logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2025
54m 51s

Games with Jo Firestone!

COMPLEXLY
About this episode

Do you want to play a game? Well, we sure do! We're joined by Sam's dream guest Jo Firestone, a comedian, podcaster, and game author and enthusiast to celebrate the joy (and evil) of playing games, especially the games on Tangents! 

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! 

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscriber Garth Riley for helping to make the show possible!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Truth or Fail: Express]

Researchers turned quitting smoking into competitive sport

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2024/novel-digital-pet-game-within-smoking-cessation-app-increases-user-engagement-with-apps-tools-to-quit-smoking/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37566442/

Scientists watch a hydrogel play pong

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/22/scientists-enable-hydrogel-to-play-and-improve-at-pong-video-game

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1063433

Bonus: Dead salmon FMRI study

https://www.psychology.mcmaster.ca/bennett/psy710/readings/BennettDeadSalmon.pdf

Oregon Trail decision model 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1063290

[The Gauntlet]

Game Boy Pocket Sonar accessory

https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/game-boy-fishing-sonar/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/21/nintendo-game-boy-25-facts-for-its-25th-anniversary

https://gameboy.fandom.com/wiki/Game_Boy_Pocket_Sonar

Foldit players solve puzzles with what molecules

https://fold.it/about_foldit

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2024/press-release/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/foldit-gamers-solve-riddle/

AI neural network from floppy disk to electronic game

http://www.20q.net/?history

https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/2006-Spring/announce.burgener.html

https://openreview.net/pdf?id=FlR4Wyubayy

Jenga name in Swahili

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/jenga-tale-randomness-and-design

https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/jenga/

Candy Land disease epidemic

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/candy-land/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/how-polio-inspired-the-creation-of-candy-land/594424/

Jeopardy

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/03/19/jeopardy-has-first-3-way-tie/

https://www.npr.org/2009/12/20/121664528/sing-muse-of-the-jeopardy-three-way-tie

https://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=3578

https://www.jeopardy.com/jbuzz/behind-scenes/breaking-down-four-rare-jeopardy-scenarios

100% win rate from high-speed robot

https://ishikawa-vision.org/fusion/Janken/index-e.html

[Ask the Science Couch]

Game replayability reasons, impacts, and areas of future research

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED596614.pdf

https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-games-people-replay/

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/3135888/293191.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1875952121000574

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X22002652

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2024/5876780

Patreon bonus: Gamification, another facet of motivation psychology

https://academictechnologies.it.miami.edu/support/course-design-assistance/game-based-learning/index.html

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1475760/1/gamification_CHI2016_preprint.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1875952119300953

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921023255

https://online.nursing.georgetown.edu/blog/how-to-stop-procrastinating-there-is-a-science-to-it/

https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/undergraduates/resources/resource-library/understanding-and-overcoming-procrastination

[Butt One More Thing]

Original inventor of Scrabble was named Alfred Mosher Butts

https://time.com/archive/6909539/scrabble/

https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/scrabble/

Up next
Yesterday
Bonus Backlog Bonanza - Ep. 22
This bonus episode was originally posted on Patreon on December 23, 2022 titled "December Bonus Episode."Original Patreon description: Enjoy this cutting-room floor compilation of some tangents moments throughout the year.SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scis ... Show More
11m 26s
Jul 8
Bonus Backlog Bonanza - Ep. 21
This bonus episode was originally posted on Patreon on December 1, 2022 titled "November Bonus Episode."Original Patreon description: Our sound engineer Tuna joins the bonus pod this week as we rapid fire answer some of your burning questions. These answers are probably right...S ... Show More
27m 19s
Jul 4
Bonus Backlog Bonanza - Ep. 20
This bonus episode was originally posted on Patreon on October 29, 2022 titled "What the heck?"Original Patreon description: This bonus pod is Ceri's special game: Pattently Obvious. Watch along and see if you can guess what the patent is for!SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to ... Show More
25m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
Bonus! Encanto
Today we have a bonus episode for you! We are talking about Disney’s Encanto, so get ready for ALL OF THE FEELS!!!Content notes for this episode: this movie is about intergenerational trauma, so this episode is chock full of discussions about that. If you want to skip the heavies ... Show More
1h 10m
May 13
Five Year Anniversary with Jeff's Five Favorite Episodes
HAPPY FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO SOLVE IT! FOR KIDS Thank you all for listening, commenting, and liking our podcast for the last FIVE years! We are celebrating our anniversary all this month. Take a listen to Jeff's five favorite episodes. Episode 63 How do scientists listen to bla ... Show More
43m 28s
Apr 2024
S05 BONUS E01: The Outtakes
For the fifth and final series of Keeping Up Appearances: The Luxury Podcast, William Hanson and Jonathan Vernon-Smith bring you some bonus episodes to squeeze in even more Hyacinth Bucket into your lives. In this first extra episode, William and Jonathan look at the outtakes, as ... Show More
29m 51s
May 2022
What A Cartoon! - Welcome to Eltingville
Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Professor Gascan, we're digging into the career of Evan Dorkin and his Adult Swim pilot, Welcome to Eltingville! How did this series jump from the comic page to the TV screen? Why didn't Adult Swim order more than one episode? How accurate is ... Show More
2h 31m
Apr 2022
Episode 194: Small Sample
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first. Music Dance PM from Hori ... Show More
14m 12s
Jul 2024
MBMBaM 720: Mariana Trench Warfare
Let us re-introduce ourselves and tell you a story about an episode of My Brother, My Brother, and Me. In that episode, we give some extremely funny and helpful advice about graduating Pokemon, Ron Funches hosting Shark Week, and over-decorated offices. But that's a different epi ... Show More
54m 35s
Jun 2021
Ep 38. Maisie Adam – S3 EP.5
On the podcast this week Ed is joined by comedian and TM fan, Maisie Adam. The pair discuss the final episode of series 3 which involves more cheating from Dave Gorman and more cash and gongs from money bags Murray. The pair chat about their attractive (and unattractive) relative ... Show More
58m 8s
Nov 2021
Episode 19- Tales from Alt Ed Part 1
In this episode, Kim dives into some of the more exciting adventures in alternative education. Having worked in both custody and addictions treatment, it's commonplace for folks to dehumanize the young people who end up in these rehabilitation programs. If you're looking for the ... Show More
25m 5s
Mar 2025
57: Weird & Wacky Childhood Crushes (LEAKED Patreon Episode)
This week, we're leaking one of our Patreon-exclusive episodes (that we recorded over a year ago) here on Spotify! If you like what you heard: join our Patreon! On this previously Patreon-only episode, we discuss all of the crushes we had as kids and, you guessed it, some of them ... Show More
52m 19s