99% Invisible: episodes

60 recent episodes from the show's feed. Back to the show

1. 100 Objects #15: Bundy Clock

   Aug 28, 2026 · 38 min

   How the time clock not only ignited a revolution in workplace efficiency and surveillance, but transformed our relationship to time itself.

2. Spolia

   Aug 25, 2026 · 28 min

   Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome.

3. 100 Objects #14: Basketball Sleeve

   Aug 21, 2026 · 42 min

   Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei has a simple question: Why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm?

4. The Bone Wars

   Aug 18, 2026 · 45 min

   Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war.

5. 100 Objects #13: The Sand Letters

   Aug 14, 2026 · 49 min

   Comedian Elliott Kalan joins Roman Mars to tell the story of how a politician who owed so much to a corrupt government system became the one to dismantle it, thanks to one woman: Julia Isabella Sand.

6. Bamboo Is Innocent

   Aug 11, 2026 · 32 min

   A devastating fire put one of Hong Kong's oldest building traditions on trial, but the real story runs much deeper.

7. 100 Objects #12: "Negro Cloth"

   Aug 7, 2026 · 38 min

   Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Negro cloth" — a textile category defined by nothing but who it was worn by.

8. The Borrowed Nature of Biomimicry

   Aug 4, 2026 · 32 min

   Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story.

9. 100 Objects #11: Brannock Device

   Jul 31, 2026 · 28 min

   In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device.

10. The Finnish Baby Box

    Jul 28, 2026 · 33 min

    A simple cardboard box helped transform Finland into one of the best places in the world to raise a child.

11. 100 Objects #10: Nunchaku

    Jul 24, 2026 · 36 min

    In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool, but the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity.

12. The Original 100 Objects

    Jul 21, 2026 · 45 min

    Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt.

13. 100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton

    Jul 17, 2026 · 34 min

    In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions.

14. If Mosquito Hawks Can Fly

    Jul 14, 2026 · 42 min

    A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever.

15. 100 Objects #8: Billy Possum

    Jul 10, 2026 · 36 min

    The teddy bear was a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal.

16. The Score

    Jul 7, 2026 · 26 min

    We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about?

17. 100 Objects #7: The Otis Pamphlet

    Jul 3, 2026 · 37 min

    Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-founding father and his inflammatory 1764 pamphlet.

18. Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Expialidocious

    Jun 30, 2026 · 32 min

    Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible.

19. 100 Objects #6: "Sharpened Screwdriver"

    Jun 26, 2026 · 40 min

    How was a household tool reimagined as a deadly weapon…that never actually existed?

20. The Most Exciting Change America Has Ever Seen

    Jun 23, 2026 · 43 min

    Billions of state quarters disappeared from circulation...and that was exactly the plan.