The Nerd Degree

A special bonus episode recorded at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival.

It's about life and death (but mostly death).

Featuring your host Brendon Bennetts, YA author Karen Healey, alternative mortician Caitlin Doughty, director Andrew Todd, and ITV science correspondent Alok Jha.

From the Four Seasons to One Direction, from Bach to the future, hear two bands of nerds sound off, and find out who gets the fanfare of triumph and who goes home feeling crotchety.

Featuring: Matt Powell, Jeff Clark, Katie Cowan, Brendon Bennetts, Jennifer O'Sullivan, Ben Allan, and the music talents of Michael Bell

Jennifer O'Sullivan just wants to have fun as she chaperones the nerds through the mystery of the Surfer Ghost, Karen's disturbingly encyclopedic knowledge of teen girl movies, and the electoral showdown between Katniss Everdeen and Joan of Arc.

Featuring: Karen Healey, Laura Borrowdale, Matt Powell, Emma Cusdin, and Ben Allan

Ben Allan leads the Nerds on a journey to the very limits of their knowledge. Find out how far Frodo really travelled, meet the most impressively named polar explorers, and prepare for the ultimate Mars expedition.

Featuring: Andrew Todd, Wiremu Tuhiwai, Laura Borrowdale, and Henri Nelis

Andrew Todd hosts our celebration of 50 years of Star Trek. Our nerds debate the relative merits of the Borg versus the Klingons, speculate as to why Bones was such a dick, and bring a five year old's Picard fan fiction to life.

Featuring: Henri Nelis, Wiremu Tuhiwai, Karen Healey, and Ben Allan

In this episode the nerds take time to appreciate the little things in life: arguing about sky prawns, the smurfs, and what MODOK really stands for.

Featuring: Jeff Clark, Erin Harrington, Ben Allan, Dan Bain, and Andrew Kepple

Theme music: “Another beek beep beer please” by Rolemusic.

This episode of Nerd Degree is all about size, as we discuss: Godzilla in a bikini, the big sperm paradox, how to kill a dog with time travel, and who would win between King Kong and the BFG.

Featuring: Brendon Bennetts, Jeff Clark, Katie Cowan, Dan Bain, Scott Koorey, and Erin Harrington

In this internet themed episode, our panel of experts speed down the information superhighway, miss the information super turnoff, and end up driving all the way to information super-Ashburton.

Featuring: Brendon Bennetts, Andrew Kepple, Erin Harrington, Kathleen Burns, Andrew Todd, and Ben Allan

Theme music: “Another beek beep beer please” by Rolemusic.

In this episode Brendon challenges our nerds to use all their artifice and intelligence, to explain what is going on with artificial intelligence.

Featuring: Erin Harrington, Andrew Todd, Kathleen Burns, Ben Allan, and Andrew Kepple.

Theme music: “Another beek beep beer please” by Rolemusic.

In this episode Karen Healey challenges the nerds to decode fan fiction tags, discover the origin of feels, and debate the benefits of telepathy.

Featuring: Erin Harrington, Laura Borrowdale, Ben Allan, and Brendon Bennetts