DailyShorts – Page 9

January 8, 2026

Bay Curious - How Tiny Homes Once Housed Thousands in San Francisco

After the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, thousands of San Franciscans were homeless. City leaders needed them to stay in the city to help rebuild, so they built tiny homes and set up villages in neighborhood parks. These earthquake cottages gave many people their first shot at homeownership and helped the city recover. You can still find a few of them dotted around the city if you know what to look for.

Additional Resources:

San Francisco's Historic 'Relief Cottages,' Built After the 1906 Earthquake, Are Hidden in Plain Sight
Read the transcript for this episode
Stunning Archival Photos of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire
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This story was reported by Katrina Schwartz. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Gabriela Glueck, Christopher Beale and Katrina Schwartz. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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January 8, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2038: Leap Second

Episode: 2038 Putting a leap second in an elastic year. Today, we add a second to our lives.

January 7, 2026

Curious City - What’s the story behind Berlin nightclub’s huge mural?

The large mural hung over the main bar at Berlin. Painted in the Art Deco style, the masculine and feminine figures in the painting watched over the nightly revelry at the storied nightclub until it closed in 2023.

January 7, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2566: Champagne

Episode: 2566 Taking Champagne to the Masses. Today, we pop the cork.

January 6, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2364: The Longest Year in History

Episode: 2364 46 BC: In which Julius Caesar creates the longest year. Today, UH scholar Richard Armstrong tells us about the longest year in history.

January 5, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1501: Horizontal Diffusion

Episode: 1501 The orientation of continents determines their development. Today, the advantage of being horizontal.

January 4, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1500: A Landmark: 1500/2000

Episode: 1500 1500th episode and 2000 AD: A poor time to summarize. Today, we reach a landmark.

January 3, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1499: Domesticating Animals

Episode: 1499 Domestic animals: A tricky marriage between human and beast. Today, we try to domesticate a wild animal.

January 3, 2026

the memory palace - Public Domain Theater 2026

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.

Starting off the year with a new tradition: the first annual Public Domain Theater, in which Nate reads an important work of American literature that entered the public domain on January 1st of a given year. First up, the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock.

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January 2, 2026

Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1563: Toys

Episode: 1563 Looking back at the impact of toys. Sorting through a box the other day, I found old toys -- a lead soldier, a stuffed dog, a set of blocks.