Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found a way to cover bricks with a special coating so they can store electricity, essentially turning bricks into batteries. Good news for the third little pig! Plus: Koji Kasatani is wowing the world with hyperrealistic, playful art made from ceramic bananas. Storing energy in red bricks (Washington University in St. Louis) Plump and Peeled Ceramic Bananas Shape Koji Kasatani’s Evocative Sculptures (Colossal) You have the power to make this show strong! Back us on Patreon today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

"Ambush predators" like lions go after livestock while those animals aren't looking. So scientists at the University of New South Wales tested a theory in Botswana: what if we painted eyes on the back ends of cattle so the lions thought they were watching? Plus: National Roller Coaster Day is coming up, make your plans to visit Japan's famous pedal-powered SkyCycle.  Painting Eyes on The Butts of Cattle Can Protect Them From Lions, Research Shows  (ScienceAlert) SkyCycle – Japan’s Sluggish Yet Terrifying Pedal-Powered Roller Coaster (Oddity Central) Get an up-close look at the show as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Fabien Cousteau is looking to build PROTEUS, a 4,000 square foot underwater research station that has research facilities, a multimedia production studio and an underwater greenhouse. A much more productive use of underwater space than Dr. No and SPECTRE had. Plus: the Racine Art Museum has brought back the annual Peeps Art Exhibition, and this year's submissions are extremely sweet.  Fabien Cousteau Is Building PROTEUS, an Underwater 'International Space Station' (HowStuffWorks) RAM 11th Annual International PEEPS Art Exhibition (Racine Art Museum) Whether you're on the surface or under the sea, join us as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Judging by my kids' toy collections I thought fluorescents were already about as bright as possible. But chemists at Indiana University and the University of Copenhagen have found a way to make the brightest fluorescent materials ever made. Plus: for World Elephant Day, meet Lucy, the elephant-shaped hotel on the Jersey Shore.  Chemists create the brightest-ever fluorescent materials (Phys.org) World Elephant Day Stay Overnight in Lucy, an Elephant-Shaped Hotel on the New Jersey Shore (Untapped Cities) Bright idea: join us as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1969 was the first day off for the Apollo 11 astronauts in more than a month. Yes, they'd finished their moon landing weeks earlier, but they had to go into quarantine in case they'd picked up some "moon germs" that could lead to a plague on Earth. (Fortunately, they hadn't.) Plus: there's a new augmented reality tour of a church in Florence, Italy that was deconstructed in 1784.  Apollo 11 Astronauts Spent 3 Weeks in Quarantine, Just in Case of Moon Plague (Space.com) Digital resurrection (University of Cambridge) Make Cool Weird Awesome go viral in the good way, as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

There is at least one person in the world who's paid to be a wizard. The city of Christchurch, New Zealand, contracts with him to "provide acts of wizardry and other wizard-like-services as part of promotional work for the city of Christchurch." Plus: there's a museum exhibit in Switzerland featuring works of art that showcase imaginary or invented languages.  This New Zealand man gets paid $10,000 a year to be a city's official wizard (CNN) When Writing Has No Meaning (Hyperallergic) Become a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon and together we'll make magic --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

We don’t have the Olympic Games right now, but we can still mark a big Olympic moment that happened on this day in 1948: the day Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win Olympic gold. Plus: a chocolate company and an engineer say they've redesigned the chocolate chip. Is it more efficient? I don't know, but I'll be happy to test it out.  The day Alice Coachman became the first black woman to win Olympic gold (The Undefeated) A Tesla engineer designed the perfect chocolate chip (Fast Company) Go for the gold as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

There are parts of the world where some of the local spiders are very dangerous to humans. A new app called Critterpedia can scan your spider photos and tell you which spider is which. Plus: on National Root Beer Float Day, a root beer maker in Wisconsin is trying to set a world record for biggest root beer float drive-thru.  Australia just invented Shazam for spiders (CNet) Sprecher Aims To Set Record for World's Largest Root Beer Float Drive-Thru With Free Floats For All (Yahoo) Float on over to our Patreon page and support the show for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this day in 1999 a court rules in a case involving a guy who tried to use a huge number of points in a Pepsi reward program to buy a fighter jet, which the soda maker had jokingly offered in one of its ads. It didn't work, but still, an A for effort. Plus: there's a new uncuttable substance that might make for a great bike lock. When a Man Took a Joke in a Pepsi Ad Seriously, Chaos Ensued (Lit Hub) Proteus – new un-cuttable material promises to make bike thefts a thing of the past (Red Ferret Journal) We don't have jets, but we do have great rewards for our backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Maybe everyone in junior high was right: the clothes you wear really can make you cool! At least if those clothes are the new fabric developed in China with a kind of cooling system embedded inside. Plus: it's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so let's find out about the largest chocolate chip cookie of all time.  New fabric could help keep you cool in the summer, even without A/C (Science Daily) Largest biscuit / cookie (Guinness World Records) Nobody's cooler than the Cool Weird Awesome backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Researchers at the University of Washington call it a "GoPro for beetles" - a ultralight, wireless, steerable camera that can ride on the back of a bug. And it's pretty effective at letting us see what these bugs see. Plus: a new online chart tracks the vocal range of famous pop singers, by measuring the highest and lowest notes they ever sung on a recording. A GoPro for beetles: Researchers create a robotic camera backpack for insects (University of Washington) Vocal Ranges of the World's Greatest Singers (Bookofjoe) Hit the high notes as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Change is in the air in the border region between Spain and France. A small island there called Pheasant Island is about to change countries, as it does twice a year. Plus: some enterprising race fans in Poland use construction cranes to help them get a good view of their favorite drivers even while physical distancing.  The island that switches countries every six months (BBC) Fans Rent Cranes to Watch Car Race from Outside Arena During Pandemic (Oddity Central) Start your weekend off right as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this day in 1988, the Ostry family of Bruno, Nebraska got 328 people to lift a barn - a real, actual barn - and moved it 110 feet by hand. That's some impressive crowdsourcing. Plus: a guy invents a machine that can spot his face and lob M&Ms at it, which I'm pretty sure can win a guy a lot of friends.  Nebraska family looks back on barn moving event (WOWT) Guy Builds Machine That Shoots Chocolate into His Mouth on Command (Interesting Engineering) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is a little bit like a barn raising, every little bit helps  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A team of engineering students at Harvard is teaming with a startup called Savormetrics to develop a device that can tell us when avocados will be ripe. It's one step on the way to solving the costly problem of food waste. Plus: a project in Belgium called #ArtGenetics is learning about the evolution of fruits and vegetables through classic paintings.  Forestalling food waste (Harvard) Old Paintings Reveal How Fruits and Vegetables Have Evolved Over the Centuries (VICE) Becoming a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon is delicious --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today is said to be the day in 1858 that a colonial magistrate in India began using fingerprints for identification. But that's just one part of the history of how and why our prints are such a valuable bit of biometric information today. Plus: a guy in Jamaica showed up to collect a big lottery prize in a Darth Vader costume, because why not?  How Fingerprinting Works (How Stuff Works) Jamaican Darth Vader claims $95 million lottery prize (Toronto Sun) Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers have their fingerprints all over this show --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Most sports teams do promotions to get more fans into the games, but in 2002 the Charleston, S.C. RiverDogs held "Nobody Night," turning fans away at the gate to have an official attendance of zero. Plus: want to see a giant metal baseball? Drop by next time you're in Muscotah, Kansas.  RiverDogs' "Nobody Night" Promotion Recalled on Today's ESPN's "First Take" (MILB.com) Muscotah, Kansas: World's Largest Baseball (Roadside America) Knock it out of the park every day as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week we're replaying some of our favorite outer space-themed episodes of the show. In this episode from March 2020, NASA fixes a problem with its Mars lander, essentially by telling  the lander to use a robotic arm to help itself – or, depending on the  headlines you read, to whack itself. Plus: a Wisconsin man finds a  clever way to share a beer with his neighbor in the era of social  distancing. NASA fixes Mars lander by hitting it with a shovel (CNN) NASA’s Mars InSight Lander to Push on Top of the ‘Mole’ (NASA) Social distancing the Wisconsin way: Richfield man shares a beer with his neighbor via RC car (Fox 6 Now) It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood when you’re a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week we're replaying some of our favorite outer space-themed episodes of the show. In this episode from October 2019, science brings whales and outer space together for the first time since the fourth Star Trek movie. The British Antarctic Survey partners with researchers in Chile on a way to protect whales via satellite. Plus: the story of a paraglider who manages to land smoothly  and carefully on a couch. Stranded whales detected from space (British Antarctic Survey) Parachute Landing On Couch (YouTube) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is smooth --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week we're replaying some of our favorite outer space-themed episodes of the show. In this episode from January 2020, we find out that astronauts on the International Space Station baked chocolate chip cookies, only 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 block (The Columbian) The Exolung gives divers an ‘unlimited’ underwater air supply (Designboom) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is sweet  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week we're replaying some of our favorite outer space-themed episodes of the show. In this episode from March 2020, we check out the ultimate in working remotely: sending directions beyond the reach of the sun! The way we send those commands to Voyagers 1 and 2 is pretty  basic, but with twists to make up for the extremely long distance.  Plus: ISS astronauts have been growing space veggies, and they’re pretty  good for us. How are the Voyager spacecraft able to transmit radio messages so far? (How Stuff Works) Voyager 2 Returns to Normal Operations (NASA) NASA’s Space Lettuce Is Safe And Nutritious, Paving Way For Crops On The Moon And Mars (Newsweek) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is like taking a trip through the cosmos --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message