Strange New Worlds: A Science & Star Trek Podcast

Guest: Professor Tyler Perez

Come for the laser experiments, stay for the lens flares. Prof. Tyler Perez—who studies the material properties of rock at high pressures and temperatures, and who delves into movie visual effects as a hobby—beams aboard to discuss his research on planetary interiors and the visual style of Star Trek.

Guests: Abigail Alling & Amelia Lee

How do you introduce Star Trek to a new fan? How is Star Trek continuing to inspire young scientists? How are Carnegie Science interns exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations? Abigail Alling and Amelia Lee beam aboard to chat about how they've added Star Trek to their educational experience in Carnegie Science's 2026 EPIIC summer internship program!

Learn more about the EPIIC internship at Carnegie Science: carnegiescience.edu/about/working/i…terns/epiic-reu

Guest: Em Dobberfuhl

Mike's former Carnegie Science intern Em Dobberfuhl beams aboard to share how Project Hail Mary inspired them to pursue astrobiology.

"Are we alone in the universe? Five times we thought we found extraterrestrial life" by Em Dobberfuhl: https://www.sequencermag.com/are-we-alone-in-the-universe-five-times-we-thought-we-found-extraterrestrial-life/

Learn more about the EPIIC internship at Carnegie Science: https://carnegiescience.edu/about/working/interns/epiic-reu

Mike speaks with Jason Kaufman and Bradley Browne on the Dice in Mind podcast about his paper "How to Chart a Moral Future for Space Exploration" (featured on Episode 200 of Strange New Worlds). How does an astrobiologist get inspired to write about space ethics? How did the paper originate and evolve into its published form? And what does recognizing many kinds of moral value in the universe mean for our present era of space exploration?

Mike's space ethics paper "How to Chart a Moral Future for Space Exploration": https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02070-3

Check out the Dice in Mind podcast: https://diceinmind.podbean.com/

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On Episode 200 of Strange New Worlds, Mike Wong reads "How to Chart a Moral Future for Space Exploration," an article he published last year in the journal Nature with Chelsea Haramia, Emilie Lafleche, and Julia DeMarines.

Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02070-3