Episodes
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 day on the river is with a beverage. Patrick is back to basics with a Guinness. Charlie is legally enjoying a Rogue Ginger Yuzu CBD Seltzer. And Ryan is recovering with some maximum-strength cold medicine. 00:31:45 - In the war between astronomers and lightning, the...
Published 04/29/23
Published 04/29/23
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 your first time using it? Is carbon steel superior to cast iron? Can you poison your guests with hot peppers? Tune in to find out! 00:26:40 - Ryan enjoys an Americano made using Worka Sakaro beans roasted by Night Swim Coffee in Charlotte, NC. 00:30:15 -...
Published 02/04/23
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 Aspiring Supervillain, available now wherever fine books are sold! 00:36:00 - Taking over the world is thirst work. Fortunately, we came prepared. Ben is enjoying some burdock tea, which comes from the roots of a bush. Ryan is having the debatably thematic...
Published 01/07/23
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 some recent and exciting research! 00:35:37 - It could be argued that parasites drink the lifeforce of others, but hopefully that’s not the case with us. Ryan doubles down with an Americano using Jorge Raul Rivera Pacamara Honey #96 beans from Chalatenango, El Salvador via Black...
Published 08/12/22
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 rooms? All this, and more, is discussed! To buy the book, we recommend using our affiliate program with bookshop.org/shop/sciencesortof, we get a small percent for sending you there and the book will be sent to you by a local bookshop. Win win! More cool rewards await you if you...
Published 04/25/22
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 we name it after a not so great dude? All this and more are discussed! 00:36:36 - Drinks are any beverage that are consumed. Here, we talk about them. Joe is having tea with lemon and honey to help with a cough. Ryan recommends even fancier tea. Ryan waxes poetic about a Herkenrode Abbey...
Published 03/24/22
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 non-fossil fuel transportation. Craig wrote the article “The future of driving is here–and it’s electric” and Sam wrote the article “How green can we make air travel? And how soon?”. Discussion ensues. 00:40:41 - Discussion pauses so Joe and Ryan can have a drink. Can’t let...
Published 01/31/22
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 for those who want to learn more: Free energy calculation of modified base-pair formation in explicit solvent: A predictive model Active yeast ribosome preparation using monolithic anion exchange chromatography Structural Changes Enable Start Codon Recognition by the...
Published 01/14/22
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 Myths 00:10:51 - Bio bios: Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) 00:16:06 - The Drake Equation tries to answer "Are we along?” 00:21:23 - Drake Equation "results" hint at a crowded galaxy 00:22:30 - Then where is everybody? Fermi's Paradox weighs in 00:27:03 - To prove the show...
Published 01/01/22
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 and in the first segment they tell us a bit about their awesome research. 00:30:16 - Drinks are a bit like wildfires and marine ecosystems: they're wet but they burn. Megan is enjoying a Left Hand...
Published 05/25/21
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 - Both life and beef requires water, so let’s talk about what we’re drinking. Patrick has a perfectly adequate Punk AF from BrewDog, Ryan is also having a non-alcoholic Upside Dawn Golden Ale from Athletic Brewing. It is also fine. 00:36:29 - Part 2...
Published 04/23/21
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 provide definite timestamps for the first part of our conversation about the book! 00:26:16 - Having access to liquid is an essential part of life, which includes drinks. Ryan pontificates about his Hoplark HopTea with Spruce Tips which is surprisingly refreshing. After a digression, Patrick gets to...
Published 04/10/21
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, and Postdoctoral Research Apoorva Ravishankar. First up, we chat with Matt about his work on sake yeast hybridization and how yeast respond toxic metallic nanoparticles. 00:28:21 - Yeast make all manner of drinks so let’s talk about that....
Published 03/27/21
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 histocompatibility complexes of the Saban’s anole using the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI) awesome genetic database. And Ryan transitions the group to the next segment but half remembering a cool project on the island of...
Published 02/28/21
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 of what cased the extinction we already knew about at the end of the Triassic. The culprit in both cases? Volcanoes! Abe and Ryan try to co-explain. 00:29:05 - Like volcanoes, beers also release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Abe is eager to...
Published 02/13/21
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 and Ryan is just along for the ride. In his first interview, Tim talks to Amato Evan about his work looking at how dust clouds from the Sahara in Africa have climatic affects as far away as the other side of the Atlantic AKA Godzilla Dust Storms! 00:33:18 - A little...
Published 01/29/21
00:00:00 - Ryan is joined by Jesse B. Gove 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 American Solera and they are both IPAs because that’s the kind of guys they are. Be sure to check out the Sator Square and here is a link to the graphic timeline mentioned towards the end of the episode. Tune in to find out just how much they did, or...
Published 01/14/21
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 (explanation of the name here). 00:01:43 - Ryan explains the ‘Up-Goer Five’ challenge, reads an abstract he wrote using the Up-Goer Five Text Editor, tries to explain what the abstract actually means, and then shares some thoughts on whether or not this exercise...
Published 12/26/20
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 Mexico City. An amazing find with some similarities to the Waco Mammoth National Monument where Lindsey was just hired as the park’s first in-house paleontologist. And as the park’s paleontologist, she is actively soliciting new research projects...
Published 11/08/20
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 to get involved with Dan’s research? Check out his citizen science project Pollen Tracker! 00:41:26 - After the allergy-inducing first segment, a drink is enjoyed by all. Ryan Escapes with the help of Offshoot Beer Co. Lucas is having his very favorite...
Published 10/24/20
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 Transient Facility in CA paired with machine learning. 00:23:08 - After a near-miss of an asteroid impact, it’s only natural to want a drink. Ryan begins with some Still Hollow Spirits unaged corn whiskey, aka moonshine. Joe corrects the record on his White Russian recipe by...
Published 10/09/20
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 neat. 00:25:00 - Drinks would not exist for long on Venus due to the extreme heat, but here on Earth they go down just fine. Ben has a horchata-flavored drink which sounds delightful. Charlie has some coffee roasted by a buddy of his who is now...
Published 09/24/20
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 precipitation on the quality of wines from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. 00:20:04 - This episode What Are We Drinking is sponsored by Glasses Up Social, a service that sends wine to you and your friends and sets up a group chat for you all to enjoy the wines together!...
Published 09/10/20
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, two things: the correction and the drink. The correction is an explanation of a misspelling. The drink is a Mystic Mamma IPA from Jackie O’s, it’s especially good while cooking a spicy dinner. On to the show! 00:05:01...
Published 08/28/20