Stuff You Should Know

Wed, 25 Dec 2024

Herman Scheunemann wasn’t the only captain carrying Christmas trees across Lake Michigan to Chicag...

Mon, 23 Dec 2024

Welcome to the end of 2024 and our annual Christmas Extravaganza episode, brought to you ad-free for...

Sat, 21 Dec 2024

Frances Perkins was an incredibly influential American yet is virtually unknown. What did she do? A ...

Thu, 19 Dec 2024

For our annual pre-Holiday-Special-holiday-episode-about-a-holiday-toy we are jumping into one of th...

Wed, 18 Dec 2024

You know that old adage that you should feed a cold but starve a fever? It’s an ancient idea and w...

Tue, 17 Dec 2024

If you’ve ever lost your job thanks to a management consultant coming through your company or been...

Sat, 14 Dec 2024

In 1947 the port town of Texas City, Texas became the site of the largest industrial disaster in Ame...

Thu, 12 Dec 2024

Tugboats are amazing because they do the dirty work without much recognition. Well that's changing t...

Wed, 11 Dec 2024

These invasive spiders are everywhere these days. But how did they get to the USA and are they harmf...

Tue, 10 Dec 2024

If you’ve ever wanted to know why peacocks have such amazing feathers, why they’re not all calle...

Sat, 07 Dec 2024

When the birth control pill hit the market in 1960 it landed like a social bomb. Almost overnight, w...

Thu, 05 Dec 2024

The Ruby Ridge standoff still lingers after more than 30 years. But who was at fault for the lives l...

Wed, 04 Dec 2024

One of the world’s unsung heroes – at least outside of Italy – is a brave woman who stood up t...

Tue, 03 Dec 2024

As the philosophical holds, there’s a chance you don’t exist, that not only you, but this episod...

Sat, 30 Nov 2024

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...

Thu, 28 Nov 2024

Please enjoy our 2024 live show about the wild tale of the Madd Gasser of Mattoon. See omnystudio.c...

Wed, 27 Nov 2024

A terrible thing happened in Germany in the summer of 1184.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

Tue, 26 Nov 2024

Tetris is an iconic game with a fascinating history. Dive in today to learn all about this classic p...

Sat, 23 Nov 2024

The infamous Stanford Prison Experiment wasn't really much of an experiment as it turns out. It was ...

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

Tavern on the Green is a legendary NY eatery that has never rated particularly well with food critic...

Wed, 20 Nov 2024

Martha Mitchell, the wife of Nixon's Attorney General, was well-known to spread a juicy rumor. That'...

Tue, 19 Nov 2024

The US government took a thumb in the eye with the creation of the Silk Road website. Right there on...

Sat, 16 Nov 2024

During the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland’s most vulnerable and destitute residents wer...

Thu, 14 Nov 2024

Dandelions are way more interesting than you think. Trust us and click play. See omnystudio.com/lis...

Wed, 13 Nov 2024

It’s a thrill to stand and, raise your arms, maybe give a woo! then sit down again, especially if ...

Tue, 12 Nov 2024

A surprising number of Nobel Prize winners credit their childhood chemistry set for sparking their i...

Sat, 09 Nov 2024

A quinceañera is the celebration of a girl of Hispanic heritage becoming a young woman on her 15th ...

Thu, 07 Nov 2024

Today, the conclusion of the two-part episode on ADHD.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Wed, 06 Nov 2024

North America gets as many as 1400 tornadoes a year. The place with the next highest is the UK at 33...

Tue, 05 Nov 2024

Today, Josh and Chuck dive into part one of their two-part suite on ADHD.See omnystudio.com/listener...

Sat, 02 Nov 2024

Anyone who ever picked up a comic book as a kid probably marveled at the ads for the mysterious Sea ...

Thu, 31 Oct 2024

Buckle up folks, it's time for another of our favorite traditions, the SYSK Halloween Spooktacular! ...

Wed, 30 Oct 2024

Josh and Chuck dive into two spooky true stories in today's Short Stuff.See omnystudio.com/listener ...

Tue, 29 Oct 2024

One of the greatest unsolved historic mysteries is found in a lake atop a mountain glacier high up i...

Sat, 26 Oct 2024

One of the worst legacies of war are the millions of landmines left behind. They hide for decades af...

Thu, 24 Oct 2024

Most people think of Tinkerbell when we think of fairies, but the Disney versions capture only the l...

Wed, 23 Oct 2024

Every August, abandoned storefronts across America are filled with the spirit of Halloween, by way o...

Tue, 22 Oct 2024

Q Anon believes many things, including that Tom Hanks is a Satan-worshipping, child-eating pedophile...

Sat, 19 Oct 2024

We love animals. A lot. Especially underrated ones like the darling porcupine. Listen in to this cla...

Thu, 17 Oct 2024

If you're from the American South, then kudzu is something that cannot be avoided. But how did this ...

Wed, 16 Oct 2024

The process of redacting sensitive information is long and storied. But are there even any rules tha...

Tue, 15 Oct 2024

You might have owned the Anarchist Cookbook once, but you probably didn’t use it to turn a shotgun...

Sat, 12 Oct 2024

Paramedics are not EMTs. Or fire fighters. Or cops. But they do ride around in ambulances (and drive...

Thu, 10 Oct 2024

The story of the Swatch is super cool and one of the great retail successes. Listen in today to find...

Wed, 09 Oct 2024

In another chapter of our continuing mysteries of the sea theme, we deliver a truly baffling mystery...

Tue, 08 Oct 2024

Gobekli Tepe is a profoundly ancient spiritual site that shouldn’t exist, according to conventiona...

Sat, 05 Oct 2024

In 1962, three ordinary criminals transcended into folk heroes when they crawled out of their cells ...

Thu, 03 Oct 2024

The Lysol we know now is sold as disinfectant only. But at one time it was also marketed as a means ...

Wed, 02 Oct 2024

What we equate with acid, hippies, and garish polyester prints actually began as a theatrical way of...

Tue, 01 Oct 2024

As far as we know life evolved once in the universe – here on Earth in the form of life as we know...

Sat, 28 Sep 2024

Rosa Parks finishes out our Black History Month episodes in grand fashion. While most know her from ...

Thu, 26 Sep 2024

A greatest hit of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s came when the metal band Judas Priest was put on tr...

Wed, 25 Sep 2024

We love our ghost ships here at SYSK and this is one of the better ones. But did it really even exis...

Tue, 24 Sep 2024

Glasses as we know them have only been around for a few hundred years. So what did people do before ...

Sat, 21 Sep 2024

Every year Congress decides how the federal government will spend money. Simple enough, but in pract...

Thu, 19 Sep 2024

There's a good chance that if you don't live in San Antonio, Texas, you may not know who scientist/a...

Wed, 18 Sep 2024

The Killing Stone looms large in Japanese folklore, so when it split in half in March 2022, people w...

Tue, 17 Sep 2024

What if science could create a drug that made you connect with people more deeply, let your emotions...

Sat, 14 Sep 2024

Listen in to this classic episode for the conclusion of the story of the Manson Family Murders.See o...

Thu, 12 Sep 2024

The town of Celebration, Florida was supposed to be a utopia. What it ended up as is a mediocre neig...

Wed, 11 Sep 2024

Who is Uncle Sam anyway? Was it a real person or just a marketing exercise? And why does he refuse t...

Tue, 10 Sep 2024

Henry Ford was an odd guy, but one who had a vision for America that centered around a populist, aff...

Sat, 07 Sep 2024

Science fiction writers have made some amazingly accurate predictions over the years, but in 1945 th...

Thu, 05 Sep 2024

Outside of Germany, King Ludwig II is relatively unknown. And, yet, he is one of history’s most tr...

Wed, 04 Sep 2024

You – yes, you! – can be a hero to neglected and abused animals. But there’s a right way to do...

Tue, 03 Sep 2024

When Napster reared its head in 1999, it marked the beginning of the end of the compact disc era. To...

Sat, 31 Aug 2024

The '60s ended with a lot of turbulence, not the least of which was the Manson Family Murders. What ...

Thu, 29 Aug 2024

Out of all the jobs a person can have, few are as overtly dangerous as making sure bombs don’t go ...

Wed, 28 Aug 2024

How did a large section of downtown Los Angeles become a permanent fixture of unhoused individuals? ...

Tue, 27 Aug 2024

The Olympic marathon of 1904 is an incredible story filled with wacky characters, cheating, heat and...

Sat, 24 Aug 2024

If you didn’t already know how amazing hummingbirds are, prepare to learn. Not only do they count ...

Thu, 22 Aug 2024

Today we think of Luddites as people who don’t know how to use technology or are maybe even afraid...

Wed, 21 Aug 2024

What in the world is a chupacabra? Is it even real or is it the stuff of legend? Listen in to find o...

Tue, 20 Aug 2024

There is A LOT of made-up stuff on the internet that gets passed off as true. But once in a while so...

Sat, 17 Aug 2024

Body language is how you communicate without words. Some say it bears more impact in communication t...

Thu, 15 Aug 2024

Cher is an icon, with hits spanning an unbelievable SEVEN decades. So kick back as we laud the singe...

Wed, 14 Aug 2024

Being tarred and feathered is an old trope in America, but the actuality of it was pretty brutal, no...

Tue, 13 Aug 2024

It’s so simple, yet so compelling: you mine blocks and cut down trees to put things together to ma...

Sat, 10 Aug 2024

Depending on who you talk to, Genghis Khan was either a sadistic madman or one of the great leaders ...

Thu, 08 Aug 2024

Many of us have experienced the odd sensation that we shouldn’t trust ourselves not to simply jump...

Wed, 07 Aug 2024

We know how our skin prunes, but we don't know for sure why. Chuck likes the leading theory, Josh do...

Tue, 06 Aug 2024

Rudolf Diesel was a game changing inventor, though his most famous product was not used how he envis...

Sat, 03 Aug 2024

Throughout much of the world, the forests are being managed through sustainable timber harvesting pr...

Thu, 01 Aug 2024

The car wash you get to ride through on a journey to sparklingness is made of a handful of different...

Wed, 31 Jul 2024

ZIP codes are pretty self-explanatory, but there are all kinds of fun facts around the topic. Listen...

Tue, 30 Jul 2024

You may have his soap in your shower, but what do you know about the man himself? Buckle up, here co...

Sat, 27 Jul 2024

In reality, the Tulsa "race riots" of 1921 was more like a massacre. Yet it was almost lost to histo...

Thu, 25 Jul 2024

The Killdozer rampage is one of those stories you just couldn't make up. Yet it happened. And we're ...

Wed, 24 Jul 2024

Who were the Ritchie Boys? Listen in to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Tue, 23 Jul 2024

Years ago the telephone network was like the internet is to us today: a vast, interconnected means o...

Sat, 20 Jul 2024

Caffeine is a heck of a drug - at the same time it's both good and bad for you. Learn the good, bad ...

Thu, 18 Jul 2024

Human papilloma virus, HPV, is an unusually common bug among humans. Most of the time it’s benign ...

Wed, 17 Jul 2024

Sitzpinklers - men who sit down to pee - is a big thing in Germany, and a handful of other places. A...

Tue, 16 Jul 2024

The founding of New England by the Puritans is quite a story. Today, we dive into who those people w...

Sat, 13 Jul 2024

Becoming the first licensed woman physician in America was tough, convincing male surgeons to wash t...

Thu, 11 Jul 2024

Salsa is one of the great inventions of the culinary world. Here in the USA it's mainly a vehicle fo...

Wed, 10 Jul 2024

If you’re a mobster and you can’t make money off of booze any longer what should you move to nex...

Tue, 09 Jul 2024

There aren’t too many people walking around today who get a pass from the entire world for anythin...

Sat, 06 Jul 2024

In this classic episode, we finish revisiting our 2017 tour of the best sights of the ancient world ...

Thu, 04 Jul 2024

Women inventors have always had a tough time, for obvious reasons. So we're here today to pay tribut...

Wed, 03 Jul 2024

While it sounds like something out of a movie, some POWs in WWII really held an Olympics. And it hap...

Tue, 02 Jul 2024

Dopamine is perhaps the most talked-about, most misunderstood biochemical in our bodies. It’s link...

Sat, 29 Jun 2024

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know the feeling that occurs when the health inspector pa...

Thu, 27 Jun 2024

When paperboys stopped delivering a couple of very big newspapers in 1899 it was a big deal. Big eno...

Wed, 26 Jun 2024

The story of what happened to the car that James Dean crashed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Tue, 25 Jun 2024

Whistling is pretty cool when you think about it because it can mean many things, from simple happy ...

Sat, 22 Jun 2024

Long before slide rulers and pocket protectors, civilizations across the world used their noggins to...

Thu, 20 Jun 2024

Wikipedia changed the world. Before it came along, you had to go to the library to get the answers y...

Wed, 19 Jun 2024

Those armrests in the middle of benches aren’t just for your comfort, they’re intended to keep t...

Tue, 18 Jun 2024

In almost every part of the world, in some form or fashion, widows have things harder than they did ...

Sat, 15 Jun 2024

About 5,300 years ago a Copper Age shepherd was murdered. He just happened to die in a place where h...

Thu, 13 Jun 2024

Today we take to the friendly skies to detail the fascinating history of air travel. From planes wit...

Wed, 12 Jun 2024

The peace sign is one of the most globally recognized symbols around today, but it’s only a few de...

Tue, 11 Jun 2024

When we think of an abused spouse we tend to think of horrific physical or emotional violence. But o...

Sat, 08 Jun 2024

It's pretty obvious something's gone wrong when you get a sunburn, but did you know a tan means you'...

Thu, 06 Jun 2024

In the last decade American schools became enrapt by a new psychological concept centered on perseve...

Wed, 05 Jun 2024

Learn all about the saddest phone notification in today's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for ...

Tue, 04 Jun 2024

You've probably been to a symphony performance and wondered, what in the heck are conductors doing u...

Sat, 01 Jun 2024

Think tanks? More like stink tanks! We're kidding. Think tanks do valuable work, when they operate i...

Thu, 30 May 2024

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s in America, you probably have the image of your tattered Guinness ...

Wed, 29 May 2024

Mudlarking is a uniquely British hobby, though you can dig through river mud anywhere there's a rive...

Tue, 28 May 2024

Unit 731 was a secret group within the Japanese Army in WWII that committed unspeakable atrocities a...

Sat, 25 May 2024

No one - no one - likes to vomit, but there are some people who would prefer to die rather than vomi...

Thu, 23 May 2024

In the exciting conclusion of our two-part episode on Hoover, we come in at the Cold War and end on ...

Wed, 22 May 2024

By definition hobos are people who travel from town to town taking odd jobs as they go. But some tow...

Tue, 21 May 2024

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that J. Edgar Hoover was perhaps the most powerful American...

Sat, 18 May 2024

On Halloween 1938 young radio star Orson Welles scared the pants off of America with a fictional new...

Thu, 16 May 2024

The idea that we aren’t the first advanced civilization to live on Earth sounds like a fringe theo...

Wed, 15 May 2024

Even the dullest hockey game is worth seeing when the Zamboni comes out to resurface the ice.See omn...

Tue, 14 May 2024

Taking care of 12,000 tons of residential trash every day is a hard job. But how does that even work...

Sat, 11 May 2024

Despite as much as one percent of the adult population having the condition, science doesn't actuall...

Thu, 09 May 2024

Sometimes you just have to turn it off for a while – all the thinking, and overthinking, analyzing...

Wed, 08 May 2024

We all know the story of the Titanic and the tragedy of lives lost. So hey, let's talk about the sur...

Tue, 07 May 2024

Misophonia is a condition in which certain sounds trigger people in very negative ways that can real...

Sat, 04 May 2024

As if being murdering SOBs weren’t enough, the Nazis were also thieving rats. During WWII, they st...

Thu, 02 May 2024

The only thing more complicated than an atomic clock is researching how they work and then figuring ...

Wed, 01 May 2024

Getting the wind knocked out of you is scary, but passes quickly. Learn exactly what's happening wit...

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

The Village People were a smash hit singing group that came and went in under two years. Then other ...

Sat, 27 Apr 2024

If you've ever been to an international airport, you've probably seen one of the keenest spotters of...

Thu, 25 Apr 2024

Georgia Tann was a bad human. We feel safe in saying that because she kidnapped babies from poor fam...

Wed, 24 Apr 2024

Not too much is known about Margaret Schilling. She was the kind of person whose memory might have b...

Tue, 23 Apr 2024

You probably know wind energy projects have been around since the 90s, but did you know they now pro...

Sat, 20 Apr 2024

Special effects have been around since the first movies. In fact, the techniques the earliest filmma...

Thu, 18 Apr 2024

Today we go down the road a bit, thumbs out, to explore the rich history of hitchhiking. See omnyst...

Wed, 17 Apr 2024

Few people have been more qualified to survive a plane crash alone in the Amazon for almost two week...

Tue, 16 Apr 2024

Arson investigation has changed a lot over the years. There is actual science available now, but the...

Sat, 13 Apr 2024

It's common knowledge that famines are usually caused by major droughts: Rain doesn't fall, crops d...

Thu, 11 Apr 2024

We think of estrogen and testosterone as the female and male sex hormones and they may seem kind of ...

Wed, 10 Apr 2024

Straitjackets aren't really a thing anymore unless you're watching a movie or TV show. Or in prison....

Tue, 09 Apr 2024

The 70s were the decade of the woman in the US. America finally was coming around to the understandi...

Sat, 06 Apr 2024

When Fort Knox was built in the 1930s to house America’s gold supply, it was billed as an impenetr...

Thu, 04 Apr 2024

One of America’s most important ecosystems takes up more than half the state of Florida. It’s a ...

Wed, 03 Apr 2024

What's the deal with knocking on wood? It's an action one takes to ensure good luck. Which doesn't e...

Tue, 02 Apr 2024

One of the things we rely on is for the companies who make the stuff we need to not stick it to us, ...

Sat, 30 Mar 2024

In 2018, there's a man from a lost tribe still living deep in the jungles of Brazil who has been all...

Thu, 28 Mar 2024

It doesn't get much bigger than the Pulitzer Prize if you're a journalist. Or a novelist. Or really ...

Wed, 27 Mar 2024

The strange thing about the story of the Ramree Island Crocodile Massacre is that it didn't happen. ...

Tue, 26 Mar 2024

A man with an unfulfilled vision left a huge gash in the ground near Niagara Falls. Then a chemical ...

Sat, 23 Mar 2024

Believe it or not, in 1985 the Philadelphia Police Department dropped a bomb from a helicopter onto ...

Thu, 21 Mar 2024

Today is part II of our tribute to one of the most iconic pieces of American culture.See omnystudio....

Wed, 20 Mar 2024

Ten percent of people – in Japan at least – get the urge to poop when they visit bookstores. But...

Tue, 19 Mar 2024

Today we pay tribute to one of the most iconic pieces of American culture. Listen in to hear us gush...

Sat, 16 Mar 2024

For a learning disability that everyone seems to know about, dyslexia is maybe the most commonly mis...

Thu, 14 Mar 2024

It started with New Hampshire couple Betty and Barney Hill, who learned under hypnosis they’d been...

Wed, 13 Mar 2024

There’s an ingredient in Skittles and lots of other food that Dunkin Donuts stopped using it in th...

Tue, 12 Mar 2024

The most reviled, hated, despised, no-good, low down, dirty rotten architectural style of all time i...

Sat, 09 Mar 2024

Breaking up is hard to do. Your brain might even think you're getting over a cocaine addiction. Lear...

Thu, 07 Mar 2024

Llamas are pretty great. They smile! They also spit and if they feel overworked will just lay down. ...

Wed, 06 Mar 2024

Roly Poly bugs go by many names. They look like tiny armadillos. They're great for your garden. And ...

Tue, 05 Mar 2024

Multitasking isn't really possible, because of the way the human brain works. We know you think you'...

Sat, 02 Mar 2024

The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti, two anarchists accused of murder, was one of the first "crimes of t...

Thu, 29 Feb 2024

You know all of those cords and cables and wires that we use to connect our stuff to the electrical ...

Wed, 28 Feb 2024

Smudging is the process of wafting around the smoke of burning white sage. What is it good for? List...

Tue, 27 Feb 2024

If you grew up outside of Africa, you might know Haile Selassie’s name from reggae music - the man...

Sat, 24 Feb 2024

In 1968, Paul Erlich published The Population Bomb, predicting coming famine and mass death. Erlich'...

Thu, 22 Feb 2024

David Hahn was a kid who was really into science. So much that he built a nuclear reactor in his mot...

Wed, 21 Feb 2024

One of the world’s cultural treasure troves were created in West Africa. But for over a century th...

Tue, 20 Feb 2024

Charles and Ray Eames were superstar designers who dreamed up some of the most iconic pieces of furn...

Sat, 17 Feb 2024

Sometimes a good idea doesn’t pan out in real life. Take Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome: It ...

Thu, 15 Feb 2024

Like is a very divisive word. Purists think it's like, a filler word born in the 80s that's like, de...

Wed, 14 Feb 2024

There’s a great origin story behind snake oil salesmen, and it has to do with just one guy who sin...

Tue, 13 Feb 2024

There was a brief period in America’s history – after people left the farm to work in the city a...

Sat, 10 Feb 2024

The Unabomber was one of the most notorious and longest lasting cases in the history of the FBI. Jus...

Thu, 08 Feb 2024

Do teachers and managers give special treatment to those who they're told have great academic or pro...

Wed, 07 Feb 2024

Why are all school buses the same color? Because one man made it so. This is that story. See omnyst...

Tue, 06 Feb 2024

Whether you know it as Clue or Cluedo, the whodunnit mystery board game is one of the best of all ti...

Sat, 03 Feb 2024

Disgust is an odd thing. It makes sense that we would feel a sense of revulsion at the thought of pu...

Thu, 01 Feb 2024

How did the sleepy Nevada town of Las Vegas become LAS VEGAS? Well, we'll let you know over the cour...

Wed, 31 Jan 2024

Wainscoting is a beloved and time-tested decorative way to spruce up your walls. But what is it anyw...

Tue, 30 Jan 2024

Tune in today to listen to the story of when North Hollywood became a war zone after a brazen bank r...

Sat, 27 Jan 2024

We live in a time where computers can beat the best humans in the world at chess, checkers, poker an...

Thu, 25 Jan 2024

One thing you could do is create your own language. Some people do and for lots of different reasons...

Wed, 24 Jan 2024

Jumping into a cold pool after a long sauna or hot tub can be pretty great. Saunas have proven healt...

Tue, 23 Jan 2024

The murder of Ken McElroy comes off like a story from a cheap paperback book you’d get to read on ...

Sat, 20 Jan 2024

Yogurt has been touted as a health food, but is it? Maybe. If you eat it every day. We get into the ...

Thu, 18 Jan 2024

We all know what happened at Jonestown, but who was Jim Jones before the tragedy at the People's Tem...

Wed, 17 Jan 2024

Back in 1994, Nederland, Colorado found out it had a resident it hadn’t accounted for.See omnystud...

Tue, 16 Jan 2024

Dry cleaning is one of those things that we’re all familiar with but don’t actually know much ab...

Sat, 13 Jan 2024

The annals of history hold a special place for people who have carried out treachery and betrayed th...

Thu, 11 Jan 2024

You’ve probably seen cranes moving elegantly in the sky, but did you know what an important role t...

Wed, 10 Jan 2024

What kind of black magic goes into deciding who makes the NYT Bestseller List? Well you probably don...

Tue, 09 Jan 2024

Tune in today to listen to the amazing story of Colorado River guide Kenton Grua's wild 277 mile rec...

Sat, 06 Jan 2024

The Seuss is loose in this episode about legendary children's book author Ted Geisel. The funny thin...

Thu, 04 Jan 2024

When George W Bush and Al Gore ran against one another, most pundits predicted a tight race. Absolut...

Wed, 03 Jan 2024

The story of why blueprints were blue is more involved than you think. It involves a chemical proces...

Tue, 02 Jan 2024

Hello, friends! Join us today for our annual live show release, recorded in beautiful Nashville. On ...

Sat, 30 Dec 2023

The nuclear waste we produce will be dangerous for a very long time. We’ve figured out how to safe...

Thu, 28 Dec 2023

It’s all fun and games to think about how backwards and misguided some things people did in the pa...

Wed, 27 Dec 2023

Can you imagine a color so alluring that even though you know it’s toxic you’d still use it to y...

Tue, 26 Dec 2023

They seem gross and bothersome at first, but once you get down to ground level and get to know snail...

Sat, 23 Dec 2023

They are dirty, harmful to your health, bad for the environment and utterly charming. Wood-burning f...

Thu, 21 Dec 2023

Happy Holidays, friends! Tune in today to listen to our annual ad-free holiday extravaganza. There w...

Wed, 20 Dec 2023

Just three years after the lightbulb was invented a compadre of Thomas Edison thought to use them to...

Tue, 19 Dec 2023

The world has seen a lot of weird investment bubbles in its time, but few of them rival the fever th...

Sat, 16 Dec 2023

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...

Fri, 15 Dec 2023

There are many types of dictators, from so called "benevolent" ones to the kind who rule with an iro...

Thu, 14 Dec 2023

The Skeleton Army was a rowdy group of folks in England who battled, sometimes violently, with the S...

Wed, 13 Dec 2023

Josh loves pickles but hates cucumbers. Chuck loves cucumbers but hates pickles. WHO WILL WIN?See om...

Tue, 12 Dec 2023

The Matewan Massacre was a pivotal moment for the US mining industry and the labor movement as a who...

Sat, 09 Dec 2023

Freedom Schools were set up in Mississippi in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, with the aim o...

Thu, 07 Dec 2023

On December 8th, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York Ci...

Wed, 06 Dec 2023

Boba tea is bubble tea. But what are the bubbles? Tapioca pearls! Listen in today to learn about the...

Tue, 05 Dec 2023

J.D. Salinger was a complicated and problematic human who stopped publishing soon after creating one...

Sat, 02 Dec 2023

Beavers are in fact, very busy. They're builders and solid family members, husbands and wives. Learn...

Thu, 30 Nov 2023

The story of the Oxford English Dictionary is really something. From its origin to its crowd-sourced...

Wed, 29 Nov 2023

When you switch lanes on the highway after noticing that the lane you’re in is ending up ahead, yo...

Tue, 28 Nov 2023

It’s time to get jazzed about Earth science again. It’s only been 60 or so years since we’ve k...

Sat, 25 Nov 2023

Getting the rain and melted snow from upstate NY into the taps of every NYC resident and business is...

Thu, 23 Nov 2023

It’s astounding that with the exceptional navigational equipment aboard a cruise ship can run agro...

Wed, 22 Nov 2023

Everyone once in a while, say a few hundred thousand years or so, the north and south poles of Earth...

Tue, 21 Nov 2023

If you’ve ever wanted to listen to two totally untrained, non-chemists who are fully unqualified t...

Sat, 18 Nov 2023

If you play video games you probably have an easy answer to worst game of all time: ET. But it turns...

Thu, 16 Nov 2023

Diners may just be the most American establishment there is. They were born in the USA, thanks to Eu...

Wed, 15 Nov 2023

The story of the Liberty Bell is far more confusing than we imagined.See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Tue, 14 Nov 2023

Natalie Wood was Hollywood royalty who tragically drowned after a long night of partying with her hu...

Sat, 11 Nov 2023

Josh and Chuck dive into history in this classic episode to tell the story of the Buffalo Soldiers.S...

Thu, 09 Nov 2023

It’s a good, old fashioned how it works episode where we break down all of the nuts and bolts and ...

Wed, 08 Nov 2023

Petrified wood isn't just hard wood. Listen in today to learn all about this unique process. See om...

Tue, 07 Nov 2023

It’s easy to think of people in the distant past as kinda dumb for believing things like that mice...

Sat, 04 Nov 2023

Are laws that are meant to protect the sanctity of the polling place in reality designed to make it ...

Thu, 02 Nov 2023

The Harlem Globetrotters are an American entertainment institution. Their story may not be quite wha...

Wed, 01 Nov 2023

If you grew up from the 70s to the 90s you know white dog poop. It’s the old, crusty – yes, whit...

Tue, 31 Oct 2023

As per tradition, today Josh and Chuck perform a spooky Halloween story reading to delight, amuse an...

Sat, 28 Oct 2023

A mummy is a human being whose soft tissue has been preserved after death, and there are mummies aro...

Thu, 26 Oct 2023

Naked mole rats are funny looking to be sure, but neither moles nor rats. So what are they? You'll h...

Wed, 25 Oct 2023

The simple bed sheet has provided countless kids and adults with an easy go-to Halloween costume. Bu...

Tue, 24 Oct 2023

Three years before the riots at Stonewall, the LGBTQ community of San Francisco's Tenderloin rose up...

Sat, 21 Oct 2023

We aren’t exactly sure who invented trick-or-treating – kids who realized they could extort adul...

Thu, 19 Oct 2023

In the tradition of our episodes on forgiveness and revenge, comes the third installment in the Emot...

Wed, 18 Oct 2023

Is it vile? Is it delicious? It seems to be both! Hear all about the history of candy corn, how it’...

Tue, 17 Oct 2023

Eugene Francois Vidocq is without a doubt one of the most interesting figures in modern history. He’...

Sat, 14 Oct 2023

Pain is subjective; it is whatever the person experiencing it says it is. But to effectively treat p...

Thu, 12 Oct 2023

Intellectual property sounds as dry as can be, but it’s actually very interesting. It’s at the h...

Wed, 11 Oct 2023

What’s better than discovering a mysterious cavern? Discovering five!See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Tue, 10 Oct 2023

Parasocial relationships are fascinating and it turns out Chuck knows what it's like from both sides...

Sat, 07 Oct 2023

Motion sickness is the worst and hits about 25 to 40 percent of humans when they ride in cars, boats...

Thu, 05 Oct 2023

You know Andy Warhol from his quip on being famous for 15 minutes and paintings of soup cans, but ev...

Wed, 04 Oct 2023

Rhodium is one of the most valuable precious metals on Earth, though it has dropped in value by abou...

Tue, 03 Oct 2023

Grizzly bears had never killed a person in Glacier National Park until the night of August 12, 1967....

Sat, 30 Sep 2023

Do you know that up until July 2011 an ambitious hacker with a good software program could deduce yo...

Thu, 28 Sep 2023

Someone cuts you off in traffic or makes fun of your friend and all you can think of is how to get b...

Wed, 27 Sep 2023

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

Tue, 26 Sep 2023

Christine Granville was about as James Bond as it gets. Stories of her life as a spy during World Wa...

Sat, 23 Sep 2023

What is Cockney Rhyming Slang? It's complicated and its origins are unclear. Learn everything we kno...

Thu, 21 Sep 2023

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

Wed, 20 Sep 2023

Have you ever stopped mid-pencil mark and realized to your astonishment where the plus sign came fro...

Tue, 19 Sep 2023

It’s easy (and kind of fun) to laugh at the misfortune of CEOs and other high up business types wh...

Sat, 16 Sep 2023

Floods happen when more water is introduced to an area than can be quickly removed. That's about it,...

Thu, 14 Sep 2023

In 1981 America suffered the worst accidental structural collapse in its history. Listen in today to...

Wed, 13 Sep 2023

Face it, when you spill salt your life goes totally off the rails, maybe even forever. Fortunately, ...

Tue, 12 Sep 2023

It’s a listener request! Axolotls are one of the more amazing animals roaming the planet right now...

Sat, 09 Sep 2023

It seems like we largely take it for granted these days, but the fact that we have humans living in ...

Thu, 07 Sep 2023

Today we dive into the history and current state of Native American reservations. This serves as a n...

Wed, 06 Sep 2023

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

Tue, 05 Sep 2023

In WWII, Italy went through its own Jewish Holocaust, terrible at first then horrific as the Nazis t...

Sat, 02 Sep 2023

Chuck and Josh end up making reduxes of past episodes on things like sweating and deodorant in this ...

Thu, 31 Aug 2023

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

Wed, 30 Aug 2023

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

Tue, 29 Aug 2023

Henry Ford tried to build a Midwestern American town in the Amazon rainforest in the 1920s. It's tru...

Sat, 26 Aug 2023

It's every kid's dream - a job playing with toys that pays in toys. It's a real thing and has been a...

Thu, 24 Aug 2023

Climate change is having sweeping effects on our climate and this is changing the world, not just fo...

Wed, 23 Aug 2023

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

Tue, 22 Aug 2023

The Farmer's Almanac has a long rich history that is more than just moon phases and long-term weathe...

Sat, 19 Aug 2023

Today music sampling is a common practice, especially in electronic or hip-hop music. But how does i...

Thu, 17 Aug 2023

One of the great Arctic mysteries was the disappearance of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in sear...

Wed, 16 Aug 2023

In the 19th century news spread of an unfortunate man who was born with an evil second face on the b...

Tue, 15 Aug 2023

If we could talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, what would we say? ...

Sat, 12 Aug 2023

You can stick them to the fridge or use them to transpose sound to tape, whatever they are used for ...

Thu, 10 Aug 2023

Science is just realizing the extent of the tiny pollutants that have entered ecosystems across Eart...

Wed, 09 Aug 2023

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

Tue, 08 Aug 2023

Diaries have been around for a long time. There are many famous ones, and tens of millions that will...

Sat, 05 Aug 2023

Rainbows seem to defy nature, but they're really pretty simple when it comes down to it. Turns out i...

Thu, 03 Aug 2023

The last meal of the executed is a longstanding tradition. Listen in today to learn about the dark h...

Wed, 02 Aug 2023

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. This is the NATO alphabet. But where did it come from?See omnystudio.com/list...

Tue, 01 Aug 2023

Borderline Personality Disorder has been described as emotional “third degree burns over ninety pe...

Sat, 29 Jul 2023

The Strad violin is noted for its tonal qualities and superior craftsmanship. And for its price tag....

Thu, 27 Jul 2023

Chuck and Josh grew up on MAD Magazine and we hope you did too. What started out as a comic book tha...

Wed, 26 Jul 2023

In the US those ubiquitous blue highway signs that tell you which direction you’ll find a Burger K...

Tue, 25 Jul 2023

Today, Chuck and Josh dive into the ins and outs of language learning. See omnystudio.com/listener ...

Sat, 22 Jul 2023

Hinduism and Buddhism are closely related in a number of ways, including their vision of what comes ...

Thu, 20 Jul 2023

What became the Magic Eye illusion fad of the 1990s was born by way of the stereogram of the 1950s (...

Wed, 19 Jul 2023

Throwing a pie in someone’s face was groundbreaking comedy once upon a time.See omnystudio.com/lis...

Tue, 18 Jul 2023

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

Sat, 15 Jul 2023

Police lineups are something most people have never had any firsthand experience with. What you see ...

Thu, 13 Jul 2023

There is probably no drug more mythologized than PCP. It drives users insane and has the unfortunate...

Wed, 12 Jul 2023

The most famous cemetery in Paris has some of the most famous people in the world buried there. And ...

Tue, 11 Jul 2023

This is a very special episode, the first one we've ever fully recorded a second time and decided to...

Sat, 08 Jul 2023

They are creepy, sure, but they are also useful, cute and in great danger of extinction. Get a new l...

Thu, 06 Jul 2023

James Beard is well-known now for the annual awards named in his honor. But he used to be the most f...

Wed, 05 Jul 2023

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

Tue, 04 Jul 2023

If truckers suddenly vanished the global economy would come to a grinding halt in a couple days. But...

Sat, 01 Jul 2023

The people of Flint, MI were horrified to find their drinking water was poisoned with lead. As we le...

Thu, 29 Jun 2023

If you thought caterpillars were awesome, just wait until you see them with colorful, iridescent win...

Wed, 28 Jun 2023

Fahrenheit or Celsius? Why not both? If they can agree - exactly at -40 degrees  - then it seems li...

Tue, 27 Jun 2023

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

Sat, 24 Jun 2023

It's easy to overlook the importance of ocean currents - they move along out at sea, while we stay m...

Thu, 22 Jun 2023

Black sci-fi writers were shut out of their genre in the 20th century so they created their own visi...

Wed, 21 Jun 2023

It has arrived, the most important podcast episode in the history of the world. See omnystudio.com/...

Tue, 20 Jun 2023

There is a good chance that in March of 2023, humans crossed a threshold into a transformative new e...

Sat, 17 Jun 2023

For this special live benefit episode recorded in Atlanta, Josh and Chuck go back to the 70s and loo...

Thu, 15 Jun 2023

Humans made it through the Bronze Age and Iron Age, then we dabbled in steel, and now we are living ...

Wed, 14 Jun 2023

The suicide forest in Japan is a beautiful place with a checkered reputation. Trigger Warning: This ...

Tue, 13 Jun 2023

Ever wondered when and why people started caring about body odors and cleanliness? Well look no furt...

Sat, 10 Jun 2023

Did you know some of our most beloved movies originally had different, sometimes better, endings? Th...

Thu, 08 Jun 2023

Philosophers have been wondering whether we experience reality as it is for millennia now. They’ve...

Wed, 07 Jun 2023

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

Tue, 06 Jun 2023

Keeping your elbows off the table, keeping your fingers out of the gravy boat – at some point thes...

Sat, 03 Jun 2023

Almost everything you know about pterosaurs is wrong. They weren't birds, they weren't flying dinosa...

Thu, 01 Jun 2023

Could eating at only certain times of the day lead to weight loss? Possibly! See omnystudio.com/lis...

Wed, 31 May 2023

Everyone knows what a Rube Goldberg machine is, but what do you know about the cartoonist who they'r...

Tue, 30 May 2023

For a moment Milli Vanilli was the hottest musical act in the world. Then came the news that it was ...

Sat, 27 May 2023

Science doesn't have a good explanation for why we sense color, yet it is everywhere and affecting u...

Thu, 25 May 2023

Humans exercising for better health has not been around that long. Today we dive into this fun histo...

Wed, 24 May 2023

If you watch the news and hear the pollen count is high for some particular type of plant then it’...

Tue, 23 May 2023

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

Sat, 20 May 2023

You know those shows where people wearing sensible shoes jog dogs around in circles? They actually r...

Thu, 18 May 2023

It’s totally bonkers that in the US and other countries, the job of determining the guilt or innoc...

Wed, 17 May 2023

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

Tue, 16 May 2023

Not too long ago we thought that germs were the cause of most diseases, leading to germ theory. But ...

Sat, 13 May 2023

It has been called a "glorified spring", but Slinky is one of the best selling toys of all time. Fro...

Thu, 11 May 2023

TV weather people can seem corny and maybe a little nerdy, but beneath that toothsome exterior lies ...

Wed, 10 May 2023

Who is Frances Kelsey? Well, she's a semi-unsung hero of the FDA whose work helped save a lot of kid...

Tue, 09 May 2023

It's funny how similar The Colosseum in Rome is to modern day arenas. They really had it figured out...

Sat, 06 May 2023

Does the human body really replace itself every few years? The answer is yes, but different parts of...

Thu, 04 May 2023

Smell-O-Vision was a post-war movie theater gimmick that delivered well-timed scents to the noses of...

Wed, 03 May 2023

There’s a theory that all of us have a maximum number of friendships that we can maintain – 150,...

Tue, 02 May 2023

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

Sat, 29 Apr 2023

When a suspect or prisoner goes on the lam there are plenty of ways to hide: in plain sight, in the ...

Thu, 27 Apr 2023

It might not be the sexiest topic we’ve ever covered (and by “might”, we mean “definitely”...

Wed, 26 Apr 2023

Botox can chase away the lines on your face, apparently it can chase away your depression, borderlin...

Tue, 25 Apr 2023

Today we dive in to celebrate the international treasure that is Dolly Parton. Why is she nearly uni...

Sat, 22 Apr 2023

Is it true that Robin Hood hung out in Sherwood Forest and stole from the rich to give to the poor? ...

Thu, 20 Apr 2023

We've wanted to contact extraterrestrials for as long as we've suspected they're out there. But as w...

Wed, 19 Apr 2023

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

Tue, 18 Apr 2023

It sounds controversial, but there are persuasive arguments for the wealthy Global North to write of...

Sat, 15 Apr 2023

Sure, you've probably laid in one at the store or a funeral home, but how much do you know about rec...

Thu, 13 Apr 2023

John Brinkley was perhaps the biggest quack who ever claimed to be practicing medicine. Learn all ab...

Wed, 12 Apr 2023

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

Tue, 11 Apr 2023

At 13,000 feet the ground is nothing but far-away squares of land, and you can even see some clouds ...

Sat, 08 Apr 2023

It turns out that the characters in your favorite TV shows and the like are actually dead, dreaming,...

Thu, 06 Apr 2023

If you've ever wanted to learn more about playing cards, now is your big chance. See omnystudio.com...

Wed, 05 Apr 2023

It's been all over the news, Beethoven's DNA has revealed some interesting things about his health.S...

Tue, 04 Apr 2023

Humans’ first attempt at civilization went pretty well for the first thousand years. Important stu...

Sat, 01 Apr 2023

It was only since 1958 that the Jet Age began, and jet lag became a real condition. Also known as de...

Thu, 30 Mar 2023

Dowsing, aka water-witching has been around a long time. And you might be surprised that's still a t...

Wed, 29 Mar 2023

There’s a little-discussed trend you might run into at your favorite theme park – people scatter...

Tue, 28 Mar 2023

Back when cars were a brand new thing, before people even knew they'd stick around, two men and a do...

Sat, 25 Mar 2023

In 1970, roboticist Masahiro Mori wrote an essay that said the closer robots come to lifelike, the m...

Thu, 23 Mar 2023

One of the all-stars of the hobby world is collecting baseball cards. Over time it’s gone from a k...

Wed, 22 Mar 2023

You know when you read a word over and over it starts to lose its meaning? There’s a term for that...

Tue, 21 Mar 2023

Floyd Collins was a natural-born caver who met a terrible fate, becoming stuck underground where no ...

Sat, 18 Mar 2023

Anyone who knows anything about Jean-Claude Van Damme knows he played a French legionnaire in the mo...

Thu, 16 Mar 2023

Chuck and Josh were around during the Golden Age of the arcade. And look how they turned out! Join t...

Wed, 15 Mar 2023

John Cage was a unique artist to say the least. Learn all about this avant-garde composer today.See ...

Tue, 14 Mar 2023

Amaro is a delicious traditional liqueur, usually from Italy, that has delighted diners and drinkers...

Sat, 11 Mar 2023

During World War II, Nazis invaded the United States with saboteurs bent on fomenting chaos. Three t...

Thu, 09 Mar 2023

You may have heard your parents or – gasp – grandparents prattle on about how amazing the origin...

Wed, 08 Mar 2023

Paprika is more than a smoky Hungarian spice. Actually, that's not true, that's exactly what it is. ...

Tue, 07 Mar 2023

A noncompete agreement, a pledge not to work for a competitor for a set amount of time, makes sense ...

Sat, 04 Mar 2023

In this classic show recorded live on January 5, 2017 at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, Josh and ...

Thu, 02 Mar 2023

Crossword puzzles have an interesting history and are a lot of fun to do. Dive in today to learn abo...

Wed, 01 Mar 2023

In a bridal shop in Chihuahua, Mexico a mannequin has been standing in the window since the 1930s th...

Tue, 28 Feb 2023

If you’ve ever thought, “What’s the Amazon rainforest ever done for me? Nothin, that’s what,...

Sat, 25 Feb 2023

In a small town in Iowa in 1912 eight people were murdered in the grisliest of ways while they slept...

Thu, 23 Feb 2023

Naps are great if you can manage to find the space to take them. The trick is to do it for the right...

Wed, 22 Feb 2023

It’s pretty well known that if you wait to make a big decision until after you get some sleep, you...

Tue, 21 Feb 2023

Chuck and Josh turn into the Hardy Boys for one of the great unsolved mysteries of WWII, a work of a...

Sat, 18 Feb 2023

In 1987, a very strange broadcast intrusion occurred in the city of Chicago. For just a couple of mi...

Thu, 16 Feb 2023

The fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club was not in Los Angeles, but Kentucky. Which happened to be...

Wed, 15 Feb 2023

In 1981 a Mobile mother of six was forced into the role of civil rights activist when the Klan murde...

Tue, 14 Feb 2023

Flamingos are much more than just pretty pink birds. They are in fact, quite remarkable! Listen and ...

Sat, 11 Feb 2023

There are extreme sports and then there is cave diving, the most extreme activity a person can engag...

Thu, 09 Feb 2023

Josh and Chuck take a listener’s suggestion – many, many suggestions – and learn that possums ...

Wed, 08 Feb 2023

You can thank your parents and grandparents for the longstanding ban against dining shirtless and sh...

Tue, 07 Feb 2023

Honey is an amazing thing. Just ask any bee. They make a ton of it. So much that humans get what bee...

Sat, 04 Feb 2023

Easy Bake Ovens are as iconic as a toy can get, as American as apple pie or baseball. Learn all abou...

Thu, 02 Feb 2023

Vets have been around for a long time, but mainly to care for horses. When horse travel went away, g...

Wed, 01 Feb 2023

Where are all those birds flying anyway? How do they decide? When do they do it? All of these questi...

Tue, 31 Jan 2023

It’s part of the human condition, to feel the pain of sorrow, loss, embarrassment. But isn’t it ...

Sat, 28 Jan 2023

Elephants are pretty much the best. Why? Josh and Chuck will let you know in great detail in this cl...

Thu, 26 Jan 2023

A theory in the field of psychology has become so pervasive, it’s generally taken on faith that it...

Wed, 25 Jan 2023

This week's short stuff is all about throat lumps and Adam's apples.See omnystudio.com/listener for ...

Tue, 24 Jan 2023

John DeLorean: visionary, car maker extraordinaire, buyer of large amounts of cocaine, provider of t...

Sat, 21 Jan 2023

Join Josh and Chuck and a whole bunch of great people at the Gothic Theatre in Denver for this live ...

Thu, 19 Jan 2023

Toast is bread that has been browned by heat. It's delicious. This is our ode to toast.See omnystudi...

Wed, 18 Jan 2023

The Golden Age of Pirates didn’t have just men floating on the high seas. Some women became very s...

Tue, 17 Jan 2023

Turns out the Louisiana Purchase was not so much a purchase, but the right to (steal) purchase it fr...

Sat, 14 Jan 2023

Physicians noticed centuries ago that people exposed to cold temperatures often have amazing recover...

Thu, 12 Jan 2023

This is not a hit piece! Tarot helps plenty of people navigate their lives and reflect on their feel...

Wed, 11 Jan 2023

Forest Lawn is no ordinary cemetery. Why? Listen in and find out.See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Tue, 10 Jan 2023

Until the 2007, the largest single corporate bankruptcy was Enron, a $67 billion energy trading comp...

Sat, 07 Jan 2023

Women consistently rate scent as the most important factor in a man's attractiveness and men have be...

Thu, 05 Jan 2023

Mount St. Helen's is a lovely sight to behold, but was a pretty scary thing to be around in the Spri...

Wed, 04 Jan 2023

You don’t have to lie - everybody picks their nose. But did you know it can be life-threatening? I...

Tue, 03 Jan 2023

Today Josh and Chuck delve into the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Not the song, but the maritime a...

Sat, 31 Dec 2022

People have believed something strange lives in Loch Ness for at least 3500 years. Thousands of peop...

Thu, 29 Dec 2022

This one goes out to the SYSK Army as a special request. Let's do the time warp again!See omnystudio...

Wed, 28 Dec 2022

Mesas, buttes and plateaus are all very similar. We'll break down the differences in each one just t...

Tue, 27 Dec 2022

Fried chicken is Chuck’s favorite food, and Josh sure doesn’t dislike it. It is with this apprec...

Sat, 24 Dec 2022

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...

Thu, 22 Dec 2022

Another year comes to a close here at SYSK, which means our annual Holiday Spectacular is at hand. S...

Wed, 21 Dec 2022

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tue, 20 Dec 2022

She was known for her quick wit and sharp tongue. But she was also a poet, screenwriter and activist...

Sat, 17 Dec 2022

Nostradamus delighted us all in grade school, but it turns out the real guy wasn't quite as prescien...

Thu, 15 Dec 2022

We don’t think about the words and phrases we use all the time - until Josh and Chuck look into th...

Wed, 14 Dec 2022

One of the very first union strikes in US history was mounted by a group of African American women i...

Tue, 13 Dec 2022

For the holidays in 1986 (and ’87) (and ’88) the most stupendous, most wanted, most amazing thin...

Sat, 10 Dec 2022

Polar bears are more than just lovable creatures that roam the ice in search of food. They're one of...

Thu, 08 Dec 2022

After the murder of a cop in southwest Germany in 2007 a massive hunt was launched across Europe. Th...

Wed, 07 Dec 2022

The Birthday Paradox involves math, so you know this one will go perfectly.See omnystudio.com/listen...

Tue, 06 Dec 2022

It’s not that the person who can never remember meeting you is snobby or even absent-minded; they ...

Sat, 03 Dec 2022

Rubik's Cubes. Ronald Reagan. Jerry Falwell. Just Say No. One of these things was awesome. Take a gu...

Thu, 01 Dec 2022

People with Down syndrome lead rich, complex lives like any other human, but it’s only been in the...

Wed, 30 Nov 2022

Goosebumps are a pretty cool evolutionary holdover from our earlier days as furry beasts. Don't beli...

Tue, 29 Nov 2022

The space around you that you can reach with your arms is a very special place. It’s where we inte...

Sat, 26 Nov 2022

For millennia humans have recognized four tastes, but in the 1980s a fifth taste first isolated in J...

Thu, 24 Nov 2022

The Victorians were the first to go bonkers for roller skating and since then the pastime has had bu...

Wed, 23 Nov 2022

Correction fluid goes by many names, but the OG was Liquid Paper. And it has a pretty cool origin st...

Tue, 22 Nov 2022

Chuck loves typewriters because he loves mechanical brilliance. Dive into the cool history of these ...

Sat, 19 Nov 2022

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2010 in the Citizens United case that political contributions are s...

Thu, 17 Nov 2022

The question of Shakespeare's authorship has been around since at least the mid-1800s. Is there anyt...

Wed, 16 Nov 2022

Is there anything – anything – worse than a yawn you can’t finish? It’s hard to think of any...

Tue, 15 Nov 2022

When it comes to pre-wedding festivities, bachelor and bachelorette parties take the penis-shaped ca...

Sat, 12 Nov 2022

You know that heartbreak of the schoolyard – finders keepers, losers weepers? That’s actual law ...

Thu, 10 Nov 2022

It’s time for another great animal episode and in this one we swoop into the world of owls – nat...

Wed, 09 Nov 2022

It’s not everyday that a message from the 16th century appears on a computer from the 1980s, so wh...

Tue, 08 Nov 2022

Legal precedent is an odd thing. It matters, but it isn't codified. There are advantages and disadva...

Sat, 05 Nov 2022

Invasive species can mean a lot of things, from fungus to feral pigs and European starlings to kudzu...

Thu, 03 Nov 2022

In today's episode, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about vaudeville, whether you ...

Wed, 02 Nov 2022

It’s unjust but true – if you are an adoptee in the US you may not have the same right to access...

Tue, 01 Nov 2022

In August of 1980 a bomb containing 1,000 pounds of dynamite was quietly delivered to Harvey’s, a ...

Sat, 29 Oct 2022

Out of obligation, Chuck and Josh mention Twilight, but it is the longstanding vampire lore that get...

Thu, 27 Oct 2022

It's hard to believe, but this is our 13th edition of the Halloween Spooktacular! So pour up a creep...

Wed, 26 Oct 2022

Robert the Doll is decidedly creepy. So is his story. Listen in to this spooky tale right now!See om...

Tue, 25 Oct 2022

Long before we knew what serial killers were, a family in remote Kansas was disposing of victims at ...

Sat, 22 Oct 2022

Some guys have all the luck, some guys have all the pain. So said Rod Stewart. And if this list is a...

Thu, 20 Oct 2022

Fundamentalism is usually thought of as a problem religions have to deal with, but not all fundament...

Wed, 19 Oct 2022

Water towers are so ubiquitous you can look right past them, despite them being giant balls of water...

Tue, 18 Oct 2022

There have been a lot of fake towns built throughout history for a lot of different reasons. Tune in...

Sat, 15 Oct 2022

What must be one of the most famous natural disasters in history took place when Mt Vesuvius buried ...

Thu, 13 Oct 2022

There’s a lot that can go wrong when your identity is at question. Charged with abandoning a baby?...

Wed, 12 Oct 2022

Did you know you have stripes? It’s true, you just can’t see them. Learn all about these little-...

Tue, 11 Oct 2022

Seeing your near twin is probably pretty weird. But could there be a genetic commonality as well? Yo...

Sat, 08 Oct 2022

Once in a while a movie comes along that's so forward-thinking it changes the way that horror is don...

Thu, 06 Oct 2022

The first tags were required just a few years after the firs cars debuted, as a way to catch jerks s...

Wed, 05 Oct 2022

Listen in today as we salute turntablism, aka, record scratching.See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Tue, 04 Oct 2022

Despite reading all about how vinyl records are recorded and made, it's still a bit like black magic...

Sat, 01 Oct 2022

Jesters of some sort have been around since ancient Egypt and China. Our modern clown was invented a...

Thu, 29 Sep 2022

In 1973 a study was published in Science where psychologist David Rosenhan revealed he had duped hun...

Wed, 28 Sep 2022

Curse tablets are exactly what you think - tablets with curses inscribed on them. But what were they...

Tue, 27 Sep 2022

You can uncross your legs you big babies. Getting a vasectomy isn’t bad at all – recovery time i...

Sat, 24 Sep 2022

In 1943 Swiss chemist Albert Hofman discovered he'd created what may be the most potent hallucinogen...

Thu, 22 Sep 2022

Listen in now for part II of our homage to sitcoms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Wed, 21 Sep 2022

Laugh tracks have been around since the early 1950s and it’s all thanks to one (reviled) sound eng...

Tue, 20 Sep 2022

Traditional multi-camera sitcoms have fallen out of style in recent years, but the golden age of the...

Sat, 17 Sep 2022

Frida Kahlo was a painter who transcended her own work to became an icon. Learn all about her fascin...

Thu, 15 Sep 2022

Pearls are super cool. And humans figuring out how to make them is even cooler. Learn all about the ...

Wed, 14 Sep 2022

When you’re hungry, you’re not yourself. So say the good people at Snickers and it turns out sci...

Tue, 13 Sep 2022

In 1980 the “rural as rural can be” town of Elberton, Georgia erected a granite monument with a ...

Sat, 10 Sep 2022

As recently as 40,000 years ago we lived among humans from an entirely different species – Neander...

Thu, 08 Sep 2022

Squids are very closely related to our old friend the octopus, but there are some key differences. Y...

Wed, 07 Sep 2022

The Man of the Hole has died and we're pretty sad to hear it. Listen in to our tribute to this solit...

Tue, 06 Sep 2022

George Mallory was a member of the first three European expeditions to Everest, world’s tallest mo...

Sat, 03 Sep 2022

For as long a shadow as it casts across the history of the Old West, the Pony Express was a failed b...

Thu, 01 Sep 2022

Part celebration and part take down, this episode on Rolling Stone magazine dives into the highs and...

Wed, 31 Aug 2022

The dividing line between the North and South is purely political. But the story of its creation is ...

Tue, 30 Aug 2022

Since the advent of single-use plastics, we’ve become awash in waste. Barrels of petroleum are ext...

Sat, 27 Aug 2022

Sure knives can cut through a steak or slash through jungle vines, but probably the coolest thing yo...

Thu, 25 Aug 2022

Despite the overall creepiness of it, marrying family members is way more common than you might thin...

Wed, 24 Aug 2022

The idea of "marrying up" is as old as the hills, but things are, and have been, changing for quite ...

Tue, 23 Aug 2022

The world isn’t divided into cat people and dog people, or Beatles fans and Rolling Stones fans (o...

Sat, 20 Aug 2022

You know what I heard? That Josh and Chuck hate each other and they're just faking being friends for...

Thu, 18 Aug 2022

If you think about it, enemas are kind of gross. And if you don’t now you definitely will by the e...

Wed, 17 Aug 2022

You've heard the phrase "If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you." But did you k...

Tue, 16 Aug 2022

Mariachi bands have a bad rap as nothing more than "restaurant music." But there is a rich and long ...

Sat, 13 Aug 2022

The chances are pretty low that you’ll find yourself lost in the desert, but on the off chance you...

Thu, 11 Aug 2022

Who doesn't love breakfast? But do you know where most of the typical breakfast foods come from? Wel...

Wed, 10 Aug 2022

A full 200 years on, we're still talking about one of the most sweeping hoaxes of all time. See omn...

Tue, 09 Aug 2022

Chuck hates them, Josh has flirted with them. Energy drinks. Listen in to learn all about this canne...

Sat, 06 Aug 2022

Droughts can be an inevitable feature of a local climate or a catastrophic result of human meddling....

Thu, 04 Aug 2022

Psychologist Julian Jaynes came up with a stunning hypothesis in 1976, that human consciousness only...

Wed, 03 Aug 2022

It really happens! But most people call it emancipation of a minor. Either way, there's some interes...

Tue, 02 Aug 2022

It's been a while since we tackled a classic toy, so here we go with all you ever wanted to know abo...

Sat, 30 Jul 2022

An estimated 50,000 films were made worldwide in 2009 alone. Many are surely clunkers, but in this e...

Thu, 28 Jul 2022

Two dudes talking about menstruation? You bet! And there’s no way you could be any more nervous to...

Wed, 27 Jul 2022

In 1996, real-deal NASA scientists announced they had discovered signs of ancient microbial life in ...

Tue, 26 Jul 2022

We humans are smart, to be sure, but if we’re so smart then how come we can’t figure how we got ...

Sat, 23 Jul 2022

Economists love their data because somewhere in the numbers lies the answer to the ills of the count...

Thu, 21 Jul 2022

You may not have heard of it, but you’ve definitely seen it before – 50s buildings with bright, ...

Wed, 20 Jul 2022

In 1975, yoga enthusiast Robert Antoszczyk retired to his room in a group house in Ann Arbor, MI to ...

Tue, 19 Jul 2022

Face it, supernovae are the most interesting phenomena in the universe. Black holes are cool, but di...

Sat, 16 Jul 2022

It’s bad enough when the government knows you’re alive – there are taxes to pay, laws to be fo...

Thu, 14 Jul 2022

Bowling is awesome. It just is. And if you don't think so, maybe take a listen to today's episode. ...

Wed, 13 Jul 2022

Catatumbo lightning is one of nature's most amazing displays of showiness, with strikes occurring 28...

Tue, 12 Jul 2022

Mangroves are incredible survivors and adapters. They're also amazing at lessening the impact of tro...

Sat, 09 Jul 2022

One day in the Amazon Basin, a shaman put together a plant containing DMT with a vine that allows th...

Thu, 07 Jul 2022

After inspiration from Chuck's recent trip to the Yucatan, the fellas dive into the Maya Civilizatio...

Wed, 06 Jul 2022

The alligator gar is one scary looking fish. Learn all about these monsters in today's episode.See o...

Tue, 05 Jul 2022

Ultraprocessed is a new term for junk food, but it means much more than that – it’s also a cauti...

Sat, 02 Jul 2022

Not too long ago, people would pay money to gawk and stare at a performer with a physical disformity...

Thu, 30 Jun 2022

Given the landmark undoing of Roe v Wade, Chuck and Josh lay out all the relevant facts of the 1973 ...

Wed, 29 Jun 2022

There's an infant formula shortage. But infant formula is relatively new. So what did we do before i...

Tue, 28 Jun 2022

If we ever found evidence of intelligent alien life (or they found us) what would we say? Who would ...

Sat, 25 Jun 2022

Chiggers are tiny little mites capable of making your life miserable. Worse than mosquitoes? Maybe. ...

Thu, 23 Jun 2022

Bariatric surgery can also be called weight loss surgery. Some people think it's a highly underused ...

Wed, 22 Jun 2022

One of the greatest questions we’ve ever heard, answered (in a roundabout way).See omnystudio.com/...

Tue, 21 Jun 2022

A few short years after the hiking trails from Maine to Georgia were connected into the world’s lo...

Sat, 18 Jun 2022

There have been many inventions that have advanced filmmaking, but maybe none as important as the st...

Thu, 16 Jun 2022

In the early 1980s, imprisoned IRA members went on a prolonged hunger strike, leading to the death o...

Wed, 15 Jun 2022

Today we dive into HR8, a gun bill supported by 90% of Americans that will likely never get through ...

Tue, 14 Jun 2022

Beloved egghead Buckminster Fuller said the wind doesn’t blow, it sucks. And he was pretty muc...

Sat, 11 Jun 2022

Hundreds of thousands of people drown around the world every year, and yet it can be easily prevente...

Thu, 09 Jun 2022

Nobody thought the 4-minute mile was humanly possible, until it was. The story of how it happened is...

Wed, 08 Jun 2022

In 1974, the Cleveland (then Indians) baseball club held an unlimited 10 cent beer promotion to attr...

Tue, 07 Jun 2022

Countries around the world – capitalist democracies to communist unitary states – guaran...

Sat, 04 Jun 2022

Satanism may be the most misunderstood "religion" in the world. Part of that is because there are, a...

Thu, 02 Jun 2022

Kidneys are one of the few organs that you can donate while you’re alive. And the vast majorit...

Wed, 01 Jun 2022

Some foods make you happy. But they aren't necessarily comfort foods. You know what they call that? ...

Tue, 31 May 2022

When the Fed raises interest rates a half point, the world market reacts. But why does this tiny per...

Sat, 28 May 2022

Waterbeds came and went pretty quickly in the United States, but despite their marketing as sex beds...

Thu, 26 May 2022

Absinthe makes you hallucinate and possibly even have a seizure, right? Nope. It's all a part of the...

Wed, 25 May 2022

Depending on where you are in the world, you either have an instinct to go left or right when enteri...

Tue, 24 May 2022

Josh and Chuck wade into dangerous waters with the debate over just how destructive cats are for loc...

Sat, 21 May 2022

In 1978, five friends set out for home from a basketball game. The next day, their car was discovere...

Thu, 19 May 2022

Surnames are way more interesting that you think, trust us. Just hit play and prepare to be wowed.Se...

Wed, 18 May 2022

In the Watermelon episode, Chuck and Josh stumbled into a bit of little-known history about why arti...

Tue, 17 May 2022

Squirrels are rodents, sure, but they’re rodents with personalities the size of Las Vegas and ...

Sat, 14 May 2022

Everybody knows how many whacks Lizzie Borden gave her mother and father with that axe, but there is...

Thu, 12 May 2022

Nose jobs have been around a lot longer than you think. And the process is pretty interesting. Tune ...

Wed, 11 May 2022

As many as 15% of people faint when they see blood! And it’s not just blood that gets them. It...

Tue, 10 May 2022

Land acknowledgements are all the rage in some parts of the world. But they also open a can of worms...

Sat, 07 May 2022

Sure we can all agree that champagne is probably the greatest thing humans have or ever will invent,...

Thu, 05 May 2022

One of the more controversial black leaders, Marcus Garvey divided black and white Americans with hi...

Wed, 04 May 2022

Today we dive into the lovable folds of the Shar Pei.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Tue, 03 May 2022

There’s a mystery afoot! Almost all of the coal we use around the world was created in the sam...

Sat, 30 Apr 2022

Other comedians cry on the inside, but Rodney Dangerfield built his entire act around his sad life. ...

Thu, 28 Apr 2022

Being an understudy is far more challenging than simply learning the lines of a lead actor in case o...

Wed, 27 Apr 2022

Does your house smell? No? What if we told you it’s impossible for you to know whether  i...

Tue, 26 Apr 2022

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sat, 23 Apr 2022

Since his corpse was found in 1948, wearing a nice suit in summer on an Australian beach, an unident...

Thu, 21 Apr 2022

Bottled water is huge business, and terrible for the environment. But where did this all start? List...

Wed, 20 Apr 2022

Today we pay tribute to the comfiest of comfort food, the grilled cheese sandwich.See omnystudio.com...

Tue, 19 Apr 2022

When Christine Collins' son disappeared in 1928, she thought that was the worst that could happen. &...

Sat, 16 Apr 2022

Did you know there are as many as 500,000 abandoned mines in the US, but the federal government know...

Thu, 14 Apr 2022

Most of us know Mensa’s a smart people club. And that Geena Davis is a member. But did you kno...

Wed, 13 Apr 2022

Small towns around the world have a longstanding tradition of nominating – and voting for &nda...

Tue, 12 Apr 2022

If you've ever been to Philadelphia then you've probably walked right by a Toynbee Tile embedded in ...

Sat, 09 Apr 2022

Action figures have a long and glorious history. From GI Joes to Star Wars figures, these offshoots ...

Thu, 07 Apr 2022

In today's episode, Chuck and Josh dive into the wonderful history of the public house. So pull up a...

Wed, 06 Apr 2022

Perhaps the most amazing coincidence ever documented took place when a church in a tiny town in Nebr...

Tue, 05 Apr 2022

Turns out most people love watermelons. Why? Because they're delicious. And they also have a pretty ...

Sat, 02 Apr 2022

They have become such a ubiquitous tool used by the UN and NATO to intervene in international crises...

Thu, 31 Mar 2022

NATO formed at a time when Russia threatened Europe as a potential invader. Then the Soviet Union br...

Wed, 30 Mar 2022

The Greenbrier Bunker was a secret nuclear hideout for Congress, until it wasn't. Once it was expose...

Tue, 29 Mar 2022

Artificial light at night, aka light pollution, affects almost everyone on Earth. And not just peopl...

Sat, 26 Mar 2022

The panic that began in Chicago spreads and begins to change the world. The investigation into the m...

Sat, 26 Mar 2022

On one terrible day in Chicago in 1982, seven people died suddenly and mysteriously. In just a matte...

Fri, 25 Mar 2022

You’d think terms like cage-free and free-range means the chickens we eat are frolicking happi...

Wed, 23 Mar 2022

Magnet fishing has nothing to do with fish. It's more like metal detecting in waterways. Please enjo...

Tue, 22 Mar 2022

Titicut Follies is a documentary made famous by its banning. But why was it banned? And what was it ...

Sat, 19 Mar 2022

Hate is generally defined as an extreme hostility to something or someone, usually stemming from fea...

Thu, 17 Mar 2022

A big new push toward nature conservation (and saving the planet) is based on a simple premise: remo...

Wed, 16 Mar 2022

Nose breathing > mouth breathing for many reasons. Listen and learn!See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Tue, 15 Mar 2022

There is presumably some very dark, very depressing stuff in the annals of America’s secret hi...

Sat, 12 Mar 2022

Punk rock really needs about 10 episodes to do it justice, but we'll try and tackle anyway. Learn al...

Thu, 10 Mar 2022

Aleister Crowley was known as the "wickedest man in the world." But was he really just a blowhard na...

Wed, 09 Mar 2022

In 1952 London was gripped by a acrid smog that settled throughout the city so thickly residents cou...

Tue, 08 Mar 2022

The National Park system is one of America's great achievements. We'll take you on a journey, from s...

Sat, 05 Mar 2022

Having started as an egalitarian answer to 19th-century newspapers, tabloids came to peddle shock an...

Thu, 03 Mar 2022

A branch of philanthropy led by philosophers is dedicated to finding the most impactful ways to help...

Wed, 02 Mar 2022

The gay community had to use code not too many years ago and one way they identified was as “Frien...

Tue, 01 Mar 2022

Phantom pain is when you sense pain from a lost limb. We don't entirely know how why, but we have so...

Sat, 26 Feb 2022

In the German town of Hameln a tragedy that took place on a specific date in 1284 and befell specifi...

Thu, 24 Feb 2022

What has become a buzz word for corporate retreats and a way to get a discount on your health insura...

Wed, 23 Feb 2022

What's commensalism? Sort of nature's way of sponging off something, but that something doesn't mind...

Tue, 22 Feb 2022

Like most 16th-century French peasants, Martin Guerre’s life seemed likely to be lost to history. ...

Sat, 19 Feb 2022

Think you have moss figured out? You probably don't. Join Josh and Chuck in this classic episode as ...

Thu, 17 Feb 2022

Today we dive into the science behind the genetic condition albinism, which is not pronounced how yo...

Wed, 16 Feb 2022

Australia is home to a kind of bird that is the second largest in the world and can kill a human bei...

Tue, 15 Feb 2022

Leeches are pretty creepy. They feed on blood, they stick to you body. We get it. But they're also p...

Sat, 12 Feb 2022

Who wants fresh honey? We do! Learn all about the ancient art of beekeeping today in this classic ep...

Thu, 10 Feb 2022

The history of litter is in lock step with the history of disposable packaging. Learn all about this...

Wed, 09 Feb 2022

If you want to know how the pain from that yellowjacket sting on your arm compares to stings from ot...

Tue, 08 Feb 2022

The largest ever kidnapping case in the United States went down in the small town of Chowchilla, CA....

Sat, 05 Feb 2022

Gazing too long upon another person is almost universally viewed as anywhere from impolite to hostil...

Thu, 03 Feb 2022

The Nobel Peace Prize is perhaps the most prestigious award in the world, yet there are plenty of ot...

Wed, 02 Feb 2022

It’s pretty amazing to see a human walk over a bed of hot coals – until you learn the physics be...

Tue, 01 Feb 2022

It’s Taco Tuesday! If you like eating tacos, you’re going to love learning all about them in thi...

Sat, 29 Jan 2022

Everyone knows sloths are super slow, but do you know they’re slow because their bodies produce an...

Thu, 27 Jan 2022

For most of history, forgiveness fell under the domain of religion. But in the 1980s science started...

Wed, 26 Jan 2022

The Arctic Fox is one of the cutest critters on the planet. It also has an amazing ability to surviv...

Tue, 25 Jan 2022

Tug of War is a simple display of strength, but is there more to it than that? Listen in to find out...

Sat, 22 Jan 2022

SETI stands for 'search for extraterrestrial intelligence,' and the term is used to describe both th...

Thu, 20 Jan 2022

The government loves to mark just about any information as secret, which wouldn’t be a big deal if...

Wed, 19 Jan 2022

Jaywalking is a crime. Sort of. But why? Learn all about this weird law today. Learn more about you...

Tue, 18 Jan 2022

Rock Paper Scissors is a child's game. But it's more than that if you can believe it, and it has a p...

Sat, 15 Jan 2022

In 1974 the CIA undertook one of its most brazen operations – secretly raising a sunken Soviet sub...

Thu, 13 Jan 2022

The black codes were proposed laws that basically tried to keep a form of slavery alive and well aft...

Wed, 12 Jan 2022

Everything you thought you knew about fortune cookies is wrong. Learn all the right stuff in this ep...

Tue, 11 Jan 2022

For 20 years, a tiny town in Ohio was held enrapt by the prolific author of a series of unhinged let...

Sat, 08 Jan 2022

Carl Sagan was the world's first mainstream media super scientist, capapble of breaking down complex...

Thu, 06 Jan 2022

The exciting conclusion of Ants Part 2! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodca...

Wed, 05 Jan 2022

And you thought we were done with talking about funeral homes. Well guess again! Learn more about y...

Tue, 04 Jan 2022

Ants are pretty much amazing. So we're gonna spend two episodes talking all about them. Please enjoy...

Sat, 01 Jan 2022

A lot of people read their daily horoscopes, but does anyone really take stock in them? Turns out th...

Thu, 30 Dec 2021

No, we didn’t find another international distress signal we forgot to mention in our Mayday! Short...

Wed, 29 Dec 2021

The history of traffic signals is way more interesting than you might think. Trust us.  Learn more...

Tue, 28 Dec 2021

Attorneys and judges get all the press. What about bailiffs, court reporters and sketch artists? Yea...

Sat, 25 Dec 2021

Tipping is commonly expected in some places, such as U.S. restaurants. Yet this practice varies acro...

Thu, 23 Dec 2021

Josh and Chuck’s holiday mojo has returned and they’re back in the saddle to rustle up some holi...

Wed, 22 Dec 2021

You ever thought about where those cards you send out during the holidays came from? Prepare to do j...

Tue, 21 Dec 2021

The details may vary but building snowmen is pretty much universal where there’s snow. Humans have...

Sat, 18 Dec 2021

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...

Thu, 16 Dec 2021

Kidney stones are widely considered the most painful affliction a person can endure, even worse than...

Wed, 15 Dec 2021

It's the end of the year so we thought we might give you some advice on how to better pick out a cha...

Tue, 14 Dec 2021

Palm trees. You see them all over the world and for good reason. There are more than 2,500 varieties...

Sat, 11 Dec 2021

In 1974, Chinese farmers discovered the first of what would number 7,000 terracotta soldiers meant t...

Thu, 09 Dec 2021

The famous blue people of Kentucky are no longer blue. But why were they like that in the first plac...

Wed, 08 Dec 2021

Hitting your funny bone doesn’t just hurt, it feels really weird too. That’s because you’re no...

Tue, 07 Dec 2021

If look into the mythology of just about any culture in the world, you will find a myth about a grea...

Sat, 04 Dec 2021

Throughout the history of the world, there have been many cases of what is known as collective hyste...

Thu, 02 Dec 2021

Your gut – not your spare tire, but your digestive tract – is deceptively smart. Not only does i...

Wed, 01 Dec 2021

In the 1950s a group dedicated to clothing animals out of a sense or morality gained momentum. “A ...

Tue, 30 Nov 2021

If you think going to the dentist now is not fun, just wait until you hear about what they did in th...

Sat, 27 Nov 2021

For at least the last 200,000 years, between 10-15% of the human population are left-handed and this...

Thu, 25 Nov 2021

Pythons are big snakes. Really big. But there's more to them than their size. Learn all about these ...

Wed, 24 Nov 2021

Say it three times and help may arrive. But where did "Mayday!" come from? Listen in to find out.  ...

Tue, 23 Nov 2021

America’s longest-running war was between the US government and the loosely-confederated groups we...

Sat, 20 Nov 2021

You may be familiar with compulsive hoarding from TV, but something that’s often missing from thos...

Thu, 18 Nov 2021

The residents of Washington, D.C., the capital of the oldest democracy in the world, are not allowed...

Wed, 17 Nov 2021

There was a brief period when it was highly on trend to wear a super short dress made out of paper. ...

Tue, 16 Nov 2021

No, there aren’t snouts and anuses in your hot dogs, so go ahead and chow down. There are, however...

Sat, 13 Nov 2021

Feng Shui is an Asian concept that strives to unlock your chi by how your home or office is arranged...

Thu, 11 Nov 2021

In December 1900 three lighthouse keepers vanished without a trace from a deserted island in Scotlan...

Wed, 10 Nov 2021

Is your bed dirty? You bet it is. Are chimpanzee beds dirty? Not as dirty as yours! Learn more abou...

Tue, 09 Nov 2021

Blue laws are laws that restrict certain activities on certain days. Are they antiquated? Yes! Are t...

Sat, 06 Nov 2021

America loves to go nuts over new food trends and it turns out that the 20th century was a boon time...

Thu, 04 Nov 2021

Cleveland rocks! So said the city of Cleveland when they lobbied for the "Rock Hall" way back in 198...

Wed, 03 Nov 2021

In 1992 more than 28,000 rubber ducks got loose in the ocean and began a decades-long experiment in ...

Tue, 02 Nov 2021

The two mRNA Covid vaccines are the first vaccines to come out of a new field of immunology and repr...

Sat, 30 Oct 2021

What is folklore? Turns out it's just about anything you can think of that's shared by more than two...

Thu, 28 Oct 2021

Dim the lights and join Josh and Chuck for their annual spooky Halloween story reading.  Learn mor...

Wed, 27 Oct 2021

In the 1930s paranormal investigator declared Borley Rectory the “most haunted house in England”...

Tue, 26 Oct 2021

Looking back 300 years on, it’s easy to overgeneralize why the Salem Villagers decided to persecut...

Sat, 23 Oct 2021

In 1960 physicist Freeman Dyson suggested that in the hunt for alien life, we should search for evid...

Thu, 21 Oct 2021

Harry Houdini was a master magician. He was also a movie star. And an inventor. And an aviator. List...

Wed, 20 Oct 2021

In this edition of Short Stuff we may accidentally conjure a deadly spirt, so look out! Learn more ...

Tue, 19 Oct 2021

Heat waves are one of the easiest natural disasters to overlook yet they kill more people in the US ...

Sat, 16 Oct 2021

Venice, Italy has a problem. It's sinking, and the water around it is rising. Thankfully, some engin...

Thu, 14 Oct 2021

If you’ve ever found your blood pressure rising because some guy down the street doesn’t know ho...

Wed, 13 Oct 2021

We launch our spooky October episodes with a little bit on Jack O' Lanterns and Sleepy Hollow. Lear...

Tue, 12 Oct 2021

After looking into the Venus Flytrap, we quickly moved it to the top of our favorite plant list. Par...

Sat, 09 Oct 2021

Like many huge discoveries, X-rays were accidentally stumbled upon. That serendipity led to a medica...

Thu, 07 Oct 2021

The Church of the SubGenius is a religion, but really a parody of religion. Learn all about this gro...

Wed, 06 Oct 2021

Are dingoes dogs? Not really? Then what are they? Listen in to find out. Learn more about your ad-c...

Tue, 05 Oct 2021

There’s a sticky issue scientists have to deal with – science is carried out by humans. We human...

Sat, 02 Oct 2021

Empathy can often be confused with sympathy and regular old compassion. But it's not exactly either ...

Thu, 30 Sep 2021

Here at SYSK, we love alligators? Why? Because they're basically living dinosaurs. Dive in (metaphor...

Wed, 29 Sep 2021

There’s a long-standing legend that an Irish monk was the first European to sail to America - in 5...

Tue, 28 Sep 2021

The premise of numerology - that numbers are responsible for our destinies and personalities - is pl...

Sat, 25 Sep 2021

If you’ve ever heard an old timer gripe that things aren’t built like they used to be, that old ...

Thu, 23 Sep 2021

You've seen her there in NY Harbor, standing tall. But do you know the story of how she came to be? ...

Wed, 22 Sep 2021

The good people of Toledo, OH are leading the environmental pack by giving legal rights to Lake Erie...

Tue, 21 Sep 2021

Everybody knows mail order marriages are at best a last resort for jerks looking to boss a foreign s...

Sat, 18 Sep 2021

Freedom of speech and the press are values vital to American democracy. But the First Amendment does...

Thu, 16 Sep 2021

Crash testing has been around since the 1930s, but only got serious in the 1970s. Today we dive in a...

Wed, 15 Sep 2021

Pigs, hogs, boars and javelinas. What's the difference? Tune in to find out. Learn more about your ...

Tue, 14 Sep 2021

The Death Suite continues! In this installment, Josh and Chuck go over what it takes to preserve a h...

Sat, 11 Sep 2021

There was a time when the lower classes of the American South were considered lazy and dimwitted, a ...

Thu, 09 Sep 2021

In 1215 at Runnymede (doo dah, doo dah) the nobles and the king agreed to end a rebellion against th...

Wed, 08 Sep 2021

In today's short stuff, we bust a few myths about cute little chameleons. Learn more about your ad-...

Tue, 07 Sep 2021

The Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles has had no less than 16 unnatural deaths, from suicides to m...

Sat, 04 Sep 2021

When your kid boils over in the grocery store, it can be tough to stay calm and ignore it, but that'...

Thu, 02 Sep 2021

And you thought our crime and punishment suite was finished. Not yet it isn't! Not before we cover c...

Wed, 01 Sep 2021

Josh and Chuck finally put to rest the age old debate over which is better – and learn a little ab...

Tue, 31 Aug 2021

One of the oldest medical procedures in human history is also one of the riskiest. For thousands of ...

Sat, 28 Aug 2021

You may think composting is just a bunch of old banana peels rotting away into dirt but, friend, you...

Thu, 26 Aug 2021

Today we continue the story of Les Paul and Leo Fender, inventors, innovators and rivals. Learn mor...

Wed, 25 Aug 2021

Jackalopes aren’t real, right? Wouldn’t you like to know, city slicker. Learn more about your a...

Tue, 24 Aug 2021

The story of Les Paul and Leo Fender defines rock and roll music. Listen in to part one of the tale ...

Sat, 21 Aug 2021

In the early 21st century a trend of people who claim to be able to telepathically and clairvoyantly...

Thu, 19 Aug 2021

Y2K was a special time when we all thought nothing bad would really happen at the stroke of midnight...

Wed, 18 Aug 2021

Lazarus species were thought to be gone, but had something else in mind. Today we talk about 5 of th...

Tue, 17 Aug 2021

At long last Chuck and Josh dive into the nuts and bolts of what makes the Wonder Machine so wondrou...

Sat, 14 Aug 2021

It's strange to hear, but the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, including the domest...

Thu, 12 Aug 2021

Whether called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glow worms, the tiny, bioluminescent bugs that light up...

Wed, 11 Aug 2021

Humpty Dumpty is not a good nursery rhyme. And what was Humpty anyway? Listen in to find out. Learn...

Tue, 10 Aug 2021

Child labor is no laughing matter. Even though we've taken care of it in the USA (mostly), it's stil...

Sat, 07 Aug 2021

Landslides are a form of mass movement of the Earth, and with the amount of death and destruction th...

Thu, 05 Aug 2021

Every teenager in America knows the transcendentalists were a handful of goofy 19th century philosop...

Wed, 04 Aug 2021

Calamity Jane is group with the legends of the Wild West. Who was she really? A tough woman who made...

Tue, 03 Aug 2021

In the early 1960s, one of the most unethical experiments in psychology’s history was quietly cond...

Sat, 31 Jul 2021

Every year, police across the U.S. get thousands of criminals to confess to their crimes. The troubl...

Thu, 29 Jul 2021

In this episode, we get to the bottom of why people sometimes talk like jerks some and how sarcasm i...

Wed, 28 Jul 2021

Space hurricanes are officially a thing. What does that mean for us here on Earth? Probably not much...

Tue, 27 Jul 2021

Britney Spears has made a lot of noise lately in her bid to nullify her conservatorship. But what ar...

Sat, 24 Jul 2021

Sure today Mars would kill you with its thin, toxic atmosphere and cold desert temperature swings of...

Thu, 22 Jul 2021

Why exactly do we avoid walking under a ladder? Why is stepping on a crack in the sidewalk such a bi...

Wed, 21 Jul 2021

If you’re even passingly interested in mobsters you’ve heard of the RICO Act, but most people do...

Tue, 20 Jul 2021

If you grew up in the 1980s, you thought you had a 50% chance of getting kidnapped every time you le...

Sat, 17 Jul 2021

Little-known fact: Ketchup, possibly the most all-American of condiments, evolved from fermented fis...

Thu, 15 Jul 2021

Can we save the future of the human race with some thin membranes riddled with ultra-tiny holes? Sci...

Wed, 14 Jul 2021

The words "hanged, drawn and quartered" are an accurate description of the grizzly execution process...

Tue, 13 Jul 2021

The Radium Girls painted watched with glow-in-the-dark radium in the 1920s and '30s. Most got sick, ...

Sat, 10 Jul 2021

A fascinating thing about Americans is that we can disagree on anything. Such is the case with histo...

Thu, 08 Jul 2021

Recorded live before the pandemic in January 2020 at the Castro Theatre for San Francisco Sketchfest...

Wed, 07 Jul 2021

In the 1920s, before the era of consumer protection, a poison entered the medicine supply and killed...

Tue, 06 Jul 2021

Are geniuses made or born? Listen in today to the story of child prodigy William James Sidis. Learn...

Sat, 03 Jul 2021

Good samaritan laws have been around for many years, helping to provide legal protections for people...

Thu, 01 Jul 2021

Josh and Chuck take a virtual walk through country music's legendary music venue.  Learn more abou...

Wed, 30 Jun 2021

The first truly international news story covered a beast that terrorized the French countryside, evi...

Tue, 29 Jun 2021

Poison control centers are one of those things you don’t think about until you need it. With all t...

Sat, 26 Jun 2021

In some nations royals are so ingrained in the national fabric they are considered part of the count...

Thu, 24 Jun 2021

Faraday cages are one of those peculiar miracles of nature that we can actually explain – not to m...

Wed, 23 Jun 2021

Were chastity belts real? Sort of. But not in the way you might think. Tune in to hear the real stor...

Tue, 22 Jun 2021

Damascus steel and the recipe behind it remained a mystery for many years. But it turns out the key ...

Sat, 19 Jun 2021

In World War II, a secret department of British ‘corkscrew thinkers’ hatched a plan to use the c...

Thu, 17 Jun 2021

Venus is so hot lead would melt on the planet’s surface. It spins backwards. Its year is shorter t...

Wed, 16 Jun 2021

What is the Mojave Megaphone? Well, nobody really knows. Listen in today to learn about this desert ...

Tue, 15 Jun 2021

When you get a bunch of artistic types together into a community – aka, the art world – some int...

Sat, 12 Jun 2021

Legends of sea monsters are as old as humanity, and some ancient cultures even credited them with cr...

Thu, 10 Jun 2021

Today, Chuck and Josh go down a 90s rabbit hole with another in their classic toy series. This time,...

Wed, 09 Jun 2021

If you live in a major city in the USA, you probably have a Chinatown. Listen in and learn all about...

Tue, 08 Jun 2021

If you’ve ever wandered past what looked like a pile of dog barf on a log during a hike in the woo...

Sat, 05 Jun 2021

John Billington didn't just sign the Mayflower Compact -- he was also the colony's first criminal, a...

Thu, 03 Jun 2021

John Muir loved being outside. So much so that he dedicated his life to helping preserve it, but not...

Wed, 02 Jun 2021

Listen in to today's short stuff to learn if a runner's high is really a thing. Learn more about yo...

Tue, 01 Jun 2021

Inflation seems super boring, but if you know how it works (important point: no one really does) you...

Sat, 29 May 2021

For about 175 years people have been huffing nitrous oxide for everything from vision quests to anes...

Thu, 27 May 2021

In the early 90s a video game was released that changed the industry, despite poor sales and bad gam...

Wed, 26 May 2021

Your parachute won’t open – now what?! Listen up to Josh and Chuck and you may make it out of th...

Tue, 25 May 2021

Cleft lips and palates are common birth defects, but for the kids who have them (and their parents),...

Sat, 22 May 2021

If you're an American who had a childhood, you probably have some nostalgia for Hot Wheels. Get your...

Thu, 20 May 2021

We put our research to the test and it turns out the Girl Scouts is a great organization. Learn mor...

Wed, 19 May 2021

Back in the 60s and 70s, a speed reading craze broke out. Tough luck that speed reading is bunk. Le...

Tue, 18 May 2021

During the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland’s most vulnerable and destitute residents wer...

Sat, 15 May 2021

The first limousines weren’t even cars! Learn all about the history of limousines, how they’re m...

Thu, 13 May 2021

If you’ve never seen a huge truck with gigantic tires do backflips or roll backward perched only o...

Wed, 12 May 2021

Garter snakes aren’t scary, they’re pretty great! Learn all the reasons why in this episode! Le...

Tue, 11 May 2021

The Ivy League is technically a sports conference, but it's much more than that. Enjoy this special ...

Sat, 08 May 2021

Snake handling ranges from professional snake milkers for antivenin to religious handlers who tend t...

Thu, 06 May 2021

Mining uranium is dangerous work. Not only does it involve mining, which is dangerous itself, uraniu...

Wed, 05 May 2021

One of the cutest animals on the planet is also the only one that squeezes out cube-shaped poop. Fin...

Tue, 04 May 2021

The poor appendix. Despite findings that it serves a purpose, many people still cast it off as a sec...

Sat, 01 May 2021

You know the cavemen, a race of human cousins who lived exclusively in caves? They didn’t exist. S...

Thu, 29 Apr 2021

There are lots of reasons to tax corporations: as a check on their power, to help pay for infrastruc...

Wed, 28 Apr 2021

Was Ivar the Boneless a real Viking warrior? Probably. Did he really have no bones? Probably not. L...

Tue, 27 Apr 2021

Truffles are rare, expensive and apparently delicious. Learn all about these earthy fungi today. Le...

Sat, 24 Apr 2021

At its base, criminal profiling is a legitimate investigatory tool. The Supreme Court has drawn a cl...

Thu, 22 Apr 2021

Over the last two centuries philatelists – stamp collectors – have learned just about everything...

Wed, 21 Apr 2021

Join us today as we dive into the story of the first female self-made millionaire, Madam C.J. Walker...

Tue, 20 Apr 2021

Mechanical bulls are kind of weird, but they have certainly made a place in American pop culture ove...

Sat, 17 Apr 2021

Tupperware won immediate design acclaim when it was released in 1947, but it took a pioneering femal...

Thu, 15 Apr 2021

Losing your hair is a situation that seems to be universally considered to absolutely stink. Unsurpr...

Wed, 14 Apr 2021

Chuck loves palindromes. So much that his very name is one. Oh wait... Learn more about your ad-cho...

Tue, 13 Apr 2021

The electrical grid that provides power to the US is one of those things you don’t give a second t...

Sat, 10 Apr 2021

In 1945 a house fire took the lives of five children - except that their bodies were never found. In...

Thu, 08 Apr 2021

Muzak got a bad reputation as bland garbage music. We aim to set the record straight. Learn more ab...

Wed, 07 Apr 2021

Step into today's short stuff to learn all about the armless wonder! Learn more about your ad-choic...

Tue, 06 Apr 2021

In 2016, diplomats at the American embassy in Cuba began suffering weird neurological symptoms after...

Sat, 03 Apr 2021

Don't be confused - this one is about actual circus acts made of family members, not the controversi...

Thu, 01 Apr 2021

After the Titanic sank recriminations and blame followed, sometimes ruining careers unjustifiably. A...

Wed, 31 Mar 2021

In order to figure out what the oldest book is, one has to define what a book actually is. Listen in...

Tue, 30 Mar 2021

When the Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage in April 1912, the world was divided into two types o...

Sat, 27 Mar 2021

The Philadelphia Experiment is a bad movie from the 1980s, and also the conpiracy theory that refuse...

Thu, 25 Mar 2021

The orbits hundreds to thousands of miles above Earth are littered with garbage. Space garbage, sure...

Wed, 24 Mar 2021

Are we finally at the place where we can make cell phone calls on airplanes? PLEASE NO! Listen in to...

Tue, 23 Mar 2021

Biophilic design is all about bringing the outside in. But it's also much more than that. Open your ...

Sat, 20 Mar 2021

People have been burning fires on cliffs as long as other people have used boats, but after the Age ...

Thu, 18 Mar 2021

In 1947 the port town of Texas City, Texas became the site of the largest industrial disaster in Ame...

Wed, 17 Mar 2021

In the 1970s big news was made when some underwater artifacts were found in a bay by Rio de Janeiro ...

Tue, 16 Mar 2021

If you think parrots are simply mimics that fly, you're wrong. Tune in and learn about these colorfu...

Sat, 13 Mar 2021

There is a way to not only sustainably get rid of our household waste, but also produce enough energ...

Thu, 11 Mar 2021

Listen in and learn all about the fascinating history of everybody's favorite pastime... karaoke! L...

Wed, 10 Mar 2021

Today we break down the history of everyone's favorite home invader, the tooth fairy. Learn more ab...

Tue, 09 Mar 2021

Dragons are like mermaids in that they're not real. And that's about where the comparison ends. Lear...

Sat, 06 Mar 2021

Mermaids aren't real. That much we know. But the history and lore of these magical and sometimes men...

Thu, 04 Mar 2021

The United States is one of only 28 countries in the world that doesn’t have equal protection for ...

Wed, 03 Mar 2021

A bridge at the town of Dumbarton in Scotland has a terrible reputation as a site where dogs inexpli...

Tue, 02 Mar 2021

In the 1990s we thought we’d identified the root cause of aging: nasty molecules called free radic...

Sat, 27 Feb 2021

From prehistoric logs across streams to the 102-mile Kunshan Grand Bridge, nature works ceaselessly ...

Thu, 25 Feb 2021

Bruce Lee may have introduced more Westerners to Asian culture than any person in history. And, beca...

Wed, 24 Feb 2021

In 1945, residents of a Liverpool neighborhood found a desiccated body in a long cylinder they’d b...

Tue, 23 Feb 2021

The human population is expected to increase by a couple billion people in the next 30 years and tho...

Sat, 20 Feb 2021

Born and raised in South America, chilis were the earliest crop domesticated in the continent and am...

Thu, 18 Feb 2021

Geologists and biologists have recently realized that the planet’s oceans and coasts are littered ...

Wed, 17 Feb 2021

As part of Black History Month, we wanted to share the little known story of the Freedom House Ambul...

Tue, 16 Feb 2021

In 2014, a young German man walked into an airport in Bulgaria with a flight booked, then suddenly r...

Sat, 13 Feb 2021

Between 2007 and 2016, 17 disembodied feet - still wearing shoes - have washed ashore between Washin...

Thu, 11 Feb 2021

Owning a home in the US is a way to pass wealth down from one generation to the next and lift famili...

Wed, 10 Feb 2021

California is a pretty cool name. And the story about where it came from is even cooler. Learn more...

Tue, 09 Feb 2021

Sacagawea was only 16 when she joined the Corps of Discovery. That is one seriously impressive teena...

Sat, 06 Feb 2021

Despite tons of people using cotton swabs each day to clean the earwax from their ears, cerumen (as ...

Thu, 04 Feb 2021

The NAACP has long been one of the most robust and effective non-profits in the USA. And while it ha...

Wed, 03 Feb 2021

In 1986 Cleveland released more than a million helium balloons at once! It didn’t go at all accord...

Tue, 02 Feb 2021

You know Groundhog Day – the holiday on February 2 when you wake up and have to go through the sam...

Sat, 30 Jan 2021

Cultures around the world over the years have been inspired by, then repulsed, then inspired by magg...

Thu, 28 Jan 2021

Humans have been stealing energy from flowing water for at least two thousand years. It wasn’t unt...

Wed, 27 Jan 2021

How black is vantablack? About as black as you could imagine. Learn more about your ad-choices at h...

Tue, 26 Jan 2021

The history of the KKK is rooted in hatred and racism, and it still is today. Learn all about these ...

Sat, 23 Jan 2021

After newsreels captured the Hindenburg erupting in fire in 1937, the promising development of airsh...

Thu, 21 Jan 2021

In 2010 an eccentric art dealer hid a treasure chest with $2 million in valuables somewhere in the R...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021

If you think Necco Wafers are the most disgusting candy on the planet, you are not alone. But it tur...

Tue, 19 Jan 2021

The Michelin Guide is an institution. But why does the famous tire manufacturer even put this restau...

Sat, 16 Jan 2021

It was America's most famous family feud, but the history of the Hatfields vs the McCoys is fraught ...

Thu, 14 Jan 2021

If you took our advice and looked up baby beavers a few episodes back, you probably found them soooo...

Wed, 13 Jan 2021

Should you be afraid of these creepy little creatures you find in your basement? Only one way to fin...

Tue, 12 Jan 2021

What is Hell? It's complicated and depends on which religion you're talking about. We dive into this...

Sat, 09 Jan 2021

Skateboarding started out as something bored surfers did when the waves weren't breaking, but after ...

Thu, 07 Jan 2021

Orville and Wilbur Wright were not trained professionals, but they were rigorous experimenters who e...

Wed, 06 Jan 2021

Have you ever noticed sometimes theaters – we mean, theatres – oh, forget it – places where yo...

Tue, 05 Jan 2021

Did you know space has weather? It’s true! In our solar system, tons – literal tons – of highl...

Sat, 02 Jan 2021

What began as a challenge to an oil engineer to make a terrible singer into a pitch-perfect one, Aut...

Thu, 31 Dec 2020

The Eiffel Tower is one of the top destinations on Planet Earth. It turns out to be a pretty cool fe...

Wed, 30 Dec 2020

Turns out we have little kids from the 19th century, the Three Stooges, and an odd musical composer ...

Tue, 29 Dec 2020

In 1919 a brilliant Russian scientist accidentally stumbled onto the first electronic musical instru...

Sat, 26 Dec 2020

Since sugar spread from Polynesia a few thousand years ago, the world has been crazy for it. Insanel...

Thu, 24 Dec 2020

It's here again! Our annual ad-free holiday spectacular. So pour up a hot toddy, throw a log on the ...

Wed, 23 Dec 2020

What started out as a tradition among Jewish people on the Lower East Side at the turn of the last c...

Tue, 22 Dec 2020

Buffets are every kid’s dream – until they grow up enough to realize how gross communal spreads ...

Sat, 19 Dec 2020

Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...

Thu, 17 Dec 2020

Humans have been using a form of aspirin for pain relief since at least the Sumerians. But in recent...

Wed, 16 Dec 2020

The way we deal with our dead has changed a lot over the past 50 years. Learn all about it in 12-15 ...

Tue, 15 Dec 2020

Joseph Merrick was known as The Elephant Man because of his suffering from what we now know was Prot...

Sat, 12 Dec 2020

After a night of heavy boozing, many partygoers find themselves the victim of a hangover. But what e...

Thu, 10 Dec 2020

Everyone knows who Frank Lloyd Wright is, but did you know there was a grisly massacre at his home i...

Wed, 09 Dec 2020

Cramming is no way to study. Learn why in today's short stuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at ...

Tue, 08 Dec 2020

Class action lawsuits seem a little odd – a bunch of people get together for a sue-fest against so...

Sat, 05 Dec 2020

Since the age of Descartes, science has put all of its eggs in the basket of determinism, the idea t...

Thu, 03 Dec 2020

Did you know that Richard Nixon had a FBI case file open on Beatle John Lennon? Well he did! Why? Li...

Wed, 02 Dec 2020

Pimento cheese was originally nothing like it is now: It was mass produced, it was made from cream c...

Tue, 01 Dec 2020

Surprisingly, Cabbage Patch Kids have turned up on SYSK almost as much as the Nazis or Seinfeld. It’...

Sat, 28 Nov 2020

Legend has it that tea was discovered by a curious Chinese emperor after leaves blew into his boiled...

Thu, 26 Nov 2020

Turkeys are a very interesting bird as it turns out. Which may be why many people are leaving it off...

Wed, 25 Nov 2020

Ever noticed how eyes in a painting sometimes follow you around the room? It’s weird! But it’s a...

Tue, 24 Nov 2020

Patty Hearst was a young heiress living a quiet life studying art history at college when one Monday...

Sat, 21 Nov 2020

Along with the hole in the ozone layer, acid rain was one of the first international environmental t...

Thu, 19 Nov 2020

On Halloween 1938 young radio star Orson Welles scared the pants off of America with a fictional new...

Wed, 18 Nov 2020

We know squirrels hide nuts. But it's actually more complex a system than you think. Learn more abo...

Tue, 17 Nov 2020

In recent decades we’ve come to understand that there’s a lot more to pain than: touch hot stove...

Sat, 14 Nov 2020

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, right? Maybe not. And who named Australia? Find out the unu...

Thu, 12 Nov 2020

For almost a century, Macy’s department store has kicked off the holidays in America with a grand ...

Wed, 11 Nov 2020

Plastic flamingos started out as innocent yard art, transformed into folk art, and have become a (ki...

Tue, 10 Nov 2020

The Bay of Pigs is one of the blackest of eyes on American foreign policy. Learn all about this dark...

Sun, 08 Nov 2020

The spectacular eruptions of steam and water we call geysers are only the tip of the proverbial iceb...

Thu, 05 Nov 2020

When Fort Knox was built in the 1930s to house America’s gold supply, it was billed as an impenetr...

Wed, 04 Nov 2020

Have you ever wondered why we do so much scientific testing on fruit flies? Turns out they make bett...

Tue, 03 Nov 2020

Roberto Clemente was what’s called a “complete” baseball player – he could hit, run and, man...

Sat, 31 Oct 2020

According to a 2009 poll, more Americans believe in ghosts than don't. But what are ghosts exactly? ...

Thu, 29 Oct 2020

It’s that time of year again! So turn down the lights, pull the sheets over your eyes and prepare ...

Wed, 28 Oct 2020

For at least sixty years a mysterious person (or persons) showed up at Edgar Allen Poe’s grave to ...

Tue, 27 Oct 2020

In America, we've treated our senior citizens in very different ways over the years. Tune in to hear...

Sun, 25 Oct 2020

Hey, SYSK listeners! We wanted to make sure you heard Chuck on iHeartRadio’s Why I’m Voting podc...

Sat, 24 Oct 2020

If you want to control the masses, control what they read. After all, books are seeds that germinate...

Thu, 22 Oct 2020

Beavers are in fact, very busy. They're builders and solid family members, husbands and wives. Learn...

Wed, 21 Oct 2020

Do you have to disclose the notion that your house may be haunted upon sale? Listen in to find out. ...

Tue, 20 Oct 2020

Voter suppression in the USA is as old as voting itself. Listen in to hear about 10 ways we stifle t...

Sat, 17 Oct 2020

Sushi grew out of a way to ferment fish a couple thousand years ago and in the late 20th century beg...

Thu, 15 Oct 2020

We love animals. A lot. Especially underrated ones like the darling porcupine. Listen in today to le...

Wed, 14 Oct 2020

We love to keep up with the current terminology for groups of people. Learn about the origin of Lati...

Tue, 13 Oct 2020

Without wind tunnels we may not have airplanes right now. Early aviationists built them to puzzle ou...

Sat, 10 Oct 2020

For centuries North American tribes have told stories of a hairy wild giant in the wilderness, and o...

Thu, 08 Oct 2020

Was the printing press a big deal? You bet it was. One of the biggest. Learn all about the early his...

Wed, 07 Oct 2020

After RBG passed away she had the honor of lying in state. Who decides this? Listen and you'll know....

Tue, 06 Oct 2020

Swing states are all the rage once again this election season, but the makeup has changed a bit. Lea...

Sat, 03 Oct 2020

When you vote in an American presidential election, you're not voting for your candidate - you're vo...

Thu, 01 Oct 2020

The advent of nuclear weapons and the Cold War kicked off a craze in the US for building rec rooms w...

Wed, 30 Sep 2020

It’s actually really strange that scratching your head is a widely understood sign that you’re p...

Tue, 29 Sep 2020

After reaching their peak, conjugal prison visits are all but gone in the U.S. Learn all about these...

Sat, 26 Sep 2020

Rabies may have gotten a lot of attention in the U.S. in the 70s and 80s, but it's still an issue in...

Thu, 24 Sep 2020

By longstanding listener request, we look at how Hawaii was basically stolen by the United States in...

Wed, 23 Sep 2020

Petticoat rulers were women who ran the show long before anyone thought they could. We’re talking ...

Tue, 22 Sep 2020

Sweepstakes were invented as marketing tools to drum up interest for a product or sales. But winning...

Sat, 19 Sep 2020

White-collar crime often involves fraud and other nonviolent acts. For most people, the term "white-...

Thu, 17 Sep 2020

Election polling had a pretty good rep until 2016. But it turns out they weren't far off even then. ...

Wed, 16 Sep 2020

Most people don't realize that around a quarter of the cowboys found in the Old West during the gold...

Tue, 15 Sep 2020

Origami is an amazing art that consists of making folds in paper to create something beautiful. Lear...

Sat, 12 Sep 2020

Despite our lengthy history of evacuating our bowels and bladders, it wasn’t until the relatively ...

Thu, 10 Sep 2020

It’s time to get jazzed up for some Earth science of the waterlogged variety. Join Chuck and Josh ...

Wed, 09 Sep 2020

What does Barbra Streisand have to do with the internet? Listen and learn! Learn more about your ad...

Tue, 08 Sep 2020

Frances Perkins was an incredibly influential American yet is virtually unknown. What did she do? A ...

Sat, 05 Sep 2020

Entire TV shows are dedicated to them and Americans love to watch a live one, but police chases aren...

Thu, 03 Sep 2020

When Tara Calico mysteriously vanished in 1988, suspected to be the victim of foul play, her case ma...

Wed, 02 Sep 2020

We're back with another handful of phrase origins. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www....

Tue, 01 Sep 2020

In 1962, three ordinary criminals transcended into folk heroes when they crawled out of their cells ...

Sat, 29 Aug 2020

In this classic episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck dive into the world of polyamory. T...

Thu, 27 Aug 2020

Blacksmiths? You got that right. Learn all about this age old occupation in today's episode. Learn ...

Wed, 26 Aug 2020

Join Chuck and Josh as they learn that one of the great childhood truths – that carrots help you s...

Tue, 25 Aug 2020

Unless you have an arcane disorder from a lesion on a very specific spot on our medulla, the chances...

Sat, 22 Aug 2020

Almost three percent of Americans suffer from a debilitating disorder that causes them to suffer int...

Thu, 20 Aug 2020

Chuck and Josh dive into the wacky world of 800 and 900 phone numbers. Learn more about your ad-cho...

Wed, 19 Aug 2020

In addition to all the lousy things that’s come out of the Coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. is also ...

Tue, 18 Aug 2020

There’s a movement afoot that says we should all stop thinking about our weight and just enjoy foo...

Sat, 15 Aug 2020

If it was possible to take a full scan of all of the DNA of every cell in and on your body the resul...

Thu, 13 Aug 2020

Back in the pre-pandemic days we had a sporting event called The Olympic Games. And at those games t...

Wed, 12 Aug 2020

Our old pal Bill Gates is back for a very special short stuff where we talk all about Covid vaccines...

Tue, 11 Aug 2020

Pirate radio started out in England as a way to sidestep the regulations of Big Radio. While outlawe...

Sat, 08 Aug 2020

When Michael Jackson debuted the moonwalk in 1983 the world was enrapt. The dance goes back farther,...

Thu, 06 Aug 2020

Playing miniature golf is a very fun thing to do and, you’re about to find, learning about its ori...

Wed, 05 Aug 2020

Who doesn't love a good puzzle? Tune in to learn a few facts and figures about jigsaw puzzles right ...

Tue, 04 Aug 2020

Wasps have a bad rap. Because their sting really hurts and they don't make honey like their cousins....

Sat, 01 Aug 2020

Sometimes providence smiles on historians. Thus is the case with the Rosetta stone, an ancient Egypt...

Thu, 30 Jul 2020

Soap is a miraculous substance – and mysterious too: we have no idea how humans first figured out ...

Wed, 29 Jul 2020

The Habsburg Jaw is the result of inbreeding. But what is it? Click play and learn! Learn more abou...

Tue, 28 Jul 2020

Hurricanes are perhaps the most destructive force of nature we have to deal with here on Earth. When...

Sat, 25 Jul 2020

Lobbying is an entrenched part of American politics and one that many people think is breaking gover...

Thu, 23 Jul 2020

Today we deep dive on mobile phones, wonders of the modern world! Learn more about your ad-choices ...

Wed, 22 Jul 2020

Sure, together Young Guns and Young Guns II form an exhaustive biography of Billy the Kid’s li...

Tue, 21 Jul 2020

For more than half of the 20th century parents in the industrialized world were freaked out by an un...

Sat, 18 Jul 2020

If you've ever seen a flea circus, then count yourself among the few. It's a dying art, but back in ...

Thu, 16 Jul 2020

The robber barons were not a group of evil super villains. OR WERE THEY? Learn all about these titan...

Wed, 15 Jul 2020

An old coal mine in Pennsylvania caught fire one day in the 60s and it’s been burning ever since. ...

Tue, 14 Jul 2020

The 1920s were just absolutely nuts. People got into weird fads really intensely and one of the stra...

Sat, 11 Jul 2020

Well-planned landfills have only recently come into widespread use. Recently, waste managers have fo...

Thu, 09 Jul 2020

Essential oils are from plants and they can help the human body in a lot of ways. There are also man...

Wed, 08 Jul 2020

You know the at symbol? This thing: @? There’s a name for it, just not in English. We just call it...

Tue, 07 Jul 2020

The KGB was the notorious strong arm of the Kremlin. Run afoul and you died. Learn all about them to...

Sat, 04 Jul 2020

Guessing is a weird thing. For millennia, it could have meant the difference between life and death....

Thu, 02 Jul 2020

There is maybe nothing that sounds more boring than hearing two people talk about soil, but friend, ...

Wed, 01 Jul 2020

Why are some words funnier than others? Well, one man has sought to figure that out. We'll tell you ...

Tue, 30 Jun 2020

Researchers have noticed that as incidence of anger increases so too has teeth grinding, known clini...

Sat, 27 Jun 2020

There is a lot – A LOT – to juggling and Chuck and Josh go over the lion’s share of it in this...

Thu, 25 Jun 2020

Matcha is something else, healthy and delicious and all the rage. Learn all about this trendy bevera...

Wed, 24 Jun 2020

A gaggle of geese. A murder of crows. Nouns of assemblage are awesome and we talk about them for abo...

Tue, 23 Jun 2020

Sure you know all about ultrasound. You can see pictures of little babies right there cozy in the wo...

Sat, 20 Jun 2020

People often ask us how we do our research. We're not going to disclose all of our secrets, but we'l...

Thu, 18 Jun 2020

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listene...

Wed, 17 Jun 2020

Haint Blue is a kind of robin's egg color that you might commonly find on porches of the low country...

Tue, 16 Jun 2020

The Seven Countries Study was a fairly impressive, long-term study on the effects of fat in our diet...

Sat, 13 Jun 2020

Who first decided that it would be a great idea to shoot flame at other people from a distance? Josh...

Thu, 11 Jun 2020

There’s a persistent insistence that you can ingest a tapeworm and as the parasite hijacks a lot o...

Wed, 10 Jun 2020

Foie gras means “fatty liver” in French, which makes sense because it’s made from the overripe...

Tue, 09 Jun 2020

In yet another testament to how amazingly great the 70s were, in 1975 the US started a program that ...

Sat, 06 Jun 2020

The Black Panther Party was a complex political movement that was unfairly painted as a militant gro...

Thu, 04 Jun 2020

Tank Man. An indelible image burned in our brains. But what led to this extraordinary event? Chuck a...

Wed, 03 Jun 2020

The lake from one of the all-time great movies (search your feelings, you’ll find that it’s true...

Tue, 02 Jun 2020

We've covered a lot of drugs in our history, and today we tackle heroin, one of the most dangerous o...

Sat, 30 May 2020

It’s likely that without the invention of the pneumatic jackhammer, the Industrial Revolution woul...

Thu, 28 May 2020

Narcolepsy is one of those amazing rare disorders that everyone thinks they understand – people ju...

Wed, 27 May 2020

There was a time when kids had to look out for flying darts that could pierce their skulls when they...

Tue, 26 May 2020

If you didn’t already know how amazing hummingbirds are, prepare to learn. Not only do they count ...

Sat, 23 May 2020

The Enlightenment stands as the moment the West withdrew from superstition and found its faith in re...

Fri, 22 May 2020

Hi listeners, in case you haven't heard already, iHeartRadio just released a brand new podcast calle...

Thu, 21 May 2020

Bras are loved and hated, sometimes at the same time. But as difficult and restrictive as they can b...

Wed, 20 May 2020

Did you know the little nursery rhyme is controversial? It’s true: Two towns in New England can ba...

Tue, 19 May 2020

Something spooky was born on the American frontier in the mid-19th century: the idea that people’s...

Mon, 18 May 2020

Hi listeners, in case you haven't heard already, iHeartRadio just released a brand new podcast calle...

Sat, 16 May 2020

Creating fire was possibly the most important human discovery, but it's easy to take for granted. Bu...

Thu, 14 May 2020

No food is more all-American than peanut butter – 80 percent of homes in the country have a jar of...

Wed, 13 May 2020

You know those terrible leg cramps that come out of nowhere? They may be named after a drunken baseb...

Tue, 12 May 2020

Herd immunity is an epidemiological concept that if enough people are inoculated against a disease t...

Sat, 09 May 2020

Entrances to the underworld have been places of wonder for eons, and humans have ventured into caves...

Thu, 07 May 2020

The zipper may be the most unsung invention we humans have ever come up with. Prior to zippers, ever...

Wed, 06 May 2020

There was a glorious time in American history when circus sideshow performers lived together in a sm...

Tue, 05 May 2020

Spartacus was a real dude. He led a slave revolt, and was pretty successful to boot. I'm Spartacus. ...

Sat, 02 May 2020

A dog that knows exactly when its owners will arrive home every day seems to have a human perception...

Thu, 30 Apr 2020

Agatha Christie was a great writer of murder mystery novels and is probably the best selling author ...

Wed, 29 Apr 2020

Business in the front, you know the rest. Listen in as we discuss the lifestyle choice that is the m...

Tue, 28 Apr 2020

An existential risk is a special kind of threat that are different from other types of risks in that...

Sat, 25 Apr 2020

Back when this episode aired, the USPS was teetering on the edge of going under and there were a lot...

Thu, 23 Apr 2020

As part of a super 70s push to get Earth to a seat at the table of the Galactic Federation (in case ...

Wed, 22 Apr 2020

Today Chuck and Josh take a shallow dive in the warm pool that is the NY Times Crossword Puzzle. Le...

Tue, 21 Apr 2020

Today, Chuck and Josh dive into the funky, cool world of the classic TV show, Sooooooooul Train. Le...

Sat, 18 Apr 2020

Yes, it's true: Unions have a shady mob-related past and were originally championed by anarchists. B...

Thu, 16 Apr 2020

All that gross stuff we humans put in the water that gets flushed down the sewers has to be taken ba...

Wed, 15 Apr 2020

It’s a typical human reaction: When you’re driving and you realize that you’re lost, you turn ...

Tue, 14 Apr 2020

We all know the benefits of bidets. But with toilet paper in short supply, they're more important th...

Sat, 11 Apr 2020

Dissociative Identity Disorder was known as multiple personality disorder until a case of mass hyste...

Thu, 09 Apr 2020

Becoming the first licensed woman physician in America was tough, convincing male surgeons to wash t...

Wed, 08 Apr 2020

In the go-go 80s and 90s, American Airlines offered the AAirpass, a lifetime pass for unlimited firs...

Tue, 07 Apr 2020

As if being murdering SOBs weren’t enough, the Nazis were also thieving rats. During WWII, they st...

Sat, 04 Apr 2020

Perhaps you didn’t realize that when you search the web you’re only skimming the surface. In fac...

Thu, 02 Apr 2020

Student loans can be pretty complicated. Luckily Chuck and Josh are here to wade through the financi...

Wed, 01 Apr 2020

Today, Chuck and Josh dive into that scary number...666. Learn more about your ad-choices at https:...

Tue, 31 Mar 2020

Chuck and Josh explore the age-old question: Should you train your dog by treating it like a living,...