The Problem With Football Helmets
Oct 13, 2026
Football helmets can prevent devastating injuries, but they may also help make an inherently violent game feel safer than it really is.
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. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.
PodSkip has analyzed 43 episodes of 99% Invisible, averaging 4.6 ads per episode (9% of runtime).
Episode
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(Not Just) Another Brick in the Wall
Oct 06, 2026
A closer look at the messy, beautiful bricks hiding across Chicago.
End credits
100 Objects #20: AA Sobriety Chip
Oct 02, 2026
Imbued in the Alcoholics Anonymous sobriety chip is a hidden history of America’s relationship to gender, religion, and morality.
Huntington Bank ad, DuPixin/EOE drug ad
Tootle of a Devilish Song
Sep 29, 2026
How a Swiss mountain call crossed the Atlantic and helped define the sound of country music.
DuPixent EOE medication ad, SiriusXM subscription promo
100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 Series
Sep 25, 2026
Former MythBuster Adam Savage joins Roman Mars to explore the history of the 500 Series Telephone and what we lost when we eventually decided to leave it behind.
Ad - Anthropic/Claude, End of show credits
The Rocky Statue
Sep 22, 2026
How a movie prop became one of Philadelphia’s most beloved monuments, and sparked a decades-long fight over where it belonged.
End credits
100 Objects #18: Hair Relaxer
Sep 18, 2026
How a single product—the hair relaxer—became a mirror for all of America's contradictions.
Dell Pro ad, California Closets ad
Doves Type
Sep 15, 2026
A legendary typeface, a spectacular friendship breakup, and one extremely committed act of revenge.
End credits
100 Objects #17: M43 Field Jacket
Sep 11, 2026
How should the military outfit its soldiers to make them as safe and effective as possible?
AT&T Business ad, Indeed sponsored jobs ad
Kobuk the Destroyer
Sep 08, 2026
Every product has to be tested somehow, and sometimes that means finding increasingly creative ways to break it.
LifeLock identity theft, Prenovo body scan ad
100 Objects #16: Wheel of Fortune Dalmatian
Sep 04, 2026
How the ceramic Dalmatian became the mascot for one of America's most popular game shows.
Ad - Anthropic/Claude, End credits
1-800-PODCAST
Sep 01, 2026
This week, two stories about the strange power of the 1-800 number.
US Marines ad, Ad - McDonald's Texas meal
100 Objects #15: Bundy Clock
Aug 28, 2026
How the time clock not only ignited a revolution in workplace efficiency and surveillance, but transformed our relationship to time itself.
Chase/Marines ads, Claude.ai sponsor read
Spolia
Aug 25, 2026
Spolia, from a Liverpool neighborhood to ancient Rome.
Dell Pro laptop ad, T-Mobile/carrier fine print
100 Objects #14: Basketball Sleeve
Aug 21, 2026
Producer and reporter Ramtin Arablouei has a simple question: Why are so many NBA players wearing a compression sleeve on their arm?
Empower financial app ad, Progressive auto insurance ad
The Bone Wars
Aug 18, 2026
Two rival paleontologists turn a hunt for dinosaur bones into an all-out scientific war.
Ad: National Geographic Lion + Indeed, Claude.ai sponsor read
100 Objects #13: The Sand Letters
Aug 14, 2026
Comedian Elliott Kalan joins Roman Mars to tell the story of how a politician who owed so much to a corrupt government system became the one to dismantle it, thanks to one woman: Julia Isabella Sand.
Ad - Anthropic/Claude, End credits + Ad - Anthropic/Claude
Bamboo Is Innocent
Aug 11, 2026
A devastating fire put one of Hong Kong's oldest building traditions on trial, but the real story runs much deeper.
End credits
100 Objects #12: "Negro Cloth"
Aug 07, 2026
Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Negro cloth" — a textile category defined by nothing but who it was worn by.
End credits
The Borrowed Nature of Biomimicry
Aug 04, 2026
Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story.
Progressive auto insurance ad, AT&T Business ad
100 Objects #11: Brannock Device
Jul 31, 2026
In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device.
End of show credits
The Finnish Baby Box
Jul 28, 2026
A simple cardboard box helped transform Finland into one of the best places in the world to raise a child.
End credits
100 Objects #10: Nunchaku
Jul 24, 2026
In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool, but the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity.
Mid-roll ad – AdvanTech, Article furniture sponsor read
The Original 100 Objects
Jul 21, 2026
Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt.
BBC promo / end card
100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton
Jul 17, 2026
In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions.
EverPierre data management ad, PNC Bank sponsor read
If Mosquito Hawks Can Fly
Jul 14, 2026
A Louisiana man born into slavery designs an airship with hopes to take flight. Those plans are interrupted, but maybe not forever.
Garbled intro audio, outro and credits
100 Objects #8: Billy Possum
Jul 10, 2026
The teddy bear was a huge hit, and sparked an idea…maybe every president from then on should have their own viral stuffed animal.
AT&T Business ad, Indeed Sponsored Jobs ad
The Score
Jul 07, 2026
We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about?
End credits
100 Objects #7: The Otis Pamphlet
Jul 03, 2026
Journalist Jack Hitt returns to tell the wild, tragic story of America’s forgotten proto-founding father and his inflammatory 1764 pamphlet.
EverPierre data management ad, Empower financial app ad
Transatlantic Fiber-Optic Expialidocious
Jun 30, 2026
Before the internet went global, one undersea gamble made it possible.
Allstate insurance ad, DSW designer shoe warehouse ad (repeat)