Description
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
- 2024 / 9 / 6Not Built For This #6: Maximum TemperatureThe impacts of climate disasters are often measured in terms of property damage. But in places like Phoenix, Arizona, and in hot places all over the world, climate change is wreaking a very different kind of...
- 2024 / 9 / 3Not Built For This #5: The Little Levee That CouldMost of the stories in this series have been about places that are ill-prepared for the extreme weather that is coming their way. But this story is about a place that managed to get the kind of infrastructure...
- 2024 / 8 / 30Not Built For This #4: Unbuilding the TerraceAll across the country thousands of people are living in locations that regularly flood, and many of these places will only get more flood-prone as the climate continues to change. Residents who live in these...
- 2024 / 8 / 27Not Built For This #3: The Price is WrongInsurance companies are not climate activists, but they know more about climate risk than just about anyone. And as storms get more extreme and unpredictable a lot of insurers are running the numbers on...
- 2024 / 8 / 23Not Built For This #2: The Ripple EffectIn disasters where a lot of people lose their homes, the impacts are not confined to a single city or town. They ripple outward, cascading into the surrounding area, as the survivors are forced to go looking...
- 2024 / 8 / 20Not Built For This #1: The Bottom of the BowlReporter Emmett Fitzgerald was used to hearing people call his home state of Vermont a âclimate haven.â But last summer, he got a wake up call in the form of a devastating flood.All throughout the United...
- 2024 / 8 / 16The Power Broker #8: Shiloh FrederickThis is the eighth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott sit down with Shiloh Frederick. Born and raised...
- 2024 / 8 / 16The Power Broker #08: Shiloh FrederickThis is the eighth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott sit down with Shiloh Frederick. Born and raised...
- 2024 / 8 / 13Side ProjectsThis week we're highlighting a couple of series that live inside the 99pi production tent.Weâve got a preview of a new miniseries for you called Not Built for This, created and hosted by Emmett FitzGerald....
- 2024 / 8 / 6Top BillingWhen youâre watching the opening credits to a movie, itâs not just a list of names. What youâre actually seeing is intense negotiations by Hollywood stars and their agents playing out in text form. Title...
- 2024 / 7 / 30The Art of the OlympicsThe 2024 Paris Olympics are currently under way, and we thought weâd play two stories from the 99% Invisible archives about the art of the Olympics.First up, a story about the design and iconography of the...
- 2024 / 7 / 23The 2024 Olympics SpectacularFrom TV commercials and branded soda cans to Emily in Paris spon-con, the Olympics are once again everywhere. In the Olympic spirit, weâre bringing you four stories about the games in all their international,...
- 2024 / 7 / 19The Power Broker #07: Sec. Pete ButtigiegNEWS: We've got 99PI Power Broker Breakdown merch! Visit 99pi.org/store.This is the seventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This...
- 2024 / 7 / 19The Power Broker #7: Sec. Pete ButtigiegNEWS: We've got 99PI Power Broker Breakdown merch! Visit 99pi.org/store.This is the seventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This...
- 2024 / 7 / 16A River Runs Through Los AngelesWhen you hear the word "river," you probably picture a majestic body of water flowing through a natural habitat. Well, the LA River looks nothing like that. Most people who see it probably mistake it for a...
- 2024 / 7 / 9As Slow As PossibleWhen you go to a concert, you might try to get there right when the doors open. Or perhaps you take your time and skip the opening act. But generally, you want to be there when the show starts. In February,...
- 2024 / 7 / 2The Containment Plan (rebroadcast)Itâs hard to overstate the vastness of the Skid Row neighborhood in Los Angeles. It spans roughly 50 blocks, which is about a fifth of the entire downtown area of Los Angeles. Itâs very clear when youâve...
- 2024 / 6 / 25Backfired: The Vaping WarsWhen two Stanford graduate students set out to create a new kind of cigarette that wouldnât kill them, they didnât foresee all the obstacles that lay aheadâor the powerful forces their invention would...
- 2024 / 6 / 21The Power Broker #6: Mike SchurThis is the sixth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott sit down with Mike Schur, who created the...
- 2024 / 6 / 21The Power Broker #06: Mike SchurThis is the sixth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott sit down with Mike Schur, who created the...
- 2024 / 6 / 18Category 6After Hurricane Camille caused widespread death and destruction along the US Gulf Coast in 1969, two scientists created the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale as a way to quickly warn the public when...
- 2024 / 6 / 11The Los Angeles Leaf Blower WarsThe leaf blower is one of the most hated objects in the modern world. Theyâre loud, they pollute, and⊠how important is a leafless lawn anyway? In a lot of towns and cities, the gas-powered leaf blower has...
- 2024 / 6 / 4584- Fact Checking the Supreme CourtFor a long time, the Court operated under what was called Legal Formalism. Legal formalism said that the job of any judge or justice was incredibly narrow. It was to basically look at the question of the case...
- 2024 / 6 / 4Fact Checking the Supreme CourtFor a long time, the Court operated under what was called Legal Formalism. Legal formalism said that the job of any judge or justice was incredibly narrow. It was to basically look at the question of the case...
- 2024 / 5 / 28Uptown Squirrel [update]In late 2018, two hundred people gathered at The Explorerâs Club in New York City. The building was once a clubhouse for famed naturalists and explorers. Now itâs an archive of ephemera and rarities from...
- 2024 / 5 / 28352- Uptown Squirrel [update]In late 2018, two hundred people gathered at The Explorerâs Club in New York City. The building was once a clubhouse for famed naturalists and explorers. Now itâs an archive of ephemera and rarities from...
- 2024 / 5 / 22The Lost Subways of North AmericaLos Angeles actually used to have a massive electric railway system in the early 1900s, called the Red Car. Jake Berman, the author of The Lost Subways of North America, tells us about how, time after time,...
- 2024 / 5 / 22583- The Lost Subways of North AmericaLos Angeles actually used to have a massive electric railway system in the early 1900s, called the Red Car. Jake Berman, the author of The Lost Subways of North America, tells us about how, time after time,...
- 2024 / 5 / 18The Power Broker #05: Brandy ZadroznyThis is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott also sit down with Brandy Zadrozny, a senior...
- 2024 / 5 / 18The Power Broker #5: Brandy ZadroznyThis is the fifth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott also sit down with Brandy Zadrozny, a senior...
- 2024 / 5 / 14582- Rocket ManIn the twentieth century, the jetpack became synonymous with the idea of a âfuturistic society.â Appearing in cartoons and magazines, it felt like a matter of time before people could ride a jetpack to work....
- 2024 / 5 / 14Rocket ManIn the twentieth century, the jetpack became synonymous with the idea of a âfuturistic society.â Appearing in cartoons and magazines, it felt like a matter of time before people could ride a jetpack to work....
- 2024 / 5 / 7581- It's Howdy Doody Time!The Howdy Doody Show is one of those pieces of 1950s ephemera that has come to symbolize mid-century American childhood. For over a decade, every weeknight at 5pm, kids all across the country would sit down...
- 2024 / 5 / 7It's Howdy Doody Time!The Howdy Doody Show is one of those pieces of 1950s ephemera that has come to symbolize mid-century American childhood. For over a decade, every weeknight at 5pm, kids all across the country would sit down...
- 2024 / 5 / 3579 BONUS- Towers of Silence: Vulture ConservationRecently we published an episode called Towers of Silence. It's about how the Parsis in India are grappling with the loss of vultures and how it changed something very intimate and meaningful for the...
- 2024 / 5 / 3BONUS- Towers of Silence: Vulture ConservationRecently we published an episode called Towers of Silence. It's about how the Parsis in India are grappling with the loss of vultures and how it changed something very intimate and meaningful for the...
- 2024 / 4 / 30Mr YukMr. Yuk is a neon green circular sticker with a cartoon face on it. His face is scrunched up with his eyes squeezed tight and his tongue is sticking out of its mouth. It's the face you make when you taste...
- 2024 / 4 / 30580- Mr YukMr. Yuk is a neon green circular sticker with a cartoon face on it. His face is scrunched up with his eyes squeezed tight and his tongue is sticking out of its mouth. It's the face you make when you taste...
- 2024 / 4 / 30Mr. YukMr. Yuk is a neon green circular sticker with a cartoon face on it. His face is scrunched up with his eyes squeezed tight and his tongue is sticking out of its mouth. It's the face you make when you taste...
- 2024 / 4 / 23Towers of SilenceSituated right in downtown Mumbai, India is an area of about 55 acres of dense, overgrown forest. In one of the most populous cities in the world, this is a place where peacocks roam freely -- a space out of...
- 2024 / 4 / 23579- Towers of SilenceSituated right in downtown Mumbai, India is an area of about 55 acres of dense, overgrown forest. In one of the most populous cities in the world, this is a place where peacocks roam freely -- a space out of...
- 2024 / 4 / 19The Power Broker #4: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezThis is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Roman and Elliott also sit down with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S....
- 2024 / 4 / 19The Power Broker: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezThis is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Roman and Elliott also sit down with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S....
- 2024 / 4 / 19The Power Broker #04: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezThis is the fourth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. Roman and Elliott also sit down with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S....
- 2024 / 4 / 16Anything's Pastable: Eat Sauté LoveThis week we're featuring an episode from The Sporkful's series on the creation of "Anything's Pastable," Dan Pashman's new pasta cookbook.Dan talks with Roman about how this massive project came to be and...
- 2024 / 4 / 16578- Anything's Pastable: Eat Sauté LoveThis week we're featuring an episode from The Sporkful's series on the creation of "Anything's Pastable," Dan Pashman's new pasta cookbook.Dan talks with Roman about how this massive project came to be and...
- 2024 / 4 / 9577- The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant PersonsHailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly recognizable around the world. Since the 1970s, sapeurs (from: le sape, short for "Société des Ambianceurs et...
- 2024 / 4 / 9The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant PersonsHailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly recognizable around the world. Since the 1970s, sapeurs (from: le sape, short for "Société des Ambianceurs et...
- 2024 / 4 / 2Chambre de BonneA chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and itâs usually just big enough to fit a bed and a table. Itâs affordable housing in a city where...
- 2024 / 4 / 2576- Chambre de BonneA chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and itâs usually just big enough to fit a bed and a table. Itâs affordable housing in a city where...