The world's humblest heroes, from plumbers to tardigrades
Inspired by The Super Mario Bros Movie, we're talking about a humble class of heroes whose lives are devoted to infrastructure maintenance and repair. There are heating engineer rogues and space janitors and, of course, plumbers. Later in the episode we’ll head down to Antarctica, where our guest Ariel Waldman spent her summer vacation studying the environment and the tiny creatures who live there – including tardigrades, the world’s greatest microscopic animals!
Notes, citations, etc.
Life Under the Ice, Ariel Waldman’s project documenting tardigrades and other microscopic life in Antarctica
Ariel Waldman, Out There: The Science Behind Sci-Fi Film and TV
Super Mario Bros Movie
Space Sweepers
Brazil
Wall-E
Lexx
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Snowpiercer
Robert Jackson Bennett, The Tainted Cup
Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Minecraft