99% Invisible

Weird Sports, White Elephants, and When Doves Cry

Featuring Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and covering the second half of Part 5 and the first section of Part 6, chapters 27-32.

Decades ago, the city of Los Angeles buried its natural river in concrete and turned it into infrastructure. And understanding why it actively disappeared is key to understanding Los Angeles, California, and our relationship to water. Reported by actor and director, Gillian Jacobs.

One intrepid reporter travels to Germany to witness a chord change for an organ concert designed to last 639 years, and to discover why such a concert is even happening in the first place.

It’s 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. It’s very clear when you’ve entered Skid Row.

Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable ad...

Featuring television producer, writer, director, and actor Mike Schur, and covering the first half of Part 5, chapters 25-26.

In the 55 years since the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale was created to warn us about hurricanes, hurricanes have become bigger, faster, and more devastating. There's now debate about whether it may be time for something new.

The leaf blower is one of the most hated objects in the modern world, but the reality of banning them is very complicated.

Whose job is it to fact check the Supreme Court? As it turns out, no one. So why is it like that, and what even happens when you prove them wrong?