Why did the mullet become a thing? Why did everybody go crazy over Cabbage Patch dolls? And why would anybody ever go on a reality TV show? These are the typical questions you'd find asked in Slate's ...

Slate’s podcast Decoder Ring is back for a spring season with a brand new collection of cultural mysteries that will send you down the rabbit hole. On each episode, host Willa Paskin takes on a ...

How fruity candy got a “healthful” rebrand, the rise and fall of the softest (and sexiest) bed, and more listener questions. We're sorry, but something went wrong ...

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Willa Paskin hosts the popular Slate podcast ...

This week we're airing one of our favourite episodes from November 2023. There's so many cultural mysteries out there. Decoder Ring: "When Jane Fonda granted us an interview to talk about her famous ...

Since 2018, Slate critic Willa Paskin has explored bizarre and delightful cultural phenomena from “Baby Shark” to Chuck E. Cheese to try to understand what makes people obsessed with arbitrary ...

While Endless Thread is on break working on a new season, we recommend checking out Decoder Ring. In each episode, Decoder Ring explores a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; ...

Tupperware is the stealthy star of our modern homes. These plastic storage containers are ubiquitous in our fridges, pantries, and closets. But the original product was revolutionary. So was its ...