237: Exotic Solar Systems

Earl Grey: A Star Trek The Next Generation Podcast

"The Chase" and Panspermia. "The Chase" is a sixth season episode of The Next Generation that answered a question many fans had wondered about over the years - why do so many of the species that we see in Star Trek look so similar? This question is answered when the pieces of a puzzle spanning many worlds and billions of years is revealed. A progenitor species found themselves alone in the galaxy four billions years ago and decided to seed many planets with life in the hope that the resulting intelligent species would one day connect and understand each other. In this episode of Earl Grey, hosts Justin Oser and Richard Marquez are joined by special guests Mike Wong and Elise Cutts of the Strange New Worlds: A Science and Star Trek Podcast to discuss "The Chase" and the science behind the idea of panspermia presented in the episode. Panspermia is the theory that life can be introduced in different environments because it was seeded from outer space, whether through natural objects (such as asteroids and comets) or through artificial means. We discuss the science behind panspermia, whether the idea presented in "The Chase" works from a scientific or a storytelling perspective, and how we could know if life on Earth was introduced from space. Chapters Intro (00:01:09) Babel Conference Feedback (00:01:32) Strange New Worlds Podcast (00:04:02) The Chase (00:11:45) Panspermia (00:18:11) Evolution (00:29:03) DNA (00:35:34) Time (00:45:52) Outside Our Solar System (00:57:00) Final Thoughts (01:05:04) Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes 10 seconds Hosts Richard Marquez, Justin Oser GuestMike Wong, Elise Cutts Production Richard Marquez (Editor and Producer) Justin Oser (Producer) Amy Nelson (Producer) Tony Robinson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Michael E Hueter (Associate Producer) Thomas Appel (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)