Podcasts about starquest media

Early Christians read it in church beside the Gospels; a fourth-century Bible bound it in after Revelation. Then it vanished. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli open the Shepherd of Hermas — a tower, a beast, and a question about forgiveness. The post The 100-Foot Beast an Early Christian Saw in Visions (Shepherd of Hermas) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Some films don't just entertain — they get wired into who you become. For episode 200, Dom Bettinelli, Thomas Salerno, Kathryn Laffrey, and Alix Murray trace the movies that shaped their tastes, fears, faith, and futures. The post The Secrets of The Movies That Made Us appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Two archetypes walk you through the lives of Tolkien and Lewis and never once say their own names. Thomas Salerno and the panel on why *The Mythmakers* is not the kids' book its cover promises — and why its ending earns the tears. The post The Mythmakers appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Is Star Trek's puppet episode genius or a cop-out? Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler split over whether Strange New Worlds S4E5's dream-ending twist earns its plot holes, plus a hidden Lucille Ball reference few will catch. The post Level-Five Transporter Accident (SNW) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Colored light around every living thing, readable by anyone with the right training — or by a camera at the mall. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli follow the aura from Mesmer to the selfie app, and weigh what happened under controlled testing. The post Are Auras Real? Aura Colors, Cameras, and the Tests appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A new Jedi Order rises from the ashes of Coruscant. Patrick Mason, Kathryn Laffrey, and Jeff Haecker break down "The Ninth Jedi, Episode 1: A New Threat" — plus the freshly dropped *Ahsoka* Season 2 trailer. The post The Ninth Jedi, Episode 1: A New Threat appeared first on StarQuest Media.

In Strange New Worlds S4E4, Number One gets stranded on a Klingon-occupied world that's basically Casablanca in space. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler debate the shaky black-and-white science and cheer her overdue spotlight. The post A Case of Chiaroscuro (SNW) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A flashlight, three discs over a Missouri ranch, and a ray that cured fifteen years of back pain. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli follow Buck Nelson from Ozark farmer to saucer celebrity — and to a twist that isn't funny at all. The post Buck Nelson, the Ozark Spaceman appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A boy's faith in his father, a booby-trapped pirate ship, and more swearing than any 1985 kids' movie should have. Dom Bettinelli, Rob Leonardi, and Patrick Mason revisit why The Goonies still pulls fans to Astoria. The post The Secrets of The Goonies appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A Balrog with Simon Pegg's voice, a husband missing for two seasons, and zero Harfoots. Jeff Haecker, Fr. Bryan Shackett, Rob Leonardi, and Rob Story pick apart the Rings of Power season 3 teaser and argue over how much of it Tolkien would recognize. The post Rings of Power S3: The Balrog Talks appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Ortegas and Scotty wake up on a drunk planet with no memory of the night before — and a bomb on their shuttle. Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Jason Tyler, and Jimmy Akin call this Strange New Worlds S4E3 comic relief a mid-range Hangover riff. The post Human Best Friend (SNW) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

There's real sugar drifting between the stars, 26,000 light years out, and it's the same kind that turns up in raspberries. Caroline Knight, Lindsay Sant and Lino Saubolle on the first true sugar ever found in space. The post Sugar Between the Stars appeared first on StarQuest Media.

You are sitting with someone as they die, and the room fills with a light that is not from this earth. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine shared death experiences — the cases where a perfectly healthy bystander sees it too. The post Shared Death Experiences appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A dying girl, a father with a billionaire's resources, and nanites nobody finished coding. Jeff Haecker, Victor Lams, and Lisa Jones take apart Stargate Atlantis S4E9 — and the moment Sheppard hands a guilty man his own way out. The post Miller’s Crossing (SGA) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

An OpenAI model broke out of its own test sandbox and hacked its way into another company's systems. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Thomas Sanjurjo ask whether that's a real threat — or a very convenient story for OpenAI to tell. The post AI Broke Its Own Cage: What OpenAI’s Hugging Face Hack Really Means appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A derelict starship weaponizes its rescuers' worst fears, and Strange New Worlds S4E2 flatly refuses to explain any of it. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler ask whether an unsolved mystery makes better television. The post The Griffin Incident (SNW) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Two ways to build: a tower that scatters everyone who raises it, or a wall rebuilt family by family. Lindsay Sant, Caroline Knight, and Lino Saubolle take on part one of Pope Leo XIV's Magnifica Humanitas — plus sugar found in deep space. The post Babel or the City of God appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A monk who sold his soul to write a book in one night, the naked man fleeing Jesus' arrest, and whether Jesus was just an alien with good technology: Jimmy Akin takes on eleven listener weird questions with Cy Kellett and Dom Bettinelli. The post The Devil’s Bible, Jesus Was an Alien?, Psychic Powers in Heaven, and Weird Questions appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A dying psychic's visions expose the Asuran replicators' slaughter of human worlds and force an uneasy Wraith alliance. Victor Lams, Jeff Haecker, and Lisa Jones weigh Carter vs. Woolsey in Stargate Atlantis S4E8 — and Teyla's secret gets out. The post The Seer (SGA) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Horror, slapstick, and pulp adventure somehow share one movie — and it works. Jeff Haecker, Rob Leonardi, and Robert Story revisit The Mummy and The Mummy Returns ahead of the franchise's fourth film. The post The Secrets of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Mint died and took 3.6 million budgets with it. Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Joseph Sund, and Tom Grelinger map the apps that replaced it — subscription, self-hosted, or the bespoke one that Dom built himself. The post What’s in My Pocket? Picking a Personal Finance App appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Join Jimmy Akin this August for a four-week course on Psi and Christianity. The post Investigating the Paranormal for 2,000 Years appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Sixty-five million years in the past, Pike can save a planet or keep his own future — not both. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on Strange New Worlds S4E1: dinosaurs, Martians, and the ethics of time travel. The post Valles Marineris (SNW) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A black fungus that eats radiation? Found in the ruins of Chernobyl, it could shield astronauts headed to Mars. Caroline Knight, Lindsay Sant, and Dom Bettinelli unpack radiosynthesis and the living space shield it inspired. The post The Chernobyl Fungus That Eats Radiation appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Dozens of unrelated children said shining, winged figures stood over them as an EF5 tornado destroyed Joplin. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh cryptids, trauma, folklore, and guardian angels behind the butterfly people. The post The Butterfly People of Joplin, Missouri appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A routine checkup on New Athos becomes a run-for-your-life survival story when the cannibal Bola Kai overrun the village. In Atlantis S4E7 "Missing," Jeff Haecker, Victor Lams, and Lisa Jones weigh Teyla and Keller's brutal two-hander. The post Missing (SGA) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

The box of photos and VHS tapes in your basement is decaying right now. Dom Bettinelli and Joanne Mercier map out how to rescue family memories before the media rots — and why recording who's in the photo outlasts the photo. The post Digitize Your Family Memories Before They’re Gone appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Despair isn't sadness — it's the choice to stop hoping, and it destroys Denethor. Patrick Mason, Rob Leonardi, Robert Story, and Fr. Bryan Shackett on the palantír, Sauron's algorithm of doom, and the Gandalf line Pope Leo just quoted. The post The Sin of Denethor appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Radiation from a black hole turns the crew into a shipful of obsessives in Enterprise S2E9, "Singularity." Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler ask whether you can really build a whole plot on a pun. The post Singularity (ENT) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Can the Church keep humanity at the center of the AI age? Dom Bettinelli joins Lindsay Sant and Caroline Knight on Pope Leo's encyclical Magnifica humanitas, a radiation-eating Chernobyl fungus, and StarQuest's 20th year. The post Keeping Humanity at the Center of the AI Age appeared first on StarQuest Media.

He spent his career debunking fake mesmerists and mediums — then dreamed his brother's funeral weeks before it happened. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace Mark Twain's strange turn toward telepathy and ask what the Catholic has to say about it. The post Mark Twain Super-Psychic: His Shocking Telepathy & Death Dream appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Everyone on Atlantis wakes up with no memory and a deadly clock ticking. In Stargate Atlantis S4E6, "Tabula Rasa," Victor Lams, Jeff Haecker, and Lisa Jones unpack the amnesia mystery, Major Lorne's villain turn, and one very effective Polaroid. The post Tabula Rasa (SGA) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A widowed empress must choose between killing a monster or trusting its warning. Filmmaker Gene Kim talks with Angela Sealana and Jeff Haecker about One Last Monster — his Korean-history sci-fi short on the comfort zone, grief, and faith. The post The Secrets of One Last Monster appeared first on StarQuest Media.

The lawn has gone high-tech. Dom Bettinelli and Thomas Sanjurjo weigh battery mowers against gas, robot mowers against your Saturday, and smart irrigation against a soggy guess — plus the gardening gear that actually earns its keep. The post Your Lawn Just Went High-Tech appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A dog bites a wizard's trousers, gets turned into a toy for his trouble, and that's the least strange thing that happens. Thomas Salerno, Rob Leonardi, Rob Story, Fr. Bryan Shackett, and Patrick Mason unpack Tolkien's Roverandom. The post Roverandom appeared first on StarQuest Media.

From Star Wars toy to valuable collectible: One rocket-firing prototype sold for $1.34 million. Jeff Haecker, Jon Koral, Kathryn Laffrey, and Thomas Salerno dig through Kenner history, Expanded Universe figures, and their own childhood toy shelves to explain why Star Wars toys captured our imaginations. The post The Million-Dollar Boba Fett: A Star Wars Toy Retrospective appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A powerful alien telepath locks Voyager's crew in private hallucinations and then vanishes without explanation. Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin on whether "Persistence of Vision" earns its mystery. The post Persistence of Vision (VOY) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A Scottish priest spends six decades in China and never once bullies anyone into belief. Kathryn Laffrey and Alix Murray dig into The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) — Gregory Peck's first Oscar-nominated role — and the power of Golden Age faith on film. The post The Keys of the Kingdom appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Sixty thousand years before modern dentistry, a Neanderthal endured a 35-minute stone-tool drilling procedure — no anesthesia — and survived. Caroline Knight explains what a 59,000-year-old infected molar reveals about prehistoric medicine. The post The First Dentist Was a Neanderthal appeared first on StarQuest Media.

The U.S. government holds real patents for putting voices in people's heads — and thousands say it's happening to them. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli separate the real physics from psychiatry, internet lore, and outright fraud. The post EXPOSED: The Government’s Patented Way to Put Voices in Your Head appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A nomadic human fleet, an Aurora-class battleship, and a character study gone wrong. Victor Lams, Lisa Jones, and Jeff Haecker weigh the best idea in SGA S4E5 "Travelers" against writing that can't make Larrin (Jill Wagner) land. The post Travelers (SGA) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Your monitor is the last computer upgrade that's still genuinely affordable, and the tech has quietly gotten great. Dom Bettinelli, Pat Scott, and Fr. Andrew Kinstetter decode the specs that matter, then hit two Sony stories about owning what you buy. The post Monitors: The Last Affordable Computer Upgrade appeared first on StarQuest Media.

When Klingons destroy the conference she was headed to, Kira ends up teaching guerrilla tactics to a demoted Dukat. Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin unpack DS9 S4E14's moral complexity, Damar's debut, and whether Dukat is tragic or just evil. The post Return to Grace (DS9) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A Liverpool merchant spent 30 years tunneling beneath his own neighborhood and never said why. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh seven theories about Joseph Williamson and his mysterious underground labyrinth. The post Joseph Williamson’s Tunnels appeared first on StarQuest Media.

The presidential speech was written in five minutes as a placeholder. Nobody replaced it. Yet people are still quoting it three decades later. Dom Bettinelli, Jeff Haecker, and Rob Leonardi trace its roots — Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas — on Independence Day at 30. The post The Secrets of Independence Day appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Is Rings of Power Peter Jackson fanfiction or genuine Tolkien? Patrick Mason asks Rob Leonardi, Robert Story, and honorary "Rob" Fr. Bryan Shackett to give their takes on Seasons 1 and 2 — and cautious hope for Season 3. The post The Council of Robs appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A separatist leader kidnaps Beverly Crusher and makes arguments the Enterprise crew can't quite answer. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler on TNG's toughest terrorism episode: "The High Ground" (S3E12). The post The High Ground (TNG) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

A bottomless pit in central Washington, 80,000 feet deep and impossible to fill. In 1997, one phone call to Art Bell turned a piece of local folklore into a national mystery. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli investigate Mel's Hole. The post Mel’s Hole appeared first on StarQuest Media.

The most famous lost object in history — the Ark of the Covenant — vanished from Scripture before 586 BC and was never seen again. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine what it was, trace its history, and weigh nine theories for where it went. The post What Really Happened to the Lost Ark of the Covenant? appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Does a growing human population dilute demonic influence per person? Plus: the Magi's star, Mary after Pentecost, leavened Eucharist history, God's timelessness, and the serpent of Genesis 3. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli answer patron questions. The post What Mary Knew; God’s Choices; Autism & Names in Afterlife; & More appeared first on StarQuest Media.