Stuff You Should Know

Someone cuts you off in traffic or makes fun of your friend and all you can think of is how to get back at them and then some. But wait! Research has found that taking revenge actually makes you feel worse in the long run. Learn about what to do instead.

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The Dakota is one of New York City's great buildings. And its backstory is pretty great to boot. 

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Christine Granville was about as James Bond as it gets. Stories of her life as a spy during World War II are legendary. Today we'll tell her story. 

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What is Cockney Rhyming Slang? It's complicated and its origins are unclear. Learn everything we know about it today in this classic episode.

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Kombucha is pretty popular right now. But what is it exactly and where did it come from? The answers await you!

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Have you ever stopped mid-pencil mark and realized to your astonishment where the plus sign came from? Then this one’s for you.

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It’s easy (and kind of fun) to laugh at the misfortune of CEOs and other high up business types when they bring it on themselves – so let’s do that now. Herein lies some of the worst business decisions ever made, hindsight being 20/20, of course.

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Floods happen when more water is introduced to an area than can be quickly removed. That's about it, but there's more to floods, what causes them and the havoc they can wreak. Join Josh and Chuck in this super-saturated classic episode of Stuff You Should Know.

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In 1981 America suffered the worst accidental structural collapse in its history. Listen in today to the tragic story of the fast-tracked building disaster that stills haunts Kansas City. 

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Face it, when you spill salt your life goes totally off the rails, maybe even forever. Fortunately, we humans stumbled upon the one reliable way to counteract that bad luck by tossing some over our left shoulder.

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It’s a listener request! Axolotls are one of the more amazing animals roaming the planet right now – they can regenerate parts of their brains, can fight off tumors, are found in the wild only in one single lake? And did we mention they smile all the time?

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It seems like we largely take it for granted these days, but the fact that we have humans living in space is the realization of a scientific dream a century old. Visit the space stations orbiting Earth past, present and future in this classic episode.

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Today we dive into the history and current state of Native American reservations. This serves as a nice follow-up to the Trail of Tears double-ep from 2017. 

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Is OK the best word? It's certainly one of the most versatile. Check the interesting history of this weird contraction.

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In WWII, Italy went through its own Jewish Holocaust, terrible at first then horrific as the Nazis took over the country. In Rome, a group of doctors hid Jewish refugees in plain sight in their hospital by giving them a highly contagious, highly fictitious disease.  

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Chuck and Josh end up making reduxes of past episodes on things like sweating and deodorant in this all-new episode on the science beneath what makes people smell. Learn all about your odor in this classic episode.

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Laurens Hammond invented the Hammond organ and in the process changed music history. But he was much more than that. 

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You've seen the evil eye. Many Middle Eastern cultures have a long history with it. Learn how to thwart this curse today. 

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Henry Ford tried to build a Midwestern American town in the Amazon rainforest in the 1920s. It's true. And yes, Chuck will say this should be a movie. 

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It's every kid's dream - a job playing with toys that pays in toys. It's a real thing and has been around for a long time. Then there's the other side of the testing process, companies who ensure that toys are safe. It takes both of these testing techniques to successfully bring a toy to market these days. Dive into the ball pit with us today and learn all about toy testing in this classic episode.

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Climate change is having sweeping effects on our climate and this is changing the world, not just for humans and other animals, but plants too. Will the Earth’s flora manage to find safe refuge in time?    

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Friends, treasure Saturn’s rings while they are young. They won’t be around forever.

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The Farmer's Almanac has a long rich history that is more than just moon phases and long-term weather patterns. Tune in to learn all about it. 

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Today music sampling is a common practice, especially in electronic or hip-hop music. But how does it work? After all, other artists made the original music, and most of them would presumably like to be paid. Tune in to this classic episode to learn more about music sampling.

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One of the great Arctic mysteries was the disappearance of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in search of a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific. Not one man survived the trip, and they left precious little behind in the way of clues.

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In the 19th century news spread of an unfortunate man who was born with an evil second face on the back of his head that spoke to him. The real story is that people keep falling for it.

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If we could talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, what would we say? We’d better start thinking of something good because researchers are learning to speak sperm whale, prairie dog, and a bunch of other species' languages.

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You can stick them to the fridge or use them to transpose sound to tape, whatever they are used for magnets are surprisingly interesting. And knowing just exactly how and why magnets work will make you more interesting, which is why you should listen to this classic episode of SYSK.

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Science is just realizing the extent of the tiny pollutants that have entered ecosystems across Earth and inside all humans. We call them xenobiotics – substances foreign to our bodies – and what effects they have on us we’re only starting to learn.

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Who spoke English first and what was it like? Nothing like it is today. Listen in to learn all about it. 

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Diaries have been around for a long time. There are many famous ones, and tens of millions that will never see the light of day. Learn about the history and benefits of journaling today.

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Rainbows seem to defy nature, but they're really pretty simple when it comes down to it. Turns out it's just light reacting to water droplets in the air. But they sure do look cool. Learn all about how rainbows are formed in this classic episode.

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The last meal of the executed is a longstanding tradition. Listen in today to learn about the dark history and modern practice of this culinary curiosity. 

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Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. This is the NATO alphabet. But where did it come from?

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Borderline Personality Disorder has been described as emotional “third degree burns over ninety percent of your body.” It’s as close to a curse as a personality disorder can be: deep fear of being abandoned creates behaviors that end up driving people off.

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The Strad violin is noted for its tonal qualities and superior craftsmanship. And for its price tag. There are many theories why the Strad sounds so great, from the wood to the lacquer, to the simple fact that Antonio Stradivari was really good at what he did. Rosin up your bow and take a listen to this classic episode.

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Chuck and Josh grew up on MAD Magazine and we hope you did too. What started out as a comic book that spoofed comic books grew into the foundation of American satire and cultivated a healthy skepticism in generations of kids. Hail to the clods at MAD!

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In the US those ubiquitous blue highway signs that tell you which direction you’ll find a Burger King have an interesting backstory. 

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Today, Chuck and Josh dive into the ins and outs of language learning. 

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Hinduism and Buddhism are closely related in a number of ways, including their vision of what comes after we exit this mortal coil. Learn about the religions' interesting interpretation of the state of existence outside space-time, in this classic episode.

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What became the Magic Eye illusion fad of the 1990s was born by way of the stereogram of the 1950s (and even before that). It's a winding story that you'll love!

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Throwing a pie in someone’s face was groundbreaking comedy once upon a time.

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Insomnia is rough stuff. Listen in and learn all about why you can't fall asleep and what you can do about that.

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Police lineups are something most people have never had any firsthand experience with. What you see on TV and in movies isn't so far off though. Learn about how these tropes work for real in this classic episode.

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There is probably no drug more mythologized than PCP. It drives users insane and has the unfortunate side effect of bestowing superhuman strength thus sending them on a rampage. But does it though?

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The most famous cemetery in Paris has some of the most famous people in the world buried there. And it's quite lovely.

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This is a very special episode, the first one we've ever fully recorded a second time and decided to release. Why? Because it's good and a little different and we thought you'd enjoy this unheard of double dose. So enjoy!

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They are creepy, sure, but they are also useful, cute and in great danger of extinction. Get a new lease on life from a new view of bats in this classic episode.

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James Beard is well-known now for the annual awards named in his honor. But he used to be the most famous chef in America, and set the standard for what makes a celebrity chef.

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The Hollywood sign is an iconic landmark that started out as a real estate billboard. Can you believe it?

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If truckers suddenly vanished the global economy would come to a grinding halt in a couple days. But as important as they are these highway heroes (mostly) are, they’re systematically mistreated by their industry. 

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The people of Flint, MI were horrified to find their drinking water was poisoned with lead. As we learn more about lead's effects and realize how persistent it is, the more worrying it becomes. What makes lead so toxic? Find out in this classic episode.

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If you thought caterpillars were awesome, just wait until you see them with colorful, iridescent wings!

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Fahrenheit or Celsius? Why not both? If they can agree - exactly at -40 degrees  - then it seems like we should all be able to agree they're both great as well.

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Caterpillars are simply the best. Don't think so? Well listen in and you'll soon agree

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It's easy to overlook the importance of ocean currents - they move along out at sea, while we stay mostly on land. But we are globally affected by them every day. Currents form the base of the food chain, drive weather and keep life as we know it going. Explore them with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.

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Black sci-fi writers were shut out of their genre in the 20th century so they created their own vision of the future. That sentiment spread to music and film and today it’s so engrained in pop culture it doesn't need its own label. 

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It has arrived, the most important podcast episode in the history of the world. 

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There is a good chance that in March of 2023, humans crossed a threshold into a transformative new era when a new, smarter type of AI was let loose in the wild and an AI arms race began.  

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For this special live benefit episode recorded in Atlanta, Josh and Chuck go back to the 70s and look at the decidedly ungroovy course of events that led to Ford recalling its Pinto after people started burning up in them.

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Humans made it through the Bronze Age and Iron Age, then we dabbled in steel, and now we are living in the Aluminum Age. The metal is so ubiquitous it seems like it’s been around forever, but we’ve only been really using it since the 20th century.

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The suicide forest in Japan is a beautiful place with a checkered reputation. Trigger Warning: This episode features a discussion of suicide. If you or anyone you know needs help, please call 988.

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Ever wondered when and why people started caring about body odors and cleanliness? Well look no further than today's episode. 

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Did you know some of our most beloved movies originally had different, sometimes better, endings? That is until they were tested in front of focus groups. Learn all about the how, what, and why of audience testing in this classic episode.

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Philosophers have been wondering whether we experience reality as it is for millennia now. They’ve pretty much settled on no, no we don’t. Now science has taken up the investigation and it’s proving the philosophers correct. So what is reality then?

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One of the more futuristic things around right now on Earth is research into encoding data into strings of genetic code.

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Keeping your elbows off the table, keeping your fingers out of the gravy boat – at some point these became very important rules of etiquette. But what purpose do manners serve? It turns out they just may be the glue that prevents society from unraveling.

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Almost everything you know about pterosaurs is wrong. They weren't birds, they weren't flying dinosaurs and they weren't all pterodactyls. Which makes this classic episode a great one for you to learn some new and amazing stuff about terrifying prehistoric beasts! 

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Could eating at only certain times of the day lead to weight loss? Possibly! 

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Everyone knows what a Rube Goldberg machine is, but what do you know about the cartoonist who they're named after?

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For a moment Milli Vanilli was the hottest musical act in the world. Then came the news that it was just that, an act, and the fall came swiftly and humiliatingly. Now, 30 years on, a look back yields not so much a cautionary tale as a very sad story.

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Science doesn't have a good explanation for why we sense color, yet it is everywhere and affecting us all the time. But why should minutely different wavelengths of light have such an impact on our moods and motivations? Explore these questions and more with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.

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Humans exercising for better health has not been around that long. Today we dive into this fun history as we cover why and when we started this now commonplace pastime. 

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If you watch the news and hear the pollen count is high for some particular type of plant then it’s high time you learned how they do that.

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The Bechdel Test is a is a measure of the representation of women in film. You'd be surprised how many movies fail. 

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You know those shows where people wearing sensible shoes jog dogs around in circles? They actually represent the pinnacle of a long and complex path to glory for dogs and their owners. Join Chuck and Josh as they peek inside the American dog show in this classic episode.

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It’s totally bonkers that in the US and other countries, the job of determining the guilt or innocence of an accused criminal – whose life may be at stake – is left not to experts in law but to a group of random citizens. Even crazier, it generally works!

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Mood Rings were all the rage in the 1970s. Then they went away, and fast. What's your color today?

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Not too long ago we thought that germs were the cause of most diseases, leading to germ theory. But when we look at maladies from heart disease to Alzheimer’s one commonality stands out: inflammation. Could it be we’ve found the root cause of all diseases?

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It has been called a "glorified spring", but Slinky is one of the best selling toys of all time. From accidental origins to an unlikely resurrection, Slinky has a pretty great back story. Learn all about it in this classic episode.

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TV weather people can seem corny and maybe a little nerdy, but beneath that toothsome exterior lies the heart of a lonely warrior of science, one who is often overlooked as the hardest working member of the news team. Learn all about these unsung heroes.  

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Who is Frances Kelsey? Well, she's a semi-unsung hero of the FDA whose work helped save a lot of kids from congenital disorders and even death. Listen and learn!

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It's funny how similar The Colosseum in Rome is to modern day arenas. They really had it figured out. Tune in today to learn all about this early entertainment venue. 

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Does the human body really replace itself every few years? The answer is yes, but different parts of the body do so at different rates. Learn all about which parts of your body are the speediest, and which take the longest to regenerate, in this classic episode.

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Smell-O-Vision was a post-war movie theater gimmick that delivered well-timed scents to the noses of audiences to align with the movie. Did it work? Sort of. Did it ultimately fail? Yes. Does that mean it has gone away forever? No.

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There’s a theory that all of us have a maximum number of friendships that we can maintain – 150, to be exact. Suspiciously exact, really, if you think about it.

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Another classic toys edition is at your collective feet. Today, we dive into the soft, padded world of NERF!

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When a suspect or prisoner goes on the lam there are plenty of ways to hide: in plain sight, in the mountains, in another country. There are as many types of ways law enforcement uses to track wanted people as their are ways to go on the lam, but there are some founding principles to carrying out a successful manhunt and they actually include you. Learn about how the fuzz tracks down fugitives and how it's evolving in the age of social media in this classic episode.

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It might not be the sexiest topic we’ve ever covered (and by “might”, we mean “definitely”), but there are some things you just need to learn about and this deadly and undetectable gas that’s part of our everyday lives is one of them. So buck up.

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Botox can chase away the lines on your face, apparently it can chase away your depression, borderline personality disorder, and anxiety too.

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Today we dive in to celebrate the international treasure that is Dolly Parton. Why is she nearly universally loved? Listen in to find out. 

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Is it true that Robin Hood hung out in Sherwood Forest and stole from the rich to give to the poor? No. No, it’s not. Find out the real story in this classic episode.

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We've wanted to contact extraterrestrials for as long as we've suspected they're out there. But as we get better and locating potentially inhabited planets, beaming messages their way is suddenly posing a threat. 

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Routines are a key part of a successful life. Ask anybody about theirs and they'll be happy to share!

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It sounds controversial, but there are persuasive arguments for the wealthy Global North to write off the debts lower-income nations have accrued. Some say the US and Europe actually owe it to them. This is one of those boring ones you shouldn’t skip.

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Sure, you've probably laid in one at the store or a funeral home, but how much do you know about receptacles used to bury the dead? We'll bet you'll learn plenty - like the difference between a coffin and a casket - in this classic episode.

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John Brinkley was perhaps the biggest quack who ever claimed to be practicing medicine. Learn all about this not so good guy today!

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Thanks to green algae, there's such a thing as red snow. And we've recently found it can accelerate global warming. Look out!

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At 13,000 feet the ground is nothing but far-away squares of land, and you can even see some clouds below you. All of a sudden you find yourself plummeting downward. There are very few thrills like jumping out of a plane with a parachute.

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