All Episodes

ELI5 Helium - is there really a global shortage?

ELI5 Cupping Therapy - can bruises really heal you?

ELI5 Crying - why do we cry with both sadness and joy?

ELI5 Norway's Olympics - how tiny Norway conquered the Winter Olympics

ELI5 One Way Mirrors - how do they work?

ELI5 Ski Jumping - how do they not get injured when landing?

ELI5 Fire Extinguishers - why are they red in color?

ELI5 HRV - what is heart rate variability and why can a steady heartbeat be trouble?

ELI5 Activity Trackers - how do they detect deep sleep?

ELI5 Palladium - more valuable than gold?

ELI5 Jevons Paradox – why adding more lanes to a highway can make it worse?

ELI5 Titanium - why is it the metal most used in surgeries?

ELI5 Xmas - how and why NORAD tracks Santa (part 2)?

ELI5 Xmas - why some say Happy Christmas vs Merry Christmas (part 1)?

ELI5 Pearls - how does a grain of sand make such treasure?

ELI5 National Debt - who do countries owe when they are in debt?

ELI5 Bubble Gum - why is it almost always pink?

ELI5 Morse Code - what tragedy led to its invention?

ELI5 Marble - why does it feel cool to the touch?

ELI5 Aircraft Carriers - why are the runways at an angle?

ELI5 Iron - is body iron different to construction iron?

ELI5 Daylight Savings Time - who thought it was a good idea?

ELI5 Submarines - how the Titanic was a cover for a US Navy submarine mission

ELI5 The Gold Standard - how Isaac Newton helped gold win over silver

ELI5 Locks and Keys - aren't there high chances that two keys are the same?

ELI5 Monopoly - was it invented to criticize capitalism or crush friendships?

ELI5 Ferris Wheels - what inspired George Ferris to invent it?

ELI5 Silica Gel Desiccants - can they be reused?

ELI5 Sleepwalking - is it dangerous to wake someone in the middle of a sleep walk?

ELI5 Poker - which US president used poker to launch his election campaign?

ELI5 Washing Machines - more consequential than the internet?

ELI5 LiDAR - how it sees the world?

ELI5 Deck of Cards - why 52 playing cards and why so mysterious?

ELI5 Gout - what is it and why is the big toe a target?

ELI5 Rubiks Cubes - how do some people solve it in seconds?

ELI5 Toilets - why are public toilets tankless unlike those at home?

ELI5 Black Box Flight Recorders - what’s inside the orange mystery?

ELI5 Wine - which came first, wine or beer?

ELI5 Beer - why it was central to historical society?

ELI5 Creatine - what makes it so popular and does it really make you stronger?

ELI5 Induction Stoves - are they really faster than gas stoves?

ELI5 Muscle Knots - do muscles really get in knots and what causes them?

ELI5 Berries - is the banana really a berry?!

ELI5 Paper Sizes - why paper sizes in the US are different?

ELI5 Defibrillators - why AEDs at malls differ from those on TV?

ELI5 Dragons - why do dragons exist across almost every culture?

ELI5 Invisalign – are they better than braces?

ELI5 Stoicism - what are the four Stoic values?

ELI5 Panama Canal - why did the original French attempt fail?

ELI5 Blood Types - do animals have different blood types just like humans?

ELI5 Fish Oil - if it’s so good for you, why not use it more for cooking?

ELI5 Traffic Lights - why not use pressure sensors?

ELI5 GPUs - why are they better than CPUs for artificial intelligence?

ELI5 Sunrise - why do sunrise and sunset look different?

ELI5 Sliced Bread - why is it the greatest thing since…

ELI5 Nautical Miles - why are they different from the regular mile?

ELI5 AA Batteries - how did AA type batteries become standard and what about the A battery?

ELI5 Meditation - Can meditation really change your brain?

ELI5 Wolves - why are there big cats but not big dogs in the wild?

ELI5 E. Coli - what is it and why isn’t it all bad?

ELI5 Schrödinger's Cat - is the cat both dead and alive and why does it matter in quantum mechanics?

ELI5 Rare Earth Metals - why they aren’t actually rare?

ELI5 LASIK - how exactly does it fix your vision?

ELI5 Ligers, Lions and Tigers - who would win in a fight?

ELI5 Wasabi - is most wasabi really “fake” outside of Japan?

ELI5 Spicy Food - if water is not a good antidote, what is?

ELI5 Rubber Bands - why do they become brittle over time?

ELI5 Mint - why it became associated with freshness?

ELI5 Black Friday - why is it called Black Friday?

ELI5 Myopia - why can’t you buy myopia glasses off the shelf like reading glasses?

ELI5 Volcanoes - can they be used for dumping trash?

ELI5 Lab Grown Diamonds - why do they have lower resale values?

ELI5 MRIs - how do they work and why are they so noisy?

ELI5 Aircraft Engines - why propellers on military planes vs jet engines?

ELI5 Speed of Light - why can’t we exceed it?

ELI5 QR Codes - how do they work even with portions covered or obscured?

ELI5 Dyson Sphere - did aliens already build one?

ELI5 Skyscrapers - which NYC skyscraper could have fallen over?

ELI5 Super Mario Bros - how did it fit into 32KB?

ELI5 Lie Detector Tests - how do polygraph tests work?

ELI5 Solar Eclipses - how often do they occur?

ELI5 Donor Organs - do donor organs age according to the donor’s age or the new host’s age?

ELI5 Prime Numbers - why isn’t 1 a prime number?

ELI5 Burping - how loud was the world loudest burp?

ELI5 Yawning - why is it contagious?

ELI5 Olympics - why the amateur vs professional line blurred?

ELI5 USB - is it still wrong to remove a thumb drive without first ‘ejecting’?’

ELI5 Sore Throat - is alcohol or honey a better remedy?

ELI5 Dyson Sphere - what exactly is it?

ELI5 Collagen - what makes it special and important for your skin?

ELI5 Mona Lisa - why is it the most famous painting in the world?

ELI5 Blueberries - what makes them a superfood?

ELI5 Three Body Problem - what makes it so intriguing?

ELI5 Two Factor Authentication - how are authenticator apps more secure than SMS?

ELI5 Starlink - what makes it possible and how does it work?

ELI5 Bubble Tea - how did it become a global sensation?

ELI5 Higgs Boson - how it was named the God Particle?

ELI5 Life Insurance - why the astronauts of Apollo 11 couldn’t buy life insurance?

ELI5 El Niño and La Niña - what exactly are they?

ELI5 Horse Racing - what’s the role of the jockey?

ELI5 Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta - the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

ELI5 Airport Runways - how are they numbered?

ELI5 Gore-Tex - what makes Gore-Tex so special?

ELI5 Train Tracks - how do trains maintain traction in slippery conditions?

ELI5 Bailouts - why don't governments own the companies they bail out?

ELI5 Jet Stream - can a regular plane break the sound barrier on a jet stream?

ELI5 Matcha Tea - how do you tell if it’s high quality?

ELI5 Olive Oil - virgin, extra-virgin & refined - what's the difference?

ELI5 Leap Years - why was 2000 a leap year but 2100 isn’t?

ELI5 Hypnosis - is it real and how does it work?

ELI5 Eczema - why scratching it feels so good?

ELI5 Soaps - hand soaps vs body wash - are they different?

ELI5 Endangered Species - how is the axolotl endangered but also in pet stores?

ELI5 Aurora Borealis - what would it be like inside the northern lights?

ELI5 Snakes - does eating a venomous snake kill its predator?

ELI5 Rewind - Artificial Sweeteners - good for weight loss or bad for you?

ELI5 Onomatopoeias - why are there differences across languages?

ELI5 Weight Gain - how does the body decide where it goes?

ELI5 Winter Solstice - why it marks the start of winter, not the middle of it?

ELI5 Primary Colors - are they red green blue or red yellow blue?

ELI5 Bed Bugs - why they came back after nearly being eradicated?

ELI5 Where’s Waldo - why Waldo is an important character in cryptography?

ELI5 Thanksgiving - why is it called Black Friday?

ELI5 Powerlines - why aren’t more power lines underground in the US?

ELI5 Crabs - why do crabs turn bright orange when cooked?

ELI5 Planes - why the need for a ground cart to push them back?

ELI5 GDP and the Equator - why are countries richer away from the equator?

ELI5 Altitude and Heat - why is it colder at higher elevations?

ELI5 Screws - why do we have two different types?

ELI5 Lasers - why don’t you see many white laser pointers?

ELI5 Voice Agents - How does “hey siri” respond if it isn’t constantly listening to my conversations?

ELI5 Currencies - what does it mean to float a country’s currency?

ELI5 Money - why its origins were not about bartering?

ELI5 Saunas - how do near boiling temperatures not burn you?

ELI5 Ice Baths & Warm Showers - what are the benefits?

ELI5 DNA - what is the double helix?

ELI5 Saturn - does it really rain diamonds?

ELI5 Hibernation - is there a way humans could hibernate like bears do?

ELI5 Elevators - is the door close button a placebo?

ELI5 Swimming - why are there exactly 4 strokes?

ELI5 Pickleball - why has it become so popular?

ELI5 Tesseract - what is it and what does it look like?

ELI5 Central Banks - do crypto currencies make them obsolete?

ELI5 Amnesia - why don’t people forget their primary language?

ELI5 Latin - why did such a popular language like Latin die out?

ELI5 Deserts - was the Sahara really once lush green forests?

ELI5 Presidents vs Prime Ministers - why do some countries have both?

ELI5 Undersea Cables - who lays and manages the cables that power the internet?

ELI5 Jail and Bail - what’s the point of bail and what is a bond?

ELI5 Antimicrobial Surfaces - how can a surface clean itself?

ELI5 Airport Security - why we have a 100ml fluid limit?

ELI5 Megalodon - how are we sure they are extinct?

ELI5 Port and Starboard - why not just left and right?

ELI5 Energy Drinks - what’s in them beyond caffeine?

ELI5 Laughing Gas - why is N20 called laughing gas?

ELI5 Sinkholes - how do they happen?

ELI5 GPS - how is GPS a free service?

ELI5 Fusion - what is nuclear fusion and why is it important?

ELI5 Balloons - why is there a ring at the opening of a balloon?

ELI5 Toothpaste - how did people brush before toothpaste?

ELI5 Pirates - why fly the skull and bones flag?

ELI5 The Metric System - why is lbs the abbreviation for pounds?

ELI5 Ketchup - which country did the word ketchup originate from?

ELI5 Tomatoes - fruit or vegetable?

ELI5 The Streisand Effect - what makes it so universal?

ELI5 Alzheimer’s - the difference between Alzhiemer’s and Dementia?

ELI5 Postage Stamps - does the sending or receiving country get money from my stamp?

ELI5 Food Pyramid - why all the criticism?

ELI5 Heart Rate Monitors - what types are most accurate?

ELI5 Bank Runs - why does a run on the bank happen?

ELI5 Credit vs Debit Cards - what’s the difference?

ELI5 Turbulence - how do pilots know it’s coming?

ELI5 Coca Cola - where does the name come from?

ELI5 Phobia - what's the difference between a phobia and a fear?

ELI5 Ponzi Schemes - how do they work?

ELI5 Reboot - why turning a device off and on fixes a host of tech issues?

ELI5 Smell and Taste - how does our sense of smell work?

ELI5 Trucks - why do European trucks look different to US trucks?

ELI5 Ants - how do they cling to surfaces so well?

ELI5 Einstein - why is e = mc squared such a big deal?

ELI5 CPR - what is Michael Jackson’s association to CPR?

ELI5 Pee - is urinating in the pool ok?

ELI5 Jupiter - can you land on a gas planet?

ELI5 Decaf - how did a train accident lead to its discovery?

ELI5 Dyslexia - does it exist in all languages?

ELI5 Donuts - why the association with the police?

ELI5 Ampersand - the 27th member of the alphabet?

ELI5 Wrinkled Fingers - why water makes our fingers wrinkle?

ELI5 Escalators - what is the shoe shine thingy there for?

ELI5 Occam's Razor - please explain what it really means!

ELI5 Bear Markets - where it gets its name?

ELI5 Nitrogen - if it’s 80% of our atmosphere, why don’t we talk about it much?

ELI5 Golf - why are white balls the standard?

ELI5 Milk and Eggs - why cows and chickens became the standards for milk and eggs?

ELI5 Natural Gas - why doesn’t the flame from a gas stove ignite the supply line?

ELI5 Soda - why it tastes different out of a can vs a glass bottle?

ELI5 Right and Left Hand Traffic - which is more popular?

ELI5 Cotton - why cotton shirts feel stiffer when hung to dry?

ELI5 Smallpox - is it related to monkeypox?

ELI5 Stable Coins - how do they work?

ELI5 Special Agents - what makes them special vs just ‘agents’?

ELI5 Hostile Takeovers - explain Twitter's poison pill like I'm 5?

ELI5 Gaslighting - what exactly does it mean?

ELI5 Nuclear Disasters - why Hiroshima isn’t a dead city like Chernobyl

ELI5 Easter - why the bunny and chocolate eggs?

ELI5 Legos - how do lego bricks not lose tension after years of repetitive play?

ELI5 Basketball - why is there a backboard?

ELI5 Hurricanes - why female names?

ELI5 The Suit - how did it become universal as business attire for men?

ELI5 Twins - why do identical twins have different fingerprints?

ELI5 Interest Rates - why do interest rates exist in the first place?

ELI5 Doping - why isn’t caffeine on the banned list?

ELI5 Sanctions - how exactly do they help?

ELI5 The Bladder - how long does liquid take to reach it?

ELI5 Honey - why it’s dangerous for toddlers, and how bees make it?

ELI5 Mental Health - what is anxiety disorder?

ELI5 Money Laundering - what, why and how?

ELI5 Orange Juice - how is it economically viable?

ELI5 Electric Sockets - why isn't there a global standard?

ELI5 Devices On Planes - do you really have to turn them off?

ELI5 Salt - how it became the chosen condiment globally?

ELI5 Encryption - is your browsing activity visible to your ISP?

ELI5 Thanksgiving - why a Thursday, and why does it affect plumbers?

ELI5 Defrosting - what is the 'danger zone' and why does it matter?

ELI5 Shipping Containers - how do they not fall off?

ELI5 Hard Water - is it a good or bad thing?

ELI5 GMO - what are the pros and cons?

ELI5 ADHD - does it affect adults?

ELI5 Ultra Violet - should we bother with low SPF sunscreens?

ELI5 Dishwashers - why do plastics come out wet and ceramics dry?

ELI5 Debt Ceiling - what's the trillion dollar coin?

ELI5 Dinosaurs - why were they so big?

ELI5 Car Keys - could my remote open someone else’s car?

ELI5 Reverse Mortgages - what's the David Bowie similarity?

ELI5 Hiccups - why do we get them?

ELI5 Moon Drift - why it's moving further away each year?

ELI5 Non-stick Pans - are they safe?

ELI5 Pillows - do humans really need them?

ELI5 Mattresses - what makes them so expensive?

ELI5 Olympic Games - why most games are money losers?

ELI5 Genetic Memory - can memories be inherited?

ELI5 Cloud Seeding - can it solve drought issues?

ELI5 Pasta - did Marco Polo really 'invent' it?

ELI5 Chess - why is the queen the most powerful piece?

ELI5 Tunnels - how are underwater tunnels built?

ELI5 Earwax - how does your ear canal cleans itself?

ELI5 Cling Film - what makes it cling?

ELI5 Hawk Eye in Sports - how does ball tracking work?

ELI5 Tennis - why is it scored 15, 30, 40?

ELI5 Memories - how do our brains store them?

ELI5 Carbon Fiber - how does it differ from fiberglass and kevlar and what makes it so strong?

ELI5 Aluminum Foil - should I use the shiny or dull side?

ELI5 Hedge Funds - what are they and what is short selling?

ELI5 Coughing - can you really fracture a rib just by coughing?

ELI5 Mouthwash - why do so few dentists recommend it?

ELI5 Suez Canal - its important and why Napoleon was involved?

ELI5 Tulip Mania - the first speculative bubble and its lessons

ELI5 Non Fungible Tokens - would you pay millions for digital art?

ELI5 Royal Family - how does the British royal family make money?

ELI5 Inflation - why do we need it and why the gold standard was abandoned?

ELI5 Batteries - what causes lithium batteries to degrade?

ELI5 Lightning - why does it zig zag and not go straight down?

ELI5 Colorblindness - can special glasses really fix it?

ELI5 Soccer - why is it not as popular in the US as in other countries?

ELI5 Contrails - why do some airplanes leave streaks and others don't?

ELI5 Air Fryers - just fancy convection ovens?

ELI5 Exercise Induced Nausea - why we feel like vomiting after intense exercise?

ELI5 Grapefruit - why no mixing with medications?

ELI5 Calories - why raising heart rate with exercise is good but bad through stress, caffeine etc?

ELI5 Blood - how does circulation work after an amputation?

ELI5 Earthquakes - how do they design buildings to withstand them?

ELI5 Hot Dogs - part of McDonald's founding story?

ELI5 Ball Point Pens - why do the caps have holes?

ELI5 Dry Ice - why it should not go in the swimming pool?

ELI5 LED Bulbs - why the blue one warranted a Nobel prize?

ELI5 Snow - what makes the perfect snowflake?

ELI5 Asteroids - why NASA wants to catch an asteroid?

ELI5 Pluto - is it a planet or not?

ELI5 Asbestos - how does it cause cancer?

ELI5 MSG - how does it make food tasty?

ELI5 Fast Planes - why so little progress in recent decades?

ELI5 Shampoo - all colors of shampoo foam white, why?

ELI5 Vitamin D - what do you mean it's not a vitamin?

ELI5 Dreams - why running is so hard in dreams?

ELI5 French Fries - really they weren't invented in France?

ELI5 Microwaves - the full truth behind why no metal?

ELI5 Eagle Eye - do they have zoomed in vision?

ELI5 Calendars - how the world agrees on the day & date?

ELI5 Nursery Rhymes - why so morbid?

ELI5 Hair - pluck out a hair, then rub the pain away, why does this work?

ELI5 Red & White Meat - what makes chicken meat white, but beef red?

ELI5 Ice Cream - why do we eat it out of a cone?

ELI5 Sister Cities - are twin cities a gimmick or is there more to the relationship?

ELI5 Circular Windows - why don't planes and ships have square windows?

ELI5 Mosquitos - why some people get bitten more than others?

ELI5 Deja Vu - ever remember you forgot something but can't remember what?

ELI5 Surnames - why Green, Brown and Black are popular surnames but Blue, Orange and Red are not?

ELI5 Antibodies - can you get Covid-19 antibodies from a blood transfusion?

ELI5 Vaccines - why is a Covid-19 vaccine is taking so long to make?

ELI5 Chocolate - milk, dark & white, what's the difference?

ELI5 Yawning - why is hearing reduced when you yawn?

ELI5 Blood Oxygen - why are pulse oximeters suddenly so popular?

ELI5 Birthmarks - what causes our skin to have them?

ELI5 Left & Right Wings in Politics - why the Elephant and Donkey as mascots?

ELI5 Rainbows - how are rainbows formed, and why is the color brown missing?

ELI5 Virus vs Bacteria - why getting sick from viruses is different to bacterial diseases

ELI5 Wi-Fi - how does wifi hacking work?

ELI5 Spanish Flu - as a global pandemic, why was it nicknamed Spanish Flu?

ELI5 Everest - how did they measure it (and other mountains) originally?

ELI5 Gray Hair - why does stress cause grey hair?

ELI5 Sneezing - why our eyes water when a sneeze gets 'stuck'

ELI5 Disinfectant Alcohol - why is 70% alcohol better than 90% as disinfectant?

ELI5 Credit Card Security - is a chip really safer than a magstripe?

ELI5 Credit Scores - why do FICO scores end at 850?

ELI5 Face Masks - surgical masks, N95 masks what's the difference?

ELI5 Pensions - where did the modern pension come from?

ELI5 Gluten - why have folks suddenly become allergic to gluten this past decade?

ELI5 Passwords - are password managers safe?

ELI5 Zero - why its discovery by ancient civilizations was so ground breaking for mathematics

ELI5 Dopamine - is it a feel good drug? (hint, it's not)

ELI5 Noise Canceling - why are noise cancelling headphones more effective with low pitch sounds but not with high pitched frequencies?

ELI5 Xmas - Special Guest Episode with Christmas Past host Brian Earl

ELI5 Photography - ISO, shutter speed, aperture explained

ELI5 Standing Still - why is the world record for time walking longer than time standing?

ELI5 Left Handed - why aren't 50% of people lefties?

ELI5 Recycling - wrong thing in the recycle bin, what happens next?

ELI5 Truffles - What makes them special and so expensive?

ELI5 Marathons - What happens to the body over 26.2 miles?

ELI5 Tea - Why you should never put a tea bag in the microwave!

ELI5 Scars - How does the body repair a wound?

ELI5 Bicycles - Why are women's bike frames different to men's?

ELI5 Air Conditioning - How does it work?

ELI5 Weddings - Where do wedding traditions (eg not seeing the bride in her dress) come from?

ELI5 Morning People - What makes someone a morning person?

ELI5 Sore Muscles - Why the delay in soreness after a workout?

ELI5 Flight Delays - how do airports manage major disruptions such as weather cancellations?

ELI5 Jeans - Do you have to wash your Levi's?

ELI5 White Noise - Plus brown noise, pink noise & other colored noises explained

ELI5 Drones - Why don't we see helicopter sized quadcopters?

ELI5 Bitcoin - Explain crypto currency like I'm five!

ELI5 Stress - What does it do to our bodies?

ELI5 Popcorn - What makes it pop?

ELI5 Metabolism - How does it work?

ELI5 Snoring - Why don't we hear ourselves snore?

ELI5 Steroids - What makes them dangerous and illicit?

ELI5 Coal To Diamond - Can we really turn coal into diamonds through applying the right pressure conditions?

ELI5 Breakfast - Is it the most important meal of the day?

ELI5 Wine - Do pesticides affect the taste of wine?

ELI5 Baking Soda - What gives it magical properties?

ELI5 Measles - Should I worry about the measles resurgence?

ELI5 Talking Grass - Why does the smell of freshly mowed grass release chemicals to warn of oncoming danger?

ELI5 Upper & Lower Case Characters - Why are some letters the same in uppercase and lowercase, and some look completely different?

ELI5 Screaming in Pain - Why do we scream to relieve physical pain?

ELI5 International Space Station - How does the ISS never run out of oxygen?

ELI5 Allergies - What causes us to get allergic reactions? Are there more allergy incidences today than 20yrs ago?

ELI5 Cancer - How do medical professionals break down the various stages? How does “normal” cancer differ from terminal cancer?

ELI5 Alcohol - How does alcohol make you drunk?

ELI5 Capcha - Why can't bots check 'I am not a robot' checkboxes?

ELI5 Spicy Food - What causes my body to react when I eat spicy food?

ELI5 Super Glue - How does super glue work and how is it different from a regular glue stick?

ELI5 Emergency Calls Only - If there is no cellphone signal, how does "emergency calls only" mode work?

ELI5 Caffeine - It has almost no calories, so where does the energy come from?

ELI5 Trailer - welcome to explain like I'm five