Michael L. Wong

Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Science EN ↓ 248 episodes

Hosted by planetary scientist and astrobiologist Dr. Michael L. Wong, Strange New Worlds examines science, technology, and culture through the lens of Star Trek!

Author

Michael L. Wong

Category

Science

Podcast website

soundcloud.com

Latest episode

Jul 4, 2026

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Episodes

Episode 19: Probing Giant Planets 09.11.2017

Guest: Professor Jonathan Fortney In Episode 19, Michael interviews Professor Jonathan Fortney about how we know what's inside of giant planets both within and beyond our Solar System. Follow us on Twitter! Jonathan: @jjfplanet Michael: @Miquai

Episode 18: The Chemistry & Clouds of Hot Jupiters 04.11.2017

Guests: Maria Steinrück & Peter Gao At the 2017 Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Provo Utah, Michael interviews Maria Steinrück & Peter Gao about their research on hot Jupiter atmospheres and their thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery so far. Follow us on Twitter! Maria: @MariaSteinrueck Peter: @PlanetaryGao Michael: @Miquai

Episode 17: Dark & Edgy 08.10.2017

Guest: Elise Cutts In Episode 17, Michael opens a channel to Edinburgh to discuss the first three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery with Elise Cutts. Follow us on Twitter: Elise: @emcuttsy Michael: @miquai

Episode 16: The Real V'gers 03.10.2017

Guest: Jamie Sue Rankin In Episode 16, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of NASA's Voyager mission to the outer Solar System and beyond with a chat with Jamie Sue Rankin, who studies the radiation environment outside the heliopause...where no spacecraft has gone before.

Episode 15: Discovering Discovery 27.09.2017

Guests: Peter Gao, Desun Oka, Aida Behmard, Shreyas Vissapragada, and Cecilia Sanders Our minute-old thoughts on the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery!

Episode 14: It's a Colorful Universe 22.09.2017

Guests: James Keane & Peter Gao In Episode 14, we talk about The Art of Planetary Science, what gives planets their colors, and offer our final thoughts on what we hope to see in Star Trek: Discovery. The Art of Planetary Science: https://www.sites.google.com/site/lpltaps/ Follow us on Twitter: James: @jtuttlekeane Peter: @PlanetaryGao Michael: @Miquai

Episode 13: How Pluto Followed Its Heart 19.09.2017

Guests: James Keane & Peter Gao In Episode 13, Michael sits down with James Keane and Peter Gao to talk about the quickly rotating planet in VOY: "Blink of An Eye" and how a glacier reoriented Pluto over millions of years.

Episode 12.5: BONUS! The Wrath of Khan 35th Anniversary 12.09.2017

In this bonus episode of Strange New Worlds, Michael recaps his experience seeing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan during its 35th-anniversary screening and shares some new science-related tidbits that he noticed in the end credits of the movie. Phil Plait's "Wrath of Khan at 35: Entering the Mutara Nebula": http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/wrath-khan-35-entering-mutara-nebula

Episode 12: Droning On 10.09.2017

Guest: Nathan Stein In Episode 12, Mike and Elise interview Nathan Stein about his adventure to a remote Caribbean island to study microbial mats using a drone outfitted for science.

Episode 11: Stories from Estonia 30.08.2017

Guests: Mari-Liis Aru, Philippe Nauny, Umesh Bhat, Aswin Manohar In Episode 11, Michael brings back stories and clips from his recent trip to Estonia for an astrobiology conference. You can follow Mari-Liis on Tumblr (http://sci-universe.tumblr.com/) and Instagram (@aspacecolonizer). And you can find Michael on Twitter (@miquai) and Instagram (@miquai).

Episode 10: Feeling Science 25.08.2017

In Episode 10, Mike and Elise speak to Jane Liu about her master's thesis on the role of emotions in science and science communication.

Episode 9: What's a Biosignature?, Part 2 15.08.2017

In part two of our discussion with Cecilia Sanders, we learn more about her research on chemosynthetic life forms and discuss how Star Trek's tricorder might work.

Episode 8.5: BONUS! George Takei & Tim Russ at the JANM 06.08.2017

In this bonus episode of Strange New Worlds, Mike and Elise take you on an away mission to the Japanese American National Museum in LA.

Episode 8: What's a Biosignature?, Part 1 27.07.2017

Guest: Cecilia Sanders In Episode 8, Mike and Elise chat with Cecilia Sanders about how to look for signs of life in the universe.

Episode 7: History Is a Lie, Part 2 21.07.2017

In Episode 7, Mike, Elise, and Desun look towards the future of humanity and of Star Trek from a historian's point of view.

Episode 6: History Is a Lie, Part 1 15.07.2017

In Episode 6, Mike and Elise speak with historian Desun Oka about the historical context from which Star Trek emerged.

Episode 5: Captain Bioreactor (I'm Not Quite Sure What Antibodies Had to Do with It) 09.07.2017

In Episode 5, Mike and Elise bring aboard Heidi Klumpe to investigate the disappearance of Klingon cranial ridges in the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence."

Episode 4: Disks Galore 04.07.2017

In Episode 4, Michael and Elise bring in Christopher Spalding to talk about the binary disks in the Star Trek: Discovery trailer as well as astrophysical disks in general. Note: Chris uses the term "Hill sphere." Listeners may have heard the alternative term "Roche lobe." These are essentially the same. Erratum: Michael calls the Discovery character "Michael Burnhams" when it is actually Michael B...

Episode 3: The Star Hunter 23.06.2017

In Episode 3, Michael hails Erika Carlson to discuss systems with more than one star, how they're discovered, how they form, and the real triple star system that is said to house Spock's home planet, Vulcan. The book about the "Harvard computers" that Erika mentions at 21:26 is called "The Glass Universe" by Dava Sobel.

Episode 2: How to Find a Strange New World 20.06.2017

In Episode 2, we talk to Dr. Courtney Dressing about the frontiers of exoplanetary astronomy. Erratum: [6:47] The reference for the first discovery of an exoplanet around a puslar was from 1992 instead of 1995.

Episode 1: The Mystic Ship 16.06.2017

In Episode 1 of Strange New Worlds, Michael Wong and Elise Cutts sit down with Dr. Peter Gao and discuss the Star Trek: Discovery trailer (released May 17) as well as the science of clouds and hazes in planetary atmospheres.

Episode 0: Introduction 08.06.2017

In Episode 0, Michael introduces the mission of Strange New Worlds and beams in a co-host!

Episode –1: Announcement 07.06.2017

Strange New Worlds Episode –1 Announcement

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