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Curious minds select the most fascinating podcasts from around the world. Discover hand-piqd audio recommendations on your favorite topics.
piqer for: Global finds Health and Sanity Doing Good
Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.
Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.
In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.
The Magical Marketing Word Everyone Should Know About
There are many selling points in this podcast series, but arguably, the biggest is the host himself. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, simply known as Dr Karl, the much-lauded Australian science communicator and guru, whose cheery voice on all things science is as familiar to followers as David Attenborough's is to natural history enthusiasts.
This weekly podcast series should be your go-to spot for chirpy, bite-size science. Each episode of usually less than half an hour takes up a single, intriguing topic and discusses it in simple, everyday language, mostly with an expert in the chosen field. The fact that Dr Karl does it with such charm and ease makes the listening that much more pleasant on the ears. The topics have a wide range and there's something for everybody – from AI to the right kind of office ergonomics to new-fangled 'milk' drinks and organic cleaners. There's even an episode on why laughter is infectious (apparently it really is).
In the latest episode, Dr Karl and Dr Nick Fuller discuss superfoods (or their nonexistence). Dr Fuller calls it the 'magical marketing word' of the 21st century, while Dr Karl jokes that he has heard superfoods can cure varicose veins, make him more handsome and improve his handwriting! Dr Fuller covers how the craze for superfoods has fuelled mass deforestation of palm trees in the Amazon, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The misinformation being spread about superfoods is part of a larger ‘entrepreneurial activity’, he adds. Unfortunately, marketing campaigns for superfoods have become so dangerous that many have come to believe they can go on with their poor dietary habits as long as they consume these magical foods.
The discussion proceeds to certain ‘usual suspect’ superfoods like activated almonds, and the good doctor does his best to debunk misconceptions around such quick fixes. As he says, neither are superfoods a reality nor are there any quick fixes for healthy living. That’s the take-home message.
