Probably Science

The head of Nerdist industries himself, comedian/podcaster/actor/musician/host Chris Hardwick (twitter.com/nerdist) is this week's guest, joining Matt, Andy and the returning Brooks Wheelan to discuss: The scientific study of Nicki Minaj! The dystopian future of Santa Cruz! Hoverboards! A scientific version of Trace Adkins! Bully nerds! Using iPhones to detect intestinal worms! Jury-rigging vs. jerry-rigging! Trustafarians! A new way to keep livers alive for transplantation! Talk show history! Bio-printing! Giving yourself a megahand! Hobo sapiens! Neanderthals' large eyes were their undoing! A horrifying bat-eating spider! Yet another Probably Science episode gets pre-empted by Lily Tomlin!

It's a packed house this week, with comedian Glenn Wool (twitter.com/glennwool) and songstress Lady Carol (facebook.com/theladycarolukulele) joining Auggie Smith (twitter.com/auggiesmith), Matt and Andy to talk about: Speedy deliveries from Mr. McFeely! Sniffing Bunsen burners! Auggie goes to Mike Tyson's one-man show! Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his ridiculously large brood! Whale mouth penises! The Island of Mel Gibsons! Does bee venom kill HIV? Caffeine-addicted bees! Sean Astin and the cast of ST:TNG on the same airplane! Mummies with heart conditions! Ancient wing nights! Private rockets just getting a teeny bit off the ground! The Philip K. Dick robot! Incompetent people are also unaware of their incompetence! Who wants to be president, anyway? Screamin' Jay Hawkins in space!

Comedians Mike Schmidt (twitter.com/The40YearOldBoy) and Wendy Wason (twitter.com/Wendy_Wason) join Matt and Andy this week to talk about: Testing for hairy feet! The results of Dr. Peter McGraw's E.T. experiment! Starting kitchen fires under the guise of Mr. Magic Show! Pulling your own eye in a Ziploc bag! The miraculously cured AIDS baby! Visiting a spice farm! Using poo to shield Mars mission astronauts from cosmic rays! Chimpanzees ladies pulling some Mean Girls antics! Meeting Jane Goodall! Harry Potter vs. Twilight! Herbal Viagra: Pretty much just Viagra!

After too long of an absence, Probably History returns with a lively discussion of Pompeii and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Comedian Mark Agee (twitter.com/markagee) joins Jesse Case, Andy Wood and Richard Bain to talk about life in first-century Rome, pyroclastic flows and the importance of knowing when to evacuate.

Comedian and writer Jeff Klinger (twitter.com/jeffklinger) joins Matt, Andy and Jesse this week to talk about: Malfunctioning Segways! Andy's HP laptop woes! Two-saucer setups! Expensive anatomical models! Figuring out when man's anscestors developed a tolerance for booze! Getting slightly racist about alcoholism! Stealing liquor from your parents! Matt touched living legend Buzz Aldrin! The abuses of management consulting! Jesse going to school in a white tuxedo! Curing acid reflux by clamping your esophagus! Mole penises! Space water corrections!

Comedy writer Michael James Nelson (michaeljamesnelson.com) has worked on Betty White's Off Their Rockers and many other shows in spite of the fact that as a young man he was convinced he would pursue a career in science and work on the Space Shuttle. He joins Matt, Andy and return guest Robert Buscemi this week to talk about: Magnet schools: How do they work? Growing up with multiple learning disabilities! The varying definitions of nerd-dom! The awesomeness of Betty White! Nice pranks! Last week's asteroid close-call! Fox News and their assessment of the value of space water! Drilling into the surface of Mars! Space cats! Using color patterns to search for extraterrestrial life! The bones of Richard III! The uncertainty principle demonstrated on a (somewhat) grand scale! Literal pecking orders! How to get alpha eggs at your local grocery store!

David Huntsberger (twitter.com/huntsbergerjunk) from Professor Blastoff (professorblastoff.com), a podcast that Probably Science in no way plagiarizes, joins Matt and Andy this week to discuss: Getting deputized to substitute teach under Texas educational martial law! Narrowly avoiding dating minors! Trash-talking Bear Grylls! Ill-fitting letter jackets! High school rodeo teams! The redundancy of assless chaps! Team roping! A monkey midwife! Are there more types of otters than bears? The importance of giant prime numbers! The loneliness of Google Street View team members! The uselessness of Yelp reviews! The unintentional upside of oceanic pollution!

Dr. Peter McGraw (twitter.com/petermcgraw) heads the Humor Research Lab (HuRL) at UC Boulder, and he joins Matt, Andy and returning guest Baron Vaughn (twitter.com/barvonblaq) for a special episode devoted entirely to the science of why things are funny. Peter's Benign Violation Theory is a robust, empirically testable explanation of humor in all its forms, and it's the basis of Peter and Joel Warner's upcoming book The Humor Code. For more information on Peter's work, visit humorcode.com and humorresearchlab.org.

Probably Science completes the Austin Stories trifecta this week with comedian/writer guest Laura House (twitter.com/imlaurahouse), who joins Matt and Andy in discussing: Valley celebrity encounters! Pissing off Jamie Foxx! Chili competitions! Drinking and guns! Shooting pesky mink! Russell Crowe's crappy Twitter feed! Getting an adult ego check from your parents! Making your own bullets! Detecing the dark matter all around us! Flu shots during pregnancy are safe! The history of vaccines! Vibrating steering wheels to help drunks! Trilogy's dot com-era recruiting practices! Light that travels faster than light!

Pride of Australia Wil Anderson (twitter.com/wilanderson) delivers in a big way this week as he joins Matt and Andy this week to get to the bottom of: US/Australia alliances! The unavoidable presence of Yahoo Serious! Ned Kelly's branding prowess! Ozploitation! Adding a new color to Australia's temperature charts! Climate change denial! Karl Kruszelnicki's study of belly button fluff! Being laughed at vs. being laughed with! Testing 18 molar sulfuric acid on your arm! Exploding ATVs! Fetuses need light, too! Mark McGrath's Ark! Being lonely lowers your immune system! Comedians: Braver than Navy Seals! Crustaceans can feel pain! Pubic lice becoming extinct! Getting crabs in your eyelashes!