Serious Inquiries Only

We welcome back cosmologist and science communicator Dr. Paul Sutter ! Previously, he had come on to talk about his book, Rescuing Science . This time, he's here to take us through some of the science of the super cool new Netflix show 3 Body Problem. What does it get right and what does it get wrong? Or does that even matter? Paul takes us through it! Make sure to check out his podcast Ask A Spac...

Everyone's favorite marine biologist, Dr. Heidi Pearson is back! This time, we're talking about a new, large scale study just out about the massive loss of marine life caused by "the blob." It's another tale of man-made climate change wreaking havoc on the world. But, we've also got some more fun stories to talk about! Gay whales caught in the act, a solo orca that didn't wait for its pod to hunt...

Dr. Jo Boaler is a leading math education expert and one of the writers of the California Mathematics Framework, a set of guidelines focused on improving equity in California's math classrooms. We first talk about her upcoming book, Math-ish , and the beauty of pursuing more "ish" in our lives. Then, we discuss a recent anonymous complaint  that was filed with Stanford University, accusing Dr. Boa...

In honor of World Quantum Day (April 14th), Quantum Anne is here to discuss when quantum is better, when it's worse, and when it could honestly go either way. Quantum Sensing Quantum Computing Overview 100 Years of Quantum! For ideas on how to celebrate World Quantum Day, check out: https://www.quantum.gov/world-quantum-day/! Anne made cake ( photo attached ), that represents a Hadamard gate.  It...

Here's Part 2 of our deep dive into neural implants with Dr. Jenessa Seymour! The brain is still completely amazing, and so are the folks who are creating innovative technology to help people do things that have been otherwise out of reach. And then there's Elon. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the show on patreon ! You...

We've got an expert to take us through it! Dr. Jenessa Seymour is a former neuroscientist currently working in disability rights and she has looked through the history of neural implant efforts to investigate Elon's Neuralink claims. Just how full of it is he? And how in the world does any of this even work? What is clear is that the brain is insanely amazing. There's so much to talk about that th...

Author and journalist Katherine Stewart joins us today to discuss her reporting on religious nationalism, as well as the organization and structure behind these efforts, and what we can do in the face of it all. Be sure to check out the recent film God and Country which is based on her 2020 book, The Power Worshippers ! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here ! Please...

I'm joined by Trace and Julian from the podcast, That's Absurd Please Elaborate! It's an incredibly fun and cool science show where they take questions that might seem weird or crazy but answer them using science! They're here to talk science communication, and what some of their favorite questions they've answered have been. Could vampires evolve through natural processes? Could x-rays cook soup?...

Elon Musk accidentally buying Twitter and then ruining it is a story so absurd and wild that someone should write a book about it. Lucky for us, Zoë Schiffer has! It's called Extremely Hardcore, and it's extremely good! She joins us to discuss the book. Be sure to buy Zoë's book, Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter ! You can also follow Zoë's reporting on Platformer . Are you an expert...

Radley Balko is the guest today as we discuss the Right's efforts to retcon George Floyd's murder and Derek Chauvin's responsibility in a "documentary" from Alpha News, The Fall of Minneapolis . We walk through some of the debunks together, and chat about the broader systemic circumstances that lead for calls of police reform. Radley has done an absolutely incredible series covering this in meticu...

Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Senate Bill 3947 to change the standard 40-hour workweek to 32 hours with no loss in pay and held a hearing on March 14th. Naturally the right doesn't love this. But what do the studies say? And where did the 40-hour week even come from? SeriousPod colleague Lydia Smith explains how this particular issue highlights ways in which we can combat rhetoric from the rig...

It feels like this comes up precisely every 4 years, but once again I find myself having to point out that the way to make things better isn't to make them worse. That math just doesn't work. But what should we do? A campaign to vote "Uncommitted" for the Democratic Primary Election went viral. Lydia Smith from Where There's Woke joins as we discuss what this movement is, what kind of impact it co...

We're focusing in on some sci-fi with Dr. Bryan Gillis, astrophysicist to the stars! We take you through one of Ted Chiang's incredible short stories, Exhalation , and Dr. Gillis teaches us about entropy and the Laws of Thermodynamics. What is the heat death of the universe? Can we avoid it by turning up the AC a bit or are we just plain effed? Find out!   Are you an expert in something and want t...

CW: Discussion of suicide; please skip this episode if it's better for your mental health After a long hiatus, Dr. Alan Smerbeck AKA Stormy Decisis is back to cover a topic we've been talking about discussing for a while. What does the research tell us is the responsible way to cover death by suicide? What kind of impact can the media have on the greater population if they get it wrong? And how ma...

Dr. Bryan Gillis is back to walk us through a space travel concept that would have upended Physics as we know it if it had worked. But, wait a second - turns out there were quite a number of studies that actually successfully demonstrated its effect so why aren't we using it to zip through the universe these days? We also learn a bit of statistics in this discussion to help us uncover what happene...

Quantum Anne is back! She had a fantastic idea to quiz us all on some quantum products she has come across. Here's the thing though, mixed into the bull shit is the real stuff that she actually uses in her lab! Can you pass the test? It's not as easy as you might think!   This one was lots of fun. Don't forget about the Patron Hangout Tuesday 2/27 at 3pm pacific 6pm eastern!   Are you an expert in...

This was a really fun one! Dr. Joe Siev and Dr. Jake Teeny join to walk us through their findings from a series of studies in their recent article , which explored the differences in how artists and scientists are punished following news of misconduct, and the mechanism for why this may be the case.   Be sure to check out the Academic Sexual Misconduct Database too!   Are you an expert in somethin...

Dr. Harry Barbee out of Johns Hopkins University recently co-authored a meta-analysis in JAMA Surgery, examining postoperative regret for those people seeking gender-affirming care. We talk about how many people *actually* regret receiving surgery, how that compares with general postoperative regret in the cisgender population, the politics and misinformation influencing the bad science in this ar...

We speak with cosmologist and science communicator Dr. Paul Sutter about his upcoming book, Rescuing Science . Dr. Sutter thinks (Capital S) Science has made some significant errors, and that people do not trust science because of the very system it has created for itself. Where has the discipline gone wrong, why is academia such a mess, and how do we fix it? Be sure to buy his book when it comes...

First off... I'M BACK ON OPENING ARGUMENTS!!! Good court thingies! Please please please go check it out! patreon.com/law!   OK after that announcement, I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for a few months, ever since the NHL announced they were banning pride tape. While I used to be way more cynical back in the day about corporatized pride and that kind of virtual signaling,...

Dr. Jesse Preston , Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Warwick, joins to discuss a recent paper she published regarding whether or not science may serve as a spiritual experience for nonbelievers. Could loving science offer similar psychological benefits that the literature has demonstrated for those in religion?   Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Ap...

Astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis is back! And here's here to talk about... sperm? Well, when a science headline claims that sperm is violating Newton's 3rd Law, that's when the science police have to lay down the law, no matter how weird the topic. But before you think this is just a bad journalist, the paper may actually be where the problem is... Bryan explains the whole damn thing. Public articl...

For the Bonus this month, Dr. Rick Sullivan, SIO's resident synthetic biologist, joined me to comment on the recent "debate" between Bill Maher and Seth MacFarlane on the COVID vaccine. The right says Bill pWnEd Seth, but what do you all think? Will Dr. Rick's PhD in immunology be enough to stand up to Maher's COVID "facts"?   There was so much important information here that I wanted to be sure t...

On a recent episode of Tucker Carlson's show, fossil fuel shill Dr. Willie Soon came on to discuss ... friggen... dinosaurs on Saturn's moon. I mean, not quite but close. It's nonsense. Too bad for Tucker, cause we have a resident expert on space resource acquisition over here on SIO! J.D. Menges is currently working towards his PhD in Space Resources at Colorado School of Mines with a focus in Pl...

he 2nd half of my conversation with Alejandro Ruiz! We get deeper into examples of technological anti-solutions. If you work for a self-driving car company, should you quit? Also why are people burying trees to save the planet?   Alejandro's experience in the tech industry, including his time at CERN, led him to creating the engineering co-operative Interstitial Technology , as well as The Luddite...