ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast

ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast

Explain Like I'm Five, aka ELI5, is the mini-podcast series where we take the questions you always wanted to ask, and talk about them in a way that is easy to understand. Made possible by the amazing reddit community at r/explainlikeimfive. See episode show notes for user credits.

Episodes

ELI5 Carbonated Water - why does flat soda still taste like soda?

May 26, 2026 • 8 mins
Why do soft drinks exclusively use carbon dioxide instead of gases like oxygen or nitrogen? Why does "flat" soda still have a distinct taste compared to regular tap water? Why does Perrier extract natural gas from its spring water only to pump it back in later? Does the carbonation in sparkling water affect your body’s hydration differently than drinking regular water? Why do smaller bottles of sparkling water go flat significantly...
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ELI5 Money Laundering - what, why and how?

May 22, 2026 • 9 mins
What is money laundering? Why can’t a criminal just spend good old fashioned cash? What are some of the ways used by criminals to launder money? Besides casinos, why are laundromats often mentioned? Why are countries like Panama and Cyprus ideal for laundering money? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of th...
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ELI5 National Debt - who do countries owe when they are in debt?

May 15, 2026 • 7 mins
If every major country is in billions of debt, where are they borrowing from? Who exactly do they owe? Are there any consequences for them being in debt? Why is it a problem when it gets large? Why was Greece in trouble, while Japan seemingly has high debt but is fine?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Help more people fund us by leaving a rating on iTunes.   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community, and specifically the fol...
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ELI5 Royal Family - how does the British royal family make money?

May 8, 2026 • 11 mins
How does the royal family make money? How much is the queen worth? Explain the Soverign Grant and Crown Estate. How much did Harry inherit? What exactly does the Royal family do?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community as always and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: youtoo2, pjwils, loki-l, pillowzzz, mastrik, callumgg, ja...
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ELI5 Flight Delays - how do airports manage major disruptions such as weather cancellations?

May 1, 2026 • 7 mins
When flights get cancelled because of heavy winds, why is it only a proportion of flights and not 100% that stop? Isn’t it a binary decision of: 'safe' or 'too dangerous'? After weather cancels thousands of flights and lots of people are displaced, how to they all get back on schedule when presumably flights for the next few days are already booked up?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community...
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ELI5 Easter - why the bunny and chocolate eggs?

April 24, 2026 • 7 mins
How is the date for Easter determined each year? Why do we have an Easter bunny and chocolate Easter eggs? Why did Christmas become a bigger holiday than Easter? What animal is often used instead of a bunny in Australia? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: nehala, nomocactusnames, vorengard...
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ELI5 Helium - is there really a global shortage?

April 10, 2026 • 9 mins
How can "superfluid" helium flow against gravity and climb up the walls of a container? Why was helium discovered on the Sun nearly thirty years before it was found on Earth? How does a gas used for party balloons play a critical role in life-saving MRI technology? Is inhaling helium to make funny voices actually a dangerous risk to your health? If helium is abundant in the universe, how are we "running out" of it on Earth? ... we...
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ELI5 Cupping Therapy - can bruises really heal you?

March 13, 2026 • 6 mins
Why do we see many professional athletes look like they were attacked by a giant octopus? How did a treatment from ancient history become the biggest trend in modern locker rooms? If a bruise is "stuck" blood, how can it actually help your blood flow? Can we really suck "bad energy" or "toxins" out of our muscles with a glass jar? Why do some doctors call this "quackery" while others say it's a powerful mental tool? ... we explain...
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ELI5 Crying - why do we cry with both sadness and joy?

March 6, 2026 • 8 mins
Why is crying so much more than just being sad? Why do your lungs perform those jerky gasps once the actual sobbing stops? Why does that painful "lump" form in our throats when the glottis tries to stay open for oxygen while we're trying to swallow? How do emotional tears differ chemically from the ones we use for onions, and do they actually "flush" stress hormones out of the body? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r...
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ELI5 Norway's Olympics - how tiny Norway conquered the Winter Olympics

February 27, 2026 • 7 mins
How did a country with only 5.7 million people beat much larger countries in Winter Olympic medals? Why does Norway ban competitive scoring and league standings for children under the age of twelve? How can not caring about winning at a young age actually create more world-class Olympic champions? Is it true that people in Norway actually use skiing as a primary way to get around? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/e...
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ELI5 One Way Mirrors - how do they work?

February 20, 2026 • 7 mins
How do one way mirrors allow light to pass in only one direction? If light travels through the glass equally from both sides, why does the simple flip of a light switch create a hidden observer? How does a microscopic layer of aluminum or silver on a piece of glass actually bounce light back to create a reflection? Why does our brain instantly prefer our flipped mirror image over the real perspective captured in a photograph? ... ...
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ELI5 Ski Jumping - how do they not get injured when landing?

February 13, 2026 • 7 mins
With such great speeds and a significant vertical drop, how do ski jumpers not sustain injury when landing? What makes one ski jumper better than others? How is a ski jumping course designed? Where is the largest ski jumping hill?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Help more people fund us by leaving a rating on iTunes.   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community as always and in particular the following users whose ques...
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ELI5 Fire Extinguishers - why are they red in color?

February 6, 2026 • 8 mins
Why is most fire equipment red in color? What happens if you use the wrong class of extinguisher on a grease or metal fire? Could the future of firefighting be a "dubstep cannon" that uses sound waves to kill flames? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: jasonthefuzz, jebediah_johnson, rtpk...
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ELI5 HRV - what is heart rate variability and why can a steady heartbeat be trouble?

January 30, 2026 • 9 mins
Why does a perfectly steady heartbeat actually serve as a warning sign you should not ignore? If your heart is a drummer, why is a little bit of "bad timing" a good thing? How can your smartwatch tell you are stressed before you even feel it? Why does splashing cold water on your face trigger an ancient, "hidden" survival reflex? Why did Neil Armstrong’s heart race to 150 BPM while his co-pilot stayed totally calm? ... we explain ...
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ELI5 Activity Trackers - how do they detect deep sleep?

January 23, 2026 • 8 mins
What are the creative ways people fool their FitBit? How does my activity tracker differentiate between steps and my tapping to a rhythm? Does it use GPS to calibrate? How does it know what stage of sleep I'm in?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Help more people fund us by leaving a rating on iTunes.   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community, and specifically the following reddit users whose questions and responses f...
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ELI5 Palladium - more valuable than gold?

January 16, 2026 • 8 mins
Why is a metal you’ve probably never heard of often worth more than pure gold? Why are thieves risking jail just to steal one specific part from a Toyota Prius? What is the "Palladium at Night" satellite doing that no government will admit to owning? How did Ford lose a billion dollars by trying to hoard this "ghost" metal? Could this strange metal be the secret to "cold fusion" and unlimited power? ... we explain like I'm five T...
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ELI5 Jevons Paradox – why adding more lanes to a highway can make it worse?

January 9, 2026 • 8 mins
Why does adding more lanes to a highway actually make traffic jams get even worse? How did the machine meant to end slavery accidentally make it ten times more profitable? Why did the invention of the ATM lead to more bank tellers instead of replacing them? Is your "eco-friendly" car actually causing you to burn more fuel than your old one? Why does being the most efficient worker in the office always result in being given more wor...
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ELI5 Titanium - why is it the metal most used in surgeries?

January 2, 2026 • 8 mins
Why did the CIA secretly buy Soviet metal to build the very plane designed to spy on them? How does a metal named after Greek Titans manage to fuse physically with living human bone? If titanium is the ninth-most abundant element on Earth, why is it still so expensive to produce? And how did common chlorinated tap water nearly destroy the manufacturing of the world’s fastest titanium jet? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to...
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ELI5 Xmas - how and why NORAD tracks Santa (part 2)?

December 20, 2025 • 8 mins
Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christmas colors? Is it true that Coca-Cola popularized the modern look of Santa Claus? Why do most of our "traditional" Christmas songs, images and TV/movies come from the 1940s to the 1960s? Brian Earl from the Christmas Past podcast joins us to ELI5 a range of Xmas questions. ... and we explain lik...
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ELI5 Xmas - why some say Happy Christmas vs Merry Christmas (part 1)?

December 19, 2025 • 10 mins
Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christmas colors? Is it true that Coca-Cola popularized the modern look of Santa Claus? Why do most of our "traditional" Christmas songs, images and TV/movies come from the 1940s to the 1960s? Brian Earl from the Christmas Past podcast joins us to ELI5 a range of Xmas questions. ... and we explain lik...
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