Fact and Science Fiction
A podcast about the real science behind your favorite science fiction themes and tropes. Each episode, I choose a recurring topic or two in science fiction, and then dive into how it works in reality. If you ever wanted to learn more about genetics, virtual reality, or space travel - this podcast is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
In this special episode, I got to ask a really smart person lots of questions. Specifically, the author, voice actor, puppeteer, and science communicator Mary Robinette Kowal, author of the Lady Astronaut series— starting with The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky, and the new novel coming out July 14th - The Relentless Moon. We talk about why her books are set in the past, how she researches her novels and more.
Karly’s Recommen...
I was going to create a podcast episode on afrofuturism but I found that this genre/aesthetic/artform can speak for itself so instead I'm going to link all my research sources and then make a pledge to ensure all @FactandScifi eps from now on include black and non-black POC media rep. Afrofuturism, broadly defined, imagines a future, past or present of the African diaspora freed from colonialism (and from white people.) It's not ju...
In this episode I discuss real examples of cyborgs, cybernetic organisms living today, human or otherwise, and these examples may surprise you. I’ll define what exactly cybernetic means, and why exactly cybernetics is an exciting industry to watch.
New Segment! Recommendations:
-Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel (book, 2016)
-Color out of Space dir. Richard Stanley (movie, 2019)
-She-Ra and the Princesses of Power cr. Noelle ...
Disaster movies can be fun. They can be scary or thought-provoking. And they can be really, really bad. But how close are they to the science of real disasters? I talk about recent landslides and earthquakes, my own experience with natural disasters, and a model for risk communication.
Follow the podcast on Twitter @factandscifi and find the transcript to this episode on factandsciencefiction.com
In this episode of Fact and Science Fiction, I'm discussing the science and science fiction of parallel universes. I review the famous Many Worlds Interpretation, the theory of bubble universes and more. I use examples from The Dark Tower, Golden Compass and Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse to understand why parallel universes are just so fascinating to science fiction fans.
In this episode I'm sharing types of animal mimicry. From owl butterflies to cuckoo birds, to the "thing" from space. I discuss defensive mimicry, aggressive mimicry and even mimicry humans have contributed to. It turns out there's no greater inspiration for horror than the natural world.
Research from this episode is from my ol' pal Wikipedia and
C. Blut, J. Wilibrandt, D. Fels, E.I. Girgel & K. Linau's 'The 'sparkle' in fak...
We are obsessed with super suits. It is the peak of imagined technology. It’s like we have recognized the limits of the human body - and we have decided that all we need to become super strong, fast and flying is robotics. From Iron Man, RoboCop to the Gundam franchise, they are known as mechsuits, exosuits, and mobile suits. I wanted to know what exactly these suits do, how can we break them down into different parts of technology...
There have been several pandemics in human history and few are as misunderstood as the flu. In Stephen King's The Stand, a flu epidemic wipes out most of the human population. How is it different from the actual flu? What are some misconceptions about the flu? How can you protect yourself? This episode goes into those questions and more.
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This special live episode was recorded March 30 in Kansas City MO. I did a round-up of the science of superheroes and superpowers, including Captain Marvel, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Ant-Man. I discuss photon blasts, radiation, growing big and super-shrinking. Then I talked about the outliers: real life people with interesting abilities. Check out the transcript on the blog factandsciencefiction.com and share the ep...
I play a video game! Join me as I launch a rocket to space, complete an orbit path, and return back to the planet on Kerbal Space Program. Kerbal Space Program is a popular physics simulator that teaches players science and engineering. It's for people who love space and taking notes!
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- Read bonus content on the pod blog Facta...
David Bernstein's Blockbuster Science has been a life-saver for my research for the podcast and I was so happy he agreed to be on the show! We talk about how he got the idea for the book, his favorite topics in science (hint: space!), and his job as a forensic data scientist! Follow David on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Support the podcast on Patreon.com/FactandSciFi or get in touch on the Blog!
Climate change is an environmental phenomena that has huge implications for life on Earth in the next few decades. I researched climate change adaptation: what we're going to do when the worst effects of climate change happen. I saw a lot of similarities between what is really happening and a sub genre of science fiction called Eco Sci Fi including work from Jeff VanderMeer, Lesley Nneka Arima and Kim Stanley Robinson.
Research ...
I am back from my hiatus to talk about time travel! Time travel as a theme has been BIG in stories since before the written word. I talk about legends, popular science fiction movies and TV, and then break down what Albert Einstein allowed for in his relativity theories. Buckle up!
This episode included research from Time Travel: A History by James Gleick *I may have called him David in the episode and I am so sorry. Download th...
For Halloween and the podcast’s first anniversary I dedicate this special episode to cryptids! Bigfoot, Mothman, Wendigos and Loch Ness Monsters. Where do these stories come from? How can cryptozoologists prove they are real? Using research from folklore researchers, historians and animal researchers, I take a closer look into the world of hidden animals.
Research from this episode:
Going to the Source: Volume 1 to 1877 by Victor...
Science fiction and reality blurs when it comes to data science and crime. This episode I discuss predictive policing using examples from Minority Report, Person of Interest and Psycho-Pass to shed light on what actual data analytics programs are in place today.
Research from Michelle Chan Chinese Startup Makes Facial Recognition Glasses for Police Augmented reality glasses for police in China
Andrew Ferguson Polic...
What can we learn from early science fiction about the ocean? What technology was inspired from this ocean speculation? This episode I want to take you on a journey through centuries of science fiction about the ocean. A journey, you may say 20,000 leagues under the sea, from mythic sunken cities like Atlantis to real companies mining resources from the seabed.
Research from this episode came from Mark Adams' Meet Me in At...
The Jurassic Park franchise has renewed interest in dinosaurs and speculation about bringing them back to life. But speculative and scifi authors have fantasized about present day humans surviving prehistoric animals since the 1800s. I debunk myths about dinosaurs, talk about current research in paleontology and dinosaur behavior!
This episode was brought to you by Audible. Download your free audiobook on me by going to audiblet...
This episode I dive deep into space. I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris (2002) for the first time! I specifically talk about the different kind of space stations, how we might live in space, and how well 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted current technology. I used research from WIRED, Popular Mechanics, Astronaut.com, and NASA itself to explain what space stations might look like in the future. Ringworlds, cylinders, spheres...
This episode I break down colonizing another planet or moon. Will we find an exoplanet that can support life? What kind of challenges await Mars and Moon colonies? From figuring out how to breathe to growing food, colonizing space will be the most difficult thing humans may have to do. I use examples from Star Wars, The Martian, and more. Stay tuned for Part II when I discuss generation ships and space stations.
Research from NA...
This episode I invite my friend Paul to help me tackle the gigantic topic of traveling across space. Using examples from Interstellar, Stargate, Star Wars and more, we talk about how it works, how it may work in the future, and the interesting theoretical concepts that science fiction uses today to make interstellar travel possible and to tell the best stories.
Research from this episode includes:
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