99% Invisible

Reporter Katie Thornton tells the story of Doktoro Esperanto’s dream, and what we can all still learn from Esperanto right now.

How a women’s prison in Greenwich Village, and its unusual open windows, helped shape queer community and the modern gay rights movement.

A closer look at the quirks, imperfections, and clever design solutions that have helped Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum evolve over the decades.

A desert train built for Tony Hawk leads into the strange and thoughtful world of N.D. Austin, a designer of real-life experiences.

Football helmets can prevent devastating injuries, but they may also help make an inherently violent game feel safer than it really is.

A closer look at the messy, beautiful bricks hiding across Chicago.

Imbued in the Alcoholics Anonymous sobriety chip is a hidden history of America’s relationship to gender, religion, and morality.

How a Swiss mountain call crossed the Atlantic and helped define the sound of country music.

Former MythBuster Adam Savage joins Roman Mars to explore the history of the 500 Series Telephone and what we lost when we eventually decided to leave it behind.

How a movie prop became one of Philadelphia’s most beloved monuments, and sparked a decades-long fight over where it belonged.

How a single product—the hair relaxer—became a mirror for all of America's contradictions.

A legendary typeface, a spectacular friendship breakup, and one extremely committed act of revenge.

How should the military outfit its soldiers to make them as safe and effective as possible?

Every product has to be tested somehow, and sometimes that means finding increasingly creative ways to break it.

How the ceramic Dalmatian became the mascot for one of America's most popular game shows.

This week, two stories about the strange power of the 1-800 number.

How the time clock not only ignited a revolution in workplace efficiency and surveillance, but transformed our relationship to time itself.

Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome.

Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei has a simple question: Why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm?

Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war.

Comedian Elliott Kalan joins Roman Mars to tell the story of how a politician who owed so much to a corrupt government system became the one to dismantle it, thanks to one woman: Julia Isabella Sand.

A devastating fire put one of Hong Kong's oldest building traditions on trial, but the real story runs much deeper.

Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Negro cloth" — a textile category defined by nothing but who it was worn by.

Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story.

In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device.

A simple cardboard box helped transform Finland into one of the best places in the world to raise a child.

In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool, but the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity.

Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt.

In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions.

A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever.

The teddy bear was a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal.

We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about?

Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-founding father and his inflammatory 1764 pamphlet.

Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible.

How was a household tool reimagined as a deadly weapon…that never actually existed?

Billions of state quarters disappeared from circulation...and that was exactly the plan.

Why did an ordinary schoolbook become so treasured that enslaved people risked their lives to possess it?

Love it or hate it, one buzzing horn changed the sound of the World Cup forever.

In 1861, one man and a “gas bag” filled with hydrogen sparked America's obsession with going higher, farther, into the unknown.

Behind every cheesy karaoke track was a surprisingly ambitious filmmaking experiment.

Unearthing a remarkable slave rebellion through dusty Civil War paperwork.

Canada reshaped its music industry with a quirky radio rule that changed who got heard.

A tiny screw. A precise angle. How America built a hidden empire, one standard at a time.

What started as a revolutionary treatment for river blindness became something far messier.

A locked iron safe, sealed for 100 years. What objects did Americans choose to remember?

As wild and random as they might seem, a lot of work—and even poetry—goes into coming up with today's catchiest, most unforgettable drug names.

100 objects. 100 stories. A new history of the US hiding in plain sight.

Why is it suddenly so hard to fix the stuff we depend on most?

One man rejected nationality and dared the world to recognize him anyway.

Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article VI and VII, which includes the all-important Supremacy Clause. Alondra Nelson, a leading expert on AI, is our guest.

The world’s largest housing co-op—built to save New York City’s middle class—became the unlikely site of a resident revolt

The surprisingly long history of trying to use robots to call balls and strikes in baseball. With an update!

A missing car reveals the confusing rules, murky fees, and private actors behind modern towing.

In a place where losing power can turn deadly, keeping the lights on is a high-stakes balancing act.

Why did it take nearly a decade to redesign a city trash can, and why haven't more bins made the streets cleaner?

Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article V, which lays out the process to amend the Constitution. Jill Lepore is our guest.

What the world's most advanced traffic system can—and can't—do for the city that invented gridlock.

The surprising power of a simple phone number to connect a community.

How one wealthy, amateur astronomer convinced the world Martians were real.

For centuries, the world's greatest minds were stumped by the deadly mystery of longitude, until an obsessive underdog entered the fray and changed navigation forever.

Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article IV, which outlines the relationship between states and between states and the federal government. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is our guest this month.

How a fence meant to protect sheep transformed the entire Australian landscape.

How a small Mexican border town transformed itself into the dental tourism capital of the world, where dental care costs up to 80% less than what it might cost in the United States.

When Idaho put a slogan on their license plates in 1928 it started a trend across all states and this would prove surprisingly contentious.

The strange history of a punctuation mark that makes writing feel human, and why people now think it proves the opposite.

This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article III, which establishes the judicial branch, alongside New York Times chief legal affairs correspondent, Adam Liptak.

Throughout Africa and beyond, Zimbabweans are known for choosing some of the most bold, head-turning English-language names. Zimbabwean producer Kim Chakanetsa tells the story of how her country's journey from colonial rule to independence shaped the nation's unique naming traditions.

This week we're featuring Audio Flux, a short-form audio challenge where artists squeeze surprising stories into three minutes.

A young designer faces an impossible brief and discovers the spark that will define his legendary career.

Performance changing gear, a Titanic era nurse with unbelievable resilience, and an ingenious art vending project reveal how innovation and endurance shape unexpected worlds.

From rogue stop signs to rooftop mini golf, discover how chaos and creativity quietly shape the urban world.

This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to the remainder of Article Two, which defines the scope and limits of presidential power, alongside former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden.

A glowing Vegas pyramid, a famously mistyped domain, and a long-delayed miracle investigation unfold in three unexpected tales.

From military parades to smoky clubs, one invention’s wild journey reveals how an instrument can become a symbol of rebellion and reinvention.

A single diagonal step on a map sparks a legal war with huge consequences.

How Jane Jacob's urbanism dreams came to life on the most beloved kids' TV block.

This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to Article Two, which establishes the executive branch, alongside former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Writer Caroline Fraser argues a chilling link between industrial poison, deadly design, and a generation of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest.

People once dreamed of sidewalks that could whisk them across cities. Somehow, that dream ended up at the airport.

Comedy writer Elliott Kalan (The Daily Show, The Flop House, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and co-host of the 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker) spills the secrets of how he grows jokes from tiny ideas into full-blown laughs.

From buckskin breeches to Patagonia vests, uncover how America’s obsession with ruggedness and war shaped the clothes we wear every day.

This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One, Sections 8 through 10, which spells out what Congress can and cannot do. Then, Senator Elizabeth Warren joins to talk about Congress’s “power of the purse."

What if all those dropped calls, endless wait times and dead end hotlines every time you try to reach customer service weren’t accidents but part of the plan?

One SEGA employee chronicles the company’s struggles the only way he knows how: by turning it into a game.

From blocky biomes to breathtaking open worlds, video games are teaching us new ways to see, build, and even save nature.

Back in the 90s, artists turned video games into movie sets, and their wildest ideas are finally hitting documentaries.

Before Fortnite and Call of Duty ruled the scene, the US Army quietly shaped the early 2000s with a wildly popular, free shooter designed to excite young people about enlisting.

From airplanes to Pac-Man to the battlefield, the joystick has quietly shaped the way humans connect with machines.

Step back into the ’90s, when dunks broke backboards, catchphrases caught fire, and one arcade game turned every kid into an NBA superstar.

In anticipation of the release of Hidden Levels, Roman and Ben join Heather Anne Campbell (Rick and Morty) and Matt Apodaca of Get Played to talk controllers, culture, and why video games might just be running the world.

Like a shadow epilogue to The Power Broker, this story plunges into the chaos of 1970s New York where debt, unions, and one brutal headline nearly broke the city.

This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One with Rep. Sharice Davids.

In a Colorado meatpacking town, refugees fleeing persecution find themselves in some of the most dangerous jobs in America.

Mary Roach dives into the strange, funny, and unsettling world of designing new body parts, from pig hearts to prosthetic feet, revealing just how messy replacing ourselves can be.

Roman and Kurt describe Oakland as it is.

For 99PI’s 15th anniversary, Roman sits in the hot seat to answer 15 eclectic questions, touching on everything from his dream merch to the one object he's always wanted to cover on the show.

A billionaire family’s private bridge empire shaped Detroit for decades, sparking battles over power, neighborhoods, and the future of an international crossing.

Vintage music barely had any bass. Today’s hits are all about the low end. What changed?

Aimee Semple McPherson built America’s first megachurch, blended showbiz with salvation, and vanished in a scandal that captivated the nation.