Probably Science

This episode was taped live at the 2016 Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon, with Matt and Andy welcoming comedian/environmental engineer Ella Gale (@hellakale) and author/podcaster/@BitchMedia editor Sarah Mirk (@sarahmirk) to discuss gender biases in science reporting, women in science (and comedy) and why it's hard to make bagels when it's hot outside.

Popular science author Mary Roach's (@mary_roach) books have tackled a wide variety of topics including sex, the afterlife, digestion and space travel. In her soon-to-be-released book Grunt, she takes on the curious science of humans at war, delving into combat medic training, stink bombs, genital transplant surgery, the war on heat, shark repellant and diarrhea as a threat to national security. Pre-order your copy of Grunt now!

Comedian/rapper/writer Zach Sherwin (@ZachSherwin) can be seen on Epic Rap Battles of History, among many other places, and he joins Matt and Andy to talk about writing a JAP battle rap battle on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, p-branes, playing Einstein, the new Ghostbusters script, Andy's bidet, magician hacks and Joel Hodgson's ventriloquism mask invention, Shy Tony, silver underwear, John Oliver's science story, a teen's Mayan discovery that may not be what it seems, everyone yells air ball at the same pitch, diving robots, being bepenised, and long-lasting batteries.

Fahim Anwar (@fahimanwar) recently made his first appearance on Conan as well as the Tina Fey movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and he joins Matt and Andy to discuss birthday escape rooms, engineering degrees to subsidize comedy, bringing people back from the dead, more head transplant news, archaeology vs. paleontology, another EM Drive debunking from Sean Carroll, tons of oral spider sex, enzyme corrections, 3D-printed fake rhino horns, breast cancer gene mapping and where to find Fahim Anwar performances.

Comedy's Andrew Michaan (@AndrewMichaan) joins Matt and Andy to talk about Andy's Lemonade ignorance, celebrity deaths, Catholic aliens, black holes, the Large Hadron Collider, bed bugs, a penis spider bite, IUDs in space and jellyfish stings.

April Richardson (@apey) of Almost Genius, Go Bayside and @midnight joins Matt and Andy to talk about living next door to The Flash, Johnny Depp's Aussie apology, Orson Welles' Paul Masson ad, Dyson face, Andy’s possible bidet purchase, a dung-based clue to Hannibal’s crossing route, a paralyzed man (sort of) playing guitar, dinosaurs and their eggs and a real-time re-creation of the sinking of the Titanic.

Comedian/actors Jon Huck (@jonhuck) and Sunah Bilsted (@thesunah) join Matt and Andy to talk about showering techniques, new pets, that Warner Bros. frog, chemistry on acid, a Carl Sagan tribute act, the historic SpaceX landing, hyperhidrosis, antiperspirant conspiracies, a too-stealthy sea vessel, the upcoming book Grunt, Hawking and the Russians sending a tiny craft to Alpha Centauri, a bullshit paper on creepiness, and antimemories.

Jason Belleville (@bigbelleville) has written for Ground Floor and Angie Tribeca, among many other shows, and he joins Matt and Andy to discuss mustaches and tattoos, academic papers, encyclopedias, Stan and Donavan Freberg, using giant lasers to hide from aliens, grammar correction and being an asshole, Andy getting a thing wrong, growing skin and nude mice, a battery-operated salty fork, flavors on planes and the greatest number of digits of pi we'll ever really need.

Comedians Jessica Michelle Singleton (@JMScomedy) and Christina Walkinshaw (@walkinsauce) join Matt and Andy to discuss bachelor parties, dating, Alaska, super coffee, Google’s April Fools, Microsoft AI, a scientifically impossible Indiegogo, Edx.org's free learning, Vasalgel in rabbits, butt stuff, bunnies in wine glasses, rabbit kidneys, long term good drug effects and fracking-induced earthquakes.

Tom Bell (@tombellforever) of The Leisure Class/Project Greenlight and comedy duo Tommy and the Weeks joins Matt and Andy for a bedroom recording involving a call from a private investigator, Boaty McBoatface, Diana and Mother Teresa, Bob the Robot and Horrible Science, following our robot overlords to disaster, unscrambling eggs to cure cancer, an academic paper that cites The Creator, a video game ProbSci shoutout, eagles vs. drones, Janna Levin's new book and spider boners in amber.

Original Probably Science co-hosts Jesse Case (@jessecase) and Brooks Wheelan (@brookswheelan) return to the show to celebrate Episode 200!

Rick Rosner (@dumbassgenius) has the second-highest IQ score in the world, and his resume includes stints as a bouncer, a stripper, a nude art model and a writer on numerous TV shows. Rick joins Matt, Andy and returning guest Dax Jordan (@daxjordan) to discuss What3Words, xkcd's take on passwords, IQ tests, Rick's Errol Morris interview, spending ten years in high school, stupid California tax rules, Rick's informational theory of the universe, Olbers’ Paradox, The Singularity, Ray Kurzweil, being Borg-ed up, Alcor freezing heads, taking 70 vitamins per day, Rick's gym obsession, writing for MTV's Remote Control, doing nude art modeling with shingles, Rick's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire controversy and his books on Amazon.

Alice Wetterlund (@alicewetterlund) of Silicon Valley and Girl Code joins Matt and Andy to discuss Equinox, aliens, Star Trek, why humans have chins, navigating in Ghana, space lasers and exploding e-cigarettes.

Dr. Chiara Mingarelli (@gravitate_to_me), a Marie Curie Fellow in gravitational wave astrophysics at Caltech, joins the proceedings to talk about low-frequency gravitational waves, pulsar timings arrays and black hole binary systems with masses that are billions of times that of the Sun. This episode was recorded before LIGO's recent announcements confirming the detection of gravitational waves.

One of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of our time calls for an emergency special episode featuring returning guests Dr. Jamie Rollins and Dr. Larry Price, both of whom worked on LIGO, the device that for the first time in history confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, along with theoretical astrophysicist and black hole expert Dr. Janna Levin. Topics discussed include Matt's surprising illness, science fluff, Marco Drago's discovery?, How LIGO works, 30 solar mass black holes, test signals, the actual paper explaining the recent gravitational wave findings, Janna's new book, Relativity 101, BICEP's failure, new black holes, Scorpion!, our T-shirts, Apple vs. the FBI and what the point of all this is. Visit LIGO.org or LIGO.caltech.edu for all your gravitational wave needs!

Ingrid Oliver (@ingridoliver100) of Watson & Oliver and Doctor Who joins Matt and Andy to discuss pengwings, Germans who can't pronounce squirrel, umlaut words, plastination, bees and weather, sniffer bees, a stupid new drug law, first class flight, anti-aging, the Zika virus, how we’ll all die, and ball-packing and avalanches.

Maude Garrett (@maudegarrett) of SourceFedNERD and Geek Bomb joins Andy (@andytwood) and Matt (@mattkirshen) to discuss the weather, Marge, the rains are here, Foley artists, weird childhood memorization, geek vs. nerd diagrams, the ending of Grease and Jurassic Park, a computer that beat a Go champion, E-sports, a new planet, a new HIV treatment, how quickly conspiracies would reveal themselves, and a monkey head transplant. Also, we realize sound cuts out intermittently in the last half of the episode and for that we apologize!

Matt and Andy welcome comedy's Maria Shehata (@MariaShehata) and Nick Dixon (@nickdixxon) to the show to talk about the discovery of penicillin, vaginal steaming, poop transplant pills, autism and gut flora, standing on escalators, man/woman flu, why hangovers get worse as you age, and bringing a tortoise species back to life.

MythBusters' Adam Savage (@donttrythis) and musical comedy duo extraordinaire Paul and Storm (@paulandstorm) join Matt (@mattkirshen) and Andy (@andytwood) for a live performance at the California Academy of Sciences (@calacademy) as part of SF Sketchfest (@SFSketchfest), discussing science myths that won't die, Billy Joel videos, our overeducated audience, soaking kiwis and the wet strength of Charmin. This episode is brought to you by 1Password. Simplify your online life and stop worrying about remembering dozens of passwords by visiting https://agilebits.com/store?d=science for 25% off of your 1Password purchase.

Matt and Andy are back from a holiday hiatus to welcome Last Comic Standing alum Ryan Conner (@rccomedy) to the podcast, delving into topics including the passing of David Bowie, Alvin Stardust, British pantomimes, American and British Gladiators, computer programming, Andy Sidaris movies, a mountain lion with horrifying teeth growing out of its head, praying mantises in 3D glasses, wine story corrections, types of drunks, sperm switches, bone foam, Ryan's family and adult industry namesake and Ryan's podcast Caligula's Grotto.

With Jesse and Matt still out of town, Andy invited friends of the show TJ Chambers, Rylee Newton, Travis Clark, Karl Hess, Laura House, Jackie Kashian and Mitch Burrow to give recommendations on things from 2015 that are worth checking out. Enjoy this attempt at positivity and please forgive the poor sound quality and near-constant crosstalk. We'll be back with new episodes soon! Happy 2016!

SF Sketchfest co-founder and Pop My Culture co-host Cole Stratton (@colestratton) joins Andy and Matt to discuss the upcoming Probably Science SF Sketchfest show on January 14th with Adam Savage, academic decathlons, bringing spoiled wine back to life, Phineas Gage, Strange Bedfellows and Chuck and Larry, Hogan vs. Sandler, the Amber neighbor mystery, an old satellite that came back to life, red mercury, letterboxing and summer births.

Daniel Van Kirk (@danielvankirk) of The Wahlberg Solution, Hindsight, Sklarbro Country and much more joins Matt and Andy to talk about Wahlberg and sleeping, cow insemination, memory games, who can’t be president, Cruz behind the scenes, the Trump petition, outrage culture, the climate and smoking, Merchants of Doubt, profound bullshit, David Avocado Wolfe, the surprising appearance of the far side of the Moon, TV quality, Bubbli, blindness and multiple personalities, movies based on the 10% of the brain idea and a Venus probe hack.

Technology fellow at the Electronic Frontier Foundation Yan Zhu (@bcrypt) joins Matt and Andy to dig deep into online security, privacy, encryption, HTTPS Everywhere, podcast patent trolls, Privacy Badger, the Tor browser, the future of online ads, Edward Snowden, the Silk Road, the upcoming Probably Science live show at SF Sketchfest on January 14th and a bonus audio snippet about Yan's legendary landlord.

The hilarious Travis Clark (@thatguytravis) joins returning guests Dax Jordan (@daxjordan) and TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) to form the first episode with a Space Camp alumni majority and talk about Andy’s UFO sighting that *may* have been a Trident missile test, breaking the blood brain barrier, 24 as a 90s show, GPS versus sextants, DARYL and what it stands for, jet packs, rocket belts, wing things and personal helicopters, Norm at brunch, Dr. Dick’s blood, dementia and Dr. Demento and Margaret Thatcher on Yes Minister.

Danes and Brits come together this week in the form of Sofie Hagen (@SofieHagen) and Sarah Morgan (@sarahlmorgan), both lending their expertise to discussions on the Hollywood sign, Halloween, the emergency wizard costume, Danish science, rice pudding traditions, useful German words, being thrown free, a chimera twin baby, new ghosts, a new bat, spider bites, China’s space plans, eyesight, face blindness, the bacon cancer scare, Andy’s comedy doppelgänger, Danish TV, the hilarious Klown, WKD and crocodile eyes.

Hilarious actor/comedian Kerry Godliman (@KerryAGodliman) is stateside to film a new Christopher Guest film, and she chatted with Matt and Andy about science vs. art, cadaver fists, the persistence of the plague, embarrassing bodies, a clickbait generator, Doug Stanhope's feud with Matt and bee farmers.

Kelly Carlin wears a lot of hats as a monologist, actress, radio host, producer and author of her new memoir A Carlin Home Companion, and she invited Matt and Andy over to her place to talk about calculus, mind-body connections, right answers in math, whether snake fear is hard-wired, monkeys balls, Hurricane Patricia that may or may not be climate change-related, science and the Canadian election, the editor of the BMJ slamming David Hunt, magnetic brain control, the Gripsholm Lion, Ken M, the world's greatest troll, orange peels to clean up mercury, Marie Curie and Mabel Normand. This episode is sponsored by Harrys.com - use the code PSP at checkout for $5 off your first order.

Author Johann Hari (@johannhari101) was stateside recently to return as a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, and he invited Matt and Andy over to his hotel room to talk about the emotional deafness of the rich, his book Chasing The Scream and the failed 100-year war on drugs, the government's persecution of Billie Holliday, new theories of addiction, Rat Park, Portugal's radical policy changes and the way to sell America on drug decriminalization.

Comedy's Jacob Sirof (@jacobsirof) joins Matt and Andy to talk about new jobs, orgasm fungi, Star Wars science, Andy's nephews singing Weird Al, Wales and fake waves, a Chinese telescope on the moon, cheating Jews, converting vaccine skeptics and pig genes.

Dave Anthony (@daveanthony) of The Dollop, Walking The Room and Maron fame joins Matt and Andy to talk about navigating LA by satellite dishes, penis-at-twelve children in the Dominican Republic, mothers of boys gaining Y chromosomes, why we want to squeeze cute stuff, Rodney Stanger, the apparently kid, look at that horse, the mountain lion on a pole, the epidemic of Netflix documentaries like Cowspiracy, anti-burp compounds, fixing brain cancer with antidepressants and blood thinners, cannabis not causing schizophrenia, the hotel of the future, a double comet situation, 3D-printed hearts and dicks.

New Zealand's Tim Batt (@Tim_Batt) and Guy Montgomery (@guy_mont), hosts of The Worst Idea of All Time Podcast, join Matt and Andy to discuss Grown Ups 2, T-shirt cannon injuries, monkey selfies, urinal science and the best toilets in NZ, AIDS news, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the climate change “lawsuit”, a 1000-year-old treatment for styes that may generate new drugs, a new target for New Horizons, new Pluto pics, and the Apollo 13 stage show. To watch video of Probably Science, The Worst Idea of All Time and the other 30+ shows recorded live from LA PodFest, click here and use the code "science" to get $5 off of the video archive.

This week's episode was recorded live from the Audible Los Angeles Podcast Festival, with Andy Wood (@andytwood) and Matt Kirshen (@mattkirshen) welcoming original third host Brooks Wheelan (@brookswheelan), along with comedy legend Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) and Caltech theoretical physicist/cosmologist Dr. Sean Carroll (@seanmcarroll). To support Probably Science and LA PodFest while getting a free 30-day trial and a free audiobook download, visit audible.com/lapodfest.

British comedy phenoms Josie Long (@JosieLong) and Stuart Goldsmith (@ComComPod) join Matt and Andy to discuss how condensation works, what voltage is, Josie’s foray into community college, magnetic wormholes, debunking spinach debunking, psych experiments that can't be reproduced and a brand new hominid. Catch Probably Science this Saturday at noon PDT at the Los Angeles Podcast Festival (@lapodfest) with special guests Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) and Dr. Sean Carroll (@seanmcarroll). Use the code "science" to get $5 off of the live video stream at lapodfest.com.

Pride of Fargo Amber Preston (@PrestonParty) joins Matt and Andy to talk about midwest accents, farmers and fake interview pick-up techniques, whether video games produce violent people or not, smoking birds, violent ancient farmers, books that purify water, the most electric place on earth, and whether swimming in lightning dangerous.

Comedian/actor extraordinaire Matt Knudsen (@mattknudsen) joins Matt and Andy to discuss Home Alone sequels, Ghostbuster, pseudoscience and snake oil, Coca Cola skeptics, merchant marines, Brian and Dolph, space elevators, LED light pollution, why global warming is good for the rich and the incredible octopus.

Past guest and current host of Syfy's Reactor David Huntsberger (@huntsbergerjunk) joins the proceedings to welcome a Skyped-in Jesse Case and talk about rodeo facts, the awakeness drug Provigil, buff babies, cheating in war, Chinese fire drills, Korean pears for hangovers, neanderthals' massive eyes that may or may not have caused extinction, tiny new unafraid dwarf lemurs and official Probably Science T-shirts.

Friends of the show and past guests Matt Braunger (@braunger) and Auggie Smith (@auggiesmith) return to the show to talk with Matt and Andy about Toblerone sizes, early detection cancer urine tests, shirtcocking, the EPA’s river fuck-up, arsenic and widows, why women are always cold, dumb kids and money-raising, using shade balls to protect reservoirs, the web’s too-weak random numbers, Benford’s Law, beauty myths and contagious hotness and tiger calls.

The hilarious Jesse Popp (@JessePopp) joins Matt and Andy to talk about his former life as a blackjack card-counter, a newly discovered tessellating pentagon, Penrose tiling, Fermat's Last Theorem, space lettuce, giant marrows, angry people in local newspapers, pumpkins smashing cars, a goat-throwing festival, dreamy eye movements, brain-scanning software, Hannibal's mask prototypes, brain dipsticks and trepanning. Don't forget to visit LAPodFest.com to get tickets to watch Probably Science in person in Los Angeles on September 19th, or buy access to the festival's live video stream and save $5 with the code SCIENCE.

Multi-talented comedian/musician Drennon Davis (@DrennonDavis) is coming off of a breakout performance on Conan with friend of the show Karen Kilgariff, and he joins Matt and Andy to talk about why Macs suck, past guest Matt Faulkner's latest Tesla coil project, Drennon's inventor/cold fusion proponent grandfather and his many projects, earthquake-jumping and rock-balancing, old mice with young blood, more fantastical EM drive stuff, chatting bonobos, 3D-printed drugs, David Lynch impressions and an Ebola vaccine.

The hilarious Hampton Yount (@hamptonyount) returns to the show to talk with Matt and Andy about Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival, corny jet boat guides, paying for a Pluto probe or an NFL stadium, slowing air travel, Ant-Man science, colonizing the moon, the XFL, anti-piss walls, bacon-flavored kale, being controlled by semen, a malaria vaccine and the LA PodFest live video stream - use the code “science” for $5 off.

Dipak Srinivasan of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University played a pivotal role in the New Horizons mission whose probe just passed by Pluto, and since he was also Andy's roommate back in their college days he was kind enough to talk with Andy and Matt about his work on the project. Launched in 2006, New Horizons traveled over three billion miles to gather the most comprehensive data about Pluto that mankind has ever seen, including stunning imagery of mountains and frozen plains, and en route it got a boost by slingshotting around Jupiter, becoming the fastest-moving probe in history. Dipak also gives the inside scoop on other projects he's been involved in, including the MESSENGER Mercury orbiter and the upcoming Solar Probe Plus mission to scrape the surface of the Sun. For more detailed information on New Horizons, visit the Johns Hopkins APL New Horizons official site.

You've seen and heard funnyman Eddie Pepitone (@eddiepepitone) on Community, Maron, Bob's Burgers, Old School, his podcast Pep Talks and the documentary The Bitter Buddha, and he joins Matt and Andy to talk about being self-critical, an upcoming mini-ice age that might not be upcoming, animal testing and monkey mind melds, Mike Myers movies and Andy's giant head, athletes in movies, the hilarious sci-fi comedy Other Space, citrus and cancer, toothy fish and fairy fossils, mockingbirds tormenting Andy and how we're cleaning up space. This episode is sponsored by Audible - visit http://audible.com/psp for a free audiobook and a one-month trial.

The Dork Forest host Jackie Kashian (@jackiekashian) returns to the show along with fellow former guests Mark Agee (@markagee) and TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) to talk with Andy about Jurassic World, Terminator: Genisys and problematic scenes in Top Five, the actual reason why swimming pool water irritates your eyes, Kage Baker's The Company book series, Wisconsin-born nerds, plants react to the sound of being eaten alive, Gandhi's letter to Hitler, Billy Joel marrying his fourth Christie Brinkley, left-handed kangaroos, the Pluto probe suffering a glitch, a creepy Google AI chatbot getting philosophical and cats controlling mice with chemicals in their urine.

Throwing Shade co-host Bryan Safi (@BryanSafi) joins Matt and Andy to talk about science fair cheating, sex and alcohol vs. religion and kids vs. actual science, Daily Mail and buff kangaroos, Vernon Chatman’s essay-cheating book, the Philae comet lander waking up, time-traveling wave-particles, chimps that cook and sauerkraut's effect on anxiety.

Jesse gives another update on his health situation from back in Nashville, revealing that he'll be starting up a podcast of his own titled Jesse Vs. Cancer in the near future, before Matt and Andy welcome pride of New Orleans Sean Patton (@mrseanpatton) to the show to talk about the payoff of the daffodil tea bit from last week, Sean's mom dressing as a hipster for Halloween, the normcore movement, Sean's underage Jesse memories, trucker hats, the fake black lady in Spokane, Roderick on the Line's excellent take on out-underdogging, Sean's science TV show, testing bacteria in surfer asses, the Point Break remake, Hans Rosling's different angle on overpopulation, immaculate conception among sawfish, Crocodile Dundee III, Sean assuming friend of the show Mark Agee was gay, wheelchair comedy, putting kill switches in genetically modified organisms, what baby traits you should be allowed to edit, where to get real New Orleans food in LA and the middle class of comedy.

Matt, Andy and returning guest Auggie Smith get together to give a brief update on Jesse's health (while being very rudely interrupted by a leafblower) and go through story corrections and thank-yous. If listeners want to send well-wishes Jesse's way, feel free to email [email protected] and/or tweet @jessecase.

Throwing Shade co-host and Gay of Thrones director/writer Erin Gibson (@gibblertron) joins the gang to talk about Arnie at Starbucks, working at Gap, oil men and Texas textbooks, a chocolate science scam, herpes-based skin cancer therapy, Jesse's high school crack day, dementor wasps and zombie cockroaches, charismatic megafauna and the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, Erin's parallel universe Morrissey theory, autism and MDMA, more shit transplants, Corrections Corner and Menu4Mars.

The hilarious Kira Soltanovich (@kiracomedy) returns to Probably Science to chat with the gang about naming her upcoming comedy special (and her upcoming daughter), Jesse's Smother Party and his big gay Irish following, hippie schools with cartoons and kissing teachers, a naked roommate appearance, Kira's fundraiser, Was That Science?, Corrections Corner: Wagga Wagga edition, getting attacked by a bug, how to say places, badly named bars, Alzheimer's and video games (and a debunking), jacking off to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, Jesse's health corner, magical doctors, washing dishes with a dishwasher or by hand, and Kira's allergy experiment.

Comedian Chris Crofton (@thecroftonshow) of The Chris Crofton Show and the column Advice King joins the festivities to talk about doing comedy in front of your parents, Andy and Jesse's next door neighbors moving out, the worst things to buy at the grocery store, greased watermelon pool games, the crazy creator of the Erector Set, getting rid of that white stuff on chocolate, more Sex At Dawn discussion, walrus poon, NASA's impossible EM space drive that may in fact be a reality, conspiracy theory talk, the reason why the same side of the moon always faces us, and the clouds of millions of baby spiders descending on Australia.