Every Little Thing

Spotify has ended our show. Thank you to everyone who listened, who left messages, who agreed to be interviewed, who shared their stories and their time. We loved making Every Little Thing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2022

Has ELT ever been stumped? Producer Phoebe Flanigan tells us about the one that (almost) got away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2022

Caller Janice accidentally flushed a favorite earring down the toilet and she wants to know where it ended up. Sewer experts Ted Gogol and Bruce Todd take us on a journey down the pipes, and historian Andrew Wallace Hadrill digs up a tale about the ancient jewelry that shared a similar fate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 11 October 2022

This week we’re pulling on an old favorite, one leg at a time: When did pants become a thing? Clothing researcher Ulrike “Rike” Beck and historian Adrienne Mayor unravel how this relatively recent invention turned the clothing world upside down. With special guest Emily Spivack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2022

Listener Ben couldn’t stand baby talk — until he had a baby of his own. Now he can’t stop talking in a cutesy wootsy voice. Why did he go googoo for his baby, and is this something people do all over the world? Baby talk researcher Cody Moser breaks it down, and ecologist Mirjam Knörnschild tells us about another animal that talks to its young in a special widdle way. An earlier version of this episode misidentified one of the languages spoken. We've corrected the error. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2022

This week, we’re diving into a favorite episode. Caller Liana wants to know: How did goldfish come to dominate our fish bowls and pet stores? Pet historian Kasey Grier goes deep into the history of America’s favorite finned pet. Plus, goldfish freak Dave Mandley introduces us to the fanciest fish money can buy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 19 September 2022

Today’s episode comes from our friends at How to Save a Planet. They’re answering a question lots of ELT listeners have asked: What’s the deal with lawns? HTSAP’s Daniel Ackerman talks to lawn expert Peter Groffman, who shares some surprising findings from his 20 years studying lawns. Plus, some tips for creating a climate-friendly yard. To hear more climate-change stories that inspire, check out How to Save a Planet on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2022

Caller Clay has a problem: when she hears bad news, she can’t help but smile. What’s causing Clay’s chagrined grin, and can she learn to tame it? Social psychologist Oriana Aragon tells us why Clay’s face might not mesh with her feelings, and professional smile-stifler Jacques Bailly spells out how he keeps a straight face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 5 September 2022

Caller Christy needs to know if she’s lying to her kid. She’s been reading a children’s book about chameleons to her daughter, and she’s wondering if it’s accurate. Chameleon expert Russell Ligon gives us the real story on chameleons and color change. Plus, biologist and head of Skype a Scientist Sarah McAnulty tips us off about nature’s top doyens of disguise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 29 August 2022

A listener wants to know: is it time to expunge the sponge? We soak up some food science knowledge from experts Ian Shaw, Kathryn Boor and Renée Goodrich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 22 August 2022

Caller Kelli has an issue: whenever she daydreams about her crush, she sneezes. Kelli wants to know why her steamy thoughts trigger projectile snots, and whether other people fanta-sneeze. We dig around for answers with ear, nose and throat surgeon Mahmood Bhutta and neuroscientist and daydreaming expert Chantel Prat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 15 August 2022

We asked you for stories about your most extreme animal run-ins, and we got a flock of them. From a tangled antlers conundrum, to a toothy underwater panic, and a life-altering encounter with jellyfish, your animal stories made us laugh, sweat and want to stay on the boat. Thanks to Cory, Sara, Geoff and everyone who called in with a wild animal tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 8 August 2022

This week, we’re revisiting caller Sadera’s burning question: When there’s a wildfire, how do we figure out what caused it? Fire investigator Paul Steensland tells ELT what he searches for in the burnt landscape, and the clues that can lead him to the cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 1 August 2022

This week, a tangled tale from the archives. Kate, a “hair is life” kind of person, asks about the invention that keeps her hair out of her face. Hair stylist and archaeologist Janet Stephens takes us into the history of hair care, and scrunchie queen Rommy Revson tells the story of an invention that changed up-do’s forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 25 July 2022

This week, we’re resurfacing a favorite episode. Caller Jessica wants to know what lives under our city streets. Urban evolutionary biologist and rat expert Jason Munshi-South takes us into the subways and sewer systems of NYC to meet the creatures who live there. Plus, animal behavioral scientist Jennifer Verdolin delivers the 411 on another underground underdog: prairie dogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 18 July 2022

This week, we’re revisiting a favorite episode. Caller Elle wants to know: how did we decide that pink is for girls and blue is for boys? Textiles and clothing historian Jo Paoletti and cultural historian of medicine, gender and the body Hanne Blank tell us how pink and blue got gender-coded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 11 July 2022

Caller Lindsay wants to know: Why the flock do pigeons seem to prefer grimy city streets over picture-perfect pastures and wide open spaces? Urban wildlife researcher and pigeon stalker Elizabeth Carlen helps us get to the bottom of this perplexing paradox. Turns out, we’re partly to blame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 4 July 2022

Caller Sarah had a question about the ghosts of birth control past. Lawyer-turned-historian Elizabeth Koester tells us a haunting tale about the Canadian woman who was arrested for talking about contraception and the man who wanted to see her put on trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 27 June 2022

We asked you to share your most cherished voicemails, and you flooded the ELT hotline with hilarious and heartfelt messages. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories. And if you have a voicemail you can’t delete, it’s not too late to call and tell us about it. Call 833-RING-ELT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2022

The Westminster Kennel Club dog show is approaching and we dug up one of our favorite episodes to celebrate. Terriers have won Best in Show at Westminster 48 times. Dachshunds? Never. Listener Yona wants to know why terriers triumph and dachshunds never get their due. Dog show judge Laurie Williams and dachshund-diehard Kim McCalmont take us behind the scenes of the dog show world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 13 June 2022

We're working on an upcoming show about animal encounters, and we want to hear yours. Have you had a memorable, up-close-and-personal experience with a wild animal? Did you gain new respect for snapping turtles after one fell into your canoe? Did you visit the latrine on your last camping trip and find yourself asshole to eyeball with an assertive porcupine? Did you strike up an unlikely friendship with a family of rats that lives in your garage? We want to hear about it. Call us: 833-RING-ELT, or send a voice memo to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 8 June 2022

This week’s episode comes from our friends at Not Past It, who uncovered a document about a secret medical conference in the 1950s that set the stage for changing abortion laws in the U.S. For more stories from the past that shape our world today, check out the show on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 6 June 2022

Listener Anna has spotted a problem: ladybugs are invading her home. Why? Beetle researcher and curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Ainsley Seago gives us an answer, and pulls back the cute polka-dotted curtain on these vicious little predators. Plus, do wolves really howl at the moon? Wolf biologist Tom Gable takes us deep into the woods to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2022

When the president flies overseas, who picks him up at the airport? Listener Letitia wants to know if the presidential motorcade that whips around Washington, D.C. is the same one that’s used abroad. Former Secret Service agent Christopher Albanese shares the limo-gistics of how the big boss rolls around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 23 May 2022

Listener Pedro wants to know: are real-life roadrunners as fast as their cartoon counterparts? Roadrunner researcher Tina Guo gets us up to speed on this avian escape artist and the special feet-ure that makes these birds hard to track. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 May 2022

Listener Silas asks: why do courtroom sketch artists exist? Why not photograph trials instead? Media professor Thomas Doherty tells us about the trial that made a case for sketch artists, and veteran courtroom artist Christine Cornell sketches out what it’s like to do this job. Archival audio via CriticalPast, British Pathé and FOX MOVIETONE NEWS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 9 May 2022

Speaking style is just one part of the news anchor archetype. Sia Nyorkor, a TV news anchor and reporter in Cleveland, talks about the pressure anchors feel to look a certain way — especially when it comes to their hair. Duke professor Ashleigh Shelby Rosette has studied attitudes towards hair in the workplace and gives us the wide shot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2022

Caller Mallory wants to know: why do all news anchors sound the same? ELT breaks down anchor voice with linguists Dennis Preston and Valerie Fridland. We also talk with reporter Deion Broxton about his struggle to develop his news voice, and how accent bias makes it harder for some people to break into the news business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2022

This week we revisit a dreamy episode. Listener Natalie wants to know: Can you change something in your waking life by dreaming about it? ELT talks to dream guest Daniel Erlacher to find out how we can optimize our snooze time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2022

In honor of this week’s festivities, we’re taking a trip back to black hole country. Listener Kyle wants to know: are black holes really holes? Professor of physics at the University of Southern California Clifford Johnson has answers that will loosen your third eye and blaze up your mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 18 April 2022

When scuba divers go deep, it can take a full day to resurface. Caller Daniela wants to know: how do they drink, eat and excrete while underwater? Fish biologist Richard Pyle gives us the lowdown on deep diving. Plus, saturation diver Michael Meusel lives in an underwater chamber for a month at a time for his job. He tells us about the challenges of deep sea work, like hammering underwater and breathing helium-laced air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2022

Listener Brittany has a problem. No matter where she goes, strangers open up to her. She can’t get through the grocery store without a heart-to-heart. ELT consults a panel of experts to understand why this happens to Brittany, and what she can do about it. Pixar character designer Deana Marsiglese performs a facial analysis; celebrity presentation coach Glenn Kinsey offers repulsive communication techniques; and herpetologist Dusty Rhoads has an extreme solution guaranteed to stop a conversation short. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 4 April 2022

Listener Winter wants to know why her cat Creepy Bones likes to knock things over. Jackson Galaxy, cat behavior expert and host of the TV show “My Cat From Hell,” decodes this common cat activity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2022

How do we track down the perfect guest? How do we live with our terrible puns? What makes a good question? We’re answering every little question you have about Every Little Thing. Episodes we reference: How To Be Less Clumsy Fruit Flies: Seriously, Where Do They Come From? Space Trash: Is It Coming For Us? How a Superbowl Ref Works the Game Auctioneers: Why Do They Talk Like That? Tooth Worms and Tooth Pullers: Dentistry's Rotten History F*ck Yeah: Can Cursing Make You Stronger? How Did Dogs Land in Our Laps? Cheese: Why Do We Worship Rotten Milk? A NSFW History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 March 2022

Do you have a voicemail you just can’t delete? Maybe it’s from your ex, or it’s a butt dial from your best friend that makes you cry-laugh every time you hear it. Maybe it’s a message your mom left when you went into labor. Maybe it’s a message you listen to when you need a pick-me-up, or when you want to remember the person who left it, or when you just want to fuel your rage. No judgment! If you have a voicemail you can’t get rid, we want to hear about it. Call and leave us a message: 833-RING-ELT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 18 March 2022

Listener Garrett wants to know how Elvis impersonators and Las Vegas weddings tied the knot. Las Vegas-torian Larry Gragg tells us how Vegas became a wedding hot spot, and how Elvis rose to royalty in Sin City. The singer and the city seemed like a match made in heaven. Plus, Garrett and Swiggs say “I mew” with help from Mobile Minister Roland August. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 14 March 2022

This week, we’re revisiting a favorite episode. From “Crawfishin’ for a Compliment” to “Gouda Gouda Two Shoes,” how do nail polish colors get their quippy names? ELT digs into this FAQ with fashion historian Suzanne Shapiro and OPI co-founder Suzi Weiss-Fischmann. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 7 March 2022

The images NASA publishes of outer space seem too good to be true – are they? Joe DePasquale, the star-tist who prepares the cosmos for its close-ups, paints us a picture of how those images are made. Plus, NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller describes NASA’s brand new eye-in-the-sky. She says it’s about to blow our earthly little minds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2022

This week, we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes. Listeners Marmie and Ryan want to know — how many times should you shuffle a deck of playing cards? Marmie says three, but Ryan says four or more. The couple places their bets and goes all in with applied mathematician Steven Strogatz and a full house of card-world VIPs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 February 2022

We asked for your Valentine’s Day fail tales, and our heart-shaped voicemail box is full. From a poisoning to a wax-museum meltdown, you exposed Valentine's Day for the helliday it is. Thanks to callers Candace, Sam, Reina, Lauren, Ronni and everyone who helped us give Valentine's Day a big F you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2022

Get ready for football season with a behind-the-scenes peep at what it's like to be a professional ref. While most fans focus on the players, listener Erika wants to know about the other people on the field – the officials. How do referees get the job? What’s it like to be at the center of the action? And what does it take to make it to the Super Bowl? Retired NFL official and Coordinator of Football Officials at SIAC Tom Symonette fields some questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 7 February 2022

Listener Alberto wants to know how handshakes became the go-to greeting in many parts of the world, and why extended shakes often take center stage when world leaders meet. Paleoanthropologist and handshake expert Ella Al-Shamahi hands us some answers, and deconstructs a handshake so bad it’ll leave you shook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2022

Today, we’re rerunning one of our favorite episodes. Listener Gab is clumsy: white sweaters, stemmed wine glasses and sharp edges are off the table. Can Gab learn to be less clumsy? Professional steady-hand Bryan Berg and kinesiologist Priscila Tamplain share tips for foiling fumbles. Special thanks to Carl Gabbard and Michael Wade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 24 January 2022

To honor this Hallmark helliday, we want your stories of Valentine’s Day fails. Did you suffer third-degree burns from your vanilla-scented candle tower? Or discover your rose petal allergy… the hard way? Maybe you found out your friend with benefits was actually your friend with bedbugs? Call us with your best bad Valentine’s Day story: 833 RING ELT, or send a voice memo to [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 January 2022

Today’s episode comes from our friends at the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz. They investigated the Netflix “ta-dum” – the sound effect that rings out when you queue up a Netflix show. It’s so iconic you probably can hear it in your head, but it almost sounded very, very different (think bleating goats). Find more episodes from Twenty Thousand Hertz here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 17 January 2022

During a late-night internet search, caller Brenna stumbled across an ancient super-sized snake. It got her wondering: why doesn’t it slither among us today? Where’d it go? Snake hiss-perer Jason Head tells us about the life and times of Titanoboa, the biggest snake ever found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 January 2022

A New Year’s resolution: Last year, hundreds of you submitted your mortifying tales. This week, we announce the winner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 3 January 2022

We’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes this week. A few years ago, listener Annie asked ELT to settle a longstanding family debate: exactly how old is Winnie-the-Pooh? To hunt down an answer, we consult with professional age-guesser Ben Ramey, bear biologist Rae Wynn-Grant, and Sarah Shea, a professor who has studied this question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 27 December 2021

Listener Taylor is back with a question about dining on ancient finds. Mary Lee Guthrie tells us about the 1980s dinner party that served up Ice-Age-era meat. Special thanks to Dale Guthrie, Eirik Granqvist, Julie Meachen, and Grant Zazula. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 20 December 2021

After unearthing a 10-year-old bottle of maple syrup in his pantry, listener Taylor wants to know: What sorts of ancient foods do archaeologists find? Pothead and biomolecular archaeologist Julie Dunne cracks the case on ancient diets and tells us how we know what people ate thousands of years ago. Warning: the answers are NSFL (not safe for lunch). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 13 December 2021