Podcasts are a great way to squeeze in some knowledge without really doing anything! Instead of listening to music, you can turn on a podcast and get great information about anything you want. College is all about growing your knowledge and expanding your horizons. These podcasts will help you do that
· Hardcore History
o Dan Carlin teaches you history the alternative way. He talks about history by exploring weird topics that don’t come up in textbooks that often.
· Stuff You Should Know
o Josh and Chuck bust out a bunch of information about a variety of topics! Like, “Is Vaping Really Bad For You?”, “How Satanism Works”, and my favorite, “How Internships Work”. Scroll through the thousands of episodes they have, you’re bound to want to listen to a few.
· Stuff To Blow Your Mind
o Robert, Joe, and Christian cover a series of topics that are only entertaining because the information is difficult to find elsewhere. Some of their research is highly dubious and unsupported (despite their claims), but if you take what they say with a pinch of salt, you should be fine. Use the podcasts to open up your mind to different possibilities, and test out a few of the things they claim to see if it works for you too. There is a risk you may learn something.
· How To Do Everything
o It is tricky to know what sort of person would enjoy this podcast because they give advice, but the advice is so wide ranging and diverse that it simply cannot apply to everybody. For example, one week they are discussing dating, and another week they are discussing how to find water in the desert. There is a fair amount of entertainment value to be had from learning things you will never use because it is interesting
· Star talk Radio
o The show is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and he is somewhat of a minor celebrity on the Internet and on the radio. The stuff he explains about the universe is both fascinating and oddly concise, especially when you consider the scope of the subject. One has to assume that the things he says about the universe is correct, otherwise the Internet would be loaded with negative comments from other Astrophysicists. If you are in the right mood, his show can be very enlightening and enjoyable.
· SciFri
o The podcast is released on Fridays, hence the name SciFri, and it covers a number of different topics from the many different sciences. It has educational stories and activities that you can try. There are occasionally guests on the show, such as the time they had Elon Musk on the show. Elon certainly does more than talk with regards to his environmental agenda (such as by inventing electric cars). No matter what political side you take, it is interesting to hear from people such as Elon, Sylvia Earle, and so forth, but the tone is often very leftist.
· TED Radio Hour
o It is tough recommending the TED Radio hour because the quality of the podcast depends heavily upon the TED talk they are referencing. For example, one is about a TED talk about porn where the speaker asks that it be banned because he became obsessed with humiliation porn, which completely ignores the 4 billion people that watch sexual acts without becoming perverts. On the other hand, they discuss a talk by Richard Branson and it is truly inspiring. With the TED Radio Hour, you have to take the rough with the smooth.
· History of the World in 100 Objects
o Just like it says on the podcast title, there are 100 episodes, and each episode covers an object and how it affected history. Both history students and non-history students may be interested in what is explained. For example, the invention of the credit card has both increased the level of poverty in the world dramatically, while simultaneously speeding up the progression of online buying. They cover things such as a Ming Banknote, an Inca Gold Llama, and much more.
· Planet Money
o Explaining the economy to people is very tricky, and very few people understand how it works. You only need to watch a talk show with a deadbeat father on it to see just how little people understand about money in general (such as when he says, “I ain’t sending her money because she spends it on herself.”). They explain a great many different elements to our economy. Students may be oddly surprised by Planet Money’s explanation of why textbooks are so expensive, especially when you consider the fact that they could just as easily be free.
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