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
Is computer addiction a thing?
Computer addiction is really an umbrella term for the various addictions that can come along with the computer. We're talking video games, porn, gambling and…
- Stuff You Should Know
Horoscopes: Written in the Stars?
A lot of people read their daily horoscopes, but does anyone really take stock in them? Turns out the answer is yes, even though there is no evidence of their…
- Stuff You Should Know
How a Flea Circus Works
If you've ever seen a flea circus, then count yourself among the few. It's a dying art, but back in the day they thrilled and delighted young and old alike…
- Stuff You Should Know
Frostbite: Yeeeow!
Up to the 1950s most reports of frostbite came from the world’s militaries, but as outdoor sports have gotten more popular, so have frostbite cases. Learn…
- Stuff You Should Know
Should Advertising to Kids Be Banned?
As kids’ buying power in America has exploded in recent decades, so too has the amount companies spend advertising to them. But because of a quirk of brain…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Kitty Genovese Story
Most people have heard of the story of Kitty Genovese. She was murdered near her apartment in 1964 and her neighbors didn't do much to help. It caused a…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the Deal with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
Concussions are bad enough for football players, but research has found all of those smaller hits can add up to massive brain trauma later in life too, leading…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Fireplaces Work
They are dirty, harmful to your health, bad for the environment and utterly charming. Wood-burning fireplaces have been with us for centuries and, despite…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Monty Python Worked: SYSK Live from LA Podfest
Things get awesome when Josh and Chuck do a live show on Monty Python at the LA Podcast Festival. Hang out as the duo dives into the "Beatles of Comedy," what…
- Stuff You Should Know
Do sin taxes work?
Taxing things like alcohol, tobacco and gambling is big money and has been for a long time. But are these "sin taxes" keeping people from indulging or are they…
- Stuff You Should Know
A Partial History of Action Figures
Action figures have a long and glorious history. From GI Joes to Star Wars figures, these offshoots of dolls came along at just the right time to capture the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Ham Radio and the Hams Who Use Them
If you thought that Ham Radio enthusiasts were (mostly) men and boys who sit alone late at night in order to scan frequencies searching for a human connection…
- Stuff You Should Know
SYSK The Podcast: Special Halloween Bonus Episode 2016, The Sequel – From Hell
Lock your doors and grab something heavy to defend yourself, like a candlestick or something, because Josh and Chuck are going to scare the wits out of you…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Hinterkaifeck Axe Murders
In 1922, a little farm in the woods of Bavaria became the site of what would become Germany’s most famous unsolved murder, when six people were brutally killed…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Sleep Paralysis Works, or The Worst Thing That Can Happen While You're Sleeping
For as long as people have been sleeping, about half of us have probably suffered from sleep paralysis. Thanks to an unusual fluke in the sleep cycle, the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Living Underground in Beijing
Chairman Mao’s paranoia of a Soviet invasion led to hundreds of thousands of Beijing residents put to work for a decade building an 85-square-km underground…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the What with Fish Fraud?
Fish fraud, misrepresenting a fish as a more expensive one, costs Americans $25 billion a year. And because less than 100 inspectors check for fraud in the US…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Census Works
Counting humans has been happening for a long, long time. It usually had to do with taxing them, but now census data can reveal a lot about a population and…
- Stuff You Should Know
Hibernation: Not a Snooze
When animals are faced with scarce food in the winter, they have two choices to stay alive: migrate or hibernate. For hibernators, their bodies undergo some…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why Did Easter Island's Civilization Collapse?
When the first Europeans landed on Rapa Nui, which they renamed Easter Island, they were puzzled by what happened there. Only a few thousand people lived there…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Amazing History of Soda
The soda we get instantly mixed at a fast-food joint owes a lot to a rich history going back to the Roman baths, that features drugs, diseases and explosions…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Polar Bears Work
Polar bears are more than just lovable creatures that roam the ice in search of food. They're one of the most fascinating animals on planet Earth. Sadly, as…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Ice Ages Work
Believe it or not, we live in an ice age. The polar glaciers give it away. Those glaciers used to come clear down to New York. We now know the traces they left…
- Stuff You Should Know
All we know about Zika so far...
Zika is all over the news these days, yet in America, people don't seem to be too concerned just yet. Some say it's a case of the media crying wolf. Others say…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Cerebral Palsy Works
Cerebral palsy isn’t a disease, but an umbrella term for conditions arising from brain damage suffered in the womb or shortly after birth. The factors involved…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the deal with Stradivarius violins?
The Strad violin is noted for its tonal qualities and superior craftsmanship. And for its price tag. There are many theories why the Strad sounds so great…
- Stuff You Should Know
Alexander Hamilton: Most Influential American?
Alexander Hamilton, the "ten dollar founding father," is more than the toast of Broadway. In fact, he just may be the most influential American in history. A…
- Stuff You Should Know
Do Animals Have Natural Rights?
Animals have had legal protection from unnecessary harm since the 19th century. Yet what harm is necessary is open to interpretation and animals continue to…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Animal Testing Works
The use of animals for commercial and scientific testing is a quietly controversial topic. That we humans have advanced as a species because we use animals as…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Negro Leagues Worked
A decade before the U.S. officially segregated in 1896, baseball banned black players. A decade before the US integrated, baseball broke the color barrier…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Food Tasters Work
Some people might think that tasting food for a living is the best job in the whole wide world. But think again! The reality is, it can be a tedious, grueling…
- Stuff You Should Know
This Custom of Customs
Customs may be a pain when you're traveling, but it's a necessary instrument the government uses to regulate trade. And it has a very fascinating history. Your…
- Stuff You Should Know
Jellyfish: Even Cooler than Octopi?
Jellyfish are among the most adaptable, competitive organisms on the planet. They can grow back into their juvenile stage when resources are scarce, reproduce…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Delightful History of Steam Technology
One of the coolest things humans have ever figured out is how to use steam as power. It made the Industrial Revolution possible and even today, 88% of…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Woolly Mammoths Worked
It was only 11000 years ago that the last true woolly mammoths died out, close enough to the modern age that humans lived alongside them. But were humans the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Evel Knievel Part II
In today's episode, we cover part two of our Evel Knievel suite. The man, the myth, the legend. Check in and listen to the latter stages of Evel's career as…
- Stuff You Should Know
Evel Knievel Part I
Evel Knievel was perhaps the world's most legendary daredevil. He came along at a time when the world ate up this kind of entertainment, partially in hopes…
- Stuff You Should Know
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
How Night Terrors Work
Night terrors, an uncommon sleep disorder, happen when the brain doesn't transition correctly to deep sleep. The result is terrifying, with the sufferer…
- Stuff You Should Know
What is exploding head syndrome?
Exploding head syndrome isn't nearly as weird as it sounds, and there are no brain parts being damaged. But if you suffer from it, you will definitely be…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Triage Works
Triage is a system that provides immediate attention and categorization for medical emergencies that hopefully will never be a big part of your life. Unless…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Moonwalk Works
When Michael Jackson debuted the moonwalk in 1983 the world was enrapt. The dance goes back farther, to the 1930s, and pops up again in the 50s, before…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Chaos Theory Changed the Universe
Since the age of Descartes, science has put all of its eggs in the basket of determinism, the idea that with accurate enough measurements any aspect of the…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Gettysburg Address: Short and Sweet
The Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in political history, despite only being a few hundred words long. What was so special about this…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Radiation Sickness Works
Fortunately, science has very few instances where humans have been exposed to acute radiation poisoning to study for clues to treating radiation sickness. They…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's with this "Internet of Things"?
You may have heard about the Internet of Things and not known what the term meant. It's basically a collection of object conected to your life and the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Research tips from SYSK
People often ask us how we do our research. We're not going to disclose all of our secrets, but we'll give you some tips on how to root out the bad studies…
- Stuff You Should Know
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
How Underground Mining Works
People used to use deer antlers to beat the minerals out of rock hidden in the earth. Luckily, they got better at it, and now modern mining is a mind-boggling…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the misery index?
Economists love their data because somewhere in the numbers lies the answer to the ills of the country. They also love to frame data in a way people can relate…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Space Stations Work
It seems like we largely take it for granted these days, but the fact that we have humans living in space is the realization of a scientific dream a century…
Stuff You Should KnowHow Steadicams Work
There have been many inventions that have advanced filmmaking, but maybe none as important as the steadicam. Invented in the mid-70s, it literally changed the…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why Are So Many Disembodied Feet Washing Ashore In British Columbia?
Between 2007 and 2016, 17 disembodied feet - still wearing shoes - have washed ashore between Washington and British Columbia. What's behind the sudden influx…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the deal with controlled burns?
Starting a fire to prevent fire seems counterintuitive, but it makes a lot of sense once you understand it. But controlled burns aren't just to help prevent…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Motion Sickness Works
Motion sickness is the worst and hits about 25 to 40 percent of humans when they ride in cars, boats, or simply watch the wrong 3-D movie. Join us as we break…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Gene Editing Works
With the discovery of a surprising immune response in E coli bacteria, we are facing a new era of freedom from genetic mutations that lead to disease by simply…
- Stuff You Should Know
How SuperBalls Work
You can thank Wham-O's SuperBall for inspiring the name of the NFL's Big Game (buh) and you can thank the fear and the Soviet launch of Sputnik aroused in…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Crumple Zones Work
If you've ever been in a bad accident in a newer car, you probably have crumple zones to thank for your life. Much more interesting than you think, these zones…
- Stuff You Should Know
Chiggers: The Phantom Menace
Chiggers are tiny little mites capable of making your life miserable. Worse than mosquitoes? Maybe. But they aren't insects - mites are actually part of the…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Unsolved Mystery Disappearance of the Sodder Children
In 1945 a house fire took the lives of five children - except that no trace of their bodies was ever found. Dive into the longstanding mystery of the odd…