Drake penned his famous equation in 1961, he gave us a framework to estimate the number of detectable technological civilizations in our galaxy. Beginning with the number of potentially life-supporting planets orbiting stars, he added the term F sub l, “the fraction of suitable planets on which life appears.” Habitable planets or moons possessing liquid water at their surface are considered candidates to support life as we know it, but can these worlds support the spontaneous origin …