The Infernal Machine
Episode Date: October 1, 2024The unexpected story of how Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite—designed to build the world—was co-opted by anarchists to bring about its destruction...
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.
682 episodes transcribedThe unexpected story of how Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite—designed to build the world—was co-opted by anarchists to bring about its destruction...
What started as Emily Nussbaum’s “guilty pleasure” of watching Big Brother became a deeper dive into the world of reality TV, leading to her book, Cue...
This is the ninth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and...
Karen MacDonough had paid her mortgage for years, raised her family, and lived a quiet life in her Quincy, Massachusetts home—until one day, a group o...
Once considered the most dangerous city in the world due to drug cartel violence, by the early 2000s Medellin had reinvented itself. But gentrificatio...
The impacts of climate disasters are often measured in terms of property damage. But in places like Phoenix, Arizona, and in hot places all over the w...
Most of the stories in this series have been about places that are ill-prepared for the extreme weather that is coming their way. But this story is ab...
All across the country thousands of people are living in locations that regularly flood, and many of these places will only get more flood-prone as th...
Insurance companies are not climate activists, but they know more about climate risk than just about anyone. And as storms get more extreme and unpred...
In disasters where a lot of people lose their homes, the impacts are not confined to a single city or town. They ripple outward, cascading into the su...
Reporter Emmett Fitzgerald was used to hearing people call his home state of Vermont a “climate haven.” But last summer, he got a wake up call in the...
This is the eighth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman an...
This week we're highlighting a couple of series that live inside the 99pi production tent.We’ve got a preview of a new miniseries for you called Not B...
When you’re watching the opening credits to a movie, it’s not just a list of names. What you’re actually seeing is intense negotiations by Hollywood s...
The 2024 Paris Olympics are currently under way, and we thought we’d play two stories from the 99% Invisible archives about the art of the Olympics.Fi...
From TV commercials and branded soda cans to Emily in Paris spon-con, the Olympics are once again everywhere. In the Olympic spirit, we’re bringing yo...
NEWS: We've got 99PI Power Broker Breakdown merch! Visit 99pi.org/store.This is the seventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize wi...
When you hear the word "river," you probably picture a majestic body of water flowing through a natural habitat. Well, the LA River looks nothing like...
When you go to a concert, you might try to get there right when the doors open. Or perhaps you take your time and skip the opening act. But generally,...
It’s hard to overstate the vastness of the Skid Row neighborhood in Los Angeles. It spans roughly 50 blocks, which is about a fifth of the entire down...