A new Basic Sciences Guide has been created, which includes information presented on this guide. The new guide can be found at https://guides.lib.umich.edu/basicsciences. Please update any relevant bookmarks to the new guide. This guide will be retired in the future. Questions or feedback? Please email THSL-BasicSciences@umich.edu.
Podcasts are audio or video files that one can download from the web; or more simply said, downloadable Internet radio shows or video programming. Although many people play them on portable devices, one can also simply listen to a podcast on their computer. There are thousands of podcasts that span a broad range of topics. In this post I will highlight a few podcast series that might be of interest to scholars in the sciences. Each of these podcasts is available for free on the websites, via RSS feeds, or in a podcast directory. Here are a few recommendations.
Nature
Nature Publishing Group produces a rich array of podcasts that highlight stories covered in their journals.
Science
In December 2005, around the time podcasts became popular in the mainstream, Science started producing their podcasts as a pilot project. They have been posting new episodes since then. These shows contain excellent coverage of articles published in the journal, but with an interesting down-to-earth tone appropriate for any audience.
Scientific American
Sciam.com has two podcast series: 60-Second Science and Science Talk.
Science Friday
Excellent weekly coverage of the top stories in science and technology.