99% Invisible

From military parades to smoky clubs, one invention’s wild journey reveals how an instrument can become a symbol of rebellion and reinvention.

Transcribed - Published: 16 December 2025

A single diagonal step on a map sparks a legal war with huge consequences.

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2025

How Jane Jacob's urbanism dreams came to life on the most beloved kids' TV block.

Transcribed - Published: 2 December 2025

This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to Article Two, which establishes the executive branch, alongside former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2025

Writer Caroline Fraser argues a chilling link between industrial poison, deadly design, and a generation of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest.

Transcribed - Published: 25 November 2025

People once dreamed of sidewalks that could whisk them across cities. Somehow, that dream ended up at the airport.

Transcribed - Published: 18 November 2025

Comedy writer Elliott Kalan (The Daily Show, The Flop House, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and co-host of the 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker) spills the secrets of how he grows jokes from tiny ideas into full-blown laughs.

Transcribed - Published: 11 November 2025

From buckskin breeches to Patagonia vests, uncover how America’s obsession with ruggedness and war shaped the clothes we wear every day.

Transcribed - Published: 4 November 2025

This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One, Sections 8 through 10, which spells out what Congress can and cannot do. Then, Senator Elizabeth Warren joins to talk about Congress’s “power of the purse."

Transcribed - Published: 31 October 2025

What if all those dropped calls, endless wait times and dead end hotlines every time you try to reach customer service weren’t accidents but part of the plan?

Transcribed - Published: 28 October 2025

One SEGA employee chronicles the company’s struggles the only way he knows how: by turning it into a game.

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2025

From blocky biomes to breathtaking open worlds, video games are teaching us new ways to see, build, and even save nature.

Transcribed - Published: 21 October 2025

Back in the 90s, artists turned video games into movie sets, and their wildest ideas are finally hitting documentaries.

Transcribed - Published: 17 October 2025

Before Fortnite and Call of Duty ruled the scene, the US Army quietly shaped the early 2000s with a wildly popular, free shooter designed to excite young people about enlisting.

Transcribed - Published: 14 October 2025

From airplanes to Pac-Man to the battlefield, the joystick has quietly shaped the way humans connect with machines.

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2025

Step back into the ’90s, when dunks broke backboards, catchphrases caught fire, and one arcade game turned every kid into an NBA superstar.

Transcribed - Published: 7 October 2025

In anticipation of the release of Hidden Levels, Roman and Ben join Heather Anne Campbell (Rick and Morty) and Matt Apodaca of Get Played to talk controllers, culture, and why video games might just be running the world.

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2025

Like a shadow epilogue to The Power Broker, this story plunges into the chaos of 1970s New York where debt, unions, and one brutal headline nearly broke the city.

Transcribed - Published: 30 September 2025

This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One with Rep. Sharice Davids.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2025

In a Colorado meatpacking town, refugees fleeing persecution find themselves in some of the most dangerous jobs in America.

Transcribed - Published: 23 September 2025

Mary Roach dives into the strange, funny, and unsettling world of designing new body parts, from pig hearts to prosthetic feet, revealing just how messy replacing ourselves can be.

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2025

Roman and Kurt describe Oakland as it is.

Transcribed - Published: 9 September 2025

For 99PI’s 15th anniversary, Roman sits in the hot seat to answer 15 eclectic questions, touching on everything from his dream merch to the one object he's always wanted to cover on the show.

Transcribed - Published: 2 September 2025

A billionaire family’s private bridge empire shaped Detroit for decades, sparking battles over power, neighborhoods, and the future of an international crossing.

Transcribed - Published: 26 August 2025

Vintage music barely had any bass. Today’s hits are all about the low end. What changed?

Transcribed - Published: 19 August 2025

Aimee Semple McPherson built America’s first megachurch, blended showbiz with salvation, and vanished in a scandal that captivated the nation.

Transcribed - Published: 12 August 2025

The fight over weeding books from the library.

Transcribed - Published: 5 August 2025

Old ideas about air and disease were wrong on the science, but looking to the past might actually help us design healthier buildings today.

Transcribed - Published: 29 July 2025

This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss the Preamble, alongside Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Transcribed - Published: 25 July 2025

How a radio show born at a small college station in DC and dedicated to smooth, romantic love songs transformed black radio and reshaped love lives across the country.

Transcribed - Published: 22 July 2025

A rock icon sets out to save music with a strange yellow gadget that almost no one understood.

Transcribed - Published: 15 July 2025

In this bonus episode, an offbeat walking tour through San Francisco uncovers hidden rooftop parks, a leaning skyscraper scandal, a vanished statue, and the graceful brilliance of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Transcribed - Published: 11 July 2025

How did millions of Americans end up living in neighborhoods where finding fresh food is harder than ever, and why is the problem by design, not accident?

Transcribed - Published: 8 July 2025

An immigration reporter’s chance encounter in the desert reveals how borders shape our actions, our beliefs, and the way we see the world around us.

Transcribed - Published: 1 July 2025

A century-old shipwreck, a sea of glass, and the lifeboats that were never meant to save you.

Transcribed - Published: 24 June 2025

The Red, Black, and Green flag was invented to unite Black people all over the world living under racial repression.

Transcribed - Published: 17 June 2025

Announcing The 99% Invisible Breakdown: The Constitution and the return of What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law.

Transcribed - Published: 10 June 2025

A debilitating injury forces 99PI's Kurt Kohlstedt to confront new everyday challenges and seek out accessible design solutions for one-handed living.

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2025

Why is it so hard to build anything in America?

Transcribed - Published: 27 May 2025

A dusty surveillance file uncovers the story of love, betrayal, and the fight for Puerto Rico’s freedom.

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2025

Shortwave radio opened a portal to the world—then became a weapon in a high-stakes war of propaganda and power.

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2025

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?

Published: 6 May 2025

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?

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 29 April 2025

A goofy Shakira remix, a nervy penalty kick, and 60,000 fans turning banter into legend—welcome to the world of football chants.

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2025

How did our tax system become so complicated?

Transcribed - Published: 15 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2025

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.

Transcribed - Published: 4 April 2025

In 1991, one of the strangest buildings in America opened — a 32-storey, stainless steel pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2025

A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2025