In The 19th Century, Steamboat Racing Was An Extreme Sport (Cool Weird Awesome 1057)

Today in 1811,  the first known steamboat race takes place on the Hudson River. Yes, a couple centuries ago, racing steamboats was a thing. 

By |2023-07-27T09:01:40-04:00July 27, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The “Vantafish” Is A Fish That Absorbs Light (Cool Weird Awesome 344)

Vantablack is a color that's so black it absorbs almost all of the light nearby. There's new research out about a "vantafish" that does almost the same thing to avoid its hungry bioluminescent neighbors. Plus: you've heard of drive-in theaters; Paris is going to have a "float-in" theater featuring "socially distanced boats" on the Seine.

By |2021-01-08T10:12:48-05:00July 17, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Will Kryptos, The Unsolvable CIA Puzzle Sculpture, Finally Be Solved? (Cool Weird Awesome 230)

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.

By |2021-03-25T09:49:17-04:00February 4, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Row, Row, Row Your Bot (Cool Weird Awesome 60)

Autonomous robot boats are a thing! Over time, researchers have taught them to row themselves gently down the stream and to connect to each other autonomously - soon they could help clean the water or even turn themselves into temporary footbridges.

By |2019-06-12T10:13:00-04:00June 12, 2019|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |
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