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Explore the meaning of science fiction, and how it's relevant to real-life science and society. Your hosts are Annalee Newitz, a science journalist who writes science fiction, and Charlie Jane Anders, a science fiction writer who is obsessed with science. Every two weeks, we take deep dives into science fiction books, movies, television, and comics that will expand your mind -- and maybe change your life
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Rick Kleffel:Narrative Species–The Agony Column Interviews, Book Reviews, News and Commentary.
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“In Reality” debunks fake news and elevates the innovative researchers, entrepreneurs, journalists and policymakers who are fighting back against toxic misinformation. Co-hosts Joan Donovan, research director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media and Public Policy, and Eric Schurenberg, an award-winning journalist and former CEO of Fast Company, engage guests in enlightening conversations about solutions to this scourge and the path back to a shared reality.
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Story in the Public Square is a weekly, 30-minute series that brings audiences to the intersection of storytelling and public affairs. Hosted by Jim Ludes and G. Wayne Miller, Story in the Public Square offers a spirited but respectful dialogue. Often funny, always provocative, each episode of Story in the Public Square moves beyond traditional public affairs programming to consider the impact of narrative and storytelling on public life today.
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What gets you curious? Virtual experiences, celestial bodies, water worlds or maybe just the tiniest mysteries inside your brain? The endlessly curious and curiously funny, Gillian Jacobs (Community, Netflix's LOVE) and Diona Reasonover (NCIS), step off set to go on tangents with real-life astronauts, astrophysicists, science artists, mathematician-types and other really smart people that investigate what seems impossible.
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The Podcast from Science Fiction in San Francisco – A perfect fit. Located in the City, we host a monthly series of author readings from the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and genre literary fields, hosted by Terry Bisson. In partnership with the Balboa Theatre, we also host a monthly movie, the last Wed. of the month.
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Alan Moore discusses his novel The Great When.
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We’ve seen social media disrupt elections before, but this time feels louder, angrier. Maybe it’s the retreat of content moderators, maybe the metamorphosis of Twitter into X, and maybe the growing sophistication of adversaries from Russia, China and Iran. Today, we are lucky to have two key veterans of the social media battlescape join us on In Re…
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The data tells us that every minute of every day, 20 people are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Ashley Bendiksen has turned her personal experience with domestic abuse into a calling to prevent domestic violence and help victims. Bendiksen is an author, domestic abuse survivor, speaker, and an award-winning activist. …
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At this moment, weeks shy of the 2024 election, the polls are showing that the race between Trump and Harris is neck and neck. It’s tight nationally. It’s tight in all the swing states. If you think you know who’s going to win, you’re going on gut, not numbers. So what good are polls this year? In Eric's class at the University of Chicago, he put t…
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Science fiction and fantasy are full of wondrous libraries containing everything from powerful artifacts to some dang good reads. How does the idealized view of libraries in speculative fiction compare with the real-life libraries, which are under attack by would-be censors and culture warriors? Also, we talk to award-winning author Ken Liu about h…
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Cara Giaimo discuses Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Living Wonders.
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Lies and disinformation are as old as humanity itself. But Steven Brill argues that the witches brew of 30-year-old legislative consequences; mixed with technological innovation; and bad actors threaten the lives of democratic institutions and truth itself. Brill is an award-winning journalist, author, and the founder of Court TV, The American Lawy…
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Char Miller discusses his book Burn Scars: A Documentary History of Fire Suppression, from Colonial Origins to the Resurgence of Cultural Burning.
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It may be a scarcity mindset that views plenty as better than a world where nations and people compete over limited, scarce resources. But Francis Gavin explains that even in a world of plenty, there are vexing international challenges for which the United States is not prepared. Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and the inaugur…
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Catherynne Valente discusses her novels Space Opera and Space Oddity.
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It has become general wisdom in these polarized times that all the news you consume is slanted one way or another. The New York Times is not all the news that’s fit to print and Fox News not fair and balanced, to quote mottoes those newsrooms used to use. Now, most would agree that the Times reports through a left-leaning lens, and Fox frankly call…
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It's time for some writing advice! We talk about how to raise the stakes in a story without wrecking it. What exactly do we mean by "stakes," anyway, and does raising them always involve some kind of plot twist? Later in the episode we talk to the creators and musicians behind the blog Women of Noise to learn more about the women who rule electroni…
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Neuroscientist Richard Cytoowic discusses his book Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age: Coping with Digital Distraction and Sensory Overload.
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The shear amount of media generated and consumed in the United States every day is simply staggering. Eric Deggans reminds us that the stories we tell, tell us something about ourselves—whether those stories are about music, or politics, or race. Deggans is NPR’s first full-time TV critic and media analyst, providing reviews, feature stories, comme…
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The impact of climate change on the world around us is there for everyone to see—from stronger and more frequent storms to the loss of Arctic Sea ice. But Sherri Goodman says the threat isn’t just to crops or the polar bears, but to American national security. Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Pr…
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The stories journalists tell can stretch from the personal to the public. Francesca Mari is no different, giving us narratives and an understanding of personal health crises, the challenge of housing, and the kinds of shelter offered by both families and physical structures. Francesca Mari is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine foc…
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Disinformation has a long history in the United States—often taking the form of storytelling. Best-selling author Annalee Newitz explains how stories have been weaponized—historically and today—and charts a path to a more peaceful future for all Americans. Newitz writes fiction and nonfiction about the intersection of science, technology and cultur…
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Sarah Pinsker discusses her books Haunt Sweet Home and Lost Places.
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Johnny Compton discusses his novel Devils Kill Devils.
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The goal of modern disinformation campaigns is not necessarily to turn audiences into true believers but rather to turn them into cynics, to persuade them that you can’t trust anything said by any institution, whether media or science or government. In this world view, there is no such thing as objective truth, everyone is biased or otherwise untru…
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Science fiction is great at helping people get used to strange concepts — or people — and making us see them as more "normal." But what does "normal" mean, and is it always a good thing? Later in the episode, we talk to Rob Cameron, author of the new novel Daydreamer, about writing neurodivergent characters.…
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Dan Slater discusses his novel The Incorruptibles.
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Annalee Newitz discusses her book Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind
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When someone disrespects you in a subtle way, with plausible deniability, it can do just as much damage as overt bigotry. So we're talking about microaggressions — what they are, and how science fiction explores them but also perpetuates them. And later in the episode, we talk to Stanford professor Evelyn Douek about what's next for content moderat…
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Iris Yamashita discusses her novel Village in the Dark.
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The Original Fact Checker: How To Know What's True with The Post's Glenn Kessler (Election Repost)
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In Reality is taking a summer break, so this is an episode we’ve posted before, but I thought that in the middle of a US Presidential campaign, it might be a good idea to review my conversation with Glenn Kessler, editor of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker column and arguably the creator of the fact checking industry. In the Post, Glenn and his t…
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Keith Donohue discusses his novel The Girl in the Bog.
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We know healthcare means hospitals and stethoscopes, and x-rays, and bloodwork, and prescriptions. But Dr. Dean-David Schillinger says stories are the key to healthcare—both our willingness to tell them; and our caregiver’s ability to listen and understand them. Schillinger is a primary care physician, scientist, author, and public health advocate.…
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It’s easy to think that people and animals are incapable of coexistence. But Ruth Ganesh warns that mindset is dangerous to biodiversity, to the existence of some of planet earth’s most remarkable creatures, and even to humanity. Ganesh is a creative conservationist and philanthropist with a particular interest in environmental issues. She has spen…
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Martin Hogue discusses the stories behind the words and pictures in his book Making Camp.
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