So you want to be a…

It’s our 100th episode of So You Want to Be a…! After exploring 100 different jobs, Max and Calvin are celebrating by looking back at some of their favorite episodes and most surprising facts! From rocket scientists and paleontologists to LEGO designers, athletes, and entrepreneurs, they’re revisiting the careers that made these past two years so much fun. Plus, they’ll share their all-time favorite episodes, some behind-the-scenes memories, and a special announcement about what’s coming next for the podcast!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore the surprising world of librarians! They discover how librarians organize thousands of books, help people solve research mysteries, and use technology to make information easier to find. Plus, they uncover some incredible facts, including a librarian in Colombia who delivers books using donkeys, and libraries where you can borrow telescopes and even cake pans! From the world’s largest library to the amazing ways librarians help their communities, there’s a lot more to being a librarian than just checking out books!

In this Halloween episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore the sweet and surprising world of candy making! They discover how candy makers create everything from chewy gummy bears to hard lollipops, and why candy became such a big part of Halloween. Plus, they uncover some incredible facts, including how cacao beans were once used as money, a giant lollipop weighing over 7,000 pounds, and the science behind why Pop Rocks pop in your mouth! From the fascinating history of trick-or-treating to the enormous factories preparing millions of treats for Halloween, there’s a lot more to candy making than just sugar and chocolate!

n this special fall episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore what it’s really like to be a pumpkin farmer! They discover how people were growing pumpkins nearly 10,000 years ago, why jack-o’-lanterns were originally carved from turnips, and how pumpkin flowers only have a few hours to get pollinated. Plus, they uncover some unbelievable true stories, including a world-record pumpkin weighing 3,156 pounds and a man who paddled 38 miles down a river inside a giant pumpkin! From ancient history to modern pumpkin patches, there’s a lot more science, history, and hard work behind pumpkin farming than you might think!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore the fascinating world of physics professors! They discover how physicists study the universe, make groundbreaking discoveries, and teach the next generation of scientists. From Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity to the strange mysteries of black holes and Schrödinger’s famous cat thought experiment, there’s a lot to uncover! Plus, they learn how scientists at CERN transported antimatter in a truck, explore different branches of physics, and discover why Max is considering becoming a physicist himself. From the tiniest particles to the largest objects in space, physics is full of incredible mysteries waiting to be solved!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore the explosive world of explosives engineering! They discover how engineers use carefully controlled blasts in mining, quarrying, tunneling, construction, and demolition. They also travel through the history of explosives, from ancient gunpowder to nitroglycerin and Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite. Plus, they learn how engineers can control where explosive energy goes, how gravitational potential energy helps bring down buildings, and explore some incredible record-breaking demolitions. It turns out explosives engineering isn’t about making the biggest explosion—it’s about making an explosion do exactly what you planned!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore what it’s really like to be an eye doctor! They learn how eye doctors examine your eyes, figure out why some people need glasses, and use special tools to look all the way to the retina and optic nerve. Plus, they uncover some unbelievable true stories, including a contact lens stuck inside an eyelid for 28 years, a piece of wood that stayed in someone’s eye for 15 years, and an eye surgeon who performed more than 600,000 eye operations during his career. From eye exams and dilating drops to some truly strange discoveries, there’s a lot more to your eyes than you might think!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin discover what it’s really like to be a lawyer! They learn what lawyers actually do, how courtroom trials work, why lawyers make objections, and what really happens before a case ever reaches a jury. Plus, they explore some unbelievably strange real court cases, including the time the Supreme Court had to decide whether a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable and the man who took Pepsi to court over a fighter jet. It turns out the law can get a lot weirder than you might expect!

In this episode of So You Want to Be a…, Max and Calvin explore what it’s really like to be a dairy farmer! They learn how farmers care for cows and newborn calves, how modern milking works, and how milk travels from the farm all the way to the grocery store. Plus, they discover why colostrum is so important for newborn calves, how cows can wear their own “Fitbits,” and how some farms even use robots to milk cows! From cow nutrition and digestion to preventing problems like mastitis and milk fever, there’s a lot more science, technology, and animal care behind dairy farming than you might think.

robotics engineering! They discover how robots sense what’s around them, how engineers make them move, and why building a robot takes lots of testing and problem-solving. Plus, they uncover some incredible robotics facts, including a robot that solved a Rubik’s Cube in 0.305 seconds, robots competing in RoboCup soccer, and tiny experimental machines made from living cells. From motors and sensors to AI and robots unlike anything we’ve seen before, robotics engineering is helping build the machines of the future!