Podcasts

All About Podcasts

Podcasts

General Interest (science-related)
 Podcasts from Scientific Journals

Podcasts by Subject:
Biology
 Climate Change
 Energy
 Environment
 Fish / Aquaculture / Oceans
 Forestry
 Genetics
 GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
Plants
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All About Podcasts

  • A podcast is like a radio program that you can download to your computer and listen to (or watch, if it's video).  You can play your podcasts either on your computer or on a portable mp3 player such as an iPod.
  • You can download the audio or video files directly from the podcast's website, or you can use a program such as Ziepod or iTunes (or many others) to manage your podcasts.  These programs keep checking to see if there are new episodes for any podcasts you're subscribed to, and they can automatically download new material for you.
  • Where there is an orange button like this: Subscribe below, just click on the button, and copy the URL of the page it links to.  You can paste this URL into any podcast program, including iTunes, to make a subscription to the podcast.  Where there are iTunes buttons like this: iTunes, all you have to do is click on the button, which will load iTunes and take you to the podcast subscription page in that program.
  • Want more podcasts?  You can find lots more in a podcast directory such as Podcast.com

 
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Podcasts

General Interest (science-related)

CSIRO podcast Subscribe iTunes
- Podcasts from scientists at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Australia's national science agency.  Approx. 6-8 episodes monthly, each about five minutes long.

Ideas: How to Think about Science
- CBC Radio's Ideas examines the nature of the study of science. Modern societies have tended to take science for granted as a way of knowing, ordering and controlling the world. Everything was subject to science, but science itself largely escaped scrutiny. Historians, sociologists, philosophers and sometimes scientists themselves have begun to ask fundamental questions about how the institution of science is structured and how it knows what it knows. David Cayley talks to some of the leading lights of this new field of study.

National Geographic
- National Geographic offers several podcasts on various topics.

Nature Stories Subscribe iTunes
- 15-30 minute weekly podcasts from The Nature Conservancy with stories of people and the natural world.

Science Update
- Scientific news. Like the journal Science, the radio program Science Update is produced by the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science).  Available in daily or weekly podcasts:
  Daily Edition Subscribe iTunes - one-minute podcast every weekday
  Weekly Edition Subscribe iTunes - 6-7 minute podcast every week
   
Quirks and Quarks Subscribe
- CBC Radio's weekly hour-long science show.
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Podcasts from scientific journals

Heredity Subscribe
- Authors discuss their latest papers in Heredity.  Monthly half-hour podcasts.

Nature Subscribe
- Weekly half-hour podcasts, general research/science news.

Nature - Special topic podcasts
- More podcasts from the journal Nature (irregular frequency):
  Chemistry Subscribe
  Genetics Subscribe
  Neuroscience Subscribe

Science Subscribe iTunes
- Science produces a half-hour podcast every week or two on stories that appear in the journal.

Scientific American podcasts
  Science Talk Subscribe iTunes
  - weekly 20-30 minute podcasts on science and technology topics.
  60-Second Science Subscribe iTunes
  - minute-long podcast every weekday.
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Podcasts - by Subject:

Biology

Biohumanities Subscribe
- Podcasts from the semiannual Queensland Biohumanities Conference, as well as an occasional independent episode on topics related to biology as it impacts the humanities, especially philosophical issues. Published a few times per year.

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Climate Change

ClimateCast Subscribe
- Monthly podcast from the University of New Hampshire on climate change topics.  Currently not being updated (last episode is August 2006).

Global Climate Change: Exploring Our World and Ourselves Subscribe
A series of 7 lectures at the University of Arizona, each about an hour, from various professors on topics related to climate change.  Available in either video or audio.

Some individual podcast episodes on the 2007 IPCC report:
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
  - Ecoshock News interviews Dr. Andrew Weaver, one of the authors of the IPCC report. Feb. 9, 2007. 11 minutes, 10 MB mp3 file.
  - The Green Majority, a Toronto radio show, interviews Dr. Richard Peltier of the University of Toronto about the IPCC report.  Feb. 9, 2007. 1 hour, 27 MB mp3 file.
  Guardian Unlimited's correspondent David Adam discusses the IPCC report. Feb. 3, 2007. 3 minutes, 1.4 MB mp3 file.
  - Science Friday interviews Dr. Kevin Trenberth, one of the authors of the IPCC report. Feb 2, 2007. 12 minutes, 5 MB mp3 file.
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Energy

Inside Renewable Energy Subscribe
- Weekly 20-30 minute podcasts on renewable energy topics.

theWatt Subscribe iTunes
- 40 minute podcasts on energy news, opinion, technology, global warming, and policy.  Irregular frequency (usually a few times per month).
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Environment

Earthwatch Radio Subscribe
- Two-minute podcasts every weekday from University of Wisconsin students and staff on environmental issues and research, with a particular focus on oceans, the Great Lakes, and climate change.

Environminute Subscribe
- Daily 60-second podcasts on topics related to the environment, sustainability, and what individuals can do.

Exploring Environmental History Subscribe
- 20-30 minute podcasts on topics in environmental history.  Irregular frequency (6-8 per year).

Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems Subscribe
- Podcasts for a graduate seminar course offered at the University of Illinois. (2006-2007) 50-minute episodes, once or twice per month.

Living Planet Subscribe iTunes
- Weekly podcasts on world environmental news.  Most episodes are approx. half an hour.
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Fish / Aquaculture / Oceans

California Aquaculture Podcast Subscribe iTunes
- 5-20 minute podcasts from the University of California on aquaculture topics.

Forests and Oceans for the Future (UBC seminar series) Subscribe
- One-hour podcasts of seminars held at the University of British Columbia on topics related to natural resource sustainability. Irregular frequency (approx. 5 times annually, during the Sept.-April school year).

Science and the Sea Subscribe
- Weekly two-minute podcasts on marine science topics.
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Forestry

Forests and Oceans for the Future (UBC seminar series) Subscribe
- One-hour podcasts of seminars held at the University of British Columbia on topics related to natural resource sustainability. Irregular frequency (approx. 5 times annually, during the Sept.-April school year).

Southern Regional Extension Forestry (US) Subscribe iTunes
- 20-30 minute video podcasts on topics related to forestry, particularly in the southern U.S.  Published irregularly (several times per month), but currently not being updated (last episode is October 2006).
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Genetics

Heredity Subscribe
- Authors discuss their latest papers in the journal Heredity.  Monthly half-hour podcasts.

Nature - Genetics Subscribe
- Irregular half-hour podcasts from the journal Nature.
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GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

A VerySpatial Podcast Subscribe
- Weekly 10-30 minute podcasts discussing technological advances related to GIS.

GIS and Location Technology Subscribe
- Irregular (sometimes monthly) 20-40 minute podcasts on GIS topics.
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Plants

Plants, Pathogens, and People Subscribe
- 6-8 minute podcasts for a course on plant pathology offered at the University of Illinois.  (Spring 2007)

 

Know of a podcast that should be on our list?  Tell us!

Last updated: April 2007.