Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast
Hosted by planetary scientist and astrobiologist Dr. Michael L. Wong, Strange New Worlds examines science, technology, and culture through the lens of Star Trek!
Episodes
September 16, 2026 • 20 mins
On this solo episode, Mike reads his essay, originally published in Sequencer Magazine, titled "Pluto Isn't a Planet for the Same Reason Whales Aren't Fish."
Read the essay: https://www.sequencermag.com/pluto-isnt-a-planet-for-the-same-reason-whales-arent-fish/
Watch "Strange New Worlds: The Science of Star Trek": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcy42zkS8s0
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
August 30, 2026 • 38 mins
Guests: Abigail Alling & Amelia Lee
We check in with Abigail Alling and Amelia Lee on the second-to-last day of their summer internship at Carnegie Science. What have they learned about exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations over the past 10 weeks? And what do they think of the most recent episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?
Register now for Carnegie Science's next Neighborhood Lect...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
August 9, 2026 • 43 mins
Guest: Professor Tyler Perez
Come for the laser experiments, stay for the lens flares. Prof. Tyler Perez—who studies the material properties of rock at high pressures and temperatures, and who delves into movie visual effects as a hobby—beams aboard to discuss his research on planetary interiors and the visual style of Star Trek.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
July 26, 2026 • 32 mins
Guests: Abigail Alling & Amelia Lee
How do you introduce Star Trek to a new fan? How is Star Trek continuing to inspire young scientists? How are Carnegie Science interns exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations? Abigail Alling and Amelia Lee beam aboard to chat about how they've added Star Trek to their educational experience in Carnegie Science's 2026 EPIIC summer internship program!
Lear...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
July 4, 2026 • 45 mins
Guest: Em Dobberfuhl
Mike's former Carnegie Science intern Em Dobberfuhl beams aboard to share how Project Hail Mary inspired them to pursue astrobiology.
"Are we alone in the universe? Five times we thought we found extraterrestrial life" by Em Dobberfuhl: https://www.sequencermag.com/are-we-alone-in-the-universe-five-times-we-thought-we-found-extraterrestrial-life/
Learn more about the EPIIC internship at Carnegie Science: ht...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 28, 2026 • 58 mins
Mike speaks with Jason Kaufman and Bradley Browne on the Dice in Mind podcast about his paper "How to Chart a Moral Future for Space Exploration" (featured on Episode 200 of Strange New Worlds). How does an astrobiologist get inspired to write about space ethics? How did the paper originate and evolve into its published form? And what does recognizing many kinds of moral value in the universe mean for our present era of space explo...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 21, 2026 • 23 mins
On Episode 200 of Strange New Worlds, Mike Wong reads "How to Chart a Moral Future for Space Exploration," an article he published last year in the journal Nature with Chelsea Haramia, Emilie Lafleche, and Julia DeMarines.
Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02070-3
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
May 10, 2026 • 52 mins
Guest: Gabriel Santos
Paleontologist and science communicator Gabriel Santos beams aboard to share how Cosplay for Science, an initiative he co-founded, brings science education to Comic-Cons and other pop culture conventions. Then, he and Mike discuss the paleontology of the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Distant Origin."
Learn more about Cosplay for Science: https://www.cosplayforscience.com/
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
April 28, 2026 • 70 mins
Guests: Kayla Smith & Prof. Patrick Anderson
Astrobiology Kayla Smith and philosopher Patrick Anderson beam aboard to celebrate the diversity of scientific thought that goes into astrobiology, and how astrobiology can continue to grow by pulling on threads from outside of science too. They co-authored a paper called "Epistemic Pluralism & Astrobiology" with host Mike Wong.
Kayla, Patrick, and Mike's paper "Epistemic Plura...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
April 19, 2026 • 45 mins
Guest: Dr. Katie Mack
Cosmologist Katie Mack beams aboard to discuss how the universe will end. Using the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Chrysalis" as a launchpad, Katie and Mike go through various scenarios for the fate of everything: Will there be a "big crunch," a "big rip," or will it all simmer away into "heat death"? And is there anything we can do about it?
"The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)" by Katie ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
March 8, 2026 • 54 mins
Guests: Joe Praska & Nicole Praska
The hosts of Deep Space Love podcast, Joe & Nicole Praska, beam aboard to tell us about their "Antifascist Star Trek Watch List," a compilation of at least one episode from every major Star Trek series that contains themes of resistance to authoritarianism.
"15 Episodes for Your Antifascist Star Trek Watch List" by Joe Praska: https://twincitiesgeek.com/2026/01/15-episodes-for-your-anti...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
January 28, 2026 • 49 mins
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 "Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature," which launches on February 10, 2026. This book describes how the marvelously complex constituents of our universe came to be. Evolution, they boldly propose, is a universal phenomenon—not only in biology, but in th...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
January 23, 2026 • 68 mins
Guest: Dr. Caleb Scharf
Becoming a spacefaring civilization is a major transition in the story of life on Earth. Senior scientist for astrobiology at NASA Ames Dr. Caleb Scharf beams aboard to discuss the themes in his latest book, "The Giant Leap: Why Space Is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of Life," and what it all means for achieving a Star Trek future.
"The Giant Leap: Why Space Is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of L...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
January 18, 2026 • 52 mins
Guest: Dr. Kristina Šekrst
Philosopher, linguist, and AI researcher Kristina Šekrst beams aboard to discuss the TNG episode "Darmok," where Picard and crew encounter the Tamarians, a species who only speak in metaphor. Why do we use metaphors? How would you lie in Tamarian? And can the universal translator ever exist?
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Kristina: https://bsky.app/profile/epiph...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 17, 2025 • 30 mins
Guest: Dr. Anirudh Prabhu
Mike brings aboard Dr. Anirudh Prabhu to discuss an exciting new study of theirs that uses machine learning trained on organic chemical data to detect the "whispers" of life—including photosynthetic life—in ancient rocks. This exciting technique could one day be used to seek out new life on strange new worlds.
Mike & Anirudh's paper, "Organic geochemical evidence for life in Archean rock...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
November 8, 2025 • 76 mins
Mike beams aboard Sean Carroll's Mindscape Podcast to talk about astrobiology, the origins of life, complexity, and the proposal for a "law of increasing functional information."
Pre-order your copy of "Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature" by Robert M. Hazen & Michael L. Wong: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324105480
Mike's 2023 paper "On the roles of function and selection in evolving systems": htt...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 25, 2025 • 52 mins
Guest: Prof. Jason Kaufman
Professor Jason Kaufman beams aboard to chat about a trio of papers he wrote exploring the themes of human space exploration, sustainable futures, and our relationships to nature.
"An Interplanetary Land Ethic" by Kaufman et al. (2022): https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/scc.2021.0068
"Artemis and an environmentally sustainable future beyond earth" by Kaufman et al. (2023): https://www.science...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 19, 2025 • 52 mins
Guest: Bob Picardo
Legendary Star Trek actor Bob Picardo beams aboard to talk about his decades-long work with The Planetary Society and his involvement in this October's Day of Action, where over 200 space advocates gathered in D.C. to speak to members of Congress about the importance of funding NASA science.
Learn more about The Planetary Society: https://www.planetary.org/
Read about October's Day of Action: https://www.plan...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
October 4, 2025 • 32 mins
Mike reads his Noema Magazine essay "What Searching For Aliens Reveals About Ourselves."
Read the essay: https://www.noemamag.com/what-searching-for-aliens-reveals-about-ourselves/
Watch Mike's Royal Astronomical Society of Canada talk that inspired the essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bewJxOCdM5I
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
September 27, 2025 • 78 mins
Mike beams aboard Deep Space Love—a podcast that explores love, in all its forms, throughout the final frontier—to discuss the relationship between D'Vanna Tendi and Samanthan Rutherford on Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Check out more Deep Space Love: https://www.podpage.com/deep-space-love/
Follow us on Bluesky!
Mike: https://bsky.app/profile/miquai.bsky.social
Deep Space Love: https://bsky.app/profile/dslovepod.bsky.socia...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of NFL Media hosts including Jourdan Rodrigue, Colleen Wolfe, and Nick Shook provide all the NFL news, previews, recaps and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.