Probably Science

Comedian Virginia Jones (twitter.com/badiniadones) made a name for herself in Portland before heading to Los Angeles, and she joins fellow Portland transplant Auggie Smith (twitter.com/auggiesmith) this week to help Matt and Andy dive headfirst into: More vegan goth discussion! Punctuating your punchlines! The world's worst comedy show sound guy! A stranger interrupts the show to take a shower! Academic decathlons! Virginia and Andy's trivia prowess! Making things levitate using sound waves! The Flaming Lips parking lot experiment! Is Brooks a hickster? A blue planet that rains glass! David Bowie's waist size! The Hot Jupiters dance troupe! Controlling stem cells with magnets! A new Neptune moon!

San Francisco-based comedian Colleen Watson (@colleen_watson) and Portland-based festival producer/podcaster Charlene Conley (@PatiohPatino) herald Matt's triumphant return from Convergence Con, digging into meaty topics including: The vegan/goth Venn diagram overlap! Portland-based Sasquatch clubs! Choosing to major in biopsychology to spite an ex-boyfriend! Hoods in the woods! Married guys have less AIDS! High-definition porn: Too much definition! Cutlery's affect on perceived flavor! Pineapple and cheese hedgehogs! Charlene's psychic family history! Making igloos! Sharknado! More dolphin rape talk! Marrying buildings! Unlimited teeth for future humans! 3D printing a rocket engine injector! The bullshit time travel rules of the Terminator franchise!

Matt Kirshen takes Probably Science on the road this week for a live taping at Convergence Con (convergence-con.org) featuring The Physics of Superheroes' own Dr. James Kakalios, Minneapolis comedian Tommy Ryman (@tommyryman) and Dan Schlissel from Stand Up Records (@StandUpRecords). Dr. Jim is a professor of experimental physics at the University of Minnesota, and was both a scientific consultant, and a DVD extra feature on the Watchmen movie. This week's episode gets into superconductors, solid state physics, things with "nano" in the title, telescopic eyes, quantum computing, and how to transport science on a boat.

Comedian and Emmy-nominated writer David Angelo (twitter.com/dwangelo) made a name for himself on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon before moving out west in 2012, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case this week to discuss: Fiscal responsibility! eEconomics! Apprenticing as a sandwich artist! Martial arts legend Benny The Jet Urquidez! Yngwie Malmsteen! The effects of light and darkness on cabbage! Curing cancer! A listener microwaves grapes! Science advances courtesy of Denny's! Traveling to Mars via nuclear propulsion! The social contagion of applause! Playing remedial viola! Dick Bright's SRO! Andy and Jesse's roommate writes a screenplay! Andy's jury duty! Advencements in wooden batteries! David gets out of a ticket using a photo of his doppelganger!

Theoretical physicist, author and Barnard College of Columbia University professor Janna Levin (jannalevin.com) invited Matt and Andy to her temporary Venice home where she resides while working at Caltech, and she helped this installment of Probably Science have perhaps the most actual science of any episode yet, delving into: Andy's house troubles! The mathematical basis of theoretical physics! Einstein's explanation of Mercury's odd orbit! Black holes orbiting in three-leaf clovers! Building a device to detect the sounds of oscillating space-time! Black holes banging on the drum of space! Trying to wrap your head around what's actually in a black hole! An explanation of Hawking radiation! Tooling on the pseudo-science movie What The Bleep Do We Know! Chalkboards vs. whiteboards! Andy finally (sort of) understanding relativity! How a black hole could theoretically evaporate! The Large Hadron Collider: Nothing to worry about! The music of Warren Malone! Janna's Moth talk!

Probably Science prodigal son Brooks Wheelan is back! It's been too long, but the Matt-Andy-Brooks triumvirate has reformed, at least for an episode, to get to the bottom of: Apple Records! Hipster Zunes! What Brooks will steal from your awful party! Craig's newfound fame! A Probably Science ripoff! The new Journey singer! Brooks getting a motorcycle! Brooks's ProbSci Rumspringa! Woolly mammoth blood! How much does North Korea really believe? Cockroaches getting too smart for our tricks! Jon Bon Jovi makes an appearance! Light shows with microwaved grapes! Seratonin's impact on sexual preference! Charles Dorner's Hangover manifesto shoutout! Too much radiation to go to Mars! Motion sickness in space! Smarter people don't pick up things in the background! Would you give up intelligence for happiness? Cheating with beta-blockers! Brooks on Adam Devine's House Party! Camping in Joshua Tree!

You can see the hilarious Rory Scovel (twitter.com/roryscovel) on the upcoming TBS comedy Ground Floor, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: Amazon pilots! Small towns with character! Eating in silence! The secret lives of parents! Live-streaming improvised standup! More mosquito news! Saving a baby with a 3D printer! Using avatars to shut up the voices in your head! People with bendy chimp feet! Creepy barefoot pictures of Brice Beckham! Measuring almost absolute zero! Playing guitar while getting brain surgery!

Probably History is back! Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) welcomes Andy Wood (twitter.com/andytwood), Richard Bain (twitter.com/dickbain), Matt Kirshen (twitter.com/mattkirshen) and special guest comedian/sociologist Pat Reilly (twitter.com/reallypatreilly) to take a look at the infamous House of Borgia, the Renaissance family that brought us Pope Alexander VI, incest, murder and the Banquet of Chestnuts!

Matt and Andy go on location to the campus of Caltech this week to welcome PhD candidates, actors (phdmovie.com) and science communicators (phdcomics.com/tv) Crystal Dilworth (twitter.com/PolycrystalhD) and Alexandra Lockwood (twitter.com/AlexCLockwood) to the show, delving into: Dancers moonlighting as scientists! The myth of tryptophan! Preferential treatment for doctors and lords! Penguins getting knighted in Denmark! The PhD Movie! More 3D printer talk! Staring at the night sky! How to search for exoplanets! Hot Jupiters! Requiem for the Kepler telescope! The military importance of figuring out Earth's spherical harmonics! Shocking people's brains to make them better at math! How a damaged brain repairs itself! Male strippers: Turn-on or source of comedy? Empathetic enjoyment of lesbian porn! One-eyed enervation! Why kids make dumb choices! Babies like eyes that are far apart! Malaria mosquitoes are more attracted to humans! Defending your dissertation!

You've seen the very funny John Roy on Conan, Leno and Ferguson, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: Daft Punk's new album! Edmonton's giant mall! Waterslides and skydiving! Tweets from space! Guided By Voices on Mars! Height inflation in professional wrestling! Youtube and Wikipedia holes! 480,000,000 needles in space! An explanation of orbits! Space insanity! The military efforts of Archimedes! Our favorite listener's penis! A working cocaine vaccine! The mystery of the Stevie Nicks coke urban legend! Polio vaccines that create more polio! Chicken pox parties: Bad idea! Human ancestors who couldn't hear well! Juggalo scientists! Soup-conducting hos! An affordable 3D printer! Maron in Space!

Australian comedian/writer/performer Celia Pacquola (twitter.com/CeliaPacquola) and American comedian/writer/performer TJ Chambers (twitter.com/tjchambersLA) join Matt and Andy for a discussion of topics including: The current usefulness of Bunsen burners! The naval innovations of the Punic Wars! The asshole children of the Tetra Pak dynasty! Arizona State's party reputation! Nonsensical drinking age laws! Celia's Australian girls' school shenanigans! A brief further discussion of the Gallagher debacle! Mainlining oxygen! Defending the study of duck genitalia! A compelling case for the awesomeness of tungsten! Some asshole created a way to 3D print a gun! Forensic analysis of bullet cracks! Body farms! Firefighter arsonists! Phineas Gage and his asshole-inducing head injury! Gallagher's critique of Matt's act! Arctic foxes' death by mercury! The painted turtle that runs Big Oil!

Comedian, writer and Mr. Show alum Karen Kilgariff (twitter.com/karenkilgariff) joins returning guest and Chelsea Lately regular April Richardson (twitter.com/apey) for a Bridgetown wrap-up conversation with Andy, getting into: Brooks drinking in a park! The debacle that was the Gallagher episode! Defiantly failing chemistry! Quantum physics and Ramtha! Cheesy potatoes! First aid book illustrations! The worst emergency room story April's ever heard! Speeding up space travel with fusion! Who could you travel to Mars with? Oblivion's ripoff premise! April's obsession with guys in suits running! Andy and April fighting over Huey Lewis! Hookah pipes: Worse than cigarettes? The third-wave ska revival! Imaging an entire living brain! Would you want to live forever? April's Saved By The Bell podcast!

This week's episode was recorded live at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival (bridgetowncomedy.com) in Portland, and it's... well... it's something. Andy Wood and Matt Kirshen are still recovering from this recording, which Matt has come to call "My personal Vietnam." Peter Serafinowicz (twitter.com/serafinowicz) and Gallagher (gallaghersmash.com) joined them to discuss: James Randi! Gallagher holding court on the sidewalk! The hidden dangers of telephone poles! How to use the Internet to get smart! Al Gore-rhythms! Cutting the fat of chocolate in half! Gallagher's distaste for particle/wave duality, Cadillac trucks, spoon-forks and America's first bi-racial president! Coffee, chocolate and cocaine! Picture-winged flies dining on sperm! Earthquakes causing other earthquakes! Bridgetown's depression-based comedy! Erik the Red singlehandedly creating gingers! How stress can help red squirrels produce healthier pups! Gallagher's endorsement of dorsal breast implants! Beyonce's fake pregnancy! Gallagher's proposed dam to cut off Mexico's fresh water! A lengthy and very uncomfortable discussion of height and race! Gallagher's proposal to curb drunk driving! Gallagher's gubernatorial bid! Supernovae that are too big! Gallagher's proposal to get kids into gambling! Gallagher's many patents! Gallagher taking credit for the concept of splashing!

Comedians and Sklarbro Country hosts Randy and Jason Sklar (earwolf.com/shows/sklarbro-country) were kind enough to invite Matt and Andy over to Jason's Laurel Canyon abode for this week's episode, delving into: Keeping eagles in your basement! Randy's CERN-working nuclear physicist brother-in-law! The Lebron James of antimatter! Remembering when comedy was the hottest ticket in town! The official 1980s uniform of standup! The defense mechanisms of fans of Michigan athletics! When America was one giant Whole Foods! Scientific proof that women like broad-shouldered, large-penised men! Have we hit peak penis? The latest bird flu scare! Spending $100 million to lasso an asteroid! Jason produces a real-life space rock! Predicting people's ages based on their tweets! Gallagher's upcoming ProbSci appearance at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival! Using kidney bean leaves to trap bedbugs!

Comedians and producers/hosts of the standup show and podcast Put Your Hands Together Cameron Esposito (twitter.com/cameronesposito) and Rhea Butcher (twitter.com/rheabutcher) join Matt, Andy and Jesse to discuss: Why spittoons make a dinging noise! Daft Punk and Cyberdyne Systems! Cockney rhyming slang! Photogravure! Severing underwater Internet cables! Solving the mystery of fairy rings! The Cloud Atlas leprechaun! The purple ink of a sea hare! The bacteria that solves obesity! Waste water-induced seismic events! The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is coming up April 18-21! (visit bridgetowncomedy.com for details)

Aparna Nancherla (twitter.com/aparnapkin) is a hilarious writer and performer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and she sits down with Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Magnet schools! The Elgin Marbles! Wilhelm Screams and the Milgram Experiment! Frogs that give birth through their mouths! Shepard Tones! Magic Johnson's T.G.I. Friday's! Retrieving rockets from the ocean floor! Unearthing plague pits! Fox hunting! Weather-themed songs about women!

Comedian, actor and Bridgetown Comedy Festival co-founder Matt Braunger (twitter.com/braunger) makes his first Probably Science appearance, joining Matt, Andy and Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) to get to the bottom of: Comedians in therapy! Misleading anthropomorphic ad animals! Filming with Civil War re-enactors! Birds evolving shorter wings to escape cars! Overfishing breeding smaller fish! New patent laws: Better start filing! Andy and Matt's inventions! ZZ Topless! Having three parents: Not as bad as everyone thought! Arnold Schwarzenegger documentaries! White rocks on Mars! Pro wrestler Philip K. Dick!

The head of Nerdist industries himself, comedian/podcaster/actor/musician/host Chris Hardwick (twitter.com/nerdist) is this week's guest, joining Matt, Andy and the returning Brooks Wheelan to discuss: The scientific study of Nicki Minaj! The dystopian future of Santa Cruz! Hoverboards! A scientific version of Trace Adkins! Bully nerds! Using iPhones to detect intestinal worms! Jury-rigging vs. jerry-rigging! Trustafarians! A new way to keep livers alive for transplantation! Talk show history! Bio-printing! Giving yourself a megahand! Hobo sapiens! Neanderthals' large eyes were their undoing! A horrifying bat-eating spider! Yet another Probably Science episode gets pre-empted by Lily Tomlin!

It's a packed house this week, with comedian Glenn Wool (twitter.com/glennwool) and songstress Lady Carol (facebook.com/theladycarolukulele) joining Auggie Smith (twitter.com/auggiesmith), Matt and Andy to talk about: Speedy deliveries from Mr. McFeely! Sniffing Bunsen burners! Auggie goes to Mike Tyson's one-man show! Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his ridiculously large brood! Whale mouth penises! The Island of Mel Gibsons! Does bee venom kill HIV? Caffeine-addicted bees! Sean Astin and the cast of ST:TNG on the same airplane! Mummies with heart conditions! Ancient wing nights! Private rockets just getting a teeny bit off the ground! The Philip K. Dick robot! Incompetent people are also unaware of their incompetence! Who wants to be president, anyway? Screamin' Jay Hawkins in space!

Comedians Mike Schmidt (twitter.com/The40YearOldBoy) and Wendy Wason (twitter.com/Wendy_Wason) join Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Testing for hairy feet! The results of Dr. Peter McGraw's E.T. experiment! Starting kitchen fires under the guise of Mr. Magic Show! Pulling your own eye in a Ziploc bag! The miraculously cured AIDS baby! Visiting a spice farm! Using poo to shield Mars mission astronauts from cosmic rays! Chimpanzees ladies pulling some Mean Girls antics! Meeting Jane Goodall! Harry Potter vs. Twilight! Herbal Viagra: Pretty much just Viagra!

After too long of an absence, Probably History returns with a lively discussion of Pompeii and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Comedian Mark Agee (twitter.com/markagee) joins Jesse Case, Andy Wood and Richard Bain to talk about life in first-century Rome, pyroclastic flows and the importance of knowing when to evacuate.

Comedian and writer Jeff Klinger (twitter.com/jeffklinger) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to talk about: Malfunctioning Segways! Andy's HP laptop woes! Two-saucer setups! Expensive anatomical models! Figuring out when man's anscestors developed a tolerance for booze! Getting slightly racist about alcoholism! Stealing liquor from your parents! Matt touched living legend Buzz Aldrin! The abuses of management consulting! Jesse going to school in a white tuxedo! Curing acid reflux by clamping your esophagus! Mole penises! Space water corrections!

Comedy writer Michael James Nelson (michaeljamesnelson.com) has worked on Betty White's Off Their Rockers and many other shows in spite of the fact that as a young man he was convinced he would pursue a career in science and work on the Space Shuttle. He joins Matt, Andy and return guest Robert Buscemi this week to talk about: Magnet schools: How do they work? Growing up with multiple learning disabilities! The varying definitions of nerd-dom! The awesomeness of Betty White! Nice pranks! Last week's asteroid close-call! Fox News and their assessment of the value of space water! Drilling into the surface of Mars! Space cats! Using color patterns to search for extraterrestrial life! The bones of Richard III! The uncertainty principle demonstrated on a (somewhat) grand scale! Literal pecking orders! How to get alpha eggs at your local grocery store!

David Huntsberger (twitter.com/huntsbergerjunk) from Professor Blastoff (professorblastoff.com), a podcast that Probably Science in no way plagiarizes, joins Matt and Andy this week to discuss: Getting deputized to substitute teach under Texas educational martial law! Narrowly avoiding dating minors! Trash-talking Bear Grylls! Ill-fitting letter jackets! High school rodeo teams! The redundancy of assless chaps! Team roping! A monkey midwife! Are there more types of otters than bears? The importance of giant prime numbers! The loneliness of Google Street View team members! The uselessness of Yelp reviews! The unintentional upside of oceanic pollution!

Dr. Peter McGraw (twitter.com/petermcgraw) heads the Humor Research Lab (HuRL) at UC Boulder, and he joins Matt, Andy and returning guest Baron Vaughn (twitter.com/barvonblaq) for a special episode devoted entirely to the science of why things are funny. Peter's Benign Violation Theory is a robust, empirically testable explanation of humor in all its forms, and it's the basis of Peter and Joel Warner's upcoming book The Humor Code. For more information on Peter's work, visit humorcode.com and humorresearchlab.org.

Probably Science completes the Austin Stories trifecta this week with comedian/writer guest Laura House (twitter.com/imlaurahouse), who joins Matt and Andy in discussing: Valley celebrity encounters! Pissing off Jamie Foxx! Chili competitions! Drinking and guns! Shooting pesky mink! Russell Crowe's crappy Twitter feed! Getting an adult ego check from your parents! Making your own bullets! Detecing the dark matter all around us! Flu shots during pregnancy are safe! The history of vaccines! Vibrating steering wheels to help drunks! Trilogy's dot com-era recruiting practices! Light that travels faster than light!

Pride of Australia Wil Anderson (twitter.com/wilanderson) delivers in a big way this week as he joins Matt and Andy this week to get to the bottom of: US/Australia alliances! The unavoidable presence of Yahoo Serious! Ned Kelly's branding prowess! Ozploitation! Adding a new color to Australia's temperature charts! Climate change denial! Karl Kruszelnicki's study of belly button fluff! Being laughed at vs. being laughed with! Testing 18 molar sulfuric acid on your arm! Exploding ATVs! Fetuses need light, too! Mark McGrath's Ark! Being lonely lowers your immune system! Comedians: Braver than Navy Seals! Crustaceans can feel pain! Pubic lice becoming extinct! Getting crabs in your eyelashes!

Comedians Dan Telfer (twitter.com/dantelfer) and Hannah Gansen (twitter.com/hannahgansen) join Matt and Andy this week to chat about: Getting a fake baby at age 18! Brussel Sprouts! Bobak Ferdowski, the NASA mohawk guy! Making origami cranes as astronaut training! Shoulder hair! The tiger quoll! Blowing up dollhouses! Fingers and toes wrinkle underwater for better grip! Debunking ridiculous lessons from teachers! Sending secret messages via Skype! Ancient eye medicine!

As promised, Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) brings the first installment of Probably History, in which he, Jack Robichaud (twitter.com/jackrobichaud), Richard Bain (twitter.com/dickbain) and Andy Wood (twitter.com/andytwood) discuss the history of Christmas. Enjoy, and be on the lookout for a new episode of Probably Science next week!

Matt and Brooks are still out of town, so Andy sat down with Jesse Case this week for a special holiday bonus episode that's light on science, but heavy on the discussion of World War II bunker dogs, Jelly Bellies, porn, hospice situations, home videos from the 1980s, Beatles fandom, sleep-eating roommates and failed attempts to reach subglacial lakes. Enjoy, and we'll be back soon with full episodes and maybe even some Probably History!

Troy Conrad (troyconrad.net) is a comedian, writer, director and producer, and he's the man behind the hilarious improvised standup comedy show Set List. He joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case on this week's episode to talk about: Breaking Bad spoilers! Improvised debate! House/career dysmorphia! Hot tub clothing regulations! Comedy Jesus! Troy's Scientology experience! Probably History! Religions with boats! Beetles with handles! Howard Bloom! Tracking space debris! Inappropriate cell phone conversation volume! Keeping bread from growing mold! The Grand Canyon: Older than we thought?

Matt, Brooks, and Andy celebrate the 50th episode of Probably Science with their first repeat guest! Kyle Kinane, fresh on the heels of his Comedy Central special "Whiskey Icarus," sat down with the ProbSci crew to talk about: Brooks's love woes! Convincing housekeeping to let you watch a space jump! Free Jacuzzi! Public boners! Peeing in the shower! The cotton gin! Young Einstein! The deadliest bird! Brooks touched Bruce Springsteen! Undercover Boss! Log Cabin Republicans! Karaoke guitar solos! Barenaked Ladies cruises! Comedians opening for bands! Macy Gray! The physics of a halfpipe! Catfish eating pigeons! Japanese rollercoaster commuter trains! A parasite that makes mice fearless! A giant Texas meteor! Spending almost a billion dollars to go to the moon! Seeing extra colors! An attempt at historical science!

Comedian Tom Sibley (twitter.com/TheTomSibley) joins Matt, Brooks, and Andy to talk about: Advent calendars! Alternate endings to The Grey! Tom's secret robot teacher! Being sent to the bathroom during science class! Throwing your milk in a locker! Almost Live! Deep Blue Sea! Brooks travels to Hawaii! Matt's close encounter with a pod of killer whales! Instagram-iquette! Robotic snakes! Matt puts Miracle Balance energy bands to the test! Matt and Andy compare their Movember takes! Saturn's rings: A moon factory? Vernor's Herzog! Ice on Mercury! Alcoholic fly larvae! Doing comedy in Vegas!

Comic/actress Marianne Sierk (@MarianneSierk) of Tru TV and the upcoming reboot of Best Week Ever joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case this week to discuss: The surplus of exposition in Lincoln! Impressions of Breaking Bad characters! Historical spoilers! The downside of co-education! Marianne's wiccan phase! The OCD nature of religion! D'Nealian and mumblety-peg! Finding your mother's diaphragm! Insects with giant testicles! Bug doctoring! Small-town sex! The lack of women in science jobs depicted in TV and movies! Girls who want to be princesses! Smother parties! Un-discovering an island! Chemtrails! Matt's kosher house! Making more rational decisions in a second language! Art therapy! Bees and birds solving the traveling salesman problem! Gus, the Kato Kaelin of dogs! Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings! The last week of Movember!

Comedian and actor TJ Miller (twitter.com/nottjmiller) hosts Comedy Central's new show Mash Up, co-hosts the hilarious podcast Cashing In with TJ Miller, and has been a scene-stealer in movies and TV shows too numerous to mention. Matt, Brooks, and Andy venture to his loft this week to talk about: Being a fan of high school theater productions! Andy and Matt's competing Movember 'staches! Dad teachers! Name-dropping famous meals! Utica circuses! Major League pseudo-nudity! Mastering the art of sushi! John Stamos's parallel universe version of Full House! Matt's Hogwarts education! George Clooney's penis! TJ's brother Dennis! Growing your own balsa wood! Charles Darwin getting 4,000 write-in votes! Congressmen who don't believe in evolution! Hollywood billboards that aren't kid-friendly! Nic Cage's dinosaur skull! A wandering planet! TJ's fear of astronomy! Stephen Hawking using his mind to kick you in the dick! The great white shark isn't descended from megashark! TJ's juggling audition to become a member of the Magic Castle! Diseases of aging! Brooks's attempt at making a bloomin' onion! Which part of the brain helps you freestyle rap? TJ's arteriovenous malformation and subsequent brain surgery! Going crazy while making Yogi Bear 3D! Talking your friends and family into being ok with your possible death! Being a government-sponsored junkie! Belly button biodiversity! Prosthetic navels! The thrill of having your own Comedy Central page! Pick your favorite Probably Science mustache and donate to Movember!

Comedian Taylor Williamson (taylorwilliamson.com) of Last Comic Standing joins Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Election results! Bad presidential impressions! The historic Alex Theatre! Jeopardy! Novelizations of Jim Carrey movies! Acid rain experiments! Fake anti-Semitism! Beakman's World! Grapple forks and rock buckets! Watching Simon Pegg movies with subtitles! Show-off sharks! Aladdin sequels! Math anxiety creates actual pain! High school Republicanism! The diabetes/flu link! Doubling down on jokes that don't work! Being poor causes bad decision-making! Bar mitzvah DJ sets! Cybersquatting! Shia LaBeuof naked! Growing charity facial hair!

Actor/comedian and host of the Travel Tales podcast Mike Siegel (funnymike.com) joins Matt, Brooks and Andy on a lovely November afternoon to discuss: Favorite Boogie Nights scenes! Brooks Skywalker! Matt's Movember mustache! The Iowa wrestling legacy! Pick-up grappling! The unifying power of soccer! Mike's scientist parents! The venomous, egg-laying, otter-footed, beaver-tailed, duck-billed platypus! Australia: penal colony for all species! Mike's world travels! Winnipeg's giant teepee! Felix Baumgartner is anti-space exploration! Self-fixing concrete! Red Bull Flugtag mishaps! A planet made of diamond! Andy's Pioneertown zombie prom! The health impact of drying your clothes! Psychic powers disproved! Brooks Wheelan selected as one of Comedy Central's Comics to Watch for 2012!

Writer/comedian Chip Pope (Austin Stories, Beavis & Butthead, Last Comic Standing) joins Andy, Brooks, and Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) for this week's Probably Science, with a spook-tacularly unnecessary intro courtesy of the built-in effects on the mixing board. Topics discussed include: Working with Mike Judge! Luke and Owen Wilson: Actually brothers? The upcoming Probably History spinoff! R. O. Manse! Rabbits overtaking Australia! Steely Dan: Not just for dads! The Texas town that busts tour buses! Vote "no" on all ballot propositions! The degree symbol comes from hieroglyphics! Decoding the oldest-known writing system! The Wachowski siblings! Probably Science Blind Items! Moving asterozone hole! oids with paintballs! The incredible shrinking ozone layer hole! The Red Hot Chili Peppers playing in Brooks's neighborhood! The obsolescence of representative democracy! Hermit crab key parties! The Milky Way munching on star clusters! Jesse pays for $40 worth of gas and drives away! Rugrats conspiracy theories! First Internet experiences! Chris Brown beating up an Avid!

Comedians Josh Cheney (twitter.com/JoshCheenee) and Dax Jordan (twitter.com/DaxJordan) join Andy and Brooks this week to talk about: King Tuff vs. Pearl Jam! The Hot House comedy show! Josh's role as Professor Kelp on The Homework Show! Dax vs. Josh in Weird Al fandom! Watching Armageddon and grabbing boobs! Celery-based science fair projects! Dax's disappointing attempt at crossbreeding carrots! Comparing Christmas gift-opening traditions! Felix Baumgartner's record-setting jump! Ball lightning: What is it? How long would it take for something to fall to the center of the earth? A commitment ceremony for the smashing-together of two galaxies! Is anything really bad for the planet? Should we protect polar bears? Tickling baby penguins! Traumatizing mice, then trying to fix said trauma! Brooks finally unveiling his Red Hot Chili Peppers tattoo! What memory would you erase if you could? A rogue climate hacker dumping 100 tons of iron sulfate into the ocean for science!

Emery Emery, host of the podcasts The Ardent Atheist (ardentatheist.com) and Skeptically Yours (skepticallyyours.net), makes his first Probably Science appearance with a full cast of Matt, Andy, and Brooks to talk about: The origin of Probably Science! Andy putting his foot in his mouth on Emery's podcast! Neil Young burying the Skynyrd hatchet! Blowing up a rat with 8 M-80s! The Bogdanov Affair! Trusting expertise! Brooks giving himself nicknames! Pegged jeans! Andy's ukulele project! Cheating yo-yos with mechanical clutches! Robot bee brains! Emery gets revenge on Andy via Shane Battier!

The gang's all here! Pride of Portland and recent Los Angeles transplant Richard Bain joins Matt, Brooks, and Andy to talk about: Scaring Dave Chappelle! The greatness of Undeclared! Matt and Andy trying to convince Richard and Brooks to vote! Brooks gets his tattoo covered to host Comedy Central's upcoming Retro Weekend! The aphrodisiac effects of Troll 2! What if Hitler was into troll dolls? Blowing up a rollerblade with a propane tank! Brooks has a bone to pick with the old woman who lived in a shoe! Insects with mechanical brains! Latino mechanics who pit black widows against bees! Hiring a green exterminator! Brooks hosting toddler fight clubs! Bees that make blue and green honey! Niels Bohr's birthday! The discovery of a dwarf vampire porcupine dinosaur! Brooks loves New York City! A Nazi Buddha made from a meteorite! Papa John's car! Bears and tigers moving to the city! Baboon burglars!

Matt and Brooks are out of town, so we're bringing you a lost episode with Hampton Yount (hamptonyount.com) recorded in December of 2011. Enjoy this glimpse into the not-to-distant past... A simpler time... A time when we only had one microphone. Seriously, though, it's a good episode, even if the science stories are a bit out of date. Enjoy!

Andy Haynes (imandyhaynes.com) came up in the Pacific Northwest comedy scene before making his mark on Fallon and Conan, and he joins Brooks, Andy, and guest co-hosts Auggie Smith (auggiesmith.com) and Alice Wetterlund (alicewetterlund.com) to talk about: Getting the star treatment for late night sets! Andy Richter's cartoonist brother-in-law Tony Millionaire! The sobering effects of the Bridgetown Comedy Festival! Powering through the Human Centipede sequel! Andy confusing Mengele, Mendel, and Mendeleev! Haynes's fear of zombies! Walking out of movies! Stealing 100,000 miniature airplane liquor bottles! Brooks's lack of callbacks! More dry ice bombs! Grilling burgers: Worse for the environment than driving a diesel truck? Vegetarianism! Studying Central American revolutionaries and their relationship to the Catholic church! Bands with semen-related names! Dead baby pandas! Favorite bears! The Space Shuttle flyover! Challenger street jokes! Bane impressions! International Observe The Moon Night! Finally figuring out what a harvest moon is! Ritalin makes the ladies go all-in! Don't drive drunk unless you're driving for Brooks! Exploding animals! Historical baby names! Andy's season tickets to the XFL!

You've seen the very funny Mark Agee (twitter.com/MarkAgee) on Last Comic Standing, and he makes his Probably Science debut this week, joining Andy and a fresh-off-the-plane Matt Kirshen to talk about: Performering at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! Taking Brooks's grown-up appliances! Living in comedian squalor! Putting a wrench in the works of conversations! Nash equilibria! Game theory! Why do people keep working after making their fortunes? Heisenberg -- not as uncertain as we'd thought? Matt's jet lag! Don't drink on planes! Getting paid in drink tickets! King Tut's girlish figure! Could epilepsy have saddled human civilization with monotheism? John Wayne Gacy's head injury! Pedophilia sympathy! Studying the innate clocks of mice! The concept of second sleep! Go-go juice! The evolutionary explanation of the placebo effect! The high cost of turning on our immune systems! Cocktails vs. mixed drinks! Computing with water droplets!

LA-based comedy team Power Violence (facebook.com/powerviolencecomedy) host one of the best weekly comedy shows in town, and they're now Brooks's roommates as well. Andy and Brooks do an on-site recording at the new residence to talk with Whitmer, Rodney, Budd, and Clay about: The magic of Andrew WK! Living down the street from Booger from Revenge of the Nerds! Hurricane preparedness! Setting your house on fire! Voyager I reaching the edge of the Solar System! The golden space record! Whit’s family Challenger connection! Dead fish in Lake Erie! Bowling balls of hardened BP oil! Time actually does slow down for elite athletes! Tigers and humans working in shifts! Andy getting charged by a moose! Discovering a new species of stick bug! Pilot whales getting moved to Sea World! Animal abuse on the set of The Adventures Milo and Otis!

Comedian Shane Mauss (shanemauss.com), as seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan, joins Brooks and Andy on a lovely Labor Day weekend afternoon to discuss: Summer surfing! Comedy about time travel! Evolutionary psychology, A.K.A. science about dicks! Wisconsin's extreme drinking claims! Michio Kaku, the less-optimistic Ray Kurzweil! Dumbing-down the science portions of your standup act! Blowing up mailboxes! Soliciting advice on keeping birds and bats out of wind turbines! The science refuting Todd Akin's mind-bogglingly stupid statement about rape and pregnancy! Shane throwing away his whole act to write comedy about sexual selection! Finding 40,000 Euro worth of whale vomit! Forming smell/sound associations while sleeping! The upcoming LA Podcast Festival, October 12-14 (lapodfest.com)!

Baron Vaughn (baronvaughn.com) of Fairly Legal, Conan, and Fallon makes his first Probably Science appearance as he helps Brooks, Andy, and guest co-host Jesse Case figure out: Ways to straighten teeth! Which parts of Des Moines are New Jack City! 50 Shades of Dorian Gray! Oppenheimer/Bhagavad Gita quotes! OJ Simpson chase memories! Super-fertility causing miscarriage! Brooks scares off Mumford & Sons! Andy pisses off Ed Norton while surfing! Brooks cries his eyes out at Beasts of the Southern Wild! Bill Nye stands up to creationists! Misrepresenting evolution! Determining hair and eye color of crime suspects from DNA! Baron's deleted scene with Will Ferrell! HD format wars! Raising funds for a Nikola Tesla museum! Brooks goes to SummerSlam! Ray Kurzweil and the technological singularity! Fixing a century-old Spanish fresco the Mr. Bean way!

It looks like Summer Country has drawn to a premature close, and we bring Julian McCullough, co-host of the upcoming E! show Love You Mean It with Whitney Cummings, along to help us come to terms with that. Auggie Smith also guest co-hosts, helping Brooks and Andy get to the bottom of: Lies told on This American Life! Hitting on girls in chemistry class! Andy recants his anti-Cornell statements! Julian tells his personal story of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake! The moment you realize that not all British people are better than you! Denmark's kickass penal system! The awesomeness of Jack White! "Green" cremation! Turning your loved ones into a water bottle! Endangered sharks! The golden ratio: Now in uteruses! Ultrasound mischief! Mars pictures! Julian's near-death experience on a scooter! Using DNA to encode the contents of a book! Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction!

As seen on Last Comic Standing and Girls Behaving Badly, comedian Kira Soltanovich (kiracomedy.com) joins Matt, Andy, and guest host Auggie Smith to talk about: Shift workers are at risk for heart attacks! Heckles worse than "Too soon!" Siphoning out the contents of Rod Stewart's stomach! Auto-erotic self-asphyxiation! Fixing the hellmouth hot tub! The mysteries of Branson, Missouri! What does Perestroika mean? Pussy Riot! Tracking people's eye movements to predict what they'll say! Bodily changes brought on by pregnancy! Why do dogs wear bandanas? Would you give up your arms and legs to be able to unhinge your jaw? Chewbacca's Russian etymological origins! Going as a low-rent mummy for Halloween! Matt's wizard onesie! Strobe goggles can improve your memory! Auggie can summon death upon unruly audience members!

Actor and comedian Guy Branum (guybranum.com) of No Strings Attached and Chelsea Lately joins Matt, Andy, and guest co-host Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) this week as they discuss: Rural sociology! Wasting a law degree! Calling out Guns, Germs and Steel! Quinoa: Not just for Incans anymore! What makes us fat: diet or lack of exercise? Andy's swimming past! Acai, antioxidants, and free radicals! Fake Einstein quotes about bees! Anna Chlumsky! Suicide-bombing termites! Cornell's former College of Home Economics! The UK's nationalized virginity-loss system! Fooling iris-recognition scanners! Guy outs some closeted celebrities! Andy's snail mail Nigerian scam!