Facts Machine

In this episode, Facts Machine makes a PAWEDcast! Noah, Rob, and Emily learn all about dogs — the good boys and good girls who make life worth living. Listen to find out how good the first good boy was, how some good girls are helping reseed forests after fires, and how some good boys and good girls (and one especially good boy) braved wind and snow to save a bunch of kids from Diptheria!

Hail to the Chief! It's an episode of Facts Machine all about U.S. presidents. Listen to find out why it's not safe to run for president in 2020, how to win friends and influence people to crowdfund your mausoleum, and which president was arrested for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage.

“More intellectual than I expected.” Our listeners should expect nothing less from an episode of Facts Machine all about poop! Would you believe that in this episode we discuss the natural philosophy of Aristotle, the finer points of long-term space exploration, AND cutting-edge (or should we say, “surface-level”) biomimicry in engineering? Just to be clear, though, this is definitely an episode a...

Top of the morning to ya! In honor of St. Paddy’s day, we’re Dublin down on this week’s theme: Guinness! Listen to find out why nitrogen is “an obvious gas”, how the t-test was invented by a Guinness employee, and how “factual fisticuffs” inspired the Guinness Book of World Records!

This week, Facts Machine becomes FaXXX Machine as Emily, Rob, and Noah discuss facts of a more... intimate ...nature. Get your mind in the gutter with our titillating (hehehe) tales about the Urban Dictionary of the Victorian era, that time when Hemingway and Fitzgerald compared their penises at the Louvre, and a divine foreskin of purportedly cosmic proportions.

Have your lassos, pistols, and...sarsaparilla (?) at the ready, because this week Facts Machine is comin' atcha with some Wild West facts! Tune in to learn about real life re-enactments of your favorite dysentry-ridden computer game, the dromedaries that were once at home on the range, and the most infamous stagecoach robber in frontier herstory. Yee-haw!

You can learn a lot in a New York minute, but you can learn even more in sixty! Facts Machine is back with an episode all about our hometown, the Big Apple. Listen to learn why The Strand bookstore is the last shop standing from New York's legendary Book Row, why electric cars caught on in the 19th century only to be undermined by fragile masculinity, and why a New York sculptor has been creating...

It would be criminal to miss this episode of Facts Machine! Let us steal your attention with gritty tales of (surprisingly) true crime, featuring Ohio bank robberies, anti-Stratfordian conspiracy theories, and mysteriously damp socks. Do your ears some justice and tune in!

Noah, Emily and Rob are back with a BAN-tastic episode all about bans, censorship, and prohibitions! Listen to find out why Ray Bradbury should have gone with Fahrenheit 2577, why you should watch your back if you’re the king who banned coffee, and which beloved children’s book character is not allowed in a Polish playground because he doesn’t wear pants. But be quick, before you know it, we could...

Podcast ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! For Noah, Emily, and Rob have come to you to say: Remember facts like Ol’ Saint Nick was skinny in his day! Oh tidings of Facts Machine pod! Give us five stars! Ohhhh tidings of Facts Machine pod! It’s a holiday episode of Facts Machine! Come learn about how Martin Luther wanted to split from the Catholic Church but didn’t want to split from gett...

Bottoms up! It's an episode of Facts Machine all about booze. Tune in to learn how John Chapman planted cider apple trees until he became known as Johnny Appleseed, how a ban on eggnog incited a violent riot among cadets at West Point, and how drunk birds are wreaking havoc in a small Minnesota town.

Grab some peanuts and Cracker Jacks and get your glove out from under your mattress. The baseball season might be over, but it's opening day for America's *real* pastime: trivia! There will be more twists than one of those curvy, slidy pitches...what are they called again? Settle in for a long, boring episode about the long, boring game that we can't help but love. We'll discuss the story behind t...

Boo! Did we scare you? No? Well maybe our most recent episode will do the trick (or treat)! This week, Rob, Noah, and Emily explore the overuse of Franken as a prefix, the spooky physics (or lack thereof) of ghosts, and the sex politics of ancient Egyptian mummies.

"I was laughing for half of the episode, and thinking for the other half!", "As funny as 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!'", "I love Facts Machine, but please don't open any more cellophane packages on-air." The above are all real reviews that our podcast has received! In this episode, Emily, Rob, and Noah review the reviewers--the professional and amateur opinion-havers whose input we've learned is ap...

Food fight!!! Grab a gluten-free communion wafer, a rotten tomato, or a cookie that thinks it's a cake, and get ready to throw them at Noah, Emily and Rob as they set the table and dig in to find out the precise gluten content of Jesus of Nazareth, the best uses for tomatoes, and the legal definition of a cookie.

UFOs…chem trails…lizard people…Facts Machine? You’re not crazy (maybe); all the aforementioned things are sources of conspiracy theories! Hold onto your tin foil hats as Noah, Rob, and Emily take you on a mild ride through the world of boring conspiracy theories in Episode 9 of Facts Machine. We’ll cover why Starbucks never gets your name right, why elevator close buttons exist to prevent your des...

They say that that in space, no one can hear you scream…but since we host a podcast, we’re used to screaming fruitlessly into the void, so it’s fine! In this episode, Emily, Rob, and Noah explore the vast reaches of space, as well as all the ways that space reaches into each and every one of our lives. Tune in to discover why scientists are taking pictures of penguin poop from orbit, whether “Icy...

Some historical heroes are household names, whereas others fade into history, or worse, suffer the cruel fate of not even meriting a Wikipedia page. Ever wonder why unicorns are no longer the scourge of humanity, why badass women journalists no longer hold ransom the clothing of US Presidents to get interviews, and why we don’t operate bicycles like a Kangaroo probably would? Unsung heroes have sh...

Have you ever wondered whether some animals, despite the best efforts of the powerful pro-animal lobby to convince us otherwise (we’re looking at you, David Attenborough), just really suck? Odds are some of them are just going to be real jerks with no redeeming qualities, right? In this episode, Rob, Noah, and Emily debate the merits of jellyfish, pigeons, and spiders, and (with the exception of R...

What will you leave behind when you die? If you're lucky, you'll leave behind the Earth when your ashes are blasted into outer space! Alternatively, you might pass on your birth date to an unlucky child born too close to Christmas. Or maybe, just maybe, you'll start a race to see who can have the most babies during the Great Depression. In this episode, Emily, Rob and Noah, the executors of the Fa...

Want to learn lots of cool stuff about The World Cup, but don’t want to have to learn anything about soccer itself? Do we ever have a podcast for you! In this episode, Noah, Emily, and Rob explore the crazy world of The World Cup. Listen to find out whether the 1958 World Cup in Sweden was really a hoax orchestrated by the CIA and FIFA, how soccer has opera to thank for its continued popularity, a...

Would a podcast by any other name sound as sweet? That's what Facts Machine is here to find out. In this episode, Rob, Noah, and Emily dish on their historical namesakes. Listen to find out how Robert E. Lee is connected to the death of John F. Kennedy*, how Noah's Ark is related to the oldest alcoholic beverages ever discovered, and how a parasitic fungus called Devastating Emily is linked to a c...

Facts Machine Trivia Podcast has returned for a *second* episode! Listen to find out how a one-eyed astronomer, anthropomorphic trains, and the country of Finland relate to this week's early bird-friendly theme: Rise and Shine. We'd love to hear your thoughts, and even more so any facts that YOU have to share (it's kind of our thing). Hit us up on Twitter/Instagram at @FactsMachinePod!

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Facts Machine Trivia Podcast! Listen to find out how swimming hieroglyphics, hitchhiking, and the casting of Tarzan are somehow connected to this week's theme: The Olympics. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making it. Let us know what you think! Twitter/IG: @FactsMachinePod