Podcasts are becoming more and more popular, though the rise of spotify and apple music. Three of our writers talk about their favourite podcasts that they listen to weekly.
This podcast brings an hour of delight with every episode! Ologies is a podcast where science enthusiast, the wonderful Alie Ward, interviews a different 'ologist' each week to find out all there is to know about what they do for a living, from the everyday research to the downright weird scenarios they end up in.
On the face of it, this appears to be an average science podcast, but when you start to explore all the episodes you find such an eclectic mix of content, including things you didn't even know you wanted to learn about! Episodes range from volcanology (volcanoes), to horology (the study of watchmaking), to myrmecology (the biology and behaviours of ants), all the way to mixology (well I think we all know what this one is about!).
This podcast is great to listen to in the shower, walking to university, a car journey, anywhere! It's a lovely way to refresh and relax whilst learning something new at the same time!
By Hannah Ross
Two ‘bros’ from Bloomington, Indiana, Miles and Alex, have relaxed chats on anything that springs to mind.
This one might be a hard sell - The listenership is modest, the production lo-fi and there’s no specific topic, but this is what gives Gulch its charm. Admittedly, a lot of the appeal is down to my parasocial relationship with the hosts at this point, but there’s more to it than that.
Most episodes open with a short poem from Alex. A typical offering is “Grass has blades / So does the mower / The mower wins the battle / Grass wins the war.” The ensuing free-flowing chats often come back to topics including feats of strength (Alex supposedly once did 1000 push-ups on Valentine’s day), Wim ‘the Iceman’ Hof, and animal facts.
The pod’s description is simply “Livin’ la vida local”. The local focus might seem off-putting if, like me, you’d never heard of Bloomington, but escaping into a whole different world for an hour is strangely relaxing.
Episodes are often recorded on-the-go, including visits to museums and festivals. This means they’re unpredictable - sometimes they capture a beautiful spontaneous event, sometimes it’s almost all drowned out by the sound of a lawnmower.
By Peter Bath
The Girls Bathroom is a podcast created by Sophia and Cinzia, two best friends from Nottingham. Inspired by the gossip and advice sessions in the girls bathroom of a club, they discuss relationships and girl chat in a way which makes the listener feel like they're part of the girl group. They have a question of the week, where they ask something on instagram like 'would you ever get back with an ex that cheated?' or 'Would you take your partner's surname if you got married?' and then discuss. In the rest of the podcast, they read out listener dilemmas and discuss what advice they would give in different scenarios. This is a really nice way of bridging the gap between the speakers and listeners, and the topics they discuss are sometimes issues I had never thought of before.
It's the kind of podcast that you can listen to when you're cooking, walking to uni, or in the bath. I can't wait for Wednesday when the next one comes out!
By Molly Taylor
Foodies, attention! This one is for you. Off Menu is about a celeb’s favourite starter, main course, desert, side dish and drink. The show is hosted by James Acaster, as a genie-waiter granting all the guests wishes, and Ed Gamble, as himself.
Each week a guest is questioned on their food choices, including the hilarious or emotional stories behind them. It is an absolute treat and trust me, you will be hungry after each episode. For an extra kick, each week there’s a secret ingredient. If said ingredient is chosen by the celeb, they will be kicked out of the restaurant, no matter if they are Oscar nominated, a national treasure or a chef themselves. The guests range from Jaimie Oliver and Aisling Bea to Anne-Marie and Greg Davies. There are currently over 130 episodes already, so I'm confident that there’ll be at least one celeb that you want to hear from. New episodes are out every Wednesday. Give it a listen!
By Emma Bausen