Popular Science Podcasts

Popular Science podcasts unearth the universe’s strangest histories. They answer your most mind-burning questions. They tell spin yarns about scam artists and celebrity diets and video games and poodle haircuts. PopSci’s shows are simply the best science and tech podcasting: shamelessly entertaining, painfully smart, and fiercely fascinating.

Looking for a visual we mentioned on Weirdest Thing? Every single one of our episodes has a corresponding write-up published on the same day—that’s where you’ll find photos, videos, cited sources, and more. Check them out here!

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is where PopSci editors go to unleash the most bizarre stories they can find. You’ll be shocked, delighted, and ready to fill awkward silences for the rest of your life.

Ask Us Anything

Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from what the universe is made of to why not everyone can touch their toes. Join Popular Science staff as they work through questions big and small.

Portrait kitten with open mouth. Domestic curious funny striped kitty
Cats

Allergic to cats? Chickens could help. 

Plus other weird things we learned this week.

Young woman lifting weights at gym
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Could women actually be better suited to weight lifting than men are? 

Plus horny fruit flies and other weird things we learned this week.

birch bark with drawings on it
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

A 13th-century schoolboy’s doodles show that kids have always been like that 

Plus other weird things we learned this week.

a taxidermied bird
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

The foul-mouthed cockatoo that lived to 120

Plus a whale pee conveyer belt and other weird things we learned this week.

Elizabeth Ruth Belville receives a timekeeping certificate from an official at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, circa 1903. Once Belville has the accuracy of her watch, which she calls 'Arnold', confirmed in this way, her task is to 'take the time' round businesses in the West End and City of London. Belville's work was the means of ensuring standard time in the city before the advent of radio. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Literal time ladies used to sell people a look at their watches

The Greenwich Time Lady, plus other weird things we learned this week.

Woman in pyjamas embracing pillow and hot water bottle to soothe period pain against colourful background
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Scientists don’t actually know why period cramps hurt 

Blue Colored Motion Blurred Earth Globe Spinning on Light Blue Background.
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

The Earth once vibrated for 9 days straight

Plus other weird things we learned this week.

a squirrel in deep space
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Squirrels could be the key to getting us into deep space

Plus, Tuberculosis helped shape the world as we know it.

Man with a boombox on his box enjoying the music
The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Here’s the secret to getting songs unstuck from your head

Plus, rich people used to keep squirrels as pets and a flooded Colosseum.