x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist

Science, Actually

Astrophysicist Kovi Rose and scicommer Benjamin Salles love space, and bad puns, and are united in their shared belief that they"re brilliantly funny.

science astronomy

All Episodes

65:35

Weird Universe : Guest : Prof. Erika Hamden

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/09/18

Just in case you missed her wildly popular TikToks, or you missed her YouTube channel, or you missed her TED Talks, or you missed her creating a space telescope from scratch, or you didn't get your hands on her new book, Weird universe, now you can listen Dr. Erika Hamden chatting with Kovi and Benjamin about all things astrophysics and radio-astronomy! ...and, seriously, get that book!

en

63:36

Gag Me With a Supernova : Names In Space

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/09/04

This week, Kovi and Benjamin take a breather before drinking from the firehose of science guests lining up to chat with them. Tune in as they dive into spacecraft, telescopes, and observatories named after scientists. “Hubble the satellite. Hubble the telescope. Hubble the flamethrower! …the kids love this one.”

en

94:52

Talking Asses : Guest : Daniel Orvomaa

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/08/21

Our favorite talking ass, Daniel Orvomaa, is back for round two! He joins Kovi and Benjamin in a very unstructured conversation about bad science, bad science reporting, pseudo science, and superpesis - Finland's version of baseball. It's a long one this time, so grab some snacks and settle in for some science-fueled randomness.

en

55:28

Genetics of Giddiness : Guest : Sarah Aamidor

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/08/07

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee... Won’t my mommy be so proud of me? I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee... OMG! Bees are really, really WEIRD!!!! That's not how that nursery rhyme is usually sung, but it might as well be because as Kovi and Benjamin learned from this week's guest - biologist Sarah Aamidor - bees are really, really weird!

en

59:22

Patches? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Patches… Wait, Yes...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/07/24

There are few things as iconic on an astronaut's flight suit as their mission patch—a singular piece of art that encapsulates everything about the mission: who’s going, what country they’re from, what vehicle they’re riding, where they’re headed, and what they plan to do when they get there.From space shuttles to space stations, from space telescopes to asteroids, this week’s guest is the man who designed hundreds of them—Tim Gagnon.From the very first sketch he submitted as a kid, to the dozens

en

67:09

Productive Procrastination : Guest : Elizabeth Sweet

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/07/10

Sure this episode starts with talk about sausages, but how else does one segue their conversation to talking about salp? And you need to talk about salp to talk about jellyfish, right? Which, of course, is the best way to talk about crabification. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Whales can't poop under pressure - the pressure achieved in great depths of water, not the pressure of pooping in front of a crowd. This week's guest, the Guernsey Scientist herself, marine biologist and

en

54:22

Jupiter Pizza : Space Places In Earth Places

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/06/26

Kovi and Benjamin got together for slice at Jupiter Pizza. They loved the menu - some wood fired pizza options were the Cassiopeia, the Io, Galileo, Gaia, Mercury, Ares, and Triton. As fun as those names are, they pissed off Benjamin something royal. You see, the names are all spacey, yes, but pick a theme! We've got some planets (Ares was the Greek name fo the planet we now call Mars), random moons (from different worlds, mind you), an explorer, a constellation... It's all over the place! The

en

56:26

Nature Finds A Way : Guest : Inna Osmolovsky

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/06/12

Tree lines are moving both toward the poles and uphill, as they try to reach cooler temperatures. Flowers in Japan that have been blooming at precisely the same time for hundreds of years are suddenly off schedule by a full week. This week's guest, plant ecologist Inna Osmolovsky, explains how this and more are due to climate change. Plus, as Kovi and Benjamin are primarily space nerds, she easily blows their minds with all kinds of interesting plant facts!

en

63:00

Talking Ass : Guest : Daniel Orvomaa

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/05/29

Kovi and Benjamin were delighted to have the host of the Talking Ass podcast, Daniel Orvomaa, on their show. Or were they guests on his show? Someone was a guest on someone's show, we remember that. We do know that this is Part One of a two hour conversation that was had - and if you'd like to listen to Part Two, you need to track down the Talking Ass. It's the podcast with a tie-dye donkey as its mascot. For this episode, we meant to touch upon the rampant spread of AI - specifically it's misuse

en

65:12

Quantum Love : Guest : Chris Ferrie

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/05/16

On this quantum episode of The Nerd and The Scientist, your quatum hosts Kovi and Benjamin have a great quantum conversation with quantum guest, quatum physicist Chris Ferrie. From his humble quantum journey from a small town in Canada to being a professor of quantum physics in Australia, Chris also tell us how he got into writing quantum physics books for babies, and why people put 'quantum' in front of everything just because it sounds cool. Quantum.

en

52:26

The Very Hungry Tardigrade : Bugs

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/05/01

Kovi and Benjamin finally get a moment to themselves without having to entertain yet ANOTHER amazing guest. "What should we talk about, Kovi," Benjamin asked. "Bugs," Kovi snapped back. He wasn't serious, but Benjamin was. So now we have an episode about bugs in space - both living critters brought up for experiments, or software bugs that either almost, or did, bring on an early end to many a mission.

en

57:53

A Whole Lotta' Shakin' Going On : Guest : Courtney...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/04/17

Benjamin was crushed when he learned that 'starquakes' weren't actual ground-shaking events on a star's surface that shook little star buildings and cracked little star roads. Kovi's colleague, astroseismologist Courtney Crawford, explains how asteroseismology is the study of stellar oscillations - rhythmic pulsations in a star’s brightness - that help astronomers understand a star's internal structure, composition and rotation. Courtney wanted to be a butterfly until she watched MythBusters - and

en

60:44

Star Bound : Guests : Emily Carney and Bruce...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/04/03

We like big shuttles and we cannot lie... Kovi and Benjamin double up their guest payload this episode, as they speak with space historians and authors Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III. Emily and Bruce just released their new book 'Star Bound' about the evolution of the space program - from the very first person to build a little rocket all the way to astronauts today. They share how their experience brought them together, what inspired their book, and the awesome things we've done - and will

en

45:12

Seti, Seti bobeti. Bonana fanna fo feti. SETI! :...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/03/20

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Kovi laughed as Benjamin's mind was blown when hearing this knowledge nugget from this week's guest, researcher for the SETI Institute, Dr. Chenoa Tremblay. Who, you asked? Let's put it this way - if there are alien civilizations out there, Chenoa is the person who's going to find it. Seriously. Name a radio telescope - chances are she's used it to look for life, or signs of life, out there in the cosmos. Join us as we discuss biosignatures,

en

63:09

Too many nerds in the Podcast : Guest : Graham Lau

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/03/06

Before we could even press record, astrobiologist Dr. Graham Lau was already explaining to Kovi and Benjamin how advanced alien civilizations have already discovered, and been taken over by, their own version of AI - and they're coming to get us. If that's not a reason to give this episode a listen we don't know what is. Tune in to our milestone 50th episode as the gang discusses possible life on other worlds, what they need to evolve, how we can detect them, is there possible extraterrestrial life

en

65:48

SciComm(edy) : Guest : Rayner The Explainer

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/02/27

Kovi got an astrophysics degree because he wanted to do astrophysics and then just kind of fell into this SciComm game. Benjamin got a film degree because he wanted to do film and then just kind of fell into this SciComm game. This week's guest, Rayner the Explainer, got both science AND arts degrees (at the same time!) specifically for SciComm, and has dazzled and sparkled her way across the scicommverse with no signs of slowing down. Join the boys as they talk to Rachel about her science comedy

en

54:03

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nerd, Sometimes You Don't :...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/02/13

From record-breaking rockets to stranded astronauts, 2024 was one hell of a year for space exploration. In this episode, Kovi and Benjamin take a look back at the most exciting, bizarre, and groundbreaking moments in space science and technology. They break down SpaceX's relentless launch streak and Starship's ambitious test flights, Boeing's Starliner drama, two astronauts' unexpected extended stay in orbit, new missions to explore our universe, a solar eclipse, deep space discoveries, private

en

57:50

Getting The Band Back Together : Guest : Space Case...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2025/01/30

In 2022 the Space Case Sarah Show was already quite the popular podcast, and Sarah knew if she wanted it to reach levels of awesomeness that broke the Karman Line there was only one thing she could do. She brought on Kovi and Benjamin to give her show that extra boost of science knowledge and whatever it is Benjamin does. Sadly the show ended in 2023, but that was a good thing. It brought The Nerd and The Scientist to life, and gave Sarah the room she needed to explore, learn, teach, get closer to

en

49:32

Whatcha' Talking About, Einstein? : Q&A with BSA...

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2024/12/26

Kovi brings science to the troops - scout troops, that is! Ever wondered why Pluto got kicked out of the planet club? Or how close we are to mining asteroids like sci-fi heroes? In our latest episode, Kovi takes on the cosmos in a special scout-led Q&A with Boy Scout troops 175 and 4175 from Foster City, California. From what makes a radio telescope work to escaping black holes, no question is too big—or too out there. Tune in for thoughtful answers, surprising insights, and plenty of

en

49:55

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Pulsar : Guest : Rowina Nathan

Science, Actually Presents : The Nerd and the Scientist ·

2024/12/03

This week's guest, Rowina Nathan, joins Kovi and Benjamin to talk about pulsar timing, the gravitational wave background, and what it means to be the Pink Astrophysicist! While there are many pulsars to work with, she only works with 'the best ones' - some of them, well, they have quirky personalities that make them difficult to work with. What led Rowina to study gravitational waves? Why does she find pulsar timing more elegant than blackhole collision nonsense? What's her favorite flavor of

en

64 results

Similar Podcasts

X Minus 1 - Old Time Radio Show

Inception Point Ai

Science, Spoken

WIRED

This Week in Space (Audio)

TWiT

DarshanTalks Podcast

Darshan Kulkarni

The Best of Coast to Coast AM

iHeartPodcasts and Coast to Coast AM