this week, a strange signal from deep space has scientists stumped. an astronomer will lend us his expertise. a guy barely out of college is helping hundreds of others get accepted to the ivy leagues. and google employees take to social media to reform their workplace. our reporter from "business insider" and john schwartz this week on "press: here." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. scientists are talking about an unusual signal from deep space, a repeater they call it, a

repeating set of radio bursts blasted out six times all coming from the same spot in space. now if your mind goes to that scene in the jodie foster movie "contact," you're not alone. honestly, the real-life signals are less dramatic than this, lasting milliseconds, but the movie illustrates a real-life effort to detect signals from outer space called setting or the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. a serious and sober effort by scientists to see if there's anyone out there. a senior astronomer there, let me assure the viewer, this is real science, not tinfoil hat stuff, he spends time debunking things like u feshgs oeshgfos. thanks for being with us. let me kind of fantasize what is it like or what would it be

like? this has to have gone through your head -- when you get the signal, that really undisputably is. >> scott, we had a kind of dry run. we had a test back in 1997, a long time ago now, but we got a signal, the boss called me up at home, said come on down. we thought it might be the real deal. i kept waiting for the red telephone to ring, you know. >> i was going to say, tell me there's a red telephone. >> there's no red telephone. i kept waiting for the men in black to show up. >> let's say you've checked the math and everything seems right. you call the president or -- i mean, what's the procedure for we've made contact with a foreign or an extra rest ral? >> in the movies, everything gets very dramatic and they start screaming. in reality, you want to check out the signal because you don't want it to turn out to be a san jose state undergraduate prank or something like that, right. so you have to check it out. it would take days to check it out. so that's actually what you're

doing. but if we checked it out and it turned out this is e.t. on the line, of course, you don't have to call the press. they're already calling you. >> how often do you get encouraging or maybe signs or signals, we call them technosignatures? >> too much greek, but -- >> okay. good. that's refreshing. but how often do you get sthings th something that's promising and how do you tell what the perfect signal is? >> we've gotten better at that. sort of like airline safety, there aren't too many incidents anymore. we get a lot of signals, every ten seconds, and the computers are good at filtering out the good ones and the bad ones, is this e.t. or at&t. is it kind of a terrestrial, an interference signal. the facts are you don't get something that gets your attention really from year to year, you might not. it's not often. >> so how do you know if we're getting a signal from e.t.? i'm sure you've thought about

this. how is that distinguished from other signals around space and what was so remarkable about the recent signals we got? >> this new discovery, fast radio bursts, that's interesting because nobody knows what they are. astronomers are pretty unmana unimaginative when it comes to naming things. it sounds like a slide whistle, very quick one, like that, but in a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second, something like that, okay. something like 60 of them have been seen across the sky in the last ten years. what's doing it? the only thing we really know is that it's coming from very, very far away. when i say far away, billions of light-years. i don't know what you have on your car, but billions of light-years is a long, long way, right? so it's coming from that far away and you can still pick it up with an antenna on earth, it must be incredibly power pfl think of colliding back holes. this one that was dust just discovered repeats. that's what scott mentioned. and if it repeats it can't be colliding black holes.

they can't go back to their neutral corners and collide again. >> what do you think they're trying to convey? >> assuming it's a they. >> whatever it is. >> let's back up. presuming it's not a thing. >> there are people who say it is. >> fair enough. there are people who say it is, said the lead astronomer of the search for extraterrestrials. >> there's people. >> back to your point. >> what do you think the message is? >> well, there's probably not a message. look, if you look at the history of astronomy, not many people do, but if you were to do that, you'd find there are always puzzling things in the sky. that's the job description for being an astronomer. they don't pay you to go out and hey, the moon is still out there, right? nobody's interested in that. well, this weekend, make. if you find something new, there will always be some group of people who say, you know what, we don't know what that is. it could be aliens on the line, and of course maybe it could be. but every time, whether it's quasar, pulsar, the north pole

of saturn, the aliens get the blame for everything. they are the fall guys for everything we don't understand. >> what would be a good signal? it's been years since i watched the "contact" movie, maybe i to should have rewatched it before this segment, but i believe they were sending prime numbers or something, where there's no kwa a quasar sending out prime numbers. what's a good signal? >> prime numbers, the value of pi, you probably learned that in the seventh grade. you finally hear from the aliens and they tell you something you learned in seventh grade. not very interesting. >> but it would be a sign. that is not random. >> if they sent me their ens encycloped encyclopedias, that would be a sign. you would be able to recognize the encyclopedia because you'd get picture, whatever. if they sent us their internet. but to answer your question, we don't look for anything complicated like that. it's too hard. we look for a signal that's at one spot on the radio dial, like

this tv program, one spot on the radio spectrum, and it's, you know, slowly moving across the sky at the same speed that the stars move across the sky because of the rotation of the earth. that means it's not a satellite, it's not this television station, it's e.t. trying to get in touch. >> are you looking at particular areas of the sky right now? >> we try to do that. nobody know where is the aliens are hanging out. narily confident there must be somebody, but where they are, what kind of star systems is their planet in, you have to second-guess them on the basis of what you know about astronomy. >> do you get much support from silicon valley? i'm wondering in terms of development of technology that would help you in your efforts. >> we benefit from it, of course, because a lot of this is computer technology. unfortunately, there's no funding for this to speak of. >> congress used to fund it. >> that was before 1993. yeah. so it's all private donations. and there's very little money and that constrains the search. i bet everybody a cup of

starbucks we'll find e.t. by 2035 or something like that, but it won't happen if we can't do the experiment. >> the late paul allen gave you a tremendous amount. >> he did, to build an instrument in the cascades beyond redding, california. >> 20 years ago i had this sete program running on my computer. are you still doing that crowdsourcing kind of processing? >> i thank you, troy. in fact, that was not our project. that's a proproject of the university of california at berkeley, but it is still running. it is. >> we've joked several times about aliens and what not, and even off the top i said, you know, understand that dr dr. shostak is a serious scientist looking for aliens. you spend time debunking ufos. there is an enormous difference between extraterrestrial intelligence somewhere in the universe, which mathematically has to be true and ufos kidnapping cows in texas. >> cows? >> if i were writing it. >> all right. no wonder meal prices are going up.

all right. yes, scott, i absolutely -- one-third of the american public, polls have shown this through the there is a four years, one-third of the public thinks the aliens are here, in their saucers, hauling people out of their bedrooms, whatever. right. now, if that were true, that would be job security for me, so i'd be all for it if it were true. but i don't think it's true. i get phone calls every day, but i don't think it's true. but we do think they're out there. there are a trillion planets in the milky way. if they're not out there, there's something special going on here. >> one last question. the mathematical likelihood that we will detect an alien signal in your lifetime is small. so you will spend your life searching for something that may not -- hopefully it's tomorrow -- it may not happen. what motivates you to continue to look if you know that mathematically it's unlikely? >> well, to begin with, i've bet everybody we will find

something. i'm being very careful when i cross first street not to get hit by a truck, but you're probably right. maybe we won't find it. but it's just interesting to be involved in the search because it's like solving puzzles. anytime you learn about new planets and we learn about them all the time now, that helps you. it's something that gets petter with time. it's not repetitious. it's not boring. it gets better. >> what was the bet, 2025? >> 2035. >> i can last that long. i'll have you back on for the signal. >> either we find aliens or you get a cup of coffee. >> doctor, thank you for being with us this morning. up next, would you pay $950 an hour to help your child get into college? when "press: here" continues.

reporting that there is an e-mail from harvard. is that correct? what does it say? >> wait, i -- put it away for a second. >> i can't see it. >> oh, man. yay. >> what? >> i got accepted. >> are you serious? >> yeah. >> all right! yes! >> welcome back to "press:

here." that was a young man back in 2005 learning he had just gotten into harvard. now, unfortunately, he would later drop out of school. we thank mark zuckerberg for sharing that video and wish him well with waefr he does now. let's talk about 2019. by now the last college acceptance letters have probably gone out. we know who is and who is not going to yale this year or harvard or princeton or any of the ivy league schools. the pressure on the kids is intense. the pressure from their parents is often worse. let's go back to another youtube video for more e more on these videos. >> oh my god! >> chris lynn helps kids like that get into ivy league schools by charging their parents $950 an hour. he himself a brand-new graduate of yale, he created his own company called command education. thanks for being with us this

morning. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to make one thing perfectly clear. that girl got in. it's hard to tell, by the way. she got into penn and thanks to penn for sending us this video. let's talk for underjust a second. i think this is a kid who only went to a state school could ask. is there a value in going to an ivy league school? there's been a lot of talk about, you know, the value of college in general, much less, you know, getting into yale. is there value in that? >> i definitely think so. i think it's really the network, the people you meet at these top-tier school, you can't replace. at yale i think i learned just as much outside the classroom as i did inside the classroom. >> i've heard the same about stanford and i'll ask you about stanford in a second. let me challenge you this, and that is people are trying to get into yale, need a 4.0, yes? >> no. >> really. >> no. i mean, i went to public school in new jersey. and i had three, four bs.

everyone told me i wouldn't be able to get into yale and i was the only student to get in. >> do you know how many kids are turning to their parents right now in living rooms all over the bay area going, i told you so? yes. okay. you ruined my question, but let me put this to you. now need really good grades. you need a really interesting activity, captain of the football team or head of the debate club or something. you need to have outside activities and interests. you need to have done volunteer work at homeless shelters. you have to be this whole person. the problem is if you've got 20,000 or 30,000 orb 40,000, i have no idea how many people apply to yale or harvard or princet princeton, they all have that. how do they pick? >> we try to help students figure out what they're passionate about because if a student does what he or she genuinely enjoys doing, they'll succeed, whether it's starting a nonprofit, no matter what it is, if they do what they're

passionate about, that will shop show. that's how a student can stand out throughout the process. >> without give eight way state secrets, when you're talking to somebody who wants to go to an ivy league school or a duke or a stanford, do you steer them in the direction of where you think they have the best chance of getting into or they're best suited for? because in a sense, in your case, you don't necessarily have to be a straight-a student. >> exactly. i think it's really finding the right fit. a lot of times parents come to me and say, chris, i'm going to hire you to only help my kid get into harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, and there's it. i'm, like, that's probably not the right line teklinclientele . we try to find the best fit because if they don't like the culture they don't like the vibe of the school, they won't succeed. it's finding that right fit for that student. >> how do you figure out what the right fit is for a student? >> so, the way that we work, i mean, i'm 23 years old, and all of the mentors who work at command education are between 22

to 26, 27. we're all recent grads. so because we're recent grads, we're able to connect with students on a near peer basis at that level, so we're nonparental, students look up to us as mentors rather than counselors or tutors, and i think because of that relationship, students open up to us, able to find and pinpoint what strengths they have and how we can maximize that with the college application process. >> have you ever had a kid who say, listen, i know my parents are paying you $950 an hour and they have been on in me for years, but i really would like to go to arizona state. it looks fun. who have kind of confided in you that yocht to go to harvard? >> that happens all the time, and it depends on the student's stats. most students, if they come to us with slightly lower gesh eer test scores and they don't have the requirements like extracurricular activities, we'll tell the parents up this is probably not realistic. your child has straight kreshgss.

getting into harvard is not going to work. >> i meant more of the kid who's got the straight as and has been practicing the oboe and he doesn't want to go to harvard. and i apologize to every sun devil, were you a sun zmefl. >> no. >> okay, good. it's a fine, fine school. that said, are there kids who say this is not what i want to do? you talk about how they take you into their confidence. >> what we do is we still try to have them apply to all these other schools because you never know. we have a student i worked with two years ago who got into stanford and didn't get into northeastern. and i believe northeastern didn't accept the student because they thought -- northeastern thought they were a backup and to protect their yield rate they didn't accept the student. if that's the case, same thing with this school, you should still apply to at least a dozen or so schools. >> that's an issue, though. so we have three kids go through college and it got to each kid, the other kids were applying to more colleges than ever before. on vrge a average it went from 5

to 10 to now 15 to 20. what do you do love to dempb sh differentiate yourself like you did? is it the essay? >> the essay is really important. if you think about admissions reading hundreds if not thousands of essays, they have to stand out and be unique. that's one thing. it's really the extracurricular activities. you can't join model u.n. debate just because you think that's what colleges want to see because they don't. they want to see student who is really follow what they're passionate about or are truly interested in and have done something to have an impact in their family's life or their community or with their friends. so at command education, we help students figure that out and also take that idea to the next step. >> if i come to you as a parent and i say, hey, i want you to work with my kid, i want him to get into harvard or some other ivy league school, what should my expectation be? how much money should i be expected to spend with you?

what should i expect to be the end product of my son or daughter working with you? >> yeah. i think a lot of times parents come to us at all different stages. we had a parent recently who called me up and said i have never seen my child come home from school, study on his own, without being asked to do so, and he just has this whole new -- he's completely motivated. and he's willing to do the work now because he knows it will pay off in the future. it all depends. we have some students who work with us an hour every week. we have some students who work with us one hour every few months. but of course during the summer, that's when they might have more time if they're not doing an internship or a research opportunity. so then they might be working with us more frequently. >> without putting you on the spot, what's your percentage rate of success in getting students into the college they want to go to? >> yeah, so 96% of our students get into at least one of the top three school choices that the parents, students and our mentors have selected for them. >> i need to go to commercial break, but one last question. i don't think you'll do it, but rank the schools for me.

harvard is one, right? no, no, no i'm sorry, arizona state is first, harvard is second. i mean, can you do that or would you get -- >> no, i think it's yale number one. >> of course it is. yes. then arizona state. >> arizona state. >> texas and then was it missouri? >> missouri. >> iowa state would be in there i think as well. and then like princeton, brown. >> i think iowa state has like 75,000 students. it's one of the most top attended colleges. it's a commuter school, but go sun devils. >> chris, thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me here.

welcome back to "press: here." i'm scott mcgrew with john schwartz and troy wilburton of "business insider." john, you are working on a piece for "barron's," so tell me what it is. >> i'm looking at employee empowerments, especially at google. recall back in november, 20,000 of their employees walked out of work, one-fifth of their

workforce, and earlier this -- well, on tuesday, they had a social media protest over forced arbitration around sexual harassment. >> right. >> google has a problem with their executives getting involved in some horrible situations including andy rubin. it got me to talking to one of their organizers about this whole notion that as highly valued employees at a silicon valley company, they have a lot of leverage where they can go and what they can do, and they're deciding to use their voice and their leverage to try to effect change within the company. >> and these organizers are out in the open, right? years ago, if they were organizing, you know, the guys on the ford assembly line, you would have kept it quiet, done it off the record, sort of thing. people are say, i am the organiz organizer. >> they're being quoted, on camera. they're taking advantage of this talent glut we have in silicon valley, and they have the freedom to move from company to company. they're starting to exert themselves. one of the downfalls or pitfalls is that the november -- as

successful as the november event was, the organizers asked for five kind of major concessions, and management hasn't come up with any. >> so do you see -- i mean, silicon valley has traditionally, at least in the tech space, has been anti-union. unions have not had a place among the tech workers. do you see this evolving into a union? >> that's an interesting question. i don't know if it will ever. i don't think it would here given the pay and the perks, but i think one of the things is the companies offer so many things to their employees to keep them, and they want to recruit them and they're having a more difficult time recruiting to the major companies because there are so many options including start-ups and ipos. i think one of the things these companies want to do is keep their employees happy, but the thing now is the employees are more interested in the culture of the company they work for, it's more important to them what their company stands for, so that causes problems, not just for a google but for a facebook. >> let's move to facebook. troy, you were writing about facebook. this was an editorial you were writing in which you were talking about how mark

zuckerberg has a tremendous amount of power at facebook, and congress ought to step in. tell me, he's got shares that are more powerful than the shares i can buy. >> yeah. so this is something that has become more common within the tech industry. it kind of -- the resurgence of this kind of what's called dual-class share ownership started with google in 2004, and moved on to facebook when facebook went public in 2012, and now there's lots of different tech companies that have the structure. basically what it means is you have one or two or three different shares of stock, different classes of stock, and the people that are on the inside get more votes than everybody else. so in the case of mark zuckerberg, his shares give him ten votes per share. and what it basically means for zuckerberg is that he owns, his economic ownership of the company is 6%, but th16% but han half of the votes. >> it's his company. >> it's his company.

he can name who he wants to by the board, determine by himself the outcome of any shareholder vote. what we're starting to see is that there are problems with this in that people on the outside have little control over what happens inside the company even when they own the company. >> right. and congress could do what? >> so, i mean, congress could ostensibly pass a law that says that you can't have dual-class stock. there was a provision that allowed -- that the new york stock exchange had in place for a long time that basically banned a listing of companies that had dual-class shares of stock. >> troy and john, thanks for being with us this morning. we will be back in japt. -- just a minute. our consumer you-- the way to make sure your complaint is taken seriously. plus: we )re tracking your work week forecast as you head out the door. join us monday morning from

before we go, a minor bit of trivia. i was looking up a day in the archives this morning for one of

our pieces of video and discovered quite by accident this weekend marks ten years of doing this television show on the nose. i was as surprised as anyone else. we don't have any cake or celebration, no montages. maybe we can do that next week. in the meantime, that's our show for this week. my thanks to my guests, and thank you for making us a part of your sunday.

. chicago. icy, bone chilling cold. plus their team feels like minus 8. but on the ice at united center, it feels like a great day of hockey. all-star patrick kane and the blackhawks later scorching two points a game will be facing alexander ovechkin whose 33 goals have him on top