SNW spoilers ahead. It’s the end of Season One! Are we talking about Strange New Worlds, or about Spinal Frontier? YES! We’re on location (a hotel room, we are very committed) talking about the absolute tidal wave of new life history information we learned about Trek’s hottest Big Bad humanoid species, the Gorn. Spoiler alert: they’re lizards, they're parasites, they're sharks! We cannot wait to see adults in Season 2!

We’ll be back in September with more mostly-scientific takes on our favorite Trek franchises!

Editing by Eryn and Kelley, and hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email [email protected]

Kelley and Eryn are back to discuss the adaptations that apparently help Star Trek humanoids avoid attack: noodly appendages, basketball heads, anxiety spirals, stabby crabby hands, and the classic de-escalation technique of spitting right in someone's face. 

Editing and hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, Twitter (yes, we're back now!) @spinalfrontier, email [email protected]

Hey... we got COVID. We feel okay, but we sound... well, you don't want to listen to us sound like that right now. See you in July for the last two episodes of our season!

CW: Mentions of eugenics.

It’s a long one! Kelley and Eryn discuss the most famous genetically augmented characters in Star Trek lore, and just a few ethical implications of editing genomes. Spoiler: we conclude that consent, genetic diversity, and cultural/neurological diversity are necessary to humanity!

What is CRISPR? https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html

Editing and hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email [email protected]

(Dr.) Kelley and Eryn are trying something new-ish this episode: talking about the things they think make the Trill (and their softshell scorpion symbionts) mutually beneficial. 

Editing by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley.

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IG: @spinalfrontierpod

Email: [email protected]

*MILD SPOILERS* Kelley and Eryn were soooo patient waiting for Picard Season 2 to end so they could gently spoil episode 2 in their excitement to talk all about these skulls! We’re talking eared skulls, green skulls, purple skulls, skulls that were meant to take a hit, ridgey skulls, toothy skulls, and skulls with weird holes. Thank you again to our friends Sophia and Adrienne at Where’s Beverly (https://www.spreaker.com/show/wheres-beverly) and Jeff from Starfleet Leadership Academy (https://www.starfleetleadership.academy/) for making sure we did not miss out on these skulls, and for connecting us with Neville Page, their masterful creator. Do yourself a favor and go follow all of these folks on the socials, because we adore them!

Edited by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email [email protected]

In this special episode, Kelley and Eryn wonder out loud for like 27 minutes whether that assimilation life is really so bad… biologically speaking. Topics include tongues with smiley faces, USB Steve Carrell, standing against Hugh erasure, real-life microscopic self-reproducing biological robots, and our resident Purrengi, Soft, who was thankfully quiet the whole show. We are so desperate for Picard Season 2 to end so we can follow our “no current season” rule and finally talk about the dang Borg skull. So, so desperate.

Xenobots paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2112672118

Edited by Eryn and Kelley; hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information

IG: @spinalfrontierpod

Email: [email protected]

If you follow us on Twitter, we will not be monitoring it for the foreseeable future– please contact us via email or Instagram DM!

Kelley and Eryn try--and, trigger warning, fail--not to get too gross talking about parasites: zombie ants, why pregnant people can’t change the kitty litter, what is or is not an eel, LeVar Burton’s eyedrops, and the beginning of their debate over whether the Borg are symbionts or parasites. (It’s not over! Resistance is futile!) 

Also, if you wish your job was more like a Starfleet commission, please do check out the Starfleet Leadership Academy podcast to learn how! Jeff has some wonderful insights for how anyone can apply the lessons of great Star Trek leaders into their own lives. We really appreciate his takes on how we can all do better.

Lots of Kelley’s info was sourced from this review paper about parasite mind control: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00572/full

Edited by Eryn; hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information

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Twitter: @spinalfrontier

Email: [email protected]

Kelley and Eryn try their hand at staying on topic discussing hand morphology: hand hugs, aye-ayes, octopus stuff (are you surprised?), new perspectives on old Trek, and accidental pickpocketing at the bank.

Edited by Eryn and Kelley; hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information

IG: @spinalfrontierpod

Twitter: @spinalfrontier

Email: [email protected]

Kelley and Eryn get a snootful of some of the most salient aspects of breathing in Star Trek: cheating at sports, hints for healthful living, butt breathing, the most interesting man in the world, and the rapture of the sea.

Thanks again to Seán Ferrick and Seo Hurley (@CloneStarPod) and Jeff Akin (@SFLApodcast) for including us in the #TrekForUkraine fundraiser! The recording of our conversation is in part 2, available on CloneStar’s YouTube channel.

Edited by Eryn (!!), and hokey theme song by Kelley.

Contact information

IG: @spinalfrontierpod

Twitter: @spinalfrontier

Email: [email protected]