Best Creative Zombie Studios Podcasts (2025)

1
Could The NIH Plan For A ‘Universal Vaccine’ Really Work? 27:56

21m ago27:56

27:56

At the beginning of May, the National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a plan to develop a universal vaccine platform. Think: a single shot for flu or COVID-19 that would last years, maybe a lifetime. The plan—called Generation Gold Standard—has a reported budget of $500 million, and a tight deadl…

1
IFH 804: How I Made a Cult Zombie Movie for $75 and Took On Hollywood with Marc V. Price 1:32:52

38m ago1:32:52

1:32:52

When a zombie filmmaker makes you laugh so hard you forget you're talking about death and destruction, you know you're in for something special. On today’s episode, we welcome Marc V. Price, a fiercely independent British filmmaker whose claim to fame is making a cult zombie feature called Colin for just £45. That alone should make you lean in. But…

1
The Leap: This Is Going To Kill Your Career 23:53

23h ago23:53

23:53

Betül Kaçar started her scientific career as a biochemist, working on an enzyme found in zebrafish. But then she found her calling: investigating some of the hardest questions in evolutionary biology by resurrecting ancient life forms. NASA administrator Melissa Kirven-Brooks recalls the fellowship application that put Betül on her radar. And evolu…

1
The Science Of That Big Stunt From The New ‘Mission: Impossible’ 19:02

5d ago19:02

19:02

The “Mission: Impossible” franchise is known for its big stunts, and the newest film is no exception. Producer Kathleen Davis talks to the film’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, about the science behind one big underwater scene. Plus, psychologist Kenneth Carter joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about what makes high-adrenaline adventurers tick. …

1
Meet A Pioneer Of Modern Weather Prediction 18:51

6d ago18:51

18:51

Climate scientist Jagadish Shukla grew up in a small village in rural India, where people starved if the monsoon season didn’t bring rain. To help his village, he set out to become a scientist and discover a way to predict the seasons—an unthinkable idea at the time, in the 1960s and ‘70s. Shukla became a pioneer in modern weather forecasting, and …

1
Are Physical Buttons And Knobs Making A Comeback? 20:10

7d ago20:10

20:10

In recent years, digital touchscreens have replaced many of the buttons and knobs that control various functions in cars. But when Host Ira Flatow went shopping for a new car, he noticed that physical controls seemed to be making a comeback. But will the rise of technologies like voice recognition and automation make cars more button-centric, or le…

1
IFH 803: From Wrestling Rings to Public Access Mayhem: The Wild Ride of Mad Man Pondo 56:35

1h ago56:35

56:35

The world is far more peculiar than most of us dare to admit. Somewhere between a demolition derby and a wrestling ring, between the crackle of VHS tapes and the shriek of late-night public access, lies a man who has turned mayhem into meaning. On today’s episode, we welcome the unparalleled and unfiltered Mad Man Pondo, a professional wrestler and…

1
Scientists Identify Genes For Tomato And Eggplant Size 18:48

8d ago18:48

18:48

Tomatoes come in all kinds of colors, sizes, and flavors. But what’s going on at the genetic level? What makes a tomato red or yellow? Tiny or giant? Researchers are mapping the genomes of 22 varieties of nightshades—the family of plants that includes tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. They located the genes that control the size of tomatoes and eg…

1
The Leap: The Volcano Whisperer 28:26

6h ago28:26

28:26

As a teenager living in St. Vincent, Richie Robertson saw first-hand what a volcanic eruption did to life on the island. Forty years later, he was the scientist the community turned to when the same volcano roared back to life. Richie’s colleague, Stacey Edwards of the UWI Seismic Research Centre, explains how Richie earned the trust of the communi…

1
Lesser Prairie Chicken May Lose Endangered Species Status 18:28

12d ago18:28

18:28

The lesser prairie chicken was granted endangered species status in 2023. Now the Department of the Interior is moving to revoke those protections. What can this bird known for its flamboyant courtship rituals tell us about the Trump administration’s approach to environmental policy and protections for endangered species? Host Flora Lichtman is joi…

1
Tracking The Hidden Dangers Of Fighting Fires 18:30

13d ago18:30

18:30

Firefighting is a career with an inherent cancer risk, but a full understanding of what those risks are has been elusive. An important registry designed to help understand the link between firefighters and cancer was taken offline on April 1 because of federal cuts, then restored six weeks later. Host Flora Lichtman discusses this with firefighter …

1
Identifying New Plants, And The Scientific Secrets Of Superfoods 29:59

14d ago29:59

29:59

What does it take to create and maintain one of the largest repositories of botanical information in the world? For starters, it can mean helicopter-ing into remote nooks of the Amazon, hiking through rough terrain, looking for strange fruits and flowers, and climbing trees to pluck specimens from the branches. Then there’s all the science required…

1
IFH 802: Studios, Scores & Secrets: The Untold Story of Rotten Tomatoes with Patrick Lee 44:27

6d ago44:27

44:27

When the lights of the cinema dim and the hum of anticipation fills the air, something magical happens—stories come alive. And sometimes, the stories behind the storytellers are the most fascinating of all. On today's episode, we welcome Patrick Lee, a man whose quiet curiosity and geeky love for film statistics helped shape the very lens through w…

1
Designing Hyperrealistic Body Parts, From Eyeballs To Placentas 17:34

15d ago17:34

17:34

Medical sculptor Damon Coyle walks around with a Mary Poppins bag of body parts. Fake ones, that is. At the University of Missouri, his lab creates hyperrealistic body parts designed to help medical providers practice for real-world surgeries and procedures. They make things like lifelike arms for practicing blood draws or a set of eyeballs for ocu…

1
The Leap: I Was Considered A Nobody 27:18

16d ago27:18

27:18

Biochemist Kati Karikó spent decades experimenting with mRNA, convinced that she could solve the problems that had kept it from being used as a therapeutic. Her tireless, methodical work was dismissed and she was ridiculed. But that work laid the foundation for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines that saved millions of lives, and was recogni…

1
Cuts To NASA And A Fast-Track For Deep Sea Mining 25:11

19d ago25:11

25:11

Proposed budget cuts for NASA would jeopardize space research. And an executive order could change the political tides for deep sea mining. On May 2, the Trump Administration proposed a 24% budget cut for NASA. It would slash funding for science while setting billions aside for initiatives to send humans to the moon and Mars. New Scientist editor S…

1
How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? 23:30

20d ago23:30

23:30

Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have their own language? Their own culture? Their own complex societies playing out right under, and in, our noses? Microbiologist Bonnie Bassler has been studying these questions for more than 30 years. She …

1
Functional Fashion From An Artist And A Caterpillar 18:45

12d ago18:45

18:45

A passion for fashion among the “bone collector caterpillar,” who wears a coat of body parts, and an artist who makes fabrics that remember. We inch into the world of extreme outerwear with the newly-discovered “bone collector caterpillar,” which wears a coat of many co…llected body parts. Why, Hanipillar Lecter? Entomologist Dan Rubinoff, who alon…

1
IFH 801: Breaking the Rules: Crafting Powerful Films Without Hollywood Money with Shawn Whitney 52:23

13d ago52:23

52:23

Sometimes, the fire of creativity is struck not by lightning but by the slow, smoldering ache of dissatisfaction. And in today's soul-stirring conversation, we welcome Shawn Whitney, a filmmaker who found cinema not in the corridors of academia, but in the quiet rebellion of self-taught screenwriting and micro-budget filmmaking. Shawn Whitney is a …

1
Ancient Iguanas Floated 5,000 Miles Across The Pacific | A Pregnant Ichthyosaur Fossil 18:58

22d ago18:58

18:58

Millions of years ago, iguanas somehow got from North America to Fiji. Scientists think they made the trip on a raft of fallen vegetation. Also, the marine reptile’s fossilized fetus is cluing paleontologists into the lives of ancient sea creatures. Ancient Iguanas Floated 5,000 Miles Across The Pacific If you picture iguanas, you might imagine the…

1
Are There Things That We Know We Can’t Know? 18:24

14d ago18:24

18:24

In “Into the Unknown,” an astronomer explores the mysteries of the cosmos and the limits of what science can test. What is time? If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into? What happened just before the Big Bang? Some of the most head-scratching ideas in physics strain the limits of what science can test. In her book Into the Unknown: …

1
Two Steps Forward For Meat Alternatives 16:18

22d ago16:18

16:18

Scientists bring us a lab-grown chicken nugget and texturally accurate, plant-based calamari. We’ll bite. There’s a movement in the world of science to find alternatives to meat and dairy products that don’t involve killing animals. Two avenues for this are by using animal cells in a lab, or going plant-based. Two breakthroughs in this field of foo…

1
How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations | Regional Allergies 22:18

27d ago22:18

22:18

Being able to belt out a tune like Adele or Pavarotti is not just about raw talent. The best singers in the world have to work on their technique—like how to control their breath and develop the stamina to hit note after note for a two-hour concert. But pop stars and opera singers aren’t the only vocalists who have figured out how to harness their …

1
A New Book On The Horrifying, Creative World Of Insect Zombies 18:27

28d ago18:27

18:27

It’s zombie season! At least if you’re watching the new season of the fungal thriller “The Last of Us,” airing right now on Max, which chronicles what happens after a fungus turns most of humanity into zombies. It’s fiction for us, but for some organisms on the planet, it’s more like a documentary. The fungus that zombifies humanity in the show is …

1
IFH 800: Behind the Scenes of Sharknado: Turning Sci-Fi Madness into Storytelling Gold with Andrew Shaffer 27:37

29d ago27:37

27:37

The mind is a curious trickster, delighting in dreams where logic pirouettes in absurdity. In today's extraordinary episode, we welcome Andrew Shaffer, a humorist and New York Times bestselling author whose wit slices through the storms of reality with a twinkle in his eye and a chainsaw in hand. From the earliest pages of his life, Andrew Shaffer …

1
Untangling The Mind-Body Connection In Chronic Pain 18:38

29d ago18:38

18:38

Research suggests that better understanding the psychological and neurological components of chronic pain may lead to better treatments. Chronic pain is remarkably common: Roughly 20% of adults in the US live with it. And people with chronic pain are more likely to have depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. But this relationship betwe…

1
A Precisely Pointed Laser Allows People To See New Color ‘Olo’ 18:36

1M ago18:36

18:36

Researchers isolated one kind of cone in the eye and aimed lasers at it to allow subjects to see a super vibrant teal shade they call “olo.” Think about the colors of the world around you—the blue of a cloudless sky, the green of a new leaf, the blazing red of a tulip’s petals. We see these colors because of the way our eyes work. But what if we co…

1
$8B Of Climate Tech Projects Canceled | In Louisiana, A Successful, Growing Wetland 20:34

1M ago20:34

20:34

How will market uncertainty and a lack of federal support for climate efforts affect the future of clean energy in the United States? Plus, many wetlands are disappearing, but Louisiana’s “accidental” Wax Lake Delta is growing—and informing coastal restoration techniques. $8 Billion Of Climate Tech Projects Were Canceled In 3 Months In the first th…

1
Investigating Cat Behavior Through Genetics 18:13

25d ago18:13

18:13

With the help of cat owners, a new project investigates cats’ biology and aims to link some of their behaviors to their genes. Calling all cat people: This one’s for you. Despite humans’ long history of welcoming felines into their homes and delis, research on cats lags far behind research on dogs. Now, scientists behind the project Darwin’s Ark ar…

1
Advances In Brain-Computer Interfaces For People With Paralysis 18:37

1M ago18:37

18:37

An evolving technology is changing the lives of people with paralysis: brain-computer interfaces (BCI). These are devices that are implanted in the brain and record neural activity, then translate those signals into commands for a computer. This allows people to type, play computer games, and talk with others just by thinking, allowing more freedom…

1
IFH 799: What Every Indie Filmmaker Can Learn from a $5K Zombie Movie with Bojan Dulabic 1:27:25

1M ago1:27:25

1:27:25

A spark of madness is often the first step toward creation. On today’s episode, we welcome Bojan Dulabic, a passionate Vancouver-based filmmaker who pulled off a small miracle—he made a full-length zombie movie for just $5,000. But this isn't just a story of budgeting brilliance; it's a tale of relentless passion, artistic vision, and the kind of s…

1
A Blind Inventor’s Life Of Advocacy And Innovation 18:31

28d ago18:31

18:31

In Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, inventor Josh Miele recounts his life story and path to becoming an accessibility designer. When inventor and scientist Josh Miele was 4 years old, a neighbor poured sulfuric acid on his head, burning and permanently blinding him. In his new book Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, Miele chronicles what happened afterwa…

1
The Lack Of Science In Road Design Is Deadly 18:40

28d ago18:40

18:40

Are traffic engineering decisions based on evidence-based research? Not as much as you might think. If you’ve seen a car crash on the side of the road, you might look at it and think that the person at fault is the driver. But how much blame should be shared by the people who designed those roads in the first place? Well, some traffic engineers are…

1
Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe | A Colossal Squid Video 24:20

1M ago24:20

24:20

The Webb Space Telescope picked up traces of dimethyl sulfide on planet K2-18b. On Earth, the molecule comes from microbes and phytoplankton. Also, researchers captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid swimming in its natural habitat—almost 2,000 feet deep. Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe In major galactic news, …

1
How ‘Science Interpreters’ Make Hidden Science Visible 18:53

1M ago18:53

18:53

Imagine you’re diving into a cell. You’re paddling around in the cytoplasm, you’re climbing up a mitochondria. If you’re having a hard time picturing this, that’s okay! There are professionals who do this for a living. We wanted to learn more from expert science interpreters, who take the results section of a research paper and translate it into so…

1
The Navajo Researcher Reviving A Desert Peach | A New Dino With Blade-Like Horns 31:51

1M ago31:51

31:51

Bringing back Southwest peach orchards won’t be easy, but researchers are on the lookout for remaining trees—and they need help. And, the newly discovered Lokiceratops is challenging paleontologists’ understanding of how horned dinosaurs evolved and existed together. How A Navajo Plant Researcher Is Reviving A Desert Peach When you think of states …

1
IFH 798: From Pills to Pictures: Cynthia Hill's Unlikely Path to Documentary Filmmaking 56:38

1M ago56:38

56:38

Cynthia Hill, a filmmaker from North Carolina, discussed her journey from pharmacy school to filmmaking, highlighting her documentaries "Tobacco Money," "Private Violence," and the upcoming eight-part series "Road to Race Day" on NASCAR. She emphasized the importance of storytelling and character development, sharing her experiences with funding th…

1
How Interjections Regulate Conversation | Saccharin For Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria 18:28

1M ago18:28

18:28

We are rounding up your questions about roads. What confounds you about traffic, or how interstates are laid out? Are there certain road design elements that ignite your road rage? Tell us about it: we’ve got a traffic engineer in the passenger seat this week, ready to answer your questions. Call us at (877) 4-SCIFRI or 877-472-4374. In this episod…

1
Trump’s Nominee For NASA Administrator Meets Congress 15:01

1M ago15:01

15:01

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation heard testimony from Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA. During the confirmation hearing, Isaacman indicated a priority of sending humans to Mars—while maintaining the agency’s plans to return people to the lunar surface. In response to a question from Se…

1
How Real Doctors Brought ‘The Pitt’ To Life 20:32

2M ago20:32

20:32

We go inside the scientifically accurate ER world created for the TV show with one of its medical consultants. What is it actually like to work in an emergency room? To deal with overcrowded waiting rooms, a shortage of hospital beds, and a constant flow of life-and-death health conditions—while trying to maintain your sanity at the same time? That…

1
What Will Replace The International Space Station? 17:24

2M ago17:24

17:24

NASA is planning to decommission the International Space Station by the end of 2030. The ISS, which began operations in 2000, is reaching the end of its lifespan and has become costly to maintain. NASA selected SpaceX to construct a vehicle that would “de-orbit” the football field-sized station, pushing it down into the atmosphere where it’ll burn …

1
What Artificial General Intelligence Could Mean For Our Future 29:14

2M ago29:14

29:14

What happens when AI moves beyond convincing chatbots and custom image generators to something that matches—or outperforms—humans? Each week, tech companies trumpet yet another advance in artificial intelligence, from better chat services to image and video generators that spend less time in the uncanny valley. But the holy grail for AI companies i…

1
IFH 797: From Instagram Mysteries to Indie Horror: The Bold Experiments of Joe Kowalski 1:10:28

2M ago1:10:28

1:10:28

When the winds of curiosity rustle the mind and stir the soul, they often bring with them storytellers—those rare beings who don’t just recount events but breathe life into them. On today's episode, we welcome Joe Kowalski, a young filmmaker from Cleveland whose creative spirit dances between shadows and light, weaving stories through film, mystery…

1
Climate Change Has Made Allergy Season Worse. How Do We Cope? 15:53

2M ago15:53

15:53

In many parts of the United States, spring has sprung. There’s nothing quite like those first few beautiful days of spring. They’re delightful—until the sneezing starts. According to the CDC, a quarter of US adults deal with seasonal allergies. And if you think they’re getting worse, it’s not just in your head. Previous research has shown that clim…

1
Microdosing Peanut Butter Could Alleviate Some Peanut Allergies 17:23

2M ago17:23

17:23

Over the past two decades, rates of peanut allergies in children have more than tripled. A variety of theories has been proposed to explain this, from a rise in industrialization keeping kids away from the germs that develop the immune system, to the previous pediatric guidelines that urged parents to restrict access to peanuts early in life. Whate…

1
The Department Of Health And Human Services Cuts 10,000 Jobs 12:14

2M ago12:14

12:14

The cuts hit multiple agencies, affecting work on HIV, gun violence prevention, vaccines, minority health research, and more. On April 1, thousands of federal health workers woke up to find that they had been laid off. Scientists and civil servants at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institu…

1
Forecasting Cuts Spark Worries About Hurricane Season | Soothing Babies With Music 17:16

2M ago17:16

17:16

Emergency response experts say that funding and staff cuts at the National Weather Service could mean less reliable weather forecast. And, babies like music, but they generally have preferences. A music therapist reveals the best kinds of music to soothe a baby. Forecasting Cuts Leave Some Worried For Hurricane Season Many in Georgia are still reco…

1
Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below 17:55

2M ago17:55

17:55

In January, an iceberg the size of Chicago splintered off from the Antarctic Peninsula and drifted away in the Bellingshausen Sea. As luck would have it, a team of scientists was nearby on a research vessel, and they seized the chance to see what was lurking on the seafloor beneath that iceberg—a place that had long been covered, and nearly impossi…

1
IFH 796: No Film School, No Problem: Gary King's Journey of Grit and Creativity 1:13:03

2M ago1:13:03

1:13:03

Gary King is a filmmaker who transitioned from a career in psychology and human resources to independent cinema, building a body of work that balances heart, hustle, and deeply human storytelling.In the spirit of Taoist unpredictability, Gary’s story unfolds not as a straight line, but as a rich weave of intuition, risk, and creative alignment. He …

1
TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD 18:09

2M ago18:09

18:09

Mental health information on social media can be both revelatory and misleading. How do clinicians and their patients make sense of it? TikTok and other social media sites are full of mental health content—often short, grabby, first-person videos detailing symptoms for conditions like ADHD and autism. But what does this mean for teens and young adu…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Creative Zombie Studios Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen