99% Invisible

Every product has to be tested somehow, and sometimes that means finding increasingly creative ways to break it.

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If you watched Wheel of Fortune in the 1980s, you probably remember one prize more than all the others: the ceramic Dalmatian. For a brief moment, that prize—perhaps the ultimate useless object—became the mascot for one of America's most popular game shows, appearing on tens of millions of TV screens, night after night, all across the country. But…why? 

Game show historian Adam Nedeff and ceramic Dalmatian owner Terry Eldrige join Roman Mars to tell the story of why audiences loved that dog, and what the fascinating history of game shows—and game show prizes—tells us about the changing definition of the American dream.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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This week, two stories about the strange power of the 1-800 number.

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In 1888, Willard Bundy created the first employee "time clock" — essentially a souped-up grandfather clock that could, for the first time, produce an accurate record of when workers arrived and left. Though Bundy’s aim was simple, his invention soon sparked a change in American life far broader than he intended. Roman Mars and reporter Ellie Lightfoot trace how the time clock not only ignited a revolution in workplace efficiency and surveillance, but transformed our relationship to time itself.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome.

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Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei (co-creator of the NPR show, Throughline) has a simple question: why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm? It seems like everyone has one. Do they all have elbow issues? The answer is really the story of Allen Iverson, an underdog player who went from a prison cell to international fame in just a few years. And through the story of him and his sleeve, you can see the whole history of basketball’s relationship with race, with respectability politics, and who gets to look like what on the court.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai.

On his deathbed, President Chester Arthur ordered that all of his personal and professional papers be burned. Three barrels of documents went up in flames. But 23 letters survived, initialed only "J.I.S." 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. It’s the story of how a woman no one had ever heard of helped transform a president few remember, and in the process created the American government as we know it.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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In 1821, two Rhode Island brothers went looking for buyers for their woolen fabric, and stumbled into a lucrative, captive market: Southern slave plantations. 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. Along the way, they uncover how enslaved people shaped the very cloth used to control them, and how New England manufacturers convinced themselves they were the good guys.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device. The metal contraption transformed the way we measure feet forever, and more than a century after its invention…it has barely changed. Roman Mars and journalist Paul Lukas trace the life of the Brannock Device, from its role outfitting WWII sailors to its surprising endurance into the modern era, even as the entire world changed around it.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool — kids were building their own and buying them in record numbers. But the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity. Roman Mars and historian Jeff Chang trace how nunchucks went from ancient weapon to symbol of resistance — not only uniting Asian Americans in the fight for their own rights, but connecting them to every other group pushing back from the margins.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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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.

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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. Roman Mars and Annie Brown trace how a regional dairy campaign exploded into a national symbol — and how the “stranger danger” fears it stoked shaped American misconceptions about child safety that still echo today.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

Listen to Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts.

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In 1902, an American classic was born: the teddy bear. Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the toy became a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal. Jon Mooallem tells the story of the ill-fated billy possum, and how our fickle feelings about animals have shaped the history—and perhaps the future—of our relationship with the natural world.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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Before the Declaration of Independence was even a twinkle in the founding fathers' eyes, there was James Otis. Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-founding father and his inflammatory 1764 pamphlet. A story that is, in many ways, the story of the founding document of the United States of America.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

Jane Ruffino’s story, "Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible," appears in the May-June issue of Wired magazine.

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In this episode, Roman and historians Heather Ann Thompson and Elliot Williams tell the story of the sharpened screwdriver: the object at the heart of the 1984 Bernhard Goetz subway shooting. In a difficult moment in New York City, four Black teenagers were transformed in the public imagination into armed criminals. What follows is a gripping account of how misinformation takes hold, how fear shapes public opinion, and how one narrative can ripple outward – echoing through decades of similar cases that continue to unfold today.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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

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In this episode, Roman and historian Imani Perry follow the Webster Blue Back Speller from the early days of the United States, to the heart of Black intellectual life. Through the lives of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, Roman and Imani uncover how a single object became a gateway to literacy, self-determination, and an enduring debate about what education, citizenship, and freedom should mean in America.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Love it or hate it, one buzzing horn changed the sound of the World Cup forever.

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In 1861, one man and a “gas bag” filled with hydrogen sparked America's obsession with going higher, farther, into the unknown. In this episode, Roman and journalist Jack Hitt tell the story of Thaddeus Lowe — showman, scientist, and dreamer — whose balloon flight from Cincinnati went wildly off course and straight into the Civil War. Lowe pivoted to create the US military's first aerial reconnaissance unit, a precursor to the Air Force, and today his legacy spans generations— stretching all the way to the dark side of the moon.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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Behind every cheesy karaoke track was a surprisingly ambitious filmmaking experiment.

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What do Civil War pension files reveal about one of history's most successful slave rebellions? Historian Edda Fields-Black joins Roman to trace a story of fire, flight, and freedom — beginning on a South Carolina rice plantation in 1863, where a Union raid liberated over 700 people in a single night. By unearthing Black soldiers' testimonies buried in military pension applications, they resurrect not just the raid, but the lives and communities it transformed.

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Canada reshaped its music industry with a quirky radio rule that changed who got heard.

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In the early 20th century, nothing quite fit — fire hoses couldn't connect to one another, football teams played with different balls, traffic lights meant different things in different states. Then World War II exposed the deadly cost of incompatibility, and the US quietly imposed a single solution on production lines across the world: the 60-degree screw. Roman Mars and historian Daniel Immerwahr tell the story of a hidden industrial empire, built one standard at a time.

A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios.

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