Best Sixth Extinction Podcasts (2025)

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: As the world faces the worst debt crisis in decades, the need for a global lender of last resort is clearer than ever. But many nations view the IMF as overbearing, or even neocolonial – and…

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Veilroot 26:43

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5h ago26:43

26:43

Billions of years ago, two black holes merged in a distantgalaxy, warping space-time and triggering a burst ofgravitational waves and exotic particle radiation.What would later be referred to as “The Big Bang”.The collision destabilized a nearby planetary system wherea super-resilient life form had evolved over many millenia.Chunks of spore-laden r…

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‘The police weren’t interested’: what’s driving the rise in private prosecutions? 33:27

17m ago33:27

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As the police and courts continue to struggle with the legacy of austerity, many people are seeking alternative routes to justice – but it could be making matters worse By Hettie O’Brien. Read by Rebecca Trehearn. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong 31:29

4d ago31:29

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I knew he was running away from something. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered the truth Written and read by Pamela Gordon. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Money talks: the deep ties between Twitter and Saudi Arabia 31:48

5d ago31:48

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Saudi Arabia’s investment in Twitter increased its influence in Silicon Valley while being used at home to shut down critics of the regime By Jacob Silverman.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: A day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world 47:46

2d ago47:46

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: what’s behind the indestructible appeal of the robotic snack? By Tom Lamont. Read by Andrew McGregor. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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‘They take the money and go’: why not everyone is mourning the end of USAID 41:29

8d ago41:29

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When Donald Trump set about dismantling USAID, many around the world were shocked. But on the ground in Sierra Leone, the latest betrayal was not unexpected By Mara Kardas-Nelson. Read by Lanna Joffrey. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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‘I knew in my head we were dying’: the last voyage of the Scandies Rose 28:20

7d ago28:20

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When a fishing boat left port in Alaska in December 2019 with an experienced crew, an icy storm was brewing. What happened to them shows why deep sea fishing is one of the most dangerous professions in the world By Rose George. Read by Rosalie Craig. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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From the archive: ‘If you decide to cut staff, people die’: how Nottingham prison descended into chaos 50:08

13d ago50:08

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: as violence, drug use and suicide at HMP Nottingham reached shocking new levels, the prison became a symbol of a system crumbling into crisis By Isobel Thompson. Read by Simon Darwen. Help s…

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‘Scamming became the new farming’: inside India’s cybercrime villages 41:11

12d ago41:11

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How did an obscure district in a neglected state become India’s byword for digital deceit? By Snigdha Poonam. Read by Mikhail Sen. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: how we lost our sensory connection with food – and how to restore it 35:36

20d ago35:36

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: to eat in the modern world is often to eat in a state of profound sensory disengagement. It shouldn’t have to be this way By Bee Wilson. Read by Lucy Scott. Help support our independent jour…

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The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist 40:00

24d ago40:00

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Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bigger forces at work? By Philip Oltermann. Read by Daniela Denby Ashe. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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‘The jobless should lead the attack’: a radical Jamaican journalist in 1920s London 31:38

21d ago31:38

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Economic insecurity, race riots, incendiary media … Claude McKay was one of the few Black journalists covering a turbulent period that sounds all too familiar to us today By Yvonne Singh. Read by Karl Queensborough. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: ‘We are so divided now’: how China controls thought and speech beyond its borders 40:42

23d ago40:42

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2021: the arrest of a Tibetan New York city cop on spying charges plays into the community’s long-held suspicions that the People’s Republic is watching them By Lauren Hilgers. Read by Emily Woo Z…

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Special Edition: Behind the scenes at the Long Read 19:57

30d ago19:57

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To celebrate the launch of the new Guardian Long Read magazine this week, join the long read editor David Wolf in discussion with regular contributors Charlotte Higgins and Hettie O’Brien. The Guardian long read magazine is available to order at theguardian.com/longreadmag In this issue, you’ll find pieces on how MrBeast became the world’s biggest …

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Counting down to zero: the final warning from a climate diplomat 27:16

25d ago27:16

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Before Peter Betts died in 2023, he wanted to pass on what he had learned over many years of negotiating at Cops – including how Paris 2015 was saved at the last bell By Peter Betts. Read by Andrew McGregor. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Extremely offline: what happened when a Pacific island was cut off from the internet 32:53

1M ago32:53

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A colossal volcanic eruption in January 2022 ripped apart the underwater cables that connect Tonga to the world – and exposed the fragility of 21st-century life By Samanth Subramanian. Read by Raj Ghatak. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: A drowning world: Kenya’s quiet slide underwater 27:35

1M ago27:35

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: Kenya’s great lakes are flooding, in a devastating and long-ignored environmental disaster that is displacing hundreds of thousands of people By Carey Baraka. Read by Reice Weathers. Help su…

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‘Americans are democracy’s equivalent of second-generation wealth’: a Chinese journalist on the US under Trump 30:32

1M ago30:32

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Once a stalwart of Hong Kong’s journalism scene, Wang Jian has found a new audience on YouTube, dissecting global politics and US-China relations since the pandemic. To his fans, he’s part newscaster, part professor, part friend By Lauren Hilgers. Read by G Cheng. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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Searching For Nessie: IFLScience Takes On Cryptozoology 35:13

1M ago35:13

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In this bonus Halloween special episode of The Big Questions, IFLScience takes on the “mystery” of the Loch Ness Monster. Although it’s been nearly 100 years since Nessie was first brought to international attention, no one has provided any unambiguous proof of its existence, and yet every year, thousands of people flock to Scotland in hopes of see…

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The human stain remover: what Britain’s greatest extreme cleaner learned from 25 years on the job 30:46

1M ago30:46

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From murder scenes to whale blubber, Ben Giles has seen it – and cleaned it – all. In their stickiest hours, people rely on him to restore order By Tom Lamont. Read by Elis James. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: The queen of crime-solving 41:55

1M ago41:55

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: forensic scientist Angela Gallop has helped to crack many of the UK’s most notorious murder cases. But today she fears the whole field – and justice itself – is at risk By Imogen West-Knight…

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A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0 25:45

1M ago25:45

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If the first term of Donald Trump provoked anxiety over the fate of objective knowledge, the second has led to claims we live in a world-historical age of stupid, accelerated by big tech. But might there be a way out? By William Davies. Read by Dan Starkey. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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‘Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like’: The rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang 36:37

2M ago36:37

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In the 1970s, the radical leftwing German terrorist organisation may have spread fear through public acts of violence – but its inner workings were characterised by vanity and incompetence By Jason Burke. Read by Noof Ousellam. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Why Do People Believe In The Paranormal? 40:41

2M ago40:41

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Everyone loves a good ghost story. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, there’s something about the eerie and the uncanny that we all enjoy. But for many people, the things that go bump in the night are not just the stuff of stories; they’re real. In fact, countless numbers of people across the world have their own stories of the strange, whethe…

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From the archive: Who owns Einstein? The battle for the world’s most famous face 48:46

1M ago48:46

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: Thanks to a savvy California lawyer, Albert Einstein has earned far more posthumously than he ever did in his lifetime. But is that what the great scientist would have wanted? By Simon Parki…

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The origins of today’s conflict between American Jews over Israel 28:35

2M ago28:35

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In the early years, American Jewish support for Israel was a fraught issue. The turning point was the six-day war of 1967, which solidified a strength of feeling that has only recently begun to fracture By Mark Mazower. Read by Kerry Shale. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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‘I have to do it’: why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China 54:50

2M ago54:50

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In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race By Chang Che. Read by Vincent Lai. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: ‘Infertility stung me’: Black motherhood and me 33:25

2M ago33:25

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: I assumed I would be part of the first generation to have full agency over my reproduction – but I was wrong By Edna Bonhomme. Read by Nerissa Bradley. Help support our independent journalis…

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‘What reconciliation? What forgiveness?’: Syria’s deadly reckoning 42:49

2M ago42:49

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Over a few brutal days in March, as sectarian violence and revenge killings tore through parts of Syria, two friends from different communities tried to find a way to survive By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. Read by Mo Ayoub. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Take away our language and we will forget who we are: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the language of conquest 30:27

2M ago30:27

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The late Kenyan novelist and activist believed erasing language was the most lasting weapon of oppression. Here, Aminatta Forna recalls the man and introduces his essay on decolonisation By Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o with introduction by Aminatta Forna. Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Aminatta Forna. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.…

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What Is Time And How Do We Measure It? 43:27

2M ago43:27

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Time is everything to us: in terms of physical laws, in how we experience the world, and how society works. Still, its true nature remains beyond us. As scientists search for a deeper understanding, the way humans relate to time has changed massively. To explore the questions of what time is and how we measure it, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joine…

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From the archive: The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord 44:48

2M ago44:48

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By The Guardian

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‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster 29:36

2M ago29:36

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Some days it can feel as if climate catastrophe is inevitable. But history is full of cases – such as the banning of whaling and CFCs – that show humanity can come together to avert disaster By Kate Marvel. Read by Norma Butikofer. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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From bank robber to scholar: the Knoxville dropout fighting to change how we see addiction 31:55

2M ago31:55

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Kirsten Smith was 19 when she first tried heroin; within a few years she was in prison. She says she willingly made bad choices and wants society to stop treating addiction as a disease By Xi Chen. Read by Katherine Fenton. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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From the archive: Divine comedy: the standup double act who turned to the priesthood 45:08

2M ago45:08

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: Josh and Jack used to interrogate life via absurdist jokes and sketches. But the questions they had just kept getting bigger – and led them both to embark upon a profound transformation By L…

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‘A climate of unparalleled malevolence’: are we on our way to the sixth major mass extinction? 30:38

2M ago30:38

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Churning quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the rate we are going could lead the planet to another Great Dying By Peter Brannen. Read by Lincoln Conway. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films? 40:58

3M ago40:58

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When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending? By Phil Hoad. Read by Adam Sims. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Is De-extinction Really Possible? 41:03

2M ago41:03

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De-extinction. It’s not a word many of us were thinking about just a decade ago, but it’s one that we’re getting ever more familiar with. The de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences has set its sights on de-extincting 5 key species whose extinction is thought to have either been caused, or heavily contributed to, by humans: the woolly mammoth, t…

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From the archive: Forgetting the apocalypse: why our nuclear fears faded – and why that’s dangerous 44:32

2M ago44:32

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made the whole world afraid of the atomic bomb – even those who might launch one. Today that fear has mostly passed out of living memory, and with it we…

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‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain 46:22

3M ago46:22

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On a small ledge in the Swiss mountains, 200 people were enjoying a summer football tournament. As night fell, they had no idea what was coming By Jonah Goodman. Read by Evelyn Miller. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Life in a ‘sinking nation’: Tuvalu’s dreams of dry land 42:36

3M ago42:36

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With sea levels rising, much of the nation’s population is confronting the prospect that their home may soon cease to exist. Where are they going to go? By Atul Dev. Read by Mikhail Sen Check out Between Moon Tides documentary at theguardian.com. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod…

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From the archive: Sewage sleuths: the men who revealed the slow, dirty death of Welsh and English rivers 42:24

3M ago42:24

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: A tide of effluent, broken laws and ruthless cuts is devastating the nation’s waterways. An academic and a detective have dredged up the truth of how it was allowed to happen – but will anyt…

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Very British bribery: the whistleblower who exposed the UK’s dodgy arms deals with Saudi Arabia 51:36

3M ago51:36

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When Ian Foxley found evidence of corruption while working at a British company in Riyadh, he alerted the MoD. He didn’t know he’d stumbled upon one of its most closely guarded secrets By David Pegg. Read by Shane Zaza. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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‘People pay to be told lies’: the rise and fall of the world’s first ayahuasca multinational 49:41

3M ago49:41

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Alberto Varela claimed he wanted to use sacred plant medicine to free people’s minds. But as the organisation grew, his followers discovered a darker reality. By Sam Edwards. Read by Sid Sagar. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian

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Are We In The Anthropocene? 43:45

3M ago43:45

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In March 2024, geologists rejected the proposal that we are in a new geological era: the Anthropocene, a time dominated by human activity on the planet. And yet, the evidence of our impact on the Earth’s ecology and climate continues to mount up around us. So how could this decision make sense given everything going on in the world today? To dig th…

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From the archive: ‘We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy 32:40

3M ago32:40

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We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: Germany has been forced to admit it was a terrible mistake to become so dependent on Russian oil and gas. So why did it happen? By Patrick Wintour. Read by Andrew McGregor. Help support our …

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Dancing with Putin: how Austria’s former foreign minister found a new home in Russia 34:56

3M ago34:56

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Karin Kneissl made headlines around the world when she invited the Russian president to her wedding in 2018. Five years later, she moved to St Petersburg. The scandal revealed a dark truth about the ties between Vienna and Moscow By Amanda Coakley. Read by Avena Mansergh-Wallace. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpo…

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Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death coming for me’ 30:44

3M ago30:44

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The Victorians called it ‘pernicious vomiting of pregnancy’, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum – until now. By Abi Stephenson. Read by Nicolette Chin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpodBy The Guardian