1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Daniel here. Today's episode is our five hundredth 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. Thank you so much to everyone 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: out there who's joined us on this wild ride to 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: explore the beauty and mystery of our universe. Those people 5 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: who feel that buzzing need to know the truth about 6 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: the deepest cosmic questions, and who share my hunch that 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: humans are capable of figuring it all out. I always 8 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: wanted to share with all of you the incredible feeling 9 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: of satisfaction I get when something clicks into place in 10 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: my mind. It's been my absolute pleasure, and here's to 11 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: many more moments of deep insight. Everyone is curious about 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,639 Speaker 1: how things work and how it all comes together, especially 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: you since you're listening to this podcast right now, and 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: over the last five years that we've been on air, 15 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: we've spent a lot of time talking about how the 16 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: universe works and how particles are woven together to make 17 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: our reality. But did you ever wonder how this podcast works. 18 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: How a physicist with a full time job puts up 19 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: two episodes per week with his co hosts and guests. 20 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: How lots of people working together weave all of their 21 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: efforts to make this podcast a reality. Hi, I'm Daniel. 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: I'm a particle physicist and a professor at uc Ermine, 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: and I'm a podcaster. I usually don't list that in 24 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,839 Speaker 1: my introduction to episodes, which is kind of weird because 25 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: that's actually how most of you who know me. Very 26 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: few of you out there know me in any of 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: my other worlds a particle physicist or university professor. Those 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: are the worlds that occupy most of my time. You 29 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: all mostly know me through this podcast, and today I 30 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: want to meld those worlds a little bit to show 31 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: you how I ended up becoming a podcaster and how 32 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: it fits into the rest of my life and how 33 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: the podcast comes together. So welcome to the podcast. Daniel 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: and Jorge explain the Universe, in which we explore and 35 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: explain the nature of the universe from the smallest, tiny 36 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: little bits out there to the whole nature of the universe, 37 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: black holes and cosmic strings and everything out there. We 38 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: tackle the biggest questions and we try to break them 39 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: down and explain them to you. If you're new to 40 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: the podcast. The note that today is not a typical episode. 41 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: This episode instead is something of a celebration and self reflection. 42 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: We've done five hundred episodes of the podcast. Now, that's 43 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,239 Speaker 1: two a week every week for about five years. Along 44 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: the way, we've had highs and lows, and moments of 45 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: laughter and moments of tears, and we'll share a lot 46 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: of those with you today. But mostly I did want 47 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: to use this episode to celebrate what we've accomplished here, 48 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: and to do that, I wanted to pull back the 49 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: curtain and let you in on the process of how 50 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: the podcast is made. So today's episode will not be 51 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: a deep dive into physics, but into the podcast itself. 52 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: I hope that's interesting to all of you out there. 53 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: While each episode is mostly about physics, I find that 54 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: listeners also usually respond positively to our occasional personal comment 55 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: like when I talk about white chocolate versus dark chocolate, 56 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: or complain about having to help my son with his 57 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: chemistry homework. And so I hope there's interest out there 58 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: in getting to know the team behind the podcast and 59 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: how they do what they do. I think it's pretty 60 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: unusual to put out such a high volume of content 61 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: with such a small team, and I want to show 62 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: you how we do it, what a joy it is 63 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: to do, and what it means to all of us, 64 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: because it wasn't always obvious that we were going to 65 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: get here five hundred episodes in. For example, here's a 66 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: frank comment from a listener along these lines. He's a 67 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: friend and a fellow particle physicist, Brian Field. 68 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 2: I believe I saw a fellow podcaster who had retweeted 69 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 2: that there was going to be a new podcast. The 70 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 2: people that wrote, you know, we have no idea, you know, 71 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 2: sort of thing. These books that I enjoyed, and so 72 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 2: I got kind of got in on the ground floor, 73 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 2: and as a professional scientist myself, I was very surprised 74 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 2: to find how great they were, how high level they were. 75 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 2: And I have to admit that my first thought was, well, 76 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 2: these are great, but there's no way they're going to 77 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 2: be able to keep this level of discourse with this 78 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: many topics for any amount of time. They're just going 79 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 2: to run out of clever things to say, They're going 80 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 2: to run out of topics. They're going to cover it all. 81 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 2: But you know, while it lasts, this is going to 82 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 2: be great. And it was right that it was great, 83 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 2: and I was wrong about everything else. And I hope 84 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 2: that this is just the beginning and that it continues 85 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 2: to be a great source of science news in the future, 86 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,559 Speaker 2: and I'm just so glad that it's part of my life. 87 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: Keep doing. 88 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 2: Keep up the great work, guys, and from your number 89 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 2: one friend, Brian, talk to you later. 90 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: Brian didn't think we could keep it up, have enough 91 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: clever things to say for all those episodes. Well I'm 92 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: glad to say that we proved him wrong. That five 93 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: hundred episodes of Bananas and black Holes later, we've kind 94 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: of found a rhythm and a team that works together 95 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: well and puts out two episodes a week without fail 96 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: every week. But let's start at the very beginning. Before 97 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: we can talk about how an episode is made, I 98 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: want to tell you the story about how the podcast 99 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: itself came to be. Like many podcasts, Ours came out 100 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: of writing a book, the book that Jorge and I 101 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: wrote together in twenty seventeen called We Have No Idea, 102 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: and that book grew out of some earlier collaborations, ones 103 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 1: that frankly I never thought could happen. Because while you 104 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: all probably know Jorge as the co host of this podcast, 105 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: I first knew him as the famous cartoonist behind PhD Comics, 106 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: and he certainly had no idea who I was. It 107 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: was kind of a miracle that I got to work 108 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: with such an internet celebrity at all. He was a 109 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: clip of me during a presentation we gave at Harvard 110 00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: telling the story of how Orgey and I came to 111 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: work together till one. It's been a real pleasure working 112 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: on these projects with Jorge. Not only he's the an 113 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: amazing artist, he's also really modest. So for example, I 114 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: have to correct the story a little bit that he 115 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: told you because he leaves out some important details. When 116 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: I thought about explaining physics using cartoons, I thought that 117 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: would be a lot of fun, But I don't have 118 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: the artistic talent to do it myself. Who could I 119 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: get to do this? And my wife, who's also a 120 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: fan of PhD comics, she said, well, why don't you 121 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: email Jorge Chom And I thought, well, you know, Jorge 122 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: is not just some cartoonist, right, He's like in academia 123 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: and in research, he's world famous. You can't go to 124 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: a lab that does research and not find one of 125 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: his cartoons on the wall because he's really captured, you know, 126 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: the experience of being a graduate student and the suffering 127 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: of research and all of these things. So it's like 128 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: just emailing a famous person, right, So she says, why 129 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 1: don't you email Jorge Chom And I thought, sure, and 130 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: then I'll call Brad Pitt and ask him to make 131 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: a movie about me him, right, like while we're at it. Right, 132 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: So I still having her back from Brad. But I 133 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: did get to write this awesome book with Horage, which 134 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,799 Speaker 1: is a lot of fun. So after I cold email 135 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: this internet celebrity, Jorge and I amazingly started out making 136 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: videos where I would explain the particle physics and he 137 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: would make these incredible cartoons to illustrate and clarify the ideas. 138 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: Then in twenty seventeen, the cartoonist behind the webcomic XKCD 139 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: had a massive best selling book called what If, which 140 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: if you haven't read, you should, and his agent reached 141 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: out to Jorge to see if Jorge was interested in 142 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: also doing a science comic book to blend explaining science 143 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: and comics, and you know, explaining physics using cartoons was 144 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: kind of my jam. So Jorge called me and said, hey, 145 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: I think we could write a book about particle physics. 146 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: And I said, I don't know. Let's find out what's involved. 147 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: I'm a physics professor. I don't really know anything about publishing. Well, 148 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: it turns out to sell a nonfiction book is pretty 149 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: weird process. If you want to sell a novel, you 150 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: typically have to write the whole thing and then sell it, 151 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: unless you're like Stephen King and have a track record. 152 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: But for nonfiction, you don't actually have to write it first. 153 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: You just write a sample chapter and an outline. So 154 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: we did, and the whole thing came together kind of 155 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: shockingly fast. I remember sitting down and banging out the 156 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: first draft of a sample chapter during my daughter's gymnastics 157 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: practice one Saturday morning, and it just kind of flowed 158 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: out of me. You know, all these thoughts and ideas 159 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: I had about dark matter and how little we know 160 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: about the universe, and how much there was left to discover, 161 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: and how exciting that was, and the opportunity and the 162 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: thrill of all that just sort of like flowed on 163 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: to the page. I sent it out to Jorge, who 164 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: whipped it into shape and made sure it was clear 165 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: and relatable in that way that he's so good at, 166 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: and then he drew his wonderful cartoons, and we sent 167 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: it off to the agent and just like two weeks later, 168 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: we had a very flattering book contract. The whole thing 169 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: was like really a whirlwind. Then of course we got 170 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: to actually write the book, which took about a year, 171 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: and it was a lot of fun. Jorge and I 172 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: had lots of conversations about what to write about and 173 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: how to write it. We talked about science, send me jokes, 174 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: and had a lot of fun, and you know, I 175 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: learned a lot just in trying to explain particle physics 176 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: to somebody who's really smart and ask good questions. So 177 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,080 Speaker 1: many times Jorge would like back things up and say, 178 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: a whole lot a second, what do you mean we 179 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: don't know what mass is or we don't understand space, 180 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:13,319 Speaker 1: And whole chapters of that book came into being from 181 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: his questions. And then of course the book came out 182 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: and we went on tour to promote the book. That 183 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: clip you heard earlier is from our presentation the book Talk, 184 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,319 Speaker 1: and this something you need to understand about how that 185 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: book Talk came together. That's kind of shaped all five 186 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: hundred episodes of the podcast that followed. Let's just say 187 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: like it wasn't very highly prepared. Basically, we waned it 188 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: every time personally, I wanted to plan it, to lay 189 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: it out and nail it down, because I'm kind of 190 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,319 Speaker 1: a planner the way I balance everything in my life, 191 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: you know, an overwhelming academic job, a family, a podcast, 192 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,719 Speaker 1: a TV show. Book writing is vie staying organized and 193 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: getting things done in advance. But for the book talk, 194 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: we just kind of had a rough idea of what 195 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: we wanted to say and we went for it. Kind 196 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,439 Speaker 1: of terrified me, but you know what, it went pretty well. 197 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: All in all. We gave that talk more than fifty 198 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 1: times across the country. In the UK, we'd get a 199 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,599 Speaker 1: talking fields and auditoriums filled with one thousand people, or 200 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: the tiny bookstores with a handful of eager listeners. And 201 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: because it wasn't superscripted, every single time it really was different. 202 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: There was always like some new joke or a new twist. 203 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: Maybe Jorge would like draw a silly doodle of me 204 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: making fun of me while I was speaking. The audience 205 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: would roar with laughter while I was totally clueless, or 206 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,319 Speaker 1: I'd make some dumb physics dad joke to earn a 207 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 1: rueful chuckle. It turned out that we kind of had 208 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: a knack for a spontaneous humor, and we had a 209 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: good chemistry together. We were just more natural and sincere 210 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: when it wasn't tightly planned, because we just had fun 211 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: talking and joking about science. And that's where the podcast 212 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: was born. Two guys at a company called stuff Media 213 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: reached out to us about launching a podcast. This is 214 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: like twenty seventeen, a few years after podcasts had started 215 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: to take off, but before they were like really huge, 216 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: before everybody had a podcast, so it wasn't really something 217 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: on my radar yet, but I thought it was an 218 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: intriguing idea. The guys of stuff Media thought that we 219 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: had what a take to make a podcast work, so 220 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: to understand what they saw in us, I recently sat 221 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: down with Will Pearson, one of the guys who originally 222 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: recruited us into the podcast world, to hear about why 223 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: he thought our podcast might work and whether it's turned 224 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:18,319 Speaker 1: out as he's planned in the time since his company 225 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: was bought by iHeartMedia and he now runs their podcast division. 226 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: That's pretty impressive. I mean, iHeart is the biggest podcasting 227 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: company on the planet, which means Will is basically the 228 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: worldwide president of podcasting. He's an important guy, but when 229 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: we spoke, he wasn't actually able to use his usual 230 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: quiet space for high quality audio recordings because his thirteen 231 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: year old son had and I'm quoting him here, a 232 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: very important gaming session. Here's my conversation with Will. Well, 233 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: thanks very much, Will forging to have a candid conversation 234 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: with me. First, introduce yourselves to our listeners, to one 235 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: of the many people behind the scenes that makes this happen. 236 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 1: But they don't know you, so tell us a little 237 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: bit about who you are. 238 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 3: Yeah, and Will Pearson. I run the podcast division here 239 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 3: at iHeart. 240 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: I was actually part of a. 241 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 3: Company called stuff Bedia or maybe more publicly known as 242 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 3: how Stuff Works a few years ago and we were 243 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 3: acquired by iHeartMedia or iHeartRadio to come on board and 244 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 3: run the podcast division here. But you know, we had 245 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,559 Speaker 3: come out of a world of podcasts that we're all 246 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 3: very general knowledge driven. 247 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: Cool. Well, let's not understate your job. I mean iHeart 248 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: is like number one podcast company in the world and 249 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: you're heading up the podcast division there. That seems like 250 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: kind of a big deal. 251 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 3: It's you know, it's one of those things that because 252 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 3: it doesn't happen overnight, you really don't stop to think 253 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 3: about it, but yeah, I didn't know. 254 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: We're supposed to brag awesome. Well, podcasts are everywhere now 255 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:44,560 Speaker 1: and everybody listens to podcast and sort of a big deal. 256 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: But take us back to like twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen 257 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: when our podcast started. What was a podcast landscape like 258 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: back then? What kind of things were you looking for? 259 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 3: I think, first of all, the thing that drew me 260 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 3: to the podcast base, because that's right around the time 261 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 3: that I had joined and stuff media, as I mentioned before, 262 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 3: was around twenty seventeen, was the fact that it was 263 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 3: a medium built off of knowledge based shows, Like we 264 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 3: started seeing the biggest shows in the category were really 265 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 3: shows where people were coming to them because they wanted 266 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 3: to learn, They wanted to walk away feeling a little 267 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 3: bit smarter from whatever they were listening to. You could 268 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 3: find a great podcast for those, and that podcast sort 269 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 3: of stripped away the layers that you find in most 270 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 3: other medium and get down to the very basics of 271 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 3: a conversation. 272 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: Awesome, And so why did you reach out to us? 273 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: What did you see in us? Why did you think 274 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,080 Speaker 1: that danie Le Jorge explain the universe? It might be 275 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: a good fit for your company. 276 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 3: Well, I mean, first of all, it was a category 277 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 3: that I've long been interested in, you know, the idea 278 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 3: of helping a general population or curious minds better understand 279 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 3: the universe, better understand astronomy. You know, as a kid, 280 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 3: was the nerd that was obsessed with you know, Carl 281 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 3: Sagan and Stephen Hawking and everything I could get my 282 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 3: hands on. That sort of made this category accessible, and 283 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 3: I just felt like that there was a larger population 284 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 3: that would be interested in this as well. You know, 285 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 3: we saw with the success of our House Stuff Works 286 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,080 Speaker 3: line of shows that there really was a hunger for 287 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 3: good audio in the general knowledge space. And when we 288 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 3: saw we have no idea, we really felt like, Okay, 289 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 3: here are two guys that get it. You know, when 290 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 3: it's a rare moment that you find super smart people 291 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 3: that really know how to communicate with a general audience, 292 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 3: it feels like we're all in it together. It didn't 293 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 3: feel like you're being lectured to. It didn't feel like 294 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 3: you were just you know, had the pleasure of just 295 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 3: being with somebody that was one hundred times smarter than 296 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 3: you were. Like you guys obviously are incredibly intelligent, but 297 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 3: at the same time, it just feels like you're getting 298 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 3: the chance to listen in on a great conversation, and 299 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 3: we felt like there was that opportunity to create a 300 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 3: show with you two in a way that could do that. 301 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 3: And fortunately, the first time we heard you guys in 302 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 3: a pilot when we said, you know what, we think 303 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 3: this could be an interesting podcast. Let's have a conversation 304 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 3: about it. The first time you guys ever recorded, not 305 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 3: to say that it was perfect, but like you immediately 306 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 3: knew something was there, so we were super excited about it. 307 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: Wow awesome, And you know we've done five hundred episodes 308 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: now and the show has evolved and you know, gained 309 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: its own inside jokes and all sorts of stuff. Would 310 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: you say that it's like different from what you might 311 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: have predicted it turned into five years ago, or is 312 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: it mostly what you were looking for? 313 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 3: I mean, I would say, fortunately, it is what we 314 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 3: were looking for, because you know, we we try not 315 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 3: to be too prescriptive when we bring on a new podcast. 316 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 3: We know at the core what we were looking for 317 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 3: was something that could help curious minds better understand the 318 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 3: universe and also to feel like they were being entertained 319 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 3: when they listen to something and if you can find 320 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 3: the right blend there sort of walking that line in 321 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 3: a really small, a't way, I think you know, you've 322 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 3: got a hit show on your hands. And so we 323 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 3: didn't know exactly what it was going to sound like, 324 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 3: but the vibe and the sort of effect of the 325 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 3: show was exactly what we were going for. So no, 326 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 3: I think the show is exactly what we wanted to be. 327 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 3: I had no idea that it would run five hundred episodes, 328 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 3: but that's been part of the beauty of shows of 329 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 3: this type is that listeners fall in love with the hosts, 330 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 3: with the concept and just stick with it. And so 331 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 3: so it's been a blast to just watch it. I 332 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 3: didn't know that it would be as big as it 333 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 3: is because it felt like, Okay, this is a category 334 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 3: that maybe will be a little more niche. But you know, 335 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 3: you've got hundreds of thousands of people listening to every 336 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 3: single episode, which is just amazing. 337 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: It feels like a huge privilege to me that all 338 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: those folks aren't trusting us with their time and energy. 339 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 1: So I'm really grateful. Well, thanks very much, Will for 340 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: sharing your perspective and for having that faith in us 341 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: to create this thing. I'm always touched that so many 342 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: people who make these shows happened were themselves inspired by 343 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: something earlier. It's just like feeds forward. You know, you 344 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,920 Speaker 1: were inspired by Carl Sagan. You help make something which 345 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,360 Speaker 1: I hope will inspire somebody else out there to make 346 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: something else beautiful. 347 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 3: Oh, I appreciate that, And congratulations to you guys. It's 348 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 3: no big surprise to me that you've been successful. 349 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: But I love it. 350 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 3: I love that we get to partner with you guys, 351 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 3: and look forward to being back on for episode one thousand. 352 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: All right, awesome, thanks very much. Will So Will thought 353 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: that Jorge and I had a chemistry together and a 354 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,439 Speaker 1: knack for explaining this stuff and decided to give us 355 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: a chance. But you might also wonder, and many people 356 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: have asked me this, what made me want to do this? 357 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: I mean, I already had a more than full time 358 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: job as a physicist and have young kids at home, 359 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: and most academics are already like drowning in work and emails. 360 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: Why take on this other new thing? So when we 361 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: come back from the break, we'll talk about that, and 362 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: we'll hear from other physicists in the podcast space. And 363 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 1: why they do it, and I'll take you through how 364 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: we go from idea to episode twice a week in 365 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: a way that doesn't break my calendar or ruin my marriage. Okay, 366 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: we're back with our special behind the scenes episode or 367 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,479 Speaker 1: the podcast to give you a glimpse into the origin 368 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: of the show and how it's put together. But I 369 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 1: haven't told you yet. Probably the most important thing to me, 370 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: at least, which is why I do the show. It 371 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: wasn't because I liked talking science with the Jorge, though 372 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: of course I do, or because it was a fun 373 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: new adventure, which it was, Or because I might make 374 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: some cash, though I have nothing against cash. Deep down, 375 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: It's really because I just wanted to share my joy 376 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: with you all. There are these moments when you study 377 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 1: physics that an idea clicks in your mind and you're 378 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: just shaken with the power of it. A veal is 379 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: pulled back and you have a new view of the 380 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: entire universe. You thought it worked like this, but then 381 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: it turns out you were looking at it backwards or 382 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: upside down, or missing ninety five percent of the picture, 383 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: or trying to read it in the wrong language. And 384 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,439 Speaker 1: when you see it the right way, it connects in 385 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: this beautiful way that makes you want to like shout 386 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: with joy and whisper in reverence. At the same time. 387 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:19,200 Speaker 1: I'm not personally a very religious person, but those moments 388 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: of deep understanding, those are the most spiritual moments of 389 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: my life. When I feel like I've glimpsed something deeply true, 390 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,880 Speaker 1: I've seen behind the scenes. You know, when you realize, oh, 391 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,160 Speaker 1: light is a wiggle in these fields, or oh, electricity 392 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,920 Speaker 1: and magnetism is just one big idea clicks together, or wow, 393 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: group theory describes a relationship between the particles. Or wow, 394 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 1: forces only exist to preserve the gage symmetries of that 395 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: group theory, or oh, our laws only apply to the 396 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: current phase of the universe. Or wow, there isn't one 397 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: single clock for the universe, there are infinite series of clocks, 398 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,359 Speaker 1: a new single history of events. Or oh, my gosh, 399 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 1: the speed limit of the universe comes naturally from this 400 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: new way of thinking about space. All of these moments 401 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: which I had as I was learning physics were so delicious, 402 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: and I wanted to share those because they're wonderful. They're 403 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: like drinks from the cup of the universe oracle, and 404 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: I felt like, there's a lot of great science communication 405 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: out there, but this wasn't out there yet. I didn't 406 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: find these moments that sheer joy, that deep understanding in 407 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: the pop side books I read, or in the podcast 408 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: that I listened to. And there are a lot of 409 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: great podcasts and books out there, but none were doing 410 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: what I thought needed to be done and saying it 411 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: in the way that I thought it should be said. 412 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: I've heard once that startup founders are often people who 413 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: are annoyed that nobody's doing something the right way, so 414 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: they feel this deep need to start a business to 415 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: do it right. And frankly, that's kind of how I felt. 416 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,359 Speaker 1: I wanted to share these moments in physics and do 417 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: it in a deep way, one that doesn't gloss over 418 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: with the same tired pop side analogies and doesn't say, 419 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: trust me, the math works, but I can't explain it 420 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: any further. I wanted to really communicate the intuitive understanding 421 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: that the math, and I also felt a little bit 422 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: like it was part of my job. I mean, I'm 423 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,960 Speaker 1: a professor at a public university, and I wanted to 424 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: help share this joy with the public, not just with 425 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: the students who happened to end up in my classroom. 426 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: This is something that belongs to everyone, and I hope 427 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: that my way of talking and thinking about it might 428 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 1: click with someone out there and encourage their curiosity or 429 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: inspire them to study physics and help humanity crack this 430 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: giant puzzle we call the universe. The way Will had 431 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: been inspired by previous generations of science communications. It didn't 432 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: turn him into a physicist, but it motivated him to 433 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: put money and resources behind another educational physics podcast. So yeah, 434 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:40,879 Speaker 1: it was going to take some time, and you'll hear 435 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:42,399 Speaker 1: in a bit about how we try to run a 436 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 1: streamlined operation. But for me, the fundamental motivation was that 437 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,399 Speaker 1: I feel super lucky to get to do these things 438 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 1: for a living, and I wanted to connect with people 439 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: out there whose lives took other paths but still felt 440 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: a yearning to understand and wanted more of that joy 441 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: of deep connection with the universe. To understand whether this 442 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: was like a typical feeling or podcast origin story. I 443 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,680 Speaker 1: reached out to some fellow science podcasters to ask them 444 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: about why and how they put their podcast together and 445 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 1: how they got started. Here's Sean Carroll, well known author 446 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,400 Speaker 1: and podcaster. Well, actually, let me let him introduce himself. 447 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 4: I'm just a person trying to understand how the universe 448 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,879 Speaker 4: works in various ways and trying to share whatever I 449 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 4: figure out with other people. So my title is hilarious. 450 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 4: My official title is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at 451 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 4: Johns Hopkins University and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. 452 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 4: So that's a mouthful and it captures the fact that 453 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 4: here at Johns Hopkins I serve both as a physicist 454 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 4: and a philosopher, and at Santa Fe I can think 455 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 4: about complexity in the wider world. And of course, in 456 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 4: addition to my day job as a professor and researcher, 457 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 4: I also write books and give talks, and I have 458 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 4: a podcast called Mindscape. 459 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: I also talked to Dan Hooper and Shalma Wegsman, hosts 460 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: of Why This Universe, another of my favorite podcasts. 461 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 5: I'm Shalma. I'm one of us two co hosts of 462 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,960 Speaker 5: Why This Universe, and I also edit and produce it. 463 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 5: And so I guess a little bit about me. My 464 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 5: day job right now is actually I work in video games. 465 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 5: My backgrounds and physics obviously, I have a master as 466 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,360 Speaker 5: I started my PhD, but I left academia to pursue 467 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 5: some like more media related interests of mine. 468 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:32,399 Speaker 6: I'm Dan Hooper. I have a research position at the 469 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 6: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, so this is kind of the 470 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 6: US premiere particle physics lab. And I also have a 471 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 6: professorship at the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at University 472 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 6: of Chicago. So I teach some classes, I advise grad 473 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 6: students that sort of thing, and generally just do research 474 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 6: on kind of the interface of particle physics in cosmology, 475 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 6: so some hey energy astrophysics, some early universe stuff. Dark 476 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 6: matter is kind of the thing I'm most known for. 477 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 6: Those are the sorts of things that keep me up 478 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 6: at night. 479 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 1: So then I asked John why he spends his very 480 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: valuable time on a podcast. 481 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 4: Anytime that someone asks why I do something, the honest 482 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 4: answer is because I think it's fun, unless it's something 483 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 4: that I just literally need to do for other obligation purposes. 484 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 4: So when I wrote a book of mine called The 485 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 4: Big Picture back in twenty sixteen, it was about many 486 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,239 Speaker 4: different topics, including philosophy and neuroscience and biology, and I 487 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 4: got to, you know, email big names in different fields 488 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 4: and say hey, could we chat. I'm writing a book. 489 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 4: You know, the book was sort of a license to 490 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 4: get me into their offices and have them give me 491 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 4: some time. And then the book went away. I finished 492 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 4: with it, and I no longer had a reason to 493 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 4: call people up and talk to them. And so someone 494 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 4: pointed out that if I had a podcast, I could 495 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 4: do that, And so really, for me, my benefit of 496 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 4: the podcast is that I get to talk to a 497 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 4: bunch of people who are very smart and interesting in 498 00:24:58,440 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 4: very different fields. 499 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,120 Speaker 5: Yours, Dan and shelma answering the same question, I mean, 500 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 5: I love it as a way to keep my foot 501 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 5: in the physics store, in the physics world, you know, 502 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 5: stay really like on top of physics. Yeah. 503 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 6: So, I mean, I'm always been a person who has 504 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 6: like their main, you know, day job, and then a 505 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 6: bunch of side projects. I'm a side project guy. So 506 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,880 Speaker 6: in physics that might be writing books, and I've written several. 507 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 6: I'm in the process of finishing a graduate level textbook 508 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 6: now that's my current side project. I play music, so 509 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 6: I'm always in a band or two and blank shows 510 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 6: and working on that. And some years ago, like I 511 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 6: just was a big consumer of podcasts. 512 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: I listened to a lot of them. 513 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 6: And I thought there was space in the podcast you know, 514 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,800 Speaker 6: ecosystem for something different in the physics science area. 515 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,480 Speaker 1: I also asked Katie Golden, who you know as a 516 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: frequent guest host on this podcast, how she got into podcasting. 517 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 7: Actually, we had no idea I would was going to 518 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 7: get into podcasting. I had always kind of secretly wanted to. 519 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 7: When I started listening to podcasts, it just seemed like 520 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 7: so fun to have these kinds of conversations. So I 521 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 7: got into comedy educational writing for a online magazine called Cracked, 522 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,800 Speaker 7: and then after that I kind of just like got 523 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 7: approach to come up with an idea for a podcast. 524 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: Because you're a funny person, because. 525 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 7: You're yeah, I mean it's because I kept harassing people 526 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 7: until no. 527 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 8: I yeah. 528 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 7: Actually, well, actually the whole way I got started in 529 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 7: comedy writing was a Twitter account, which sounds kind of lame. 530 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: Oh yes, the well born Twitter bird parody, Acount two 531 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,400 Speaker 1: podcast pipeline exactly exactly. 532 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 7: It's actually it's a very bizarre path one that I 533 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 7: I It was not like a grand scheme or a 534 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,880 Speaker 7: grand plan. I never planned at all. It was just hey, 535 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,400 Speaker 7: I like this thing, and hey I like that thing, 536 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 7: much like a small bird getting distracted by shiny objects. 537 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: Well, you know, I actually did some research for this 538 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: interview because you and I actually know a few people 539 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:18,640 Speaker 1: randomly in common. 540 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 7: Oh really. 541 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,360 Speaker 1: I spoke to somebody who went to college with you. 542 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: What and she said, quote, Katie seemed very quiet in college, 543 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: so I was sort of surprised when she became a podcaster. 544 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 2: She's great, who said this? 545 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: This is my friend Jane Baldwin was a professor here 546 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: at UC Irvine. 547 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:37,920 Speaker 7: I know Jane Baldwin. 548 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 4: What the heck? 549 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 7: I was a bridesmaid with her. 550 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 9: What the heck? 551 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 7: I am? Wow, this is I was not expecting to 552 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 7: like have basically a Jerry Springer moment here. 553 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,159 Speaker 1: And I asked Sean what keeps him going after several 554 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: years of podcasting? 555 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 4: I have a lot of support I got I have 556 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 4: both as and you know, Patreon supporters, and so now 557 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 4: I get paid to do the podcast. And so I 558 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 4: say this as a joke, but it's totally true, Like 559 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,400 Speaker 4: the money that comes through to there keeps me going 560 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 4: at the podcast. Like I could much more easily give 561 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 4: it up if I just you know, I like doing it, 562 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 4: so I'm not trying to imply that i want to 563 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 4: give it up. But sometimes it's work and I have 564 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 4: other things to do. 565 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: And yeah, it's a good point. We all have other 566 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: things to do. Sean and Dan, like me, are also 567 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: full time physicists. I personally run a research group of 568 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: around twelve thirteen people, meaning I'm responsible for finding funding 569 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: for them and leading their research and guiding their careers. 570 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: And we're pretty productive little group. We put out ten 571 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: to twelve papers every year. Top of that, I teach 572 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: three classes here at u SEE Irvine, which is no 573 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: small time commitment. And you might have heard that Jorge 574 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: and I were also creating and launching a public television 575 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: science show during this time. So when we were thinking 576 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: about taking this on, I wanted to make sure that 577 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: I could do it while managing everything else going on. 578 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: For me, that meant leaning heavily on what we learned 579 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: during our book talk, which means winging it. The podcast 580 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: was going to have to be unscripted, relying on us 581 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: to say interesting things in the moment based on a 582 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: very rough outline, and relying on our editor Corey to 583 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: clean it up and make it all sound good. You'll 584 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: hear from him in a minute what that's like and 585 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: how hard it is. I think that this makes our 586 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: podcast different from a lot of others that you might 587 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: listen to this American Life Radio lab. Most of these 588 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: podcasts are scripted. They write down what they're going to say. 589 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: Here's a conversation I had with Joel Werner, supervising producer 590 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: on the very well produced podcast Science Versus. So thanks 591 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,840 Speaker 1: very much for having a chat with me. First, I 592 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: want to ask you to introduce yourself. What are your titles, 593 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: what's your background? How do you describe yourself? 594 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 10: Yeah, thanks for having me on the show. My name's 595 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 10: Joel Werner. I'm a science journalist. I've been a science 596 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 10: journalist for like a long time now. 597 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: Over a decade. 598 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 10: I'm the supervising producer at Science Versus. And before that 599 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 10: I worked at the ABC, the Australian ABC, SO which 600 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 10: is like the BBC for the bottom side of the world, 601 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 10: not like the ABC in America. 602 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: There's no top side and bottom side. This is true. 603 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 10: As soon as I came out of my mouth, I 604 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 10: was like, Wow, this is bait tour to someone like you. 605 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 1: So you're a science journalist at heart. How did you 606 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: get into podcasting and how did you end up working 607 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: on Science Versus? 608 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 10: Just earlier this year, joined Wendy and the team at 609 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 10: Science Versus, which is as Science Versus has been one 610 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 10: of my favorite podcasts for a long time. So yeah, 611 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 10: big dream to come and work with that team. 612 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: Well, that's so exciting when people get to like live 613 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 1: their dreams. So tell us about the team there, because 614 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: our podcast has a very small team. It's basically just 615 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: a couple of hosts and editor and our producers don't 616 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: like get very involved in the creative stuff. The sense 617 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 1: just from looking at your website you have a much 618 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: more extensive team over there. How big is what are 619 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: the various roles? How does that all work? 620 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 10: Yeah, it's a bigger team than I've ever worked one 621 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 10: before to make a show. So Wendy Zuckerman, she created 622 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 10: the show, she's the executive producer, she's the host, she's 623 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 10: our north star. You know, I feel like Wendy lives 624 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 10: and breathes Science Versus and really kind of understands the 625 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 10: program brief like so deeply, which is really great coming 626 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 10: onto a show. It's wonderful to have someone who just 627 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 10: understands the DNA of that show like Wendy does. Blithe 628 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 10: Terrell is our editor, so blithe so has that sort 629 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 10: of like really zoomed out editorial eye over literally everything 630 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 10: to do with the show. She's kind of like the 631 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 10: stop gap for any of those tricky editorial moments, and 632 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 10: she just also like kind of is the glue that 633 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 10: holds the team together. 634 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: What's a tricky editorial moment? Ah, good question. 635 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 10: Let me think about one from my episode. Okay, So 636 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 10: I did an episode about AI and in a storyline 637 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 10: that didn't actually end up making it to air, there 638 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 10: was a question about whether I could make one of 639 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 10: my sources anonymous, so all of that kind of stuff. 640 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 10: Then there's a team of producers. So, like I said, 641 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 10: I'm the supervising producer. We have a couple of senior producers, 642 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 10: Merril Horn and Rose Rimmler. Michelle Dang is a producer, 643 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 10: and then we have an We've had an intern Ari 644 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 10: Nadowitz as well. So yeah, like kind of a big 645 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 10: production team as well. And usually, like producers, Wendy and 646 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 10: the producers each kind of lead an episode. 647 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: So tell us about how an episode comes together. I 648 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 1: was listening to the startup podcast about how Gimlet Media 649 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 1: came together, and there's a moment there where Bloomberg calls 650 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: Gimlet Media shows quote obsessively crafted and highly produced. Tell 651 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: us what that means. 652 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 10: Yeah, that's true, that's very true. So like from yeah, 653 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 10: like how the sausage is made right, Like, let's start 654 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 10: start at the beginning of the production line. So we're 655 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,360 Speaker 10: kind of in that moment now, Like we're in between 656 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 10: seasons at the moment, so everyone's working on pitches for 657 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 10: the new season, and so that's a lot of firstly, 658 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 10: like idea generation, Like I'm sure all of the producers, 659 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 10: like I have a list, I have a kind of 660 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 10: rolling Google doc of story ideas that I want to cover, 661 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,479 Speaker 10: and I'm sure all the producers have something similar. And 662 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 10: so then it's kind of like picking something to focus on. 663 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 10: It might be like there's something in the zeitgeist, there's 664 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 10: something happening now as there is, and you're choosing it. 665 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 10: There's some really interesting research choosing that going and chatting 666 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 10: to a bunch of people. So I'm working on a 667 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 10: story idea at the moment, I probably emailed about like 668 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 10: I don't know, like twenty ish people yesterday, I'm lining 669 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 10: up a whole bunch of conversations over the next few weeks, 670 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 10: like doing all of those background chats to develop a pitch. 671 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 11: Then we pitched that idea to the team. The pitch 672 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 11: either gets. 673 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 10: Like greenlit, that sounds great, go ahead, it gets rejected 674 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 10: we don't like the idea for this reason, go and 675 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 10: find another idea, or there's an amble light as well, 676 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 10: where it's like, yeah, we think this could work, but 677 00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:12,359 Speaker 10: like you might need to do X, Y and Z 678 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 10: to get it across the line. 679 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,280 Speaker 1: So does that mean that you're doing a whole bunch 680 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,360 Speaker 1: of interviews before you even know what story you're telling. 681 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,719 Speaker 1: You're just like going out there and doing basic journalism 682 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,920 Speaker 1: like what's going on here? Looking for a story to emerge. 683 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 10: Yeap, doing background interviews like reading papers, like reading lots 684 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:29,360 Speaker 10: and lots of papers. 685 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 1: And are you recording those background interviews? Do they ever 686 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:32,799 Speaker 1: end up in the actual show? 687 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:34,719 Speaker 12: Like not for me. 688 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,240 Speaker 10: I'm sure there have been instances where a background interview 689 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 10: has ended up in the show, But for like the 690 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 10: AI episode I did last season, I interviewed up with 691 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 10: the twenty people on background, and then I probably did 692 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 10: formal interviews with about five of those people, and about 693 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,399 Speaker 10: three of those interviews made it into the show, So 694 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 10: there's a lot of a lot of work going on 695 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 10: behind the scenes. It's the classic you know, like the 696 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,720 Speaker 10: dark top of the water looks very calm, but underneath 697 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,920 Speaker 10: the water the lexa, the Lexa swimming frantically. 698 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 1: So does that mean that you've done all the research 699 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: to get sort of the rough outline of the story 700 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: and then you do the sort of final interviews those interviews. 701 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,600 Speaker 1: Are you trying to get people to say the things 702 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: you need them to say to tell the story you 703 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:19,799 Speaker 1: want to say, or are you still doing some. 704 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 10: Exploration, like a bit of both, a bit of both, 705 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 10: Like usually by that stage, well you know the story 706 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 10: that got green with I'm terribly bad at phishing in interviews, 707 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 10: so I'm a big tangent explorer, and if there's any 708 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 10: I'll follow any loose thread and just pull and pull 709 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 10: and pull in any interview. So it's about getting that 710 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,920 Speaker 10: information on tape, But it's also about, like, especially for 711 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 10: a show like Science Versus, it's trying to get those 712 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 10: moments captured on tape. So more than information, it's about 713 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:57,399 Speaker 10: like trying to have a moment that's funny or enlightening 714 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 10: or meaningful or like something that one of those we 715 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 10: call them like lean in moments, Right, So you're trying 716 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 10: to kind of like have those very human moments that 717 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 10: as a listener to podcast, you're like, oh wow, okay, 718 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 10: this is getting juicy. Now I want to know what's 719 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:12,919 Speaker 10: going on. And so we're trying to trying to get 720 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,240 Speaker 10: those moments on tape, because that's the thing you can't, 721 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 10: Like we can go and read a paper and we 722 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 10: can write a few lines that fill in a factory 723 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 10: point that we need, but you can't manufacture those like 724 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 10: kind of very human moments that you have in interviews. 725 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: And then the episode itself is structured with all these interviews, 726 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: but then there's a lot of narration. Wendy does some 727 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:35,560 Speaker 1: you know, talking to the audience. Is that part scripted? 728 00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:37,960 Speaker 1: Is that written before she reads it? Does she ever 729 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:38,760 Speaker 1: go off script? 730 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 13: Yeah? 731 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,200 Speaker 10: So basically, like once we've done the interviews, we have 732 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,879 Speaker 10: like hours and hours of tape, we go and edit 733 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,799 Speaker 10: that tape and structure it out in like how we 734 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,360 Speaker 10: think the interview is going to go in the past, 735 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 10: how it happened, was that like Wendy and the producer 736 00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 10: would then write script for her to read. But this season, 737 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 10: we've changed the way that we work and we're now 738 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 10: doing all of that in conversation. So it's not like 739 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 10: it's not scripted scripted, it's like, we'll have dot points, 740 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:07,840 Speaker 10: we'll go, Okay, this is what we want to achieve 741 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,359 Speaker 10: in this section. But then like you and I are 742 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 10: speaking now without a script. Sorry to break the illusion 743 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 10: for anyone listening that this isn't heavily scripted, but yeah, 744 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 10: like and then we'll we'll go through and we'll we'll 745 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,839 Speaker 10: like have that conversation and again trying to capture those 746 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:27,799 Speaker 10: really human moments. 747 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,200 Speaker 1: Wow, and so you boil down a huge amount of 748 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: information into these fairly compact episodes. Well, it's great to 749 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: hear that the climate of podcasting is moving towards conversation 750 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: because we can't do scripted podcasts. We don't have the time, 751 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,080 Speaker 1: and we're also not very good at reading scripts. I mean, 752 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: nobody could write the kind of terrible jokes that we 753 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 1: make anyway. They only work if they're spontaneous. Tell me 754 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,359 Speaker 1: about the process of vetting the episodes, because you've talked 755 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: to a bunch of experts and then you boil it 756 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,480 Speaker 1: down and we all know that like the process of 757 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: explaining science in general public involves, you know, simplifications and approximation. 758 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:02,840 Speaker 1: Do you then go and make sure that your final 759 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,480 Speaker 1: output doesn't make the experts queasy, you send it back 760 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: out to them and ask them for opinions. 761 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 10: I mean, I think as a science journalist, like the 762 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:16,440 Speaker 10: biggest strength of Science Versus is just the depth of 763 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 10: research that the show engages in. So like everywhere I've 764 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 10: worked has always had quite rigorous fact checking, Like you 765 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,080 Speaker 10: kind of don't put anything out with at least getting 766 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,760 Speaker 10: you know, another expert in the field, an independent expert 767 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,319 Speaker 10: to vet the person that you're talking to and to 768 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,479 Speaker 10: kind of like you might give someone a call and go, look, 769 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,640 Speaker 10: these ideas aren't super fringy, are they, you know, just 770 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 10: to kind of look for those red flags. But for 771 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 10: Science Versus, Like, I mean, there's a citation count at 772 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 10: the end of each episode, we're routinely referencing like hundreds 773 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:53,839 Speaker 10: of research papers literally everything in the show, Like as 774 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 10: we're building the script where footnoting and you can see 775 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 10: these scripts. There's a link to the transcripts in the 776 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,120 Speaker 10: show notes of each episode and so you can go 777 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,439 Speaker 10: through and see like literally every point we make has 778 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,440 Speaker 10: to be backed up by some piece of research. And 779 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 10: then we have an independent fact checker for each episode 780 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 10: as well, So they come on for the episode for 781 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 10: a week. They're not connected to the team, they don't like, 782 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 10: you know, they're not part of the kind of production process. 783 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 10: So they come in cold and they're a professional fact checker. 784 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,919 Speaker 10: So they go through the script and they look at 785 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:31,400 Speaker 10: the referencing, and they ask really hard questions and they 786 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 10: put they push us to be kind of really definitive 787 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 10: about everything that we're saying and how we're supporting it 788 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 10: and and yeah, like I said, it's the thing that 789 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,080 Speaker 10: Science Versus does that no other show I've worked on, 790 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 10: Like I've worked on a bunch of shows, and like 791 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,560 Speaker 10: nothing else has ever come to the level of fact 792 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:51,959 Speaker 10: checking that this show does. And yeah, I'm really proud 793 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 10: to be part of it now because it's you know, 794 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,759 Speaker 10: I think it does that thing that that science does 795 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,360 Speaker 10: so well. It kind of brings in evidence base to 796 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:05,439 Speaker 10: the thing you're trying to explain to the world. And yeah, yeah, 797 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,359 Speaker 10: I think this show does it really well. 798 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:11,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow, congratulations, that's an amazing process. It sounds like 799 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 1: it's more deeply vetted than probably a lot of the 800 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:14,280 Speaker 1: papers you're relying. 801 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,359 Speaker 10: I was joking to my wife, I was saying, like, wow, 802 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,279 Speaker 10: every episode feels like a litter review fasis. I'm like, 803 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 10: should we just go and get a pitchd now. 804 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: Well, thanks for all the work that you do and 805 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,200 Speaker 1: for Science Versus and for taking some time to talk 806 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:33,719 Speaker 1: to me. It's been very educational. 807 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 10: Look, thank you for your podcast as well. I think 808 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 10: the more science podcasts we have in the world the better. 809 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 10: And yeah, it's a real pleasure to come and chat 810 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:41,040 Speaker 10: to you today. 811 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,320 Speaker 1: Wonderful. Thank you. So, as you heard from that conversation, 812 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 1: they have a big team. They do huge amounts of 813 00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: background research and piece the episode together from an enormous 814 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,120 Speaker 1: number of hours and hours of conversation. But we can't 815 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 1: do that on this show. We just don't have the 816 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:58,200 Speaker 1: staff or frankly, the free time. We're literally just recording 817 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: two guys having a conversation about science that I roughly 818 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: sketched out, and then leaning heavily on our editor to 819 00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:07,000 Speaker 1: clean it up and pull it together. Mindscape, Sean Carroll's 820 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: podcast is even more extreme. Sean told me he's just 821 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,000 Speaker 1: a team of one. He does it all, from research 822 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,800 Speaker 1: to editing. Here's Sean talking about how an episode comes together. 823 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 4: Forgot the part where I do research. You know, sometimes 824 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,920 Speaker 4: I don't need to when I'm talking to someone who 825 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 4: is in my field and I can just talk with them. 826 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,359 Speaker 4: But if I'm talking to someone in economics or neuroscience, 827 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,600 Speaker 4: I need to read their book or whatever. Hopefully that 828 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,840 Speaker 4: doesn't take too long. If it's too much, then and 829 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,200 Speaker 4: I won't have them on in the first place, and 830 00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 4: then I edited together. It's usually not that much. I'm 831 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,560 Speaker 4: not even listening, honestly to the whole podcast. I just 832 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 4: don't have time or patients to do that. But I 833 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:45,240 Speaker 4: will listen to enough of it to get a feeling 834 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:46,280 Speaker 4: for the audio quality. 835 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,120 Speaker 1: So Sean just records natural conversations and edits them together. 836 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: Dan and Shawma from Why This Universe have a slightly 837 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: more involved production process. 838 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,040 Speaker 6: In my desk drawer my home office, I have a 839 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,960 Speaker 6: list of like maybe future Why This Universe episodes from 840 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 6: these brainstorming sessions. But then like I'll pick one of 841 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,279 Speaker 6: them and I'll spend a week or two kind of 842 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,279 Speaker 6: researching it. Some of these things I already know a 843 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,799 Speaker 6: lot about and like researching it really is just kind 844 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 6: of like writing down my thoughts and like I put 845 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,359 Speaker 6: it down, like just type a bunch of things down 846 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,400 Speaker 6: in a word file, and I kind of use that 847 00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:19,920 Speaker 6: as notes. 848 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 5: Yeah, often I'm like asking questions. I'm trying to kind 849 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:27,399 Speaker 5: of predict what people's reactions will be, where confusions will 850 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 5: come up. You know, sometimes we'll say something and I'm like, wait, 851 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:34,359 Speaker 5: that like might confuse people based on things we've said 852 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 5: in the past, you know, things like that, And then 853 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:39,959 Speaker 5: I we like discuss ways to clarify things, add things. 854 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,400 Speaker 5: I like give myself notes so often I'm the parts 855 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 5: that I add in. I often add in after this conversations. 856 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:49,440 Speaker 1: So now you've heard a little bit about the production 857 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 1: process on other podcasts, from the one man show of 858 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,120 Speaker 1: Mindscape to the small team of Why This Universe and 859 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 1: the large team at Science Versus. So now let's get 860 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,680 Speaker 1: into the nitty gritty of how an episode of Daniel 861 00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,879 Speaker 1: and Jorge Explain the Universe is made. First, I find 862 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,600 Speaker 1: a topic. I have this file on my computer which 863 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 1: is just a raw list of ideas. Every time I 864 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:11,440 Speaker 1: get a flash of inspiration or hear about a new 865 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: cool result, or get a suggestion from a listener, or 866 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: think about a moment when I was a student where 867 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:18,719 Speaker 1: understanding you just click together and I feel like I 868 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,719 Speaker 1: learned something deep about the universe. They just go on 869 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,880 Speaker 1: the raw ideal list. I probably add like five ideas 870 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,040 Speaker 1: every week, but not everything on that raw list makes 871 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:29,840 Speaker 1: it out of the show. Then at the start of 872 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:31,919 Speaker 1: each week, I look through the list and I pick 873 00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:35,440 Speaker 1: three to go into the official rotation. It just depends on, 874 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:37,720 Speaker 1: you know, what I'm in the mood to talk about, 875 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,240 Speaker 1: or think about or feel inspired to explain. So, for example, 876 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:43,439 Speaker 1: this week, the three on the top of the raw 877 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:48,120 Speaker 1: pile were these questions one what is a maser? Two? 878 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:53,799 Speaker 1: How were neutrinos discovered? And three is Helion's fusion technology realistic? 879 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,600 Speaker 1: And honestly, I don't even remember putting those questions on 880 00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,080 Speaker 1: the list, but they sounded good to me, so they 881 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: went into the back of the rotation. The next step 882 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: is to get the listener feedback. This is one of 883 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 1: my favorite parts of the podcast. Early on, I just 884 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 1: wanted to get a feeling for what the general public 885 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:11,960 Speaker 1: might know about a particular topic and might want to 886 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,279 Speaker 1: hear about, so that I could pitch the show at 887 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: the right level, make sure I didn't go too shallow 888 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: or too deep. So at first I was just walking 889 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,239 Speaker 1: around campus here you see Irvin and asking people the 890 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:24,319 Speaker 1: question of the episode, to see what they said and 891 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,200 Speaker 1: what they knew, you know. The responses that were always 892 00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,560 Speaker 1: wonderful to listen to and often way off, but they 893 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:34,480 Speaker 1: were always entertaining, and listeners really responded to this segment. 894 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: A few wrote in to say that they wish they 895 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:38,799 Speaker 1: were on campus when I was walking around so they 896 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,760 Speaker 1: could get a chance, And so I started occasionally including 897 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:45,600 Speaker 1: listener responses via email. Then, of course the pandemic hit 898 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:48,400 Speaker 1: and campus and everything else closed down, and so I 899 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,520 Speaker 1: reached out to a bunch of listeners over email to 900 00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:53,600 Speaker 1: invite them to participate, and started to solicit volunteers on 901 00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:57,120 Speaker 1: the podcast, and suddenly we were hearing from people all 902 00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: over the world. I loved it. It was like a 903 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,040 Speaker 1: little glimp send to all of these people's lives, people 904 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:05,160 Speaker 1: who are listening to our podcast and wanting to talk 905 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:07,520 Speaker 1: back to us a little bit. And now, of course, 906 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,320 Speaker 1: you see Irvine is open again. But frankly, I prefer 907 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,880 Speaker 1: to be pulling our listeners because I love that it 908 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:16,080 Speaker 1: makes the podcast be too directional. I get to hear 909 00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:17,960 Speaker 1: back from you, and you all get to hear a 910 00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:20,280 Speaker 1: little bit from each other. So I send the questions 911 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,319 Speaker 1: out to whoever volunteers that week, but the questions I'm 912 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,080 Speaker 1: asking people one week won't appear on the show for 913 00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,720 Speaker 1: months and months. Sometimes listeners respond within a day, sometimes 914 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:31,560 Speaker 1: they take weeks or months to get back to me. 915 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,200 Speaker 1: And so while listeners feedback is trickling in for an 916 00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:37,520 Speaker 1: episode on the back of the rotation, I start working 917 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,960 Speaker 1: on episodes to record that week, Taking two episodes from 918 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 1: the front of the rotation. The episodes we're going to 919 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,600 Speaker 1: record that week join the back of the list many 920 00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 1: many weeks ago, so I already have listener comments to 921 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 1: help me shape those episodes. The number of topics currently 922 00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,440 Speaker 1: in the rotation between the front where episodes are being 923 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: recorded in the back, where new episodes are being added 924 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:59,360 Speaker 1: and listener are being queried, is about one hundred episodes. 925 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,800 Speaker 1: That's the year's worth of episodes I already have roughly 926 00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:05,080 Speaker 1: planned out. I need that kind of buffer in case 927 00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:07,880 Speaker 1: something else happens in my life that demands all my attention, 928 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,080 Speaker 1: because I never want to be scrambling to come up 929 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,440 Speaker 1: with episode ideas. So this week, at the very front 930 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 1: of the rotation are these questions, one why do moving 931 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: objects look shorter? And two how do we measure the 932 00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,440 Speaker 1: mass of the Higgs? The next step for me is 933 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,200 Speaker 1: to write an outline. This is like two pages, and 934 00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,759 Speaker 1: I usually organize it in a few sections, starting with 935 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:30,480 Speaker 1: like what is the thing we're talking about? And then 936 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:33,359 Speaker 1: how does it work? And ending with what does it mean? 937 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:35,640 Speaker 1: But the outline is not a script at all. It's 938 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:37,600 Speaker 1: just a few bullet points with what I think are 939 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:41,120 Speaker 1: the most interesting bits, some basic science explainer. And when 940 00:46:41,160 --> 00:46:43,959 Speaker 1: I'm preparing an episode, the part that I think most 941 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,360 Speaker 1: about is not the physics, not like how does it work? 942 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:49,920 Speaker 1: But how to explain it? Try to think about the 943 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:54,000 Speaker 1: analogies I'll use to convey these ideas. I'll try to 944 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,360 Speaker 1: think about how to walk people through so the idea 945 00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: is click together in their minds and really make sense. 946 00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:02,160 Speaker 1: And then I try to anticipate what Orge might ask, 947 00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:05,359 Speaker 1: what might be confusing or need another analogy to back 948 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:07,279 Speaker 1: it up. At this point, after so many years of 949 00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 1: talking to him, I have something like a little mini 950 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:13,479 Speaker 1: simulated hooge in my brain, and I ask simulated Jorge 951 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,520 Speaker 1: to suggest what real Hogey might ask me, so I 952 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,360 Speaker 1: can try to prepare myself, and then I think about 953 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:22,200 Speaker 1: ways to answer those questions without just saying, look, it's 954 00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:24,920 Speaker 1: in the math, or trust me. Try to think of 955 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:28,520 Speaker 1: ways to really convey those ideas. Because to explain something 956 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:31,520 Speaker 1: in a clear way that's simple and understandable, you have 957 00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,879 Speaker 1: to understand it like two or three or four, five 958 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:36,440 Speaker 1: levels deeper. So you can come up with analogies that 959 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:40,160 Speaker 1: capture that intuitive understanding, but don't oversimplify it and don't 960 00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,719 Speaker 1: mislead anybody. Preparing the outline isn't always a lot of work. 961 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:45,440 Speaker 1: Sometimes I can sit down and write it down in 962 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,120 Speaker 1: ten minutes. If it's something I know back to front, 963 00:47:48,719 --> 00:47:51,319 Speaker 1: like the Higgs mass episode, I know all about how 964 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:53,919 Speaker 1: we measure the massive particles. I think about it every day. 965 00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,520 Speaker 1: I'm deeply engaged in it, so that just took a 966 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:57,040 Speaker 1: few minutes. 967 00:47:57,120 --> 00:47:57,359 Speaker 8: Really. 968 00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,719 Speaker 1: Sometimes if an episode is more common plex and it's 969 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:02,600 Speaker 1: on a topic that I don't think about every day, 970 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,920 Speaker 1: like when we talked about spinning black holes or black 971 00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 1: holes with electric charges, then I'll go and talk to 972 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:10,960 Speaker 1: somebody in my department here at you see Irvine, who 973 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,120 Speaker 1: knows more about it, and a frequent target of my 974 00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:16,280 Speaker 1: questions is my colleague Arvind, who knows a lot about 975 00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:18,879 Speaker 1: black holes in general relativity. But I also walk down 976 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:21,360 Speaker 1: the hall and talk to condensed matter experts when we 977 00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:25,160 Speaker 1: talk about things like band gaps and superconductors and semiconductors, 978 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:27,879 Speaker 1: and that part is super fun for me because I'm 979 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,279 Speaker 1: interested in all these areas of physics, and I haven't 980 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,479 Speaker 1: always had an opportunity or an excuse to dig into them, 981 00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:35,239 Speaker 1: so it's really a pleasure to carve out a little 982 00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:37,440 Speaker 1: bit of time to read some papers on these other 983 00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,759 Speaker 1: topics and educate myself. For me, the hardest part of 984 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:44,839 Speaker 1: preparing an episode is the cold open, those first few 985 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,680 Speaker 1: moments of the podcast where we introduce a topic and 986 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:50,840 Speaker 1: make a couple of jokes. That's the only scripted part 987 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,480 Speaker 1: of the podcast, and that's why it's so hard. Coming 988 00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:55,719 Speaker 1: up with a new, silly way to start the podcast 989 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 1: after hundreds of episodes can really be a challenge, and 990 00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:01,400 Speaker 1: so for me, it's always the last part of the 991 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,080 Speaker 1: outline I write. So I prepared the outline and I 992 00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:06,400 Speaker 1: send it to Jorge or to Katie or to Kelly 993 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,799 Speaker 1: the night before we record, and you'll hear from them 994 00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:11,520 Speaker 1: in a minute about how they prepare and their process 995 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,880 Speaker 1: and experience. Then it's time to record an episode. Jorge 996 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,919 Speaker 1: lives in Pasadena, Katie lives in Italy, and Kelly lives 997 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:21,760 Speaker 1: in Virginia, so we're never sitting together in the same room. Instead, 998 00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:23,600 Speaker 1: I call them up when we have a conversation, and 999 00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:27,000 Speaker 1: we each record our audio locally personally. My setup is 1000 00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:30,120 Speaker 1: a nice microphone, the Sure SM seven B, which I'm 1001 00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:33,120 Speaker 1: told is the same microphone that Michael Jackson used to 1002 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:36,880 Speaker 1: record Thriller, Not of course the same microphone, but the 1003 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,360 Speaker 1: same model. During the pandemic, I used to record at 1004 00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,360 Speaker 1: home in my closet, but now record here in my 1005 00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:44,719 Speaker 1: office at UC Irvine. So we sit down and we 1006 00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:47,080 Speaker 1: start recording, and the outline is there to give the 1007 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,600 Speaker 1: other host an idea of where I wanted to go. 1008 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,319 Speaker 1: But we never feel limited by it. Sometimes we only 1009 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,400 Speaker 1: get halfway through it because we spend most of the 1010 00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:57,000 Speaker 1: episode on the what is it part or backing up 1011 00:49:57,040 --> 00:50:00,640 Speaker 1: to explain something subtle and basic but really important. And 1012 00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:02,880 Speaker 1: you know, I love that my co hosts do this, 1013 00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:05,719 Speaker 1: that they take us off the outline when something needs 1014 00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,840 Speaker 1: to be explained, because I feel like often they're standing 1015 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:11,479 Speaker 1: in for the audience, making sure to ask a question 1016 00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: when I haven't been clear enough, or when something seems 1017 00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:15,640 Speaker 1: obvious to me as a physicist but really needs a 1018 00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:18,400 Speaker 1: few more dots to connect in the minds of listeners. 1019 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,560 Speaker 1: And lots and lots of listeners have written in to 1020 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:23,680 Speaker 1: say very specifically thank you to Jorge and Katie and 1021 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,919 Speaker 1: Kelly for asking the exact questions they had in their 1022 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,880 Speaker 1: mind when I explained something. So I think the unscripted 1023 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:33,800 Speaker 1: nature of the podcast is key. It makes those conversations real, 1024 00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:37,200 Speaker 1: and also it makes it a lot less work to prepare. 1025 00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:40,080 Speaker 1: It also makes for moments like this where I'm trying 1026 00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:42,520 Speaker 1: to steer us back to the physics without much luck. 1027 00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,360 Speaker 1: What's going to happen, what's likely to happen in the 1028 00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:50,200 Speaker 1: next hundred years, million years, or billion. 1029 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:52,520 Speaker 14: Years, m or the next hour. I mean, I don't 1030 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:53,799 Speaker 14: know where this conversation is going. 1031 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 1: To be honest, the podcast does seem kind of unpredictable. 1032 00:50:57,760 --> 00:50:59,399 Speaker 1: It doesn't seem to matter too much what I write 1033 00:50:59,400 --> 00:50:59,960 Speaker 1: in the outline. 1034 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:02,120 Speaker 14: Well, I think that's what happens when you put two 1035 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:07,480 Speaker 14: unstable people and try to create a stable system here. 1036 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:10,920 Speaker 1: And a lot of my favorite parts of an episode 1037 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 1: are those spontaneous parts, you know, the jokes that we 1038 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,400 Speaker 1: come up with along the way. None of that is scripted, 1039 00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:19,720 Speaker 1: That just bubbles up out of a conversation that we're having. 1040 00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:22,320 Speaker 1: When I introduce myself, I always say I'm a particle 1041 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:24,480 Speaker 1: physicist and a professor at UC Irvine, and then I 1042 00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:27,000 Speaker 1: add something else which is silly, and that's always just 1043 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:28,960 Speaker 1: made up on the spot, and then we riff from 1044 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:31,720 Speaker 1: there for the whole episode. I got a question about 1045 00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:36,040 Speaker 1: our joke writing process from somebody on Discord who said, quote, 1046 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:38,560 Speaker 1: although you guys may get heckled for all your jokes, 1047 00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:40,160 Speaker 1: I would like to know how much of that is 1048 00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:42,520 Speaker 1: scripted in advance and how much is on the fly, 1049 00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:44,840 Speaker 1: and how you come up with your joking theme to 1050 00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:49,520 Speaker 1: tie into what otherwise would seem a completely unrelated physics concept. Well, 1051 00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:52,760 Speaker 1: it's a good question, and it's always spontaneous. It's not scripted, 1052 00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:54,840 Speaker 1: and it's just something that comes out of our common 1053 00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:56,960 Speaker 1: sense of humor and having fun together. 1054 00:51:57,200 --> 00:51:57,360 Speaker 15: You know. 1055 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:00,279 Speaker 1: An example are these jokes who make about bananas. I'm 1056 00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 1: always joking that Jorge is a huge fan of bananas, 1057 00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:04,800 Speaker 1: and that's mostly just me teasing him. Back when we 1058 00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:07,480 Speaker 1: used to give those book talks, Jorge would always disappear 1059 00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:09,520 Speaker 1: for five minutes before we were supposed to go on 1060 00:52:09,600 --> 00:52:12,240 Speaker 1: stage to have a banana and a drink and gather 1061 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:14,719 Speaker 1: his thoughts. He had this routine and so I would 1062 00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:16,480 Speaker 1: tease him about it, and the first time I did 1063 00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:18,520 Speaker 1: it on their listeners responded to it. So we just 1064 00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:20,680 Speaker 1: kind of leaned into it and sort of made it 1065 00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:22,520 Speaker 1: a thing. And that's how all the humor on the 1066 00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:24,840 Speaker 1: show works. It just sort of like bubbles up randomly 1067 00:52:24,880 --> 00:52:27,640 Speaker 1: and naturally, and we follow it wherever it leads. But 1068 00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:30,440 Speaker 1: you know, so far, I've just been talking about my experience, 1069 00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,600 Speaker 1: and a crucial part of the podcast is that it's 1070 00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:37,440 Speaker 1: a conversation. It's not just the one person narrating. So 1071 00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:39,720 Speaker 1: I sat down with my co host to hear about 1072 00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:42,440 Speaker 1: their experience on the podcast, and this was a different 1073 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:44,759 Speaker 1: kind of conversation that I usually have with each of them, 1074 00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:49,239 Speaker 1: not with their podcast physics question asking persona, but with 1075 00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,080 Speaker 1: the real them. All Right, Horge, thanks very much. We're 1076 00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:54,560 Speaker 1: going to answer a few questions about your experience on 1077 00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:57,280 Speaker 1: the podcast, And this is sort of a fun conversation 1078 00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,839 Speaker 1: because now I'm talking to like the real joege and 1079 00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:02,720 Speaker 1: like the PODCASTE. 1080 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:03,640 Speaker 14: What do you mean there's only one? 1081 00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:03,960 Speaker 5: He? 1082 00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:06,960 Speaker 14: Wait? Are there too? Do you know of another who? 1083 00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:07,080 Speaker 15: He? 1084 00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 1: Well, I know that the way you have a conversation 1085 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:11,840 Speaker 1: on the podcast is not always the same way you 1086 00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:14,440 Speaker 1: have a conversation in real life. Sometimes you ask me 1087 00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:17,479 Speaker 1: questions about things that I know you already understand because 1088 00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:18,880 Speaker 1: you're standing in for the listeners. 1089 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:21,239 Speaker 14: Well, I mean, I think, uh, this, I consider this 1090 00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:23,360 Speaker 14: a real conversation. You know, I don't think this is 1091 00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:24,279 Speaker 14: a fake conversation. 1092 00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:25,680 Speaker 1: And we're the. 1093 00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:28,000 Speaker 14: Only difference is we're sort of having this conversation in 1094 00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:30,920 Speaker 14: front of a crowd. You know, it'd be no different 1095 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:32,759 Speaker 14: than like if we were on stage in front of 1096 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:36,400 Speaker 14: an auditorium or you know, having a conversation for a 1097 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:39,120 Speaker 14: video or something like that, where it's like a real conversation. 1098 00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:41,400 Speaker 14: But you know, you have also have to keep in 1099 00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:43,040 Speaker 14: mind that there are people listening in. 1100 00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:45,840 Speaker 1: And I also chatted with Katie Golden. 1101 00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:48,600 Speaker 7: Are you going to play real hardball with me? Ask 1102 00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:50,960 Speaker 7: some real like who are you really? 1103 00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:53,600 Speaker 1: I'm going to unmask you in this interview, Katie, we're 1104 00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:57,440 Speaker 1: going to do a Scooby Doo moment. No, I'd love 1105 00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:00,239 Speaker 1: to ask you, first of all, to introduce yourself. Anders 1106 00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:02,480 Speaker 1: might know you as Katie who's a co host on 1107 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:04,879 Speaker 1: the podcast, but you're so much more than that. Tell 1108 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:06,160 Speaker 1: us who are you, Katie? 1109 00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:11,719 Speaker 7: I contain multitudes. Yeah, I mean I am very, very 1110 00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:15,600 Speaker 7: lucky and very happy to occasionally co host on the show. 1111 00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,920 Speaker 7: It's really fun for me given that I do not 1112 00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:22,719 Speaker 7: have a background in physics. I actually have a background 1113 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:28,920 Speaker 7: in psychology and evolutionary biology. I have another podcast called 1114 00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:32,640 Speaker 7: Creature Feature where I'm the one in charge. I'm the 1115 00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:34,000 Speaker 7: Daniel of that show. 1116 00:54:36,239 --> 00:54:38,600 Speaker 1: And of course I talked to Kelly Wiener Smith. 1117 00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:41,520 Speaker 9: Thanks for inviting me, but now you got me kind 1118 00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:43,760 Speaker 9: of scared. What are you going to ask me about? 1119 00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:46,320 Speaker 1: Of course, I wasn't trying to put them on the spot. 1120 00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:50,320 Speaker 1: I just wanted to know how they prepare for each episode. 1121 00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:51,680 Speaker 1: Here's what they had. 1122 00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:54,799 Speaker 14: To say, Daniel, Like work out. You know, I go 1123 00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:59,200 Speaker 14: for like a three mile run for our recording. Just 1124 00:54:59,239 --> 00:55:02,839 Speaker 14: imagine like a Rocky style montage where I'm like pull ups, 1125 00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,640 Speaker 14: hitting a punching bag. Drinking is a green smoothie. Then 1126 00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:12,279 Speaker 14: I meditate, I climb up a mountain, I clear my head, 1127 00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:12,640 Speaker 14: and then. 1128 00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:13,760 Speaker 1: I go and record. 1129 00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:15,800 Speaker 14: While Yeah, it's a whole process. 1130 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,600 Speaker 1: Your dedication is very impressive. It's almost a full day. 1131 00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:23,360 Speaker 14: Yeah, no, you know. You send me the outlines the 1132 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,640 Speaker 14: day before are recordings, and I sort of read them. 1133 00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:28,000 Speaker 14: I go through them and I sort of get a 1134 00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:30,719 Speaker 14: sense of what we're talking about, and here's Katie. 1135 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:33,560 Speaker 7: I read it because I want to have a sense 1136 00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:36,520 Speaker 7: of where it's going. I don't want to start you 1137 00:55:36,640 --> 00:55:40,200 Speaker 7: on tangents that don't end up going back to our topic. 1138 00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:43,920 Speaker 7: If the topic has something to do with the life sciences, 1139 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,680 Speaker 7: I might do a little bit of refresher just so 1140 00:55:46,719 --> 00:55:49,239 Speaker 7: that if the topic comes up that I'll kind of 1141 00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:52,520 Speaker 7: have ideas for good questions about it. Or if it's 1142 00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,000 Speaker 7: something where I read the notes and I'm so lost 1143 00:55:55,239 --> 00:55:58,120 Speaker 7: I cannot even conceive of what's about to happen, I 1144 00:55:58,200 --> 00:55:59,880 Speaker 7: might try to do some extra research. 1145 00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:03,360 Speaker 16: And Kelly, I would like to say that I do 1146 00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:07,319 Speaker 16: some prep, but I would be lying. I don't do 1147 00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:11,080 Speaker 16: any prep besides reading the outline that you send me 1148 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:13,919 Speaker 16: ahead of time. And partly that's because when we were 1149 00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:15,319 Speaker 16: discussing whether or not I. 1150 00:56:15,239 --> 00:56:18,640 Speaker 9: Would be a regular co host for this podcast. 1151 00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:23,400 Speaker 16: We agreed that my responsibilities would include just reading. 1152 00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:24,600 Speaker 9: The outline and showing up. 1153 00:56:25,160 --> 00:56:27,400 Speaker 16: And I was making this decision at a time when 1154 00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,719 Speaker 16: I was feeling kind of overwhelmed with various projects in 1155 00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:34,320 Speaker 16: my life, and so I started off by doing exactly 1156 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:37,240 Speaker 16: what we had agreed on, and I've kind of stuck 1157 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:39,520 Speaker 16: with that. So I'll do a little bit of prep. 1158 00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:42,279 Speaker 16: I'll read the outline ahead of time. I'll think about 1159 00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:44,560 Speaker 16: whether or not I know an anecdote or you know, 1160 00:56:44,600 --> 00:56:47,239 Speaker 16: some funny story that might relate to the topic that 1161 00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:49,680 Speaker 16: I can sort of try to wedge in there. But 1162 00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:53,400 Speaker 16: in general, I don't do much more prep than that. 1163 00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:56,760 Speaker 16: Except for the episodes where we interview sci fi authors, 1164 00:56:57,080 --> 00:56:59,680 Speaker 16: I read those whole books and I think about what 1165 00:56:59,680 --> 00:57:02,080 Speaker 16: would be an interesting thing to talk to the author about, 1166 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:04,160 Speaker 16: and so so I do do more prep for those, 1167 00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:08,000 Speaker 16: But for for the you know, more typical episodes, I 1168 00:57:08,080 --> 00:57:09,040 Speaker 16: do pretty much nothing. 1169 00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:12,480 Speaker 1: I also asked each of them about what's going through 1170 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:14,840 Speaker 1: their minds during the episode, what their. 1171 00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:17,640 Speaker 14: Process is most I just asked you a question, and 1172 00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:23,080 Speaker 14: then I serve Instagram totally just kidding, No, this is 1173 00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:27,680 Speaker 14: that's an interesting question. I guess it is a sort 1174 00:57:27,720 --> 00:57:29,840 Speaker 14: of a full body thing for me. You know, I'm 1175 00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:33,240 Speaker 14: thinking about what you're saying. I'm thinking about what I 1176 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:36,040 Speaker 14: can say, what questions I can have, what questions the 1177 00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:39,200 Speaker 14: audience might have, what's coming up ahead, where we are 1178 00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:43,560 Speaker 14: in terms of time, and whether or not, you know, 1179 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:47,680 Speaker 14: maybe we need to take a hard right or hard 1180 00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:51,120 Speaker 14: left on whatever we're talking about, or move on. So 1181 00:57:51,160 --> 00:57:56,080 Speaker 14: I'm definitely sort of it's a full mental engagement, I 1182 00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:57,919 Speaker 14: would say, I would, you know, I don't think about 1183 00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:00,920 Speaker 14: the process that much. I just as I said before, 1184 00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:02,760 Speaker 14: I just think of it as a real conversation we're 1185 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:04,440 Speaker 14: having in front of an audience of people. 1186 00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:08,480 Speaker 7: In general. I just read through the notes and then 1187 00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:13,720 Speaker 7: really try to listen attentively, and you know, just think 1188 00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:15,800 Speaker 7: of questions that come to me, like what am I 1189 00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:20,560 Speaker 7: curious about hearing more clarification on and I assume that's 1190 00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:23,640 Speaker 7: hopefully what the audience is also interested in learning about. 1191 00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:27,560 Speaker 7: So just listening with rapt attention, which is not hard 1192 00:58:27,720 --> 00:58:30,680 Speaker 7: when it's such interesting material. 1193 00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:33,360 Speaker 1: Well, I think you're really excellent at that, like listening 1194 00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:35,840 Speaker 1: carefully and stopping me and asking a question with something 1195 00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:38,080 Speaker 1: doesn't make sense, And I'm always imagining that you're standing 1196 00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:41,040 Speaker 1: in for the listeners who I've also lost and confused 1197 00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:44,400 Speaker 1: with my complicated jargon. So I really appreciate how you 1198 00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:44,720 Speaker 1: do that. 1199 00:58:44,840 --> 00:58:48,280 Speaker 7: I speak for all the confused people. I think that's 1200 00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:51,200 Speaker 7: that's I'm president of the confused people. 1201 00:58:51,600 --> 00:58:55,640 Speaker 16: Well, so you know, in the role of every person, 1202 00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:58,720 Speaker 16: I'd like to tell you that what I'm thinking is, Okay, 1203 00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:02,040 Speaker 16: what is an all audience member likely to be thinking 1204 00:59:02,120 --> 00:59:05,320 Speaker 16: in response to Daniel's explanation? And what follow up question 1205 00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:09,760 Speaker 16: should I be asking? But honestly, physics requires like one 1206 00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:12,680 Speaker 16: hundred and twenty percent of my brain, and so all 1207 00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:15,959 Speaker 16: I'm thinking is do I understand what Daniel is saying? 1208 00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:20,160 Speaker 16: And lucky for me, you are very clear in your explanations, 1209 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:23,560 Speaker 16: so the answer is usually yes, I understand what Daniel 1210 00:59:23,600 --> 00:59:27,160 Speaker 16: is saying. But sometimes what I'm thinking is, Okay, this 1211 00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:30,640 Speaker 16: question that I have is probably profoundly stupid. 1212 00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,520 Speaker 9: How do I find a way to ask it that 1213 00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:36,200 Speaker 9: makes it sound a little bit intelligent? 1214 00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:36,880 Speaker 8: Maybe? 1215 00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:40,520 Speaker 16: So yeah, I guess mostly I'm just sort of listening 1216 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:44,880 Speaker 16: and trying to, you know, just have a conversation with you. 1217 00:59:44,920 --> 00:59:47,760 Speaker 16: About physics, and it's a conversation that has rails, you know, 1218 00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:49,920 Speaker 16: since we've got this outline that sort of keeps us 1219 00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:50,360 Speaker 16: on track. 1220 00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:53,040 Speaker 1: And I was also curious what each of them thought. 1221 00:59:53,120 --> 00:59:56,600 Speaker 1: The listeners might not understand about the process since they 1222 00:59:56,640 --> 00:59:58,120 Speaker 1: only hear the finished product. 1223 00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:02,720 Speaker 14: Uh, that's a great question. And I guess just I 1224 01:00:02,760 --> 01:00:05,720 Speaker 14: wonder if people know how that it's edited, right. 1225 01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:07,960 Speaker 1: And of course you should all know that this podcast 1226 01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:10,440 Speaker 1: is edited, and we'll talk to the editor in a 1227 01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:12,400 Speaker 1: moment about what it takes to clean up all of 1228 01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:15,439 Speaker 1: our ums and aws and long positive while we check 1229 01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:18,160 Speaker 1: our facts or think again about how to explain something. 1230 01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:25,040 Speaker 7: Here's Katie Well, I hiccup all the time. No, I 1231 01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:27,840 Speaker 7: think that. I mean, one thing I think is interesting 1232 01:00:28,040 --> 01:00:32,720 Speaker 7: is that they probably don't hear how thoughtful you are 1233 01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:35,960 Speaker 7: in terms of thinking about how to phrase something. So 1234 01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:39,880 Speaker 7: like you will really think about the best way to 1235 01:00:40,120 --> 01:00:44,280 Speaker 7: describe or phrase something, and you do a really good 1236 01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:47,280 Speaker 7: job of it. I think from the listener's perspective, it 1237 01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:50,560 Speaker 7: just sounds like you're having a casual conversation, but you're 1238 01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:55,080 Speaker 7: really thoughtful in terms of I guess, giving the best 1239 01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,240 Speaker 7: explanation of something, and Kelly. 1240 01:00:57,520 --> 01:01:00,920 Speaker 16: I hope that they are surprised to find out that 1241 01:01:00,920 --> 01:01:05,400 Speaker 16: the conversation is sort of outlined ahead of time, because 1242 01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:07,880 Speaker 16: I think we try really hard to make our conversations 1243 01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:11,480 Speaker 16: feel natural and for them to actually be natural, but 1244 01:01:11,760 --> 01:01:15,040 Speaker 16: you know, to sort of have a final destination that 1245 01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:17,520 Speaker 16: we're hoping to get to. But the thing that might 1246 01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:19,440 Speaker 16: surprise them the most is that at the bottom of 1247 01:01:19,480 --> 01:01:23,680 Speaker 16: the outline you always write pale blue dot and then 1248 01:01:23,720 --> 01:01:28,919 Speaker 16: in like parentheses or carots, inspire humanity here. And even 1249 01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:32,440 Speaker 16: though you've figured out everything else in the outline, all 1250 01:01:32,440 --> 01:01:36,000 Speaker 16: the important facts are there, you leave that part to 1251 01:01:36,080 --> 01:01:38,720 Speaker 16: figure out on the fly. And to me, that's the 1252 01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:41,680 Speaker 16: part that I would be most likely to plan ahead 1253 01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:43,800 Speaker 16: of time because I am just I guess they don't 1254 01:01:43,840 --> 01:01:48,520 Speaker 16: think of myself as being inspirational on the. 1255 01:01:48,520 --> 01:01:51,800 Speaker 9: Fly particularly particularly well. 1256 01:01:52,080 --> 01:01:54,000 Speaker 16: But you know, at the end of every episode, I 1257 01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:57,520 Speaker 16: see that we're just about at the inspire humanity here 1258 01:01:57,600 --> 01:01:59,840 Speaker 16: part of the outline, and I always just you know, 1259 01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:02,200 Speaker 16: sit with baited breath waiting to see what are you 1260 01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:03,920 Speaker 16: going to be able to come up with on the 1261 01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:07,160 Speaker 16: fly to inspire the audience, and you you always do 1262 01:02:07,200 --> 01:02:10,640 Speaker 16: a great job, so I'm guessing that most people don't 1263 01:02:10,680 --> 01:02:14,120 Speaker 16: know that the inspirational parts are totally off the cuff. 1264 01:02:14,440 --> 01:02:17,720 Speaker 1: I personally love that pale blue dot moment in the outline. 1265 01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:21,120 Speaker 1: That was Will's original idea to end with a moment 1266 01:02:21,160 --> 01:02:24,200 Speaker 1: of inspiration. But it's hard sometimes to think of something 1267 01:02:24,280 --> 01:02:27,640 Speaker 1: meaningful and sincere to say like in advance, so I 1268 01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:31,080 Speaker 1: usually just let the conversation inspire me. And so that's 1269 01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:34,280 Speaker 1: the recording process. Well, it's time to take another quick break, 1270 01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:36,400 Speaker 1: and when we come back, we'll talk to our editor, 1271 01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:38,560 Speaker 1: who we've been working with for years and who has 1272 01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:42,120 Speaker 1: listened to countless hours of our yapping, but whose voice 1273 01:02:42,240 --> 01:02:46,240 Speaker 1: I had never heard before this conversation. After the break, 1274 01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:01,440 Speaker 1: we're back, and we talked a bit about how the 1275 01:03:01,560 --> 01:03:05,200 Speaker 1: raw substance of the podcast is put together. We're spontaneous 1276 01:03:05,240 --> 01:03:07,640 Speaker 1: and we're unscripted, and that relies on us to be 1277 01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:11,240 Speaker 1: clever and interesting in the moment, but it also relies 1278 01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:13,880 Speaker 1: on an editor to weave it together and make it 1279 01:03:13,920 --> 01:03:16,720 Speaker 1: sound good. Now, let's hear about how it gets polished 1280 01:03:16,760 --> 01:03:19,280 Speaker 1: into the final product that you hear. I called up 1281 01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:22,040 Speaker 1: our editor, Corey, who does this magic for us, and 1282 01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:25,720 Speaker 1: until this conversation. I had never spoken to him on 1283 01:03:25,760 --> 01:03:28,000 Speaker 1: the phone or in video or in person. I don't 1284 01:03:28,000 --> 01:03:31,400 Speaker 1: even know where he lives. Here's my chat with the 1285 01:03:31,440 --> 01:03:34,600 Speaker 1: mysterious Corey. So thanks very much Corey for having a 1286 01:03:34,680 --> 01:03:38,360 Speaker 1: chat with me about how the podcast comes together. We're 1287 01:03:38,400 --> 01:03:41,240 Speaker 1: giving people a little bit of a behind the scenes view. 1288 01:03:41,640 --> 01:03:44,680 Speaker 1: So first, I'd love if you introduce yourself to the listeners, 1289 01:03:44,720 --> 01:03:47,440 Speaker 1: because though you're a crucial part of the show, they 1290 01:03:47,440 --> 01:03:49,480 Speaker 1: have never until now heard your voice. 1291 01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:52,280 Speaker 11: My name is Corey Nolan. I have worked in audio 1292 01:03:52,360 --> 01:03:56,640 Speaker 11: for Gosh about twenty years now and got into podcast 1293 01:03:56,800 --> 01:04:00,160 Speaker 11: editing about three or four years ago with iHeart as 1294 01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:04,640 Speaker 11: a free lancer and was given Daniel and Jorge explain 1295 01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:08,320 Speaker 11: the universe. And that's been are we going on three years? 1296 01:04:08,400 --> 01:04:11,280 Speaker 1: The podcast is five years old? Yeah, So tell us 1297 01:04:11,280 --> 01:04:13,960 Speaker 1: a little bit about the process. What's it like for you? 1298 01:04:13,960 --> 01:04:16,000 Speaker 1: You get these files from us, and how do you 1299 01:04:16,080 --> 01:04:18,960 Speaker 1: weave that together into something? You know, I finished product 1300 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:19,600 Speaker 1: for the listeners. 1301 01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:23,520 Speaker 11: Well, you guys get a lot of the credit because 1302 01:04:23,560 --> 01:04:26,160 Speaker 11: you stay so far in advance. I mean you put 1303 01:04:26,200 --> 01:04:28,760 Speaker 11: out two hour long shows a week. I mean that's 1304 01:04:28,880 --> 01:04:31,880 Speaker 11: that's a lot of content, you know, you deliver those files, 1305 01:04:31,920 --> 01:04:35,440 Speaker 11: you and Jorge do, or Kelly or Katie and whoever's 1306 01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:39,240 Speaker 11: guest hosting, and they just kind of go through a workflow, 1307 01:04:39,600 --> 01:04:41,720 Speaker 11: a process of just kind of cleaning it up, which 1308 01:04:41,720 --> 01:04:45,360 Speaker 11: you you know, doesn't usually take that much. With y'all's audio, 1309 01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:48,240 Speaker 11: y'all got it really nailed down, but sometimes it takes 1310 01:04:48,280 --> 01:04:49,240 Speaker 11: a little bit with guests. 1311 01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:51,120 Speaker 1: Mean neither you have to like clean it up or 1312 01:04:51,200 --> 01:04:53,960 Speaker 1: process it or balance it or what happens there. 1313 01:04:54,040 --> 01:04:58,920 Speaker 11: Well, yes and yes, and so there's one phase of 1314 01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:01,800 Speaker 11: it that is sort of a take out the room 1315 01:05:01,880 --> 01:05:05,520 Speaker 11: noise phase. That's an initial process that's sort of again, 1316 01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:08,400 Speaker 11: you and Jorge are pretty consistent now and you don't 1317 01:05:08,440 --> 01:05:10,560 Speaker 11: have a whole lot of background noise happening, but it 1318 01:05:10,560 --> 01:05:12,760 Speaker 11: helps if you're you know, you're in a room with 1319 01:05:13,320 --> 01:05:15,440 Speaker 11: wild air conditioning or something like that. So it just 1320 01:05:15,520 --> 01:05:18,240 Speaker 11: kind of removes the extra stuff that you don't want 1321 01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:20,880 Speaker 11: to hear and be annoyed by. And then from there, 1322 01:05:21,320 --> 01:05:23,920 Speaker 11: you know, it goes into the software and the program, 1323 01:05:23,960 --> 01:05:27,200 Speaker 11: which is an Adobe program that's kind of the standard 1324 01:05:27,240 --> 01:05:30,680 Speaker 11: for podcasting, and and we just yeah, we line it 1325 01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:34,280 Speaker 11: up and then it's it's just a matter of cutting, 1326 01:05:34,360 --> 01:05:37,200 Speaker 11: and then you have your own like I go through 1327 01:05:37,280 --> 01:05:40,720 Speaker 11: and have you know, Daniel has his own like effects chain. 1328 01:05:41,120 --> 01:05:43,800 Speaker 1: Oh wait, what are the Daniel effect? Is there like 1329 01:05:43,840 --> 01:05:45,720 Speaker 1: a button there like make Daniel sound smart? 1330 01:05:46,160 --> 01:05:50,800 Speaker 11: You do that just fine, which is actually maybe skipping 1331 01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:53,480 Speaker 11: a little bit ahead. Is one of every once in 1332 01:05:53,560 --> 01:05:55,720 Speaker 11: a while, I'll come across people who listen to the 1333 01:05:55,760 --> 01:05:58,360 Speaker 11: show and they think I'm really famous and also think 1334 01:05:58,400 --> 01:06:02,040 Speaker 11: I'm really smart by association, and I have to explain 1335 01:06:02,080 --> 01:06:05,280 Speaker 11: to them that it's not that's not the case. Uh yeah, you, 1336 01:06:05,440 --> 01:06:07,400 Speaker 11: I mean, you know, that's just comes from the years 1337 01:06:07,440 --> 01:06:10,240 Speaker 11: I did. I did music for still do some music, 1338 01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:14,400 Speaker 11: but but just listening and trying to find what even 1339 01:06:14,440 --> 01:06:17,120 Speaker 11: though you are recorded well and you have good equipment, 1340 01:06:17,240 --> 01:06:19,840 Speaker 11: you know, there's just some shaping that needs to happen 1341 01:06:20,000 --> 01:06:24,640 Speaker 11: to kind of fit your voices specifically, and because y'all 1342 01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:27,800 Speaker 11: record the same way unless somebody gives me a heads up. 1343 01:06:28,200 --> 01:06:31,880 Speaker 11: Three changed his setup a few months ago, but it 1344 01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:33,960 Speaker 11: just kind of went going back and just kind of 1345 01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:37,200 Speaker 11: fine tuning it to where it's still putting out the 1346 01:06:37,280 --> 01:06:40,560 Speaker 11: sound that I think is good and right. You have 1347 01:06:40,640 --> 01:06:42,640 Speaker 11: such a good low end voice that there's stuff that 1348 01:06:42,880 --> 01:06:45,320 Speaker 11: like you want to kind of beef up and bring 1349 01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:48,040 Speaker 11: out so without overdoing it. Yeah, it's kind of it's 1350 01:06:48,120 --> 01:06:49,120 Speaker 11: kind of fun to that part of it. 1351 01:06:49,160 --> 01:06:51,640 Speaker 1: So tell me about the editing process, because when we're recording, 1352 01:06:51,680 --> 01:06:54,600 Speaker 1: sometimes we'll stop repeat ourselves, but sometimes we'll just talk 1353 01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:56,720 Speaker 1: for minutes and minutes. What is your process there? You're 1354 01:06:56,760 --> 01:06:58,960 Speaker 1: listening to it very carefully and trying to like remove 1355 01:06:59,040 --> 01:07:00,760 Speaker 1: any stumbles or leuency breaks. 1356 01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:04,560 Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, as mentioned as an our podcast, and 1357 01:07:04,640 --> 01:07:08,040 Speaker 11: so there's a lot of content and it's different for 1358 01:07:08,080 --> 01:07:10,280 Speaker 11: you and Jorge. I think the way as I've done 1359 01:07:10,320 --> 01:07:13,960 Speaker 11: this and kind of learned better how to show personas 1360 01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:18,720 Speaker 11: through edits, yours are very succinct. Jorges, I think it 1361 01:07:18,800 --> 01:07:20,720 Speaker 11: kind of matches the way he talks to kind of 1362 01:07:20,840 --> 01:07:22,920 Speaker 11: for it to not be like that. Now, there's things 1363 01:07:22,920 --> 01:07:26,040 Speaker 11: that have to be edited on his, probably just as 1364 01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:28,880 Speaker 11: much as they are on yours. But as far as 1365 01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:31,720 Speaker 11: how it comes across, we're not trying to make y'all 1366 01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:35,040 Speaker 11: sound exactly the same because it's just not how your 1367 01:07:35,080 --> 01:07:38,200 Speaker 11: speech comes across and how your personalities come across. But yeah, 1368 01:07:38,320 --> 01:07:40,720 Speaker 11: you can't do anything else when you're editing a podcast. 1369 01:07:40,720 --> 01:07:44,360 Speaker 11: Because you have to be paying attention to every little 1370 01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:46,480 Speaker 11: thing and even though I might miss one or two 1371 01:07:46,600 --> 01:07:49,919 Speaker 11: and listening to something, in the end, there's a lot 1372 01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:53,240 Speaker 11: of little breaks and things like that that really have 1373 01:07:53,320 --> 01:07:56,560 Speaker 11: to be lined up. So it takes your full attention 1374 01:07:56,680 --> 01:07:58,600 Speaker 11: to do it. And even at that, you know there's 1375 01:07:58,600 --> 01:08:01,640 Speaker 11: still there still kind of needs to be an oversight 1376 01:08:01,800 --> 01:08:03,560 Speaker 11: kind of process, like we have to make sure that 1377 01:08:03,600 --> 01:08:04,600 Speaker 11: nothing else was messed. 1378 01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:08,120 Speaker 1: Something I've always wondered is how much you're listening to 1379 01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:10,520 Speaker 1: the content, like the physics of it, and how much 1380 01:08:10,760 --> 01:08:12,880 Speaker 1: you're just listening to the words and the fluency in 1381 01:08:12,920 --> 01:08:16,240 Speaker 1: the language, Like are you digesting the physics also or 1382 01:08:16,360 --> 01:08:19,080 Speaker 1: is your whole brain required just to like make sure 1383 01:08:19,080 --> 01:08:20,479 Speaker 1: that everything is sounding smooth. 1384 01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:21,200 Speaker 2: Well. 1385 01:08:21,320 --> 01:08:24,280 Speaker 11: There is also another question of how much am I 1386 01:08:24,320 --> 01:08:30,040 Speaker 11: am I capable of understanding the content? And I will say, 1387 01:08:30,080 --> 01:08:31,960 Speaker 11: and I've said this to you all over email, like 1388 01:08:32,280 --> 01:08:35,240 Speaker 11: I think y'all do a fantastic job of making this 1389 01:08:35,920 --> 01:08:39,320 Speaker 11: available and accessible to average people. I do think that 1390 01:08:39,360 --> 01:08:43,880 Speaker 11: your audience in general are not generally average, and so me, 1391 01:08:44,120 --> 01:08:48,599 Speaker 11: if I am me being an average person, I there 1392 01:08:48,600 --> 01:08:51,920 Speaker 11: are certain concepts that I just don't I don't follow along, 1393 01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:54,040 Speaker 11: so I may I may make it as far as 1394 01:08:54,080 --> 01:08:56,960 Speaker 11: the content wise, and following may make it to you know, 1395 01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,840 Speaker 11: twenty minutes in, and then it's then it's give it 1396 01:08:59,840 --> 01:09:02,840 Speaker 11: a my head. But there are some others, like you know, 1397 01:09:02,880 --> 01:09:05,400 Speaker 11: like listener question episodes. I really love those because that's 1398 01:09:05,439 --> 01:09:08,439 Speaker 11: a little more you know, children ask those questions a 1399 01:09:08,439 --> 01:09:10,680 Speaker 11: lot of time, so I can I can kind of 1400 01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:13,000 Speaker 11: play in that ballpark. And you guys come up in 1401 01:09:13,320 --> 01:09:15,680 Speaker 11: my conversations like if I'm hanging out with friends or 1402 01:09:15,680 --> 01:09:19,080 Speaker 11: sitting around campfire or whatever. They just have made me think. 1403 01:09:19,160 --> 01:09:21,439 Speaker 11: And you know, the answers that you guys kind of 1404 01:09:21,640 --> 01:09:25,120 Speaker 11: come to you are really thought provoking and really big 1405 01:09:25,160 --> 01:09:28,479 Speaker 11: picture stuff. So you know, it just depends episode two, 1406 01:09:28,479 --> 01:09:30,760 Speaker 11: episode depends on what you are going into. But I 1407 01:09:30,760 --> 01:09:32,720 Speaker 11: will be honest and say that it's off and over 1408 01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:33,200 Speaker 11: my head. 1409 01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:36,920 Speaker 1: So does that mean that you're able to edit it 1410 01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:39,160 Speaker 1: and make it sound good and smooth even if you're 1411 01:09:39,160 --> 01:09:41,680 Speaker 1: not understanding? That seems like sort of a superpower. 1412 01:09:43,000 --> 01:09:45,520 Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, let me have that. Let me have that superpower. 1413 01:09:46,520 --> 01:09:48,479 Speaker 1: So how long does it take for you to process 1414 01:09:48,520 --> 01:09:49,160 Speaker 1: one episode? 1415 01:09:49,720 --> 01:09:53,439 Speaker 11: If you are not counting the pre process, like I'll 1416 01:09:53,479 --> 01:09:56,960 Speaker 11: take a day, and you'll know those days because I'm saying, hey, 1417 01:09:57,240 --> 01:09:59,719 Speaker 11: I email you, I need this file or need this file, 1418 01:09:59,720 --> 01:10:02,760 Speaker 11: and try to get ten to twelve episodes just kind 1419 01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:04,559 Speaker 11: of knocked out. And that's where I'll go through and 1420 01:10:04,600 --> 01:10:08,480 Speaker 11: do that remove noise process and just make sure everything 1421 01:10:08,600 --> 01:10:12,280 Speaker 11: is in the correct folders, and at that point when 1422 01:10:12,280 --> 01:10:14,479 Speaker 11: I actually then go in, because it might be another 1423 01:10:14,479 --> 01:10:17,639 Speaker 11: few days before I bust into an episode. I usually 1424 01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:21,160 Speaker 11: say that if an episode ends up being forty minutes, 1425 01:10:21,400 --> 01:10:23,920 Speaker 11: it's about four hours. So it's about an hour for 1426 01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:29,480 Speaker 11: every ten minutes of final content. And you know, by comparison, 1427 01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,240 Speaker 11: you know, forty minute for you y'all may have recorded, 1428 01:10:32,280 --> 01:10:35,400 Speaker 11: it may have taken you fifty five minutes or something 1429 01:10:35,439 --> 01:10:39,200 Speaker 11: like that. So there's there's usually you know, ten or 1430 01:10:39,240 --> 01:10:44,160 Speaker 11: fifteen minutes something something around that range that's being removed. 1431 01:10:44,160 --> 01:10:46,599 Speaker 11: Maybe not quite that much that might be, but still 1432 01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:49,559 Speaker 11: it takes Even if those are just small second or 1433 01:10:49,600 --> 01:10:52,560 Speaker 11: few second increments, they just you know, they happen a 1434 01:10:52,560 --> 01:10:54,240 Speaker 11: good bit along the way, so it just takes a 1435 01:10:54,240 --> 01:10:54,920 Speaker 11: little bit of time. 1436 01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:56,680 Speaker 1: So I have a question for you from some of 1437 01:10:56,760 --> 01:10:59,240 Speaker 1: our listeners. I pulled some folks on discord to ask 1438 01:10:59,280 --> 01:11:00,720 Speaker 1: them what they wanted to know. But the making of 1439 01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:03,920 Speaker 1: the podcast, you know, there's been some listener feedback about 1440 01:11:03,960 --> 01:11:06,840 Speaker 1: my chuckles that I'm always laughing at Joeyes jokes. Yeah, 1441 01:11:06,880 --> 01:11:09,320 Speaker 1: And so the question for you was how many Daniel 1442 01:11:09,400 --> 01:11:12,160 Speaker 1: chuckles do you have to edit out or do you 1443 01:11:12,200 --> 01:11:14,479 Speaker 1: have to sometimes go in and add more chuckles to 1444 01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:16,160 Speaker 1: meet the required chuckle quota. 1445 01:11:16,720 --> 01:11:19,240 Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, actually I like that part of it 1446 01:11:19,320 --> 01:11:26,519 Speaker 11: because I like crafting y'all's conversation because sometimes when you're editing, 1447 01:11:26,600 --> 01:11:29,560 Speaker 11: it doesn't always I mean, the laughs are real and 1448 01:11:29,600 --> 01:11:32,280 Speaker 11: they're happening, but they they may be a little bit delayed, 1449 01:11:32,479 --> 01:11:35,240 Speaker 11: or it maybe like you're you may talk over each 1450 01:11:35,280 --> 01:11:38,240 Speaker 11: other for a second, and that's just not how we 1451 01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:40,880 Speaker 11: don't leave that stuff in on these episodes. We clean 1452 01:11:40,920 --> 01:11:43,120 Speaker 11: that up. And so like it's kind of fun to 1453 01:11:43,240 --> 01:11:47,040 Speaker 11: like move your laugh right, like as the peak of 1454 01:11:47,080 --> 01:11:50,120 Speaker 11: the joke is falling off and kind of like Daniel's 1455 01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:53,240 Speaker 11: laugh has moved over. It's just a timing thing. Again, 1456 01:11:53,280 --> 01:11:55,679 Speaker 11: it doesn't change like what actually happened. But I actually 1457 01:11:55,760 --> 01:11:57,680 Speaker 11: kind of enjoy that, And there are I would say 1458 01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:00,960 Speaker 11: there's probably more times that I'm removing Daniel's and having 1459 01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:01,559 Speaker 11: to add them in. 1460 01:12:01,840 --> 01:12:06,760 Speaker 1: No, no, oh, I can't help. But it's just so 1461 01:12:06,840 --> 01:12:08,880 Speaker 1: much fun to chat with all of our hosts about science. 1462 01:12:09,280 --> 01:12:11,360 Speaker 1: All right, Well, last question for you is what do 1463 01:12:11,400 --> 01:12:15,000 Speaker 1: you think listeners might not understand about the process from 1464 01:12:15,040 --> 01:12:17,760 Speaker 1: just hearing the finished product that goes into it. 1465 01:12:17,920 --> 01:12:20,320 Speaker 11: I mean, this isn't so much on my end, but honestly, 1466 01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:23,200 Speaker 11: I'm not just trying because you're you know, technically my boss. 1467 01:12:23,680 --> 01:12:28,000 Speaker 11: I am just really impressed by the in addition to 1468 01:12:28,040 --> 01:12:31,479 Speaker 11: the other jobs, that you have the ability to handle 1469 01:12:31,479 --> 01:12:34,559 Speaker 11: this much content and to keep coming up with content. I, 1470 01:12:34,640 --> 01:12:37,559 Speaker 11: for example, did a podcast with a buddy of mine 1471 01:12:37,600 --> 01:12:41,000 Speaker 11: with music and some other cultural things, and we did 1472 01:12:41,040 --> 01:12:45,599 Speaker 11: ten episodes and like that was it? Like coming up 1473 01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:48,040 Speaker 11: a content was like I mean, we may have have 1474 01:12:48,080 --> 01:12:49,960 Speaker 11: kept doing it, but it couldn't have done two a week. 1475 01:12:49,960 --> 01:12:51,160 Speaker 11: I couldn't have done to it in an hour. 1476 01:12:51,240 --> 01:12:51,439 Speaker 15: Yeah. 1477 01:12:51,840 --> 01:12:54,400 Speaker 11: So your ability to process that and to mind that 1478 01:12:54,479 --> 01:12:56,240 Speaker 11: out of the world. And I think that you probably 1479 01:12:56,240 --> 01:12:58,679 Speaker 11: would give your listeners credit for that too, for sure. 1480 01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:00,400 Speaker 11: I just think and if you I don't want to 1481 01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:03,280 Speaker 11: take full credit and that I would say maybe generally 1482 01:13:03,439 --> 01:13:06,360 Speaker 11: there is a whole lot that goes on that makes 1483 01:13:06,800 --> 01:13:09,840 Speaker 11: these happen before it ever gets to me. You know, 1484 01:13:09,960 --> 01:13:12,560 Speaker 11: what I do is a task, you know, at the 1485 01:13:12,640 --> 01:13:15,439 Speaker 11: end of the day. But as far as how this 1486 01:13:15,880 --> 01:13:18,720 Speaker 11: show thrives, and I think it is thriving, I think 1487 01:13:18,720 --> 01:13:22,000 Speaker 11: it does well, and I think that really comes from 1488 01:13:22,040 --> 01:13:24,240 Speaker 11: just a whole lot of work on the back end 1489 01:13:24,720 --> 01:13:27,479 Speaker 11: before I ever even see a file. And then, you know, 1490 01:13:27,680 --> 01:13:30,479 Speaker 11: I do think maybe if I were to bring myself 1491 01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:32,479 Speaker 11: into that, you know, there are some times you just 1492 01:13:32,520 --> 01:13:34,479 Speaker 11: have to be on your toes and you have to 1493 01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:37,960 Speaker 11: be able to adjust to what is happening in the world. 1494 01:13:38,080 --> 01:13:40,960 Speaker 11: And I think maybe on my side that if I 1495 01:13:41,000 --> 01:13:43,120 Speaker 11: were to give myself a little more credit on that, 1496 01:13:43,200 --> 01:13:47,360 Speaker 11: it would be you just have to be willing to adapt. 1497 01:13:47,640 --> 01:13:49,920 Speaker 11: And my life is on the road. I spend a 1498 01:13:49,920 --> 01:13:51,439 Speaker 11: lot of my time on the road, and so a 1499 01:13:51,479 --> 01:13:54,760 Speaker 11: lot of that is either happening in a hotel room 1500 01:13:54,840 --> 01:13:57,839 Speaker 11: late at night or maybe even you know, and stops 1501 01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:00,320 Speaker 11: along at the airport. And we try to do that, 1502 01:14:00,400 --> 01:14:01,920 Speaker 11: we try to plan out, but there are a lot 1503 01:14:01,960 --> 01:14:04,479 Speaker 11: of things that do need to happen because they're just 1504 01:14:04,520 --> 01:14:07,600 Speaker 11: important to the show. And so I think that a 1505 01:14:07,640 --> 01:14:10,400 Speaker 11: lot of the reason why the show is so good 1506 01:14:10,479 --> 01:14:11,920 Speaker 11: is because you just have a lot of people that 1507 01:14:12,000 --> 01:14:15,320 Speaker 11: care about the content and care about it operating a 1508 01:14:15,360 --> 01:14:17,719 Speaker 11: high quality. And that's not just talking about me. That's 1509 01:14:18,040 --> 01:14:22,799 Speaker 11: to Tyler and to the whole crew that's around this program. 1510 01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:24,479 Speaker 1: Well, I think you should take a lot of credit 1511 01:14:24,520 --> 01:14:26,479 Speaker 1: because we love the editing that you do, the way 1512 01:14:26,520 --> 01:14:29,320 Speaker 1: you stitch together our raw stuff into something that sounds 1513 01:14:29,320 --> 01:14:31,960 Speaker 1: so smooth and good and make us all let me 1514 01:14:32,000 --> 01:14:34,479 Speaker 1: know we're talking about you edit out all of our 1515 01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:38,080 Speaker 1: Wikipedia breaks. Thanks for that. 1516 01:14:39,080 --> 01:14:40,960 Speaker 11: Am I supposed to edit out the reference to the 1517 01:14:41,000 --> 01:14:41,960 Speaker 11: Wikipedia breaks? 1518 01:14:41,960 --> 01:14:45,479 Speaker 1: Now we're keeping that in. We're keeping that in. Okay, good, 1519 01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:48,559 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for the candid conversation. Really appreciate it absolutely. 1520 01:14:48,720 --> 01:14:51,400 Speaker 1: Corey talks about his editing process there, but I thought 1521 01:14:51,400 --> 01:14:53,320 Speaker 1: it'd be useful for you to hear an example of 1522 01:14:53,400 --> 01:14:56,000 Speaker 1: him doing his magic. Here's a raw clip of me 1523 01:14:56,080 --> 01:14:57,320 Speaker 1: and Jorge talking. 1524 01:14:57,160 --> 01:14:59,320 Speaker 14: To be the difference between ten to the forty nine 1525 01:14:59,320 --> 01:15:02,080 Speaker 14: truckloads or ten to the forty eight truckloads, which is 1526 01:15:02,200 --> 01:15:04,960 Speaker 14: still a lot of truckloads, which is a truckload of truckloads. 1527 01:15:05,200 --> 01:15:08,880 Speaker 1: It's still a lot of shrugloads. Yeah, exactly, And we 1528 01:15:09,000 --> 01:15:11,320 Speaker 1: try to be and we try to be careful about 1529 01:15:11,320 --> 01:15:13,240 Speaker 1: these uncertain and we try to be careful about what 1530 01:15:13,280 --> 01:15:15,680 Speaker 1: we don't know, but there's always room for surprises. 1531 01:15:15,880 --> 01:15:16,080 Speaker 6: Here. 1532 01:15:16,120 --> 01:15:18,000 Speaker 1: It is after he cleans it up to. 1533 01:15:18,120 --> 01:15:20,680 Speaker 14: Be the difference between ten to the forty nine truckloads 1534 01:15:20,760 --> 01:15:23,200 Speaker 14: or ten to the forty eight truckloads, which is still 1535 01:15:23,240 --> 01:15:25,479 Speaker 14: a lot of truckloads, which is a truckload of truckloads. 1536 01:15:25,560 --> 01:15:28,240 Speaker 1: It's still a lot of shrugloads. Yeah, exactly, And we 1537 01:15:28,360 --> 01:15:30,479 Speaker 1: try to be careful about what we don't know, but 1538 01:15:30,520 --> 01:15:33,160 Speaker 1: there's always room for surprises, right, And so in that 1539 01:15:33,200 --> 01:15:35,600 Speaker 1: clip you hear me starting and stopping again, trying to 1540 01:15:35,600 --> 01:15:37,920 Speaker 1: think about the best way to phrase something. And you 1541 01:15:37,960 --> 01:15:40,240 Speaker 1: speak differently if you know you're going to be edited, 1542 01:15:40,320 --> 01:15:42,280 Speaker 1: because if something doesn't come out right, you back up 1543 01:15:42,320 --> 01:15:44,120 Speaker 1: and you try it again, because you want the best 1544 01:15:44,200 --> 01:15:47,400 Speaker 1: possible way to say something. If you're speaking live, of course, 1545 01:15:47,400 --> 01:15:50,120 Speaker 1: that would be a very awkward way to speak. And 1546 01:15:50,160 --> 01:15:52,519 Speaker 1: so when I'm speaking in public, I don't rely on 1547 01:15:52,560 --> 01:15:55,120 Speaker 1: an editor, of course, I just speak naturally. So the 1548 01:15:55,200 --> 01:15:57,479 Speaker 1: last step in the process is the review and the 1549 01:15:57,520 --> 01:16:00,360 Speaker 1: fact checking. We don't have a huge team have its 1550 01:16:00,360 --> 01:16:03,520 Speaker 1: science versus Corey just sends me a draft of the episode. 1551 01:16:03,680 --> 01:16:06,200 Speaker 1: If it's a topic I'm not one hundred percent confident in, 1552 01:16:06,360 --> 01:16:08,920 Speaker 1: I will send it to some colleagues who are experts 1553 01:16:09,160 --> 01:16:10,880 Speaker 1: and ask them to review it to let me know 1554 01:16:10,920 --> 01:16:13,360 Speaker 1: if I've goofed up. Because while I want the podcast 1555 01:16:13,400 --> 01:16:16,880 Speaker 1: to be very accessible, it's also super important to me 1556 01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:20,440 Speaker 1: that it's accurate and that nothing I say is misleading 1557 01:16:20,479 --> 01:16:23,120 Speaker 1: to you. Occasionally I'll have to re record something and 1558 01:16:23,160 --> 01:16:26,120 Speaker 1: Corey will patch it up. Very rarely an episode requires 1559 01:16:26,280 --> 01:16:29,320 Speaker 1: major surgery because an expert tells me that I've misunderstood 1560 01:16:29,320 --> 01:16:32,120 Speaker 1: something or explained it in a misleading way. That happened, 1561 01:16:32,160 --> 01:16:35,280 Speaker 1: for example, with the quantum computing episode. Usually, though the 1562 01:16:35,280 --> 01:16:37,759 Speaker 1: episode is all good as it is and ready to post, 1563 01:16:37,880 --> 01:16:40,840 Speaker 1: probably eighty eighty five percent of the episodes don't need 1564 01:16:40,920 --> 01:16:44,320 Speaker 1: any further work or trimming. But we record episodes pretty 1565 01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:46,360 Speaker 1: far in advance. We try to keep about two months 1566 01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:49,200 Speaker 1: of buffer between recording episodes and posting them. That's like 1567 01:16:49,320 --> 01:16:52,320 Speaker 1: sixteen to twenty episodes, And you know, that gives Corey 1568 01:16:52,360 --> 01:16:54,960 Speaker 1: flexibility to edit when he's available, and it gives us 1569 01:16:54,960 --> 01:16:57,360 Speaker 1: a chance to take breaks when we need to, which 1570 01:16:57,439 --> 01:16:59,479 Speaker 1: means that by the time you hear an episode, I 1571 01:16:59,560 --> 01:17:02,040 Speaker 1: actually haven't thought about it in quite a while. But 1572 01:17:02,200 --> 01:17:03,800 Speaker 1: then it's out there and it's up to all of 1573 01:17:03,800 --> 01:17:06,360 Speaker 1: you to listen to it and to react. And we 1574 01:17:06,400 --> 01:17:08,960 Speaker 1: get lots of fun comments from listeners all over the 1575 01:17:08,960 --> 01:17:11,439 Speaker 1: world about the show. Here a few comments sent in 1576 01:17:11,479 --> 01:17:12,160 Speaker 1: by listeners. 1577 01:17:12,520 --> 01:17:15,760 Speaker 13: Hey, Daniel and Jorge, thanks the opportunity to let me 1578 01:17:15,840 --> 01:17:19,519 Speaker 13: come in about the show. This is Bob Pokers in 1579 01:17:19,560 --> 01:17:22,519 Speaker 13: my seventies, live in Silver Spring, Maryland. Been a listener 1580 01:17:22,560 --> 01:17:25,240 Speaker 13: for a couple of years now. I generally listen to 1581 01:17:25,760 --> 01:17:29,280 Speaker 13: science podcasts, and this is my go to podcast for 1582 01:17:29,360 --> 01:17:32,400 Speaker 13: some of the more esoteric stuff about science. A real 1583 01:17:32,439 --> 01:17:36,200 Speaker 13: plus about the show is that I email Daniel, not 1584 01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:38,439 Speaker 13: regularly but pretty occasional. I guess in the last couple 1585 01:17:38,439 --> 01:17:40,679 Speaker 13: of years I've probably written about ten or twelve times, 1586 01:17:41,360 --> 01:17:43,080 Speaker 13: and it's nice that he gets back to me and 1587 01:17:43,120 --> 01:17:45,680 Speaker 13: answers every question I've got, and often will lead me 1588 01:17:45,760 --> 01:17:49,320 Speaker 13: to a previous episode that covers a topic I've got 1589 01:17:49,360 --> 01:17:53,120 Speaker 13: a question about, or to an article that also covers it. 1590 01:17:53,520 --> 01:17:58,040 Speaker 13: In Layman's terms, I love the show. A long time listener, 1591 01:17:58,120 --> 01:18:00,800 Speaker 13: I planning keep on listening for as long you've got 1592 01:18:00,800 --> 01:18:02,480 Speaker 13: the podcasts. 1593 01:18:02,040 --> 01:18:06,599 Speaker 17: Get a I'm Callum from Tasmania, Australia in the Land 1594 01:18:06,600 --> 01:18:09,919 Speaker 17: down Under. I discovered the podcast a few years ago 1595 01:18:10,040 --> 01:18:13,760 Speaker 17: after googling the words physics and podcast, and I've been 1596 01:18:13,840 --> 01:18:17,400 Speaker 17: quantumly entangled ever since. I have a deep itch for 1597 01:18:17,479 --> 01:18:20,320 Speaker 17: knowledge about the universe that only Daniel. 1598 01:18:20,040 --> 01:18:21,040 Speaker 1: And Jorgey can scratch. 1599 01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:25,439 Speaker 17: Daniel delivers his profound knowledge and insights into physics in 1600 01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:28,679 Speaker 17: such a captivating and passionate way that makes you refresh 1601 01:18:28,720 --> 01:18:32,760 Speaker 17: the podcast daily in anticipation of a new episode when 1602 01:18:32,800 --> 01:18:35,240 Speaker 17: I can't sleep at two am because I'm pondering the 1603 01:18:35,240 --> 01:18:38,439 Speaker 17: effects of time dilation or how a Fineman diagram can 1604 01:18:38,479 --> 01:18:42,240 Speaker 17: help illustrate a virtual photon interaction. I know Daniel and 1605 01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:45,799 Speaker 17: Jorgey are just an electromagnetic interaction away. 1606 01:18:46,640 --> 01:18:50,960 Speaker 12: While we certainly can't explain the entire universe, yet, Daniel 1607 01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:53,840 Speaker 12: and Jrhey do a wonderful job painting that picture for 1608 01:18:53,920 --> 01:18:56,439 Speaker 12: all of us. Hey, I'm Joe, one of the many 1609 01:18:56,520 --> 01:19:00,400 Speaker 12: beastless speculators heard at the beginning of episodes. So why 1610 01:19:00,479 --> 01:19:03,280 Speaker 12: is this podcast at the top of my listening preferences? 1611 01:19:03,880 --> 01:19:08,160 Speaker 12: Simply put Daniel, Jorge and their engaging guests take topics 1612 01:19:08,160 --> 01:19:12,679 Speaker 12: from the seemingly mundane to mind bogglingly complex and bring 1613 01:19:12,720 --> 01:19:14,680 Speaker 12: them down to earth for all of us in a 1614 01:19:14,720 --> 01:19:18,240 Speaker 12: fun and accessible manner. I've learned more from this series 1615 01:19:18,280 --> 01:19:22,320 Speaker 12: than all my formal classes, but more importantly, it fosters 1616 01:19:22,320 --> 01:19:26,280 Speaker 12: an ongoing curiosity for literally every aspect of our universe. 1617 01:19:26,800 --> 01:19:31,200 Speaker 12: In some way. We're all scientists, all physicists, each with 1618 01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:34,599 Speaker 12: unique insights and questions into this vast thing we call 1619 01:19:34,680 --> 01:19:38,280 Speaker 12: the universe. Having the opportunity to contribute is a fun 1620 01:19:38,280 --> 01:19:43,000 Speaker 12: way to share knowledge or ignorance okay, mostly ignorance on 1621 01:19:43,080 --> 01:19:46,440 Speaker 12: a huge range of areas that inform our collective understanding 1622 01:19:46,520 --> 01:19:49,960 Speaker 12: of what makes it all tick. Thank you to everyone involved, 1623 01:19:50,320 --> 01:19:51,400 Speaker 12: Stay tuned for more. 1624 01:19:52,320 --> 01:19:55,360 Speaker 18: Hello Daniel and Jojo and the team around the podcast. 1625 01:19:56,080 --> 01:19:58,880 Speaker 18: I always enjoy your podcast that we questioned so very 1626 01:19:58,920 --> 01:20:01,760 Speaker 18: smoll like quirks to the biggest and hardest questions in 1627 01:20:01,800 --> 01:20:05,559 Speaker 18: the universe, no questions to strange to weird. You take 1628 01:20:05,600 --> 01:20:09,680 Speaker 18: them on any ways, with great and understandable explanations and 1629 01:20:09,720 --> 01:20:14,600 Speaker 18: comparisons with every day Pheemina. You're in near my curiosity 1630 01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:17,320 Speaker 18: about how the world works. Keep up the amazing work. 1631 01:20:17,439 --> 01:20:19,440 Speaker 18: All best Nicholas and Sweden. 1632 01:20:19,800 --> 01:20:23,960 Speaker 19: Hi, Hore and Daniel. This is Robin from Alberta, Canada. 1633 01:20:24,080 --> 01:20:26,280 Speaker 19: I love that you use your podcast to explain so 1634 01:20:26,439 --> 01:20:30,519 Speaker 19: many interesting things to your listeners. There are endless, deep, 1635 01:20:30,760 --> 01:20:34,120 Speaker 19: fascinating questions out there to be explored, and your podcast 1636 01:20:34,280 --> 01:20:36,840 Speaker 19: is an accessible and approachable way for all kinds of 1637 01:20:36,840 --> 01:20:39,439 Speaker 19: people to learn about these topics. I like the person 1638 01:20:39,479 --> 01:20:41,599 Speaker 19: on the Street segment at the beginning of the podcast 1639 01:20:41,600 --> 01:20:44,559 Speaker 19: episodes because it highlights just how many people think about 1640 01:20:44,800 --> 01:20:47,920 Speaker 19: and are curious about these different science topics. I think 1641 01:20:47,920 --> 01:20:50,919 Speaker 19: it also encourages people to be free and feel comfortable 1642 01:20:50,960 --> 01:20:53,760 Speaker 19: about exploring these topics that they would like to know 1643 01:20:53,920 --> 01:20:56,800 Speaker 19: more about, regardless of how much they currently know. Thank 1644 01:20:56,800 --> 01:20:59,600 Speaker 19: you for all the hard work and chocolate and bananas 1645 01:21:00,160 --> 01:21:01,439 Speaker 19: the years by you and your team. 1646 01:21:01,960 --> 01:21:03,760 Speaker 5: I look forward to learning. 1647 01:21:03,479 --> 01:21:05,800 Speaker 19: New things in upcoming episodes. 1648 01:21:05,760 --> 01:21:08,040 Speaker 1: And some of the comments I get over email bring 1649 01:21:08,160 --> 01:21:10,519 Speaker 1: tears to my eyes, you know, like the listener who, 1650 01:21:10,760 --> 01:21:13,880 Speaker 1: at sixty years old, was inspired to go back to 1651 01:21:13,920 --> 01:21:17,400 Speaker 1: school and get a degree in astrophysics, or the listener 1652 01:21:17,400 --> 01:21:20,040 Speaker 1: who had a stroke and relied on the podcast to 1653 01:21:20,120 --> 01:21:23,480 Speaker 1: keep his mind nimble while he worked through months of recovery, 1654 01:21:23,760 --> 01:21:26,200 Speaker 1: or the listener who had trouble talking to his teenagers 1655 01:21:26,240 --> 01:21:28,920 Speaker 1: until he discovered the podcast as something they could do 1656 01:21:29,040 --> 01:21:32,639 Speaker 1: together and talk about. And lots of moments of laughter, 1657 01:21:32,880 --> 01:21:35,080 Speaker 1: like the listener who said that he loved the podcast 1658 01:21:35,120 --> 01:21:37,080 Speaker 1: but he listens while he makes dinner and often ends 1659 01:21:37,120 --> 01:21:40,519 Speaker 1: up burning it when the topic gets really juicy. His 1660 01:21:40,560 --> 01:21:43,040 Speaker 1: family keeps asking him to turn it off, but he refuses, 1661 01:21:43,280 --> 01:21:45,080 Speaker 1: Or the eight year old listener who asked if it 1662 01:21:45,160 --> 01:21:47,800 Speaker 1: was possible to blow up Mars made me wonder if 1663 01:21:47,840 --> 01:21:50,240 Speaker 1: I needed to write back to his parents maybe before 1664 01:21:50,280 --> 01:21:52,720 Speaker 1: answering that question. And of course there are people who 1665 01:21:52,760 --> 01:21:55,320 Speaker 1: listen to the episode while falling asleep because my voice 1666 01:21:55,400 --> 01:21:58,280 Speaker 1: makes them feel cozy and tired. That's cool, you know, 1667 01:21:58,400 --> 01:22:00,840 Speaker 1: whatever works for you. And then there was the moment 1668 01:22:00,840 --> 01:22:03,640 Speaker 1: when I complained about chemistry and helping my son with 1669 01:22:03,680 --> 01:22:06,000 Speaker 1: this chemistry homework and how I wasn't really a fan 1670 01:22:06,040 --> 01:22:08,160 Speaker 1: of chemistry at all, and I got a bunch of 1671 01:22:08,240 --> 01:22:11,479 Speaker 1: email from chemists and chemistry professors and chemistry teachers who 1672 01:22:11,479 --> 01:22:13,800 Speaker 1: are offended that I was negative about science, and you 1673 01:22:13,840 --> 01:22:16,439 Speaker 1: know what, they were right. There's so many different areas 1674 01:22:16,439 --> 01:22:19,040 Speaker 1: of science, and all of them are fun in different ways, 1675 01:22:19,040 --> 01:22:21,559 Speaker 1: and they suit different people. And we should only be 1676 01:22:21,640 --> 01:22:24,599 Speaker 1: positive about everybody's joy for science, because we're all different 1677 01:22:24,640 --> 01:22:27,320 Speaker 1: people and we all have different joys. And I said 1678 01:22:27,320 --> 01:22:31,240 Speaker 1: something on the podcast. I apologized for my careless slander 1679 01:22:31,360 --> 01:22:34,040 Speaker 1: of chemistry, and then I was pleased to hear back 1680 01:22:34,040 --> 01:22:36,000 Speaker 1: from some of those people. Here's a quote from one 1681 01:22:36,040 --> 01:22:38,639 Speaker 1: of them. She wrote, I'm a chemistry teacher. I wrote 1682 01:22:38,640 --> 01:22:41,360 Speaker 1: to you earlier to complain about your attitude towards chemistry, 1683 01:22:41,400 --> 01:22:43,120 Speaker 1: and I want you to know that I appreciate your 1684 01:22:43,160 --> 01:22:46,080 Speaker 1: apology and your efforts to do better. See we can 1685 01:22:46,160 --> 01:22:49,439 Speaker 1: all learn. But every day I also get emails from listeners, 1686 01:22:49,479 --> 01:22:52,360 Speaker 1: sometimes just a few, sometimes dozens, and like I say 1687 01:22:52,400 --> 01:22:55,720 Speaker 1: in the podcast, I answer all of them. It is 1688 01:22:55,760 --> 01:22:58,360 Speaker 1: important to me to be accessible and that the curious 1689 01:22:58,360 --> 01:23:01,679 Speaker 1: public out there has ways to ask academics good faith 1690 01:23:01,800 --> 01:23:05,880 Speaker 1: questions motivated by curiosity. And often people are amazed that 1691 01:23:05,960 --> 01:23:08,439 Speaker 1: I actually do respond, that they're really hearing from me, 1692 01:23:08,840 --> 01:23:10,720 Speaker 1: and I'm really happy about that. It's nice to think 1693 01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:13,439 Speaker 1: that I've had some impact out there, helped some people 1694 01:23:13,520 --> 01:23:16,400 Speaker 1: understand science and given some people an opportunity to ask 1695 01:23:16,479 --> 01:23:18,960 Speaker 1: their question and to get a specific answer to the 1696 01:23:19,000 --> 01:23:21,719 Speaker 1: thing that they were wondering about. And sometimes I wonder 1697 01:23:21,720 --> 01:23:24,120 Speaker 1: about the scope and the breadth of our listenership, wondering 1698 01:23:24,160 --> 01:23:26,280 Speaker 1: if there are people out there in academia or even 1699 01:23:26,320 --> 01:23:28,559 Speaker 1: in physics who are listening to the podcast. So I 1700 01:23:28,560 --> 01:23:31,519 Speaker 1: did something very unscientific, and I asked two random people 1701 01:23:31,600 --> 01:23:34,719 Speaker 1: in my research group and Chase if they were aware 1702 01:23:34,800 --> 01:23:37,439 Speaker 1: of the podcast and if they listen to it. Do 1703 01:23:37,479 --> 01:23:42,400 Speaker 1: you guys listen to podcasts? Yes? You do? What are 1704 01:23:42,439 --> 01:23:43,559 Speaker 1: your podcasts not? 1705 01:23:43,680 --> 01:23:45,800 Speaker 14: Since I moved away from Orange County because I don't 1706 01:23:45,800 --> 01:23:47,439 Speaker 14: spend half my day in the car anymore. 1707 01:23:48,240 --> 01:23:51,000 Speaker 1: Okay? Cool. So then my random question for you is 1708 01:23:51,320 --> 01:23:54,080 Speaker 1: are you aware that I do a podcast? I am aware? 1709 01:23:54,200 --> 01:23:56,439 Speaker 1: You are aware? Okay? Do you ever listen to it? No? 1710 01:23:56,760 --> 01:23:59,760 Speaker 1: You never do. Okay, I am aware, and I still 1711 01:23:59,760 --> 01:24:00,400 Speaker 1: don't listen to it. 1712 01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:00,760 Speaker 8: I'm sorry. 1713 01:24:01,040 --> 01:24:04,479 Speaker 1: Great, cool, awesome, thanks very much. So that was kind 1714 01:24:04,479 --> 01:24:07,680 Speaker 1: of humbling. Then I was wondering how the podcast has 1715 01:24:07,720 --> 01:24:11,040 Speaker 1: impacted other people in my life, like my family, if 1716 01:24:11,080 --> 01:24:13,559 Speaker 1: they felt like it made me too busy, or if 1717 01:24:13,600 --> 01:24:15,800 Speaker 1: they didn't like that I sometimes talked about them on 1718 01:24:15,840 --> 01:24:18,679 Speaker 1: the podcast. Here's a conversation I had with my wife 1719 01:24:18,760 --> 01:24:21,759 Speaker 1: and my daughter on that topic. Usually, when I interview you, 1720 01:24:21,760 --> 01:24:23,920 Speaker 1: your anonymous because I'm just asking you a question for 1721 01:24:24,000 --> 01:24:26,280 Speaker 1: like a person on the street. But why don't you 1722 01:24:26,280 --> 01:24:27,519 Speaker 1: introduce yourself to the ginas. 1723 01:24:28,120 --> 01:24:30,280 Speaker 8: I'm Hazel, he's my dad. 1724 01:24:31,920 --> 01:24:35,800 Speaker 15: I'm Katrina Whitson, and I live in Irvine, California with 1725 01:24:35,840 --> 01:24:36,880 Speaker 15: my husband, Dana Whitson. 1726 01:24:39,880 --> 01:24:43,639 Speaker 1: All right, so the dog does not speak here. 1727 01:24:44,720 --> 01:24:47,439 Speaker 15: Our dog Pupizza is here too, for the record, Yeah, 1728 01:24:47,479 --> 01:24:47,880 Speaker 15: thank you. 1729 01:24:49,280 --> 01:24:51,240 Speaker 1: So my number one question for you guys is like, 1730 01:24:51,720 --> 01:24:54,200 Speaker 1: what is it like for you that I have this podcast? 1731 01:24:54,320 --> 01:24:57,400 Speaker 1: Is it like whatever doesn't matter? Is it cool? Is 1732 01:24:57,400 --> 01:24:59,679 Speaker 1: it embarrassing? What's your experience? 1733 01:25:00,200 --> 01:25:02,320 Speaker 20: I mean, it's not like it affects my day day life. 1734 01:25:03,080 --> 01:25:05,519 Speaker 20: I think it's kind of cool. There's like people out there. 1735 01:25:06,360 --> 01:25:08,639 Speaker 20: I also think that it's cool that other people agree 1736 01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:09,040 Speaker 20: that you have. 1737 01:25:09,000 --> 01:25:11,600 Speaker 8: A soothing voice. It's not just me. He used to 1738 01:25:11,600 --> 01:25:12,519 Speaker 8: call me crazy for that. 1739 01:25:13,640 --> 01:25:14,479 Speaker 1: I used to call you crazy. 1740 01:25:14,640 --> 01:25:16,080 Speaker 5: What you like? 1741 01:25:16,360 --> 01:25:18,400 Speaker 8: I do not have a soothing voice, And now I 1742 01:25:18,400 --> 01:25:19,360 Speaker 8: have people to back me up. 1743 01:25:19,640 --> 01:25:20,080 Speaker 1: I see. 1744 01:25:20,520 --> 01:25:23,439 Speaker 8: So he's giving me a disapproving look. You can't see it, 1745 01:25:23,479 --> 01:25:23,920 Speaker 8: but he is. 1746 01:25:27,120 --> 01:25:29,960 Speaker 1: It's true you used to fall asleep to my podcast, 1747 01:25:30,360 --> 01:25:32,120 Speaker 1: well before I knew that other people did it. 1748 01:25:32,120 --> 01:25:35,120 Speaker 8: It's true then the least debating way possible. 1749 01:25:37,080 --> 01:25:37,840 Speaker 1: How at you dream? 1750 01:25:38,439 --> 01:25:40,599 Speaker 15: I mean, I'm really proud of you for this. It's 1751 01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:43,400 Speaker 15: I think it's amazing you have this following. I brag 1752 01:25:43,439 --> 01:25:49,280 Speaker 15: about you regularly. I feel like it's really cool you've 1753 01:25:49,280 --> 01:25:51,799 Speaker 15: built this thing up. And I love hearing the stories 1754 01:25:51,800 --> 01:25:55,320 Speaker 15: about people who like reinvigorate their interest in science. It 1755 01:25:55,560 --> 01:26:00,200 Speaker 15: gives me hope for education and having people have the 1756 01:26:00,280 --> 01:26:03,000 Speaker 15: chance to like remake their lives using knowledge. 1757 01:26:03,120 --> 01:26:04,320 Speaker 1: I think it's really cool. 1758 01:26:04,360 --> 01:26:07,600 Speaker 15: It's just like it's a force for good out in 1759 01:26:07,600 --> 01:26:09,759 Speaker 15: the world, and I'm just so glad that the world 1760 01:26:09,800 --> 01:26:12,320 Speaker 15: has you in your soothing voice. 1761 01:26:13,840 --> 01:26:15,880 Speaker 1: So sometimes I interview you guys with the person on 1762 01:26:15,920 --> 01:26:18,080 Speaker 1: the street, like need somebody and I don't have time 1763 01:26:18,120 --> 01:26:21,880 Speaker 1: to collect stuff online. You guys like being part of 1764 01:26:21,880 --> 01:26:24,000 Speaker 1: the podcast. Is that embarrassing or is it fun? What 1765 01:26:24,040 --> 01:26:24,800 Speaker 1: does that feel for you? 1766 01:26:25,520 --> 01:26:27,880 Speaker 20: I don't usually know the answers, so I hear my voice. 1767 01:26:27,920 --> 01:26:31,519 Speaker 20: I'm like the one they got it completely wrong. But 1768 01:26:31,640 --> 01:26:33,240 Speaker 20: I think it's cool. There was one time you talked 1769 01:26:33,240 --> 01:26:35,760 Speaker 20: about it. You talked about the lollipop I found in 1770 01:26:35,800 --> 01:26:38,280 Speaker 20: the closet you got when you got your degree, and 1771 01:26:38,320 --> 01:26:43,200 Speaker 20: I actually like it, And you said, no, you mind. 1772 01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:45,200 Speaker 1: If I include the little personal tidbits in the podcast. 1773 01:26:45,360 --> 01:26:48,000 Speaker 8: No, I think that's cute, haven't you It. 1774 01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:50,560 Speaker 1: Hasn't made your life porfolion or is it embarrassing? 1775 01:26:51,360 --> 01:26:53,280 Speaker 15: I think it's really fun. I love getting to hear 1776 01:26:53,479 --> 01:26:56,120 Speaker 15: about who you've been interviewing, because like it's often you know, 1777 01:26:56,200 --> 01:26:59,040 Speaker 15: like you know, you interviewed my post doc or my student, 1778 01:26:59,160 --> 01:27:02,000 Speaker 15: and then I hear their voice on the podcast. And 1779 01:27:02,120 --> 01:27:04,680 Speaker 15: sometimes you do ask me questions, like right when I'm 1780 01:27:04,680 --> 01:27:06,559 Speaker 15: in the middle of something else, it's like the morning 1781 01:27:06,640 --> 01:27:07,439 Speaker 15: rush and you're. 1782 01:27:07,280 --> 01:27:09,639 Speaker 9: Like, so, what's dark matter? 1783 01:27:10,920 --> 01:27:11,800 Speaker 1: What are quirks? 1784 01:27:12,280 --> 01:27:14,080 Speaker 20: He made me late to school a bit and then 1785 01:27:14,080 --> 01:27:15,759 Speaker 20: he texted me why are you late to school? 1786 01:27:16,120 --> 01:27:20,000 Speaker 8: And I had to answer it was it was a 1787 01:27:20,080 --> 01:27:22,120 Speaker 8: very sweet moment with though all of the. 1788 01:27:22,120 --> 01:27:26,559 Speaker 1: Service of public science communication. All right, anything else? 1789 01:27:27,560 --> 01:27:29,360 Speaker 15: Do we get to share some favorite moments? 1790 01:27:29,560 --> 01:27:30,679 Speaker 1: What are your favorite moments? 1791 01:27:31,000 --> 01:27:31,160 Speaker 12: Well? 1792 01:27:31,200 --> 01:27:34,320 Speaker 15: I just well I love hearing stories from listeners. And 1793 01:27:34,680 --> 01:27:37,519 Speaker 15: during the pandemic, instead of doing a man on the 1794 01:27:37,520 --> 01:27:39,599 Speaker 15: street interviews, like when you were out in the world, 1795 01:27:39,680 --> 01:27:42,360 Speaker 15: you were getting them as recordings and sometimes I got 1796 01:27:42,360 --> 01:27:45,559 Speaker 15: to hear them and I remember like just really fun 1797 01:27:45,640 --> 01:27:48,840 Speaker 15: moments people had shared with you, like these Australian housemates 1798 01:27:48,880 --> 01:27:51,760 Speaker 15: who were like all giggling and answering your questions, and 1799 01:27:51,800 --> 01:27:53,679 Speaker 15: I feel like there was music involved somehow. 1800 01:27:53,840 --> 01:27:54,960 Speaker 1: Did you feel like you wanted to be part of 1801 01:27:55,000 --> 01:27:55,320 Speaker 1: that house? 1802 01:27:55,520 --> 01:27:56,599 Speaker 11: Yes, I did. 1803 01:27:57,400 --> 01:28:00,200 Speaker 8: And when we went to New Zealand last year, one 1804 01:28:00,200 --> 01:28:01,280 Speaker 8: of your listeners was. 1805 01:28:01,320 --> 01:28:03,840 Speaker 15: So kind and gave us a ton of advice that 1806 01:28:03,880 --> 01:28:06,720 Speaker 15: we totally followed and that was amazing. And if I 1807 01:28:06,800 --> 01:28:08,720 Speaker 15: remembered their name, I would say it right now. But 1808 01:28:08,760 --> 01:28:11,599 Speaker 15: that was so kind and I don't know. It just 1809 01:28:11,760 --> 01:28:13,680 Speaker 15: brings out the good in people. It's like made the 1810 01:28:13,680 --> 01:28:14,519 Speaker 15: world a better place. 1811 01:28:14,800 --> 01:28:17,040 Speaker 1: And I'd like to end this special episode with what 1812 01:28:17,160 --> 01:28:20,599 Speaker 1: the podcast has meant to me. It means the world 1813 01:28:20,680 --> 01:28:23,000 Speaker 1: to me to know that I can share that joy, 1814 01:28:23,080 --> 01:28:25,559 Speaker 1: that there are people out there who are hearing it 1815 01:28:25,680 --> 01:28:28,400 Speaker 1: and feeling it. I love having an excuse to learn 1816 01:28:28,479 --> 01:28:31,280 Speaker 1: about areas of physics I never otherwise had time to 1817 01:28:31,320 --> 01:28:34,599 Speaker 1: dig into. I love having to think super carefully about 1818 01:28:34,640 --> 01:28:37,160 Speaker 1: my own understanding to make sure it really clicks in 1819 01:28:37,280 --> 01:28:40,280 Speaker 1: my head well enough to explain it. And I love 1820 01:28:40,360 --> 01:28:44,440 Speaker 1: having joking science conversations with Hooge and Mkatie and Mkelly, 1821 01:28:44,880 --> 01:28:47,080 Speaker 1: and I really hope that the podcast has helped you 1822 01:28:47,760 --> 01:28:50,720 Speaker 1: share in the joy of science. Thank you all so 1823 01:28:50,880 --> 01:28:52,080 Speaker 1: much for listening. 1824 01:28:54,320 --> 01:28:56,799 Speaker 14: Hey ho hey from the podcast, and I'm super excited 1825 01:28:56,840 --> 01:29:00,240 Speaker 14: to announce my new book, Oliver's Great Big Universe, is 1826 01:29:00,280 --> 01:29:02,880 Speaker 14: available to order now. 1827 01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:12,479 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain 1828 01:29:12,520 --> 01:29:16,520 Speaker 1: the Universe is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts 1829 01:29:16,520 --> 01:29:21,200 Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 1830 01:29:21,240 --> 01:29:22,960 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.