6 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter

It is no secret that most podcast listeners are trying to broaden their knowledge in one form or another. To many, this is what led them to start listening to podcasts. As listeners are many, so are podcast creators - offering what seems to be a never ending stream of information.

In that sense, it is easy to feel overwhelmed with so many options, but if you are looking to add to your queue or just getting started - here are some of the best podcasts to “make you smarter".

1) Revisionist History

The host of this show is no other than Malcolm Gladwell, the author is one of the most loved in the world. His books such as Outliers, Blink, and The tipping points have been a wealth of knowledge to many – in the same vein, his podcast serves as a bank of wisdom. Customary to his style, Gladwell focuses on topics that are likely to be overlooked or misunderstood by the average person. He shines his light on every episode by looking at hidden facts, exposing unlikely angles, and creating paths for listeners to think out of the box.

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2) Hidden Brain

Hidden Brain is from the stables of NPR, so you know it is a quality podcast. The show is centred on understanding how our brain influences the world around us. Questions such What motivates us? How do we recognize shapes and patterns? are the general theme of the show with each episode getting you to be more conscious of your actions. Just like Revisionist History they also go through a mountain of data to present the facts to their listeners.

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3) Science VS

The world is known to be full of information, the problem is that a large chunk of it is wrong - mostly consisting of rumours and propaganda. Science VS is dedicated to dismantling this false information, one podcast episode at a time. Consisting of a team of fact-checkers – they tackle topics such as UFO sightings, diseases, and historical events.

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4) Intelligence Squared

If you are tired of the regular format of most podcasts then you should try Intelligence Squared. Different from the rest, it is more of a standoff – with two teams of two highly qualified professionals debating against each other aided by a moderator and a live audience. Of the teams, one panel is usually for and the other against - the subject matter ranges from Ghost Ships and Geopolitics, Deepfakes and the Infocalypse

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5) Stuff you Should Know

Have you ever felt lost in a conversation about seemingly popular topics that you have no idea about? – then Stuff You Should Know is your dream podcast. Hosted by Josh Clack and Chuck Bryant, who are both writers of "how stuff works" ( so you know you are in good hands) – they have talked about How Tea works, How eyes in a painting follow you, Acid rain, and many more. The show has long and short episodes- depending on the topics but most are under an hour.

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6) Philosophize This!

Philosophy is one of those topics that everyone secretly wants to get into but have not found the time or way to do it. Philosophize This! Brings philosophy to your hands at the push of a button - like most philosophical podcasts they ask hard questions about life and seek to answer them by going through old writings of past philosophers. Hosted by Stephen West, the show starts chronologically from the pre- Socratic era and they are in a bid to end up in modern times.

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Waking up with a podcast on iOS

Podcast Alarm is a fully featured podcast player and alarm. You can set up queues of your favourite episodes and listen to them whenever you like. Why not subscribe to your favourite podcast and have the latest episode wake you up every weekday morning. There are lots of screenshots and videos in our "How to set a podcast as an alarm on iphone?" blog post.