cerebral podcasts
Ideas as the action. Stories that hand your brain a puzzle and walk away. Every show links to its kindred spirits. Find one you love, then follow the thread.
99% Invisible
Roman Mars · Design
The hidden design of everyday things, told with calm curiosity and perfect pacing.
Against the Rules with Michael Lewis
Pushkin Industries · Society & Culture
Michael Lewis on referees, experts, and the people we stopped trusting.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
All-In Podcast, LLC · Technology
Four billionaires argue about tech, markets, and each other.
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries · History
Elegant little disaster stories about how smart people get things terribly wrong.
Code Switch
NPR · Society & Culture
Race and identity in America, reported with candor and nuance.
Decoder Ring
Slate Podcasts · Documentary
Cultural mysteries cracked open, from mood rings to the Macarena.
Decoder with Nilay Patel
The Verge · Business
Nilay Patel asks executives the hard questions about how their companies actually work.
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher · Documentary
The hidden side of everything, argued with data and charm.
Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam · Science
Shankar Vedantam on the unconscious patterns steering your life.
Huberman Lab
Scicomm Media · Health & Fitness
Stanford neuroscience translated into protocols, at length.
Mind the Game
UNINTERRUPTED | Wondery · Sports
LeBron and Steve Nash talk basketball the way masters talk craft.
Modern Wisdom
Chris Williamson · Society & Culture
Chris Williamson interrogates modern life with philosophers and scientists.
Odd Lots
Bloomberg · Investing
Bloomberg's deep dives into the weirdest corners of markets and money.
Radiolab
WNYC Studios · Natural Sciences
Science storytelling that turns a question you never asked into an hour you can't stop replaying.
Revisionist History
Pushkin Industries · Society & Culture
Malcolm Gladwell re-examines things overlooked and misunderstood, one contrarian story at a time.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape
Sean Carroll · Physics
A physicist's long, patient conversations at the edge of what we know.
Search Engine
PJ Vogt · Technology
PJ Vogt answers questions you didn't know you had, beautifully.
Stuff To Blow Your Mind
iHeartPodcasts · Life Sciences
Twice-weekly wonders from the weird edges of science and culture.
The Ancients
History Hit · History
The ancient world brought close, one expert conversation at a time.
The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion · Society & Culture
Ezra Klein thinks through the biggest questions with the sharpest guests.
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist · Daily News
The Economist's daily brief: global, dry, and quietly essential.
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR · Politics
NPR's politics team explains the week without the shouting.
The Prosecutors
PodcastOne · True Crime
Two prosecutors re-try famous cases with actual courtroom rigor.
The Rest Is Politics
Goalhanger · Politics
Two former insiders disagree agreeably about how politics actually works.
More moods on the podcast catalog.