Science Faction Podcast Devon Craft and Steven Domingues

This episode contains: Everyone is here and accounted for, but earlier than usual. We talk about why. Steven played some Fallout Wasteland Warfare and watched the entire Amazon Prime Fallout series, because of course he did. Devon has been watching as well, Ben is still in progress. If you liked the show, you should play Fallout 4 (or maybe Fallout 76). Steven and Ben are watching X-Men '97 and if you're not, you're really missing out (Devon, looking at you). It's a mutant soap opera and we're here for it. Steven comments that it's not a Wolverine show, and that makes it different and makes it feel more X-Men-y. We chat about the Life/Death storyline in the show and in the comics. Ben is super excited to talk about Star Trek Discovery and it's latest time-loop episode. 
 
Sweet Dreams Til Sunbeams Find You: 50 Years Later, This Apollo-Era Antenna Still Talks to Voyager 2. Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43), an antenna located at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, has been instrumental in space exploration for over 50 years. It is responsible for over 40% of all data retrieved by celestial explorers and is the only antenna capable of communicating with Voyager 2. DSS-43 was honored with an IEEE Milestone in March during a ceremony held at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. 
https://spectrum.ieee.org/apollo-era-antenna-voyager-2 

 
This Week In Space: Astrophysicist explains science behind once-in-a-lifetime nova outburst that will light up the sky this year. The nova will create a "new" star in the night sky, and will light up sometime between now and September. It will be as bright as the North Star. We also talk about what a Type 1a supernova is. 

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-astrophysicist-science-lifetime-nova-outburst.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova 

 
Book Club: The Long Game (The Far Reaches Collection) by Ann Leckie. 
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Game-Far-Reaches-collection-ebook/dp/B0C4QPCYZ4 
Steven and Ben both read the short story, while Devon completely forgot. Boo Devon. Both Ben and Steven enjoyed the story, but had a few little nitpicks. We also talk about where this segment is going in the future. 
Next week: Void (The Far Reaches Collection) by Veronia Roth. 

This episode contains: It's our 501st extravaganza! Except due to technical difficulties, it’s not really. Steven tells us about the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy of Unbreakable, Split and Glass, which is now available on Netflix. Ben watched the classic 1991 Addams Family movie and Devon wonders if the new Munster’s movie by Rob Zombie is any good. It was panned when the trailer dropped but Devon thinks it actually looked kind of fun, and he’s a fan of Rob Zombie (more on that later). Devon also correctly identified MC Hammer as the artist who performed the theme for the Addams Family movie. Weird flex, but okay.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14813212/
Ben talks about Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire again, which is like speed racer meets The 5th Element. Ben’s taste is very specific for Ben.
https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/browse/entity-6b4f6834-0f00-4e3e-8a79-e5aa05ba0495?sharesource=iOS
Devon and his wife Jen started Dark City (on Tubi) but then switched to Fallout! Devon gives Fallout a positive review, despite some issues with inconsistent tone. Devon played the last three Fallout games to Steven’s surprise. Also, Deven gets cancelled for making fun of Polish people. We then lament the cancellation of Lower Decks, which will conclude with the upcoming 5th season. Will there be anymore animated comedy Trek?
https://trekmovie.com/2024/04/12/breaking-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-renewed-for-season-4-lower-decks-to-end-with-season-5/
 
Book Club: Just Out of Jupiter's Reach (The Far Reaches collection) by Nnedi Okorafor. This was different kind of story than we were used to. Steven drank the Kool-Aid and listened to this episode. Steven and Ben enjoyed it but don’t think it’s for everyone. Devon was lukewarm on it. We discuss the diverse cast of characters, new points of view and a different type of storytelling.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4QR4SX7?ref_=dbs_m_aos_rwt_calw_tkin_4&storeType=ebooks
Next week we will be discussing the story The Long Game by Ann Leckie.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/151908306-the-long-game
We conclude with a discussion of Rob Zombie being a vegan, a non-drinker and a non-drug user. Apparently he’s just like that normally. We also try to analyze his recent album titles, such as The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy and The Electric Warlock Acid With Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser.

This episode contains: All three of your co-hosts are back to prove that 500 is just another number. We recorded on Rex Manning Day (you know, from Empire Records) and we missed First Contact Day (you know, from First Contact). Nobody remembers the Genetics Wars (you know, from nothing at all), or was it the Eugenics Wars? But you know what it really was today? It’s the Great American Eclipse! “I actually live in the path of totality” - Devon, and like several thousand more people. What kind of bedlam and absolute riot would there be at a ren faire during an eclipse? Shouts of “BURN THE WITCH” and whatever. Ben didn’t record last time because he had date night in the middle of Spring Break. Date night did NOT include seeing Dune, but did have terrible service, cold tacos, rain, and allergy medicine. Steven traveled to DisneyLand again (does he, like, live there now?) and there’s been some major updates to the tech in the queues for rides. Even with the new games you can play on your phone while waiting for the rides, the Peter Pan queue is just too skinny (it was made for people in the 1950s, and I guess we didn’t have an overweight problem in the US back then). Steven’s ready for war to never change, cause this upcoming week is the new Fallout TV show. You lucky dogs, reading this in the future… you’ve probably watched it all, haven’t you? 
 
Death comes for us all and other light musings: What happens in the brain during the process of death? A woman named Patient One who suffered cardiac arrest became the subject of a study by neurologist Jimo Borjigin. When Patient One's brain activity was monitored after being taken off life support, unexpected electrical activity was still detected. Devon goes through the historical context on scientific interest in near-death experiences (NDEs) and consciousness after clinical death. More recent technological advances have allowed many more people to be resuscitated after cardiac arrest, providing new opportunities to study what happens in the brain during the dying process. Science may be on the verge of new discoveries about death, consciousness, and the relationship between the mind and brain.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/02/new-science-of-death-brain-activity-consciousness-near-death-experience
This odd mindset shift regarding death could cure procrastination forever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC4jcrB4RHc
 
What does an eclipse sound like? Once upon a time, there was light in my life / But now there's only love in the dark. (Ben sings it!) An app called Eclipse Soundscapes was developed to help blind and visually impaired people experience solar eclipses. It provides audio descriptions of the eclipse's progress matched to the user's location, and also includes recorded sounds of animals reacting to the dimming light as if night has come, and a "rumble map" feature allowing users to feel the eclipse's stages through vibrations on their smartphone screen. The app aims to make the experience of the eclipse more accessible through multiple senses.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/what-does-eclipse-sound-180964203/
https://eclipsesoundscapes.org/
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eclipse-soundscapes/id1262152991
 
Science fiction: Netflix’s Three Body Problem has dropped, and it’s so Game of Thrones in the best way. Ben presents Star Trek episodes 909 and 910. That’s right, Disco is back, baby! And it’s a wild Indiana Jones adventure this season, with strong ties back to a Next Generation episode that really should have been revisited a long time ago. Even though Devon and Steven poo-pooed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire last week, Ben saw it, and he LIKED IT. Kinda weird Ben wasn’t excited about Ghostbusters: Afterlife before Steven gave his review of it all those years ago, and this time the tables have flipped. Kumail Nanjiani steals the show in the new Ghostbusters, but have you seen him in The Big Sick? Dev

This episode contains: Devon is single dadding it, while Jen is in Buenos Aires. Devon also admits that he didn't "get" Starship Troopers. Steven is about to spend soooooo much money at Disney, again. The duo go on and on about Easter, it's kinda pathetic. But then Devon starts talking about Kafka and a life sized Tinker Bell. Either you get it or you don't. 
 
Robot Overlords: Scientists have decided that robots need to smile and everything is going to end soon, so why not? They built a robot face, then gave it a mirror so it could learn how to make faces like a human. Then it was trained on people smiling and learned to detect when a human is going to smile about 840 milliseconds before they do, so that they can make a co-expression with them.  They named this robot 'Emo'.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240327154854.htm 
 
This Week in Space: Two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks identified. Astronomers have identified what could be two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks: Named 'Shakti' and 'Shiva', these appear to be the remnants of two galaxies that merged between 12 and 13 billion years ago with an early version of the Milky Way, contributing to our home galaxy's initial growth. It turns out that the metals in some stars were a dead giveaway that they were much older than the stars around them. As amazing as this is, Steven gets distracted by the name Shakti and immediatly stars talking about the Jedi Shak Ti. 
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240321155515.htm 
 
Book Club: Falling Bodies (The Far Reaches Collection) by Rebecca Roanhorse. 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4QJBCFV?ref_=k4w_ss_details_rh 
Devon starts us out with a stellar summary of the story. We chat about the Genteel and make allusions to what they mean in the context of the story. Devon slips into some Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes to talk about the Cardassians and the Bajorans...and Nazis. 
Next book we will cover is Just Out of Jupiter's Reach (The Far Reaches collection) by Nnedi Okorafor. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4QR4SX7?ref_=dbs_m_aos_rwt_calw_tkin_4&storeType=ebooks 

This episode contains: Ben and Steven brave the spring sunday morning to bring you a 100% pure podcast experience. Where is Devon? Who knows?! Ben attended a symposium for work, and his badge did not work. Total Benergy. There was a live coding excercise where taco emoji were added to a website. Good? Bad? Who knows?! Steven is gearing up for a Fallout Wasteland Warfare game day and he is super excited to use his Gunner faction to melt some heads. Steven also has a double Disney trip coming up soon. Again?! Why?! We also talk some X-Men '97 and Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. 
https://www.theverge.com/23794032/kizazi-moto-generation-fire-disney-plus-animation-streaming 
 
Rama-lama-ding-dong: Montana traffickers illegally cloned Frankensheep hybrids for sport hunting. Conspirators used the genetic material of Marco Polo argali sheep from Kyrgyzstan to breed entirely new animals. We talk about how this real life John Hammond created his own private Sheep-rassic Park and then got caught. It's illegal if it's not on an island 120 west of Costa Rica.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/sheep-hybrid-hunting/ 
 
Let's Talk: Speaking without vocal cords, thanks to a new AI-assisted wearable device. The adhesive neck patch is the latest advance by UCLA bioengineers in speech technology for people with disabilities. A thin flexible device adheres to the neck and translates the muscle movements of the larynx into audible speech. We also take this opportunity to talk about AI speech in movies and how hopefully in the future you'll be able to have a Darth Vader voice all the time. 
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/speaking-without-vocal-cords-ucla-engineering-wearable-tech 
 
Movie Trailers: Here's a bunch of links to the trailers we talked about!
Alien: Romulus
https://youtu.be/GTNMt84KT0k 
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
https://youtu.be/e6yDanmWI1E 
The Penguin
https://youtu.be/DQghiGQi6Lo 
House of the Dragon (Black)
https://youtu.be/csSaSrJJPRs 
House of the Dragon (Green)
https://youtu.be/gnxB9xZByyQ 
Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver
https://youtu.be/UEJuNHOd8Dw 
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
https://youtu.be/FVswuip0-co 
Star Wars: The Acolyte
https://youtu.be/BtytYWhg2mc 

This episode contains: We start off with two hosts and are eventually joined by a third. We talk about Ramadan and fasting in religion. Steven has been spending money on the CCG Star Wars games, Star Wars Unlimited. Devon finally wakes up and joins us. Steven and Devon have been playing Helldivers 2 and Devon built the Lego Ornithopter from Dune. Devon talks about the recent Space X launch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8htMpR7mnaM&ab_channel=ScottManley
Ben played Cocoon on Xbox Game Pass.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1497440/COCOON/
Steven also talks about 3D printing for Shatterpiont, which has gone hard into Return of the Jedi. We are looking forward to the next season of Black Mirror, which will include a sequel to the Star Trek inspired episode “USS Callister.” And yet another Star Trek feature film has been announced. Should Star Trek even be a movie?
https://trekmovie.com/2024/03/15/the-black-mirror-star-trek-inspired-uss-callister-is-getting-a-sequel/
 
Lasers Make Everything Better: Earth Received a Message Laser-Beamed From 10 Million Miles Away in NASA Test. NASA successfully demonstrated a key technology for interstellar communication by laser-beaming messages across a distance of 10 million miles, approximately 40 times farther than the distance from Earth to the Moon. This achievement, part of NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, represents the first time that optical communications have been sent across such a distance.
https://www.notion.so/sciencefactionpodcast/Home-Page-79a3bb96145f4d3b8ca685fdeedd44e8?p=d8838d0ae925465385f00bc7b29a44fa&pm=s
 
Book Club:  Devon returns from finally drinking some coffee. We read the short story by James S. A. Corey, “How it Unfolds.” This is a story of human Von Neuman probes, space exploration and love. We discuss how some good short stories could be expanded into full books. Next week we will be discussing “Falling Bodies” by Rebecca Roanhorse, which is also part of the Far Reaches Collection.