Stuff You Should Know

How the Wow! Signal Works

09 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1977, Ohio State astronomers discovered a radio transmission from space that was 30 times louder than the cosmic background noise. Since then every...

How Ocean Currents Work

04 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to overlook the importance of ocean currents - they move along out at sea, while we stay mostly on land. But we are globally affected by the...

How Street Gangs Work

02 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The street gang problem in America peaked in the 1990s, but recent FBI reports find that gang membership doubled from 2006-2011. What's driving this i...

How Tupperware Works

28 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tupperware won immediate design acclaim when it was released in 1947, but it took a pioneering female executive to make a line of plastic food storage...

How Junk Food Works

26 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Junk food is literally that, empty calories of energy that provide little nutritional value and usually are stored as fat. Yet junk food is irresistib...

How Color Works

21 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Science doesn't have a good explanation for why we sense color, yet it is everywhere and affecting us all the time. But why should minutely different ...

How Internet Censorship Works

19 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some of it seems innocuous enough: protecting kids from unseemly sites or intellectual property from piracy. But the tools to protect these things are...

How Pinewood Derbies Work

14 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of millions of Scouts, and their parents, have taken standard blocks of wood and turned them into cars that zip along at up to 20 mph. Learn abou...

Does the FDA Protect Americans?

12 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The FDA was the first consumer protection agency in the US. Since 1906, it's been issuing regulations meant to protect Americans from tainted food, in...

Josh and Chuck Make It Through Male Puberty

07 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Around ages 9 or 10 a boy will begin to undergo a magical, surprising, weird, amazing, totally bonkers transformation from childhood to adulthood. To ...

How Therapeutic Hypothermia Works

05 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Physicians noticed centuries ago that people exposed to cold temperatures often have amazing recoveries from serious medical emergencies. Now medicine...

How Spiders Work

30 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Spiders are second only to snakes in the dread departemnt, but they're actually very helpful arachnids who are only deadly to humans under the worst c...

How Water Slides Work

28 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Water slides have been around in one form or another since the Romans. But back then they didn't know what they had on their hands. With the birth of ...

Oh No, Snakes!

23 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

If you think snakes are legless reptile carnivores, then you are exactly right. If you think snakes are here to kill you then you are exactly wrong. L...

How Clowns Work

21 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Jesters of some sort have been around since ancient Egypt and China. Our modern clown was invented around 1800 and ever since they have been getting s...

How Zero Population Growth Works

16 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In 1968, Paul Erlich published The Population Bomb, predicting coming famine and mass death. Erlich's predictions didn't pan out but his ideas launche...

How Slinky Works

14 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It has been called a "glorified spring", but Slinky is one of the best selling toys of all time. From accidental origins to an unlikely resurrection, ...

What's the deal with blood types?

09 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Blood types have one of the more interesting backstories in medical history. But as much as we've figured out about them and how they work, we still d...

Polyamory: When two just won't do

07 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, Josh and Chuck dive into the world of polyamory. Turns out polyamorists aren't weirdos and deviants, they're...

Thanks, Easter Bunny! Bock Bock!

02 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Happy Easter from Stuff You Should Know! Learn all about Easter, from its humble beginnings as a pagan holiday to the multi-billion dollar industry it...

Does the body replace itself?

31 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Does the human body really replace itself every few years? The answer is yes, but different parts of the body do so at different rates. Learn all abou...

How Desalination Works

26 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Why would people want to remove salt from water? To solve the world's water problem, that's why. Learn all about the efforts to desalinate H2O in chea...

10 Bizarre Medical Treatments

24 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Medical science has a long and storied history of trying out cures and procedures that later strike us as wacky. And they're still at it today! Learn ...

Earwax: Live With It

19 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Despite tons of people using cotton swabs each day to clean the earwax from their ears, cerumen (as earwax is clinically known) is actually quite bene...

How Anesthesia Works

17 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The use of general anesthesia is less than 200 years old. Before doctors were able to cause unconsciousness in patients, surgery was brutal for all in...

How Tea Works

12 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Legend has it that tea was discovered by a curious Chinese emperor after leaves blew into his boiled water. Now tea is the second only to water in pop...

How Fleas Work

10 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Fleas are the bane of the existence of pet owners. From their eggs to their lifespan to their feeding habits, fleas are practically designed to be a n...

How Stonehenge Works

05 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Even as far back as the Roman invaders, people have had absolutely no idea just what the massive monument complex in England known as Stonehenge was b...

How ESP Works(?)

03 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Even though almost half of Americans believe in it, ESP usually is treated as a load of bull by skeptics. But some respected researchers have dared to...

Some Movies That Changed Filmmaking

26 Feb 2015

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...

Why Do Lefties Exist?

24 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

For at least the last 200,000 years, between 10-15% of the human population are left-handed and this fact has utterly left science baffled. In searchi...

How Perfume Works

19 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Women consistently rate scent as the most important factor in a man's attractiveness and men have been manipulating that for centuries with scents of ...

Is there treasure on Oak Island?

17 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Off Nova Scotia, the tiny spit of land called Oak Island has been host to waves of treasure hunters for more than 200 years. Some of them lost their l...

What is folklore?

12 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

What is folklore? Turns out it's just about anything you can think of that's shared by more than two people. Art, literature, stories, dance, music, t...

How Feng Shui Works

10 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Feng Shui is an Asian concept that strives to unlock your chi by how your home or office is arranged. Or at least that's the simplified "Western" vers...

How Ice Cream Works

05 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We all scream for ice cream, sure, but did you know we're all technically screaming about a colloidal foam? Prepare for deep cravings that will surely...

Rainbows: Delighting humanity since forever

03 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Rainbows seem to defy nature, but they're really pretty simple when it comes down to it. Turns out it's just light reacting to water droplets in the a...

How Hot Wheels Work

29 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

If you're an American who had a childhood, you probably have some nostalgia for Hot Wheels. Get your engines revved for this trip down memory lane as ...

How Poison Ivy Works

27 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Poison ivy, oak and sumac are all variations of the same plant and they all can make you itch... if you're susceptible that is. In this episode, you'l...

Nostradamus: Predictor of the future? Not so much.

22 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Nostradamus delighted us all in grade school, but it turns out the real guy wasn't quite as prescient as we were led to believe. In truth, he wrote a ...

How the March on Washington Worked

20 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

1963 was a huge year of conflict and progress for the American Civil Rights Movement and the March On Washington was the high water mark of that event...

Juggling: What the Heck

15 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There is a lot - A LOT - to juggling and Chuck and Josh go over the lion's share of it. Delve into the deep history, physics, how-tos and different ty...

How the Scientific Method Works

13 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

It evolved over centuries to become the gold standard for conducting scientific inquiry. Yet many people - including some scientists - don't fully und...

How Online Gambling Works

08 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Pretty much immediately after the Internet was opened to the world online gambling sites sprang up. Over the last couple decades, U.S. law and online ...

How Jim Henson Worked

06 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

We've already recorded an episode on The Muppets, but Jim Henson was such a neat guy we delved into him even further. Learn all about the man behind t...

SYSK Live: How Bars Work

01 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Join Josh and Chuck live from Vancouver as they dive in to the ins and outs of one of the oldest businesses in the world - the bar! Learn about the hi...

How Sea Monsters Work

30 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Legends of sea monsters are as old as humanity, and some ancient cultures even credited with creating the universe. Even today when the sea washes som...

Josh and Chuck's 2014 Christmas Extravaganza!

25 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of year again! Time to get cozy and tuck in with Josh and Chuck as they spread glad tidings and warm Christmas cheer. Tune in to hear a...

How the GED Test Works

23 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The GED test was once part of a non-profit organization. That all changed in 2014, when it was privatized, made more expensive and more difficult to p...

How Cinnamon Works

18 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In another commodities edition of SYSK, Josh and Chuck dive into the world of cinnamon, once the world's most prized and pricey spice. But did you kno...

Boomerangs: Magic Sticks of Physics

16 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The physics behind returning boomerangs literally may be the most difficult concept to understand in the entire body of science. Join Josh and Chuck a...

Homeschooling: Not Just For Hippies and Religious People Anymore

11 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the 1970s, homeschooling was illegal in the U.S., but after activists of all stripes lobbied lawmakers, schooling kids at home has become a vi...

How The Hum Works

09 Dec 2014

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...

How X-Rays Work

04 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Like many huge discoveries, X-rays were accidentally stumbled upon. That serendipity led to a medical breakthrough still in use today. Learn about how...

How Leper Colonies Worked

02 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, used to mean a one-way ticket to banishment. But once medicine trained its sights on wiping out what might be...

How Terraforming Will Work

27 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of great thinkers are warning that if humans are to survive as a species we are going to have to find another planet to live on. Terraforming, o...

How Kickstarter Works

25 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

With billions of dollars raised, Kickstarter has singled itself out as the go-to site for creative crowdfunding. But not without some controversy alon...

What is Collective Hysteria?

20 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the history of the world, there have been many cases of what is known as collective hysteria - groups of people, usually young women, who a...

How the Enlightenment Works

18 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The Enlightenment stands as the moment the West withdrew from superstition and found its faith in reason. Did it shift too far? Learn about this massi...

What's the deal with crop circles?

13 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

For a while in the 1980s, people were fascinated and confused about what exactly crop circles were. Now we know that they aren't signs left from alien...

How Patents Work

11 Nov 2014

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 Limousines Work

06 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The first limousines weren't even cars! Learn all about the history of limousines, how they're made and some of the most creative and expensive amenit...

Can Nuclear Fusion Reactors Save The World?

04 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The world's energy consumption is ruining the planet but for decades physicists have been working on what could solve the world's energy and climate c...

SYSK's Halloween Scare Fest

31 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Get ready to be creeped out and join Chuck and Josh as they read you with two spooky classic horror stories, The Striding Place and The Pale Man in th...

How Haunted House Attractions Work

30 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since the Egyptians, humans have been evolving toward haunted house attractions. The level of sophistication in the scares and gore effects conti...

Is there a disease that kills by preventing sleep?

28 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The strange disease of fatal familial insomnia was first recorded in the 18th century. Its victims lose their ability to sleep, slip into coma and die...

How Animal Camouflage Works

23 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The wild kingdom is filled with examples of animals that can camouflage themselves into their environment, but the means and the methods are also wild...

How Extinction Works

21 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists believe that 99% of the estimated 50 billion species that have ever lived on Earth have disappeared through extinction. This is a natural p...

How The Great Train Robbery Worked

16 Oct 2014

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...

Virus Talk with Josh and Chuck

14 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Viruses are big jerks that invade regular cells and hold them hostage, making you sick while they're doing it. Learn everything you ever needed to kno...

How Skywriting Works

09 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the 1920s, skywriting was invented to communicate with troops, but it quickly found its footing as a popular way for companies to advertise. L...

How Karate Works

07 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Karate, meaning "open" and "hand", was developed in Okinawa before being exported to Japan and then the rest of the world. It is one of the most widel...

How Panic Attacks Work

02 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Almost three percent of Americans suffer from a debilitating disorder that causes them to suffer intense fear seemingly without reason and science has...

How Rogue Waves Work

30 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Rogue waves come out of nowhere and tower as much as 100 feet over hapless ships they encounter, breaking across the boat and frequently breaking the ...

How Animal Domestication Works

25 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It's strange to hear, but the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, including the domestication of wild animals, is the single biggest thi...

How Police Interrogation Works

23 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Every year, police across the U.S. get thousands of criminals to confess to their crimes. The trouble is, the procedure that almost all departments us...

How Currency Works

18 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Even if you entirely eschew the concept of money, we'll bet you'd be hard pressed not to trade in some form of currency. Learn how everything from cow...

How Socialism Works

16 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In America it's virtually a dirty word, but after being dragged through the mud for a century, socialism is still a part of the U.S.'s national charac...

How Stem Cells Work

09 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Since scientists realized there is a type of cell that can grow into any other type, they have worked to use them to heal human conditions like Parkin...

How TV Ratings Work

04 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wonder why some great shows go off the air after a season or less? Blame it on the Nielsen company, which has for more than 60 years been the alm...

How Pinball Works

02 Sep 2014

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 Blimps Work

28 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

After newsreels captured the Hindenburg erupting in fire in 1937, the promising development of airship aviation was cut short. Today companies and mil...

What's the deal with headstones?

26 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Headstones have quite an interesting history. From the beginnings of marking graves with simple wood carvings to the elaborate tombstones that would c...

How the Berlin Wall Worked

21 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It's hard to believe now, but just over 25 years ago there was a giant concrete wall separating East and West Germany. In this episode, Chuck and Josh...

Going Up: Elevators

19 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Elevators are way more interesting than you might think. In this week's episode, Chuck and Josh board the lift to enlighten everyone as to the ins and...

How Ebola Works

14 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A disease that was discovered and contained to Central Africa in the 1970s has revived and spread in 2014. Now there is an Ebola outbreak that has mov...

How the NSA Works

12 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck and Josh dive into the secret world of the National Security Agency, from the origins of the snooping outfit, to the recent revelations from whi...

What is a Numbers Station?

07 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

If you think secretly coded messages sent via short wave radio is Cold War relic, think again. Chuck and Josh are here to dispel that myth, along with...

How Play-Doh Works

05 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Do you love Play-Doh? Chuck and Josh certainly love to talk about it, from its interesting history as a wall cleaner, to its more scientific chemical ...

How Morgellons Disease Works

31 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

There is a condition that can cause people to feel bugs crawling beneath their skin so acutely that they will use tweezers to pluck them from their ey...

Is there a dark side of the moon?

29 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Josh and Chuck explore the old notion that there's a dark side of the moon. There is, but it turns out it's not always the same side. And yes, there's...

The Skinny on Probiotics

24 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

You can find probiotics - bacteria thought to have healthful benefits for humans - in everything from pills to yogurt. But does any of it work? Listen...

How Trickle-Down Economics Works

22 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The concept of trickle-down economics is tied to Ronald Reagan, but the idea's been around and in use since the 20s. It's simple: Give more money to t...

How In Vitro Fertlization Works

17 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

In the U.S. alone, more than 6 million people are affected by infertility and science has taken up the mantle of helping them to conceive. Learn about...

How Sushi Works

15 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Sushi grew out of a way to ferment fish a couple thousand years ago and in the late 20th century began to take the world by storm. What began as tradi...

How Grass Works? Yes, How Grass Works

10 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

There's nothing more boring than watching grass grow, which is why Josh and Chuck aren't asking you to do that. Instead, you can learn about all sorts...

Is brain size related to intelligence?

08 Jul 2014

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...

How Monopoly Works

03 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Since more than 1 billion people have played it, you're probably familiar with the board game Monopoly, but we bet you don't know its secret origins a...

How The Louvre Works

01 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The most famous museum in the world, France's Louvre, has been the seat of high art and culture for several centuries. Its history goes back farther t...

How the MPAA Works

26 Jun 2014

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...