You're the Expert

Dr. Rebecca Brachman tells us about her groundbreaking work in the neuroscience of resilience and how certain chemical compounds may be able to help prevent illnesses like depression or PTSD. This episode features comedians Wyatt Cenac, Maeve Higgins, and Negin Farsad. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends. NOTE: This is our last episode in the season.

Three comedians try to guess what a leading expert does all day and learn why their research is important. You're the Expert brings academia out of the Ivory Tower and into your iPhone. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Discovering new dinosaurs with Dr. Mike D'Emic in the second installment of this two-part mini-series. Chris hears from the rest of the dig team about their experience finding fossils and searching for dino bones. In this episode, we look at future paleontologists getting their first taste of what fieldwork really looks like.   

Chris discovers a new species of dinosaur with paleontologist Dr. Mike D'Emic. This is a special two part mini-series / experiment where we leave the theater and go into the field to see science as it's happening. Let us know what you think!   

Dr. Bianca Jones Marlin is a Columbia neuroscientist who studies maternal bonding and how trauma in parents affects the brains of future offspring. She teaches comedians Josh Gondelman, Ashley Brooke Roberts, and Dylan Marron about what you get from your parents and why. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Jess Phoenix studies volcanoes all over the world. She also runs a nonprofit and was a candidate for Congress. In this episode, she explains magma, lava, and all her other hot facts to panelists Aparna Nancherla, Max Silvestri, and Caitlin Durante. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Dr. Robin Nagle is the anthropologist-in-residence for New York City's Department of Sanitation and a professor at NYU. She walks us through the crucial and often overlooked role sanitation workers play in the city and talks trash with comedians Maeve Higgins, Gary Richardson, and Dylan Marron. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Dr. Brooke Flammang studies sharks and the fish that stick onto them. She discovered a previously undiscovered muscle in shark tails, builds autonomous underwater robots, and fires off lasers in her lab. She's incredible. Comedians Dillon Stevenson, Maeve Higgins, and Emmy Blotnick learn all about her work. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Dr. Helen Fisher, Biological Anthropologist, is a Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute, a member of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers, and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Internet dating site Match.com. Comedians Bowen Yang, Michelle Buteau, and Matt Koff learn about her research on why humans love, marry, cheat, and more. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

MIT's Dr. Rosalind "Roz" Picard helped invent the field of wearable computers. Now she's working on getting them to understand our emotions. Comedians Ken Reid, Josh Sharp, and Fareeha Khan learn about her research and get into their feelings in this special Cambridge Science Festival taping. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends. Made possible by generous funding from MIT's De Florez Fund for Humor.

Lauren Nolfo-Clements studies invasive species. In particular, she's an expert on nutria, giant swamp rodents. Host Chris Duffy and comedians Josh Sharp, Ken Reid, and Caitlin Durante learn about these rodents of unusual size and the science of introduced species. Recorded live at Suffolk University's Modern Theatre as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. Made possible with generous funding from MIT's DeFlorez Fund for Humor. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Dr. Christine McCarthy is an "ice squeezer" at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She studies space ice on moons and other planets and glaciers here on Earth. In this episode, she tells comedians Gary Richardson (SNL), Ashley Brooke Roberts (NatGeo), and Nadia Pinder about her research and findings. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Anand Varma is a National Geographic Photographer and biologist who uses pioneering techniques to capture images of everything from parasites that control the mind of an insect to hummingbirds to bees licking each other. He explains his work to comedians Jo Firestone, Scott Adsit, and Kasha Patel. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at National Geographic in DC.

Dr. Jennifer Basil studies memory and navigation across a variety of animals. But her main study subject is the Chambered Nautilus, a beautiful and mysterious creature of the deep. Listen as comedians Jo Firestone, Zhubin Parang, and Shalewa Sharpe discover what a nautilus is, why it matters, and why it's really pretty gross to eat a lobster. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.

Dr. Christine Austin uses teeth to study childhood development, exposure to chemicals, and stress. She teaches comedians Todd Barry, Michelle Buteau, and Negin Farsad about the secret rings hidden in our molars, why you don't want to inhale tooth dust, and how tooth analysis might hold the answers to some of our most frustratingly persistent diseases. Hosted by Chris Duffy. Produced by Pretty Good Friends.