Probably Science

Comedian, TV host and author of the upcoming memoir My Life as a Goddess Guy Branum (@guybranum) returns to the podcast to talk with Andy and Matt about shipping stories, his knowledge of international law, legal murders in Yellowstone, how dingos changed shrubs, shark pathogens, Nanaimo bars, dogs in fMRIs, Matt in an fMRI, 19th Century female mathematicians, senior wranglers and British TV shows you should be watching on YouTube.

The gang's all back together again to celebrate 300 episodes of Probably Science while discussing barely any science at all, instead reminiscing about the last six years, getting nostalgic for Country Summer and trying to figure out which actors have achieved the coveted SPATS (piloting a spacecraft, plane, automobile, train and sea ship on film).

Dean Burnett (@garwboy) is a neuroscientist, comedian, blogger and author of the new book Happy Brain: Where Happiness Comes From, and Why, and he Skyped in with Matt and Andy to talk about the book, delving into the complex relationship that happiness and human brains have with work, love, fame, home, humor, aging and much more.

Comedian, writer and host of The Cracked Podcast Alex Schmidt (@alexschmidty) joins Matt and Andy to talk about 3D printing, Gategate, phone facts, the English Larval Progression, Andy and Matt's recent Cracked appearance, eels on coke, black holes eating stars, cane toad sausages and lonely radiation bacteria.

Comedian Mitch Burrow (@MitchBurrow) joins Andy and Matt to talk about boot camp morning alarms, blueprint-building and 3D thought, deaf schizophrenia, Moshe Kasher's book, exploding head syndrome, cold water calorics test update, the unluckiest guy in Pompeii, why Guatemala's volcano is more dangerous than Hawaii's, all life on Earth by mass (and what we did to destroy it), The Cove documentary and Mitch's podcast "We're With Them."

Astrophysicist and professor at University of Rochester Adam Frank (@AdamFrank4) joins Matt and Andy to talk about his new book Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth, a look at the history of scientific discoveries on planetary environments and the prospect of alien life, what the very high likelihood that extraterrestrial civilizations have existed in our universe can teach us about the fate of human life on Earth, how an inevitable growing pain of any civilization is climate change and what to do with that information to ensure that our civilization survives its cosmic adolescence.

Comedians and hosts of the upcoming Good Job You Failed podcast Vana Dabney (@vanawrite) and Deborah Etta Robinson (@deborah_etta) join Andy and Matt to discuss human echolocation, marsupials fucking themselves to death, death by fart smell, nerve regeneration (or lack thereof), the longest paths on Earth, non-detectable neutrinos, Deborah and Vana's podcast and bodybuilding goals. Watch Matt's clip on The Jim Jefferies Show here or here.

Comedian and writer Jesse Joyce (@jessejoyce) joins Andy and Matt to talk about taxidermy, muskoxen, takins, red panda poop glitter, Qinling pandas, Gavin Webster's pandas, Bitcoin's energy usage, Jesse's dislike of live music, pouring warm and cold water in your ears, bad company names, patent trolls, discovering animals, Snoop's pinecone and the mysterious return of ozone.

Comedian Robyn Morrison (@RobynSomething) joins Andy and Matt to discuss concert height etiquette, the best sciences on drugs, more aphantasia, snail memory, science trivia questions, sitcom tropes, Korean nukes, thermal tasters, hippo shit and drowning wildebeest.

Neuroscientist/comedian Ori Amir (@OriAmir) joins Matt and Andy to talk about putting Matt in an fMRI, how your brain constructs jokes, prosopagnosia and aphantasia, politics and the brain, what computers find easy and hard, AI and game-solving, and more about Uber's bad driving. Plus, fill out this survey and we might go on a cruise together!

Comedian Brett Erickson (@iBrettmypants) joins Matt and Andy on location at the Jim Jefferies Show offices to talk about meeting Slayer's guitarist Kerry King, Oliver Sacks' book An Anthropologist on Mars, Temple Grandin and her hug machine, aphantasia, penis transplant updates, New York water updates, DNA findings leading to the Golden State Killer, caterpillar danger, Globetrotters facts, an instrument to help reveal faint exoplanets, the Retro Encabulator, The Freeze, and large spleens.

Comedian/actor/writer Emily Fleming (@FlemilyEming) joins Matt and Andy to discuss bad AI, gastro doctoring, constidar, Andy's phone getting stolen mid-show, the smell of Uranus, New York water, penis transplants, David Reimer, ravens ruining science, why privacy on the internet isn't privacy and kids bouncing back from bouncing.

Comedian/neuroscientist Dr. Jono Zalay (@JonoZalay) joins Matt and Andy to discuss coke rats, accidental rat ejaculation, ibogaine for opiates, ketamine for depression, rodent cocktail, animal popularity, a daring baboon escape, pronouncing science words, endangered charismatic animals, chili head, the Scoville scale and Jono's licenses.

Comedian and podcaster David Smalley (@davidcsmalley) joins Matt and Andy to talk about bullying bullies, different names, Texan science, why meth is bad, paints for self-driving cars, herpes, 3D printing with space poop, what we should have printed, and women who lost their hair after eating bitter squash.

Comedian and Guy Fieri apologist Shane Torres (@shanetorres) makes his first appearance on the show, joining Andy and Matt to talk about horse herpes and rodeo adaptation, the #DickTracyChallenge, super gonorrhea, acupuncture studies, cocaine and Parkinson's, spray-on skin update and HVAC and Legionnaires' disease.

Comedian Ian Abramson (@ianabramson) joins Andy and Matt to talk about the death of Jim Jefferies, the Inland Empire, Roger Bannister, how fast the average person can run, Dick Tracy, a rocket man and the flat earth conspiracy conspiracy, Andy's connection to a waterslide tragedy, Grantland's article about said waterslide, magic skin spray, dirty rubber duckies, the forensic mystery behind Legionnaires' disease, essential oils for boy boobs, California's silly Prop 65 cancer warning, Uber still sucking, Ian's Conan appearance and the #DickTracyChallenge.

Actor and TOFOP co-host Charlie Clausen (@CXClausen) joins Matt and Andy to discuss Aussie soaps, dental nightmares, Mask vs. The Mask, Eric Stoltz, Daylight Saving Time and koalas, smell-the-fart acting, political reasons for slow clocks, pizza innovation and The Noid, space twins and DNA, Dolph Lundgren gym run-ins and self-driving car risks.

Comedian/writer/producer/host of Adult Swim's Soft Focus Jena Friedman (@JenaFreidman) joins Matt and Andy for an on-location recording talking about Cannibal Cop, Jena's cold fusion-seeking grandfather, acupuncture and opioids, how the Sackler family are murderers, Hitler's art, new battery technology, Tesla's megabattery, Dinorwig, the political economy of Chicago's improv scene and Jena's thesis, the ethnographic method, the Comedy Cellar podcast and rape statistics, female emotional labor and millions of penguins. This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh. For $30 off of your first week, visit hellofresh.com and use the code "probably30"

Comedian James Fritz (@fritzisdead) joins Andy and Matt to discuss Kentucky science, Oscars theories, magic mushrooms, neanderthal art, turkey history and Ben Franklin on birds, airplane air, soldier terminology, the early universe, scientists running for office and Matt's recent Star Talk appearance with Stephen Hawking, Janna Levin and Michio Kaku.

Writer and friend of the show Sarah Morgan (@sarahlmorgan) returns to talk with Matt and Andy about the prey defines the chase, vampire bats, memory wire, bismuth, robo-bees, playing HQ Trivia (and using the referral codes "andytwood" or "Mattbk"), Uber scams, plants and anesthesia, motherland vs. fatherland, curing Alzheimers in mice, pervy Koko the gorilla and reading too much into animal communication.

Actress Zabeth Russell (@zabsters) joins Matt and Andy to discuss Tom hanks killing a dog, placebo boobs, monkey sex workers, eye worms, fast and slow colors (and more color experiments), and dinosaurs overstretching. This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh. For $30 off your first week of HelloFresh, visit hellofresh.com and enter PROBABLY30.

Comedian/actor/voiceover artist Valerie Tosi (@valerie_tosi) joins Andy and Matt (and Roo) to discuss Andy's dogsitting business, whale dissection, Boston accents and pirate accents, Cheddar Man the early Brit, when humans first left Africa, potholing/spelunking, kids performing better when they're Batman, oil patterns on bowling lanes, SpaceX success, and blowing up their near misses, vaping risks and clove cigarettes.

Actor/improviser Lauren Flans (@laurenflans) of Another Period, Wild 'n Out and the new podcast Tell Us We're Funny and We'll Go Away joins Matt and Andy to discuss travel credit cards and Mexican drugs, Orphan Black, anti-abortion teachers, legislating numbers, different infinities, '70s poison toys, radioactive Fiestaware, Gerrymandering and its origins, a fake RHCP song, lasers that can rip apart empty space, whales that talk, elephant painting, Svengali and Machiavelli, poisonous toad-eating crows and quokka pics.

Comedian/actor/writer Kiran Deol (@shitfromkiran) joins Matt and Andy to help celebrate the six-year (iron) anniversary of the podcast and discuss crashing astronomy conferences, shooting Prince Rupert's drops, breathing oxygen at depth, predator/prey turning, chalk and cheese, monkey clones, celebrity pet adoption, crow hooks, space lungs and yucca injuries.

Comedian, star of Those Who Can't and frontman of the band SPELLS Ben Roy (@benroy00) joins Matt and Andy to talk about Andy's accessibility, Poison songs, evolutionary psychology, the books The Mating Mind and The Righteous Mind, space growth, living underwater, cell phone risk, bats melting in Australia, frozen alligators, gila monster saliva helping diabetes, and bonobos liking jerks.

Comedian Ricky Carmona (@RickyCarmona) of the podcast Who Shot Ya? joins Andy and Matt to talk about when to say Happy New Year, Weird Science vs. Real Genius, how to stop superbugs, raw water, the other John Snow, laser eagles, slowing down light, power plant mirrors that explode birds, things deadlier than sharks and parking mathematics.

Friends of the show TJ Chambers (@TJChambersLA) and Auggie Smith (@AuggieSmith) return to kick off 2018 with TJ and Andy's new podcast Twinsies (@twinsiespod), space beer, monkeys bonin' deer, the recent SpaceX launch, traveling salesbees, sleeping jellyfish, Matt Walker on sleep (and on Probably Science), how to keep your exercise resolution, and Tommy Wiseau's surprise tenant.

Matt's on the road in Colorado and meets up with his old university friend Dr. Pete Newton (@newton_pete) who's now an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder to talk about his TEDx Talk on why "food miles" are aren't all they're cracked up to be, his journey away from and back to academia, safari tours in Botswana, hunting pangolins, anaconda attacks in the field, the perils of ruminants, changing our behavior, changing a whole country's behavior, and whether you'd eat lab-grown meat.

Matt and Andy make a visit to the home of Jim Jefferies (@jimjefferies) to talk about a very British car accident, self-driving cars, Ted Danson's amazing face, feeding spiders graphene, a new space tire, Mars temperatures, cricket commentary, onion ubiquity, Dubai space agriculture, business class from the ground, and upsetting rock stars.

Host of the Rock Solid podcast Pat Francis (@pat_francis) joins Matt and Andy to talk about donating medals, miming phones, teen brains that can't tell what's important, homeless etiquette, Voyager I firing up again, coffee and health, grammar rules and beard posturing.

Comedian/musician Eli Braden (@EliBraden) joins Andy and Matt to discuss jazz addicts, the flat-earth rocket guy and his earlier flight, conspiracy theories, not a head transplant, prehistoric women's strength, why boning is heart-safe, mnemonics, grossing out chimps, health codes and California D.

Science writer, educator, and artist Dr. Danna Staaf recently published her first book, Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, and she joins Matt and Andy to talk about her dissertation on the reproduction and early life of Humboldt squid, penis fencing among hermaphroditic flatworms, the fact that calamari pre-date the dinosaurs, and why we should all have a lot more respect and awe for cephalopods in general.

Comedian/freestyle rapper Chris Turner (@ChrisPJTurner) joins Andy and Matt to talk about archeology, volcano-based Roman shit, old wine, old Amish people, gay evolution, monkeys playing chicken and the theory of mind. This episode is sponsored by Hello Fresh. For $30 off your first week of HelloFresh, visit hellofresh.com and enter "probably30" at checkout.

Comedian Raj Desai (@_rajdesai) almost makes himself late to his job writing for Sarah Silverman's I Love You, America to do a morning recording with Andy and Matt about his chromatography history, looking more closely at the placebo effect, and how the extinction of dinosaurs made way for mammals to come out during the day.

Comedian Jason Saenz (@jasonsaenz) joins Matt and Andy to talk about Jeff Foxworthy impressions, Saenz Signs, debunked early psychology experiments, oyster hearing, competition-grade oysters, squirrels and lepers, armadillo leprosy in Florida, gold and the documentary series Connections, a good moonbase location, Pluto's Cave, herbal meds and cancer, blood sweat and Jason's hilarious Comedy Central series Ya Killin' Me.

Comedian Galloway Allbright (@GalloWhy) joins Andy and Matt to discuss the death of expertise, extreme Michael Jackson fandom, that classic Encyclopedia Brittanica ad, the origin of bluegrass, in-flight death plans, channeling your inner Tea Leoni, a neutron star collision, the LIGO song, psilocybin for depression, genes for OCD, Cary Grant's crazy parental history and LSD, a fundraiser for Dipak's niece, an upcoming Chinese space lab crash, China's NASA and scorpions' toxic blend.

Original co-host Brooks Wheelan (@brookswheelan) and LA PodFest co-founder/The Dollop host Dave Anthony join Matt and Andy for a live Probably Science from the Millenium Biltmore hotel in downtown Los Angeles as part of the 2017 Los Angeles Podcast Festival.

Comedian and host of the Tea With Alice podcast Alice Fraser (@aliterative) joins Matt and Andy to discuss jet lag, breaking the seal, MS, a duck update (duckdate?) with video, a body clock Nobel Prize, Dr. Matt Walker's new sleep book, a LIGO Nobel Prize and Janna Levin's book on it, the downside of grass-fed beef, and cargo cults.

Comedian Sharon Houston (@sharon_houston) joins Matt and Andy to discuss flavor profiles, hurricane prep, Hemingway lookalikes, wolverines, duck dicks, finger phone contact, genes vs. alleles, the concept of zero, chisanbop counting, zapping people out of vegetative states, spider sacrifice and more duck dicks.

Comedian Casey Ley (@caseywley) joins Andy and Matt to talk about Andy's car, gay genes, gay face and AI, the first openly gay guy ever, snow leopards becoming less endangered, the end of Cassini, whether or not Saturn would float in water, the first live 4K video from space, the life of Sam Blackman, and Casey's podcast. This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh. Visit hellofresh.com and use the promo code "probably30" to save $30 off your first week of deliveries.

Comedian and author of Real Artists Have Day Jobs (and three other books) Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) invited Matt and Andy into her kitchen to talk about Burning Man, Woodstock '99, talking people down from drugs, creating cryptocurrencies, Space Camp vs. Space Academy, whiskey dilution, faces trained on Skype, Zika for brain tumors, and the secret messages contained in dogs' sneezes.

Applied Physics Laboratory engineer (and Andy's old college roommate) Dipak Srinivasan returns to the podcast to talk about his work on the Mercury MESSENGER mission, the Pluto New Horizons flyby (that'll also soon be visiting Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69), and most importantly, the upcoming Parker Solar Probe and a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, the most likely place in our solar system to find extraterrestrial life.

Comedy's Kara Klenk (@karaklenk) joins Matt and Andy to talk about why Trump isn't good for comedy, bad forensics, hungry thinky worms, penis biting, bleach enemas to cure autism, slugs, Canaanites who just won't die and The Goldwater Rule.

Comedian Heather Thomson (@CasualVelvet) joins Andy and Matt to discuss early email addresses, Woodboys, laws of mathematics that don't apply in Australia, why chimps are pussies, how humans can out-jog horses, antibiotic lies, reversing brain damage with oxygen, Moon water, and the avocado hand epidemic.

Comedian Jim Hegarty (@jimhegarty) joins Matt and Andy to talk about good and bad TV, the Up Series, fireworks contamination, dog domestication, junk DNA, the crazy fly book price, Brewster's Millions rules, egg shapes and egg refrigeration.

Jason Reich (@jasonmreich), the head writer of The Jim Jefferies Show, joins Matt and Andy to discuss eating street apples and syringes, Vegas strategy, an HIV cure, why job interviews are bullshit, old dads with geeky sons follow-up, gonorrhea vaccines, vaquitas, fireworks technology, Alex Jones before and (redder) after and what Goop has in common with Infowars.

Cognitive behavior therapist Dr. Jane Gregory joins Matt and Andy to talk about her work and how she helps people suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and more, along with her fantastic blog Cognitive Behave Yourself in which she puts her money where her mouth is and subjects herself to some of the techniques that she asks her patients to use.

Comedy's Maggie Maye (@Maggiemayehaha) joins Matt and Andy to discuss first TV bed-sharers, rival Amarillo songs, coconut oil, why it's too hot to fly, heat-based reptile sex swapping, older dads and geeky sons, neutron decay, lying chatbots and wobbling suitcases.

Writer and comedic actor Lucas Kavner (@lucaskavner) joins Andy and Matt to talk about rebooted shows, reporting on robots, dog and wolf sharing, how breakfast affects benevolence, Einstein's impossible experiment finally performed, gut bacteria and dinosaur sex.

Comedian Curtis Cook (@Curtis_Cook) writes with Matt on The Jim Jefferies Show, and he sits down to discuss fancy premiere parties and imposter syndrome, catapult-making, how depressing the first Peanuts comic strip is, how AI will beat humans at everything by 2060, Moravec's paradox, dino feathers and scales, getting re-upped on your vaccines, rust getting unfairly blamed for tetanus and parasitic worm healing.