Recommended Podcasts & Playlists
- Getting Curious with Jonathan Van NessA weekly exploration of all the things Jonathan Van Ness (of Queer Eye) is curious about. Warning: language.
- Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat & Hrshikesh HirwaySamin Nosrat (of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) and Hrishikesh Hirway want to help you figure out what to cook (and keep you company) during the COVID-19 quarantine.
- LeVar Burton ReadsIn every episode, host LeVar Burton (Roots, Reading Rainbow, Star Trek) invites you to take a break from your daily life, and dive into a great story. LeVar's narration blends with gorgeous soundscapes to bring stories by Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury and more to life. So, if you're ready, let's take a deep breath...
- Making Gay HistoryBringing the voices of LGBTQ history to life through intimate conversations with champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.
- Newcomers: Star Wars with Lauren Lapkus & Nicole ByerIn "Newcomers," Lauren Lapkus (of Orange is the New Black) and Nicole Byer (of Nailed It) explore Star Wars for the first time. In the first season, the hosts will get to know the franchise-- watching the movies and exploring the "culture"-- discussing with superfans as they go. Warning: language.
- On BeingWhat does it mean to be human? How do we want to live? And who will we be to each other? Each week a new discovery about the immensity of our lives. Hosted by Krista Tippett.
- RadiolabInvestigating a strange world.
- Selected ShortsClassic and contemporary short fiction read by some of the most iconic voices in today's world of film, theater and comedy. Recorded live at Symphony Space in New York City.
- Terrible, Thanks for AskingYou know how when someone asks "How are you?" and you just say "Fine," even if you're totally dying inside, so everyone can go about their day? "Terrible, Thanks for Asking" is the opposite of that. Nora McInerny asks real people to share their complicated and honest feelings about how they really are. It's sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and often both.
- This American Life...mostly we do journalism, but an entertaining kind of journalism that's built around plot. In other words, stories! Our favorite sorts of stories have compelling people at the center of them, funny moments, big feelings, surprising plot twists, and interesting ideas. Like little movies for radio.
- To The Best Of Our KnowledgeA nationally-syndicated radio show, TTBOOK takes long form interviews that lead everyone to dive headlong into the deeper end of ideas. They have conversations with novelists and poets, scientists and software engineers, journalists and historians, filmmakers and philosophers, artists and activists - anyone with a big idea and a passion to have a creative and engaging conversation about it.
- The Writer's AlmanacA short daily podcast read by Garrison Keillor, which includes a classic “on this day in history” section, and a daily poem by a feature poet.
- SU Libraries SpotifyOur Spotify includes playlists made by SU librarians and community members.
- Study Break from Spotify"Discover new artists while you take a break (responsibly) from studying."
- Lo-Fi Beats from Spotify"Beats to relax and focus."
- All TED TalksTED Talk playlist collections for curious minds
- TED Talk: All it takes is 10 mindful minutesWhen is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment. (No need for incense or sitting in uncomfortable positions.)
- TED Talk: Could the sun be good for your heart?Our bodies get Vitamin D from the sun, but as dermatologist Richard Weller suggests, sunlight may confer another surprising benefit too. New research by his team shows that nitric oxide, a chemical transmitter stored in huge reserves in the skin, can be released by UV light, to great benefit for blood pressure and the cardiovascular system. What does it mean? Well, it might begin to explain why Scots get sick more than Australians ...
- TED Talk: How to make stress your friendStress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.
- TED Talk: How to stay calm when you know you'll be stressedYou're not at your best when you're stressed. In fact, your brain has evolved over millennia to release cortisol in stressful situations, inhibiting rational, logical thinking but potentially helping you survive, say, being attacked by a lion. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin thinks there's a way to avoid making critical mistakes in stressful situations, when your thinking becomes clouded -- the pre-mortem. "We all are going to fail now and then," he says. "The idea is to think ahead to what those failures might be."
- TED Talk: The art of stillnessThe place that travel writer Pico Iyer would most like to go? Nowhere. In a counterintuitive and lyrical meditation, Iyer takes a look at the incredible insight that comes with taking time for stillness. In our world of constant movement and distraction, he teases out strategies we all can use to take back a few minutes out of every day, or a few days out of every season. It's the talk for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the demands for our world.