PODCAST

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate

Trace Elements Media

Seriously researched answers to absolutely ridiculous questions. New episodes every week.

science

All Episodes

01:15:39

2024's Stickiest Questions | feat. Producer Kyle

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2025/01/09

In this special end-of-year episode we pull Kyle out of his editing hole and the three of us talk through some of your best questions of the year!

01:13:37

Oh No. Our Chicken is Cooked

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/12/26

We have systems in place to prevent this from happening, but somehow we failed. I swear this all happened exactly as you heard! We’re so cooked, y’all. Or at least… that chicken is.

01:02:08

Hot Hot DNA

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/12/19

There's a quote attributed to Albert Einstein, "sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it feels like a minute; sit on a hot stove for a minute and it feels like many hours. That's relativity." There's no evidence he actually said this, but that didn't stop Julian from turning up the heat on his question. Meanwhile, Trace took the DNA from all his cells and strung it together end-to-end. How long do you think that strand would be? What if we took all the DNA from ALL the LIFE on EARTH?! There's a lot

01:02:06

High-Level Poop Talk and Deadly Temporal Fantasies

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/12/12

This week, Trace delves into some temporal fantasies, like: why people think if they could travel into the past they’d become lords and queens, and not serfs or worse!? Meanwhile, Julian measures the terminal velocity of poo-poo and pee-pee in very tall buildings. Our show is so weird.

01:16:35

Poke the Moon and Land Amongst the Clocks

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/12/05

If you made a video call with a very long stick, could you poke the person before the video showed you moving? Would this impossible invention move faster than light? Julian investigates. After a Spongebob-style "Meanwhile" title card, Trace grabs a clock and wonders why the hands don't go counter-clockwise. Do they just go with the flow, or is there something else?

01:30:28

Ali Mattu and the Missing Moon | Thanksgiving Rerun!

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/11/28

In this holiday rerun of Episode 6: Julian explores what would happen to a world without a moon, Trace performs a pedagogical project pertaining to placentas, and ✨ special guest ✨ Dr. Ali Mattu tells the robots it’s OK to feel feelings.

01:14:42

Frictionless Ultrasonic Banger

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/11/21

Friction! It’s what makes the world go rou— No, wait. That’s not it.Friction. It’s what keeps the world from spinning off into spaa—- That’s not it either. Friction… It’s what keeps your shoes from being too slippy, but also, like, just slippy enough? *Sigh* Also, dog bark science. Enjoy!

01:46:22

Surviving Urban Volcanoes Through Cuteness and Butt...

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/11/14

This episode Julian attempts to make jokes but only hears crickets, Trace turns LA into a flaming dumpster fire and nobody notices, and special guest Dr. Joe Hanson of It's Okay to Be Smart explains how being "just a lil guy" is a superpower.

01:12:52

We Ship Acid-Spitting Humans

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/11/07

Fun fact: the dinosaur in Jurassic Park that spit acid on Nedry doesn’t exist! I mean, Dilophosaurus does, but it was probably a scavenger, not an evil piñata dinosaur. As long as we’re on the subject though, what if humans could shoot acid? What would that look like? And, as long as we’re talking about disemboweling humans … how many of their own internal organs does a person need to keep? How many transplants is humanly possible? Get these and more weird topics in this episode!

00:57:45

Snail-zillas Disrupting the Tooth Commodity Market |...

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/10/31

Happy Halloween, absurd friends! This time around Julian comes out of his shell to calculate the speed of a Kaiju snail (so much mucus 🤢). Meanwhile, Trace pulls out all the molars—uh, pulls out all the stops on his Fae business plan for TOUTHS Incorporated, The Uber for children’s teeth, and asks: Would That Solve Anything™?!

01:10:34

Double Jump Over This Human Meatball

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/10/24

It's spoOOooOoky season! This week we're scaring you with a giant pasta topping! 👻 Not scared? What if I told you it's a meatball made of EVERY HUMAN? Oh, did I forget to mention that crucial detail? What's more terrifying than a GIANT MEATBALL OF ALL HUMANS?! MWAHAHAHA! (Just imagine the ODOR.) Would something that massive have its own gravity? What would it be like? Julian frightens himself silly pondering this one. Meanwhile, Trace envisions a world where a video game mechanic becomes reality

01:03:27

Immortal Squirrels Slain By Salad

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/10/17

In this wild episode, Julian infects your brain with the realization that plants can be VERY murdery, and Trace is driven NUTS looking for an elusive immortal animal.

01:12:28

The Inescapable Sadness of the Kool-Aid Man | feat....

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/10/10

This episode Trace tries to find the secret to happiness and special guest host Rohin Francis swaps out blood for something with a tangy, fruity kick. Oh yeah! Oh no!

01:11:55

A Ghostly Fireworky Glow Up | feat. Ceri Riley of...

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/10/03

We haven’t seen this many fireworks since the Rockefeller Center did that spectacularly wild “Salute to Fireworks” back in 2007. This time around, guest-host Ceri Riley ponders what if fireworks were a normal part of the weather? And Trace ponders the spirits of the great beyond. He tries so, so hard not to bring up his time in the Victorian Era. Spoiler: He fails, almost as spectacularly as those damn fireworks.

01:25:36

The "Creative" Engineering of Star Wars Blasters

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/09/26

This is the episode you’re looking for.In this episode Trace gets creative with an answer about unponderable ponderances, and Julian goes pew pew a lot with a poll-winning quesiton about Picard’s favorite weapon! We have a NEW HOPE that you’ll enjoy episode 52!

00:46:08

Is Lava Wet?! | feat Dr Alex Dainis

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/09/19

Get your moisture sensors ready. In this episode Dr Alex Dainis slides into the scientific journals all about lubrication to understand the slip-factor of classic yellow bananas. Meanwhile, Julian argues with an actual, college educated PhD scientist about the wetness of molten lava. Is Julian actually… correct?!

01:19:45

The Poor Goaile is… Everywhere | feat. Tom Scott

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/09/12

You’re at a hockey game. You grabbed nachos and your favorite sports beverage. The Mighty Ducks are playing their rivals, and you look away from the ice to take a selfie with a selfie stick so long you have to brace it against your hip to snap the pic. As you smile with your crew, a flash of white light envelops the stadium as the air catches fire.

01:16:21

Deep Conversations With Whales

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/09/05

A rogue viking pirate planet hurtles through space looking for plunder and booty. The human race has become a destitute vampiric race obsessed with ancient sea shanties and frequent meteor showers.A whale in the North Atlantic hears a distant whale song from an individual it doesn’t recognize. It’s repeating a warning to stay away from a large metal ship moving through the area. Are these possible futures?! Find out on episode 49 of That’s Absurd Please Elaborate!

02:17:23

Freaky Mermaids, "REAL" Dragons, and Trace's Evil...

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/08/29

Today in Pod 48 Ellen Weatherford from “Just The Zoo of Us” (family friendly) and “Spellbound and Gagged” (NSFW) joins us to talk out about dragons, scientifically correct mermaids and a possible Mirror-Universe Trace! 🤫

01:13:01

Exploding Three Ways (Yikes)

That"s Absurd Please Elaborate ·

2024/08/22

Are you allergic to cats? When you visit friends does their cat seem to know (somehow) and roll up on you even though you’re ignoring it?! “WTF CAT. YOU’RE LITERALLY MURDERING ME,” you think intensely while sipping your white wine. “Wait, does the cat… KnOW?!” Trace pours himself a glass of that crisp white, and digs into the science.Meanwhile, Julian crushes the game and learns exactly how screwed we’d all be if every atom in the human body spontaneously went up one place on the periodic table of

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