Discovery Channel Video Podcasts Review: Science, Shorter.

I've been training for a 10-mile run next month, which means that every Saturday, I run progressively longer distances. I'm often out running a straight, flat trail for an hour or more at a stretch. It can get a bit boring.

But last weekend on my run, and I came across the little guy below.

It was small, unexpected, and entirely delightful.

And that's a little bit like how I feel about the tiny, almost perfect 

Discover Channel Video podcasts. I've resisted downloading the 1- to 5-minute podcasts, despite their popularity on iTunes, because other 

podcasts along similar themes have been crushingly boring.

But these do not disappoint. They're sometimes scary (a volcano beneath Yellowstone is overdue for explosion, and could coat the entire nation in ash), sometimes gross (how to find and cook a slug worth eating), but always entertaining.

I've been especially intrigued by their "Time Warp" feature, where they show a range of activities in super slow motion. Bullets through candy, fire eaters, dogs catching Frisbees. The podcasts are rarely longer than three or four minutes, and I suspect I'll be downloading a few dozen before long airplane rides. They're well produced, very tight, and a fantastic way to pass the time.

While I sometimes find that the podcasts are a bit too testosterone-fueled for me (did I really need to see cheerleaders do their backflips in slow motion? At THAT angle?), and they're occasionally in bad  taste (a segment in which a crazed man destroyed $7 million of a small town's real estate and then killed himself was misguided at best), it's still almost impossible to tear yourself away. 

When I've tired of long shows on Important, Worthy Topics, I clear my podcast palate with these short, entertaining, and entirely lovable shows.