Geeks and jocks collide on StarTalk Playing with Science, the science and sports podcast from StarTalk. Every week, we'll explore the science behind the most iconic moments in sports with our hosts, professional British soccer player and sports broadcaster Gary O'Reilly and fan favorite StarTalk co-host Chuck Nice. Our guests include pro athletes, coaches, sports experts, scientists, and everyone's personal astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Remember: Playing with fire gets you burned, "Playing with Science" gets you learned. Click here for more information.
Please follow Playing with Science on your favorite social media platforms. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Scroll down for episodes or search by keyword
Hop in, buckle up, and earn your wings alongside hosts Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice as they explore Red Bull Air Racing with Technical Director Jim “Jimbo” Reed, and pilot and 2-time World Champion Kirby Chambliss.
![Photo of Kirby Chambliss, performing a "knife edge" maneuver in his Edge 540 in Perth, Western Australia during the final leg of the 2006 series. Credit: Myself (Hamish) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://startalkmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Kirby_Chambliss_racing_in_Perth_Credit_MyselfHamish-via-Wikimedia-Commons_1400x975-820x570.jpg)
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Hosts Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice enter the ring with legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and neurologist and ringside physician Dr. Anthony Alessi as we investigate the sweet, sweet science of boxing. Ding, Ding!

Hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore the state of mental health in sports, with former NBA player and mental health advocate Royce White,, neuroscientist Heather Berlin, and the co-founder of Canada’s first Centre for Mental Health and Sport, Krista Van Slingerland.

Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice answer your questions and investigate the collision of sports, technology, and engineering alongside David James, sports engineer and Director of The Center for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
![Photo of skeleton racer Amy Williams at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Photo Credit: jonwick04 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonwick/4388363999/) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://startalkmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Skeleton-racer-Amy-Williams_2010-Winter-Olympics_Credit_jonwick04_wikimedia-commons-bigger-1-820x570.jpg)
With the MLB Playoffs in full swing and the World Series next week – Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore the science of baseball with physicist Alan Nathan, James Sherwood, Director at the Baseball Research Center, and baseball great Shawn Green.
![Photo of New York Mets outfielder Shawn Green during a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2007. Credit: Wknight94 [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons.](https://startalkmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Shawn_Green_Credit_Wknight94-via-Wikimedia-Commons-blur-820x570.jpg)
Hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly sit down with neuroscientist Heather Berlin and Joanna Harper, medical physicist and transgender endurance athlete, to investigate the complexities of gender and its role in sports.
![Image showing gender symbol. © Nevit Dilmen [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons.](https://startalkmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Sex_GLBT_olympics_Credit_by-Nevit-Dilmen_1400x975-820x570.gif)
Explore the world of mountaineering as hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly take a mental expedition to the world’s highest peaks alongside world-record breaking mountain climber Vanessa O’Brien and mountain guide and physician Alan Oram, D.O.

Football on Mars, tricky cricket physics, curving curling rocks, and more – Hosts Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice sit down with astrophysicist Charles Liu to answer fan-submitted Cosmic Queries that span across the sporting world.
![Photo of bowler bowling by Xiaphias [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://startalkmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bowler-bowling_Credit_Xiaphias-via-Wikimedia-Commons_1400x975-820x570.jpg)
Are you ready for the 2018 Ryder Cup? Hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly prepare for golf’s most exciting, and most intense, tournament alongside sports physicist John Eric Goff and performance psychologist Gregg Steinberg.

Discover more about the latest in concussion research and helmet technology with hosts Gary O’Reilly, Chuck Nice, Dr. Samuel Browd, Co-Founder of VICIS, Richard Brandt, PhD, CEO of Sports Science, and Dr. Roger Härtl, neurosurgeon for the New York Giants.
