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
What are crystal skulls?
Back in the early 20th-century mysterious skulls made from polished crystals began to enter the collections of private enthusiasts of the occult. Discovered by…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the deal with the debt ceiling?
Lately it's been common news fodder that Congress uses its ability to raise the debt ceiling to hold the executive branch hostage to its demands, but exactly…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Deep Web Works
Perhaps you didn't realize that when you search the web you're only skimming the surface. In fact, the types of web pages that turn up in your search engine…
- Stuff You Should Know
Chuck and Josh Bust a Few Everyday Myths
There are lots of common "facts" that everyone knows, but it turns out a lot of them are actually false. Join Josh and Chuck as they put on their berets and…
- Stuff You Should Know
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…
- Stuff You Should Know
Was there a real King Arthur?
The legend of King Arthur is very old and very established. By the time the king who saved Britain and united it was first written about, his story was already…
- Stuff You Should Know
Your limb is torn off - now what?
Were you to be the unfortunate victim of a limb removal of any sort, you could take hope. Here in the 21st century, doctors have gotten pretty handy at…
- Stuff You Should Know
Could you live without a refrigerator?
Do you know that hulking refrigerator in your kitchen emits CO2 thanks to the electricity it uses each year? It's a comparatively small amount, in truth, but…
- Stuff You Should Know
Will solar sails take us to the stars?
We have within our grasp here on Earth the technology that could make interstellar travel a reality within as little as a few decades and it doesn't require…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Fire Breathing Works
As part of their strange, ongoing suite on circus arts, Chuck and Josh discuss one of the more dangerous crowd favorites, aspirating extremely flammable…
- Stuff You Should Know
Josh and Chuck's Warm and Cozy Christmas Extravaganza 2013
It's finally here, the best episode of the year! It's time to settle in by a nice fire, wrap up in a blanket, heat up a toddy and gather your loved ones around…
- Stuff You Should Know
Is lethal injection humane?
Since the Supreme Court's ban on capital punishment was reversed, states have sought a humane method of killing sentenced criminals. They settled on lethal…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Manhunts Work
When a suspect or prisoner goes on the lam there are plenty of ways to hide: in plain sight, in the mountains, in another country. There are as many types of…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Underwater Tunnels Work
It's a pretty amazing feat to dig a tunnel beneath a body of water that's big enough (and safe enough) to drive a train through. While humans have been digging…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Maglev Trains Work
Thanks to the amazing properties of magnets, clever engineers have figured out how to make entire trains levitate above their tracks, letting them move…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Castration Works
In this episode, Josh and Chuck teach you everything you ever wanted to know but were too freaked out to ask about castration. Learn about the history of…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Black Friday Works
On the day after Thanksgiving, Americans go kind of crazy for the deep discount sales that kick off the holiday shopping season in stores. So crazy, in fact…
- Stuff You Should Know
Is there a scientific formula for funny?
Recorded live at the Los Angeles PodFest, this episode of SYSK delves into the longstanding attempt to break down what humans find funny into a scientifically…
- Stuff You Should Know
Who killed JFK?
For the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Josh and Chuck delve into the killing, the investigations and the…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Chocolate Works
People have been consuming chocolate for at least a couple thousand years, but it's only been in the last hundred that humanity has arrived at its crowning…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Werewolves Work
If you've ever been bitten by a wolf, you're probably familiar with the anxiety of waiting for the next full moon to see if you become a werewolf. Learn all…
- Stuff You Should Know
Some Interesting Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Hawking
Everybody knows that cosmologist Stephen Hawking has an enormous brain, but did you also know he has an equal wit? Learn about some of the lesser-known details…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Lewis and Clark Worked
They may be the most famous explorers in U.S. history, but there are plenty of interesting details to the Lewis and Clark expedition that history has allowed…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Chess Works
Despite its knights, bishops and castles, the game of chess has been around a lot longer since the Medieval Age. And it wasn't even invented in Europe - chess…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's with the Winchester Mystery House?
After her daughter and husband died, heiress Sarah Winchester became obsessed with the idea that spirits haunted her and to appease them she had to have a…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Empty House
It's Halloween, and Josh and Chuck are ready to creep you out with this year's spooky story, Algernon Blackwood's scary short story, The Empty House. Tune in…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Ouija Boards Work
Although most people who've used Ouija boards don't think they're communicating with the beyond, there is something mysterious about how it works. Learn the…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Guide Dogs Work
You know how when you see a guide dog leading a blind person to their destination and you think, "There goes a truly great dog?" It turns out you are…
- Stuff You Should Know
10 Easy Ways to Save Money
Times are still kind of tough, but there are some time-tested and easy ways to get ahead and in this episode Josh and Chuck explore them. Learn about not only…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Maori Work
It's a familiar theme, an indigenous group's culture falls apart when exposed to European ideals, weapons and disease. For the Maori of New Zealand, however, a…
- Stuff You Should Know
Did Archimedes build a death ray?
During the siege of Syracuse in 214 BCE, the city-state's resident genius, Archimedes, built a number of clever war machines to thwart the invading Roman…
- Stuff You Should Know
Can NASA predict natural disasters?
The US has developed some great equipment for peering into deep space that can also be used to great effect when trained on Earth. Now NASA is using satellites…
- Stuff You Should Know
What's the deal with diplomatic immunity?
You've heard all about diplomatic immunity, but we'll bet you don't really know how it works. Take some time to get into the nuts and bolts of this ancient and…
- Stuff You Should Know
Does owning a gun change your behavior?
Back in the 1990s, Congress effectively banned the scientific study of gun violence. Still, a handful of researchers plugged on and produced a small body of…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Crack Works
Back in the mid-1980s a new and extremely potent drug hit the scene: crack cocaine. In short order, America was in the grip of both a sweeping addiction and a…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Dying Works
Chuck and Josh have covered just about every aspect of death except dying itself. Here, they fulfill the death suite of podcasts with an in-depth look at just…
- Stuff You Should Know
How IEDs Work
Improvised explosive devices were the primary killer of American troops in Iraq and continue to top the list in Afghanistan. Their use is so prevalent among…
- Stuff You Should Know
How much money is in the world?
There are few things more futile than trying to count all of the money in the world. Even many governments have no idea how much currency they have issued. But…
- Stuff You Should Know
How the Rosetta Stone Works
Sometimes providence smiles on historians. Thus is the case with the Rosetta stone, an ancient Egyptian tablet that served as the key for unlocking…
- Stuff You Should Know
How did 168 conquistadors take down the Inca empire?
Just before Francisco Pizarro arrived in South American in 1532, the Inca empire covered 350,000 square miles and boasted a million inhabitants. Yet Pizarro…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Broken Bones Work
It's a pretty miserable thing to break a bone. There's the initial blinding pain, all of the medical procedures during a trip to the hospital and then, in the…
- Stuff You Should Know
History's Greatest Traitors
The annals of history hold a special place for people who have carried out treachery and betrayed their own. Thousands of years later, their names are still…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Ejection Seats Work
When the Jet Age came about, pilots found they had a brand new problem with their brand new planes: how to bail out when they found themselves in a pinch at…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Cockroaches Work
You've seen them in your home and probably squealed in terror, but now it's time to learn all about cockroaches. From their ability to run incredibly fast to…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why was Davy Crockett king of the wild frontier?
If there is an American legend who is both real-life and larger-than-life it is Davy Crockett. While he may not have ""kilt him a b'ar"" when he was three, he…
- Stuff You Should Know
How does a diving bell work?
About 2,400 years ago Aristotle mentions the use of diving bells, apparatuses that convey divers to the bottom of the sea -- or at least below the surface of…
- Stuff You Should Know
The Shark Diaries
In this special episode of Stuff You Should Know, Chuck and Josh tip their hats to Shark Week with an old-fashioned radio play. Join the guys (and a few…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Horseshoes Work
That laziest of backyard games, horseshoes, is also a very ancient one, developed by people following Greek armies more than 2,000 years ago. Since then, the…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Fingerprinting Works
The Babylonians, one of the earliest civilizations, were the first to use fingerprints to differentiate people, but it wasn't until the 19th century that…
- Stuff You Should Know
How LARP Works
Dressing up in duct tape-covered cardboard suit of armor and pretending you're an elf warrior for a weekend at a state park might sound like a pretty…
- Stuff You Should Know
Why should you never scare a vulture?
Being ravenous eaters of decaying flesh, vultures have long been shunned by humans. But because of their disgusting habits, vultures provide a much-needed…
- Stuff You Should Know
Who owns an abandoned house?
Ever since the real estate bubble in the U.S. burst in 2008, American cities have had to deal with a substantial uptick in abandoned houses. Faced with…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Building Implosions Work
When you need to take down a 20-story building, a wrecking ball won't do. Instead, you'll need to turn to the handful of companies in the world that are…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Hip-hop Works
In this week's SYSK Select, what you hear is not a test, instead it's Chuck and Josh discussing the cultural history of the Hip-Hop movement. Born out of the…
- Stuff You Should Know
10 Medieval Torture Devices
Warning: This episode on instruments designed solely to produce extreme human suffering during the Middle Ages in Europe is very graphic in nature. Seriously…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Miranda Rights Work
Back in 1966, the Supreme Court decided that suspects in criminal cases had the right to be reminded that they didn't have to talk to the fuzz if they didn't…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Pollen Works
For about 375 million years, plants have been using pollen (aka plant sperm) to propagate their species. And the technique has stuck around because it works…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Burning Man Works
You've probably heard about Burning Man, it's a week-long party in the middle of a desert made of 50 thousand people living pretty much without rules, pretty…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Ghosts Work
According to a 2009 poll, more Americans believe in ghosts than don't. But what are ghosts exactly? If they do exist, what are they made of and why are they…
- Stuff You Should Know
How Bitcoin Works
In 2008 Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized, anarchistic all-digital currency, was introduced to the world. Its value has risen, fallen and risen again…