Stuff You Should Know

In 2008 Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized, anarchistic all-digital currency, was introduced to the world. Its value has risen, fallen and risen again and speculators, techies, libertarians and economists alike are taking it seriously.

You can trace the origin of men dressing as women in public back to classic Greek theater, but modern drag queens own their real inception to vaudville. Dip your toe into the politics and culture of this unique phenomenon with Josh and Chuck.

Before Jamestown became the first successful English colony in the New World, an entire group of settlers vanished. For the last 430 years, Roanoke has been an American mystery. Learn the theories of what became of the lost colonists in this episode.

Entire TV shows are dedicated to them and Americans love to watch a live one, but police chases aren’t as routine as they seem. While police assert chases are important tools, critics say cops engage in chases too often and too easily.

Cicadas are crawling out from underground, where they have been hiding in the darkness for almost two decades. As of May 2013, they're invading the East Coast From North Carolina to New York. But why? Learn more about cicadas with Josh and Chuck.

With the exception of lobotomies, no other psychological treatment has a worse reputation. But thanks to some thoughtful tweaks, ECT has lately emerged from the dark ages and toward the respectable forefront of treatment for major depression.

The West has gotten rich off the backs of underpaid labor living elsewhere; people who are dedicated to Fair Trade feel it’s time people at a disadvantage should stop being exploited. The concept is simple – just pay workers fairly for their labor.

Ever since people have had secrets, other people have been looking for ways to get it out of them. Law enforcement and chemistry alike have searched for a drug that can remove the ability to lie. Join Josh and Chuck as they check in to see how it’s going.

Whether you're sticking them to the fridge or using them to transpose sound to tape, magnets are surprisingly interesting. And knowing just how and why magnets work will make you more interesting, which is why you should listen to this episode of SYSK.

You can tell a lot about a culture through marriage statistics: what age people get married, how many divorce, who is excluded from legal marriage. It forms a picture of how a society interacts with itself. Learn more about marriage in this episode.