Listen Smarter, Live Better:The 10 Best Learning and Education Podcasts to Enrich Your Mind!

Tired of feeling out of the loop? Every week, we take a deep, engaging dive into the topics you never knew you needed to know—from bizarre history to breakthrough science. Boost your brainpower in the time it takes to grab a coffee. Tune in and satisfy your curiosity!

The 10 Best Educational Podcasts to Spark Your Curiosity

If you’re looking to turn your commute, workout, or chores into a brain-boosting session, educational podcasts are the perfect solution. They turn the complex, the forgotten, and the simply fascinating into easily digestible audio lessons.

Here is your list of the 10 best educational podcasts, complete with direct links to help you subscribe instantly on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Get ready to spark your curiosity! 🧠

---

The 10 Best Educational Podcasts

1. Stuff You Should Know
   • Focus: Explores a vast range of topics—from science and history to urban legends and pop culture—in a fun, long-form discussion format.
   • Why It’s Recommended: The hosts, Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, have a natural rapport that makes learning about anything, from the history of Schoolhouse Rock to how hospices work, incredibly engaging.
   • Listen on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen Stuff You Should Know on Spotify
2. No Such Thing as a Fish
   • Focus: Hosted by the “QI Elves” (the researchers for the British panel show QI), this is a rapid-fire, hilarious, and fact-packed discussion of the most interesting things they’ve discovered that week.
   • Why It’s Recommended: It’s pure, unadulterated knowledge served with British wit. You’ll collect an absurd amount of truly astounding facts to share at your next social gathering.
   • Listen No Such Thing as a Fish on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen No Such Thing as a Fish on Spotify
3. Revisionist History
   • Focus: Author Malcolm Gladwell (of The Tipping Point fame) re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, or even a song—and asks whether history got it right the first time.
   • Why It’s Recommended: Gladwell’s masterful narrative storytelling and deep research challenge your assumptions about well-known stories, offering a new perspective on history and human nature.
   • Listen Revisionist History on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen Revisionist History on Spotify
4. 99% Invisible
   • Focus: A beautifully produced podcast about architecture and design. It explores the invisible forces that shape our world, from the design of flags to the psychology of door knobs.
   • Why It’s Recommended: Host Roman Mars and his team reveal the captivating stories behind overlooked design elements, proving that even the most mundane objects have fascinating histories.
   • Listen on 99% Invisible Apple Podcasts
   • Listen on 99% Invisible Spotify
5. Ologies
   • Focus: Host Alie Ward interviews professional “-ologists” about their eccentric fields of study. Think volcano scientists, slug sex researchers, and experts in everything under the sun.
   • Why It’s Recommended: It’s an energetic, funny, and deeply curious show that makes niche science topics exciting and accessible, showcasing the passion of experts in wildly varied fields.
   • Listen Ologies on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen Ologies on Spotify
6. The Daily
   • Focus: Brought to you by The New York Times, this daily news podcast offers a deep dive into one of the day’s most significant stories.
   • Why It’s Recommended: It turns a headline into an in-depth, narrative explanation, helping you understand the context and human impact behind complex global events in a concise 20-minute episode.
   • Listen The Daily on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen The Daily on Spotify
7. Science Friday
   • Focus: A weekly exploration of the latest in science, technology, health, and more, hosted by Ira Flatow. It covers everything from the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies.
   • Why It’s Recommended: It’s a gold standard for science education, featuring interviews with researchers and journalists that make complex scientific topics fun and easy to grasp.
   • Listen Science Friday on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen Science Friday on Spotify
8. History Chicks
   • Focus: Two hosts explore the lives of famous (and sometimes infamous) women throughout history. It’s a celebration of “herstory” with deep research and a fun, conversational tone.
   • Why It’s Recommended: The show rescues incredible female figures from obscurity and myth, giving them the comprehensive, engaging, and often humorous historical deep-dive they deserve.
   • Listen History Chicks on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen History Chicks on Spotify
9. You’re Wrong About
   • Focus: Hosted by a journalist, this show revisits a person or event that has been unfairly maligned or misunderstood in the public imagination, debunking cultural myths one episode at a time.
   • Why It’s Recommended: It provides therapeutic, empathetic, and deeply researched reappraisals of history (like the panic around the Satanic Temple, or the truth about the Challenger disaster), offering a fresh, often kinder, perspective.
   • Listen You’re Wrong About on Apple Podcasts
   • Listen You’re Wrong About on Spotify
10. TED Radio Hour
    • Focus: Host Manoush Zomorodi explores a single “big idea” (like creativity, regret, or the future of work) through a compilation of inspiring TED Talks and original interviews.
    • Why It’s Recommended: It masterfully stitches together short, powerful talks into a cohesive, thought-provoking narrative, allowing you to absorb multiple perspectives on a central topic in one sitting.
    • Listen TED Radio Hour on Apple Podcasts
    • Listen TED Radio Hour on Spotify

---

How to Apply These Podcasts

1. Start Your Day Smart: Listen to The Daily or a quick Short Stuff episode of Stuff You Should Know to get your mind active and informed before work.
2. Theme Your Weeks: Spend one week focused on history with Revisionist History and History Chicks, and the next on science with Ologies and Science Friday.
3. Engage Critically: After listening to You’re Wrong About, try to apply their critical lens to a current news story or social phenomenon.

---

Key Takeaways

1. Educational podcasts make complex topics accessible and fun.
2. Curiosity-driven learning can happen anywhere, anytime.
3. Some of the best educational podcasts blend comedy with facts.
4. History often needs to be revised and re-examined.
5. Design, even the 99% invisible parts, shapes our lives.
6. You can get a daily, in-depth understanding of the news in 20 minutes.
7. The pursuit of niche knowledge is a joyful endeavor.
8. Learning about women’s history is crucial and engaging.
9. Cultural myths deserve careful scrutiny and debunking.
10. Compiling multiple perspectives (like on TED Radio Hour) strengthens understanding.

Best Hashtags

1. #PodcastSmartly
2. #EducationalPodcast
3. #LearnSomethingNew
4. #CuriosityKilledTheCat
5. #KnowledgeIsPower
6. #ListenAndLearn
7. #DeepDive
8. #PodcastLife
9. #Podcaster
10. #InformativeContent