Science... sort of

Science... sort of episodes:

• 04.29.2023

  347 - Skipping Strikes

  00:00:00 - Researchers have determined that if you want one big skip instead of many little skips you should select a potato-shaped rock instead of a flat one. If that’s what you’re into… 00:23:00 - Another way to enjoy a...

  
• 02.04.2023

  346 - Kenji and the Indestructible, Functional, No Fooling, Very Versatile Wok

  00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by cookbook author and YouTuber J. Kenji López-Alt to discuss his latest book The Wok: Recipes and Techniques, available wherever fine books are sold including our own page on Bookshop.org. Can you ruin your wok...

  
• 01.07.2023

  345 - Evil Prevails

  00:00:00 - Manly Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) returns to the show to talk to Ben and Handsome Ryan (not a self-selected nickname) to talk about his new book, How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the...

  
• 08.12.2022

  344 - Stung by the Truth

  00:00:00 - Kelly and Ryan are thrilled to be joined by her friend and colleague, Dr. Andrew Forbes! He’s a parasitic insect kind of guy (not meant as an insult!) and we discuss his journey a bit before diving into...

  
• 04.25.2022

  Special Edition 16 - Project Hail Mary

  00:00:00 - Time for a special edition Science… sort of Book Club! Ryan, Joe, and Tim all read Andy Weir’s new novel Project Hail Mary. What did they think of it? How was the science? Should Andy Weir design escape...

  
• 03.24.2022

  343 - Webb's in the Greenhouse

  00:00:00 - There’s a new telescope in town to look out of town and see exactly what’s going on in this here galaxy. Introducing… the James Webb Space Telescope! What can it do? Where can it do it? And did...

  
• 01.31.2022

  342 - The Extinction of Fossil Fuels

  00:00:00 - Joe and Ryan are excited to be joined by Craig Welch and Sam Howe Verhovek who each have articles in the October 2021 issue of National Geographic “The Revolution is Here” which is all about the future of...

  
• 01.14.2022

  341 - Highway to the Science Zone

  00:00:00 - Joe and Ryan are joined by their friend Dr. Antonio “Tony” Munoz, who tells us about his work as a scientist and his journey from the world of research to the world of consulting. Tony’s open access papers...

  
• 01.01.2022

  340 - Anchor's Away Part 5: The Final Anchoring

  00:00:00 - In which Ryan introduces the concept of this type of episode… for the last time. (But which can be previously heard in episodes 266, 282, 326, and 332.) 00:05:23 - Zootopia and Disney Lemming...

  
• 05.25.2021

  339 - Voices Assemble!

  00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by Megan Johnson (@mmjohnso), Becca Van Hoeck (@becca_vanhoeck), and Caitlin Bergstrom (@caityydid). Megan and Becca are Ph.D. researchers working on the environmental engineering of the atmosphere around wildfires and fish ecology using marine soundscapes, respectively...

  
• 04.23.2021

  338 - We bought a Zoo-ologist’s book

  00:00:00 - Dr. Arik Kershenbaum (@arikkershenbaum) stops by to talk about his new book, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens—And Ourselves, AKA the fastest we’ve ever said yes to an interview. 00:27:50 -...

  
• 04.10.2021

  337 - Living on the Edge

  00:00:00 - Carl Zimmer (@CarlZimmer) has returned to the show to talk to us about his new book, Life’s Edge: The Search For What It Means To Be Alive. While it may be hard to define life, we can...

  
• 03.27.2021

  336 - Sweet Sake and Spoiled Spores

  00:00:00 - Returning guest Jen Gallagher (@yeastychic) has brought along two former students to talk about their continued research into the world of yeast! We’re excited to be joined by Matt Winas, currently the lead scientist at Imperial Yeast Labs,...

  
• 02.28.2021

  335 - Major Herp-o-compatability Complex

  00:00:00 - Kelly and Ryan are psyched to be joined by Gina Zwicky (@GinaGoesOutside) to talk about all things herps (amphibians + reptiles)! We begin with a discussion about Gina’s work the immune system of Caribbeans lizards, specifically the major...

  
• 02.13.2021

  334 - Destruction Breeds Creation

  00:00:00 - The Triassic Period was clearly a tough time to be alive, since a lot of things kept dying. Researchers have recently uncovered a potentially new extinction that happened during the Triassic, and another team has uncovered more evidence...

  
• 01.29.2021

  333 - AGU Brought To You

  00:00:00 - Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the AGU Fall Meeting had to go all online, but that didn’t showing up and recording some interviews. But plot twist! This year we sent Producer Tim Dobbs to do the interviewing...

  
• 01.14.2021

  Special Edition 15 - TENET

  00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by Jesse B. Grove V to discuss the highly anticipated sci-fi action thriller, Christopher Nolan’s TENET. Jesse is drinking an Outer Realm from Original Pattern Brewing Company and Ryan is drinking The Magic Touch by...

  
• 12.26.2020

  332 - Anchor's Away Part 4

  00:00:00- We're doing another Anchor-themed clip show! Following up on episodes 266, 282, and 326 we have another round of short audio clips that Ryan created for the podcast startup Anchor under the banner of Organized Curiosity...

  
• 11.08.2020

  331 - Just Another Mammoth Monday

  00:00:00 - Abe and Ryan are joined by paleontologists Lindsey Yann and Advait Jukar (@amjukar) to talk about all manner of proboscideans! First up, hundreds of mammoth fossils have been found underneath the construction site for a new airport outside...

  
• 10.24.2020

  330 - Amber Waves of Sap and Problems of Pollen Prairies

  00:00:00 - Researcher Daniel Katz and journalist Lucas Joel (@LucasVanWykJoel) join Ryan to talk about Dan’s research into Detroit’s pollen problem. Too many vacant lots means a lot more ragweed for the residents of the city to deal with. Want...

  
• 10.09.2020

  329 - Long Naps and Near Misses

  00:00:00 - Joe begins the show by explaining how we all just nearly died last month but didn’t as an asteroid had the closest flyby of Earth ever detected thanks to some pretty cool new observation tech at the Zwicky...

  
• 09.24.2020

  328 - Redox Violations

  00:00:00 - Phosphine has been detected in the atmosphere of Venus, where it shouldn’t exist. How could it have formed in detectable quantities? One explanation could be microbes living in a habitable zone high in the Venusian atmosphere, so that’s...

  
• 09.10.2020

  327 - Soils and Soot

  00:00:00 - Charlie, Abe, and Ryan are joined by Sommelier Kristy Wenz because we’re talking about wine! Why wine? Stay tuned to the drinks segment to find out! But first up, they discuss the effects of geology, soil pH, and...

  
• 08.28.2020

  326 - Anchor's Away Part 3

  00:00:00 - We're doing another Anchor-themed clip show! Following up on episodes 266 and 282, we have another round of short audio clips that Ryan created for the podcast startup Anchor under the banner of Organized Curiosity (explanation of the name here). Before we dive in,...

  
• 08.13.2020

  325 - Arch: -osaurs and -eology

  00:00:00 - First up, we discuss the evolution of thalattoscuhians, or crocodilians who evolved to live life in the seas, based on CAT scans of their skulls and what that means for their convergent evolution with whales.   00:20:39 -...

  
• 07.31.2020

  324 - Suit up for Science

  00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by Lisa Lundgren and Gabriel Santos, two of the heads of Cosplay for Science, an organization that uses elaborating costuming (called cosplay) to advocate for science! But first, we talk about the science. Lisa is...

  
• 07.09.2020

  323 - Harnessing the Power of the Great Old Ones

  00:00:00 - This episode Ben and Ryan are joined by Ph.D. student and podcaster Kathryn Cogert (@KathrynIsabel), who specializes in mimicking the microbial nitrogen cycling as seen in Oxygen Minimum Zones of the ocean with the aim of improving wastewater...

  
• 06.25.2020

  322 - Drawn to Neanderthals

  00:00:00 - We are joined by cartoonist Jeffrey Brown to talk about his work. First up, we discuss his Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series about a Homo neanderthalensis family that’s just trying to get by in the Stone Age. 00:32:11...

  
• 06.11.2020

  321 - A Welcome Intrusion

  00:00:00 - New experimental research shows that there might still be volcanoes active on Venus, which is a big deal since it has long been thought that Venus didn’t have active plate tectonics. Abe breaks down how the hottest planet...

  
• 05.27.2020

  320 - Keeping Cool On Climate

  00:00:00 - Patrick puts forth proposals for less automobile-focused cities (see more on his Twitter feed @pvwheatley) before we dive into part 1 of Ryan’s interview with UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography Ph.D. Student Maya Becker. She attended the UN’s...

  
• 04.23.2020

  319 - Standing up to Satellites

  00:00:00 - We welcome back our old buddy Jacob Stump as he joins to discuss the evolution of the human big toe, which is more interesting than you might think because it showed up sort of lake to the walking...

  
• 03.19.2020

  318 - The X-Men Files: A Star Wars Story

  00:00:00 - Asher Elbein (@asher_elbein) is still back but this time he and Ryan get really nerdy (if you believe that’s even possible after the last episode). The first half of super nerd talk begins with a brief remembrance of...

  
• 03.10.2020

  317 - Wild Hogs Can't Be Broken

  00:00:00 - Asher Elbein (@asher_elbein) is back to talk about feral hogs! If you listen to Reply All you may have already heard some of his reporting on the issue, but we were able to dig deep and really get...

  
• 01.01.2020

  316 - Message in a Rocket

  00:00:00 - Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson returns to the show to talk about his new book, Letters from an Astrophysicist. In addition to book chat, he and Ryan also touch on the culture growth of pseudoscience such as people who...

  
• 12.07.2019

  315 - Planetary Growing Pains

  00:00:00 - For our first topic, Ryan, Ben, and Joe explore the theory that the oddly-shaped space rock Oumumua is actually an alien reconnaissance ship. Seriously. 00:23:38 - If the threat of alien invasion doesn’t make you want a...

  
• 11.07.2019

  314 - You win some, you lose some

  00:00:00 - For this episode, we’re joined by Peter Brannen (@PeterBrannen1), author of the book The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses, which explains all the times when life has nearly been wiped...

  
• 08.22.2019

  313 - Debating Diapsids

  00:00:00 - Paleontologist Adam Pritchard (@PTPritchard), post-doc at NMNH and future Assistant Collections Manager at VNMN, joins Ryan to talk about all things reptiles! Diapsids, crown versus stem, mass extinctions; this segment has something for everyone (who likes reptiles)! 00:32:59...

  
• 07.25.2019

  312 - A ’Peake at Chessie

  00:00:00 - Joe brings his friend and historian Kristina Gaddy (@kgadz) onto the show to talk about Chessie, the supposed sea monster of the Chesapeake Bay (bay monster?). She wrote a piece about the history and cultural perception of this...

  
• 07.18.2019

  311 - Eat, Scan, Love

  00:00:00 - The boys are back and they’re talking about meat. Specifically, how the idea that neanderthals ate mostly meat is being challenged by the idea that the chemistry can be tricked if the meat is already rotten when it’s...

  
• 06.25.2019

  310 - Ecosystem Disservice

  00:00:00 - After seeing a twitter thread about a recent publication, Ryan invited Jesse Alston (@IntegratEcology) on the show to talk about that paper and his scientific journey. They met up in Laramie and started with the latter, which is...

  
• 06.06.2019

  309 - AAAS Part II, Embrace the Undisciplined

  00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by Utah State University journalism professor Matthew LaPlante (@mdlaplante), who teaches science graduate students how to communicate better all while doing #SciComm himself. They chat about Matthew's approach to helping scientists find the type of...

  
• 05.18.2019

  308 - AAAS Part I, Draw It Out

  00:00:00 - Recorded live at the annual meeting of AAAS, Ryan is joined by Jason McDermott (@BioDataGanache) and Matteo Farinella (@matteofarinella), two comic creating scientists who ran a session titled: Scientists Who Draw Comics: The Double Life of Visual Science...

  
• 05.03.2019

  307 - Laughing all the way to the lab

  00:00:00 - This episode we’re thrilled to be joined by comedian Shane Mauss (@shanecomedy), currently touring his Stand Up Science show around the county and happy enough to sit down and chat with Ryan about it. In the first segment...

  
• 04.25.2019

  306 - The World Without Us

  00:00:00 - Thanks to the wonders of isotopic geochemistry, scientists have a found a link between the genocide of the native peoples of the Americas and a carbon drawdown that temporarily cooled global temperatures (Open access paper here: Koch et...

  
• 04.22.2019

  305 - AGU Part V, How To Train Your Science

  00:00:00 - In our final AGU episode, Abe and Ryan host a roundtable discussion with some of the researchers who took the train from Scripps Oceanographic Institute (@scripps_ocean) in San Diego all the way to DC as part of their...

  
• 03.21.2019

  304 - AGU Part IV, To see an Ocean in a grain of a foram

  00:00:00 - Dr. Heather Ford (@hl_ford), who was featured alongside a certain Paleopal for National Fossil Day, meets up with Ryan at Atlas Brew Works with her pup Sammy to talk about her work as a paleocenagropher, which apparently involves...

  
• 03.19.2019

  303 - AGU Part III, Erupting with Creativity

  00:00:00 - Jill Shipman and Brandon Gellis join us to talk about their AGU eLightning session titled Art and Science: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Data Exploration and Communication. We talk about this novel presentation format, one of the featured talks, and...

  
• 02.27.2019

  302 - AGU Part II, Dune or dune not, there is no dry (ice)

  00:00:00 - In part two of our AGU shows we begin with dunes! Ryan chats with Tom Ashley (@ThomasCAshley) and Rob Mahon (@RobertCMahon) about their work looking at how dunes form and move in a variety of conditions on, and...

  
• 02.09.2019

  301 - AGU Part I, The Fifth Element

  00:00:00 - Photographer, filmmaker, and lapsed geomorphologist James Balog (@james_balog) joins Ryan and Abe to talk about his new film The Human Element, which screened at AGU and is available to stream now! After quizzing him about his Masters’ research,...

  
• 01.25.2019

  300 - This... is... SCIENCE

  00:00:00 - To celebrate our 300th episode and make up for skipping Thanksgiving this year we’re doing an all feedback segment! Patrick starts off with an e-mail from Stephen H. who has spotted a potential relative of the Brachiolope (see...