Stuff You Should Know
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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2752 episodes
Selects: Mangroves: Nature's Best Tree?
Mangroves are incredible survivors and adapters. They're also amazing at lessening the impact of tropical storms and climate change. And heck, they're...
How the Kowloon Walled City Worked
From the 1970s to the early 1990s a patch of land in Hong Kong the size of just a few football fields was the most densely-populated area in the world...
Short Stuff: In-Flight Entertainment
Movies on planes have changed a lot in the last couple of decades. Today, we'll go over how this stuff works.
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The Fyre Festival Fiasco
What happens when a career grifter tries to throw a "luxury" music festival in only six months? Not much it turns out.This was the Fyre Festival.
Selects: How Spiritualism Works
Something spooky was born on the American frontier in the mid-19th century: the idea that people’s personalities survive death and that some gifted in...
Let's All Go to the World's Fair
Before the internet could show you anything in the universe - including stuff it made up - people had few opportunities to have their minds blown. But...
Short Stuff: Johnny Ringo
You might be familiar with the outlaw Johnny Ringo from the movie Tombstone. He was indeed a real-life black hat gunslinger, and a tragic figure at th...
The Gold Standard: When Money Meant Something
There was a time less than 100 years ago when you could exchange your paper currency at the bank for actual gold. Gave folks a sense of stability, it...
Selects: How Dopamine Works
Dopamine is perhaps the most talked-about, most misunderstood biochemical in our bodies. It’s linked to not only addiction and depravity, but also foc...
The Battle of the Sexes
Back in 1973 a male chauvinist played tennis against champion Billie Jean King. This is that story.
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Short Stuff: MacGuffins
What’s a MacGuffin? We don’t know. No one knows. But it has to do with movies and that’s fun to talk about.
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The Murder of Jane Stanford
Stanford University was co-founded by Jane Stanford. Not long after she was murdered and it was covered up. We'll probably never know what really happ...
Selects: How Free Range Parenting Works
Free range parenting is all about giving your child the freedom to play and explore life on their own. Are there benefits? Sure. Do some people hate t...
How the Flexner Report Changed Medicine
The Flexner Report shook up medicine in the United States when it was released in 1910 and it's never been the same since. For better or worse.
...
Short Stuff: Safety Coffins
Back in the 1800s, people had an outsized fear of being buried alive. Enter... THE SAFETY COFFIN!
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How Crowds Work
If you’ve ever been out of your house you’ve probably been in a crowd before. They can be as mundane as an elevator full of people or as consequential...
Selects: How Charles Darwin Worked
Charles Darwin wasn't the first or only scientist to grasp the theory of evolution through natural selection, but he became its father and icon. In th...
How Lasers Work
It turns out that lasers are even cooler than they look. And as far as acronyms go, they’re pretty solid in that respect too. There’s way too much coo...
Short Stuff: Aztec Death Whistle
In the late 90s, a strange musical instrument was excavated under the streets of CDMX. Listen in to learn all about the Aztec Death Whistle.
Se...
How Cognitive Biases Work
Humans have all sorts of weird quirks that cause us to do silly things and make bad decisions. It’s not our fault though. Our brains are wired that wa...
Selects: Why Do Great Flood Myths Seem To Be Universal?
If look into the mythology of just about any culture in the world, you will find a myth about a great flood that destroyed humanity and submerged the...
The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability?
The Cajun Navy was formed after Hurricane Katrina and really got its legs after the Louisiana flood of 2016. They save a lot of lives, but some fear...
Short Stuff: Color Psychology
Have you ever cried way longer than usual when you were in a yellow room? You’ve been smacked by color psychology my friend and it’s got your number.<...
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan: Miracle is Right
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan were one of the most amazing non-magical duos in history. Imagine living trapped in your own mind – unable to see or he...
Selects: Operation Mincemeat: How A Corpse Fooled the Nazis
In World War II, a secret department of British 'corkscrew thinkers' hatched a plan to use the cadaver of an unclaimed homeless man to turn the tide o...
The Magnificent Golden Gate Bridge
If you think the Golden Gate Bridge is named because of its color then you are wrong. That name proceeds the bridge by a long time. But that’s just on...
Short Stuff: Magic 8 Ball
The Magic 8 Ball, the mystical fortune telling pool ball started out as a piece of customer swag for the Brunswick Billiard Company. Since then, it h...
The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a famous poem about a lesser famous military action during the Crimean War. Tune in today for a rare SYSK walk thro...
Selects: The Truth Behind Cage-Free and Free-Range
You’d think terms like cage-free and free-range means the chickens we eat are frolicking happily in the fresh air under the shining sun, but you’d be...
The Ballad of Biggie and Tupac
Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur had a famous beef with one another in the mid-90s. It was so intense, it sparked an even wider rivalry between the East...
Short Stuff: The S7VEN Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins are tied to religion, but not really in the Bible. So where did this naughty list come from?
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Keeping Time
Today, Chuck and Josh walk you through the history of keeping time, from sticks in the sun to atomic clocks.
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Selects: BPD: The Worst Disorder or Not a Disorder at All?
Borderline Personality Disorder has been described as emotional “third degree burns over ninety percent of your body.” It’s as close to a curse as a p...
Data Centers: Can't Live With Em, Can't Live Without Em
Data centers are the backbone of our digital world. All the sites you visit and social media you post happen there. A boom in huge data centers to sup...
Short Stuff: Did a vampire legend help win the Cold War?
During the Cold War, the CIA used the legend of a vampire named Aswang to scare locals into not helping the communists.
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Doin’ Science in the National Radio Quiet Zone
West Virginia is home to sensitive radio telescopes that could easily pick up your cell phone’s signal on Mars. And the cell reception on Mars is abou...
Selects: How Forgiveness Works
For most of history, forgiveness fell under the domain of religion. But in the 1980s science started investigating it and found that forgiving someone...
The SAD Episode
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is much more than the winter blues. It's a serious subset of depression. Learn all about it and what to do if you...
Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch
Since 1972 neighborhoods have been officially banding together to prevent crime together. Does it work? It seems to. Does it go too far? It often does...
The Warrens: Paranormal Power Couple
Today we dive into the interesting story of paranormal power couple the Warrens, inspiration behind The Conjuring movie franchise.
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