The Bedtime Scientist

About

The story of the show.

Mr. Rogers meets Carl Sagan, for bedtime. That is the whole ambition, and it is a big one.

The beginning

It started with one hard bedtime.

I made the first episodes for one listener: my older son, who found bedtime hard. Not because he was not tired, but because his mind would not stop asking questions. So instead of asking him to stop wondering, I decided to wonder with him, slowly, in the dark, until sleep arrived on its own.

Somewhere along the way, I understood what I was really making. Even if no one else ever pressed play, my two boys would always have my voice, and the way I see the world. A public show and a private gift, at the same time. Then other families found it, and it turned out a lot of bedrooms needed the same thing.

The method

Written in layers, on purpose.

Every episode is real science, checked and rechecked, then told in three layers at once. A four-year-old feels the wonder and the safety. An older child learns how the thing actually works. And the grown-up in the doorway hears the layer written just for them.

The delivery never changes: one steady human voice. No music, no sound effects, no jokes at the listener's expense, nothing that startles. The show is sensory-friendly by design, because calm is not a style here. It is the point.

Along the way

Where the show has been.

  • #12 in Kids and Family, Apple Podcasts
  • NYC Podcast Awards nominee
  • Featured in The Week Junior
  • A featured show on Yoto

Thanks for wondering with me.

Josh, The Bedtime Scientist