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Episode 556: Quesorios

Science Faction Podcast

Release Date: 05/07/2025

Episode 568: Bradbury Wasn't Kidding show art Episode 568: Bradbury Wasn't Kidding

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Ben spent the week playing nurse, but at least it was a summer cold—infinitely easier than juggling tissues and PTO requests during the school year. The only upside to a sick kid when the sun’s out? More cartoons, fewer emails. Hearing Ben wiping noses and handing out popsicles, Steven got nostalgic about Scrubs. Remember Scrubs? Wholesome chaos. Heartfelt weirdness. Probably due for a chaotic Gen Z reboot starring TikTok doctors and JD’s ghost AI. Devon was out of town. No details, just gone. Like a Vulcan on shore leave or a cowboy riding off into a logical sunset. We assume...

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Episode 567: Regular Human Shenanigans show art Episode 567: Regular Human Shenanigans

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Ben showed up with a box of magic and a handful of links, and we spiraled from there. We started off with Piecepack, the infinitely expandable system of tile-based board games. If you haven’t seen it, The Infinite Board Game is a great intro — it comes with a full Piecepack set and over 50 games: 👉 Two standouts we tried: Whirlpool Pond (Tube Wars) — hilariously chaotic and surprisingly strategic. Steven said it reminded him of playing little games at a picnic table on camping trips. 🎯 Moto-X — a racing game with dexterity and movement rules that feel like...

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Episode 566: Skeletons Or It Didn’t Happen show art Episode 566: Skeletons Or It Didn’t Happen

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life This week, Steven finally found a superhero movie that didn’t make him want to throw his popcorn at the screen. Superman (2025) has arrived, and according to him, it’s the best take we’ve had on the character in years. No origin story nonsense, just straight into Supes doing good and being good. James Gunn gets it—Superman is an immigrant, a boy scout, and a damn firefighter (not a cop). The moral core is there, the cape looks good, and apparently, if you hate it, it’s because it’s “woke”? Whatever. Steven liked it. You probably will too. Meanwhile, Devon has been...

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Episode 565: Dark Energy, Glowing Yeast show art Episode 565: Dark Energy, Glowing Yeast

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Ben took a family trip down to San Diego just in time for the other fireworks night—turns out, there are often more fireworks on the 3rd of July than the 4th. Devon also caught a local 3rd-of-July fireworks show, which has started to feel like the real deal instead of just a warm-up. Ben: “More fireworks on the 3rd than the 4th, easily.” The trend continues. While Ben and Devon were oohing and aahing at sky explosions, Steven stayed home and got some solid mini painting in while the family was off in LA. No notes, just vibes. He and Ben also snuck in a round of Walkabout...

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Episode 564: Becky Chambers Is My Therapist show art Episode 564: Becky Chambers Is My Therapist

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Ben Ben’s been quietly communing with the universe—and possibly with time travelers—through a book of accidental poetry called . These are poems born from Wordle guesses, wrangled into a strangely beautiful collection. The result feels like overhearing wisdom whispered from another dimension... or from your roommate’s weird dreams. Ben recommends reading it with an open mind and maybe a cup of tea. Or a flux capacitor. Devon Devon had to Dad some emails this week—calmly but firmly correcting errors from people who apparently do not know how email works. He also saw Elio,...

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Episode 563: Aspergillus Strikes Back show art Episode 563: Aspergillus Strikes Back

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life This week, real life got weird, itchy, nostalgic, and just slightly chaotic. Ben celebrated a birthday by dragging his family through a hike in tick-infested grass. Friendly reminder: Don’t go into the long grass. We’ve seen Jurassic Park, we know how this ends. Devon may or may not be living in Foreverware straight out of Eerie, Indiana. Start checking those Tupperware lids, folks. Steven escaped a house overrun with cousins the only way he knows how: board game store therapy. Here’s what we’re playing: is only $5 on Steam right now and it still rules. Devon showed us how...

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Episode 562: The Robot Seems Fun, but the Kids are in Trouble show art Episode 562: The Robot Seems Fun, but the Kids are in Trouble

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Ben had a pretty heartfelt Father’s Day. The kind that makes you wonder what to do with all those sentimental cards—save them? Repurpose them? Wallpaper a studio? He’s thinking bigger: moleskin notebooks and sketchbooks as repositories for meaningful letters, doodles, and moments. He also caught You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at SLOREP, which delivered all the nostalgia and Peanuts poignancy one could hope for. Devon saw Annie live and reports back that yes, the sun did come out. Meanwhile, he was also boots-on-the-ground at the No Kings march in Tyler, TX, where roughly...

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Episode 561: In Search of Small Comforts show art Episode 561: In Search of Small Comforts

Science Faction Podcast

with Travis Barker on drums. Yes, really. Future or Now Devon read and now feels like a hypocrite for still eating meat. The book’s argument: if animals can suffer, they deserve rights. Cue a deep dive into factory farming, animal testing, calorie efficiency, and whether “ethical meat” should be a rare luxury rather than a daily default. They talk about cows, chickens, and baby monkeys; the morality of milk and butter; and why our modern food system depends on people looking the other way. Steven questions how to get enough protein on a vegan diet, and Devon admits it’s complicated...

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Episode 560: Rat Hustlers show art Episode 560: Rat Hustlers

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Things kicked off with stories from Friday night’s bonfire, where the nature of reality was hotly debated between toasted marshmallows. That conversation somehow spiraled into a serious (and slightly absurd) discussion about Noodles and Soba—Ben’s son’s pet rats—and the potential benefits of getting female rats fixed. Apparently, doing so can add about a year to their lifespan by preventing reproductive cancers, but the surgery’s cost is a tough sell when you’re in what Ben called “debt paydown mode.” Devon floated the idea of unscrupulous “rat hustlers” faking...

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Episode 559: Yesterday’s Dream was a Full Page show art Episode 559: Yesterday’s Dream was a Full Page

Science Faction Podcast

Real Life Roundup  Let’s address the elephant not in the room: Devon is dead. Well, not dead-dead. Just birthday-visit-family-IRL-dead. We pour one out for our absent co-host, and prepare for his resurrection next week. Meanwhile, Steven has been watching robots get wild. The Wild Robot, that is. The new animated flick has dropped (), and Steven's verdict is in: heartwarming vibes, metal clanking emotions, and just enough kid-friendly existentialism to make you question whether your Roomba has feelings. Also, did you know Black Adam shows up in DC League of Super Pets? Steven does. And...

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Real Life:

Devon would like to make one thing clear: queso is fine. Queso is acceptable. Just… not on everything, okay? Some of us still want to taste the actual food under the goo. That said, he did just survive a kid’s pool party, so maybe he’s earned the right to eat whatever the hell he wants — even fake grass, which he claims is "for winners." We’re choosing not to dig into that statement.

Steven, meanwhile, embraced the full Force of May 4th with joy, lightsabers, and an animated binge of Tales of the Empire — now fully released and featuring everyone’s favorite dead-or-maybe-not-dead villainess Asaaj Ventress and the cowboy space bug bounty hunter Cad Bane. Is she still canonically dead? Who knows anymore. The rule is: if you didn't see the body dissolve, they can always come back.

Also, Steven’s forge is officially up and running. That’s right — he’s now a blacksmith. We’re still waiting to see if this is a long-term thing or just a midlife crisis in steel-toed boots.

Over in The Last of Us land, Season 2 Episode 4 dropped, and fans collectively screamed, cried, and probably tweeted GIFs because one of the game’s most beloved scenes finally made it to screen — and yes, they nailed it. In a good way. Not like a fungal-mutant-jaw-through-your-neck way.

Ben went to a roller derby bout in Irvine (report: chaotic and excellent), wandered the capitalist labyrinth that is Daiso, and wants to remind you it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. So tell a teacher they rock, preferably with coffee, snacks, or a handwritten note of pure gratitude.


Future or Now

Ben brought us Writing Tools, a sleek, free, open-source app created by a high school student in Bangalore (hi, Jesai!) that gives Mac, Windows, and Linux users a system-wide writing boost via AI. It fixes grammar, summarizes content, and even helps you rewrite your angsty emails into something that won’t get you fired. Bonus points for working offline and being featured basically everywhere. Teachers, students, chaotic creatives — check it out on GitHub.

This also led us down the rabbit hole: Are LLMs bad? Short answer: not inherently. Long answer: come back next week for a full debate, complete with Devon’s skeptical eyebrows and Ben’s tech optimism.

Devon watched Mickey 17, and the verdict is… “eh?” He appreciated the weirdness but didn’t feel like the weird ever came together in a satisfying way. Unlike Parasite, which he still recommends, Mickey 17 left him shrugging with existential confusion, which is not his preferred flavor of sci-fi.

Steven hit us with some mouse science: researchers have engineered gut bacteria that can detoxify methylmercury in mice, even when those mice are on a diet of bluefin tuna. The mice — and their babies — showed fewer signs of mercury poisoning. This means your sushi habit may one day come with a side of helpful microbes. Until then, maybe cool it on the sashimi.


Book Club: 

This week, we read A Brief Dance to the Music of the Spheres by Michael Kurland (from The Best of Omni Science Fiction, 1983). It’s a sleek, sharp short story that offers a fresh take on the Fermi Paradox: if there’s intelligent life out there, why haven’t we seen it?

The story gives us a possible answer — one we won’t spoil here, except to say it involves jazz, physics, and a little cosmic humility. You can read it on Archive.org or listen to the adaptation here.

Next week: we’re diving into Jorge Luis Borges’ There Are More Things. Yes, it’s a Borges horror story. Yes, we’re terrified and delighted. Yes, Devon has thoughts.


Got thoughts on queso, metal mice, or fictional villains who refuse to stay dead? Hit us up. And thank a teacher. Seriously. They’ve seen some things.