Stuff You Should Know

Van Gogh lived a troubled life and did not garner attention as a painter until after his death by suicide. Today we dive into this complicated journey as an artist. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The question of Shakespeare's authorship has been around since at least the mid-1800s. Is there anything to it? In this classic episode, we dig in to this dense topic to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From 1968 to 1972 Howard Hughes holed up in a suite in the Desert Inn casino in Las Vegas. Addicted to morphine and living on candy bars and milk, he was in bad shape. When he was told to leave, he bought the hotel and stayed. Soon he owned half of Vegas. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does knuckle cracking give you arthritis? It doesn't appear to. But that doesn't mean it's harmless. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are quacks and then there is Linda Hazzard. Not only did she starve her patients to death, but she took their family fortunes as she did it. This is the story of Starvation Heights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flight attendants have come a long way. From having to put up with rampant sexism, to the current incarnation as your first line of defense in case of an incident, they are valued airline employees. Learn all about this cool job in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the darkest days in the history of American law enforcement came on April 19, 1993, when the FBI’s 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian religious sect’s compound in Waco, Texas ended with a fire and 75 men, women, and children dead inside. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are BPAs safe? Of course not. Does the FDA care? Of course not. Learn all about what and why today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eels are pretty much objectively unsettling. They’re not quite fish (although they are) and if they’re snakes, they’re messed up snakes (they aren’t). But they’re fascinating too! There are even little cute eels. It’s time you got acquainted with eels! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Mallory was a member of the first three European expeditions to Everest, world’s tallest mountain. He wanted to summit it so badly, he gave his life trying. Since that fateful day in 1924, climbers have wondered – was Mallory the first to summit? Listen as Josh and Chuck explore that question and lots more in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hard to believe we haven't covered this one yet, but here we are. Why did the Hindenburg crash and burn? We still don't really know. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strange but true, actor Tippy Hedron kickstsarted the Vietnamese manicure industry in the United States in the 1970s. This is that story.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you don’t believe in any kind of god or afterlife - or even that there’s a meaning to life – does that mean you’re doomed to a life of gloom and doom? Heck no!, say humanists. Their philosophical movement says you can make your own meaningful life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First of all, movies can't be cursed because curses aren't real. However, that can't stop Josh and Chuck from taking a look at some movies throughout history that have had a disturbing number of bad things surrounding their production and release. Dive into the world of cursed movies in this very fun classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Camp David is awesome. But not all presidents have liked it. We'll dig into this historic property in today's episiode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kangaroos are the only marsupial to hop, which is pretty weird. We'll investigate why.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Lots of nations gauge the health of their country by how the middle class is doing. There’s just one issue with that – no one can say exactly what defines the middle class. But even when you take a guess, it seems like the health isn’t so good these days. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2014, a young German man walked into an airport in Bulgaria with a flight booked, then suddenly ran out leaving all his posessions behind, never to be heard from again. This classic episode tells the story of Lars Mittank. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malcolm X was one of the most revered, feared leaders of the civil rights movement. In contrast to Martin Luther King, Jr., X advocated black self-reliance and separateness in American society and that equal rights should obtained by any means necessary. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1876 it rained meat out of the clear blue sky on a homestead in Bath County, Kentucky. While the mystery of what happened will never be solved, the best explanation makes the story even weirder than it seems. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first fires came from lightning strikes. After that, no one is super sure when we started controlling it and then later, starting our own. But it's sure fun to speculate! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If there's one thing we've learned about Chuck over the years it's that he loves his gin. And he loves it even more now that understands it. Pour yourself a martini and cozy up to the classic gin-cast.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caterpillars are simply the best. Don't think so? Well listen in and you'll soon agree. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you thought caterpillars were awesome, just wait until you see them with colorful, iridescent wings! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They seem gross and bothersome at first, but once you get down to ground level and get to know snails, we’ll bet you’ll grow quite fond of them. They are living in a whole world we’re largely unaware of. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dandelions are way more interesting than you think. Trust us and click play. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Permaculture is a growing trend in the world of farming and home landscaping. It's basically a design principle that emphasizes sustainability and the would-be, natural ecosystem of an area. Simple concepts like planting downhill from a pond and using gravity to feed plants to planting native plants and vegetation that work well together are hallmarks of permaculture. Learn all about this eco-friendly trend today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unless you have an arcane disorder from a lesion on a very specific spot on our medulla, the chances are you sneeze. Turns out most animals do it, even lizards! Learn the whys and hows of this most interesting involuntary reflex. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time to get jazzed up for some Earth science of the waterlogged variety. Join Chuck and Josh as they tour some of the most interesting ecosystems on the planet and learn why we need to stop destroying them post haste. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may think composting is just a bunch of old banana peels rotting away into dirt but, friend, you're not looking closely enough. Inside that compost pile is a microcosmic universe doing some magical stuff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.