by Grania
It’s a cold grey day in Ireland, so an excellent way to spend the afternoon is curled up in your favorite armchair with a mug of coffee listening to podcast or two. I’ve put together a list in no particular order of some of the ones I dip into.
Brady Haran: Numberphile – 10 minutes videos on numbers & the things we can do with them
Gad Saad: The Saad Truth – evolutionary psychology, bioethics, politics, secularism.
Sam Harris: Podcast – ethics, secularism, philosophy, politics.
Annie Laurie Gaylor & Dan Barker (FFRF): Freethought Radio – secularism, civil liberties, politics, legal & constitutional issues
Eiynah (@nicemangos) and Paul (@theQPodcast): Polite Conversations – secularism, Islam and “sex, religion, politics”
Maryam Namazie and Fariborz Pooya: Bread & Roses – political & social TV magazine broadcast aimed primarily at Iran (in English & Persian), atheism, leaving Islam, apostasy
DPR Jones, & (it varies) Hogtiechamp, AronRa, c0nc0rdance: The Magic Sandwich Show – secularism, science
Jeff Dee, Denis Loubet, Russell Glasser (ACA): The Non Prophets – atheism, politics, current events
Hank Green and Michael Aranda: SciShow – 5-10 minutes mini-videos about science
Seth Andrews: The Thinking Atheist – atheism, secularism, politics
Peter Hadfield: Potholer54: debunking common pseudoscience & Creationist claims
Destin Sandlin: Smarter Every Day – 10 minute videos featuring a range of educational science topics
Richard Wiseman: Quirkology – psychology of illusions, tricks, stunts
Please add your own if there are any you listen to, regardless of subject.
The Scathing Atheist, Cognitive Dissonance and Atheistically Speaking – the three essentials!
SciShow is a great science channel that I’ve used with 6th & 7th graders for Chemistry – they loved it! They excel in the fields of physics, engineering, math, chemistry, history of science etc.
However, they are not up to par when it comes to medical and especially nutritional science. It’s a pity. I hope they get some new researchers on the team to rectify that. Medicine and nutrition is a field that is notoriously replete with politics and low standards so it’s not entirely their fault.
Healthcare Triage (also produced by Hank’s brother, John) does a great job on covering medicine news. They do nutrition every once in awhile too.
Their medical news is hit & miss. If they discuss Ebola, they do a great job. If they discuss chronic modern diseases (like diabetes, obesity, heart disease etc.) they fail to provide an intelligent, independence analysis. In essence, they acquiesce to authority given the complexity of the subject. Granted, it’s not easy, but still not correct.
Dan Carlin’S Hardcover history is quite good: http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-56-kings-of-kings/
I also enjoy the Joe Rogan Experience: http://joerogan.net/podcasts/
X2
His 5 part podcast on WW I, “Blueprint for Armageddon” was epic.
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I recently found Emperors of Rome which is a discussion of Roman Emperors with Dr. Rhiannon Evans and Math Smith (not from Doctor Who, which is immediately obvious when you hear his Aussie accent). They also discuss Latin and what makes an emperor an Emperor in Rome. I know a lot of this stuff already, but there are always new things to learn and refreshers about things forgotten.
Oops HTML fail. Also sub fail.
Sub success. (I hope.)
I’m a big fan of BBC podcasts “In our time”
Oh, absolutely.
In Our Time – Melvyn Bragg discusses an amazing variety of subjects with three guests
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/downloads
The Allusionist – Helen Zaltzman talks about language http://www.theallusionist.org/
Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review – reviews, interviews, wittertainment, Jason Isaacs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj/episodes/downloads
New Yorker Fiction Podcasts – once a month a current writer reads and discusses a favourite story from the archives
http://www.newyorker.com/series/fiction-podcast
BBC Inside Science – Adam Rutherford and guests report on current topics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036f7w2/episodes/downloads
The Infinite Monkey Cage – Robin Ince and Prof Brian Cox science show
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036f7w2/episodes/downloads
The Life Scientific – Prof. Jim Al-Khalili interviews scientists
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7/episodes/downloads
I enjoy the Very Bad Wizards podcast very much; it’s philosophy and moral pshichology discussed by two professors putting tenure to the test. Very funny, and great guests.
http://verybadwizards.com/
*psychology*
What a wonderful idea to give out these blogs: so much appreciated by this retired teacher of science over 45 years, living in a remote part of New Zealand. In a recent ‘research’ article on the nature of science and how it should (now) be taught in our schools, the word ‘hypothesis’ did not rate a mention.
So thanks again, and more please!
Concur. I can cheerfully do the most grunt labor so long as I can keep my mind occupied with such fare.
I recommend this exclusive reading of George R.R. Martin’s brilliant short story “The Way Of Cross And Dragon”
http://www.sffaudio.com/lightspeed-the-way-of-cross-and-dragon-by-george-r-r-martin/
It’s a must-hear for every atheist/heretic!
And maybe, most of all, for every religionist 😉
Hmm. I think I’ve read that in Dead Tree Format.
I found a book of GRRM short stories in a 2nd hand bookshop in the early 1980s, and it has stayed on the bookshelf (or equivalent box) with a re-read every 2-3 years since.
I gather (s)he has found recompense in Sword&Sorcery recently.
Great idea Grania! Thanks very much.
The Atheist Experience (video call in show) is sometimes fun to watch. Often the callers come up with entertaining questions and comments. My favorite host is Matt Dillahunty.
Care for a link?
http://www.atheist-experience.com/
Don’t mind if I do.
For those who are fans of Matt Dillahunty: I’ve compiled a list of all his debates, speeches and whatnot at http://tinyurl.com/themattlist
Great list, I listen to many of those noted. I would add one where reasoned discussions take place. Consider following @RubinReport (and checking out his hour long show, which include conversations with many included on the list.)
You can find him at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/RubinReport
He also offers opportunities to discover other voices with sound thinking on atheism and speech issues on campuses.
Australian ABC Radio National’s “The Science Show” is one of my favorites, along with the aforementioned “In Our Time” and “Infinite Monkey Cage.” Dr. Coyne was on the latter last year, and did a great job.
I enjoy the youtube videos of ‘The Amazing Atheist’ and of ‘Thunderf00t’. The Amazing Atheist is usually pretty crude but both insightful and hilarious. Thunderf00t does videos about his science experiments and also targets the ‘regressive left’ on a regular basis.
The Numberphile videos mentioned by Grania are fantastic and often make me wish I had majored in mathematics.
I haven’t listened to podcasts in ages; I used to do so on my commute. Aforementioned Infinite Monkey Cage was great, but I wanted to mention Radiolab here. Do they still make that? They had some really good episodes. I also enjoyed the Guardian’s Science podcast.
Great list! I’d add one of our personal favorites, Dogma Debate, with David Smalley. Much along the same lines as Seth Andrews’ show. http://www.dogmadebate.com
Looking forward to checking several of these out.
Glad to see potholer54 mentioned; he has one of the funniest and most informative, and intellectually honest, channels in all of youtubedom.
Got to give a plug for Skeptics With a K, from the Merseyside Skeptics society. Great non-pompous and funny show. Good in-depth looks at pseudoscience claims. Also terrific Liverpudlian accents.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/swak
Point of Inquiry – “The brightest minds of our time sound off on all the things you’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table: science, religion, and politics.”
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe – “Dedicated to promoting critical thinking, reason, and the public understanding of science through online and other media.”
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu
– Very Bad Wizards
– Radiolab/Invisibillia
– 99% Invisible
– Welcome to Nightvale
– The Nerdist
– The Read
– The Moth
– Hardcore History with Dan Carlin
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I am a fan of Omega Tau podcast. It’s a science interview podcast, sort of. The host interviews and or explains technology and science. He has done a walk through of the European Extremely Large Telescope facility and interview of a staff member.
Markus Völter is a private pilot and software and technology engineer.
Nora Ludewig is an electrical engineer. The episodes are from a more technical perspective, usually a more in depth examination than what one would expect from say TV documentaries. I’m not an engineer but I find they often ask questions or tell me more technical aspects that I want to know.
They have done episodes on flying the Blackbird, the US spy plane, the Concorde, one on the Apollo guidance computer, analog computers, Fusion at ITER and many more.
It comes in German or English. Unfortunately not all the episodes are available in English.
http://omegataupodcast.net/
Besides many of those mentioned by Grania, I also listen to:
The History of WWII Podcast
Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project
Adam Savage of Mythbusters, a wide ranging eclectic podcast, often on Making (building all sorts of things), movies and TV, books. Usually about 20 to 30 minutes.
Thank God I’m Atheist
Two ex Mormons who don’t take themselves seriously talk about atheism, news of the day. Amusing.
Grania- this is a terrific idea! So many great podcasts I hadn’t heard of. Thanks everyone!
My two cents:
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe (science and skepticism)
Talking Biotech (Kevin Folta, awesome)
Cognitive Dissonance (skepticism, atheism, and filthy humor)
Persiflagers Infectious Disease Puscast (snarky reviews of the infectious disease literature, and another reason to “wash those hands”)
Quackcast (snarky look at alternative medicine)
Freakonomics Radio (economics and the connections between seemingly unrelated things)
Great Compilation. Thank you. On 27 Feb 2016 10:46 pm, “Why Evolution Is True” wrote:
> whyevolutionistrue posted: “by Grania It’s a cold grey day in Ireland, so > an excellent way to spend the afternoon is curled up in your favorite > armchair with a mug of coffee and listen to podcast or two. I’ve put > together a list here in no particular order are some of the ones I ” >
Brilliant idea, this Grania!
may I add another suggestion? The Little atoms podcast about “ideas and culture” has great interviews usually themed around a book and covers a broad range of subjects.
http://littleatoms.com/podcast
No Agenda podcast, they “deconstruct the media” and do a fine job of it. No advertising – fully funded by listeners.
http://www.noagendashow.com
The Non-Prophets have recently stopped production. But don’t let that stop you from listening to their archive. It was one of my favorite podcasts.
Where’d you get that info?