I listen to a lot of podcasts (Part 1)

If you know me, you’ve probably heard me start a story with “So I was listening to this podcast…” My love of podcasts was born for two reasons: my need to be listening to something while I work and my dislike of driving. I have cultivated my podcast collection over the last year of long distance driving and long nights in the computer lab. So here is a list of podcasts, mostly focused on science, that get me through.

The first science podcast I found was Palaeocast. Like the name suggests, Palaeocast focuses on paleontology, with hosts interviewing scientists about their research. It’s run by Dave Marshall, Joe Keating and Liz Martin, and new episodes typically come out every two or so weeks. Episodes range from 30 minutes to an hour. This is probably the most serious podcast on this list. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Dave Marshall, and you can hear me on the podcast from the 2013 GSA Annual Meeting.

I then discovered the Tet Zoo podcast (Tetrapodcats!). The Tet Zoo podcast is hosted by Darren Naish and John Conway. It covers all sorts of topics, from new tapirs to the most flammable tetrapod to movies. New episodes come out a least once a month and range from 1 to 2 hours. This podcast fluctuates between serious and not-so-serious topics, but the conversation is always approachable and relatable.

The Past Time podcast is hosted by Matt Borths and Adam Pritchard, two graduate students at Stony Brook University. Their episodes are short (5-20 minutes) and very upbeat, focusing primarily on paleontology. They use sound effects and theme music to get their points across, making this podcast more enjoyable for a younger audience.

Unlike most of the podcasts on this list, the Dragon Tongues podcast is the solo effort of Sean Willett. He focuses (surprise!) on paleontology, with a very thought-out and soothing delivery (He sounds a little like Carl Sagan). He hasn’t released many episodes yet, but they tend to be 12-18 minutes long and are released once a month.

Palaeo After Dark is definitely my favorite paleontology podcast. It features James Lamsdell, Amanda Falk and Curtis Congreve discussing paleontology (and just about everything else) over drinks. The discussions can be NSFW, but they usually make me laugh out loud. New episodes come out every two weeks or so and range from 1 to 2 hours in length. I had the pleasure of meeting James and Curtis at the 2014 GSA Annual Meeting and they are just as entertaining in real life as they are on the podcast.

Look out for Part 2 of this list soon!