ELI5 Carbonated Water - why does flat soda still taste like soda?
Why do soft drinks exclusively use carbon dioxide instead of gases like oxygen or nitrogen? Why does "flat" soda still have a distinct taste...
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Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast
Explain Like I'm Five, aka ELI5, is the mini-podcast series where we take the questions you always wanted to ask, and talk about them in a way that is easy to understand. Made possible by th...
Episodes
20 of 364 episodesELI5 Money Laundering - what, why and how?
What is money laundering? Why can’t a criminal just spend good old fashioned cash? What are some of the ways used by criminals to launder mo...
ELI5 Helium - is there really a global shortage?
How can "superfluid" helium flow against gravity and climb up the walls of a container? Why was helium discovered on the Sun nearly thirty y...
ELI5 Cupping Therapy - can bruises really heal you?
Why do we see many professional athletes look like they were attacked by a giant octopus? How did a treatment from ancient history become th...
ELI5 Crying - why do we cry with both sadness and joy?
Why is crying so much more than just being sad? Why do your lungs perform those jerky gasps once the actual sobbing stops? Why does that pai...
ELI5 Norway's Olympics - how tiny Norway conquered the Winter Olympics
How did a country with only 5.7 million people beat much larger countries in Winter Olympic medals? Why does Norway ban competitive scoring...
ELI5 One Way Mirrors - how do they work?
How do one way mirrors allow light to pass in only one direction? If light travels through the glass equally from both sides, why does the s...
ELI5 Ski Jumping - how do they not get injured when landing?
With such great speeds and a significant vertical drop, how do ski jumpers not sustain injury when landing? What makes one ski jumper better...
ELI5 Fire Extinguishers - why are they red in color?
Why is most fire equipment red in color? What happens if you use the wrong class of extinguisher on a grease or metal fire? Could the future...
ELI5 HRV - what is heart rate variability and why can a steady heartbeat be trouble?
Why does a perfectly steady heartbeat actually serve as a warning sign you should not ignore? If your heart is a drummer, why is a little bi...
ELI5 Activity Trackers - how do they detect deep sleep?
What are the creative ways people fool their FitBit? How does my activity tracker differentiate between steps and my tapping to a rhythm? Do...
ELI5 Palladium - more valuable than gold?
Why is a metal you’ve probably never heard of often worth more than pure gold? Why are thieves risking jail just to steal one specific part...
ELI5 Jevons Paradox – why adding more lanes to a highway can make it worse?
Why does adding more lanes to a highway actually make traffic jams get even worse? How did the machine meant to end slavery accidentally mak...
ELI5 Titanium - why is it the metal most used in surgeries?
Why did the CIA secretly buy Soviet metal to build the very plane designed to spy on them? How does a metal named after Greek Titans manage...
ELI5 Xmas - how and why NORAD tracks Santa (part 2)?
Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christma...
ELI5 Xmas - why some say Happy Christmas vs Merry Christmas (part 1)?
Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christma...
ELI5 Pearls - how does a grain of sand make such treasure?
What makes a pearl so mesmerizing, and what is it really? What exactly is a pearl made of, and how does it form inside a mollusk? Can a grai...
ELI5 National Debt - who do countries owe when they are in debt?
If every major country is in billions of debt, where are they borrowing from? Who exactly do they owe? Are there any consequences for them b...
ELI5 Bubble Gum - why is it almost always pink?
Did you know bubble gum is traditionally pink simply because the inventor ran out of every other color? Did McDonald’s really try to help ki...
ELI5 Morse Code - what tragedy led to its invention?
What sparked the invention of Morse code, and how did personal tragedy influence Samuel Morse's creation? Is Morse code still used today? Ho...