Stuff You Should Know
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Stuff You Should Know
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.
Nesenie epizodes
2700 epizodes
Selects: Star Wars Holiday Spectacular
Long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, George Lucas allowed the Star Wars Holiday Special to be made. What happened on the night of November 17, 1978...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: What Makes a Must-Have Christmas Toy?
Ever since Cabbage Patch Kids came along in 1983, there’s been an annual holiday frenzy around one particular toy – the must-have Christmas toy of the...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Yo-Yos Work
You may have played with a yo-yo before -- perhaps you've even walked the dog -- but do you know about the physics behind what makes a yo-yo sleep and...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Hot Wheels Work
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...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How the Nintendo Entertainment System Changed Gaming Forever
For the holidays in 1986 (and ’87) (and ’88) the most stupendous, most wanted, most amazing thing any kid could possibly get – outside of a pony, *may...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Etch A Sketch!
The Etch A Sketch is yet another classic toy that Josh and Chuck love and respect. Learn all about this Hall of Fame entry today.
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SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Beanie Babies: Reigning Toy Craze Champion
The world has seen a lot of weird investment bubbles in its time, but few of them rival the fever that gripped the world in the 90s after Beanie Babie...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Monopoly Works
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...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Hula-Hoops: The Toy That's A Shape
We've covered our fair share of pop-culture icons and here is another - Hula-Hoops. They've been around since ancient time in some form or another, bu...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: Cabbage Patch Kids: Must-Have Toy of the Century
Surprisingly, Cabbage Patch Kids have turned up on SYSK almost as much as the Nazis or Seinfeld. It’s finally time to dive all the way into CPKs, from...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: A Partial History of Action Figures
Action figures have a long and glorious history. From GI Joes to Star Wars figures, these offshoots of dolls came along at just the right time to capt...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Play-Doh Works
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...
SYSK's 12 Days of Christmas… Toys: How Easy Bake Ovens Work
Easy Bake Ovens are as iconic as a toy can get, as American as apple pie or baseball. Learn all about these light bulb cooking, working ovens that end...
A Quick History of the BBC
The BBC has been around as long as there has been radio. Today we salute the venerable institution that's as British as tea and crumpets.
See o...
Short Stuff: Atacama Skeleton
In 2003, a tiny – really, really tiny – humanoid skeleton surfaced that had been taken from Chile. The only possible explanation is that it had to be...
Operation Paul Bunyan
If we told you that World War III was in danger of happening over the trimming of a tree would you believe us? This was Operation Paul Bunyan.
S...
Selects: What Is A Mold-A-Rama?
In the 1960s, a very cool machine debuted at the Seattle World's Fair - the Mold-A-Rama. It made real plastic toys on-demand from melted plastic pelle...
What's the bar exam like anyway?
You've always heard about "the bar" but what do you really know about it? Unless you've taken it, probably not much. Well join the club. Let's discuss...
Short Stuff: Camberley Kate
Camberley Kate was the nickname for the first independent animal rescuer in England, rescuing hundreds of dogs and cats over her lifetime. Come get ac...
The Brutal History of Prison Labor
The idea of prison labor is relatively new in the annals of crime and punishment. And it's just as bad as you think.
See omnystudio.com/listener...
Selects: How Black Friday Works
On the day after Thanksgiving, Americans go kind of crazy for the deep discount sales that kick off the holiday shopping season in stores. So crazy, i...
Julia Child, la Grandes Gourmande
Julia Child is one of the most recognizable names in the cooking world, but even still so many of her accomplishments aren’t widely known. And the imp...
Short Stuff: Pies
We’ve done episodes on cake, cookies and, at long last, pie. Belly up to your pod player and prepare to crave some pie!
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Rice is Nice
Rice may be the most eaten food on the planet, accounting for 50% of the caloric intake of Asian countries and 25% worldwide. Learn all about this edi...
Selects: Rockettes: Still Kicking After All These Years
Tune in to this classic episode to learn all about the legendary NYC Rockettes, who actually got their start in Missouri.
See omnystudio.com/lis...
Graffiti: So Cool It’s A Pillar of Hip Hop
Graffiti – the good kind, done with lots of style and skill – developed when some kids in NYC took up cans of spray paint and started to figure out ho...
Short Stuff: Victorian Flower Language
What do you do when you want to tell someone you’re smitten with them but you live in a society so repressive decorum prevents you from even speaking...
AM Radio: Solid Gold
The era of AM radio isn't over, but it's well past its heyday. Dive in today for a trip down memory lane.
See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
Selects: How Personality Tests Work
For millennia, we have tried to put human personalities into neat types, an effort psychology took up early in its history in an effort to legitimize...
Pop Tarts: No Fruit Necessary
Pop Tarts are a legendary breakfast treat in the United States. They're fruit-filled toaster pastries with very little fruit. But who cares right? It'...
Short Stuff: Third Man Syndrome
People who’ve found themselves in life-or-death situations with their endurance at its limit have reported sensing another presence with them, urging...
Eco-Disasters 101: The Salton Sea
In 1905, an engineering mistake created a brand new 400-square-mile sea (lake?) in the California desert. People made the most of it at first, but it...
Selects: How Conversion Therapy Doesn't Work
Conversion therapy is a misguided attempt by religious zealots to convert people from gay to straight. News flash - it doesn't work. Learn all about t...
The Mystery of the Death Valley Germans
In 1996, a small group of German tourists disappeared in Death Valley National Park without a trace. Fifteen years later, the tenacity of one man solv...
Short Stuff: "Peace" Pipes
Did Native Americans really smoke peace pipes? Well yes and no. They smoked pipes for many reasons, sometimes to commemorate peace. But they never cal...
What To Do With All This Nuclear Waste?
You can make a case that it’s a little off-putting to learn the world doesn’t really have any idea what to do with the nuclear waste we’ve been genera...
Selects: How Extinction Works
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...
SYSK's 2025 Shocktober Halloween Spooktacular
Co-producer Ben knocked it out of the park again, taking the two classic horror stories we read for our annual Spooktacular - Caterpillars and The Dee...
Short Stuff: The Bell Witch
A legend in Tennessee tells of the real-life Bell family, who were haunted back in 1817 by a ghost witch - arguably the worst kind of either of those...
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Masterpiece
There aren’t too many independent horror movies that make the British Film Institute’s 250 Best Films Ever Made list – AND – make an appearance in the...