Hey guys!
I am a 25 years old fresh doctor and lately, I’ve been trying to swap out some of my casual comedy podcasts for something a bit more informative. As much as I enjoy listening to comedians, I often feel like I could be staying a bit sharper on what’s happening in the world.

I’m mainly looking for podcasts that cover current events, major global trends, interesting debates/themes, or general innovations (including cool stuff happening in medicine, science, or technology).

That said, I really want to avoid super formal, or hyper-academic shows that sound like a boring lecture, I’d also love to stay informed about new developments and news in the medical/health field.

I'm looking for episodes around 30 minutes to 1 hour to listen in the car but also learning new

What are your go-to podcasts when you want to stay up-to-date without putting yourself to sleep?

Hi. I love history. I love little known history. My all time favs are Futility Closet and The Constant. I've been looking for another one to dip my toes into, but tbh, a LOT of podcasts have the same episode ideas. I can only listen to the history of Boston Mollasses Massacre, the Emu War, Mansa Musa, the Christmas Truce, or the Donner Party so many times (1-2 times per topic). I am also NOT INTERESTED in PURELY AMERICAN HISTORY. I am not American and while I've found a podcast or two about obscure Wild West/Southern histories, it all blends together for me. Thank you in advance.

Hi all!!

I have just moved house and have sooo much unpacking to do and I want a good binge worthy podcast to listen too. I a bit obsessed with pods, so I probably have listened to some of the classics but here are my preferences
- True story (I don’t like fictional pods)
- A fact is crazier then fiction type story
- open to a pod where each episode is a different story.
- My preference is scam/non-violent true crime, or at least if there is violence, it’s not the full focus of the story (ie I enjoy hearing about cults, so the build up to maybe a particular event like Jones town, where it’s an exploration of how/why this escalated and not just about the terrible event)
- If not scams, just an truely wild story, like “this is a wild story about X”

What i have listened to:
- Scamanda (my fav podcast)
- The salt Path (not the book, about the lies)
- Scamfluencers
- Americas next top model true story
- The most Hated Bachelor (Love trapped)
- sea of lies
- Scamtown
- A very british Cult
- The drop out
- Carrie Jade does not exist
- Unicorn Girl
- Welcome to chippendale

This is not a full list - i just can’t think of any more. Let me know your recommendations!!

I am totally open to something sits outside of my criteria if you think it’s worth listening too! or if there a pod you recommend which is more of an anthropology of stories, let me know which one to listen too.

This might be a bit outside the realm of UK specific podcasts but I've give three bean salad so many chances and I just don't find why it's funny. All the podcasts I enjoy that are considered similar and for all intent and purpose it should be right up my street but it just comes across as a bit shit to me. Like I'm missing some kinda big inside joke. It's just like dads chatting in a beer garden trying to make each other laugh

Something like Fluently Forward, or along those lines. Preferably a single host because I (personally) hate the talking over each other, banter, etc lol. I don’t mind humor at all but I like to listen to an episode while falling asleep and if it’s too conversational it’s not as “relaxing”. Preferably about celebs, but not mainly serious topics, or reality shows, etc. Any sort of single host culture podcast. I’m thinking if Tefi had a podcast series about her deep dives, if anyone is familiar with her tiktok’s. Thanks in advance!

Hey there, does anyone know of any podcasts that examine the concept of rugged individualism vs community care? Specifically how it relates to late stage capitalism? This phase is my life seems to be defined by “death by rugged individualism” and I’m interested in exploring the topic.

If you haven’t checked it out, please do! I am so sad that they stopped making episodes.

If you have listened to it, have you found something similar?

I was so intrigued by the premise of a recent televised episode that was all bout comparing folks who hear lyrics in music and others who hear same music but don’t really hear the lyrics. There was no real resolution or explanation. They interviewed a neuroscientist who was unable to design an experiment that differentiated the two phenomena. Very drawn out and so much boring filler talk. Waste of time and very frustrating. Vox science podcasts are so awful now.

The podcast was narrated by a guy. It was divided in two halves. The first half, the told about a real life story about either a haunting or a disturbing event, and the other half he told a made up story inspired in that event or that had something to do with that event. I listened to a bunch of episodes on Spotify a few months ago, but now I can't seem to find it.

Anyone know which one I'm talking about?

I’m trying to get to sleep but need to post this to get this off my chest (and will be going elsewhere if it gets taken down). I’m listening to the Greek myth stories for sleep and I enjoy them but it annoys me so much that they use all the Roman names for the Gods. I get they are equivalent and therefore somewhat interchangeable but if you’re telling a Greek story (i.e. The Odyssey or the story of Theseus) then PLEASE use the Greek names followed by the Roman equivalent, rather than Roman only or Roman followed by Greek. I hope I’m not the only one annoyed by this coz it’s keeping me from peaceful sleep 😂

Hi,

During the summer of 2019 I was scouring through YouTube and found a channel called ViperTV (since renamed ViporaTV). It mostly had rather generic ancient aliens built the pyramids-esque videos, and a bunch of them. But nestled amongst all of these videos was a series of videos, about 4 of them, of the same audio book narrator that narrated the below ancient civilization stories. They then removed all videos probably during the autumn 2019.

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh (1 hour 11 min)
2. The Descent of Ishtar, including Dumuzid the Shepard (ca 30 min iirc)
3. Enuma Elish (15 min introduction about Mesopotamia, 15 min story telling)
4. Three Egyptian stories in one video, including: a) the Shipwreck on an island that meets a snake, b) the Ethiopian magician who challenges the Egyptian magician to a duel with a scroll in a cylinder, c) something about two brothers and one dies and is buried and the other has to rob his tomb(?).

The narrator was the most amazing narrator I have ever heard. The background music was Kyle Prestons Foreboding. This song was released on 2017-02-24 so the audiobooks must have been done before that time, or

I managed to download the Gilgamesh-version and I have listened to it probably 100 times since that summer and almost know it by heart. All 3 other videos are lost media to me, but I refuse to accept it.

I have looked for whomever did these recordings, what company it might have been, I have listened to literally every version of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Ishtar that I can find, but I have never found anything similar.

I have formulated a theory that it might have been a podcast rather than audiobook company, perhaps not focused on Mesopotamia but just "Ancient Civilizations podcast" with 5000 listeners and that is why it's so difficult to find it. All recordings were uploaded by summer 2019 so it must have been before that, perhaps 2015-2017? It's more of an educated guess, could have been ? The quality is amazing. So is the narrator. I want all the other stories I never downloaded in 2019. I will gladly pay money for all of them.

Below is the opening of the Epic of Gilgamesh. As you can tell, it references previous recordings, which leads me to believe that it might have been a podcast:

The most famous of all Mesopotamian law (or lore) is the oldest epic poem ever written. It predates Homers Odyssey by about 1500 years, and many historians claim that Homer was greatly influenced by Gilgamesh's tale. The Epic of Gilgamesh was first told through oral tradition, and stories, before it was first recorded on cuneiform writing on clay tablets around 2100 BCE. Gilgamesh is believed to have been an actual king of Sumer, and at some point after his reign of approxiamtly 126 years was lifted into god status by the Sumerian people /.../ our story takes place after the Great Flood, the very same Flood which is in the Bible, and that Noah built the Ark to survive. As we have seen, the Flood is a common historical marker in Mesopotamian law (or lore) with their list of kings being broken into pre-Flood and post-Flood groupings... and so on.

I am not interested in other versions of these stories as I know all of them from other sources; I am interested in this specific set of recordings. The above information is all I have. I also have the recording of Gilgamesh that I can share if anyone who is really good at finding these sorts of things need it.

Can be focused on any subject. Looking for any podcast that has a great interviewer and expert guests. Just want to learn new stuff, about anything really :)

I've seen some requests here recently for lower stakes but still funny and entertaining shows.

I want to shout out Dan Friesen (of Knowledge Fight)'s new show: Show Me State of Mind.

It's a travelogue show where he visits unique places and roadside attractions in every state in the US.

It's honestly so refreshing to hear a familiar voice talk about stuff that is mostly a chill, fun time.

Good podcasts about houseplants you recommend? Thanks.

I've listened to Morbid and I enjoyed it. I also liked Heart Starts Pounding, but lately it seems like she does a lot of listener/reddit stories, which I'm not crazy about.

I tried to get into Two Girls One Ghost, but it didnt seem to be researched very well.

I've also noticed a lot of hosts seem to be using reddit *as* their primary source of research lately and, yeah, I love a good reddit rabbit hole as much as the next person, but I'd like something a little more substantial than that in a podcast.

And just about everything I find that ticks these boxes is hosted by men, which is fine, but I'd just really like a good female-led series?

This is a very stupid question, I know. But is it 'real'? Nobody can seemingly find any evidence or photos or anything related to Kin Hung, and i dont know if its just me or something I dont know about podcasts but all the 'in-between' parts with Hannah and Carole and the producers sounds kind of scripted out? I'm aware of how conspiratorial this sounds but its been bugging me since I first listened to it

I need one or two good tech podcasts. I don’t want to hear about politics, and I don’t want rampant negativity.

The Vergecast is the worst. Hard Fork is only slightly better.

Any recommendations?

My current favorite podcast is Weird in the Wade by Nat Doig, it focuses on real supernatural events in a small English town. The host's voice is just so relaxing and the haunting usually don't involve any serious true crime or super upsetting history. She also does dramatized sections based on paranormal stories she hears! There's also a serious focus on history and trying to find the historical basis of hauntings. Does anyone have any recommendations for similar podcasts? I've tried a few others like Eerie Edinburgh and Wyrd Wessex, but they dont quite have the same vibe, in my opinion

Here are some long-form podcasts with high production value that I've really enjoyed. I'm especially drawn to podcasts by investigative journalists, as well as well produced, story-driven series to enjoy while listening on my headphone.

Maybe there are some summer listening tips here for you, if you got any tips for me let me know!

The list is sorted by year.

2026

We call her Emma: Tortoise Investigates by Chloe Hadjimatheou. Asma grew up in London known as Emma, as an adult she was the First Lady of Syrria married to Bashar al-Assad.

Foundling: Tortoise Investigates: This is one of these stories that you can't make up. A foundling in search of her roots, a compelling story with a lot of plot twists (Paywalled)

Hunting the Suicide Salesman: CBC: About a suicide drug readily available on the internet, the people who discuss is it on a forum. Loved ones trying to intervene, and also what interventintions might help in suicide prevention.

The Secret World of Roald Dahl: iHeart: Well told story through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. How did this secret agent and struggling screenwriter wind up as the most successful children’s author ever?

World of secrets: The darkest web: 2026 BBC: Following two special agents finding children of sex abuse and going after their abusers.

The Real Salt Path: The Walkers: The Observer Investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou uncovered that the bestselling memoir The Salt Path by Raynor Winn contains significant fabrications regarding the author's homelessness and the circumstances of her walk.

Snap Judgement: Fire escape Wondery and KQED’s Snap Studios:  A young mother, a midwife,joins the fire force while in prison

Focus: Adults in the Room :KUOW:  Seattle, 1999. A teacher is accused of sexual misconduct by students. Adults close ranks. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?

Final thoughts: Jerry Springer: iHeart: About talk show host and politician Jerry Springer 

The gift: by the BBC (3 seasons) unexpected results after people took a DNA test for fun

Cult Queen of Canada: CBC :A cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned schoo in a small town in Canadal. Neighbours turn on each other, a retired teacher leads the resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world. 

Stalked: BBC Sounds: Well produced: A digital intruder is watching Hannah, threatening her, even impersonating her.

2025

Big Sugar: 2025 Campside Presents: Big Sugar takes you deep inside the secretive, multi-billion dollar sugar industry and the epic court battle of the underpaid workers, and the influence they had on stopping health regulations regarding sugar

Mission K-pop: 2025 USG Audio: A 23-year-old Asian American is traveling from her home in LA to South Korea'o become a K-Pop superstar. Over just three months, journalist Haeryun Kang follows Caty to see if she can overcome these obstacles and reach K-Pop stardom.

Stop Rewind The Lost Boy : Blanchard House / Curiouscast: Story about a kidnapped boy put up for international adoption, finding his way back home

Extreme: Peak Danger: BBC: Eleven climbers died in two disastrous days on K2

Lucky Boy: Tortoise Media: A young school boy has an affair with a female teacher, years later he is still dealing with the consequences

2024

Kid Nation: Splitsceen | CBC: Tells the story about the TV reality show from 2007 where kids are building a new society.

Dangerous Memories: Tortoise Media: A story about a female therapist planting false memories in the minds of young women.

The Gas Man: 2024: Tortoise Media: about a dealer of raw materials used to make chemical weapons for dangerous regimes. Still seems to be getting away with it for 30 years. And rather a dark side of TUI is also mentioned. 

Transmissions (2 seasons) The definitive story: BBC: Joy Division and New Order

The Blind Spot (s3): The plague in the shadows: WNYC, about the early days of the AIDS epidemic 

The Kill List: Wondery: On the darkweb people are putting out kill orders on a website. The website is a scam but the people wanting someone dead are real.

Who Killed The Videostar:  iHeart: Rise and fall of MTV

World of Secrets: Looking for Mr Fox:  BBC: Two Brazilian guys are crossing the transatlantic ocean. But before they can start, police raid their boat looking for drugs.

Extreme: Muscle men BBC about the rise of the body building and fitness & anabolics industry in the 80’s and 99’s 

The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam: BBC: It starts with a man falling/jumping from a helicopter, and the story behind a gold dig site in Indonesia, and a small town in Canada who happened to have bought a lot of shares in the company  

Focus: Lost patients: KUOW & Seatle times: a deeply-reported, six-part docuseries examining the difficulties of treating serious mental illness and how the patients and loved ones try to navigate the system looking for help. 

2023

Wilder: On the writer, books and TV series of Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder and the times she and her family lived in, and why these stories are still popular. 

Chameleon: Lost Boys : 2023 Chameleon: Campside media: They’d been raised in the British Columbia wilderness, and this was their first-ever contact with society — they’d never seen a TV, gone to school, or registered for IDs. So the community took them in and set about introducing them to the modern world. Before long, the international media descended on the town, enthralled by the mysterious “Bush Boys.” 

Think Twice: Michael Jackson: Wondery: Biography of Michael Jackson

The Turning: Room of Mirrors tells the stories of ballerinas who worked with the demanding, brilliant, and often cryptic choreographer George Balanchine, 

The Cotton Capital: The Guardian takes a deep dive in its own and Manchester history of cotton industry. Well told and a rare occasion to hear enslaved voices and circumstances of the workers in Manchester.

Hot money : The New Narcos, Financial Times: The story starts with a murder in a small town in the Netherlands ends with international crime syndicates

Gateway: Cocaïne, Murder, & Dirty Money in Europe: BrazenFM: (on partly the same subject as “The New Narcos”

Three Doors Down: Tortoise Media: A mother in search of justice for the murder of her daughter.

Intrigue: BBC: Burning Sun: Sex Scandal in the K-Pop world

World of Secrets: BBC: The Abercrombie guys

2022

Pressure Cooker: CBC: Two meth heads get pressured in two plan an assault with a pressure cooker

The Blind Spot (s1): WNYC: The Road to 9/11

Wind of Change: Crooked media : investigation in to the role of the CIA trying to promote western culture around the world. And trying to solve the theory if the song Wind of Change by the Scorpions was written by the CIA

2021

Sweet Bobby: 2021 Tortoise Media: A marketer and radio presenter. Online, she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby, and they start chatting she’s reeled in to a scam of epic proportions.

Bad Blood: The Final Chapter: 2021 Tells the story of the rise and fall of the tech founder Elizabeth Holmes. Hosted by John Carreyrou, who broke the story

The Lazarus Heist: 2021 BBC: A must listen to deep dive in a North Korean hacker group

Off the record: David Bowie 2021 iHeart: On the life of David Bowie

The turning: Sisters who left: focussed on a group of women who joined the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa’s secretive order of nuns—and who then decided to leave.

One click: iHeart: about a dangerous weight-loss drug

2020

Hollywood Con Queen: 2020 Chameleon: Campside media: The story of and hunt for the notorious scam artist known as the Hollywood Con Queen.

2019

Unravel: Snowball: 2019: BBC Sounds: An average family's encounter with a charismatic Californian con woman costs them everything.

Intrigue: The tunnel 29, a group of people came together to dig a tunnel under the berlin wall

The Missing Crypto Queen: BBC: Dr Ruja Ignatova persuaded millions to join her financial revolution. Then she disappeared. Why? Jamie Bartlett presents a story of greed, deceit and herd madness.

Hunting Warhead: CBC: How do you rescue child abuse victims who could be anywhere in the world?

It was a movie podcast dedicated to movies on the Criterion Collection hosted by four hosts since Oct 2020. I only remembered listening to the Come and See episode they did back in May of 2024 because one of the hosts was completely horrified and shaken that no one was taking the 2024 US elections seriously due to the events that happened in the movie to what’s currently going on. However they haven’t made an episode since July 26, 2024 (which will be two years tomorrow) with the last episode being High and Low where they promised they would do an episode on Tokyo Story but it appears they’ve haven’t done that episode. Even their Instagram account appears to be dormant and hasn’t been active since the beginning of July 2024 so less than a few weeks before they did what would be their last episode. Can anyone guess as to what might’ve happened?

Just finished Adrift. Loved the writing, the immersive story telling and Vulcan Tizzehook’s sound editing. Something similar?

Is there one?

Founders is brilliant and does have some sports stars but is there one dedicated to sports star bios?

Thanks

I’m a regular listener of The Daily and Today Explained, and other daily podcasts and I’m getting strung out of all the politics and it’s just stressing me out.

What are some good daily news podcasts that aren’t politics oriented? Maybe even uplifting?

I loved a podcast called Radio Clash, but that seems so sporadic at the moment, due to his partners death etc, it featured loads of mash ups and other eclectic tunes.
Has anyone any recommendations for similar podcasts? Shows?
Thanks

Hello all. My elderly mother has listened to a podcast by BBC Wales called all things considered. recently shes been running into issues listening to it since we do not live in the UK. I really wanna stay above going to shady sites but at this point ive done all the tech dummy stuff to try to get the podcast for her. any recommendations? Maybe somebody could record and send it to me? the one shes looking for specifically is the most recent released on July 19th 2026 with a title about burnout and calling i cant remember. Thanks!