I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts, but there two I absolutely never miss.

One is Mark Kermode’s Friday afternoon movie reviews on BBC Radio 5 live, which Jeremy and I usually listen to while eating our Friday night pizza. I love Mark Kermode; he’s so wickedly acerbic that, even when I don’t agree with his opinion, he’s a riot to listen to. And he plays double bass in a rockabilly band as well (“Trains and death a speciality”), so really, what’s not to like?

The other is the Radiolab podcast from WNYC. I’ve never listened to a Radiolab show which hasn’t, at some point, taught me something, given me goosebumps, or just made me utter an astonished “Wow…”

Like In Our Time (another good podcast), Radiolab tackles big ideas—memory and morality, laughter and lies, life and death. But unlike the rather staid In Our Time, Radiolab intersperses its interview and storytelling segments with artsy sonic landscapes, and the team often leaves the studio to hit the road, talking to musicians, psychologists, poets and physicists in their natural habitats.

The most recent episode, about “War of the Worlds”, offers a particularly fascinating insight into media manipulation and mass hysteria; it had Jeremy and I just looking at each other and shaking our heads in amazement. The episodes on music and space are another two of my favorites for the way in which they cast a new light on two subjects close to my heart.

If you’re in the mood for a good curmudgeonly rant about the state of popular cinema, you should check out Mark Kermode’s movie reviews. But if you’re looking for some real aural, intellectual, and emotional stimulation, I highly, highly recommend listening to the Radiolab podcasts. Don’t be put off by the occasionally too-clever-for-its-own-good sound editing; the shows are never less than outstanding.