Stuff You Should Know

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Hinterkaifeck Axe Murders

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: SYSK Live: The DB Cooper Heist

26 Sep 2025

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’s Fall True Crime Playlist: Who Committed the 1912 Villisca Ax Murders?

26 Sep 2025

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...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tylenol Murders, Part I

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On one terrible day in Chicago in 1982, seven people died suddenly and mysteriously. In just a matter of hours, it becomes clear, someone has poisoned...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The largest ever kidnapping case in the United States went down in the small town of Chowchilla, CA. Learn all about it today. See omnystudio.com...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tylenol Murders, Part II

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The panic that began in Chicago spreads and begins to change the world. The investigation into the murders turns up leads and suspects, but still no o...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Tale of the Bloody Benders

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Long before we knew what serial killers were, a family in remote Kansas was disposing of victims at their family farm. Listen in to the Tale of the Bl...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Harvey’s Casino Bombing of 1980

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In August of 1980 a bomb containing 1,000 pounds of dynamite was quietly delivered to Harvey’s, a casino and resort at Lake Tahoe. This kicked o...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Strange Unsolved Murder of Ken McElroy

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The murder of Ken McElroy comes off like a story from a cheap paperback book you’d get to read on a plane. But this is a true crime story, set i...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Harrowing Story of the North Hollywood Shootout

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tune in today to listen to the story of when North Hollywood became a war zone after a brazen bank robbery. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: The Unsolved Indiana Dunes Disappearances

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In July 1966, three women out for a day at the beach waded into the water of Lake Michigan, got onto a boat and were never heard from again. To this d...

SYSK’s Fall True Crime Playlist: How The Great Train Robbery Worked

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1963, 15 men got together in England to pull off one of the most daring heists in history. The Great Train Robbery was the crime of the century, ca...

A Tribute To The Far Side

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Far Side is one of the greatest cartoons in history. Today we go to great lengths to convince you of that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...

Short Stuff: Death Cap Mushroom

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The death cap mushroom lives up to its name. It’s a mushroom cap that causes death. Find out why.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Tdhtdhtdhtdhtdh: Sound Effects!

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sound effects are one of the unsung parts of any movie or TV show – they’re best when you don’t even notice them making what you see...

Selects: Slime Mold: 0% Mold, 100% Amazing

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever wandered past what looked like a pile of dog barf on a log during a hike in the woods, you’d just seen slime mold - one of ...

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As part of our shameful history series, today we dive into the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments of the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and into the 70s.See omnystud...

Short Stuff: Killing a Dead Body

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you try to kill someone who was already dead is that a bad thing? Yeah? How bad?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was the Four Pests Campaign?

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Say one thing about Mao's communist China, they could kill some sparrows. Learn why and how in today's episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Selects: What's the deal with subpoenas?

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Subpoenas are all the rage. But what do they even mean if someone can just ignore it? Learn this and a lot more in this classic episode.See omnystudio...

You’re So Good At Conversation!

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s an understated miracle that humans can get across ideas to one another by saying things out loud. We’re strangely good at not constan...

Short Stuff: North Sentinel Island

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the last uncontacted people in the world live in the Bay of Bengal and they have made it clear they don’t want you to visit.See omnystudi...

The Man with the Golden Arm

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Aussie James Harrison gave blood close to 1,200 times over a 60 year period and saved 2.5 million babies in the process. That makes him a hero. S...

Selects: Noise Pollution: Arrrgh!

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever found your blood pressure rising because some guy down the street doesn’t know how to keep the trigger on a leaf blower pul...

America’s Militarized Police

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1960s, America took stock of itself when scores of low-income cities broke out in riots. It found that racism was at the root of many social pr...

Short Stuff: The Mpemba Effect

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why does water seem to freeze faster when it starts out warmer?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Dolphins Work!

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

E-e-e-eek! E-e-e-eek, we say! Adding to the tradition of our wonderful animal episodes we contribute this amazing installment on one of the all-time g...

Selects: What Were the BONE WARS?

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A pair of old timey fossil hunters had a rootin’ tootin’ rivalry that spilled from academic journals into the American Wild West - where f...

What are Blue Zones?

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Blue zones are areas where people supposedly have more 100+ year-olds than average. But is it all based on faulty records?See omnystudio.com/listener ...

Short Stuff: 1561 Celestial Event

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An amazing case of an early modern mass sighting of UFOs came in Nuremberg, Germany in 1561. Except it wasn’t that at all.See omnystudio.com/lis...

The History of Orthodontics

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Crooked teeth have always been a thing, but it took us a long time to do something about it. Learn about the twisted history of orthodontics today!See...

Selects: The Flannen Isles Mystery

23 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In December 1900 three lighthouse keepers vanished without a trace from a deserted island in Scotland. To this day no one knows exactly what happened ...

Private Equity: Your Ears Will Bleed

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Private equity is a business operation where companies are bought and run at their leanest to maximize returns for a handful of investors. It can be a...

Short Stuff: The Lost (?) Continent of Lemuria

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why aren't there lemurs in Africa? That question created a whole theory about a lost continent. Turns out it's not true.See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

The Unsolved Murder of Hall and Mills

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1922, a pastor and his mistress were murdered in New Jersey. Nobody was ever convicted of the crime even though it seems clear who did it. See...

Selects: How Rape Kits Work

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rape kits are simple forensic evidence collection kits used when someone is sexually assaulted. But the story is deeper than this. Learn all about rap...

Heavy Metal Pt II

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In part two of Heavy Metal Week Josh and Chuck break down how specialized heavy metal music has become, talk about some of the great album covers, loo...

Short Stuff: Devil Horns

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Metal fans have many ways to express themselves, but none are as metal as throwing the devil horns. But who did it first?See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Heavy Metal Pt I

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some of the most talented musicians in the world play heavy metal, some of the hardest-hitting music ever made. In this episode Chuck and Josh wade in...

Selects: The Disappearance of Flight MH370, Part II

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the absence of an official explanation of why flight MH 370 disappeared in 2014, conjecture and conspiracy theories have filled the vacuum. Find ou...

Selects: The Disappearance of Flight MH370, Part I

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, a Boeing 777 airliner disappeared. Despite two full years of searching an area of ocean covering more than 120,000 square kilometers, it has ...

Who's Up For A Circular Economy

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if we could take all the trash and waste we generate every year – gigatons worth – and used it again as raw materials. What we would ...

Short Stuff: Marianne Bachmeier: Vigilante Mother

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Marianne Bachmeier committed a shocking act of violence in court in Germany in 1981 to avenge the murder of her young daughter. Many people understood...

The Iconic, Complicated VW Beetle

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The VW Beetle is the best selling car of all time. The story behind its creation is a bit complicated though. See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Selects: Is birth order important?

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Child Prodigies: Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Child prodigies are unique in that they achieve adult levels of achievement, but do not typically excel in adulthood. Why? Who knows. See omnystu...

Short Stuff: Bliss Point

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The food we eat – especially the junk food – is a highly engineered technical marvel that’s designed to make you want nothing other ...

The Humble and Deadly Cigarette

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is not about smoking or lawsuits or lung cancer. This is about the cigarette itself, a truly unique and destructive invention.See omnystudio.com/...

Selects: The Tale of the Church of the SubGenius

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Church of the SubGenius is a religion, but really a parody of religion. Learn all about this group of weirdo outsiders in this classic episode.See...

AQ Khan: How to Live Dangerously

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

He’s been called the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and a real-life Bond villain and depending on where you’re from, he’s a...

Short Stuff: Paperclips

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Boycotts Work (Or Do They?)

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We have boycotts coming out of our ears these days, but did you know they go back a couple centuries? And that it’s named after the first poor s...

Selects: What exactly is stoicism?

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The word stoic has taken on its own meaning apart from the philosophical movement which gave it life. In this classic episode, learn all about the ear...

How Alchemy Worked

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alchemy evokes sorcerers working by candlelight combining potions to create magical items, real Dungeons & Dragons stuff. But alchemy gets a bad r...

Short Stuff: Bengal Cats

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bengal cats are gorgeous animals, but they are bought and sold on the designer pet market, so booo. Learn about these hybrid kitties today.See omnystu...

The Great Big Yarn of Mel's Hole

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most bizarre stories to emerge from the cult radio show Coast to Coast AM – and that’s really saying something – isn&rsqu...

Selects: Child Labor: Not Funny

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Child labor is no laughing matter. Even though we've taken care of it in the USA (mostly), it's still an issue around the globe. Listen to this classi...

Sixdegrees.com: A Social Media Origin Story

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before Facebook and MySpace, before even Friendster, there was SixDegrees. Dive in today to learn about the first social media site, that was a few ye...

Short Stuff: 8 Track Cartridges

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

8 tracks were during vinyl, but preceded cassettes. Why? So people could listen to their music on the go. Check out this antiquated medium today.See o...

Sherlock Holmes: The Man, The Myth

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most famous fictional character in the world, and for good reason. More than a hundred years on, Arthur Conan Doyle&rsq...

Selects: How Coelacanths Work

05 Jul 2025

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...

What was the purpose of USAID?

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

USAID has saved tens of millions of lives across the globe since its inception. But those days are over. Learn all about this soon-to-be-gone program....

Short Stuff: BM Radio

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There was a time – a glorious time – when you could turn the dial in any city in the US and hear popular songs rearranged to be the most p...

The Phil Hartman Story

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sadly, Phil Hartman may be best remembered for being murdered in his sleep by his wife. This episode covers that, but mostly aims to stoke the memorie...

Selects: What was Tin Pan Alley?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tin Pan Alley was an area of New York around the beginning of the 20th Century that served as ground zero for the earliest iterations of the music pub...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: What's the deal with Bond, James Bond?

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

James Bond, the most infamous secret agent ever to grace the silver screen, originated in the pages of British author Ian Fleming's novels. Amateur ag...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Steadicams Work

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There have been many inventions that have advanced filmmaking, but maybe none as important as the steadicam. Invented in the mid-70s, it literally cha...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How the MPAA Works

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You may be surprised to learn those ubiquitous ratings, from G to NC-17, put on movies in America are actually handed down by anonymous employees of a...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Josh and Chuck's List of Horror Movies that Changed the Genre

27 Jun 2025

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...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Special Effects: A Short History

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Special effects have been around since the first movies. In fact, the techniques the earliest filmmakers created are still around today, we just use c...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Some Movies That Changed Filmmaking

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An estimated 50,000 films were made worldwide in 2009 alone. Many are surely clunkers, but in this episode Chuck and Josh talk about the ones that eme...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Stuntmen (and -women) Work

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They get blown up, shot, drowned and thrown out of windows on the silver screen - and we don't even know their names. Stuntpeople are the unsung heroe...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Exploitation Films Work

27 Jun 2025

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...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: The True Story of BlacKkKlansman

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, director Spike Lee brought the story of Ron Stallworth to the big screen to great effect. Today, Josh and Chuck discuss the true story behind...

SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Why was Titicut Follies banned?

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Titicut Follies is a documentary made famous by its banning. But why was it banned? And what was it even about? Listen in to learn all you need to kno...

Sunset Blvd: One Famous Road

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sunset Blvd is a long road, but is most known for the 1.7 mile stretch called The Sunset Strip. But it's much more than that.See omnystudio.com/listen...

Short Stuff: Oedipus Complex

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Oedipus complex is probably Sigmund Freud’s most famous theory – that every little boy or girl goes through a phase where they want to...

Shameful History: Project 100,000

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

During Vietnam, the U.S. lowered the IQ standards for the draft in order to bulk up their front lines. This put thousands of men in harm's way and was...

Selects: The Great Nuclear Winter Debate of 1983

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At the height of the Cold War, a group of concerned scientists promoted their findings on the horrific aftereffects of nuclear war and were accused of...

Who are the Zizians?

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the Zizians is an unusual one. Are they a cult? Or are they simply a group who wants a better world? And why have six deaths in three sta...

Short Stuff: The Shortest War

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How long was the shortest war in human history? Under an hour. Hard to believe? Not when you hear the story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

The Fencing Of The Commons

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When England privatized its commons – lands that by custom belonged to all English to work and support themselves for centuries – it began...

Selects: The Kitty Genovese Story

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Anacondas: Not Like in the Movie

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are anacondas big? For sure. Are they able to crush and consume a human? Maybe, but thankfully they don't really do that. Don't believe everything you...

Short Stuff: Andrew Jackson's Inauguration

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wild stories about a crazy party after Andrew Jackson's inauguration have been around since the weeks after it went down. But how wild was it really?S...

How Styrofoam Works

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All those to-go cups and food containers aren’t actually Styrofoam but those cups and Styrofoam are both forms of foam polystyrene, one of the r...

Selects: How Dementia Works

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The number of people suffering from dementia is expected to explode in the coming decades and, in a pleasant surprise, countries around the world are ...

Impression Management

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all in some way care about what other people think of us. At our core we all have a fear of saying something dumb or embarrassing ourselves somehow...

Short Stuff: Can You Not Have A Name?

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is it legal to live without a name? Is it even possible? Find out today in this episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pagans, Neo-Pagans, Wiccans – Let’s Sort It Out!

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Paganism was the set of original ancient religions around the world. They all had plenty of gods, loved nature, sometimes sacrificed things, and so on...

Selects: Yeti: The Asian Bigfoot

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We've covered Nessie and Bigfoot, so why not tackle the Yeti? Listen to this classic episode and hear Josh and Chuck cover what used to be known as th...

The Rosenbergs

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for espionage in 1953. Whether or not they were both guilty remains unclear, though most historians believe t...

Short Stuff: Genetic Mutations

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All sorts of exotic and often terrible stuff runs through our heads when we think of genetic mutations, but the vast majority of them are caught befor...

The Group of Seven

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today Chuck and Josh celebrate Canada and their art through the lens of the Group of Seven. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Selects: How Publicists Work

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some people call them flacks. Other people call them liars. But if you're in the public eye and suddenly have an image problem, you'll call them your ...

Popcorn: Who doesn't love it?

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We love popcorn and suspect that most people do too. But do you know why it even pops? Or if it's healthy?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

William A. Mitchell invented some iconic snack foods and candies. Learn all about him today!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Faking Your Own Death: We All Do It, But Why?

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Face it, when things get desperate we all consider faking our death as an easy way out. But what they don’t tell you in school is that it’...

Selects: Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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. In this classic ...

The Cliffs Notes on Cliffs Notes

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When a man named Cliff packaged book summaries in yellow and black booklets he changed the way kids learned. But was he just creating a cheat code?See...