99% Invisible

In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in...

The United States Military is not known for being touchy-feely. There’s not much hugging or head-patting, and superiors don’t always have...

Reports of palm theft have appeared in LA, San Diego, and Texas; palm rustling also gets a mention in Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief. To...

Portlanders have a tradition when visiting their airport: taking a picture of their feet. It’s not to show off their shoes, but rather,...

A few months before the end of the world, everyone was saying their goodbyes. The world that was ending was The Sims Online, an online...

At some point in your life you’ve probably encountered a problem in the built world where the fix was obvious to you. Maybe a door that...

The idea of the mascot came to America by way of a popular French opera from the 1880s called La Mascotte. The opera is about a down-on-his...

In 1885, Austin, Texas was terrorized by a serial killer known as the Servant Girl Annihilator. The murderer was never actually found, but...

If you are looking at a computer screen, your right hand is probably resting on a mouse. To the left of that mouse (or above, if you’re on...

The first trademark for a sound in the United States was issued in 1978 to NBC for their chimes. MGM has a sound trademark for their...

New Yorkers are known to disagree about a lot of things. Who’s got the best pizza? What’s the fastest subway route? Yankees or Mets? But...

As you probably know, 99% Invisible is a show about the built world, about things manufactured by humans. We don’t tend to do stories about...

If you want to follow conversation threads relating to this show on social media—whether Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, Tumblr—you know...

Hanging in the garage of Fire Station #6 in Livermore, California, there’s a small, pear-shaped light bulb. It is glowing right now. This...

You see them on street corners, at gas stations, at shopping malls. You see them at blowout sales and grand openings of all kinds. Their...

There’s a little trophy shop called Aardvark Laser Engraving down the street from our office in Oakland. Its small but bustling, and its...

This week on the show we’re presenting one of our favorite radio features, “Three Records from Sundown,” about singer Nick Drake. The...

Vexillologists—those who study flags—tend to fall into one of two schools of thought. The first is one that focuses on history, category,...

“A Chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” — Mies van der Rohe. The chair presents an interesting design challenge,...

The Ouija board is so simple and iconic that it looks like it comes from another time, or maybe another realm. The game is not as ancient...