Have a long holiday trip ahead of you? Tired of listening to the same playlist? Or simply looking for a reason to get a break from the lab?
Try podcasts for a change! We’ve put together a non-exhaustive list of a few cancer research and general science podcasts we think you’ll find interesting. There are plenty of other podcasts available on the web, so don’t hesitate to write to use to share your favourite podcast!
Click here to tell us your favourite science podcast
1. Keeping up with related research
Some associations regularly publish podcasts about the latest developments in cancer research:
Similarly, universities are also a great resource when it comes to podcasts. Here are just a few examples:
- Check the University of Oxford website for a special series on Cancer.
- Podcasts from Ludwig Oxford researchers
- Dana-Farber has a nice series of Cancer podcasts not only focused on research
Thanks to podcasts, you can also engage with industry without moving from your couch:
- Illumina, one of the EACR’s Industry Partners, publishes cancer research related podcasts from time to time. Here’s an example.
- Thermo Fisher, another Industry Partner, also has its own podcast series
- Abcam has published a podcast on the topic of Epigenetics
To stay updated with newly published papers, the journals Nature, Science, and eLife all produce their own podcasts, which provide detailed analysis and interesting interviews with the scientists behind the work.
2. About your career
Podcasts can also be a good way to get tips on challenges you will face throughout your career as a researcher.
To help with this, The Incubator podcast tries to clarify scientific career options. Each episode features interviews with scientists who have ended up in careers ranging from consulting to teaching at a liberal arts college to scientific editing.
You can also check Hello Phd, which covers a diverse range of topics such as transferable skills PhDs can use in any career or an opinion on the subjectivity of grant funding. We liked #086: “Five Resolutions for Happier, Healthier Scientists”!
3. Science for fun
Enough about work! Podcasts are also a fun way to learn about science in general, and may help you understand better fields outside of your research area.
‘The Naked Scientists’, a group based at Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), are a team of scientists, doctors and communicators whose passion is to help the general public to understand and engage with the worlds of science, technology and medicine. A few years ago they released a special issue about Cancer, “The Cutting Edge of Cancer Research”. Of course it’s a bit less cutting edge a few years later, but still it’s great that they did it.
No time to spare? Listen to 60-second Science, hosted on the Scientific American website.
An old time favourite in the EACR team is the well-know Stuff You Should Know, which will update your curious mind on how oceans work or the secret behind rainbows!
One final podcast is The Story Collider. It features scientists’ personal stories about the joys, hilarity, and disappointments of doing science. One story explores how Mari Provencher’s family is rocked by changes: “starting with her mother’s decision to become an entomologist, and psychologist Amber Hewitt realizes her passion lies outside of academia.”
