Nixon And Elvis, The Most Iconic Meeting In 70s History (Cool Weird Awesome 1152)

No meeting has ever been bigger than the one that happened today in 1970, when the King of Rock and Roll met the President of the United States. We'll explain how it happened.

To Drive To Minnesota’s Northwest Angle, You Have To Go Through Canada (Cool Weird Awesome 1007)

Today in 1858 Minnesota became the 32nd state in the Union. There's a part of the state that's on the other side of a lake from the rest, which means anyone who wants to drive from the Northwest Angle to the rest of Minnesota has to drive through Canada.

By |2023-05-11T08:46:26-04:00May 11, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Today Is Ed Balls Day, To Which We Say “Ed Balls” (Cool Weird Awesome 998)

Today in 2011, UK politician Ed Balls sent a tweet that just said "Ed Balls." He was trying to search for his name, not post it, but the inadvertent self-rep turned into a meme and a wonderfully weird annual tradition.

By |2023-04-28T07:19:13-04:00April 28, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

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.”

By |2024-01-31T09:22:12-05:00January 31, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

When Al Capone Gave Two Cherry Trees To A Baltimore Hospital (Cool Weird Awesome 929)

Today in 1899 was the birthday of Al Capone. Not everyone would brag about getting a gift from the notorious gangster, but there’s a hospital in Baltimore that’s happy to share its connection.

By |2024-01-17T08:50:28-05:00January 17, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

How To Make 2,000 Year Old Seeds Sprout (Cool Weird Awesome 833)

Today in 2021, a very long wait was over. Researchers harvested three bunches of dates from trees that had sprouted from seeds over two thousand years old.

By |2022-08-23T22:17:41-04:00August 23, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

The Lincoln Memorial Has A Basement (Cool Weird Awesome 715)

For Abraham Lincoln's birthday, we look at one of the most timeless memorials to the 16th president - or at least its undercroft, which has been out of public view for a long time.

By |2024-02-11T09:08:36-05:00February 11, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The Great Green Wall Is Regreening Parts of Africa’s Sahel (Cool Weird Awesome 559)

It's the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drough, so it's a good time to check in on the Great Green Wall, a multi-country project in and around Africa’s Sahel region to re-green areas that have turned to desert because of overuse, expanding desert and climate change. Plus: a retired couple in China's Gobi Desert have been running their own regreening project for nearly 20 years, planting tens of thousands of drought-resistant trees by themselves! 

By |2021-06-17T09:50:36-04:00June 17, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

The Parachuting Beavers Of ‘48 (Cool Weird Awesome 514)

On this day in 1948, Idaho Fish and Game moved beavers to a new habitat in a very unusual way: they had the beavers parachute into the wilderness! We'll explain how they did it. Plus: a new map of New York City's most notable trees helps people find some unique green space even in the big city.

By |2021-04-07T09:07:05-04:00April 7, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |
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