Fiction Science
Alan Boyle
Cosmic Log's podcast from the place where science and technology intersect with science fiction and popular culture, hosted by science writer Alan Boyle and science-fiction writer Dominica Phetteplace. Become a supporter for less than (or more than) a dollar a month.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 29, 2025 • 24min
Scientists dream up solar system adventures
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."
Nov 5, 2024 • 39min
Will AI cross the line into personhood?
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.
Oct 22, 2024 • 41min
How to defend against disinformation
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.
Sep 4, 2024 • 29min
Hard science fiction explained
Allan Kaster, the editor of "The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories," traces the connections between science fiction and real-world science.
Aug 8, 2024 • 33min
Authors of 'The Expanse' create their next saga
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.
Jul 28, 2024 • 26min
OpenScope focuses on the mind's mysteries
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.
Jul 12, 2024 • 36min
The fact and fiction of moonshot marketing
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.
Jul 5, 2024 • 28min
David Ignatius on satellite wars and 'Phantom Orbit'
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius talks about the potential for international conflicts in space, and how that subject gave rise to his latest spy thriller, "Phantom Orbit."
May 17, 2024 • 31min
How a sci-fi star blazed a trail for diversity
We look at the legacy of the late Seattle science-fiction pioneer Vonda N. McIntyre with Una McCormack, who led the effort to publish "Little Sisters and Other Stories," a new collection of McIntyre's short stories.
Apr 22, 2024 • 32min
How de-extinction could change our destiny
Douglas Preston, author of a techno-thriller titled "Extinction," talks about his fictional murder mystery as well as his concerns about the real-world quest to revive the woolly mammoth and other extinct species.
