Stuff You Should Know

Boeing used to be one of the most respected engineering firms in the world. Then it changed its focus from making great airplanes to increasing its stock value. The result was the 737-MAX, a plane that took the lives of 346 people in two avoidable crashes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Psychologist Julian Jaynes came up with a stunning hypothesis in 1976, that human consciousness only developed in the last 3000 years. And he seemed to have proof in ancient texts. Scholars have been picking it apart ever since and in this classic episode we join the club.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Of course we're talking all about maple syrup today - the tapping, the processing, the eating.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By all rights there should be three sets of molars in your mouth. But it turns out that our skulls aren’t really set up to accommodate that many anymore. Exactly why depends on who you ask.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1970s, conservation groups around the world rose up to protect dwindling whale populations, some on the verge of extinction. They all worked under the same banner: Save the Whales! It turned out to be one of the most successful campaigns ever.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fever dreams can be unsettling experiences. These ramped up nightmares are vivid, detailed and only happen when the human body experiences a fever. What is it about the combination of fevers and dreams that make these night terrors so hellish? Learn all that and more in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humanity’s created a lot of neat things over the eons and starting in the 1940s, the UN created an agency focused on preserving those things for the whole world and future people. But that mission is in danger of becoming only about branding and money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a kind of bird that lots of people think is a real jerk. And it kind of is. But in the brown-headed cowbird’s defense, it’s just evolved that way. Find out why it has such a bad reputation among bird lovers in this Short Stuff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once in a while someone comes up with a solution for a problem we didn’t know we had, and maybe even a problem that didn’t even exist. Even more rarely, the stars align just right so that some crackpot invention captures everyone’s imagination.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this classic episode Josh and Chuck sit down and detail the complicated life of the late, great Sammy Davis Jr.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2014 a ferry carrying hundreds of South Korean high school students on a field trip sunk, killing almost everyone on board. Hauntingly, their deaths were fully avoidable: everyone from the dock inspector to the Coast Guard to the president failed them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Japanese Cherry Blossom is a sight to behold. But how did they get to Washington D.C.?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all love to tour our generation's superiority, but who decides where the split occurs and what to name it? And is this even a thing or just an arbitrary division?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you think secretly coded messages sent via short wave radio is Cold War relic, think again. In this classic episode, Chuck and Josh are here to dispel that myth, along with many others relating to numbers stations, including why they might still be operational.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The worker co-op has a rich tradition and can work a variety of ways. Join us as we dig into the nuts and bolts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you think Spring Break started with northern college kids heading to Florida to party, you'd be correct. But there's slightly more to it than that. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jump in today to hear all about the disaster that was the movie ROAR.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you live in the Northeastern U.S. then you may know someone who has had Lyme disease. But it's spreading all over the country and parts of the world. Learn all about this tick-borne disease in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deciding how to share water is pretty important stuff when there isn't much of it around. Today we dive into the Colorado River Compact.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pretty much everyone agrees that English is a chaotic language. There are nutso rules of grammar and spelling other languages don’t have. More than once, movements have emerged to simplify English and each time they were beaten back with a vengeance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.