ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast - Podcast Episodes, Ranking & Reviews

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

ELI5 Carbonated Water - why does flat soda still taste like soda?

Why do soft drinks exclusively use carbon dioxide instead of gases like oxygen or nitrogen? Why does "flat" soda still have a distinct taste compared to regular tap water

May 26
8 min

ELI5 Money Laundering - what, why and how?

What is money laundering? Why can’t a criminal just spend good old fashioned cash? What are some of the ways used by criminals to launder money? Besides casinos, why are

May 22
9 min

ELI5 National Debt - who do countries owe when they are in debt?

If every major country is in billions of debt, where are they borrowing from? Who exactly do they owe? Are there any consequences for them being in debt? Why is it a prob

May 15
7 min

ELI5 Royal Family - how does the British royal family make money?

How does the royal family make money? How much is the queen worth? Explain the Soverign Grant and Crown Estate. How much did Harry inherit? What exactly does the Royal fa

May 8
11 min

ELI5 Flight Delays - how do airports manage major disruptions such as weather cancellations?

When flights get cancelled because of heavy winds, why is it only a proportion of flights and not 100% that stop? Isn’t it a binary decision of: 'safe' or 'too dangerous'

May 1
7 min

ELI5 Easter - why the bunny and chocolate eggs?

How is the date for Easter determined each year? Why do we have an Easter bunny and chocolate Easter eggs? Why did Christmas become a bigger holiday than Easter? What ani

Apr 24
7 min

ELI5 Helium - is there really a global shortage?

How can "superfluid" helium flow against gravity and climb up the walls of a container? Why was helium discovered on the Sun nearly thirty years before it was found on Ea

Apr 10
9 min

ELI5 Cupping Therapy - can bruises really heal you?

Why do we see many professional athletes look like they were attacked by a giant octopus? How did a treatment from ancient history become the biggest trend in modern lock

Mar 13
6 min

ELI5 Crying - why do we cry with both sadness and joy?

Why is crying so much more than just being sad? Why do your lungs perform those jerky gasps once the actual sobbing stops? Why does that painful "lump" form in our throat

Mar 6
8 min

ELI5 Norway's Olympics - how tiny Norway conquered the Winter Olympics

How did a country with only 5.7 million people beat much larger countries in Winter Olympic medals? Why does Norway ban competitive scoring and league standings for child

Feb 27
7 min

ELI5 One Way Mirrors - how do they work?

How do one way mirrors allow light to pass in only one direction? If light travels through the glass equally from both sides, why does the simple flip of a light switch c

Feb 20
7 min

ELI5 Ski Jumping - how do they not get injured when landing?

With such great speeds and a significant vertical drop, how do ski jumpers not sustain injury when landing? What makes one ski jumper better than others? How is a ski jum

Feb 13
7 min

ELI5 Fire Extinguishers - why are they red in color?

Why is most fire equipment red in color? What happens if you use the wrong class of extinguisher on a grease or metal fire? Could the future of firefighting be a "dubstep

Feb 6
8 min

ELI5 HRV - what is heart rate variability and why can a steady heartbeat be trouble?

Why does a perfectly steady heartbeat actually serve as a warning sign you should not ignore? If your heart is a drummer, why is a little bit of "bad timing" a good thing

Jan 30
9 min

ELI5 Activity Trackers - how do they detect deep sleep?

What are the creative ways people fool their FitBit? How does my activity tracker differentiate between steps and my tapping to a rhythm? Does it use GPS to calibrate? Ho

Jan 23
8 min

ELI5 Palladium - more valuable than gold?

Why is a metal you’ve probably never heard of often worth more than pure gold? Why are thieves risking jail just to steal one specific part from a Toyota Prius? What is t

Jan 16
8 min

ELI5 Jevons Paradox – why adding more lanes to a highway can make it worse?

Why does adding more lanes to a highway actually make traffic jams get even worse? How did the machine meant to end slavery accidentally make it ten times more profitable

Jan 9
8 min

ELI5 Titanium - why is it the metal most used in surgeries?

Why did the CIA secretly buy Soviet metal to build the very plane designed to spy on them? How does a metal named after Greek Titans manage to fuse physically with living

Jan 2
8 min

ELI5 Xmas - how and why NORAD tracks Santa (part 2)?

Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christmas colors? Is it true that Coca

Dec 20 2025
8 min

ELI5 Xmas - why some say Happy Christmas vs Merry Christmas (part 1)?

Why do people in the UK typically say Happy Christmas while in America it is most commonly Merry Christmas? What made red and green Christmas colors? Is it true that Coca

Dec 19 2025
10 min

Chart trend

Position in the Earth Sciences chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#32#63JunJulAugSep

all-time peak

days in the top 10 since Feb 2026

Chart positions

Where ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 17, 2026).

#38 ▼ 13 Earth Sciences US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

I listen to these as I take my teen to school and they seem to seep into his brain, even though I don’t think he’s listening. 😆. I absolutely love these tidbits of information… so concise but lively, plain but intriguing, like little knowledge appetizers that whet one’s appetite for more knowledge. The episodes are so short that you can listen to 3 or 4 just before and have something cool to talk about. I’ve learned so much! Keep it up!

PuppyLoverCA · May 2023

Just listened to my first episode... I consider myself moderately educated on many things but this was so cool! Although I knew most of what you said about vitamin D I did learn a few new things. My daughter is 12 and I’m going to have her subscribe too so we can discuss the topics together. She’s going to love it too for sure :)

allthenicknamesweretaken72 · Oct 2020

This podcast answers questions I’ve often wondered about in a brief and concise way. Tim and Kevin don’t spend useless time chatting and cutting up, which irritates me in many podcasts. From what’s an antibody do to why do we yawn, I’m always educated and entertained at the same time. One of my favorite podcasts.

deshaz55 · Jul 2020

As a fellow podcaster and podcasts enthusiast, I’m always looking for new content to absorb and reflect on. The eli5 podcast is a short-form info sponge of information that’s entertaining and fun. Thanks Tim and as a fellow Asian American creator, keep doing what you’re doing as well! Ryan (TRP)

WTF123465 · May 2019

I was interested until, in episode 6, they declared that a BAC (blood alcohol content) level of 0.50 “literally means that 50 percent of your blood can be determined to be alcohol.” So, first of all, 0.50 percent is half of one percent, so 1/200th of the total blood. But more concerning is that the podcast hosts lack the common sense to recognize that half of your blood being alcohol would mean that you have 100 proof liquor running through your veins, which can’t happen from drinking even an extremely large quantity of alcohol. Listen if you like - they seem like nice enough guys. But I wouldn’t go quoting any of this “information” to other people because you may end up fairly embarrassed.

Fjshebjsid1648848827 · Nov 2020

Topics are good. Information is good. Podcast idea is good. Hosts speak proper english, happy to find hosts who do not uptalk or use filler words. But this is a podcast, an audio only venue, and the audio quality is terrible. One host sounds like he is in a bathroom. Usually the other one is clear. But the volume levels of each can be very different plus the intro music can be on another volume level.

MangoTheGoat · Feb 2020

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