New and notable: June edition

Eric Kelly learned how to fight – or in his words survive – at a young age. His days fending off bullies in Brooklyn lead to him becoming an Olympic level boxer, until a bar fight ended his career. Now he runs a boxing gym and coaching program to keep underprivileged kids off the streets and out of trouble. But all things considered, is one's willingness to fight and assert dominance necessarily the measure of a man? In this episode of Man Up, host Aymann Ismail sits down with Eric for a tough, yet funny and enlightening conversation about the notion of what a man should be.

Each episode of this series follows a similar format, highlighting stories from what it's like to be the only girl in a group of boys as they discover sex, to what it's like for a boy to grow up with a ghost for a father. As Aymann investigates the idea of manhood, he also figures out what being a man means to him. The conversations heard on Man Up are powerful, and spark such important conversations around masculinity.

- Kelsey Cueva, Associate Producer, Podcast Playlist

Podcasts featured this week:

Endless Thread: Infectious – Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson, along with producer Josh Swartz, explore the weird, winding story of scientific innovation, medical disasters and online theories that radicalized new parents and created a movement that some say threatens to send us back to the disease-ridden dark ages.

Tell Them, I Am – Tan France is the Queer Eye fashion guru to whom people would pay good money to get advice. His love for giving his opinion traces back to one hot afternoon watching his siblings play Game Boy.

Decomposed with Jade Simmons – Clara Schumann was a child prodigy turned international sensation — but it's a miracle she was ever on stage at all. This is the story of a woman who was born to play, and refused to stop.

Man Up – Host Aymann Ismail invites men and women to tell embarrassing, funny, and sometimes disturbing stories about their lives as they try to figure out what they still have to learn—and unlearn—about being a man.

Explore: A Canadian Geographic Podcast – Dr. Roberta Bondar remembers the moment she became the first Canadian female astronaut to go into space on board the space shuttle Discovery in 1992.

Plus: Critic Nick Quah of the Hot Pod newsletter stops by to share the latest in the podcasting industry.

Which new podcasts do you think we should check out? Email, tweet us @PodcastPlaylist, or find us on Facebook.

For more great podcasts, check out CBC's podcast portal, subscribe in Apple Podcasts.