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: Runner's High
Listen in to today's short stuff to learn if a runner's high is really a thing. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
- Stuff You Should Know
What Causes Inflation?
Inflation seems super boring, but if you know how it works (important point: no one really does) you can exist as a functioning human being in a modern…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Nitrous Oxide Works
For about 175 years people have been huffing nitrous oxide for everything from vision quests to anesthetic to get plain old high. And after all that time we…
- Stuff You Should Know
Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry
In the early 90s a video game was released that changed the industry, despite poor sales and bad game play. That game was Night Trap. This is that story. Learn…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Parachute Emergency!
Your parachute won’t open – now what?! Listen up to Josh and Chuck and you may make it out of this in one piece. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Cleft Lips and Palates Work
Cleft lips and palates are common birth defects, but for the kids who have them (and their parents), its no small matter: Years of surgeries, therapy, and…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Hot Wheels Work
If you're an American who had a childhood, you probably have some nostalgia for Hot Wheels. Get your engines revved for this trip down memory lane as we…
- Stuff You Should Know
Girl Scouts: More than cookie sellers
We put our research to the test and it turns out the Girl Scouts is a great organization. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Speed Reading
Back in the 60s and 70s, a speed reading craze broke out. Tough luck that speed reading is bunk. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Cleveland Torso Murders
During the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland’s most vulnerable and destitute residents were prey for one of history’s most horrific serial killers. The…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Limousines Work
The first limousines weren’t even cars! Learn all about the history of limousines, how they’re made and some of the most creative and expensive amenities you…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Monster Trucks Work
If you’ve never seen a huge truck with gigantic tires do backflips or roll backward perched only on its two front tires, you haven’t lived yet. Chuck and Josh…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Garter Snakes
Garter snakes aren’t scary, they’re pretty great! Learn all the reasons why in this episode! Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Ivy League
The Ivy League is technically a sports conference, but it's much more than that. Enjoy this special 3D episode with your earbuds on and learn all about these…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Snake Handlers Work
Snake handling ranges from professional snake milkers for antivenin to religious handlers who tend to get bitten and sometimes die from it. Either way, it can…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Uranium Mining Works
Mining uranium is dangerous work. Not only does it involve mining, which is dangerous itself, uranium is also found alongside some very radioactive stuff…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Squarer Than Wombat Poop
One of the cutest animals on the planet is also the only one that squeezes out cube-shaped poop. Find out why today. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Appendix: No Respect
The poor appendix. Despite findings that it serves a purpose, many people still cast it off as a second rate organ and the Rodney Dangerfield of organs. We aim…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Cave Dwellers Work
You know the cavemen, a race of human cousins who lived exclusively in caves? They didn’t exist. Sure prehistoric hominids used caves sometimes but they lived…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Corporate Taxes Work
There are lots of reasons to tax corporations: as a check on their power, to help pay for infrastructure, as a wealth tax. But the biggest reason economists…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Ivar The Boneless
Was Ivar the Boneless a real Viking warrior? Probably. Did he really have no bones? Probably not. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
Truffles: Underground Treasures
Truffles are rare, expensive and apparently delicious. Learn all about these earthy fungi today. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Profiling Works
At its base, criminal profiling is a legitimate investigatory tool. The Supreme Court has drawn a clear line that bans profiling when it includes race. So why…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Stamp Collecting Works
Over the last two centuries philatelists – stamp collectors – have learned just about everything there is to know about every stamp ever printed. You won’t by…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Madam C.J. Walker
Join us today as we dive into the story of the first female self-made millionaire, Madam C.J. Walker. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
Mechanical Bulls!
Mechanical bulls are kind of weird, but they have certainly made a place in American pop culture over the years. Largely due to one movie, Urban Cowboy. Learn…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Tupperware Works
Tupperware won immediate design acclaim when it was released in 1947, but it took a pioneering female executive to make a line of plastic food storage into an…
- Stuff You Should Know
Hair Loss: The Pits
Losing your hair is a situation that seems to be universally considered to absolutely stink. Unsurprisingly, humans have been trying all sorts of weird stuff…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Palindromes
Chuck loves palindromes. So much that his very name is one. Oh wait... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Electrical Grid Works
The electrical grid that provides power to the US is one of those things you don’t give a second thought to until it stops working – then it’s tough to think…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: The Unsolved Mystery Disappearance of the Sodder Children
In 1945 a house fire took the lives of five children - except that their bodies were never found. In this classic episode, dive into the longstanding mystery…
- Stuff You Should Know
Muzak: Easy Listening Goodness
Muzak got a bad reputation as bland garbage music. We aim to set the record straight. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Venus de Milo
Step into today's short stuff to learn all about the armless wonder! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See…
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Havana Syndrome: ¿Qué Diablos?
In 2016, diplomats at the American embassy in Cuba began suffering weird neurological symptoms after hearing strange noises. Some say it was a sonic attack…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Circus Families Work
Don't be confused - this one is about actual circus acts made of family members, not the controversial comic strip. Step right up to this classic episode…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Titanic Worked: Part Two
After the Titanic sank recriminations and blame followed, sometimes ruining careers unjustifiably. As the decades wore on and she was found almost 2.5 miles…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: What's the oldest book?
In order to figure out what the oldest book is, one has to define what a book actually is. Listen in as we discuss this debatable topic. Learn more about your…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Titanic Worked: Part One
When the Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage in April 1912, the world was divided into two types of people: those who considered her unsinkable and those who…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: What was the Philadelphia Experiment?
The Philadelphia Experiment is a bad movie from the 1980s, and also the conpiracy theory that refuses to die, despite virtually zero evidence of its occurance…
- Stuff You Should Know
Space Junk, Ahoy!
The orbits hundreds to thousands of miles above Earth are littered with garbage. Space garbage, sure, but it’s still garbage. Littering in space is bad enough…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Cellphones on Airplanes
Are we finally at the place where we can make cell phone calls on airplanes? PLEASE NO! Listen in to find out. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
- Stuff You Should Know
What is biophilic design?
Biophilic design is all about bringing the outside in. But it's also much more than that. Open your windows and have a listen! Learn more about your ad-choices…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Lighthouses Work
People have been burning fires on cliffs as long as other people have used boats, but after the Age of Exploration, lighthouses took their unmistakable form…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Texas City Disaster of 1947
In 1947 the port town of Texas City, Texas became the site of the largest industrial disaster in American history. An enormous explosion blew ships out of the…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Brazilian Jars
In the 1970s big news was made when some underwater artifacts were found in a bay by Rio de Janeiro that would have rewritten history. Then it just kind of…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Parrot Episode
If you think parrots are simply mimics that fly, you're wrong. Tune in and learn about these colorful friends today. Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Please Listen to How Plasma Waste Convertors Work
There is a way to not only sustainably get rid of our household waste, but also produce enough energy from it to power the process and even create electricity…
- Stuff You Should Know
Karaoke: Tuesday Night Fever
Listen in and learn all about the fascinating history of everybody's favorite pastime... karaoke! Learn more about your ad-choices at…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Tooth Fairy: Not Real
Today we break down the history of everyone's favorite home invader, the tooth fairy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com…
- Stuff You Should Know
Dragons: As Real as Mermaids
Dragons are like mermaids in that they're not real. And that's about where the comparison ends. Learn all about dragons today. Learn more about your ad-choices…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Mermaids: Not a real thing
Mermaids aren't real. That much we know. But the history and lore of these magical and sometimes menacing creatures of the sea is pretty interesting stuff…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why is the Equal Rights Amendment still not ratified?
The United States is one of only 28 countries in the world that doesn’t have equal protection for women under the law enshrined in its constitution. There was…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: Dog Suicide Bridge
A bridge at the town of Dumbarton in Scotland has a terrible reputation as a site where dogs inexplicably leap to their death on the rocks 50 feet below. There…
- Stuff You Should Know
Is the Free Radical Theory of Aging Wrong?
In the 1990s we thought we’d identified the root cause of aging: nasty molecules called free radicals that wreaked havoc on our cells. Even better, we’d…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: Bridges: Nature Abhors Them
From prehistoric logs across streams to the 102-mile Kunshan Grand Bridge, nature works ceaselessly to take down spans. In this classic episode, learn about…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Bruce Lee Worked
Bruce Lee may have introduced more Westerners to Asian culture than any person in history. And, because he died young just as he became an international…
Stuff You Should KnowShort Stuff: The Body in the Cylinder
In 1945, residents of a Liverpool neighborhood found a desiccated body in a long cylinder they’d been using for years using as a bench. It launched a mystery…
- Stuff You Should Know
What Will Farming 4.0 Look Like?
The human population is expected to increase by a couple billion people in the next 30 years and those who are paying attention are wondering exactly how we’ll…
Stuff You Should KnowSelects: How Chili Peppers Work
Born and raised in South America, chilis were the earliest crop domesticated in the continent and among the first items brought back to Europe by Columbus…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Blue Holes Work
Geologists and biologists have recently realized that the planet’s oceans and coasts are littered with a unique type of ecosystem called blue holes, submerged…