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’ ...
May 15, 2013•59 min
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 - Megam...
Mar 10, 2013•55 min
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 anecdo...
Mar 03, 2013•59 min
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...
Feb 24, 2013•57 min
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 Send feedback and comments to show@scienceoffiction.co.uk ....
Feb 10, 2013•56 min
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 T...
Feb 03, 2013•58 min
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 rejuvenati...
Jan 20, 2013•57 min
Andy and Will round off the year with a show on intoxicants: real or fantastical, legal or outlawed, poison or cure (or sometimes both …). James Bond’s heart, curare , Charles Waterton’s donkey- and bellows-based hobbies, counteracting poisons with poisons, deadly beauty treatments, glass swans , penicillin, recycling a policeman's urine, K-Pax, alkaloids, opiates, the works of Jeff Noon, Hofmann, tripping babies, Equilibrium, mood stabilizers, and a surprisingly large number of emails! The clai...
Nov 25, 2012•54 min
Alexandra Kamins , a researcher at the University of Cambridge and IOZ , brings us the messy reality behind the spread of disease, everyone's favourite apocalyptic scenario. Pestilence galore! Zoonotic disease , pandemics/epidemics, fruit bats, Contagion , Outbreak , Ebola, badgers, the imposition of quarantine, (not) being a “helping-people doctor”, Good Omens and more. Tracklist Metallica – Four Horsemen Toto – Africa Peter, Paul and Mary – Leaving on a Jet Plane They Might Be Giants - Doctor ...
Nov 18, 2012•57 min
Serial guest Michael Conterio joins the show to discuss the fiction and fact of technology enabled by quantum mechanics. Michael co-hosts Burst The Bubble —which airs just before The Science of Fiction—and is the ringleader of Sci Cam , a new magazine-style live video show with interviews, beginner's guides and news. 101 Housework Songs , wave-particle duality, A Quantum Murder , A Quantum of Solace, teleportation, lasers, Boeing YAL-1 , semiconductors, Qubit Slip , and many other things. Trackl...
Nov 11, 2012•55 min
Andy is joined by Sam Gregson —who works on a “ very big thing in Geneva ”—to discuss public perceptions of scientists, as revealed through fiction and the media. CP violations; sinusoidal need & perception; hypocritical stand-up sets; aliens; Stargate SG-1; destroying the magic; Spock; Brians with Ph.D.s; and more. Santa Dash 2012 Tracklist Red Hot Chili Peppers – Love Rollercoaster Right Said Fred – I'm Too Sexy Carly Simon – You're So Vain The Flying Lizards – Money (That's What I Want) P...
Nov 04, 2012•57 min
James Grime , “ resident tamed mathematician ” of The Enigma Project and past guest , returns to the show to discuss the cliché of depicting scientists as tormented by their own vast intellects. Can 2 + 2 = 5?; Good Will Hunting; George Dantzig; Walter Pitt; William Sidris; Srinivasa Ramanujan; 21; card counting; savants; Fermat's last theorem; Gauss. Some links from the end of the show: the first episode of Sci Cam . The Science of Fiction podcast , though if you're reading this you may already...
Oct 28, 2012•53 min
We're joined by Helen Scales —marine biologist, broadcaster and author of Poseidon’s Steed —to discuss watery lairs, submariners, cephalopods and more, with a nautical soundtrack. Eyeball washed up on Florida beach 'probably from large swordfish' A World Without Coral Reefs The Rime of the Modern Mariner Moby Dick Big Read Mind Game The Life Acquatic Leafy seadragon Tracklist Lisa Hannigan – Ocean and a Rock Villagers – The Waves Kings of Convenience – Cayman Islands Sigur Rós – Starálfur The Be...
Oct 21, 2012•52 min
Nick Crumpton —zoologist, co-editor of BlueSci Films , freelance journalist, occasional beard-haver and ukulelist—joins the show to talk primarily about long-dead mammals. Half-life of DNA 100-Million-Year-Old Spider Attack Found in Amber High morphological variation of vestibular system accompanies slow and infrequent locomotion in three-toed sloths Ice Age's Scrat Discovered Bathtime for Baby Sloths The Mammoth Trilogy Innerspace I Shrink, Therefore I Am The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scien...
Oct 14, 2012•55 min
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 ar...
Oct 07, 2012•56 min
Leonard Richardson joins the show from across the Atlantic to talk about games as plot devices, generative content, storytelling, games which exploit the player, and dadaism. You may know Leonard as the creator of Robot Finds Kitten , the maintainer of Beautiful Soup and the author of Constellation Games , among his many other works. Candlemark & Gleam . The Constellation Games Semi-Official Home Page (A production of The Great Hall Of The People And Also Science). Holly's blog post with sta...
Jun 17, 2012•57 min
Andy and Will discuss the ways people converse in fiction: some archaic, some fantastical. Causality-violating quantum entanglement How the world's travel guides describe America Tracklist El Ten Eleven – Thinking Loudly The Notwist – Pick Up The Phone Lali Puna – Call 1-800-FEAR 65daysofstatic – Radio Protector snake1 (sketch) by Kat Masback Send feedback and comments to show@scienceoffiction.co.uk ....
Jun 10, 2012•59 min
Daisy Scholten joins Andy to talk about saintly medical techniques, the afterlife, and absolutely no Dan Brown. Don't forget to get your ticket to see Prometheus on Monday 4th , preceded by an in-the-flesh edition of The Science of Fiction about the science of Alien! (Why not join the Facebook event ?) Medieval medicine by Luciana Christante Send feedback and comments to show@scienceoffiction.co.uk ....
Jun 03, 2012•55 min
How might the world end? This week, The Science of Fiction investigates the myriad of scenarios for the downfall of humanity. Plus, we introduce a revolutionary new unit of apocalyptic severity… Mushroom Cloud Takeaway Carton by James Clayton Send feedback and comments to show@scienceoffiction.co.uk .
May 27, 2012•56 min
With Andy having fled the country, Will is joined by Trevor Wood to talk about Nash equilibria, reputation-based currency, and the 16th-century tulip bubble. (They will try to avoid discussing Diplomacy too much.) You may remember Trevor from his Season 2 appearance on mathematics and mathematicians. von Neumann John Nash Tulip mania @dcurtis on SpaceX and Instagram 2010 Flash Crash ( do not confuse ) Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom How Bitcoin works beenz Swatch .beats golden balls. the weird...
May 19, 2012•57 min
The worst offenders might be shampoo adverts, but egregious pseudo-science is not exactly rare in fiction. Joined by The Science Of Fiction regular Djuke Veldhuis , we take a look at what gets scribbled in beside the bits in the script marked “technobabble”. BBC News: Tackling the trade in human flesh pills io9: Remember when we thought we’d get all our nutrition from pills and bars? Wired: Physicist uses maths to avoid traffic penalty That Mitchell and Webb Look on brushing tongues Tracklist De...
May 12, 2012•54 min
Minimizing the edit distance from last week's show , Chris Smowton joins us to talk about androids, AI, the uncanny valley, and tiny fire extinguishing robots. Cory Doctorow's I, Robot Cory Doctorow: A Prose By Any Other Name Dr Kathleen Richardson New York Times article quoting Dr Richardson Big Dog Zima Blue and Other Stories Tracklist Stars – Sad Robot Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1 Kael Alden (Robot Repair) – Where You Belong Robot Guarding the Rubber Band Ball by The ...
May 05, 2012•56 min
We take a look at reboots, remakes, re-imaginings, and other almost-synonymous new versions of old works. Are they made to take advantage of new technology; to update the plots for modern audiences; or maybe for no valid reason at all? Needless to say, none of the music featured on this episode was as it was originally recorded: Mark Ronson – Just Karen O, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Immigrant Song The Dears – What I'm Trying To Say Pt. 1 The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchto...
Apr 28, 2012•55 min
Kat Arney —songstress, Naked Scientist , knitter—joins Andy and Will to chat about colliders, steampunk, lab-based literature, quacks and the ’Verse. 230% efficient LEDs The Diamond Age Radium infuser for drinking water Ford Nucleon Experimental Heart and The Honest Look by Jennifer Rohn Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley by Pope Brock Tracklist Talk In Colour – Nightshifts (free download!) Sunday Driver – Concubine Waltz The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing – Charlie Dr. Hor...
Mar 11, 2012•57 min
Fasten your tin-foil hats securely, as Andy and Will delve into the murky world of conspiracy theories. Assassination plots, Martian civilizations, mysterious ionosphere research—and how The Establishment will wipe your memory when you've finished listening. PROOF THAT THE CYDONIA FACE ON MARS IS ARTIFICIAL vs. NASA's takedown ; HAARP ; Starfish Prime ; Strange Sounds in the Sky ; Flight of the Navigator ; The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever ; Obama's birth video ; Reptilian Kitt...
Mar 04, 2012•57 min
Andy and Will take a (pseudo-)random walk around the scientific and/or fictional topics suggested by their music collections, from interdimensional transport using gravity pulses to musical trees via whistling at nuclear missiles. TIGJAM UK 6 inspired the theme. Consellation Games by Leonard Richardson, featuring two free chapters. An Important Correction Thomas Truax plays the Hornicator . It is Psapp who built and played the Bone-a-phone . Tracklist Thomas Truax – Inside The Internet Muse – Su...
Feb 26, 2012•56 min
Djuke, guest star of last season's episode about stress , returns to the show to discuss hybrids, aliens and mutants across fiction and fact (and 16th century Scottish superstition, naturally). Tracklist Helen Arney – Animals (feat. Professor Elemental) Jonathan Coulton – Skullcrusher Mountain The National – Looking for Astronauts Talkdemonic – Mountain Cats Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden Half-pony, half-monkey monster by Rachel Barenblat Send feedback and comments to show@scienceof...
Feb 19, 2012•55 min
Andy and Will correct their past selves’ on-air blunders, and take a look at shakey science in fiction and fact. Tracklist Blood Red Shoes – I Wish I Was Someone Better Noah and the Whale – Tonight's The Kind Of Night Errors – Supertribe Efterklang – Step Aside Psapp – Needle and Thread Nine Inch Nails – III Ghosts 4 )AR=EOa/@%kz3~zDPf by GlitchBot Send feedback and comments to show@scienceoffiction.co.uk ....
Feb 12, 2012•58 min
Bond, Neil Stephenson, Turing, and a real live Enigma machine in the studio! Here are some photos: Andy , James , the Enigma machine , its instructions , and a video of James demonstrating the machine during the episode . James Grime is the “ resident tamed mathematician ” of The Enigma Project . Tracklist Tunng – Code Breaker Massive Attack – Babel Matt Monroe – From Russia With Love Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year Enigma by Roland Peschetz Send feedback and comments to show@sc...
Dec 04, 2011•57 min
Good Will Hunting, the bat sonar digital switchover, The Hunt for Red October, The Oxford Murders, A Beautiful Mind, Pi, Kevin Bacon, curing the world of Facebook, dinosaurs. Your archivist believes that one host was struggling to remember the details of the Ramanujan-Hardy number on this episode. Tracklist Darwin Deez – Radar Detector Battles – Ice Cream Broken Social Scene – Love and Mathematics De La Soul – Me, Myself and I Jurassic Park themes Maths by David Ebert Send feedback and comments ...
Nov 27, 2011•56 min
