Science Faction Podcast

Devon is about to celebrate a wedding anniversary, without his kid! Steven found a source online about why Lando accidentally broke off the Falcon's satellite dish and Devon takes it the direct wrong way. Devon saw Ready Player One, so the duo do a more spoiler heavy review. We've seen a few episodes of Netflix's Lost In Space and have a hot take. We welcome Independent App Developer Rebecca onto the show to talk about her app Alarm Pod.

http://www.alarmpodapp.com

We’re recording on a Friday night so we are a bit looser than normal. Artificial intelligence helps predict likelihood of like on other worlds. Food allergy is triggered by perfect storm of genetics and skin exposure to infant wipes, dust and food. The mostly online “Space Kingdom” of Asgardia attempts democracy. We discuss how we would structure a space government.

Devon is still building his LEGO Millennium Falcon. No, Astronaut Scott Kelly's DNA did not change by 7% while in space. e observed two of the oldest stars that we can see using gravitational lensing. Steven saw Ready Player One and gives his semi-spoiler filled review. Steven finished watching Future Man and Devon watched the first episode. Steven watched the first episode of Hard Sun and really enjoyed it. We discuss how society would react if the Earth only had 5 years until it was destroyed.

Devon is back, and playing with his mic and waiting for the LEGO Millennium Falcon. “Mad” Mike Hughes finally launched his steam powered rocket. The “Atacama Alien” is human. Being hungry changes perception of chronic pain. We discuss a deleted scene from Star Trek: Discovery regarding Section 31. Steven then tells us about the awesome new show Future Man on Hulu. Devon is reading The Punch Escrow, a novel that has footnotes. TWO utopia/dystopia topics.

The Domingues’ take over the show. Steven’s wife Martine joins him to discuss Black Panther! We feel a little strange discussing Black Panther as privileged white people, but we try anyway. We discuss the primary theme of what should a powerful, privileged society do: isolate themselves, or try to help the world? What form should that help take? Steven then asks Martine about implanting chips into our hands to be able to pay for things.

Steven and Devon hung out this past weekend and played some board games. We have the amazing Harriet Brettle on the show for a giant-sized interview. She's a Planetary Sciences grad student at the California Institute of Technology, holds a degree in mathematics and has a postgraduate certificate in astrophysics. Wow. She's also a huge fan of science fiction!

Devon is back to work after another two weeks of paternity leave. Virtual Predator is “self-aware”, behaves like living counterpart. Crowd sourced family tree yields new insights about humanity. Netflix has released the first full trailer for their reboot of Lost in Space. It looks good. Steven then explains what happens at the end of Star Wars: Rebels. Devon then tries to explain the plot of Shape of Water and why it won Best Picture.

Devon is still being a stay at home dad, which is giving him time to catch up on Narcos. Steven still hasn't seen Black Panther so we'll have to wait to talk about it in detail. Our perception of age changes as we get older. We find out how the cuddle fish "pokes out" it's skin. Devon talks about watching Black Panther at the drive-in. We then discuss The Cloverfield Paradox, which sucked hard. We then talk about Star Wars, because of course we do!

It's Engineering Week and so we have an actual NASA engineer on this episode! We have Holly Griffith, who is currently working at NASA on the Orion. Star Trek: Discovery: Mirror Universe, the show. We talk about the interesting plot arcs, twists (some cool, some confusing), poor explanations for some plot points, choosing drama over logic, references to the original series, and the unbelievable resolution to the war with the Klingons. Interview with the amazing Holly Griffith!

We again record on a Sunday. Devon is holding his new child, who might make his presence known. We then start of the science by talking about the Tesla in space! A study of volcanic activity shows that there was more activity just after the Chicxulub meteor struck Earth. DNA bases can shape-shift for a thousandth of a second allowing mutations. We also talk about how Disney is planning Star Wars movies for a long way out. Then it’s Altered Carbon, Red Rising movie, The Cloverfield Paradox, and Valerian.