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PODCAST

Smartest Year Ever

Welcome to the Smartest Year Ever! This is your daily podcast for quick, funny, fascinating insights that you can use or share all year long. From history and science to quirky word origins and beyond, no topic is off-limits. Each episode is casual, short—most under 5 minutes—making it the perfect way to start your day or grab a quick dose of knowledge anytime. Tune in for bite-sized brilliance, and let’s make 2025 the Smartest Year Ever!

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All Episodes

00:05:38

The Real Doctor Who Inspired Sherlock Holmes |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/20

Was Sherlock Holmes based on a real person?In this episode, Gordy uncovers the fascinating story of Dr. Joseph Bell, the sharp-eyed Scottish surgeon who may have inspired the world’s most famous fictional detective. From diagnosing patients before they spoke to consulting on real-life murder cases, Bell’s uncanny powers of observation and deduction helped shape the blueprint for modern forensic thinking—and became the model for Holmes himself.This story weaves together Victorian medicine, early

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00:03:21

Why Do We Say “Close, But No Cigar”? | Smartest Year...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/19

Where does the phrase “Close, but no cigar” really come from?Gordy investigates the surprising origin of one of the most enduring idioms in the English language. Today we use it as a light jab when someone almost succeeds—but not quite. But the real story behind it involves 19th-century carnival games, actual cigar giveaways, and a strange cultural shift in how we award success.If you've ever said the phrase but never questioned it, this one's going to change the way you hear it forever

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00:03:36

Why Do We Call It a Honeymoon? | Smartest Year Ever...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/18

Why do we call it a honeymoon? Is it really about sweetness and romance… or something else entirely?In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy digs into the surprisingly dark origins of a word we now associate with tropical getaways and towel swans. From 16th-century English proverbs to Victorian bridal tours, and a myth about mead and fertility, this short, punchy history will change how you see the term forever.Along the way, we explore how language evolves—and how a term that once meant

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00:05:37

The 1518 Dancing Plague: Real, Deadly, Unexplained? |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/17

In the sweltering summer of 1518, a woman stepped into the streets of Strasbourg—and began to dance. Within days, dozens joined her. By the end of the month, it was hundreds. They danced without music. Without rest. Some even danced to death.In the final episode of Mystery Week, Gordy unpacks the chilling story of the Dancing Plague of 1518, one of the strangest historical outbreaks ever recorded. Was it mass hysteria? Ergot poisoning? Or something else entirely?Backed by medical records, city

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00:05:06

Did We Hear Aliens in 1977? The Truth About the Wow!...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/16

In 1977, a radio telescope in Ohio picked up a mysterious 72-second signal from deep space. It was so precise, so powerful, and so clean… a scientist literally wrote “Wow!” in the margins.This is the Wow! Signal—one of the most puzzling and hotly debated moments in the history of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).Could it have been a genuine alien transmission? Why haven’t we ever heard it again? And how close are we really to explaining it?Gordy breaks down everything you need to

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00:08:17

The Voynich Manuscript: The World's Most Mysterious...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/15

What do you do with a book no one can read?In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy unpacks the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript—a 600-year-old book filled with unknown script, impossible illustrations, and strange zodiac charts that have defied every attempt at decryption.Discovered by rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in 1912, this artifact has since become the world’s most famous undeciphered manuscript. Experts from Alan Turing’s colleagues to modern AI models have tried to crack the

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00:04:38

Flor de la Mar: The Most Valuable Shipwreck Never Found

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/14

In 1511, a towering Portuguese warship vanished in the Strait of Malacca, loaded with what might be the largest lost treasure in human history. Gold. Gemstones. Royal tributes. Priceless porcelain. All gone. For over 500 years, explorers, governments, and treasure hunters have searched for the Flor de la Mar, but her wreck has never been found.In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy investigates the legend of the Flor de la Mar—from the sacking of Malacca to the modern-day legal and political

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00:05:15

The Strange Hum That Haunts Taos | Smartest Year Ever...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/13

What if you heard a constant low-frequency hum—but no one else could? In the early 1990s, residents of Taos, New Mexico, began reporting a strange auditory phenomenon. No one could find the source. No machines. No sounds on recording devices. Just a persistent, pulsing vibration that only a few people could hear—and it never went away.Known as The Taos Hum, this mystery triggered a federal investigation, drew in scientists from Los Alamos National Lab, and led to a flurry of theories—ranging from

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00:06:20

Kaspar Hauser: The Teen Who Appeared Out of Nowhere |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/12

In 1828, a teenage boy materialized in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany—barely able to speak, walking like a child, and holding two strange letters.He claimed he'd lived his whole life in isolation. But within a few years, he was stabbed under mysterious circumstances… and died.To this day, no one knows who Kaspar Hauser really was.Was he a lost prince, a psychological con artist, or a traumatized feral child raised in darkness?This gripping episode explores one of the most baffling unsolved

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00:06:09

The Ghost Ship Mary Celeste: History’s Greatest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/11

In 1872, a merchant brig called the Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic—intact, seaworthy, and completely deserted. The sails were set. The cargo was still onboard. The crew’s belongings, untouched. Food on the table. No distress signal, no signs of violence, no obvious damage—and no crew.Gordy unpacks one of the most unsettling maritime mysteries of all time. Who was Captain Briggs? Why would an experienced crew abandon ship in calm weather? And what happened during those final 10 days

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00:06:15

Could the Titanic’s Lobsters Still Be Alive? |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/10

Lobster à l’américaine was on the menu the night the Titanic sank. But ever since, an internet meme has circulated claiming the real survivors of the tragedy were the lobsters in the kitchen tanks, who supposedly escaped their boiling fate and now live at the bottom of the Atlantic.Is that biologically possible? Could those lobsters have actually survived the sinking? Or would pressure, barotrauma, cold shock, or lack of oxygen have wiped them out instantly?In today’s episode, Gordy breaks down deep

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00:06:22

The Feral Cats Who Took Over a Frozen Island |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/09

On a remote, windswept island in the subantarctic Indian Ocean, an unexpected predator reigns supreme—not wolves, not seals, but feral house cats.Welcome to the Kerguelen Islands, one of the most isolated landmasses on Earth. Originally introduced to control rodents, these domestic cats escaped human oversight and evolved into fierce hunters, preying on penguins, seabirds, and anything else that moved. What started as a pest control solution became an ecological disaster—and a haunting case study in

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00:05:58

Cargo Cults: When WWII Supplies Became a Religion |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/08

During World War II, isolated island communities in the South Pacific witnessed something extraordinary: aircraft landing with radios, weapons, food, and medicine—then disappearing without explanation. When the war ended and the planes stopped coming, some local groups took a bold step.They built imitation airstrips, crafted wooden radios, and created rituals to summon the cargo back.In today’s episode, Gordy explores the strange, profound world of cargo cults—what they really were, how they

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00:07:51

What Went Wrong in Biosphere 2? | Smartest Year Ever...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/07

In the early 1990s, eight people sealed themselves inside a massive glass dome in the Arizona desert. Their mission? Create a completely self-sustaining ecosystem—no outside help, no resupply, no backup plan.What happened inside that dome was stranger and more revealing than most people realize. From plummeting oxygen levels to runaway banana plants, exploding cockroach populations, and silent psychological breakdowns, the Biosphere 2 experiment became a wild intersection of space colonization

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00:05:10

Why Do Cats Have That Weird Flap on Their Ear? |...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/06

There’s a strange little flap of skin on almost every cat’s ear—but what is it? Why is it there? And who the heck is Henry?In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into one of the weirdest features in feline anatomy: a mysterious skin fold called Henry’s Pocket. Also known as the cutaneous marginal pouch, this odd ear structure shows up in cats, foxes, and even some bats—but science still isn’t sure exactly what it’s for.Gordy explores the leading theories, from sound wave filtering to

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00:05:35

Frank’s Sign: The Earlobe Crease That Might Predict a...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/05

Frank’s Sign is a subtle crease in the earlobe that just might carry a much deeper meaning—one that’s been the subject of serious cardiovascular research for decades.In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the strange and surprising connection between a diagonal earlobe crease and heart disease, a phenomenon first documented in the 1970s. Known as Frank’s Sign, this small fold has been linked in numerous studies to coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, and even sudden cardiac

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00:04:50

The “Dead Cat” Strategy: How Politicians Hijack the...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/04

Why do politicians say outrageous things right when they’re under fire? It’s not a coincidence—it’s a calculated distraction technique with a grotesquely vivid name: the “Dead Cat” strategy.In today’s episode, Gordy breaks down one of the most audacious media manipulation tactics in modern politics. From British election scandals to viral outbursts designed to dominate headlines, this maneuver thrives in the age of outrage-driven news cycles.Linked to political strategist Lynton Crosby and

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00:05:49

The Tiny Mistake That Changed Fire Forever | Smartest...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/03

A wooden stick. A forgotten chemical paste. A scraped hearthstone. When British chemist John Walker tried to make an explosive compound in 1826, he never meant to invent one of the most useful tools in modern history: the friction match. But that accidental spark reshaped daily life—pocket fire, on demand.In this final episode of Accidental Genius Week, Gordy explores how fire-starting technology evolved over centuries—from flint and steel to early chemical lighters, and how the humble match wasn’t

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00:06:31

The Accidental Invention of LSD—and the Bicycle Ride...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/02

In this episode of Accidental Genius Week, Gordy unpacks one of the strangest scientific surprises of the 20th century: how a Swiss chemist trying to create a circulatory stimulant instead unlocked one of the most powerful psychoactive substances in human history.Before the 1960s counterculture, before the CIA’s secret programs, before the mind-expanding experiments of modern psychedelic therapy—there was a lab in Basel, a toxic rye fungus, and one wild bike ride that changed everything.It’s the

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00:04:56

How a NASA Engineer Accidentally Invented the Super...

Smartest Year Ever ·

2025/08/01

Lonnie Johnson wasn’t trying to change the toy industry.He was trying to fix a heat pump.This episode of Smartest Year Ever uncovers how a NASA engineer, working on eco-friendly refrigeration tech, ended up launching one of the most iconic inventions of the 1990s. With a background in nuclear engineering, contributions to the stealth bomber and space missions like Galileo, Johnson’s career was already remarkable—but it was a bathroom experiment gone wrong that sent him on a path toward creating the

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312 results

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