Stuff You Should Know

SYSK Selects: Can Your Grandfather's Diet Shorten Your Life?

01 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Epigenetics is a fascinating field of genetics that studies how the epigenome and environmental, nutritional and social factors affect gene expression...

Adidas v. Puma: A Sibling Rivalry

29 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join Josh and Chuck today as they go down the sport shoe rabbit hole, detailing the strange tail of the brothers who brought Puma and Adidas to the wo...

Short Stuff: iSmell

28 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Two men once had a dream - to add smell to the internet. And they almost gave it to us. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcast...

How the Navajo Code Talkers Worked

27 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In WWII the US Marines devised an unbreakable code-within-a-code made from Navajo, one of the most linguistically difficult languages in the world. A ...

SYSK Selects: How Black Friday Works

24 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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, i...

Fire twucks! Fire twucks! (sic)

22 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Who doesn't love fire engines? We certainly do. So much that we geeked out on this one in a big way. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad-choices at https...

Short Stuff: Safety Pins

21 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Safety pins are so ubiquitous, we take them for granted. But that’s the genius of their design – they work so intuitively they might as well have ...

Finders Keepers: Real Law

20 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You know that heartbreak of the schoolyard – finders keepers, losers weepers? That’s actual law in a great many grown up places. Enter the murky l...

SYSK Selects: How Kleptomania Works

17 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck discuss kleptomania, a disorder in which people have an overwhelming impulse to steal unneces...

Olive Oil: Mother Nature's Gift

15 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Olive oil is one of Mother Nature's greatest gifts to humanity. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about the NUMBER ONE OIL, right here, right n...

Short Stuff: Lemonade

14 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wonder where lemonade came from? Let’s up the stakes a little, what about pink lemonade? Well wonder no more! Join Josh and Chuck as they (brie...

Pando: Earth’s Oldest, Hugest Organism Is Trees!

13 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Utah, lives a 106-acre stand of Quaking Aspen trees that are all genetically identical because they are all growing from the same massive root syst...

SYSK Selects: How Pizza Works

10 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sure it's everywhere and there's a more-than-90-percent chance you eat it once a month. But we'll bet you don't know the full history of that pizza (o...

Is yogurt a miracle food?

08 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Yogurt has been touted as a health food, but is it? Maybe. If you eat it every day. We get into the rich and creamy history of this supposed miracle f...

Short Stuff: Vomitoria

07 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A vomitorium was a place where ancient Romans went to make themselves throw up after gorging themselves at a sumptuous banquet. Everybody knows that. ...

What were war masks?

06 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

War masks were made for soldiers in WWI who had horrible accidents that left their faces sometimes unrecognizable. Though it may seem rudimentary toda...

SYSK Selects: How Grief Works

03 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You can probably name the five stages of grief - from denial to acceptance - they've become pretty well known since being proposed in 1969. But later ...

How Easy Bake Ovens Work

01 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Easy Bake Ovens are as iconic as a toy can get, as American as apple pie or baseball. Learn all about these light bulb cooking, working ovens that end...

Short Stuff: Labor Day

31 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Labor Day, the day when most people in America paradoxically take off work, is actually rooted in some deeply radical and anarchistic thinking. Learn ...

SYSK’s 2018 Super Spooktacular

30 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Halloween again and Chuck and Josh want to creep you out. Listen to two great classic horror stories, dripping with Jeri’s creeptastic audio ...

SYSK Selects: What's with the Winchester Mystery House?

27 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 ha...

How the Amityville Horror Worked

25 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In early 1975, the world was introduced to George and Kathy Lutz, a couple who had fled their home in Amityville, NY to escape a powerful, evil supern...

Short Stuff: Exploding Manholes

24 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you live in a big city in a cold climate, you should keep an eye out for 100-pound cast-iron manhole covers suddenly launching 50 feet into the air...

How Epilepsy Works

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A seizure is like an electrical overload in the brain – when it gets overwhelmed, it just shuts down and resets itself. But imagine being susceptibl...

SYSK Selects: How Aphrodisiacs Work

20 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years humankind has pursued the enhancement of sexual pleasure and performance through a plethora of medicines and practices -- but h...

Waterbeds: The Sexiest Bed?

18 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Waterbeds came and went pretty quickly in the United States, but despite their marketing as sex beds, they were actually invented to deliver a great n...

Short Stuff: Korean Fan Death

17 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a commonly-held belief in Korea that if you fall asleep with a fan blowing on your face you may die in your sleep from it. And while this id...

Was There A Real Robin Hood?

16 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Is it true that Robin Hood hung out in Sherwood Forest and stole from the rich to give to the poor? No. No, it’s not. Find out the real story in thi...

SYSK Selects: How Homelessness Works

13 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today, millions of people around the world are homeless. In this classic episode, Josh and Chuck take a look at homelessness in the United States, dis...

When inventions kill!

11 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Few things are more ironic than an invention killing its creator. The stories behind real life cases of death-by-invention are pretty interesting too....

Short Stuff: William King

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know that the United States has had one Vice-President who was sworn in on foreign soil? Well it turns out that may be the least interesting p...

How Marathons Work

09 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You’d have to be crazy to try to run 26.2 miles in a single stretch, right? Right. But people still try it anyway. And a lot of them even survive! F...

SYSK Selects: Is lethal injection humane?

06 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Since the Supreme Court's ban on capital punishment was reversed, states have sought a humane method of killing sentenced criminals. They settled on l...

Algae: Food, Fuel, What?

04 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Just a couple years ago, algae was touted as the green, plentiful biofuel of the future. But that didn’t pan out. Why? And is algae down for the cou...

Short Stuff: Grandfather Clocks

03 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever wondered why a grandfather clock is called a grandfather clock and you have 12 minutes to spare, this is your lucky day. Listen in to t...

How the Concorde Worked

02 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The concorde was a wonderful thing, a super fast commerical airliner that got you across the pond in half the time. But it was small and cramped, nois...

SYSK Selects: Does the five-second rule work?

29 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You know when you drop a piece of food and if you pick it up within five seconds it's still good to eat? Researchers have studied whether that's true ...

Seriously, What Is Dark Matter?

27 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck and Josh take on astrophysics again and this time it pans out well. It turns out that there simply isn’t enough matter in the universe to acco...

What is colorblindness?

25 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Being colorblind doesn't mean you see in black and white, although in severe cases it can look a bit like that. The condition is on a spectrum ranging...

SYSK Selects: Was Malthus right about carrying capacity?

22 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Malthus concluded that humanity is bound to outgrow Earth's carrying capacity. The prediction was based on humanity's exponential growth and th...

How Ranked Choice Voting Works

20 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the US, winner-take-all voting has created A LOT of political polarization. But what if rather than voting for one candidate, you could rank all of...

Roundabouts: The Problem Is You

18 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

They’re as American as Washington, DC yet most people in the US are terrified of them, hate them or both. What is it about traffic circles and round...

SYSK Selects: How Commercial Jingles Work

15 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You probably can recite five right now. Commercial jingles are designed to hijack your working memory and implant a product or service and they really...

What are think tanks all about?

13 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

SYSK Live: How Game Shows Work

11 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join Josh and Chuck and a whole bunch of great people at the Gothic Theatre in Denver for this live show on game shows and their place in cultures aro...

SYSK Selects: How Circumcision Works

08 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Circumcision is a common practice in which the foreskin of a male's penis is removed, typically as a baby. In this classic episode, Josh and Chuck tak...

The Lava Lamp: Goes Great With Acid

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What started out as an egg timer at a London pub became a furnishing for bachelor pads before it took its rightful place as the most recognizable icon...

How Police Lineups Work

04 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Police lineups are something most people have never had any firsthand experience with. What you see on TV and in movies isn't so far off though. Learn...

SYSK Selects: How Patents Work

01 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What was originally designed to encourage innovation by rewarding the people who create technological advances, the U.S. patent system has become a bi...

How Elimination Diets Work

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Elimination diets are all about whittling down what you eat, then building it back up again in order to identify foods that don't work for your body. ...

Why There Aren't So Many Hotel Fires Anymore

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

1946 was a particularly deadly year for hotel fires in the US. Fires killed hundreds of people in Chicago, Dubuque, Dallas and, in Atlanta, the worst ...

SYSK Selects: What's the deal with Voodoo?

25 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Voodoo is a religion found in parts of Africa and Haiti that's often misunderstood. In this episode, Josh and Chuck separate the faction from the fict...

Pterosaurs: Not Flying Dinosaurs

23 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Almost everything you know about pterosaurs is wrong. They weren't birds, they weren't flying dinosaurs and they weren't all pterodactyls. Which makes...

Ballpoint pens? Heck yes, ballpoint pens!

21 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Get ready, folks. The ballpoint pen is far more interesting than you could ever imagine. For real. Brilliant in its simplicity. Took the world by stor...

SYSK Selects: How Electroconvulsive Therapy Works

18 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

With the exception of lobotomies, no other psychological treatment has a worse reputation. But thanks to some thoughtful tweaks, ECT has lately emerge...

Who is The Man of the Hole?

16 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, there's a man from a lost tribe still living deep in the jungles of Brazil who has been all alone since the mid 1990s. He's referred to as th...

How Board Breaking Works

14 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever seen someone break a stack of boards or concrete blocks with a single karate chop you know what it means to experience awe. Board bre...

SYSK Selects: How Traffic Works

11 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you've been stuck in a traffic jam or forced to merge and avoid road construction, everyone's had a few bad experiences with traffic. But how ...

How Attila the Hun Worked

09 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you go to the Internet you'll see a few people championed as all-time greatest conquerors - Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Atilla the Hun. L...

How Search and Rescue Works

07 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There are thankfully about as many ways to look for someone as there are ways to get lost. And the people who dedicate themselves to saving the lives ...

SYSK Selects: How Miranda Rights Work

04 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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...

How the U.S. Military Draft Works

02 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. military draft is far more interesting than you'd think. The process of conscription can get quite complicated, but we're here to clear it up...

How the Pony Express Worked

31 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For as long a shadow as it casts across the history of the Old West, the Pony Express was a failed business venture, doomed from the start, that only ...

SYSK Selects: How the Cannonball Run Worked

28 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Cannon Ball Run is a cross-country car race famously portrayed in the campy 1981 movie "Cannon Ball Run." But it isn't fictional. Tune in as Josh ...

The Dyatlov Pass Mystery

26 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The incident at Dyatlov Pass is one of the more enduring wilderness mysteries of all time. Russian hikers found in various states of undress, frozen. ...

Recycling Update: How’s It Going?

24 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been about a decade since Josh and Chuck last checked in on recycling and since then a lot has changed. A global commodities market dealing in ...

SYSK Selects: How Foot Binding Worked

21 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Once in a while, all the necessary factors converge to produce a peculiar nationalized sexual fetish. In China, that fetish was foot binding and over ...

How Attorney-Client Privilege Works

19 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

One of the oldest protected forms of speech comes from when a lawyer speaks with their client. Over centuries, this legal privilege has been protected...

Jobs of Bygone Eras

17 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join Josh and Chuck today as they take a fun look at some of the strange jobs that our ancestors did. It's a SYSK top 10, meaning there will only be e...

SYSK Selects: How Twinkies Work

14 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Twinkies have a reputation for being so processed that they can last for years and years, but they're not as hardy as you'd expect. Uncover the sweet ...

Gerrymandering: How to Stifle Democracy

12 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall on, you should be outraged about the practice of gerrymandering. Redrawing voter district maps...

The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five

10 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1978, five friends set out for home from a basketball game. The next day, their car was discovered in a lonely mountain road. The next spring, thei...

SYSK Selects: Did Reagan's Star Wars program win the Cold War?

07 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Putting lasers in space to blast Soviet missiles out of the air was a very real part of Ronald Reagan's defense policy. While his "Star Wars" program ...

How the Stanford Prison Experiment Worked

05 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The infamous Stanford Prison Experiment wasn't really much of an experiment as it turns out. It was more like a poorly thought out exercise conducted ...

How Diabetes Works

03 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Diabetes is one of the biggest killers of people on the planet. And yet, it also seems to be tied to diet and exercise, which makes it preventable. Le...

SYSK Selects: How Ponzi Schemes Work

30 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ponzi schemes. How do they work? And who's Ponzi? Join Josh and Chuck in this classic episode to discover how an Italian immigrant created a classic c...

Narwhals: Unicorns of the Sea

28 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Narwhals are the unicorns of the sea. They're also whales with tusks. The tusks are really long tooths. Are you confused? Let us guide you!  Learn m...

Can Anarchism Work?

26 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Teenage punks going through a phase probably come to mind when you think of anarchists, but anarchism is a legitimate political philosophy based on th...

SYSK Selects: How Condoms Work

23 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The earliest depiction of a condom is found in a 15,000-year-old cave painting. Ever since humans realized sex led to children, we've been using condo...

Genghis Khan: Madman or Genius?

21 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Depending on who you talk to, Genghis Khan was either a sadistic madman or one of the great leaders in world history. One thing is sure, he was one of...

How The Pill Changed the World

19 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When the birth control pill hit the market in 1960 it landed like a social bomb. Almost overnight, women gained the ability to separate sex from pregn...

SYSK Selects: How Bullfighting Works

16 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When the Visigoths ruled Spain, they introduced the idea of battling bulls at festivals. Today matadors get paid $100,000 and perform in front of 50,0...

Skyscrapers: 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Skyscrapers are much more than tall buildings. They're world wonders as far as we're concerned. From design to construction, these babies are beautifu...

How Tsunamis Work

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tsunamis are amazingly devastating natural disasters. They're miles tall and wide, travel as fast as a commercial airliner and can wipe out entire coa...

SYSK Selects: How The Hum Works

09 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

There is a mysterious droning sound often described as like a diesel engine idling that is severely impacting the quality of life of 2 percent of peop...

Frida Kahlo: Painter, Icon, Genius

07 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Frida Kahlo was a painter who transcended her own work to became an icon. Learn all about her fascinating and inspiring life and work in today’s epi...

The Max Headroom Incident

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1987, a very strange broadcast intrusion occurred in the city of Chicago. For just a couple of minutes, the odd TV character Max Headroom appeared ...

SYSK Selects: Was there a real King Arthur?

02 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 wa...

Is the Pied Piper About a Real Historic Tragedy?

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the German town of Hameln a tragedy that took place on a specific date in 1284 and befell specifically 130 children is commemorated every year. Asi...

How Drug Courts Work

29 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If you aren't in the know, you may think drug courts are set up to quickly prosecute drug users and get them into prison in short order. Turns out it'...

SYSK Selects: How Pinball Works

26 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Pinball was actually illegal until the 1970s in NY and other cities, hidden in the backs of pornography shops. The game was finally legalized, thanks ...

How Occam's Razor Works

24 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You know the rule that says the simplest explanation is probably the correct one? That’s called a razor and it’s meant to guide logic. But over ti...

A List Of Games You Would Surely Lose to a Computer

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a time where computers can beat the best humans in the world at chess, checkers, poker and video games. But these games are really just dem...

SYSK Selects: Is brain size related to intelligence?

19 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The idea that the larger the brain, the higher the intelligence is an old one, but it's pretty much utterly false. Modern investigation into how the b...

The Collar Bomb Heist

18 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The collar bomb heist is the crime caper that keeps on giving. Every time the story seemed like it was figured out, another layer appeared. Tune in to...

What's a quinceañera anyway?

15 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A quinceañera is the celebration of a girl of Hispanic heritage becoming a young woman on her 15th birthday. It involves family, friends, music and a...

SYSK Selects: How Cremation Works

12 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Cremation is a burial process practiced around the world, but how exactly does it work? Josh and Chuckers take a detailed look at cremation's history,...

How Drowning Works

10 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hundreds of thousands of people drown around the world every year, and yet it can be easily prevented and is widely misunderstood – like how you can...

PT Barnum: More Complicated Than You've Heard

08 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

When your life is as outsized as the World’s Greatest Showman PT Barnum it’s pretty easy to - you know - gloss over the grimmer aspects when you t...

SYSK Selects: Are there undiscovered people?

05 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this classic episode, Josh and Chuck discuss whether there are any truly "undiscovered" groups of people left on the planet, the definition of undi...