Vaguely Scientific is a podcast where our panelists take audience-submitted questions ranging from the plausible to the fantastical and try to answer them as scientifically as they can. Not all questions have an easy answer, however, so our panelists will often devolve into tangents, bickering, and philosophy before stumbling across the “correct” solution.
Our “Vaguely Musical Intro” was composed by Anthony Pezzelle
https://www.silverlingvirtualstudio.com/
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Recurring Segments
Fun Science Fact of the Day
Before diving into the absurd, we always like to start things off right with some actual, factual science! These are interesting scientific tidbits that you can use to broaden your horizons or impress your friends.
Things I Destroyed in Universe Sandbox™
Universe Sandbox is a computer program that simulates gravity, planetary motion, and cosmic time scales. It’s a perfect quick and dirty way to see how badly you can break a solar system by changing one little variable. And some questions really lend themselves to breaking the solar system!
Apocalypse of the Week
There have been a lot of apocalypse predictions over the last 30 or so years, and sometimes it’s fun to delve into the higher profile ones, be they scientific, spiritual, or stupid.
This Week in Science History
We take a look back at what sorts of science occurred during the week we release the episode. Will it be uplifting? Will it be bizarre? Let’s find out!
Mini Questions!
Sometimes a question is too interesting to pass up, but it’s not quite deep enough for a full discussion. In this segment, we can tackle these bite-sized queries and turn it over to you, the listener, to tell us how you might want to see us expand upon them.
Soap Opera Science
Soap operas are stupid, but they’re surprisingly good at bending the laws of science. Here, we take a look at something bizarre that happens fairly often in soapdom and rip it to shreds.
Guess the Breakthrough
Scientific discoveries aren’t always deliberate and methodical. Sometimes we blunder into them! We read off the details of a scientific discovery and then try to guess what might have been discovered or invented as a result.
Oopsie Daisy!
We discuss a concept in science that seemed like a great and logical idea at the time, but was so wildly wrong that we look back on it and laugh. Like, things that would’ve been obvious if anyone had taken a day or two to think about it.
Conspiracy Theory of the Week
The truth is out there. And as it turns out, the truth isn’t the wild conspiracy everyone thinks it is. It’s the mundane solution that makes the most sense and is easily proven by applying logic and evidence.