Probably Science
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537 episodes
Comedian/juggler Marcus Monroe https://marcusmonroe.com/ (@marcusmonroe) joins Jesse, Matt and Andy to talk about inventing the knorch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak_nxsuLRdE, siteswap juggling notation, getting banned from Delta Airlines, a Montana man pleading guilty to creating massive franken-sheep, getting helium from the moon and To 29 and Beyond, now taking place June 7th and 8th https://www.to29andbeyond.com/.
Actress/writer Tara Flynn https://www.instagram.com/taraflynnirl/ returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about having no sense of smell, Renaissance Faires, the magic of the Irish, fake Scottish Wikipedia, fake grunge slang https://www.theringer.com/music/2017/11/8/16615842/grunge-new-york-times-slang, a death ray science project, a fish as loud as an elephant, boiling water to remove microplastics, a 13,000-year-old sand dune, Liver King, Oscar talk, To 29 and Beyond coming to 29 Palms on June 1st https://www.to29andbeyond.com/ and Tara's podcast Now You're Asking.
Comedian/musician Adam Newman https://www.adamnewmancomedy.com/ (@adam_newman) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about sweep picking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHSH53Sc9c, Antarctic scientists developing their own accent, Adam and Jesse's dreadlock pasts, Adam's upcoming special Jew Versus The Volcano, Purim talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q372pD1C2sA, how humans lost their tails, the Willy Wonka AI experience debacle in Glasgow and its insane script, Wake Up and Smile, the upcoming live event To 29 and Beyond and Adam's podcast PuzzyBoyz.
Comedy legend Wendy Liebman https://www.wendyliebman.com/ (@WendyLiebman) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Wendy and Jesse's Letterman overlap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hbH9j8Sz1Q, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Wendy's psychology background and transition into comedy, the evolutionary advantage of ADHD, bizarre AI rat genitalia, using AI to advance fusion research, OpenAI's amazing/terrifying Sora breakthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6PjcjKL7yQ and Will Smith actually eating spaghetti.
Comedian Jeffrey Baldinger https://www.jeffreybaldinger.net/ (@Jeffbaldinger) joins Matt and Jesse to talk about earthquakes, Santa Claus' dad, a strange new type of star in the middle of our galaxy and distinguishing between earthquakes and nuclear tests.
Comedian, actor and author Matt Knudsen http://mattknudsen.com/ (@mattknudsen) returns to the podcast to talk about his new book Have I Seen You In Anything?, working on soap operas, being in an iconic I Think You Should Leave sketch, going back to school, learning to tap dance, testosterone reducing the Audience Effect and a bat that uses its huge penis as an arm.
Comedian Leah Bonnema https://www.leahbonnema.com/ (@LeahBonnema) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about Matt and Leah's road gig adventure, Jesse being snowed in, going to the bathroom outside, the science behind the munchies, Japan's Moon Sniper making contact with the lunar surface, Leah's love of Love Island, 45,000-year-old tools and bones found in eastern Asia, the Levallois technique and everyone's lack of awareness of Bill Knapp's.
Comedian and author Moshe Kasher (@moshekasher) returns to the show to talk with Andy, Jesse and Matt about his upcoming book Subculture Vulture, chronicling his deep involvement in the seemingly disparate worlds of Hasidic Judaism, deaf culture, comedy, sobriety, rave culture and Burning Man, as well as digging into the possible de-extinction of the dodo.
Comedian Kim McVicar https://kimmcvicar.com/ (@KimMcVicar) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about famous hecklers, Kim's dancing background, musicals and their parodies, coin flips not being as 50/50 as you think, neanderthal early birds, Daylight Saving Time talk, holiday penile fractures and the crazy waves hitting the west coast right now.
While the gang take a little holiday break, we thought it was worth revisiting Andy's conversation with AI researcher and UC Berkeley Professor of Computer Science Stuart Russell from wayyyyy back in 2019. Now that we're well into the era of generative artificial intelligence, it's interesting to look back at what experts were saying about AI alignment just a few years ago, when it seemed to many of us like an issue we wouldn't have to tackle directly for a long time to come. As we face down a future where LLMs and other generative models only appear to be getting more capable, it's worth pausing to reflect on what needs to be done to usher in a world that's more utopian than dystopian. Happy holidays!
Comedian Shane Torres https://www.shaneisacomedian.com/ (@shanetorres) returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about his new special The Blue Eyed Mexican, his unique Covid experience, more SPATS chats, finding the lost space tomato, what happens when you take your gun into an MRI scanner, someone else who wasn't as lucky with the MRI, the most extreme rogue wave on record, and the sound that warns a tornado is coming.
Comedian and author Ryan Conner https://ryanconnercomedy.com/ (@rconnercomedy) returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about his porn doppelganger, the process of researching and writing his new satirical novel The Party, an AI ProbSci ripoff, SpaceX rockets punching holes in the sky, deep brain stimulation to help TBI patients and a tree-dwelling shrimp found in the Cyclops Mountains.
Comedian Dustin Ybarra https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3655435/ (@dustin_ybarra) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about the recent Formula 1 race in Las Vegas, Erdős–Bacon numbers, the first mammal embryos grown in space, space travel's effect on erectile dysfunction, trying to deter orcas with heavy metal, a message laser-beamed from 10 million miles away, the rise of 6G and the ouster and return of OpenAI's Sam Altman after a rumored AGI breakthrough.
Comedian Jenny Zigrino https://www.jennyzigrino.com/ (@jennyzigrino) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about skunks, the Vegas F1 race, smelling in stereo, the upside of anger in completing tasks, dominant eyes, Iceland volcanos and the ultra-creepy hamster test or sperm penetration.
Comedian Steve Benaquist (@stevebenaquist) joins Andy, Matt and Jesse to talk about Halloween, Unversal Monsters, neck bolts, Frankenstein's Doug, sandbagging, goldbricking, carpetbagging and teetotaling, a radioactive toy from the 1950s, an unfortunate pig heart update, people who can't feel pain https://daily.jstor.org/people-who-cant-feel-pain/, Frozen Dead Guy Days https://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-frozendeadguy/, physics-defying sperm, a wind-powered car that goes faster than the wind, a tiny particle accelerator and Andy's Airbnb.
Comedian Aparna Nancherla https://aparnacomedy.com/ (@aparnapkin) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about her new book Unreliable Narrator, the ubiquity of impostor syndrome in Hollywood, childhood memories of carob, a new insanely hot pepper, roosters recognizing themselves in mirrors, a drunk dude fighting his reflection https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwkpWmpKTrH/, and AI besting humans at Street Fighter.
Comedian, musician and now author Dave Hill (@mrdavehill https://twitter.com/mrdavehill) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about his lifelong love of hockey, his new book The Awesome Game, bowling lane oil patterns https://bowl.com/welcome/understanding-oil-patterns, figuring out how cats purr, bespectacled chickens https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Eggbert, and the first-ever fine issued for space junk.
Andy's away, but Matt and Jesse are joined by Kevin Kataoka and returning guest Brian Malow https://twitter.com/sciencecomedian to talk about pseudolegal grifts! Why you shouldn't talk to the police! Scientists who've grown a human embryo! Brian May side projects! Hedy Lamarr's inventions! Military subterfuge and ghost armies! And sailing a satellite out of orbit! You can join our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/probablyscience to hear a bonus story about NFL jersey numbers.
Comedian/biomedical engineer Pallavi Gunalan (@PallaviGunalan) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about her path from science to comedy, working on open-source ventilators, the oldest living skydiver, the oldest surfer, growing human kidneys in pigs, the surprising intelligence of jellyfish and a misread of one of Newton's laws.
Andy's back from Burning Man to give the gang an update on how not big of a deal the rain was and to talk about Jesse's love of the band Ghost, middle-age music obsessions, the viral sensation "Sitting" by Brian Jordan Alvarez, debunking a Da Vinci tree rule (and figuring out what, exactly, bunk is https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/2022/01/14/zimmer/), the greatest-ever opening line of a textbook, the risks of eating a single super-hot chip and how much you'd have to pay Jesse to do it.
Comedian, Kimmel writer and now author Jesse Joyce joins us to talk about his new book about the killer of Lincoln's killer https://try.scribd.com/jessejoyce/! Plus live brain worms! The Indian moon landing! Unimpressive household robots! And who should go to Mars! Click here https://try.scribd.com/jessejoyce/ for a free trial of Scribd and read/listen to Jesse's book.
Comedian, actor and host of The John Fugelsang Podcast and SiriusXM's Tell Me Everything http://www.johnfugelsang.com/tme John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) joins Jesse, Andy and Matt to talk about Prince's showstopping Beatles solo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRCooFKk3c, reconciling science and the Bible, Russia crashing a lander into the moon, the steampunk LK lunar module, warnings of the submersible implosion, the 1970s SoCal Hurricane Kathleen, the reason it takes a while for a tan to show up and a view of Hurricane Hilary from the ISS.
Comedian DeAnne Smith https://www.deannesmith.com/ (@DeAnne_Smith) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse to talk about DeAnne's new special Chiweenie in a Tank Top, getting Canadian citizenship, advances in pig-human transplantation, the possibility of regrowing human teeth, the game Pizza Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNcZHDopFb8 and the Radiolab episode about Alpha Gal.
Comedian Jamel Johnson https://www.instagram.com/broccolihouse/ (@NonProfitComic), host of too many podcasts to count, joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to mourn Paul Reubens, discuss Amazing Larry and his deleted scene, the Cabazon dinosaurs, Sonic & Knuckles, Michael Jackson's Sonic connection, how to help striking film and TV workers https://entertainmentcommunity.org/, a tick bite that can cause a meat allergy, leprosy on the rise in Florida, Mars spinning (slightly) faster, crushing a design contest for kids and connecting old mice to young mice.
American Gladiator Danny Lee "Nitro" Clark https://www.dannitroclark.net/ joins Andy, Jesse and Matt to talk about the hit Netflix documentary Muscles & Mayhem, how his "raw meat" tryout ad-lib landed him the role of a lifetime, the analogies between management's treatment of the Gladiators and the current WGA/SAG strikes, the odd experience of seeing yourself as an action figure, nostalgia for the monoculture, Nitro's romance with Ellen Degeneres, the role genes play in determining your endurance ability, introducing height classes into basketball, and Tony Vainuku's other Netflix doc about Manti Te'o https://www.netflix.com/title/81580141.
Comedian/writer/director Bethany Dwyer https://bethanydwyer.com/ (@BethanyDwyer) returns to the show to talk with Matt, Jesse and Andy about her horror film Grandpa, self-repairing metal, action movie one-liners, why dolphins and orcas won't be returning to land, the resurrection of 46,000-year-old nematodes and the list of human evolution fossils.
Brooks Wheelan https://brookswheelan.com/ (@brookswheelan) returns to the podcast to celebrate 500 episodes of Probably Science and talk about Probarbenheimer, the demise of Summer Country, a new venomous snake, a solar telescope array that cost half as much as White Chicks, unlocking car doors with tennis balls and creating weather forecasts with AI.
Comedian Karl Hess https://www.karlhesscomedy.com/ (@karlhess) of the podcast Yelling About Pâté and the live show Amuse Bouche https://www.instagram.com/amusebouchela/ returns to the show to talk with Jesse, Matt and Andy about urban legends, ancient Chinese secrets, a possible bit of alien technology that crashed into the ocean, a Cuban lung cancer treatment, Kyle Kinane getting his van stuck in Joshua Tree, the poop-filled beaches of Texas, an extremely shiny exoplanet, and the handful of companies that control the world's beer.
Dan Schreiber of the podcasts No Such Thing as a Fish and The Cryptid Factor, as well as the new book The Theory of Everything Else, joins Matt and Jesse to talk about Nobelitis, using insects to turn beer waste into beef, an ancient slasher dolphin with weird teeth, using shopping cart sensors to identify stroke risk and Keith Alberstadt's bat attack.
On a very special guest-less episode, Matt, Jesse and Andy talk about the fate of the OceanGate Titan, extreme undersea pressure, the curse of the Titanic, whether the Kursk could have been saved, the slightly dubious age-defying claims of a man who lived underwater for several months, the approval of lab-grown meat, Jesse and Andy's latest video game forays, what kangaroos did before they hopped, the problematic platform of RFK Jr. and Matt and Andy's wallaby encounter.
