Sallie Gardner Was The Galloping Horse In The First Proto-Movie (Cool Weird Awesome 1261)

This month in 1878, a horse named Sallie Gardner ran past a series of cameras in Palo Alto, California. The series of photos those cameras took paved the way for motion pictures.

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 1924 Olympic Men’s Cross Country Race Was Literally A Hot Mess (Cool Weird Awesome 1046)

Today in 1924, another one of these early Olympic events that went way off the rails: a very difficult and very strange mens’ cross country race. 

By |2024-07-12T07:37:28-04:00July 12, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Don Karkos Regained Sight In His Right Eye After A Horse Headbutted Him (Cool Weird Awesome 903)

It was around this time in 2006 that a Navy veteran named Don Karkos got headbutted by a horse… and it turned out great!

By |2023-12-13T12:06:49-05:00December 13, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

A Wristband Can Help Keep Firefighters Healthy (Cool Weird Awesome 788)

Firefighting is dangerous work, in part because of the exposure to dangerous chemicals. Researchers are learning more about those exposures thanks to a simple silicone wristband.

By |2024-06-07T07:16:20-04:00June 7, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

The Pack Horse Librarians Brought Books To Readers In Remote Places (Cool Weird Awesome 748)

National Library Week is here, so it’s a good time to tell the story of librarians who traveled through eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression on horses and mules carrying books and magazines in saddlebags.

By |2024-04-05T07:42:49-04:00April 5, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Clever Hans, The Horse That “Solved” Math Problems (Cool Weird Awesome 670)

Back about 120 or so years ago, in Berlin, Germany, you might have encountered a strange sight: a man named Wilhelm Von Osten asking math questions of a horse named Clever Hans. Was the horse actually solving the problems, or was something else at work? 

By |2023-12-13T12:16:54-05:00December 13, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Dogs Are Saving Citrus Orchards From Disease (Cool Weird Awesome 236)

Orchards in the US and elsewhere have been trying to head off a disease called citrus greening. Research shows that dogs can sniff out this disease better and more quickly than any other method we have.

By |2024-04-26T06:33:40-04:00February 12, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |
Go to Top