site:99percentinvisible.org

Goofy Feet: The US Plans to Finally Standardize the Length of a Single Foot https://99percentinvisible.org/article/goofy-feet-the-us-plans-to-finally-standardize-the-length-of-a-single-foot/ 77 comments 24/4/2021 nottheonion

Wait Wait Tell Me: The Psychology of Loading Screens https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/wait-wait-tell-me/ 5 comments 18/6/2020 programming

Karachi and Lahore would massively benefit from something like this https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/post-narco-urbanism/ 7 comments 6/6/2020 pakistan

Unsure Footing - 99% Invisible (Podcast on the back pass rule & how it dramatically changed the sport) https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unsure-footing/ 6 comments 5/12/2019 soccer

Worst, most entertaining debugging possible: A crossover "99% Invisible" and "Reply All" podcast troubleshoots why the 99% Invisible podcast crashes Mazda infotainment systems. I barely made it through without an anyurism https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-roman-mars-mazda-virus/ 11 comments 3/12/2019 programming

99% Invisible episode about back pass and changes to rule effected the game https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unsure-footing/ 3 comments 16/10/2019 soccer

Unsure Footing - How the Backpass Law of 1992 changed soccer [99% Invisible] https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unsure-footing/ 10 comments 16/10/2019 soccer

The 1990s revolution in basketball jersey design (e.g. Raptors) https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-barney-design-redux/ 9 comments 18/6/2019 nba

[99 Percent Invisible Podcast] Beneath the Ballpark https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/beneath-the-ballpark/ 5 comments 20/2/2019 baseball

The Barney Design - NBA Jersey Design in the 1990s https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-barney-design/ 3 comments 13/6/2018 nba

The current culture of heavily regulated and data-driven auto safety engineering did not always exist. For decades, automakers tried to keep data about car wrecks to themselves. Other technologies could benefit a lot from a shift toward more open data, following the lead of the automobile industry. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/nut-behind-wheel/ 58 comments 31/12/2017 technology

La Sagrada Família - Over a Century in the Making, Catalonian Architect Antoni Gaudí's Architectural Masterpiece is Finally Nearing Completion https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/la-sagrada-familia/ 4 comments 5/11/2017 europe

Back in the 1990s, the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed due to a unit conversion error - "NASA was using the metric system, the international standard, for its calculations. But one of their contractors was using U.S. Customary Units, which is the proper term for the American system" of units. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/half-measures/ 19 comments 22/10/2017 space

Finland is testing out universal basic income on a nationwide basis. Participants report lower stress levels and are seeking work. But there's a larger idea at play: legislation can go through a design process, each iteration building on the last, rather than rolling out big laws all at once. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-finnish-experiment/ 7 comments 20/9/2017 europe

99% Darkness: See How Half the World’s Population Lives on 1% of its Land http://99percentinvisible.org/article/99-darkness-see-half-worlds-population-lives-1-land/ 4 comments 6/9/2017 worldnews

The origin, evolution and approval process of emoji, once gimmicky images and now sent at a rate of 6 billion per day http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/person-lotus-position/ 3 comments 26/8/2017 technology

The arrival of the stethoscope transformed diagnostics and fundamentally reshaped how doctors think about disease. Even today, “the stethoscope is still a part of the exam that’s aligned with the laying on of hands that a healer can do,” says Doctor Andrew Bomback. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-stethoscope/ 3 comments 10/8/2017 science

Pythagorean Cup: Practical Joke Chalice Overflows with Ancient Greek Humor http://99percentinvisible.org/article/pythagorean-cup-practical-joke-chalice-overflows-ancient-greek-humor/ 6 comments 25/12/2016 europe

"Ghost Roundabout" design in UK is supposed to confuse drivers into slowing down http://99percentinvisible.org/article/urban-crop-circle-ghost-roundabout-designed-confuse-slow-drivers/ 6 comments 10/12/2016 europe

Paternoster Lifts: Rotating Chain Elevators Have No Buttons, Doors or Stops - "In recent decades, many paternosters have been taken offline, but a few hundred still exist, mainly in Germany, Great Britain and a few other European countries." http://99percentinvisible.org/article/paternoster-lifts-cyclic-chain-elevators-no-buttons-doors-stops/?ref=archives 31 comments 5/12/2016 europe

Roman Mars interviews the authors of 'Unpleasant Design' on hidden urban systems of social control, including anti-homeless spikes, pink lights and the Camden bench (an "anti-object" designed to repel skaters, druggies, thieves, sleepers and litter) http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unpleasant-design-hostile-urban-architecture/ 7 comments 13/10/2016 books

The Dutch Reach: Clever Workaround to Keep Cyclists from Getting "Doored" - 99% Invisible http://99percentinvisible.org/article/dutch-reach-clever-workaround-keep-cyclists-getting-doored/ 20 comments 7/10/2016 bicycling

"R.E.M.’s album 'Out of Time' is the most politically significant album in the history of the United States. Because of its packaging." - the revolutionary political use of the CD longbox to advance the Rock the Vote campaign http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/longbox/ 8 comments 29/9/2016 politics

"Internet of Things" meet: "Library of Things" - libraries are starting to offer household tools, book-printing machines and 3D-printing labs. http://99percentinvisible.org/article/libraries-things-real-sharing-economy-digital-age/ 6 comments 22/9/2016 technology

"The hashtag, as we know it, was born one day in 2007. An early Twitter user named Chris Messina, in anticipation of an event called BarCamp, tweeted out: ... " http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/octothorpe/ 5 comments 29/8/2016 technology

Japanese 'Tsunami Stones' date back hundreds of years. They are high water markers warning people not to build in certain places. After the last tsunami, one elder credited a local stone with saving his entire village. http://99percentinvisible.org/article/tsunami-stones-ancient-japanese-markers-warn-builders-high-water/ 192 comments 21/8/2016 history

Cameron Smith built a space suit in his apartment ... for $2,000. A standard issue suit from NASA runs about $12 million. Cameron’s efforts are part of a whole do-it-yourself space race that’s been popping up all over the world. (Podcast) http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/diy-space-suits/ 24 comments 25/7/2016 space

Biohazard: How the Iconic Biological Hazard Symbol Was Designed to be “Memorable but Meaningless” http://99percentinvisible.org/article/biohazard-symbol-designed-to-be-memorable-but-meaningless/ 4 comments 13/6/2016 science

Soul City, North Carolina: a 1960s new city project by and for African Americans. It was funded by HUD, backed by President Nixon, and founded by Civil Rights leader Floyd McKissick who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/soul-city/ 3 comments 14/4/2016 history

The podcast 99 Percent Invisible goes over the origin of the mascot. It focuses mainly on baseball, and goes over the origin of San Diego Chicken, Phanatic and more. Great listen and only about 15 minutes! http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/la-mascotte/ 7 comments 6/2/2015 baseball

99% Invisible podcast has a segment on Jim Reekes, the designer of the current Mac start-up sound http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-sizzle/ 7 comments 20/1/2015 apple