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This Week in Science – The Kickass Science Podcast · Dr. Kirsten Sanford Science Media

Snakes on a train?

·2 hr 13 min·13 clips
Over 10,000 scientists have been lost from the federal government, decimating crucial institutional knowledge.
Dr. Kiki opens the episode with a formal disclaimer that turns out to be the full text of the Declaration of Independence, read straight through in the legal-disclaimer voice typically used for podcast disclosures. Blair's initial response is to ask where she found this woke antifa content before recognizing with amusement that it is the Declaration of Independence, a document he says has a certain familiar ring to it. The hosts then discuss why Dr. Kiki chose it, noting that documents and films from decades or centuries past feel newly resonant when the historical patterns they describe are reasserting themselves. Dr. Kiki mentions having recently watched Pump Up the Volume, a 1990 Gen X film about free speech and authority, and how that kind of artifact from the past can illuminate the present. Both hosts agree that studying history matters because it allows you to recognize patterns before they escalate and because the alternatives, nation-ending scenarios they joke about darkly, are worth preventing. The episode then proceeds to science news. The title story involves snakes on a train, which the episode introduction promises alongside stories about monkeys and kangaroos. The humor throughout is self-aware and politically conscious without being dogmatic, reflecting the show's tradition of blending rigorous science communication with a left-leaning cultural sensibility that has been part of the program since its early days.

As heard by us

A playful animal-biology episode that turns a strange question into concrete biomechanics.

The episode treats kangaroos with a light touch, but it still lands on a real biological question: how far can a body grow before hopping stops making sense?

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Why you'd press play

If you want a science show that hops from snakes to kangaroos, and into the question of whether ancient giants could really hop, this one goes there.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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