This post has been updated, and will probably be updated again, because that's how best-of
lists should work.
I love podcasts, you love podcasts, your grandma probably loves podcasts. Looking for some science you can enjoy while your eyeballs do stuff that isn't reading? Perhaps hoping to regurgitate something that sounds smart while sitting around with family this holiday season? Great. Read on.
Flash Forward
Half science, half fiction (which is why it also made our list of the best sci-fi podcasts): Every week, host Rose Eveleth picks a fictional future and has real experts explain how it might work. What if all drugs were made legal? What if antibiotics stopped working? What if the internet suddenly disappeared?
Episode recs: Micro But Mighty, The Altered State, Bye Bye Binary
30 for 30: On the Ice
This is another Rose Eveleth creation, so if you like the work she's done with Flash Forward you're bound to enjoy it. But don't expect goofy futurism: this episode of ESPN's new podcast tells the totally true, harrowing tale of the first all-female expedition to the North Pole. Answering an ad in the paper, 20 women from the U.K. with no expedition experience took off for one serious ski trip. This may not be a podcast that tells stories about doing science in a lab, but it's about pure exploration—which we'd argue captures the same spirit as your favorite science podcasts. Plus, the fact that such an on-foot trek is probably no longer possible due to melting ice gives the story an unfortunate climate angle as well.
Radiolab
Radiolab is actually kind of a dinosaur in podcast years: It's been around in some capacity or another since 2002. But it's no wonder the show has stuck around. The hosts have a knack for drawing audiences in to deeply reported science stories. The banter can grow a little tiresome—it's feels pretty formulaic at this point—but Radiolab's stories are always smart and interesting, and often pretty touching to boot. The podcast has branched out to non-science-y subjects in recent years, but curiosity is always a key story element.
