Learn more about music, history, and black holes with these podcasts

I never thought I would enjoy listening to podcasts but now, I binge-listen as many as I can when I have the time. Whether I am getting ready for work or stuck in traffic, I turn to these podcasts to entertain me. It also has the added factor of being educational.

If you’re interested in music or science or pop culture, there is definitely a podcast for you. Haven’t found one you like? Here’s a list to help you out:

Popcast

This podcast is all about music. In each episode you get to listen to music critics of The New York Times, Jon Pareles and Jon Caramanica. They tackle everything from music news to up and coming artists. What’s interesting about their weekly episodes is that they often have intimate anecdotes to share. They will relate the topics to past experiences with artists and will give their honest opinions on them. You will get snippets of everything music that you wouldn’t otherwise know about.

One of my favorite episodes is where they talked about the return of A Tribe Called Quest. They brought up the history of the group and how they influenceed current hip-hop. They even got a little nostalgic as they remember their favorite encounters with each member.

Undone

If you are more into history and events, then subscribe to this podcast by Gimlet Media. Each episode talks about an event that happened in history and they relate it to something happening today. Part of the story is told through narration while they also get witnesses, subjects, and participants to tell their side of how they remember the event.

An interesting episode entitled Operation Match, timelines the roots of online dating before Tinder. It starts with anecdotes from 1965, wherein boys and girls would fill out a survey and have a computer match them up with their potential soulmate.

2 Dope Boys & a Podcast

This podcast comes out twice a week with two different formats. Once a week they release an episode called On Point wherein they bring in a guest to talk about business, science, politics, and more. Their other weekly episode is a mishmash of culture, technology, art. They divide the episode into four sections. The first is “Brand Eff Up” where they talk about a brand that has messed up during the week. Second is entitled “What’s Up?” Here they talk about anything new in fashion, music, and more. Third is “What’s Next,” in this section they ask what’s next for brands or people like “What will happen to influencers after the failure of Fyre Festival?” The last section is my personal favorite, it’s called “Diggin’ in the Crates.” The hosts along with their guests give recommendations. They recommend books, movies, music, and articles that the listeners can check out.

StarTalk Radio

I have a lot of unanswered questions about the universe and StarTalk Radio helps clarify some of them. Astrophysicist and everyone’s favorite human (next to Beyoncè) Niel Degrasse Tyson hosts the show along with a panel. His guests include scientists and celebrities. To make the conversation light, he always has one comedian in the panel to ask all the questions we listeners want answers to. Learn about zombies, black holes, self driving cars, and pretty much everything science related in each episode.

Bonus! Out West: Westworld Fan Theories, Dissected

If you were obsessed with Westworld just like everyone else, make time to listen to this podcast. Each episode is dedicated to one episode wherein they break down each scene, put together the timeline, bring up fan theories and some complaints.

I suggest that you listen to the podcast and then rewatch each episode because they point out a lot of details that most people would miss. If you haven’t already watched the show, you should get on that first.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

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Tisha Ramirez: