Smartest Year Ever

Palm trees and Los Angeles feel like they go hand in hand—but they’re not even from here. Most were imported in the early 20th century to help sell a dream, and now that dream is fading. These trees are aging out , not being replaced, and within a few decades, they’ll disappear from LA’s skyline. Gordy breaks down the history of LA’s palm obsession, why they were planted in the first place, and wh...

Why don’t we ride zebras? They look like designer horses, but they’ve never joined the lineup of domesticated animals. In this episode, Gordy dives into the wild nature of zebras, why they’ve resisted human control, and how their biology and behavior made them impossible to tame—even in Africa where people lived beside them for thousands of years. From Lord Walter Rothschild’s zebra carriage to mo...

On Earth Day 1970, a college student submitted a simple, elegant design to a contest. That design became the now-iconic recycling symbol—a triangle of arrows chasing each other endlessly. But does it really mean something is recyclable? In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into the surprising history and modern misuse of the recycling symbol, also known as the Mobius loop. From Ga...

In today’s Smartest Year Ever , Gordy dives into the wildest Olympic race of all time —the 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis, Missouri , a chaotic, dusty disaster full of cars, poison, and unbelievable cheating . From runners collapsing in 90-degree heat with no water , to a guy literally riding in a car for part of the race … and still almost winning—this event was absolute madness. Even the off...

Why do we say someone quit “cold turkey” when they stop something abruptly? Gordy breaks down the two top theories behind this odd phrase—and neither involves leftovers. One theory ties the phrase to the physical symptoms of withdrawal , where pale skin and goosebumps were said to resemble uncooked turkey. The other traces it back to the older phrase “talking turkey,” meaning to speak plainly—with...

How did they measure Mount Everest before satellites, drones, or even calculators? In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy explores how 19th-century surveyors pulled off one of the most impressive feats of pre-digital science — calculating the height of the world’s tallest mountain with stunning precision. Long before GPS, the British-led Great Trigonometrical Survey of India used trigono...

You know that little dangly thing at the back of your throat? It’s called the uvula , and it’s not just hanging out for decoration. In today’s episode, Gordy dives into why we have a uvula, what it does, and how it quietly helps us speak, swallow, and stay healthy . Turns out, this squishy little grape-shaped structure is involved in everything from making certain consonants possible to preventing...

 If Ancient Rome was so brilliant, why didn’t they invent trains ? Or steam engines ? Or, you know… industrialize ? In this episode, Gordy explores why one of history’s most advanced civilizations never sparked an industrial revolution , even though they had brilliant engineers, sprawling cities, and even a proto-steam engine over a thousand years before James Watt. From the invention of Hero’s ae...

Why do we call someone the “salt of the earth”? Or say someone’s “all that and a bag of chips”? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy breaks down the surprising, strange, and sometimes murky origins of common food idioms . From medieval soup to colonial slang, we’re digging into five of the most popular phrases — including one submitted by a listener on TikTok. Language is messy , and idio...

Since 1951, Oscar winners have been legally blocked from selling their statuettes. Why? Because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wants to keep the Oscars about artistic merit—not money . Gordy breaks down the unusual contract every winner enters: they must offer the Oscar back to the Academy for one dollar before trying to sell, gift, or even bequeath it. That dollar isn’t random—it...

Why Do Cicadas Wait 17 Years to Emerge? The Evolutionary Secret Behind Prime Number Broods  Cicadas don’t hibernate for 17 years—they strategically wait underground , avoiding predators with one of the most fascinating evolutionary timelines on Earth. In this episode of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy dives into Brood XIV , the massive group of cicadas emerging in 2025 across 13 U.S. states. Why do the...

 Can you legally go through life in the U.S. with just one name ? In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy explores the strange paradox of naming laws in America: it’s not illegal to be nameless—but try living without one, and you’ll hit a bureaucratic wall. From government forms to bank accounts , our systems are built on two-name assumptions. Gordy investigates whether going mononym like...

In this episode, Gordy digs into some wildly optimistic (and occasionally insulting) predictions made in 1925 about the world we’d be living in today, in 2025. From flying cars and rooftop airports to the disappearance of beauty itself, futurists from a century ago weren’t exactly short on opinions. Featuring forecasts from scientists, novelists, and newspaper editors, this episode unpacks five of...

Why do donkeys and your backside share the same word? It’s not what you think. In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy unpacks the linguistic mix-up that gave us the same word for both a pack animal and your posterior . Spoiler: it has nothing to do with donkeys being stubborn. The term for a donkey comes from Latin asinus , while the word for your rear end traces back to Old English ærs...

Does your birth order actually influence your personality—or is your older sibling just using it to justify being bossy? In Episode 100 of Smartest Year Ever , Gordy explores the classic theory that birth order shapes personality . Are firstborns really more responsible? Do youngest siblings actually tend to be rebellious? And what happens to middle children—besides being forgotten at Walmart? Fro...

What’s humanity’s backup plan if farming fails? Gordy explores the Svalbard Global Seed Vault , a secure facility tucked inside a Norwegian mountain that stores over a million seed samples —a real-life "save game" button for civilization. From war zones to climate change, agriculture has always been vulnerable. But Svalbard’s frozen vault preserves the genetic future of crops, offering h...

How did a melted candy bar lead to a kitchen revolution? In this episode, Gordy dives into the accidental invention of the microwave oven —a story that starts not with culinary ambition, but with a confused radar engineer and a pocket full of chocolate. Learn how microwaves work , why they don’t cook from the inside out, and what really happens when you put metal inside one. From dancing water mol...

Ever wondered why your name comes with a bonus round in the middle? Gordy dives into the unexpected history of middle names —from ancient Roman status symbols to modern-day family dramas. Discover how "Julius Hairy Caesar" wasn’t just a bold branding choice, why John Quincy Adams helped make middle names mainstream, and how adding a middle initial makes you seem smarter (seriously, science says so...

Neanderthals had bigger brains , stronger bodies , and possibly even faster sprinting speed than modern humans. So… why are we the ones still around? In this episode, Gordy dives into what made Neanderthals such a powerhouse species—from their barrel-chested strength and visual-spatial superbrains to their survival skills in the Ice Age wilderness . We now know they weren’t just primitive brutes—t...

 Rome had traffic jams before cars were even invented. In this episode, Gordy reveals which city in history was the first to reach a population of one million —and why the answer might surprise you. Spoiler: It wasn’t New York. Or London. It happened over 2,000 years ago in a marble-and-mud metropolis powered by aqueducts and political drama. After that ancient milestone, it took more than a thous...

Why do we stash our savings inside a ceramic pig ? Why not an owl? Or a vault? Or literally anything else? In this episode, Gordy digs into the surprisingly strange history of the piggy bank —a financial icon born not from porcine symbolism, but from a Middle Ages typo . It turns out that “piggy” used to mean something very different… and one potter’s confusion changed the shape of savings forever...

The nuchal ligament is a weird little strap in the back of your neck—but it might be one of the reasons humans became the sweatiest, slowest apex predators on Earth. In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores why humans are built to run, and how a hidden ligament connecting your skull to your spine helps keep your head from bouncing like a bobblehead. This simple structure shows up in h...

After a rainstorm, you know exactly the smell—that earthy, oddly comforting scent that makes you want to bottle the sidewalk. It’s called petrichor , and today, Gordy breaks down what’s actually causing it, why our noses are absurdly sensitive to it, and how it might’ve helped early humans survive. From geosmin (a compound made by soil-dwelling bacteria) to the way raindrops launch micro-particles...

April is known for showers, fertility goddesses, and Easter eggs —but how much of that reputation holds up? In today’s episode, Gordy cracks open the surprisingly weird truth behind April’s soggy rep, name origins, and ancient roots. You’ll learn: • Why April isn’t actually the rainiest month in most places • Where the phrase “April showers bring May flowers” comes from • What Aphrodite , Venus ,...

At 16 years old, Benjamin Franklin pulled off one of the greatest literary pranks in colonial America—he catfished Boston as a snarky, opinionated widow named Mrs. Silence Dogood . In today’s episode, Gordy uncovers the wild true story behind the Silence Dogood letters , the essays that tricked Franklin’s brother, captivated readers, and launched Ben’s obsession with fake names. From mocking the e...