Probably Science

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!

Pride of Chicago Robert Buscemi (robertbuscemi.blopspot.com) guests with Matt, Brooks, and Andy this week as they dig into: Recording Set List in the UK! Space has a strange smell! Why is there vodka in space? Finding Pharaohs with missing fractals! Benford's Law! Those silly Microsoft programmers and their 0xB16B00B5! Measuring a river's meander! Oxbow lakes! Billabongs! Is impersonating a beekeeper a crime? Robert's cheerleading Hippocratic oath! Creating a complete computer model of an organism! Playing God: The sincerest form of flattery! What's an aquifer? Ethanol levels in the atmosphere are rising! Michael Winslow's work as a Prius voiceover artist! Why is every La Cucaracha car horn so wrong? Matt's science museum tooth loss!

Comedian and star of The Sarah Silverman Program, Steve Agee, sits in with Brooks, Andy and Matt to talk about: Alan Jackson's Summer Country betrayal! Bedroom ceiling star stickers! Brooks is a PR shill for Starbucks! The dark side of cornstarch! Non-Newtonian bullet-proof vests! An actual Columbia physics lecturer writes in re: the Higgs boson! Hunting elephants might not be the best idea if you're the president of a conservation group! Is the CEO of godaddy.com the worst person alive? Building a jellyfish out of rat hearts! Steve's reality TV background! The first-ever Science Speed Round! Steve's failed adolescent Molotov cocktail! Brooks trying to give himself the nickname "Reptile"! Dolphins using nonlinear math to see through air bubbles! Andy doing the Alcatraz swim! The first spiral galaxy in the universe! Open call for LA-area science-types to guest on the show! Brooks losing his phone to Summer Country! Dean Cain: Not a fan of Batman!

It's Probably Country! You may have seen the very funny Nick Turner (twitter.com/itsmenickyt) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and he joins the gang this week to talk about: Brooks almost stepping on a rattlesnake! What's on YOUR Instagram? Brooks's pickup lines! Bill Nye vendettas! Robots that walk like humans! Neurological wiring predicting chronic pain! What's the worst pain you've ever felt? Pictures of Mars! How much does a rover cost? Impressions of sea creatures! The real reason for the 2012 Mayan apocalypse! Flea movies! Gay snakes! A robot that can do Brooks's job! Verbot vs. Furby! Help Brooks pick a #SummerCountry ringtone! Sunburns are red due to RNA damage! Nick doesn't believe in sunscreen!

Comedian and author of the memoir Kasher in the Rye Moshe Kasher (moshekasher.com) joins Brooks and Andy to get to the bottom of: Credit inflation among comedians! Selling fake pot! The proliferation of Genghis Khan DNA! Saving baby beluga whales! The genius of John Prine! Preventing hearing loss with AMPK proteins! Growing up with two deaf parents! Working as a sign language interpreter! Drinking a bottle of vinegar to pass a drug test! Being stuck in Hawaii drinking a space diet for four months! The dude stuck in a transparent house at Burning Man! How much money would it take to make you quit comedy? Are any jobs worthwhile? The Higgs boson -- do any of us understand its significance? Killing wolves in Yellowstone!

Jordan Morris of the long-running podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! (maximumfun.org) and Fuel TV's The Daily Habit sits in with Brooks and Andy to dig even deeper into Summer Country while discussing: Awkward moments with Yao Ming! Papercraft ProbSci hosts! Brooks's creepy mustache! The world's biggest crocodile! Detroit's future Juggalo mayor! Male contraceptives! Replacing Maury Povich with Brooks's grandpa! The return of Tony Clifton! Super-old pottery! Leap seconds! The Wood Brothers 100-Yard Dash Challenge! Rock-scissors-paper robots! Stars Wars tourist traps! The final chapter of Captain Cook's life!

TV's Bil Dwyer (twitter.com/bildwyer) of Battlebots fame, among countless other projects, joins us in welcoming Matt back to the states with a week's worth of science news!

Comedian and former molecular and marine biology major Tony Sam (tonysam.com) helps us celebrate ProbSci's silver anniversary by delving into meaty topics including: Birkenstock memories! Brooks’s Summer of Country! Stealing boomboxes from crappy comedy shows! Brooks is going to see That’s My Boy for some reason! Andy’s Pacific Northwest comedy adventures! Tony’s work as a Caribbean aquarium biologist! Giving HIV to humanized BLT mice! Hiding at work! Protecting the ocean surrounding Australia! The Parrothead epidemic! Getting asked to leave Margaritaville! Six-pack summer! Cerveza Caguama! Staying in a youth hostel at 35! Brooks is going to Europe! Speech-learning robots! Colonizing Mars! Magic kits! The first female Chinese astronaut! More borderline-racist Asian accent impressions! You have-a dis-a-respected-a my daughter-a! A secret Air Force plane has landed! Captain Cook’s awesome story! The Probably Science book club!

Talented comedian/actress/musical improv coach/science enthusiast Eliza Skinner (elizaskinner.com) sits in with Andy and Brooks to talk about: Playing a hooker on Conan! Rocket scientist family members! The Patriot missile test launches! Hands-on science museums! More Wisconsin Dells memories! Being a woman who likes Cronenberg movies! Brooks hasn’t seen Aliens! Buy a space poster, win a trip to space! Andy trying to reunite the band Wilco in the style of Parent Trap! DC Hardcore music! Eliza’s punk inclinations! Krishna-core! Favorite modes of mass transit! Brooks is heading to Europe! Hard Rock Cafe Auschwitz? Why can’t you use your phone on a plane? Andy’s love/hate relationship with sports! More moon size debates! Confusing Sams Neil, Shepard, and Elliott! Brooks loves Tennessee Williams! Kickass seagrass! The Sesame Street sassy clam! The sitcom Dinosaurs! Professor Brooks Seven Wheelan leaves his ferret at a hotel! Poorly thought-out prank phone calls! Prosthetic robot arms! Sci-fi prognostication!

Last Comic Standing finalist and Guys With Feelings host Jason Nash (guyswithfeelings.com) joins Brooks and Andy to try to figure out where Matt is, and to dig into some of life's meatiest quandaries, including: Does Andy have a weird voice? Brooks does an awful Matt impression! Jason recruits a neighborhood six-year-old to help him beat Wii games! Rob Dyrdek moves into Jason’s neighborhood! More weirdness about Andy’s roommates! Are we The Avengers of comedy and science? The science of superheroes! Bruce Jenner and The Hulk! Private spaceflight! The eclipse! Co-ed future showers in Paul Verhoeven movies! Parenting advice from Jason! Hippie houseguests! DNA tests of Bigfoot specimens! Favorite mythical creatures! The “Exotic Becomes Erotic” theory of sexual orientation! Prostate screening: Not as fun as it sounds? A Mongolian T. Rex skeleton goes up for auction! Visiting the dystopia that is LG's headquarters in Gumi, South Korea! The science behind toy envy! Tobey Maguire tries to rally the crowd at a Roger Waters concert!

Comedian, philosopher and host of the Duncan Trussell Family Hour podcast (duncantrussell.com) Duncan Trussell invites us into his home for a far-reaching discussion of topics including: Tarot card Rorschach tests! Chuck Klosterman Canadian Football League thought experiments! America tells the world: Don’t touch our moon shit! Lunar landing conspiracy theories! Preparing to break the free-fall world record! Spiteful skydiving! Astronaut tail! Vic Morrow’s Twilight Zone movie death! Deadly Peruvian bats! Favorite Vlad the Impaler stories! Therapeutic psychedelic mushrooms! Taking drugs at church! Top ten coolest new species!

It's our first-ever live episode! We're joined by special guest Eddie Ifft of the Talkin' Shit podcast with Jim Jeffries (http://jimandeddietalkshit.com), and we get into topics including: Rocks for Jocks! Global warming denial campaigns! Mormon-backed niceness initiatives! Trampoline Peeping Toms! Shark attacks: Don’t worry about ‘em! Re-routing apocalypse asteroids with pebbles! Roundabout proof that there may have been water on Mars! Freeing whales, breaking laws! People only skated on ponds in the 1950s! Every animal is a rapist! Happy old people make bad decisions! Lasik surgery – thumbs up or thumbs down? Using sparklers at the gas pump! Special thanks to The Mint (themintla.com) for letting us record in their beautiful venue!

We've made it to the big 2-0 with the help of writer/comedian extraordinaire Blaine Capatch (@blainecapatch)! Topics discussed include: Roller Darby O'Gill and the Little People! Blaine’s spelling bee prowess! The Yellowstone supervolcano! Messier gigs! Seeing the Smothers Brothers at an insurance convention! Young Blaine’s first onstage appearance with Red Skelton! Revisiting the airborne version of bird flu! Freaky Friday body switches! Tracking writers’ influences based on content-free words! Color-changing artificial muscles! Racist babies! Titan’s conditions: kind of good for creating life! Venus goes in front of the Sun! Lucha VaVOOM!

Justin Ian Daniels, comedian and co-host of the Rough House Podcast (theroughhousepodcast.com), joins us for a lively discussion of topics including: Members of Slipknot! Dee-Dee Ramone rapping! The Southern Gentlemen of Wrestling! Top-shelf bag-drainings! The origins of the Secret Service! The Find Brooks' Publicity Photo Listener Challenge! The Supermoon! Vibrating suits for Olympians! Learning from heathens! Super-fast wi-fi with common laser pointers! The decline of dinosaurs! New lizard species discovered! Can someone please get Dolph Lundgren to be a guest on our show? Ancient red blood cells! How exactly did Stevie Nicks get cocaine blown up her ass? Accidentally dropping nukes on South Carolina! Justin getting a 50-caliber pantload!

Comedian and host of the podcast The Dork Forest (thedorkforest.com) Jackie Kashian makes her long overdue debut on Probably Science to talk with the gang about: The legacy of Armenian comedy! Tweeting at Margaret Atwood and R.L. Stine! It’s gettin’ hot in here, if by “here” you mean “on wind farms”! Hercules Meets the Three Stooges! Brooks wants to know everyone’s takes on animals! The Wisconsin Dells! Working a summer job in a lame cave! Stalactites vs. stalagmites! Birds with GPS neurons! Donald Trump and his asshole offspring! The Unicorn Song! Number lines: learned or instinctual? Brooks sitting on the beach reading about Magellan! Jackie sells the boys on a new comic book! Are we scaring sharks away from their reefs? Fake DNA! Ghost-finding apps! C.S. Lewis’s *other* books! Andy was almost an extra in Twilight! Venus traipses in front of the Sun! “Drunken helpers” at comedy shows!

Brilliant comedian and master of characters James Adomian (jamesadomian.com) has returned from the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, as have Matt, Brooks and Andy, and they've got stories to tell! Bridgetown tales abound this week, but the gang also get around to discussing: Harry Potter names! Jesse Ventura! Skeletons in hot air balloons! Wrestling moves and pesticides! Particles that are their own antiparticles! Too much free time makes you feel too busy! Giant sharks! Eggless chickens! Asteroid mining with Jim Cameron! Adomian's famed academic grandfather!

Last Comic Standing winner Alonzo Bodden joins us this week, and it turns out he's got more science cred than the average comic, having been an aircraft mechanic for years before getting into comedy. We get into lots of fun stuff, including: Last Comic Standing challenges! Doing comedy for college kids! Fixing crashed airplanes! 600 mile-per-hour tape! Trying Gushers before the general public! Bikers on scooters! Brooks' rollerblading past! Smart sand! Measuring snake strength in units of grandpa shakes! The first use of fire! The refusal of ignorance! Space elevators! Getting stuck in the White House bathtub!

Funnyman Dave Holmes of the podcast A Drink with Dave (adrinkwithdave.com) joins us this week to talk about: Andy’s idiotic attempt at the Master Cleanse! Dave’s half-marathon training! Embarrassing high school stories! Involuntary boners! Diet soda: Maybe it *doesn’t* make you fat? Velveeta Cheesy Skillets! Do antibiotics cause weight gain? Could bacteria cause OCD? The effects of caffeine and speed on a rat’s work ethic! Cheaters at Draw Something! Dolphin gangs! Jeff Bezos digging up spacecraft engines! Dave’s surfing therapist! Matt owes his career to Saved By the Bell! Screech’s standup career!

Comedian Paul Jay of the podcast The Biggest Mistake (thebiggestmistake.net) sits in with the boys to talk about: Armchair astronomy! Getting Robert Plant to guest on the podcast! Pronouncing Led Zeppelin song titles! More horrible segues! How much would you pay to go to space with Tom Cruise? Sub-orbital streaking! Vibrating tattoos! Checking off items on Paul’s Probably Science bucket list! Growing new body parts! The search for Amelia Earhart! Venice is sinking! Brooks asks German kids the tough questions! Hydrogen-powered robotic jellyfish! The theory of circulation! Lobotomies! The Bridgetown Comedy Festival!

Chris Franjola (@ChrisFranjola) of Chelsea Lately, After Lately and Are You There, Chelsea? may not have studied much science, but he has some great takes on topics including: Being a theater nerd! Midwest tubing adventures! KISS-brand deodorant! Dave Grohl and the Heartbreakers! Catching a NASA spy Chris Hansen-style! Audition tips from Brooks! Figuring out why shock therapy works! Does Chris believe in depression? Our phone-obsessed culture! Comedy: Chris’s anti-drug! Have we found the cause of baldness? Tim McGraw and Dwight Yoakam: Two cowboy hats away from being Radio Shack managers! Brooks get a #1 Arthur Fonzarelli haircut for $6! Don’t judge a movie by seeing it on a plane! Why hasn’t the Segway conquered the world? Using lasers to see around corners! Laserdisc nostalgia! Brooks’s racist pet names! Hollywood Boulevard superheroes! Holding a gun makes you think everyone else is, too! Drunk Steven Adler buying Top Ramen! Sean Young crashes Andy’s comedy show! How did we discover mass extinction? Chris’s love of Theodore Rex! Wolfmother intros!