Probably Science

Probably History is back! Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) welcomes Andy Wood (twitter.com/andytwood), Richard Bain (twitter.com/dickbain), Matt Kirshen (twitter.com/mattkirshen) and special guest comedian/sociologist Pat Reilly (twitter.com/reallypatreilly) to take a look at the infamous House of Borgia, the Renaissance family that brought us Pope Alexander VI, incest, murder and the Banquet of Chestnuts!

Matt and Andy go on location to the campus of Caltech this week to welcome PhD candidates, actors (phdmovie.com) and science communicators (phdcomics.com/tv) Crystal Dilworth (twitter.com/PolycrystalhD) and Alexandra Lockwood (twitter.com/AlexCLockwood) to the show, delving into: Dancers moonlighting as scientists! The myth of tryptophan! Preferential treatment for doctors and lords! Penguins getting knighted in Denmark! The PhD Movie! More 3D printer talk! Staring at the night sky! How to search for exoplanets! Hot Jupiters! Requiem for the Kepler telescope! The military importance of figuring out Earth's spherical harmonics! Shocking people's brains to make them better at math! How a damaged brain repairs itself! Male strippers: Turn-on or source of comedy? Empathetic enjoyment of lesbian porn! One-eyed enervation! Why kids make dumb choices! Babies like eyes that are far apart! Malaria mosquitoes are more attracted to humans! Defending your dissertation!

You've seen the very funny John Roy on Conan, Leno and Ferguson, and he joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to discuss: Daft Punk's new album! Edmonton's giant mall! Waterslides and skydiving! Tweets from space! Guided By Voices on Mars! Height inflation in professional wrestling! Youtube and Wikipedia holes! 480,000,000 needles in space! An explanation of orbits! Space insanity! The military efforts of Archimedes! Our favorite listener's penis! A working cocaine vaccine! The mystery of the Stevie Nicks coke urban legend! Polio vaccines that create more polio! Chicken pox parties: Bad idea! Human ancestors who couldn't hear well! Juggalo scientists! Soup-conducting hos! An affordable 3D printer! Maron in Space!

Australian comedian/writer/performer Celia Pacquola (twitter.com/CeliaPacquola) and American comedian/writer/performer TJ Chambers (twitter.com/tjchambersLA) join Matt and Andy for a discussion of topics including: The current usefulness of Bunsen burners! The naval innovations of the Punic Wars! The asshole children of the Tetra Pak dynasty! Arizona State's party reputation! Nonsensical drinking age laws! Celia's Australian girls' school shenanigans! A brief further discussion of the Gallagher debacle! Mainlining oxygen! Defending the study of duck genitalia! A compelling case for the awesomeness of tungsten! Some asshole created a way to 3D print a gun! Forensic analysis of bullet cracks! Body farms! Firefighter arsonists! Phineas Gage and his asshole-inducing head injury! Gallagher's critique of Matt's act! Arctic foxes' death by mercury! The painted turtle that runs Big Oil!

Comedian, writer and Mr. Show alum Karen Kilgariff (twitter.com/karenkilgariff) joins returning guest and Chelsea Lately regular April Richardson (twitter.com/apey) for a Bridgetown wrap-up conversation with Andy, getting into: Brooks drinking in a park! The debacle that was the Gallagher episode! Defiantly failing chemistry! Quantum physics and Ramtha! Cheesy potatoes! First aid book illustrations! The worst emergency room story April's ever heard! Speeding up space travel with fusion! Who could you travel to Mars with? Oblivion's ripoff premise! April's obsession with guys in suits running! Andy and April fighting over Huey Lewis! Hookah pipes: Worse than cigarettes? The third-wave ska revival! Imaging an entire living brain! Would you want to live forever? April's Saved By The Bell podcast!

This week's episode was recorded live at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival (bridgetowncomedy.com) in Portland, and it's... well... it's something. Andy Wood and Matt Kirshen are still recovering from this recording, which Matt has come to call "My personal Vietnam." Peter Serafinowicz (twitter.com/serafinowicz) and Gallagher (gallaghersmash.com) joined them to discuss: James Randi! Gallagher holding court on the sidewalk! The hidden dangers of telephone poles! How to use the Internet to get smart! Al Gore-rhythms! Cutting the fat of chocolate in half! Gallagher's distaste for particle/wave duality, Cadillac trucks, spoon-forks and America's first bi-racial president! Coffee, chocolate and cocaine! Picture-winged flies dining on sperm! Earthquakes causing other earthquakes! Bridgetown's depression-based comedy! Erik the Red singlehandedly creating gingers! How stress can help red squirrels produce healthier pups! Gallagher's endorsement of dorsal breast implants! Beyonce's fake pregnancy! Gallagher's proposed dam to cut off Mexico's fresh water! A lengthy and very uncomfortable discussion of height and race! Gallagher's proposal to curb drunk driving! Gallagher's gubernatorial bid! Supernovae that are too big! Gallagher's proposal to get kids into gambling! Gallagher's many patents! Gallagher taking credit for the concept of splashing!

Comedians and Sklarbro Country hosts Randy and Jason Sklar (earwolf.com/shows/sklarbro-country) were kind enough to invite Matt and Andy over to Jason's Laurel Canyon abode for this week's episode, delving into: Keeping eagles in your basement! Randy's CERN-working nuclear physicist brother-in-law! The Lebron James of antimatter! Remembering when comedy was the hottest ticket in town! The official 1980s uniform of standup! The defense mechanisms of fans of Michigan athletics! When America was one giant Whole Foods! Scientific proof that women like broad-shouldered, large-penised men! Have we hit peak penis? The latest bird flu scare! Spending $100 million to lasso an asteroid! Jason produces a real-life space rock! Predicting people's ages based on their tweets! Gallagher's upcoming ProbSci appearance at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival! Using kidney bean leaves to trap bedbugs!

Comedians and producers/hosts of the standup show and podcast Put Your Hands Together Cameron Esposito (twitter.com/cameronesposito) and Rhea Butcher (twitter.com/rheabutcher) join Matt, Andy and Jesse to discuss: Why spittoons make a dinging noise! Daft Punk and Cyberdyne Systems! Cockney rhyming slang! Photogravure! Severing underwater Internet cables! Solving the mystery of fairy rings! The Cloud Atlas leprechaun! The purple ink of a sea hare! The bacteria that solves obesity! Waste water-induced seismic events! The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is coming up April 18-21! (visit bridgetowncomedy.com for details)

Aparna Nancherla (twitter.com/aparnapkin) is a hilarious writer and performer on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, and she sits down with Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Magnet schools! The Elgin Marbles! Wilhelm Screams and the Milgram Experiment! Frogs that give birth through their mouths! Shepard Tones! Magic Johnson's T.G.I. Friday's! Retrieving rockets from the ocean floor! Unearthing plague pits! Fox hunting! Weather-themed songs about women!

Comedian, actor and Bridgetown Comedy Festival co-founder Matt Braunger (twitter.com/braunger) makes his first Probably Science appearance, joining Matt, Andy and Jesse Case (twitter.com/jessecase) to get to the bottom of: Comedians in therapy! Misleading anthropomorphic ad animals! Filming with Civil War re-enactors! Birds evolving shorter wings to escape cars! Overfishing breeding smaller fish! New patent laws: Better start filing! Andy and Matt's inventions! ZZ Topless! Having three parents: Not as bad as everyone thought! Arnold Schwarzenegger documentaries! White rocks on Mars! Pro wrestler Philip K. Dick!