Podcast
99% Invisible
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. Learn more at 99percentinvisible.org.
— All episodes
EPISODES
- 01
Apr 24, 2026 · 1h 5m
Constitution Breakdown #9: Alondra Nelson
This is the ninth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article VI and VII, which includ...
- 02
Apr 21, 2026 · 37m E664
Co-op City
The world’s largest housing co-op—built to save New York City’s middle class—became the unlikely site of a resident revolt Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to...
- 03
Apr 14, 2026 · 31m E663
RoboUmp Hits the Big Leagues
One study from 2018 found that Major League Baseball umpires blow about 14 calls every game. That’s 34,000 bad calls every year. And it makes a difference. A...
- 04
Apr 7, 2026 · 32m
Service Request #5: Dude, Where's My Car?
A missing car reveals the confusing rules, murky fees, and private actors behind modern towing. What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at night? Submit you...
- 05
Apr 3, 2026 · 33m
Service Request #4: How Does the Grid in Phoenix Work?
In a place where losing power can turn deadly, keeping the lights on is a high-stakes balancing act. What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at night? Submi...
- 06
Mar 31, 2026 · 28m
Service Request #3: Why Is There So Much Litter in San Francisco?
Why did it take nearly a decade to redesign a city trash can, and why haven't more bins made the streets cleaner? What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at...
- 07
Mar 27, 2026 · 1h 6m
Constitution Breakdown #8: Jill Lepore
This is the eighth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article V, which lays out the p...
- 08
Mar 24, 2026 · 28m
Service Request #2: Why Is This Red Light So Damn Long?
What the world's most advanced traffic system can—and can't—do for the city that invented gridlock. What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at night? Submit...
- 09
Mar 17, 2026 · 34m
Service Request #1: What Happens When I Call 311?
The surprising power of a simple phone number to connect a community. What infrastructure mystery keeps you up at night? Submit your Service Request by recor...
- 10
Mar 10, 2026 · 32m E662
A Man, a Plan, a Canal—Mars!
How one wealthy, amateur astronomer convinced the world Martians were real. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-fre...
- 11
Mar 3, 2026 · 47m E661
Where the F*** Are We?
For centuries, the world's greatest minds were stumped by the deadly mystery of longitude, until an obsessive underdog entered the fray and changed navigatio...
- 12
Feb 27, 2026 · 1h 17m
Constitution Breakdown #7: California AG Rob Bonta
This is the seventh episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article IV, which outlines the...
- 13
Feb 24, 2026 · 31m E660
The Longest Fence in the World
How a fence meant to protect sheep transformed the entire Australian landscape. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad...
- 14
Feb 17, 2026 · 41m E659
Molar City
How a small Mexican border town transformed itself into the dental tourism capital of the world, where dental care costs up to 80% less than what it might co...
- 15
Feb 10, 2026 · 33m E434
Artistic License Redux
Idaho was the first state to slap a slogan on a license plate, “Idaho Potatoes,” which may not seem like a big deal, but it turns out this idea would end up...
- 16
Feb 3, 2026 · 39m E658
The Em Dash
The strange history of a punctuation mark that makes writing feel human, and why people now think it proves the opposite. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to...
- 17
Jan 30, 2026 · 1h
Constitution Breakdown #6: Adam Liptak
This is the sixth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article III, which establishes t...
- 18
Jan 27, 2026 · 26m E657
What’s in a Name
Throughout Africa and beyond, Zimbabweans are known for choosing some of the most bold, head-turning English-language names. Zimbabwean producer Kim Chakanet...
- 19
Jan 20, 2026 · 37m E656
Audio Flux
This week we're featuring Audio Flux, a short-form audio challenge where artists squeeze surprising stories into three minutes. Find out more about Audio Flu...
- 20
Jan 13, 2026 · 36m E655
Exit Interview With Michael Bierut
A young designer faces an impossible brief and discovers the spark that will define his legendary career. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new ep...
- 21
Jan 6, 2026 · 33m E654
Mini-Stories: Volume 22
Performance changing gear, a Titanic era nurse with unbelievable resilience, and an ingenious art vending project reveal how innovation and endurance shape u...
- 22
Dec 30, 2025 · 39m E653
Beyond the 99% Invisible City
From rogue stop signs to rooftop mini golf, discover how chaos and creativity quietly shape the urban world. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new...
- 23
Dec 26, 2025 · 1h 19m
Constitution Breakdown #5: Dr. Tom Frieden
This is the fifth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to the rest of Article Two with for...
- 24
Dec 23, 2025 · 29m E652
Mini-Stories: Volume 21
A glowing Vegas pyramid, a famously mistyped domain, and a long-delayed miracle investigation unfold in three unexpected tales. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast...
- 25
Dec 16, 2025 · 43m E651
Sax Appeal
From military parades to smoky clubs, one invention’s wild journey reveals how an instrument can become a symbol of rebellion and reinvention. Subscribe to S...
- 26
Dec 9, 2025 · 38m E650
The Checkerboard
A single diagonal step on a map sparks a legal war with huge consequences. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free...
- 27
Dec 2, 2025 · 38m E649
U Is for Urbanism
How Jane Jacob's urbanism dreams came to life on the most beloved kids' TV block. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible...
- 28
Nov 28, 2025 · 1h 22m
Constitution Breakdown #4: Janet Napolitano
This is the fourth episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth turn to Article Two, which establishes...
- 29
Nov 25, 2025 · 27m E648
Murderland
Writer Caroline Fraser argues a chilling link between industrial poison, deadly design, and a generation of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest. Subscrib...
- 30
Nov 18, 2025 · 39m E647
The Moving Walkway Is Ending
People once dreamed of sidewalks that could whisk them across cities. Somehow, that dream ended up at the airport. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen...
- 31
Nov 11, 2025 · 31m E646
How to Write a Joke
Comedy writer Elliott Kalan (The Daily Show, The Flop House, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and co-host of the 99% Invisible Breakdown of The Power Broker) sp...
- 32
Nov 4, 2025 · 59m E645
Gear (Articles of Interest)
From buckskin breeches to Patagonia vests, uncover how America’s obsession with ruggedness and war shaped the clothes we wear every day. Avery Trufelman is b...
- 33
Oct 31, 2025 · 1h 9m
Constitution Breakdown #3: Sen. Elizabeth Warren
This is the third episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One, Sections 8 throug...
- 34
Oct 28, 2025 · 29m E644
Your Call Is Important to Us
What if all those dropped calls, endless wait times and dead end hotlines every time you try to reach customer service weren’t accidents but part of the plan...
- 35
Oct 24, 2025 · 40m
Hidden Levels #6: Segagaga
One SEGA employee chronicles the company’s struggles the only way he knows how: by turning it into a game. Hidden Levels is a production of 99% Invisible and...
- 36
Oct 21, 2025 · 41m
Hidden Levels #5: Press B to Touch Grass
From blocky biomes to breathtaking open worlds, video games are teaching us new ways to see, build, and even save nature. Hidden Levels is a production of 99...
- 37
Oct 17, 2025 · 45m
Hidden Levels #4: Machinima
Back in the 90s, artists turned video games into movie sets, and their wildest ideas are finally hitting documentaries. Hidden Levels is a production of 99%...
- 38
Oct 14, 2025 · 44m
Hidden Levels #3: This Game Wants YOU
Before Fortnite and Call of Duty ruled the scene, the US Army quietly shaped the early 2000s with a wildly popular, free shooter designed to excite young peo...
- 39
Oct 10, 2025 · 41m
Hidden Levels #2: Stick It to 'Em
From airplanes to Pac-Man to the battlefield, the joystick has quietly shaped the way humans connect with machines. Hidden Levels is a production of 99% Invi...
- 40
Oct 7, 2025 · 37m
Hidden Levels #1: Mr. Boomshakalaka
Step back into the ’90s, when dunks broke backboards, catchphrases caught fire, and one arcade game turned every kid into an NBA superstar. Hidden Levels is...
- 41
Oct 3, 2025 · 43m
Get Played with Roman Mars and Ben Brock Johnson
In anticipation of the release of Hidden Levels, Roman and Ben join Heather Anne Campbell (Rick and Morty) and Matt Apodaca of Get Played to talk controllers...
- 42
Sep 30, 2025 · 54m
The Power Broker #13: Drop Dead City
Like a shadow epilogue to The Power Broker, this story plunges into the chaos of 1970s New York where debt, unions, and one brutal headline nearly broke the...
- 43
Sep 27, 2025 · 1h 17m
Constitution Breakdown #2: Rep. Sharice Davids
This is the second episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth dive into Article One with Representati...
- 44
Sep 23, 2025 · 35m E643
The New Jungle
In a Colorado meatpacking town, refugees fleeing persecution find themselves in some of the most dangerous jobs in America. This episode was produced in part...
- 45
Sep 16, 2025 · 34m E642
Replaceable You
Mary Roach dives into the strange, funny, and unsettling world of designing new body parts, from pig hearts to prosthetic feet, revealing just how messy repl...
- 46
Sep 9, 2025 · 41m E416
Revisiting The 99% Invisible City
We’re excited to celebrate the 5th anniversary of The 99% Invisible City, a NYT Bestseller by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, with a guided audio tour of beau...
- 47
Sep 2, 2025 · 50m E641
The 99PI Anniversary Special: 15 for 15
For 99PI’s 15th anniversary, Roman sits in the hot seat to answer 15 eclectic questions, touching on everything from his dream merch to the one object he's a...
- 48
Aug 26, 2025 · 40m E640
Ambassador Bridge
A billionaire family’s private bridge empire shaped Detroit for decades, sparking battles over power, neighborhoods, and the future of an international cross...
- 49
Aug 19, 2025 · 25m E639
All About That Bass
Vintage music barely had any bass. Today’s hits are all about the low end. What changed? An episode this week from our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz, feat...
- 50
Aug 12, 2025 · 36m E638
Sister Aimee and the Birth of the Megachurch
Aimee Semple McPherson built America’s first megachurch, blended showbiz with salvation, and vanished in a scandal that captivated the nation. Sister Aimee a...
- 51
Aug 5, 2025 · 38m E354
Weeding is Fundamental Revisited
Libraries get rid of books all the time. There are so many new books coming in every day and only a finite amount of library space. The practice of freeing u...
- 52
Jul 29, 2025 · 40m E637
Air-Borne
Old ideas about air and disease were wrong on the science, but looking to the past might actually help us design healthier buildings today. Air-Borne Subscri...
- 53
Jul 25, 2025 · 1h 20m
Constitution Breakdown #1: Nikole Hannah-Jones
This is the first official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the U.S. Constitution. This month, Roman and Elizabeth discuss the Preamble, alongside...
- 54
Jul 22, 2025 · 40m E636
The Quiet Storm
How a radio show born at a small college station in DC and dedicated to smooth, romantic love songs transformed black radio and reshaped love lives across th...
- 55
Jul 15, 2025 · 31m E635
Neil Young’s iPod Killer
A rock icon sets out to save music with a strange yellow gadget that almost no one understood. Neil Young’s iPod Killer If you're new to the show (thanks App...
- 56
Jul 11, 2025 · 30m
Roman Mars's Guide to San Francisco
In this bonus episode, an offbeat walking tour through San Francisco uncovers hidden rooftop parks, a leaning skyscraper scandal, a vanished statue, and the...
- 57
Jul 8, 2025 · 38m E634
Food Deserts
How did millions of Americans end up living in neighborhoods where finding fresh food is harder than ever, and why is the problem by design, not accident? Th...
- 58
Jul 1, 2025 · 29m E633
Open Borders
An immigration reporter’s chance encounter in the desert reveals how borders shape our actions, our beliefs, and the way we see the world around us. Open Bor...
- 59
Jun 24, 2025 · 33m E632
The Titanic's Best Lifeboat
A century-old shipwreck, a sea of glass, and the lifeboats that were never meant to save you. The Titanic Was The Lifeboat Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to...
- 60
Jun 17, 2025 · 35m E447
The Red, the Black, and the Green
After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd last year, tens of thousands of people all over the world took to the streets to protest...
- 61
Jun 10, 2025 · 57m E631
The Return of Con Law
We heard you. The chorus of voices asking “where is Con Law? Where is Professor Elizabeth Joh to guide us through this madness? We need it now more than ever...
- 62
Jun 3, 2025 · 32m E630
Adapt or Design
A debilitating injury forces 99PI's Kurt Kohlstedt to confront new everyday challenges and seek out accessible design solutions for one-handed living. The fu...
- 63
May 27, 2025 · 43m E629
Build, Interrupted: A Conversation with Ezra Klein
Why is it so hard to build anything in America? Ezra Klein explores how our good intentions led to a system that stifles progress, and what it would take to...
- 64
May 20, 2025 · 38m E628
Foreign in a Domestic Sense
A dusty surveillance file uncovers the story of love, betrayal, and the fight for Puerto Rico’s freedom. Foreign in a Domestic Sense Subscribe to SiriusXM Po...
- 65
May 13, 2025 · 44m E627
Fishing In The Night
Shortwave radio opened a portal to the world—then became a weapon in a high-stakes war of propaganda and power. The Divided Dial is a podcast series about th...
- 66
May 6, 2025 · 27m E626
Emoji Law 😅⚖️
A single 👍 emoji sent over text was meant to say “got it”—but instead, it kicked off a $62,000 legal battle and raised the question: can an emoji seal a con...
- 67
Apr 29, 2025 · 32m E461
Changing Stripes Revisited
At the January 6th Capitol insurrection, rioters waved Confederate, MAGA, and Trump-as-Rambo flags. Easy to miss without knowing the design was a bright yell...
- 68
Apr 22, 2025 · 32m E625
One-Nil to the Arsenal
A goofy Shakira remix, a nervy penalty kick, and 60,000 fans turning banter into legend—welcome to the world of football chants. One-Nil to the Arsenal Subsc...
- 69
Apr 15, 2025 · 33m E624
I've Got 1099 Problems...
If you're one of the millions of Americans struggling with your tax forms today, you're not alone. Even Albert Einstein allegedly found income taxes to be "t...
- 70
Apr 8, 2025 · 29m E623
Everything Is Tuberculosis
John Green uncovers how the world’s deadliest curable disease still thrives—and why everything, from cowboy hats to colonial borders, traces back to tubercul...
- 71
Apr 4, 2025 · 23m
A Walking Tour with Mr. Memphis
Take a whirlwind tour of Memphis with the city’s most enthusiastic historian, uncovering duck parades, telecom turf wars, and a street named after a single d...
- 72
Apr 1, 2025 · 35m E622
The Great American Pyramid
In 1991, one of the strangest buildings in America opened — a 32-storey, stainless steel pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. The Great American Pyramid Subscribe...
- 73
Mar 25, 2025 · 56m E621
Secret Mall Apartment
A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. We interviewed the group's...
- 74
Mar 18, 2025 · 30m E620
Beautiful West Oakland, California
When global trade reshapes a city, who pays the price—and who fights back? Alexis Madrigal’s new book is called The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of...
- 75
Mar 11, 2025 · 34m E619
What We're Reading
After we finished up The Power Broker, a bunch of people were asking us what other books we’d been reading. A group of us got together and presented some of...
- 76
Mar 4, 2025 · 28m E618
A Beetle By Any Other Name
A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world. A...
- 77
Feb 25, 2025 · 38m E617
The Brutalists
A film about a struggling architect, a style the world loves to hate—The Brutalist and Brutalism itself share more than just a name. Is it bold vision or con...
- 78
Feb 18, 2025 · 37m E616
The Nazi Block
In the heart of Berlin’s Tempelhof-Schöneberg district sits a hulking, crumbling concrete cylinder—an abandoned relic of a Nazi plan to rebuild the city as a...
- 79
Feb 14, 2025 · 1h
The Power Broker Breakdown Wrap-Up
Join Roman and Elliott one last time as they reflect on their journey with you all through The Power Broker, exploring their favorite moments and answering l...
- 80
Feb 11, 2025 · 32m E615
Your Own Personal Jesus
How did a simple painting transform into the world's most recognized depiction of Jesus? Head of Christ Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new epis...