Amazing Podcasts for the Curious

Need a little curiosity inspiration, but don’t have the time to dig into a book? You can listen to amazing podcasts while you cook, clean, exercise, drive, and more! Pretty efficient!

Farnam Street’s The Knowledge Project With Shane Parrish
The Knowledge Project aims to provide you with conversations that will help you gain a better understanding of yourself, others, and the world around you. Host Shane Parrish does a great job of asking insightful, probing questions of his guests who are some of the top thinkers, authors, founders, athletes, and business leaders in their respective fields. Not only is there a lot to learn from the guests, but Shane does a fabulous job of asking probing, thoughtful questions that can serve as a guide for the curious. Find out if sugar is killing us, how the introverts are staging a revolution, or elevate your financial IQ among many other worthy discussions.

Damn Interesting
Want a taste of interesting but possibly obscure stories in the realm of science, history, and psychology? Damn Interesting converts all of their articles to amazing podcasts giving you an easy way to listen on the go. They do not adhere to any sort of regular posting schedule, so every time a new episode arrives, it’s a delight! Racing cheetahs, the Japanese practice of self-mummification, and the story of the MGM Grand Hotel fire are just a taste of what you can learn from Damn Interesting.

Philosophy Bites
Philosophy Bites allows us to listen in on informal interviews with some of the top philosophers of our time. Justice, marriage, art, death, food, language, physics is just a short list of the remarkably wide range of philosophical topics explored. Each conversation is 15 to 20 minutes long, making the archive of over 400 conversations less intimidating. The possibility of other worlds, what it means to be trustworthy and the best ways to help those in need are among many fascinating discussions.

Secret History of the Future From Slate and The Economist
Tom Standage of The Economist and Seth Stevenson of Slate examine historical events to help us understand current technology and the impact it may have on our future. They seamlessly weave together historical situations with modern innovations in an effort to illuminate what may need to be avoided and how we can better understand our own reactions to emerging technology. There’s nothing new under the sun after all! We may be able to learn something from the first computer program that applies to our concerns with the algorithmic bias today. Learning how the people in Papua New Guinea first reacted to seeing themselves in photographs can shed light on how selfies have changed our own understanding our ourselves.

Stuff You Should Know With Josh Clark and Charles “Chuck” Bryant
Stuff You Should Know comes from the popular site HowStuffWorks. Josh and Chuck banter back and forth on topics like “How Wills Work”, Dead Bodies and Airline Codes, and the usefulness of Time Zones. Episodes vary from the “Short Stuff” format that are just 15 minutes to regular episodes that can be over an hour. This podcast is the perfect way to learn more on a wide variety of topics of interest and have your curiosity piqued about even more!

60-Second Science by Scientific American
Don’t have a lot of time to listen? You can make 60-Second Science part of your daily routine with quick science lessons of all things science. Did you know squirrels can be put to ease by eavesdropping ? Or that hurricanes can influence the aggressiveness of spiders? From biology to martians, if it falls under the realm of science, it’s fair game! While the episodes are actually a bit longer than 60 seconds, they are under five minutes and the perfect way to get that curiosity fix.

Brains On! From American Public Media
Have some younger ears listening with you? Looking for a way to grow your curiosity as a family? Brains On! is a podcast for kids and inquisitive adults. Molly Bloom teams up with a kid scientist co-host to discover the answers to engaging questions about the world. How do animals see the world? What would an alien eat for dinner? How do roller coasters go from idea to reality? These questions, and many more, get answered on this fun and fascinating weekly podcast.

Curious City From WBEZ in Chicago
Curious City is all about Chicago with the public deciding what stories are covered. For Chicagoans old and new, or those just curious about Chicago’s culture, history, people, and more. Discover things like which dances were invented in the city of Chicago and how school murals during the Depression influenced debates in politics and art for 80 years.

To the Best of Our Knowledge From Wisconsin Public Radio
Here you can listen in on conversations with musicians, philosophers, filmmakers, journalists, scientists, and more, all passionately sharing their ideas. This amazing podcast takes a 1 hour deep dive into the subject matter mostly through interviews, and occasional commentaries and performance pieces. Topics range from “ Who Owns Seeds? ” to “ Music Beyond Genre ” and is perfect for the deeply curious. Also, check out the episode “ Why Do We Meet ” for an interview with Priya Parker and follow it up by reading our review of her book The Art of Gathering . With two one hour programs produced a week, there is plenty to learn from. There is also at least one five part series a year that tackles a subject in even more depth.

Sidedoor From the Smithsonian Institute
With Smithsonian’s more than 154 million treasures, Sidedoor takes you beyond the exhibition space, giving you a broader understanding of what’s on view. Over 100 Smithsonian staff members have been involved in this project, from curators and animal keepers, to artists and security guards. More than just looking at the items, the podcast also examines why we tell the stories we choose to tell about some of the famous events and people in history.

The Ted Interview With Chris Anderson
Head of TED, Chris Anderson speaks with TED speakers, delving deeper into the ideas they shared in their TED Talks. From well-known business leaders and executives like Bill Gates to authors like Yuval Noah Harari, TED Interview uncovers even more from these incredible minds.

Curiosity is a powerful motivator. It propels us forward in business and life in general. Each of these podcasts has the potential to get you curious. You’ll soon discover that this list is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s available for the passionately curious. Keep in touch with 100Ninjas on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook and let us know how your journey to cultivating a more curious mindset through podcasts is progressing.