Shows / Cool Stuff Daily
Cool Stuff Daily
Cool Stuff Daily covers the most interesting and coolest stories in the world of science, progress, life-hacks, memes, exciting art, and hope. This is the antidote to depressing headlines. Smart stuff in podcast form. Cool news, as a service. Hosted by Zach Morris.
Episodes
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 06/17 - Space-Based Solar Power
Ahead of Juneteenth, a reminder of what emancipation did and didn’t do. Plus, a newly discovered group of polar bears who are able to survive on less sea ice…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 06/16 - An AI RBG
The Large Hadron Collider has been booted up once more, but will it ever find anything as huge as the Higgs boson again? Plus, an AI model that’s turning Ruth…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 06/15 - Is This the Origin of the Black Death?
A new lead on the origin of the Black Death. Plus, monkeypox will soon––thankfully––be getting a new name. And Internet Explorer is being put to rest today…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 06/14 - The Once and Future Mall
The history and future of the design of the American shopping mall. Plus, a new test that can more accurately assess your immunity to COVID-19. And Coca-Cola…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 06/13 - Why You Can't Remember Books You Read
Why is it so hard to remember details from books we’ve read and TV shows we’ve watched? Plus, why is food cooked outside on an open flame so dang delicious?…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 06/10 - COVID-Sniffing Dogs & Delayed Positive Test Results
Why are some people experiencing delayed positive tests from COVID-19? And, new tests on the block, from expensive at-home hubs to COVID-sniffing dogs. Plus, a…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 06/09 - Heat Waves May Get Names, Like Hurricanes
Heat waves in the future could come with their own names, and we might be able to keep safe from them thanks to advances in smart window technology. Plus…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 06/08 - So Long, Sit-Ups
Has the sit-up been canceled? Plus, the century-long history of growing nonnative plants in Antarctica and how it will help astronauts fill their bellies when…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 06/07 - Humans' Unique Sleep Patternzzzzzz
Why is it that humans get less sleep than all other primates? And are “short sleepers” really a thing? Plus, “mountains” of sugar have been discovered all over…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 06/06 - Gummi Bears: A 100 Year Look Back
It’s the hundredth anniversary of the humble gummy bear, but did you know they’ve only been in America since the 80s? Plus, could one source of water ice on…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 06/03 - This Is Your Voice On Mars
Some wild animal species might be evolving four times faster than we thought. Plus, what your voice would sound like on Mars. And the summer job in Wisconsin…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 06/02 - How To OutHorse Your Email
Turns out your liver is quite a bit younger than expected. Plus, people with food allergies may be at a lower risk of catching COVID-19. Iceland’s new campaign…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 06/01 - Self-Cloning Plant the New Biggest on Earth
A new contender for the world's largest plant is bigger than Cincinnati and named after Posiedon. Plus, a round-up of everything launching into space this…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 05/31 - Unionized Ghosts, Cat Burglars, & Quantum Bubbles
A supremely weird “trivia” cartoon on Netflix. Plus, physicists made bubbles of gas atoms colder than space . And why the Buzzfeed News’ union contract…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 05/30 - Angry Angry Hamsters
Scientists accidentally created super aggressive mutant hamsters. Meanwhile other scientists have devised a method for pulling drinking water out of thin air…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 05/27 - Viruses Are Behaving Weirdly
Why viruses are starting to act in unexpected ways. Plus, the Sex Pistols re-rerelease “God Save the Queen” just in time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 05/26 - Winnie the Pooh: Horror Villain
The first human genome from a victim of the eruption in ancient Pompeii has been sequenced. Plus, a global mushroom art scavenger hunt is afoot. And Winnie the…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 05/25 - Don't Forget To Take Your Daily Tomato
Why NASA is sending a bunch of brewer’s yeast up to space on Artemis 1. Plus, scientists have created genetically-edited tomatoes pumped up with vitamin D. And…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 05/24 - Monkeypox: How Concerned Should We Be?
Everything you need to know about monkeypox––what is it, how is it spread, and how concerned should we be? Plus, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is returning to…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 05/23 - The Forest At The Bottom Of A Sinkhole
The ancient forest that was discovered at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China. Plus, a moth species not seen since 1912 was found in the luggage of a…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 05/20 - 1930s Shopping Cart Haters
The history of the humble shopping cart, and why people absolutely did not like them when they first came out. Plus, a parasite that might make you more…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 05/19 - In Defense of "Like"
Why do we judge each other so harshly for saying “like,” even though most of us say it way more often than we’d admit to? Plus, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 05/18 - Music Made From DNA Sequences
The history and future of making music out of DNA sequences, particle vibrations, and more. Plus, a new study indicates that cats recognize the names of their…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 05/17 - Telepathic Pizza Delivery & Algae Batteries
Scientists created a microcomputer powered by photosynthetic algae. Plus, a smart pacifier that could monitor the health of premature babies in the NICU. And…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 05/16 - Plants Grown In Moon Dust
Plants have successfully been grown in moon dust for the first time. Plus, McDonald’s is officially closing all of their restaurants in Russia––why that’s a…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 05/13 - The Multiverse: A Balm, A Mirror, or a Corporate Ploy?
A deep dive into the multiverse––what it actually is, why it’s become such a popular trope, what its popularity says about where we’re at as a society right…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 05/12 - 1st Image of Milky Way Black Hole & 1st Taco Bell TikTok Musical, Equally Important Events
Everything you need to know about the just-released first-ever image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Plus, is there sight after death? No. But…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 05/11 - Love, Sleep, & Dinosaurs: The Three Most Important Things In Life
How data can help us find happiness in romantic relationships, or at least tell us why we’re dating all wrong. Plus, it turns out sleep-deprivation can affect…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 05/10 - How Hollywood Changed In The Summer of 19, 19, 1982
How the summer of 1982 changed movies forever––for better or worse. Plus, a study justifying why teenagers suck at listening to their parents. And, how to…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 05/09 - The Real-Life Inspiration Behind 'The Blob'
How the 50’s sci-fi horror film The Blob was actually a ripped-from-the-headlines story. Plus, potential cancer treatments involving magnets and dirt. And…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 05/06 - Dickens and the Rise of Creepy Clowns
How much can we blame Charles Dickens for the persisting archetype of creepy clowns? Who and what other cultural factors over the centuries contributed to so…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 05/05 - Is Original Pop Culture Going Extinct?
A deep dive into the question of whether pop culture has become completely dominated by franchises and the same superstars; and, if so, how new that phenomenon…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 05/04 - Margaret Thatcher's Empire Strikes Back
Did Margaret Thatcher play a role in the origins of Star Wars Day? Plus, why human hibernation for long-distance space travel might not actually be worth it…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 05/03 - Why Can't The US Have Weird Chip Flavors?
Why doesn’t the US get all the cool chip flavors that other countries do? Plus, scientists have figured out a way to breakdown plastic in just a few days…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 05/02 - Waste More Time
Why it’s time for you to waste time. Plus, a café in Tokyo that doesn’t let people leave until they’ve successfully hit their writing goals. And a possibly…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 04/29 - Books That Kill: Arsenic-Laced Covers & Other Poisonous Pigments
How an innocent trip to the library could give you arsenic poisoning. Plus, a new pterosaur fossil seems to confirm the prehistoric reptiles had some pretty…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 04/28 - Oreology: The Science of Oreos
Canada has become the first country to release census data on their trans and nonbinary population. Plus, a new study showing how the climate emergency could…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 04/27 - Our Backstabbed Two-Faced Moon
The moon has a bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation going on that astronomers have never been able to definitively explain, but a new study suggests it…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 04/26 - When the CIA Funded an Animal Farm Cartoon
How the CIA funded that 1954 animated adaptation of Animal Farm as part of their anti-communist propaganda campaign. Plus, the woman who found out she’d been…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 04/25 - Monopoly’s Scandalous Anti-Monopoly History
The secret, anti-monopolist history of the Monopoly board game. Plus, why we’re all having trouble remembering things right now, and how we can strengthen our…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 04/22 - Some Like It Hot... But Why?
Why did some cultures develop tastes for particularly spicy foods and others didn’t? Plus, the Museum of Endangered Sounds. And an upcoming documentary from…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 04/22 - The Sport of Extreme Sitting
Introducing the sport of extreme sitting. Plus, a new study that suggests fungi might be communicating with each other via electrical impulses. And, Sir David…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 04/20 - The AI Microwave Out for Revenge
The story of a self-described mad scientist who gave a microwave the soul of his childhood imaginary friend using AI, and then it tried to kill him. Plus…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 04/19 - Holoportation & the Real Scream Queen
A doctor was beamed up to the ISS in the first-ever holoportation to space. Plus, a new chopsticks invention that makes your food taste salty without adding…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 04/18 - The Old Villains Are the New Heroes + the Big Mac Index
Why indie booksellers went from hating Barnes & Noble to defending it, and what that means for the future of publishing. Plus, a look at inflation through the…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 04/15 - We Need a Time Variance Authority
In a more serious take on yesterday’s musings, how is the pandemic and modern technology changing how we communicate about and understand time? Plus, speaking…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 04/14 - Redefining Units of Time for the Techno-Era
Should we be measuring time differently now that we spend more time with digital technology than nature? Paul Ford has some suggestions. Plus, how the heck is…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 04/13 - That's A Big Ol' Comet
A very big comet. How sewage monitoring could transform public health beyond just its applications for COVID-19. Plus, libraries are relinquishing local…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 04/12 - Social Media as the Fall of the Tower of Babel
How social media has created a Tower of Babel-like fragmentation of society. Plus, the infrastructure secrets behind a new-to-the-US reality show starring some…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 04/11 - You Have Livetweeted Dysentery
The Maryland man livetweeting his bout of dysentery––don’t worry, he’s okay. Plus, scientists have managed to de-age human skin cells by thirty years. And an…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 04/08 - Short Kings & Barbie Girls
We turn back the clocks to 1997 for a history of the song “Barbie Girl” and a look at its influence on music. Plus, the Neolithic origins of Short King Spring…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 04/07 - Scaly Dino Fossil From the Day the Asteroid Hit Found (maybe)
An impressively well-preserved dinosaur leg fossil has been found that could be the first-ever fossil evidence of the asteroid impact that killed the…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 04/06 - The Darwin Book Thief
Some libraries cancel late fees, others get Interpol involved for missing manuscripts. Either way, missing books can become fascinating treasures when they’re…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 04/05 - So You Wanna Be A Fossil
How to have the best odds of becoming a fossil after you die. Plus, the creators of the viral Marcel the Shell videos secretly made a feature-length film…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 04/04 - The Artwork Made By Six Million People and Counting
Six million people and counting are creating a piece of artwork together right now in a reminder that sometimes we can have nice things on the internet. Plus…
Cool Stuff DailyFri. 04/01 - Star Wars Kid: A New Hope
The human genome has finally been completely sequenced––twenty-two years after the initial “essentially” complete version was published. Plus, in another early…
Cool Stuff DailyThu. 03/31 - We Don't Talk About Pluto
New findings indicate that Pluto’s ice volcanoes are even weirder than we previously thought. Plus, a killer parasite is wiping out an entire species of ant in…
Cool Stuff DailyWed. 03/30 - Prayers on the Blockchain & the Oldest Ever Star
Could alpaca antibodies one day provide treatment for COVID-19? Plus, the Hubble telescope has spotted the oldest star ever seen by humans, by a long shot. The…
Cool Stuff DailyTue. 03/29 - Koons' Moons
Artist Jeff Koons’ next sculpture installation? On the moon. Plus, it’s not just you. Seasonal allergies really are worse this year, and the climate emergency…
Cool Stuff DailyMon. 03/28 - The Hoax Behind Pringles' Mascot's Name
The Scottish dolphin who lives among and seems to “talk” with porpoises. Plus, how a Wikipedia hoax became official branding for Pringles. And sheep are…