Fiction Science

Cinematographer Brendan Uegama discusses how he and his teammates created a fictional world for "Star City," an Apple TV series that traces a dramatically different version of the U.S.-Soviet space race.

A podcast double-feature delves into scientific and social issues raised by the "Disclosure Day" movie. Our guests are Adam Kirsch, author of "We Want to Believe"; and Meg Charlton, author of an alien-abduction novel titled "Voyagers."

Nisi Shawl discusses the genesis of "The Curve of the World," a newly published novel about an ancient odyssey from Crete to the Pacific Northwest that science-fiction pioneer Vonda N. McIntyre finished writing just before her death in 2019.

SETI astronomer Seth Shostak talks about the parallels between the alien connection in "Project Hail Mary" and the real-world search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Now Elon Musk wants to build a city on the moon before building a city on Mars. Biologist Scott Solomon, author of a new book titled "Becoming Martian," sizes up the prospects for building a city anywhere that's beyond Earth.

Aerospace consultant Roger Myers explains why space nuclear power will play a big role in the competition between the U.S. and China to establish bases on the moon in the 2030s.

Space scientist Les Johnson tells the story behind his role in creating "Pluto," the last novel in sci-fi master Ben Bova's Grand Tour series and one of the first works of fiction to incorporate revelations from NASA's New Horizons mission.

Cherokee science-fiction author Daniel H. Wilson blends ancient tales about extraterrestrials with up-to-date speculation about alien visitations in a new novel called "Hole in the Sky."

Washington Post staff writer Christian Davenport, author of "Rocket Dreams," discusses the parallel space races between America and China, and between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Tim Chawaga, the author of a climate-fiction thriller titled "Salvagia," weaves the implications of future sea-level rise and other high-tech twists into a Florida murder mystery.

Tech pioneer Nathan Myhrvold and paleontologist Thomas Holtz discuss how dinosaur science has evolved over the past three decades - and do a reality check on the latest "Jurassic World" dino-movie.

Mario Juric, director of the University of Washington's DiRAC Institute, explains why astronomers are celebrating the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's "First Look" at the cosmos - and tells you how to join the party.

Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna, authors of "The AI Con," say the benefits of AI are being played up while the costs are being played down — and they lay out strategies for fighting the hype.

Science-fiction author Ray Nayler talks about his latest book, "Where the Axe Is Buried," a chilling tale of AI-powered repression and resistance that was inspired by current events as well as Nayler's familiarity with authoritarianism.

Copies of human bodies can't be printed out, as shown in the space-based satire "Mickey 17," but biomedical researcher Christopher Mason says it should be possible to re-engineer humans to make them more suited for living in space.

In a Valentine's Day episode, Mary Roach, the author of "Packing for Mars," brings us up to date on one of the big questions about living in space: What would zero-G sex be like?

Planetary scientist John E. Moores and astrophysicist Jesse Rogerson weave tales about interplanetary adventures that are like nothing on Earth in a book titled "Daydreaming in the Solar System."

Law professor James Boyle, author of "The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood," explains why he thinks intelligent machines will eventually be considered persons.

TrueMedia.org founder Oren Etzioni and Annalee Newitz, author of "Stories Are Weapons," discuss the escalating arms race between the purveyors of political disinformation and those who are trying to defend against it.

Allan Kaster, the editor of "The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories," traces the connections between science fiction and real-world science.

Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who wrote the books of "The Expanse" sci-fi series under the pen name James S.A. Corey, talk about the completely different alien-invasion saga they're in the midst of creating.

Allen Institute neuroscientist Jerome Lecoq explains how the OpenScope program is expanding the frontiers of brain science, from the effects of psychedelic substances to the mechanisms of memory.

Marketing executive Richard Jurek, co-author of "Marketing the Moon," talks about how NASA sold the Apollo space effort — and how that campaign is portrayed in a new movie titled "Fly Me to the Moon," starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius talks about the potential for international conflicts in space, and how that subject gave rise to his latest spy thriller, "Phantom Orbit."

We look at the legacy of the late Seattle science-fiction pioneer Vonda N. McIntyre with Una McCormack, who led the effort to publish "Little Sisters and Other Stories," a new collection of McIntyre's short stories.

Douglas Preston, author of a techno-thriller titled "Extinction," talks about his fictional murder mystery as well as his concerns about the real-world quest to revive the woolly mammoth and other extinct species.

Pete Worden, chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, talks about the real-world search for extraterrestrial civilizations and how it's different from Netflix's "3 Body Problem" series.

Nathaniel Rich, author of "Second Nature," "Losing Earth" and the sci-fi novel "Odds Against Tomorrow," discusses the state of contemporary fiction with Fiction Science co-hosts Dominica Phetteplace and Alan Boyle.

Mars Society President Robert Zubrin, author of "The New World on Mars," talks about the life that future settlers are likely to create on the Red Planet — and why they should go.

Physicist Paul Halpern, author of "The Allure of the Multiverse," traces the history of the scientific quest to detect parallel universes and alternate cosmic timelines.

John Tytus, the president of Pocock Racing Shells, talks about how the technology of rowing has changed since "The Boys in the Boat" won Olympic gold in 1936.

Amy Mainzer, the science adviser for "Don't Look Up," talks about the real-life astronomy behind the movie's fictional killer comet. 

Award-winning science-fiction writer Cat Rambo talks about their new novel, "You Sexy Thing," a tale about space pirates, a sentient starship and gourmet mercenaries that's been called a cross between "Farscape" and "The Great British Baking Show."

Science-fiction writer Neal Stephenson discusses his new climate-change thriller, "Termination Shock," and the status of the metaverse - a concept he came up with nearly 30 years ago.

Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large for Time magazine and author of the sci-fi novel "Holdout," talks about the fact and the fiction surrounding commercial spaceflight and NASA exploration.

Damian Duffy and John Jennings talk about how they transformed Octavia E. Butler's prescient science-fiction tale, "Parable of the Sower," into a graphic novel.

Radio astronomer Heino Falcke, one of the leaders of the Event Horizon Telescope project, discusses how the first image of a black hole's shadow was captured - and why it's so intriguing.

Veteran production designer Scott Chambliss says he took a page from SpaceX's playbook when he created the look of the multi-generational spaceship for the movie "Voyagers."

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku talks about his latest book, "The God Equation," and explains how we might be able to use the theory of everything to escape the eventual death of our own universe.

Nathaniel Rich, the author of "Second Nature: Scenes From a World Remade," lays out his vision of a post-natural world.

In her debut novel, "Machinehood," S.B. Divya foresees a future where we merge with the machines through AI, nanotech pills and robotic implants. Would she want to be part of that future? Get the answer in this episode of Fiction Science, co-hosted by Alan Boyle and Dominica Phetteplace.

Science journalist/author Annalee Newitz discusses her new book, "Four Lost Cities," and the evolution of past and present urban centers with Fiction Science hosts Alan Boyle and Dominica Phetteplace.

Penn State climatologist Michael Mann, the outspoken author of "The New Climate War," talks about what Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and the rest of us can do to help the world avert the coming climate catastrophe.

A new movie titled "Greenland" calls attention to potential threats from comets and asteroids. Visual effects supervisor Marc Massicotte and Danica Remy, president of the B612 Foundation, discuss the science behind the spectacle.

Science-fiction author Ted Chiang delves into thought experiments on artificial intelligence and time travel - and talks about how his involvement in the movie "Arrival" changed his life.

Science-fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson talks about his latest novel, "The Ministry for the Future," and the climate science behind it.

George Zarkadakis, author of "Cyber Republic," discusses ways to reinvent democracy with Fiction Science hosts Alan Boyle and Dominica Phetteplace.

Jo Marchant, author of "The Human Cosmos," talks about the growing disconnect between humanity and the heavens - and how to fix it.

Kyle MacLachlan looks back at "Dune" and "Twin Peaks," discusses his portrayal of Thomas Edison in "Tesla" and reveals which present-day tech titan intrigues him the most. Hosted by Cosmic Log's Alan Boyle.

Veteran science writer George Musser addresses the connections between artificial intelligence, quantum physics and the quest to understand the nature of consciousness in a new book, "Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation."

Zach Weinersmith, co-author of "A City on Mars," explains why humanity isn't ready to have people settle down and raise a family on Mars or in any other off-Earth locale.

Quantum physicist Shohini Ghose, author of "Her Space, Her Time," throws a spotlight on more than a dozen women physicists and astronomers who didn't get the recognition they deserved.

How much real-world AI research is reflected in "The Creator," Hollywood's latest cinematic tale about the rise of the machines? We turn to a panel of experts on artificial intelligence and its portrayal at the movies for an in-depth reality check.

John Scalzi talks about his latest satirical science-fiction novel, "Starter Villain," and the parallels to the antics of real-world tech billionaires.

Astronomer Chris Impey, author of the book "Worlds Without End," discusses the study of planets beyond our solar system, the search for alien life, and the long-term prospects for humanity's progress on the final frontier.

Archaeologists Chris Begley and Brittany Brown discuss how times have changed since the fictional heyday of Indiana Jones when it comes to the technologies - and people skills - that they rely on.

Steve Edmiston, a Seattle lawyer and film writer, fills us in on the Maury Island Incident - a UFO sighting that marked the first mention of the mysterious Men in Black and has now inspired a celebration called the Men in Black Birthday Bash.

Jeffrey Manber, one of the pioneers on the frontier of space commercialization, talks about his effort to document the rise of private-sector spaceflight in a series of books he calls "From the Earth to Mars."

Ashlee Vance, the author of "When the Heavens Went On Sale," talks about the romance, the risk and the ridiculousness surrounding four space ventures that were created in the wake of Elon Musk's SpaceX success.

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, the author of a new book titled "Quantum Supremacy" explains how quantum computing works and why it could revolutionize energy, medicine and virtually everything everywhere.

Kim Sherwood talks about writing "Double or Nothing," a James Bond novel that includes 21st-century technologies including quantum computers and climate geoengineering — but leaves out James Bond.

Science-fiction author Daniel Suarez talks about his latest novel, "Critical Mass," which picks up on the vision for space development laid out by physicist Gerard K. O'Neill and the billionaire he inspired, Jeff Bezos.

Quantum physicist Chris Ferrie, author of the book "Quantum Bullsh*t," separates the reality from the B.S. in sci-fi tales including "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

Annalee Newitz talks about "The Terraformers," a sci-fi novel that explores the parallels between an imagined future where corporations reshape planets and an all-too-real present where today's cities are sorely in need of reshaping.

Biologist Robert Lanza and science-fiction writer Nancy Kress talk about "Observer," a novel that delves into Lanza's view that consciousness creates the universe as we know it.

In honor of the release of "Avatar: The Way of Water," we talk with the technical adviser for the $10 million Avatar XPRIZE, plus one of the winning teams, about the parallels between the movie's sci-fi avatars and real-life robotic avatars.

Scott B. Smith, the co-creator of Amazon Prime Video's version of "The Peripheral," talks about the challenge of turning William Gibson's cyberpunk sci-fi novel into a streaming series.

Ray Nayler, author of the sci-fi novel "The Mountain in the Sea," and neuroscientist Dominic Sivitilli discuss how looking into the mind of an octopus can provide insights into the nature of artificial intelligence and alien intelligence.

Stephen Tibbitts, the co-founder and CEO of Zeva Aero, talks about his company's plans to create a flying machine that looks like a cross between a helicopter and a UFO.

Science-fiction author Harry Turtledove delves into "Three MIles Down," his novel about Watergate, a real-life spy thriller ... and don't forget the aliens!

Ryan Britt, the author of "Phasers on Stun," discusses how the Star Trek saga influenced the course of science fiction and space exploration - including the roles of space billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Comedian Tim Barnes, the creator of a new Comedy Central animated series called "Maurice on Mars," discusses his show about a struggling barista on the Red Planet and touches upon the controversies surrounding race and science fiction.

Michael Rogers, a futurist who advises startups and Fortune 500 companies, uses a sci-fi novel titled "Email From the Future" to point to technologies and trends that could solve the climate crisis and end wealth inequality.

Brian Greene, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University, delves into the physics of parallel universes - a plot point featured in a Marvel superhero movie titled "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Bangladeshi author Saad Z. Hossain talks about the mythical and modern influences that go into his science fiction tales - including his latest novel, "Kundo Wakes Up," which works the godly powers of AI agents and djinns into the plot. 

German filmmaker Rudolph Herzog talks about "Last Exit: Space" - a quirky documentary that focuses on space settlement efforts (and features his father, Werner Herzog, as narrator).

Geophysicist Mika McKinnon talks about her efforts to add a smidgen of scientific plausibility to "Moonfall," a big-budget disaster movie about the moon falling out of orbit and wreaking havoc on Earth.

Benjamin Percy, author of "The Unfamiliar Garden," talks about his Seattle-centric, science-centric update of the classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" plotline - plus, how writing for comic books made him a better novelist.

Allen Institute neuroscientist Christof Koch talks about his quest to understand the nature of consciousness, his magic mushroom experience and his role in the documentary film "Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness."