Part-Time Genius

Human ingenuity knows no limits! Today Will, Gabe, and Mango raid the United States Patent Office to find some of the weirdest, funniest, and most confusing inventions of all time.  This episode originally aired on April 7, 2020. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo of a gerbil (not in the gerbil transport vest) by Silje Roseneng via Unsplash. Thanks, Silje! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mediating bizarre border scuffles from an island once settled with whiskey to a puffin-packed rock fought over for fishing rights. They trace glacial disagreements on Mont Blanc, a survey error that shifted a state line, and a weird nested enclave puzzle that was finally unraveled. Hear tales of an unclaimed desert, a DIY micronation, and a Manhattan neighborhood stranded in the Bronx.

Why are people getting plastic surgery on their fingerprints? Why was the Civil War such a golden era for procedures? And why is everyone suddenly obsessed with the length of their philtrums? Will and Mango take a brisk walk through the history of plastic surgery. This episode originally aired on January 25, 2019. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo of Civil War veterans by the American Press Association via the Library of Congress. Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dive into the fascinating world of teleportation, where science fiction meets potential reality! Discover its historical roots, from a 19th-century hoax about a boy and a dog to its connections with ancient stage magic. Explore the complexities of quantum teleportation and the mind-bending concept of entanglement, illustrated by a quirky love song. Can wormholes offer a way forward? Tune in for captivating theories, real-world experiments, and the hurdles that still keep teleportation just beyond our grasp!

From the treasury joker who snuck his face on some cash, to Theodore Roosevelt’s drastic redesign for the penny, to the very best reason Harriet Tubman belongs on the $20, Will and Mango are diving into dollar bill facts Scrooge McDuck-style. This episode originally aired on January 31, 2019. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo by Giorgio Trovato via Unsplash. Thanks, Giorgio! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will and Mango are starting the new year strong by counting down their favorite cultural works that just entered the public domain. From cartoon queens and detective stories to Dutch abstract art and one of the most recorded songs in history, this year’s crop has something for everyone. Plus: How the Harlem Globetrotters got their theme song, and the origin of the Dagwood sandwich! Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the Canadian professor who found patterns in scratch-off lottery tickets, to the Michigan couple that turned a lottery flaw into their retirement savings plan, to the strange reason you should hold onto any lottery ticket that has Herbert Hoover's face on it, Will and Mango look into the long history of lotteries... and the geniuses who've managed to game them.  This episode originally aired on June 13, 2018. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo by Erik Mclean via Unsplash. Thanks, Erik! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While no one is going to malls (or so it seems), everyone seems to be talking about them: the CDC is writing up reports on mall walkers, people are growing beards to get into the mall Santa game, and writers are waxing nostalgic about them. But what exactly were malls intended to be? Why did the inventor of the mall try to distance himself from his greatest invention? And why are there never any escalators in the middle of them? Will and Mango dig in.   This episode originally aired on May 28, 2019. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo of Boston's Copley Place Mall by Ethan Hansen via Unsplash. Thanks, Ethan! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… an ad for cigarettes?! For the past 102 years, people have been using airplanes to turn exhaust into ads, political slogans, birthday greetings, and more. But where did this strangely brilliant idea come from? What kind of sorcery do pilots use to make it happen? And why is it at risk of becoming a lost art?  This episode originally aired on December 3, 2024. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social! Photo by Sebastian Davenport-Handley via Unsplash. Thanks, Sebastian! Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the 44th annual Part-Time Genius Awards! We’re honoring the people—and creatures—behind the year’s best stories, including a fungus that plays keyboards, a rare snail looking for love, a very nerdy math holiday, an incredible invention for astronauts who enjoy baking, an experiment with Batman, and more. Grab your tuxedo and let’s send 2025 off in style. Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Tell us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925. We’re on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social. Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.