Shows / Stuff You Should Know
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.
Episodes
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: The Tulsa 'Race Riots'
In reality, the Tulsa "race riots" of 1921 was more like a massacre. Yet it was almost lost to history until 1997, and still not widely known outside of…
- Stuff You Should Know
The KILLDOZER Rampage
The Killdozer rampage is one of those stories you just couldn't make up. Yet it happened. And we're here to tell you the story. See omnystudio.com/listener for…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: The Ritchie Boys
Who were the Ritchie Boys? Listen in to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Stuff You Should Know
Phone Phreaking: The Advent of Hacking
Years ago the telephone network was like the internet is to us today: a vast, interconnected means of communicating and sharing information. And, like the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: The Duality of Caffeine
Caffeine is a heck of a drug - at the same time it's both good and bad for you. Learn the good, bad and ugly about this everyday stimulant in this classic…
- Stuff You Should Know
HPV and You
Human papilloma virus, HPV, is an unusually common bug among humans. Most of the time it’s benign and your body manages to overcome the infection. Sometimes it…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Sitzpinklers Unite
Sitzpinklers - men who sit down to pee - is a big thing in Germany, and a handful of other places. And if Josh and Chuck have any say it’ll catch on like…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Puritans in America
The founding of New England by the Puritans is quite a story. Today, we dive into who those people were. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Feminist Physician
Becoming the first licensed woman physician in America was tough, convincing male surgeons to wash their hands between patients was even tougher. In this…
- Stuff You Should Know
Salsa: NOT THE DANCE
Salsa is one of the great inventions of the culinary world. Here in the USA it's mainly a vehicle for tortilla chips. In Mexico, it's more like a sauce to add…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Milk Wars
If you’re a mobster and you can’t make money off of booze any longer what should you move to next? How about milk? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
- Stuff You Should Know
Jane Goodall: All Good
There aren’t too many people walking around today who get a pass from the entire world for anything remotely negative they do or say. That’s just how the world…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Work, Part II
In this classic episode, we finish revisiting our 2017 tour of the best sights of the ancient world when we get deep into the history of a lighthouse that…
- Stuff You Should Know
Salute to Women Inventors
Women inventors have always had a tough time, for obvious reasons. So we're here today to pay tribute to those who persevered in the face of the laws and…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: POW Olympics
While it sounds like something out of a movie, some POWs in WWII really held an Olympics. And it happened more than once. See omnystudio.com/listener for…
- Stuff You Should Know
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 focus…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How Restaurant Health Inspections Work
If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know the feeling that occurs when the health inspector pays a visit. While nerve wracking, it's the best insurance…
- Stuff You Should Know
EXTRA! EXTRA! The Newsboy Strike Episode!
When paperboys stopped delivering a couple of very big newspapers in 1899 it was a big deal. Big enough that the two biggest publishers in the world got pretty…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: James Dean's Car
The story of what happened to the car that James Dean crashed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Stuff You Should Know
Whistling!
Whistling is pretty cool when you think about it because it can mean many things, from simple happy tunes to legit communication. Learn all about this…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Work, Part I
Long before slide rulers and pocket protectors, civilizations across the world used their noggins to build some impressive structures. Almost all have crumbled…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Big Episode on Wikipedia
Wikipedia changed the world. Before it came along, you had to go to the library to get the answers you sought. And you and your friends had to just agree to…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Hostile Architecture
Those armrests in the middle of benches aren’t just for your comfort, they’re intended to keep the homeless from laying on them. Cities are filled with these…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why Must Widowhood Be So Difficult?
In almost every part of the world, in some form or fashion, widows have things harder than they did when their spouses were alive. In some places it means they…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: The Murder Mystery of Ötzi the Iceman
About 5,300 years ago a Copper Age shepherd was murdered. He just happened to die in a place where his body was so well preserved that gave researchers an…
- Stuff You Should Know
A Brief History of Air Travel
Today we take to the friendly skies to detail the fascinating history of air travel. From planes with piano bars and lounges to the current no frills…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Peace Sign
The peace sign is one of the most globally recognized symbols around today, but it’s only a few decades old. And it wasn’t the hippies who created it, it was a…
- Stuff You Should Know
Coercive Control, the Invisible Basis of Abuse
When we think of an abused spouse we tend to think of horrific physical or emotional violence. But over the last decade or so, it’s become clear that’s only a…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: Sunburn, Suntans and Sunscreen
It's pretty obvious something's gone wrong when you get a sunburn, but did you know a tan means you've damaged your DNA? Dive into the three Ss of summer and…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Ballad of Grit
In the last decade American schools became enrapt by a new psychological concept centered on persevering. Things went south when they started attaching funding…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Amber Alerts
Learn all about the saddest phone notification in today's episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Stuff You Should Know
Conductors: What the heck is going on there?
You've probably been to a symphony performance and wondered, what in the heck are conductors doing up there anyway? Well we're here to explain that as best we…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: What are think tanks all about?
Think tanks? More like stink tanks! We're kidding. Think tanks do valuable work, when they operate in a non-partisan way of course. Learn all about the history…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Guinness Book of Records
If you grew up in the 70s and 80s in America, you probably have the image of your tattered Guinness Book of Records. The book was ubiquitous then, but is still…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: What's a mudlarker?
Mudlarking is a uniquely British hobby, though you can dig through river mud anywhere there's a river. But the Thames has the good stuff. See…
- Stuff You Should Know
The shameful and harrowing story of Unit 731
Unit 731 was a secret group within the Japanese Army in WWII that committed unspeakable atrocities against humans in the name of scientific research. Listen…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How Vomit Phobia Works
No one - no one - likes to vomit, but there are some people who would prefer to die rather than vomit, people who spend their days worrying they will vomit at…
- Stuff You Should Know
J. Edgar Hoover: Evil G-Man Pt. 2
In the exciting conclusion of our two-part episode on Hoover, we come in at the Cold War and end on a strange note. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Hobo Signs
By definition hobos are people who travel from town to town taking odd jobs as they go. But some towns are friendlier than others, and hobos developed a system…
- Stuff You Should Know
J. Edgar Hoover: Evil G-Man Pt. 1
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that J. Edgar Hoover was perhaps the most powerful American of the 20th century. By the time he established the FBI as…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: The Great War of the Worlds Panic Myth
On Halloween 1938 young radio star Orson Welles scared the pants off of America with a fictional news bulletin claiming Martians had landed and were destroying…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Silurian Hypothesis
The idea that we aren’t the first advanced civilization to live on Earth sounds like a fringe theory, but it raises a good question: How can we be so sure that…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Zambonis!
Even the dullest hockey game is worth seeing when the Zamboni comes out to resurface the ice. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
- Stuff You Should Know
NYC Trash: A study in persistence
Taking care of 12,000 tons of residential trash every day is a hard job. But how does that even work? Listen in to marvel at the NYC sanitation system. See…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How Stuttering Works
Despite as much as one percent of the adult population having the condition, science doesn't actually know how stuttering works. The best it's come up with so…
- Stuff You Should Know
10 - Yes, 10! - Dumb Criminals
Sometimes you just have to turn it off for a while – all the thinking, and overthinking, analyzing, and figuring out. Sometimes it’s nice to just breathe…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Titanic Survivors!
We all know the story of the Titanic and the tragedy of lives lost. So hey, let's talk about the survivors for a change! See omnystudio.com/listener for…
- Stuff You Should Know
Misophonia: More Than an Annoyance
Misophonia is a condition in which certain sounds trigger people in very negative ways that can really disrupt someone's life. Listen in today to learn all…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold
As if being murdering SOBs weren’t enough, the Nazis were also thieving rats. During WWII, they stole billons in gold from countries they overran and moved it…
- Stuff You Should Know
Atomic Clocks, Ahoy!
The only thing more complicated than an atomic clock is researching how they work and then figuring out how to explain it to other people. But believe us, they…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Getting Winded
Getting the wind knocked out of you is scary, but passes quickly. Learn exactly what's happening with all that today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Village People Episode
The Village People were a smash hit singing group that came and went in under two years. Then other people performed under that name for several decades. This…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: How the Beagle Brigade Works
If you've ever been to an international airport, you've probably seen one of the keenest spotters of illegal contraband - The Beagle Brigade! These cute dogs…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Awful Crimes of Georgia Tann
Georgia Tann was a bad human. We feel safe in saying that because she kidnapped babies from poor families to sell to wealthy ones. Listen in if you can stomach…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: The Sad, Strange Tale of Margaret Schilling
Not too much is known about Margaret Schilling. She was the kind of person whose memory might have been lost to time had she not left behind an indelible…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Power of the Wind
You probably know wind energy projects have been around since the 90s, but did you know they now provide 10% of America’s energy, and more than that in other…
- Stuff You Should Know
Selects: Special Effects: A Short History
Special effects have been around since the first movies. In fact, the techniques the earliest filmmakers created are still around today, we just use computers…
- Stuff You Should Know
Hitchhiking: Two thumbs out!
Today we go down the road a bit, thumbs out, to explore the rich history of hitchhiking. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: The Amazing Tale of Juliane Koepcke
Few people have been more qualified to survive a plane crash alone in the Amazon for almost two weeks than Juliane Koepcke. Let’s hear her story. See…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Dubious Science of Arson Investigation
Arson investigation has changed a lot over the years. There is actual science available now, but the word still hasn't totally gotten out. Listen in today, and…