Explainercast

Explainercast

Shane Swenson and Dave Smith

Episodes 29
Avg. Duration 48m
Activity Active
Apple Rating 5.0 (6)
Since Apr 2023
Latest Episode Jan 2026

Publishing Details

Schedule
Monthly
Consistency
70%
Hosting
explainercast.com

Contact & Outreach

About This Podcast

A podcast of deep, thorough explanations about physics, engineering, and technology

Explore Statistics

Recent Episodes

Episode 29: Quicksand and Non-Newtonian Fluids

Jan 25, 2026 25m

In episode 29, Shane and Dave explain quicksand and non-Newtonian fluids, including the longest-running laboratory experiment.

Episode 28: Weather Part 3: What goes up must come down

Nov 29, 2025 41m

In episode 28, Shane and Dave explain common powerful movements of air that you didn’t know existed: downbursts, microbursts, gust fronts, haboobs, and derechos.

Episode 27: Weather Part 2: Hurricanes

Oct 26, 2025 52m

In episode 27, Shane and Dave explain hurricanes! Why do they form? Where do they go? Why are they ONLY ever hitting North America? Find out in this episode!

Episode 26: Weather Part 1, Lightning

Sep 29, 2025 40m

In episode 26, Shane and Dave kick off a saga about the weather, starting with lightning! How does lightning work? What are the mechanisms that cause it?

Episode 25: Human Visual Perception

Aug 21, 2025 1h 10m

In episode 25, Shane and Dave explain how humans perceive things visually: shapes, focus, spatial density, and much more.

Episode 24: Color Perception Part 2 of 2

May 28, 2025 37m

In episode 24, Shane and Dave explain how researchers at UC Berkeley created a color that no human has ever experienced, until now. How did they do this? Is this even possible?

Episode 23: Color Perception Part 1 of 2

May 27, 2025 43m

In episode 23, Shane and Dave explain how the human eye and brain perceive color. Fun fact: there is no yellow on your phone screen (or purple or brown or white or gray), and there might not be any…

Episode 22: The Signal CloudFlare Hack

Feb 06, 2025 37m

In episode 22, Shane and Dave explain how a clever 15-year-old discovered a way to geolocate Signal users, despite Signal’s reputation for strong security. We’ll explain how he did it, and you’ll…

Episode 21: Scaling Laws

Jan 14, 2025 58m

In episode 21, Shane and Dave explain how things lose features when they get bigger and why. Why can full-sized helipcopters not fly upside down, but small RC helipcopters can?? And so much more!

Episode 20: Skiing

Dec 20, 2024 52m

In episode 20, Shane and Dave explain skiing! First principles: Types, materials, physics, techniques.

Episode 19: High Performance Driving

Jul 23, 2024 56m

In episode 19, Shane and Dave explain high performance driving: How to drive at the performance limit The physics of racing Racing strategy

Episode 18: How NAT works on the internet

Jun 28, 2024 45m

In episode 18, Shane and Dave explain how the internet inventors were able to cram billions of IP addreses into a much smaller space. And, this is how your home internet connection works too!

Episode 17: Rainbows

May 17, 2024 44m

In episode 17, Shane and Dave explain the surprising science of rainbows. Can you touch one? Does everyone else see the same rainbow that you see?

Episode 16: ChatGPT

Apr 11, 2024 32m

In episode 16, Shane and Dave explain how GPTs work. GPTs are a type of large language model, and the most famous is ChatGPT.

Episode 15: DNS on the Internet

Mar 19, 2024 59m

In episode 15, Shane and Dave explain the Domain Name Service, which is how your web browser figures out the IP addresses to use for domain names like google.com

Episode 14: Alexa

Mar 02, 2024 46m

In episode 14, Shane and Dave explain how Alexa works. Alexa is the most popular household voice assistant. Find out how Alexa works on the inside!

Episode 13: Telecommunications part 5, reliable communication with TCP

Feb 10, 2024 1h 5m

In episode 13, Shane and Dave explain how the internet ensures that data is delivered between computers reliably and in order.

Episode 12: Telecommunications Part 4, the internet!

Jan 08, 2024 47m

In episode 12, Shane and Dave continue explaining the saga of telecommunications. Computer networks! How the technologies work that power the internet.

Episode 11: Explaining Computers Part 2

Dec 23, 2023 53m

In episode 11, Shane and Dave continue explaining computers. This is the 2nd part in a to-be-determined-length saga.

Episode 10: Explaining Computers Part 1

Nov 27, 2023 34m

In episode 10, Shane and Dave start to explain how computers work, from the very bottom: transistors, digital logic, binary, math, and much more. This will be the first part of an awesome saga!

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Explainercast have?

Explainercast has published 29 episodes since April 2023, covering topics in Technology.

Is Explainercast still active?

Explainercast is currently active with new episodes monthly. Average episode length is 48m.

How do I contact Explainercast for sponsorship or guest appearances?

Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Explainercast, including email and social media links.

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