Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Guest: Prof. Mohamed Noor Dr. Mohamed Noor is a professor of biology at Duke University and the author of "Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds." In this episode of Strange New Worlds, Mike opens a subspace channel to Durham, North Carolina, to ask Prof. Noor about the process of writing his book and to discuss specific examples of evolutionary principles depicted in Star Trek. Prof. Noor also uses Star Trek to teach evolutionary biology in a class at Duke called "Genetics, Evolution, Star Trek." In that course, the final project is to write a Star Trek script using real biological concepts, and Mike pitches his final project idea to Prof. Noor for real-time grading! "Meet the College Professor Teaching 'Trek' to Millennials": https://www.startrek.com/news/meet-college-professor-teaching-trek-millennials Purchase "Live Long and Evolve": https://smile.amazon.com/Live-Long-Evolve-Evolution-Genetics/dp/0691177414/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=live+long+and+evolve&qid=1560185917&s=gateway&sr=8-1 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Mohamed: @mafnoor

Guests: Meredith Durbin & Tyler Gordon Mike is joined by astronomers Meredith Durbin & Tyler Gordon to review "What We Left Behind," the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine documentary. What surprised us about the documentary? How does DS9 compare to the other Star Trek series? And what scientific themes would we want to see in Ira Stephen Behr's hypothetical Season 8? Pre-order the DS9 Doc: https://smile.amazon.com/What-We-Left-Behind-Looking/dp/B07RSLJSG5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KXP3NKKS9P3E&keywords=what+we+left+behind+deep+space+9&qid=1559494913&s=gateway&sprefix=what+we+left+behind%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Meredith: @bispectral Tyler: @tagordone

Guests: Dr. Peter Gao & Dr. James T. Keane Mike recaps Discovery's second season with help from Dr. Peter Gao & Dr. James T. Keane. What were our favorite sciencey moments? Who won Disco Bingo? And what did we make of the season finale, "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"? James's bingo sheet: https://twitter.com/jtuttlekeane/status/1119064987488538624 Peter's bingo sheet: https://twitter.com/PlanetaryGao/status/1120024551268556801 Mike's bingo sheet: https://twitter.com/Miquai/status/1125137613017321472 Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai James: @jtuttlekeane Peter: @PlanetaryGao

Guest: Steve Collins On Episode 69, Mike talks to NASA JPL Senior Engineer Steve Collins about designing and flying spacecraft to numerous extraterrestrial destinations over the past 25 years—as well as designing a fictional starship to boldly go where no musical has gone before. Watch "Boldly Go!" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdtBArmWHdY Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Steve: @LongHairNasaGuy

Guests: Dr. Henry Ngo & Laura Ngo Now that the second season of Star Trek: Discovery has wrapped up, it's time to look forward to the multitude of Trek shows in development. For Laura and Henry Ngo, the announcement of a brand-new Section 31 series is a dream come true. Mike sits down with this dynamic duo to discuss what they enjoyed about Section 31 in past iterations of Trek and what their hopes are for the upcoming series. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Henry: @AstroDino

In DSC: "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1," we get a brief glimpse of Xahea's planetary characteristics on the main viewscreen. Using this information alone, Mike calculates the properties of Xahea's star and realizes that it is quite different from the Sun. At its orbital distance, one of the only ways that Xahea could maintain habitable temperatures is if it had lots of clouds to reflect away most of the incoming starlight—and, indeed, Xahea was depicted as a very cloudy place! Screencap of Xahea's planetary characteristics (special thanks to TrekCore!): https://twitter.com/TrekCore/status/1117083606122414080 Follow Mike on Twitter: @Miquai

Guest: Desun Oka In Star Trek: Discovery (23rd century), Section 31 seems like a legitimized intelligence agency operating well within the collective consciousness of Starfleet. This is contrary to its portrayal as a completely independent shadow organization that answers to no one in Star Trek: Enterprise (22nd century) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (24th century). Historian Desun Oka tells us how the shifting nature of Section 31 ties into the fluidity of how history is written and remembered. Then, Desun and Mike debate: Is Control related to the Borg? Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Desun: @desunoka

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. Jim is the creator and host of Astro Vlog, a YouTube series that tells the story of the life of a prominent astronomer—himself! You can watch all of his videos here: https://www.youtube.com/james-davenport Jim's latest Astro Vlog entry is a video excerpt of this podcast! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcpt7hZw9xw Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Jim: @jradavenport

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 Star Trek" Astro On Tap Seattle talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2g17F-OomE Astronomy On Tap: https://astronomyontap.org/ Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai

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-crossing rings of planet Terralysium in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "New Eden." Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai James: @jtuttlekeane

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 Southern California. Mike talks to Dr. von Stietz about the mental side of sports and how it relates to various situations in Star Trek and real life. Follow us on Twitter! Mike: @Miquai Jason: @NextGen_Perform

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 season, including the latest episode, "New Eden," the Marvel-ization of Star Trek, and why Diana doesn't want to find Spock. Follow Mike on Twitter @Miquai!

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 James: @jtuttlekeane Peter: @PlanetaryGao

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: @jtuttlekeane