Facts Machine
By Facts Machine
Facts MachineApr 21, 2020
Episode 68: Know Your Earth (ft. Kristina Gustovich & Kasha Patel)
For this Earth-themed show, we were joined by stand-up comedian & science writer Kasha Patel as well as Earth scientist, performer & educator Kristina Gustovich for deep dives on the deep interior of our planet, comedy about the climate, and trivia that’ll was into this world!
Kristina Gustovich: @mucho_gustovich
Kasha Patel: @Kashablanca
Episode 67: Piece of Mind (ft. Dr. Chloe Lopez-Lee, PhD & Dr. Devon Collins, PhD)
We were joined by neuroscientists Dr. Chloe Lopez-Lee, PhD and Dr. Devon Collins, PhD for deep dives on the deepest recesses of our brains, comedy about consciousness, and trivia that blew our minds!
Episode 66: Hearts & Sciences (ft. Adam Rosenzweig & Dr. Paula Croxson, PhD)
In this love-themed episode, we were joined by two beloved science communicators, chemist Adam Rosenzweig & neuroscientist Dr. Paula Croxson for a show full of deep dives on the deepest recesses of our hearts, comedy about commitment, and trivia you'll love at first sight!
Dr. Paula Croxson
Insta/TikTok/Twitter: @PaulaCroxson
Adam Rosenzweig
Twitter: @AdamTheChemist
Insta: @Adam_The_Chemist
TikTok: @AtomsAndBonds
Episode 65: Spacing Out (ft. Dr. Mark Popinchalk, PhD & Dr. Moiya McTier, PhD)
In this episode, we were joined by two out-of-this-world science communicators, astrophysicist and folklorist Dr. Moiya McTier, PhD & astronomer Dr. Mark Popinchalk, PhD for a show full of deep dives on deep space, comet-y about astronomy, and trivia that made us see stars!
Moiya's socials:
Twitter/TikTok/Instagram: @GoAstroMo
Mark's socials:
Twitter/TikTok - @MarkPopinchalk
Instagram - @Mark.Popinchalk
Episode 64: Holi-daze (ft. Dr. Moiya McTier, PhD)
Come to our live show THURSDAY 1/25 7PM at Caveat in NYC or via livestream from wherever you are! Tickets & show info: https://www.caveat.nyc/events/facts-machine-1-25-2024
Moiya's book The Milky Way
Moiya's new podcast Pale Blue Pod
Moiya's PBS show Fate & Fabeled
Moiya's first podcast ExoLore
Episode 63: Taking A Brain Check (ft. Dr. Thiago Arzua, PhD & Dr. Paula Croxson, PhD)
Episode 62: Seas Get Degrees (ft. Jaida Elcock, Kyle Marian, & Dr. Diana Li, PhD)
Tickets for our Friday, 3/17 show "Taking A Brain Check"
Welcome to Facts Marine! Noah was joined live at Caveat in NYC by guest marine biologists and science communicators Jaida Elcock and Dr. Diana Li, PhD, as well as scientist and comedian Kyle Marian! Listen as they make waves, do deep dives on the deep sea, and have a “littoral” whale of a time!
Episode 61: All You Need Is Lobe (ft. Leslie Sibener & Dr. Devon Collins, PhD)
Tickets for our Friday, 3/17 show "Taking A Brain Check"
During NYC's Brain Awareness Week, Em and Noah (and Rob in spirit!) were joined live at Caveat by guest neuroscientists and science communicators Leslie Sibener and Dr. Devon Collins, PhD, as they endeavored to get tangled up in neural nets, celebrate Dendritic Arbor Day, and fight for neurite to party!
Piano accompaniment: Rose McCathran & Ryan Brechmacher
Episode 60: The Whole Tooth & Nothing But The Tooth (ft. Jaida Elcock)
Tickets for our Friday, 3/17 show "Taking A Brain Check"
Joined by special guest Jaida Elcock, shark scientist and grad student at MIT-WHOI, co-founder of Minorities in Shark Science (MISS), organizer of #BlackinMarineScienceWeek, and TikTok-er extraordinaire, we take a bite out of TEETH facts! Open (your ears) wide for aquatic melon ballers, the under appreciated craft of dentist office blogging, and a Michael Phelps race that never was, but totally should have been. And for the love of enamel, make sure to floss!!
Episode 59: Dark Matters (ft. Dr. Moiya McTier, PhD) – Live at Caveat
Tickets for our Friday, 3/17 show "Taking A Brain Check"
Live at Caveat in NYC, just days before Halloween, we were joined by folklorist to the stars, and astrophysicist to the folks, Dr. Moiya McTier, PhD! Listen in to learn about a threatening arrangement of triangles, the ballad of the Space Bat, and an Ohio pig farmer who dreamed of two things: 1) seeing the stars and 2) smashing Confederates...AND HE WAS ALL OUT OF STARS... Listen to Moiya over at her science-based world-building podcast, ExoLore! Watch Moiya over at her show on PBS Digital Services Fate & Fabled! Read Moiya over at her new book The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy!
Episode 58: Food for Thought (ft. Kyle Marian) – Live At Caveat
Science Friday engagement producer, comedian, and inclusive science communicator extraordinaire Kyle Marian joins us for a gastronomical live show at Caveat all about FOOD. In a variety show of storytelling, audience challenges, and unrepentant culinary goofiness, we chew the fat, spill the beans, go bananas, and satisfy even the most voracious of trivia appetites. Tune in, and eat your heart out 😋
Episode 57: Pigments of Our Imagination (ft. Dr. Latasha Wright, PhD)
Accompanied by special guest Dr. Latasha Wright, chief scientific officer at BioBus and Rob’s bio-boss, we finally share all the facts we’ve been dyeing to tell you! Tune in to learn all about the art, science, and history behind pigments and dyes—we hope it all soaks in!
Episode 56: The Nerds & The Bees (ft. Dr. Carly York, PhD)
Our guest today is biology professor, science communicator, and co-owner of an animal sanctuary (!) Dr. Carly York, who joins us for a (lightly NSFW) episode about romantic relationships in the animal world. Tune in and keep an eye out for Carly’s upcoming book on romance in the wild!
Episode 55: The Extremo-Files (ft. Dr. André Pineda, PhD)
Science comedian, neuroscience PhD, and “guardian of knowledge” Dr. André Pineda makes his second Facts Machine appearance on an episode in homage to organisms that live on the edge, thrive in the unsurvivable, and take that “grow where you are planted” proverb that gets embroidered on pillows as a personal challenge: extremophiles.
Episode 54: Now You're Speaking Our Language (ft. Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy, PhD)
This week we’re joined by data science professor, standup comedian, and circus performer, Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy to articulate, communicate, enunciate, extrapolate, debate, formulate…where was I going with this? OH RIGHT we’re talking about language. Word.
Episode 53: Museum To Our Ears (ft. Dustin Growick)
Dino 101 host, science communicator, and dinosaur whisperer Dustin Growick is our guest for an episode NOT about dinosaurs (but don’t tell them, we’re sworn to secrecy). Instead, we put favorite museums on display and exhibit our finest trivia that has nothing to do with dinosaurs. Who needs ‘em, anyway?*
*jk, dinosaurs. We love you, dinosaurs.
Episode 52: Stop, Communicate, and Listen (ft. Dr. Sarah McAnulty, PhD)
Skype a Scientist founder, cephalopod expert, and all around kickass science communicator Dr. Sarah McAnulty joins the Facts Machinists for an episode all about “communication”. Turns out we had a lot to say!
Episode 51: This Is Your Brain On Brains (ft. Dr. Paula Croxson, PhD) – Live(streamed) at Caveat
Episode 50: Guest Who's Back? (ft. Moiya McTier, Anthony Antonelli, Rich Fisler, Diana Montano, and Sam Corbin)
It's our third birthday and fiftieth episode! We're joined by some familiar voices for a special anniversary episode!
Episode 49: Bloopers, Outtakes, & Shenanigans II
Hi everyone!! COMING SOON: new episodes, new guests, new facts, same old puns! For now, please enjoy this episode of all the stuff that was too weird to put in a normal episode.
Episode 48: Hea-venom Is A Place On Earth (ft. Anna Klompen)
🎶We don't think you're ready for these jellies🎶 We are joined by evolutionary biologist, venomologist, and jellyfish expert Anna Klompen for an episode all about venom! Listen for evolutionary arms races, snails that cure cancer, and jellyfish sneezes.
Episode 47: Tales From The Cryptologist (ft. Rae Richards)
Episode 46: Uncharisma (ft. Marion Renault)
In this episode, we're joined by science journalist Marion Renault to swap facts on "uncharisma" in nature. Tune in for facts about the (wrongfully) over-looked and (superficially) unappealing organisms that keep our ecosystems and even our lives running smoothly. By the end, you'll be convinced these critters really *are* more than meets the eye--even the maggots! (Though in their case it may be for the best that this is an entirely audio medium.)
Episode 45: Our Fair Share (ft. Kristina Parsons)
Episode 44: The Iceland Cometh (ft. Moiya McTier)
Everybody knows that old joke, "What did the astrophysicist say to the folklorist? We are the same person..." Maybe it's funnier in the original Icelandic? To find out, we sought the only person we know who fits that description, Moiya McTier! Join Noah, Em, Rob, and Moiya as we discuss Erik the Well-Read, why Lucifer is definitely not from Iceland, and the power of a new pair of skin-pants! Bonus: they come with a pocket!
Episode 43: BUGS (ft. Sam Corbin) -- Live(streamed) at Caveat
Abandon hope, all ye who *ento* here! It's a broadly entomological arthropod-cast about bugs! In this episode, which we live-streamed on Caveat's YouTube page, we welcome comedian, writer, and legendary pun queen Sam Corbin to discuss bees with "daddy tissues", artisanal stings, and the worst kind of jelly donut.
Episode 42: Paradigm-a-dozen (ft. Dr. André Pineda, PhD)
Paradigms, they are a-changin’ in this week’s episode of Facts Machine! We’re joined by friend of the pod and scicomedian extraordinaire Dr. André Pineda, PhD, a neuroscientist, science communicator, and show runner at our home venue Caveat who leverages laughs to share science. Join us as we talk Al-Haytham “going turbo” while Europe was in a dark age, evolution by “naturalist selection”, and rerouting priests to prevent disease.
Episode 41: Facts That Hold Water (ft. Dr. Jessica Noviello, PhD)
H2OMG! This episode’s all about the universal solvent, 60% of the human body, and (when it’s feelin’ fancy) dihydrogen monoxide. We’re joined by long time friend of the pod and first time guest of the pod Dr. Jessica Noviello, a planetary geologist, science communicator, and avowed dinosaur enthusiast currently studying the Kuiper Belt Object EL61 Haumea in her post-doctoral research. Tune in to learn how water makes its way around our universe, how a giant aquifer stayed hidden in plain sight, and why Niels Bohr was oddly possessive about a bottle of Carlsberg.
Episode 40: The Spy Who Quizzed Me (Triv and Let Die)
Episode 39: 'Ew, Gross' Anatomy (Special Quiz Episode #3)
This week Noah spills his guts in the finale of our three part anatomy quiz series! Guess along as Rob and Em try to distinguish real and made-up medical terminology and encounter fruity maladies and ambiguous pouches along the way.
Episode 38: We've Got A Bone To Pick (Special Quiz Episode #2)
Make no bones about it, in this second of three special anatomical quiz episodes, Rob tests Emily's and Noah's knowledge of his favorite organ, bones!
Episode 37: Can't We All Just Get A Lung? (Special Quiz Episode #1)
Episode 36: Etymologies
Facts Machine returns with an episode all about etymologies. Join us as we dig deep to discover our favorite word origins, root and stem! #protologism
Episode 35: A Science Séance (ft. Diana Montano) - Live at Caveat
Episode 34: Technobabble
Episode 33: Do Animals Still Suck?
Episode 32: Bloopers, Outtakes, & Shenanigans
We're taking a break for a few weeks while we work on some *big plans*! In the meantime enjoy this episode of our unaired failures and musical interludes.
Episode 31: The Ass Files (We Are Not A Mules)
Episode 30: Women's Issues & Man-Sized Tissues
In this episode, we talk male show-vinism, tell the incredible story of an Irish pirate queen, and find out what female mice really want.
Episode 29: Fruits & Veggies
Episode 28: Famous Inventors, Overshadowed Inventions
Don't you just hate it when people only want to talk about how you discovered universal gravitation, but not about your passion project, making proportionately-sized doors for cats? Or when the press loves how you revolutionized the automobile industry by mass producing affordable cars but not how you tried to make them out of soy beans? Or how no matter how many times you explain that you discovered what E equals, they don't want to use the special refrigerator you invented? Misery loves company, so listen along to our latest episode, all about the lesser known and lesser appreciated ideas of famous scientists and inventors!
Episode 27: This Week We Learned (at Science Friday Trivia)
Episode 26: Sportsball!
When Facts Machine does an episode about sports, somehow you leave with more information about the mysteriously accurate predictions of 19th century authors, the ability to pinpoint the true origin of referred pain in the tip of your right shoulder blade, and possibly the first viral marketing campaign than you do about sports themselves. Play ball!
Episode 25: The Periodic Table of Elements (ft. Rich Fisler) - Live at Caveat
Episode 24: In Dog We Trust
Episode 23: Hocus POTUS
Hail to the Chief! It's an episode of Facts Machine all about U.S. presidents. Listen to find out why it's not safe to run for president in 2020, how to win friends and influence people to crowdfund your mausoleum, and which president was arrested for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage.
Episode 22: That Sh*t Cray
“More intellectual than I expected.” Our listeners should expect nothing less from an episode of Facts Machine all about poop! Would you believe that in this episode we discuss the natural philosophy of Aristotle, the finer points of long-term space exploration, AND cutting-edge (or should we say, “surface-level”) biomimicry in engineering? Just to be clear, though, this is definitely an episode about poop. There will be jokes.
Episode 21: My Goodness, My Guinness
Top of the morning to ya! In honor of St. Paddy’s day, we’re Dublin down on this week’s theme: Guinness! Listen to find out why nitrogen is “an obvious gas”, how the t-test was invented by a Guinness employee, and how “factual fisticuffs” inspired the Guinness Book of World Records!
Episode 20: Facts Machine ~After Dark~
This week, Facts Machine becomes FaXXX Machine as Emily, Rob, and Noah discuss facts of a more...intimate...nature. Get your mind in the gutter with our titillating (hehehe) tales about the Urban Dictionary of the Victorian era, that time when Hemingway and Fitzgerald compared their penises at the Louvre, and a divine foreskin of purportedly cosmic proportions.
Episode 19: The Wild West
Have your lassos, pistols, and...sarsaparilla (?) at the ready, because this week Facts Machine is comin' atcha with some Wild West facts! Tune in to learn about real life re-enactments of your favorite dysentry-ridden computer game, the dromedaries that were once at home on the range, and the most infamous stagecoach robber in frontier herstory. Yee-haw!