We’re all standing on the shoulders of giants. And there are no more impressive shoulders to stand on than the great physicists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This week, Mark is in conversation with author and teacher Katherine Benfante, to determine who wins physics.

• (00:00) - We need physics!

Find Katherine via her website, buy her book Scattered on Amazon, or follow her on Twitter.

Hands up who overthinks stuff? Did you really put your hand up? Is anyone else putting theirs up? Did you put yours up too quickly? Maybe you were too slow? And what is a hand meant to do once it’s up in the air, anyway? I mean, we’re always being told to wave them like we just don’t care… how does a person do that?

And breathe.

Kim Witten helps people turn their overthinking into expert thinking, and she joins Mark to build a top-5 list of ways to tame the gremlins in our brain.

• (00:00) - You are in charge

Find Kim via her website, and make sure to sign up for her newsletter to keep the journey of gremlin-taming going.

PS: Mark doesn’t usually have coaches or coachy-type conversations on this podcast. But Kim’s one of the good’ns, and what she has to say is sound.

Staple a jelly doughnut to your ear, set your spleen to channel 27 and ask your favourite albino squirrel to a dance. Lex Friedman joins Mark to discuss their top-5 songs by “Weird” Al Yankovic that aren’t parodies.

Lex is, among many things (musician, improviser, podcaster, game developer and consultant), a turbo Yankovic fan, and it’s quite possible that even Al himself might struggle to come up with a better list.

• (00:00) - Stay weird, Al

Find Lex online on his website, play one of his many word games, hang out with him on Mastodon, or buy one or all of Liam & Lex’s albums.

Rhythm is a dancer. The rhythm is gonna get ya. And you must not, under any circumstances, stop the beat.

This week, Stephanie Fuccio joins Mark to pick their top 5 songs that drag them to the dance floor. At the end of this, you’ll either leave with an earworm or the need to jump on a mini-trampoline for a bit.

• (00:00) - We have to dance

If you have a podcast, you can work with Steph to make it better, or follow her AI and Podcasting newsletter to learn how to make ChatGPT do your bidding.

Whether they go “pew pew”, “what is this thing called ‘love’?” or “Give me your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle”, androids have, it turns out, been a staple of sci-fi films for a century.

This week, Ayesha Khan joins Mark to rank androids from sci-fi films.

• (00:00) - Cold open

Ayesha is the host of the podcast Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*. You can follow her tireless work wherever you get podcasts, and on Youtube and Instagram.

Whether you like to bash away at them or tickle them gently, you can get a lot of beautiful noise out of 88 keys.

Jon Hickman rejoins Mark to discuss their top-5 piano pop ac.

• (00:00) - Cold open

Find Jon @jonhickman just about everywhere (but not on the hellsite), or visit his lovely website.

Nothing is ever quite as it seems in the world of spies. A watch isn’t just a watch – it’s a deadly weapon. That phonebooth? Also a weapon. Bag pipes? Weapon. This sandwich though, that’s just Q’s lunch. Don’t touch it.

Valerie Paris rejoins Mark to discuss their top-5 Bond gadgets. Like Valerie’s previous appearance, it’s funny and charming. Unlike Mark’s previous Bond episode, it’s accurate and researched.

• (00:00) - Cold open

Find Valerie’s interactive novel and video games on her itch.io page, and follow her on Twitter.

The world faces a host of very real and serious dangers. But if you believe there’s nothing little ol’ us can do, it’s probably because that’s what certain people want you to think.

No, this isn’t a conspiracy episode – just a collation of ways you can actually make a difference in your home, your street, your local area, and maybe a little further afield.

Rebecca Bratspies, environment expert and law professor joins Mark to discuss their top-5 ways we can actually make a difference.

• (00:00) - Cold open

Find Rebecca’s work via her website, and follow @RBratspies on Twitter.

What should you do, eat, drink, look for or avoid while traveling alone to a new city?

Arielle Nissenblatt, podcast maven and former List Envy guest, returns to decide on the top five ways to explore a new city while travelling solo.

• (00:00) - Sometimes it's better solo

You can find Arielle in podcast form via Daily Tips That May or May. Not Help You, and Trailer Park, the podcast trailer podcast.

Arielle does lots of other things too, so you can find them all on her website… which is best.

What do mechanical limbs, credit cards, and the atomic bomb have in common? They all had their roots in science fiction.

Ashley Hamer joins Mark to rank real-world inventions inspired by sci-fi, and Mark reveals that he apparently went to school in a gadget factory.

• (00:00) - Cold open

Ashley is the host of Taboo Science, which examines taboos through a scientific lens. She’s also the author of The Weekly Tweak, which seeks to help your podcasting game improve, one tweak at a time.

You can also find her pretty much everywhere online @smashleyhamer.