This week, Stuff You Should Know examined how empires crumble and how people fill the spaces they leave behind. The podcast devoted two episodes to the Soviet Union's collapse while also exploring lighter cultural phenomena—from a parasitic disease to Dolly Parton's enduring appeal and the bizarre early 20th-century trend of flagpole sitting—suggesting that history moves on multiple timescales and in multiple registers at once.
Episodes This Week
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Other Weeks
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Oct 5 - Oct 11, 2026)
4 episodes · Oct 5 – Oct 11
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4 episodes · Sep 28 – Oct 4
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5 episodes · Sep 21 – Sep 27
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14 episodes · Sep 14 – Sep 20
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Sep 7 - Sep 13, 2026)
4 episodes · Sep 7 – Sep 13
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Aug 31 - Sep 6, 2026)
4 episodes · Aug 31 – Sep 6
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Aug 17 - Aug 23, 2026)
4 episodes · Aug 17 – Aug 23
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Aug 10 - Aug 16, 2026)
4 episodes · Aug 10 – Aug 16
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Aug 3 - Aug 9, 2026)
5 episodes · Aug 3 – Aug 9
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Jul 27 - Aug 2, 2026)
3 episodes · Jul 27 – Aug 2
This Week in Stuff You Should Know (Jul 20 - Jul 26, 2026)
4 episodes · Jul 20 – Jul 26