Podcast · 134 episodes
99% Invisible
by Roman Mars · English
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.
Latest episodes
Tootle of a Devilish SongThe episode traces yodeling’s history from Swiss folk tradition to an international phenomenon—especially its role in shaping American country music—while also explaining how Swiss yodeling was…29 Sep 2026 · 32 min
100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 SeriesThe Western Electric 500 series telephone and how its design, network, and repairability enabled intimate, near-instant long-distance connection in mid-20th-century America—and why later telecom…25 Sep 2026 · 39 min
The Rocky StatueThe Rocky statue’s long, contentious journey in Philadelphia—from movie prop to permanent monument—and how it later became a flashpoint in national debates about public art, race, and monuments.22 Sep 2026 · 33 min
All episodes
Tootle of a Devilish SongThe episode traces yodeling’s history from Swiss folk tradition to an international phenomenon—especially its role in shaping American country music—while also explaining how Swiss yodeling was…29 Sep 2026 · 32 min · 12 chapters
100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 SeriesThe Western Electric 500 series telephone and how its design, network, and repairability enabled intimate, near-instant long-distance connection in mid-20th-century America—and why later telecom…25 Sep 2026 · 39 min · 14 chapters
The Rocky StatueThe Rocky statue’s long, contentious journey in Philadelphia—from movie prop to permanent monument—and how it later became a flashpoint in national debates about public art, race, and monuments.22 Sep 2026 · 33 min · 16 chapters
100 Objects #18: Hair Relaxer“100 Objects #18: Hair Relaxer” traces the chemical hair relaxer’s history and cultural role in Black hair, linking assimilation and wealth-building to potential health risks, especially uterine…18 Sep 2026 · 35 min · 20 chapters
Doves TypeThe 99% Invisible episode “Doves Type” tells the story of Thomas Cobden Sanderson and Emery Walker, their friendship and printing partnership, and how their in-house typeface “Doves Type” became the…15 Sep 2026 · 37 min · 15 chapters
100 Objects #17: M43 Field JacketThis episode traces the M43 Army field jacket from World War I wool overcoats to a lab-tested, modular system that reshaped soldier clothing and later American fashion. It explains how the U.S.11 Sep 2026 · 41 min · 13 chapters
Kobuk the DestroyerHow “test engineering” makes products and infrastructure safe enough, using real-world animal/accident simulations and standardized “limit,” “foolproof,” “disintegration,” and “dynamics” testing;…8 Sep 2026 · 38 min · 12 chapters
100 Objects #16: Wheel of Fortune DalmatianThe Wheel of Fortune “Ceramic Dalmatian” (nicknamed “Sheldon/Sajak”) and how game-show prizes reflect changing American dreams—from early quiz shows promising merit-based big wins to later game shows…4 Sep 2026 · 47 min · 15 chapters
1-800-PODCASTHow AT&T’s 1960s toll-free “INWATS” (the 800 number) evolved into the blueprint for 24/7 modern retail and call-center capitalism, then declined with cell phones, outsourcing, and the internet.1 Sep 2026 · 43 min · 28 chapters
100 Objects #15: Bundy ClockHow the Bundy “employee time clock” (and later the punch clock/stopwatch methods associated with Frederick Taylor) transformed workplace timekeeping into surveillance, efficiency, and a moral system…28 Aug 2026 · 38 min · 14 chapters
SpoliaSpolia—reusing building materials from older structures—told through Granby (South Liverpool) affordable housing renovations, Roman architectural reuse under Constantine, and modern climate-driven…25 Aug 2026 · 28 min · 8 chapters
100 Objects #14: Basketball SleeveThe NBA basketball elbow compression sleeve—how it started as Allen Iverson’s medical workaround for elbow bursitis, then became a mainstream fashion trend tied to race, “respectability” politics,…21 Aug 2026 · 42 min · 18 chapters
The Bone WarsThe “Bone Wars,” a late-1800s feud between paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh that mixed scientific rivalry with sabotage, press coverage, and political fallout—helping…18 Aug 2026 · 45 min · 25 chapters
100 Objects #13: The Sand LettersThe “Sand letters” (23 initials J.I.S.)—a little-known correspondence from Julia Isabella Sand to President Chester A.14 Aug 2026 · 49 min · 20 chapters
Bamboo Is InnocentThe episode “Bamboo Is Innocent” examines the Hong Kong Wang Fuk Court fire and the debate over whether bamboo scaffolding caused the blaze.11 Aug 2026 · 32 min · 12 chapters
100 Objects #12: "Negro Cloth"Episode 100 Objects #12, “Negro Cloth,” uses a 2x2-inch fabric swatch found in archival letters to explain how Northern textile manufacturers supplied Southern slavery.7 Aug 2026 · 38 min · 15 chapters
The Borrowed Nature of BiomimicryThe episode explores “borrowed nature” in biomimicry—how designers take cues from animals and nature, and how messy or contested those stories can be.4 Aug 2026 · 32 min · 13 chapters
100 Objects #11: Brannock DeviceThe Brannock device, the metal shoe-fitting instrument that measures foot length, width, and arch length, and how it became a durable “category killer” amid changing American business.31 Jul 2026 · 28 min · 11 chapters
The Finnish Baby BoxThe Finnish baby box—how Finland’s government-issued newborn “maternity package” evolved from a 1938 anti-poverty, anti-infant-mortality tool into a universal cultural icon, and how similar programs…28 Jul 2026 · 33 min · 18 chapters
100 Objects #10: NunchakuNunchaku (nunchucks) as a cultural symbol—how it moved from an Okinawan-derived weapon to an emblem of Asian American resistance and broader “third world” solidarity, especially after Bruce Lee’s…24 Jul 2026 · 36 min · 15 chapters
The Original 100 ObjectsThis episode is a conversation about the BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects and how it was remade for a U.S.-focused version tied to the Declaration of Independence’s 250th…21 Jul 2026 · 45 min · 19 chapters
100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk CartonThe “missing children” milk carton campaign that began after 12-year-old Johnny Gosch disappeared in 1982, and how it shaped American fears about child abduction—plus later echoes in culture and…17 Jul 2026 · 34 min · 13 chapters
If Mosquito Hawks Can FlyFamily lore about Charles Frederick Page, a Black inventor from Pineville, Louisiana, who allegedly designed and patented an airship before the Wright brothers; the airship reportedly vanished en…14 Jul 2026 · 42 min · 24 chapters
100 Objects #8: Billy PossumHow American attitudes toward animals shifted from fear and extermination to cuddly symbolism, using Teddy Roosevelt’s teddy bear, Taft’s “Billy Possum,” and later the polar bear as a climate-change…10 Jul 2026 · 36 min · 13 chapters