99% invisible

Help Us Find the Ugliest City Flag

There sure has been a lot of discussion about flags lately. Flags that are appropriate to fly. Flags that need to be changed due to geopolitical shifts. Flags that represent pride. But most flags are actually horrible, from a design perspective. Specifically: Most city flags are essentially barf on fabric. Radio host Roman Mars is…

Tech News Alissa Walker Aug 31

In 1851, A Man Picked Two Unpickable Locks and Changed Security Forever

The pursuit of lock picking is as old as the lock, which is itself as old as civilization. But in the entire history of the world, there was only one brief moment, lasting about 70 years, where you could put something under lock and key—a chest, a safe, your home—and have complete, unwavering certainty that…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Apr 17

How the Quest for a Perfectly Rational Calendar Created a 13th Month

A month is hardly a unit of measurement. It can start on any day of the week and last anywhere from 28 to 31 days. Sometimes a month is four weeks long, sometimes five, sometimes six. You have to buy a new calendar with new dates every single year. It’s a strange design. The calendar…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Apr 14

Barbed Wire’s Dark, Deadly History

In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in the 1850s, he remarked that the plains looked like a sea of grasses that moved “in swells after a great storm.” Massive herds of buffalo wandered the plains. Cowboys shepherded cattle across…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Mar 25

The Creepy, Surreal Apocalypse of The Sims Online

A few months before the end of the world, everyone was saying their goodbyes. The world that was ending was The Sims Online, an online version of The Sims. Even though The Sims was one of the most popular computer games ever made, the massively-multiplayer online version did not do well. Despite rebranding the game…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Mar 5

How One Fed-Up Dude Fixed an Awful Highway Sign Himself

At some point in your life you’ve probably encountered a problem in the built world where the fix was obvious to you. Maybe a door that opened the wrong way, or poorly painted marker on the road. Mostly, when we see these things, we grumble on the inside, and then do nothing. But not Richard…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Feb 17

Why Penn Station Sucks

New Yorkers are known to disagree about a lot of things. Who’s got the best pizza? What’s the fastest subway route? Yankees or Mets? But all 8.5 million New Yorkers are likely to agree on one thing: Penn Station sucks. There is nothing joyful about Penn Station. It is windowless, airless, and crowded. 650,000 people…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Jan 15

Before the Hashtag, There Was the Octothorpe

If you want to follow conversation threads relating to this show on social media—whether Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, Tumblr—you know to look for the hashtag: #99pi. In our current digital age, the hashtag identifies movements, events, happenings, brands—topics of all kinds. The “#” didn’t always have this meaning, though. It’s had a few different lives.…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Dec 18

The Factories That Churn Out America’s Most Iconic Trophies

There’s a little trophy shop called Aardvark Laser Engraving down the street from our office in Oakland. It’s small but bustling, and its windows are stuffed to the brim with awards made of all kinds of materials and in any shape you can imagine: chalices, orbs, golfers, gavels, apples, and plaques. Plenty of plaques. They…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Dec 4

The Problem With the Chair

“A Chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” — Mies van der Rohe. Van der Rohe, as with Eames, Gehry, Hadid, Libeskind, Corbusier, and Breuer: if they’ve designed a big building, chances are they’ve designed a thing on which to sit. The chair presents an interesting design challenge, because it is an…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Nov 5

Why We Still Haven’t Killed Off the High Heel

As a fashion object and symbol, the high heel shoe is weighted with meaning. It’s also weighted with the wearer’s entire body weight. The stiletto might be one of the only designs that is physically painful but has somehow has persisted for centuries. At their origins, high heeled shoes were originally worn by men. As…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Oct 15

Why the City of Oakland Finally Legalized Pinball Machines

Everyone has tried it at some point. The authorities started turning a blind eye years ago, but it wasn’t officially legalized until the summer of 2014. Finally, after more than 80 years of illegitimacy, the City of Oakland has legalized…pinball machines. https://soundcloud.com/roman-mars/99-… Pinball’s design history can help explain why it was illegal for so long.…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Oct 9

This Mysterious NYC Castle Was Actually America’s First Cancer Hospital

On the southwest corner of Central Park West and 106th Street in New York City, there’s an enormous castle. It takes up the whole east end of the block, with its red brick cylindrical turrets topped with gleaming silver cones. The stained glass windows and intricate stonework make the building look like something out of…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Sep 19

The Stubborn “Nail Houses” That Refuse to Get Demolished

In 1914, the government of New York City took ownership of a Manhattan apartment building belonging to one David Hess.The city used a legal power called eminent domain, allowing governments to seize private property for public use—in this case they wanted to expand the subway system. Hess fought them and lost, and when all was…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Sep 5

The City Pipes and Stairways That Get Left Behind and Lead to Nowhere

Cities, like living things, evolve slowly over time. Buildings and structures get added and renovated and removed, and in this process, bits and pieces that get left behind. Vestiges. Just as humans have tailbones and whales have pelvic bones, cities have doors that open into a limb-breaking drop, segments of fences that anyone can walk…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Insvisible Aug 27

The Secret Ways Airports Tell Us Where to Go

As humans have developed cities and built environments, we have also needed to develop ways to find our way through them. Signage goes back at least as far as the Roman Empire where they constructed “milestones” along their roadways. A Roman milestone in modern-day Portugal. Credit: Julia Reis. Today, signage and other cues to help…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Aug 6

The Weird, Eerie World of China’s Knockoff Cities

The best knock-offs in the world are in China. There are plenty of fake designer handbags and Rolexes but China’s knock-offs go way beyond fashion. There are knock-off Apple stores that look so much like the real thing, some employees believe they are working in real Apple stores. And then there are entire knock-off cities.…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Jul 30

The Secret History of Emergency Exits

When designing a commercial structure, there is one safety componentthat must be designed right into the building from the start: egress. “Egress” refers to an entire exit system from a building: stairs, corridors, and evacuation routes outside the building. Each state’s building code specifies a certain number of means of egress, depending on the size…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Jul 10

A Rare Look at the Graffiti-Covered History of NYC’s Subway

In just about every movie set in New York City in the 1970s and 80s there’s an establishing shot with a graffiti-covered subway. Saturday Night Fever That graffiti was like illegible technicolor hieroglyphics—a language that even most New Yorkers couldn’t read. It gave you a sense that the subways controlled by wild gangs of teenagers.…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Jun 5

The Secret Solid Marble Bathtubs in the US Senate’s Boiler Room

In 1869, the bathtubs in the basement of the US Capitol building looked something like the painting below. This post was originally published on 99% Invisible’s blog on Feb 26, 2012. Since then, reporter Andrea Seabrook has left NPR for DecodeDC and Scripps. Below: The Bather: 1869, by Peter Waddell. “The Senate bathing facility, pictured…

Tech News Roman Mars - 99% Invisible Apr 29

99% invisible

Help Us Find the Ugliest City Flag

In 1851, A Man Picked Two Unpickable Locks and Changed Security Forever

How the Quest for a Perfectly Rational Calendar Created a 13th Month

Barbed Wire’s Dark, Deadly History

The Creepy, Surreal Apocalypse of The Sims Online

How One Fed-Up Dude Fixed an Awful Highway Sign Himself

Why Penn Station Sucks

Before the Hashtag, There Was the Octothorpe

The Factories That Churn Out America’s Most Iconic Trophies

The Problem With the Chair

Why We Still Haven’t Killed Off the High Heel

Why the City of Oakland Finally Legalized Pinball Machines

This Mysterious NYC Castle Was Actually America’s First Cancer Hospital

The Stubborn “Nail Houses” That Refuse to Get Demolished

The City Pipes and Stairways That Get Left Behind and Lead to Nowhere

The Secret Ways Airports Tell Us Where to Go

The Weird, Eerie World of China’s Knockoff Cities

The Secret History of Emergency Exits

A Rare Look at the Graffiti-Covered History of NYC’s Subway

The Secret Solid Marble Bathtubs in the US Senate’s Boiler Room

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 Is Doing What You Hoped

Wearables Are Getting Very Messy

Trump Wants to Start Privatizing TSA in Latest Budget Proposal

Lost Warship From Battle of Copenhagen Found After 225 Years

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

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