One of the first podcasts I listened to was called "60 Second Science", and it had been in existence for a number of year. It's sponsored by Scientific American, who releases a new episode daily. The concept is very simple: every day, a quick, interesting scientific find is talked about for just one minute (that explains the name 60 seconds science).
The topics chosen were of interest to most people, not just those hard versed in sciences. They also all had a link to the real world, for example -- "Why Bangladesh water contains arsenic." I've never been good at keeping things short, and to be honest I don't always see the point. This podcast proved me how sometimes concise is better, though. These pieces of information would've gotten boring if the podcaster had tried to tell us everything they knew about the topic of the day. Keeping each emission under 60 seconds was just long enough to grab my interest and make me want to know more at the same time.
The woman talked very quickly, not trying to particularly add any emotions to her podcast. While this might sound strange, it also made it sound more professional and took less time than taking numerous pauses in her speech. The language was kept scientific but not impossible to understand. There were also some jokes included, not the kind that make you burst out laughing, but nice enough to make it sound interesting.
Overall, this podcast made me think about not making my own final podcast too long, and of keeping the level of professionalism/casual conversation balanced by adding some jokes and explaining the more formal language if I have any.
Graber, Cynthia. "Plants Share Light if Neighbour is Related." 60 Seconds Science. 20 Nov 2009. 145. Scientific American. 24 Nov 2009 <"http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=plants-share-light-if-neighbor-is-r-09-11-20">
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