Science Faction Podcast

A science and science fiction based podcast hosted by two high school friends, and two college friends. Listen and learn and geek out. In this podcast, science meets fact, meets fiction.

Episode 501: Welcome to Human Talk with These Idiots 04/17/2024

Episode 501: Welcome to Human Talk with These Idiots This episode contains: It's our 501st extravaganza! Except due to technical difficulties, it’s not really. Steven tells us about the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy of Unbreakable, Split and Glass, which is now available on Netflix. Ben watched the classic 1991 Addams Family movie and Devon wonders if the new Munster’s movie by Rob Zombie is any good. It was panned when the trailer dropped but Devon thinks it actually looked kind of fun, and he’s a fan of Rob Zombie (more on that later). Devon also correctly identified MC Hammer as the artist who performed the theme for the Addams Family movie. Weird flex, but okay. Ben talks about Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire again, which is like speed racer meets The 5th Element. Ben’s taste is very specific for Ben. Devon and his wife Jen started Dark City (on Tubi) but then switched to Fallout! Devon gives Fallout a positive review, despite some issues with inconsistent tone. Devon played the last three Fallout games to Steven’s surprise. Also, Deven gets cancelled for making fun of Polish people. We then lament the cancellation of Lower Decks, which will conclude with the upcoming 5th season. Will there be anymore animated comedy Trek? Book Club: Just Out of Jupiter's Reach (The Far Reaches collection) by Nnedi Okorafor. This was different kind of story than we were used to. Steven drank the Kool-Aid and listened to this episode. Steven and Ben enjoyed it but don’t think it’s for everyone. Devon was lukewarm on it. We discuss the diverse cast of characters, new points of view and a different type of storytelling. Next week we will be discussing the story The Long Game by Ann Leckie. We conclude with a discussion of Rob Zombie being a vegan, a non-drinker and a non-drug user. Apparently he’s just like that normally. We also try to analyze his recent album titles, such as The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy and The Electric Warlock Acid With Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/30876038

Episode 500: The Path of Totality 04/10/2024

Episode 500: The Path of Totality This episode contains: All three of your co-hosts are back to prove that 500 is just another number. We recorded on Rex Manning Day (you know, from Empire Records) and we missed First Contact Day (you know, from First Contact). Nobody remembers the Genetics Wars (you know, from nothing at all), or was it the Eugenics Wars? But you know what it really was today? It’s the Great American Eclipse! “I actually live in the path of totality” - Devon, and like several thousand more people. What kind of bedlam and absolute riot would there be at a ren faire during an eclipse? Shouts of “BURN THE WITCH” and whatever. Ben didn’t record last time because he had date night in the middle of Spring Break. Date night did NOT include seeing Dune, but did have terrible service, cold tacos, rain, and allergy medicine. Steven traveled to DisneyLand again (does he, like, live there now?) and there’s been some major updates to the tech in the queues for rides. Even with the new games you can play on your phone while waiting for the rides, the Peter Pan queue is just too skinny (it was made for people in the 1950s, and I guess we didn’t have an overweight problem in the US back then). Steven’s ready for war to never change, cause this upcoming week is the new Fallout TV show. You lucky dogs, reading this in the future… you’ve probably watched it all, haven’t you? Death comes for us all and other light musings: What happens in the brain during the process of death? A woman named Patient One who suffered cardiac arrest became the subject of a study by neurologist Jimo Borjigin. When Patient One's brain activity was monitored after being taken off life support, unexpected electrical activity was still detected. Devon goes through the historical context on scientific interest in near-death experiences (NDEs) and consciousness after clinical death. More recent technological advances have allowed many more people to be resuscitated after cardiac arrest, providing new opportunities to study what happens in the brain during the dying process. Science may be on the verge of new discoveries about death, consciousness, and the relationship between the mind and brain. This odd mindset shift regarding death could cure procrastination forever: What does an eclipse sound like? Once upon a time, there was light in my life / But now there's only love in the dark. (Ben sings it!) An app called Eclipse Soundscapes was developed to help blind and visually impaired people experience solar eclipses. It provides audio descriptions of the eclipse's progress matched to the user's location, and also includes recorded sounds of animals reacting to the dimming light as if night has come, and a "rumble map" feature allowing users to feel the eclipse's stages through vibrations on their smartphone screen. The app aims to make the experience of the eclipse more accessible through multiple senses. Science fiction: Netflix’s Three Body Problem has dropped, and it’s so Game of Thrones in the best way. Ben presents Star Trek episodes 909 and 910. That’s right, Disco is back, baby! And it’s a wild Indiana Jones adventure this season, with strong ties back to a Next Generation episode that really should have been revisited a long time ago. Even though Devon and Steven poo-pooed Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire last week, Ben saw it, and he LIKED IT. Kinda weird Ben wasn’t excited about Ghostbusters: Afterlife before Steven gave his review of it all those years ago, and this time the tables have flipped. Kumail Nanjiani steals the show in the new Ghostbusters, but have you seen him in The Big Sick? Devon recommends. How do you like the new Science Faction website? It’s actually legible! Next week our book club will cover Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach (The Far Reaches collection) by Nnedi Okorafor. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/30767518

Episode 499: Binary Choices Only 04/03/2024

Episode 498: The Problem is PEOPLE 03/27/2024

Episode 497: Slow Down for Treknobabble 03/20/2024

Episode 496: True Lies Logic 03/13/2024

Episode 496: True Lies Logic Patreon only pre-pod: mike check, Devon’s epic phone and family journey, and only Siths deal in absolutes. Have YOU ever dealt with unreasonable family members? NEVER, I’m sure! This episode contains: We three hosts record on MAR10 day! Ben played so much Mario Kart, not in celebration but just alone, to be cool. Steven’s plans to watch comedienne Taylor Tomlinson in Los Angeles fell through. Steven finally played Fallout Wasteland Warfare for real, shout out to Gordon’s Good Games! Alliteration! What’s up David!? You Fallout Collector you! There’s a local Discord for tabletop games, and Steven has found his people. Ben watched 2010: The Year We Make Contact with his son, and that film holds up! It’s a hard sci-fi film made for normals (not quite like the first film 2001: A Space Odyssey). It’s almost like an entire season of For All Mankind, only filmed in 1984. Why don’t they make film versions of 2061 or 3001? Devon managed to survive an Ewok attack, and then proceeds to discuss doors and rooms. Ahem, SECRET doors for SECRET ROOMS! Devon’s R2D2 replica will get weathered if he puts it in a secret room for sure. Devon then considers making the ultimate scifi Halloween garage. Hey! Books are smart: Autogenerating a Book Series From Three Years of iMessages. Software engineer Ben Kettle wanted to be able to easily browse through old iMessage conversations from years past, so he developed a process to extract the iMessage database from iPhone backups, query it with SQL, and generate LaTeX source code to create printable books from the messages. How does one pronounce LaTeX? LAY-tek! He made an on-demand printed book containing the longest thread he’d had over three years. He had some issues supporting emojis, but was able to work around it. He split the conversation into three volumes and was able to inexpensively print paperback books through Barnes & Noble Press. The source code is available online for others to generate message books from their own conversation histories. We’re not going to make books like this… will you? Brain matters: Lack of focus doesn't equal lack of intelligence -- it's proof of an intricate brain. A new study provides insights into how the brain coordinates focus and filtering of distractions to pay attention. Lead author and neuroscientist Harrison Ritz has a cool name! Researchers used an fMRI task where participants had to distinguish colors and motions of dots. The anterior cingulate cortex tracks task difficulty and directs the intraparietal sulcus to adjust its "focusing and filtering knobs" - increasing focus on relevant information like color and reducing sensitivity to irrelevant information like motion. This shows the brain coordinates attention through multiple regions working together, rather than a single capacity limit. Understanding these coordination mechanisms provides insights into both effective attention and attention disorders. The research suggests lack of focus does not mean low intelligence, but rather shows how complex the brain's coordination of attention is. Patreon only mid-pod: Did y’all finish Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix? Ben discusses. Remember Wizards First Rule / Legend of the Seeker?… Ben loved to get drunk and angry at the show. Will they get to do a live action Legend of Korra? That would be cool. 3 Body Problem (Netflix) reviews are out, Devon talks about it. Fallout trailer! What’s a good cadence to release streaming television? Book Club: You Have Arrived At Your Destination by Amor Towles. Devon picked this one because he really enjoyed Towles’ book A Gentleman in Moscow. The audiobook for You Have Arrived At Your Destination was read by David Harbor. We go over it. Is it about choice? Is it about a multiverse? It’s confusing, but not if you apply True Lies logic to it. We discuss predestination: How accurate can the prediction be? What affects the choices we make? If they can be that accurate, how much does feee will affect the outcome? Do we have free will at all? Do our lives fit a three act structure? What act are you in in your life? Is this act structure about what happens to you, or is it about the perspective you bring to your life? Are you just waiting to die? Is that bad or good? Which of three lives would you pick for your child? Ben gets irrationally angry at the possibility of a different structure for the story that is only hinted at. Steven and Devon give it a high rating, but Ben gives it 1/5 of a star out of 4 stars. Next week, our book club will be covering How it Unfolds by James S. A. Corey. Patreon only post-pod: Next week, Devon may talk about Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky. Do you listen to books at 1x, like a MONSTER?! /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/30359363

Episode 495: A Red Flag for Humanity 03/06/2024

Episode 494: It's Crisis Time 02/28/2024

Episode 494: It's Crisis Time This episode contains: Steven and Ben host this all new leap year episode. Ben thinks about how his life would be if he had kids at an earlier age. Steven has also been going through a midlife crisis, which has caused him to start journaling. Steven wants to stop wasting his life on his phone using focus mode. “How I Setup My iPhone — So It Doesn't Ruin My Life...” Ben reminds us at the phone should be the tool, not you. Ben is having an Obsidian Obsession. Steven recommends Pacific Drive, which has big Half Life 2 vibes. We also talk about the live action Avatar on Netflix. Listener Hank points out that the HeLa Cells were in Emergency Skin were a reference to an historical wrong done to Henrietta Lacks. Thanks Hanks! And thanks Henrietta Lacks! It’s True, All Of It: Scientists scanning the seafloor discover a long-lost Stone Age 'megastructure'. In the fall of 2021, a marine geologist and students mapped the shape of the seafloor at high resolution and found something interesting. Not quite 70 feet below the surface, they stumbled upon a stone wall more than half a mile long that dated back to the Stone Age — one of the oldest such megastructures on the planet. In research published in PNAS, Geersen and his colleagues say this piece of ancient hunting architecture may have been used to corral and hunt reindeer, adding a level of sophistication to the prehistoric hunter-gatherers who lived 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. This One’s For Devon: Deliverance Forevermore!: Power Metal: is it really about dragons? Some years ago, Matt Daniels wrote a great article on who has the largest vocabulary in hip-hop, comparing Shakespeare to famous hip-hop artists. What about Power Metal? People know metal or heavy metal but not necessarily power metal. Power metal has speed (remember that last song on Guitar Hero), clean vocals (you can understand the words, looking at you grind metal) and lyrics about dragons. Is it really only about dragons? Running Wild (2949 unique words) has the biggest vocabulary, followed by Helloween (2641) and Elvenking (2505). Bands from Spain, Germany and Finland have an average of more than 1600 words vocabulary; in comparison native countries like UK, US and Scotland have an average of 925, 1383 and 1501 words respectively. The most metal words are deliverance, defender, honour, forevermore, realm and the least are shit, baby, fuck, girl, verse. The most negative song is Condemned To Hell by Gamma Ray and the most positive There's Something In The Skies by Dark Moor. Book Club: We read the short story by Andy Weir: Randomize. As you likely already know, Andy Wier is the author of The Marian and Project Hail Mary. This is a SPOILER filled discussion. The story concerns quantum computing, random number generation and gambling. The story presents the craziness of quantum computing to the lay person using a casino as the backdrop. But was the story racist? The next short story is Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/30156243

Episode 493: Midlife Revelation 02/21/2024

Episode 493: Midlife Revelation This episode contains: We're recording just after Valentine's Day. Sorry, we didn't get you anything, EXCEPT FOR THIS PODCAST! Ben was a bit disappointed in Valentine's Day this year... he's also working on "not wasting his midlife crisis." He chats about layoffs and opportunities and productivity, but Steven thinks that perhaps Ben's having a midlife revelation. Ben's reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. Steven and Devon have been managing democracy in HELLDIVERS 2. Devon doesn't know how to define video games, or perhaps he knows too much how to define video games. HELLDIVERS is pretty much the video game equivalent of Starship Troopers, with all the satire involved. Steven also really enjoyed Blue Eyed Samurai on Netflix. Not science fiction, but it's worth your time. Guess what? Ben's dental company had a major data breach. It's time to freeze your credit FOR FREE at the following addresses to to avoid ID theft: Unless you're planning on taking out a new credit card or buying anything in the next few days, you should freeze your credit. If they are asking you for money, you're in the wrong place. It took Ben 15 minutes to do it, big thanks to password managers. Ben is now the Credit Score Fairy. This Week on the Internet: Not all TLDs are Created Equal. In light of the recent , the fragile and difficult nature of country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) has once again been comprehensively demonstrated. When the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union, it fell foul of the EU’s rules for the registration of domains under the “eu” ccTLD. To register (and maintain) a domain name ending in .eu, you have to be a resident of the EU. When the UK ceased to be part of the EU, residents of the UK were no longer EU residents, and lost their .eu domain names. Also, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukranian Vice Prime Minister . While ICANN said that it wasn’t going to do that (they should change their name to ICANT), because it wouldn’t do anything useful, some domain registrars (the companies you pay to register domain names) ceased to deal in Russian ccTLDs, and some websites restricted links to domains with Russian ccTLDs. Generic TLDs (gTLDs) like .com, .net, .gov and other really cool new gTLDs like .rocks, .ninja, and .supplies are far better to register. This Week in Space: Tiny moon of Saturn holds young ocean beneath icy shell. Saturn's moon Mimas harbors a global ocean beneath its icy shell, discovered through analysis of its orbit by Cassini spacecraft data. This ocean formed just 5-15 million years ago, making Mimas a prime candidate for studying early ocean formation and potential for life. This discovery suggests life-essential conditions might exist on seemingly inactive moons, expanding our search for life beyond Earth. Guess where else we've discovered oceans? Devon says "Earth." Ben knows he got that info from SeaQuest DSV. Saturns rings may have always been there for us, but what have they done for us lately? Patreon-only mid-pod: Ben has changed his note taking game, using Obsidian. Steven has rewatched Deadpool and Deadpool 2. Will X-Men 97 be terrible or radical? Science Fiction Book Club: This week we're doing a spoiler-filled review of the novella Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin. An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out eons ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare. TLDR: Ben and Steven loved it, but Devon was a little lukewarm and wished it was longer and more nuanced. Next week in the Science Fiction Book Club we'll discuss Randomize by Andy Weir. Get it for free if you have Amazon Prime and be informed for next week's discussion: /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/30053443

Episode 492: What Was L33T is now Cr1Nge 02/14/2024

Episode 492: What Was L33T is now Cr1Nge This episode contains: Devon, Ben and Steven are here this week to give you live coverage of the Super....nah, just kiddin'. We do talk about the Super Bowl though, and with that comes Taylor Swift talk, becuase of course it does. Ben chats about roller derby practice and Devon wonders why us Californians get extra days off of school. We also talk about the death of baseball as it pertains to Star Trek Deep Space Nine. There is also some cricket talk and what would this episode be if we didn't talk about Bluey? Before we get to the science, Ben and Steven recount a gaming experience they had with The Zone RPG. We were not DISAPPOINTED. Ben is The Password Fairy: I Know What Your Password Was Last Summer... and we talk about why. Ben tells us of old passwords, how they are typically cracked and why having passwords at all is not a great idea. We talk about password creation, and the different options available to have super secure passwords that you would never have to memorize. Don't Worry, This Is Not A Threat: Low voice pitch increases standing among strangers. According to researchers, if you're looking for along-term relationship, or to boost your social status, lower the pitch of your voice. Researchers found that lower voice pitch makes women and men sound more attractive to to potential long-term partners, and lower pitch in males makes the individuals sound more formidable and prestigious. Devon tells us about Elizabeth Holmes from Theranos, and how she lowered her voice as part of her schemes. Steven and Ben had no idea who she was, and Devon was shocked. Science Fiction: Ben is ready to talk about B words! We start of with a lengthy chat about Barbie, which Ben just watched, and we talk about which awards it was nominated for (and which it was snubbed). Ben then once again talks some Beacon 23, which we recommends. Finally, we get a chat about Babylon 5 and Ben tells us the plans for season 4, and how that impacted season 5. Book Club: We're starting a book club, kinda! Steven recently found some amazing short fiction, and we've decided to start a sort of book club. Our first story that we're going to read id "Emergency Skin" by N.K. Jemisin. It can be found as part of the Forward Collection on Amazon Prime. If you're Devon, you can pay extra for the audio version, or just use the kindle app and get it for free (with Prime of course). We'll have a spoiler filled discussion on this story next week and announce the next title to read. Join the discussion! Read a Book! /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29954673

Episode 491: The Trouble With Trivia 02/07/2024

Episode 490: Ethically Sourced Apps 01/31/2024

Episode 490: Ethically Sourced Apps Pre-pod Patreon-only: Is Matt our constant? A blank minute with Flint Lawless, Palworld and AI, your parents aren’t cool anymore This Episode Contains: Steven and Ben grace your ears this time 'round, having a chill time. Why are we on our best behavior when Devon’s around? He’s not our dad! Ben has to get dad energy sometimes when dealing with crossing guard stuff, especially when it turns into fight club. The Domingues house has been sick, so that’s been really disordered. He’s excited to continue to overdose on the board game Core Space (Thanks Damon!) . Ben’s sketchbooks he’s been creating are now on Amazon! A Woman Holding a Weasel: Cats versus Sailboat: Come On You Apes, You Wanna Live Forever?! The fountain of youth is… a T cell? It’s Osmosis Jones meets Palworld: Scientists have discovered that T cells can be reprogrammed through genetic modifications to target and eliminate senescent cells, which accumulate in the body with age and contribute to inflammation and age-related diseases. When these modified "CAR T cells" were used to clear senescent cells from mice, the mice showed benefits like lower weight, better metabolism, and protection against conditions like obesity and diabetes. Even a single dose of CAR T cells early in life provided lifelong protection in mice. This suggests reprogrammed T cells could potentially be developed as a "living drug" treatment for aging and age-related disease that only requires one administration. Reasons To Never Leave The House Again: Disney Unveils the HoloTile Floor, Inching Us Closer to a Real-Life Holodeck. Alongside announcing that Lanny Smoot will be the first Disney employee besides Walt to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Disney also shared one of his newest projects called the HoloTile floor, which just may be a game changer for VR and could bring us ever closer to experiencing the Holodeck from Star Trek. This floor is made up of a bunch of tiles that all work to keep people in the center of them. The HoloTile floor can do more than just let people walk on it, as it can also move objects around. we see an object being moved around the floor and an arm extending at the corner of the screen, as if they were using the Force to move an object. Can we just stop for a bit and talk about how amazing it is that we’re putting man-made structures on the moon for the first time since 1972? Japan’s lunar lander landed. Mid-pod Patreon-only: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On follow-up, Droids in training at Galaxy’s Edge, Droid Lightsaber Caddies Science Fiction: Did we need a mashup of Simpsons and AKIRA? No, but it’s pretty awesome! BARTKIRA! Ben finished A Closed and Common Orbit, and his son knows that TRON is superior to TRON: Legacy but seriously, why do modern CGI films have trouble making amazing cinematography a la TRON: Legacy? How come modern CGI blockbusters are so sterile in their cinematography? We have some thoughts but this video sums it up: Yo, there was a TRON 2.0 video game in 2003 and it was originally meant to be a canon sequel to the original? You can get it on Steam and on GOG: Post-pod Patreon-only: Ben finished Star Trek Resurgence /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29736743

Episode 489: Brood XIX and Brood XIII 01/24/2024

Episode 489: Brood XIX and Brood XIII This episode contains: Devon, Ben and Steven are all bright eyed and bushy tailed this fine episode. Steven played Palworld until 4am, and Ben doesn't recommend playing the Xbox version. Ben had an amazing poetry reading with Rock Star Poets. Devon has had some plumbing issues, but he's going to solve them (spoiler, he didn't), plus it's snow-ish in his part of Texas. Steven and Devon both missed the latest Walkabout Minigolf course, but Ben fills us in on the amazingness of it. We eventually get to the science... Follow up to Moon's Haunted: What Went Wrong With Astrobotic's Moon Lander? And What Happens Next? Instead of landing on the Moon, Peregrine is set to burn up in Earth's atmosphere later this week. Re-entry won't pose any safety risk to anyone on the ground. A valve between the spacecraft’s oxidizer tank and a tank of high-pressure helium got stuck in the open position, so there wasn't enough oxidizer for a safe landing on the Moon. Supposed Cicadapocalypse: Cicadapocalypse Returns To The US With First Double Brood Emergence In 221 Years. We talk about the emerging cicadas, specifically Brood 13 and Brood 19, which emerge every 17 and 13 years, respectively. We also talk about sensationialized journalism, and how these cicadas emerging isn't really that huge of a deal, although only happening every 221 years is cool. Their brood locations don't really overlap, so there isn't much to panic about. Science Fiction: Ben gets a recommendation from Patron Joe: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Universe Collection which leads us into a chat about the Mirror Universe. We're getting Nintendo 3DS Emulation on the Quest, which is an amazing sentence. The 3DS famously had two screens, so it is difficult to emulate on one screen. However, in a virtual display, both screens are easily seen. Steven recentlt watched a breakdown video of Back to the Future Part 3, and that leads to a little chat about BttF and breakdown videos. Plus, Ben has to bring up the 'B to the F: The Novelization' tumblr account that is wild. Check out the Heavy Spoilers channel on YouTube: We also talk more about Beacon 23, since Ben has now watched it and he gives us a little breakdown of what to expect in the show. Devon recommends Bodies, a Netflix mini-series which has some time-travelish components. That's all folks! See you next week! /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29632318

Episode 488: Boar Space Panic 01/17/2024

Episode 487: Down with Hair, Up with Skulls 01/10/2024

Episode 487: Down with Hair, Up with Skulls Pre-pod Patreon-only: The joys of passive agressively pretending you didn’t hear what other people say, 2022 is now 2 years ago (when did that happen?). This episode contains: Three hosts check in for the first episode of the new year. Steven’s speech impediment comes back for a hot moment. Devon fervently rejects New Years resolutions, because as his wife says “he’s perfect the way he is.” Why wait till New Years to make yourself better? Ben resolved to not see a barber this year, as he’s shaved his head. Steven wonders about the bandaid on the back of Marcel’s skull in that OLLLD movie “Pulp Fiction.” We go through all of Ben’s discovered fears about having a completely bald head. Steven’s now getting a bunch of bald head stuff in his algorithm. But really Steven’s just geeking out over Remedy’s newest video game “Alan Wake II,” but he’s been a fan since the original “Max Payne.” Hey, what’s up with our newest member/non-member Dave? We guess some Patreon members cancel because they were looking for a different Science Faction podcast. Video Game Talk with Devon: 13-Year-Old Boy Becomes The Only Human To Ever Complete Tetris. Hell has frozen over and Devon talks about the only game he’s ever played: Tetris. (Naw, he’s played other games. I digress.) Want to up your game? Tap buttons faster. An AI player can get up to level 237 recently, but a human player has crashed the game at level 157, essentially “winning” an unwinnable game. Eventually a glitch happens where the game switches from reading instructions from the code to reading the RAM as if it were code. Devon played Tetris as a kid on his computer, but Steven and Ben were Game Boy Tetris fans. We’ve seriously got to see the new Tetris film, and also stop snacking in the evenings. Ben recommends flossing nightly and going to the dentist yearly. Rawr: 'Juvenile T. rex' fossils are a distinct species of small tyrannosaur. How do scientists distinguish between young dinosaurs and a completely different species? Turns out it’s really hard to do. Moon’s haunted: White House responds to Navajo Nation request to delay mission that would land human remains on the moon. This week a commercial flight to the moon will carry human remains (among other things) to the lunar surface. Ben considers the ecology impact of humans and our waste (including human remains) on ANY environment, terrestrial or otherwise. Devon discusses whether anyone should change how they are behaving based on other’s opinions. This is all vanity, and is dumb, but perhaps there is an ethical angle we should consider. Mid-pod Patreon-only: details on “corpses on the moon,” anybody can have a podcast… but does everyone deserve to be heard? One Piece anime adaptation, cheap anime, roller derby showers and glow parties. A Big Question: Does knowledge have intrinsic value or does it need to have a practical use to have value? We spend a lot of time discussing what value even is, and whether it’s important to synthesize data with a more complete understanding of unrelated information. 2024 is all about Tetris, T-Rex, and Tiny bits of yourself on the moon. Post-pod Patreon-only: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29429708

Episode 486: Everything in Moderation 01/03/2024

Episode 485: Everything Is Awful 12/27/2023

Episode 485: Everything Is Awful This episode contains: Welcome to our post-Christmas episode. We discuss how the world’s going to hell, personally and socially. Devon thinks hating the year that’s gone by is a meme but Steven and Ben present there reasons why the world is actually burning down. We then move on to discussing our Christmas’s and Ben not doing his homework. Also, Ben made a youtube video for his mom: Ben then teaches us all about Kwanzaa. Ben reminds us that all holidays are “made up.” In the spirit of Umoja we celebrate unity. 100 Positive News from 2023: Despite not planning on doing science on this episode, Ben felt guilty about not doing his homework an so brought some science: Elimination of malaria close in Ghana Child mortality rate (probably) lowest ever Big drop in aids deaths World’s largest solar farm activated Most new electricity was renewable First green cement that can be used for buildings First fossil fuel-free flight over the Atlantic Women finally allowed to vote everywhere, Vatican City was the holdout More people than ever have clean drinking water Seven countries progressed to a higher income group Largest ever re-introduction of an “extinct in the wild” species Paris river to become swimmable for first time in 100 years Scientists find plastic-eating microbes Oryx back from extinction First Arab woman in space Science Fiction: Steven and Devon both watched some movies. Ben did not however, but he still gives us his summary of the movies based on the trailers. Steven saw Rebel Moon: Part 1: A Child of Fire. Ben thinks a child emerges from a lava planet, who then leads a ragtag group of minors against a fascist government from another planet. Steven says he got about 80% correct. Rebal Moon is Star Wars. That’s all. Zach Snider outdoes himself with the slomo. We note that there will be a directors cut. Devon saw Oppenheimer. Ben thinks this is a science film about the man that worked on the atom bomb. Devon gives a not so brief summary of the movie and ultimately recommends it. Devon also talks about the book The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer. Devon also saw The Creator. Ben thinks the AI attack LA and then become monks, then there’s a new AI in town in the body of a human child. Then humans want to destroy it as the perceive it as a threat. Devon then gives us his honest opinion that the movie is not that good. See Y'all Next Year! 2024 IS GOING TO BE THE BEST /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29247458

Episode 484: Bikes and Brood Mothers 12/20/2023

Episode 484: Bikes and Brood Mothers This episode contains: It’s December, it’s a big battle getting through the month, and Ben and Steven just can’t wait to be done with 2023. Ben is left alone by his family for the afternoon, and did a real long bike ride! All was well and good until he got a flat. Luckily he has friends. Friends with trucks. Steven was out of town hanging out with Devon, and they didn’t record a podcast. Instead he and Devon hung out IRL with their D&D group, playing an “artisinal cooperative experience” called Oathsworn. Lots of fun but not an easy game to play. The companion app to the game was narrated by Jeor Mormont himself, James Cosmo. Is Jeor just another way to spell “Jeff?” No, Steven. Ben then talks more about biking, specifically in the rain. Oathsworn: Robot Uprising: OpenAI's reported 'superintelligence' breakthrough is so big it nearly destroyed the company, and ChatGPT. Thanks to our Patron Joe Kohr for suggesting this article! ChatGPT, or as the French say “Cat, I Farted”, is reportedly dealing with a breakthrough towards a generative AI gaining “superintelligence,” or reasoning outside of it’s programmed models. As in, it will be no longer “faking it”. Now, there’s a new OpenAI research group with the goal of developing safeguards against superintelligence. This all reminds Ben of something he heard on another podcast: where there’s a potential for using generative AI to create apps… but what if there’s no more productivity apps anymore? Where you ask questions and get data presented to you? The operating system could remove the need for productivity apps, because in 10 years the ways we interact with our phones and computers will be different. Steven runs a website but he doesn’t GO to websites. Where does anybody learn things on the net now? Social media? Empire and the East India Trading Company: the first company with shares. The podcast about generative AI creating apps: Empire Podcast: Tonight on The Ocho: ‘You didn’t just succeed, you Exceled’: Sydney man dubbed the ‘Annihilator’ wins spreadsheet world championship. You might not have known this, but there’s a Microsoft Excel World Championship. Now that your mind has finished exploding, you can watch it yourself. This year was newsworthy not because of it’s existence, but because the winner this year was eliminated in the first round. The values Andrew Ngai received from the first round didn’t match the answer key… but it turned out the answer key was WRONG! We then continue to yak about EVE Online for a bit. One of the contestants eliminated in the finals thanked his wife, who “never made fun of me, even once, for competing in the Microsoft Excel world championships.” Ben gets made fun of for doing the dishes! Watch the championship here: Science Fiction: Has For All Mankind got too much character drama this season? Steven and Ben disagree. Steven wishes there was something more Mars-y on Mars, like red dust everywhere. You know, science fiction stuff! Netflix got The Batman and got Steven to drop everything and watch it yet again. Amazon got Merry Little Batman and got Ben to drop everything and watch it for the first time. Ben a synopsis of the really adorable film where Batman’s son has a Home Alone Batman moment. This Batman has definite Devon energy. Is that enough Christmas Batman for Ben? Not in the slightest. Ben played five hours of Batman: Arkham Origins, the most ignored Arkham game. But… it’s actually good? And Ben just shut his eyes and pretended it’s not an Arkham game at all, since the voice cast does not include Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. It looks good, for a ten year old game. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29171458

Episode 483: Please Wear Pajamas on The Polar Express 12/13/2023

Episode 483: Please Wear Pajamas on The Polar Express This episode contains: Ben and Devon lead the charge this week because Steven is tired. Devon took his kids on The Polar Express, and everyone was wearing pajamas. Ben just realized that when a kid is in a sport, it consumes the entire family. Ben has a confrontation with a random. How does a pork dish taste like steak? Gone Rogue: Gigantic Wave in Pacific Ocean Was Most Extreme 'Rogue Wave' on Record. Rogue waves are fun and terrifying; they are rare giant waves that can capsize boats. A 58 foot high wave, three times the height of the waves around it was recorded by a buoy in 2020. Rogue waves were thought to be ocean folklore until an 85 foot wave struck an oil-drilling platform in 1995. The intensity of rogue waves are measured against 'normal' waves around them. We talk about the differences between tsunamis and rogue waves. This One's For The Birds: Researchers Taught Parrots to Video Call Other Parrots. The parrots were taught to make calls to other dometic parrots using Facebook Messenger. The researchers wondered if given the choice, would the birds call each other? The answer is yes. Strong social dynamics started to appear. The calls lasted 5 minutes, and some of the birds created strong bonds (and still call each other after the study). Devon questions how making a video call is different from the 'mirror test'. Did pirates domesticate parrots? Devon is "well read" because of South Park and The Simpsons. Science Fiction: Devon is reading and listening to Sun Eater series: Empire of Silence which is well written but borrows liberally from other scifi. Ben talks about the lit-verse of Star Trek novels. Ben has been reading the Typhon Pact series of Star Trek novels and is on book 4, Paths of Disharmony. Devon continually re-watches Star Trek and loves Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation, Enterprise and everything Trek. Do some alien cultures in Star Trek come across as too racist or stereotypical? Patreon Only: Steven bails, Notion Problems, Another Disney Trip and Switzerland. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/29060778

Episode 482: Bizarro-Ben 12/06/2023

Episode 481: The Post-Movie Funzies 11/29/2023

Episode 481: The Post-Movie Funzies Pre-show Patreon Only: Void Train and other train games, Fallout 4 This episode contains: A chill post-Thanskgiving episode with Steven and Ben. Turns out people get tired after eating smoked turkey and phǒ (phǒ real? phǒget about it), at least people over 40. Good times with family. These kids are talking and love Bluey. If you’re of a certain age, you may not know Bluey, but you should. Are there new Bluey episodes? Not yet, but there is a new Bluey video game. Ben apologizes for talking about old Steam Deck issues, but he’s really not sorry, is he? Anyways, the most recent update (3.5) fixed the issues his son had, so this is just an old man shouting at the cloud. BTW, 30 years ago was not 1970, Steven. You poor thing. Steven was not prepared for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off on Netflix, which looks like the comic book, has all the actors for the movie, and then runs with a “What If?” story, completely changing the Scott Pilgrim story at a fundamental level. Our patron Renee met Mark Hamill while she and her family were all dressed like Leia. Mark Hamill is so lucky. Ben asks Steven to go on a date to see The Abyss Special Edition for his birthday, but it’s in Santa Maria, and Steven will never spend another birthday in “that hellhole” if he can help it. Brain Matters: Our brains are not able to 'rewire' themselves, despite what most scientists believe, new study argues. According to the article, two scientists argue that the commonly held belief that the brain can rewire itself and repurpose regions for new functions after injury or deficit is flawed. Through analyzing previous studies, they found no compelling evidence that areas like the visual cortex of blind individuals or uninjured areas after stroke took on entirely new functions. Instead, they believe the brain enhances existing latent abilities through learning and repetition, not completely changing functions. So for example, when someone loses a finger, the area for that finger already got some input from neighboring fingers, it just enhances that after amputation. Their view is that understanding true brain plasticity limits is important for patient expectations and rehabilitation approaches. The brain's ability to adapt comes from hard work, not magical reassignment of resources. Pure energy (like that song from Information Society, and Leonard Nimoy): Generating Power on Earth From the Coldness of Deep Space. This article discusses the concept of generating power on Earth by utilizing the coldness of deep space. It explores the principles of thermodynamics, thermoelectric power generation, and radiative cooling. The article also presents various prototypes and experiments conducted to harness energy from the coldness of space, including the use of selective emitters and negative illumination photovoltaic cells. While the technology is still under development, it shows potential for powering low-power electronics and lighting, offering a sustainable energy solution. Mid-show Patreon Only: Limp Bizkit is making a comeback? Maybe you don’t want to hear it. Science Fiction: Steven finally saw The Marvels with his wife. He liked it, but his wife was lost. Why is that? Well, if you haven’t seen Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Wandavision, Secret Invasion (but not really), LOKI, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and the Wasp: QuANTumania, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers Endgame or X-Men: The Last Stand, maybe you’re gonna be a little lost. Steven and Ben both agree: that’s a little much for the normies, but it’s also a little much for these tired old comic book nerds (like our valiant podcast hosts). With so much discussion about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ben says we’ve got to talk about something else, so what does he do? It’s DC time. My Adventures with Superman is a cartoon on Adult Swim and Max that is worth watching, and Ben gives just enough spoilers to whet Steven’s appetite. Maybe you would like it too. Steven always forgets that Superman is Ben’s jam, at least when anybody other than Zach Snyder is at the helm. What is Ben’s favorite Superman movie? Wouldn’t you like to know. Post-show Patreon Only: The Flash movie, we have thoughts on how to fix the MCU /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28847223

Episode 480: Suns Up, Thumbs Up 11/22/2023

Episode 480: Suns Up, Thumbs Up This episode contains: Three hosts again this episode. We talk about Kevin Bacon, Ben has returned and is now known as Numbers. We have an audio diary (that we share with the world). Devon shares a personal story and is now relieved, we chat a bit about Lethal Company and invite Ben to join. Ben tells us all about Patch Quest and the joy he's having with his son. Steven shares how he's brainwashing his kids into enjoying Pokemon (not really). Finally, Am I Right?: Please make more USB-C cables like this. Elgato has make a great teleprompter that also has a great USB-C cable that ships with it. Their latest USB-C cable has the bandwidth and USB type imprinted on the connector. A lot of USB-C cables have unknown data speeds, charging speeds or both. More companies should adopt this labeling standard. BONES!: Printed robots with bones, ligaments and tendons. Researchers have succeeded in printing a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of different polymers using a new laser scanning technique. This makes it possible to 3D print special plastics with elastic qualities in one go which opens up completely new possibilities for the production of soft robotic structures. Science Fiction: We talk about For All Mankind season 4, episode 2: Have A Nice Sol. Steven talks about his theory for the season arc. Ben watched The Marvels and gives us his non-spoiler review about his "fun film". Then we talk about the spoiler post-credit scene. Devon gets bored and breaks a toy. Steven and Ben watched LOKI and talk about the season finale and what it means for the future of the MCU. Spoilers for the ending of LOKI season 2. Devon argues about how movie flops might make Marvel change their business strategy, and Ben and Steven have a rebuttal. Ben has finally read "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers, and describes it as 'a space opera with no heroes'. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28760813

Episode 479: Format/Reformat 11/15/2023

Episode 479: Format/Reformat This episode contains: This is a throwback episode to the old times, before the Dark Times when Ben came. Steven and Devon host the show. We talk about the difficulty of scheduling a time for four people to get together consistently, Devon talks about having his neighbors over for dinner and how over-achieving they are, and the cost of success. Although, what is success? Steven is still dealing with sick kids and his own recurring illness. We also read and respond to comments from our Patrons. Brain Matters: Rats have an imagination, new research suggests. Researchers have developed a novel system to probe a rat's thoughts, finding that animals can control their brain activity to imagine remote locations. Devon also talks about reading Blindsight by Peter Watts and his recent foray into reading about consciousness. Blindsight by Peter Watts: Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea and The Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter-Godfrey-Smith: Fire Sale at the Lefttorium: Left-handers aren't better spatially, gaming research shows. By asking participants to download and play a video game that captured user information and tracked navigational challenges, researchers were able to measure demographic data -- including hand preference -- and activity from more than 420,000 international participants, across 41 different countries. They found that left-handers were neither better nor worse than right-handers at the tasks, clarifying a long-running debate about the links between handedness and spatial skills. Science Fiction: We discuss the season premiere of For All Mankind, which Steven realizes he did not finish. We talk about the alternate history between the last season and this season, the events of the new episode and where the show might be going. We also talk about the first three episodes of this season of Rick and Morty. Devon enjoys the show more on rewatch. Steven then tells us about Lethal Company. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28658813

Episode 478: The Most Ferengi Thing Ever 11/08/2023

Episode 478: The Most Ferengi Thing Ever This episode contains: It’s just Ben with his son, special guest host Flint Lawless! Ben’s got COVID, Steven’s vomiting all over the place and Devon’s in California. Does anyone want to really listen to all that?!?! Instead, Flint and Ben chat about COVID quarantines, Halloween, and how awesome friends are. Everybody wants to be a cat, Because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at: Cats Make Nearly 300 Different Facial Expressions. Cats can sometimes get a bad rap for being aloof or not emotive. Compared to dogs, felines tend to be more subtle with how they express themselves—perhaps with a mere flick of an ear or curl of their whiskers. A study has found that cats use nearly 300 distinct facial expressions to communicate with each other. The findings suggest that cats' facial expressions provide information about their emotions and social behavior, and could potentially help humans better understand and communicate with their feline companions. This study may even one day lead to an app that can decode cat facial expressions. Turning old rotary phones into music streamers: Flint and Ben wax poetic about spinning wax. But what if it was even less convenient to listen to your music? Sometimes more convenience is cool, sometimes less is cooler. You pick up the rotary phone and it welcomes you in a bit of a sleepy voice with the words: “Hello, dial zero to listen to music”. Why zero? It is zero because it is the most satisfactory number to dial. Then you get to listen to a directory of your playlists, and choose using a two digit number. Dial the number of songs you want randomly played from the playlist, and then hang up. Voila, your music is now streaming to your speakers. Science Fiction: Flint and Ben review the 908th episode of Star Trek: “Old Friends, New Planets.” It’s the fourth season finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and we also by extension review the fourth season as a whole. What do you get when the Ferengi make a Genesis device? Then it gets fun when Flint gives Ben the rundown on how awesome the new 1.7 update for Trailmakers is. Trailmakers finally is going to space with the biggest map they’ve ever made, with several fascinating planets. Flint’s building spaceships to explore the cosmos. Flint’s even got a hot take on the lore behind the planet Doon (his theory is it was originally a water planet). Furthermore, there have been big updates to character customization. We wrap up the episode with last words, and Flint knocks it out the park. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28559141

Episode 477: The Third Amendment 11/01/2023

Episode 477: The Third Amendment This episode contains: Three hosts for three times the fun! Steven is drinking some coffee from Green Day and Oakland Coffee, have you heard there's a new album coming? Ben's brother gives us some feedback on space mining and fiction: We chat about how to read more by listening more. How do you read / listen to books? Step Up 2 Tha Streetz: 8,000 steps a day to reduce the risk of premature death. A study has identified, for the first time, the optimal number of steps at which people would gain the greatest benefits. We talk about how most people have some sort of pedometer on them in the form of a smartwatch or phone, but getting out there to take the steps can still be a challenge. To be clear, there are no health deficiencies if you walk more than the suggested 8,000 steps. Steven once logged over 20,000 steps (while at Disneyland). How's Your Pokedex coming? ASH - Ai Pocket Field Guide. Inspired by the legendary Pokedex, ASH was developed as a digital artifact that could help children connect and learn about and protect the biodiversity that surrounds them every day. This looks like an amazing thing that all children should have to help them explore the natural world around them...but we can't find a buy button. Is this a real product or just a concept? We can't tell, but the idea of ot being real is intriguing! This Week in Space (but really 30 years ago): How would we know whether there is life on Earth? This bolf experiment found out. Thirty years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn a passing space probe’s instruments on Earth to look for life — with results that still reverberate today. In 1989 the Galileo spacecraft was launched, and later pointed at Earth to see if we could detect "life" which would give us a powerful control for when we would eventually probe exoplanets (which had yet to be discovered). Very cool. Steven is reminded of a mission in Starfield where an old generation ship is discovered at an already colonized planet. Big Question: How many personal liberties would you give up for health and safety? We have quite a discussion this week, covering everything from gun control to different constitutional amendments, plugging into and out of the Matrix, Covid quarantine restrictions and fatigue, physical and mental health vs community responsibilities, personal liberties, governmental trust, revolutions and rebellions, and a whole lot more! /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28487360

Episode 476: Wet Wiffle Ball 10/25/2023

Episode 475: The McDonald's Cinematic Universe 10/18/2023

Episode 475: The McDonald's Cinematic Universe This episode cotnains: Steven and Ben have a low-effort, high stress-relief episode. Nothing matters anymore: Steven’s world is on fire with COVID hitting his house again, and it’s looking to derail Steven’s wife’s 40th birthday plans. Well, they were secret 40th birthday plans that Steven has worked really hard to set up, and now are in peril. Some days, Steven just needs a nap and a juice box. Ben prefers the term “house spouse” to “stay at home parent,” but Steven HATES it. Devon isn’t here because he went to Omega Mart in Las Vegas: that crazy fever dream/theme park/grocery store. Ben’s mom is recovering well from surgery, and Ben has dealt with stress by forgetting a bunch of stuff he actually did do and escaping into Elden Ring. Clean your room!: Air purifiers aren’t enough to clean your home from wildfire smoke. After a wildfire, if you want to stay healthy indoors, it’s not enough to just open windows. Volatile Organic Compounds can stay in floors and walls. How do you get rid of them? CLEAN UP! Mopping, dusting and vacuuming can get those VOCs out of your surfaces. Good luck if you have popcorn ceilings, like Ben does. Ben remembers finding patterns and images in the popcorn ceiling back in high school. Steven remembers the word Pareidolia: the perception of random images, especially faces, in random shapes and lines. Science Fiction: Where does Steven go for a pick-me-up when he’s down? Enter Peacock’s own Twisted Metal. Thanks for the recommendation, Devon. After three episodes, Steven sees it’s a decent show. It walks a fine line between being absurd and serious, but it’s all still believable within the show. Steven and Ben wonder what is going on with LOKI in season 2. Like, what’s up with X-5? Oh that’s right, this is a TIME TRAVEL SHOW. We’re all experiencing temporal whiplash. Maybe they’ll tell the rest of the story at another time? For all time, always. Ben’s son is not into this season, but is begrudgingly allowing us to watch LOKI instead of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Can you believe that Disney showed surprising restraint by not peppering the MCU’s version of 1977 with a bunch of Star Wars posters? The late-1980s McDonalds is incredible, now Ben wants an apple pie. Remember when McDonalds had lore? The McDonalds Cinematic Universe with the Hamburgler and fry guys and all the nostalgia! Is Sylvie’s manager a young Mobius? We talk even more after the break: Let’s talk about Fallout Wasteland Warfare! Steven’s never played the tabletop game, but he’s excited about painting a Frank Horrigan figurine from it. Do you even Fallout, fool?: . Ben’s learning to git gud noob in Elden Ring, after noping out of it half a year ago. Big thanks to JumpinProductions for their Noob’s Guide for Elden Ring: . In contrast to Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are power fantasies. Steven tells Ben about i-frames. The real game is timing. Giant disgustingly beautiful enemies? Run around them! Stormwind Castle has incredible detail showing ancient battles and sense of place. Is Elden Ring the game of the decade? How could we know? After A LONG TALK about Elden Ring, Ben recommends 3D Sen VR: an NES emulator that makes ye olde Nintendo games 3D diaramas and it’s incredible. We rank Batman movies, and Steven continues to sing the praises of The Batman, even over the Nolanverse. It’s so good, mainly because it brings in the detective side of Batman. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28357502

Episode 474: Carefree Whimsy 10/11/2023

Episode 473: Always Read the Second Half 10/04/2023

Episode 472: Untenable Mycorrhizae 09/27/2023

Episode 472: Untenable Mycorrhizae This episode contains: Steven and Ben are joined by Ben's son playing video games in the background. When do you get "you time" when you're a parent? Steven's looking for that time. Ben suggests recontextualizing "you time" by indoctrinating his son with Star Trek. With two kids: turns out when one kid wants something, the other doesn't. Why do kids want to fight things that COULD BE FUN!??! JUST GET IN THE CAR! I guess "giving things a chance" is a form of maturity. Ben is going to a kids birthday, and then his friend's wedding. Is this the Science Faction Therapy Hour? HELL NO. Now You See Me: Let's talk about digital assistants for the visually impaired. OKO App leverages AI to help blind pedestrians recognize traffic signals. At the end of 2020, the New York City Department of Transportation had a class action lawsuit filed because only 443 of the city's 13,200 signalized intersections were accessible to visually impaired pedestrians via audible and tactile features. That's less than 4% of intersections in NYC. Enter OKO, a "digital seeing eye dog" of sorts that uses iPhone's camera to notify the user when a street is safe to cross. Dot Go. The First Object Interaction App for the Visually Impaired. Dot Go is the first object interaction app. It not only detects objects in the environment but also connects them to actions. These could be internal actions, like sounds and vibration, or external actions in other apps, websites, and even smart home devices. For example, a bus stop sign could trigger an app to open and buy a ticket. Anyone can easily build and share custom solutions with the community. Is this like Pokemon Go? Can it be more like Pokemon Go? Dot Pad tactile display makes images touchable for visually impaired users Dot Pad is a smart braille device that not only allows for easy display of text, but tactile representations of imagery, potentially opening an entirely new layer for education and accessible content. Dot Pad gives the low vision community access to maps, diagrams, charts, and other illustrations, allowing easy access to content on the internet. By making productivity apps accessible, Dot Pad creates whole new career opportunities and a more inclusive workplace. Envision Adds ChatGPT AI Sight Assistance To Its Smart Glasses For The Blind Google Glass-like devices can now use ChatGPT to capture text through the glasses' camera, then use their voice to ask direct questions about what it sees. This may range from questions like “What is the balance of this bill” to “What are the vegetarian options on this menu?” Blind people may want to know... how do sighted people actually lose things? Between the forest and the trees, don't get lost! Plant and forest researchers do not 'anthropomorphize' plants. This is not more Little Shop of Horrors talk. There has been a trend in science articles to anthropomorphize plants, and it needs to stop. Why? Conjecture gets equated with fact, and that is dangerous for science. Poetry is fantastic but has no place in a scientific journal. Mid-shop Patreon-only talk: Now we have more Little Shop of Horrors talk. We talk about the upcoming film The Creator. Science Fiction: Episode six of Ahsoka was peak Star Wars and Devon's not here to be a party pooper. "Far, Far Away" had Claudia Black as one of the Mothers of Dathomir. HOW COOL ARE EXTRAGALACTIC STORIES? Between this and Star Trek Discovery Season 4, you're gonna see something new when you go extragalactic. Too bad we'll never actually travel outside the galaxy. We finally get Star Wars Rebels season 5, with Ezra and Thrawn. The implied stories about Thrawn's broken stormtroopers feels like the best of old Star Wars. Remember Jedi Survivor? We now have stormtrooper zombies, right? Great casting for Ezra Bridger. Episode 899 of Star Trek is that Very Short Treks episode that is all about how boogers are gross: "Worst Contact". Gates Mcfadden, Jonathan Frakes, and microwaved fish! Lower Decks got the 900th Star Trek ever with "Something Borrowed, Something Green". You get so much more Tendi this week, the Mistress of the Winter Constellations herself. Steven throws shade on how Star Trek episodes are counted. Star Trek's non-canon animation is just copying Star Wars, no? Remember Star Wars Visions, or Droids, or the holiday special. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was cool, fun and nostalgic, which is just what we expected. Steven and his family watched it at Ben's house, since it's now streaming on Paramount+. There's a crazy amount of comedic vomit in it. This film reallly emphasizes the "Teenage" part of it all. This film was written for us: twelve year olds living in forty year old bodies. The design of the film is excellent: doodles and graffiti and asymmetrical faces were all great design decisions. There is nothing as disgusting as a man-rat making out with a cockroach-woman. All of the voice actors for the turtles were recorded in group recording sessions, and worked really well. Get ready for the sequel and the Tales of the TMNT tv show. Steven gushes about TMNT toys. After-show Patreon-only talk: Portal 2 is now in VR. /episode/index/show/sciencefactionpodcast/id/28162814

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