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There's "Well there's your problem". In each episode, the hosts break down an engineering disaster. The episodes are one to several hours long each, and they are thorough, entertaining, and you learn a ton.
There's also a video version that contains slides with pictures and graphs.
I would suggest as a starter episode 139, The impossible railroad, which I thought was a fun one. Or 146 on the Mount Everest, that was eye-opening. Those are the recent ones that stand out to me.
My favorite is the Gulf State Vanity Projects episode! Either that or the Costa Concordia one
Ohhh sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the rec!
Darknet Diaries is always fascinating: it's all about cybercrime. Sometimes the episodes are breakdowns of particular hacker groups or specific notable hacks; other times, they're interviews with people in the industry: both cybersecurity professionals and criminals.
One of my favorite podcasts
99 percent invisible is a good one. Itβs about the stories behind things we take for granted in the world. It can be anything between ambulances, country borders and the lyrics of who let the dogs out.
I don't know if it has already been said, but "Darknet diaries" is a podcast i love to listen to, it's basically a history and breakdown of different hacks that happend all around the world, there are also some interviews with pentesters who tell some amazing story's, so if you're into computers thats something I'd recommend listening to
Seconded. I like the episodes about pen testers. It's so interesting how so many business are super easy to hack into or physically break into and gain access to their networks and other sensitive info.
Behind the Bastards and The Dollop are both a lot of fun as they delve into historical events and figures and do a whole comedic + factual examination in that order
If you want a really good episode for people unfamilar with the series-s, I love
10 cent beer night does it for me. I also recently relistened the Kissinger episodes (BtB w/ Dollop). That one still slaps and is what crossed me over into The Dollop.
I've really enjoyed all of these:
Great podcasts! Has a fair amount of blood, gore and torture though. No criticism but I thought itβd be fair for OP to get a heads up on that.
History is bloody business
Blowback - Deep dives into American imperialism. Each season covers a single topic and goes into the background history, through to the conflict, to the aftermath in about 10 hour long episodes each. The first season was on the Iraq War, the second on Cuba, the third on the Korean War and the fourth into Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan. Extremely well produced with some great soundtracks.
Stuff You Should Know
Seconded. A very chill and entertaining informational podcast that benefits greatly from its conversational style.
And episodes can be about nearly anything. Forgiveness, the Cannonball Run, the Loch Ness monster, the sun, beavers, the Equal Rights Act. Theyβre all great. Iβve been listening since 2012.
Oh No Ross and Carrie is a lot of fun! βThe show where we donβt just report on spirituality, fringe science and claims of the paranormal, but take part ourselves. We join religions, undergo alternative medical treatments, and hunt for ghost, goblins, demons, and deities. If it has an extraordinary claim attached to it, weβll check it out.β
They do a large variety of investigations, including things like ear candling, trying ayahuasca, going to UFO conferences, joining Scientology (a particularly long but very interesting series of episodes), meeting a local flat earther group (and even helping them design and run experiments), be trained in performing exorcisms, etc etc!
I like listening to podcasts that casually destroy my worldview, which means a lot of history and politics podcasts while working. I have 2 suggestions and a secret 3rd option!
First is The Deprogram, a podcast about various topics relating to socialism and leftism. The bromance is strong with this one, it's hilarious. The humor can potentially be a turn off though, very rarely they'll take a joke too far. However the educational info they provide is more than worth looking past imo.
Second is UNFTR, or Unfuck the Republic. This is a much smaller podcast, but the audio quality is great. His voice is very soothing, something tells me he worked in radio at one point. The stuff on youtube is on the shorter side, but still very good.
The third option is one you haven't thought of before, but look up archival footage of speeches! Some of my favorite youtube archive channels are Afromarxist and the Micheal Parenti Library
Youβre dead to me - history, different expert and comedian guest every week, very good
No Such Thing as a Fish - superb trivia show
Sci-Show Tangents - βlightly competitive science knowledge showcaseβ
A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail - science and math facts around a random topic from 3 very smart people
The Infinite Monkey Cage - science and comedy with Brian Cox and guests
Journey to the Microcosmos - interesting things in our microscopic world
I'll second No Such Thing As A Fish. Its four researchers giving their four favorite facts of the week. It is always informative at the very least and usually they're pretty funny/entertaining as well!
Would those researchers happen to be elves?
Oh yeah, theyre QI elves or something
Thought so! I love that show, especially the old episodes with Stephen Fry as the host πβ€οΈ
Black Box Down is interesting. They describe aviation disasters but in a very approachable way, while also not really dumbing it down. No drama, although the stories themselves can sometimes be crazy, they don't play it up.
I like to listed to Darknet Diaries if I am not listenting to WANshow.
General deep dives on random topics:
stuff about the animal world:
linguistics and how we communicate:
Sawbones "A marital tour of Misguided Medicine" from Justin & Sydney McElroy is a great podcast. each episode dives into the history behind some medical quackery. Funny & Informative, I always learn something and have a good time.
Idk if it will fit your vibe, but I'll always take the opportunity to shout out Astonishing Legends.
remember when radiolab was THE PREMIERE PODCAST?
The Delta Flyers is a podcast by Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill, who played Harry Kim and Tom Paris on Star Trek Voyager, they rewatch the show and interview other crew members, they have completed Voyager, and have started rewatching Deep Space 9, together with Terry Farrell and Armin Shimerman, who played Jadzia and Quark on that show.
Very interesting.
Damn Interesting is a site with long interesting articles about different subjects, they have a podcast under the same name, where they read the articles, it is very well done, but unpdated slowly, but there is quite a few episodes available.
I know it's older but recently I've been listening to Ologies by Allie Ward. She explores all the different types of science, she's funny, and she finds people who are really passionate about their field of work.
Tides of History is a very well-produced history podcast that deals with ancient history. It tells history in an engaging way and is founded in recent scholarship.
Podcasting is Praxis, a funny politics podcast made by British communists.
Blowback, all the praise heaped upon it is absolutely justified. Listen to it.
We Are Not So Different, an entertaining podcast about medieval history. It has a leftist outlook on things and treats medieval people like people and avoids romanticising as well as looking down on them.
A People's History of Ideas. An amazingly detailed history of the Chinese revolution with offshoots into international Maoism. If you want to listen to an episode about how CPC safehouses worked in Shanghai in the early 1930's, this is a podcast for you.
My unmentioned favourite is Jordan Harbinger Show, he invites various guests and comes well prepared for an interview, about topics like psychology, geopolitics, etc. Kinda like Joe Rogan but less stupid, not conspiracy minded and not right wing.
Hardcore history is a very thorough look into different events. Dan Carlin is great
The Constant, by Mark Chrysler.
Headlined as "a history of getting things wrong", the host goes into deep dives about what we thought we knew, how we eventually came to figure out we were wrong, the repercussions of both.
It takes a seriously funny and well researched approach to a number of major events in our history, and I absolutely must recommend "the foolkiller" a five episode exploration of a submarine found at the bottom of the Chicago River then lost to history, with a very juicy footnote delivered several episodes later, that I dare not spoil for you.
Used to love "reply all," but it sadly concluded last year.
Since then "undermisunderstood" and "search engine" somewhat scratch that same itch.
Both podcasts talk about things not easily explained by an Internet search.
Heavyweight with Jonathan Goldstein. Jonathan solves human problems, often reconnecting people who lost contact. Jonathan solves serious issues in witty ways. Funny, but serious.
This is a Gimlet Media podcast, bought by Spotify and published for a while exclusively there. As of the latest news, Heavyweight is looking for a new home for next season.
Well There's Your Problem Podcast. They do have a news segment at the beginning of each episode, but you can skip past it if you want to.
The Rest is History is a fun history podcast.
I also like Today in History with the Retrospectors.
Definitely not disturbing!
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs - This is one of my favorite podcasts, but I'm going to warn you it's not for everybody. The creator of this show, Andrew Hickey, is THOROUGH. A great example is the most reason episode about Hey Jude. Either you will love the concept of a 3.5-hour episode where 80% of the podcast is not about the song but rather the circumstances and lives of The Beatles, Yoko Ono, and the late 1960s music scene leading up to the creation of Hey Jude, or you will be furious that so much of the episode is about stuff that isn't the song.
If you like space exploration and science, The Planetary Podcast has been going for like 20 years. Tons of amazing interviews with scientists, engineers, astronauts, administrators.
For deeply nerdy computer/network/IT/programming: On the Metal
Only 2 seasons, but some great interviews.