How A Statue In Lucille Ball’s Honor Became Known As “Scary Lucy”

Today in 2016, Celeron, New York unveiled and dedicated a statue of its most famous resident, TV legend Lucille Ball. It took the place of a different statue from 2009 that had been nicknamed "Scary Lucy."

By |2024-12-16T10:10:15-05:00August 6, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

Tennis Balls Are Optic Yellow Thanks To David Attenborough

In the old days, tennis balls were white, but when documentary film legend David Attenborough pushed the BBC to carry the Wimbledon tournament in color, the tennis world realized those balls weren't showing up very well for home viewers.

By |2024-12-10T08:28:51-05:00June 4, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

A Sustainable Pacific Island Community That Floats

As sea levels rise, small island nations like Kiribati face some tough choices. A European design studio has an idea that might help: sustainable buildings that can collect rainwater, generate electricity, and help grow food. And they float.

By |2024-12-02T10:59:32-05:00April 1, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Elizabeth Prettejohn, The Last Person In Hallsands Village

On this day in 1917, a massive storm destroyed most of the small village of Hallsands, in southern England. Nearly everyone in town moved away after that, but one resident, Elizabeth Prettejohn, stayed for the rest of her life, until the mid 1960s.

By |2024-12-14T11:31:27-05:00January 26, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Victorians Made Art Out Of Locks Of Hair

A lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair just sold for $81,000 at auction, a reminder that a) people will pay lots of money for lots of things, and b) hair was a pretty important keepsake in the 19th century - people back then even made it into art.

By |2024-12-02T09:15:55-05:00September 14, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Humans Actually Do Perk Up Their Ears At Interesting Noises

Our entire show is based on the idea that we might say something interesting enough that it might get you to perk up your ears, figuratively speaking. Or, as a team at Saarland University has found, maybe not so figuratively speaking.

By |2024-12-16T10:46:51-05:00July 10, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Sometimes Towns Just Have To Build Statues To Invasive Pests

Today marks one hundred years since the community of Enterprise, Alabama, put up a very special monument in the middle of town: a statue of a Greek woman holding a boll weevil, an invasive pest that had ruined the local cotton crop. Wait, what?

By |2024-12-07T20:13:39-05:00December 11, 2019|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

When You’re Tracking Migrating Eagles, Always Get Extra Roaming Data

A project is tracking steppe eagles through text messages. But the eagles have been crossing into other countries and their trackers are using roaming data!

By |2024-12-07T21:34:24-05:00October 28, 2019|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |
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