Best of Surely You're Joking

In the inaugural (and zero indexed) episode of Surely You're Joking, Dr. Kevin Peter Hickerson, Griff Pippin, and Jimmy O Yang discuss the latest asteroid hoax, why we should still be worried anyway (even though it is just a hoax), GMO mouse brains controlled by light, comedy cultivation, and what on Earth could be outside of Oklahoma.

Jimm 0 Yang and the kid who cried asteroid.

Kevin, Jimmy, and Griff are joined by frequently touring, auditioning, and otherwise distracted co-host, Owen Benjamin, to help welcome the first guest of the show, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Professor David Politzer. David explains the downside to winning a Nobel Prize, who in the science media circuit is legit, planting pineapple(s), and of course, his favorite topic: banjos! Owen and David are both musicians, so they bond over hashing out what to do when someone says your music has mistakes.

David Politzer and the string theory of banjos.

Owen, Jimmy, and Kevin talk about Interstellar with Prof. Kip Thorne. Kip was not only Executive Producer and science advisor for blockbuster film, but he wrote the first draft treatments of the plot. While pondering time travel effect on free will it is discovered that Andy and Kip haven't read each other's work. And EXCLUSIVE to SYJ, Kip reveals the status of his bet with Stephen Hawking!

Kip Thorne and the four embracing vortices.

Water on Mars! By sheer serendipity the whole SYJ crew meet up with Adam Steltzner from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories, just hours after NASA makes one of the most important announcements of all time - that Mars still has flowing water (and so possibly, life) right now! At JPL, Adam is lead EDL engineers  (a.k.a. landing guy) for the Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers on Mars do he had a lot to say about this. But the comedians spend half the time talking about The Martian and Adam's epic hair.

Adam Steltzner and the panspermiatic lineae.

With Owen on the road and Griff in Romania, Kevin and Jimmy meet up with guest comedian, Matthew Broussard (MTV2) and astrophysicist and science advisor consultant for the movie Interstellar, Dr. Elena Murchikova. In between long bouts of mansplaining from the hosts, Elena talks about her work on set to help create a convincing Murph character, endorse the science of the film, contemplate interplanetary Uber and n-dimensional iPads.

Elena Murchikova, Matthew Broussard and the quantum loop notebooks.

Comedian Kate Quigley stops in to help Jimmy, Kevin and Griff so Mechanical Engineer Dr. Tony Roy show off his amazing new invention that mimics the sticky fingers of geckos. This passionately led him to make a new super-bra that turns science strapless.

Tony Roy, Kate Quigley and the gecko powered super bra.

Josh Brener from HBO's Silicon Valley and The Big Bang Theory drops into which he had been on an episode with another science guest. The episode  quickly spirals into a level of maturity far too low for a self-respecting scientist as bacteria names, probes on Uranus, Halloween costumes and phallified proton accelerators. Oh... and more space fish.

Josh Brener and the microaggressive cocci.

Senior editor for Carl Sagan's Planetary Society, Emily Lakdawalla, schools Kevin, Jimmy, Owen and Griff on ice volcanoes on Pluto and salty oceans on Europa and Enceladus. Aliens? Maybe on this worm ocean worlds. Emily explains what zircons are way better than any ol' diamond.

Emily Lakdawalla and the neon dendritic channels.

Comedian Drew Lynch pays a visit to Griff and Kevin when co-host Owen is off with Howie Mandel. Weirdly enough, Howie was Drew's biggest fan on the 10th season of America's Got Talent, giving him the Golden Buzzer and a standing ovation, launching him just short of the final victory. A few times Drew reminds the SYJ gang that he's not really a science guy. He's still hilarious.

Drew Lynch and the talented american solstice.

New planet in our solar system found? Somehow, the whole Surely You're Joking team was lucky enough to get the head of the Planetary Society himself, Bill Nye, The Science Guy to tell us all about it! He gives the low-down on the new gas giant, Pluto replacement, evolution, GMO and the politics of funding and the Flint water crisis.

Bill Nye and the empennage kicking new planet.

Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi stops by to discuss what it like to out hair Adam Stelzner so much that he got a shout out from President Obama. Kevin pushes his wind storm on Mars theory to the point it's just plain awkward. They guys all the allure of the Power Ball illusion.

Bobak Ferdowsi and the battle of the Martian hairdos.

Konstantin Batygin discovered the ninth planet in our solar system all before turning 30! His advisor, having "killed" Pluto’s planet status, was also part of the discovery, which was by indirect means. Also joined by Comedian Amir K, catch him in the film The Pyramid, this month on HBO. Konstantin explains to Amir and the SYJ crew how certain he is that the new unnamed planet will found directly in the next few years.

Konstantin Batygin, Amir K and the trillion percent certainty.

Professor Alan Weinstein, who leads a group of scientists at Caltech who work on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), gives Griff, Kevin and Jimmy, their own special look at the ground-breaking announcement of the discovery of a 1.3 billion year old collision between two large black holes detected solely from their subtle waves in the fabric of space and time.

Alan Weinstein and the triple blind proof black hole collision.

Griff, Kevin, and Jimmy head over to Steve Hofstetter's podcast studio to talk about baseball (Steve's favorite), Jimmy's new movie part, neutrinos and the classified, alien musics, that turns out to be non of those.

Steve Hofstetter and the not-so-music-like music.

A special guest from the east cost, Hakeem Oluseyi takes some time from his busy schedule filming for the Science Channel's Amazing Acts of Science to talk to Griff and Kevin. Bore in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Hakeem has an atypical life for a physicist. But that's ok because he is starting a stand up careerer just like Kevin. Griff points out, the better your life story, the better the comedy.

Hakeem Oluseyi and the elephant eared telescope.

The absolute legendary actor, comedian, director, author, and oh so much more, Prof. Alan Alda, returns to Caltech to talk about his new online streaming melodrama "Horace and Pete" with Louis C. K. and Steve Buscemi. The M.A.S.H. and Scientific American Frontiers star explains to Kevin the fundamentals of science communication, reveals to Jimmy the secrets of acting, and tells Griff the trick of holding back the pressure to catch a big laugh.

Alan Alda and the dance music going backward in time.

Sean Carroll, professor of theoretical physics, tells Kevin, Griff, and guest co-host comedian Erin Darling  about The Big Picture, his new book, but also his outlook on, well, the big picture: God, Life, The Universe, i.e. the light stuff. The conversation wanders towards eternal life, mirror molecules, the career perils of writing books, how you get introduced once you've been on The Colbert Report. 

Sean Carroll, Erin Darling and the eternal godly poem.

(Dr!)Utkarsh Mital is a VERY recent PhD graduate. In fact, Kevin, Griff and guest co-host Erin Darling had to move the recording until after his defense. Mittal isn't just an engineer, he's an actor, has a role in "PHD Movie 2", and won the People's Choice Award for the Three Minute Thesis competition.

Utkarsh Mittal and the three minute thesis.

These days you can't impress people with discovering just one or three measly exoplanets. You have to announce 1284 at once! Owen Benjamin returns to meet up with Griff, Kevin and alien planet hunter Dr. Jessie Christiansen to talk about new data from the Kepler space telescope.

Jessie Christiansen and the hedonic treadmill of planets.

Kevin's buddy from school, Prof. Peter Plavchan, visiting from Missouri, and comedian Richard Chassler, join Owen and Kevin in Hollywood, to talk about a weird planetary system discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, which Peter uses to study distant solar systems. Some have found this particular system to be so odd, that it may be evidence of an enormous alien mega-structure surrounding the distant star.  Or not.

Surely You're Joking

Prof. Peter Plavchan, Richard Chassler and the ensemble of alien mega-structures.

Ex-physicist and current expert maker, Daniel Busby, stops in to talk about the extensive and ridiculously creative list of projects he has going on. Daniel and his inventive genius have been featured on the Science Channel, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", and in the viral OK GO video "This too shall Pass" featuring an amazing real life Rube Goldberg Machine.

Daniel Busby and the Rube Goldberg machine.

Brian Brophy has been over 40 films and TV shows. Brian played one of the top rated Star Trek villains hallmarked by an incredible scene opposite Patrick Stuart debating the definitions of life and consciousness. He's taken his vast acting experience to the Caltech theater department, where he helped produce the first Star Trek musical, "Boldly Go",  and also to budding actor Jimmy, and want-to-be actors Griff and Kevin. Speaking of questionable intelligence, the SYJ crew also bemoans the new phenomenon of Pokémon Go, which already sucked in Jimmy. That's two things that end in Go. Weird.

Brian Brophy and the questionably sentient Pokémon.

Prof. Ed Stone, one of the most accomplished and decorated scientists of our time, joins Kevin and Jimmy to break down the spectacular news about the Jovian moon Europa (the forbidden moon in the movie 2010.) Not only do we now have proof that it has a salty ocean, but it is spraying out water geysers on to the surface and into space. Searching for life on the moon, may not require drilling into miles thick of ice sheets that cover.

Ed Stone and the extraterrestrial Europain geyser.

Actor, comedian, and rational optimist, Wayne Federman, known for many films, "Knocked up," "Funny People," and the upcoming "The House" and way more, stops by to tell an IPA loaded Griff and Kevin why he loves science, his attraction to rational optimism, and the proper way to name freeways.

Wayne Federman and the rationally optimistic freeway.

Roboticist Dr. Heather Knight swings down from Stanford for the New Year and her annual Robot Film Festival. Heather shares her work with Griff, Kevin and guest co-host comedian Sarah Keller, on creating a robot stand up comedian.

Heather Knight and the digitally altered robot photo.

Show favorite and Planet Nine discoverer Konstantin Batygin and Astrophysicist Fred Adams join the entire SYJ gang including Patriots Day star Jimmy O Yang and the newly appointed co-host Matthew Broussard to discuss just how lose the sun's grip on the solar system really is.

Konstantin Batygin, Fred Adams and the Church of Planet Nine

Neuroscientist and comedian Ori Amir explains to Kevin and Griff how he used fMRI brain scans of comedians to study and analyse the neurogenesis of humor and clever insight in the human brain.

Ori Amir and the humorous activity of temporal poles.

40 years ago, on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 launched from Florida, Earth, to begin a grand planetary tour of the solar system, taking spectacular pictures and measurements of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and then, spectacularly, being the first human made object to leave our solar system and officially enter interstellar space. Kevin and Jimmy talked to Ed Stone, a scientist who shaped the path of Voyager 1 and 2, about their historic discoveries over the last four decades.

Ed Stone and the forty year old interstellar voyage.

Physicist Liz Friedman joins Kevin and Jimmy O Yang (right after wrapping Silicon Valley Season 4)meet up at Jimmy's old apartment to talk about detecting high energy neutrinos, in the coldest place on earth. Liz brings Jimmy polar schwag and tells us about her famous picture from New Years. Jimmy pitches his new book How To American.

Liz Friedman, Jimmy O Yang  and the South Pole schwag.

"The Martian" Andy Weir returns to Surely You're Joking after meeting up with Kevin and Matthew in the Bay Area to tell us about his new book, "Artemis."  Andy also gives his take on why the Moon will be the home of the first Space city, not Mars, squarely breaking with Elon Musk. Andy welcomes his friend joining the sci-fi author turned movie club with the release of "Ready Player One." and shares his outlook on BFR.

Andy Weir and the first city in space.

Julie Jester is the queen of the prank court. When she's not inventing widgets and working on spaceships, she helping Caltech prank arch-nemesis MIT or building an homage to Hollywood sign pranks of old.

Julie Jester and the Pasadena prank.

How does Ant-Man shrink? Quantum Mechanics of course! Professor Spyridon Michalakis, scientific consultant of Marvel's most recent super hero block buster, starring Paul Rudd.  It turns out the Hollywood star loves physics, so Spiro explains that while working directly with him, he came up with the Quantum Realm. Kevin and Spiro talk about some the tech details, how exotic atoms like muonium and pionium, can actually change size in real life labs.

Spyridon Michalakis and the Quantum Realm

First Surely You're Joking episode of 2019! Planetary research and Dr. Kevin Hardegree Ullman and comedian Aubree Sweeney get an update of the Kepler telescope replacement : the TESS satellite, the Rose Parade, and three letter acronyms. Ullman explains the viral video of the music made tuning solar system K2-128. Happy New Year!

Kevin Hardegree Ullman, Aubree Sweeney and the cosmic piano tuning.

Dr. James Tuttle Keane brings some of his sketches of the most distant (and possibly the oldest) probed object in our solar system named Ultima Thule. In addition to studying planet, James makes brilliant drawings to help explain what we are learning about this strange, city-sized snowman-like object that was visited on New Year's Eve 2019 by the New Horizons space probe. James works along side Brian May from Queen and together they help both discover our distant celestial past and share those exciting discoveries with the public.

James Tuttle Keane and the sketch of the farthest snowman.

Robert Picardo, best known as the holographic doctor on Star Trek Voyager and host of the Planetary Post, meets up with Kevin and returning Surely You're Joking guest star and Planet Nine hypotheses and hunter, Konstantin Batygin, to revel brand new secrets about Planet Nine! From the headquarters of the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Konstantin announces fresh of the presses details about the size, shape, and location of the still as-of-yet photographed Planet Nine!

Robert Picardo, Konstantin Batygin and the factor of two hypothesis.

Dr. Sumner Norman can do a lot of things, but one of the most amazing is that he can read your thoughts, sometimes even before you realized you thought it.  Sumner explains how his work will help disabled people regain control their lives, almost straight out of the movie Upgrade.

Sumner Norman and the mind-reading robots.

Mark Mamonne is a actor, comedian, and production assistant on Seth McFarland's "The Orville." Mark comes on Surly You're Joking to talk about leaving stand up for acting and to tell us about his upcoming first appearance on the show!

Mark Mammone and the alternate universe.

Meeting up at the April Meeting of the American Physical Society, Dr. Avery Broderick tells Kevin about the Breakthrough Prize winning first photo of a super massive black hole in Virgo, Kevin's birth sign.

Avery Broderick and the first black hole selfie.

Dr. Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society returns to discuss Mars Direct, carbon credits, plans for the moon, and his shout out from Micheal Collins on the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing.

Robert Zubrin and the astronauts' direct advice.

Science and comedy collide as physicist Dr. Kevin Peter Hickerson is joined by comedians Jimmy O Yang, Mitch Burrow, Owen Benjamin, Griff Pippin and Matthew Broussard, discuss the absurdities of the universe with intriguing and inspiring guests from the best of the academic and entertainment world.

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