Generations

About Generations

A father and daughter discuss life across their generations. Science, medicine, music, and whatever else they choose to discuss are on the table.

Publisher

Peter and Aubrey Jones

Category

leisure · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Dec 2021

Latest episode

27 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

77 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Sept 2026

   Space Myths and Cosmic Plushies

   Peter and Aubrey take on the space facts everyone seems to know—and several that don't survive a closer look. Aubrey explains why Venus is hotter than Mercury, why the North Star isn't the brightest star, and why Saturn doesn't have a monopoly on rings. Black holes and the Big Bang push the conversation toward the limits of what we know, while the supposed planet Nibiru brings back Aubrey's fourth-grade memories of the world allegedly ending in 2012. Along the way: a cosmic microwave background plushie, the disappointing gap between telescope images and the naked-eye view, and a planetary size comparison that somehow forgets Mars. They finish with space-colonization fiction, Peter's slow march through The Iliad, and a question for a future episode: how much should we trust a watch that tells us whether we're recovered? Show Notes Fall catch-up: Aubrey is enjoying Wisconsin's brief light-jacket season, studying for her personal training exam, and celebrating a first anniversary with camping and a new pair of snowshoes. Peter reports on Gareth's busy high-school swim season and new personal bests. The Great Wall from space: Peter has always been suspicious of the claim: being very long doesn't make something very wide. Aubrey explains why the wall is difficult to distinguish from its surroundings and why cities are easier targets. ESA's astronaut photograph and visibility note (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Great_Wall_of_China). Mercury isn't the hottest planet: Venus (https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/) takes that title because its thick atmosphere traps heat. Aubrey contrasts it with Mercury's enormous difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. The North Star isn't the brightest: Polaris earns its navigational role through its position near the north celestial pole; Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Peter is relieved that finding Polaris difficult wasn't a problem with his eyes. NASA's skywatching FAQ (https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/faq/). Why nearby doesn't always mean bright: Sirius and Proxima Centauri lead to a detour through apparent brightness, intrinsic luminosity, and the difference between a bright star and a tiny red dwarf. Aubrey also takes issue with astronomy's less-than-intuitive naming systems. NASA's guide to star types (https://science.nasa.gov/universe/stars/types/). Black holes and the point of no return: Aubrey unpacks the claim that nothing escapes because gravity is “infinitely strong,” focusing on the event horizon and the limits of the mathematical description near the center. The anatomy of a black hole (https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/anatomy/). What do we actually know about the Big Bang? Peter asks whether scientists can describe the exact beginning, and Aubrey explains why the earliest moments remain a difficult frontier. The discussion turns to the difference between motion through space and the expansion of space itself. NASA's overview of the universe's history (https://science.nasa.gov/universe/overview/). The universe has an afterglow—and Aubrey has a plushie of it: The cosmic microwave background offers a view of the early universe, rather than a picture of an explosion at one location. Gareth's birthday gift gives Aubrey a particularly cheerful way to illustrate the subject. Nibiru and the apocalypse that kept getting rescheduled: Aubrey revisits the supposed incoming planet, the failed predictions surrounding it, and being a fourth-grader wondering whether the world would end before Christmas in 2012. NASA/JPL's scientific reality check (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/2012-a-scientific-reality-check/). Saturn isn't the only planet with rings: Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have ring systems too; Saturn's are simply the showstoppers. Aubrey compares bright icy rings with the fainter, darker systems elsewhere. NASA's solar-system guide (https://science.nasa.gov/learn/basics-of-space-flight/chapter1-2/). Would space really look like the pictures? Aubrey remembers learning that those spectacular images aren't necessarily what human eyes would see. They discuss how telescope data and mapped colors reveal details our eyes miss. NASA explains how Hubble's colors work (https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/overview/faqs/). The Sun is enormous; Mars would like to be included: Comparing planetary volumes with the Sun's roughly 1.3 million Earth volumes (https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/) gives Peter and Aubrey a new appreciation of scale. Then Peter notices Mars has been left out, and NASA's comparison of Earth to a nickel and Mars to a raspberry sends the conversation sideways. Mars isn't Earth with different scenery: Lower gravity and a hostile environment complicate the easy space-colony fantasy. Aubrey mentions Kurzgesagt's speculative colonization videos, while Peter remembers how casually the original Total Recall treats getting around on Mars. NASA's Mars facts—including that raspberry comparison (https://science.nasa.gov/mars/facts/). Current reading: Aubrey is on the second Red Rising book, Golden Son by Pierce Brown (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/221583/golden-son-by-pierce-brown/), and enjoying its colonized solar system. Peter is a little over halfway through Robert Fagles's translation of The Iliad (https://penguinrandomhouselibrary.com/book/?isbn=9780140445923). A future health rabbit hole: Peter is researching how well heart rate variability supports the recovery and readiness claims made by fitness wearables. Aubrey recognizes the disconnect between an app's verdict and how she actually feels. This is a question for a future discussion, rather than a settled conclusion.

2. 

   30 Aug 2026

   Ranking Emoji: The S-Tiers, the D-Tiers, and the Ones That Scare Us

   Peter and Aubrey tier-rank roughly 40 of the most-used emoji — from the S-tier greats (poop, rolling eyes, facepalm, middle finger, crying-laughing) to the D-tier offenders (the ROFL emoji, which Peter openly despises) — and in the process reveal exactly how differently a father and daughter text. Along the way, they debate emoji versatility, ambiguity, and the risk of being misunderstood. Peter closes the "low-stakes activity" with a confession about his S-tier list, then Aubrey delivers an Astro Fact on the morning's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch. Show Notes Emoji tier list (https://emojipedia.org/): Peter and Aubrey rank roughly 40 emoji pulled from Peter's most-used list in iMessage plus a few randoms. S-tier winners: chef's kiss, poop, rolling eyes, facepalm, puking, crying-laughing, thumbs up, middle finger, and swearing — mostly negative-emotion picks. Peter despises the ROFL (rolling-on-the-floor) emoji, calling it "unhinged" and a sign of a "crazy person," and prefers the classic laughing-with-tears face. The two disagree on the side-eye faces, with Peter preferring the facial side-eye over the plain sideways-looking eyes. Emoji-versatility debate: drooling, hot face, and the sweaty face all hinge on whether the emotion reads clearly to the receiver. Astro Fact: NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/) launched this morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy (https://www.spacex.com/launches/roman). Roman's wide-field view is roughly 100x larger than Hubble's (https://science.nasa.gov/roman-and-webb/), and it will work in tandem with the James Webb Space Telescope (https://science.nasa.gov/roman-and-webb/). Roman is headed to Lagrange Point 2 (L2) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point), the same neighborhood as Webb, about a three-month transit. First images from Roman are expected in early 2027, with a five-year primary mission plus a five-year extended mission.

3. 

   16 Aug 2026

   Peter's 50th: the Sphere, Crab Legs, and 130 MPH

   Peter and Aubrey recap the surprise family trip to Las Vegas for Peter's 50th — the first time the whole family has been together since Alex and Lily got married. They cover the Backstreet Boys' "Into the Millennium" residency at the Sphere (including the Gen Z crowd singing along, often badly, and some truly unsettling visuals), the crab-leg assault at the Bacchanal Buffet, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the main event: 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB at SpeedVegas with a relentlessly encouraging coach named Nico. Peter also plugs his new Imperfect Practice piece arguing that the harms of social isolation have been exaggerated, and Aubrey announces she's getting back into research with her old mentor. Show Notes The surprise: Lis planned the whole trip for Peter's 50th — he only found out the destination when his youngest son let it slip about Vegas ("Mom, he's gonna be the one driving there"). First full-family trip since the weddings: Alex and Lily got married, but Hayden couldn't make it, and Lily was only a week-old "plus-one" at Aubrey's reception — so this was the first time everyone was actually together. The flight drama: Aubrey and Hayden's 2:45 a.m. flight out of Madison was delayed over federally mandated crew rest, so they drove to Milwaukee and landed about five hours late. The Signature at MGM Grand is an all-suite, casino-free resort with kitchenettes, its own pools, and key-card access into the MGM Grand — and it's literally a block from the airport. The Signature at MGM Grand (https://signaturemgmgrand.mgmresorts.com/en.html) Backstreet Boys at the Sphere: The "Into the Millennium" residency is a Sphere (https://www.thesphere.com/shows/backstreet-boys) exclusive — Millennium-themed visuals with a spaceship flying across the dome, plus one new single with Mount Rushmore-style faces carved into snowy mountains that was both the cringiest visual and the worst song of the night ("it didn't have the juice"). The crowd was surprisingly Gen Z: Peter expected his own demographic but found 18-to-30-somethings singing along to every word — often very badly ("their ability and enthusiasm did not match"). Boy bands are a dead industry in the West: The 90s/early-2000s producer-driven machine that manufactured Backstreet Boys doesn't exist anymore — the only place it survives is K-pop. Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace: Crab legs everywhere, funky dishes you'd never order at a restaurant, and the payoff for Aubrey and Hayden's cut — a weekend with no counting, no restricting. Bacchanal Buffet (https://www.caesars.com/caesars-palace/restaurants/bacchanal-buffet) Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man — lots of heart, stands on its own, and made Hayden cry (he's a softie). Spider-Man: Brand New Day (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22084616/) The main event — SpeedVegas: Lis bought Peter 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB on their 1.3-mile track (https://speedvegas.com/) with a 2,000-foot straightaway, a couple of hairpins, and 10 turns — Peter hit above 130 mph and heard the tires squeal on every corner. The Ferrari 296 GTB (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_296) is Ferrari's first production V6 since the Dino — an 819-hp hybrid, which is why the car was new to him. Coach Nico: The orientation promised a choice between casual and pushing it, but Nico never asked — 20 laps of "faster, faster, give me more gas" (23 total with cooldown laps), and Peter was wiped afterward: "I need a nap." The merch: Peter came home with the "Speed Daddy" t-shirt and the onboard video, and he's already planning to do it again in a different car. The Vegas heat: 113°F on arrival, still 111°F walking back from the Sphere at 10:30 p.m., and 98°F at both 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. on departure day. Peter's Imperfect Practice piece: He published on how the harms of social isolation and loneliness (https://www.imperfect-practice.com/social-isolation-in-a-world-of-maximum-connection/) have been exaggerated — connection matters, but you don't need to "friendship max" or optimize your social life. Aubrey's astro-adjacent fact: She's getting back into research with her old mentor — unpaid, no funding, but "there is always projects for us to be working on," and she's thrilled.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

436,335,436

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 66 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

0

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Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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