You've encountered technobabble when Doc Brown is shouting about flux capacitors in Back To The Future, or when Isaac Asimov writes about positronic brains. Astrophysicist Katie Mack and NASA JPL technologist Manan Arya discuss how science fact relates to science fiction. 

This episode is a collaboration with Eric Molinsky of Imaginary Worlds; listen to his episode about technobabble, featuring ACTUAL HOLLYWOOD TECHNOBABBLERS, at http://imaginaryworldspodcast.org.

The show's online home is http://theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow.  

The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the best podcasts on the interwaves. Find all our podcasts at http://radiotopia.fm.

The Allusionist

Allusionist 64: Technobabble

Small adventures in the English language, by Helen Zaltzman from @AnswerMeThis for @Radiotopia from PRX.

Visit http://theallusionist.org, and/or subscribe on iTunes http://tinyurl.com/iTunesAllusionist.

Answer Me This! is an award-winning weekly comedy podcast, hosted by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann, which has been answering the world's questions since 2007. Email your questions to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com, call 0208 123 5877 or Skype AnswerMeThis. Subscribe via iTunes at http://iTunes.com/AnswerMeThis