While reading may top your list of fav beach vacation pastimes, the last decade has seen a steady rise of podcasts as an alternative and super-convenient method for consuming a plethora of enjoyable content. If you haven’t hopped on the podcast bandwagon yet, now’s the time. Podcasts are a revolutionary way to stay informed and entertained anywhere, anytime. Here are a few suggestions to dive into before summer ends.
Pro tip Get your fix of true crime, pop culture, or science while doing another enjoyable activity — exercising, road-tripping or parking your butt in a beach chair and watching the waves roll in.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Science
Volcanoes. Trees. Drunk butterflies. Mars missions. Slug sex. Death. Beauty standards. Anxiety busters. Beer science. Bee drama. Take away a pocket full of science knowledge and charming, bizarre stories about what fuels these professional -ologists’ obsessions. Humorist and science correspondent Alie Ward asks smart people stupid questions, and the answers might change your life.
This American Life
Society & Culture
Each week there is a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life features true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. These include personal stories with funny moments, big feelings and surprising plot twists. It is the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Scam Goddess
True Crime
Hosted by Laci Mosley (AKA Scam Goddess), this podcast focuses on scams, grifts and frauds and the scammers who practice it. Each week listeners are kept up to date on current rackets as the podcast breaks down historic hoodwinks alongside some of your favorite comedians.
The Habitat
Non-fiction
An addictive, serialized documentary chronicling the true story of six volunteers picked to live on a fake planet. Host Lyn Levy documents the experiment from the day they set foot on the secluded imitation Mars set on a remote mountain in Hawaii. Listen as audio diaries detail their discoveries, their frustrations and their evolving and devolving relationships.
