Probably Science

Comedy writer and improviser Laura Willcox (@Laura_Willcox) and comedian Andy Peters (@andy_peters) join Matt and Andy to talk about famous and not famous namesakes, failing low-level tests, sharks reproducing asexually, dud rockets, rhino shit as social media, cat marking and the parasites in it, a massive Venus wave, the truth about lemmings and other potentially dodgy kids' films, plus alchemy.

Actor/author Maggie Rowe (@ThisMaggieRowe) has written for Arrested Development and produced both Hollywood Hell House and Hollywood Purity Ball, and her new book Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience chronicles her early experiences as a born-again Christian and her time spent in an Evangelical psychiatric facility. Maggie joins Matt and Andy to discuss entropy and evolution, false memory and sleep, synaesthesia and lightning strikes, icebergs and global warming, the antimatter story we didn't cover, the origins of Stouffer's french bread pizza, and radio bursts from a galaxy billions of light years away.

British standup and sketch comic Steve Hall (@stevehallcomedy) happened to be stateside for the holidays, so he stopped by to talk with Matt and Andy about pamphlets and Thomas Paine, the passing of dark matter-discoverer Vera Rubin, ants using tiny sponges to carry honey, new evidence that suggests an iceberg didn't cause the Titanic to sink, why sustainable fishing might not be the best, molten underground rivers, Bill Gates and an effective Ebola vaccine, Dr. Jane Gregory's Cognitive Behave Yourself, inverted farting, Eric Cantona's goal, a pretend city for kids and First Kiss by Steve's sketch group We Are Klang.

Sylvia Tara (@SylviaTaraPhD) holds a PhD in biochemistry, and in her new book The Secret Life of Fat: The Science Behind the Body's Least Understood Organ and What It Means For You she examines the function and behavior of fat, why it's essential to our lives, how our genetics, gender, hormones and microbiomes affect it and much more. Her book is on sale December 27th, and you can pre-order it here or visit thesecretlifeoffat.com for more information. This episode is brought to you by Curiosity Box by Vsauce. To get your mystery box full of geeky science toys and gear along with a FREE Vsauce beanie, visit curiositybox.com/probablyscience.

Comedian and former marine biologist Forrest Shaw (@forrestshaw) joins Matt and Andy to discuss face painting and Mexican fireworks and lax laws, manatee preservation and their removal from storm drains, a bid to save the smallest porpoise, Chinese appetites for rare animals, a feathery dinosaur tail encased in amber, SSREs and the bees of the ocean.

Comedy Central Roast writer Bryan Olsen (@olsen__) and comedian Dominic Harris (@DomComedy) sit down with Matt (@mattkirshen) and Andy (@andytwood) to talk about battery pigs, Dom's lost episode, Saint Bernard and Air Bud, Buzz and Antarctica, Dominic the debutante, dog memory, gut Parkinson's, fecal transplants again, new elements, the chemistry helpline, uncombable hair syndrome, platypus venom that can help diabetes and Dominic's new album. This episode is brought to you by Curiosity Box by Vsauce. To get your mystery box full of geeky science toys and gear along with a FREE Vsauce beanie, visit curiositybox.com/probablyscience.

Comedian and movie reviewer Cecily Knobler (@Cecilysaysstuff) joins returning guest Auggie Smith (@auggiesmith) and Andy (@andytwood) to discuss hospice humor, intervention critiques, Andy Dick stories, sex addiction getting depathologized, Auggie's issues with addicts, Cecily's neuropsychology background, Myers-Briggs personality types, high school kids undercutting Martin Shkreli's expensive drugs, Google's AI that can lip read better than humans, SNL's Trump responsibility, naming Secretaries of State, Cecily's book and Andy's swim meet.

Comedian Eric Lampaert (@EricLampaert) and returning guest JJ Whitehead (@JJWhitesnake) join Matt and Andy to discuss NASA's Space Poop Challenge, paper bike helmets, an end to zika's global health emergency, the hanging of a shipwrecked monkey and a circus elephant, JJ's new album and two moose found locked together in ice. This episode is brought to you by Curiosity Box by Vsauce. To get your mystery box full of geeky science toys and gear along with a FREE Vsauce beanie, visit curiositybox.com/probablyscience.

Comedian, engineer and outspoken moderate Toby Muresianu (@tobymuresianu) joins Andy and Matt to discuss President-Elect Trump on vaccines, Vice President-Elect Pence on smoking, Macedonian Facebook clickbait, polling methodologies, the supermoon, dog domestication, brain wifi that reverses monkey paralysis and a new type of bond.

Comedian and former environmental scientist Grant Lyon (@grantlyon1) joins Matt and Andy to talk about the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, naked cow science, why reservoirs aren't all good, surgery farts, nightmare machines, sentencing algorithms, a third hominid and Patient Letter O. This episode is brought to you by Curiosity Box by Vsauce. To get your mystery box full of geeky science toys and gear along with a FREE Vsauce beanie, visit curiositybox.com/probablyscience.