Probably Science

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 surpr...

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 revea...

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 w...

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 sto...

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...

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...

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 leg...

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 be...

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 , eyesi...

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 c lickbait 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 el...

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 change...

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 documentar...

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 targe...

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 whi...

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...

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 Pr...

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...