My job involves long swatches of brainless filing during which I usually listen to a book on tape (or, on iPod as the case may be) or a podcast. I enjoy the How Stuff Works one, as well as This American Life, and recently discovered Radio Lab. Any favorites you’d like to pass along? I want to get my learn on.
I just figured out how to put podcasts on my Zune (I am technologically inept), so I’ll be watching this too. Right now I’m listening to CBC’s Ideas (CBC Podcasts), which is a bit of a cultural institution here - I listened to the radio show in high school classes.
Weekly science podcasts, variety of topics: NPR’s On Science, Scientific American
BBC’s Radio 5 has a podcast that comes out at least once a week, Dr. Karl and the Naked Scientists. It’s a radio show that covers different science news stories and has listeners call in with their questions.
My alma mater, Carleton College, has an online archive of their weekly convocations (talks, performances, or presentations of general interest to the college community by visiting experts) available for download, some of which I’ve listened to and enjoyed (such as the one by Freakanomics author Steven Levitt).
I listen to Planet Money. I don’t know if its intentionally educational but they really go out of their way to explain how the financial systems work for people who don’t know. If you already listen to This American Life then you may have heard of one of the main contributors of Planet Money from the TAL episode from last year titled “Giant Pool Of Money”