The Stuff You Should Know Doin’ Science Playlist: Elastics: Where God and Science Smooch

**Josh Clark** (0:01)
Hey there, it's Josh, and it's my turn, finally. And I hope you're enjoying our Do In Science playlist so far. Up next, we have our 2017 episode on Elastics. It's one of those episodes like Ballpoint Pens or Zippers, where the topic sounds super boring, but it actually turns out to be super interesting. And this episode, as a bonus, has a surprising amount of discussion on Pirates, for a show on things that snap back when you pull them.
Enjoy feeling your brain enlarge.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from howstuffworks.com.

**Josh Clark** (0:47)
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. There's Jerry.
This is Stuff You Should Know, the sick edition. The annual sick edition.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (0:59)
You aren't well, my friend.

**Josh Clark** (1:01)
No, and it really stinks too, Chuck, because like, I like to think that I take pretty good care of myself. So to be able to be felled not once but twice in just a few months by some stupid bug, it's irritating to me.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (1:14)
I know. You get mad every time you get sick, though, just so you know.

**Josh Clark** (1:18)
I do. I hadn't noticed that, actually.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (1:23)
My wife is the same way.

**Josh Clark** (1:24)
Well, it's not fun.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (1:26)
I know, but she gets like kind of, yeah, you both get a little angry, like, why did this happen to me? I get more pitiful, like, oh, somebody help me.

**Josh Clark** (1:35)
Oh, I've got that going on, too. Listen to this.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (1:41)
So does that mean people have the next, like, eight episodes to look forward to this or?

**Josh Clark** (1:46)
No, no, man. No way. This is it. This is it right here. I think, actually, yesterday might have been the worst day.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (1:54)
Oh, well, good.

**Josh Clark** (1:55)
Yeah. I mean, today was a close second, but we'll find out. Yeah, it is bad. I got to be a pro, man.
I got to get well.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:03)
The show must go on.

**Josh Clark** (2:08)
So today, Chuck, Charles, we're talking elastic.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:12)
Yeah.

**Josh Clark** (2:13)
Did you know much about this?

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:15)
No, I thought this is actually super interesting, and it also contained two what we like to call dinner party factoids that people can bust out.

**Josh Clark** (2:26)
We need a jingle that says that so we can play it when it comes up.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:31)
Yeah. I mean, there's lots of cool stuff in here, and please don't correct us on factoid because.

**Josh Clark** (2:35)
Oh, yeah. I mean, that's so 2009, 10, 11 maybe.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:41)
But yeah, two really cool facts in here that I think people can just keep in their hip pocket.

**Josh Clark** (2:45)
Okay. Are you good? So until we get a jingle made, I'll bet Noel will make one for us, but until we do, maybe you should, you want to practice one?

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (2:55)
Geez, what's a good dinner party jingle? It should be like wine glasses and plates and forks and things clinking.

**Josh Clark** (3:02)
Right. Then maybe like this Orwellian voice going, dinner party factoid.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (3:10)
Yeah. Here we are, eight years in, still evolving.

**Josh Clark** (3:13)
Yeah. It's a work in progress. Okay. So we're talking elastic, Chuck.
I didn't know that much about it either. In this article written by one William Harris.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (3:24)
Good one.

**Josh Clark** (3:25)
Yeah, it is. It makes pretty good point that it's just one of those things specifically say like a rubber band.
You just kind of think it's always been around and you know, you've always, you just think like, you know, elastic waistbands have been around for eons. It was basically the second thing discovered after fire is what I've always thought.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (3:44)
Yeah. Since Adam first popped Eve's bra strap.

**Josh Clark** (3:49)
Right.

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (3:49)
It's been around.

**Josh Clark** (3:50)
Yeah. You'd think that's actually not the case at all. It's elastic itself and elastic we should say is basically any rubber natural or synthetic thread woven with another kind of fabric usually like say cotton or nylon or whatever that produces a stretchy fabric. That's elastic, right?

**Charles W. Chuck Bryant** (4:11)
Yeah. I think a lot of people don't even realize if they took their underwear waistband, don't do this because then you've ruined it.