Goggles Optional

In this week's highlights episode, real-life scientists on the Goggles Optional team address today's burning questions from yesterweek's episodes: How can I avoid getting a cold? How do microwaves work? How many laws of physics were broken in the movie Interstellar?

On this week’s show, Diego, Lisl, Kat, and Trisha discuss how to combat anti-vaxxers with logic, boring genomes with promiscuity, and Alzheimer's with antibodies.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Chelsea, Greg, Ted, Dave and Lisl do a special Beer Goggles Optional episode, and chat about dark matter, four leaf clovers, and extraterrestrial life.

What could be better than one supernova? More than one supernova! This week, the hosts discuss supernova lensing, and how RNA can kill pests. Is your epidermis feeling salty these days? Learn why mice’s salty skin helps protect them against infections.

On this week’s show, learn about robots, bonding, and monks, but not robots bonding with monks.

Dave, Nora, Chelsea and Diego cover how luna moths can outmaneuver their enemies in air-to-air combat, we cover the spread of languages, and why having sex can actually protect against diseases.

This week, Trisha, Kat, Greg, and Diego host an episode full of more laughing children than a McDonald’s playplace. We interview local Stanford Social and Developmental psychologist Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, who has been studying the development of altruism in children, then discuss squids who can change their own RNA.

Dave, Greg, Lisl, and Chelsea discuss a revival of 'N Sync! No, it's not the boy band from the 1990's; it's the National Synchrotron that will cost $900 million dollars. We also cover a story about a patient's whose disease was cured when her chromosomes shattered, and our physicist duo introduces us to Superfluids.

One, two, three... ahahah! Dave, Lisl, Nora, and Diego count all the new security features for the latest method of biocontainment. Speaking of counting, did you know how chicks count? We cover the latest research involving number lines and baby chickens. Plus, Nora shares with us a physics correction that's making waves.

Trisha, Ted, Nora, and Greg discuss the way to slow aging by increasing telomeres. How do you make better drugs? What if we added mini-rockets? Finally, the gang bust out their egg puns to celebrate a new way to unboil your eggs.

This week is all about how life finds a way... well unless you're a dinosaur. Join hosts Dave, Diego, Emily, and Greg as we cover a new protein that breaks the central dogma, a new way to develop antibiotics, and a new discovery that could explain why the dinosaurs went extinct.

What's the best way to prevent yourself from getting the cold? How about keeping your nose warm? Dr. Ellen Foxman joins Dave, Diego, Lisl, and Nora to explain how the temperature outside can impact your chances of catching a cold. Diego and Lisl discusses how cancer cells are stealing mitochondria, and Trisha and Greg perform a duet for our guest.

Diego, Trisha, Greg, and Chelsea kick off 2015 with some drinking music... but for the zebra finches. Discover why neurologists are so interested in hearing these birds sing drunk. Plus, we scope out the newest type of TVs that rely on quantum dots, and we cover how a group of scientists did something Einstein didn't think was possible.

Happy New Year listeners! To celebrate the new year, we decided to run some of our favorite segments from 2014 including an interview with Dr. Mahalia Miller on monitoring earthquakes using Twitter, a recap of the Nobel Prizes for 2014, and an interview with Dr. Joe Rodgers on alert stem cells.

Can smoking actually cause you to be come less of a man? Our hosts Diego, Lisl, Nora, and Ted explore how smoking can cause men to lose the Y chromosome. Plus, Lisl shares stories from animals self-medicating, and our physicists Ted and Nora tells us how to build a fuel cell using graphene.

Dave, Trisha, Chelsea, and Greg are joined by Dr. Yula Paluy, a social psychologist who studies conflict resolution. Discover how sending funny cat pictures can help resolve difficult conflicts between people and groups. Plus, Greg and Chelsea teaches us how to build a black hole whirlpool that can capture Captain Jack Sparrow.

Trisha, Diego, Lisl, and Nora shares how other Stanford scientists are designing gecko-like pads that enables people to walk up buildings. Yes, just like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Plus, how did cucumbers get so tasty? And our hosts reveal the secrets of sex... for queen termites.

Goggles Optional celebrates Turkey day with a special Beer Gobbles Optional! Join hosts Diego, Lisl, and Greg plus writers Ted, Kat, and Kosh as they have a free flowing discussion over tasty beverages. Topics include: how should you microwave your Thanksgiving leftovers, why bird migration is like college, how superconductors work, is science becoming open access, and why paper towels are superior to blow dryers.

Dave, Diego, and Emily query physicist Greg on our top 10 science-ish questions surrounding Christopher Nolan's new movie "Interstellar." Learn the difference between wormholes and black holes, how time can actually slow down, and why the robots in the movie looked so cheesy? Plus, how cell phones may be used to predict population movements and Emily compares bacteria memory formation to killing hydras.