Guest: Dr. Ingrid Ockert

Science and Star Trek share an intimate association in popular culture. This alliance only grows stronger as Star Trek continues to inspire new generations of scientists and as real-life discoveries continue to underpin the show's stories. But was this all planned or just an accident? On this episode of Strange New Worlds, Mike is joined by Dr. Ingrid Ockert, a historian of science and media, who studied Star Trek's relationship with science in the time surrounding the show's inception.

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Response to DSC: "Die Trying"

This week's episode of Star Trek: Discovery featured a neurological disease caused by prions. Mike discusses prions, how they can cause diseases, and how some scientists consider them contenders for the origin of life.

Prof. Mohamed Noor's YouTube channel, BioTrekkie Explains! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zvlD5RnkzhIegG0gnSeSw

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Response to DSC: "Forget Me Not"

On the most recent episode of Star Trek: Discovery, "Forget Me Not," the crew travels to the Trill homeworld to retrieve the memories of the Tal symbiont, which currently resides inside of Adira. Most of us may not be Trill, but we all have endosymbionts in our bodies nonetheless. These microorganisms help us digest our food, synthesize vitamins, and even affect our central nervous system. On this episode of Strange New Worlds, Mike discusses the human gut microbiome, as well as the microbiomes of a few other remarkable animals, before drawing a parallel to the symbiosis between the Sphere Data and the U.S.S. Discovery.

"I Contain Multitudes" by Ed Yong: https://edyong.me/i-contain-multitudes

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Response to DSC: "People of Earth"

On the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, we learn that a research base on Titan has suffered a catastrophic accident. Mike hypothesizes how this might have occurred and makes an argument, based on energy availability, for why a dilithium-starved human outpost on Titan might resort to desperate measures.

"Energy Options for Future Humans on Titan" by Amanda R. Hendrix & Yuk L. Yung: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.00365.pdf

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Guest: Dr. Ingrid Ockert

Dr. Ingrid Ockert, a historian of science, joins Mike to respond to DSC: "Far From Home." While the first episode of Season 3 was reminiscent of 1970s sci-fi, Ingrid explains why this week's episode was more of a 1950s mold. They also discuss the journeys of Saru and Tilly, and Mike closes with remarks on parasitic ice.

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Let's try something new! This is the start of a series of short, weekly reactions to Discovery's third season—from a scientific perspective, of course!

This week, DSC 301: "That Hope Is You, Part 1."

Learn how your host Mike Wong looked for biosignatures in Iceland's Hverfjall crater in 2016, the same crater that served as the setting for Michael Burnham's crash landing and subsequent biosignature scan in 3188!

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Guest: Professor David Kipping

Star Trek depicts a galaxy teeming with life, including many variations of intelligent life. Is that the nature of our universe? Or could it be that life is exceedingly rare? Or that intelligence takes an absurdly long time to evolve? Might we be the lucky, lonely ones?

Although we don't yet know the answer, we can use our knowledge of the emergence and evolution of life on Earth to create betting odds for how quickly life and intelligence emerge. That's exactly what Professor David Kipping of Columbia University did in a paper published earlier this year.

David's scientific paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/22/11995.short

David's Cool Worlds channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHZpIpAWJQ-Jy_CeCdXhMA

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Guest: Prof. Darsa Donelan

"They know what they're getting themselves into when they sign up for my class," says Professor Darsa Donelan, who is well known for melding her love for cosplaying with her love for physics. On this episode of Strange New Worlds, Professor Donelan shares how they cosplay to enhance the learning experience, motivate physics problems with clips from Star Trek, built a Borg costume out of recycled materials, and are working with NASA to revamp space science curricula. Resistance is futile!

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Darsa: @DarsaDonelan

Darsa's alter ego: @BanalBorg

On Episode 102, Mike introduces the concept of lyfe, which he and Dr. Stuart Bartlett coined in a paper earlier this year, through the lens of Star Trek. Lyfe is defined as any system that performs the following four pillars: dissipation, autocatalysis, homeostasis, and learning. Life is therefore a subset of lyfe—it's the specific instance of lyfe that we are aware of on Earth. The concept of lyfe allows us to understand life in the context of other phenomena in the universe, more clearly define "life as we don't know it," and frame astrobiological research questions in new ways.

"Defining Lyfe in the Universe: From Three Privileged Functions to Four Pillars," Mike and Stuart's paper in the journal Life: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/4/42

"Thinking About Life (or Lyfe) Through The Prism of Star Trek," Mike's blog post for Many Worlds: https://manyworlds.space/2020/06/17/thinking-about-life-or-lyfe-through-the-prism-of-star-trek/

Lyfe as The Guardian's word of the week: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/lyfe-a-new-word-for-aliens-that-takes-a-leaf-out-of-life

Lyfe in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/30/is-there-lyfe-on-mars-new-concept-broadens-search-for-alien-organisms

Lyfe in Chemistry World: https://www.chemistryworld.com/its-lyfe-jym/4012266.article

Lyfe in the Danish broadsheet newspaper Weekendavisen: https://www.weekendavisen.dk/2020-26/ideer/livet-som-vi-ikke-kender-det

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Which Star Trek character does Mike identify with most? What aspect of the Star Trek future does he wish were a part of the present? What if Star Trek had been created in another country? Mike answers these audience submitted questions and more on Episode 101 of Strange New Worlds!

Virtual Trek Con: https://www.virtualtrekcon.com/

Virtual Trek Con "Star Trek Science Q&A Panel": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvEwpmXA9rU

Follow Mike on Twitter: @Miquai