Another great podcast from Vox Media, but this is my favorite one. Every episode topic is deeply interesting and super informative. It’s information that’s insightful for policy wonks yet approachable and easy for everyone to understand.
…talking about racism and messaging about white guilt.
End of episode, still zero science about the benefits or disadvantages of “good posture”.
Simplistic, ideologically charged and without substance.
You’ve got to wonder if dinosaurs had parroting ability and could mimic each other like mocking birds or others do today. We would love to hear more created dinosaurs sounds like those from this episode. 🦖🐓🦜
…because it is so dang good, and my brain DEMANDS more, but there’s so much content and so much to think about in each episode that I miss out when I binge and blast through a bunch of episodes at once. I really love this show! It’s so interesting and really well researched, and I like the audio editing and mixing with light sound effects and lots of variety without being chaotic or confusing. I was a middle school/high school science teacher and my students also really enjoyed listening to episodes from this show. I would recommend this show to anyone.
I’m listening to the inflation episode. They talk as if inflation is as simple as looking at one tiny thing in a very complicated system. And they act like each instance of inflation has the same cause.
Oh dear.
The Adam guy really makes no sense. Claudia’s version is a simplified version of the answer to the question, “What happened this time?” But you can’t expect it to all be about one thing, and the same each time.
Time wasting sound bites diminish the experience. I came here for content and it was more glib and insufficient. Ok, I should have known by the length.
worse than re runs, this show regularly chops up old episodes, adds a few minutes of new narration and a new title and posts it as a new episode. listening to this show gave me a weird deja vu feeling until i figured out what was going on. bad faith but good topics sometimes.
An episode of this podcast was forced upon me by Science Vs and it was so information-less, such a bad interview, I stopped listening part way through (only making it that far in the hopes it would build on the potential intrigue it began with). I guess that’s what you get when something is “unexplainable”. Not my jam.
GaiaLady? Umm, excuse me?!?
Your review fails to account for context and that synonyms often reflect a shared meaning that differ by degree.
“I’m happy when my parents come to town; however, I’m not ecstatic they’re staying at my house.”
The ability to be one (happy) but not the other (ecstatic) clearly demonstrates a known difference between the two words, despite being synonyms.
Umm, excuse me?!?
Perhaps next time you’ll post with a tad more humility.
The topic variety keeps me coming back and the level of detail and research to explain the unexplainable topics is truly wonderful. I always learn and am always fully engaged in the episodes. I love how they present the information and learning new and interesting information every time I listen. Thank you so much for this show! I suggest it to everyone, especially people who claim they don’t like podcasts because how could you not like this one?!?!?
I love listening to this with my 11 year old. It gets her to ask questions and enjoy science in a fun and intriguing way. Guests are also wonderful mix of people from many fields so really rewarding for the curious mind.
I usually listen to science podcasts and so this one was recommended to me. Sounded interesting from the descriptions and titles of episodes but turned out to be just another bro podcast. You’re going to debunk “alpha male” and then in the same episode say you “don’t mind Joe Reagan”? The lack of journalistic integrity is disappointing, but the irony hilarious.
I listen to a lot, and I mean, A LOT of podcasts. I have 5 favorites for different reasons and Unexplainable is in the top 5. I never fail to learn something new.
My former Publisher and Editorial Director at Mother Earth News, Bryan Welch, used to encourage us to think about the goal of print magazines (as opposed to newspapers and other print media) as “surprise and delight.” Before, and as, mags all around us were falling fast, this goal made so much sense. I think social media has probably taken on that role now. Anyway, this podcast is the bee’s knees of surprising and delighting with content you didn’t know you wanted. Others in this vein include Stuff You Should Know and Freskonomics. (Not an exhaustive list!)
Now that I know how to review podcasts, I’ll be more diligent. Apple: I might be your #1 Podcast app user. I had to ask Duck Duck Go HOW to rate and review a pod. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder. A small redesign tweak might help. (Plz just don’t make it a pop-up!!!!)
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find this podcast but I’m so glad I did. Every episode brings up such interesting and engaging subject matter that leaves me wanting more every single time. The recent episodes on menstrual fluid and endometriosis were fantastic. I look forward to every new episode that comes out.
I absolutely love this podcast, it provides excellent educational topics, they speak and pronounce words phenomenally, and this podcast is very well set up. My child also loves this podcast and in my opinion, it is very family friendly,.
This podcast is unique and clever. It is incredibly enjoyable to listen to its presentation of a broadly conceived and well-curated set of science topics
I enjoy this show for the most part. I have to admit that the hosts give a forced nerdy vibe which feels unnecessary. I consider myself a person who loves science (I’m in medicine and research) but it’s a bit much at times. I also agree with other reviewers that brought up the use of the word “like”. It’s used a lot and it’s a bit cringey to hear an adult interview an expert using that word that much. It should be relatively scripted and they should be prepared. And we’re not 12.
As a genuine point of feedback: It would be helpful if repeat episodes were plainly labeled as REPEAT: Episode name. It’s annoying to start something just to realize you’ve already listened to it.
In this episode you featured a man who had to teach himself to cry. He said he couldn’t remember the last time he cried, let alone wept. Excuse me? These two words are synonyms. Wept is an older word that doesn’t get used much any more, but it means the same as cry. Pay no attention to web articles that try to distinguish the two; any dictionary worth its salt will tell you they are the same.
I just discovered this podcast and am thrilled! The content was incredibly interesting ( UV light to kill viruses), well presented and the perfect length.
Just heard an ad break trailer for this show on the Longform podcast and the host is fully impersonating John Wilson’s narration style and cadence. Embarrassing
This is a great podcast, its one of my favorites. I’ve been here since episode 2 and it’s just a fantastic experience. Vox in general is just so awesome and this podcast is no exception.
They cover topics that I never would have thought about before and peak my curiosity, and I always end up learning something new. Great journalism, keep it up!
I look forward to this podcast each week!! I always learn something. The hosts are engaging and give the listener a compelling story on the topic being discussed.
Did I miss the part in this episode where you indicated who paid for the studies that showed ice cream reduces diabetes? Was it the dairy council? Was it perhaps the sugar industry? The sugar industry paid for studies to have data falsified to show that fat was the unhealthy culprit in our diets, when actually it was sugar indicated in those studies. How could you not mention that?
This show asks the questions that seem to satisfy the curiosity of our childhood minds and leaves us to wonder and awe at the amazing world. I love the journalists and their unbridled excitement. I truly look forward to it every week and love to relisten as I force my family and friends to listen.
