About this episode

This episode explores the intersection of space pathogens in science fiction and real evolutionary biology, focusing on the Alien franchise.

A parasite that senses you coming. An “egg” that waits for the right moment. A life cycle designed to turn a host into a nursery. Space pathogen sci-fi stories hit so hard because they borrow from real evolutionary tricks, and in this episode we put that biology under a microscope as we dissect out some of our sci-fi favorites. We start with the Alien franchise and unpack what makes xenomorph horror feel believable: host detection, parasite-like behavior, and uncomfortable parallels on Earth ...

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Infectious Science Podcast podcast page.