For over half a century, millions of children have learned their ABCs and 123s from Sesame Street. But the beloved show has been teaching something else entirely… a quiet lesson in what makes a great neighborhood. “I had a lot of people reach out and say they think this is why th … | Continue reading
This is the fourth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to Article Two, which establishes the executive branch, alongside former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Together, they unpack the intention … | Continue reading
Caroline Fraser grew up on the beautiful Mercer Island in Washington State. But despite the seemingly peaceful landscape, her memories of the area were long haunted by an inexplicable amount of death. In the 1970s, when Caroline was a teenager, the infamous serial killer Ted Bund … | Continue reading
Moving walkways, or “people movers” as they’re sometimes called, can be found in most major American airports. And, at least in theory, they serve a pretty important function—moving a bunch of very rushed people, very short distances, a little quicker than they can on their own t … | Continue reading
Have you agreed to give a speech at your best friend’s wedding? Are people expecting this speech to be funny? Are you realizing that engaging in extemporaneous humor and delivering jokes are not the same thing? Have you spent the months leading up to the big day waiting for comic … | Continue reading
If you’re a longtime 99PI listener, Avery Trufelman needs no introduction, and all you need to hear is: there’s a new season of Articles of Interest. But for those who aren’t familiar, I guarantee, if you enjoy 99PI, then Articles of Interest is for you. It’s a spin off show cre … | Continue reading
This is the third episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One, Sections 8 through 10, which spells out what Congress can and cannot do. They unpack everything from the Commerce Clause to the taxing and s … | Continue reading
San Francisco! Come to a screening of Drop Dead City followed by a conversation with Roman on Monday, Nov 3. Info and tickets. We have all been there. You’ve got a problem with your car or your internet or your flight, so you call customer service. And then you get routed, rerout … | Continue reading
The Hidden Levels Original Soundtrack is now available everywhere! The final episode of Hidden Levels explores the story of SEGA developer Tez Okano and the bizarre, meta-game he created: Segagaga. Okano joined SEGA in 1992, witnessing firsthand the company’s tumultuous experienc … | Continue reading
Nature in video games has evolved from a simple backdrop to an essential portal for many, particularly those whose access to the outdoors is limited. Consider Cassie Anne, also known as Snifferish, a prominent Minecraft influencer. Due to severe, unexplained allergies to the sun … | Continue reading
“Machinima” is a portmanteau of “machine” and “cinema,” which refers to movies filmed inside video games. This tradition is decades old, but its present era is exemplified by projects like Grand Theft Hamlet. Created during the pandemic by professional actors, the documentary fea … | Continue reading
For decades, the U.S. Army has been on edge about recruitment, hitting its goals for a few years, only to miss them again. As part of their strategy to combat recruiting concerns, the Army has turned its focus online: to the world of gaming and competitive eSports. With nearly 80 … | Continue reading
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A…Start. It’s one of the most famous video game cheat codes … and it’s easiest to execute using a piece of gaming interface technology so fundamental that it has remained largely unchanged for decades.: the joystick But these didn’ … | Continue reading
Welcome to our all-new, six-episode, collaborative series, Hidden Levels, in which we team up with Endless Thread to explore how the world of video games has impacted the world beyond. We’ll dive deep into how games are made and designed, with everything from the history of the j … | Continue reading
In the mid-1970s, New York was broke, crumbling, and on the edge of collapse. Garbage piled up on sidewalks, unions fought bitterly with City Hall, and bankers refused to buy the bonds that kept the city running. The sense of crisis reached its peak when the Daily News captured t … | Continue reading
This is the second episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article One, alongside Representative Sharice Davids. Rep. Davids, raised by a single mother who served 20 years in the Army, worked her way from Johnson … | Continue reading
Greeley, CO is a city defined by cattle. It’s home to the U.S. headquarters of JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, and the meatpacking plant is one of the biggest employers in town. For decades, the industry has shaped not only the local economy but also the community itself … | Continue reading
In 2003, when Roman was working at KALW in San Francisco a book called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach came across his desk. The book was a deeply researched and deeply funny exploration of human cadavers and their contributions to science. Roman booked M … | Continue reading
We’re excited to celebrate the 5th anniversary of The 99% Invisible City, a NYT Bestseller by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, with a guided audio tour of beautiful downtown Oakland, California. Together, we’ll dive into different everyday designs, using examples from the blocks ar … | Continue reading
This year marks the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible! If our little design podcast were a person, it would be old enough to have a provisional driver’s license in some states or celebrate a quinceañera. Since we first launched on September 3rd, 2010, we’ve spent 15 years telling … | Continue reading
Detroit, Michigan is home to the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit to the Canadian border city of Windsor. The Ambassador is essential. CNN once called it “the most economically important one-and-a-half miles of roadway in the Western Hemisphere.” And every day, endless line … | Continue reading
Twenty Thousand Hertz is a podcast about some of the worlds most recognizable sounds. In their over 200 episodes they have told the stories of these iconic sounds. From stories of brand sounds, to whales, and movie dialogue they have explored it all. Today’s featured episode is a … | Continue reading
In Echo Park, Los Angeles, across from Echo Park Lake, stands a building that begs to be noticed—a colossal, white structure with archways and an enormous concrete dome that’s been described as “half Roman Coliseum, half Parisian opera house.” Though some might say it looks more … | Continue reading
On October 17th, 1989, the Oakland A’s were playing the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, but just as the game was kicking off—the television broadcast cut out. When the signal came back, it was no longer the baseball game. These were the early minutes of the Loma Prieta … | Continue reading
This week, a conversation with Carl Zimmer about his new book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Air-Borne is an epidemiological history of how we think about the air and its relationship to disease. For centuries, fear of airborne miasmas impacted the design o … | Continue reading
This is the first official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss the Preamble, alongside Nikole Hannah-Jones. Nikole is an investigative reporter for the New York Times Magazine and the Knight Chair in Race and … | Continue reading
99% Invisible Presents: A Quiet Storm Party w/ DJ Ayanna Heaven Join us for an in-person 99PI event celebrating Quiet Storm. There will be drink specials, show swag, and dope music. When: Sunday, July 27th, 5-8 p.m. Where: Ace Hotel- Downtown Brooklyn, NY In the mid-1970s, the na … | Continue reading
Neil Young is one of the most decorated and popular musicians of the 20th century. But he’s much more than a legend of classic rock. In fact, he’s taken some pretty big swings throughout his storied career. He’s filled an entire California ranch house with model trains. He’s made … | Continue reading
In this bonus episode sponsored by Get Your Guide, Roman shares some of his favorite stories about San Francisco, the city in his backyard, starting with the most famous building in the city. Over the course of the tour, we’ll visit the once-hated, now-largely-beloved Transameric … | Continue reading
Woonsocket, Rhode Island was once home to many locally owned and regional grocers. There were small stores such as Fernandes Produce and Big D’s. The city also had supermarkets from classic New England chains like Star Market and Almacs. Over the years, however, the city’s econom … | Continue reading
A border is an idea so powerful that we never even have to see it to believe it. Or believe in it. Global borders can be sites of peace and conflict, violence and celebration, opportunity and confinement. And borders as they exist today – which is to say, increasingly militarized … | Continue reading
Everyone grows up learning the same story about the RMS Titanic, that when the ship set out on its maiden voyage in 1912, the owners and authorities, confident that the ship was unsinkable, did not require it to carry a full complement of lifeboats. So when the Titanic sank in th … | Continue reading
After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd last year, tens of thousands of people all over the world took to the streets to protest police violence against Black people. And if you look at images from these marches, you will probably start to notice a co … | Continue reading
In President Trump’s first term, Roman Mars treated the U.S. Constitution like a warm blanket, something to turn to for comfort as Trump stomped all over the country’s laws and centuries of precedence. Roman even enlisted his neighbor and constitutional law professor, Elizabeth J … | Continue reading
Last year, 99pi‘s Kurt Kohlstedt suffered a serious injury that initially rendered his right arm and hand both completely numb and paralyzed. Tests revealed severe damage to his right brachial plexus, an essential network of nerves between the arm and spinal cord. Kurt was told t … | Continue reading
In 2022, a group of developers proposed transforming a Nordstrom parking lot in San Francisco into nearly 500 apartments, many of them affordable and close to public transit. But before they could even begin the formal approval process, they faced a preliminary review. This step … | Continue reading
On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, producer Jeyca Medina-Gleason discovered a piece of her family history: a manila folder with her grandfather Tomás Velez Lopez’s photo attached to the front. Across the top in bold letters, it read “Division of Special Investigations” followed by … | Continue reading
The Divided Dial is a podcast series about the history of radio from WNYC’s On the Media and longtime 99PI contributor, Katie Thornton. In season 1, Katie explored the rise of right wing talk radio in the United States. The newest season of The Divided Dial is all about shortwave … | Continue reading
The Divided Dial is a podcast series about the history of radio from WNYC’s On the Media and longtime 99PI contributor, Katie Thornton. In season 1, Katie explored the rise of right wing talk radio in the United States. The newest season of The Divided Dial is all about shortwave … | Continue reading
In 2021, a Canadian farmer named Chris Achter responded to a buyer’s grain contract with a simple 👍 emoji. What followed wasn’t just a misunderstanding—it was a legal showdown that captured global attention. Achter, based in Saskatchewan, had a long-standing business rela … | Continue reading
Introducing the KURTY Single-Handed Half-Board Keymap (or KURTY for short!), a free plug-and-play system enabling one-handed touch-typing on two-handed QWERTY keyboards. After a debilitating injury to my right arm and hand, I researched and tested adaptive keyboards, which had so … | Continue reading
As a design writer seeking a one-handed writing solution for myself, I expected to research and test various adaptive options, settle on one best suited to my needs, and then write about it. But as my search progressed, to my great surprise, I came to realize that it would be eas … | Continue reading
Last year, an accident left my right arm and shoulder numb and paralyzed. After extensive testing, doctors determined that I had severely injured my right brachial plexus — a crucial nexus of nerve pathways carrying signals back and forth between my spinal column and right upper … | Continue reading
Peripheral neuropathy feels paradoxical at times, as sensory nerve damage can lead both to extreme hypersensitivity on the one hand, as well as sections of complete numbness on … well, that very same injured hand. The impacts of such damage can be felt most persistently in the re … | Continue reading
I’ve worn a lot of orthoses over the past year, the designs of which have varied more widely than I would have anticipated, considering that each one addresses aspects of the same injury. There are soft slings made mostly of cloth and hard braces that incorporate metal and thermo … | Continue reading
When Arsenal striker Kai Havertz stepped up to take a penalty against Bournemouth last season, it felt like his career was a crossroads. The German forward had joined Arsenal from their London rivals Chelsea for a hefty £60 million transfer fee, but he still hadn’t found the back … | Continue reading
Severe brachial plexus injuries (BPI) are relatively rare, which can make it difficult for sufferers to find useful resources. Broken Plexus is a three-part micro-series on assistive design, centered on (but not limited to) people with serious BPIs facing long-haul recoveries. Th … | Continue reading
Peripheral neuropathy feels paradoxical at times, as sensory nerve damage can lead both to extreme hypersensitivity on the one hand, as well as sections of complete numbness on … well, that very same injured hand. The impacts of such damage can be felt most persistently in the re … | Continue reading