Explore every episode of the podcast Popcorn Science Podcast
Dive into the complete episode list for Popcorn Science Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
For All Mankind
21 Mar 2026
01:10:31
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," we discuss the 2019 series For All Mankind.
Topics
Science Gripes (6:05)
Dumbest way to move an Asteroid
No reaction control thrusters
Do not need a tower to push
Spike in a rubble-pile asteroid
Sending out crew to asteroid while under thrust?
Living on Mars (14:50)
Radiation on the Surface, aristocracy live above ground?
Happy Valley Base near the equator, but ice is near the poles
Korolev Crater harboring life? No Methane or lava tubes.
Untethered EVA? Risky.
Science Shine (27:08)
Asteroid depiction
A dark rubble pile
Initial contact, asteroid more like a wall than a planet.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the
science behind the 1997 movie "Contact".
Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Carl Sagan, Contact
explores what would happen if humanity were to receive a message from
an extraterrestrial civilization.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the science behind the 2013 movie "Ender's Game".
Based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game follows a young boy as he learns to defend the
Earth from an invasion by a mysterious alien species known as the Formics.
In our first episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the science behind The X-Files two-parter "Tunguska/Terma".
These episodes first aired in November 1996, and follow Mulder and Scully around the world as they try to get their hands on a rock filled with
a mysterious alien oil.
Deep Impact
20 Sep 2025
01:01:35
Cities fall, but they are rebuilt. And heroes die, but they are remembered. We honor them with every podcast we record. Our planet, our home.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," discuss the 1998 film Deep Impact.
Topics
Science Gripes (4:30)
Nobody notices the comet
Sublimation / thermal inertia
Gravity on a comet
Sun visor, facial boils
Travel time
Communication failure
Impact effects (earthquake, airburst)
Temperature increase due to many small impactors (>10 degrees)
Science Shine (28:05)
Comet naming
Comet stats: Reasonable size, mass, density and rotation
More likely scenario than Armageddon (comet from Ort cloud, off the plane of solar system)
A new life awaits you in the Popcorn Science Podcast. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," discuss the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner. Catherine and John have seen things you people wouldn't believe. If you don't listen to this episode, all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine hear nothing but the rain while discussing the 2003 Battlestar Galactica miniseries. So grab your gun and bring the cat in.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the science behind the 2018 movie "Clara." Clara tells the sotry of a down-on-his-luck
astronomer who succeeds in making a momentous discovery with the help of a mysterious artist. Featured in the Toronto International Film Festival, this
movie has a familiar science advisor - Dr. John Moores!
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the science behind the movie everyone loves to hate: "The Core"! First released
in 2003, this movie explores what would happen if the Earth's outer core stopped spinning, and sends a courageous group of "terranauts" down to
start it up again.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," John and Catherine discuss the science behind two Star Trek episodes: "The Trouble with Tribbles" (1967) from
The Original Series and "Trials and Tribble-ations" (1996) from Deep Space Nine. In both episodes, the crews try to grapple with an outbreak of a
number of fuzzy spheroids known as Tribbles, with the DS9 crew coming from the future to help out Kirk and Spock!
The Fifth Element
05 Apr 2026
01:01:34
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," discuss the 1997 film The Fifth Element.
Topics
Science Gripes (5:10)
Technobabble
"Memo-groups", the perfect being, genetic memory
Generate skin by exposure to UV
Gravity will mess you up (10:05)
3D grid lock? Fog layer in NYC?
How big is the death sphere anyway?
New Moon? What about tides, tho?
How do shadows work? (18:41)
-5000 degrees? (22:57)
Parable of the Broken Window (22:37)
Science Shine (24:23)
Aziz! Light!
The fifth element is... Boron... err... Ether (25:40)
Languages (29:40)
Planetary Protection (32:12)
Diva Dance (33:40)
We bring the evil with us where we go (36:32)
Single-use beds
Garbage strike
65 trillion served, plausible?
Hallway disguise
Of it's time (41:05)
23rd century look an awful lot like the 90s. Phonebooks? CDs?
Bruce Willis is in every 90's action film. Space Die Hard!
Misogyny. Luc Besson is a creep as are most of the male characters.
God creates dinosaurs, God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man, Man destroys God. Man creates podcasts. Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
In this episode of "Popcorn Science," discuss the 1993 film Jurassic Park
Topics
Science Gripes (5:30)
DNA from mosquitoes = impossible. Half life is too short.
Humans cannot produce lysine either, we're alright.
Not "billions of strands" in a drop of blood.
T-Rex, from brain casts: Good sense of smell, vision, and hearing... sitting still not a good strategy.
Velociraptors: not so big, not so fast.
Humans can probably outrun dinosaurs (19:15)
$112k/yr. Enough for fieldwork?
What do dinosaurs sound like? Mating tortoises.
Science Shine (27:34)
Dinosaurs related to birds, checks out.
Animals fail to show up at the safari ride.
Cloning is a thing, sequencing older samples produce good science
Mosquitoes did exist contemporaneously with dinosaurs.
Chicxulub impact described well
Dinosaur gizzards / gastroliths.
Sex switching does happen in some species.
Chaos Theory
Of it's time (40:39)
What could have been
James Cameron: Dark Jurassic Park
Jim Carey as Malcolm?
Groundbreaking CGI, but also practical effects.
Clothing is firmly rooted in the 90s
CRTs and floppy disks, adjusted refresh rates.
"That's not what unix looks like". This was an actual unix system called IRIX running a real program called fsn ("File System Navigator for cyberspace").
90s hacker tropes and fat shaming
John Williams: Wrote the score for everything in the 70s, 80s and 90s