Science in Fiction #476
June 01, 2018
Nerds and geeks of all stripes love to dissect exactly how their favorite (or least favorite) sci-fi and fantasy tales got science so wrong. But many TV shows, movies and book actually manage to get science pretty right (except for those pesky time-travel impossibilities). How do they do that? A lot of times, they phone a scientist. We'll speak with one of those scientists, Mika McKinnon, about the work she does advising TV shows and movies on physics, space and more. And we'll talk with science journalist and novelist Annalee Newitz about the scientists she consulted for her novel, "Autonomous".
Guests:
- Mika McKinnon
- Annalee Newitz
Featured Book
Autonomous
Guest Bios
Mika McKinnon
Mika McKinnon is a Master in Disaster and scientist for fiction with irrepressible curiosity about our wonderfully weird universe. She has given science advice to Star Trek: Discovery, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: Universe, No Tomorrow, Madam Secretary, and more. She's a physicist and geophysicist specializing in disasters -- tsunami, earthquakes, asteroid impacts -- pretty much all the fun, heart-pounding science. As a science communicator, she sticks to the coolest beats -- planets, rockets, and the end of the universe.
Annalee Newitz
Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of the book "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age", and the novels "The Future of Another Timeline", and "Autonomous", which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a science journalist, they are a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and have a monthly column in New Scientist. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Popular Science, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among others. They are also the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Previously, they were the founder of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.
