Expand Your Mind

The Netflix ta-dum sound has quickly become one of the most iconic sound logos of our generation. This sound is heard countless times, every single day, all over the world. But the Netflix sound was almost very different than the one we know today. Hear the story of how one of the biggest sound logos of all time was made. From Twenty Thousand Hertz and hosted by Dallas Taylor.

This compelling and uplifting story has rightly been touted as being one of the best podcasts episodes ever. A man in California is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. Reply-All’s PJ Vogt takes takes on the task of trying to track it down.

The desire to find our tribe is universal. We like to know who we are and where we belong. This fascination has led to a thriving industry built on the marketing and sale of personality tests. Shankar Vedantam from Hidden Brain, explores the world of personality testing and the many different ways we assess personality and potential – from the Chinese Zodiac to Harry Potter houses to the Myers-Briggs test.

66 million years ago, a huge asteroid hit the earth, wiping out most of the dinosaurs that roamed the land. It would still be tens of millions of years before the first humans appeared – but what if those dinosaurs hadn’t died out? Would we ever have evolved? Dive back into the past to see how our distant mammal ancestors managed to live alongside huge, fierce dinosaurs; and why the disappearance of those dinosaurs was great news for mammals. This episode of CrowdScience is presented by Marnie Chesterton and Anand Jagatia for the BBC World Service.

Music is known as one of the great brain simulators and Radiolab podcasts are known for their innovative sound design. This fascinating, sound extravaganza podcast makes for a perfect combination. There are few musical moments more well-worn than the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. But in this episode, hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwic find out that Beethoven might have made a last-ditch effort to keep his music from ever feeling familiar, to keep pushing his listeners to a kind of psychological limit.  Featuring the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.

Physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince take a witty, irreverent and unashamedly rational look at the world according to science. In this episode of the Infinite Monkey Cage, Robin and Brian are joined by alien abduction expert Jon Ronson and Seth Shostack from the SETI Institute in California to discuss science conspiracies, UFOs and the search for ET.

The brain is our most vital and complex organ, It’s the source of our personality, our sense of self, and it shapes every aspect of our human experience. This podcast from Feel Better, Live More hosted by Dr Rangan Chatterje‪e‬ focuses on what we can do to improve brain performance, using highlights from previous episodes all themed around the brain. The podcast talks about growing new nerve cells, how learning a new language can impact your brain, the powerful effects of music, as well as the importance of movement and human touch and so much more.

Sandra Kanthal of The Why Factor asks why we choose to text instead of talk, and if this incredibly popular form of communication is changing the way we interact and relate with each other. We can now curate who we talk to in a way that wasn’t thinkable when a bulky landline phone sat in a corner of a house and rang with anonymous urgency. The screens on our devices allow us to communicate in any number of quick, cheap but silent ways. These modern technologies are very useful, which is why they are so ubiquitous, but are they taking something from us that is deeply human?

Slow Radio is an antidote to today’s frenzied world. Step back, let go, immerse yourself: it’s time to go slow. Relax with a calming mix of music and natural sounds – from the banks of the River Wye to Kenton, near Newcastle, via the Bristol Downs and Manningtree.

Articles of Interest is a limited-run podcast series about fashion, housed inside the design and architecture podcast 99% Invisible. The world of high end perfume is surprisingly lucrative, considering that scent is often the most ignored of our senses. But one can’t judge a scent solely by the brand and shape of the bottle. With the right amount of attention, perfume can be a key to a whole new world of smell.