Chris Beckett returns to the show to talk about his book ‘America City’. Chris has written over 20 short stories and six novels, starting with The Holy Machine published in 2004 and including 'Dark Eden' for which he won the Arthur C. Clark Award in 2012. ‘America City’ describes the consequences of a refugee crisis resulting from climate change, and the slippery slope of propaganda used in service to political power. We talk about how prescient this book was, published in 2017 just after Donald Trump came to power and made the invasion of Canada a shockingly plausible future scenario. We discuss colonialism, herd mentality, the use of social media for propaganda, and the 'othering' of people both domestic and foreign.

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This is the second half of Marty's conversation about paleontology with science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer and paleo-artist Julius Csotonyi. They discuss their lives and careers as people with one foot in science and the other in arts, and the value of art to science. They also talk about speculative evolution and how the science of paleontology can inform exobiology - understanding how life evolved in in the deep past on Earth may teach us lessons about what life could be like in different environments on other planets.

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Science fiction author and icon Robert J. Sawyer speaks with renowned paleo-artist Julius Csotonyi about their shared love of all things paleontological. They discuss Rob’s ‘Quintaglio Ascension’, a trilogy about a species of Nanotyrannus given the time and space to evolve intelligence and their own civilization outside our solar system. They tell us about some of the latest scientific developments in our changing view of dinosaurs, discussing whether and which dinos were warm- vs cold-blooded, avian and non-avian therapods, Opavinea, and the rise of new techniques that have allowed us to detect the colour of these ancient animals. They also talk about the state of science, politics and public education in facing the existential threats of our time, and what we owe to future generations.

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