Best Genetics Podcasts (2025)

1
Noah Carl and Bo Winegard: probing the intellectual darker web 1:54:24

27d ago1:54:24

1:54:24

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Bo Winegard and Noah Carl, the editors behind the online publication Aporia Magazine, founded in 2022. Winegard and Carl are both former academics. Winegard has a social psychology Ph.D. from Florida State University, and was an assistant professor at Marietta College. He was an editor at Qui…

1
Tim Lee: 2025 and the driverless car revolution 55:46

1M ago55:46

55:46

Today Razib talks to Tim Lee, a previous guest on Unsupervised Learning. Lee hosts Understanding AI. Lee covered tech more generally for a decade for Washington Post, Ars Technica, and Vox.com. He has a master's degree in computer science from Princeton. Lee writes extensively about general AI issues, from Deep Research’s capabilities to the state …

1
Bonus monologue: Finland as Germania 23:58

1M ago23:58

23:58

This podcast accompanies my post Germans are from Finland, Finns are from Yakutia. The two preprints at the heart of this post are, Postglacial genomes from foragers across Northern Eurasia reveal prehistoric mobility associated with the spread of the Uralic and Yeniseian languages and Steppe Ancestry in Western Eurasia and the Spread of the German…

1
Laura Spinney: rise of the proto-Indo-Europeans 1:01:18

1M ago1:01:18

1:01:18

Today Razib talks to Laura Spinney, Paris-based British author of the forthcoming Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. A science journalist, translator and author of both fiction and non-fiction, she has written for Nature, National Geographic, The Economist, New Scientist, and The Guardian. Spinney is the author of two novels, Doctor and T…

1
Bonus monologue: man the hybrid monster 19:35

2M ago19:35

19:35

Today, Razib talks about a new paper, A structured coalescent model reveals deep ancestral structure shared by all modern humans: Understanding the history of admixture events and population size changes leading to modern humans is central to human evolutionary genetics. Here we introduce a coalescence-based hidden Markov model, cobraa, that explic…

1
John Sailer: a time of troubles in higher education 1:22:25

2M ago1:22:25

1:22:25

On this episode of the podcast Razib talks to John Sailer. Sailer is currently the director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He covers issues of academic freedom, free speech, and ideological capture in higher education. Sailer has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Free Press and Tablet Magazine. Sai…

1
Jacob Shell: academia must diversify or die 1:43:54

2M ago1:43:54

1:43:54

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Jacob Shell. Shell is a professor of geography at Temple University and author of Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons, Mules, Canals, and the Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants. Educated at Columbia and Syracuse universities, Shell is active on social media, where h…

1
Matt Welch: from blog pioneer to podcasting mainstay 1:28:10

2M ago1:28:10

1:28:10

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Matt Welch. He co-founded the Prague-based newspaper Prognosis in the early 1990’s and later worked as an opinion section editor for the Los Angeles Times. From 2008-2016, Welch served as editor-in-chief of Reason magazine, where he currently holds the position of editor-at-large. He co-author…

1
Bonus monologue: ancient North Africans and the Green Sahara 18:12

2M ago18:12

18:12

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib comments on a new paper in Nature, Ancient DNA from the Green Sahara reveals ancestral North African lineage. Here is the abstract: Although it is one of the most arid regions today, the Sahara Desert was a green savannah during the African Humid Period (AHP) between 14,500 and 5,000 years before prese…

1
Andrew Song: cooling the planet with technology 55:04

2M ago55:04

55:04

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Andrew Song, co-founder of Make Sunsets. An NYU graduate with a degree in economics, Song was a member of the Y Combinator class of winter 2016. Before becoming a founder, Song worked at firms involved in data analytics and artificial intelligence. A repeat attendee at the Founders Fund “Here…

1
Zineb Riboua: realism in foreign policy in 2025 1:07:28

2M ago1:07:28

1:07:28

Today on Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager of Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. She specializes in Chinese and Russian involvement in the Middle East, the Sahel, and North Africa, great power competition in the region, and Israeli-Arab relations. Riboua’s piec…

1
Mark Lutter: charter cities and the urban future 1:03:03

3M ago1:03:03

1:03:03

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Mark Lutter. Lutter is an urban development expert known for his work on charter cities—new urban areas aimed at fostering economic growth and progress. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Charter Cities Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to building the ecosystem for charter cities,…

1
Graeme Wood: Germany's turn to the right 1:05:30

3M ago1:05:30

1:05:30

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Graeme Wood. Wood is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he usually covers geopolitics and international affairs. His work ranges from a profile of Richard Spencer, the American white nationalist public figure with whom he went to high school with, to the Islamic State. He is the author of …

1
Leighton Woodhouse: against the rise of the anti-woke cancel culture and MAGA cultural hegemony 1:27:09

3M ago1:27:09

1:27:09

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib welcomes Leighton Akira Woodhouse back to the podcast for his third visit. Woodhouse is a journalist and documentarian based in Oakland, California. He grew up in Berkeley, and was a doctoral student in Sociology at UC Berkeley. After leaving academia he contributed to outlets like The Intercept, UnHer…

1
Kevin Klatt: Nutrition, health, MAHA and GLP-1 1:20:04

3M ago1:20:04

1:20:04

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Kevin Klatt, a metabolism researcher, dietitian and science communicator. Klatt holds a BA in biological anthropology from Temple University and a PhD in Molecular Nutrition from Cornell University. Before a current appointment as a research scientist at UC Berkeley, he was a postdoctoral fell…

1
Charles Murray: 50 years on the public scene 59:57

4M ago59:57

59:57

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, friend of the podcast, Charles Murray returns to chat with Razib again. Murray has been a public intellectual and scholar since the 1970’s. He is the author of Losing Ground, The Bell Curve, Human Accomplishment, Real Education, Coming Apart and What it means to be a libertarian and Human Diversity, among o…

1
Titus Techera: Post-Modern Conservative in a post-national Europe 1:26:24

4M ago1:26:24

1:26:24

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Titus Techera, a Romanian living in Budapest, but commenting extensively on American and European culture. He is the Executive Director of the American Cinema Foundation, International Coordinator of the National Conservatism Conference and is a primary contributor to the Substack PostModernC…

1
Nathan Lents: Sex, truths and gender wars 2:09:01

4M ago2:09:01

2:09:01

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Nathan Lents about his new book, The Sexual Evolution: A Provocative Look at Sexual Behavior Through the Lens of Evolution. A professor at John Jay College in New York City, Lents earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences in 2004 at Saint Louis University School of Medicine,…

1
Antonio Regalado: CRISPR babies 6 years later 1:16:44

4M ago1:16:44

1:16:44

Today Razib talks to Antonio Regalado, reporter at MIT Technology Review. Regalado covers how technology is changing medicine and biomedical research. Before joining MIT Technology Review in 2011, he lived in São Paulo, Brazil, where he wrote about science, technology, and politics in Latin America for Science and other publications. From 2000 to 2…

1
Daniel McCarthy: American conservatism after Trump (and before) 1:03:05

4M ago1:03:05

1:03:05

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Daniel McCarthy, editor-in-chief of Modern Age. Former editor-in-chief of The American Conservative, his writing has also appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, The Spectator, The National Interest and Reason. McCarthy also helped run communications for the 2008 Ron Paul campaign and was a…

1
Tade Souaiaia: the edge of statistical genetics, race and sports 1:10:34

4M ago1:10:34

1:10:34

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Tade Souaiaia, a statistical geneticist at SUNY Downstate about his new preprint, Striking Departures from Polygenic Architecture in the Tails of Complex Traits. Souaiaia trained as a computational biologist at USC, but also has a background as a division I track and field athlete. Razib and S…

1
Shadi Hamid: pessimism on Palestine but hope in America 1:20:47

4M ago1:20:47

1:20:47

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks with Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid. A native Pennsylvanian of Egyptian ethnic background, and Islamic faith, Hamid completed his Ph.D. in politics at Oxford University. He is an assistant professor at Fuller Seminary, co-host of the Wisdom of Crowds podcast and website, and now the author…

1
Conn Carroll: Sex and the Citizen 1:14:13

5M ago1:14:13

1:14:13

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Conn Carroll, the author of Sex and the Citizen: How the Assault on Marriage Is Destroying Democracy. Caroll is currently an editor for the Washington Examiner, but previously he was the communications director for Senator Mike Lee of Utah, an assistant director at the Heritage Foundation, Whi…

1
Dan Hess: the fertility collapse 1:44:34

5M ago1:44:34

1:44:34

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib has a wide-ranging conversation with Dan Hess, the man behind the More Births account on social media. An engineer with a large family in the DC area, Hess’ essays on topics like Israelis’ high birth rate have gained the attention of X, with an account that has come from a few hundred followers to more…

1
Brian Chau: welcoming the AI-age and DeepSeek 52:05

5M ago52:05

52:05

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Brian Chau, who writes at the From the New World Substack. A graduate of the University of Waterloo and former software engineer with a background in pure mathematics, today Chau is executive director of the Alliance for the Future, a think tank that believes artificial intelligence will trans…

1
John Hawks: 2024 in Neanderthals, Denisovans and Hobbits 1:10:42

5M ago1:10:42

1:10:42

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, third-time guest John Hawks returns after two years to discuss what we’ve learned in paleoanthropology since he and Razib last talked. Hawks obtained his PhD under Milford H. Wolpoff, and is currently a professor in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin. Hawks has also co-authored Almost Human: The As…

1
David Mittelman: pushing the genomic frontier in 2024 56:41

5M ago56:41

56:41

Three years ago David Mittelman came on Unsupervised Learning to talk about emerging possibilities on the frontiers of genomics, and his new startup at the time, Othram. Since then, Othram’s work has been featured widely in the media, including in a Law & Order episode, and the firm has solved thousands of unsolved cases, with nearly 500 public. Fo…

1
In Search of Indo-Europeans in 2024: of Catacombs and Corded Ware 35:36

5M ago35:36

35:36

On this episode of Unsuperivsed Learning reviews what we know about Indo-Europeans as 2024 comes to a close. This is prompted by a new preprint Ancient genomics support deep divergence between Eastern and Western Mediterranean Indo-European languages, which finally establishes that populations in Northern and Southwestern Europe derived from a diff…

1
Megan McArdle: American food culture, artisanal to industrial 1:34:14

5M ago1:34:14

1:34:14

This week on Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Megan McArdle, author of The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success and Washington Post columnist and op-ed board member. McArdle was raised in New York City and attended Riverdale Country School. She obtained an undergraduate degree in English from University of Pennsylvania and an…

1
Nikolai Yakovenko: the Singularity is not here 1:07:00

5M ago1:07:00

1:07:00

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib catches up with Nikolai Yakovenko about the state of AI at the end of 2024. Yakovenko is a former professional poker player,and research scientist at Google, Twitter and Nvidia. With a decade in computer science, Yakovenko has been at the forefront of the large-language-model revolution that has given…

1
Yascha Mounk: American democracy in 2024 1:21:00

6M ago1:21:00

1:21:00

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to Yasha Mounk. The founder of Persuasion, a contributor to The Atlantic and a professor at Johns Hopkins, Mounk now has his own Substack, where he hosts his weekly column and podcast. He is the author of The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, The Peopl…

1
Anatoly Karlin: Russian nationalism to American globalism 1:17:09

6M ago1:17:09

1:17:09

Today Razib talks to Russian commentator and transhumanist Anatoly Karlin. Karlin has a BA in political economy from U C Berkeley. For most of the 21st century he had positioned himself as part of the right wing of the transhumanist movement. He returned to Russia after living in California’s Bay Area for several years, and from there he promoted a…

1
The Horse: Man's Most Useful Companion 39:04

6M ago39:04

39:04

During the Ice Age our ancestors often painted the horse in caves On this week’s episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib covers the archaeology, genetics and history of the horse. Dogs may be man’s best friend, but for thousands of years horses were humanity’s most valuable domesticate. While pigs, cattle and goat were essential elements of the worl…

1
Wilfred Reilly: confronting historical myths propagated in schools 1:07:21

6M ago1:07:21

1:07:21

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to returning guest Wilfred Reilly about his new book, Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me: Debunking the False Narratives Defining America's School Curricula. Reilly holds a Ph.D. in political science from Southern Illinois and a J.D. from the University of Illinois. Raised in a working-class neighbo…

1
Leighton Woodhouse: chaos and corruption in urban America 1:23:08

6M ago1:23:08

1:23:08

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib welcomes Leighton Akira Woodhouse back to the podcast. Woodhouse is a freelance journalist and a documentary filmmaker, currently based in Oakland, California. He grew up in Berkeley, and was a doctoral student in Sociology at UC Berkeley. After leaving academia he contributed to outlets like The Inter…

1
Lyman Stone: a demographer against the birth dearth 1:35:24

6M ago1:35:24

1:35:24

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Lyman Stone, a soon to be PhD in sociology from McGill University specializing in population dynamics. Stone runs the Pro-natalism Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, and has had appointments at AEI, and has written for The Atlantic and The New York Times. Well known for his social…

1
Peachy Keenan: cosmopolitan radical traditionalist 1:13:05

6M ago1:13:05

1:13:05

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to the pseudonymous commentator “Peachy Keenan.” A native of Los Angeles with an Ivy League education, Keenan worked in entertainment before detouring into punditry, writing for the Claremont Institute’s The American Mind, appearing on Fox News and penning Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to…

1
Jesse Singal: after the replication crisis and into the youth gender medicine debate 1:03:14

6M ago1:03:14

1:03:14

On this episode Razib talks to Jesse Singal, a journalist who has covered the social science beat for the last decade. Singal has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from University of Michigan and a master’s in public affairs from Princeton. Currently a freelance journalist who writes his own Substack, Singal-Minded, and contributes to Blocked a…

1
Sam Hammond: I for one welcome our A.I. overlords 1:10:39

7M ago1:10:39

1:10:39

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to economist Sam Hammond. Canadian-born Hammond serves as the Senior Economist at the Foundation for American Innovation. His work primarily focuses on innovation and science policy, with particular attention to the societal and institutional impacts of disruptive technologies such as artificial …

1
14,000 years of natural selection 40:46

7M ago40:46

40:46

The full episode is available on: https://www.razibkhan.com/p/14000-years-of-natural-selection On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks about what we have learned from a blockbuster new preprint, Pervasive findings of directional selection realize the promise of ancient DNA to elucidate human adaptation. Synchronously released was the A…

1
Europe: 40000 BC to 1200 BC 38:07

7M ago38:07

38:07

On this week’s episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib discusses the genetic and archaeological history of Europe from the arrival of modern humans (permanently) 45,000 years ago, to the end of the Bronze Age in the decades after 1200 BC. He covers these time periods: Pre-Aurignacian (before 43 kya) Aurignacian (43-26 kya) Gravettian (33-21 kya) Sol…

1
Misha Saul: the Antipodean Anglosphere 1:16:54

7M ago1:16:54

1:16:54

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Misha Saul, the host of the Kvetch Substack. Saul is a first-generation Jewish Australian, born in Georgia (former Soviet republic), who grew up in Adelaide and now lives in Sydney. He graduated from the University of Adelaide with degrees in commerce and law. His day job is in finance, but th…

1
Crémieux Recueil: US election 2024 analysis 59:08

8M ago59:08

59:08

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Cremieux, a Twitter anon who is regularly retweeted by the likes of Paul Graham, Noah Smith and Elon Musk. A data scientist and statistician, Cremieux specializes in visualizations and analyses that cut to the heart of social and cultural dynamics, from economics to behavior genetics. Cremieux…

1
Rachel Haywire: the edge of the avant-garde 59:58

8M ago59:58

59:58

On this episode of "Unsupervised Learning," Razib talks to Rachel Haywire, who writes at Cultural Futurist. Haywire is the author of Acidexia and began her career in futurism as an event planner for the Singularity Institute. She got her start as part of the "right-brain" faction around the Bay Area transhumanist and futurist scene circa 2010. Curr…

1
Halie May: the democratization of genomics 50:00

8M ago50:00

50:00

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Halie May, the host of the Substack The Sequence, and a genetic counselor at Natera. May has a B.S. in chemical biology from Stevens Institute of Technology and a M.S. in human genetics from Sarah Lawrence. Before working at Natera she was a researcher and instructor at Columbia University and…

1
Inez Stepman: Silicon Valley's post-human world 1:32:44

8M ago1:32:44

1:32:44

On this episode of Unsuperivsed Learning Razib talks to native Californian, Inez Stepman. Stepman has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from UC San Diego, and obtained her J.D. from University of Virginia. She is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum, a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute and a contributor to The Federa…

1
Christina Buttons: navigating the gender wars 1:14:00

8M ago1:14:00

1:14:00

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Christina Buttons, who writes at Buttons Lives. A native Californian and erstwhile artist, Buttons switched to journalism two years ago, writing about gender medicine. A contributor to Quillette, The Post-Millennial and The Daily Wire, Buttons is now a freelance journalist living in Nashville,…

1
Sarah Haider: activist to podcaster and public intellectual 1:05:39

9M ago1:05:39

1:05:39

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to returning guest, Sarah Haider. Haider is the co-host of the podcast A Special Place in Hell and the Substack Hold That Thought. A native of Houston, graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, Haider is the founder and former executive director of Ex Muslims of North America. Today Razib a…

1
Aria Babu: pro-natalism in the shadow of empire 1:00:27

10M ago1:00:27

1:00:27

Today Razib talks to Aria Babu, a British think-thank professional who is part of the growing number of young men and women who are taking an interest in population decline and promoting pro-natalism. Babu has a degree in chemistry from University College London, and has long worked in areas related to the study of economic growth and entrepreneurs…

1
Louise Perry: overcrowded Britain and the ennui of a post-imperial nation 1:34:31

11M ago1:34:31

1:34:31

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Louise Perry. A British journalist known for her commentary on feminism and gender issues, Perry is the author of the book The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. She also contributes to The New Statesman, UnHerd, and The Daily Mail, and has a Substack at Maiden Mother Matriarch. Perry is a gr…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Genetics Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide