Selects: Is yogurt a miracle food?
20 Jan 2024
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 ...
Jonestown
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all know what happened at Jonestown, but who was Jim Jones before the tragedy at the People's Tem...
Short Stuff: Frozen Dead Guy
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 1994, Nederland, Colorado found out it had a resident it hadn’t accounted for.See omnystud...
Dry Cleaning: Not Really Dry(!)
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dry cleaning is one of those things that we’re all familiar with but don’t actually know much ab...
Selects: History's Greatest Traitors
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The annals of history hold a special place for people who have carried out treachery and betrayed th...
How Cranes Work
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve probably seen cranes moving elegantly in the sky, but did you know what an important role t...
Short Stuff: NYT Bestseller List
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of black magic goes into deciding who makes the NYT Bestseller List? Well you probably don...
Kenton Grua: Grand Canyon Legend
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in today to listen to the amazing story of Colorado River guide Kenton Grua's wild 277 mile rec...
Selects: Dr. Seuss: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
06 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Seuss is loose in this episode about legendary children's book author Ted Geisel. The funny thin...
The 2000 Presidential Election: A Real Cluster
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When George W Bush and Al Gore ran against one another, most pundits predicted a tight race. Absolut...
Short Stuff: Blueprints
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The story of why blueprints were blue is more involved than you think. It involves a chemical proces...
SYSK Live in Nashville: The Biosphere II Experiment
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hello, friends! Join us today for our annual live show release, recorded in beautiful Nashville. On ...
Selects: Nuclear Semiotics: How to Talk to Future Humans
30 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The nuclear waste we produce will be dangerous for a very long time. We’ve figured out how to safe...
How Primitive Will Our Descendants Find Us?
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s all fun and games to think about how backwards and misguided some things people did in the pa...
Short Stuff: Scheele's Green
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can you imagine a color so alluring that even though you know it’s toxic you’d still use it to y...
How Snails Work
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They seem gross and bothersome at first, but once you get down to ground level and get to know snail...
Selects: How Fireplaces Work
23 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They are dirty, harmful to your health, bad for the environment and utterly charming. Wood-burning f...
The 2023 SYSK Ho-Ho-Holiday Spectacular!
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Holidays, friends! Tune in today to listen to our annual ad-free holiday extravaganza. There w...
Short Stuff: Christmas Lights
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Just three years after the lightbulb was invented a compadre of Thomas Edison thought to use them to...
Beanie Babies: Reigning Toy Craze Champion
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The world has seen a lot of weird investment bubbles in its time, but few of them rival the fever th...
Selects: Star Wars Holiday Spectacular
16 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made...
Selects: How Dictators Work
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are many types of dictators, from so called "benevolent" ones to the kind who rule with an iro...
What was the Skeleton Army?
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Skeleton Army was a rowdy group of folks in England who battled, sometimes violently, with the S...
Short Stuff: Pickles
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Josh loves pickles but hates cucumbers. Chuck loves cucumbers but hates pickles. WHO WILL WIN?See om...
The Matewan Massacre
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Matewan Massacre was a pivotal moment for the US mining industry and the labor movement as a who...
Selects: What were the Freedom Schools?
09 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Freedom Schools were set up in Mississippi in the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, with the aim o...
The Murder of John Lennon
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On December 8th, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York Ci...
Short Stuff: Boba Tea
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Boba tea is bubble tea. But what are the bubbles? Tapioca pearls! Listen in today to learn about the...
The Life and Works of J.D. Salinger
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
J.D. Salinger was a complicated and problematic human who stopped publishing soon after creating one...
Selects: Beavers: Tail Slapping Fun
02 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Beavers are in fact, very busy. They're builders and solid family members, husbands and wives. Learn...
You Down With OED?
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the Oxford English Dictionary is really something. From its origin to its crowd-sourced...
Short Stuff: The Zipper Merge
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you switch lanes on the highway after noticing that the lane you’re in is ending up ahead, yo...
Plate Tectonics Are What Makes Earth Inhabitable
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time to get jazzed about Earth science again. It’s only been 60 or so years since we’ve k...
Selects: NYC Water: An Engineering Marvel
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Getting the rain and melted snow from upstate NY into the taps of every NYC resident and business is...
The Wreck of the Costa Concordia
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s astounding that with the exceptional navigational equipment aboard a cruise ship can run agro...
Short Stuff: Magnetic Pole Switcheroo
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone once in a while, say a few hundred thousand years or so, the north and south poles of Earth...
Legs! Legs! Legs! (The Periodic Table)
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever wanted to listen to two totally untrained, non-chemists who are fully unqualified t...
Selects: E.T.: Is It Really the Worst Video Game of All Time?
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you play video games you probably have an easy answer to worst game of all time: ET. But it turns...
Diners: The Most American Establishment?
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Diners may just be the most American establishment there is. They were born in the USA, thanks to Eu...
Short Stuff: Liberty Bell
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the Liberty Bell is far more confusing than we imagined.See omnystudio.com/listener for...
The Tragic Death of Natalie Wood
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Natalie Wood was Hollywood royalty who tragically drowned after a long night of partying with her hu...
Selects: Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?
11 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Josh and Chuck dive into history in this classic episode to tell the story of the Buffalo Soldiers.S...
How Scuba Works
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a good, old fashioned how it works episode where we break down all of the nuts and bolts and ...
Short Stuff: Petrified Wood
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Petrified wood isn't just hard wood. Listen in today to learn all about this unique process. See om...
Things We Believed Before the Scientific Method
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy to think of people in the distant past as kinda dumb for believing things like that mice...
Selects: Are Election Laws Designed to Suppress Voting?
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are laws that are meant to protect the sanctity of the polling place in reality designed to make it ...
The Harlem Globetrotters: American Treasures
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Harlem Globetrotters are an American entertainment institution. Their story may not be quite wha...
Short Stuff: White Dog Poop
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you grew up from the 70s to the 90s you know white dog poop. It’s the old, crusty – yes, whit...
The 14th Annual Halloween Spooktacular!
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As per tradition, today Josh and Chuck perform a spooky Halloween story reading to delight, amuse an...
Selects: How Mummies Work
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A mummy is a human being whose soft tissue has been preserved after death, and there are mummies aro...
Naked Mole Rats: A Face Only a Mother Could Love
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Naked mole rats are funny looking to be sure, but neither moles nor rats. So what are they? You'll h...
Short Stuff: Bed Sheet Ghosts
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The simple bed sheet has provided countless kids and adults with an easy go-to Halloween costume. Bu...
The Compton Cafeteria Riot
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three years before the riots at Stonewall, the LGBTQ community of San Francisco's Tenderloin rose up...
Selects: Where Did Trick-Or-Treating Come From?
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We aren’t exactly sure who invented trick-or-treating – kids who realized they could extort adul...
Kindness: Do It
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the tradition of our episodes on forgiveness and revenge, comes the third installment in the Emot...
Short Stuff: Candy Corn
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is it vile? Is it delicious? It seems to be both! Hear all about the history of candy corn, how it’...
The Criminal Father of Criminology
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eugene Francois Vidocq is without a doubt one of the most interesting figures in modern history. He’...
Selects: Pain Scales: Yeeeow!
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pain is subjective; it is whatever the person experiencing it says it is. But to effectively treat p...
How Intellectual Property Works
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Intellectual property sounds as dry as can be, but it’s actually very interesting. It’s at the h...
Short Stuff: Longyou Caves
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s better than discovering a mysterious cavern? Discovering five!See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Parasocial Relationships: That Podcaster is Your Friend!
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Parasocial relationships are fascinating and it turns out Chuck knows what it's like from both sides...
Selects: How Motion Sickness Works
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Motion sickness is the worst and hits about 25 to 40 percent of humans when they ride in cars, boats...
How Andy Warhol Worked
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You know Andy Warhol from his quip on being famous for 15 minutes and paintings of soup cans, but ev...
Short Stuff: Rhodium
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rhodium is one of the most valuable precious metals on Earth, though it has dropped in value by abou...
Night of the Grizzlies
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Grizzly bears had never killed a person in Glacier National Park until the night of August 12, 1967....
Selects: Social Security Numbers: Less Boring Than You'd Think
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know that up until July 2011 an ambitious hacker with a good software program could deduce yo...
Revenge: Bitter, Not Sweet
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Someone cuts you off in traffic or makes fun of your friend and all you can think of is how to get b...
Short Stuff: The Dakota
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Dakota is one of New York City's great buildings. And its backstory is pretty great to boot. Se...
The Amazing Life of Christine Granville
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Christine Granville was about as James Bond as it gets. Stories of her life as a spy during World Wa...
Selects: Cockney Rhyming Slang: Beautiful Gibberish
23 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is Cockney Rhyming Slang? It's complicated and its origins are unclear. Learn everything we kno...
Kombucha: Fizzy Goodness
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kombucha is pretty popular right now. But what is it exactly and where did it come from? The answers...
Short Stuff: Origin of Math Signs
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever stopped mid-pencil mark and realized to your astonishment where the plus sign came fro...
10ish Worst Business Decisions Ever
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s easy (and kind of fun) to laugh at the misfortune of CEOs and other high up business types wh...
Selects: How Floods Work
16 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Floods happen when more water is introduced to an area than can be quickly removed. That's about it,...
The Hyatt Regency Skywalk Disaster
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1981 America suffered the worst accidental structural collapse in its history. Listen in today to...
Short Stuff: Why Spilling Salt is Unlucky
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Face it, when you spill salt your life goes totally off the rails, maybe even forever. Fortunately, ...
Axolotls: The Smiling Salamander from Mexico
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a listener request! Axolotls are one of the more amazing animals roaming the planet right now...
Selects: How Space Stations Work
09 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It seems like we largely take it for granted these days, but the fact that we have humans living in ...
Native American Reservations
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we dive into the history and current state of Native American reservations. This serves as a n...
Short Stuff: History of OK
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is OK the best word? It's certainly one of the most versatile. Check the interesting history of this...
The Made-up Disease of Syndrome K
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In WWII, Italy went through its own Jewish Holocaust, terrible at first then horrific as the Nazis t...
Selects: Body Odor: You Stink
02 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chuck and Josh end up making reduxes of past episodes on things like sweating and deodorant in this ...
Laurens Hammond: The Non-Musical Genius Who Changed Popular Music
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Laurens Hammond invented the Hammond organ and in the process changed music history. But he was much...
Short Stuff: Evil Eye
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You've seen the evil eye. Many Middle Eastern cultures have a long history with it. Learn how to thw...
Fordlandia: Brazil Isn't Michigan
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Ford tried to build a Midwestern American town in the Amazon rainforest in the 1920s. It's tru...
Selects: How Toy Testing Works
26 Aug 2023
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 a...
Plant Migration
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change is having sweeping effects on our climate and this is changing the world, not just fo...
Short Stuff: Saturn's Rings
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Friends, treasure Saturn’s rings while they are young. They won’t be around forever.See omnystud...
Farmer's Almanac: Literature to Poop To
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Farmer's Almanac has a long rich history that is more than just moon phases and long-term weathe...
Selects: How Music Sampling Works
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today music sampling is a common practice, especially in electronic or hip-hop music. But how does i...
The Mysterious Disappearance of the Franklin Expedition
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the great Arctic mysteries was the disappearance of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in sear...
Short Stuff: Edward Mordake
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the 19th century news spread of an unfortunate man who was born with an evil second face on the b...
How We’re Learning to Talk to Animals
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If we could talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, what would we say? ...
Selects: How Magnets Work
12 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You can stick them to the fridge or use them to transpose sound to tape, whatever they are used for ...
Xenobiotics
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Science is just realizing the extent of the tiny pollutants that have entered ecosystems across Eart...
Short Stuff: History of English
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who spoke English first and what was it like? Nothing like it is today. Listen in to learn all about...
Dear Diary...
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Diaries have been around for a long time. There are many famous ones, and tens of millions that will...
Selects: Rainbows: Delighting humanity since forever
05 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rainbows seem to defy nature, but they're really pretty simple when it comes down to it. Turns out i...
The Last Meal Ritual
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The last meal of the executed is a longstanding tradition. Listen in today to learn about the dark h...
Short Stuff: NATO Alphabet
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. This is the NATO alphabet. But where did it come from?See omnystudio.com/list...