Fiction Science

Science-fiction author Ray Nayler talks about his latest book, "Where the Axe Is Buried," a chilling tale of AI-powered repression and resistance that was inspired by current events as well as Nayler's familiarity with authoritarianism.

Copies of human bodies can't be printed out, as shown in the space-based satire "Mickey 17," but biomedical researcher Christopher Mason says it should be possible to re-engineer humans to make them more suited for living in space.

In a Valentine's Day episode, Mary Roach, the author of "Packing for Mars," brings us up to date on one of the big questions about living in space: What would zero-G sex be like?

Planetary scientist John E. Moores and astrophysicist Jesse Rogerson weave tales about interplanetary adventures that are like nothing on Earth in a book titled "Daydreaming in the Solar System."

Law professor James Boyle, author of "The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood," explains why he thinks intelligent machines will eventually be considered persons.

TrueMedia.org founder Oren Etzioni and Annalee Newitz, author of "Stories Are Weapons," discuss the escalating arms race between the purveyors of political disinformation and those who are trying to defend against it.

Allan Kaster, the editor of "The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories," traces the connections between science fiction and real-world science.

Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who wrote the books of "The Expanse" sci-fi series under the pen name James S.A. Corey, talk about the completely different alien-invasion saga they're in the midst of creating.

Allen Institute neuroscientist Jerome Lecoq explains how the OpenScope program is expanding the frontiers of brain science, from the effects of psychedelic substances to the mechanisms of memory.

Marketing executive Richard Jurek, co-author of "Marketing the Moon," talks about how NASA sold the Apollo space effort — and how that campaign is portrayed in a new movie titled "Fly Me to the Moon," starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.