The 16 Best Biology Podcasts (2026)

The premise is simple and brilliant: each episode, Alie Ward interviews an expert in a specific "-ology" and asks them all the questions you would want to ask if you could corner a scientist at a party. Volcanology. Ferroequinology (that is the study of trains). Lepidopterology. Scorpiology. The range is wild, and Ward's genuine enthusiasm makes even the most obscure field feel urgent and fascinating.

Ward has a background in science communication and comedy, and that combination is the show's secret weapon. She is not afraid to ask basic questions, crack jokes, or go on tangents that somehow always circle back to something illuminating. The interviews run about an hour to 90 minutes, giving guests real room to nerd out about their life's work.

With nearly 500 episodes and a stunning 4.9-star rating from over 24,000 reviews, Ologies has built one of the most passionate audiences in podcasting. The community calls themselves "ologists" and regularly submit questions for the experts. Ward reads and answers listener queries at the end of most episodes, which adds a communal feel that many interview shows lack.

The production is clean and professional, but it never loses the warmth of a real conversation between two people who are excited about the same thing. If you have ever wanted to understand what a professional slug sex researcher actually does all day, Ologies has you covered. And yes, there really is an episode about that.

Radiolab is the podcast that made sound design an art form. Hosts Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser carry forward the legacy that Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich built, and the show remains one of the most sonically inventive programs in audio. Episodes layer interviews, music, and ambient sound in ways that genuinely make your ears perk up.

The topics range across science, philosophy, law, and culture. One week you might hear about the ethics of CRISPR gene editing. The next, a courtroom drama about a forgotten civil rights case. The common thread is curiosity taken to its logical extreme: the team follows a question until they hit something surprising, then they follow that surprise even further.

Episodes land weekly and typically run 30 to 60 minutes, though some stretch past an hour when the story demands it. The show has over 800 episodes since launching in 2006, and it holds a 4.6-star rating from more than 42,000 reviews. There is a reason it keeps winning Peabody Awards.

Radiolab does not just explain things. It makes you feel the weight of a scientific discovery or the strangeness of a legal precedent. The production quality is a notch above almost everything else in podcasting, and the storytelling has a patience to it that rewards close listening. If you only subscribe to one knowledge podcast, you could do a lot worse than this one.

Big Biology is built for people who want more than surface-level science. Hosted by three working biologists — Art Woods, Cameron Ghalambor, and Marty Martin — the show brings on researchers to talk through the biggest open questions in modern biology. Think evolution, genetics, ecology, neuroscience, the origins of life. These aren't quick news hits; these are real, extended conversations with the people actually doing the work.

Ghalambor is a professor splitting time between Colorado State and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and that academic grounding shows in the caliber of guests they attract. The hosts ask sharp, informed questions because they actually understand the underlying science, and that means conversations go deeper than you'll find on most science podcasts. The interplay between the three hosts adds a nice variety of perspectives too.

With around 175 episodes and counting, the show releases weekly. Episodes range from 30 minutes to over an hour, though most land in that 45 to 60 minute sweet spot. The audience is smaller than some blockbuster science podcasts — about 137 ratings on Apple — but the 4.6 star average and dedicated following on Substack tell you this is a podcast that rewards close listening. If you want biology explained by biologists who are genuinely excited about research frontiers, Big Biology delivers that without dumbing anything down.

Started by Dr. Chris Smith at the University of Cambridge back in 1999, The Naked Scientists has been stripping science down to its essentials for over two decades. The name is cheeky on purpose — the whole idea is making science accessible without the jargon and pretension that often surrounds it. Originally a BBC radio show, the podcast version has racked up over 1,200 episodes, making it one of the longest-running science programs anywhere.

The format is a lively mix. Each episode packs in topical science news, interviews with researchers, listener questions answered live, and a segment called Kitchen Science where you can actually try experiments at home during the show. Episodes come out twice a week and run about 30 minutes each, so they're easy to fit into a commute or lunch break.

What makes this show stand out in the biology space is its breadth combined with genuine expertise. The team doesn't just skim headlines — they pull in working scientists from Cambridge and beyond to explain their latest findings. The tone is enthusiastic and British in the best sense: dry humor mixed with real intellectual curiosity. With 558 Apple ratings and a 4.6 star average, the audience appreciates both the consistency and the quality. It's the kind of podcast where you'll learn something genuinely new in almost every episode, and the short format means you can listen to two or three in a row without fatigue.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili is one of those rare science communicators who can make a conversation with a Nobel laureate feel as natural as a chat over coffee. Since 2011, he's been sitting down with leading scientists on BBC Radio 4 to talk about their lives, their work, and what drove them to spend decades studying things most people don't even know exist.

The format is straightforward and effective: one host, one scientist, about 28 minutes. No gimmicks, no sound effects, no panel debates. Just Al-Khalili asking thoughtful questions and giving his guests room to tell their stories. You'll hear from evolutionary biologists, geneticists, ecologists, and neuroscientists — people whose research has genuinely changed how we understand the living world. The personal angle is what elevates it. Scientists talk about childhood obsessions, career failures, breakthrough moments, and the messy human reality behind published papers.

With 348 episodes and a biweekly release schedule, there's a deep back catalog to explore. The BBC production quality is polished but never overwrought. Al-Khalili has a knack for knowing when to push for clarity and when to let a scientist geek out on their specialty. The show holds a 4.6 star average from 209 ratings on Apple. For anyone interested in biology as a human pursuit — not just facts and figures — The Life Scientific is a consistently excellent listen.

This Week in Evolution is the kind of podcast that rewards patience. Hosted by Columbia University virologist Vincent Racaniello and University of Utah evolutionary biologist Nels Elde, the show works through recent peer-reviewed research papers on evolution, genomics, and molecular biology. Each episode picks apart a study in detail — not just the headline findings, but the methods, the implications, and the open questions that remain.

The two hosts bring complementary expertise. Racaniello runs MicrobeTV, a nonprofit network of science podcasts, and he's been doing this kind of science communication for over a decade. Elde comes from the bench side, actively running a lab studying evolutionary genetics. When they discuss a paper about why females live longer than males across species, or how an ant can produce offspring from two distinct species, you can tell they're processing it as working scientists, not just reading a press release.

Episodes run long — typically 80 to 90 minutes — and new ones drop every two weeks. That pacing is deliberate. This isn't a podcast for background listening while you do dishes. It's more like auditing a graduate seminar, with the hosts occasionally disagreeing or asking each other to clarify a point. The show has about 100 episodes, 169 Apple ratings, and a 4.7 star average. If you have a solid biology foundation and want to stay current on evolutionary research without reading every journal yourself, TWiEvo fills that role remarkably well.

This Week in Virology — TWiV to its devoted listeners — became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Vincent Racaniello has been running this show since 2008, long before anyone cared about spike proteins. Racaniello is a Columbia University professor of microbiology and immunology, and he leads a rotating panel of co-hosts including virologists Brianne Barker, Rich Condit, Alan Dove, Dickson Despommier, and Kathy Spindler.

The format is a weekly panel discussion where the team dissects recent virology research papers. They cover everything from emerging pathogens and vaccine development to the molecular mechanics of viral replication. Episodes vary widely in length — anywhere from 30 minutes to nearly two hours — depending on how much there is to unpack. The discussions are technical but accessible if you have a basic science background. Racaniello has a gift for explaining complex molecular biology without losing the nuance.

TWiV is part of MicrobeTV, a nonprofit science podcast network that Racaniello founded. The show has over 2,000 Apple ratings with a 4.8 star average, and it's built a fiercely loyal community of listeners who send in questions, listener picks, and corrections. The vibe is collegial — like eavesdropping on a faculty meeting where everyone actually likes each other. For anyone with an interest in viruses, immunology, or infectious disease biology, TWiV remains the gold standard in the podcasting world.

This Week in Microbiology — TWiM — is another pillar of Vincent Racaniello's MicrobeTV network, and it focuses squarely on the invisible life forms that run the planet. The regular panel includes Racaniello alongside microbiologists Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin, all of whom are active researchers at major universities.

Each episode follows a familiar rhythm: the hosts each bring a recent research paper to discuss, and the group works through the findings together. You might hear about a newly discovered mechanism of antibiotic resistance in one segment, then a fascinating study on soil microbiomes in the next. The conversations are informal and genuine — hosts interrupt each other, crack jokes, and occasionally disagree about interpretations. It feels less like a lecture and more like sitting in on a journal club with people who clearly enjoy talking about microbes.

With 350 episodes released roughly every two weeks, TWiM has built up a substantial archive. Episodes run 45 minutes to just over an hour, hitting a comfortable middle ground — detailed enough to learn something real, short enough to finish in one sitting. The show holds a 4.8 star average from 520 Apple ratings. It's particularly strong for anyone interested in bacteriology, microbial ecology, or antimicrobial research. The hosts make a genuine effort to explain context for non-specialists while still keeping the scientific rigor that makes the discussions worth having.

Ira Flatow has been hosting Science Friday since 1991, making it one of the longest-running science programs in American media. The podcast version, co-hosted with Flora Lichtman, releases daily segments that run 12 to 30 minutes each, drawn from the longer weekly radio broadcast on WNYC. The format is interview-based: Flatow and Lichtman talk with scientists, researchers, and engineers about current discoveries, emerging technologies, and the natural world. With 1,200 episodes in the podcast feed and a 4.4-star rating from over 6,000 reviews, the show covers an extraordinary range of scientific ground. Flatow has a warm interviewing style that puts experts at ease, and his decades of experience mean he knows how to translate jargon into plain language without losing accuracy. The shorter episode lengths make Science Friday ideal for commuters or anyone who wants their science in digestible pieces rather than multi-hour deep-dives. Topics span from microbiology to astrophysics, and the show does a particularly good job of covering environmental science and climate research with both urgency and nuance. It is the kind of show that has earned its audience through decades of consistency rather than viral moments, and that reliability is exactly the point. When a major scientific story breaks, Science Friday is usually among the first to explain it clearly.

If you want to know what's happening at the frontier of scientific research right now, the Nature Podcast is about as close to the source as you can get. Produced by Springer Nature — the publisher behind the journal Nature — the show is hosted by Benjamin Thompson, Shamini Bundell, and Nick Howe, all of whom are journalists embedded in the scientific publishing world.

Since 2005, each issue of the journal has been accompanied by a podcast episode that highlights the most significant papers and the stories behind them. The format splits between full episodes (around 22 to 25 minutes) and shorter Briefing Chat segments (10 to 12 minutes) that cover quick-hit research news. New content drops multiple times per week, so the show functions almost like a science news wire in audio form.

The biology coverage is outstanding because Nature publishes some of the most important biological research on the planet, and the podcast team gets to interview the authors directly. You'll hear about breakthroughs in genomics, cell biology, ecology, and evolutionary theory weeks or months before they filter into popular science media. The production is polished and efficient — no wasted time, no meandering tangents. With 865 episodes and a 4.5 star average from 722 ratings, it's a reliable weekly companion for staying current. The tone is professional without being stuffy, and the hosts do a solid job of translating dense papers into clear explanations.

David Moscato and Will Harris are two paleontologists who met as master's students at East Tennessee State University, and their shared enthusiasm for deep time radiates through every episode of The Common Descent Podcast. The show tackles the history of life on Earth — fossils, evolution, extinction events, speculative biology — with a conversational warmth that makes even Cambrian biostratigraphy feel approachable.

Each episode follows a satisfying structure: a news segment covering recent paleontology research, a main topic that gets a thorough treatment, and listener questions from the show's Patreon community at the end. The main topics are where the show really shines. You might get a two-hour exploration of the evolution of flight, or a detailed breakdown of what we know (and don't know) about Precambrian life. Episodes often run long — anywhere from 50 minutes to over three hours — but the hosts keep the energy up throughout.

New episodes land every two weeks, and with 358 in the catalog, there's an enormous back library to explore. The show holds an impressive 4.8 star average from 739 Apple ratings, which reflects a genuinely dedicated fanbase. Moscato and Harris are clearly well-read and passionate, and they have the rare ability to communicate scientific uncertainty without making it feel like hand-waving. If you're interested in paleobiology, evolutionary history, or just want to understand how the living world got to where it is today, Common Descent is a standout.

Matt Candeias holds a PhD in ecology from the University of Illinois, and his love for plants borders on evangelical — in the best possible way. In Defense of Plants is his mission to make people care about the green organisms they walk past every day, and after more than 300 episodes, he's built one of the most dedicated botanical audiences in podcasting.

The format is primarily interview-based. Candeias brings on botanists, ecologists, conservationists, and plant scientists to discuss everything from the smallest duckweed to the tallest redwood. Some episodes feature audio field trips where he visits specific habitats and describes what he's seeing. His interviewing style is curious and well-prepared — he clearly reads the research before sitting down to talk, which means conversations move past the basics quickly.

Candeias is also the author of a book published jointly with the Smithsonian and the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and that scholarly background gives the podcast real credibility. Episodes run 40 to 60 minutes and drop weekly. The show has 1,235 Apple ratings with a 4.8 star average, which is remarkable for a niche topic. Plant biology doesn't get nearly the popular attention that animal biology does, and this podcast exists to correct that imbalance. If you've ever wondered why a particular tree grows where it does, how carnivorous plants evolved, or what's actually happening inside a seed, this is the show that answers those questions with genuine depth and affection.

Greg Brown and Mitchell Moffit built a massive audience on YouTube as AsapSCIENCE, and their podcast Sidenote brings that same energy to a longer, more conversational format. Since launching in 2018, the show has become a space where the two Canadian hosts pick a science-adjacent topic — often something controversial or counterintuitive — and spend 40 to 55 minutes breaking down what the research actually says.

The vibe is two friends who happen to be science communicators sitting down to hash out questions like whether breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, or what the science says about personality tests. They pull from peer-reviewed studies and mix in personal anecdotes, which keeps things grounded and relatable. The humor is natural and unforced, and their chemistry after years of working together comes through clearly.

With 312 episodes and a 4.9 star average from over 2,200 ratings, Sidenote has found a loyal audience that appreciates the blend of entertainment and education. Episodes drop roughly every week or two. The biology content shows up frequently — genetics, nutrition, neuroscience, and human physiology are all regular territory. Some listeners have noted that the show occasionally prioritizes entertainment over strict scientific precision, and that's a fair observation. But for most topics, Greg and Mitch do a solid job of citing their sources and acknowledging uncertainty. It's an accessible entry point for people who want science in their podcast rotation without the academic density.

iBiology takes a different approach from most science podcasts. Instead of hosts interviewing guests, the show primarily features researchers presenting their own work directly — almost like attending a research seminar from your headphones. The nonprofit organization behind the podcast has been producing free science education content for years, and the podcast distills that mission into audio form.

The topics span a broad range of biology: skin biology, soil microbiomes, coral reef conservation, hearing loss research, and career guidance for early-career scientists. Some episodes feature panel discussions with multiple researchers, while others are condensed versions of longer research talks. Episode lengths vary considerably — shorter segments run 7 to 15 minutes, while panel discussions can stretch past an hour.

Here's the honest assessment: the show appears to have stopped producing new episodes around 2022, with the most recent content dating to May of that year. The catalog holds about 100 episodes, and with only 1 rating on Apple, the audience was always niche. But the content that exists is genuinely valuable. These are real scientists explaining their actual research, and the production from iBiology is clean and professional. For biology students or anyone who enjoys the format of academic talks made slightly more accessible, the back catalog is worth exploring. Just know that this is more of a finished archive than an active, ongoing show.

This Week in Neuroscience — TWiN — is the brain-focused entry in Vincent Racaniello's MicrobeTV podcast network. The show follows the same model that works so well for TWiV and TWiM: a small panel of hosts works through recent peer-reviewed research papers, this time focused on the nervous system. The regular team includes Racaniello alongside Vivianne Morrison and Tim Cheung.

The panel format means you get multiple perspectives on each paper. The hosts discuss experimental methods, debate interpretations, and flag limitations — the kind of analysis you'd hear in a university journal club, but in a more relaxed and accessible style. Topics have included everything from memory formation and neural plasticity to the genetics of neurological disorders. Episodes typically run an hour to 90 minutes, giving plenty of room for thorough discussion.

With 67 episodes and a bimonthly release schedule, TWiN is the smallest of the MicrobeTV shows covered here. The audience reflects that — 94 Apple ratings with a 4.8 star average — but the quality of the content is high. One thing to note: the conversational style means hosts sometimes talk over each other, which can be slightly jarring if you're used to tightly edited podcasts. But that's also part of the charm — it feels authentic and unscripted. If you're specifically interested in neuroscience research and want a podcast that treats you like a peer rather than a student, TWiN is one of the few options that does this consistently well.

Created by Dr. German Rosas-Acosta, a professor and Director of the Optical Spectroscopy & Microscopy Laboratory at the University of Texas at El Paso, The Molecular Cell Biology Podcast originated as a companion to his university course. The show explores how cells work at the molecular level — the structures, processes, and mechanisms that build tissues, organs, and entire biological systems.

The format is mostly solo narration, with Rosas-Acosta walking through cell biology concepts in a clear, methodical style. Occasional episodes feature guest hosts, including students who bring their own perspectives. The content covers fundamentals like protein folding, DNA replication, and cell signaling, making it particularly useful as supplementary learning material for anyone studying biology.

Full transparency: this is a very small podcast. The catalog contains only about 5 episodes spanning from August 2020 to October 2021, and the show has just 10 ratings on Apple (4.6 stars). It does not appear to be actively producing new content. The episodes that exist range from a brief 10-minute introduction to longer segments of about 50 minutes. Think of it less as a traditional podcast and more as a set of recorded lectures from a knowledgeable professor. For students taking molecular cell biology or anyone who wants a structured walkthrough of cellular mechanics from someone who teaches it professionally, the existing episodes have real value. Just set your expectations for a small, course-oriented production rather than a polished weekly show.