The Science of Fiction 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?


Tracklist

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






Valais Blackneck family
by Jos






James Grime with a tribble
by Andrew Holding







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Oliver Marsh studies science-media interactions at the department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, occasionally performs at Bright Club, and blogs about “the human side of science”. He joins Andy in the studio for the final episode of season 6!


Tracklist

KT Tunstall – Funnyman
David Bowie – Life on Mars
Ethel Merman – There's No Business Like Show Business
The Smiths – That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Mother Mother – Infinitesimal






Mystery Hunt 2011 Coin - Megaman, Prince and ? Block
by Alex







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Picking up where What if… we could all become cyborgs?, a show Andy produced for the BBC World Service, and last week's episode both left off, Andy and Will discuss cyborgs, hive minds, extending the senses, and the alleged emasculating effects of smartphones.


Bionic eyes; artificial synæsthesia; lab rats with brain implants sense invisible infrared light; powering an artificial heart; Google Glass; Sergey Brin: Smartphones are ‘emasculating’; Steve Mann (Will mentioned the hit-and-run anecdote in this article but didn't realise it was the same man who was assaulted in McDonald's); the many strands of Ghost in the Shell; brain hacking; typing with twenty fingers; Nigel Shadbolt and AIs for the elderly; the Borg; the Ood; Intercontinental mind-meld unites two rats; Rats ARE like the Borg; faint memories of a Dark Angel plotline; Lab-grown human brains could control robots, says Kevin Warwick; aaaaaaand rat kings.

Tracklist

The Six Million Dollar Man theme
Faded Paper Figures – Information Runs On
Scott Matthew – Lithium Flower (from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack)
Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind
Kraftwerk – The Robots






Rat King: King Rat
by Cle0patra






Window Color Sound Sculpture 6
by Dennis Skley







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Cam Robinson hosts GameSpot's The What If Machine, where he explores how close the wonder of modern science fact can bring us to gaming science fiction. He joins us to discuss cybernetics, autonomous robots, nanotechnology, and more, with his choice of excellent tunes.


Deus Ex: Human Revolution, implants, augmented reality, Call of Duty, Noel Sharkey on The Life Scientific, ethical risks of robotics, Crysis 3, wipE'out", levitation, Punch the Custard (Will misremembered how the hit detection works), space travel, and Cam’s recommendation of the one recent game non-gamers should play.

Tracklist

Radiohead – Paranoid Android
Nine Inch Nails – Discipline
AC/DC – TNT
Sabrepulse – City at Speed
Muse – Space Dementia






levitating magnet
by Camilla Hoel







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


Tracklist

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






Cramped up
by philip hay







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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.


Tracklist

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






Biofuel project in Iba, Zambales
by Trees ForTheFuture







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