“Mind Switches in Futurama and Stargate”, Ron Evans, Lihua Huang2012-09-22 (Sci-Fi, math)⁠:

Let P be a permutation expressed as a product of nontrivial disjoint cycles. When writing P as a product of distinct transpositions none equal to a factor of P, what is the smallest number of transpositions that can be used?

We answer this question and give applications to mind-switching problems that have arisen in connection with the popular sci-fi television series Futurama [“Prisoner of Benda” s7e10] and Stargate SG-1.