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 KnowShort Stuff: The Javelina
Pigs, hogs, boars and javelinas. What's the difference? Tune in to find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Embalming Works
The Death Suite continues! In this installment, Josh and Chuck go over what it takes to preserve a human body using chemicals and whether that’s such a good…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Southerners Aren't Lazy and Dumb, They Just Had Hookworm
There was a time when the lower classes of the American South were considered lazy and dimwitted, a stereotype that still somewhat survives today. But this…
Stuff You Should KnowHow the Magna Carta Worked
In 1215 at Runnymede (doo dah, doo dah) the nobles and the king agreed to end a rebellion against the power of the English throne. While the treaty that…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Chameleons
In today's short stuff, we bust a few myths about cute little chameleons. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Creepy Legacy of the Hotel Cecil
The Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles has had no less than 16 unnatural deaths, from suicides to murders and everything in between. Listen in to the history…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Temper Tantrums Work
When your kid boils over in the grocery store, it can be tough to stay calm and ignore it, but that's precisely what experts prescribe parents do to deal with…
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Criminal Records: No Thanks!
And you thought our crime and punishment suite was finished. Not yet it isn't! Not before we cover criminal records. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Handwashing vs Dishwashers
Josh and Chuck finally put to rest the age old debate over which is better – and learn a little about themselves along the way. Learn more about your…
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How Trepanation Worked
One of the oldest medical procedures in human history is also one of the riskiest. For thousands of years humans carried a type of proto brain surgery where a…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Composting: Nature's Most Interesting Process
You may think composting is just a bunch of old banana peels rotting away into dirt but, friend, you're not looking closely enough. Inside that compost pile is…
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Les Paul & Leo Fender Part II
Today we continue the story of Les Paul and Leo Fender, inventors, innovators and rivals. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Jackalope
Jackalopes aren’t real, right? Wouldn’t you like to know, city slicker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
- Stuff You Should Know
Les Paul & Leo Fender Part I
The story of Les Paul and Leo Fender defines rock and roll music. Listen in to part one of the tale of these two musical rivals. Learn more about your…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Pet Psychics Work
In the early 21st century a trend of people who claim to be able to telepathically and clairvoyantly communicate with animals has grown. Today, the concept of…
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Y2K: Much Ado About Something
Y2K was a special time when we all thought nothing bad would really happen at the stroke of midnight, but secretly worried the world would end. Turns out the…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: 5 Lazarus Species
Lazarus species were thought to be gone, but had something else in mind. Today we talk about 5 of them. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
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How MRI Works
At long last Chuck and Josh dive into the nuts and bolts of what makes the Wonder Machine so wondrous and find it actually lives up to the years-long hype…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Animal Domestication Works
It's strange to hear, but the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, including the domestication of wild animals, is the single biggest thing to…
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How Fireflies and Lightning Bugs Work
Whether called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glow worms, the tiny, bioluminescent bugs that light up the evening are universally beloved. Which makes their…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is not a good nursery rhyme. And what was Humpty anyway? Listen in to find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
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Child Labor: Not Funny
Child labor is no laughing matter. Even though we've taken care of it in the USA (mostly), it's still an issue around the globe. Listen and learn! Learn more…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Landslides Work
Landslides are a form of mass movement of the Earth, and with the amount of death and destruction they wreak on the people and towns they cover, their toll can…
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How Transcendentalism Works
Every teenager in America knows the transcendentalists were a handful of goofy 19th century philosophers who were into walking in the woods, but they were also…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane is group with the legends of the Wild West. Who was she really? A tough woman who made her way in a tough world from the age of 12. Learn more…
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The Three Christs of Ypsilanti Experiment
In the early 1960s, one of the most unethical experiments in psychology’s history was quietly conducted in a state hospital in Michigan. It sought to upend the…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Police Interrogation Works
Every year, police across the U.S. get thousands of criminals to confess to their crimes. The trouble is, the procedure that almost all departments use is…
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How Sarcasm Works
In this episode, we get to the bottom of why people sometimes talk like jerks some and how sarcasm isn’t all bad. Stand back everybody, this one is just soooo…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Space Hurricanes
Space hurricanes are officially a thing. What does that mean for us here on Earth? Probably not much. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
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Conservatorships: #freebritney
Britney Spears has made a lot of noise lately in her bid to nullify her conservatorship. But what are they even? Listen in to find out! Learn more about your…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Mars Works
Sure today Mars would kill you with its thin, toxic atmosphere and cold desert temperature swings of 100 degrees,but early on it and Earth were practically…
Stuff You Should KnowThe Origins of Some Everyday Superstitions
Why exactly do we avoid walking under a ladder? Why is stepping on a crack in the sidewalk such a big deal? What kind of monster carries a rabbit’s foot in…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: RICO Act
If you’re even passingly interested in mobsters you’ve heard of the RICO Act, but most people don’t know how it actually works. Make your Goodfellas fandom…
Stuff You Should KnowStranger Danger!
If you grew up in the 1980s, you thought you had a 50% chance of getting kidnapped every time you left your house. But like with the Satanic Panic and other…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Ketchup Works
Little-known fact: Ketchup, possibly the most all-American of condiments, evolved from fermented fish sauce people in Southeast Asia have been making for more…
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How Reverse Osmosis Will Save the World
Can we save the future of the human race with some thin membranes riddled with ultra-tiny holes? Science says yes! Thanks to reverse osmosis filtration, we can…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Hanged, Drawn and Quartered
The words "hanged, drawn and quartered" are an accurate description of the grizzly execution process. They're just not in the right order. Learn more about…
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The Radium Girls
The Radium Girls painted watched with glow-in-the-dark radium in the 1920s and '30s. Most got sick, many died. This is their story. Learn more about your…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Historic Districts Work
A fascinating thing about Americans is that we can disagree on anything. Such is the case with historic districts – areas of historic importance protected by…
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SYSK Live: Koko, the Gorilla Who Talked
Recorded live before the pandemic in January 2020 at the Castro Theatre for San Francisco Sketchfest, Josh and Chuck explore the 70s movement that attempted to…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Sulfanilamide Disaster
In the 1920s, before the era of consumer protection, a poison entered the medicine supply and killed more than 100 people before the pubic health disaster…
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The Sad Story of William James Sidis
Are geniuses made or born? Listen in today to the story of child prodigy William James Sidis. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Are good samaritan laws effective?
Good samaritan laws have been around for many years, helping to provide legal protections for people who try to help other people. But do they work? Listen to…
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The Grand Ole Opry Cast
Josh and Chuck take a virtual walk through country music's legendary music venue. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Beast of Gevaudan
The first truly international news story covered a beast that terrorized the French countryside, eviscerating dozens of villagers for three years in the 1760s…
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Poison Control Centers: A Good Thing
Poison control centers are one of those things you don’t think about until you need it. With all the poisons in our homes you very well may someday. When you…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Royalty Works
In some nations royals are so ingrained in the national fabric they are considered part of the country. In this classic episode, Josh and Chuck take a look…
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How Faraday Cages Work
Faraday cages are one of those peculiar miracles of nature that we can actually explain – not to mention, they save us from potentially fatal electrocutions…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Chastity Belts
Were chastity belts real? Sort of. But not in the way you might think. Tune in to hear the real story. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
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The Mystery of Damascus Steel
Damascus steel and the recipe behind it remained a mystery for many years. But it turns out the key was a bygone ingredient. Listen in to this medieval mystery…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: 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 of the war…
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How Venus Works
Venus is so hot lead would melt on the planet’s surface. It spins backwards. Its year is shorter than its day. Venus is amazingly awesome. Learn more about…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Mojave Megaphone
What is the Mojave Megaphone? Well, nobody really knows. Listen in today to learn about this desert mystery. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
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Seven - No, Wait, Five - Mysteries of the Art World
When you get a bunch of artistic types together into a community – aka, the art world – some intrigue and mystery are bound to arise. Listen in as…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Sea Monsters Work
Legends of sea monsters are as old as humanity, and some ancient cultures even credited them with creating the universe. Learn more about humanity's attachment…
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POGs: The 90s in a Bottle Cap
Today, Chuck and Josh go down a 90s rabbit hole with another in their classic toy series. This time, they tackle the odd sensation that was POGs. Learn more…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Chinatowns
If you live in a major city in the USA, you probably have a Chinatown. Listen in and learn all about these unique cultural staples today. Learn more about your…
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Slime Mold: 0% Mold, 100% Amazing
If you’ve ever wandered past what looked like a pile of dog barf on a log during a hike in the woods, you’d just seen slime mold - one of the most perplexing…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Who was America's first murderer?
John Billington didn't just sign the Mayflower Compact -- he was also the colony's first criminal, and had the dubious honor of being the first European to be…
Stuff You Should KnowJohn Muir: Outdoor Enthusiast
John Muir loved being outside. So much so that he dedicated his life to helping preserve it, but not without some controversy. Listen in to this decidedly…