Some people use podcasts to help them fall asleep. Some people are kept awake by existential dread. How about a podcast that can combine the two?!

Are We Doomed? is an excellent narrative documentary series that looks at genuine, or potential, threats to the planet or humanity. Think nuclear war, the next pandemic, or killer robots.

Host Ben Bradford joins us on POP-The Podcast to tell all about the show, published by National Public Radio (NPR).

Find out:

• why nuclear armageddon is perfectly possible, but would be "embarrassing"
• is there really a "supervolcano" waiting to blow up the entire United States?
• why Ben hates one futurist's idea that one day we will all have tiny pet hippos

Yes, it's a fun, but not flippant, podcast that is rooted in science and expertise.

Links:

Are We Doomed on the Pick of the Pods newsletter: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/p/armageddon-it-are-you

Are We Doomed

• homepage: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/21/g-s1-118208/a-new-npr-network-podcast-asks-the-big-question-are-we-doomed
• on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1893359212
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AreWeDoomedPod

Episodes of Are We Doomed featured on this episode of POP-The Podcast:

• Our Vision of the Post-Apocalypse Is Wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS9UVSgcjjk&list=PLqyfCS9DAyG9nboJAohk-5KWPN6zntVvr&index=1&t=10s
• The Yellowstone Supervolcano Panic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbOka0S6N-o
• How To Survive a Nuclear War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1CFpIp7Xck

Ben's Pod Picks:

• This American Life, Swim Towards the Shark: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/837/swim-towards-the-shark
• Oh, Hello: the P'dcast:
  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oh-hello-the-pdcast/id1505873854
• Search Engine: https://www.searchengine.show/

Ben's fantasy interview:

Sam Altman or Jeff Bezos, locked in a room and forced to say honestly what is their vision of the future.

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Discover one new podcast every week with the Pick of the Pods Substack: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-The Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7

Or follow on any podcast app - new episodes drop monthly: https://pod.link/1891273310

Music by fAR

Pick of the Pods: copyright Spinney Hill Media 2026.

What actually is money? This new podcast from the Financial Times takes a historical view of this question which is crucial to understanding human civilisation and the world we live in today.

Robin Wigglesworth, who co-hosts the show with fellow FT journalist Gillian Tett, picks some of his favourite episodes so far and tells us why some of the greatest humans ever - Churchill? Newton? - were not always brilliant with money.

The Story of Money:

• Pick of the Pods: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/publish/post/201028489
• Homepage: https://www.ft.com/tsom?shareType=nongift&syn-25a6b1a6=1
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1376303362
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FTTheStoryOfMoney

Episodes of The Story of Money featured on this episode of POP-The Podcast:

• The Bretton Woods agreement: a tale of boozing, womanising, espionage and a heart attack https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-deal-that-put-the-dollar-at-the-centre-of-the-world/id1376303362?i=1000768677777
• The financial scams that brought Albania to the brink of war https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-financial-scams-that-brought-albania-to-the-brink-of-war/id1376303362?i=1000773061994
• They are history’s geniuses. But were they any good at investing? https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/they-are-historys-geniuses-but-were-they-any-good-at/id1376303362?i=1000763000958

Robin's Pod Picks:

• The Rest Is History https://pod.link/1537788786
• Greeking Out https://pod.link/1483233279

Robin's dream interview:

• Jay Cooke (1821–1905) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Cooke

Robin’s forthcoming book:

• A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/461949/a-fabulous-debt-by-wigglesworth-robin/9780241705674

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Discover one new podcast every week with the Pick of the Pods Substack: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-The Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7

Or follow on any podcast app - new episodes drop monthly: https://pod.link/1891273310

Music by fAR

Pick of the Pods: copyright Spinney Hill Media 2026.

Francine Lacqua is Editor at Large and TV news anchor for Bloomberg.

With decades of experience interviewing leaders in business and politics, she has launched a podcast, Leaders, and talks us through three very different interviews: a CEO of one of the world's biggest banks; a fashion entrepreneur who has a "shapewear" partnership with Kim Kardashian; and Melinda French Gates, business leader and philanthropist and former wife of Bill Gates.

Leaders with Francine Lacqua:

• Homepage: https://www.bloomberg.com/btv/series/leaders-with-lacqua
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1623682235
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqq4LnWs3olXnyY_CJUC2M1NtT_VdXw8i

Episodes of Leaders featured on this episode of POP-The Podcast:

‘I Was Ruthless About Killing Complexity’: HSBC CEO on Rewiring the Bank: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-was-ruthless-about-killing-complexity-hsbc-ceo-on/id1623682235?i=1000758149108

Emma Grede on the Kardashians and Why Work From Home Is ‘Career Suicide': https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emma-grede-on-the-kardashians-and-why-work-from-home/id1623682235?i=1000763755419

Melinda French Gates on Tech, Billionaire Wealth and Why She Worries About the Truth: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/melinda-french-gates-on-tech-billionaire-wealth-and/id1623682235?i=1000755513346

Francine’s dream interview:

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Francine's Pod Picks:

Acquired:

• Homepage: https://www.acquired.fm/
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/acquired
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquiredFM

Odd Lots:

• Homepage: https://www.bloomberg.com/oddlots
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1056200096
• YouTube (audio): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0MuA6M0zkZyy-99-qc87wKV

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day:

• Homepage: https://www.elizabethday.org/podcasts
• Get it on any podcast app: https://pod.link/1407451189
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HowToFailPodcast

Francine’s book picks:

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/238226991-london-falling

Supremacy by Parmy Olson: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/parmy-olson/supremacy/9781035038244

Subscribe to Pick of the Pods - the newsletter - on Substack: https://substack.com/@robinpomeroy

Discover one new podcast every week with the Pick of the Pods Substack: https://pickofthepods.substack.com/

Watch POP-The Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQu6D1uClH0i-nR9YppCSgzhElMbfPcv7

Or follow on any podcast app - new episodes drop monthly: https://pod.link/1891273310

Music by fAR

Pick of the Pods: copyright Spinney Hill Media 2026.