Probably Science

Dipak Srinivasan of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University played a pivotal role in the New Horizons mission whose probe just passed by Pluto, and since he was also Andy's roommate back in their college days he was kind enough to talk with Andy and Matt about his work on the project. Launched in 2006, New Horizons traveled over three billion miles to gather the most comprehensive data about Pluto that mankind has ever seen, including stunning imagery of mountains and frozen plains, and en route it got a boost by slingshotting around Jupiter, becoming the fastest-moving probe in history. Dipak also gives the inside scoop on other projects he's been involved in, including the MESSENGER Mercury orbiter and the upcoming Solar Probe Plus mission to scrape the surface of the Sun. For more detailed information on New Horizons, visit the Johns Hopkins APL New Horizons official site.

You've seen and heard funnyman Eddie Pepitone (@eddiepepitone) on Community, Maron, Bob's Burgers, Old School, his podcast Pep Talks and the documentary The Bitter Buddha, and he joins Matt and Andy to talk about being self-critical, an upcoming mini-ice age that might not be upcoming, animal testing and monkey mind melds, Mike Myers movies and Andy's giant head, athletes in movies, the hilarious sci-fi comedy Other Space, citrus and cancer, toothy fish and fairy fossils, mockingbirds tormenting Andy and how we're cleaning up space. This episode is sponsored by Audible - visit http://audible.com/psp for a free audiobook and a one-month trial.

The Dork Forest host Jackie Kashian (@jackiekashian) returns to the show along with fellow former guests Mark Agee (@markagee) and TJ Chambers (@tjchambersLA) to talk with Andy about Jurassic World, Terminator: Genisys and problematic scenes in Top Five, the actual reason why swimming pool water irritates your eyes, Kage Baker's The Company book series, Wisconsin-born nerds, plants react to the sound of being eaten alive, Gandhi's letter to Hitler, Billy Joel marrying his fourth Christie Brinkley, left-handed kangaroos, the Pluto probe suffering a glitch, a creepy Google AI chatbot getting philosophical and cats controlling mice with chemicals in their urine.

Throwing Shade co-host Bryan Safi (@BryanSafi) joins Matt and Andy to talk about science fair cheating, sex and alcohol vs. religion and kids vs. actual science, Daily Mail and buff kangaroos, Vernon Chatman’s essay-cheating book, the Philae comet lander waking up, time-traveling wave-particles, chimps that cook and sauerkraut's effect on anxiety.

Jesse gives another update on his health situation from back in Nashville, revealing that he'll be starting up a podcast of his own titled Jesse Vs. Cancer in the near future, before Matt and Andy welcome pride of New Orleans Sean Patton (@mrseanpatton) to the show to talk about the payoff of the daffodil tea bit from last week, Sean's mom dressing as a hipster for Halloween, the normcore movement, Sean's underage Jesse memories, trucker hats, the fake black lady in Spokane, Roderick on the Line's excellent take on out-underdogging, Sean's science TV show, testing bacteria in surfer asses, the Point Break remake, Hans Rosling's different angle on overpopulation, immaculate conception among sawfish, Crocodile Dundee III, Sean assuming friend of the show Mark Agee was gay, wheelchair comedy, putting kill switches in genetically modified organisms, what baby traits you should be allowed to edit, where to get real New Orleans food in LA and the middle class of comedy.

Matt, Andy and returning guest Auggie Smith get together to give a brief update on Jesse's health (while being very rudely interrupted by a leafblower) and go through story corrections and thank-yous. If listeners want to send well-wishes Jesse's way, feel free to email probablyscience@gmail.com and/or tweet @jessecase.

Throwing Shade co-host and Gay of Thrones director/writer Erin Gibson (@gibblertron) joins the gang to talk about Arnie at Starbucks, working at Gap, oil men and Texas textbooks, a chocolate science scam, herpes-based skin cancer therapy, Jesse's high school crack day, dementor wasps and zombie cockroaches, charismatic megafauna and the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, Erin's parallel universe Morrissey theory, autism and MDMA, more shit transplants, Corrections Corner and Menu4Mars.

The hilarious Kira Soltanovich (@kiracomedy) returns to Probably Science to chat with the gang about naming her upcoming comedy special (and her upcoming daughter), Jesse's Smother Party and his big gay Irish following, hippie schools with cartoons and kissing teachers, a naked roommate appearance, Kira's fundraiser, Was That Science?, Corrections Corner: Wagga Wagga edition, getting attacked by a bug, how to say places, badly named bars, Alzheimer's and video games (and a debunking), jacking off to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, Jesse's health corner, magical doctors, washing dishes with a dishwasher or by hand, and Kira's allergy experiment.

Comedian Chris Crofton (@thecroftonshow) of The Chris Crofton Show and the column Advice King joins the festivities to talk about doing comedy in front of your parents, Andy and Jesse's next door neighbors moving out, the worst things to buy at the grocery store, greased watermelon pool games, the crazy creator of the Erector Set, getting rid of that white stuff on chocolate, more Sex At Dawn discussion, walrus poon, NASA's impossible EM space drive that may in fact be a reality, conspiracy theory talk, the reason why the same side of the moon always faces us, and the clouds of millions of baby spiders descending on Australia.

Dr. Christopher Ryan (@ChrisRyanPhD), author of the New York Times bestseller Sex At Dawn, joins Matt, Andy and comedian guests Caitlin Gill (@robotcaitlin) and Lisa Best (@lisabestcomedy) for a live installment of Probably Science recorded at the 2015 Bridgetown Comedy Festival (@bridgetown) in Portland, Oregon to talk about the prehistoric roots of modern sexuality, the devastating impact of agriculture on our species, why humans and bonobos are so horny and whether it's actually in our nature to be monogamous. Oh, and this was recorded on Mother's Day. With Andy's parents in the audience.