Most Useful Podcast Ever
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Most Useful Podcast Ever
A podcast for getting things done. Popular Mechanics Editor Jacqueline Detwiler hosts a rotating cast of characters who answer tough questions and provide tips for being smart about life.
Recent Episodes
100 episodes
Time to Say Goodbye
Hi y'all from Jacqui, Peter, Kevin, Eleanor and Roy! We've had an amazing, enlightening time creating this podcast for you for the last four years, bu...
The Least Useful Podcast Ever, Part III
Every year, the week of April Fool's Day, we take a break from providing our listeners with useful information, and instead do stuff like taste the ne...
Collecting Dust
One day, when they were having lunch at their local bar, Rick Kiley and Jeff Boedges had an interesting idea: What if they came back one day and finis...
The Drug Lord
We'll be the first to admit that the Most Useful Podcast Ever doesn't pursue a lot of hard-hitting journalism, but that's ok, because this week's gues...
The Dog Days of Winter
Deep in the middle of winter, it would be easy to hole up on the couch with a bag of Doritos and watch TV. But wouldn't it be more fun to get outside?...
The Booze Library and the Ultimate DIY Mindmeld
With snow and cold descending across the Midwest and Northeast, we talk to the owner of StilL 630 spirits in St. Louis, about an experimental booze li...
All-Testing Tables!
Portable table saws, a wash-free gym shirt, a USB-based coffee cup, we'll test anything! Whether you're buying new stuff for yourself or gifts for you...
Myth: The Week Between Christmas and NYE is Boring. Verdict: Busted!
With the office nearly empty between Christmas and New Year's, Jacqui and Tech Editor Alex George introduce the only other person in the office: PM's...
Holiday cocktails and cleaning the house
With so many people coming over for the holidays, it's probably wise to make sure your grout is clean and your chimney in working order. You'll also w...
The Annual Holiday Shopping Guide
Do you know what you're getting all your friends and family for the holidays? If so, good for you, overachiever. For the rest of us, the staff of Popu...
Popular Mechanics Thanksgiving!
In an episode chock-full of things we're thankful for, we start out by speaking with Steven Caple, Jr., the director of the new movie Creed II. We hig...
Would You Go to Mars?
The Martian author Andy Weir is really into Mars. So much so that National Geographic tapped him to be an expert on their series Mars, about what huma...
THE MARATHON
Endurance races have gotten substantially more popular over the last several years, which means a lot of people with not a lot of experience are tackl...
How to Invent Everything
Ryan North's new book, How to Invent Everything, addresses that question that's probably been sitting in the back of your brain since you were a kid:...
This is Real Life
The editors of Popular Mechanics have been crazy busy dealing with real life tasks lately, but what they learned doing their weekend work is great fod...
The Roy and Alex Spectacular!
Do you know how many eyes Popular Mechanics home editor Roy Berendsohn has? Two. And that's thanks to his diligent wearing of safety goggles. On this...
Friday Movie Night
In honor of tonight's premiere of the new action flick Kin, starring Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, James Franco and Zoë Kravitz, we talk to the directors...
Big Ideas
This episode, we decided to delve into some of the more serious, thoughtful, and future-thinking topics Popular Mechanics covers. In keeping with the...
Well, that was random
Sometimes at the Popular Mechanics office, we have a lot of interesting things to talk about, but none of them have anything to do with each other. We...
Road Trip!
On today's show, MUPE tackles the most all-American of vacations: The summer road trip. We call up Kevin's mom, who is somewhere in Idaho in the midst...
Biohacking so you don't have to
On this episode of the Most Useful Podcast Ever, Jacqueline Detwiler tries biohacking to (hopefully!) become smarter, healthier, happier, more creativ...
Smart Camping and Backyard Renovation
Summer is heating up and the Most Useful Podcast Ever has advice for you for all of it. First, we talk to the authors of Popular Mechanics' investigat...
EXTREME!!!!
The Most Useful Podcast Ever is tired of being practical. So this week we threw caution to the wind to learn about some bonkers extreme sports. First,...
Upgrade Your Sleep
The latest Blumhouse action movie, Upgrade, is a trip—creepy, adrenaline-pumping, and scarily prescient. On this week's episode, writer and director L...
Summer Beers and Back Pain
Did you know that Popular Mechanics editor Matt Allyn is a certified beer judge? Well, he is, and lately, he's been trying truckloads of beer for an a...
The Spice Man
Burlap & Barrel founder Ethan Frisch is a cool dude. He travels around the world finding smallholder spice farmers and connecting them with customers...
Spring Cleaning
It's been a LONG winter, which means your place, car, and stuff could probably use a deep clean and some fresh air. On this episode, we talk to the Go...
The Least Useful Podcast Ever, part 2
Do you want to be the most informed person on your block? We sure do. That's why we put together today's episode, full of incredibly useful tips for l...
Choosing Cheese and Making Maple Syrup
Did you know that frequent Most Useful Podcast Ever guest Eric Gunnar Rochow of Gardenfork.tv makes amazing maple syrup? Well, he does. We tasted it l...
Wanna be a Secret Agent?
Excited to go see Red Sparrow tonight? Find out how Jason Matthews, the movie's author, used his own experience as a CIA agent to make the story reali...
How to Get Rich on Bitcoin (maybe?)
Do you know what the heck people are talking about when they say they got rich on Bitcoin? We didn't either. Thankfully, technology editor Alex George...
Homemade Donuts with Wylie Dufresne
Founder of molecular gastronomy Wylie Dufresne is making donuts these days, so we asked him to come by the studio and make us some. They turned out su...
2018 Tech Preview (Plus the Wood Whisperer!)
Who knew there were so many hinge-impaired people in the Popular Mechanics office? Jacqui and Kevin have both hung cabinet doors poorly over the years...
Fighting the Freeze
Ever wondered about the scientific reasons behind drafty rooms and overactive boilers? Wonder no more! On this episode, Henry Gifford, author of Build...
All We Want for Christmas
On today's episode, we spend a lot of time on gifts. In the latest iteration of our annual tradition, Matt, Peter, Jacqui, and Kevin share their holid...
The Winter Coat Spectacular
We've said it before and we'll say it again: There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. In that spirit, we called two experts to help yo...
Struggle Thanksgiving (Plus the Points Guy!)
This week's episode features three special guests to kick off the beginning of the holiday season: Frankie Celenza of Tastemade.com stops by to use hi...
A Technology Showdown!
We puzzled over what to call this week's guest segment—the Dork Debate seemed too mean, so we went with Future of Technology Free-for-all. In fairness...
Happy Halloween!
No costume? Have no fear! Eric Gunnar Rochow of GardenFork.TV has some great ideas based on stuff you probably have in your garage. We also check back...
Make Your Own Luck!
There's a lot of superstition about Friday the 13th, but here at the Most Useful Podcast Ever, we believe that it's preparedness that creates luck. Fi...