Garisenda Tower Is Italy’s Other Leaning Tower (Cool Weird Awesome 1160)

You may know about Pisa's world-famous leaning tower, but the city of Bologna has one too - and officials are planning to spend some big money to keep it from leaning too far and falling over.

By |2024-01-01T10:35:50-05:00January 1, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Old Coffee Grounds Could Make Concrete Stronger, Greener, More Jittery (Cool Weird Awesome 1082)

If part of your morning routine involves caffeine in a cup, you may be interested to know about a new research project that uses coffee grounds to improve concrete.

By |2024-04-15T09:55:21-04:00September 7, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Potatoes Could Help Astronauts Build “Cosmic Concrete” On Mars, Or Even Here On Earth (Cool Weird Awesome 977)

A team at the University of Manchester has developed a kind of “cosmic concrete” for building structures on Mars - and the key ingredient comes from potatoes. 

By |2024-03-23T08:44:29-04:00March 23, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

A Company In Mexico Is Making 3D Printed Bricks Out Of Eggshells (Cool Weird Awesome 970)

Can you build a wall out of eggshells? You can if you're the Mexican design studio MANUFACTURA, which developed a sustainable way to make bricks out of discarded shells and bio-binders.

By |2024-03-15T08:52:19-04:00March 15, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

The “Parcel Post Bank” Was Mailed To Its Construction Site, A Few Bricks At A Time (Cool Weird Awesome 882)

This day in 1916 was an important day in US Postal Service history - a rule change that came after the community of Vernal, Utah basically had a bank mailed to them, in installments of bricks.

By |2022-11-07T06:14:12-05:00November 7, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Need To Build A House Quick? Try Inflatable Walls That Get Filled With Concrete (Cool Weird Awesome 869)

A New York company has developed a process called Inflatable Flexible Factory Formwork that can quickly build inexpensive, sturdy and affordable houses. This may be the one type of inflation people in 2022 want to see more of.

By |2024-01-16T08:54:01-05:00October 19, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

There’s A Bulldozer Under The University Of Illinois’ Stadium – Or Is There? (Cool Weird Awesome 868)

Today in 1924, the University of Illinois dedicated Memorial Stadium, which holds some 60,000 football fans and, legend has it, one bulldozer. We'll look at what really happened.

By |2022-10-18T05:55:36-04:00October 18, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Could We Replace Concrete Walls With Ones Made Of 3D-Printed Soil? (Cool Weird Awesome 829)

The new 3D printing project called To Grow A Building is working on a method to 3D print the components of structures out of dirt, with the goal of reducing the significant amount of emissions that come from using standard building materials.

By |2022-08-17T12:04:24-04:00August 17, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The Next Big Thing In Home Insulation? Mushrooms (Cool Weird Awesome 632)

A startup in the UK has found a way to use mushrooms to create a new, greener kind of home insulation. But don't worry, it isn't just growing mushrooms inside the walls of your house. Plus: an Australian company that delivers coffee by drone is reworking its business model because nesting ravens are attacking their aircraft. 

By |2021-10-12T08:51:31-04:00October 12, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

Madagascar Will Be Home To The World’s First 3D-Printed School (Cool Weird Awesome 476)

Building new schools can take lots of time and money, but a new initiative has developed a construction method using 3D printing that they say can put an entire classroom together in a week or less.

By |2024-02-08T08:57:41-05:00February 8, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |
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