Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

There's a whole world of sustainable materials for clothing that will have less of an impact should they end up in landfills - some don't just have low carbon footprints, they have negative carbon footprints! Plus: an art student in Japan puts on a fashion show in which the lead materials in the clothes are rubber bands.  Do you have it in green? The living fabrics that can help clean the air...

Here’s one instance where the doctor really CAN say “this won’t hurt a bit.” 4D-printed microneedles could perform of the medical functions of hypodermic needles - giving us vaccines and medicines, taking blood samples - except no shots. Plus: the story of a cat and her 3D-printed titanium paws.  High-Tech Printing May Help Eliminate Painful Shots (Rutgers) Surgeons Gave This Adorable Can Fou...

There's a project out of the University of Maine that's found that wild blueberries can help us heal cuts and other wounds. Plus: this weekend the 3rd annual Hawaii Island Steel Guitar Festival gets underway. Wound-healing treatment using wild blueberries receives MTI grant (University of Maine) The 3rd Annual Hawaii Island Steel Guitar Festival (This Week Hawaii) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Pat...

Sounds like good news for the millions affected by heart disease: a nanoparticle that can target the plaque inside those blood vessels and actually reduce it! Plus: an animal rescue in Leesville, SC, needs piggy cuddlers!  Nanoparticle chomps away plaques that cause heart attacks (Science Daily) Sanctuary seeks 'piggy cuddlers' to socialize rescued swine (UPI) Full heart, can't lose as a Cool...

Researchers at UCLA have developed a coating that can take care of persistent ice in winter, and amazingly, it’s all due to fish. Plus: Kendall Diwisch of Edmonton, Alberta. who helped three kittens get unstuck from an icy situation.  Hydrogel coating is first to prevent ice formation in 3 different ways (UCLA) WATCH: Man Rescues Kittens Stuck In Ice By Pouring Warm Coffee On Them (CBS Seattl...

Kryptos is a puzzle sculpture that’s been on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia since 1990. Three of its four coded messages have been solved - and now we have a clue that might reveal the fourth. Plus: the story of the J.W. Westcott II, the only ship that has its own ZIP code.  Kryptos (CIA.gov) This Sculpture Holds A Decades-Old C.I.A. Mystery. And Now, Another Clue. (New...

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to the king of Siam, now Thailand, to say thanks, but no thanks, to the king's offer of a herd of elephants. It was a gracious letter, which was appropriate because elephants themselves have lovely manners.  Lincoln Rejects the King of Siam's Offer of Elephants (American Battlefield Trust) Elephant Emotions (PBS Nature) We graciously invite...

A growing number of hockey fans are paying attention to blind hockey, where players have either full blindness or 10 percent vision or less. That puts the emphasis on sound. Plus: introducing the Telecaster guitar that's been signed by 16 Navajo code talkers!  ‘It’s Freeing’: Hockey League Gives Visually Impaired Players An Opportunity To Hit The Ice (CBS New York) They can’t see, but blind h...

Of all the great breakthroughs we’ve made in outer space, there are none sweeter than this: last month, astronauts on the International Space Station baked chocolate chip cookies. But baking cookies in space is a little different than baking them on Earth. Plus: a new device called the Exolung can keep air flowing for virtually as long as a diver likes.  Space-baked cookies not chips off old...

The Rubik's Cube first came to a toy fair in London 40 years ago today. I have never finished one, but the enthusiasts known as speedcubers can now solve an entire cube in seconds. Plus: did you know that Horshack from "Welcome Back Kotter" did the voice on the Rubik's Cube cartoon show?  9 fun facts about the Rubik’s Cube on its 40th birthday (New York Post) How the Inventor of the Rubik’s C...

Researchers at Purdue University have managed to spin a very tiny object at the ungodly rate of 300 billion revolutions per minute - and it's powered only by light. Plus: Google Maps allows users to rate and review rivers, lakes and anywhere else that people want to go. So what's the best-reviewed river Earth has to offer?  Light powers world's fastest-spinning object (Purdue) What is the wor...

A PhD student at the University of Sydney, Alexandra Green, studied a herd of cows for more than five months to study what she called cattle vocal individuality. Cows, it turns out, have a lot to say to each other! Plus: the story of Manuela, a tortoise in Brazil who probably should've spoken up at some point.  Cowmoonication: Research finds cows 'talk' to each other (New Zealand Herald) Fami...

On National Peanut Butter Day, a reminder that peanut butter is so versatile it can be turned into diamonds. It actually takes more time to explain why you can turn peanut butter into diamonds than to explain how. Plus: this weekend in McCall, Idaho, the Idaho State Snow Sculpting Championships are taking place.  How to make a diamond from scratch - with peanut butter (BBC) Peanut butter diam...

Today's the birthday of one of the great toys of our time: the Frisbee. Though if the man who put that toy into millions of hands had his way, it would’ve been called the Pluto Platter. Plus: on this National Pie Day, head to Rockland, Maine for the 16th Annual Pies on Parade Gala.  Fred Morrison, Creator of a Popular Flying Plate, Dies at 90 (New York Times) 16th Annual Pies on Parade Gala F...

On this day in 1948 of the mayor of Boston, James Curley, wrote to the president of MIT, asking that the school's top engineers find a way to get rid of the huge amounts of snow, maybe with flamethrowers. Seriously. Plus: in Chico, California, a much more calm event is getting underway, the the Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway.  1948 mayor to MIT: use flamethrowers to melt snow? (MIT...

April 1st is officially Census Day in 2020, but today is the first day of counting, and the first town to be counted is Toksook Bay, Alaska, near the Bering Sea. Plus: meet Aleia Murawski and Samuel Copeland, who build little environments for snails and then film and photograph the results. Getting to Hard-to-Reach Villages Before Spring Thaw and Start of Hunting Season (Census.gov) Toksook Bay pr...

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...