Episode 532: Horizontal Gene Transfer

The Science Faction Podcast

Real Life

Devon shared about their recent visit to Fredericksburg, aka “Texas wine country,” where the German settlers brought their food and flair. While there were tempting wine tastings, Devon was not about to wait 30 minutes for a sip. Oh, and they’re currently battling a cold, which sounded something like SNNNOOORRRRTTT. Meanwhile, Steven recapped an out-of-town trip that included a stop at Black Diamond Games in Concord, CA, where he picked up the RPG Mothership and The Electric State. On the D&D front, Steven is on the hunt for elf druid miniatures for his daughter’s character. Ben, on the other hand, discovered Walkabout Mini Golf on iOS, which offers touch-to-putt and AR modes—sounds like a hole-in-one! He also dove into the world of Star Trek fan edits, sharing a link to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 0. However, Ben admitted to only watching Voyager once (FOR SHAME!), while his son has decided Worf is the best (double shame!). Devon, ever resourceful, uses Star Trek as a threat to keep his kids in line.

Future or Now

Ben stumbled into the world of web design and shared the new CSS logo—designed with a squircle, of all things. The logo’s hex color, #663399, is known as “Rebecca Purple” and has a meaningful backstory. Devon switched gears to science, geeking out about tardigrades (a.k.a. water bears), which are radiation-resistant extremophiles with 15,000 known species. These tiny creatures can repair their DNA after radiation damage and even borrow genes through horizontal gene transfer. Talk about resilient! For more details, check out this article. For some sci-fi vibes, we also pondered if the Netflix show Away about going to Mars might scratch your space-loving itch. Steven wrapped up this section with a discussion on the psychology of money. A recent study from ScienceDaily suggests that digital money doesn’t create the same emotional connection as physical cash. Devon thinks of cash as “free money,” while Steven questions if digital currency even feels real.

Book Club

This week, we read Ray Bradbury’s The Crowd, a story rich with layers of meaning. It sparked discussions about collectivism vs. individuality, Red Scare-era anti-communism, and a lingering mystery: are they aliens, ghosts, or demons? Regardless of the interpretation, we thoroughly enjoyed this one! For next week, we’re diving into Frederik Pohl’s short story The High Test. You can check it out here.