There are 1.5 million freshly minted engineers in India every year. One of them, this week's guest Naman Bajaj, said, "well, I guess they've got enough of those," changed course, became an astronomer, scored an insane amount of time on JWST (that, in itself, is amazing - which totally rocked Kovi's and Benjamin's minds), and found that protoplanetary disks - baby solar systems - lose 85-90% of their original mass by the time they're done forming. They do so in tremendous, huge jets - some of which, in turn, spark the beginnings of other baby solar systems.

Kovi and Benjamin were getting their questions and notes in order, preparing for another amazing episode with another amazing guest - when there was a sudden reschedule that left the boys alone, unprepared, and unsupervised. Join the gents as they just talk... well... they way they usually talk - NERD TALK. From NORAD, to data science, to something that goes great with maple, strawberry or blueberry syrup - Zel’Dovich Pancakes!

In this episode, Kovi and Benjamin dive headfirst into the Ig Nobel Prize, science’s annual celebration of research that makes you laugh first and think later. The lads cover everything from the prize’s origins and its wonderfully weird traditions to the unforgettable “winners” themselves, all while celebrating the curious, human side of scientific discovery. It is a reminder that science is not just serious. Sometimes it is very, very funny.

And because the Ig Nobels deserve a little swagger:

Iggy Iggy Iggy, can’t you see

Sometimes your prize entertains me

Thank you, Biggie.

Everybody look busy! Our boss is back. For those of you who don't know, Kovi and Benjamin first nerded together as co-hosts on the Space Case Sarah Show, hosted by our return guest - the space case herself - Sarah Treadwell. Tune in to hear about her PhD journey, being a professional science communicator, what her son's favorite planet name is (nope, not what we thought either), and what does one actually do with a space inflatable planetarium?

Do you think about databases? Do you think like a databse? This week's guest David Ezrakhovich does. Listen to Kovi and Benjamin's 70th episode (holy moly 70!) as David shares with us how his journey and his mindset led him to becoming a multi-disciplinary engineer. ...and all that happens somewhere in the middle of three nerds being nerds.

Where do 'nearby stars' end and 'distant stars' begin? Learn the answer to that question from UC Berkeley astronomer Howard Isaacson! Kovi and Benjamin swoon as Howard gets romantic about astronomy, his love of exoplanets, black holes, and the search for life in the universe.

Dr. Helen Maynard Casley, (one of) THE principal scientists at ANSTO (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), sets Kovi's and Benjamin's brains alight as she talks about working on the Wombat (not an acronym - Australians just like naming things after animals). Wombat is a high intensity neutron diffractometer that Dr. Helen uses to just scoop some neutrons out of a working nuclear reactor. You know, for kicks! You'd think that line of work would make someone glow, but not so! The reason she glows - or glowed - was when she helped set the Guinness World Record for longest glow necklace!

Expansion Of The Nerdiverse : Guest : Dr. Blitz

Dr. Blitz, Kovi and Benjamin showed up in matching shirts, glasses and microphones to talk about all things Star Trek, the path Dr. Blitz took from a young age to become the scientist he is today, science communication, the expansion of the universe, spacetime, and a bunch of things black holes do that you probably didn't know they did. So sit back, relax, and enjoy our sixty-seventh episode.

Season 7 Episode 7 of The Nerd & The Scientist is now available wherever you get your podcasts.

https://rss.com/podcasts/thenerdandthescientist/

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