Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of May 20

Some programs will air repeats toward the end of the week, reflecting either the desire for a long Memorial Day Weekend, or the end of the May ratings sweeps period.  It’s likely both.  Friday’s rerun of The Late, Late Show rates a mention, with the Morgan Freeman segment focusing on science topics (related to Freeman’s role as host of Through the Wormhole).  Freeman is schedule to be on The Daily Show this Thursday, but I expect it will be focused on his newest film, which is not science or technology oriented (it’s a bank heist film using magic).

In first-run programs, environmental journalist David Sasson spars with Stephen Colbert.  Tuesday marks the return of the Piedmont Bird Callers to The Late Show.  Also on Tuesday, Jeremy Wade, host of River Monsters, sits down with Jay Leno.  On Friday, Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, will be on Ellen.

On a slightly related note, BBC America is running James May’s Man Lab, a cheeky do-it-yourself science and technology show that previously ran (and still does) on the BBC.  As I type this the latest episode new to America is covering how to handle unexploded World War II ordnance you might find in your garden.  The network also runs the television version of The Nerdist, a podcast empire of note.  It’s May 12 episode focused on space, with Buzz Aldrin and Bobak Ferdowsi (one of the control room engineers  - Mohawk Guy – for the Mars Curiosity rover).

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of May 13

Unless you want to count guests connected to this week’s U.S. release of the new Star Trek film, it’s a thin week.  The Talk’s tech expert, Chi-Lan Lieu, is scheduled twice this week (Monday and Tuesday).    On Thursday evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman will visit with Stephen Colbert.

The big deal is, oddly enough, really late on Friday/early Saturday morning.  Second man on the moon Buzz Aldrin will stop by to talk with Carson Daly on his program.  What more do you need?

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of May 6

As we are in a ratings sweeps period in the U.S., there are nearly no late night repeats this week.  Regrettably, this does not mean a boost in the number of late night guests with science and/or technology material to feed your mind.

Earlier today The Talk had on its technology reporter, Chi-Lan Lieu.  On Wednesday Dr. Richard Besser, ABC’s chief medical correspondent, sits down with Stephen Colbert.  Besser does have a book out, so he may fall more in line with the bulk of doctor guests on these programs, which I tend not to include.  I’m thinking, however, that this appearance will be more like one with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, where the conversation is more about medicine than the latest quick fix that tends to find its way out through the mouths of doctors on television.

Conan brings it this week, with two guests on Wednesday.  Simon Helberg, who plays one of the scientists on The Big Bang Theory, will be his first guest.  Following Helberg is John Collins, a paper airplane expert.  Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California and big fan of incorporating digital tools into government and politics, will sit with Carson Daly on Thursday night.

Much as I have avoided mentioning nearly all appearances by Iron Man 3 cast, even though the film is likely technology-heavy, I am doing the same with appearances for cast members of Star Trek Into Darkness.  I could make the case for including Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and Alice Eve, who play science, engineering and medical personnel on the Enterprise.  I mention the scientist and engineer characters on The Big Bang Theory because their work is an important part of that show.  I can’t honestly make the case for the same being true for members of the Enterprise crew.  I’ll happily eat my words if Benedict Cumberbatch (also in the film) gets questions about being the guest director of this year’s Cambridge Science Festival, but I don’t see it happening.

If you’re looking for extras, let me note more content I missed the first time around.  While I noted the March 26 appearance of Dr. Michael Moss on The Daily Show, the interview ran long.  You can catch the full interview (in three parts) online.  When former President Carter visited with Jon on April 9, I mistakenly assumed it would not touch on science or technology topics.  But they talked a lot about the Carter Center’s work on eradicating the guinea worm.  Stephen Colbert had his own presidential science and technology moment that same evening, when he stopped by the Clinton Global Initiative University’s Exchange Fair – a science and technology exposition focused on problem solving projects.

Buying The World A Coke-Reliable Distribution System

While Coca-Cola isn’t the best drink for you from a health perspective, its distribution network is being used for healthier purposes.  The documentary film The Cola Road describes how non-profits are using the Coca-Cola distribution network to make it easier for remote villages to obtain needed rehydration medicines (and no, the tasty beverage doesn’t count) (H/T Scientific American).

Dean Kamen has also turned to Coke for help getting his products to those who could most benefit from it.  In this case, it’s his water purification system, the Slingshot.  He explained the specifics back in 2008 on The Colbert Report.  Last fall he partnered with Coca-Cola (and others) to produce the Slingshots at scale and test the machines in rural health centers in Latin America throughout 2013.  Given Kamen’s past work with Coca-Cola (his company helped develop the Freestyle soda machine) this partnership is not surprising.  Coke is committed to replenishing 100 percent of the water it uses in producing its beverages by 2020, and having purification machines like the Slingshot available should make that goal easier to achieve.

Next time you’re thinking about innovation, hopefully the example of Coca-Cola can remind you that getting the product to market is at least as important as developing it in the first place.  Maybe if Coca-Cola had need for Kamen’s Segway scooter, they’d be a bit more commonplace than they are.

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of April 29

This Friday the latest Iron Man film premieres in the United States.  I mention that mainly for the likelihood of science fiction technology to factor into the film.  I don’t expect the same to occur with the appearances of various cast members on the next several talk shows.

The biggest science guest of the week is once again on Jimmy Kimmel Live!  Science Bob Pflugfelder returns on Thursday’s program.  Iron Man 3 star Robert Downey, Jr. is on the same program, so there is an opportunity to test my hypothesis.

In other guests, Kal Penn stops by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday.  Penn is the host of The Big Brain Theory, a competition series premiering this week on the US Discovery channel (and re-broadcast on The Science Channel).  The program is looking for engineering talent with the winner getting, among other things, a contract to work for a design firm.  The co-founders of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, will sit with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday.  Snapchat is a photo sharing service with a twist.  The shared photos are temporary, disappearing after a period of time set by the sharer.

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of April 22

Let’s get to the big deal up front.   Adam and Jamie from the MythBusters have a late night appearance this week, and it’s not with super-fan Craig Ferguson.  The boys are scheduled to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night.  As Kimmel is the sole late night stop for “Science Bob” Pflugfelder (who is scheduled to visit Jimmy’s show next week), I would not rule out a wacky demonstration or two.  The 10th anniversary season of MythBusters starts in the U.S. on May 1.

In other late night science and technology content, Stephen Colbert brings it early in the week.  Food writer Michael Pollan visits tonight (Monday).  His newest book focuses on cooks and cooking.  On Tuesday Eric Schmidt, Google Executive Chairman and member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology sits down to promote his book on the future.

In this week’s catch-up corner, I point you to the March 28 edition of The Daily Show, where author Denise Kiernan, appeared to talk about The Girls of Atomic City, a history of the women who worked at the nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the Manhattan Project.  The interview ran long, and the book appear to cover a lot more about the logistics, science and technology of the project than I initially expected.  Kiernan has also curated some of the promotional and archival material for the book at Atomic Cocktails.  In what should be little surprise, Mary Roach’s latest appearance (April 1) on The Daily Show also ran long.  Her latest book is Gulp, and no guesses about what it covers.

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of April 15

A majority of programs are in repeats this week.  None of those re-airings have guests that fit this category.  Sadly, the same appears to be the same for what few new programs are on this week.

This allows me to relate several segments that aired in the past, but did not get listed here as they weren’t linked to a particular guest.

As is common, these segments were on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  On the March 4 edition of The Colbert Report, Stephen spent a full segment on a supposed mystery of the scientist and the missing scallop bits.   On the following show, Stephen discussed the two-person mission to Mars proposed by former space tourist Dennis Tito.  On March 6 a semi-regular segment “Thought for Food” dealt in depth with how food manufacturers seek out how to engineer peak cravings in their products.

Over on The Daily Show Neil deGrasse Tyson’s interview on March 6 ran long.  And to acknowledge the lack of scientific accuracy in the program, the opening of the show was revised to properly reflect how the Earth rotates.  But they didn’t spend the money to make it permanent.

To Tom Lehrer On His 29th Birthday (In C)

Centigrade, that is.

Today mathematician, satirist, and musician Tom Lehrer turns 85.  BBC Radio has a short program commemorating the occasion (it will only be available until sometime on Saturday).  As most of his musical output was in the 1950s and 1960s, you may have to ask your parents.  While many of his fans favor his more political work, one tune in particular attracts the attention of most scientifically inclined music fans – “The Elements”

Lehrer’s first recorded performance dates to the early 1950s, when he was a graduate student at Harvard.  This performance – a revue – included a future Nobel laureate and at least two future science policy advisers to the government.  It has several math and science tunes you won’t find elsewhere.

“The Elements” is not the only commercially released Lehrer work to touch on science or technology.  Those other works include “New Math”, “Wehrner Von Braun”, and “Pollution.”  After the 1960s, Lehrer focused on teaching mathematics and musical theater, with a brief stint writing music for a children’s television program, The Electric Company.  One of them, “That’s Mathematics” didn’t get used, but here’s a performance from the 1990s.

Happy Birthday, sir.

Science and Technology Guests on Late Night, Week of April 8

It’s not the greatest week for science and technology on late night when a cat behaviorist (Jackson Galaxy, Tuesday on The Tonight Show) is the first  thing I notice on the schedule.  As I’m not keen on animal experts on late night – the segments are often more about freaking out the host than educating the public – this is a form of barrel scraping.  That said, you can see Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo on tonight’s Letterman repeat, which will air late after the basketball championship game.  In other animal expert news, Jeremy Wade, host of River Monsters on Animal Planet, will sit with Conan Wednesday night.

In non-animal expert guest news, Jimmy Fallon’s designated tech expert, Joshua Topolsky returns for a visit Wednesday night.  Even later on Wednesday, director Brandon Cronenberg promotes his recent film Antiviral with Carson Daly.  The science fiction plot device involves selling the viruses that infected celebrities to their fans.  On Thursday, behavioral economist and former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein sits down with Stephen Colbert.

In better news, there will be a new batch of MythBusters episodes airing in the United States starting on May 1st.  Please check with your country’s Discovery channels for airdates in your countries.

Science Video Study Break

There is a new video lesson from Coma Niddy University, breaking down the laws of nature.

Tom McFadden is still working hard on his BRAHE’S Battles project, which is about $4,000 short of its goal with 11 days remaining.  I found a video he put together on geology from last fall.  McFadden is typically of the Weird Al school of music videos, and borrows from LMFAO for this opus.