Top 8 Science Podcasts to Listen to

Top 8 Science Podcasts

My top 8 podcasts targeted at scientists (but not only for scientists). Try them: they are entertaining and keep you up to date with what's going on in science generally. If you focus on your narrow field of expertise, you'll become narrow-minded. Many leading science magazines have jumped on the podcast band wagon (e.g. Science Magazine Podcast, Nature Podcast), but I mostly enjoy the genuine podcasts, that established the science podcast genre. There's a limit to what one can listen to (for me that's one hour a day during my cycling commute) and I include a few that I like listening to, but that don't make it into my regular schedule at the moment. In the order of decreasing personal preference:

  1. Promoting critical thinking, reason, and the method of science: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
  2. More engineering than science, but very useful and informative. Education about cyber-security and how computers and the internet work. For educational purposes, you should start listening with episode 1 (even if the news section will be outdated): Security Now!
  3. The podcast that explores the hidden side of everything: Freakonomics
  4. This is targeted at parents, an evidence-based podcast about pediatrics and parenting: PediaCast: a pediatric podcast for parents
  5. This one is not active any more (last episode was in 2012) but it had several gems in it. In every episode Marc Pelletier interviewed a prominent life science scientist: Futures in Biotech
  6. Science News from Scientific American: Science Talk
  7. Science News from the Guardian: Science Weekly
  8. The kickass science and technology radio show that delivers an irreverent look at the week in science and technology: This Week in Science