Gaming Prosthetics Are Making Minecraft More Inclusive (Cool Weird Awesome 950)
Engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have been building adaptive controllers to make the Minecraft universe more accessible.
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02, 2023
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12, 2022
When ALS Stopped Jason Becker’s Guitar Playing, He Became An Accomplished Composer (Cool Weird Awesome 899)
Today in 2018, the release of the album “Triumphant Hearts” by guitarist Jason Becker. Not many people in music know as much about triumph over adversity as Jason Becker, who found new ways to create and share music decades after being diagnosed with ALS.
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12, 2022
Sarah Biffin, A 19th Century Painter “Without Hands” Who’s Getting 21st Century Recognition (Cool Weird Awesome 897)
Today in 2019, the sale of a portrait by 19th Century English miniaturist Sarah Biffin, a renowned artist who was born without full arms or legs and whose life and work are the subject of an exhibition now running in London.
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11, 2021
After The Civil War, William Oland Bourne And Veterans Organized A “Left-Armed Corps” (Cool Weird Awesome 654)
For Veterans Day, we have the story of the "Left-Armed Corps," Civil War veterans who'd lost right arms in battle and were re-learning to write left-handed. Poet and newspaper publisher William Oland Bourne organized penmanship contests to encourage their writing, which he believed would help them find jobs and support themselves and their families as they returned to civilian life. Plus: you can learn about the veterans of World War II through a miniature golf course in Texas.
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10, 2021
High Jumper Dick Fosbury’s Biggest Win Was Also A Flop (Cool Weird Awesome 638)
Today in 1968, a high jumper from Oregon, Dick Fosbury, changed his sport forever by winning gold with an unusual jumping motion now known as the Fosbury Flop. Plus: today in 2018, passengers on a bus in Paris refused to make room for a rider using a wheelchair. So the bus driver made room.
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11, 2020
The Greenland Shark Can Live For Hundreds Of Years, So Don’t Make It Mad (Cool Weird Awesome 422)
Scientists have determined that the Greenland shark lives longer than any known invertebrate, up to 400 years. How? We don't know, but it sure does seem chill about it. Plus: UK-based artist Sue Austin developed an underwater wheelchair, making the wide, wide sea a lot more accessible.
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04, 2020
A Computer Chip That Brings Back The Sense Of Touch (Cool Weird Awesome 287)
Physical distancing has hopefully made us all appreciate the sense of touch a little more. Scientists in Ohio may have found a way to bring that sense back to people with spinal cord injuries. Plus: an octopus may have brought back a family heirloom to a woman in British Columbia, which is a pretty nice thing for an octopus to do.
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02, 2020
A Brain Implant That Can Bypass A Damaged Eye And Send Images To The Mind (Cool Weird Awesome 244)
The technology I like best is the technology that helps people do what they couldn’t do before, like a new brain implant that can put images from a camera in front of blind people. Plus: Rita Ebel is making the German town of Hanau more accessible for wheelchair uses, by using LEGO.