Stuff You Should Know

How Vomit Phobia Works

05 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

No one - no one - likes to vomit, but there are some people who would prefer to die rather than vomit, people who spend their days worrying they will ...

SYSK Selects: How Crime Scene Cleanup Works

02 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Cleaning up crime scenes is a niche industry that's both lucrative and messy. In this episode, Josh and Chuck take a look at how crime-scene clean-up ...

Cake: So Great. So, So Great

30 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Cake has been around for a long time, but mostly less than great forms. It took the Industrial Revolution, the advent of plentiful sugar, and some goo...

How Toy Testing Works

28 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It's every kid's dream - a job playing with toys that pays in toys. It's a real thing and has been around for a long time. Then there's the other side...

SYSK Selects: How Organ Donation Works

25 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, tune in as Josh and Chuck take a detailed look at organ donation -- from the earliest organ transplants to the org...

What is nuclear forensics?

23 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Nuclear forensics is a lot of things - from UN sponsored inspections to tasks more on the down low. But either way, the job of these men and women is ...

Bath Salts: Steer Clear

21 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Although much of the media-fueled hysteria over the designer drug called bath salts has been utterly unfounded, especially when it comes to driving us...

SYSK Selects: How Daylight Saving Time Works

18 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, Benjamin Franklin first came up with daylight saving time in 1748, and people still practice it today. But how doe...

Can movies be cursed?

16 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

First of all, movies can't be cursed because curses aren't real. However, that can't stop Josh and Chuck from taking a look at some movies throughout ...

How the Flu Works

14 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Every year the flu virus makes the rounds, laying up young and old alike for days before moving on to another hapless victim. But flu viruses can muta...

SYSK Selects: How Silly Putty Works

11 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, when the Japanese invaded Southeast Asia in World War II, they cut off America's rubber supply. Luckily, American ...

What's permaculture all about?

09 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Permaculture is a growing trend in the world of farming and home landscaping. It's basically a design principle that emphasizes sustainability and the...

How Restaurant Health Inspections Work

07 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know the feeling that occurs when the health inspector pays a visit. While nerve wracking, it's the best in...

SYSK Selects: How Exorcism Works

04 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, is the idea of possession a misunderstanding of physiological and psychological conditions, or has science failed ...

Movie Crush: Tig Notaro on Mask

03 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Episode two of Movie Crush is a very special one. Comedian Tig Notaro dropped in minutes after a very important, life changing phone call to chat with...

Movie Crush: Janet Varney on Tron

03 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This week Movie Crush launches with two great episodes. Up first, actress Janet Varney talks with Chuck about the movie Tron and how much it means to ...

How Global Warming Works

02 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It's a confusing part of climate change when it seems winter is as cold as ever, but as global temperatures creep ever so slightly higher, a cascade o...

SYSK's 2017 Super Spooktacular!

31 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this year's super scary Halloween episode, Chuck and Josh read two great works of horror fiction: Gifts, by our very own Ed Grabianowski, and the c...

SYSK Selects: How SPAM Works

28 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, SPAM is a canned meat product made from pork shoulder and ham. First introduced in 1937, this iconic food has spre...

Episode 1,000: The Simpsons Spectacular Part II

26 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today concludes our two part celebration of one of the greatest TV shows of all time - The Simpsons! It also officially marks our 1,000th episode. Can...

Episode 999: The Simpsons Spectacular Part I

24 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For our 999th and 1,000th episodes, we go down the rabbit hole on a TV show that quite literally altered popular culture as we know it. The Simpsons h...

SYSK Selects: The Cheesiest SYSK Episode Ever

21 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, cheese is often overlooked as a one of humanity's great achievements. Making cheese is surprisingly easy: It's bee...

How Internships Work

19 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The term intern comes from the medical community, but virtually every industry now uses them. From real world training to coffee fetchers, interns can...

SYSK Live: The DB Cooper Heist

17 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Join Josh and Chuck live from Seattle as they (sky)dive into one of the most brazen robberies in the annals of crime and the only unsolved airline hij...

SYSK Selects: Is there such a thing as a truth serum?

14 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, ever since people have had secrets, other people have been looking for ways to get it out of them. Law enforcement...

How Buildering Works

12 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Up until recently we had no idea buildering was a word. Or that people scaling buildings has been a thing since the turn of the 20th Century. Learn al...

How the Rolling Jubilee Works

10 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone thought it was the pits that banks were bailed out by taxpayers in 2008 while those same people weren't given any relief by the banks. So som...

SYSK Selects: Did a cow start the Great Chicago Fire?

07 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, Josh and Chuck find who's probably to blame for the Great Chicago Fire. The newspapers of the day reported that a ...

How Giraffes Work

05 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Even though giraffes are one of the most recognizable animals on the planet, it wasn't until the 21st century that biology really set about studying t...

How Police Body Cameras Work

03 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Cops wearing cameras is a new thing. So new that we aren't entirely sure of all the ramifications that go along with them just yet. In theory they sho...

SYSK Selects: What was the most peaceful time in history?

30 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, there is a lot of debate about whether pre-agricultural humans existed in a more harmonious state than we do today...

How Nude Beaches Work

28 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Probably all beaches were nude early on, but as society developed and body shame became all the rage, people started wearing bathing suits. Some, thou...

How FOIA Works

26 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the 60s, Congress worried the White House was operating too much in secret and passed the Freedom Of Information Act, opening the government to pub...

SYSK Selects: Fecal Transplants: You Gonna Drink That Poop?

23 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, there's an emerging field in health care called medical ecology that's concerned with understanding how the 100 tr...

A Nostalgic Look at Crayons

21 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Mixing wax with pigment is something artists have been doing since DaVinci. These little implements would later go on to be called crayons and gained ...

How Frogs Work

19 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

They survived the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, but unfortunately frogs seem to be no match for humans and are losing species in droves. Th...

SYSK Selects: How Handwriting Analysis Works

16 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, one of the fields of forensic investigation, handwriting analysis is based on the principle of uniqueness - that e...

How the Secret Service Works

14 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. Secret Service began after a mandate from President Lincoln called for a service to combat counterfeiters. Since then, they have become more ...

How Psychopaths Work

12 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There are people who walk among us who seem normal, maybe even more charming or intelligent than average, yet they hide disturbing and at times danger...

SYSK Selects: How Hip-hop Works

09 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Are crickets the future of food?

07 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Crickets are part of a larger insect-based diet enjoyed in most parts of the world. Loaded with vitamins, minerals and protein, and green to boot, cri...

The Baffling Case of the Body On Somerton Beach

05 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Since his corpse was found in 1948, wearing a nice suit in summer on an Australian beach, an unidentified man has refused to fade into obscurity, grip...

SYSK Selects: How Shrunken Heads Work

02 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, although U.S. museum collections are rife with counterfeits, shrunken heads are far from fiction. The Shuar tribe ...

How Satanism Works

31 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Satanism may be the most misunderstood "religion" in the world. Part of that is because there are, and have been, many offshoots of Satanism, from The...

A Lip-Smacking Look at Barbecue

29 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Barbecue, or for the lazy, BBQ, is a Southern cooking tradition, but also much more than that. It's a cultural touchstone of the South where people of...

SYSK Selects: Is Stockholm Syndrome real?

26 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, since a hostage standoff in Sweden took place in 1972 a peculiar and mysterious psychological phenomenon has had a...

How Personality Tests Work

24 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For millennia, we have tried to put human personalities into neat types, an effort psychology took up early in its history in an effort to legitimize ...

Is the Uncanny Valley Real?

22 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In 1970, roboticist Masahiro Mori wrote an essay that said the closer robots come to lifelike, the more they unsettle humans. His theory became the Un...

SYSK Selects: How Exploitation Films Work

19 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In today's SYSK Select episode, we learn about exploitation films. During the 1930s-80s, the work of directors operating in the shadows of Hollywood l...

What's the deal with accents?

17 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Accents are truly fascinating. Put simply, they are how a person sounds when they talk. From England to America and all over the world, the way people...

How Stuttering Works

15 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Despite as much as one percent of the adult population having the condition, science doesn't actually know how stuttering works. The best it's come up...

SYSK Selects: How McCarthyism Works

12 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, if you're accusing someone of disloyalty or subversion without decent evidence, then you may be guilty of McCarthy...

How Bioarchaeology Works

10 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to advancements in fields like genetics, and molecular chemistry, archaeology is undergoing a renaissance and opening up new understanding of t...

Do motivational speakers motivate people?

08 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

There are all kinds of motivational speakers, from people who have overcome incredible hardships to those who hold pep-rally style events in stadiums....

SYSK Selects: Why do men have nipples?

05 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, they're always right there, taunting you: why do you have me, they ask? Why do men have nipples? It turns out ther...

Who Committed the 1912 Villisca Ax Murders?

03 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In a small town in Iowa in 1912 eight people were murdered in the grisliest of ways while they slept. Local reputations were ruined when accusations f...

How Public Broadcasting Works

01 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Public broadcasting works a bit differently depending on where you are in the world. American TV made the leap more toward commercial broadcasting in ...

SYSK Selects: How Disco Works

29 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In today's SYSK Select episode, fly, robin, fly indeed. No musical genre has risen and burned out as quickly as disco, and historians are still trying...

A Dry Look at Toilet Paper

27 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Over or under? One ply or two? How about six? TP has not been around that long, but is has been embraced in a big way by the United States. Learn all ...

What is Ghost Fishing?

25 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It sounds cool, but ghost fishing is actually a tragic byproduct of modern fishing practices, where abandoned nylon nets can trap and kill sealife for...

SYSK Selects: How the Sun Works

22 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, amateur astrophysicists Josh and Chuck break out the stats and attempt to explain the complex, boiling ball of gas...

All We Know About Guessing

20 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Guessing is a weird thing. For millennia, it could have meant the difference between life and death. Now it's not as vital, but we still do it every d...

Sunburn, Suntans and Sunscreen

18 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It's pretty obvious something's gone wrong when you get a sunburn, but did you know a tan means you've damaged your DNA? Dive into the three Ss of sum...

SYSK Selects: Why can't we find Amelia Earhart?

15 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, famed aviator Amelia Earhart's disappearance in 1937 is a mystery that endures to this day. Why don't we know what...

How Fever Dreams Work

13 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Fever dreams can be unsettling experiences. These ramped up nightmares are vivid, detailed and only happen when the human body experiences a fever. Wh...

Why is There a Battle Over Net Neutrality?

11 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Net neutrality is the idea that the internet is a public good and that everyone should have equal, unfettered access to it. Though the FCC strongly su...

SYSK Selects: How HeLa Cells Work

08 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, after she was diagnosed with the cervical cancer that shortly killed her, a tissue sample was taken from Henrietta...

Josh and Chuck's List of Horror Movies that Changed the Genre

06 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Once in a while a movie comes along that's so forward-thinking it changes the way that horror is done. A new subgenre is spawned, new tropes are estab...

What exactly is stoicism?

04 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The word stoic has taken on its own meaning apart from the philosophical movement which gave it life. Learn all about the early stoics, what the philo...

SYSK Selects: Why isn't the U.S. on the metric system?

01 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, the U.S. stands proudly defiant and the world looks at Americans as dopes for the U.S.'s stubborn refusal to go me...

How Standardized Patients Work

29 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Even the most brilliant medical minds need a good bedside manner, and thanks to standardized patients, they can improve their skills. What are they? P...

Remembering Stonewall

27 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

One of American history's darker moments, the Stonewall Riots were also the event that galvanized the gay rights movement in the United States. Today ...

SYSK Selects: Scooby Dooby Doo, Where Are You?

24 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, for decades, Scooby Doo has captivated children across the world. It's been translated to multiple languages and r...

How Ketchup Works

22 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Little-known fact: Ketchup, possibly the most all-American of condiments, evolved from fermented fish sauce people in Southeast Asia have been making ...

How Seed Banks Work

20 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Since the advent of agriculture, humans have been storing seeds. But as sea levels rise and climates change around the world, our reasons for banking ...

SYSK Selects: Do you stay conscious after being decapitated?

17 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, historically speaking, decapitation was a popular means of execution -- it's been used by everyone from ancient Ro...

What was Camp X?

15 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the early days of World War II, there was a secret training program in Canada that taught Allied saboteurs everything from espionage and bridge blo...

How the Beagle Brigade Works

13 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever been to an international airport, you've probably seen one of the keenest spotters of illegal contraband - The Beagle Brigade! These cu...

SYSK Selects: How Maps Work

10 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, yes, your brain may have just flash-dried from boredom at the thought of learning about maps, but it turns out the...

Why Are Whale Strandings Still a Mystery?

08 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For millennia, mass strandings of whales have confounded us. Why should dozens or more whales come onto shore only to die a terrible and lengthy death...

How Coelacanths Work

06 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Coelacanths are incredibly interesting as far as fish go. For one, they were thought to have gone the way of the dinosaur, along with the dinosaur. Th...

SYSK Selects: What's the deal with Rasputin's death?

03 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, Grigori Rasputin, the Russian charismatic cleric and political adviser to the ruling Romanovs, is said to have bee...

The Stories Behind A Few Food Fads

01 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

America loves to go nuts over new food trends and it turns out that the 20th century was a boon time for them. Learn more about your ad-choices at ht...

Are Election Laws Designed to Suppress Voting?

30 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Are laws that are meant to protect the sanctity of the polling place in reality designed to make it harder for groups that traditionally vote Democrat...

SYSK Selects: How Beer Works

27 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, at long last, Josh and Chuck take on perhaps their most important topic ever. Learn about the history of beer, how...

How Schoolhouse Rock Rocked: Featuring Bob Nastanovich of Pavement

25 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Schoolhouse Rock is possibly the best children's program of all time. Join Josh and Chuck as they tell the story of SR, featuring an interview with Pa...

Is a head transplant really a thing?

23 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

"Head transplant" is a bit of a misnomer, because it's more like a body transplant. But either way, the idea is that one human will wake up from surge...

SYSK Selects: How Magic Mushrooms Work

20 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, for thousands of years, humans have used hallucinogenic mushrooms for spiritual reasons. Today, however, having th...

How the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis Work

18 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It wasn't too long ago that humans thought the polar lights were signs from the afterlife. Thanks to a 19th century Norwegian, we now understand that ...

How Champagne Works

16 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Sure we can all agree that champagne is probably the greatest thing humans have or ever will invent, but how much do we understand how it's made? Lea...

SYSK Selects: Gesundheit! How Allergies Work

13 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, about 30-40 percent of humans suffer from some sort of allergy. The big joke, though, is that every sufferer is th...

How Charismatic Megafauna Work

11 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Charismatic Megafauna is not just a great band name. It's really just a fancy word for the cutest and most personality plus animals at the zoo. We're ...

How Itching Works

09 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It was only in the last few decades that science became aware that itches aren't just low-level pain. And in that time, the mystery of how we itch and...

SYSK Selects: What's the 10,000 Year Clock?

06 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, in a desert in Texas a 200-feet-tall clock is being constructed deep inside a mountain. Once completed, it will ke...

Some Nutso Fan Theories

04 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

It turns out that the characters in your favorite TV shows and the like are actually dead, dreaming, dying or don't exist. Learn more about your ad-c...

How Poetry Works

02 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Poetry is a broad and expansive art form. From dramatic verse to haiku, rhyming poetry and spoken word, there are many hats a poet can wear. Join Josh...

SYSK Selects: How Revisionist History Works

29 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, perhaps you equate the term to conspiracy theories and Holocaust denials, but revisionism is a genuine discipline ...

How Multiple Sclerosis Works

27 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When the immune system mistakes the tissue covering neural connections as foreign invaders, the result can devastate the body. There is hope, however,...

How the National Security Council Works

25 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Until recently, most people probably never paid much attention to the National Security Council. It's been around a long time though, and the presiden...

SYSK Selects: How Breast Implants Work

22 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's SYSK Select episode, the first attempt at breast augmentation surgery was on a dog. The second on a woman who went in for tattoo remova...