Serious Inquiries Only

Latest Episodes:

SIO363: Study Shows Video Games Are Good! See Mom, I Told You May 18, 2023

Show notes

Today I'm joined by Dr. Bader Chaarani, Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont Ph.D. in Biomedical engineering. Dr. Chaarani is here to break down the study he led that has us all yelling at our parents in 1994 saying why didn't you just let me play as much SNES as I wanted! You guys are the WORST! This sucks!

Anyway, also surprise-ish announcement to go along with this episode, my amazing wife Lydia and I are going to stream Tears of the Kingdom on twitch tomorrow! That's twitch.tv/srsnes, Thursday May 18th 2pm pacific! Come hang with us!

SIO362: The Whale and Fatphobia May 16, 2023

Show notes

This movie was just so needlessly cruel. It was also, and this is true, f$%&ing terrible. It was so bad. Seriously, if you haven't seen it you might not even believe it when we tell you about it. Charone Frankel joins me to discuss the shocking fatphobia of this film, and how its writer and director were seemingly completely oblivious to it.

SIO361: Seasoning Liberally, with Cecil! May 11, 2023

Show notes

Today's expert is longtime friend of the show Cecil, from Cognitive Dissonance and Citation Needed! You might not know, but Cecil is also a trained chef with a delightful YouTube channel called Season Liberally. It is absolutely as delicious as it sounds and you should definitely check it out! Cecil and I chat about when and how he became a professionally trained chef, and he gives us some great tips on how to be (in my case) slightly less shitty at cooking! This one is so much fun, I hope you'll give it a listen!

SIO360: How Gravitational Lensing Helps Us Understand the Universe May 09, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Bryan Gillis is back! This time he's here to teach us about gravitational lensing. And along the way, we learn about dark matter and dark energy! What the hell are they? What the hell aren't they? Could you have a black hole made out of dark matter? So much fascinating stuff!

Links: ESA Euclid Page, Euclid Wikipedia page, Vimeo Channel for the Royal Observatory.

SIO359: How Different Are The Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships? May 04, 2023

Show notes

It's a science thingy breakdown! This one can barely be called a science thingy. It's not great. Dr. Alan Smerbeck is here to debunk one of the go-to citations for conservatives' homophobia. Does it hold up? No. Look I'm not going to pretend like it's a close call. Listen to find out why this is a shit study.

Regnerus, M. (2012). How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? findings from the new family structures study. Social Science Research, 41(4), 752-770

Cheng, S., & Powell, B. (2015). Measurement, methods, and divergent patterns: Reassessing the effects of same-sex parents. Social Science Research, 52, 615-626

Rosenfeld, M. (2015). Revisiting the data from the new family structure study: Taking family instability into account. Sociological Science, 2(23), 478-501

And the Witherspoon Institute's weird marriage spiel

Bonus: Heath and Thomas Watch Republican Ads! Apr 29, 2023

Show notes

My podcast colleague and hopefully one day boyfriend if I can ever get him to commit, Heath Enwright, of Puzzle in a Thunderstorm podverse joins me to roast some Republican Ads! This is a Patron bonus but I wanted to give you folks a preview. But also it's a full self-contained segment so even if you can't become a patron, it's still super fun listening! I hope you enjoy, and please consider pledging to hear the rest of the ads, they are INCREDIBLE.

Hear the full 64 minutes, covering 6 ads! patreon.com/seriouspod.

Here's the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLMMxgtxQ1Y&ab_channel=GOP

SIO358: Tucker Carlson Fired! ... Hurray? I Think? Apr 27, 2023

Show notes

Racist nazi prick Tucker Carlson was fired by Fox News. But how should we feel about that? Can we have nice things? Or like sort of ok things? And how the hell did this happen? And what happens next? Will he run for president? I share my thoughts, and play a few of his shittiest hits to send him off properly.

SIO357: Quantum Computers Part 2 - Inevitable Game Changer or... Hyperloop? Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

Are all our password not belong to us? Part 2 of quantum computers! Our expert Anne tells us about the current landscape of actual quantum computers in the real world. It may not be what you think!

Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

SIO356: Quantum Computers: How the Hell? No really Apr 25, 2023

Show notes

What is this wizardry? I'm joined by a semi-anonymous expert who explains all about quantum computers. How they work, how they don't work, what's a qubit, all that kind of stuff. She also explains the limitations. After that, I explain why the delay in episodes and go on an unhinged rant about my new obsession... quantum computers... They're impossible and it's amazing!

Look for part 2 soon, in which Anne tells us how far away we actually are from real, working quantum computers. Are they about to crack all our passwords?

SIO355: Afroman vs Police and Clarence Thomas vs Ethics Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

Two stories today! First a more upbeat delightful one. The musician Afroman had his home raided by police for reasons no one seems to know for sure. He and his wife took footage, and he used that footage in music videos and on merch. The police want... a cut? Or something. And Matt also gives us a breakdown of the Clarence Thomas situation. Look we all already know there's not a damn thing we can immediately do about it, but that doesn't mean we should give up and not be angry. It truly is an astonishing breach of ethics.

Follow Matt Cameron on twitter!

Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

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