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99% Invisible: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Roman Mars
Design is everywhere in our lives, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. 99% Invisible is a weekly exploration of the process and power of design and architecture. From award winning producer Roman Mars.
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- 2 days ago35 min
100 Objects #18: Hair Relaxer
Somewhere between 85 to 95 percent of Black women in the United States have used a chemical hair relaxer at least once in their lifetime. It is a ubiquitous American product with a complicated legacy: it built Black wealth and opened economic doors, but also taught generations to see their hair as a problem to be solved. And now research is revealing a physical cost. Roman Mars and producer Priscilla Alabi explore how a single product became a mirror for all of America's contradictions.A History of the United States in 100 Objects is a production of 99% Invisible and BBC Studios. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
- 5 days ago37 min
Doves Type
A legendary typeface, a spectacular friendship breakup, and one extremely committed act of revenge. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
- 1 weeks agonarrative41 min6-min read
100 Objects #17: M43 Field Jacket
The M43 field jacket, born from scientific rigor and democratic ideals, revolutionized military clothing and reshaped global fashion, despite bureaucratic resistance, becoming a ubiquitous civilian staple divorced from its wartime origins.
- 1 weeks agonarrative38 min6-min read
Kobuk the Destroyer
The episode explores the hidden world of test engineering, revealing how products, infrastructure, and technologies are rigorously tested to withstand real-world conditions — from bears destroying canisters to chickens shot into jet engines — and argues that understanding these tests is essential as we increasingly live inside real-time experiments like AI and self-driving cars.
- 2 weeks agonarrative46 min6-min read
100 Objects #16: Wheel of Fortune Dalmatian
The Wheel of Fortune ceramic Dalmatian, a seemingly useless prize from the 1980s, became an unexpected cultural icon and a symbol of shifting American values around wealth, merit, and aspiration. Though it served no practical function, its emotional resonance reveals how game shows have long mirrored the evolving definition of the American dream.
- 2 weeks agonarrative43 min5-min read
1-800-PODCAST
The 800 number, introduced by AT&T in the 1960s as Inward Wide Area Telephone Service (INWATS), revolutionized American consumer culture by enabling toll-free long-distance calling, laying the foundation for the 24/7 retail economy. Though now overshadowed by digital platforms, it remains a symbol of accessibility, trust, and the democratization of commerce.
- 3 weeks agonarrative37 min4-min read
100 Objects #15: Bundy Clock
The Bundy clock, invented by Willard Bundy in 1888, revolutionized workplace timekeeping and sparked a broader cultural shift toward mechanized efficiency, surveillance, and moral judgment around punctuality. What began as a solution to unreliable factory timekeeping evolved into a tool of industrial control, reshaping American labor and self-discipline.
- 3 weeks agonarrative28 min5-min read
Spolia
The episode explores how communities and civilizations repurpose materials from the past to build anew, focusing on Granby in South Liverpool and ancient Rome as dual case studies in architectural reuse and cultural memory. It argues that what is deemed 'valueless' by authorities often holds deep historical, emotional, and practical worth.
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