The Moon Trees Came From Seeds That Went Into Lunar Orbit (Cool Weird Awesome 939)
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.”
When Alan Shepard Hit Golf Balls On The Moon (Cool Weird Awesome 891)
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.
Bishops Used To Be Elephants, And Other Wild Stories About How Chess Pieces Got Their Names (Cool Weird Awesome 814)
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.
Donald Gorske Has Eaten 30,000 Big Macs And He’s Still Going (Cool Weird Awesome 773)
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.
Mary Patten, 19 Year Old Sea Captain (Cool Weird Awesome 749)
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.
Dancers At This Glasgow Club Are Going To Heat The Place With Their Moves (Cool Weird Awesome 660)
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.
These Worms Have No Ears But They Hear Pretty Well Anyway (Cool Weird Awesome 620)
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.
Two Tortoises Orbited The Moon Before Humans Did (Cool Weird Awesome 612)
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.
A Felt Tip Pen Helped Get Apollo 11’s Moonwalkers Back To Earth (Cool Weird Awesome 577)
Today in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. But as the Apollo 11 mission went on, they had a problem: a broken switch threatened to keep them from returning to Earth. Fortunately, they had a solution: office supplies. Plus: the Lunar Lander Dwelling in Washington state is a 250 square foot getaway in the shape of the lunar module.
The Super Blood Moon Is When A Bunch Of Cool Moon Things Happen At Once (Cool Weird Awesome 541)
Next week many of us will be watching for the Super Blood Moon, which is actually three moon phenomena all happening at the same time, thus earning its memorable and maybe kind of terrifying nickname. Plus: this month marks 20 years since the world’s first pizza delivery in space.