Listening suggestions

I've been whingeing loads lately and I wanted to change gears for this post. I am going to give you a list of my favourite podcasts! I access all these through the iPhone podcast app so they should be available where you are, too. Some are daily, others monthly and I am not obsessive about never missing an episode but I listen a lot. I listen to podcasts like other people listen to music. Sometimes I just like someone talking to me but not expecting an interaction. Soothing. I go to bed early to listen to podcasts. I walk the dog and listen to podcasts, I cook and listen to podcasts. I clean and listen to podcasts. Sometimes I put my big noise cancelling headphones out to find distraction from a noisy environment but mostly I use my bone conduction headset, which leaves my ears free for other sounds and conversations. A bit like the radio in the background I suppose. I don’t work and listen to podcasts (in case you are wondering).

Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. Lot's of interesting discussions, spanning modern life, culture, education, health, politics and more. This week I was enjoying the series about "forgotten children", children and young people whose parents are serving prison sentences. There was an interview with a young woman who experienced the incarceration of both her parents, an interview with a grandmother who was looking after five grandchildren during their mother's sentence, discussions with social workers and charities that offer support, and politicians trying to address issues arising on a regulatory level. 

Strangers On A Bench. This is a recent discovery. In this podcast, the singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal approaches a random stranger in a park in London and asks if he can sit down next to them and record their conversation. He sure meets some interesting people who might seem very ordinary at first glance.

Big Picture Science. This is a podcast produced by the SETI Institute, coving a wide range of topics. The most recent one was on Amazonia, the ecosystems created and influenced by the Amazon river. Another recent podcast discussed memory. It is very accessible to a lay listener and I love the clever and insightful storytelling.  

More Or Less on BBC Radio 4. I have been listening to this podcast for years. The host, Tim Harford explains numbers and statistics in the news. I learned from this to always ask "is this a big number?", ie think about the context in which numbers are discussed. Sometimes the numbers/stats explained are quite whimsical but the meat of the programme is always very pertinent to what we might hear in the news. 

Movers and Shakers. A podcast about life with Parkinson's. I don't have Parkinson's nor do any of my livingn relatives and friends but I find this a hugely interesting podcast. The hosts are six friends that gather in a pub in London to talk about living with Parkinson's. It is not as gloomy as you might think, there is a lot of joy of living. The hosts are Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman. You might recognise some of those names!

The Deep Sea Podcast. My tastes are nothing than ecclectic. If like me you grew up with Jacques Cousteau documentaries you'll understand why the deep sea holds a fascination for me. There is always some chit chat, the deep sea in the news and an in-depth interview with a deep sea specialist. A recent episode was about the Tonga trench exploration, really cool. There are episodes dedicated to creatures inhabiting the darkest recesses of the ocean, and more. 

The Paleo Post Podcast. If I had to start my education over again, I would probably become a paleo anthropologist. Our human origins are absolutely fascinating and with every year, we learn more about the different hominin species that roamed the planet. I love to learn about Neanderthals, Denisovans, Home Naledi and the gang. Lots about cave art on the podcast, too. Unfortunately, the production quality is not always great but the content always is. 

On a similar topic, Origin Stories by the Leakey Foundation. The storytelling of this is exquisite, which explores human evolution. Not long ago, there was an episode about human hair (why we don’t have much of it) and then there was a story about great apes treating wounds. 

The Ancients. This is often about Romans and Greeks but plenty of other ancient civilisations, too. There was a series on Egyptian good recently. 

This Podcast Will Kill you. It doesn’t but the two hosts cover lots of interesting infectious diseases but also genetic disorders and other health related topics. Vaccination for example, or the function of different vitamins or mineral. It is entertaining and informative.

Off Air with Jane & Fi. I like their conversations most of all, they make me laugh out loud. I am not always that bothered about the guest interviews, which are often but not always with a celebrity or author or actor or whatnot, flogging their latest work. 

Crowd Science on the BBC World Service. This is fun, I love it. It answers listener questions for example why do armpits smell, if shipping containers can be improved and what is the weight of the internet. It speaks to my curious mind. I have many of those questions buzzing around my head. 

Science in Action on the BBC World Service. This is digested science news of the week, often climate science but much much more. Roland Pease is probably my favourite science communicator of all times.

This is a selection, I listen to quite a few more, although not regularly. There are after all only 24 hours in a day, and other things to be done. Some of these are hardcore science podcasts, others I listen to for a while then can’t be bothered anymore. For example I listened to a series about conspiracy theories, and how people get sucked into believing the most absurd things.

Finally, as most of you know already, I am also a podcast cohost myself. This Week in Parasitism… maybe a bit of a niche interest? However, parasitic infections such as malaria kill far too many people every year and I am adamant that it is important to share this knowledge, and what is done to combat these infections. 

So there you are, my current favourite podcasts. Share yours if you like!