It’s day 3 of our week-long countdown, 25 People Who Changed the World… for Better, for Worse, and for Sillier! Today we head to Japan to find out how vending machines got so advanced, dive into the meme-worthy true story of a shady ancient ingot merchant, and gives props to the guy who kept your house from smelling like a sewer. Plus: How one man accidentally created the sprawling criminal enterprise we now know as spam.

• Visit John Levine’s website to learn more about his books, and check out his work with the RISE Infosec Foundation.
• Listen to The Builders with Walter Isaacson, available now wherever you get podcasts.
• Subscribe to Mango’s newsletter!

Did you hear? PTG is ending on Dec. 29. If you want to tell us a fun fact for the road, let us know what the show meant to you, or just say goodbye, call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

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It’s day 2 of our week-long countdown, 25 People Who Changed the World… for Better, for Worse, and for Sillier! Today: How one man (okay, several men) saved us from stabbing cans with chisels, the real genius behind Ikea’s kids’ furniture section, and the surprisingly delightful story of those inflatable tube men you see dancing along the highway.

• Subscribe to Phil Edwards’ YouTube channel and newsletter.
• Listen to The Builders with Walter Isaacson, available now wherever you get podcasts.
• Subscribe to Mango’s newsletter!

Did you hear? PTG is ending on Dec. 29. If you want to tell us a fun fact for the road, let us know what the show meant to you, or just say goodbye, call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

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It’s day 1 of our new week-long countdown, 25 People Who Changed the World… for Better, for Worse, and for Sillier. Today we unpack the confusing lingo behind duct tape, meet a young woman who put innovation in paper bags, and engage with a mysterious organization dedicated to collecting and cataloguing bread clips. Plus: David Nagler is back with a Dolly Parton-inspired ode to internet phone calls.

• Visit HORG.com to learn more than you thought possible about occlupanids.
• Check out David Nagler’s website and his band, As For the Future.
• Listen to The Builders with Walter Isaacson, available now wherever you get podcasts.
• Subscribe to Mango’s newsletter!

Did you hear? PTG is ending on Dec. 29. If you want to tell us a fun fact for the road, let us know what the show meant to you, or just say goodbye, call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re looking for the bad boys of plant life, look no further! Will and Mango discover squirting cucumbers, dynamite trees, and orchids that have ruined more than one wasp's marriage. Plus, we’ll tackle the origins of the guerrilla gardening movement, learn the surprising truth about some common edible plants, and chat with Trevor Jones, head gardener of The Poison Garden.

This episode originally aired on August 23, 2017.

Did you hear? PTG is ending on Dec. 29. If you want to tell us a fun fact for the road, let us know what the show meant to you, or just say goodbye, call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

Photo of some not-so-innocent rhubarb by Rob Wicks via Unsplash. Thanks, Rob!

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From the lone guard who prevented deadly riots at the Berlin Wall, to a stubborn scientist who singlehandedly fended off a medical catastrophe, to an unusually resourceful group of flight attendants faced with a kitchen crisis, Gabe and Mary bring you nine incredible stories of disasters that didn’t happen. (But almost did.) Plus: Get in the rice cooker mindset!

• In a hilariously appropriate-for-this-episode coincidence, James Blunt’s new album is called Airplane Mode.
• Read more about Karen Arcos’s work on memory and blindness.

Leave us a message! Call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

Nuclear test photo by the U.S. Department of Energy via Wikimedia Commons.

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Will and Mango dive deep on the unicorn of the sea, aka the narwhal! Find out how to tell a real narwhal tusk from a fake, why one university chose these majestic beasts as their mascot, and why everyone's on the lookout for a baby narluga (that's the hot new beluga/narwhal hybrid).

This episode originally aired on August 29, 2024.

Got a question or idea for the show? Call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social!

Fanciful (and not very scientific) illustration of a "sea unicorn" by Conrad Gessner, ca. 1558, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Hey there, podcast listeners. Please check out this brief message from Mango with an important announcement about the future of Part-Time Genius. We really appreciate it (and you).

Leave us a message! Call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the strange reason people used to call funeral home directors after an accident, to the incredible train robbery that was stopped using a makeshift phone, to the heartbreaking ways that emergency operators learn to cope on the job, this week we're dialing into the surprising story of emergency hotlines.

This episode originally aired on May 16, 2024.

Got a question or idea for the show? Call our (non-emergency) hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.

Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social!

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

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