Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and science journalist Shi En Kim discuss the first half of Star Trek: Lower Decks' fifth season. Is solar sailing a real thing? When is it advantageous to play dead? Follow us on Bluesky! Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social Kim: https://bsky.app/profile/goesbykim.bsky.social

Guest: Prof. Amitai Shenhav On this episode, Mike is joined by his fellow TEDxNewEngland speaker Amitai Shenhav, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley who is known for his work on decision making. How does Prof. Shenhav use Star Trek (or attempt to, at least) in his psychology classes? And what does his research reveal about how to make tough decisions? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Amitai: twitter.com/amitaishenhav

On this short solo episode, Mike shares his TEDxNewEngland experience. Mike's paper, "On the roles of function and selection in evolving systems": https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2310223120 Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai

Guest: Dr. Erin Macdonald Dr. Erin Macdonald, the official science advisor for the Star Trek universe, joins us to discuss the science behind Season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery and Season 2 of Star Trek: Prodigy. "Chromatin remodeling in tribbles in Star Trek: Prodigy" by Prof. Mohamed Noor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2PePbR3FPk Erin's Nerd Nite talk, "Faster-Than-Light Travel in Science Fiction": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lw7JOgQ_MI Mike's Nerd Nite talk, "The Astrobiology of Star Trek": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtgcaVg7puM Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Erin: twitter.com/drerinmac

Guests: Prof. Jason A. Kaufman & Prof. Aaron M. Peterson Professors Jason A. Kaufman and Aaron M. Peterson join us to discuss their sweeping book "Leadership in Star Trek: Lessons from the Captain's Chair." Learn how communication, patience, and relationship underpin every good leader, from Burnham to Picard. Book: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/leadership-in-star-trek/ Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Jason: twitter.com/vagabondkaufman

Guest: Prof. Mary-Jane Rubenstein Professor Mary-Jane Rubenstein joins us to talk about her book "Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race," which explores the religious narratives that underpin commercial space exploration, and its connections to Star Trek. Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Shi En Kim joins Mike to reflect on the last three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery's fifth and final season, DSC: "Labyrinths," "Lagrange Point," and "Life, Itself." How do Mike and Kim process their fears? What is a Lagrange point? And what do they make of the Progenitor's technology? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim chat about themes in DSC: "Whistlespeak" and "Erigah." Is cloud seeding a real thing, how do you create ultra-distilled water, and what are some contaminants that plague our waterways here on Earth? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim unpack DSC: "Face the Strange" and "Mirrors." Can you use relativity to defeat a temporal shield? What do they make of Moll and L'ak's backstory? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim take a closer look at DSC: "Jinaal." What do they make of the Trill's test? And why was Stamets so bubbly about isotope half-lives? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim examine the themes in DSC: "Under the Twin Moons." What does it take to get a double solar eclipse? And what do they make of Captain Rayner's advice? Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim joins Mike to talk about DSC: "Red Directive," from sand avalanches to the big revelation at the end of the episode. Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Kim: twitter.com/goes_by_kim

Guest: Dr. Stuart Bartlett Complexity scientist, astrobiologist, and artificial life researcher Dr. Stuart Bartlett joins us to discuss how information processing has been a key feature of life, from its emergence 4 billion years ago to artificial intelligence today. Stuart's paper "Provenance of life: Chemical autonomous agents surviving through associative learning": https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.106.034401 Mike & Stuart's paper "Searching for Life, Mindful of Lyfe’s Possibilities": https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/6/783 Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai

Guest: Prof. Paul Rimmer In the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale, Q and Picard time travel to the origin of life on Earth. How does that scene compare to our modern scientific understanding of life's emergence? Prof. Paul Rimmer walks us through what Star Trek gets right and wrong—and what we still don't know—about our humble beginnings. "Could Dune really exist? What scientists think of our favorite sci-fi worlds" featuring Mike & Prof. Mohamed Noor: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/01/1198909447/dune-part-two-arrakis-habitable-planets-star-trek-wars Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: https://twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: https://twitter.com/miquai

Guest: Jaime Green Author Jaime Green beams aboard to talk about how we imagine alien life in science and in science fiction. Her new book is "The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos." "The Possibility of Life" by Jaime Green: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-possibility-of-life-jaime-green?variant=40643758391330 "Uncertain Contact" by Jaime Green: https://aeon.co/essays/alien-life-might-not-be-something-science-can-ever-discover "An Existential Problem in the Search for Alien Life" by Jaime Green:https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/12/defining-life-existentialism-scientific-theory/676238/ Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: https://twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: https://twitter.com/miquai Jaime: https://twitter.com/jaimealyse

Guest: Kayla Smith Getting accepted to grad school isn't something that happens every day. Episode 167 of Strange New Worlds is dedicated to celebrating Kayla Smith, an undergraduate who works with Mike, and her recent acceptances to PhD programs in planetary science. Kayla talks about watching her first Star Trek episode, her journey in academia, her research on Mars, her aspirations to look for life on exoplanets, and why studying planets is both a science and an art. Mike's Carnegie Postdoc Spotlight: https://epl.carnegiescience.edu/michael-l-wong-explores-strange-new-worlds Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai

Guest: Elise Cutts Science journalist Elise Cutts returns to reflect on Caltech's 2016 Star Trek musical, "Boldly Go!", and dissect the 2023 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody." Watch "Boldly Go! A Star Trek Parody Musical": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdtBArmWHdY&ab_channel=BoldlyGo%21 "The Simple Geometry That Predicts Molecular Mosaics" by Elise Cutts: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-geometry-that-predicts-molecular-mosaics-20230621/ "The Mysterious Case of Ireland’s Missing Earthquakes" by Elise Cutts: https://eos.org/articles/the-mysterious-case-of-irelands-missing-earthquakes Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: https://twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: https://twitter.com/miquai Elise: https://twitter.com/elisecutts

On the first episode of 2024, we present Mike's interview on the Dice in Mind podcast, where hosts Jason and Brad ask Mike about his scientific journey, his podcasting journey, and his Star Trek journey. Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: https://twitter.com/scienceoftrek Dice in Mind: https://twitter.com/diceinmind Mike: https://twitter.com/miquai Jason: https://twitter.com/vagabondkaufman

Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith return for the final installment of our trilogy about Data as a strategist. In this episode, we analyze how Data defeats Lore in PIC: "Surrender" and saves the galaxy with his gut instinct in PIC: "The Last Generation." Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Jason: twitter.com/CBTSportPsych David: twitter.com/StonewallFit

Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith return for part two of our trilogy about Data as a strategist. In this episode, we examine how Data deals with prejudice from his subordinates while commanding of the U.S.S. Sutherland in TNG: "Redemption, Part 2." Then, we talk about how Data foils the Borg Queen's plans in "Star Trek: First Contact." Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrek Mike: twitter.com/miquai Jason: twitter.com/CBTSportPsych David: twitter.com/StonewallFit