The Spinal Frontier: An Alien Physiology Podcast

Kelley and Eryn have thought a lot about Klingon parts in past episodes, but here we focus on them as a species. While they have a lot of variation, they have a few things in common: vestigial (?) foot horns, big ol' bones, blood as a food group, and two of… well, apparently, just about everything. IG: @spinalfrontierpod  Tumblr: @spinalfrontierpod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spinalfrontierpod

Kelley and Eryn stay completely on-topic talking about physiological adaptations for humanoid communication: squeaky toys, the color of magic, and CRYSTALS. Baby not learning to communicate fast enough? Take a lesson from the Bynar and plug it into your computer. Enjoy this longer-than-usual episode! Also, we've been making the rounds lately: Check us out on the Treksperts Quiz, and Eryn's scorekeeper role in the Strange New Pod x Treksperts Quiz livestream for Picard Week II! IG: @spinalfrontierpod Tumblr: @spinalfrontierpod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spinalfrontierpod

Kelley and Eryn bring themselves closer to Actually Good Sound quality in their bedroom closet, where they explore one of Eryn's favorite topics: Star Trek ships. Highlights include biomimicry, Breen brine, space pinecones, meaty walls, Borg queen conspiracy theories, rearranging one's “inside goop,” wall masseuses, and genetically modified jelly furniture. Also, in case you didn't know, we like it when we're filled with soup. Listen after the credits for a very special explanation.

Kelley and Eryn resume Season 2 after a holiday break to talk about jawless fish, vampires, ALL the filter feeders, and where Klingons go to buy their shoes. Enjoy an ad-free 2023, and check out our new socials! IG: @spinalfrontierpod Tumblr: @spinalfrontierpod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spinalfrontierpod

On this very special episode of the Spinal Frontier, Kelley and Eryn watch along with Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 Episode 15, Masquerade, to finally answer the question: What the hal is Dal? Edited by Eryn and Kelley, hokey theme song by Kelley Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com YouTube channel coming soon :) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn do their best to figure out what, exactly, a Tellarite looks like. Turns out, "How many fingers am I holding up?" might depend on which franchise (or starship) you're in! Edited by Eryn and Kelley, hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com YouTube channel coming soon :) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This week Kelley and Eryn are still talking about extreme organisms, but this time, we're talking about aliens that survive and thrive in extreme temperatures. What's going on with Tholians? What the heck is happening under a Breen's suit? How big is a tubeworm? Can Eryn remember the word hemocyanin? Let's find out! Edited by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This week Kelley and Eryn piggyback off of the hazards of space travel to talk about Trek's various aliens that live in its vacuum! Are gormaganders the pandas of the 24th century? How does Species 8472 feel about Mountain Dew and what are they even made of anyways? Let's find out! A note on temperature figures: the sun-side of the James Webb Space Telescope gets up to 400 degrees Celsius while the instruments on the opposite side need to be -266 degrees Celsius for optimal operation. Edited by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn discuss some of the challenges of dealing with gravity and radiation in space: fried nervous systems, improbable evolutionary events, and melting faces. Enjoy Kelley's rant about how nerves work, because you're getting the same lecture she's been giving her students for free! In case you missed it: Listen to our guest episode of Where's Beverly! Editing by Eryn and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, Twitter @spinalfrontier, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn are married, moved, and minorly late in their return for season 2! We're talking phage homunculuses (homunculi?), the 90's band Hanson's contributions to science, mad cow disease, and other ways Julian Bashir likes to spend his time. We're so excited to be back-- stay tuned for the rest of the season! Editing by Eryn, hoke theme music by Kelley. Talk to us: IG @spinalfrontierpod, Twitter@spinalfrontier, spinalfronterpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

SNW spoilers ahead. It's the end of Season One! Are we talking about Strange New Worlds, or about Spinal Frontier? YES! We're on location (a hotel room, we are very committed) talking about the absolute tidal wave of new life history information we learned about Trek's hottest Big Bad humanoid species, the Gorn. Spoiler alert: they're lizards, they're parasites, they're sharks! We cannot wait to see adults in Season 2! We'll be back in September with more mostly-scientific takes on our favorite Trek franchises! Editing by Eryn and Kelley, and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn are back to discuss the adaptations that apparently help Star Trek humanoids avoid attack: noodly appendages, basketball heads, anxiety spirals, stabby crabby hands, and the classic de-escalation technique of spitting right in someone's face. Editing and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, Twitter (yes, we're back now!) @spinalfrontier, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Hey... we got COVID. We feel okay, but we sound... well, you don't want to listen to us sound like that right now. See you in July for the last two episodes of our season!

CW: Mentions of eugenics. It's a long one! Kelley and Eryn discuss the most famous genetically augmented characters in Star Trek lore, and just a few ethical implications of editing genomes. Spoiler: we conclude that consent, genetic diversity, and cultural/neurological diversity are necessary to humanity! What is CRISPR? https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html Editing and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

(Dr.) Kelley and Eryn are trying something new-ish this episode: talking about the things they think make the Trill (and their softshell scorpion symbionts) mutually beneficial. Editing by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: IG: @spinalfrontierpod Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

*MILD SPOILERS* Kelley and Eryn were soooo patient waiting for Picard Season 2 to end so they could gently spoil episode 2 in their excitement to talk all about these skulls! We're talking eared skulls, green skulls, purple skulls, skulls that were meant to take a hit, ridgey skulls, toothy skulls, and skulls with weird holes. Thank you again to our friends Sophia and Adrienne at Where's Beverly (https://www.spreaker.com/show/wheres-beverly) and Jeff from Starfleet Leadership Academy (https://www.starfleetleadership.academy/) for making sure we did not miss out on these skulls, and for connecting us with Neville Page, their masterful creator. Do yourself a favor and go follow all of these folks on the socials, because we adore them! Edited by Eryn, hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information: Instagram @spinalfrontierpod, email spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com

In this special episode, Kelley and Eryn wonder out loud for like 27 minutes whether that assimilation life is really so bad… biologically speaking. Topics include tongues with smiley faces, USB Steve Carrell, standing against Hugh erasure, real-life microscopic self-reproducing biological robots, and our resident Purrengi, Soft, who was thankfully quiet the whole show. We are so desperate for Picard Season 2 to end so we can follow our “no current season” rule and finally talk about the dang Borg skull. So, so desperate. Xenobots paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2112672118 Edited by Eryn and Kelley; hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com If you follow us on Twitter, we will not be monitoring it for the foreseeable future– please contact us via email or Instagram DM! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn try--and, trigger warning, fail--not to get too gross talking about parasites: zombie ants, why pregnant people can't change the kitty litter, what is or is not an eel, LeVar Burton's eyedrops, and the beginning of their debate over whether the Borg are symbionts or parasites. (It's not over! Resistance is futile!) Also, if you wish your job was more like a Starfleet commission, please do check out the Starfleet Leadership Academy podcast to learn how! Jeff has some wonderful insights for how anyone can apply the lessons of great Star Trek leaders into their own lives. We really appreciate his takes on how we can all do better. Lots of Kelley's info was sourced from this review paper about parasite mind control: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00572/full Edited by Eryn; hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn try their hand at staying on topic discussing hand morphology: hand hugs, aye-ayes, octopus stuff (are you surprised?), new perspectives on old Trek, and accidental pickpocketing at the bank. Edited by Eryn and Kelley; hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn get a snootful of some of the most salient aspects of breathing in Star Trek: cheating at sports, hints for healthful living, butt breathing, the most interesting man in the world, and the rapture of the sea. Thanks again to Seán Ferrick and Seo Hurley (@CloneStarPod) and Jeff Akin (@SFLApodcast) for including us in the #TrekForUkraine fundraiser! The recording of our conversation is in part 2, available on CloneStar's YouTube channel. Edited by Eryn (!!), and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Show notes: Kelley and Eryn discuss a rainbow of blood in this episode. Topics include avoiding censorship, Breen as deep-sea fish people, little green lizards, and a brief but comprehensive and extremely relevant summary of Demolition Man. Editing and hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn chat about the different prostheses of Star Trek, and the special abilities they confer. Kelley regularly imitated Geordi's VISOR with her headbands as a kid-- bless the early 90s--although it didn't help her see sweat. We also talk about the real version of the VISOR, pseudopupils, and why the Borg versions of ourselves would probably look like Minions. Hokey theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn are talkin' eyeballs: wiggly pupils, seeing (and tasting) magnets, Gorn-eating flies, and slow two-hand punches. We're also retiring the Andorians See With Their Antennae thing, to Eryn's chagrin. This episode's sponsor is also very, uhh, special-- don't miss it! Hokey (finally updated) theme song by Kelley. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn make a ton of sense discussing important aspects of humanoid sensory organs: Invertebrate Bruce Willis, vertebrate tardigrades, what the floor of Quark's Bar tastes like, sensory deprivation buckets, and Andorians and Kelpiens AGAIN (Sorry not sorry! The hot takes were really good this time!!). And, the best (?) news, Where The Hal is Dal is back! Thanks again to our friend Joanna for our newly acquired reference materials, and to Eryn's mom Leslie for our new voice recorder and pod swag. Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn stay very on topic when discussing hybrids: ligers, biliverdin, and The Great Naomi Wildman Forehead Spike Controversy. We hope you subscribe and listen every second and fourth Friday of the month! Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn talk about all the things that are definitely shown in the classic TNG episode, The Chase: natural panspermia, convergent evolution, comets, 90s couch cushions, and most importantly, why there is no such thing as lichen DNA! Also, you won't want to miss our argument about which humanoid species are some of the 19 allegedly descended from the progenitor... We hope you subscribe and listen every second and fourth Friday of the month! Links to learn more about important topics Bashing Holes in the Tale of Earth's Troubled Youth, Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01074-6 Comet Impacts May Have Jump Started Life on Earth, space.com, https://www.space.com/20102-comets-impact-earth-life.html Formation of dipeptides in interstellar model ices, The Astrophysical Journal, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/765/2/111 Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Kelley and Eryn talk about Lieutenant OctoDad, innies and outies, Kelley's obsession with Kelpiens, walnut heads, and a teapot proboscis. Also, we're introducing our new bit, What The Hal Is Dal?! We hope you subscribe and listen every second and fourth Friday! Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com

Our premiere episode focuses on the topic that started it all: what is up with Ferengi ears? Kelley and Eryn talk about bats, elephants, radiators, sexual selection, neutral mutations, and the Cold Swamp versus Hot Swamp controversy. We hope you subscribe and listen every second and fourth Friday… it's probably not going to get any less weird, though, so buckle up! Links to learn more about... How bats focus ultrasound pulses https://www.livescience.com/1158-bat-wrinkly-face-improves-sonar.html Scientific American activity to experiment with ear morphology https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ears-do-their-design-size-and-shape-matter Stahl's ear https://www.childrens.com/specialties-services/conditions/stahls-ear Contact information IG: @spinalfrontierpod Twitter: @spinalfrontier Email: spinalfrontierpod@gmail.com

We're about to leave spacedock! Join Kelley (she/her) and Eryn (they/them) as they share the conversations they were already having about the physiology of Star Trek aliens anyway. Follow us on Twitter @spinalfrontier and on Instagram @spinalfrontierpod! Ridiculous music by Kelley.