Decoder Ring
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
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1
How to Hunt a Mammoth, and Other Experiments in...
Experimental archaeology is solving ancient mysteries that digging into dirt never could.
52 min
2
The Bad-Mouthing of British Teeth
46 min
3
Mailbag: Drug Names, Cow Abductions, and the “A...
Why aliens might take an interest in livestock, how pharmaceuticals get such wacky names, and more listener questions.
43 min
4
Introducing The Sporkful | Is Your Recipe Lying...
Why recipes are not always as quick and easy as they seem.
29 min
5
The White Noise Boom
There’s more white noise available than any one person could possibly need. And yet, more keeps coming.
48 min
6
The Boston Cinematic Universe
43 min
7
The Laff Box (Encore)
What happened to the laugh track?
31 min
8
The Glaring Problem with Headlights
Why car headlights have gotten so bright—and why they’re likely to stay that way.
39 min
9
Off-the-Wall Stories of Off-Label Use
47 min
10
How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul
The self-help book series’s strange journey from best-seller to meme stock.
44 min
11
Spring Break Forever
How spring break became the party that never ends.
43 min
12
How Books About Things That Changed the World… ...
Whether it’s cod, kudzu, or nutmeg, authors love to claim their subjects shaped history. Did they really?
51 min
13
Truck Nutz (Encore)
Why would someone dangle plastic testicles from their bumper?
34 min
14
Jerry Lewis’ Lost Holocaust Clown Movie
How "The Day The Clown Cried" became notorious—and notoriously impossible to see.
52 min
15
The Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant Win
Ian Coss shares how scratch-off tickets became a part of American life.
33 min
16
Jump, Jive and Fail: The ’90s Swing Craze
Why the swing revival sizzled and then fizzled almost as quickly as it started.
59 min
17
I am Tupperware, I Contain Multitudes
The storage container, a stealthy star of the modern home, started with Tupperware.
39 min
18
Introducing Planet Money: Can Money Buy Happiness?
Does more money mean fewer problems?
30 min
19
Mailbag: Fruit Snacks, Waterbeds, and Lobster T...
How fruity candy got a “healthful” rebrand, the rise and fall of the softest (and sexiest) bed, and more listener questions.
45 min
20
Mystery of the Mullet (Encore)
The history of the mullet is weirder than you think.
46 min
21
Reconsidering One of the “Worst” TV Shows of Al...
In 1980, “Pink Lady and Jeff” flopped spectacularly—but was it really that bad?
57 min
22
A Feel-Good Story About the End of the World
NASA’s bold mission to save Earth from a killer asteroid.
36 min
23
The Wrongest Bird in Movie History
The “Pygmy Nuthatch” in Charlie’s Angels has bedeviled birders for the last 25 years.
44 min
24
Selling Out (Encore)
How we all became sellouts.
47 min
25
Calling Dick Tracy! It’s Warren Beatty Again
Why is Oscar-winner Warren Beatty still playing comic book detective Dick Tracy, 30 years later?
42 min