Probably Science

Alice Fraser (@aliterative, Tea With Alice, The Last Post) sits in as guest co-host for this chat with Comedy Store Players veteran and Whose Line Is It Anyway cast member Richard Vranch (@richardvranch), who more importantly for us is Dr. Richard Vranch, former physicist, for talk about the early days of UK comedy, and his experiments with silicon chips and radiation.

While on the road, Matt talks to Dr. Damian King about his work as the head of Neutral Beam Injection for the JET (Joint European Torus) at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy and why heating things to 30 million degrees isn't nearly enough. 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

Comedians Kate Kennedy (@TheOGKennedy) and TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) join Andy to discuss physics for poets, Feynman memoirs, family trips and home movies, record-breaking geysers, blood waterfalls and freezing water at its boiling point. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Writer/comedians TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) and Jordan Morris (@Jordan_Morris) return to the podcast to wrap up the decade that was the 2010s, covering things along the way including penis fish, the cat that says "well, hi!", the biggest scientific happenings of the decade, Karen Gillan's box office dominance, the book Orange World and the podcast Bubble.

Author of books, graphic novels and comics including DC's Batgirl Cecil Castellucci (@misscecil) joins Matt, Andy and her neuroscientist father Vincent to talk about her new graphic novel memoir Girl on Film, which intertwines the story of her life in the arts and schooling at Laguardia High School of the Performing Arts with sidebars on the neuroscience of memory and a look at Vincent's life's work in that field.

Comedian Louis Katz (@louiskatz) of the podcast Road Heads joins Andy and Matt to discuss robot deliveries, semen shocks (and overly detailed pictures), honking dinosaurs, the Jurassic Park melodica cover, plants making noises, Mort Garson's music for plants, Brazil's museum that burned down, browncardigan.com, a robot space hotel and who's in space right now.

Comedian and game show-hosting veteran Bil Dwyer (@BilDwyer) returns to the podcast 7 1/2 years after his last appearance to talk about Dirty Rotten Cheater, more reasons to hate paper straws, the greatest prank call ever, BLEVEs, frozen dogs, shrinking birds, tattooed mummies, audiophile coral reefs and a possible fifth force of nature.

Matthew D. LaPlante (@mdlaplante), author of the new book Superlative: The Biology of Extremes, joins Matt and Andy to talk about all creatures great and small (and fast and slow and strong and old and deadly...) and look at the many surprising things to be learned from nature's outliers.

Comedian/writer/podcaster Chris Mancini (@chrisjmancini) of Comedy Film Nerds joins Andy and Matt to talk about the good Kickstarter for his graphic novel Rise of the Kung Fu Dragon Master (and a less-good one for this dumb wine thing), what the deal with Pez is, toilet stickiness, Ohio religion laws, L'Hopital's rule, supernova blobs, pigeon bones, antibiotics resistance and why you may not have to finish taking all of yours, pig organs, tonight's northern lights, Andy's Guilty Treasure show tomorrow, suspended animation and Michael Moschen's Labyrinth juggling. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Noah Gardenswartz (@noahgcomedy) of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel joins Andy and Matt to discuss left-handed women's smell, cannibal ants, cg mustaches, an ebola vaccine, anti-vax Facebook ads, mouse deer and Mars air. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free trial with unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian and host of the radio show/podcast You're the Expert Chris Duffy (@youretheexpert) joins Matt and Andy to talk about rats driving cars, why measles is bad, the book Antisocial, fake news in Argentina, beavers on the moon, eagles racking up roaming charges, a thermal camera that spotted cancer, Google's quantum supremacy and the guy who coined the term, brewing beer in your stomach and why breathalyzers aren't to be trusted.

Artificial intelligence researcher and UC Berkeley Professor of Computer Science Dr. Stuart Russell joins Andy to talk about his new book Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control, which explores the concept of intelligence in humans and machines, what the benefits and drawbacks of creating superhuman intelligence are, and what AI researchers can do now to help usher in a future that's more utopian than dystopian.

Comedian-turned-writer Daniel Dominguez joins Matt and Andy to talk about his new animated Netflix series Seis Manos, Nobel Prize announcements in physics, medicine and chemistry, Ursula K. Le Guin, people with Goodenough names and implanting false memories in birds. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Troy Walker (@troywalkeresq) joins Matt and Andy to discuss erector sets, owl pellets, scientists growing tooth enamel, aspen sunscreen, a Milky Way explosion, Dr. Magma, too many wallabies, university ripoffs and antibiotic resistance. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Matt Monroe (@heymonroe) joins Andy and Matt to discuss retirement community shows, Sandler on Netflix, the Salton Sea, the toilet water scale, Terence Howard science, lizard womb babies, lady rabbit orgasms, Sarah Morgan's web series, a tooth bird fossil, Matt Monro and Born Free.

Comedian Nick Turner (@NicksTurners) returns to the show seven years after his last appearance to talk about his podcasts Get Rich Nick and Recently Added, walking dogs, very slow zombies, a herpes vaccine, fun math with 3s, a new blackest black, Instant Hotel, cooking with ostrich eggs, Instant Hotel, Fastest Car and Hyperdrive, spiders flying with electricity and a play with a very controversial name. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

PhD-having comedian Ria Lina (@rialina_) joins Matt and Andy to talk about bioinformatics, her research in viruses, specifically the herpes family of viruses, predicting this year's flu, the definition of life, the other kind of beach bodies, pathology, terrorism hypotheticals, herd immunity, viral ontology and Ria's ukulele song for Alabama. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Nick Vatterott (@vatterott) of the new podcast Get Rich Nick joins Andy and Matt to discuss trivia, trypophobia, obscenity trials, mouthwash vs. exercise, vape deaths, Stackenblocken, a skull discovery, Lucy and whether there is a gay gene.

Cartoonist/author/engineer Randall Munroe of the Hugo Award-winning webcomic xkcd joins Matt and Andy to talk about his new book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, in which he gives novel, ridiculous and technically correct tips on doing everything from digging a hole to winning an election. You can catch Randall in person on his book tour running through September 19th.

Comedians Chris Martin (@ChrisMcomedy) and Hanna Stanbridge (@HannaStanbridge) join Andy and Matt to talk about our Wired video, soap on a rope, some scientist listeners' corrections, burp-free cows and seaweed, July being the hottest month ever, how tongue rolling isn't fully genetic, vaccine-delivering Congo drones, asparagus pee, boney boners, Will Smith's penis, water-powered space craft and peeing in space. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Actor/director Pollyanna McIntosh (@PollyAMcIntosh) of The Walking Dead, Lodge 49 and her directorial debut Darlin' joins Matt and Andy to discuss Dennis dentists, human-sized penguins, gay penguins with an egg, an ebola cure, good environmental news, bad environmental news and tails for old people. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Joyelle Johnson (@joyellenicole) joins Andy and Matt to talk about doctor rules, chlamydia vaccines, AI that can spot bad food, our surprisingly old moon and an excellent Fidel Castro conspiracy theory.

Comedian Jordan Doll (@razorlou) joins Andy and Matt to discuss old UK comedy, field archaeology, being a shovel bum, King Arthur's various swords, massive parrots, the periodic table of Jeopardy!, tardigrades on the moon, disinfecting Mars, water-filtering wood, toxic Paris, Maya Angelou ads, problematic pics and The Mechanical Turk. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian KT Tatara (@kttatara) joins Matt and Andy to talk about a CRISPR sickle cell cure, a mysterious radiation leak linked to Russia, Mr. Wizard, Bob Lazar and UFOs and bees' sense of the electric fields of flowers. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Comedian Francisco Ramos (@FranciscoRamos) joins Andy and Matt to discuss thermos technology, socialism, whether canned laughter works, an asteroid close call, quantum teleportation and an HIV cure for mice.

Comedian and recent Portland transplant Caitlin Weierhauser (@UncleCait) joins returning guest TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) to talk about the surprisingly extensive history of McDonaldland characters, how dogs' eyes evolved to appeal to humans, a notably droopy dog breed, a recently scrapped Indian space mission, female jockeys being underestimated by the betting public , a recent study critical of psychiatric diagnosis and a magical island where the koalas are free of chlamydia. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis), KPCC science reporter and host of the podcast The Big One, talks with Andy about the two recent major California earthquakes, what they mean for those living on nearby faultlines, what to do to prepare yourself for future quakes, FEMA's earthquake safety checklist, Jacob's supply shopping list and and his podcast detailing the repercussions of a hypothetical catastrophic earthquake in Los Angeles. This episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus, offering Probably Science listeners a free month of unlimited access to thousands of lectures by visiting TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/probably

Population geneticist Dr. Alex Platt joins Matt and Andy to discuss the complex world of genetics and its role in shaping humans the world over, also dealing with the many misconceptions and blind spots people have about genetic diversity and the history of the human species.

Actress/writer Susy Kane (@kusysane) joins Matt and Andy to talk about Stan & Ollie, eating a credit card's mass in plastic, a dubious claim about plastic straws, Canada's plastic ban, ISS tourism, InSight news, ladybug swarms and pterodactyls flying from birth.

Comedian Bri Pruett (@bripruett) joins Andy and Matt to discuss the invisible world, witchy things, a mosquito-killing GM fungus, saving the wasps, anxiety and gut bacteria, making kombucha, real plastic recycling and the resilience of tardigrades. See Matt in NYC next week. This episode is brought to you by Green Chef. For $75 off your first three orders, visit greenchef.us/psp75. Come and see Matt in NY next week!

Comedian Ismo Leikola (@ISMOcomedy) joins Matt and Andy to talk about Finland, language family trees, university physics, snails, LIGO news, a giant Australian meteor, chimps cracking open tortoises, generating power on ships and the fact that Ismo is the first thing that comes up when you do a video search for "ass."

Comedian Michelle Biloon (@biloon) joins Andy and Matt to talk about RFK's assassination, credit card rules, Michelle's coding past, more cocaine in British sealife, living with MS, how kidney donor chains work and drones delivering organs.

Comedian Tommy Johnagin (@tommyjohnagin) joins Matt and Andy to discuss Last Comic Standing, finding your passion, why farts are funny, Marsquakes, crazy expensive houses, soil damage fueling climate change and a few ships polluting more than millions of cars.

Zach Reino (@zachreino), actor/writer/host of the improvised musical podcast Off Book, joins Matt and Andy to discuss ancient Chinese medicine's surprisingly recent history, Germany's weird Chinese tradition, Arthur C. Clarke's three laws, reactivating dead pigs' brains, a brain implant that produces speech, HIV curing a bubble boy, why vitamins from pills don't work and the Galileo Fallacy.

Comedian Dave Waite (@davewaitecomedy) joins Matt and Andy to talk about khaki diaper butt, geography pride, a black hole image, the video Janna sent about said black hole, world records for rabbit fur and big pizzas, Stonehenge builders, measles and chicken pox and smiling.

Comedian Doug Mellard (@dougmellard) joins Andy and Matt to talk about All Space Considered, asteroid fossils, the Thatcher Effect, upside-down viewing, Tom Cruise's middle tooth, Catalina, earthquake prep podcasts, octopus attacks and octopus wrestling, the rules of kabaddi, eye bees, a four-legged whale fossil, Matt and Andy becoming parasite-famous, a Japanese bomb on an asteroid and India fucking up space.

Writer/comedian friend of the show Nick Doody (@NickDoody) returns to discuss linguistics, space herpes, atoms and the strong force, the reason for zebra stripes or maybe not, a physics theory as to why time flies more as we age, the first female Abel prize winner, famous Norwegians, lady strokes from lady strokes, the Citizens of Nowhere podcast and Bigipedia.

Returning guests Sarah Morgan (@sarahlmorgan) and Brendon Burns (@brendonburns) join Matt and Andy to talk about air travel, SpaceX's new not-quite-manned flight, monkey peril, the Mars mission that may not be, rare semi-identical twins and a lot of talk about Brendon's stonefish encounter. Listen to Brendon's Dumb White Guy podcast and Sarah's show The Fear.

Cannabis educator Emma Chasen (@echasen) and comedian Marcus Coleman (@MrMarcusColeman) join Matt and Andy for a live show in Portland as part of the Listen Up! festival, discussing the complex science of the effects of cannabis, the difficulties in researching it, and the many hard-to-dispell myths surrounding it.

The final stop of the Probably Science Australia tour brings Andy and Matt to Melbourne on Valentine's Day, where they welcome Sheree Marris (@shereemarris), author of Kama SEAtra, and returning guest Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) to discuss the sex lives of aquatic creatures, male seahorses who birth thousands of babies, necking sea slugs, barnacle penises, cross-dressing cuttlefish and the fact that the city of of Melbourne was almost called Batmania. This episode is brought to you thanks to the generosity of Inspiring Australia and The Australian Society for Parasitology.

Andy and Matt welcome comedian Liz Miele (@lizmiele) and astrophysicist/software engineer Samuel Hinton (@samreay) to the stage in Brisbane to talk about Brewsvegas pool parties, Australia's most retweeted tweet, the fun of e-scooters, lax Australian airport security, the various ways Matt has broken teeth, dyslexic comedians, Liz's veterinarian parents, resume padding, being on Australian Survivor, dark matter and dark energy, proving Einstein right time after time, criticism of LIGO data analysis, the vacuum catastrophe, meeting Destruction Lane, Bayesian modeling, Roko's Basilisk, the plot of Annie 2, Andy meeting an AC/DC offspring, arXiv vs. viXra and Samuel's upcoming PhD thesis. This episode is brought to you thanks to the generosity of Inspiring Australia and The Australian Society for Parasitology.

Matt and Andy descend upon Sydney for the third leg of the Australian tour, welcoming Ig Nobel Prize-winning researcher Callum Ormonde and comedian Jen Carnovale (@Jen_Carnovale) to talk about living down your sister's reputation, what to put in a microwave, the Ig Nobel Prize itself, how Callum accidentally unboiled an egg, past Ig Nobel nominees and winners who studied things like how a Moroccan emperor managed to father almost a thousand children, magnetically levitating a frog, why old men have big ears, how contact with a crocodile affects gambling decisions, using a didgeridoo to fix snoring, CEOs escaping natural disasters, putting a stick on a chicken's butt to make it walk like a dinosaur, human diet drugs satiating mosquitoes' bloodlust and Callum's TEDx talk. This episode is brought to you thanks to the generosity of Inspiring Australia and The Australian Society for Parasitology.

The second stop of the Probably Science Australia tour brings Andy and Matt to Perth to talk with Carey Marx (@careymarx) about watching the Super Bowl in Australia, the Perth's Fringe World Festival, working as a magician, drop bears, when kangaroos learned to hop, the correct population of Perth, vanadium mining, global warming making the oceans bluer, how America's colonization cooled Earth's climate, Australia's slow Internet, GOOP's upcoming Netflix show, Carey demonstrating spoon-bending with a fork (which Patreon subscribers can see the unintended consequences of), punching an asteroid, a USB stick found in frozen seal poo and what makes you cringe. This episode is brought to you thanks to the generosity of Inspiring Australia and The Australian Society for Parasitology.

Matt and Andy make the first stop of their Australian tour in Cairns thanks to the generosity of Inspiring Australia and The Australian Society for Parasitology to talk to Dr. Michael Smout about the healing power of worm spit and Dr. Claudia Cobos about peptides found in sunflowers that can be used to treat diseases of the gut. And thanks to James Cook University for the tour of their Eduquarium to see gorgeous marine life, a lot of which can kill you. Portlanders can come and see Probably Science live this Sunday, February 17th at 5pm at The Commune PDX as part of the Listen Up festival.

Andy and Matt travel to SF Sketchfest to be joined by the hilarious Laurie Kilmartin (@anylaurie16), Dr. Judy Melinek (@drjudymelinek) and Dr. Jen Gunter (@DrJenGunter) and discuss autopsies, forensic pathology, debunking GOOP, Twitter being a dick to Laurie, doctors taking on the NRA, reproductive rights and Dr. Melinek's book Working Stiff. Click here for Australia tour dates and click here to donate to Tuesday's Children, a charity for those impacted by 9/11.

Writer/comedian/podcaster Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) joins Andy and Matt to discuss Australia, Monopoly game study, the big data book Everybody Lies, homespun back pain cures, weed towns, conspiracy theories that are wrong but fun, China plants on the moon, a meteorite hitting the super blood wolf moon and Marie Kondo according to a psychologist. This week's episode is brought to you by the new educational comedy podcast Creature Feature.

Comedian Seth Herzog (@Thezog) joins Andy and Matt to talk about being part of the Roots, his mom's Maury impression, Andy being accosted by Bridget Everett, the Ultima Thule flyby and what New Horizons found on Pluto, mysterious radio bursts, silent speaking, expensive ugly shoes, David Avocado Wolfe, Derren Brown and pigment in a very old artist's teeth. This week's episode is brought to you by the new educational comedy podcast Creature Feature.

Returning guests Henry Phillips (@Henlips) and Auggie Smith (@AuggieSmith) join Andy to discuss rebel honeybees, trying to guess the twist in this trailer, presidential poo, a retinal link to SAD, the craziest thing a human's ever coughed up, gambling tips, ridiculous FAQs, the new Henry's Kitchen Master Class and the (sort of) fastest animal around. This week's episode is brought to you by the new educational comedy podcast Creature Feature.

While Matt's on the road, he sits down with Malaysia's Godfather of Stand-up Comedy Harith Iskander (@HarithIskander) in his home country to talk about Voyager going interstellar, New Horizon's latest flyby, X-chromosome life-expectancy, wasp-based antibiotics, early feathery fossils, computer-tested BO and armpit bacteria.

Little Dum Dum Club podcast host Karl Chandler (@KarlChandler) joins Matt to talk about shitting Lego, the dying arctic, hiding coins in food, old racist sayings, bee rebels, Ireland's bee man and Adelaide's space scene.