Fascinating Gadgets, Gizmos, and Gear Based Technologies

Steampunk is a retro science fiction genre taking place in the steam powered world of the Victorian Era. It is known for gear-based robots, hydrogen airships, and of course a reliance on steam engines to power their society. This week we break down what it would be like to advance society without electricity, in including why miniaturization of technology is a huge problem, how we can make hydroge...

Whether you are a fan of H. P. Lovecraft, curious about other parallel dimensions, or just want to escape our reality, we have all wondered what it would take to open a portal to another world.  In other episodes we discussed the science behind portals, but most of our solutions require advanced technology.  Is there a low tech way to travel to other worlds?  Taking the show Archive 81 as our insp...

We have talked a lot on this show about superpowers: Where they come from, how they are related to genetic mutations, and why your gut biome always seems to be involved.  But we have never questioned why every superpower seems to be so great.  This week we explore what it would be like if superpowers were actually random, and what to do if you get a perfectly average or even subpar superpower.  We...

The world of Doctor Who obviously revolves around the eponymous main character, but what does it take to save the universe over, and over, and over?  How hard is that job really, and in the end, would you want it?  That is the ultimate question we have had over our series, and one we answer in this episode.  To come to a proper conclusion, we have to look at all of the advantages The Doctor has at...

It is true that every hero has their share of villains they must contend with. Superman has Lex Luthor, Spider-man has Doc Ock, Batman has The Joker, and Doctor Who has The Daleks. While the Daleks might be the most scary with their catchphrase of “Exterminate”, the Cybermen are also terrifying with their threats of deletion, and the Weeping Angels are silent assassins that move when y...

Doctor Who is a show based in logic, science, and reason. Oh and also strange alien monsters.  One of the fun things the show does is take creatures we are familiar with through myth and legend and give them entirely new histories.  In this episode we will look at three of these creatures including Vampires, Werewolves, and Satan.  While appearing on the surface to be something you recognize, you...

The world of Doctor Who spans 39 non-consecutive seasons, several movies, and the obligatory spin-offs. This means there is a TON of material on the last Timelord, so we had to do a 4 part series to cover everything. In this first episode, we take a look at the time-traveling TARDIS, The Doctor’s faithful companion. We talk about its defining characteristic: How it can be so much bigger on t...

The Matrix is one of the most influential Sci-fi movies of all time.  In it, human beings are born into pods where they power an entire race of machines.  Humans are not aware of this, because at birth everyone is plugged into a vast digital universe called The Matrix that everyone believes is the real world.  From MMORPG, to large scale VR games, and now with Facebook unveiling their Metaverse, p...

It is highly likely that this Holiday season you will see some iteration of the classic Charles Dickens tale “A Christmas Carol”.  I would imagine apart from Hamlet, this is the most performed story in human history.  While the narrative is always basically the same, the twists that make it unique to the time are also the things that prove it is a timeless tale of Scrooge’s redem...

It is no secret that humans have been pursuing immortality ever since the first one died.  How does one achieve eternal life without becoming a vampire?  Upgrades of course.  As your body breaks down, it is only natural that would want to either replace your body parts with robotic improvements or hack into your existing biology and make it more robust.  This week we debate which is the better way...

In just the past 100 years, we have seen an exponential growth in our technological abilities.  We have instantaneous communication across the world, weapons that can annihilate whole countries, and we can customize our genetics at birth.  Using the Marvel movie Shang Chi as our inspiration, we ponder the question:  “Could you take over all of human antiquity using only one piece of modern t...

This episode comes out on Thanksgiving, and I can’t help but wonder what the holiday would be like if the pilgrims landed on an America that was one giant desert.  Would we spend it eating sandworm and mashed cactus?  What would pumpkin pie taste like if it was seasoned with the mind-altering spice found on Dune’s Arrakis?  These are all questions that we intend to answer this week as...

As we sit an experience a worldwide viral pandemic, one can not help but wonder what would happen if it morphed into a full-blown viral apocalypse.  How would you survive?  That is the question we answer this week as we explore the various possibilities using Y The Last Man as our guide.  The show adds an interesting twist, as the virus wipes out all genetic males, making natural reproduction almo...

The main technology in Reminiscence centers around storing, projecting, and reliving your memories.  This is a really cool idea, and in some ways it goes along really well with our digital upload episode.  We definitely get into this, but this show takes a very interesting turn by discussing the urban effects on massive climate change and worldwide flooding.  I have to admit, this was a little une...

We all have dreams, be them metaphorical or literal.  When we dream, we are in our perfect place, one where all our deepest desires come true.  In them, we achieve greatness, and can be anything we want to be.  It is our ultimate safe place, unless of course you live with Freddy Krueger on Elm Street.  Reality on the other hand, can be hard, grueling, and tough to deal with.  So what if you could...

This episode is coming out just in time for Halloween, and the only thing that is scarier than getting old is getting aging as an accelerated rate.  This week, we use the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Old” as the template for our discussion about animals that live an extremely short time, including the mayfly, which famously only lives one day.  We also apply those principles to human life...

The Marvel TV series “What If…?” is about alternate timelines where your favorite superheroes choose a different path which completely alters their world.  Some have devastating consequences. Others, like Peggy Carter taking Super Soldier Serum and becoming Captain Carter, represent an ideal timeline.  We are going to discuss the advantages of the butterfly effect in a quantum un...

Every human on this planet has two things in common:  We are all going to die one day.  This goes hand in hand with our other common trait:  We don’t want to.  Surviving as long as possible is built right into our DNA.  Billionaires all over the world are pouring money into life extension technologies, which given our current world population, is just not a sustainable solution.  What if we...

When it comes to the perfect form of renewable energy, I think the good creatures at Monsters, Inc. have cracked the code.  Originally harnessing the power of children’s screams, they quickly found out that laughter is a much more efficient way to power a city.  There is the obvious exploitation of children angle, but we will save that conversation for another day.  In this episode, we discu...

In celebration of our 100th episode, The Brain Trust looks forward and makes some bold predictions about the future, and the technology that will get us there.  We cover some of the big topics we have hinted at in other episodes, including the energy revolution, living in space, and even a guess at how humanity will end.  In this episode, we give some hard dates, some of which are right on our doo...

Imagine a future so bleak, where humanity is on the verge of collapse, and their only course of action is to send people back in time to change the future.  The first part of that is pretty easy to imagine, but what about that second part?  This is where Travelers is truly innovative.  Instead of sending people back, only their consciousness is sent back in time, into the brain of a person about t...

M.O.D.O.K. is an evil scientist who is running a tech company with aspirations to take over the world.  He also has a wife, two kids, and is going through a midlife crisis.  That is the basic story-line of this completely unique Marvel series. It does boast the strangest assortment of obscure villains, as well as some of the funniest tech we have covered.  Listen as we discuss a vacuum powered by...

Since the Cold War, the American public has been obsessed with espionage.  From James Bond, to Ethan Hunt, and now Natasha Romanoff, spies have become heroes to a lot of people.  While typically known for crazy gadgets, Black Widow takes a more forceful approach.  She relies on martial arts to get the job done, but the question in this movie is:  Who is pulling the strings and how?  Chemical mind...

Loki, the god of mischief is the misguided brother of Thor, the god of thunder.  Considering how much cooler thunder is than mischief, I can see where Loki believes he got the short end of the stick.  But what if there was an alternate universe where Loki was the god of thunder instead of Thor?  While not the exact plot, that is kind of the idea behind the new Loki series.  We see an alternate Lok...

A civilization ending virus, animal hybrid children, and a weird purple flower are all strangely connected in this comic book adaptation about a boy with deer antlers who is on a quest to find his mother who is a scientist that may hold the key to the entire story.  We try to connect the dots on this weird story, and along the way we make the obvious connections to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...