99% Invisible
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.
Episodes
A single 👍 emoji sent over text was meant to say “got it”—but instead, it kicked off a $62,000 legal battle and raised the question: can an emoji seal a contract?
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At the January 6th Capitol insurrection, rioters waved Confederate, MAGA, and Trump-as-Rambo flags. Easy to miss without knowing the design was a bright yellow flag with three red stripes — the flag of South Vietnam.
There were actually several confounding international flags present at the Capitol riot that day: the Canadian, Indian, South Korean flags, all were spotted somewhere in the mayhem. But what was peculiar about the Vietn...
A goofy Shakira remix, a nervy penalty kick, and 60,000 fans turning banter into legend—welcome to the world of football chants.
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If you're one of the millions of Americans struggling with your tax forms today, you're not alone. Even Albert Einstein allegedly found income taxes to be "the hardest thing in the world to understand." But how did our tax system become so complicated?
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John Green uncovers how the world’s deadliest curable disease still thrives—and why everything, from cowboy hats to colonial borders, traces back to tuberculosis.
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Take a whirlwind tour of Memphis with the city’s most enthusiastic historian, uncovering duck parades, telecom turf wars, and a street named after a single day in 1934.
A Walking Tour with Mr. Memphis
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In 1991, one of the strangest buildings in America opened — a 32-storey, stainless steel pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.
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A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. We interviewed the group's leader Michael Townsend a few years back, and he's now the subject of a new documentary called Secret Mall Apartment. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.
For showtimes and more information, visit secretmallapartment.com.
The stories in this episode originally aired in 2018 ...
When global trade reshapes a city, who pays the price—and who fights back?
Alexis Madrigal’s new book is called The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City.
Beautiful West Oakland, California
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After we finished up The Power Broker, a bunch of people were asking us what other books we’d been reading. A group of us got together and presented some of our recent favorites, and the choices were so good and surprising and charming, we're now sharing it widely.
Here are the books covered in this episode:
- Lasha's book: Usha's Pickle Digest by Usha R Prabakaran
- Chris's books: What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer (and The Power Br...
A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.
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A film about a struggling architect, a style the world loves to hate—The Brutalist and Brutalism itself share more than just a name. Is it bold vision or concrete failure?
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In the heart of Berlin’s Tempelhof-Schöneberg district sits a hulking, crumbling concrete cylinder—an abandoned relic of a Nazi plan to rebuild the city as a grand imperial capital. But this eerie structure isn’t just a forgotten engineering experiment; it’s a lasting monument to one of the Third Reich’s most colossal architectural failures.
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Join Roman and Elliott one last time as they reflect on their journey with you all through The Power Broker, exploring their favorite moments and answering listener questions in this bonus episode.
If you finished The Power Broker with us (or know someone who did), get the 99PI Power Broker challenge coin to commemorate your achievement! Visit 99pi.org/store to get the challenge coin and other 99PI merch.
How did a simple painting transform into the world's most recognized depiction of Jesus?
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Last week, we delved into story of how the Tennessee Valley Authority, which started out as a public institution, ended up acting like a private for-profit company, and the lawsuit that attempted to finally bring the TVA to its heel. Today, Montana Public Radio’s podcast The Wide Open tells the story of a different lawsuit against the TVA that had even bigger consequences. In the 1970s, the fight to save a tiny fish called the snai...
What went wrong in Kingston, Tennessee, and what does it reveal about the messy legacy of public utilities turned corporate giants?
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The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you're just tuning in (or if you just want a quick refresher), this episode is a compilation of the summary portions of the The Power Broker Breakdown series.
The Power Broker Breakdown Breakdown
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A deadly desert crossing leaves survivors seeking refuge—and sparks a movement that defied the law and redefined the idea of sanctuary in America. This is the story of how faith, courage, and resistance collided with one of the biggest immigration battles in modern history.
Note: This episode originally aired as two episodes in 2017.
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The story of an 2700 year old archive, its accidental preservation, and the unprecedented—and often funny—glimpse it gives us into the daily life of an ancient king.
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