Probably Science

Matt sits down with returning guest comedian Shane Mauss (@shanecomedy) to talk about his podcast Here We Are, his new tour all about psychedelics called A Good Trip, his early days as a more straightforward standup, his dalliances into evolutionary biology, the state of scientific research into recreational drugs, simulated near-death experiences, and the differences between trying ayahuasca and DMT.

Comedians Christian Duguay (@christianduguay) and Emily Maya Mills (@emilymayamills) join Matt and Andy at Andy's new apartment to talk about screaming at roommates, burning ants, Hitler's disguises, bank robbery, infant simulators that actually increase teen pregnancy, Lucy’s death, a miraculous new painkiller, ecstasy/MDMA, Tasmanian devils developing cancer resistance and the ban on antibacterial soap.

Comedians Ahmed Bharoocha (@ahmedbharoocha) and Auggie Smith (@auggiesmith) join Matt and Andy for the final recording from Bluebell Ranch, which happens to coincide with an apocalyptic forest fire in the area, and the crew discuss topics including bouncy castle economics, zorbs in Russia, a new hard material, the Mohs hardness scale, Pliny the Elder, the Randi paranormal challenge, new brain areas, listening to music while drinking, a new biohybrid creature, a Mars laser with free will, artwork damagers and what to call Ahmed’s album.

Science teacher-turned-comedian Al Jackson (@aljackson) joins Matt and Andy for one of the final Bluebell recordings (also video streamed on Facebook here) to talk about ball-boiling as contraception, why flossing may not help you, steroids in sports, Al's research, stomach taps, old cars vs. new cars, firefighting equipment sharing and fire in space.

Dr. Farah Alibay, a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, invited Matt and Andy to her home in Highland Park to talk about her work on a real-world Armageddon mission to redirect an asteroid, CubeSats, giant geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus, the importance of planetary protection and upcoming solar system exploration missions.

Pacific Northwest comics Derek Sheen (@dereksheen) and Sean Jordan (@SeanSJordan) join Andy and Matt back at Bluebell to talk about going to a Scientology boarding school, non-ice cream heir Tony Robbins, amateur Australian ball surgery, Juno's pics of Jupiter, AIDS ceasing to be an epidemic in Australia, good news on the ozone hole's healing, and even more good news about finding new reserves of helium.

Professor Sophie Scott (@sophiescott) of University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience welcomes Matt and past guest Nick Doody (@NickDoody) to her office to discuss her research on the neural basis of human speech processing, and specifically her study of laughter.

Podcaster, host and science communicator Alie Ward (@alieward) appears with Matt and Andy on Science Channel's upcoming How To Build Everything (premiering June 22nd at 10pm) and she makes her first appearance on the podcast to discuss supernumerary nipples, McNuggetinis, owl pellet mouse skeletons, a third lizard sex, an inflatable space station room, Alie’s aeronautic training, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, MRSA, wrestling bugs and swimming pool pee.

Software engineer and Google employee John Eric Hoffman welcomes Matt and Andy to his house (next door to Todd Glass's, coincidentally) to talk about machine learning, neural networks, Maxwell's Demon, DeepDream, natural language processing and the recent short sci-fi film written by AI (and co-starring past guest Humphrey Ker).

This episode was taped live at the 2016 Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon, with Matt and Andy welcoming comedian/environmental engineer Ella Gale (@hellakale) and author/podcaster/@BitchMedia editor Sarah Mirk (@sarahmirk) to discuss gender biases in science reporting, women in science (and comedy) and why it's hard to make bagels when it's hot outside.