The Science in The Fiction

• Ep 51: Henry Erlich on DNA Sequencing Technology in 'Genetic Reconstruction of the Past'

  Send us a textMarty speaks with Dr. Henry Erlich, whose research career gave him a front seat to the development of DNA sequencing technology from its infancy in the 80’s, to the development of forensic applications in the criminal justice system in the 90’s and through to it’s maturity in Next Generation Sequencing methods now used to study evolutionary biology and the deep history of human and hominid evolution. His book is called 'Genetic Reconstruction of the Past - DNA analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution ', and its unifying theme is how we can now use DNA sequencing technology to study historical events, from the recent past in the case of forensic investigation of crimes, to the ancient past in studies of fossil remains to understand the evolution of the human species and the relationships among contemporary and extinct populations.  We talk about the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), detecting sequence and length polymorphism, how DNA tests are used to identify individuals in forensic investigations, how they can be used to track relationships among human populations both ancient and contemporary, and how what we've learned using this technology may help us grow bigger, better, faster brains in our science fictional future.Email: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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• Ep 50: Alan Smale on Lunar Warfare in 'Hot Moon'

  Send us a textMarty talks to Alan Smale, a professional astronomer and author of hard science fiction, alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, and horror. We talk to him about his most recent book 'Hot Moon' - an alternate history set in 1979 where the USSR won the space race to land the first man on the moon, changing the balance of power during the cold war and accelerating the space race to push both the Americans and the Soviets to have permanent moon bases, orbiting space stations, and manned spy satellites.  We talk about the kind of warfare that would have been possible with the technology available following the first moon landings, what happens when you shoot a bullet in space, the geopolitics of the cold war as well as relations with Russia today.  We also discuss spy-craft in space, whether there may be a hidden base on the far side of the moon, and Alan also tells us a little about his research career at NASA studying X-rays from black hole binaries and other extreme space events, and how that research translates to applications on earth. Email: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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• Ep 49: Micaiah Johnson on The Multiverse in 'The Space Between Worlds' and 'Those Beyond the Wall'

  Send us a textHolly and Marty speak with science fiction author Micaiah Johnson about her absolutely incredible 'Ashtown' duology.  This isn't really an episode about the Multiverse so much as it is about the deeply human and social themes in Micaiah's books, whose writing is laden with literary pearls and deeply human insights about complex characters, social and economic structures, and the interplay between science and spirituality. She uses science fiction as a lightning rod for discourse of social dynamics, power and justice, privilege and grace and ambition. We talk about choosing your monsters, the vacuous rich and the authenticity of the poor, community care, and crying from beauty, with stories about allowing people the chance to to love you in the way that you love them, and how giving and receiving are two sides of the same miracle.https://www.micaiahjohnson.com/Email: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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• Ep 48: Mike Carey on The Multiverse in 'The Pandominion' Duology

  Send us a textMarty and Holly speak for a second time with Mike Carey in the first installment on our new topic: The Multiverse.  Mike has written comics for many big titles in both the DC and Marvel universes, and has also written 19 books including his most recent 'The Pandominion' duology which is comprised of 'Infinity Gate' and 'Echo of Worlds'.  The idea of parallel universes arises from an interpretations of quantum mechanics which posits that the wavefunction never actually collapses, just branches into new, independent universes for every possible outcome. It’s a mind-boggling idea offering rich and unique narrative possibilities for science fiction.  We discuss some of the ideas which support the existence of the Multiverse, dark matter, the evolutionary history of alternate worlds, colonialism and slavery, sentience and necropolitics.Email: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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• Ep 47: James Kerwin on Quantum Consciousness in 'Yesterday Was A Lie'

  Send us a textMarty speaks with Hollywood writer and director James Kerwin about Quantum Consciousness in his sci-fi film noir ‘Yesterday Was a Lie’, as well as in Robert J. Sawyer's books 'Quantum Night' and 'The Downloaded.  We do a bit of a deep dive into the role of consciousness in the foundations of quantum mechanics, discussing the Copenhagen interpretation, the Many Worlds theory, and the Penrose/Hameroff Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory.  We go all the way from the quantum superposition of subatomic particles to the possible emergence of collective consciousness, and the possibility of consciousness playing a central role in creating objective reality.  We also talk about James’ favorite books and movies, as well as his current project – a new film he is developing called Contre-Coup.James Kerwin:Webpage:https://www.jameskerwin.com/Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_KerwinFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/jameskerwin/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thejameskerwin/IMDB:https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0450123/Email: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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