August 23, 2013 9:18 pm

This Sunday: The Science of Sex Reaches its Inevitable Conclusion

Last Sunday’s episode, “The Science of Sex Part 1” was just foreplay compared to the conclusion this Sunday. Even just writing about it in the newsletter triggered spam warnings.

First, in no particular order, there’s Kristen Schaal, comedian and author of, The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex, talking about the sexual escapades of bonobos, who are members of the same genus as chimpanzees and are the closest relatives of humans. Bonobos are well-known for their sexual proclivities, but Kristen got me thinking about them in a whole new light. (No, not that light.)

Then there’s Mary Roach, who may have the best line in the episode, when she talks about “taking one for the readers.” What is she describing? How, while doing research for her book, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, she and her husband went into the lab and became the first couple to couple in 4-D ultrasound imagery.

Not to be outdone, the two astrophysicists, host Neil deGrasse Tyson and guest Charles Liu, end up in a discussion about semen volume and velocity during ejaculation, parsing the data for speed both inside the penis and out.

But the climax of the show, for me, was the finale, when Neil and sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer were talking about sex with aliens. When Dr. Ruth starts discussing how she could imagine dating a grown-up E.T., I laughed so hard I nearly missed the subsequent discussions about sex in space, and sex outside under the stars. I’m glad I didn’t, though, because they put a whole new spin on “Keep Looking Up.”

The Science of Sex Part 2 will be available on our website this Sunday at 7:00 pm ET and on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher by 7:30.

As I wrote last week, you may have seen the video version of this episode on The Nerdist Channel. The video includes content from both Part 1 and Part 2, although as with the other episodes we co-produced with The Nerdist, not everything that’s in the podcasts made it into the video. If you want to watch the video, click on over to our YouTube channel here.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons