Stuff You Should Know

Anyone who ever picked up a comic book as a kid probably marveled at the ads for the mysterious Sea Monkeys. In reality, they are just brine shrimp, not fantastical beings with magical powers. But the story behind the invention of the Sea Monkey is tale all its own. Listen in to this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Buckle up folks, it's time for another of our favorite traditions, the SYSK Halloween Spooktacular! So sit down, dim the lights and get ready for some spooky stories. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh and Chuck dive into two spooky true stories in today's Short Stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the greatest unsolved historic mysteries is found in a lake atop a mountain glacier high up in the Indian Himalayas. The skeletons of as many as 800 people are inexplicably in and around the lake. No one knows who they are or what happened to them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the worst legacies of war are the millions of landmines left behind. They hide for decades after a conflict is over, exploding beneath unsuspecting civilians and children. To many, removing mines and banning new ones is of paramount importance. Learn all about the scope of the problem and this important work in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people think of Tinkerbell when we think of fairies, but the Disney versions capture only the last century or so of what we’ve conceived fairies to be. Over millennia they’ve gone from ugly and scary to pretty and helpful and everything in between. Come meet the fae! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every August, abandoned storefronts across America are filled with the spirit of Halloween, by way of the store, Spirit Halloween. Learn all about this wildly successful pop-up today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Q Anon believes many things, including that Tom Hanks is a Satan-worshipping, child-eating pedophile. Yeah. We'll just leave our "drop" right here for you to make up your own mind. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We love animals. A lot. Especially underrated ones like the darling porcupine. Listen in to this classic episode to learn all about these stabby little boogers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're from the American South, then kudzu is something that cannot be avoided. But how did this invasive species get here and why does it love to consume everything in its path? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The process of redacting sensitive information is long and storied. But are there even any rules that apply to when and how it's done? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might have owned the Anarchist Cookbook once, but you probably didn’t use it to turn a shotgun into a grenade launcher or build a bomb. Unfortunately some people did and the author called for this book of “forbidden knowledge” to be taken out of print. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paramedics are not EMTs. Or fire fighters. Or cops. But they do ride around in ambulances (and drive) to help to save lives. It's a stressful job and in this classic episode we shine a light on this noble profession. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of the Swatch is super cool and one of the great retail successes. Listen in today to find out just why a country known for the finest craftsmanship started making plastic watches for the masses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In another chapter of our continuing mysteries of the sea theme, we deliver a truly baffling mystery involving a ship that was lost and found, which brought more questions than answers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gobekli Tepe is a profoundly ancient spiritual site that shouldn’t exist, according to conventional wisdom. The massive site of columns and pictograms was built thousands of years before humans were thought to have been able to create anything like it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1962, three ordinary criminals transcended into folk heroes when they crawled out of their cells in Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary took to the water in a homemade raft and were never heard from again. Could they have possibly survived? Find out more in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lysol we know now is sold as disinfectant only. But at one time it was also marketed as a means of birth control. Listen in today to the twisted history of this common household product. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What we equate with acid, hippies, and garish polyester prints actually began as a theatrical way of protesting bans on free speech and the Vietnam War. When the hippies got hold of it, it definitely transformed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As far as we know life evolved once in the universe – here on Earth in the form of life as we know it. Could life have originated in other conditions with different raw materials? If so, we may be sharing the planet with lifeforms we don’t recognize yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.