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.

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Episodes

Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor

Wednesday, 21 May 2025

15 minutes

William A. Mitchell invented some iconic snack foods and candies. Learn all about him today!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Faking Your Own Death: We All Do It, But Why?

Tuesday, 20 May 2025

50 minutes

Face it, when things get desperate we all consider faking our death as an easy way out. But what they don’t tell you in school is that it’s much harder than it looks, it’s way less glamorous, and you have to pull it off perfectly to not get caught.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry

Saturday, 17 May 2025

42 minutes

In the early 90s a video game was released that changed the industry, despite poor sales and bad game play. That game was Night Trap. In this classic episode Chuck and Josh present that story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Cliffs Notes on Cliffs Notes

Thursday, 15 May 2025

44 minutes

When a man named Cliff packaged book summaries in yellow and black booklets he changed the way kids learned. But was he just creating a cheat code?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Figs & Wasps

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

9 minutes

Today Chuck and Josh look at the interesting relationship between figs and wasps.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Plant-Based Diets

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

53 minutes

You don’t have to be a hardcore vegan to eat a plant-based diet (although you can be). There’s a whole variety of degrees people adopt phasing out meat from their plates. One kind is even called flexitarian for goodness sake. Seems pretty welcoming to us.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: How Ice Cream Works

Saturday, 10 May 2025

43 minutes

We all scream for ice cream, sure, but did you know we're all technically screaming about a colloidal foam? As you hit play on this classic episode, prepare for deep cravings that will surely emerge as you learn the history of ice cream, how to make it yourself and lots more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We Got to Sesame Street

Thursday, 8 May 2025

52 minutes

One of the longest-running television shows in history is also one of the best. Sesame Street was conceived as a radical idea – to give disadvantaged preschoolers a leg up in getting ready for school. It ended up becoming a beloved institution worldwide.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Drop Bears

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

12 minutes

Australia is home to all sorts of things that can kill you, but perhaps the deadliest is the drop bear, a vicious cousin of the koala.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Fentanyl: Actually As Dangerous As They Say

Tuesday, 6 May 2025

50 minutes

Around 2013 heroin users in the US and other countries suddenly started dying from overdose in previously-unseen numbers. The culprit turned out to be the incredibly potent drug fentanyl and it soon created a massive new wave in the opioid epidemic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: Muzak: Easy Listening Goodness

Saturday, 3 May 2025

52 minutes

Muzak got a bad reputation as bland garbage music. In this classic episode, we aim to set the record straight.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What we know about MI6

Thursday, 1 May 2025

50 minutes

MI6 is The UK's version of the CIA. Except they came first and provided the model. But there's still a lot we don't know about this notoriously tight-lipped organization. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Trovants

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

12 minutes

Rocks that grow baby rocks – wut?!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Chinese Food: Best Food?

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

51 minutes

Today on SYSK, the fellas get down to business with plenty of mouth-watering information on what Chuck dubs "the best food."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: How Jim Henson Worked

Saturday, 26 April 2025

42 minutes

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 the Muppets who was so much more than just a master puppeteer in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Give My Regards to the Broadway Episode!

Thursday, 24 April 2025

48 minutes

Broadway is a street in NYC, but more than that it's a term for the NY theater district. They say the neon lights are bright there. Who knows?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Alternative Libraries

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

12 minutes

Today we highlight and celebrate a couple of alternative libraries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Richard III: Good Guy or Evil Putz?

Tuesday, 22 April 2025

45 minutes

Ever since Shakespeare wrote his tragedy on Richard III the world has thought of him as an evil king with a shriveled soul. But is that actually unjust?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: Adidas v. Puma: A Sibling Rivalry

Saturday, 19 April 2025

42 minutes

Join Josh and Chuck in this classic episode as they go down the sport shoe rabbit hole, detailing the strange tail of the brothers who brought Puma and Adidas to the world. Sibling rivalry, Nazis, shoes - there's a lot to unpack here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What Makes Disaster Films Great

Thursday, 17 April 2025

55 minutes

Disaster films are surprisingly tough to define. What makes them different from an action movie or a monster movie? Who cares? They’re great! Escape with us as we cover the the ins and outs and the history of disaster films and recommend some good ones.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Tick tock goes the Doomsday Clock

Wednesday, 16 April 2025

14 minutes

The Doomsday Clock is closer too midnight than it's ever been, which is not awesome. But what does this metaphorical clock even indicate?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Kim Philby: Greatest Liar of All Time?

Tuesday, 15 April 2025

50 minutes

British MI6 agent Kim Philby was a spy for the Soviet Union and one of the great liars in human history, right up until his retirement in Moscow where he lived out his days as a national hero.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: Cake: So Great. So, So Great

Saturday, 12 April 2025

1 hour 11 minutes

Cake has been around for a long time, but mostly less than great forms. It took the Industrial Revolution, the advent of plentiful sugar, and some good old American know-how to come together to make the cake we know and love today. Find out all about it in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Behavioral Priming: Buy, Robot Human!

Thursday, 10 April 2025

49 minutes

In the late 90s, a large chunk of the field of social psychology started dedicating itself to figuring out ways to subtly persuade and influence people’s everyday decisions without their awareness. If you’re into freedom of choice, this was a close call.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Colorful Noises

Wednesday, 9 April 2025

14 minutes

We’ve all heard of white noise, that static sound the TV makes when poltergeists arrive. There are other colored noise too that mimic natural sounds like rainfall and ocean waves. What they do for us is just now being studied.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Editorial Cartoons: Art as Satire

Tuesday, 8 April 2025

53 minutes

Editorial, or political cartoons, have a rich history in the United States and abroad. And though the Golden Age may have passed, the use of images to create satire and sway public opinion is still alive and well. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Selects: Agatha Christie: Queen of the Murder Mystery

Saturday, 5 April 2025

54 minutes

Agatha Christie was a great writer of murder mystery novels and is probably the best selling author of all time. Listen in this classic episode to learn her story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Pinkerton Detective Agency

Thursday, 3 April 2025

53 minutes

The Pinkertons became the most famous detective company in the U.S. But were they noble or notorious? We get to the bottom of it all in today's episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Short Stuff: Tulipmania

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

13 minutes

The world experienced its first economic bubble when the Dutch went bonkers for tulips in the 1630s. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How Climate Migration Works

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

45 minutes

We move for all sorts of reasons – new job, new grandkid – but moving because it’s just too darn hot? That’s a new one. But it’s going to pick up in the next few decades as more people around the world are forced to migrate because of climate change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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