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 explorat

DSC 508–510: Lagrange Points

24 days ago 43m 21s

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

DSC 506 & 507: Distilled

May 19th, 2024 30m 57s

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

DSC 504 & 505: Temporal Bug

May 1st, 2024 28m 10s

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/scienc

DSC 503: Half-Life

Apr 20th, 2024 25m 56s

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/scienceoftrekMike:

DSC 502: Double Solar Eclipse

Apr 12th, 2024 24m 47s

Guest: Dr. Shi En KimMike 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/sci

DSC 501: Sturzstrom

Apr 8th, 2024 24m 55s

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

Episode 170: Learning & Life

Apr 6th, 2024 57m 55s

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 artif

Episode 169: The Abiogenesis Zone

Mar 24th, 2024 43m 5s

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

Episode 168: The Possibility of Life

Mar 18th, 2024 59m 5s

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 Poss

Episode 167: Of Hope, Optimism, and Tomorrows

Feb 5th, 2024 51m 49s

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 prog

Episode 166: Subspace Rhapsody

Jan 21st, 2024 54m 20s

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 Pa

Episode 165: Mike on Dice in Mind

Jan 13th, 2024 44m 58s

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 World

Episode 164: Data as a Strategist, Part III

Dec 24th, 2023 28m 6s

Guests: Jason von Stietz & David SmithSport 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 s

Episode 163: Data as a Strategist, Part II

Nov 19th, 2023 32m 43s

Guests: Jason von Stietz & David SmithSport 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 co

Episode 162: Data as a Strategist, Part I

Nov 4th, 2023 38m 26s

Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith join Mike to explore Data's evolution as a strategist. In Part I of this conversation, they focus on TNG: "Peak Performance," where Data faces off aga

Episode 161: Nationalism & Star Trek

Oct 3rd, 2023 58m 42s

Guest: Desun Oka Historian Desun Oka beams aboard to talk about the intersection of nationalism and Star Trek. The United Federation of Planets is often likened to the United States of America, but in space. In what ways is the Federation lik

Episode 160: An ALife Address

Sep 1st, 2023 18m 28s

On this short solo episode, Mike shares his address to the students of the 2023 International Society for Artificial Life summer school.Read more about the concept of "lyfe": https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/4/42Read more about the concept

Episode 159: Hailing Frequencies Open with Tim Russ & Kayla Iacovino

Aug 20th, 2023 59m 2s

Guests: Tim Russ & Dr. Kayla Iacovino On this episode of Strange New Worlds, we're bringing you a panel that Mike hosted for the Nichelle Nichols Foundation's "Hailing Frequencies Open!" speaker series. This panel features Star Trek actor and

Episode 158: Oxygen Reflections

Aug 12th, 2023 16m 28s

On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to the "Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres" workshop at Green Bank Observatory."Can You Decode an Alien Message?" by Shi En Kim: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-you-decode-an-al

Episode 157: Cosmic Visions Reflections

Jul 20th, 2023 18m 2s

On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to the "Cosmic Visions" conference at Johns Hopkins University.Follow us on Twitter!Strange New Worlds: twitter.com/scienceoftrekMike: twitter.com/miquai

Episode 156: Walter Koenig Remembers Nichelle Nichols

Jul 13th, 2023 49m 31s

Guest: Walter Koenig Star Trek actor Walter Koenig joins Mike to reflect upon his friendship with Nichelle Nichols and her boundary-breaking legacy. Both Walter and Mike are on the advisory board for the Nichelle Nichols Foundation, a non-pro

Episode 155: The High Country

Jul 2nd, 2023 54m 24s

Guest: John Jackson Miller New York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller joins Mike to discuss his Star Trek: Strange New Worlds novel "The High Country"—the first piece of the Star Trek Universe that features Mike's name in it!Star

Episode 154: Biosignatures in Extreme Environments

Jun 20th, 2023 51m 55s

Guest: Dr. Scott Perl NASA JPL astrobiologist Dr. Scott Perl joins us to discuss the science of biosignatures and his work on developing ways to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life in the Solar System and beyond.Scott's paper,

Episode 153: JWST Updates + Picard Finale

May 12th, 2023 48m 20s

Guest: Dr. Peter Gao Planetary scientist Dr. Peter Gao beams back aboard Strange New Worlds to discuss the latest JWST exoplanet findings and the Star Trek: Picard series finale. Warning: we don't hold back on spoilers!Follow us on Twitter: