Bill Nye is a goofball nerd to the core, just like his limerick-loving parents before him. And like them, he has an intense passion for science. But how does his sciency, analytical approach to the world translate to food and eating? When he joined Dan in the studio, we found out very quickly, when Bill held forth on the correct way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich -- He says the knife must be clean of jelly before it's dipped in the jar of peanut butter, in order to preserve the peanut butter in the jar as a "sterile field". And that's just one example of the way this science-loving nerd thinks about food.

When Bill Nye came out of college, he wanted to be an astronaut. NASA rejected him four times. He found his way to stand up comedy, using science in his act. He did a bit about what happens when you eat a marshmallow that’s been dunked in liquid nitrogen. He went on to host Bill Nye The Science Guy on PBS in the 90’s, then the Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World. Today, Bill is the CEO of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit founded by Carl Sagan and others to promote space education and exploration. And now he’s launched a new podcast, Science Rules! On Science Rules!, Bill and science writer Corey S. Powell answer questions on just about anything in the universe. In this week's Sporkful, Bill explains why he reversed his stance on GMOs and now supports them, why mashed bananas taste sweeter, and why adding salt to water doesn't actually make it boil faster.

Interstitial music in this episode from Black Label Music:

- "Slightly Carbonated" by Erick Anderson

- "Happy Jackson" by Ken Brahmstedt

- "Saturn Returns" by Ken Brahmstedt

- "Feel Real Good" by William Van De Crommert

- "Hip Hop Slidester" by Steve Pierson

Photos courtesy of Flickr.