Unobtainium Podcast

Why does the museum look like a spaceship? What does Luke Skywalker have in common with a scientist? And could an N-1 Starfighter actually fly?Come inside with us.  What’s really inside George Lucas’s new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art? We got a sneak peek—and it wasn’t quite what we expected.UNOBTAINIUM hosts planetary scientist Dr. Amy Mainzer and writer/producer Adam Sigel head inside the spectacular new Los Angeles museum expecting plenty of Star Wars. And yes, there are spaceships, droids and enough Death Star vibes to keep two lifelong fans happy. But Star Wars represents only a small part of what Lucas is trying to do here.The museum is really an exploration of narrative art: the images societies have used to tell stories. These are the stories that people need to come to understand who they are,  from ancient cave paintings and mythology to illustration, comics, movie posters and science fiction. That leads Amy and Adam straight to Joseph Campbell, the Hero’s Journey and the Power of Myth—ideas that profoundly influenced George Lucas and the creation of Star Wars. And then things get very UNOBTAINIUM. Amy makes a surprising connection between the Hero’s Journey and the scientific process itself: leaving what we know, venturing into the unknown, facing uncertainty, gaining new knowledge and bringing it home. Along the way, we explore the museum’s spaceship-like architecture, its unusual argument about “high” and “low” art, the science behind Star Wars technology—and an N-1 Starfighter that raises the inevitable question: how much energy would it actually take to make that thing fly? Come with us for a sneak peek inside the Lucas Museum—and a journey through Star Wars, science, mythology and the stories human beings use to understand the universe and ourselves. UNOBTAINIUM: Where great movies meet real science. #LucasMuseum #StarWars #GeorgeLucas #LucasMuseumOfNarrativeArt #ScienceFiction #JosephCampbell #HeroJourney #Science #UnobtainiumPodcast #LosAngeles    Follow Unobtainium Podcast! Website: unobtainiumpodcast.comWatch full episodes on https://www.youtube.com/@unobtainiumpod Stay connected: Instagram: @unobtainiumpod TikTok: @unobtainiumpod Bluesky: @unobtainiumpod.bsky.social X: @unobtainiumpod  

What superhero would Neil deGrasse Tyson be? Where would he go if he could travel through time? And how much bad science will he forgive if a movie tells a great story? And how he grew up an athlete who lived in the geekosphere.In this special bonus mini-episode of UNOBTAINIUM, planetary scientist Dr. Amy Mainzer and producer Adam Sigel revisit their conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson for a wide-ranging trip through science, science fiction and geek culture. Neil reveals why he once imagined himself as “Protector of the Geeks,” explains why the Marvel Universe has a scientific edge over other superhero worlds, and shares his personal rule for giving filmmakers a “hall pass” when the physics isn't quite right. Along the way, we get Neil’s takes on the scientifically impossible storm that launches The Martian, why we happily accept the flux capacitor in Back to the Future, whether real physics could make time travel possible, why he'd rather visit the future than the past, and which ideas might someday let us cross the enormous distances between the stars. Plus: faster-than-light travel, cryosleep, alien civilizations, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Comic-Con, superheroes, atomic wedgies, and the Revenge of the Nerds. If you enjoyed this conversation, check out our full episode with Neil deGrasse Tyson on STAR WARS, the Force, and the science behind a galaxy far, far away. UNOBTAINIUM explores the real science behind the movies and television we love, with scientists, filmmakers and other extraordinary guests. Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of science, movies, television and pop culture.   Follow Unobtainium Podcast! Website: unobtainiumpodcast.comWatch full episodes on https://www.youtube.com/@unobtainiumpod Stay connected: Instagram: @unobtainiumpod TikTok: @unobtainiumpod Bluesky: @unobtainiumpod.bsky.social X: @unobtainiumpod For Neil deGrasse Tyson: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neildegrassetyson Youtube: https://youtube.com/@startalk Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@neildegrassetyson?_r=1&_t=ZT-9736KZJtaIA #NeildeGrasseTyson #starwars #science #scifi #unobtainiumpodcast #physics #space #force #film #moviescience #NeilDeGrasseTyson #ScienceFiction #SciFi #Science #Movies #TimeTravel #Superheroes #Marvel #TheMartian #BackToTheFuture #Aliens #UnobtainiumPodcast #physics #moviescience

Episode DescriptionCould humans really breathe liquid? Could we actually live hundreds of meters beneath the ocean—and what might be waiting for us in the unexplored deep? In this episode of UNOBTAINIUM, hosts Amy and Adam “dive” into the science behind James Cameron’s 1989 sci-fi classic THE ABYSS with Dr. Tina Treude, UCLA professor and expert in marine geomicrobiology.The biggest mystery of all is how much of the deep ocean have we actually explored. Scientists continue to encounter species they’ve never seen before, reminding us that some of the most alien environments we know of are right here on Earth. James Cameron imagined an alien world at the bottom of our own ocean. The remarkable thing is how alien the real one already is.  Hosts Dr. Amy Mainzer and Adam Sigel welcome guest Dr. Tina Treude, a UCLA professor of marine geomicrobiology. They analyze James Cameron's 1989 sci-fi film The Abyss, noting its accurate depiction of deep-sea pressure dynamics.Gas Solubility & The Bends: Under high pressure, gases like nitrogen dissolve faster into a diver's bloodstream. Rapid ascents cause dissolved nitrogen to form gas bubbles, causing decompression sickness ("the bends"), which can block nervous system connections and prove fatal.Decompression Protocols: To avoid decompression sickness, technical divers entering high-pressure environments must undergo controlled decompression in chambers—often lasting days or weeks—to allow nitrogen to slowly diffuse out of the body.2. The Science of Liquid BreathingThe famous scene where a rat breathes oxygenated fluorocarbon fluid reflects real scientific experiments.Mechanism & Benefits: Breathing oxygenated fluorocarbon emulsion prevents lung collapse at extreme depths because liquids are incompressible under pressure.The Physical Limitation: While fluorocarbons can deliver adequate oxygen to the lungs, human respiration with liquids is bottlenecked by fluid viscosity and CO2 removal. Moving dense fluid in and out of the lungs requires tremendous physical effort, making long-term human fluid breathing impractical due to CO2 retention.3. High-Pressure Effects & Saturation DivingNitrogen Narcosis: Diverging from decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis occurs at depths typically below 40 meters (120 feet), where nitrogen exerts an intoxicating, narcotic effect on neural synapses.Ambient Pressure Habitats: The underwater station depicted in The Abyss operates at ambient sea pressure. Divers can enter and exit through an open moon pool without immediate pressure changes because the internal gas pressure matches the external water pressure.Submersibles & ROVs: Dr. Treude notes that while human industrial diving peaked around 300 to 500 meters, modern deep-sea research relies heavily on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to mitigate safety risks.4. Marine Biology & Deep-Sea EcosystemsOxygen Limits in Deep Waters: Dissolved oxygen levels in seawater are roughly 40 times lower than in air. Marine life compensates with high-surface-area external gills and continuous water flow rather than internal lungs.Bioluminescence: Deep-ocean organisms generate light through enzymatic reactions or bacterial endosymbiosis for communication, hunting (e.g., anglerfish lures), and camouflage.Chemosynthesis & Extremophiles: Geothermal heat at hydrothermal vents can support unique microbial life, highlighting ecosystems that thrive entirely independent of surface sunlight.  Follow Unobtainium Podcast! Website: unobtainiumpodcast.comWatch full episodes on https://www.youtube.com/@unobtainiumpod Stay connected: Instagram: @unobtainiumpod TikTok: @unobtainiumpod Bluesky: @unobtainiumpod.bsky.social X: @unobtainiumpod For Dr. Tina Treudehttps://faculty.epss.ucla.edu/~ttreude/https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/tina-treude/ #TheAbyssMovie #JamesCameron #DeepSea #OceanScience #Liquid Breathing #ScienceFiction #MarineBiology #Nitrogen Narcosis #UnobtainiumPodcast #DeepSeaExploration #TinaTreude #AmyMainzer #MovieBreakdown #SciFiMovies  

What does it take to build a robot that can explore another world—and maybe even help us find extraterrestrial life?In this special bonus mini-episode of UNOBTAINIUM, roboticist Dr. Hiro Ono takes us from the surface of Mars to the hidden ocean of Enceladus, Saturn’s icy moon.Hiro, who joined us for our episode on BLADE RUNNER and the future of robotics, worked on the Mars Perseverance rover, helping develop autonomous vision systems that allow a robot millions of miles from Earth to understand its surroundings and navigate the Martian landscape. With signals between Earth and Mars taking minutes to arrive, a rover can't simply wait for a human to tell it what to do—it needs some ability to perceive, decide and act for itself. Then we travel much farther out.Hiro explains the thinking behind EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor), a snake-like robot designed to tackle one of the wildest challenges in planetary exploration: navigating the cracks in the icy crust of Enceladus, where scientists believe a vast liquid-water ocean lies beneath the surface. Could an adaptable robot someday follow those pathways beneath the ice—and search an alien ocean for signs of life? It’s a fascinating look at AI, machine vision, autonomous robots, Mars exploration, astrobiology, Enceladus and the engineering we may need to explore some of the most promising places for life beyond Earth.And if you enjoy Hiro here, check out our full BLADE RUNNER episode, where we explore how close today's robots and artificial intelligence are getting to the science fiction imagined on screen.Subscribe to UNOBTAINIUM for more conversations about the surprising science behind the movies and TV we love.Follow Unobtainium Podcast! Website: unobtainiumpodcast.com Stay connected: Instagram: @unobtainiumpod TikTok: @unobtainiumpod Bluesky: @unobtainiumpod.bsky.social X: @unobtainiumpod For Dr. Hiro Ono:https://hiroono.com/en/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiroono/#Unobtainium #SpaceExploration #Robotics #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Mars #Perseverance #Enceladus #Astrobiology #NASA #SpaceRobotics #BladeRunner #SearchForLife

Is the "Rage Virus" in 28 Days Later scientifically plausible? Amy and Adam sit down with Dr. Sima Yasmin—medical doctor, former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, author and disease detective! – to separate the real science of viruses and pandemics from one of cinema’s most frightening fictional outbreaks. What exactly is a virus—and is it even alive? Could scientists really use a virus to alter human behavior? Why are viruses used as vectors in cutting-edge gene therapies (like CAR-T cancer therapy)? They also discuss incubation periods, the math of R-naught, split-brain Klüver-Bucy syndrome, and how real is the "Rage Virus" in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's classic 2002 film 28 Days Later. Full SummaryHosts Dr. Amy Mainzer (UCLA planetary scientist) and Adam Sigel (Hollywood writer/producer) welcome guest Dr. Sima Yasmin, a medical doctor and former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Officer.Are Viruses Alive? Dr. Yasmin explains that viruses are non-living packages of genetic material (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a protein capsid. They cannot replicate independently and must hijack host cellular machinery to reproduce.Viral DNA in Humans: Estimates suggest that 10% to 12% of the human genome is viral in origin. Over millions of years, ancestral viral infections integrated permanently into human DNA.2. Viral Vectors: Science vs. Cinematic TropesIn 28 Days Later, scientists at a Cambridge laboratory use an Ebola-based viral vector to alter primate behavior.Real-World Viral Vectors: Humans have used viruses as delivery mechanisms since 1972. In modern medicine (such as CAR-T cancer therapy), harmless viruses (like Adeno-Associated Viruses or AAVs) are modified to carry therapeutic genes into human cells to train the immune system against cancer.Movie vs. Reality: In real life, medical researchers use non-pathogenic viruses as vectors rather than lethal filoviruses like Ebola. Furthermore, while Ebola in movies is depicted as causing external bleeding from every orifice, real-world Ebola primarily kills through extreme dehydration and electrolyte disruption.3. Incubation Periods and R-Naught10-Second Incubation: The film features a hyper-fast incubation period of 10 to 20 seconds. Dr. Yasmin notes this is scientifically unrealistic. Even rabies—the closest real-world equivalent to a "rage" virus—has an incubation period ranging from 3 to 8 weeks (or up to years), depending on how close the bite site is to the central nervous system.The Math of R-naught: The basic reproduction number (R-naught) represents the average number of secondary infections caused by one infected individual in a susceptible population. While measles has an R-naught of 12–18 due to airborne transmission, the fictional Rage Virus would have an extraordinarily high R-naught because infected hosts actively seek out others to attack.4. Neuroscience, the Amygdala, and Human EmpathyThe Amygdala & Klüver-Bucy Syndrome: The scientists in the movie attempt to suppress rage by targeting the brain. Historically, removing the amygdala in primates rendered them docile and fearless. This study would lead to the understanding of Klüver-Bucy syndrome,  Societal Reflections: The hosts note that the film uses a viral outbreak as a lens to explore deeper human flaws. While societal collapse is triggered by a laboratory experiment, the ultimate threats to the survivors stem from human violence, power dynamics, and a lack of empathy. Ultimately, the narrative shows that human connection and community remain the primary forces for survival. Follow Unobtainium Podcast! Website: unobtainiumpodcast.comWatch full episodes on https://www.youtube.com/@unobtainiumpod Stay connected: Instagram: @unobtainiumpod TikTok: @unobtainiumpod Bluesky: @unobtainiumpod.bsky.social X: @unobtainiumpod For Dr. Seema Yasminhttps://seemayasmin.com/ #28DaysLater #DannyBoyle #AlexGarland #SeemaYasmin #Viruses #AmyMainzer #unobtainiumpodcast #MovieBreakdown #SciFiMovies #HorrorMovies #Science #Unobtainium