1 05, 2023

Medieval Monks Were Volcano Trackers Without Even Knowing It (Cool Weird Awesome 999)

By |2023-05-01T08:39:20-04:00May 1, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

In the 12th and 13th Centuries, monks were tracking the looks of the moon, including lunar eclipses. Modern-day researchers took another look to see if some of those eclipses were actually volcanic eruptions.

21 04, 2023

When An Apollo Astronaut Had A Gas Problem On The Moon (Cool Weird Awesome 993)

By |2023-04-21T08:40:11-04:00April 21, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Today in 1972, astronauts John Young and Charles Duke stepped on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission. Along the way, one of the moonwalkers revealed to the world, without meaning to, that orange juice had made him gassy.

31 01, 2023

The Moon Trees Came From Seeds That Went Into Lunar Orbit (Cool Weird Awesome 939)

By |2023-01-31T08:58:24-05:00January 31, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Apollo 14 may be best known today for the moment when astronaut Alan Shepard hit golf balls on the surface of the moon, but the mission also gave us the “moon trees.”

18 11, 2022

When Alan Shepard Hit Golf Balls On The Moon (Cool Weird Awesome 891)

By |2022-11-18T13:14:49-05:00November 18, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Today in 1923, the birthday of Alan Shepard. He was the first American in space, and the first person to ever play golf on the Moon.

20 07, 2022

Bishops Used To Be Elephants, And Other Wild Stories About How Chess Pieces Got Their Names (Cool Weird Awesome 814)

By |2022-07-20T08:55:21-04:00July 20, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Today is International Chess Day, so here are a few of the stories about how which pieces were on the board changed over the centuries.

17 05, 2022

Donald Gorske Has Eaten 30,000 Big Macs And He’s Still Going (Cool Weird Awesome 773)

By |2022-05-17T08:43:00-04:00May 17, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

50 years ago today, a man named Donald Gorske ate a McDonald’s Big Mac. It was the first of over 30,000, and yes, he holds the world record for most Big Macs eaten by a single person.

6 04, 2022

Mary Patten, 19 Year Old Sea Captain (Cool Weird Awesome 749)

By |2022-04-06T06:38:55-04:00April 6, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Today in 1837, the birthday of Mary Patten. She became a celebrity when she came along on a shipping trip led by her husband and ended up in charge of the ship. Plus: photographer Andrew McCarthy has put together a timelapse of the moon’s phases that shows its lunar libration, or sway, in all its glory.

19 11, 2021

Dancers At This Glasgow Club Are Going To Heat The Place With Their Moves (Cool Weird Awesome 660)

By |2021-11-19T05:43:29-05:00November 19, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Dance clubs can get hot when things are in full swing. So why not turn that extra heat into green energy? A nightclub in Glasgow is teaming up with a geothermal power company to use the energy dancers put out to heat and cool the place. Plus: when Apollo 12 reached the moon, astronaut Pete Conrad said some stirring words... that helped him win a bet. 

24 09, 2021

These Worms Have No Ears But They Hear Pretty Well Anyway (Cool Weird Awesome 620)

By |2021-09-24T08:02:04-04:00September 24, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

If you listen to our show, your ears are doing the work, unless you’re a certain type of roundworm that researchers have just shown can react to sound even though they don't have any ear-like organs. Plus: a crater on the moon has a new name in honor of the great Black explorer Matthew Henson. 

14 09, 2021

Two Tortoises Orbited The Moon Before Humans Did (Cool Weird Awesome 612)

By |2021-09-14T07:42:30-04:00September 14, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Apollo 8 brought the first human astronauts to lunar orbit in late 1968, but a few months beforehand, the Soviet Zond 5 mission sent two tortoises (and a few other living things) for a trip around the moon. Here's what happened. Plus: today in 1890, Mexican singing and songwriting great Maria Grever was born. Whether or not you know her songs, you know a phrase that comes from one.

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