William Bains on Dark Ecology in 'Shroud'

About this episode

Marty speaks with biochemist and astrobiologist William Bains about Dark Ecology, concluding a series of episodes on the topic.

Marty speaks with biochemist and astrobiologist William Bains on the topic of Dark Ecology, as a final chapter to our 4 previous episodes on this topic with Chris Beckett (Ep 56), Julius Csotonyi (Ep 57-58) and Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ep 59). Dr. Bains is the author of “The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds”, and has earned degrees from the universities of Oxford, Warwick and Stanford, and has held positions at the University of Bath, MIT, Imperial College London, and in addition to f...

People in this episode

Hosts: Marty Kurylowicz, Holly Carson

Guest: William Bains

Topics covered

• Dark Ecology
• Astrobiology
• Biochemistry
• Science Fiction
• Interviews

Keywords

• Dark Ecology
• William Bains
• Astrobiology
• Biochemistry
• The Cosmic Zoo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Bath, MIT, Imperial College London, Oxford, Warwick, Stanford

Books & works: The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds

More episodes of The Science in The Fiction

• Robert J. Sawyer and Julius Csotonyi on Sci-Fi Dinos and Paleontology - Part 1 · June 11, 2026 · 44 min
• Robert J. Sawyer on Sci-Fi Dinosaurs in 'The Quintaglio Ascension' · May 14, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Micaiah Johnson on Necropolitics (Part 2) in 'The Unkilled: White Supremacy's Insidious Preservation of Black Lives' · January 25, 2026 · 47 min
• Micaiah Johnson on Necropolitics (Part 1) in 'Venomous Lumpsucker' · January 10, 2026 · 29 min
• Ned Beauman on Necropolitics in 'Venomous Lumpsucker' · November 18, 2025 · 43 min
• Nicholas Keating Casbarro on World-Building in 'Vitalerium' · September 13, 2025 · 56 min