Auto Companies Hire People To Make Sure The New Car Smell Is Just Right (Cool Weird Awesome 1173)

The auto industry is pleased to report that last year was the best year for new car sales since 2019. That means a lot of people are breathing in the scent we call new car smell, which… well, what the heck is that smell anyway?

By |2024-01-18T10:44:41-05:00January 18, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

High Tech Snow Chains Could Pop Out When Your Car Needs Them And Retract When It Doesn’t (Cool Weird Awesome 1148)

For drivers in very snowy places, winter is time to put snow chains on car tires. It’s neither easy nor fun - but a new concept from two automakers could change that, by embedding snow chain-like paddles right into the tires.

By |2023-12-15T08:55:19-05:00December 15, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

How Google Street View Could Help Stop Invasive Weeds (Cool Weird Awesome 1146)

A project out of the University of California - Davis uses images from a very well known navigation system to help slow the spread of invasive species.

The First Road Trip Across The Continental US Won A Guy Fifty Bucks (Cool Weird Awesome 1056)

Today in 1903 the conclusion of the first-ever car trip from one coast of the continental United States to the other. And this story starts, like so many other good stories have, with a bet.

By |2023-07-26T09:49:29-04:00July 26, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

For Safer Motorcycling, How About Pants With Airbags? (Cool Weird Awesome 965)

Motorcycles just don’t have many of the same safety advantages as cars and trucks. So a company in Sweden is taking one of those safety features and adding it to a rider’s outfit: introducing airbag pants!

By |2024-01-16T08:48:13-05:00March 8, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

When Richard Nixon And Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev Went For A Drive (Cool Weird Awesome 923)

Today in 1913, the birthday of Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States, and the only one who ever went a wild ride with the head of the Soviet Union.

By |2024-01-09T07:15:55-05:00January 9, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The First Cars Licensed As London Taxis Were Electric Vehicles (Cool Weird Awesome 898)

Today in 1897 is said to be the day that London first licensed motor vehicles as taxicabs. They were nicknamed "hummingbirds" and they were battery-powered.

By |2023-12-06T08:47:04-05:00December 6, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Googly Eyes On Self-Driving Cars Could Help Keep Pedestrians Safe (Cool Weird Awesome 870)

If we’re ever going to get to a world of self-driving cars we’re going to need ways to make sure that world is safe - and one way to keep pedestrians safe near autonomous vehicles may be googly eyes. Seriously.

By |2022-10-20T06:43:13-04:00October 20, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

How Sunken Ships Wound Up In Farm Fields (Cool Weird Awesome 842)

Today in 1856, the steamboat Arabia sank in a river - and it wouldn't be seen again until 1988, when it showed up in a cornfield in Kansas. We'll explain how sometimes ships lost at sea are found somewhere else.

By |2024-02-16T08:06:18-05:00September 5, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

That Time Some Dude Drove A Van Dressed As A Car Seat (Cool Weird Awesome 823)

It was around this time in 2017 that people in Arlington, Virginia spotted what looked like a grey Ford passenger van with no driver. And then things got even weirder.

By |2022-08-09T08:52:31-04:00August 9, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |
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