Fire up the brain-food truck: podcasts that feed your mind
Abandon hope, all climate sceptics who enter here...
Image credit: Inquiring Minds
Inquiring Minds
They say: “Each week Inquiring Minds brings you a new, in-depth exploration of the place where science, politics, and society collide. We’re committed to the idea that making an effort to understand the world around you through science and critical thinking can benefit everyone—and lead to better decisions. We endeavour to find out what’s true, what’s left to discover, and why it all matters with weekly coverage of the latest headlines and probing discussions with leading scientists and thinkers. Produced by Adam Isaak in partnership with Climate Desk, a journalistic collaboration dedicated to exploring the impact of a changing climate and consisting of The Atlantic, Center for Investigative Reporting, Grist, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Slate, and Wired.”
We hear: A smorgasbord of science from all over, including a weekly news round-up, enlivened by engaging personal perspectives from the hosts, who have the ability to make links between cutting-edge science ideas and news and pop culture that never play as try-hard. They may even riff off a news event as seemingly unrelated to science as the controversial Michael Brown shooting in the US, looking at experiments studying racial stereotypes, for example. Each episode features a long-form interview with a scientist or science communicator, often playing off a new paper or book. A recurring theme to take climate-change deniers down hard with scientific facts is unsurprising when you consider the genesis of the show, but the presenters do strive for balance.
Best listening for: Adding some mind strides to your walk or run.
Sound bite: “He’s described a way of looking at very, very small things by, instead of bringing a microscope to them, blowing them up, and making them bigger, so that we can see them better. I was really excited about this paper and I wanted to have him on the show. It turns out that the idea behind microscopic expansion started out as a joke!”
Australian science journalism’s star stalwart
Image credit: The Science Show
The Science Show
They say: “Radio National’s science flagship: your essential source of what’s making news in the complex world of scientific research, scandal and discovery. The Science Show with Robyn Williams is one of the longest-running programs on Australian radio.”
We hear: This national treasure of Australian broadcasting is notching up 40 years of putting science and technology stories out there. That’s almost back to the golden days of radios in heavy wooden cabinets encircled by eager children—and long before the first iPod flicker. Examining everything from curly questions (is monogamy unnatural?) to science news (how human cognition is influencing tech), with sidesteps to embrace a series here and there (the latest is Plants: From Roots to Riches), historical features (400 years of the logarithm! the inventions of Hedy Lamarr!), profiles of inspiring scientists and coverage of science prizes. Your host is the formidable Robyn Williams, with a lab full of excellent journalists preparing reports and features. If you aren’t already a regular listener, what are you even doing reading this?
Best listening for: Required listening, fullstop.
Sound bites: “What next for R&D?” “That first copulating fish, pioneering the way for the rest of us 400 million years ago...” “It’s not the Higgs, but finding gravity waves would have been close—so what went wrong?”
The business end of technology
Image credit: Daily Tech News Show
Daily Tech News Show
They say: “Tom Merritt’s home for daily tech news. Stay up to date with independent, authoritative and trustworthy tech news.”
We hear: It can be a little shouty, in that US satellite-radio style, but this energetic, crowd-funded daily podcast is packed with the very latest tech-industry news, right down to critiquing company moves, highly detailed tech hardware, software and app chat. It’s never dull, often useful and even though it’s US-centric, wherever you’re listening you’ll always learn something interesting.
Best listening for: Morning commute when you’re going into a boring meeting first up and want a juicy random tech-news byte to share.
Sound bite: “Tactile feedback is very important to how humans interface with objects, and without it, the user is going to have an unnatural or awkward experience … a method around this is to use reference objects and markers. I didn’t see Microsoft speak to that, so I don’t think they have a plan to overcome this challenge, although the people who tried it are raving about it…”
A 20-minute sideways brain blast
Image credit: Reply All
Reply All
They say: “Reply All is a show about the internet.”
We hear: The description is a characteristic undersell. This little stock cube of a podcast is a series of surprisingly fascinating explorations of the nooks and crannies of the web, and the way we deal with digital life. It covers domain-name cowboys, a where-are-they-now on the original webcam girl, a developer who builds an app to get his anxieties to spit out random insults at him... Fans know the endearingly goofy, super-smart hosts P.J. Vogt and Alex Goldman from their former NPR radio program, TLDR (too long, didn’t read), where they first set out to bring listeners “the internet, shorter”. The guys jumped ship to join the fascinating new podcast company Gimlet Media (for wannabe entrepreneurs, we also recommend its founder Alex Blumberg’s inaugural series, StartUp), and are still bang-on with their mission to thoughtfully poke around the web’s boundless curiosities.
Best listening for: When you crave a short, funny, fascinating conversation with a friend—no talking from your side required.
Sound bite: “Paul Ford is a kind of cyborg. He’s taken human parts of himself and replaced them with technology. But instead of Paul becoming less human, Paul’s humanity has just been slightly expanded—it lives in him, but pieces of him live online, too.”
Tech with humanity
Image credit: Spark
Spark
They say: “Spark is all about tech, trends, and fresh ideas. With an eye on the future, host Nora Young guides you through this dynamic era of technology-led change, and connects your life to the big ideas changing our world right now.”
We hear: This weekly podcast from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation isn’t the one to follow if you want your tech news at warp speed. Young leads us through the news and ideas she explores each week, sometimes in surprisingly discursive ways. For example, the guy who changes his passwords to a new affirmation every 30 day days (and how that can help you change your life), or the story of an armoured-van robber who orchestrated an elaborate series of distractions for his big hit, and how that relates to creating noise around you on the internet to obfuscate online-ad tracking. Not everything is covered with the elaborate set-ups, but it’s fun to guess where you’re being taken. As well, count on plenty of fascinating topics, explored intelligently and with heart: automation and human autonomy, turning prisoners into programmers, autism and text communication, rewiring your senses, the art of the workaround.
Best listening for: The pure joy of science and tech ideas.
Sound bite: “Beauty, mystery, flexibility ... What if your tablet or smartphone could tell what you wanted to use it for and change to suit your needs? Plus, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, Fortran? Well, that depends on whether you believe computer programming language can be beautiful. Inside the code of beauty and the beauty of code.”
Science as game show!
Image credit: The Infinite Monkey Cage
The Infinite Monkey Cage
They say: “Award winning science/comedy chat with Brian Cox, Robin Ince and guests.”
We hear: A deceptively in-depth mix of the serious and silly, recorded in front of a live audience by popstar-turned-particle-physicist-turned-TV-star Cox and comic sidekick Ince (who does sometimes stray into a bit of dad humour, but it’s easy enough to forgive). Brainy, witty panellists are assembled to feed the week’s theme. Favourite toxin? Most dangerous animal? Is irrationality genetic? Does science need war to drive it? What about quantum cosmology? Cox’s smiley gentleness doesn’t mask his giant intellect, but it aids his excellence as a science communicator.
Best listening for: Add it to the playlist for your next road trip. Great for kids.
Sound bite: “The show described as one of those shows that thinks you can prove anything with facts and evidence … presented by someone described as so-called Professor Brian Cox. He is so-called Professor Brian Cox because he is.”