5 new podcasts to listen to this week

This week there is a focus on AI, the increase of technology, neurodiversity and many more interesting topics.

1. Home Again 

Streaming platform: All podcast platforms and YouTube

Genre: Entertainment

The Home Again Podcast by SpareRoom brings the significance of our living spaces to life, exploring the memories, emotions and experiences that make a house feel like home.

Each week hosts Ella Chisholm and Matt Hutchinson ask a well-known guest to choose three homes that hold a special place in their heart and share how each one has helped shape their life.

In the latest episode, they are joined by British comedian, actor and writer Guz Khan, best known for co-creating and starring in the BAFTA-nominated BBC comedy-drama series Man Like Mobeen.

Throughout the episode, Chisholm and Hutchinson ask thoughtful follow-up questions, delving into some of the most meaningful aspects of Khan’s upbringing and family life.

Born and raised in Coventry, Khan recalls how his family home became a community hub, constantly filled with people, noise and chaos and shares that this is something he has tried to recreate in his own family home today.

He also shares hilarious stories about buying the house next door to his mother at auction and talks about renting a house in Tropico Way in Los Angeles with his family while working on an HBO show during lockdown.

The comedian also discusses the deliberate care taken to make the home setting in Man Like Mobeen an authentic reflection of working-class life in Small Heath, Birmingham.

If you’re looking for a nostalgic, heartfelt and deeply relatable listen, the Home Again Podcast by SpareRoom is well worth a listen.

(By Camilla Foster)

2. Says Who? 

Streaming platform: All podcast platforms and YouTube

Genre: Culture and society

The Says Who Podcast sees Brogan Garrit-Smith sit down with leading experts, thought leaders and cultural commentators to examine the assumptions and invisible rules that shape how we live, from ambition and identity to technology, health and society.

In this episode, she speaks with author and former chief business officer for Google, Mo Gawdat about AI and how it should be built ethically. The episode opens with Gawdat explaining that using AI can make you smarter or less – it all depends on how you use it.

Throughout the informative conversation, the pair discuss what our future will look like, as Gawdat says we should start getting used to seeing drones more regularly. He also confirms that “the state of our planet currently, is not a result of AI, yet”, and what the world will look like for the beta generation – those born after 2025.

Garrit-Smith raises questions and concerns about the use of AI in relationships, and recent cases of people actually marrying their AI. Gawdat says that the dystopia will eventually end and we can “look towards a world where we are all entrepreneurs”.

He then goes on to introduce Emma.Love which he created to help people find true connection, advice and love. Overall, it was eye opening but needed to be listened to considering the society we are living in where technology is everywhere.

(By Sara Keenan)

3. The Interface 

Streaming Platform: BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms

Genre: Technology and entertainment

The second season of The Interface feels like a refresh rather than a complete reinvention, with BBC technology columnist Thomas Germain joined by internet culture expert Jessica Maddox.

Together, they take on everything from the slightly terrifying question of whether AI could eventually “kill all humans”, to the much less serious world of microdramas taking over TikTok and social media.

It’s the latter that makes for some of the most entertaining conversation, including the bizarre rise of “Fruit Love Island”. Maddox’s expertise in memes and internet culture works particularly well here, giving some explanation as to why seemingly ridiculous content can become so addictive.

One point that stuck with me was the idea that “the form of a piece of media is more important than the content”. It sums up a lot about how we consume things online now.

Funny, informative and occasionally unsettling, The Interface makes big conversations about technology feel surprisingly accessible.

(By Sara Keenan)

4. Standing Ovulation 

Streaming Platform: Hertility, all streaming platforms and YouTube

Genre: Health and wellbeing

A mission to “revolutionise women’s health” may be a big challenge, but it’s one that Dr Helen O’Neill is meeting with some serious gusto. For this new podcast, the reproductive genetics expert is chatting to a variety of guests about issues including IVF and fertility, perimenopause and menopause and hormone health.

This week she kicks things off with fellow medic and nutrition lead at Imperial College London, Dr Federica Amati. They start by discussing one of the most recent hot topics – GLP-1s, otherwise known as weight-loss drugs (Mounjaro, Ozempic and the like), and the myth that your body can create its own version. While yes, the body can produce tiny amounts of glucagon-like peptide-1, triggering fullness and regulating blood sugar, it is actually impossible for it to make the amounts seen in the drugs.

For more effective health benefits, the medics outline six habits that will transform everyone’s overall health – nutrition (a predominantly whole plant diet), sleep, daily exercise, avoidance of risky behaviours (smoking, alcohol and drugs), fostering social connections and stress mitigation.

This podcast provides a fascinating and educational insight into health and wellbeing, and in the words of Dr Helen, “it’s time to give your health the Standing Ovulation that it deserves”.

(By Rachel Howard)

5. Unmasked with Dr. Basra 

Streaming Platform: All podcast platforms and YouTube

Genre: Health and wellbeing

Launching on October 10, Unmasked with Dr Jagdish Basra, founder and medical director of Diverse Diagnostics brings people together to explore what neurodivergence can means for families, relationships, education, work and everyday life.

The series has been created by Glasgow-headquartered psychiatry practice Diverse Diagnostics and will combine candid personal stories with accessible explanations of the science behind ADHD, autism and wider mental health and wellbeing.

This week’s episode featured Scottish influencer SEN Mum Lucy Gallagher, who speaks about life as a neurodivergent parent raising neurodivergent children. Throughout the episode, Gallagher speaks about the signs that showed in her two sons, which eventually lead to her getting them tested and diagnosed with ADHD and Autism.

She explains the changes she then saw in both children after they went on medication and how it has helped them particularly in their school life. The pair delve into how the extended family responded, their support and also the change between the children being in primary school to then moving forward to high school.

It was an interesting listen with lots of key information for those who also live with neurodiversity or simply those who want to know more about it.

(By Sara Keenan)