Best BrainFood Podcasts (2025)

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Why Do You Forget Everything When You Enter a New Room? 21:17

Play Pause

14h ago21:17

21:17

There you are. Sitting on your couch, watching a movie, when suddenly you decide you want popcorn. So you get up and cross the room to the kitchen. But the moment you cross the threshold between the two rooms: bam! you suddenly stop in your tracks. You glance about the kitchen in confusion like Gandalf in the Mines of Moria, unable to remember why …

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Brainfood Live On Air - Ep349 - Review of the Year - Economy & AI 1:05:04

6d ago1:05:04

1:05:04

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2025 - Economy & AI Final part of our 4 part series on the Review of the Year. The two dominant mega themes of this year has undoubtedly been the global economy and the rise of AI. The two are becoming intertwined, especially with the AI investment boom drawing down investments from other parts of the US economy, whilst Trump Tra…

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Incredible Engineering- The Man Who Froze Time 25:24

1d ago25:24

25:24

A speeding bullet ripping through an apple, a split second before the fruit disintegrates. A drop of milk splashing off a red plate, forming a perfect miniature coronet. An atomic bomb frozen just after detonation, the fireball like a giant, surreal jellyfish. The movement of a golfer captured at split-second intervals, revealing the practiced eleg…

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262. Paul Newman in 'Nobody's Fool' (1994) 1:25:01

1d ago1:25:01

1:25:01

For my final episode of 2025, it's 'Nobody's Fool' one of my favorite films, and a true comfort watch in keeping with the theme of last week's episode. Sweet, subtle, well-cast and directed, and slyly much more than it seems, it's both a paen to small-town life and a surprisingly unblinking look at the cost children pay for their parent's mistakes.…

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DTCC Readies $100T of Stocks to Go Onchain 52:05

5d ago52:05

52:05

On Ep. 62 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, Head of Market Development @ Tempo is joined by Marieke Flament, 2x CEO, Angel Investor, Advisor, Co-Author of Euro Stable Watch, Chuk Okpalugo, Founder @ Stablecoin Blueprint and Nadine Chakar, Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets to discuss DTCC being authorized to tokenize top 1000 US stocks, the importance of…

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The Hilarious Christmas Riot 49:54

3d ago49:54

49:54

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a Christmas gift that resulted in one of the more celebrated books of all time. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at a rather humorous Christmas riot at West Point and then another that had nothing to do with Christmas at Oxford. We follow this up with a myriad of rapi…

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A Perilous Journey- John Adams Goes to France 1:02:01

5d ago1:02:01

1:02:01

In the fall of 1778, things weren’t looking good for the traitors to King and country in the British American colonies. In the early going the American Revolutionary forces under George Washington had suffered defeat after resounding defeat, including Washington very nearly losing around half his army in the first major battle of the war, only save…

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The Road to $30 Trillion Stablecoin Supply 38:22

7d ago38:22

38:22

On Ep. 7 of Stablecoin Stats, Anthony Yim, Co-Founder @ Artemis and Andrew Van Aken, Data Scientist @ Artemis are joined by Alana Levin, Investment Partner @ Variant to discuss Variant's focus on crypto investments, takeaways from Fintech NerdCon and more! Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:45 Variant's focus on crypto investments 02:51 Takeaways fr…

51
The Crapper, The Poop Log, the Parasitic Poop Twigs, and Much, Much More 49:28

7d ago49:28

49:28

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at a couple rather bizarre Spanish Christmas traditions involving holiday defecating… Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at why we kiss under the mistletoe, the Demon of Christmas, and the constant battle to keep a giant goat from being burned down every year. Learn more a…

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261. Comfort Content For Troubled Times 45:04

8d ago45:04

45:04

The news is unrelenting. Shootings in Bondi Beach. Terror in the classrooms at Brown University. The terrible deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife in LA. The news is shocking and we become numb to the rippling effects but our minds and bodies internalize the fear, anxiety, and worry. As I am between episodes at the moment, I thought it might be differ…

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What Really Happened After the Mutiny on the Bounty? 30:16

11d ago30:16

30:16

On November 28, 1787, His Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty set sail from England with 46 men aboard, bound for the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific. Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh, her mission was to collect and deliver breadfruit plants to the West Indies, where they would serve as cheap food for slaves on British plantations. After a lon…

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Tempo Tesnet, EVM, and the Race to Onchain Payments 47:12

10d ago47:12

47:12

On Ep. 61 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Joey Isaacson, CEO @ Nook and Alex Gluchowski, Co-Founder & CEO Matter Labs to discuss Tempo Testnet launch, EVM, the race to onchain payments and more! Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:37 Tempo Testnet launch with dedicated payment lanes and …

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The Truth About the 12 Days of Christmas 1:00:22

14d ago1:00:22

1:00:22

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at the rather humorous original name for the song Silver Bells. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at the truth about the origin of the song “The 12 Days of Christmas” and what’s the deal with the weird lyrics. After that, we look at the truth about the origin of the Candy…

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Brainfood Live On Air - Ep348 - Review of the Year in Recruitment 2025 - Sourcing, Employer Branding & RecOps 1:18:08

13d ago1:18:08

1:18:08

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2025 - Sourcing, Employer Branding & RecOps Third of our 4 part series reviewing the major events and trends of the year in Sourcing, Employer Branding & RecOps What has happened this year that we got on talk about? - End of an Era? Irina Shamaeva- SOSU review- Is Sourcing dead or shifting toward automation of candidate discovery…

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The Lord of Misrule and the First Book Banned in America 37:26

15d ago37:26

37:26

When one pictures the first British settlers coming to what would become the United States, it’s generally of a group of religiously oppressed, rigidly pious individuals, such as the famed now named “Pilgrims” separatist group in their black and white clothing and top hats featuring giant buckles- a group who the Native Americans saved by sharing f…

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260. Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960) 1:43:21

13d ago1:43:21

1:43:21

From a chance viewing of Saul Bass' iconic 'Psycho' titles on TCM sprung this exploration of the straightforward, human experience of watching 'Psycho' with an eye and ear towards how audience expectations were stoked and then subverted by Hitchcock. From the casting of Janet Leigh to the surprise departure of her character not even halfway through…

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Agentic Commerce: x402 — the Protocol 39:06

14d ago39:06

39:06

On Ep. 3 of Agentic Commerce, Simon Taylor, Head of Market Development @ Tempo, and Bam Azizi, CEO & Founder @ Mesh are joined by Erik Reppel, Author of x402 and Head of Eng @ Coinbase Developer Platform to discuss the history and original purpose of HTTP 402 status code, the convergence of blockchain, AI, native internet payments and more! Timesta…

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Brainfood Live On Air - Ep351 - Fraud Prood AI - Live Demo (Endorsed) 57:50

15d ago57:50

57:50

FRAUD PROOF AI? - ENDORSED LIVE DEMO We will look back at 2025 as the year when candidate fraud escalated into amongst the top priorities of employers looking who were still looking to hire but also now needing to securitise their companies from risk. Huge credit goes to technology vendors for responding to the demand - and we're seeing a lot of in…

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Are Poinsettias Poisonous and the Truce 47:45

18d ago47:45

47:45

⁠⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start by looking at whether poinsettias are actually poisonous or not. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at one of the more remarkable things ever to happen in modern warfare- a completely impromptu Christmas truce, in which both sides in WWI randomly got up out of their trenches up and d…

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Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits — What Do Banks Want? 47:31

19d ago47:31

47:31

On Ep. 60 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, Head of Market Development @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Rachel Mayer, VP of Product @ Circle and Nick van Eck, CEO and Co-Founder @ Agora to discuss killer features of tokenization, the growth of stablecoins versus other tokenized real-world assets and more! Timestamps: 00:00 …

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The Amazing Story Behind The Christmas Carol 1:21:08

20d ago1:21:08

1:21:08

⁠In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we look at one of my favorite stories I’ve ever researched. But before that, we begin by looking at what could have been wrong with Tiny Tim that simply throwing money at the problem could have fixed given 19th century medicine. Moving on to the main content today we’re looking at what Charles Dickens’ calle…

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The Incredible Flame Thrower Packing Insect 25:38

22d ago25:38

25:38

Nature abounds with weird and wonderful defence mechanisms, evolved over millions of years to protect their owners from predators and allow them to live - and breed - another day. Some organisms like crabs, turtles, and armadillos, are clad in tough suits of armour; while others, like rosebushes and acacia trees, porcupines and hedgehogs, and lion …

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Brainfood Live On Air - Ep347 - Review of the Year 2025 - CX, Assessment and DEIB 1:05:54

20d ago1:05:54

1:05:54

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2025 - CX, Assessment & DEIB Second of our 4 part series reviewing the major events and trends of the year in CX, Assessment and DEIB. What has happened this year that we got on talk about?? - Mobley vs Workday, let's get an update on this, the quintessential CX challenge!- CX resentment rate...where are we tracking on this?- Wha…

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Interview: Zach Abrams, CEO & Co-founder of Bridge 23:23

21d ago23:23

23:23

In this bonus episode, Simon Taylor, Head of Market Development @ Tempo is joined live from Stripe Stablecoin Day in London, by Zach Abrams, CEO & Co-Founder @ Bridge to discuss the shift from small developers to large banks and fintechs adopting stablecoins, the critical role of last-mile providers in stablecoin adoption and more! Timestamps: 00:0…

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Fires of Industry, Witchcraft, and the First Spark of the Revolution 38:35

24d ago38:35

38:35

When thinking about the various elements that went into the United States declaring Independence, we tend to think of things like the Stamp Act, The Boston Massacre, and the Tea tax that led to the Boston Tea Party, but these were things that were more in the vein of “this is the last straw” and all a symptom of the real problem. As the colonies st…

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259. 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' Part 3 1:20:37

23d ago1:20:37

1:20:37

This final episode about Milos Forman's brilliant and deeper-than-expected masterpiece adaptation of Ken Kesey's very 1960's novel explores the subtle emotional power of the film's editing and how it establishes certain critical scenes. Praise for the depth and intelligence of Nicholson's acting while also appreciating Brad Dourif and the late Will…

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Denazification and the Unsolved High Tech Murder That Reshaped Post-Cold War Europe 49:22

26d ago49:22

49:22

On the morning of November 30, 1989, a trio black Mercedes-Benz sedans pulled away from a house in the quiet Frankfurt suburb of Bad Homburg vor Der Höhe and turned down a shady, tree-lined lane called Seedamweg [“zay-dam-vehg”]. They had taken this route many times before, and it seemed like just any other morning. Slowing down to pass a school cr…

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Why Klarna’s Stablecoin Is More Than PR 45:16

24d ago45:16

45:16

On Ep. 59 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo is joined by Nilan Peiris, Chief Product Officer @ Wise and Luca Cosentino, Head of Crypto @ Cross River to discuss KlarnaUSD launch, corporate treasury use cases for stablecoins and more! Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:38 KlarnaUSD launch for internal treasury operations and yield generation 05:…

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How Do Spy Agencies Actually Recruit Spies in Real Life? 41:45

28d ago41:45

41:45

Agencies like the CIA and MI6 are tasked with collecting and processing data deemed potentially vital to their respective counties’ national interests, and then, in an ideal world, making sure those who need to know this information to inform their decisions and plans know it. In order to do this, they need people on the ground, so to speak. So how…

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Brainfood Live On Air - Ep346 - REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2025 - TALENT TECHNOLOGY 1:13:14

27d ago1:13:14

1:13:14

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2025 - TALENT TECHNOLOGY Can you believe that we're at the end of another year in Brainfood? As is tradition, we're going to do a 4 part series to conclude the year - and I will be a 4 part series where we review the major events and trends which have occurred on all the topics which matter to us. To kick off the series, let's ta…

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Reinventing MoneyGram With Stablecoins 39:18

27d ago39:18

39:18

On Ep. 2 of Stablecoin Stories, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Ran Goldi, VP Payments, Fireblocks are joined by Anthony Soohoo, Chairman and CEO of MoneyGram to discuss the transformation of MoneyGram's mission, MoneyGram Ramps and more! Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 04:48 The refounding and transformation of MoneyGram's mission 09:42 Identifying r…

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The Kids Who Led the Resistance Movements Against the Nazis 35:35

30d ago35:35

35:35

History books often remember underground political groups like the Communist party or the Social Democrats, espionage groups like the Red Orchestra, or militaries from America and Britain as the primary resistance against Nazi forces. But you may be surprised to learn that, in fact, the most vocal and visible resistance came from young people, main…

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How Did People in Medieval Times Actually Siege a Castle in Reality 1:01:03

1M ago1:01:03

1:01:03

Modern entertainment such as movies, fictional books, and TV shows aren’t exactly known for accurately depicting how things may or may not go or have gone in the real life scenarios that they depict. From injecting substances directly into your heart a-la Pulp Fiction or The Rock, to Yarr’ing pirates, let’s just say there’s a lot they get wrong. On…

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258. 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' Part 2 1:11:15

1M ago1:11:15

1:11:15

Part 2 of my deep dive into Milos Forman's incredible 1975 film 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. In Part 2 I get into a handful of scenes from the first third of the film: the introduction of Nurse Ratched, the first time we meet McMurphy, the sit-down between McMurphy and Dr. Spivey, and the first few scenes on the ward with the fellas and the n…