Safeguarding Sound Science

Safeguarding Sound Science's Mat Kaplan talks to scientists, science communicators, and other experts to explore who's behind some of the more insidious efforts to sow distrust in science, how those efforts filter down to schools and classrooms, and what is being done to ensure that everyone — especially students — is exposed to accurate science.

Episode 17: Star Trek Meets Evolutionary Biology (And Good Things Happen)

November 26, 2025

Star Trek is one of the greatest science fiction universes ever created, spawning 12 main television series and 13 movies over the last 60 years. Who among us hasn't tried the "live long and prosper" hand signal or used our old flip phones as a communicator? But what about the science behind the fiction? Mohamed Noor, professor of biology at Duke University, is the author of Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds. He is also a science consultant for the Star Trek franchise, and he joins us to discuss the ways in which Star Trek characters and plotlines can be used to understand fundamental aspects of evolutionary biology. Joining Noor is Benjamin Ahr Harrison, co-host of the wildly popular and enjoyable Star Trek podcast, The Greatest Generation. Together with host Mat Kaplan, they share laughs, show off amazing recall of specific Star Trek episodes, and delve into the biological science of alien life forms as they boldly go where only a few humans have gone before.

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