Stuff You Should Know

Podbit · Stuff You Should Know

Alaska Earthquake of 1964

Explore episode Jul 2, 2026
Science
Strict Building Codes Saved Lives in 2018

Alaska Earthquake of 1964 · Jul 2, 2026 Science

A 7.0 earthquake struck Anchorage in 2018 — powerful enough to cause $76 million in damage and injure 117 people — but killed no one. That's the direct result of Alaska adopting some of the strictest building codes in the US following the 1964 disaster.

Where this was said

Ad Break 2

At 29:05 · chapter starts 28:00

The episode pauses for its second commercial break before returning to the question of what lessons were learned from the 1964 earthquake and how they reshaped science, engineering, and public safety policy across Alaska and beyond.

Similar podbits

Science
Microplastics: Were We Measuring Them Wrong?

“This Is The Culmination Of Everything I Know” - Dr Andrew … · Sep 14, 2026 Science

The widely shared claim that we have a credit card's worth of plastic in our brains may be a massive overestimate. Researchers used nitrile gloves to measure microplastics — and nitrile gloves shed microplastic particles onto the measuring device. A second paper found the original tool used was unreliable, and that we may have far less plastic than reported.

Science
The Door-Keeping Experiment: Our Irrational Addiction to Optionality

Finding Your Life Path, Solved · Sep 2, 2026 Science

In Dan Ariely's door experiment, participants sacrificed the highest-reward door — repeatedly — just to avoid seeing other doors disappear. Even when researchers trained them to use the best door, they kept wasting clicks to maintain options. This is the bias that runs our lives: we'll take a worse outcome to preserve the feeling of optionality.

Science
Dan Gilbert's Psychological Immune System: Why Your Brain Justifies Every Decision

Finding Your Life Path, Solved · Sep 2, 2026 Science

Dan Gilbert discovered that the brain has a 'psychological immune system' — it misremembers, reframes, and rationalizes to keep you satisfied with whatever you chose. The fear before commitment is all about potential regret. But after committing, your brain quietly starts justifying the choice — and the more irreversible the decision, the stronger the effect.

Science
The Placebo Effect Is Not Fake — It Just Belongs to the Story, Not the Drug

#403 ‒ Peptides: separating scientific promise from marketi… · Aug 10, 2026 Science

Peptides come loaded with a powerful narrative: regenerative, subcutaneous, targeted, cutting-edge. That narrative can genuinely move outcomes, especially for pain, energy, and recovery. The RCT's job is to quantify how much additional benefit comes from the molecule itself — above and beyond the compelling story surrounding it.