Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast
Episodes
Episode 196: The Antifascist Star Trek Watch List
08 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Joe Praska & Nicole Praska The hosts of Deep Space Love podcast, Joe & Nicole Praska, beam aboard to tell us about their "Antifascist Star T...
Episode 195: TIme's Second Arrow
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Bob Hazen Mike is joined by his Carnegie Science colleague Dr. Bob Hazen. Together, they have written a new popular science book titled "...
Episode 194: The Giant Leap
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Caleb Scharf Becoming a spacefaring civilization is a major transition in the story of life on Earth. Senior scientist for astrobiology a...
Episode 193: The Linguistics of "Darmok"
18 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Kristina Šekrst Philosopher, linguist, and AI researcher Kristina Šekrst beams aboard to discuss the TNG episode "Darmok," where Picard...
Episode 192: Whispers of Life in Ancient Rocks
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu Mike brings aboard Dr. Anirudh Prabhu to discuss an exciting new study of theirs that uses machine learning trained on org...
Episode 191: Mike on Sean Carroll's Mindscape
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike beams aboard Sean Carroll's Mindscape Podcast to talk about astrobiology, the origins of life, complexity, and the proposal for a "law of increas...
Episode 190: Relating to Nature in Space and on Earth
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Jason Kaufman Professor Jason Kaufman beams aboard to chat about a trio of papers he wrote exploring the themes of human space explorat...
Episode 189: Bob Picardo Wants to Save NASA Science
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Bob Picardo Legendary Star Trek actor Bob Picardo beams aboard to talk about his decades-long work with The Planetary Society and his involve...
Episode 188: What Searching for Aliens Reveals About Ourselves
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike reads his Noema Magazine essay "What Searching For Aliens Reveals About Ourselves." Read the essay: https://www.noemamag.com/what-searching-for-...
Episode 187: Love in a Jefferies Tube
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike beams aboard Deep Space Love—a podcast that explores love, in all its forms, throughout the final frontier—to discuss the relationship betwee...
Episode 186: The Habitable Worlds Observatory
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Emilie Lafleche Astrobiologist Emilie Lafleche beams aboard to introduce us to the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a next-generation space-base...
Episode 185: An Astrobiology Op-Ed
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim joins Mike to unpack his op-ed about how impending cuts to federal science funding will impa...
Episode 184: Hope in the Face of Grief
28 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Una McCormack New York Times bestselling Star Trek author Dr. Una McCormack beams aboard to discuss the development of and themes within ...
Episode 183: Alien Earths
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Lisa Kaltenegger Professor Lisa Kaltenegger, Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, beams aboard to talk about her...
Episode 182: A Rocket Scientist Goes to Washington
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Thomas White Mike speaks to propulsion engineer Thomas White about their experience participating in The Planetary Society's 2025 Day of Acti...
Episode 181: Fungi Everywhere
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Fungi are everywhere—from forests to deserts to cities to Star Trek! Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim beams back aboard to ...
Episode 180: Preparing for Alien Earths
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a few weeks, Professor Lisa Kaltenegger—the Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University—will be a guest on Strange New Worlds to...
Episode 179: The Quantum Mechanics of Lower Decks
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Erin Macdonald Star Trek science consultant Dr. Erin Macdonald returns to unpack the quantum mechanical themes in the mind-bending and un...
Episode 178: Firewall
08 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: David Mack Award-winning Star Trek writer David Mack beams aboard to discuss his Star Trek: Picard novel Firewall, which tells the story of h...
Episode 177: Looking Out Is Looking In
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Bernadette Mary Dineen Astrochemist Bernadette Mary Dineen speaks about her love for Star Trek: The Original Series, her quest to search for ...
LD 506–510: Science Besties
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim joins Mike to discuss the final episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks, from Tendi and T'Lyn's c...
Episode 176: A.I. Summer
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a part of every aspect of our lives—and science is no exception. Data scient...
LD 501–505: Solar Sailing & Playing Dead
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and science journalist Shi En Kim discuss the first half of Star Trek: Lower Decks' fifth season. Is solar sailing a real ...
Episode 175: Decisions, Decisions
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Amitai Shenhav On this episode, Mike is joined by his fellow TEDxNewEngland speaker Amitai Shenhav, a professor of psychology at UC Ber...
Episode 174: #TEDxNE Reflections
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike shares his TEDxNewEngland experience. Mike's paper, "On the roles of function and selection in evolving systems": h...
Episode 173: Temporal Mechanics 101
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Erin Macdonald Dr. Erin Macdonald, the official science advisor for the Star Trek universe, joins us to discuss the science behind Season...
Episode 172: Leadership in Star Trek
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Prof. Jason A. Kaufman & Prof. Aaron M. Peterson Professors Jason A. Kaufman and Aaron M. Peterson join us to discuss their sweeping book "L...
Episode 171: Astrotopia
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Mary-Jane Rubenstein Professor Mary-Jane Rubenstein joins us to talk about her book "Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporat...
DSC 508–510: Lagrange Points
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Shi En Kim joins Mike to reflect on the last three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery's fifth and final seaso...
DSC 506 & 507: Distilled
19 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim chat about themes in DSC: "Whistlespeak" and "Erigah." Is cloud seeding a real thing, how do you create ultra-dis...
DSC 504 & 505: Temporal Bug
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim unpack DSC: "Face the Strange" and "Mirrors." Can you use relativity to defeat a temporal shield? What do they ma...
DSC 503: Half-Life
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim take a closer look at DSC: "Jinaal." What do they make of the Trill's test? And why was Stamets so bubbly about i...
DSC 502: Double Solar Eclipse
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Mike and Kim examine the themes in DSC: "Under the Twin Moons." What does it take to get a double solar eclipse? And what do th...
DSC 501: Sturzstrom
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Shi En Kim Science journalist Dr. Shi En Kim joins Mike to talk about DSC: "Red Directive," from sand avalanches to the big revelation at...
Episode 170: Learning & Life
06 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Stuart Bartlett Complexity scientist, astrobiologist, and artificial life researcher Dr. Stuart Bartlett joins us to discuss how informat...
Episode 169: The Abiogenesis Zone
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Paul Rimmer In the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale, Q and Picard time travel to the origin of life on Earth. How does that scene ...
Episode 168: The Possibility of Life
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Jaime Green Author Jaime Green beams aboard to talk about how we imagine alien life in science and in science fiction. Her new book is "The P...
Episode 167: Of Hope, Optimism, and Tomorrows
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Kayla Smith Getting accepted to grad school isn't something that happens every day. Episode 167 of Strange New Worlds is dedicated to celebra...
Episode 166: Subspace Rhapsody
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Elise Cutts Science journalist Elise Cutts returns to reflect on Caltech's 2016 Star Trek musical, "Boldly Go!", and dissect the 2023 Star Tr...
Episode 165: Mike on Dice in Mind
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the first episode of 2024, we present Mike's interview on the Dice in Mind podcast, where hosts Jason and Brad ask Mike about his scientific journe...
Episode 164: Data as a Strategist, Part III
24 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith return for the final installment of our trilogy about Dat...
Episode 163: Data as a Strategist, Part II
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith return for part two of our trilogy about Data as a strate...
Episode 162: Data as a Strategist, Part I
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Jason von Stietz & David Smith Sport psychologists Jason von Stietz and David Smith join Mike to explore Data's evolution as a strategist. I...
Episode 161: Nationalism & Star Trek
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Desun Oka Historian Desun Oka beams aboard to talk about the intersection of nationalism and Star Trek. The United Federation of Planets is o...
Episode 160: An ALife Address
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike shares his address to the students of the 2023 International Society for Artificial Life summer school. Read more ab...
Episode 159: Hailing Frequencies Open with Tim Russ & Kayla Iacovino
20 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Tim Russ & Dr. Kayla Iacovino On this episode of Strange New Worlds, we're bringing you a panel that Mike hosted for the Nichelle Nichols Fo...
Episode 158: Oxygen Reflections
12 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to the "Oxygen in Planetary Biospheres" workshop at Green Bank Observatory. "Can You Decode an ...
Episode 157: Cosmic Visions Reflections
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to the "Cosmic Visions" conference at Johns Hopkins University. Follow us on Twitter! Strange N...
Episode 156: Walter Koenig Remembers Nichelle Nichols
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Walter Koenig Star Trek actor Walter Koenig joins Mike to reflect upon his friendship with Nichelle Nichols and her boundary-breaking legacy....
Episode 155: The High Country
02 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: John Jackson Miller New York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller joins Mike to discuss his Star Trek: Strange New Worlds novel "The ...
Episode 154: Biosignatures in Extreme Environments
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Scott Perl NASA JPL astrobiologist Dr. Scott Perl joins us to discuss the science of biosignatures and his work on developing ways to exp...
Episode 153: JWST Updates + Picard Finale
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Peter Gao Planetary scientist Dr. Peter Gao beams back aboard Strange New Worlds to discuss the latest JWST exoplanet findings and the St...
Episode 152: A.I. Spring
22 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu What's the history of artificial intelligence, and where is A.I. headed next? Most importantly, how close are we to creati...
Episode 151: Mineral Informatics
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu Mike speaks to his Carnegie Science officemate, data scientist Dr. Anirudh Prabhu, about the groundbreaking field of miner...
Episode 150: Diary of an Analog Astronaut
02 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Emilie Lafleche On the 150th episode of Strange New Worlds, Mike speaks to Emilie Lafleche, who recently commanded an analog astronaut missio...
Episode 149: What Is Life? Reflections
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to the "What Is Life?" conference at UC Santa Cruz. Follow us on Twitter! Strange New Worlds: t...
Episode 148: #NetSciX2023 Reflections
19 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on his trip to his first-ever network science conference, #NetSciX2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow u...
Episode 147: Astromycology
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Marta Cortesão Star Trek: Discovery introduced us to the mycelial network, a subspace superhighway that astromycologist Paul Stamets lea...
Episode 146: The Science Behind Star Trek: Prodigy
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Erin Macdonald Star Trek science advisor Dr. Erin Macdonald joins Mike to discuss the science behind Star Trek: Prodigy’s first season,...
Episode 145: The Craft of Storytelling
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Lisa Wong We embark on 2023 with a conversation between Mike and his book editor sister, Lisa Wong. Together, they pick apart Ensign Boimler'...
Episode 144: #AGU22 Reflections
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mike reflects on 2022 and the most recent American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Chicago, IL. Mike's Carnegie Science Neighborhood Lecture on "T...
Episode 143: Artificial Intelligence in Lower Decks
10 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Daniel Nicholls From Badgey to Peanut Hamper, AGIMUS to the Aledo, artificial intelligence is rife in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Daniel Nicholls...
Episode 142: Engaging Trekkies & Students About Astronomy
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Rica French Mike speaks to Rica French, Professor of Astronomy at MiraCosta College and the Associate Director of the Center for Astron...
Episode 141: Thinking Outside Earth's Box
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Mohamed Noor Dr. Mohamed Noor—Professor of Biology and Interim Dean of Arts & Sciences at Duke University—returns to Strange New Wo...
Episode 140: Revealing Enceladus's Secrets
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Lucas Fifer We've given Europa a lot of attention this year, but Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, is also one of the most intriguing places ...
Episode 139: Psychology in Strange New Worlds
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Jason von Stietz In Part 2 of our most recent conversation with clinical psychologist Dr. Jason von Stietz, we tackle psychological theme...
Episode 138: Psychology in Lower Decks
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Jason von Stietz Clinical psychologist Dr. Jason von Stietz returns to discuss some of the psychological themes in the first two seasons ...
Episode 137: Disability & Inclusion in Space Exploration
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Sheri Wells-Jensen In Part 2 of a conversation with Professor Sheri Wells-Jensen, we learn about Dr. Wells-Jensen's academic work on di...
Episode 136: Creating Species 10-C's Language
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Prof. Sheri Wells-Jensen In Part 1 of a conversation with Professor Sheri Wells-Jensen, we chat about Dr. Wells-Jensen's involvement in creat...
Episode 135: Europa Watch Grand Finale
30 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Bob Pappalardo On the grand finale of our #EuropaWatch mini-series based on Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, the Project Scientist for NASA...
Episode 134: #AbSciCon22 Reflections
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this short solo episode, Mike reflects on the 2022 Astrobiology Science Conference, his first in-person science conference in nearly 3 years. Gala...
Episode 133: The Emergence of Science Fiction
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anastasia Klimchynskaya Science fiction—like all forms of literature, art, and media—fossilizes a slice of the way that people made s...
Europa Watch 5: Hypothetical Microbial Ecosystems
07 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Adriana Gómez-Buckley On the final episode of the Europa Watch mini-series, Mike speaks to University of Washington astrobiologist Adriana G...
Episode 132: The Science of the DMA and Species 10-C
17 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Dr. Erin Macdonald & Prof. Mohamed Noor The official Star Trek science consultants, Dr. Erin Macdonald and Prof. Mohamed Noor, beam aboard t...
Europa Watch 4: #StarTrekCHI
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by the events of PIC: "Two of One," Mike interviews random Trekkies at Star Trek: Mission Chicago to see if they would want to board a missio...
Europa Watch 3: Io? Yes, Io!
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. James T. Keane On the third episode of #EuropaWatch, we talk about Io (surprise!) and life on Io (even bigger surprise!) with Io evangeli...
Europa Watch 2: Radiation
27 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mike's second spontaneous Europa-themed episode takes an in-depth look at the LA Times article in Q's hands from the Star Trek: Picard episode "Watche...
Episode 131: The Art & Science of Starship Design
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Thomas Marrone Designing Star Trek ships is both a science and an art. Thomas Marrone, Star Trek Online's Associate Art Director, joins Mike ...
Europa Watch 1: Plumes
19 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Let's try something completely new! Every time there is an appearance or a mention of "The Europa Mission" in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, Mike wil...
DSC 412: Air = Us
13 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "Species Ten-C" On the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, the crew makes first contact with Species 10-C, and Captain Burnham ...
DSC 411: The Rocky Core of a Gas Giant Planet
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Anjali Piette Astronomer and exoplanetary scientist Dr. Anjali Piette joins Mike to respond to DSC: "Rosetta"—in particular, how gassy ...
Episode 130: Weather & Climate in Star Trek
06 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Katie Nickolaou & Dr. Simon Clark Meteorologist and storm chaser Katie Nickolaou as well as science communicator and atmospheric physicist D...
Episode 129: Planetary Complexity Biosignatures
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Stuart Bartlett Caltech astrobiologist and complexity scientist Dr. Stuart Bartlett joins us to discuss the relationship between complex ...
DSC 408: Identifying Isolynium
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "All In" We take a closer look at how Michael Burnham inspects Haz Mazaro's isolynium to verify its authenticity on the latest epis...
Episode 128: Oblivion's Gate
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: David Mack Star Trek novelist David Mack—one of the architects of the Star Trek: Coda trilogy and the author of its final installment, "Obl...
Episode 127: DSC 401–407 + PRO 106 + JWST's Launch
09 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Peter Gao Planetary scientist Dr. Peter Gao beams aboard to discuss: the first half of Star Trek: Discovery's fourth season; the latest S...
Episode 126: In Celebration of Vaccines
02 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Jon Wong Thanks to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, many people around the world could once again feel safe gathering with loved ones ov...
DSC 405: The Power of a Hypergiant Star
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "The Examples" On the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, Tarka deduces that the DMA has the power of a hypergiant star. Can we...
DSC 404: Interdisciplinarity
11 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "All Is Possible" On the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, Lt. Sylvia Tilly leads a cadet training exercise to survey a plane...
DSC 403: Memory Distortion
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "Choose to Live" In an attempt to unravel the mystery of the Dark Matter Anomaly, President T'Rina mind melds with Book to reexamin...
DSC 402: The Gravitational Anomaly
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "Anomaly" In the second episode of Discovery's fourth season, the crew goes face-to-face with the dangerous anomaly that radiates g...
DSC 401: Magnetoreception & Disorientation
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Response to DSC: "Kobayashi Maru" In the first episode of Discovery's fourth season, we meet the Alshain, who navigate by their planet's magnetic fi...
Episode 125: The Ascent of Information
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Dr. Caleb Scharf & Dr. Stuart Bartlett One thing—perhaps the thing—that sets humans apart is the way we encode information in our enviro...
Episode 124: Tardigrade Genes & Other Science Stories
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Shi En Kim Science journalist Shi En Kim joins Mike to read their StarTrek.com article about how scientists are transplanting tardigrade gene...
Episdoe 123: The Borgs in Your Backyard
12 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Basem Al-Shayeb Special Co-Host: Elise Cutts Scientists recently announced the discovery of Borgs (yes, Borgs), which they describe as giant...
Episode 122.5: BONUS! An Atomic Interview with Mike
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Tower is a high school student with a passion for science and engineering who is trying to figure out what he wants to study. As part of this jou...
Episode 122: Diversity in Science & Star Trek
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guests: Prof. Myriam Telus, Dr. Jessie Christiansen, Dr. James T. Keane, and Dr. Tiffany Kataria Mike hosts a panel discussion about diversity in sc...
Episode 121: Climate Change & Star Trek
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Dr. Maddie Stone Can Star Trek help us solve climate change? Science journalist Dr. Maddie Stone joins Mike to recap specific instances of en...
Episode 120: Robots, Data, and a New Category of Being
08 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Thea Weiss According to one line of thought, the emergence of robots and artificial intelligence has engendered a brand-new category of being...
Episode 119: The Familiar Unfamiliar
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest: Thea Weiss As technology becomes increasingly pervasive, more and more people are perceiving the natural world through screens and simulated ...