Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

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 Seattle) Patreon backers keep Cool Weird Awesome warm on the coldest days! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 York Times) A Look at J.W. Westcott Co.: The Detroit Business That Delivers Mail Via Boat (Hour Detroit) No codes here, our message is clear: Cool Weird Awesome is made possible by our backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 you to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 hockey players can pass, shoot and score (Washington Post) Fender Telecaster signed by 16 Navajo Code Talkers (Indian Country Today) Backing Cool Weird Awesome sounds like a pretty good idea --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 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

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 Cube Cracked His Own Code (Great Big Story on YouTube)  Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon and it will help you solve Rubik's Cubes (probably) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 world’s best river? (Quartz) Cool Weird Awesome backers on Patreon can light up the whole universe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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) Family Cleans House, Finds Pet Tortoise Missing Since 1982 (Sunny Skyz) Make your voice count as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 diamonds on display (BBC) George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes (LiveScience) McCall Winter Carnival and Idaho State Snow Sculpting Championships Diamonds are forever, and so are Cool Weird Awesome's backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 Fly over to our Patreon page so you can back Cool Weird Awesome!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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) Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway Patreon backers are the wind beneath Cool Weird Awesome's wings  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 prepares to be first town counted in 2020 U.S. Census (Alaska Public Media) See the world through the lens of a snail in these miniature creations (It's Nice That) Stand up and be counted as a backer of Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 World) Samantha Fish stops by to talk cigar box festival (WGNO) You can support Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon for just $1 a month! No counterfeit bills, please.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 693 years to resurface Lake Superior with a Zamboni, study says (Detroit Free Press) It only takes a few minutes to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 Museum (KOIN) Hat's off to Cool Weird Awesome's backers on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 Time (New York Public Library) The Quintessential Librarian Stereotype: Wrestling With the Legacy of Anne Carroll Moore (School Library Journal) The Restorative Pause of Silent Record Week (New Yorker) I could write a book about the amazing Patreon backers that make Cool Weird Awesome possible! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 Henry Ford Museum) This Amazing Sitting Bull Portrait Made from 20,000 Dice (Twisted Sifter) It's no roll of the dice to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon, you'll make great shows happen!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 face.  Taking a cue from plants, new chemical approach converts carbon dioxide to valuable fuel (Science) This Japanese Company Will Make You A Wearable Replica Mask Of Your Pet’s Head (Bolde) Back Cool Weird Awesome for just $1 a month on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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 (Grunge.com) This tech could mean your phone stops you from getting killed by a car (Ars Technica) Four out of five dentist agree, backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is good for you  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message