In Our Time: Science

In Our Time is a BBC Radio 4 institution that has been running for over two decades, and the Science feed collects the episodes relevant to physics, biology, and the natural world. Host Melvyn Bragg brings together panels of three academics, usually from UK universities, and they spend 45 minutes unpacking a single topic. The quantum physics episodes are among the best in the archive, covering everything from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to the EPR paradox to the history of quantum electrodynamics. The format is a roundtable discussion rather than an interview, and it works beautifully for complex physics. Having three experts means you get multiple perspectives and occasionally genuine disagreement about interpretation, which is rare in science podcasting. Melvyn is not a physicist, so he asks the kind of clarifying questions a curious non-specialist would ask, and the academics are generally very good at responding with clear explanations. The archive has 293 episodes in the science feed alone, with a 4.6-star rating from over 700 reviewers. Not every episode is about quantum physics, but the ones that are tend to be exceptionally well-produced. The BBC's production standards mean the audio quality is consistently excellent. This is the podcast to go to when you want the historical and intellectual context behind a quantum concept, told by people who have spent their careers studying it. Episodes about Lise Meitner, the history of the atom, and quantum field theory are standouts.