The Show
This Week in Science (TWIS) is a weekly, hour-long web and radio show presenting an humorous, often opinionated, and irreverent look at the week in science and technology. In each episode, TWIS discusses the latest in cutting-edge science news on topics such as genetic engineering, stem cells, cybernetics, epigenetics, space exploration, neuroscience, microbiology, the end of the world, and a show favorite – Countdown to World Robot Domination.
TWIS broadcasts weekly at 8:00pm Pacific Time on Wednesdays in live streaming video from Google+ Hangouts On-Air, YouTube, and our live broadcast page. TWIS audio is rebroadcast from KDVS, 90.3 FM in Davis, CA.
TWIS is available for download as an audio mp3 using our RSS feed. Past video episodes are also available on our YouTube Channel.
Contact us if you are interested in discussing advertising, product promotions or giveaways, sponsoring TWIS, or would like to syndicate our radio broadcast. We will be happy to provide you with our media kit.
Access our tearsheet here.
The Hosts
Dr. Kiki (Kirsten Sanford, PhD)
Before coming to Earth, Kirsten was stuck in a dead-end job as a space medic in charge of routine bloodwork in a M*A*S*H unit during the Clone Wars. With most of her hours spent doing midi-chlorian counts of sick and injured Jedi, the work quickly became boring for an active scientific mind like Kirsten’s. Nothing is more annoying than a Knight of the Force who can’t stop whining, and hearing nothing but that day in and day out, she just up and quit one day after reading a want-ad put out by the ICCX looking for scientists to be sent to Earth. Once on the job, Kirsten skillfully nosedived her AstroPod deep in some thick jungles near the planet’s equator. She named the region Burma, in memory of her beloved pet space monkey that she was forced to leave behind on her homeworld. Initially mistaking elephants for the dominant sentient species of Earth, Kirsten spent several hundred years before realizing that it was humans she was meant to study. Once that minor error was rectified, however, she wasted little time and soon was hired as chief brain surgeon to the King of Siam, under whose patronage she was able to catalog the entire extant taxonomy of Southeast Asia’s bacterial phyla (a great many centuries later, the events of this period in Kirsten’s earthly tenure would inspire the musical “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner). In time, her scientific research led her to roam the world. She walked the steppes of ancient Russia, inadvertently inventing Tartar sauce, and at length arrived in Europe toward the end of the Dark Ages. Here she documented flora and fauna, instructed local healers on the use of vitamin C in treating the Black Death, and compiled many handwritten herbals, parchment documents penned in her flowery native alien script. Some of these can still be found in rare bookshops today; the inscrutable “Voynich Manuscript” is an example of Kirsten’s early biological fieldwork on this planet. Kirsten helped bring the life sciences into the modern age when, in the mid-19th Century, she took work as a pest controller in the pea garden of an Augustinian monastery in Moravia. Here she helped a monk named Gregor Mendel develop his theories of trait heredity that would eventually grow into the science of genetics. Using her special powers, Kirsten then was able to command a flock of African swallows to carry her to the Americas, setting her down in California’s fertile central valley. Pursuing her work with birds, Kirsten enrolled in a major human research institution and studied the effects of hormones on memory formation in zebra finches. During a hiatus from school, she found work in a prominent San Francisco research hospital working on scientific experiments in which willing human test subjects were given large doses of recreational drugs. Kirsten returned to school to finish her doctorate program in Neurophysiology, enjoying a special brand of masochism by choosing do both her undergrad as well as graduate work at the University of California at Davis. Apparently she loves the smell of cow poop in the morning. It smells like victory.
Kirsten’s Science: Neuroscience and Cognition; Life Sciences
Special Power: Able to cause cellular senescence with a stern look; can speak with the birds
Homeworld: Alderaan
Justin Jackson
An anarchistic utilitarian mystic by birth, he converted to extroverted existentialism around the age of four. By age seven he had founded “The Institute of Reason”, a common sense think tank of like minded seven year olds working to improve the world they had inherited, over which he presided as Director until an unfortunate oversight in the bylaws of the institute forced him to resign on the eve of his eighth birthday. On the walls of Justin’s office hang several PHD diplomas from top U.S. universities, including (Yale, Harvard, Stanford and UC Davis). None of them bare his name, a fact that, when confronted with, is defended by him countering “Want a drink?.” Or the possibly more sinister… “They’re just trophies. (followed by a maniacal laugh)” A self-described delusional and gift to all womankind, Justin has little tolerance for the delusional behavior of others, as is evident in his ongoing attempts to lobby members of congress to have himself installed as the nations first Religion Czar. When first approached by Kirsten to be a minion co-host of TWIS, he believed her to be a figment of his imagination, and so agreed to do the show. Feeling the stings of Kirsten’s wrath after not showing up to the first show, he began to take his imagination more seriously.
Favorite Scientist: Nikola Tesla
Vision: excellent at 20/10
Best word used to describe: Candid
Education: All older women that knew what they wanted and how to teach it.
Blair Bazdarich
Blair Bazdarich is an odd mix of brilliant intelligence, mutant ability and nightmare fuel all rolled into one power-packed package. She was raised in a variety of wilderness settings across Africa, Eurasia, and California, where she learned to fight off rampaging attacks from pandas as squirrels, respectively. Though the panda “attacks” were easily defeated since pandas are inherently lazy, she retains a deep resentment towards both species to this day.
Once she settled her wandering ways, she enrolled in Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and discovered she possessed powerful superhuman mutant abilities. By performing the dance of the peacock spider, she can incapacitate foes via hypnosis, or imbue allies with amazing science trivia facts, at her whim. Of course the science facts she prefers are often horrific enough to scare off her allies as well, but nobody ever said science is always pretty.
She used these abilities all over the world, from the San Francisco Zoo to Jerusalem to the Aquarium of the Bay, but it wasn’t enough. She turned her gaze upon the Internet, where she can now be found casting a spell over fans of This Week in Science.
Thank you for your comments. We do take every criticism to heart.
*An Anomaly That Can Shake One`s Skepticism to the Core*
>Women give birth on time acc. to Benford`s Law, – Law of All Digits, E8, STRINGOTYPE<
I have done big data birth analyses and found Benford`s law and it`s underlaying
algebra for populations with peculiar significant results. This suggest some kind of order.
Please see http://www.stringotype.com
If you have any comments on this, I would really appreciate to hear from
you.
Best regards,
Terje Dønvold
I just learned about your podcast and listened to the last 2 recent ones. Also after reading other comments, you really need to drop the guy from the show. Its an audible medium and his his voice and grammar are awful. I find myself FF thru the show when he speaks. Its a shame cuz the women are awesome. Fun to listen to, easy to understand, very clear and educational. They dont stammer or stumble over other people. I hope i find another great science podcast like yours minus the guy. Drop him and watch your ratings soar !!
I just learned about your podcast and listened to the last 2 recent ones. Also after reading other comments, you really need to drop the guy from the show. Its an audible medium and his his voice and grammar are awful. I find myself FF
What’s FF?
And, there are many who enjoy his presence on the show. I think he has a great voice. People are more likely to post negative comments than positive. But, we do appreciate any and all constructive criticism. Thanks for listening, and commenting!
Great podcast! We need teams like you in the science field that make important research work possible to understand by folks who are not in the field. I have a PhD myself in mechanical engineering and materials science and am a university professor. I read several journal articles in fields related to mine on the weekly basis, but I still learn lots of new things every time I listen to your show. It’s like getting a synopsis of what has been going on this past week in fields I have no to little knowledge in. It’s great! . I listen to your podcast everyday ( to catch up on some old episodes) on my drive to work; it starts my day right!
I quite enjoy the three different styles of the hosts’ approach to explaining what they know/learn to the general audience. It’s for sure a great approach. I “tackle” this in the classrooms on a daily basis so I know how hard it is to make everyone like and accept how you explain things. Wait, it’s not hard, it’s impossible. 🙂
Keep up the great work, guys!
Hello,
I agree that science could be fun. But, what is sireaucly (not fun), should not be fun.
Meanwile, nice CV.
Irena Nesic, Master of science, chemist
Thank you for listening to the show!We are so glad that you enjoy it.
YES!!! I first came across your show sometime between 2005 and 2007, when I was working in a paleoecology lab. Cool stuff, but prepping ancient bits of plants for isotope and radiocarbon analysis was not the most mentally stimulating way to spend one’s day. Enter your podcast, which was so refreshing, educational, and fun! At an hour long, it also helped fill up my day!
Fast-forward maybe 8 years later, and I find myself analyzing thousands of bat calls, which is fantastic but mindless work. I remembered your show, but couldn’t remember what you were called (a brain injury I sustained last year didn’t help) and assumed you had long ago abandoned the airwaves for other pursuits. A short Google search later, and imagine my surprise and glee to find you again!!! I am halfway through your Nov 11 episode, and am SO happy to hear the great stories and fun banter of Kirsten, Justin, and now Blair (as a wildlife biologist, I am really digging her section) again. Bliss.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, and after reading some negative reviews of Justin on here I have to provide a positive one to help counterbalance them. I love Justin’s voice and humor, and he is brilliant. No offence to Kirsten, who is equally wonderful, but he was the main ‘memorable’ component of the show for me, and I’m SO glad to see you are still at it together, all these years later.
Keep on, keepin’ on!
So glad you found us again, and that we can continue to provide you entertainment during your hours of work. (And, no offense taken… I think Justin is great, too)
I love it when you cover pseudo sciences. I think it’s a real treat for the imagination. Thanks Justin for covering some of these topics. Because others are to scared to. You do it well by adding mysticism and energy when bringing the new discoveries to your listeners. You have a voice like Jay Baruchel which is unique and totally cute. The only difference is that you’ve got the brains to back up that nerdy voice.
It’s easier for me to stream your shows on my phone through “soundcloud” so can I get some recent shows uploaded. Thanks
I use Stitcher Radio to listen to you guys. I listen to podcasts around 8-9 hours a day and thought provoking podcasts are the best. I get lost in thought branching off of the topics you guys talk about. I love it when you talk about particle physics. Your songs crack me up and i really enjoy the silly jokes and laughing. One of the reasons i got hooked is because of the personality of you girls. Justin is awesome too, i like how he thinks about stuff. It would be cool to write him about some of the things he talks about on the show because you get this weird sense of comradery while learning with you guys. I’m definitely a promoter of the show, forcing people to listen to you on the factory floor of the auto plant i work at lol. I listened to you on TWIT the other day Kristen, was one of my favorite episodes of their show. I was thrilled to see you there. You brought out this part of Leo i didnt know existed lol, he can actually talk scientifically with you! Anyway…. Good job.
Wow! Thank you so much. It is really wonderful to hear your thoughts. You should totally email Justin, but he rarely checks his TWIS email… :/
Thank you for the comments! We will work on getting the recent episodes on Soundcloud!
You three seem somewhat penguin-familiar (or penguin-obsessed), so here is my question: Emperor penguins (for example) oversee their laid eggs for about 9 weeks, never letting them spend more than a moment lying on the ice. (If the egg was to remain in contact with the ice for more than a few moments anytime throughout the 9 weeks that it is an egg, contact with the ice would kill the chick inside.)
My question is: HOW did penguins figure out over the millenia that if their egg laid directly on the ice for more than a few moments of the 9 weeks, the chick would not be born? (If the egg exploded the moment it contacted the ice I could understand how the birds could learn the cause-and-effect relationship and importance of keeping the egg off of the ice. But in this case, how does a pair of penguins manage to associate the observation “Hey, it’s been 9-1/2 weeks and a chick hasn’t come out yet; I’ll bet we’re not gonna get one this time”…with “Hey, remember back 90,720 minutes to the morning of Day #2 when we lost track of our egg and it sat directly on the ice for 2 minutes? I’ll bet that’s why we got no baby poppin’ out this week! Whatcha think, Partner, should we keep the egg off the ice more next time?”
Gary.
PS– I don’t get to listen to you each week, so if you have an answer (or guess) I would appreciate an email response to the email address I provided.
To my way of thinking, for penguins to figure out the above 9-week cause-and-effect regarding egg hatching would be like me going fishing for a very hard to catch species of fish, only to be told by the local fishermen: “We finally figured out the secrets to catching one; the rules are few and simple, but precise: 1) You have to fish for that species of fish ALL day EVERY day, whether you want to continue or not; 2) NEVER leave your fishing spot unattended (by someone); 3) NEVER lay your fishing rod down on the ground for more than 30 seconds. (If you do, you will have to start all over next year.) 4) Once you have fulfilled Rules 1, 2 and 3, the fish you wish to catch will leap out of the water into your lap on your 63rd consecutive day of fishing for it.”
Hi Gary,
Thanks so much for your question! To my understanding, it is less of a cause-and-effect, and more of an evolutionarily learned tactic. Those parents that kept contact with their eggs had babies and therefore that tactic survived to the next generation. Many parental traits that we consider “;earned” are actually hard-wired. So, it was “learned,” but over generations, not over a lifetime. You can think about it like how human parents treat their kids – there are some variants from first to second child, but when it comes down to it there are still things that they will always do the same, and similarities down family lines in family and parental style. I hope that helps!
-Blair
So… I recall someone predicted no gravitational waves will be discovered in 2016… Teehee time for a Panda suit? ????
One of my favorite podcasts! All three of you are very informative and entertaining! I just have one comment. What happened to the great songs? I loved “I am a scientist ” (actually, I’m an engineer) and used to sing it to myself all day after listening to the podcast!
This show is awesome. I used to listen to music during my morning commute, but I realized that an hour of the same songs wasn’t helping me grow in any way. There is no better way to make my morning commute feel productive (and proudly nerdy).
We still have great songs. Just maybe not the same ones you remember due to licensing restrictions. The best part about the songs we use now is that we won’t get fined or sued for playing them!
Thank you for including us in your mornings! We hope that we can help you learn and grow in nerdiness.
How can I email you guys? I’ve seen no email listed and all the email “mailto:” links are broken with nothing in the To: field.
Oh, weird! Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
You can email me at kirsten at thisweekinscience dot com.
Discovered your podcast a couple weeks ago and find it informative and entertaining, however, I don’t think that I can take the Justin character much more. He talks like the jerky guy at the bar at 1:30 am. I’ll give the show a couple more weeks and maybe I will learn to ignore it.
Thanks for giving us a listen. We hope our show becomes a part of your regular staple of podcasts.
Dr. Kiki,
I am attempting to get a hold of your accounting department to cancel my paypal donations because I am unemployed. Please have someone contact me. All I want to do is cancel the recurring charges.
Thank you,
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer, Thanks for getting in touch. I have emailed you about this issue. –kiki
Hello again! I’ve been listening to your podcast for just over a year now, and I felt the need to come back here and apologize to Justin for my previous comment. I was a bit annoyed by him at first, but after becoming a regular listener he’s changed my opinion completely. I think he brings a great value to the show (even though I disagree with him half the time), and all 3 of you have great chemistry together.
I do have a question regarding your recent interview with Josiah Zayner. He mentioned the sugar cravings he developed that his donor had always experienced, but I was curious if he experienced any changes in allergies (either positive or negative). I’ve read that peanut allergies may be influenced by gut bacteria, and other types of allergies could be related as well. I guess I could ask him directly on his Facebook page.
Still loving the show. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for posting! We really appreciate your honesty. AND, thank you for sticking it out. We hope you keep listening for many years to come.
We didn’t ask about allergies! That is a great question. I’ll ask him!
Episode 51 still has not arrived in my podcast feed. Worse, I have not found a reference to it on the website. HELP! Withdrawal symptoms are threatening to get the better of me.
I know! I went on vacation, and am waaaaay behind in publishing. I’m so sorry for the delay. 571 will be up in about an hour, and 572 will be close behind. Silly vacations!
Such an effort. Gargantuan in scale. With NO LISTED EPISODE CONTENT anywhere? That is really STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!!!!! In all…… the show deserves accolades not avaiable for this one-of-a-kind show? So where is the content list, HUH, HUH, HUH??????
Each episode is listed on our homepage, twis.org. Click on an episode to get to the show notes, which describe and link to the stories we discuss.
Not quite finished with your episode from 6/22/16.
I realize this was an interview with a person with her own beliefs and experiences, but there are just as many ethical issues than if you had interviewed a currently practicing naturalpath with the same level of criticism. I agree the “field” of naturalpathy is rife with hucksters and immoral practices, my mother in law is a naturalpath and I cringe with some of the “treatments” she suggests. First naturalpathy and homeopathy aren’t the same thing, though they are often practiced together. Second, the idea that western or “real” medicine is safe and evidence based just isn’t realistic. The over use of statins kills a LOT of people and makes many more people sick, that’s the fact, but few doctor’s read research. Compare that to ozone theopy which was claimed on the show has absolutely no evidence, and is quite the contrary. Sure it’s poo-pooed by biased doctor’s who don’t read research, but there are MANY good studies supporting its use. And the common claim by many people who are purporting to be more intelligent and able to judge science that there is “no science” is the most cringe worthy and hypocritical of all. NO science means no one could get funding to do the science, evidence against is the phrase they’re looking for, but so often is the case that the reality is the evidence isn’t clear and they just want to use their perceived intellectual authority to pressure people into their own biased opinions.
As far as safety of Western medicine and drugs, it’s not much to be praised. I’m not criticizing doctors, but the numbers on deaths from prescription medications is unconscionable. Even when excluding drug abuse, misperscription and contraindications, the fact is we’re usually shooting in the dark and a ridiculous number of people die as a result. The human body is vastly more complex a chemical reaction than we can wrap our heads around for even the best practitioners even before you mix in kickbacks, incentives, LOTS of money, political power struggles, regulations, human biases, etc.
Doctors are RARELY practicing evidence based medicine. They’re following the procedures they were taught that are often 30+ years out of date, and the ones brave enough to venture into REAL science based medicine face a scary world of liability and rebuke. You guys were also fairly biased in your opinions on this episode. The practice of modern medicine is not safe.
(though, to the people who want to go “natural” your doctor almost certainly knows more than you and probably has years of practice to make a reasonable decision, so don’t preclude that because you decided it wasn’t “natural”, you’re not smarter than your doctor)
Absolutely appreciate your comments. Thank you for listening to the episode. I think what we missed in our effort was that basic message that we should use science to determine the best methods for treating people, and naturopathy, as it stands, does not have the weight of evidence behind it that modern medicine does (yes, medicine has its faults, and is by no means perfect – both practices depend on the expertise of the practitioner). That said, you are right, there are VERY useful aspects to naturopathy that are often missed in the rush and push of hospital systems and over-crowded doctor’s offices. I think naturopathy can complement medicine, as long as naturopaths realize and are honest about their limitations.
Regarding the ozone example, ozone is a toxic molecule that can cause severe reactions and lead to death when inhaled. It is a very reactive molecule, which can be useful, BUT only in certain situations OUTSIDE of the body. Treatments such as ozone need to be regulated and used only in certain prescribed situations. Otherwise, it is dangerous quackery.
I’m a few months behind on listening to your podcasts and I was just I was just listening to the show dated 4/13/16. Well, when you got to the part about the flat earth believers certainly made my eyes roll. I have come across quite a few video of this nonsense on YouTube. For some reason it seems to be on an astronomy channel. I attempted to watch a couple I couldn’t get past four minutes as they are so stupid! So I would leave a comment under some videos. I tell you, these people are quite literally the most stupid people on the planet. Debating with them is ridiculous. They are completely irrational. Try explaining anything and they dispute it. They say science is a belief, more eye roll. I’ve asked them a number of questions about the “flat earth” and they either get no response, get a few “I don’t know” or answers that are just 100% BS. Dogs are smarter than these people. I don’t think they are capable of even understanding the use of a simple lever. Well, I guess these people are needed by society to do menial jobs as they can’t have anything more than a HS diploma. Although I don’t think some of them have gone past the 5th grade.
Came across the podcast feed by accident, looking for science podcasts. I tried a few episodes, and the show has really grown on me. At first I thought the informality was a little off-putting until I realized you were recording via Google Hang Out. At any rate, I really enjoy the science stories you three bring to the table, as most are outside my own area of research, but very fascinating. I am also impressed by the songs (the outro song struck me as a tad odd, but after reading the bios on this page, I guess it was on purpose). The only remaining mystery for me: What does Blair have against giant pandas and squirrels?
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Hi guys! I listen to podcasts nearly all-day every-day at work, and TWIT with Leo is one of my favorites.
But I only enjoy technology, whereas I LOVE science. I want so badly to enjoy TWIS as much as I do TWIT, so I thought I would mention some constructive criticism because it is an easy fix that might help strengthen the podcast.
Of all the podcasts I listen to (including the improvised ones), TWIS has by far the most dead air time :/ . There seems to be a lot of silent pauses after someone stops talking, to the point that I often find myself thinking about the pauses and completely forget what was even said. Too many of these pauses in a row and I simply click to the next podcast.
Anyway! Love the subject matter of the podcast! Hope to see this podcast grow!
Thank you for the free content you provide me and others 🙂
Thanks for the feedback. I notice the pauses, too! And they always make my heart skip a beat. We’ll discuss a strategy for reducing them! Thanks again.
I regularly enjoy listening to your show as a podcast while driving. However I have some difficulty with the podcast audio level relative to other podcasts, system sounds on my phone, and phone’s GPS app. I have to turn up the volume for TWIS to be able to hear, yet notifications will be unbearably loud when they happen. The transition to other podcasts such as Science Friday and Planetary Radio can be shocking as well.
Thank you for anything that can be done.
Chris!
Thank you for your comment. I started processing our files for compatibility to the international radio standard of -24 LUFS (loudness units) a short while back. This does make the files generally quieter. Can you say when our podcast started getting quiet on you? Maybe that’s what is doing it. No one else has commented on our volume, so this is a VERY valuable data point. I’d love to know more because I want people to enjoy a great TWIS listening experience.
Hey,
I’ve been enjoying your show for quite a while and loved your recent episode so much. So, I just wanted to say thanks to you guys for everything you are doing here. I’m a Science enthusiast and love listening to your episodes in my spare time. Keep up the good work, and keep ’em coming.
Regards,
Cathy
Thank you for listening to TWIS, Cathy! It means a lot to hear from you that you enjoy what we do. Please, share us with your friends!
..mostly enjoy the show! I wanted to clarify something that’s bugging me. I can’t imagine your disconnect with the word “kludge”. It’s an old old word, and you defined it close enough, but it’s pronounced like judge, not like some frenchified luge…
Haha! Thank you for the clarification on pronunciation. I’m going to have such a difficult time changing how I pronounce it! I really do like my frenchified version so much better 😉
Your email address kirsten@thisweekinscience.com is bouncing. Just tried to send an email (destined for Justin, not sure if he has his own email). Thanks
Thanks, Scott! I just found out that I’m still having an issue with my email. Hopefully, I’ve gotten the smtp problem resolved finally.
Justin does have his own email, which he gives in the end credits of the show. Hope that helps!
Please remove Justin Jackson he sounds so uneducated and Ill informed