Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist

Dr. Bryan Scott's interested in principled inference and astrostatistics. His research focuses on the use of large galaxy surveys and intensity mapping experiments to constrain cosmology and astrophysics over cosmic time. His graduate work at U.C. Riverside focused on measurements of the Ultraviolet Extragalactic Background Light and on the sensitivity of future spectroscopic intensity mapping exp...

While Benjamin might be a working nerd, Kovi's a working scientist. In this episode Kovi walks us through this new thing he found, lurking out there in the universe. A rare binary star system in the Ara constellation. A 'Rosetta stone' for explaining mysterious, repeating cosmic radio pulses. You probably saw it online - it made all the news - we're talking about ASKAP J1745. Also, how does Kovi e...

As this episode's guest, Anastasia Shavrova, explains - the road to studying and falling in love with spiders begins with hating spiders and loving ants. As Anastasia explains why some spiders' third pair of legs are very strong, Kovi and Benjamin can't help but fawn over Zilly - their guest's guest lizard. Follow us everywhere! Follow Benjamin at Science, Actually : https://www.scienceactually.co...

What goes up, must come down - even if you send it up to space three times aboard a space shuttle. Just ask our latest guest, Rex Walheim, who flew on shuttle Atlantis three times - including the last shuttle flight... ...ever. Kovi and Benjamin did their very best to keep their composure as they spoke with Rex about how he became an astronaut, what it's like up there, does space really have a bur...

Jennifer Swanson woke up one day and thought, "what have I done with my life?" So at the ripe old age of 5 (yes, FIVE), she wrote and illustrated her first book about science. Since then she didn't do much - other than graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Chemistry, taught chemistry, got a master’s degree in K–8 Science Education, gave a Ted Talk and wrote 55 more books. Kovi and...

Welcome to The Nerd and The Scientist's Book Club. Today Kovi and Benjamin will be talking about Project Hail Mary. Specifically - THE BOOK - as Kovi hasn't seen the movie yet. The book does raise some interesting questions, however, like how would we go about communicating with aliens? Extreme environments where liquid water could still exist. How life might evolve on other worlds. And was it fun...

As they watched a jar of Nutella float by, Kovi and Benjamin knew right then and there they needed to do an episode about all the goings on aboard Artemis II. From a broken toilet to googly eyes on the CO2 scrubber to the toilet breaking again, it was quite the ride. But also all the sentiment - a message from the first astronaut to go around the Moon, a flag from Apollo 18 that never got to fly,...

Dr. Zoe Xirocostas joins Kovi and Benjamin to talk about peer reviews, getting grants for research, the effort behind getting a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), and creating mutant super plants that can survive any habitat. Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually : https://www.scienceactually.com/ & https://www.facebook.com/actuallyscience Find Kovi at Fun Fact...

How do we explain this one? It's the 'Part Two' of Kovi and Benjamin's previous episode where they were waiting for their guest, Daniel Orvomaa of the Talking Ass podcast, who never showed up. It's 'Part Two' of a double episode done with the Talking Ass - 'Part One' of which is available on the Talking Ass right now. It's also Daniel's third time on the show but only his second time rapid-firing...

Hot Dogs and Toilet Paper and Action Figures, OH MY! All studied up and ready to record a double episode with the Talking Ass' very own Daniel Orvomaa - Daniel had a scheduling mix up, didn't make it, and that left Kovi and Benjamin just riffing. Well, we didn't get all dressed up for nothing! The boys talk about Vegas shows and try out some new Questions & Quibbles questions for future guests...

There are 1.5 million freshly minted engineers in India every year. One of them, this week's guest Naman Bajaj, said, "well, I guess they've got enough of those," changed course, became an astronomer, scored an insane amount of time on JWST (that, in itself, is amazing - which totally rocked Kovi's and Benjamin's minds), and found that protoplanetary disks - baby solar systems - lose 85-90% of the...

Kovi and Benjamin were getting their questions and notes in order, preparing for another amazing episode with another amazing guest - when there was a sudden reschedule that left the boys alone, unprepared, and unsupervised. Join the gents as they just talk... well... they way they usually talk - NERD TALK. From NORAD, to data science, to something that goes great with maple, strawberry or blueber...

In this episode, Kovi and Benjamin dive headfirst into the Ig Nobel Prize, science’s annual celebration of research that makes you laugh first and think later. The lads cover everything from the prize’s origins and its wonderfully weird traditions to the unforgettable “winners” themselves, all while celebrating the curious, human side of scientific discovery. It is a reminder that science is not j...

Everybody look busy! Our boss is back. For those of you who don't know, Kovi and Benjamin first nerded together as co-hosts on the Space Case Sarah Show, hosted by our return guest - the space case herself - Sarah Treadwell. Tune in to hear about her PhD journey, being a professional science communicator, what her son's favorite planet name is (nope, not what we thought either), and what does one...

Do you think about databases? Do you think like a databse? This week's guest David Ezrakhovich does. Listen to Kovi and Benjamin's 70th episode (holy moly 70!) as David shares with us how his journey and his mindset led him to becoming a multi-disciplinary engineer. ...and all that happens somewhere in the middle of three nerds being nerds. Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually...

Where do 'nearby stars' end and 'distant stars' begin? Learn the answer to that question from UC Berkeley astronomer Howard Isaacson! Kovi and Benjamin swoon as Howard gets romantic about astronomy, his love of exoplanets, black holes, and the search for life in the universe. Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually : https://www.scienceactually.com/ & https://www.facebook.com/...

Dr. Helen Maynard Casley, (one of) THE principal scientists at ANSTO (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), sets Kovi's and Benjamin's brains alight as she talks about working on the Wombat (not an acronym - Australians just like naming things after animals). Wombat is a high intensity neutron diffractometer that Dr. Helen uses to just scoop some neutrons out of a working nucle...

Dr. Blitz, Kovi and Benjamin showed up in matching shirts, glasses and microphones to talk about all things Star Trek, the path Dr. Blitz took from a young age to become the scientist he is today, science communication, the expansion of the universe, spacetime, and a bunch of things black holes do that you probably didn't know they did. So sit back, relax, and enjoy our sixty-seventh episode. Foll...

Multidisciplinary biologist and bee expert Sarah Aamidor returns for part two - or should we say Part Bee - of her deep dive conversation with Kovi and Benjamin about some of the weirdest things bees do. Yes, in order to conduct her studies on bees she had to kill a few bees - but she didn't kill nearly as many bees as bees kill. Nor did she torture any bees - unlike bees who regularly torture bee...

Zap! Zorp! Zew! This week's guest is Cameron Jones! Boom! Fweet! Bzzzt! Join us as he explains his work in free space optics communicaton! Zzzzap! Vreeee! Pew! Pew! Which means he uses lasers to talk to spacecraft! Choonk! Fwom! Thoom! We talk about kinds of lasers, wavelengths, and the difference between communication lasers and military lasers! K-shoom! Shzzak! And Kovi and Benjamin really test...

Just in case you missed her wildly popular TikToks, or you missed her YouTube channel, or you missed her TED Talks, or you missed her creating a space telescope from scratch, or you didn't get your hands on her new book, Weird universe, now you can listen Dr. Erika Hamden chatting with Kovi and Benjamin about all things astrophysics and radio-astronomy! ...and, seriously, get that book! Follow us...

This week, Kovi and Benjamin take a breather before drinking from the firehose of science guests lining up to chat with them. Tune in as they dive into spacecraft, telescopes, and observatories named after scientists. “Hubble the satellite. Hubble the telescope. Hubble the flamethrower! …the kids love this one.” Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually : https://www.scienceactually...

Our favorite talking ass, Daniel Orvomaa, is back for round two! He joins Kovi and Benjamin in a very unstructured conversation about bad science, bad science reporting, pseudo science, and superpesis - Finland's version of baseball. It's a long one this time, so grab some snacks and settle in for some science-fueled randomness. Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually : https://ww...

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee... Won’t my mommy be so proud of me? I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee... OMG! Bees are really, really WEIRD!!!! That's not how that nursery rhyme is usually sung, but it might as well be because as Kovi and Benjamin learned from this week's guest - biologist Sarah Aamidor - bees are really, really weird! Follow us everywhere! Find Benjamin at Science, Actually...

There are few things as iconic on an astronaut's flight suit as their mission patch—a singular piece of art that encapsulates everything about the mission: who’s going, what country they’re from, what vehicle they’re riding, where they’re headed, and what they plan to do when they get there. From space shuttles to space stations, from space telescopes to asteroids, this week’s guest is the man who...