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.

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.

Richard Rieber tells of his work on the Martian rover Curiosity and the up and coming rover Mars 2020, the dangers of driving the world's most expensive vehicle at 0.01 mph and what happens when you use wheels to leave your mark.

Richard Rieber and the Martian wheel code.

"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.

Author of The Case for Mars explains his plans to take people to mars, Mars Direct. Kevin and Robert discus SpaceX, making fuel on Mars, space nuclear, the intellectual dark web, and the uselessness of tollbooths in space.

Robert Zubrin and the pioneering spirit.

Paul Zaloom, star of the hit science show for kids, Beakman's World, drops in to tell Kevin about the popularity of his show all over the world, has him trekking across the globe. Paul give the low down on his latest project: puppet astronauts.

Paul Zaloom and the puppet on mars.

Joking's favorite Professor Konstantin Batygin is back to explain how he discovered that equation that governs the quantum world of Schrödinger's cat fame,  also describes planetary disks and the formation of solar systems. He also breaks down the progress on the dark hunt for Planet Nine.

Konstantin Batygin and the quantum planets.

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. 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.

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

Surely You're Joking

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