Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

If you’ve ever been around a baby you probably heard some cooing, gurgling and babbling, as the babies try to make the sounds adults make. Some new research finds if you spend time with baby bats, you might hear them doing essentially the same thing. Plus: the YouTube channel Steadycraftin finds a pretty cool way to reuse some of those old orange plastic prescription bottles.  Baby Bats Babble Just Like Human Infants (Treehugger) Turning Plastic Pill Bottles Into Orange Robot Figurines (Laughing Squid) We hang on our Patreon backers' every word --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Social distancing is a thing in the octopus world. According to new research out of the University of Sydney, some females will tell males to back off by throwing stuff at them. Plus: it was this week in 2019 that a drunk feral pig in western Australia picked a fight with a cow, which is probably one of the weirdest sentences of the week.  Female Octopuses Throw Things at Irritating Males, And Look, We Totally Get It (Science Alert) Drunk and boarish: swigging pig hogs 18 beers at campsite (The Guardian) We never say back off to our Patreon backers, because they're so awesome --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Boston's Skinny House went up for sale recently. It's a four-story house with rooms only 10 feet wide, and was reportedly built just to block another house's view of the harbor. "Spite houses" have been regularly built for these kinds of reasons, it turns out. Plus: today in in 1504 Michelangelo completed David. We've got a fun fact about this iconic sculpture for you.  Five Spite Houses in New England (Boston Magazine) 10 Fun Facts About Michelangelo's David (The Florence Insider) Our Patreon backers help us build new episodes, but out of love, not spite  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Yuan Longping, born today in 1930, was known as the Father of Hybrid Rice, and his work saved countless people from famine and starvation. Here's more of his story. Plus: a school in New Zealand has an unusual crossing guard: a chicken in a safety vest named Henry!  Yuan Longping, whose hybrid rice helped feed the world, dies at 90 (Washington Post) This New Zealand School Is Using a Chicken as a Traffic Officer (Mental Floss) Our Patreon backers are like the parents of our episodes! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Sputnik IV, to be specific, had some trouble getting back to Earth as planned. Today in 1962, pieces of the Soviet spacecraft ended up crashing into a street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin - so the town started holding a SputnikFest to celebrate their place in space history. Plus: today in 1870, Louisa Swaim made herstory by casting a ballot in Laramie, Wyoming. 'Sputnikfest': How Wisconsin Celebrates Historic Fall of Soviet Satellite (Space.com) About Sputnik (Rahr-West Art Museum)   Celebrating a Trailblazer: 150th Anniversary of the First Women's Vote (Travel Wyoming) Help launch more episodes of our show as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 2019, a woman in Sweden rose to an unthinkable occasion: she rescued all six of her children, including three under 5 years old, while their house burned down. Plus: did you know hummingbirds can see some ultraviolet colors that humans can't?  Emma, ​​30: I saved my six children from the flames (Expressen.se) Hummingbirds Can See Colors We Can’t Even Imagine (Wired) Thanks to our Patreon backers who make all of our episodes possible! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Nike and biotech company NewLight have started developing a shoe made from a polymer derived from carbon, bringing some greenness to an often carbon-intensive industry. Plus: Victoria Rose Richards embroiders overhead views of moors and other parts of the UK's countryside. Nike Is Designing Biodegradable Sneakers Out of Carbon (Interesting Engineering) Landscapes (Futility Closet) You can make more episodes like this one as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Research from 2018 at Princeton University found that male fruit flies use their wings to improvise musical sounds to win the attention of females. I just wish they didn't try to do all of it in my house. Plus: a teen in the UK makes friends with a bee!  How Fruit Flies Woo a Mate (Simons Foundation) Teenager keeps bumble bee as pet after it followed her home (Cornwall Live) Keep building the buzz about this show as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Web developer/creator/artist Lynn Fisher's new project is NestFlix, a website that looks like a streaming service but features the fictional shows and movies that are within real world ones. Plus: the Potato Photographer of the Year gives us some unforgettable images. No small fries in this group.  Nestflix – movies and TV shows that exist solely inside real movies and TV shows (Boing Boing) The Potato Photographer of the Year 2021 (Kottke.org) Join our Patreon backers and keep this show going (in the real world, not on NestFlix) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Stott Hall Farm is an unusual place; on either side of the place, there's the UK's M62 highway. We'll explain how it happened. Plus: a couple in Texas bought a plot of land, spent years building a house there, and then got a knock on the door from the actual landowners, explaining that there'd been a mix-up.  Mystery of the M62 farm is solved: Newly rediscovered footage reveals the REAL reason why the trans-Pennine motorway was built around an 18th Century home (Daily Mail) ‘Your home is on my property.’ Family’s house, utilities built on wrong lot (KXAN) There's no place like home, especially when your Patreon backers are there --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Paralympic athletes are in Tokyo to compete and maybe to win a gold medal, if they can. The benchmark for Paralympic gold, by the way: 55 medals by a single athlete, swimmer Trischa Zorn. Plus: today in 1936, a newspaper ran a short piece about inventor Isabella Gilbert and her dimple-making machine.  Swimmer Trischa Zorn’s Paralympic Legacy Goes Beyond Her Staggering 55-Medal Haul (Team USA) Who Wants Dimples? (Bremen Enquirer via Newspapers.com) Our Patreon backers deserve gold medals for being great --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's National Cherry Popsicle Day, so obviously, we have to tell the story of the popsicle, and Frank Epperson, the 11 year old you invented it. Plus: today in 1969, Elvis Presley sees a bald guy in the audience while onstage in Las Vegas and sings the best version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight" ever.  The Surprisingly Fun Story of How the Popsicle Was Invented by an 11-Year-Old Boy (My Modern Met) Frank Epperson, 89, Inventor Of Popsicle, Dies in California (New York Times) Elvis Can't Stop Laughing (YouTube) Our Patreon backers are the coolest --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Darwin, Minnesota is where you find a 17,400 pound ball of twine that one guy made over the course of 30 years. Here's the twine ball's story. Plus: to no one's surprise, researchers find that cats prefer to get food for free instead of having to work for it.  Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota (Roadside America) Darwin, Minnesota names ‘Weird Alley’ in honor of twine ball troubadour ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (The Current) Cats prefer to get free meals, rather than work for them (University of California-Davis) Our Patreon backers are the best in any state --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this anniversary of the release of Windows 95, we look at the origin story of the Comic Sans typeface, which has more haters than most fonts ever get (and a few lovers, too). Plus: engineering students help a dad who uses a wheelchair take his new baby for walks in a stroller.  How we made the typeface Comic Sans (The Guardian) The Story Behind Comic Sans (Fonts.com) Students adapt wheelchair to allow teacher's husband to take baby for a walk after brain surgery (CBS News) Our Patreon backers are like a great typeface: sleek, sophisticated and helpful  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's a complicated story, but part of what is now eastern Tennessee was once part of western North Carolina - and today in 1784, they tried to break away and form their own state, called Franklin. Plus: a visit to a unique art museum off the coast of Cyprus. State of Franklin (Tennessee Encyclopedia) On this day, the state of Franklin starts its brief existence (National Constitution Center) This Sculpture Museum Is 32 Feet Below Water (Hyperallergic) Be a part of the show as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today is National Radio Day, so it's a good day to talk about one of the legends of old-time radio: sound effects virtuoso Ora Nichols. Plus: researchers at The Ohio State University say they’ve found a weed commonly grown on farms that could help make a greener, more sustainable jet fuel, only its name isn't the most inspiring.  Female Pioneer Credited With Bringing Sound Effects To Radio (KUOW) Stinkweed could make a cleaner bio-jet fuel, study finds (The Ohio State University) Join us as a backer on Patreon for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It’s National Aviation Day and National Potato Day, and amazingly, there's a story that brings them both together. Boeing used sacks of potatoes in place of humans when it began testing in-flight WiFi. Plus: in 1994, American Airlines released an 18 page book of its in-flight recipes, for anyone looking to recreate airline food at home.  Boeing uses potatoes to improve Wi-Fi signals (USA Today) The American Airlines Recipe Book (Weird Universe) Keep this show flying high as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's not a direct route, but two researchers have figured out a way to take waste plastic, feed it to special bacteria, and then end up with nutritious protein powder. We'll explain. Plus: a guy has been growing plants inside a big glass bottle for decades - and because the bottle is sealed, they basically water themselves over and over! €1 Million Prize for Plastics-to-Protein Research Awarded to Steve Techtmann, Ting Lu (Michigan Technological University) Thriving since 1960, my garden in a bottle: Seedling sealed in its own ecosystem and watered just once in 53 years (Daily Mail) You can keep our show growing as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1947, two men who had climbed Oregon's Mount Hood and stayed overnight woke up to find a surprise: a quart of milk and the morning newspaper. Who would climb a mountain just to leave those items? Plus: a study out of the University of Greenwich finds that bees get an actual buzz out of naturally-occurring caffeine. A quirky little mystery from 1947 on the summit of Mount Hood is finally solved (The Oregonian) Bumble bees show an induced preference for flowers when primed with caffeinated nectar and a target floral odor (Current Biology) Help keep our show buzzing along as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Summer is beach season, and for those times when people leave litter and other waste behind, there are two separate projects to develop robots to clean up after them. Plus: Sunny, the radiated tortoise at the Dallas Zoo, gets a personalized, hand-built scratching station for those hard-to-get itches.  This beach-cleaning robot sifts sand for the tiny plastics that humans miss (Fast Company) BeachBot, an AI-powered robot that cleans cigarette butts at the beach (Designboom) Watch This Lucky Tortoise Enjoy His Homemade Scatcher Device Crafted From Broom Heads (Good News Network) You can join us as a backer on Patreon, or build a robot that backs us on Patreon if you prefer --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message