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Hosted by The American Philosophical Society · history · EN-US
The Useful Knowledge podcast is all about big ideas and the people behind them. Each episode features a Member of the American Philosophical Society (APS) or one of our grant and fellowship alumni, all sharing the significance and impact of their work across diverse fields. Join host Patrick Spero, CEO of the APS, in conversation with guests on topics spanning science, history, the arts, and beyond, and see how knowledge of any kind can spark curiosity, solve problems, and enrich the world.
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Contact path
Public web form
Booking probability
28%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchThe Useful Knowledge podcast is all about big ideas and the people behind them. Each episode features a Member of the American Philosophical Society (APS) or one of our grant and fellowship alumni, all sharing the significance and impact of their work across diverse fields.
Useful Knowledge is hosted by The American Philosophical Society. The show has published 13 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "Episode Twelve, Weathering Crisis: Marcia McNutt on James Madison, Climate, and Citizen Science" (13 October 2026, 52 minutes), "Episode Eleven, Monsters and Humans: Surekha Davies on Science, Society, and Breaking Boundaries" (8 September 2026, 31 minutes), and "Bonus Episode: America’s Scientific Revolutionaries, “Cultivating Ethnobotanical Knowledge”" (25 August 2026, 61 minutes).
Useful Knowledge publishes roughly monthly, with episodes averaging 43 minutes across 13 episodes.
Booking probability for Useful Knowledge is 28%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Useful Knowledge requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Useful Knowledge's contact route on record: public web form.
The strongest fits for Useful Knowledge are Universities & Colleges. Useful Knowledge has a history audience.
The American Philosophical Society hosts Useful Knowledge, a history podcast with 13 episodes published.
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
Episode #12
He’s best remembered as a Founding Father, but did you know that James Madison also helped establish meteorology in the United States? From his observations of weather conditions and crop cycles to notes on the...
Episode #11
Are monsters real? In this episode of Useful Knowledge , host Patrick Spero joins author, historian, and self-proclaimed “monster consultant” Surekha Davies to learn about what she calls “monsterification” in human...
Useful Knowledge
Indigenous traditions and communities have helped preserve the plants of the Americas since time immemorial. In this special episode of Useful Knowledge , part of the APS’s America’s Scientific Revolutionaries series...
In 1999, the American Philosophical Society held a symposium that gathered experts from around the world to make predictions about humanity in the 21st century. One of those experts, demographer and statistician Joel...
<p>In 1999, the American Philosophical Society held a symposium that gathered experts from around the world to make predictions about humanity in the 21st century. One of those experts, demographer and statistician Joel...
Episode #8
<p>Dr. Emily Sperou is an ecobiologist and researcher who spent her doctoral studies and the first years of her postdoctoral career studying one of the world’s most elusive apex predators: the leopard seal. She and her...
<p>David Tatel grew up believing in the power of law and science to make life better for everyone. He began doing that work himself, launching a decades-long career as a civil rights lawyer and later, as a judge in the...
<p>Before becoming a respected biochemist, Michael Marletta was a child watching Sputnik crossing over Rochester, New York, imagining what it might be like to be a scientist one day. He was his mother’s helper in the...
<p>Distant, freezing, barren–it may seem that the icy regions of the Arctic and Antarctica have nothing to do with life in warmer homes. In this episode of Useful Knowledge, Neil Shubin, paleontologist, evolutionary...
<p>Psychologist, author, and APS Member Daniel Gilbert considers the human imagination one of our greatest evolutionary gifts. In this episode of Useful Knowledge, Gilbert joins host Patrick Spero to discuss how humans...
<p>Historian and APS Member Joyce Chaplin joins host Patrick Spero to speak about Benjamin Franklin and the global significance of the Franklin stove.</p><p>Chaplin explores how Franklin’s efforts to heat his...
<p>In this episode of Useful Knowledge, Patrick Spero speaks with pioneering astronomer Jill Tarter about her lifelong search for life beyond Earth. Tarter, a founding figure of modern SETI, reflects on the scientific...
<p>Classicist Dame Mary Beard joins host Patrick Spero to explore what “useful knowledge” means for understanding the ancient world—and ourselves. From Roman ideas of punishment and citizenship to the myths of freedom...
Recent guests on Useful Knowledge. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
Simpsons Writer, Emmy Winner, and Football Enthusiast, Rockefeller University
retired federal court of appeals judge
Professor of Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, University of Chicago
Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge
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