Episode list

An event in August could bring millions of people to tears.

Producer Christine Driscoll meets an alleyway plant dealer and discovers an industry right under their noses.

How rules can keep people from descending into chaos.

What does it take to eradicate a disease from the planet? Plus, the horrifying hunting habits of weasels.

A weird night in Dallas leads they to ask: what kinds of emergency systems are all around us?

Rummaging through the nation's attic to find out what the government stores and why.

Get to know your most intimate animal companions. They already know a lot about you.

Flora learns facts about the flamingo that change her.

The trouble with the library cataloging system.

Learning to love a viral piece of furniture.

Flora and Katherine answer questions from listeners.

Bill Nye the Science Guy introduces us to an obscure historical figure.

Flora and fact buddy Prashanth talk about spiders, which leads to a cargo short investigation.

How TV news got a score.

Flora answers questions from the help line about an armadillo paradox and the DaVinci Code of pasta.

Self-service began in a Piggly Wiggly 100 years ago.

Tips for being the #1 guest in the history of the universe.

Invisible actors create worlds of sound in everything you watch from Jaws to The Wire.

Flora stages a fact intervention with Prashanth.

First, Flora uncovers a feud about butterflies. Then, a question from the Help Line about aircraft patrol.

Flora finds out what would happen if she stepped into the vacuum of outer space. Then, an (Earth) vacuum paradox to end all paradoxes: which came first, the vacuum or the carpet?

No, really - how old is he?

Why do people get goosebumps from music and other emotional experiences? Plus, the strangest things to give ELT listeners goosebumps.

Listener Mack asked about the unfamous people who fill empty seats at the Oscars.

Plus, dog clothes: where did they come from?

How they get that tunnel under there. Plus, a centuries-old scientific debate: why ice is slippery.

One man is to blame. Plus, vanity plates in the wild: IC A GR8 PL8.

Plus, how to pee in zero-G.

A kid caller pops the question: How does popcorn pop? Plus, the uncomfortable truth about baby corn.

Plus, a look at lottery history, and your strangest raffle winnings. Guests: Jonathan Cohen, lottery historian; John Koza, co-founder of Scientific Games Callers: John Henry, D., Lisa, Megan.

Learn how to spot the telltale signs of a psychopath.

Is there more to your taste buds than you thought? ELT tackles a fat question.

Plus, learn how to lie like a dad. Guests: Fake parenting expert Adam Mansbach; belly whisperer Tamara Duker Freuman; bird-watcher extraordinaire Amar Ayyash.

Pirate historian Laura Sook Duncombe tells us about the golden age of pirates.

ELT goes into the mind of a crow to find out if scarecrows work.

Some birds can fashion tools and create tiny works of art, so why do we always underestimate their bird brains?

Does that person sitting next to you on the airplane REALLY work in IT? Plus, a tribute to the bedazzled sausage of the desert southwest, and more fun with pirates.

Plus, koala fingerprints, lobster pee and other hot facts. There are mysterious symbols inside your tee-shirt -- do you know what they mean?

Is it possible to interpret what dogs are saying when they bark?

ELT goes down under, to expose one of the most impressive butts in the animal kingdom.

DJ Casper tells the origin story of the Cha Cha Slide.

Who put the tension in reality TV? ELT tracks down the source of the nail biting-sound you can't unhear.

How did they make the dinosaur roars in the Jurassic Park movies? Flora talks with the sound engineers behind the bellows.

Tucked into your car's dashboard is a tiny arrow that points to the side of the car with the gas tank cap.

When did "the wave" become a staple of stadium crowds? ELT talks to the professional cheerleader who first got fans out of their seats.

If you dug up the graves of our founding fathers, what would you find? Tri-corner hats and puffy shirts?

How did goldfish come to dominate our fish bowls and pet stores? Dive into the history of America's favorite finned pet.

Where does bubblegum flavor come from? A bubblegum bush? A beaver's butt? Track down the original bubblegum flavor formula, and find out what's in there.

A Bulletin Board of Glory(TM) nomination from comedian Josh Gondelman takes ELT down a trashy rabbit hole, to a time before sanitation workers, when pigs roamed the streets.

Why is pumpkin spice a thing? Flavor scientists explain why this particular combination is so appealing -- or not.