Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Guest: Dr. Morgan Cable In the various renditions of Star Trek, the Klingons travel in Birds-of-Prey, the Romulans fly Warbirds, Spock pilots the Jellyfish vessel, and a squid-like future probe attacks Captain Pike's shuttlecraft. This connection between spacecraft and animals is not just science-fiction fantasy. NASA is developing real-life mission concepts that take after biological creatures in name and function, and Dr. Morgan Cable, a scientist and technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is here to tell us about two of those projects! Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Morgan: @starsarecalling

Guest: Dr. Andrew Rader Mike speaks to aerospace engineer, SpaceX mission manager, history geek, Trekkie, and author Dr. Andrew Rader about his new book, "Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars." This book is basically the Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits sequence spread out over 352 pages and jam-packed with extraordinary facts. Its fourth and final section is called "Becoming Star Trek" and takes an in-depth look at the technologies and incentives that could launch our civilization to the stars. Purchase your copy of "Beyond the Known": https://smile.amazon.com/Beyond-Known-Exploration-Created-Modern/dp/1982123532 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Andrew: @marsrader

Guest: Dr. Andrew Rushby Terrestrial exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars are among the most promising targets in our search for extraterrestrial life. But are these planets likely to be habitable? Mike sits down with Dr. Andrew Rushby, a postdoc at UC Irvine who studies the possible climates of these strange new worlds—especially the way that ice interacts differently with red dwarf starlight than it does with starlight from our Sun. Also, they speak about Andrew's impressions from his ongoing binge of Star Trek: The Next Generation. TrekFM's Earl Grey Episode 237, featuring Mike Wong and Elise Cutts on panspermia: http://www.trek.fm/earl-grey/237 "Habitability: A Review": https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ast.2015.1295 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Andrew: @andrewrushby Exocast: @exo_cast

Guest: Haukur Guðmundsson While in Iceland for the Extreme Solar Systems IV conference, Mike received an odd hailing frequency via Twitter from someone named Haukur Guðmundsson. Investigating further, Mike discovered that Haukur was a devout Trekkie, Strange New Worlds listener, and a Reykjavík-based physical therapist, teacher, and researcher. After making first contact, they decided to record an impromptu podcast episode, discussing Haukur's field of exercise oncology, depictions of training and healthy lifestyles in Star Trek, what it's like to be a Star Trek fan in Iceland, and more! Enjoy! Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Haukur: @toreadoris

Guest: Dr. James Kirk Nicknamed "Tiberius" and "Captain" by his friends, Dr. James Kirk, the astronomer, spends his days exploring real-life strange new worlds! Mike met Dr. Kirk at the Extreme Solar Systems conference in Reykjavík, Iceland, where they chatted about growing up with that famous name, loving another science-fiction franchise, and two of the most intriguing planets that James has recently revealed. Follow Mike on Twitter: @Miquai

Guest: Elise Cutts Former Strange New Worlds co-host Elise Cutts returns to the show to discuss Dr. Una McCormack's Star Trek: Discovery novel "The Way to the Stars." We compare and contrast Elise's experiences as a young, early career scientist with those of Sylvia Tilly, exploring the themes of discovering one's scientific passion, making personal sacrifices, finding mentors in unexpected places, the nature of transformative experiences, and more. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Una McCormack: @unamccormack

Guests: Rekha Sharma & Dr. Erin Macdonald Mike brings you two interviews with incredible people at the 2019 Star Trek Las Vegas convention: (1) actress Rekha Sharma on portraying two versions of Commander Ellen Landry in Star Trek: Discovery's first season; (2) Dr. Erin Macdonald on science of gravitational waves and LIGO—and how that relates to the fictional Star Trek technologies of warp drive and cloaking devices. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Rekha: @TheRekhaSharma Erin: @drerinmac

Guest: Lori Dajose Caltech science writer Lori Dajose takes a turn in the captain's chair as she interviews your host, Mike Wong, on Strange New Worlds. Together they explore the various scales of astrobiological questions, from the electron transport that powers our cells to planetary phenomena, and from Mike's personal scientific journey to the societal impact of the search for extraterrestrial life.

Guests: Aida Behmard & Shreyas Vissapragada At the 2019 Sagan Workshop, Caltech graduate students Aida Behmard & Shreyas Vissapragada give Mike peeks at three of their recent research projects—the first being laboratory work, the second astronomical observation, and the final one utilizing machine learning (a subset of artificial intelligence)—demonstrating that there is no single way to be a planetary scientist. At the end of the episode, Mike presents a clip from his StoryCorps interview at the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting. Aida's "binding energies of hydrocarbons" paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.09720 Shreyas' "infrared observations of exoplanets" paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.04445 Aida's "machine learning/stars" paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.00094 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Aida: @abehmard Shreyas: @astroshrey

Guest: Dr. Peter Gao Unable to travel to distant objects of interest, astronomers use powerful telescopes to examine celestial phenomena from afar. However, telescope time is extraordinarily limited, so scientists must write convincing proposals to win the time they need to make their observations. On this episode, Dr. Peter Gao tells Mike about the process of writing a successful proposal to make the Hubble Space Telescope stare at a strange new world that he is passionate about studying. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Peter: @PlanetaryGao

Guest: Dr. Baptiste Journaux Besides captaining the Enterprise, the thing that Jean-Luc Picard is most famous for is his affection for wine. Coming from a long line of winemakers in La Barre, France, we see Jean-Luc returning to Chateau Picard in the TNG episode "Family" and once again to retire from Starfleet in the 2019 Star Trek: Picard trailers. But what does it take to make wine? Are there scientific principles that govern its taste and color? And what can we infer about the state of the world in the 24th century from the wine bottles in the Picard trailer? Mike welcomes Dr. Baptiste Journuax to Strange New Worlds for a deep dive into the science of wine. Cheers! PBS Nova article about savagnin blanc's unchanging genetics: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/savagnin-blanc-genetics Get your own Chateau Picard wine: https://startrekwines.com/ Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Baptiste: @B_jour

Guests: Dr. Kim Bott & Rudy Garcia On this bonus episode of Strange New Worlds, Dr. Kim Bott and Rudy Garcia describe the science behind the popular video game series Mass Effect. Kim's Astronomy on Tap Seattle talk on the "Astrobiology of Video Games": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nz5ghccwzA Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Kim: @HumanBott

Guest: Anthony Rapp Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery) was the keynote speaker at the 2019 Astrobiology Science Conference, where he talked about what it's like to travel the mycelial network, the symbiosis between science and Star Trek, and his excitement for astrobiology. In this exclusive interview from AbSciCon, Mike sits down with Anthony to chat about the scientific themes of Star Trek: Discovery, Anthony's portrayal of astromycologist Paul Stamets, and his experience interacting with scientists at the meeting. Mike's #AbSciCon2019 slide featuring the Discovery, Stamets, and Spock: https://twitter.com/Miquai/status/1143761835377565696 Third Pod From the Sun's interview with Anthony Rapp: https://thirdpodfromthesun.com/2019/06/28/third-pod-live-anthony-rapp/ Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Anthony: @albinokid

Guests: Elise Cutts & Dr. Peter Gao Former Strange New Worlds co-host Elise Cutts is back on the show to describe her Fulbright Scholar project, which will take her to the University of Southern Denmark to study how ancient microbes built the atmosphere that we breathe today. Then, Mike and Elise are joined by Dr. Peter Gao to recap their visit to the Paley Center for Media's Star Trek: Discovery exhibit. Caltech's feature on Elise's Fulbright: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/geobiology-student-selected-fulbright The Paley Center's Star Trek: Discovery "Fight for the Future" exhibit (until July 7, 2019): https://www.paleycenter.org/2019-star-trek-discovery-exhibit-la/ Mike & Peter's winning Star Trek Beyond video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7jsQEr_2Ts The Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 poster featuring real planetary images: https://twitter.com/Miquai/status/1145371724461903872 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Peter: @PlanetaryGao

Guest: Ellen Leask In the Star Trek: Discovery episode "The Red Angel," the crew travels to an inhospitable planet called Essof IV, which Spock reports has a carbon monoxide atmosphere "laced with perchlorate dust." To find out more about perchlorates, Mike interviews planetary geologist Ellen Leask, who studies perchlorates on Mars. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai