Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Guest: Dr. Jim Davenport Every Star Trek: Voyager episode begins with the U.S.S. Voyager sailing through a stellar flare. But what are flares? Why do they happen? And should you be worried about them? Dr. Jim Davenport, an astronomer who studies stellar flares, is here to answer all of your questions. Then, Mike and Jim dive into the science and storylines of Star Trek: Discovery's second season....

Guest: Elise Cutts In Star Trek: Discovery, Ensign Tilly finds out that she has a "eukaryotic organism" growing inside of her—what's that? And why would Stamets' argon/xenon mixture make a good lightning rod? Newly minted Fulbright Fellow Elise Cutts is back on the show to discuss storylines and scientific themes from the first five episodes of Discovery's second season. Mike's "The Science of Sta...

Guest: Dr. James T. Keane On January 1, 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past the Kuiper belt object MU69. Mike sat down with Dr. James T. Keane, a member of the New Horizons team, to ask him about being at this unique planetary encounter, what we've learned about the mysterious MU69 so far, and the Trekkiest thing about the flyby. Then, Mike and James discuss the physics behind the criss-cr...

Guest: Dr. Jason von Stietz Whether you're running a half-marathon in Starfleet's Command Training Program, forming a baseball team on Deep Space Nine, or fencing a clever El-Aurian, Dr. Jason von Stietz is here to tell you how to overcome your opposition—with your mind! Jason, a PhD in clinical psychology, works as a sport psychologist at Whittier College and Cognitive Behavior Therapy of Souther...

Guest: Joshua Zeller Mike sits down with playwright, actor, and director Joshua Zeller to discuss the writing of science-driven stories. Joshua is the author of "The God Particle Complex," a play about the search for the Higgs boson. Then, they discuss a range of Star Trek topics, including the latest DSC episode, "An Obol for Charon," Follow us on Twitter: Mike: @Miquai Joshua: @madcapofscience

Guest: Diana Windemuth What do Gallifrey from Doctor Who, Tatooine from Star Wars, and Talos IV from Star Trek have in common? They all orbit binary stars! On Episode 60 of Strange New Worlds, Diana Windemuth tells Mike about her hunt for circumbinary planets and why it's a much harder quest than looking for planets around single stars. Then, they discuss aspects of Star Trek Discovery's second se...

Guests: Dr. James T. Keane & Dr. Peter Gao Mike, James, and Peter recap Star Trek: Discovery's Season 2 premiere in a totally unique way—through their bingo sheets! That's right, they're playing Disco Bingo! Find out who's in the lead after the first episode, what made Mike cry, and who stole "the tardigrade returns" just to lord it over Mike if it ever does. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Ja...

Guests: Erika K. Carlson, Voon Hui Lai, Dr. Jamie S. Rankin, Cecilia B. Sanders, Hima J. Hassenruck Gudipati, and Dr. James T. Keane The theme of the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2018 was "What Science Stands For," so Mike went around asking scientists and science communicators, "What DOES science stand for?" Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Erika: @erikakcarlson James: @jtutt...

Welcome to 2019! In this first episode of what's bound to be a Star Trek–packed year, Mike gears up for Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery by reviewing the first four Short Treks episodes. Also inside: how science is benefitting restoration and preservation projects in the Angkor region of Cambodia! Brandon-Shea Mutala's recent interviews with Star Trek composer's on TrekFM's Melodic Treks podcast:...

Guest: Elise Cutts In the final episode of 2018, Michael interviews former co-host Elise Cutts about the Short Treks episode "Calypso." Also, there's plenty of space news—from InSight to OSIRIS-REx to Voyager 2. Astro Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl__Ae2qk1Y&t=2s Michael's Planetary Report story on the emergence of life: http://www.planetary.org/explore/the-planetary-report/the-making-of-...

Guests: Dr. Peter Gao, Dr. Laura Mayorga, Danica Adams Michael is joined by Dr. Peter Gao, Dr. Laura Mayorga, and Danica Adams to recap the 2018 Division for Planetary Science meeting. Each summarizes the science that they presented at #DPS18 and shares their favorite aspect of the conference. Also, Peter talks about how he hid subtle Star Trek references in his conference talk and faculty applica...

Michael recaps the exciting science from the first three days of the 2018 Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) Meeting in a series of Captain's Logs. DPS is the annual conference for planetary scientists of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Follow me on Twitter! Michael: @Miquai

Guest: Dr. Peter Gao In this BONUS episode of Strange New Worlds, Michael and Dr. Peter Gao pick apart the Discovery Season 2 trailer (released at the New York Comic Con in October) from a science and Star Trek perspective. NYCC Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6eoD9rQHL4 Oxygen on Mars, from PBS/NOVA: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/living-mars-oxygen/ Follow us on Twitter! Michael...

Guest: Dr. Peter Gao Postcard: Dr. James T. Keane Dr. Peter Gao visits Michael in Seattle to share his research on how atmospheric oxygen can be made without life. Such copious amounts of oxygen might fool astronomers as false-positive biosignatures—but there are clever ways to combat this uncertainty. Then, Michael and Peter respond to Dr. James T. Keane's digital postcard reviewing the first-eve...

In this BONUS episode of Strange New Worlds, Michael wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving and talks about the recent groundbreaking discovery of the amino acid tryptophan deep below the bottom of the ocean—and what that might mean for the origin of life. Follow us on Twitter! Michael: @miquai

Guests: Dr. Tony Del Genio, Maria Steinrueck, Ryan MacDonald Clouds and hazes play important roles in controlling planetary climates and can both help and get in the way of astronomers who are trying to learn about an exoplanet. In this episode, Michael interviews scientists at The Cloud Academy at the Les Houches Advanced School for Physics, and stumbles upon some surprising connections to Star T...

Guest: Desun Oka The Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of exoplanets—perhaps some of them are ripe for future human colonies. But is colonialism the right framework to think about humanity's expansion into the cosmos? Or is it a problematic concept mired in our own Eurocentric/Amerocentric mythologies? Historian Desun Oka helps me discuss how colonialism is reflected in science ficti...

Guests: Dr. Laura Mayorga, Dr. Peter Gao, Dr. Alex Lockwood, Dr. James T. Keane, Dr. Rob Zellem, Josh Lothringer We time travel to Day 4 of the 2018 DPS Meeting, where Michael interviews planetary scientists about the breaking news of Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated comedy series coming to CBS All-Access. Follow us on Twitter! Michael: @Miquai Laura: @mayorgalc Peter: @PlanetaryGao Alex: @AskA...

For their final episode together at Caltech before Michael leaves for the University of Washington, Elise and Michael choose a random Star Trek episode and comment on the exciting science that they find within! Get ready for a random journey of asteroids, life detection, and facepalms. Follow us on Twitter: Michael: @Miquai Elise: @emcuttsy

Guest: Celeste Labedz "The Vulcans say that the desert teaches men the meaning of endurance, but it's the ice that forges real strength." In Episode 48, cryoseismologist Celeste Labedz talks about the science of glaciers and how knowing more about the physics of ice could have helped Captain Archer and Shran during their visit to Andoria in ENT: "The Aenar." Follow us on Twitter: Michael: @Miquai...

Guest: Brian Brophy BREAKING! We have our very first Star Trek alumnus on Strange New Worlds! Brian Brophy portrayed Commander Bruce Maddox in the seminal episode of TNG "The Measure of a Man" and is now the director of Theater Arts at Caltech. In this episode, Brian tells us about going face-to-face with Patrick Stewart on the set of Star Trek, putting on a Star Trek parody musical at Caltech, an...

Guest: Cecilia Sanders The pages of Earth's history are written in its rocks, and geobiologist Cecilia Sanders is interested in a sequence of rocks that tell the story of one of Earth's coldest periods: the Cryogenian. In order to read those pages—and the fossilized fine-print that describes life some 600-700 million years ago—she has to embark on an away mission to Namibia. Follow us on Twitter!...

In Episode 45, Dr. Peter Gao takes over Strange New Worlds to interview Michael and Dr. James T. Keane about their experiences at the 2018 Star Trek Las Vegas convention. Follow us on Twitter: Michael: @Miquai Peter: @PlanetaryGao James: @jtuttlekeane

Guests: Dr. Kayla Iacovino & Dr. David Williams Can you really get high off of volcanic gases, like Cadet Tilly did in Star Trek: Discovery? Or stop a volcano from erupting, like Spock did in Into Darkness? Volcanologists Kayla Iacovino and David Williams are here to set the record straight about how volcanoes work both on Earth and across the solar system. Follow us on Twitter: Michael: @Miquai K...

Guest: Ollie Stephenson In Episode 43, Michael chats with geophysicist Ollie Stephenson about the science of earthquakes, using examples of earthquakes in Star Trek to guide the discussion. Caltech Letters: https://caltechletters.org/ Michael's story, "Stolen": https://caltechletters.org/science/stolen Follow us on Twitter! Michael: @Miquai Ollie: @SeismoOllie Caltech Letters: @caltechletters