About this season
Half as Interesting is an entertaining, fact-based, educational series covering diverse topics of general interest presented in a somewhat humorous, quirky style. Topics range from curious to weird and are rarely important to know unless you're looking for some lunch room or coffee break conversation starters.
Episodes (56)
1. South Korea Built a Mediocre New Capital in the Middle of Nowhere
Aired 4 January 2024 • 6 min
2. Why There’s a Giant Barcode In The Middle of the Mojave Desert
Aired 11 January 2024 • 6 min
3. The Special Design That Makes Library Books Indestructible
Aired 16 January 2024 • 7 min
4. How the US Transports Its Nuclear Weapons
Aired 19 January 2024 • 7 min
5. How Tokyo Made Itself Earthquake-Proof
Aired 25 January 2024 • 7 min
6. Why a Big Box Store Started Solving Violent Crimes
Aired 26 January 2024 • 7 min
7. The Very Real Australian Colleges with No Students
Aired 31 January 2024 • 7 min
8. The Logistics of White House State Dinners
Aired 31 January 2024 • 7 min
9. The Tiny Alaskan Town with the US’ Highest Taxicab Density
Aired 5 February 2024 • 7 min
10. How This Michigan Town Accidentally Buried Itself in Sand
Aired 19 February 2024 • 7 min
11. Why the FBI and the CIA Keep Lying to Each Other
Aired 25 February 2024 • 6 min
12. Why It’s So Difficult to Build Subways in Rome
Aired 28 February 2024 • 7 min
13. Why We’re Building a 790-Mile Wire From Kansas to Indiana
Aired 29 February 2024 • 6 min
14. Why the North Korean Government Has a Tiny Office in NYC
Aired 19 March 2024 • 8 min
15. Why So Many Trains Get Robbed in this One Spot
Aired 22 March 2024 • 9 min
16. The Logistics of Prescribed Fires
Aired 27 March 2024 • 9 min
Video written by Ben Doyle
17. Why Don’t Planes Carry Parachutes?
Aired 31 March 2024 • 8 min
18. How the US Tests Nukes (Without Blowing Them Up)
Aired 6 April 2024 • 8 min
19. The Man Who Stole an Entire Hotel
Aired 16 April 2024 • 8 min
20. The Obscure System That Syncs All The World’s Clocks
Aired 23 April 2024 • 8 min
21. How Storing Movies on Vinyl Lost RCA $650 Million
Aired 1 May 2024 • 9 min
22. Why All Pro Basketball Players Shoot Free Throws Wrong
Aired 9 May 2024 • 9 min
23. The One Company That Owns 2,390 Colors
Aired 14 May 2024 • 10 min
24. The 517,431 Emails That Trained Siri
Aired 17 May 2024 • 8 min
25. Why There’s a Pacific Ocean Port in Idaho
Aired 24 May 2024 • 9 min
26. Why the Ocean Looks So Fake on Google Maps
Aired 3 June 2024 • 9 min
27. Why the US Drops 14.7 Million Worms On Panama Every Week
Aired 6 June 2024 • 8 min
28. Why Nobody Knows What 彁 Means
Aired 13 June 2024 • 9 min
29. The Weird, Terrible Smartphones They Only Have in North Korea
Aired 25 June 2024 • 8 min
30. Mumbai’s Crazy-Efficient, 99.9999% Accurate Food Delivery System
Aired 1 July 2024 • 8 min
31. How the UN Translates Everything in Real-Time
Aired 8 July 2024 • 9 min
32. How this Oklahoma Town Became Completely Uninhabitable
Aired 15 July 2024 • 9 min
33. How America’s Largest, Most Secure Embassy Works
Aired 19 July 2024 • 9 min
34. How the US Gov’s Riskiest Labs Contain Deadly Viruses
Aired 30 July 2024 • 8 min
35. The One Long Wire Ruining America’s Most Important Train
Aired 1 August 2024 • 8 min
36. The Super-Complex Security of the Paris Olympics
Aired 9 August 2024 • 9 min
37. The Logistics of Mount Everest’s Base Camp
Aired 20 August 2024 • 8 min
38. The $190 Million Tunnel Built for Just 1200 People
Aired 26 August 2024 • 8 min
39. The Worst Mistakes We Made This Year
Aired 3 September 2024 • 8 min
40. The Massively Bureaucratic System for Confirming a “Miracle”
Aired 7 September 2024 • 9 min
41. The Board That Decides Every Place Name in the U.S.
Aired 18 September 2024 • 8 min
42. Why 1% of the Stock Market is Tied to 11 Random Americans
Aired 26 September 2024 • 7 min
43. How Ski Resorts Store Snow Over the Summer
Aired 30 September 2024 • 8 min
44. Why Only One US City Doesn’t Add Fluoride to Its Water
Aired 10 October 2024 • 9 min
45. How They Dug the Deepest Hole on Earth
Aired 17 October 2024 • 8 min
46. How This Card Game Accidentally Became a Stock Market
Aired 25 October 2024 • 9 min
47. How This Single 'M' Almost Ruined a US Presidency
Aired 30 October 2024 • 9 min
48. How The USA’s Only Car-Free Village Works
Aired 31 October 2024 • 9 min
49. Why Hawaii's H-3 is the Most Expensive Interstate Ever
Aired 12 November 2024 • 9 min
50. The Crazy-Complex Process of Organizing a Container Ship
Aired 19 November 2024 • 9 min
51. How This Waffle Restaurant Mastered Hurricanes
Aired 26 November 2024 • 8 min
52. How Istanbul Moved Its Airport in Just 45 Hours
Aired 30 November 2024 • 8 min
53. The US’ Surprisingly Busy Nuclear Emergency Team
Aired 12 December 2024 • 9 min
54. How a Whole Country Got Cut Off From The Internet for 38 Days
Aired 17 December 2024 • 9 min
55. How This Tunnel Accidentally Created an Immigration Loophole
Aired 24 December 2024 • 7 min
56. The $18.8 Bil, Borderline Useless Bridge Between Hong Kong and Macau
Aired 26 December 2024 • 8 min