Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

The most prominent civil rights leader in US history was a Trekkie, and a big reason why was the character of Lieutenant Uhura, played by NIchelle Nichols. Here's the story of how Dr. King convinced Nichols to stay on the show when she had plans to leave.  Star Trek's Uhura Reflects On MLK Encounter (NPR's Tell Me More) Thanks to our backers on Patreon for making this show possible!

Benjamin Franklin was a lot of things, but he always saw himself as a printer - and some of what he printed was currency for American colonies. Turns out he had some pretty creative ways to try to keep counterfeiters from copying his bills. Plus: New Orleans is hosting the Samantha Fish Cigar Box Guitar Festival this weekend.  Library of Congress exhibit explores early American notes (Coin Wo...

And now the episode I’ve wanted to make since I started the show: we’re celebrating the Zamboni! And we're meeting its inventor, Frank Zamboni, who was born on this day in 1901. Plus: a company calculates out just how long it would take a Zamboni to resurface the greatest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior.  Making Ice Nice Since 1949: A Brief History of the Zamboni (Mental Floss) It'd take 69...

On this day in 1927, the BBC tried something new for their broadcast of a rugby match between England and Wales: they partnered with Radio Times magazine to publish a diagram of a rugby pitch to help the audience follow the action. Plus: on National Hat Day, where better to be than the one and only National Hat Museum? Squaring Up for Radio Commentary (On This Day) Where We Live: The National Hat...

The New York Public Library released a list of its top 10 all-time most borrowed books. One book you won’t find on the list is “Goodnight Moon.” Despite being one of the most iconic children’s books of its time, the New York Public Library didn’t have a copy for decades, because an influential librarian didn’t like it. Plus: the amazing origins of Silent Record Week!  Top 10 Checkouts of All...

On this day in 1942, the patent was issued for a car that was to be (at least partly) made from soybeans. And it was the idea of none other than Henry Ford. Plus: Steven Paul Judd is an Oklahoma-based artist of Kiowa/Choctaw descent, and last month he made a portrait of Sitting Bull using just over 20,000 black and white dice. Henry Ford And His Soybean Car (A Moment of Science) Soybean Car (The H...

Humans have been trying to figure out how to replicate plant photosynthesis for a long time - and we’ve had some successes, but a team at the University of Michigan has taken one of the biggest steps forward, with a process that uses metals as catalysts to turn light, carbon dioxide and water into methane. Plus: a company in Japan will make a personalized mask for you in the shape of your pet’s fa...

Dental history is, shall we say, complicated. Fortunately we have all sorts of ways to minimize pain today, but none may be as exciting as those used by Edgar "Painless" Parker, a dentist who would distract his patients by putting on a vaudeville show as he worked. Plus: V2P technology could help us keep cars and pedestrians from crashing into each other.  The disturbing history of dentistry...

All kinds of pop culture can lead to trends in baby names, but there’s research that shows that when a hit song has climbed up the pop charts, the same name starts climbing the list of baby names. Plus: good news out of the Consumer Electronics Show for drivers who forget their sunglasses. It's an interactive smart car visor.  The Science of Baby-Name Trends (JSTOR) Bosch's Virtual Visor is a...

Michelangelo’s David has been one of the best-known works of art for centuries because of its extraordinary detail. Last week we learned it may be even more detailed than we knew. Plus: Clean the World has been collecting, sterilizing and recycling all those old hotel room soaps into new bars, which are sent to people in need all over the world.  A Medical Insight in Michelangelo's David, 'Hi...

Obviously one large pizza gets you more than one medium or one small, but what if you’re offered one of those deals where you could get two mediums for a special price? A bold group of pizza researchers studied how you can get the most pizza for your money. Plus: meet the Cocoa Press, the 3D printer for chocolate the world has always needed, even if we didn't realize we needed it.  One 18″ Pi...

In South Africa, a construction company has started producing and using a more eco-friendly asphalt that contains plastic pellets that come from recycled milk bottles. Plus: meet a mayor in Texas who’s bringing a VERY fresh perspective to the job.  South Africa's Roads Are Being Repaved by Recycled Plastic Milk Bottles (Interesting Engineering) America's youngest mayor takes a bath (TYWKIWDBI...

Bruins defenseman Eddie Shore missed his team's train from Boston to Montreal for a must-win game against the Canadiens. So he did what anyone would do: drove 350 miles in a blizzard without a windshield to get there. Plus: DriveTanks in Uvalde, Texas, puts you in charge of a Chieftain MKG tank, though car crushing and flamethrowers are extra.  How Eddie Shore's Legendary Toughness Extended O...

For years, on New Year’s Day, Americans could go the White House and shake hands with the president. It's a tradition that went back to John Adams and the early days of the Executive Mansion. Plus: starting the new year by ending an old relationship? Meet the Breakup Lightbulb!  The White House New Year’s Day Reception (Feather Foster) Single Woman Creates Light Bulb Device That Turns on When...

Researchers in Switzerland say they’ve found a way to change the color of chocolate, and without adding any colors or dyes to it. Instead, they use a special imprint to give it a glowing, rainbow-y patina. Plus: the annual PeepsFest is getting underway, and they're going to do a ball drop for New Year's with a giant Peep!  Making chocolate colourful (ETH Zurich) PeepsFest Happy New Year to ev...

In the future, gardeners won’t need backyards or containers or garden plots to grow plants anymore. They’ll just need a vest! Plus: There’s a partnership between Cartoon Network and a school called Exceptional Minds, which is a digital arts school for students with autism. This wearable vest grows you personal crops—fertilized just for you by your own waste (Fast Company) Cartoon Network Partners...

Eight years ago Samoa skipped a day on the calendar, owing to the International Date Line and some business involving its key trading partners. There just wasn't a December 30th, 2011 there! Plus: why break your back shoveling snow when you can design a radio-controlled snowplow to do the work for you?  Samoa to skip Friday, lose December 30th 2011 forever (Christian Science Monitor)  Gu...

There’s a Facebook group/Instagram account called UPS Dogs, and it collects and shares photos of the pups that delivery drivers meet (and usually befriend) on their routes, especially the ones they see regularly. Which is completely and utterly adorable. Plus: meet the world’s smallest inhabited island, with an appropos name of Just Room Enough Island. How a UPS driver used dogs on his route to ma...

Remember the beer fridge from our first episode, that two men found after a long weekend of cleaning up flood damage? The Lincoln Journal-Star has checked back in with the owner and the finders to get the latest chapter in the beer fridge story. Plus: Prince Charles owns a car that runs on wine - and, he says, "it smells delicious as you’re driving along."  Viral and vital: The Nebraska beer...

People can celebrate Christmas the way any way they like, no matter how far it strays from those common paths. We share a few unusual but enjoyable places with their own special traditions for December 25th.  Tiny town of Christmas, Fla., is home to Swampy, World's Largest Alligator  (Southern Thing) The Magical Place Near Cleveland Where It’s Christmas Year-Round (Only In Your State) Wa...

Santa Claus stuffing a terrified kid into his bag of presents? Creepy monsters chasing people? A Christmas dinner come to life, with utensils as legs? Meet some of the many terrifying designs for Christmas cards back in the Victorian era. Plus: today is the anniversary of Earthrise, the iconic photo taken by the Apollo 8 crew as they orbited the moon.  Have a Creepy Little Christmas with Thes...

Take the Hanukkah favorite, dreidel, and turn the intensity way, way up. Now you've got Major League Dreidel, a growing new sport in New York City. Plus: an agency in Nova Scotia decided people needed a break from ads this season, and released some ad-free ads.  Competitive Dreidel-Spinning Is a Thing. Here's How Major League Dreidel Got Started. (Civilized) Creative agency buys $10k of blank...

As we get ready for the official start of winter, it's worth noting that some of us deal with this time of year in unusual ways. Like the people of Winnipeg, Manitoba, who spend their cold, cold winters drinking Slurpees. Plus: on this Star Wars premiere day, a visit to a German observatory painted to look like R2-D2.  How One of Canada's Coldest Cities Became the Slurpee Capital of the World...

You’ve heard about making cars smarter, but what about smarter intersections? Cornell researchers find that making intersections more autonomous could help get self-driving cars where they want to go more efficiently. Plus: on the anniversary of the last day of the last Apollo mission to the moon, how about a trip to the Museum of the Moon, now visiting Philadelphia? Smart intersections could cut...

An increasing number of museums are offering EnChroma corrective glasses to visitors with color blindness, to bring more color to the world of art and those who enjoy it. Plus: a museum in London is exhibiting a disposable cup from 3,500 years ago, proving that from our earliest times, we’ve been trying to avoid doing the dishes. When Colorblind Visitors Put On These Glasses, The Art At The MCA Lo...