Probably Science

Up-and-coming comedians Brent Schmidt (twitter.com/IAmBrentSchmidt) and Zach Pugh (twitter.com/ZachPugh) join Jesse and Andy this week to talk about: The Pickathon music festival! More headboard talk! Growing up in Sturgis, South Dakota! Re-purposing coal mines for science! Teenage nervous breakdowns! Falling off the wagon for a podcast sponsor! Losing your religion via the Internet! When did Hogwarts abandon muggle technology? The majesty of the apparently kid! Jesse's creepy nipple text from the sleep-eating roommate! Feathered dinosaurs! Forgetting about Hiroshima! The theory of humors! Tyrannosaurs hunted in packs! Growing up in a Chik-Fil-A family! Pizza Hut grease! Thinspiration! Making your body's organs transparent! Hidden biker girly magazines!

Comedian Beth Stelling (twitter.com/BethStelling) joins Matt and Andy this week for a special late-night recording in Andy's bedroom, covering: Mirrored headboards! Google's mapping of the human body! Slim Goodbody! Bats navigating via polarized light! Real 3D vs. fake 3D! Stella Luna and megabats! Gecko orgies in space! The cancer-fighting effects of cat poop! The Nobel Peace & Quiet Prize!

Comedian/director Jordan Brady (iamroadcomic.com) and his rapping, backflipping son Ben join the festivities with Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: Gangta rap historians! Jordan's invention of "bow-chicka-wow-wow"! Filming I Am Comic at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival! Matt's Last Comic Standing experience! Living like a road comic! Lacerta lizard people! Pluto possibly getting reinstated as a planet! The magic of British World Cup commentators! Suspended animation for gunshot victims! Fish-eating spiders! Grolar bears! Improving your sense of smell with the help of booze! Good news and bad news about AIDS! A new way for the Chinese to extract sperm!

Friend of the show and past guest TJ Chambers (twitter.com/tjchambersLA) rejoins the festivities this week to help Matt, Jesse and Andy get to the bottom of: Listener-made indie video games! Brooks news! Holland vs. The Netherlands! Delicious Lagunitas IPA! The TJs of porn! The origin of gangsta rap! Recording the podcast at the Gathering of the Juggalos! Chimpanzee fads! The short films of TJ Chambers! Bear fellatio! The origin of Winnie the Pooh! The Marginot Line! A massive ocean inside Earth! Volcano diamonds! An invisibility cloak for the sense of touch! The debatable cancer-prevention effects of farts! Testing for the seminal taste effects of pineapple! A real-world warp drive! Time tacos! What to do when traveling back in time! The upcoming Los Angeles Podcast Festival!

Probably History is back! This week Jesse, Richard and Andy welcome the very funny David Cope (davidcope.flavors.me) to take a stab at covering over 60 years of video game history. Enjoy!

Comedian Renee Gauthier (twitter.com/Nenegooter) and nuclear physicist/comedian Kevin Peter Hickerson (twitter.com/kphickerson) join Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Matt's inability to wink! The actual cost of going to the moon! Renee's dance lessons! Working near CERN! Studying neutrinos! Shielding your experiments with the lead from sunken Roman ships! The end of the latest season of Ridiculousness! Debunking the story about the computer that passed the Turing test! The mysterious death of Alan Turing! A massive ocean inside the earth! The tongue strength of a horned frog! Singles sites for science enthusiasts! The upcoming PhD Movie sequel (phdmovie.com)!

Dr. Christopher Schmitt (evopropinquitous.net) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics at UCLA, and his research in primatology focuses on primate development and life history. He joins Jesse, Matt and Andy this week to talk about his high school experiences with field work in Argentina, primate infanticide, collecting howler monkey urine, capucin monkeys sticking their fingers in each others eyes to chill out, the risks of taking selfies with dead hippos when there are lions nearby, floating vegetation islands that transport animals, old world/new world ape divergence, why certain primates are getting obese, Koko the gorilla's nipple obsession, competing brands of chimp-taggin RFID chips and how to get involved in field work right where you live.

British comedian, actor, writer and radio personality Adam Buxton (twitter.com/AdamBuxton) joins the proceedings this week to chat about: Messing up comedians' introductions! Sci-fi coverage of the papal inauguration! The history of the Shriners! Deciding on a uniform for an evil empire! Jaundice Shitstone! The counting skills of black bears! Whittling your fingers to type on a Blackberry! A digression on areolar Montgomery glands! Are female-named hurricanes killing more people than male-named ones? Working with Edgar Wright! Chimps beat humans at game theory! Adam's childhood tours of the USA with his travel writer father! Astronomers discover a mega-Earth 560 light years away! Jesse's incredible Rocky impressions! Adam's hilarious show Bug!

Comedian/podcaster/director/writer/producer/Viner Jason Nash (twitter.com/Jason23Nash) returns to the podcast this week just ahead of the release of his first feature film to talk with the gang about: Who gets credit for living at Bluebell? Jason’s Ron & Fez appearance! The upcoming movie JASON NASH IS MARRIED that Andy produced! Shooting scenes with Andy Richter and Jon Benjamin at Bluebell! Matt’s frustration with check-obsessed America! Jason’s reaction to Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover! Erasing memories and bringing them back! Explaining binary information to Jason! New research showing how sleep is good for your memory! Jason’s upcoming appearance on Funniest Wins! New information on how the Moon was formed! Would listeners contribute to help us record the podcast in zero gravity? A debate on parabolic flights! New research on why Facebook bums you out! Jesse’s decision to leave Facebook! Shitty comedy club introductions! The discovery of the largest dinosaur ever! How changing your facial express

British comedy writer Sarah Morgan (twitter.com/sarahlmorgan) found herself stateside this week for MaxFunCon and was kind enough to join Matt, Andy and Jesse to talk about: What constitutes The Holidays! Teaching British comedy! Americans rooting for bro heroes! Jesse overhearing Andy's ukulele rendition of Tiny Dancer! The lyrical prowess of Boynie Toypin! Head trauma that created a math savant! A defense of common core math! Children's natural skepticism of circular arguments! Jesse's nightmarish stuffed animals! Turning light into matter! Maybe no one knows how static electricity works! Matt chipping his teeth in a children's science museum! The protein that unites sperm and egg! Updates on male birth control! Our first on-air earthquake!

Comedian and literal master of linguistics Myq Kaplan (twitter.com/myqkaplan) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy this week to discuss: Birthday shenanigans! Plug 'n' chug! John Lennon's true assassin Stephen King! A defense of puns! Competing against a computer in a joke-off! A smartphone app that detects bipolar mood swings by the sound of your voice! Paul Simon's recent arrest! The origin of the country suffix -stan! Robot laws! Why octopuses don't stick to themselves! Holding a hot beverage makes you cooperative! Andy's continuing laptop woes! Making sperm precursors from the skin cells of infertile men!

Matt and Andy venture to Portland this week for a live Probably Science from the seventh annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival featuring comedian/director/actor Paul Provenza (twitter.com/PaulProvenza) and cyborg anthropologist Amber Case (twitter.com/caseorganic) who join together to discuss: Jesse's sitcom success! Confusing The Aristocrats with The Aristocats! Paul giving Dave Chappelle his first TV appearance! The Wild West days of early Comedy Central! Alan Dershowitz consulting on Kids Court! The economics of renting clowns vs. clown costumes! Why we're all actually cyborgs! Going through second-self adolescence! Computer-induced junk sleep! Andy's shocking discovery about the house he owned in Portland, aka the Gaytown Academy! Writing a thesis on cell phones! Digital hoarding! Being consumers vs. producers! Royal portraits as proto-Internet dating profile pics! People who brag about not watching TV!

Andy's in Portland, our planned guest is drunk, so Matt and Jesse fly alone on this one, as we talk about: Jesse's successes! Peeing outdoors! Hitler's disabilities! Stephen Hawking's worries! Building pyramids! Rock Paper Scissors! New elements! Nervous mice!

Comedian and past Probably Science guest host Auggie Smith (twitter.com/auggiesmith) returns to the show this week, joining Matt, Andy and Jesse to talk about: Craziness in Valley Village! Listening to police scanners! Reinventing the axe! A study that reveals the best way for men to dance! Being goofy-footed! A correction about Jesse's boneless, featherless chicken! A hacky plant that copies other plants! Jesse's vast typewriter knowledge! Making graphene in a blender! Babies that cry to keep from having siblings! Prison goofs! Glow-in-the-dark roads in the Netherlands! Playing the electric shock quick reflex game!

Radio personality, author, trivia whiz and cancer survivor Bryan Bishop (twitter.com/baldbryan) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to talk about his experience battling an inoperable brain tumor en route to discussing: Bryan's upcoming book Shrinkage! Tumor tips! Changing doctors! Jumprope failures as cancer symptoms! Going through chemo and radiation therapy while planning your wedding! Getting (and giving) horrible news! Deciding which douchebags get fake names in your memoir! Doctors with less-than-perfect bedside manner! Pooping yourself because of cancer! Alternative medicine and the placebo effect! The tumor-shrinking magic of Avastin! MRIs vs. CT scans! The lunacy of David Arquette! Ringo Starr songs that may have been written by George Harrison! Jesse's crazy Oasis story! Solo pub trivia victories! Taking home $100,000 on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire! The evolutionary reason why beards are over! 

Science communicator, teacher and podcaster Cara Santa Maria (twitter.com/CaraSantaMaria) lends her actual science pedigree to the proceedings this week, discussing: The Cosmos reboot! The unlikely funder of Karen Gillan's Oculus! Comparing goofy holidays! A listener's complaint about on-air eating that may relate to misophonia! Bath salts: They don't actually make you hungry for faces! Andy's first kiss being arrested for throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton! The percentage of neurons vs. glial cells in your brain! A Cornell grad students letting a bee sting every part of his body! A generous listener hooking us up with Lagunitas beer! Growing up LDS! The puritans and their obsession with buckles! Lab-grown vaginas and edible meats! Futuristic cars without side-view mirrors!

Comedian Beth Donahue (twitter.com/bdonahueweedman) recently relocated from Nashville to Los Angeles, and she joins Jesse, Matt and Andy this week to get to talk about: Finding $600 and spending it on a shirt! Red flags in the form of KISS paraphernalia! Taking four-hour acid! Using 12-step meetings to work out comedy material! Former child sitcom stars who turn to standup! The truth about the stem cell acid bath story! Carrot Top's track record with the ladies! Matt's idea for revolutionizing a plane's black box! The possibility of a topical fat-burning cream! One of Saturn's moons might have liquid water! Jesse's butt problems! Women who are night owls are big risk-takers! Beth's sleep apnea pacemaker!

Irish comedian, actress and voice artist Tara Flynn (twitter.com/TaraFlynn) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy this week to discuss: Fleet Week! Sex workers in the Pacific Northwest! Sharing a name with a porn star! Jesse spraying himself with urine before a callback! The Shewee! Saving the government $400 million by changing fonts! Ink cartels! Debunking St. Patrick! Carving off a sliver of Irish Spring soap! A MacGyver microscope that only costs fifty cents! The possibly bullshit phenomenon of autonomous sensory meridian response! A 3D-printed skull! Tara's lack of a sense of smell! The influence of CK1 (not the perfume) on our circadian rhythms! Graphene contact lenses that let you see in the dark! Andy's almost revolutionary inventions!

To help us make sense of the biggest cosmology story of recent years, we invited three of our favorite physicists back to the show. Matt and Jesse are joined by an in-studio Dr. Larry Price, and, thanks to technical wizardry, NYC-dwelling Prof. Janna Levin and a Washington State-based Dr. Jamie Rollins, as they talk us through The Big Bang, what Inflation means, what this BICEP2 experiment did, whether it's important, what the Asian guy with the champagne meant when he said “It's five sigma at point two” to the Russian man and woman in that viral video, what was going on with that colder-than-absolute-zero story we didn't understand last week, whether academic journals are glory hunters, how multiverses fit in with this Inflation thing, and what we should take away from the whole story. And Andy missed all this to make sure a TV show about skaters getting hit in the testicles got made.

We're going Dutch on this week's episode, as Netherlands-based comedian Stefan Pop (twitter.com/stefan_pop) joins American writer/comedian Rylee Newton (twitter.com/ryleenewton) to chat about: Dutch insults! Buying a goat for charity! Working at Microsoft! A Dutchman going to an American university in Spain! Stefan's cadaver dissections! HP Lovecraft movies! A more in-depth look at the drug Narcan! The Netherlands' speed skating dominance! Probably Eugenics! Orange light that resets circadian rhythms! Jesse’s upcoming appearance in the coffee table book Bums! A prediction of the multiverse that dates back 700 years! The first episode of Cosmos! Lightning that predicts earthquakes! Temperatures below absolute zero! Australians shooting space debris out of orbit with lasers! A person’s voice as a predictor of their personality! How neanderthals might have yelled! Stefan’s unique take on saying hello!