013: Stop Cloning Around, Bananas!

This week we host Dr. Sari Sabban (No relation to Ammar) a molecular biologist and biotechnologist. Sari tells us how he got into science and the interesting journey on how he ended up as a molecular biology. We discuss DNA, the human genome project, and protein folding. Then Sari proceeds to blow our minds with amazing biological facts: Gros Michel bananas, fecal transplantation, crowdsourcing technologies in science, anti-vaxxers, vitamin C and much more! Show Links Red Shift Astronomy CD Series The Human Genome Project Folding@Home Fold It Game Human Proteome Project Seti Project The Man Who Hasn-t Showered In 12 Years Panama diesease Vaccine Controversies Linus Pualing - Vitamin C Advocacy T3rf De Errata Sari mentioned that Cavendish bananas got extinct. However he meant Gros Michel bananas which were completely wiped out from South America due to the Panama disea - 50% Arabic - 50% English

012: We Are Not Hipsters

Today we start with reminiscing about our online personas 15 years ago. We then talk about privacy or the lack thereof in today-s world. We also discuss ridiculous resumes we encountered. Unprofessional resumes for some reason grind Ammar-s gears. Oh well. Khayra then tells us about her struggle with learning the Arabic language. Fun times! - 30% Arabic - 70% English

011: We’re Here for the Anal Probe

In this episode we talk to WSJ journalist Ahmed Al-Omran and uber new media geek Lou Kay. We talk about journalism in the Middle East and Saudi, the future of newspapers in Saudi, news consumption, the -filter bubble,- WhatsApp journalism, and many other new media topics. Oh and we geek out fonts. 20% Arabic - 80% English

Bonus 001: A Conversation With Reem Taibah

We couldn-t just let Reem go after one hour, so Ammar - Rami held her hostage for two more hours! We delve deeper into particle physics for almost two hours. Then Reem tells us more about her fascination with kung fu.

010: Positron vs Megatron

In this episode we kick off trying to answer the question -what is an Arab- and Arab identity. The discussion automagically veers to the -genie- on Twitter. Ammar then quizzes our local theoretical physicist Reem on the science behind the flux capacitor from Back To The Future. Reem then tells us about her work at CERN and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC.) Which leads to particle physics, positrons, anti-matter and a lot of other mind-numbing physical concepts that Reem did a marvelous job explaining and graciously dealt with our stupid questions and Ammar-s lame jokes. - 30% Arabic - 70% English

009: Draggin’ Balls In Our Court

Today-s topic generally is not viewed as a geeky topic, our challenge was to geek out on it. We talk sports. We get into a heated debate on the -national choice- issue that many North African soccer players face during their careers. What makes Zidane, Benzema, Nasri et al choose France over Algeria or vice versa to represent on the international football stage? We then discuss the Arab/Saudi sports and why it is extremely difficult for athletes from the region to make it on the international stage. Show Links Leicester City-s Riyad Mahrez is fast fulfilling his late father-s dreams Hachim Mastour Proud To Be Moroccan Saad Shadad Al-Asmari Hadi Soua-an Errata In 1994 World Cup qualifiers the Egypt-Zimbabwe match was annulled and replayed in France because of Egyptian fans violence. Had the result stood, Egypt would-ve qualified to the final rounds of the African qualifiers. The game in France ended 0-0, allowing Zimbabwe to advance. Rami mistakenly claimed that Egypt qualified to the World Cup only for the match to be awarded to Zimbabwe due to violence. - 90% Arabic - 10% English

008: Leave Pluto Alone

The guys start off the day by discussing dumb questions that don-t deserve answers. However, seeing dumb questions in retrospect makes Omair and Faisal think differently. Science gets explained in lay men-s terms. Even better, super hero science, human tetrachromats (see show notes), outer space, and existentialism has its 15 minutes of fame. We shed light on different techniques to watch all 6 (or 5)of the Star Wars Saga. Just in time for the release of Episode VII in December! Back to the Future-s prophetic nature is appreciated and illusions are explored as tricks your mind creates. Play-along section includes. An experiment is presented, get in touch with us about your findings! Rami wants to clarify that Omair made the joke at the end. Show Links A person with extra receptors is called a tetrachromat and can see 100x the colors the average person can see. Check out the art of Concetta Antico, a discovered tetrachfomat. Illusion GIF-that we discussed during the show - 20% Arabic - 80% English

007: A is for Android?

Today-s conversation brings us to a few pet peeves in Saudi etiquette - serving things with your left hand and taking things personally. We then find out the MSTDFR origin story after realizing there aren-t a lot of podcasts like us. -IT guy- Ali turns out to be a prankster, and shares an adventure with us and highlighting the phenomenon of people teaming up with him. He gives good tips on how to come clean to the pranked. Many age-old Internet debates come up; Are audio books and comic books as legit as real books? Ali distracts the group by bringing up the Game of Thrones books vs the TV show. The gang then admit to their smartphones of choice, with iPhone users being outnumbered. Finally, Ammar shares his high school story, featuring his knife-carved desk and his adventures of being head of his -high school police-. Show Links Picture of Ammar-s carved desk Errata Whatsapp-is in fact accessible on Mac OS X and on iOS web browsers. Sponsors Studio 966, UI/UX - development studio. 31 Workshop Ave, Entertainment Production Studio. Get in touch at @afroott on Twitter/Instagram 25% Arabic - 75% English

006: Juggling Dreams

Today we talk about art and personal passions. Fayiz Melibary starts by telling us the story of Elon Musk. Then we talk about Huda Baydoon and her artistic contribution to Banksy-s Dismaland. Then we ask the question whether photography an art or not, which gets us into war photography and Kevin Carter-s 1993 notorious photo. The gang then talk about their own individual passions including photography, woodworking - metalworking, puppeteering, and the environment. We talk about the different challenges social we face day-to-day to pursue these passions. Whenever you get 3 parents in the room, the discussion invariably veers to our children; Fayiz, being a dentist, rants how it is very difficult to control sugar and sweets consumption with his children. He even equates candy to alcohol! We also discuss homeschooling as an option for our children and how to encourage our children to pursue their passions. - Show Links - Dismaland - Kevin Carter-s notorious image - Awesome honeycomb knife - Alnoghair Errata Khayra referred to an art piece she believed was made by Huda Beydoun, but was in fact made by Manal AlDowayyan. - 40% Arabic - 60% English

005: Tudi Marvels From DC

Today we host Abdulhameed Sabban (aka Tudi) a comic book aficionado and expert. We start discussing the DC superhero universe and explore the parallels between Superman and the story of the prophet Moses. We then analyze the Fox vs. Marvel war and the reasons behind the bad blood between the two companies. We then reminisce about the comics we grew up on in Saudi Arabia, Tintin, Mickey Magazine, Bassem Magazine, and Majed Magazine. We later discuss the conspiracy theory that Stan Lee did not invent Spiderman. We finally bring it home by discussing Comics in the Middle East including The 99 and the highly anticipated Bilal movie. Show Links Arabic Batman cartoon intro Mutant X Did Stan Lee really invent Spiderman? - 20% Arabic - 80% English