The Science of Fiction

To celebrate the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, serial guest James Grime has taken on the arduous task of re-watching the original series to study the mathematics featured on the screen. He joins us for a podcast-only special to tell us all about it, with audio clips of the relevant episodes. We'll talk about cicadas, morphogenesis (or “waves on cows”), deceiving androids from first principles, and the biggest question of them all: does the redshirt always die?

If you want to check James’ working, he's published a series of posts over at The Aperiodical on the same themes: part I, part II, part III.

Please enjoy this photograph of Gödel, which we mention towards the end of the show. Please also enjoy further information on the remarkable Valais goat. The short skirt uniform worn by both men and women in early episodes of The Next Generation is called a skant, and it was occasionally worn with trousers.

JIM: Science and medics, those are the blue shirts.
HOST: Where do mathematicians go? Scientists?
JIM: That’s right, yes, science.
HOST: You’re safe?
JIM: Yes, I am, I’m in the blue shirt category.
as quoted by Peter Rowlett in What colour shirt do mathematicians wear?

• Theme from Star Trek
• Nerf Herder – Mr. Spock
• Beach House – Zebra
• Leonard Nimoy – The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins
• William Shatner – Real

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Spoken nerd and songstress Helen Arney lends her voice to the show. Video games, fossils, AIs, cat chat, and almost no ukuleles.

• Buckner & Garcia – Pac-Man Fever
• They Might Be Giants – I Am A Palaeontologist
• A.F. Harrold – Science Party Poem
• Tim Minchin – When I Grow Up (from Matilda)
• Jonathan Coulton – Good Morning Tucson
• Helen Arney – The Sun Has Got Its Huff On

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Political ecologist Ivan Scales—McGrath Lecturer and Director of Studies in Geography at St Catharine's College, Cambridge—joins the show to discuss natural resource use and environmental change. Ivan is the McGrath Lecturer and Director of Studies in Geography at St Catharine's College.

• Villagers – Mercy, Mercy Me
• R.E.M. – It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
• Grandaddy – Broken Household Appliance National Forest
• Radiohead – Idioteque
• Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi
• Pixies – Monkey Gone To Heaven

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey of the SENS Foundation joins Will by phone to discuss reversing the effects of ageing, the accurate or counterproductive ways life extension and immortality are presented in fiction, and public perception and acceptance of new medical technology.

Repairing the body vs. uploading human consciousness; Buying Time (aka The Long Habit of Living) by Joe Haldeman; whither implants; prosthetics and improving on baseline humans; the state of the art of rejuvenation research.

By around 2050, I'm fairly sure that the human-driven automobile will be a specialised race-track toy for gear-heads, much as horse-drawn carriages in the developed world are a quaint hobby or a deliberate affectation.

Charles Stross

• Death Cab for Cutie – What Sarah Said
• Barcelona – Obsoletion
• 65daysofstatic – When We Were Younger & Better
• Ume – Pendulum

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].

Your intrepid hosts have spent their summers in two unfamiliar cities apiece. To kick off the new season, we'll be discussing fiction which deals with the unique characters of different cities and societies. Expect plenty of free marketing for China Miéville. (Also, Andy has been working on a new survival technique in case of the breakdown of society...)

• Neverwhere
• London Underground mosquito
• Divergent American Sign Language
• (Just like of Montreal are not from Montréal, Architecture in Helsinki are not from Helsinki, as this Venn diagram about Scandinavia illustrates.)
• Maple syrup heist
• Andy recommends Tactical Nuclear Penguin
• A review of Penrose’s Cycles of Time.
• Angry Minnesotans Take 3D Printer Away From Gunmaker
• Tesla museum campaign
• Garuda (Will and two past Science of Fiction guest presenters’ band) on Facebook and SoundCloud

• The Clash – London Calling
• Kaki King – Montreal
• They Might Be Giants – Electric Car
• Buke and Gase – Naked Cities

Send feedback and comments to [email protected].