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PODCAST

Smartest Year Ever

The Smartest Year Ever began as a 365-day experiment in curiosity. In 2025, I dropped a new fact every single day. History, science, language, word origins, and strange true stories, all the stuff that somehow makes you sound smarter in conversation. The goal hasn’t changed: help you become the world’s greatest conversationalist.

education

All Episodes

00:04:25

Why Do We Forget Our Dreams? Brain Science & Memory...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/18

Why do we forget our dreams so fast? One moment, you’re in a vivid, surreal world—and the next, it’s like the memory was wiped clean. In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy breaks down the surprising brain science behind why dreams seem to disappear instantly upon waking.Explore how your brain might actually be deleting your dreams, why REM sleep is a memory black hole, and the role of neurotransmitters like norepinephrine in preventing dream recall. Plus, find out why some scientists believe

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00:05:32

Food Idioms Part 2: Why Do We Say These? | Smartest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/17

Ever wondered why we say phrases like "baker's dozen" or "spill the beans"? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy takes you on a quirky journey through the surprising origins of five more food-related idioms. Some are well-documented, while others are shrouded in mystery—can you guess which ones are which?This episode is a follow-up to the popular Food Idioms Part 1, thanks to all your comments and suggestions! Get ready to dive into the weird and wonderful history

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00:06:15

When Does English Stop Making Sense? (Time Travel...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/16

Ever wondered how far back you could time travel and still speak English? 🕰️ From Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the epic Beowulf, English has been through some wild transformations over the centuries.In this episode, Gordy breaks down when English stops being recognizable. Discover how Modern English (1500–Present) evolved from Middle English (1100–1500) and Old English (450–1100), a version so unrecognizable it sounds like a Viking war cry.Why did

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00:04:24

The Secret Airline That Flies Into Area 51: What Are...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/15

Imagine an airline with no website, no public schedule, and a fleet of unmarked planes. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s real—and it flies straight into Area 51.In today’s episode, Gordy dives into the shadowy world of Janet Airlines, a top-secret U.S. government airline that officially doesn’t exist. From its eerie red-striped jets to its unlisted destinations, Janet is the airline that takes military personnel and defense contractors into the heart of America’s most classified

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00:05:45

Does Alcohol Hydrate or Dehydrate? The Surprising ABV...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/14

Ever wondered at what point alcohol goes from hydrating to dehydrating? 🍺 It turns out there’s an ABV tipping point where drinks stop being your friend and start drying you out. Gordy dives into the science behind beer, wine, spirits, and how alcohol affects hydration.We’ll look at why sailors once drank low-alcohol “small beer” to stay hydrated, why modern drinks don’t do the trick, and how your cold post-run beer might be doing more harm than good. Plus, find out the exact ABV where hydration

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00:06:23

How Many People Have Ever Lived? (And How Close We...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/13

How many people have ever lived on Earth? The answer is way more than you’d think — and it’s a wild story of near-extinction, population explosions, and ancient survivors.We’re diving deep into the math behind the estimated number of humans who have ever walked the planet. From the earliest Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago to the 8 billion alive today, it’s a timeline packed with shocking bottlenecks and explosive growth.Ever heard of the Toba eruption? Around 70,000 years ago, a supervolcano nearly

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00:06:18

Why Are Shoe Sizes So Confusing? (The Bizarre History...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/12

Ever wonder why your shoe size is a 10 in one country and a 42 in another? Or why different brands seem to fit differently even when labeled the same size? Gordy breaks down the bizarre history of shoe sizing, from medieval barleycorn measurements to modern inconsistencies. Discover why the Brannock Device—invented nearly a century ago—remains the gold standard, and why even that doesn’t guarantee a perfect fit.In this episode, we dive into:The medieval origins of shoe sizing.Why US, UK, EU, and

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00:06:02

Chimpanzee vs Human: Who Throws Harder? | Smartest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/11

Throwing isn’t just a skill—it’s a human superpower. But what happens when we put our pitching abilities up against some of the strongest animals on Earth? In today’s episode, Gordy digs into the surprising science behind animal throwing speed, from gorillas hurling sticks to chimpanzees planning sneak attacks with rocks.But can any of them come close to a Major League fastball? And what does that tell us about human evolution, brain power, and the way we’re built to throw? You might be surprised at

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00:08:46

How We Measured the Speed of Light (And Why It’s...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/10

Ever wondered why light is the fastest thing in the universe? Or how scientists first figured out its speed? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into the fascinating journey from Galileo’s lanterns to Einstein’s relativity.From Ole Rømer’s groundbreaking discovery of light’s finite speed to Hippolyte Fizeau’s ingenious wheel experiment, we’ll explore how light sets the universal speed limit. Plus, why light speed remains constant, no matter how fast you’re moving, and how special

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00:04:54

Can Pet Hair Crack a Case? (Forensic Fur Evidence) |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/09

In 1994, a white cat named Snowball helped solve one of the most unusual investigations in Canadian history.When a missing person was found days later under suspicious circumstances, authorities recovered a leather jacket near the scene. It had traces of blood—and several strands of white pet hair.There was no human DNA linking the jacket to a suspect. But the person of interest? He had a white cat. Investigators turned to a geneticist who pioneered a new way to test animal DNA—and for the first

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00:04:07

How Fast Is Too Fast? The Surprising Science of Jet...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/08

Jet lag is so normal today that we forget—it’s a modern glitch. For most of human history, people simply couldn’t move fast enough to get it. Boats were too slow. Horses, too steady. But the industrial age changed everything.In this episode, Gordy explores the invention of jet lag, from the rise of railroads in the 1800s to the first use of the term in a 1966 L.A. Times article. Along the way, we get into the circadian science, the speed threshold for messing with your internal clock, and the weird

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00:04:04

The Sentences That Trick Your Brain (Garden Path...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/07

Some sentences make perfect sense… until they don’t. Today, Gordy explores garden path sentences—a linguistic trap where your brain confidently goes one way, only to slam into a wall of confusion.From “The old man the boats” to “The horse raced past the barn fell,” these seemingly broken lines are actually grammatically correct. They’re just crafted to mislead your brain’s natural processing system, exposing how we build meaning on the fly, and how quickly things go off the rails.It’s a peek into

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00:04:32

5 Real Words That Sound Completely Made Up | Smartest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/06

Some words just sound like nonsense—but they’re not. Today, Gordy breaks down five real words that sound fake but are 100% legit: from a woodworking term that sounds like an alien sidekick, to the name of that eye chart you never knew had a name.These aren't made-up internet jokes or slang. They’re real, dictionary-approved words with wildly unexpected meanings—and once you learn them, you’ll start noticing them everywhere.Want to sound clever at your next dinner party? This is the episode.Words

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00:03:56

Why Are Manhole Covers Round? (Most Fail This...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/05

Why are manhole covers round? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy breaks down one of the most deceptively clever questions in interview history. From physics and engineering to human behavior and tech hiring practices, the shape of a manhole turns out to be a masterclass in practical design.Made famous by Microsoft interviews in the 1990s, this question still pops up today—not because it’s about manholes, but because it reveals how you think.Can a square fall in? Yes. Can a circle

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00:03:09

Why Do People Press Their Hands Together to Pray? |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/04

Most people recognize the "prayer hands" gesture instantly—palms pressed, fingers pointed skyward. But where did it come from?In this episode, Gordy dives into the surprising origin of the 🙏 gesture. From ancient India’s respectful Anjali Mudra, to the feudal power plays of medieval Europe, and finally to the sacred ritual we now associate with prayer—this hand pose has had quite a journey.You'll learn:Why Namaste and 🙏 share DNAHow kneeling before a lord shaped Christian worshipWhen

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00:05:45

Can You Actually Film Light Moving?...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/03

In today’s episode, Gordy explores a mind-bending innovation in modern physics: filming light itself in motion—at a trillion frames per second. Sound impossible? Welcome to femto-photography, where researchers at MIT figured out how to capture a single pulse of light as it travels through a Coke bottle, scatters off an apple, and even starts forming shadows in real time.This isn’t slow motion. It’s slow-light—and it has game-changing implications: from seeing around corners, to autonomous

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00:04:56

The Cat That Survived Three Shipwrecks | Smartest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/02

During WWII, one cat allegedly survived the sinking of three different warships—switching sides from Nazi Germany to Britain in the process. His name? Unsinkable Sam.In this episode, Gordy uncovers the unbelievable story of a black-and-white ship cat who may have had more than nine lives. From the doomed Bismarck, to the HMS Cossack, to the Ark Royal, Sam survived it all—often rescued from floating wreckage by stunned sailors.But was it just legend? We dig into the eyewitness accounts, museum

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00:05:17

What’s the Rarest Birthday? (And Why It Happens Less...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/05/01

Ever wondered what the rarest birthday is — and why some dates barely get any love? 🎂 In today's episode, Gordy breaks down real U.S. birth data to reveal why holidays like Christmas and New Year’s have far fewer births — and why September is a birthday traffic jam. Turns out, culture, scheduling, and simple timing all shape the calendar more than you’d think.Stay curious, stay clever — and keep sharpening your skills on the quest to become the World’s Greatest

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00:06:31

How the First Transatlantic Cable Changed the World...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/04/30

In 1858, a cable was laid across the Atlantic Ocean—a 2,500-mile-long copper wire connecting Europe and North America for the first time. It was a technological marvel, a symbol of progress, and the "eighth wonder of the world"... for three weeks.This episode dives into how the first transatlantic telegraph cable changed global communication—before it was fried by a man named Wildman Whitehouse. Gordy explores the wild story of Victorian ambition, why we still rely on undersea cables

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00:05:55

What’s the Oldest Joke Ever Recorded? | Smartest Year...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/04/29

The oldest joke in human history was written over 4,000 years ago, and yes, it’s about a fart. Gordy explores this ancient gag from Sumer, how humor has evolved (or hasn’t), and dives into the roots of comedy from Egyptian, Greek, and Roman times. Turns out, the formula for laughs—taboo, absurdity, and relatability—hasn’t changed much. What’s different? Just the platform.Join Smartest Year Ever and discover how farts, insults, and dumb-guy jokes are timeless.Stay curious, stay

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