Stuff You Should Know

By iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

What's Stuff You Should Know about?

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

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Selects: Cockney Rhyming Sl...

09.23.2023

What is Cockney Rhyming Slang? It's complicated and its origins are unclear. Learn everything we know about it today in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stuff You Should Know episodes:

09.23.2023 Selects: Cockney Rhyming Slang: Beautiful Gibberish What is Cockney Rhyming Slang? It's complicated and its origins are unclear. Learn everything we know about it today in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.21.2023 Kombucha: Fizzy Goodness Kombucha is pretty popular right now. But what is it exactly and where did it come from? The answers await you! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.20.2023 Short Stuff: Origin of Math Signs Have you ever stopped mid-pencil mark and realized to your astonishment where the plus sign came from? Then this one’s for you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.19.2023 10ish Worst Business Decisions Ever It’s easy (and kind of fun) to laugh at the misfortune of CEOs and other high up business types when they bring it on themselves – so let’s do that now. Herein lies some of the worst business decisions ever ...
09.16.2023 Selects: How Floods Work Floods happen when more water is introduced to an area than can be quickly removed. That's about it, but there's more to floods, what causes them and the havoc they can wreak. Join Josh and Chuck in this super-saturated classic ...
09.14.2023 The Hyatt Regency Skywalk Disaster In 1981 America suffered the worst accidental structural collapse in its history. Listen in today to the tragic story of the fast-tracked building disaster that stills haunts Kansas City. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.13.2023 Short Stuff: Why Spilling Salt is Unlucky Face it, when you spill salt your life goes totally off the rails, maybe even forever. Fortunately, we humans stumbled upon the one reliable way to counteract that bad luck by tossing some over our left shoulder. See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
09.12.2023 Axolotls: The Smiling Salamander from Mexico It’s a listener request! Axolotls are one of the more amazing animals roaming the planet right now – they can regenerate parts of their brains, can fight off tumors, are found in the wild only in one single lake? And ...
09.09.2023 Selects: How Space Stations Work It seems like we largely take it for granted these days, but the fact that we have humans living in space is the realization of a scientific dream a century old. Visit the space stations orbiting Earth past, present and ...
09.07.2023 Native American Reservations Today we dive into the history and current state of Native American reservations. This serves as a nice follow-up to the Trail of Tears double-ep from 2017. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.06.2023 Short Stuff: History of OK Is OK the best word? It's certainly one of the most versatile. Check the interesting history of this weird contraction. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
09.05.2023 The Made-up Disease of Syndrome K In WWII, Italy went through its own Jewish Holocaust, terrible at first then horrific as the Nazis took over the country. In Rome, a group of doctors hid Jewish refugees in plain sight in their hospital by giving them a ...
09.02.2023 Selects: Body Odor: You Stink Chuck and Josh end up making reduxes of past episodes on things like sweating and deodorant in this all-new episode on the science beneath what makes people smell. Learn all about your odor in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
08.31.2023 Laurens Hammond: The Non-Musical Genius Who Changed Popular Music Laurens Hammond invented the Hammond organ and in the process changed music history. But he was much more than that. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.30.2023 Short Stuff: Evil Eye You've seen the evil eye. Many Middle Eastern cultures have a long history with it. Learn how to thwart this curse today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.29.2023 Fordlandia: Brazil Isn't Michigan Henry Ford tried to build a Midwestern American town in the Amazon rainforest in the 1920s. It's true. And yes, Chuck will say this should be a movie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.26.2023 Selects: How Toy Testing Works 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 of the testing process, companies who ensure that toys ...
08.24.2023 Plant Migration Climate change is having sweeping effects on our climate and this is changing the world, not just for humans and other animals, but plants too. Will the Earth’s flora manage to find safe refuge in time? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
08.23.2023 Short Stuff: Saturn's Rings Friends, treasure Saturn’s rings while they are young. They won’t be around forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.22.2023 Farmer's Almanac: Literature to Poop To The Farmer's Almanac has a long rich history that is more than just moon phases and long-term weather patterns. Tune in to learn all about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.19.2023 Selects: How Music Sampling Works Today music sampling is a common practice, especially in electronic or hip-hop music. But how does it work? After all, other artists made the original music, and most of them would presumably like to be paid. Tune in to this ...
08.17.2023 The Mysterious Disappearance of the Franklin Expedition One of the great Arctic mysteries was the disappearance of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in search of a northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific. Not one man survived the trip, and they left precious little behind in the way ...
08.16.2023 Short Stuff: Edward Mordake In the 19th century news spread of an unfortunate man who was born with an evil second face on the back of his head that spoke to him. The real story is that people keep falling for it. See omnystudio.com/listener ...
08.15.2023 How We’re Learning to Talk to Animals If we could talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, what would we say? We’d better start thinking of something good because researchers are learning to speak sperm whale, prairie dog, and a bunch of ...
08.12.2023 Selects: How Magnets Work You can stick them to the fridge or use them to transpose sound to tape, whatever they are used for magnets are surprisingly interesting. And knowing just exactly how and why magnets work will make you more interesting, which is ...
08.10.2023 Xenobiotics Science is just realizing the extent of the tiny pollutants that have entered ecosystems across Earth and inside all humans. We call them xenobiotics – substances foreign to our bodies – and what effects they have on us we’re only ...
08.09.2023 Short Stuff: History of English Who spoke English first and what was it like? Nothing like it is today. Listen in to learn all about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.08.2023 Dear Diary... Diaries have been around for a long time. There are many famous ones, and tens of millions that will never see the light of day. Learn about the history and benefits of journaling today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.05.2023 Selects: Rainbows: Delighting humanity since forever 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 air. But they sure do look cool. Learn all about how rainbows are ...
08.03.2023 The Last Meal Ritual The last meal of the executed is a longstanding tradition. Listen in today to learn about the dark history and modern practice of this culinary curiosity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.02.2023 Short Stuff: NATO Alphabet Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. This is the NATO alphabet. But where did it come from? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.01.2023 BPD: The Worst Disorder or Not a Disorder at All? Borderline Personality Disorder has been described as emotional “third degree burns over ninety percent of your body.” It’s as close to a curse as a personality disorder can be: deep fear of being abandoned creates behaviors that end up driving ...
07.29.2023 Selects: What's the deal with Stradivarius violins? The Strad violin is noted for its tonal qualities and superior craftsmanship. And for its price tag. There are many theories why the Strad sounds so great, from the wood to the lacquer, to the simple fact that Antonio Stradivari ...
07.27.2023 MAD Magazine: A Tribute Chuck and Josh grew up on MAD Magazine and we hope you did too. What started out as a comic book that spoofed comic books grew into the foundation of American satire and cultivated a healthy skepticism in generations of ...
07.26.2023 Short Stuff: Blue Highway Signs In the US those ubiquitous blue highway signs that tell you which direction you’ll find a Burger King have an interesting backstory. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.25.2023 Learning a Foreign Language Today, Chuck and Josh dive into the ins and outs of language learning. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.22.2023 Selects: Nirvana: Not The Band Hinduism and Buddhism are closely related in a number of ways, including their vision of what comes after we exit this mortal coil. Learn about the religions' interesting interpretation of the state of existence outside space-time, in this classic episode. ...
07.20.2023 Magic Eye Illusions What became the Magic Eye illusion fad of the 1990s was born by way of the stereogram of the 1950s (and even before that). It's a winding story that you'll love! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.19.2023 Short Stuff: Pie-In-The-Face Gag Throwing a pie in someone’s face was groundbreaking comedy once upon a time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.18.2023 Insomnia: Why you can't sleep Insomnia is rough stuff. Listen in and learn all about why you can't fall asleep and what you can do about that. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.15.2023 Selects: How Police Lineups Work Police lineups are something most people have never had any firsthand experience with. What you see on TV and in movies isn't so far off though. Learn about how these tropes work for real in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener ...
07.13.2023 How PCP Works There is probably no drug more mythologized than PCP. It drives users insane and has the unfortunate side effect of bestowing superhuman strength thus sending them on a rampage. But does it though? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.12.2023 Short Stuff: Père-Lachaise Cemetery The most famous cemetery in Paris has some of the most famous people in the world buried there. And it's quite lovely. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.11.2023 Birth Order: So nice, we did it twice This is a very special episode, the first one we've ever fully recorded a second time and decided to release. Why? Because it's good and a little different and we thought you'd enjoy this unheard of double dose. So enjoy! ...
07.08.2023 Selects: How Bats Work They are creepy, sure, but they are also useful, cute and in great danger of extinction. Get a new lease on life from a new view of bats in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.06.2023 James Beard: Food Legend James Beard is well-known now for the annual awards named in his honor. But he used to be the most famous chef in America, and set the standard for what makes a celebrity chef. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.05.2023 Short Stuff: Hollywood Sign The Hollywood sign is an iconic landmark that started out as a real estate billboard. Can you believe it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.04.2023 How Trucking Works If truckers suddenly vanished the global economy would come to a grinding halt in a couple days. But as important as they are these highway heroes (mostly) are, they’re systematically mistreated by their industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.01.2023 Selects: What Makes Lead So Poisonous? The people of Flint, MI were horrified to find their drinking water was poisoned with lead. As we learn more about lead's effects and realize how persistent it is, the more worrying it becomes. What makes lead so toxic? Find ...
06.29.2023 Butterflies: Caterpillars with Wings! If you thought caterpillars were awesome, just wait until you see them with colorful, iridescent wings! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Older episodes

Stuff You Should Know

What's Stuff You Should Know about?

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Stuff You Should Know episodes:

Selects: Cockney Rhyming Slang: Beautiful Gibberish

Kombucha: Fizzy Goodness

Short Stuff: Origin of Math Signs

10ish Worst Business Decisions Ever

Selects: How Floods Work

The Hyatt Regency Skywalk Disaster

Short Stuff: Why Spilling Salt is Unlucky

Axolotls: The Smiling Salamander from Mexico

Selects: How Space Stations Work

Native American Reservations

Short Stuff: History of OK

The Made-up Disease of Syndrome K

Selects: Body Odor: You Stink

Laurens Hammond: The Non-Musical Genius Who Changed Popular Music

Short Stuff: Evil Eye

Fordlandia: Brazil Isn't Michigan

Selects: How Toy Testing Works

Plant Migration

Short Stuff: Saturn's Rings

Farmer's Almanac: Literature to Poop To

Selects: How Music Sampling Works

The Mysterious Disappearance of the Franklin Expedition

Short Stuff: Edward Mordake

How We’re Learning to Talk to Animals

Selects: How Magnets Work

Xenobiotics

Short Stuff: History of English

Dear Diary...

Selects: Rainbows: Delighting humanity since forever

The Last Meal Ritual

Short Stuff: NATO Alphabet

BPD: The Worst Disorder or Not a Disorder at All?

Selects: What's the deal with Stradivarius violins?

MAD Magazine: A Tribute

Short Stuff: Blue Highway Signs

Learning a Foreign Language

Selects: Nirvana: Not The Band

Magic Eye Illusions

Short Stuff: Pie-In-The-Face Gag

Insomnia: Why you can't sleep

Selects: How Police Lineups Work

How PCP Works

Short Stuff: Père-Lachaise Cemetery

Birth Order: So nice, we did it twice

Selects: How Bats Work

James Beard: Food Legend

Short Stuff: Hollywood Sign

How Trucking Works

Selects: What Makes Lead So Poisonous?

Butterflies: Caterpillars with Wings!

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