Surely You're Joking

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.

Matt Kirshen is a British comedian, but like Kevin, started off in the hard sciences, in his case, math (or as he calls it, maths). He has his own science and comedy podcast called Probably Science. Matt gives Jimmy, Kevin and Griff his take on Brexit, rockets, and the time he got burned by Buzz Aldrin. Also, Pico the Chihuahua make his debut bark.

Kevin and Griff introduce Jimmy to former guest, Prof. Hakeem Oluseyi, host of Outrageous Acts of Science. Conversation volleys back and forth wildly as the Olympics keep distracting the crew from any possible resolution of Susskin's famed ER = EPR conjecture.

To help announce an amazing new discovery: a new exoplanet about the same as planet earth potentially habitable, Griff and Kevin meet with Caltech postdoc Dr. Courtney Dressing. The planet orbits the pale red dwarf star named Proxima Centauri visible only in the southern hemisphere.

While visiting Princeton, Kevin stops by Rutgers to talk to former Caltech theoretical particle physicist Professor Mathew about so disappointing news from the Large Hadron Collider. All the promising signs of a new super-massive scalar previously discussed on SYJ with Prof. Maria Spiropulu, have all collapsed with new data. The two also discuss whether we should hold Owen up to his promis to shot his own foot.

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.

Don't call me "Surely!" Uh, or is that "Shirley?" Jerry Zucker joins Jimmy, Owen and Kevin to discuss the important question of whether the internet teaches science as well as Scooby Doo. Zucker is the awesome force behind hits like Airplane! And Naked Gun (“big in Hong Kong!”), yet Kevin repeatedly fails to pronounce his name correctly. (You will never forget after you learn the secret.) The origins of the Science and Entertainment Exchange as a beacon of light against an age of anti-science darkness, are also revealed.

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.

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.

Danny Lobell been doing stand up comedy for over 15 years and has a two podcasts, "Modern Day Philosophers," where he pairs comedians with philosophers, and "The Mostly Bull Market", where he takes on companies. Jimmy explains the his favorite philosopher is a comedian, Owen calls everything a "dick move" and Kevin mansplains why, from now on, he will only mansplain everything to everyone.

Don't believe the hype! The's a big difference between an ice sheet and sea ice. And the movement can actually move the axis of the Earth herself! To explain which is which, Dr. Surendra Adhikari from JPL/Caltech tells Kevin, Jimmy, and Owen the difference. Using a NASA satellite, Dr. Adhikari, tells how he made his measurements that grabbed social media's attention last week. Since Jimmy's back from Boston after hanging with real life heroes, he tell the guys about the trip.

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.

(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.

Maz Jobrani joins Kevin and Griff at the Hollywood Improv to talk about his hilarious new movie "Jimmy Vestvood: An American Hero" starting Maz himself, coming out to select theaters May 13th. Things get serious on SYJ, when delving into war and peace, Iranian-American relations, the nuclear arms deal, and the time Maz almost got kidnapped in Lebanon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.