Probably Science

This episode is a complete shambles. With Andy out of town, Canadian/British comedian Jason John Whitehead (twitter.com/jjwhitesnake) drops in on Matt and Jesse attempting to make a Thanksgiving bonus episode in Jesse's bedroom. Topics include: Birthright trips to Israel! Thanksgiving stuff! Jesse's typewriter collection! Mighty hunters! Genetic inheritence of fears! Seahorse fluid dynamics! Illeg...

British comedian/actor/writer Andi Osho (twitter.com/andiosho) now lives here in the US, where she's recently appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and @midnight, and she joins Matt, Jesse and Andy this week for a listener-centric episode focused on topics sent in by our lovely fans, including: The speed of gravity waves! How to pronounce Trygve! Andy's Nicaraguan rental car! Jesse an...

Actor Samm Levine (twitter.com/SammLevine) who made a name for himself on Freaks and Geeks and Inglourious Basterds and comedian Susan Burke (twitter.com/ThatSusanBurke) who's received rave reviews for writing the film Smashed join Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: All-night comedy shows at UCB! Halloween robot costumes! Samm's Short Circuit 2 nostalgia! Samm playing doctor as a kid! Losi...

Hilarious writers/comedians/producers Scotty Landes (twitter.com/MarylandMudflap) and Heather Thomson (twitter.com/CasualVelvet) join Matt, Andy, and Jesse this week for the show.  Man about town James Austin Johnson (twitter.com/JAustinJohnson) sits in for color commentary!  Together, they dive deep into: Pepto Bismol!  Scientific Hippie poetry!  Sitting in the shower!  Women are better multitask...

Caltech and LIGO physicists Jamie Rollins and Larry Price (www.ligo.caltech.edu) join Andy, Jesse and Matt to up the Science:Probably ratio for just one week as they discuss: Why we don't go straight through tables! What's inside an atom! Why chemistry isn't their forté! Dark matter and WIMPS! Gravity waves and what LIGO actually is! How to measure something that's smaller than the smallest thing...

Edinburgh Comedy Award-winner Brendon Burns (twitter.com/brendonburns) sits in with Matt, Jesse and Andy this week to dig into: Worrying about your Google-ability! LA streets named for celebrities! Orange people in the Australian outback! Making "Be a Lady" T-shirts! Naked children on giant slip-n-slides! Underwear that filters your flatulence! Learning how to pronounce "awry"! Finding bombs with...

You've seen comedian Nate Craig (twitter.com/NateCraig1) on truTV's World's Dumbest and Comedy Central's Mash Up, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse to discuss: Jesse's new co-host status! Lowball podcast donations! Exchanging a million pennies! Fake IDs! Figuring out what Yetis actually are! Farting into tissues! Ancient human ancestry! Youtube videos of Danny Devito cuddling with Michael Jordan!...

Star of Doctor Who and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Karen Gillan (twitter.com/KarenGillan2) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to talk about: Being on the cusp of superstardom! Andy and Jesse's rat problem! Growing up as a Scottish serf! The parade of bad accents! Kaisers of the Cosmos! Dealing with nerdy fans! Criticizing the physics of the movie Gravity! Closed captioning for grandpare...

This week's episode comes to you from the second annual LA Podcast Festival (lapodfest.com), with Matt and Andy welcoming Rhys Darby of Flight of the Conchords and Brandon Fibbs of New Race For Space and the reboot of Cosmos, to discuss: An explanation of winglets! Rhys's knowledge of Morse Code! The technological prowess of the New Zealand Army! The Cryptid Factor podcast! Sea serpents: The guard...

Matt, Andy and Jesse welcome podcasting pioneers Keith Malley and Chemda of Keith and The Girl fame to the show this week, covering a variety of topics including: Brooks's debut performance on SNL! The LA Podcast Festival! The wild west days of podcasting! Fan tattoos! Peter McGraw's upcoming Humor Code book! Estranged parents! What is clean comedy? The perfect musical ending to Breaking Bad! Havi...

It's sports week here at Probably Science HQ, as Matt and Andy welcome to the show Sports Illustrated journalist and author of The Sports Gene David Epstein, as well as comedian Paul Morrissey, who played and coached college basketball, to dig into the meaty topics that David's excellent books discusses, including: Major league hitters who can't touch a 60mph softball! Being a short, white hustler...

Matt, Andy and Jesse welcome paleontology PhD candidate Kathleen Ritterbush to the show this week to discuss: Being the third man on The Dating Game! Roommate update: Stu's birthday is 9/11! Falling for the testicle-biting fish hoax! PhD superstitions and paperwork! Using fossils to determine skin and hair color! Teaching science to a boatload of evangelical kids! Thinking dinosaurs and humans coe...

Matt and Andy are back together this week, welcoming British writer/comedian Humphrey Ker (twitter.com/thehumphreyker) and American writer/comedian Bryan Cook (twitter.com/bryancooking) on the program to discuss: Going on strike against Joan Rivers! Fallacious labor dispute arguments! The hilarious Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction show! Moving someone else's hand with your mind! Swedish fish -- not...

Matt's still out of the country, but luckily he was able to record a remote episode with the very funny Nick Doody (twitter.com/nickdoody), his co-writer on the BBC Radio show Bigipedia. We'll be back soon with more new episodes!

Matt's been in the UK and Andy's been in Portland, so rather than leave the audience twisting in the wind for a few weeks, they decided to record some remote bonus interviews. These weren't supposed to be very science-y, but in the course of talking with Jesse Case, Dr. Richard Flower, Dr. Anna Collu, Jeff Mounts and Emily Mounts, the discussions actually ended up having a fair amount of legitimat...

Hank Thompson is a comedian and producer at The Young Turks (youtube.com/TYTComedy), and his brother Dr. Chris Thompson is a post-doctoral fellow at Scripps Research Institute in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience. This powerful comedy/science sibling duo join Matt and Andy this week to discuss: Sibling rivalry! Vocal communication in animals! Learned vocalization! Dolphins who...

Theoretical cosmologist at Caltech, author and blogger Dr. Sean M. Carroll invited Matt and Andy to his Pasadena office this week to lend some insight into his areas of expertise, including: Being the house cosmologist on a paleontologogical dig! Dark matter! Defying what you thought you knew about the conservation of energy! The fixed density of dark energy! What happens a quadrillion years from...

Comedian Virginia Jones (twitter.com/badiniadones) made a name for herself in Portland before heading to Los Angeles, and she joins fellow Portland transplant Auggie Smith (twitter.com/auggiesmith) this week to help Matt and Andy dive headfirst into: More vegan goth discussion! Punctuating your punchlines! The world's worst comedy show sound guy! A stranger interrupts the show to take a shower! Ac...

San Francisco-based comedian Colleen Watson (@colleen_watson) and Portland-based festival producer/podcaster Charlene Conley (@PatiohPatino) herald Matt's triumphant return from Convergence Con, digging into meaty topics including: The vegan/goth Venn diagram overlap! Portland-based Sasquatch clubs! Choosing to major in biopsychology to spite an ex-boyfriend! Hoods in the woods! Married guys have...

Matt Kirshen takes Probably Science on the road this week for a live taping at Convergence Con (convergence-con.org) featuring The Physics of Superheroes' own Dr. James Kakalios, Minneapolis comedian Tommy Ryman (@tommyryman) and Dan Schlissel from Stand Up Records (@StandUpRecords). Dr. Jim is a professor of experimental physics at the University of Minnesota, and was both a scientific consultant...

Comedian and Emmy-nominated writer David Angelo (twitter.com/dwangelo) made a name for himself on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon before moving out west in 2012, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse Case this week to discuss: Fiscal responsibility! eEconomics! Apprenticing as a sandwich artist! Martial arts legend Benny The Jet Urquidez! Yngwie Malmsteen! The effects of light and darkness on cabbage! Cu...

Theoretical physicist, author and Barnard College of Columbia University professor Janna Levin (jannalevin.com) invited Matt and Andy to her temporary Venice home where she resides while working at Caltech, and she helped this installment of Probably Science have perhaps the most actual science of any episode yet, delving into: Andy's house troubles! The mathematical basis of theoretical physics!...

Probably Science prodigal son Brooks Wheelan is back! It's been too long, but the Matt-Andy-Brooks triumvirate has reformed, at least for an episode, to get to the bottom of: Apple Records! Hipster Zunes! What Brooks will steal from your awful party! Craig's newfound fame! A Probably Science ripoff! The new Journey singer! Brooks getting a motorcycle! Brooks's ProbSci Rumspringa! Woolly mammoth bl...

You can see the hilarious Rory Scovel (twitter.com/roryscovel) on the upcoming TBS comedy Ground Floor, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: Amazon pilots! Small towns with character! Eating in silence! The secret lives of parents! Live-streaming improvised standup! More mosquito news! Saving a baby with a 3D printer! Using avatars to shut up the voices in your head! People with...

Probably History is back! Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) welcomes Andy Wood (twitter.com/andytwood), Richard Bain (twitter.com/dickbain), Matt Kirshen (twitter.com/mattkirshen) and special guest comedian/sociologist Pat Reilly (twitter.com/reallypatreilly) to take a look at the infamous House of Borgia, the Renaissance family that brought us Pope Alexander VI, incest, murder and the Banquet of...