{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 606: Deterioration Starts At 30","description":"This week\u2019s episode has a little bit of everything\u2014local politics, a suspicious number of Star Trek\u2013named kittens, some genuinely cool green tech, and a short story that hits you with an existential haymaker. Real Life  Devon\u2019s in a \u201clife is\u2026 fine\u201d zone, which is either stability or the calm before chaos\u2014we\u2019ll let you decide. That leads into a surprisingly interesting question: does a mayor\u2019s party affiliation actually matter at the local level? Texas elections are happening right now, and it sparks a broader conversation about how much politics really trickles down into day-to-day governance. Also on the home front: kids\u2019 birthday parties, which are somehow both joyful and mildly exhausting. Ben has fully entered his foster-dad era\u2014but for kittens. A whole crew of them: Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, and their mom Majel. He claims he didn\u2019t name them, which statistically feels unlikely. Either way, it\u2019s a Starfleet-grade lineup. Meanwhile, Devon\u2019s household remains firmly anti-new-pet, so don\u2019t expect a crossover episode there. We also touch on For All Mankind, and then pivot into the upcoming Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender film\u2014specifically the leaks, early reactions, and what happens when studios lose control of the narrative before release. There\u2019s some real-world legal tension brewing there. Steven\u2026 well, Steven exists this week. (You\u2019ll hear it.)   Future or Now  Devon brings in a heavy one: reports that the independent board overseeing the National Science Foundation has been abruptly dismissed, raising serious concerns about political interference in scientific research and long-term innovation. You can read more here:  https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/28\/trump-fires-national-science-foundation-board  https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-fired-national-science-foundation-board-b2965242.html  This isn\u2019t just bureaucratic reshuffling\u2014it could have real downstream effects on funding, research priorities, and scientific independence. Ben tries to balance things out with something genuinely cool: Mosscrete. https:\/\/gorespyre.com\/  It\u2019s a bioreceptive concrete designed to grow moss directly on buildings using nothing but rain and humidity. No irrigation, no maintenance-heavy systems\u2014just passive, living architecture. It\u2019s one of those ideas that feels obvious in hindsight but actually takes some clever engineering to pull off. This whole topic also dredges up a deep memory: Bill Nye\u2019s moss-and-milk experiment. If you know, you know. If you don\u2019t, you probably just learned something slightly unsettling about childhood science videos. Steven is present in this segment as well. Technically.   Book Club Next Week: Saint Zero of the Hollows and the Eagle Knight by V.M. Ayala https:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/fiction\/saint-zero-of-the-hollows-and-the-eagle-knight\/  \u201cThe only sound Zero heard in their helmet was their own hyperventilating and the gentle pings from their pegasus.\u201d That line alone is doing a lot of work. We\u2019re excited for this one. This Week: Learning To Be Me by Greg Egan http:\/\/thetafiction.com\/story\/learning-to-be-me\/  \u201cI was six years old when my parents told me that there was a small, dark jewel inside my skull, learning to be me.\u201d This story landed hard for all of us. It follows a life from childhood to adulthood in a way that feels deceptively simple\u2014until it isn\u2019t. The structure does a ton of heavy lifting, and the twist is the kind that makes you immediately want to reread it. We get into some big ideas here, especially panpsychism\u2014the notion that consciousness might be a fundamental property of the universe rather than something that just \u201cemerges.\u201d It\u2019s one of those discussions that starts philosophical and ends slightly unsettling. If you like episodes that bounce between grounded real life, big-picture science, and brain-bending fiction, this one\u2019s for you.   ","author_name":"Science Faction Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/www.sciencefactionpodcast.com","html":"