Science

Facts Machine

Facts Machine is a podcast by and for people who are curious about everything — but especially the things that make them laugh. Scientists by day and pub trivia hosts by night, Emily, Noah, and Rob leverage their scientific curiosity and delight in obscure minutiae to bring you a podcast that explores life’s silliest, most unexpected, and outright awe-inspiring stories. And puns. So many puns.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 24: In Dog We Trust Apr 30, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Facts Machine makes a PAWEDcast! Noah, Rob, and Emily learn all about dogs — the good boys and good girls who make life worth living. Listen to find out how good the first good boy was, how some good girls are helping reseed forests after fires, and how some good boys and good girls (and one especially good boy) braved wind and snow to save a bunch of kids from Diptheria!

Episode 23: Hocus POTUS Apr 16, 2019

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Hail to the Chief! It's an episode of Facts Machine all about U.S. presidents. Listen to find out why it's not safe to run for president in 2020, how to win friends and influence people to crowdfund your mausoleum, and which president was arrested for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage.

Episode 22: That Sh*t Cray Apr 02, 2019

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“More intellectual than I expected.” Our listeners should expect nothing less from an episode of Facts Machine all about poop! Would you believe that in this episode we discuss the natural philosophy of Aristotle, the finer points of long-term space exploration, AND cutting-edge (or should we say, “surface-level”) biomimicry in engineering? Just to be clear, though, this is definitely an episode about poop. There will be jokes.

Episode 21: My Goodness, My Guinness Mar 19, 2019

Show notes

Top of the morning to ya! In honor of St. Paddy’s day, we’re Dublin down on this week’s theme: Guinness! Listen to find out why nitrogen is “an obvious gas”, how the t-test was invented by a Guinness employee, and how “factual fisticuffs” inspired the Guinness Book of World Records!

Episode 20: Facts Machine ~After Dark~ Mar 05, 2019

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This week, Facts Machine becomes FaXXX Machine as Emily, Rob, and Noah discuss facts of a more...intimate...nature. Get your mind in the gutter with our titillating (hehehe) tales about the Urban Dictionary of the Victorian era, that time when Hemingway and Fitzgerald compared their penises at the Louvre, and a divine foreskin of purportedly cosmic proportions.

Episode 19: The Wild West Feb 19, 2019

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Have your lassos, pistols, and...sarsaparilla (?) at the ready, because this week Facts Machine is comin' atcha with some Wild West facts! Tune in to learn about real life re-enactments of your favorite dysentry-ridden computer game, the dromedaries that were once at home on the range, and the most infamous stagecoach robber in frontier herstory. Yee-haw!

Episode 18: Only In New York Feb 05, 2019

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You can learn a lot in a New York minute, but you can learn even more in sixty! Facts Machine is back with an episode all about our hometown, the Big Apple. Listen to learn why The Strand bookstore is the last shop standing from New York's legendary Book Row, why electric cars caught on in the 19th century only to be undermined by fragile masculinity, and why a New York sculptor has been creating monuments to fictional disasters all over the city.

Episode 17: Crime Immemorial Jan 22, 2019

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It would be criminal to miss this episode of Facts Machine! Let us steal your attention with gritty tales of (surprisingly) true crime, featuring Ohio bank robberies, anti-Stratfordian conspiracy theories, and mysteriously damp socks. Do your ears some justice and tune in!

Episode 16: I'm With The Banned Jan 08, 2019

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Noah, Emily and Rob are back with a BAN-tastic episode all about bans, censorship, and prohibitions! Listen to find out why Ray Bradbury should have gone with Fahrenheit 2577, why you should watch your back if you’re the king who banned coffee, and which beloved children’s book character is not allowed in a Polish playground because he doesn’t wear pants. But be quick, before you know it, we could be banned too!

Episode 15: Have Yourself A Merry Little Podcast Dec 11, 2018

Show notes

Podcast ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! For Noah, Emily, and Rob have come to you to say: Remember facts like Ol’ Saint Nick was skinny in his day! Oh tidings of Facts Machine pod! Give us five stars! Ohhhh tidings of Facts Machine pod! It’s a holiday episode of Facts Machine! Come learn about how Martin Luther wanted to split from the Catholic Church but didn’t want to split from getting presents, why 17th century Christians banned people from saying Merry Christmas, and how mistletoe and vampires have a lot in common!

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