Podcasts · Arts

99% Invisible

Roman Mars

300 episodes

Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Doktoro Esperanto

    · 35 min · Episode 689

    Esperanto is what linguists call a “constructed language.” It isn’t attached to a nation or a region, and it didn’t evolve from another language over time. Instead, nearly 150 years ago, someone decided to sit down and…

  2. 100 Objects #21: Window from the House of D

    · 37 min · Bonus

    In 1932, the Women's House of Detention—New York City's first women's prison—opened in the heart of Greenwich Village. It was opened to make "wayward" women quiet, private, and properly feminine. And the building had…

  3. Audio Guide of the Imperfections of a Perfect Masterpiece

    · 30 min · Bonus

    This episode is sponsored by Acura. From the outside, the building is a light gray spiral, and from the inside, the art is displayed on one long ramp that curves up towards a glass skylight in the ceiling. We’re going…

  4. Tony Hawk's Real-Life Willy Wonka

    · 52 min · Episode 688

    A desert train built for Tony Hawk leads into the strange and thoughtful world of N.D. Austin, a designer of real-life experiences. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free…

  5. The Problem With Football Helmets

    · 43 min · Episode 687

    Football helmets can prevent devastating injuries, but they may also help make an inherently violent game feel safer than it really is. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible…

  6. (Not Just) Another Brick in the Wall

    · 28 min · Episode 686

    A closer look at the messy, beautiful bricks hiding across Chicago. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts…

  7. 100 Objects #20: AA Sobriety Chip

    · 53 min · Bonus

    Comedian, writer, and podcaster Jamie Loftus has always known about Alcoholics Anonymous. As a kid, she loved the album where her dad kept all his AA chips — that little piece of plastic that marks a day, a month, a…

  8. Tootle of a Devilish Song

    · 32 min · Episode 685

    How a Swiss mountain call crossed the Atlantic and helped define the sound of country music. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free…

  9. 100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 Series

    · 39 min · Bonus

    This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai. The Western Electric 500 Series Telephone used to be everywhere. For over 50 years, it was the default telephone…

  10. The Rocky Statue

    · 33 min · Episode 684

    How a movie prop became one of Philadelphia’s most beloved monuments, and sparked a decades-long fight over where it belonged. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a…

  11. 100 Objects #18: Hair Relaxer

    · 35 min · Bonus

    Somewhere between 85 to 95 percent of Black women in the United States have used a chemical hair relaxer at least once in their lifetime. It is a ubiquitous American product with a complicated legacy: it built Black…

  12. Doves Type

    · 37 min · Episode 683

    A legendary typeface, a spectacular friendship breakup, and one extremely committed act of revenge. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a…

  13. 100 Objects #17: M43 Field Jacket

    · 41 min · Bonus

    Articles of Interest host Avery Trufelman joins Roman to tell the incredible story of the American military’s jacket problem: How should the military outfit its soldiers to make them as safe and effective as possible?…

  14. Kobuk the Destroyer

    · 38 min · Episode 682

    Every product has to be tested somehow, and sometimes that means finding increasingly creative ways to break it. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week…

  15. 100 Objects #16: Wheel of Fortune Dalmatian

    · 47 min · Bonus

    This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai. If you watched Wheel of Fortune in the 1980s, you probably remember one prize more than all the others: the…

  16. 1-800-PODCAST

    · 43 min · Episode 681

    This week, two stories about the strange power of the 1-800 number. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts…

  17. 100 Objects #15: Bundy Clock

    · 38 min · Bonus

    In 1888, Willard Bundy created the first employee "time clock" — essentially a souped-up grandfather clock that could, for the first time, produce an accurate record of when workers arrived and left. Though Bundy’s aim…

  18. Spolia

    · 28 min · Episode 680

    Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting…

  19. 100 Objects #14: Basketball Sleeve

    · 42 min · Bonus

    Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei (co-creator of the NPR show, Throughline) has a simple question: why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm? It seems like everyone has one. Do they all…

  20. The Bone Wars

    · 45 min · Episode 679

    Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial…

  21. 100 Objects #13: The Sand Letters

    · 49 min · Bonus

    This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai. On his deathbed, President Chester Arthur ordered that all of his personal and professional papers be burned.…

  22. Bamboo Is Innocent

    · 32 min · Episode 678

    A devastating fire put one of Hong Kong's oldest building traditions on trial, but the real story runs much deeper. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week…

  23. 100 Objects #12: "Negro Cloth"

    · 38 min · Bonus

    In 1821, two Rhode Island brothers went looking for buyers for their woolen fabric, and stumbled into a lucrative, captive market: Southern slave plantations. Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange…

  24. The Borrowed Nature of Biomimicry

    · 32 min · Episode 677

    Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple…

  25. 100 Objects #11: Brannock Device

    · 28 min · Bonus

    In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device. The metal contraption transformed the way we measure feet forever, and more than a century after its…

  26. The Finnish Baby Box

    · 33 min · Episode 676

    A simple cardboard box helped transform Finland into one of the best places in the world to raise a child. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.…

  27. 100 Objects #10: Nunchaku

    · 36 min · Bonus

    In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool — kids were building their own and buying them in record numbers. But the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new…

  28. The Original 100 Objects

    · 45 min · Episode 675

    Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen…

  29. 100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton

    · 34 min · Bonus

    In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions. Roman Mars and Annie Brown…

  30. If Mosquito Hawks Can Fly

    · 42 min · Episode 674

    A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever. Listen to Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to SiriusXM…

  31. 100 Objects #8: Billy Possum

    · 36 min · Bonus

    In 1902, an American classic was born: the teddy bear. Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the toy became a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed…

  32. The Score

    · 26 min · Episode 673

    We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about? Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week…

  33. 100 Objects #7: The Otis Pamphlet

    · 37 min · Bonus

    Before the Declaration of Independence was even a twinkle in the founding fathers' eyes, there was James Otis. Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-founding father…

  34. Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Expialidocious

    · 32 min · Episode 672 · Explicit

    Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible. Jane Ruffino’s story, "Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible," appears in the May-June issue of Wired magazine.…

  35. 100 Objects #6: "Sharpened Screwdriver"

    · 40 min · Bonus

    In this episode, Roman and historians Heather Ann Thompson and Elliot Williams tell the story of the sharpened screwdriver: the object at the heart of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz subway shooting. In a difficult moment in…

  36. The Most Exciting Change America Has Ever Seen

    · 43 min · Episode 671

    Billions of state quarters disappeared from circulation...and that was exactly the plan. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial…

  37. 100 Objects #5: Blue Back Speller

    · 46 min · Bonus

    In this episode, Roman and historian Imani Perry follow the Webster Blue Back Speller from the early days of the United States, to the heart of Black intellectual life. Through the lives of Booker T. Washington and W.…

  38. The Horn That Divided the World Cup

    · 34 min · Episode 511

    Love it or hate it, one buzzing horn changed the sound of the World Cup forever. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on…

  39. 100 Objects #4: Lowe's Gas Bag

    · 39 min · Bonus

    In 1861, one man and a “gas bag” filled with hydrogen sparked America's obsession with going higher, farther, into the unknown. In this episode, Roman and journalist Jack Hitt tell the story of Thaddeus Lowe — showman,…

  40. Karaoke Videos

    · 35 min · Episode 670

    Behind every cheesy karaoke track was a surprisingly ambitious filmmaking experiment. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now…

  41. 100 Objects #3: The Pension Files

    · 43 min · Bonus

    What do Civil War pension files reveal about one of history's most successful slave rebellions? Historian Edda Fields-Black joins Roman to trace a story of fire, flight, and freedom — beginning on a South Carolina rice…

  42. The MAPL Test

    · 40 min · Episode 669

    Canada reshaped its music industry with a quirky radio rule that changed who got heard. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now…

  43. 100 Objects #2: 60-Degree Screw

    · 36 min · Bonus

    In the early 20th century, nothing quite fit — fire hoses couldn't connect to one another, football teams played with different balls, traffic lights meant different things in different states. Then World War II…

  44. Drug Story: Ivermectin

    · 48 min · Episode 668

    What started as a revolutionary treatment for river blindness became something far messier. Listen to Drug Story wherever you get your podcasts! Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99%…

  45. 100 Objects #1: The Century Safe

    · 30 min · Bonus

    In 1876, Americans filled an iron safe with objects meant to tell their story — to be opened a century later. Roman Mars and historian Jill Lepore trace its long wait, from Reconstruction to Watergate, and the…

  46. Ask Your Doctor About

    · 32 min · Episode 667

    As wild and random as they might seem, a lot of work—and even poetry—goes into coming up with today's catchiest, most unforgettable drug names. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99%…

  47. A History of the United States in 100 Objects Trailer

    · 3:30 · Trailer

    America’s 250th birthday calls for a history as sprawling and contradictory as the country itself. A History of the United States in 100 Objects — hosted by Roman Mars and produced by BBC Studios and 99% Invisible —…

  48. Enshittification

    · 35 min · Episode 666

    Why is it suddenly so hard to fix the stuff we depend on most? Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by…

  49. Citizen of the World

    · 41 min · Episode 665

    One man rejected nationality and dared the world to recognize him anyway. Listen to Far From Home wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and…

  50. Constitution Breakdown #9: Alondra Nelson

    · 1 h 06 min · Bonus

    This is the ninth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article VI and VII, which include some odds and ends like the Debts Clause, the No Religious…

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