Probably Science

Jess Phoenix (@jessphoenix2018), author of the new book Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life joins Matt and Andy to talk about all things volcano-related, her education and outreach organization Blueprint Earth, lava tubes, her upcoming show about Atlantis... and whether Dante's Peak is better than Volcano. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access PLUS $30 off when you sign up for an annual plan by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Dana Eagle (@DanaEagleTweets) joins Matt and Andy to discuss the latest on Desert Tony's health, the world's oldest computer, mechanical gears found in nature, sea slugs that survive self-decapitation, a change of heart from a former head/body transplant candidate and Dana's book How To Be Depressed. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access PLUS $30 off when you sign up for an annual plan by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian, author and now cryptic crossword setter Dave Gorman (@DaveGorman) joins Matt and Andy to discuss the world of cryptic crosswords, standup about math(s), cuttlefish that pass the marshmallow test, words that are their own antonyms, testing the efficacy of psychedelic microdosing, creativity testing, Andy's favorite Tracey Ullman sketch, glow-in-the-dark sharks, the New Zealand tsunami that wasn't, counter-illumination, a swarm of earthquakes under Mt. Hood, and Dave's many shows including Modern Life Is Good-ish. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access PLUS $30 off when you sign up for an annual plan by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian and analytics consultant Sarah Dorfman (@SarahPDorfman) joins Andy and Matt to discuss asking a ton of whys, magnetic pole flips and killing neanderthals, trees showing pole flips, India's lake of skeletons, the first photograph ever, the hidden message in Perseverance's parachute, AI conquering '80s video games, and little Jack Black in an ad for Pitfall.

Comedian, podcaster and author of the upcoming book The History of Standup Wayne Federman (@Federman) joins Matt and Andy to discuss the original location of Stonehenge, why its construction might not have been that hard, transparent wood that's stronger than glass, whether glass is a liquid or not, training pigs to use joysticks and what the future holds for standup comedy. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free 14-day trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian and podcaster Brandie Posey (@Brandazzle) returns to the show to talk about hosting celebrity karaoke and ending up on TMZ, more details on how wombat poop ends up cubed, a quick refresher on platonic solids, Brexit and bees, Wandavision, the insane amount of power consumed by Bitcoin and quantum encryption in space.

Comedian April Richardson (@apey) of the podcast Why Do I Like This? returns to the show to chat about moving to England, the smallest reptile on Earth, hibernation in early humans, teaching spinach to send emails, Tiny Elvis and the Wilhelm Scream. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free 14-day trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian/musician Eli Braden (@EliBraden) returns to the show to discuss stonks, the Robinhood fiasco, PredictIt.org, The Hustler, Psycho Goreman, more dinosaur butthole developments, Colgate University, Perseverance's upcoming Mars landing and evidence of multiple Mars ice ages.

Comedian and actor Marcus Brigstocke (@marcusbrig) joins Andy and Matt to discuss blowing things up in school, puckle guns, coordinated electric eel attacks, solving the mystery of butterfly flight, separating dire wolf fact from fiction and giving shrooms to pigs.

Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek (@FrankWilczek), author of the new book Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, joins Matt and Andy to talk about the work that earned him a Nobel Prize, as well as his book, which delves into the essential concepts that form our understanding of how the universe works, digging into fundamental ideas like time, space, matter, energy, complexity and complementarity. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free 14-day trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Ed Byrne (@MrEdByrne) joins Matt and Andy to discuss spiteful octopuses punching fish, using AI to solve protein structures, why recycling doesn't happen as much anymore (and Taiwan's amazing waste turnaround), and Europe's plan for a space claw to capture orbiting junk. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free 14-day trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Author, podcaster and behavioral economist Dr. Peter McGraw (@PeterMcGraw) returns to the show to talk with Matt and Andy about behavioral economics, cognitive biases, hellish comedy gigs, the science of humor, The Philadelphia Incident, Peter's new book Schtick to Business, stigmas surrounding unmarried life, flaws in happiness studies, how to support an aging populace that isn't being replaced, the new social media platform Clubhouse, Andy's recent shingles bout and Peter's latest podcast project Solo: The Single Person's Guide to a Remarkable Life.

Returning guest Alex Schmidt (@AlexSchmidty) of the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating joins Andy and Matt to swap Jeopardy stories and discuss Doug the cat ruining equipment, grapefruit facts, The Ray Cat Solution to use glowing cats to warn future humans about radioactive waste, the monolith in Utah, Europa's mysterious glow and a beetle you can run over with a car. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free 14-day trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Megan Gailey (@megangailey) joins Matt and Andy to talk about honeybees flying sideways, acoustic camouflage on earless moths, new moon rocks, meatless diets and brittle bones, the coolest dinosaur skeletons ever, fossil-hunting laws and Megan's podcast The Greatest.

Producer and current Jeopardy champion Charlie Fonville (@charliefonville) joins Matt and Andy, whose four-day Jeopardy streak Charlie put an end to just yesterday, to talk about sharing the stage with the legendary Alex Trebek, the game theory of Jeopardy, including Daily Double and Final Jeopardy betting strategies, the Two-Thirds Rule, and Andy's odd-seeming bet when facing Stratton's Dilemma, then diving into stories about the return of a rocket from 54 years ago, the launch of a doghouse-shaped satellite, mapping bees, more election fraud claims debunked with math, making diamonds at room temperature in minutes and Charlie's podcast Unremembered Hollywood.

Comedian Alex Falcone (@alex_falcone) of the podcast Read It and Weep (and a great NASA rejection letter) joins Andy and Matt to talk about why Benford's Law doesn't apply to election data, Hamburglar voting irregularities, Andy's upcoming Jeopardy appearance (this Monday, November 16th), whether or not Alex Falcone was named after Alex Trebek, some good news on using psilocybin to treat depression, British soldiers on acid , a ridiculously named new Covid-19 drug and Canada's top science prize recognizing work on gels that mimic human tissues. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian James Austin Johnson (@shrimpJAJ) returns to the podcast after a seven-year hiatus to talk about dinosaur butts, water on the moon, cell phone networks on the moon, shocking your tongue to cure tinnitus... and for some reason President Donald J. Trump happens to call in to give his take on Sega Genesis reboots and lame duck hunts.

Author Michael Marshall (@m_c_marshall) joins Matt and Andy to talk about his new book The Genesis Quest, which explores the century-long effort to understand how life began on Earth and the many interesting characters who dedicated themselves to solving this massive scientific puzzle. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian John Hastings (@thejohnhastings) joins Andy and Matt to talk about the questionable comedy of Roy Chubby Brown, neanderthal genes and covid-19, water bodies under the surface of Mars, and using balanced rocks to increase nuclear safety. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Gene Pompa (@genepompa) joins Matt and Andy to discuss methanol-fueled robot beetles, super long words, methylated alcohol, why the moon is rusting, smartphones knowing when you're drunk-walking and corn that makes its own mucus.

The gang's back together to celebrate 400 episodes of Probably Science! Erstwhile hosts Jesse Case (@jessecase) and Brooks Wheelan (@brookswheelan) join Matt and Andy to discuss counting magicians, Jesse's proximity to train tracks, Ig Nobel prizes for alligators on helium and narcissist eyebrows, detecting phosphine in the clouds of Venus, finding super old sperm in amber, an earthquake hack to measure ocean warming and podcast recommendations including Our Fake History, Entry Level and Jesse vs. Cancer. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Jesse Case rejoins the show for a cancer special with science writer Dr. Kat Arney (@Kat_Arney), author of Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Jen Burton (@jensburpin) joins Matt and Andy to discuss Africa getting rid of wild polio, painting turbine blades to save birds, a Jeopardy furry champ, an uncuttable material and Idyllwild's very good boy Mayor Max.

Mia Jackson (@miacomedy) join Matt and Andy to talk about old-time casino heists, asteroids that are the greatest basketball player of all time, ancient Americans, songbirds warming up and 100-million-year-old microbes that are still alive. Check out Mia's performances on Unprotected Sets on Epix, and her Comedy Central half hour. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Despite a technical glitch, the excellent Adam Cayton-Holland (@CaytonHolland), star of Those Who Can't, the new podcast The Grawlix Saves The World, and his new album Semblance of Normalcy, talks with Andy and Matt about the word stentorian, Earth's magnetic anomaly, scientific collaborations and X shapes in the galaxy, finding out there's more than one foot, the threat of swooping magpies and what, exactly, ropey means. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Writer, actress and story coach Lynn Ferguson (@lynnfergy) joins Matt and Andy to talk about house snooping and fountain misuse, chickens, wasps in figs, coyote melons, spying on penguin poop, Andy's hiking discovery, painting eyes on cow butts and whether hot water freezes faster than cold. Check out Michelle Biloon's album Permanent Hat and Sara Schaefer's book Grand!

Matt's Last Comic Standing buddy (and Season 5 winner) Jon Reep @jonreep joins Matt and Andy to talk about getting COVID, meteors and moons, Shazam for spiders, anus-escaping water beetles, unusual places to grow a penis, medieval antibiotics, Jon's new podcast Country-ish and this totally independent, unbiased ranking of podcasts that we hope to break. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Improv and comedy acting legend Mike McShane (@thismikemcshane) joins Matt and Andy to talk about the funniest kind of nudity, cognitive impairment tests, the limits of human eating, the star that's hurtling across the universe, a sperm robot story we've done before, and mathematicians boycotting the police. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Jonah Ray (@jonahray), host of Jonah Raydio and co-guest with Matt on TONIGHT'S episode of The Great Debate on Syfy, talks about his great Seeso show Hidden America, taking over MST3K (and his favorite episode), how flying snakes fly, hungry hungry black holes, Twitter hacks and Bitcoin scams, talking to prairie dogs and the coming population crash. This episode is brought to you by StartAPod, providing our listeners with a special offer by visiting StartAPod.com/probably

Comedian Steph Tolev (@StephTolev) joins Andy and Matt from Toronto to discuss quarantining and TikTok-ing with her family, the history of sled dogs, a black neutron star discovery, putting sheep in K-holes and a $23 million space toilet.

Comedian and host of the outstanding podcast Scattered Chris Garcia (@_chrisgarcia) joins Matt and Andy to discuss getting a little too much parental help with science fair projects, dolphins using tools, 3D printing inside the body and how burning coal 250 million years ago led to climate change. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian, swimmer and math major Matthew Broussard (@mondaypunday) joins Andy and Matt to talk about linear algebra, swimming, neanderthal DNA, DNA degradation, Alex Falcone's NASA career, ancient Irish one-percenters, twins marrying twins and twin paternity tests. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Jake Johannsen (@Jakethis) of the podcast Jake This joins Andy and Matt to discuss an herbal would-be COVID-19 remedy out of Madagascar, why men and women experience alcohol differently, alcohol's lack of protection against COVID-19 and appearing on Dr. Katz.

Comedian and actor Dan Oster (@dernerster) joins Matt and a normally voiced Andy to discuss pantomime dwarves, a desert update, neutron stars showing their cores, a porn star and a toad-venom death, psychological pain treatments, tripping on nutmeg and Dan's A Podcast, But Evil. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Friends of the show Sarah Morgan (@sarahlmorgan) and JJ Whitehead (@JJWhitesnake) return to talk with Matt and a strangely deep-voiced Andy about a USB stick to protect you from the evils of 5G, controlling monkey minds via ultrasound, a super-deep octopus and monkeys stealing coronavirus samples. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian, actor and voice performer extraordinaire Carlos Alazraqui (@carlosalazraqui) joins Matt and Andy to talk about what you can learn from hundreds of skydiving jumps, mud flows on Mars, laughing gas from penguin poop, a worm that survived being frozen for 41,000 years and Carlos' new movie Witness Infection.

Comedian Kristin Key (@thekristinkey) joins Matt and Andy to talk about her new album Keeper of Feelings, the importance of moths, illicit surfing in bioluminescence, neon dolphins, Pluto's haze, SOFIA, thirsty koalas licking trees and rain caused by nuclear testing. This episode is brought to you by StartAPod, offering our listeners 50% off the first year of a monthly or annual subscription by visiting StartAPod.com/probably

Writer Scott Vrooman (@mescottvrooman) joins Matt and Andy to discuss watching rocket launches, Trident missile tests, what it actually takes to make a ventilator, murder hornets, how to give CPR, the psychological health of vegetarians and meat-eaters, girlfriends' effects on risk-taking and the new Quibi show Memory Hole. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering our listeners a free trial by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably This episode is brought to you by StartAPod, offering our listeners 50% off the first year of a monthly or annual subscription by visiting StartAPod.com/probably

Erstwhile Probably Science cohost Jesse Case (@jessecase) of Jesse vs. Cancer fame returns (remotely) to discuss everyone's new living situations, what the old Bluebell house looks like now, Andy's neighbor's text, a new LIGO discovery, bird brain sizes, a black paint that somehow cools buildings and analyzing whether farts can spread coronavirus. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering our listeners a free trial by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably This episode is brought to you by StartAPod, offering our listeners 50% off the first year of a monthly or annual subscription by visiting StartAPod.com/probably

Writer Sam Pasternack (@SamPasternack) of The Podcasternack joins Matt and Andy while riding his quarantine exercise bike to discuss the real toilet paper problem, bomb tests and whale shark ages, a VERY personalized toilet, an unexpected downside of planting trees, a Mercury mission that just got underway and a five-year time lapse of its path to Mercury orbit. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners three months of unlimited access for only $30 by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian/actor Danny Jolles (@DannyJolles) joins Andy and Matt to discuss celebrity centers, political science, the astrophysicist who got magnets stuck up his nose, arm hickeys, mouse emotions, finding Clooneys when stressed, neanderthal fishing, ancient Australian fossils, wrestler Mae Young, Danny's podcast Everything But The Scores and Brooks' ridiculous one-man hungover marathon. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners three months of unlimited access for only $30 by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Grant Lyon (@grantlyon1) returns to the podcast on the heels of the release of his new album "Scheduled Fun Time" to talk about "Imagine" parodies, a Mars lander hitting itself with a shovel, NASA accepting applications, genetically modified neurons and implants, Earth's tiny new moon, Grant's astronaut neighbor and an animal that doesn't need oxygen to survive.

Dr. Barry Fox is a Clinical Professor of Infectious Disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He also teaches An Introduction to Infectious Diseases on The Great Courses Plus, which turns out to be a very timely lecture series right now. Dr. Fox talks with Matt and Andy about infectious disease in general, and COVID-19 in particular, while helping clarify what we do and don't know about the pandemic in which we find ourselves. For up-to-the-minute coronavirus information, Dr. Fox recommends the CDC, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably to access Dr. Fox's course and hundreds of others.

Comedian/actor Langston Kerman (@LangstonKerman, Insecure, South Side, Bless This Mess) joins Matt and Andy for a COVID-19 quarantine edition of the podcast, discussing oceanography, subterranean chlamydia, raining molten iron, bike speed records, tiny dinosaurs, mammoth bones, forbidden fruit and insect butter. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedians Sharon Mahoney (@sharonmahoneyca) and Byron Bertram (@byronbertram) join Matt and Andy to discuss glowing amphibians, COVID-19, Pence's spotty record, the Halifax Explosion and molecular oxygen being found beyond the Milky Way. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Barry Rothbart (@barryrothbart) returns to Probably Science eight years after his last appearance to discuss Scorcese films, Mad Mike Hughes, an autism apology, COVID-19, relative risks and vaccines, expensive cars and being a dick, electricity from thin air, seatbelt laws and lives saved and bomb-sniffing locusts.

Video game writer/narrative director and VR advocate Rob Yescombe (@robyescombe) joins Matt and Andy to discuss 90s computer games on TV, Gamesmaster with Take That, Oculus Quest, inside-out tracking, parallax, light field cameras, volumetric video capture, Surinder Rattan's The Lick, making the VR whodunit The Invisible Hours and the game RiME. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Writer/producer Krister Johnson (@KristerJohnson) joins Matt and Andy to discuss his hilarious new Netflix show Medical Police, God's Pottery, Matt LeBlanc and a very specific accent, virus-naming, radiation-eating fungi, autism and myelin, extreme knitting and walking sharks.

Comedian Ed Salazar (@edasalazar) joins Andy and Matt to talk about the new Goop show, Marianne Williamson's disease theories, yoga scammers, Catholic workouts, Einstein being right again, Mercury retrograde explained, YouTube Wired experts, dorking out on musical intervals, more giant horrendous creepy-crawlies, the upcoming show The Great Debate and koala balls. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners three months of unlimited access for only $30 by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Tiffany Stevenson (@tiffstevenson) joins Matt and Andy to talk about loads of Australian spiders and how to catch them, more drop bear nonsense, Vesuvius turning brains to glass, alcoholic spines, eating too many Australian cakes, Dr. Heimlich and cuttlefish VR.