New Star Trek Season, Same Ol' Sci-Fi

Short Wave

NPR

News, Life Sciences, Daily News, Astronomy, Nature, Science

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2023

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Season 2 of the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered June 15 (streaming on Paramount+). So today, Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber chats with two Trekkie physicists about the science powering the show and why they love the franchise. Astrophysicist Erin Macdonald is the science consultant for Star Trek, and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist and author of the book The Disordered Cosmos. This episode, the trio discusses not only the feasibility of warp drive, global cooperation and representation and how the transporters that beam crew members from the surface of a planet to the ship might be breaking fundamental laws of physics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave.
0:03.6	From NPR.
0:04.9	I have vivid memories of watching Star Trek with my dad as a kid.
0:09.8	Even today, just hearing the first few notes of that iconic theme immediately makes me
0:14.5	think of exploring that final frontier.
0:17.8	I loved anything space.
0:20.2	And I still do.
0:22.0	But what really resonated with me was the cooperation I saw.
0:25.7	The communication and the problem solving between different people and species.
0:29.9	And the fact that there are mixed kids like me.
0:32.8	And I'm not the only scientist who holds Star Trek near and dear to my heart.
0:37.5	Star Trek was formative to even me having the thought that I could be a scientist.
0:42.3	John D'Apriscaud Weinstein is a theoretical physicist and a huge Star Trek nerd.
0:46.9	Or as we say in the community, a trekie.
0:49.3	My earliest memories at Star Trek are watching the next generation with my dad.
0:54.8	And Levar Burton was playing Jordy LaForge.
0:57.9	He was the first black scientist I ever saw.
1:05.0	And Beverly Crusher was the first woman scientist I ever saw.
1:08.8	Explore to a surgery.
1:10.1	Do you sense how the brain area is troubling you?
1:12.2	I then go on to have the thought, well, maybe I can do science.
1:16.2	For astrophysicist Aaron McDonald, Star Trek is also a big part of her life.
	...

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