Best Creative Zombie Studios Podcasts (2025)

1
What Happens When Air Traffic Control Systems Go Dark? 16:58

17h ago16:58

16:58

At the end of April, air traffic control radar surveillance and radio communication systems at Newark airport went dark for over a minute. A week and half later, radar went down again briefly. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has since cut down the number of flights in and out of Newark. But, how does our air traffic control system work? H…

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

2d 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

2d 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

3d 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

7d 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

8d 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

9d 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

9d 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

10d 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

10d 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

14d 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

15d 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

16d 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

16d 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

17d 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

18d 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

21d 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

22d 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

22d 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

23d 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

24d 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

25d 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

27d 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

29d 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

30d 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

1M 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

1M 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…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Creative Zombie Studios Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
Shadow Nation

Shaun Burris and Nathan Schoonover

1
Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

Indie Film Hustle

1
What Happens When Air Traffic Control Systems Go Dark? 16:58

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

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

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

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

1
Meet A Pioneer Of Modern Weather Prediction 18:51

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

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

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

1
The Leap: The Volcano Whisperer 28:26

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

1
Tracking The Hidden Dangers Of Fighting Fires 18:30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1
Two Steps Forward For Meat Alternatives 16:18

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

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

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

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

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