Plot Synopsis

Using dramatizations and interviews with scientists and science-fiction writers, Nick Sagan hosted the two-part first season in which experts hypothesized what would really happen if we got a message from space and if aliens arrived. Astronomers Jill Tarter, Frank Drake, Seth Shostak and Neil deGrasse Tyson and science-fiction writers John Scalzi and David Brin unravel the likely impact of such a world-changing event and form intriguing hypothetical scenarios. On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT, ALIEN ENCOUNTERS 2 debuted, with the first of two new episodes. These two episodes of ALIEN ENCOUNTERS begin where the first two installments left off. A swarm of alien spacecraft hover in the Earth's atmosphere and suddenly deposit thousands of mysterious capsules on the surface. As the mother ship floats ominously silent in Earth's orbit the capsules begin to split and multiply as humans scramble to brace for the unknown. In partnership with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), Science aired this program as part of its month-long "Are We Alone?" initiatives to let viewers know they can help search for intelligent life in the universe by using the new SETI Live platform.
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ALIEN ENCOUNTERS returned for its third season on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT on Science Channel. The six new episodes of Season 3 ick up where last season ended with the dramatization of a Texas-sized extraterrestrial mother ship exploding in low Earth orbit. The pieces left behind begin altering humanity as we know it. Some pieces hit land destroying homes, buildings and cars while others are collected to harness alien advanced technology that begins a new, unfathomable industrial revolution. The alien space junk also has an immense impact on our children as 1-in-7 are now born as a human/alien hybrids with special, enhanced senses and powers. Expert contributors in Season 3 included: Hakeem Oluseyi, astrophysicist and star of OUTRAGEOUS ACTS OF SCIENCE; Seth Shostak, SETI Institute senior astronomer; futurist John Smart; scientist and science fiction author David Brin; George Church, molecular geneticist, Harvard University; Daniel Lidar, director of the University of Southern California Lockheed Martin Quantum Computation Center; Carlos Barbas, Scripps Research Institute genetic biologist; and more.