Cool Stuff Ride Home
Covering the most interesting and coolest stories that you may have missed around the world in about 15 minutes a day. Cool Stuff Ride Home looks at 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 Reggie Risseeuw and Marques Pfaff.
801
Thu. 07/08 - Will We Still Own Things In the Fu...
New findings in the debate about whether the dinosaurs were actually already in a sharp decline before the asteroid hit the Earth. A rumination on private ownership and how, by 2030, we might not own anything at all, just subscribe to services. And an...
16 min
802
Wed. 07/07 - Algae Beer, Lead-Poisoned Emperors...
Could lead poisoning have led to the fall of Rome? The Australian craft brewery using algae to offset their carbon emissions. And Moderna has started human trials of their mRNA flu vaccine. Sponsor: Credit Karma, Links: (Washington Post) ...
16 min
803
Tue. 07/06 - Is the 4-Day Workweek Actually Hap...
Why do we have a five-day work week and could changes from the pandemic be enough to finally implement the long held fantasy of the four-day work week? Are we looking at a passwordless login landscape in our near future? And vinyl is more popular than...
17 min
804
Fri. 07/02 - The Restaurant Taco Bell Lifted Th...
The restaurant that inspired Taco Bell, its larger legacy, and the question of authenticity. Plus, the new species of beetle that was discovered in some fossilized dinosaur dung. And the communities of people who devote their time to uncovering the...
15 min
805
Thu. 07/01 - How to Stop A/C's from Warming the...
This week has proven we need air conditioners more than ever, but we also need them to be better than ever. Here are some of the innovations being considered. Plus, one of the women from the secret Mercury 13 program at 1960s NASA is finally getting...
16 min
806
Wed. 06/30 - Why 1980s Nostalgia Films Won't Die
What’s with the on-going trend of horror films and TV shows being set in the 1980s? Is sunscreen worse in the United States compared to Europe? And one of the sports returning to the Olympics next month has a deadly precedent. Sponsor: Credit...
15 min
807
Tue. 06/29 - The Underground McDonald's DIY Rec...
Why exactly were McDonald’s french fries so good back in the day? Why did they change and can the secret original recipe be recreated? Plus, a new sort of post-post-punk subgenre is emerging in the post-Brexit United Kingdom. And, a completely...
18 min
808
Mon. 06/28 - A New Extinct Human Species? The G...
As promised on Friday, more information on the so-called Dragon Man––the recently unveiled 140,000-year-old skull that may be a new species of extinct human. The science behind why all your in-person coffee dates since reopening have been so...
17 min
809
Fri. 06/25 - 20,000 Years Ago, A Different Coro...
Researchers have found evidence of a coronavirus epidemic from 20,000 years ago. A new blood test that can detect fifty different types of cancer. And what the lowercase “i” in Apple products stands for and why they stopped using it. Links: (NY...
18 min
810
Thu. 06/24 - Astronauts' Dirty Laundry
The growing attempts to put flavor back into our produce because, yes, apparently it left. An update on the lumber industry and what it could mean for the economy overall. And the surprisingly strange things astronauts have done with their dirty...
15 min
811
Wed. 06/23 - How to Recover from "Zoom Body" + ...
A very big and very strange comet-ish object has entered our solar system. Some tips to help your body recover from a year of virtual learning, working, and socializing. And the two badass twelve-year-old girls going to the Tokyo Olympics for...
15 min
812
Tue. 06/22 - Smart Slime, Supermoons, & Upcycle...
How a single-celled yellow slime is changing the way scientists think about intelligence. A new upcycled food label that would let you know when your food has been made with food scraps that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. And everything you need...
16 min
813
Mon. 06/21 - How the Pandemic Reshaped the Home...
What will our homes look like in the future and how much has the pandemic shaped that vision? Plus, why are humans so thirsty? And, Brian Eno has found a home for hundreds of his previously unreleased songs. Links: (Bloomberg) (16mm Educational...
15 min
814
Fri. 06/18 - Are There Dinosaur Teeth on the Moon?
A new species of giant rhino might be the largest land mammal that ever walked the earth. Did you know there are probably dinosaur teeth on the moon? For real. The Girl Scouts have millions of leftover cookies and we must do our part by eating as many...
15 min
815
Thu. 06/17 - Top 10 Best Homes for Extraterrest...
A ranking of the top ten best places in our solar system to find extraterrestrial life. Plus, you know about the food pyramid, but what about the nature pyramid? Also called the 20-5-3 rule. And, I guess we have to talk about that...
18 min
816
Wed. 06/16 - How Xerox & Some Dalmatians Saved ...
How Juneteenth has evolved over the years from its origins in Texas, and its reception today. How the Xerox machine (and several dozen dalmatian puppies) saved Disney Animation Studios from closing up shop. And a portal for exploring the cosmos… on...
15 min
817
Tue. 06/15 - A Lunar Telescope Built From Moon ...
A new report from fifty of the world’s leading experts on the need to combine solutions for combatting the climate crisis and our planet’s rapidly declining biodiversity. California’s historically low water levels may have inadvertently helped...
15 min
818
Mon. 06/14 - The Full Tale of the Man Nearly Ea...
The full story of the man who was swallowed by a humpback whale on Friday and lived to tell the tale. Calories. Who’s responsible for their inclusion in the world of nutrition? Some weird highlights from the history of this controversial...
18 min
819
Fri. 06/11 - Why Are Tornado Warnings So Inaccu...
Thanks to a new study that sequenced the genomes of several types of wild melons, we now have a better idea of the origins of the watermelon… but we still don’t know how tornadoes are formed. And that’s a problem. Plus, in a bid to continue...
16 min
820
Thu. 06/10 - The 1920s Transgender Clinic Destr...
A new method of carbon capture that would turn carbon dioxide from the ocean into rocks. Mosquitos beefed up with virus-fighting bacteria have proven even more effective at preventing dengue fever than expected. And the often forgotten history of a...
17 min
821
Wed. 06/09 - Millions Lack a "Mind's Eye" & We'...
Why some people don’t have a mind’s eye and others can visualize things in incredible detail. Watermelons on Mars and human-animal hybrid babies born across the world––neither of those are true, but if you read two of the biggest newspapers in...
17 min
822
Tue. 06/08 - New Giant Dinosaur, Same Boring Ce...
New ocean just dropped. And a new dinosaur species. Big release day. All about the fifth ocean and one of the newest, largest dinosaurs. Plus, what a new cereal says about current marketing trends, the state of cereal as a whole, fan-franchise...
19 min
823
Mon. 06/07 - Squids In Space & Why Vaccine Lott...
SpaceX just delivered a bunch of tardigrades and baby squids to the International Space Station. New research finding pupil size is an indicator of intelligence. And why it seems like vaccine lotteries are actually working. Sponsor: Indeed, Get a...
18 min
824
Fri. 06/04 - Shark-pocalypse & Extinct Flu Stra...
COVID-19 precautions largely prevented outbreaks of the flu this past winter, and they also may have caused two types of flu viruses to go extinct. Spinking of extinction, sharks apparently lost 90% of their population 19 million years ago and never...
18 min
825
Thu. 06/03 - Why Unique People Are More Attractive
What if your pick-up truck could power your whole neighborhood? That’s the potential people are imagining with the new Ford F-150 Lightning. The science behind why unique people are more attractive. And updates from the annual State of NASA address,...
20 min