99% Invisible

By Roman Mars

Arts Design

What's 99% Invisible about?

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.

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LAST EPISODE

529- The Wilderness Tool

03.21.2023

The rise, fall, and unexpected second life of the crosscut saw is also the story of how America created the very concept of wilderness.

99% Invisible episodes:

03.21.2023 529- The Wilderness Tool The rise, fall, and unexpected second life of the crosscut saw is also the story of how America created the very concept of wilderness.
03.17.2023 Twenty Thousand Hertz- Golden Two stories about the transformative power of silence from our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz
03.14.2023 528- A Whale-Oiled Machine Friction, tribology, and the complex art and science of lubrication
03.07.2023 420- The Lost Cities of Geo Redux When online worlds end
02.28.2023 527- RoboUmp The surprisingly long history of trying to use robots to call balls and strikes in baseball
02.22.2023 526- Orange Alternative The importance of humor and art in protesting (and ousting!) oppressive regimes
02.14.2023 525- The Chinatown Punk Wars When LA punks were looking for a place to play in the late 1970s, Chinatown welcomed the unruly scene. But it was an uneasy alliance that led to fierce rivalries, hurt feelings, blatant racism, and broken toilets. At the center ...
02.08.2023 524- The Day the Music Stopped On Aug. 1, 1942, the nation’s recording studios went silent. Musicians were fed up with the new technologies threatening their livelihoods, so they refused to record until they got their fair share.
01.31.2023 523- Six-on-Six Basketball In the 20th century, Iowa high school girls basketball was HUGE but it was not the game we know today
01.24.2023 522- The Comrades How an ultra-marathon called The Comrades became a national obsession in South Africa and a model for inclusion during some of the most divided moments in the country's history
01.17.2023 521- A Sea of Yellow The shifting symbolism of Brazil's iconic yellow soccer jersey
01.10.2023 520- Mini-Stories: Volume 16 We’re kicking off the new year at 99pi with a fresh installment of mini-stories, including: what lies at the intersection of a street and a road; the most unlikely of theme parks; and the evolution of ancient alleyways in Beijing, ...
12.21.2022 519- Balikbayan Boxes A Balikbayan box is a huge cardboard box (often weighing over 100 pounds) that Filipinos living all over the world send to family members who are still living in the Philippines
12.14.2022 518- Mini-Stories: Volume 15 It's Mini-Story Season! You’ll hear about a very, very long escalator! Beavers dropping from the sky! We’ll hear from Janet, Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty! And a visit from the queen!
12.06.2022 517- The Divided Dial If you’ve ever flipped through the radio dial — not satellite, not podcasts, but good old-fashioned AM and FM radio — you may have noticed something. Right wing radio talk is everywhere.
11.29.2022 516- Cougar Town The epic tale of the Hollywood celebrity mountain lion known as P-22
11.22.2022 515- Super Citizens There is a subset of real life superheroes who are more focused on things like picking up trash and taking on civic issues than catching criminals in alleys
11.16.2022 405- Freedom House Ambulance Service: American Sirens The incredible story of the black men who became America's first paramedics
11.09.2022 514- Train Set: Track Two Roman and Kurt are back with another series of railroad tales. All aboard!
11.02.2022 Articles of Interest: American Ivy Avery Trufelman's Articles of Interest is back!
10.25.2022 513- The Safety Bicycle Jody Rosen joins us to talk about the evolution of the bicycle, how it became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1800s, then a symbol of protest, and a lightning rod for political controversy. And we’ll find out what’s next ...
10.18.2022 512- Walk of Fame Reporter/producer Gillian Jacobs (Community, Winning Time) takes us on a stroll on the Walk of Fame, a 1.3 mile monument which chronicles Hollywood history and the vicissitudes of fame itself
10.11.2022 511- Vuvuzela The history and significance and of the much maligned vuvuzela
10.07.2022 Revisionist History- The Department of Physiological Hygiene In the final year of the Second World War, 36 men spent a year in a dingy set of rooms under the University of Minnesota football stadium. They were part of an experiment none of them would ever forget. What ...
10.04.2022 510- Wickedest Sound Jamaica is famous around the world for its music, including genres like ska, dub, and reggae. It’s tempting to think that the powerful amplifiers and giant speakers at the dance parties were designed to perfectly capture Jamaica’s indigenous sounds. But ...
09.28.2022 509- Tale of the Jackalope The jackalope is a mythical mascot of the American West – inspiring an absolute river of trinkets and songs and whiskies and postcards and tall tales.
09.20.2022 508- President Clinton Interviews Roman Mars On this special feature episode, President Bill Clinton interviews 99% Invisible host and creator Roman Mars.
09.14.2022 507- Search and Ye Might Find How did we get to a point where "search" is failing us?
09.06.2022 506- Monumental Diplomacy North Korea's state-run design studio has long been a prolific maker of statues around the world, particularly in Africa
08.30.2022 505- First Errand The infrastructure, zoning, and cultural factors that make the hit Japanese TV program Old Enough, where toddlers go on errands by themselves, possible
08.23.2022 504- Bleep! There's a particular one-kilohertz tone that is universally understood to be covering up inappropriate words on radio and TV. But there are other options, too, like silence -- so why did this particular bleep sound become ubiquitous?
08.18.2022 What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law- The Longest Week We're sharing the latest episode of Roman's other show What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law, your guide to the US Constitution and the Supreme Court.
08.10.2022 503- Re:peat For the love of peat
08.03.2022 502- 99% Vernacular: Volume 3 In the final episode of our vernacular spectacular anniversary series, 99pi producers and friends of the show will be sharing more stories of regional architecture–some close to home, some on remote islands– that capture our imagination and inspire us to ...
07.26.2022 501- 99% Vernacular: Volume 2 The utilitarian and "ugly" architecture that is beautiful to us
07.19.2022 500- 99% Vernacular: Volume 1 We often tell stories about how people shape the built world, but on this milestone 500th episode, we're telling stories about how the built world has shaped us (with good history and facts thrown in, because we're us).
07.12.2022 499- Say Aloe to My Little Frond The history of taking plants that grow naturally in one place, and moving them halfway around the world to an entirely different place with a different, often inhospitable, climate-- and then keeping them alive by growing them in potting soil ...
07.05.2022 498- The Octagon House The Octagonal House fad and self-improvement in the 1800s
06.28.2022 497- Hometown Village The story of a long, skinny island east of Russia's mainland and the ethnic Koreans who have had no choice but to call it home for decades.
06.21.2022 496- The Rights of Rice and Future of Nature Wild Rice has long played an important role in Ojibwe cultures, but last year, it took on a new role: plaintiff in a court case.
06.14.2022 495- Meet Us by the Fountain No teenager in America in the 1980s could avoid the gravitational pull of the mall, not even author Alexandra Lange. In her new book, Meet Me by the Fountain, Lange writes about how malls were conceptually born out of a ...
06.07.2022 494- Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. At least, that's what we were taught in school. But when historians go searching…there’s no proof to be found.
06.01.2022 493- Divining Provenance Priceless cultural artifacts have been plundered and sold for hundreds of years. You can find these relics in museums and in private collections. In recent years, with the advent of online marketplaces, researchers have begun to find a lot of ...
05.24.2022 492- Inheriting Froebel's Gifts The educational toys that changed the world
05.18.2022 491- The Missing Middle What zoning out middle-sized housing options does to a city
05.10.2022 490- Train Set Some of the most ambitious, fascinating, and downright crazy trains that the world has ever seen.
05.06.2022 Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David Bonus episode: Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David talking about The Quick and The Dead (Sam Raimi, 1995)
05.04.2022 489- Pandemic Tracking and the Future of Data Data is the lifeblood of public health, and has been since the beginning of the field. We take a look at data gathering in regards to public health from the 1600s to today and how it might change in the ...
04.26.2022 488- It’s a Small Aisle After All The evolution of the "international" section of the grocery store and how some products stay there forever and some break out to blend in with similar products throughout the market
04.20.2022 487- Atlas Obscura We visit the site of one of the most infamous lost expeditions and the home of all the lost luggage.

Older episodes

99% Invisible

What's 99% Invisible about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

99% Invisible episodes:

529- The Wilderness Tool

Twenty Thousand Hertz- Golden

528- A Whale-Oiled Machine

420- The Lost Cities of Geo Redux

527- RoboUmp

526- Orange Alternative

525- The Chinatown Punk Wars

524- The Day the Music Stopped

523- Six-on-Six Basketball

522- The Comrades

521- A Sea of Yellow

520- Mini-Stories: Volume 16

519- Balikbayan Boxes

518- Mini-Stories: Volume 15

517- The Divided Dial

516- Cougar Town

515- Super Citizens

405- Freedom House Ambulance Service: American Sirens

514- Train Set: Track Two

Articles of Interest: American Ivy

513- The Safety Bicycle

512- Walk of Fame

511- Vuvuzela

Revisionist History- The Department of Physiological Hygiene

510- Wickedest Sound

509- Tale of the Jackalope

508- President Clinton Interviews Roman Mars

507- Search and Ye Might Find

506- Monumental Diplomacy

505- First Errand

504- Bleep!

What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law- The Longest Week

503- Re:peat

502- 99% Vernacular: Volume 3

501- 99% Vernacular: Volume 2

500- 99% Vernacular: Volume 1

499- Say Aloe to My Little Frond

498- The Octagon House

497- Hometown Village

496- The Rights of Rice and Future of Nature

495- Meet Us by the Fountain

494- Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment

493- Divining Provenance

492- Inheriting Froebel's Gifts

491- The Missing Middle

490- Train Set

Roman Mars on Blank Check with Griffin and David

489- Pandemic Tracking and the Future of Data

488- It’s a Small Aisle After All

487- Atlas Obscura

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