Today in 1948, two meteorologists helped make things safer for those living in the path of severe storms, when they issued the first successful tornado warning. Plus: the Circle Guitar by Anthony Dickens has a rotating sequencer disc that lets the instrument play its own strings. 

The Types of Airmasses in Which North American Tornadoes Form (JSTOR) 

The First Operational Tornado Forecast Twenty Million to One (American Meteorological Society) 

Flash-Tornado Warning! (The Saturday Evening Post via Archive.org) 

self-playing electric 'circle guitar' can pick at up to 250 bpm (designboom)

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According to a new study, remembering old times can actually be good for your health - in particular, it may help regulate our response to pain. Plus: Lushfoil Photography Sim aims to send players through extremely detailed and extremely scenic environments to take the perfect simulated photo.

Scientists find a surprising connection between nostalgia and pain relief (Inverse)

Super-Realistic Grass (The Awesomer)

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The HMS Challenger spent years studying the world's oceans and the creatures that call them home. Today in 1875, the mission made one of its most astonishing discoveries. Plus: a company in Tokyo that makes elevator buttons and lights lets factory visitors push a copy of every button it's ever produced - over a thousand in all.

HMS Challenger: The voyage that birthed oceanography (BBC)

H.M.S. Challenger: Humanity's First Real Glimpse of the Deep Oceans (Discover Magazine)

Pressing 1,000 Buttons Is the Perfect Way to Complete an Elevator Button Factory Tour (Oddity Central)

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There really is a robot now called the Pipe-Worm. It's built to unclog pipes, and it does it by mimicking earthworms. Plus: for World Water Day, we look back at a project by artist Dylan Martinez that looks like bags of clear, clean water... or is it? 

Worms and cockroaches inspired this robot that can unclog any pipe (Fast Company)

Glass Sculptures by Dylan Martinez Perfectly Imitate Water-Filled Plastic Bags (Colossal)

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This was a bonus episode for our Patreon backers, who make the show possible! It was exclusively available to them on Patreon for one year. If you want to hear future bonus episodes before that, join us for just $1 a month.

The new book "Bitten by Witch Fever" by Lucinda Hawksley highlights hundreds of wallpaper patterns from the UK in the 19th century, a time when some of the pigments in those papers were made from arsenic. Yes, the poison. Plus: it’s Global Money Week, we shout out to Crescent Shay, a designer on YouTube who just made a dress out of money.

Death by Wallpaper: The Alluring Arsenic Colors that Poisoned the Victorian Age (Hyperallergic)

Check out this chain mail dress made from over 2500 pennies (Boing Boing)

Jaundice is treatable with phototherapy, but not all places have access to light therapy machines. A startup in Nigeria is building solar-powered phototherapy machines to fill that gap. Plus: today in 2021, a guy in England tried to rob a bank, only his handwriting was so messy the tellers couldn't read his demand. 

This Nigerian tech startup is fighting baby jaundice with solar-powered cribs (CNN)

Man’s handwriting was so bad Eastbourne bank staff didn’t know he was trying to rob them (Eastbourne Herald)

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The Brandt’s vole has an interesting way to protect itself from predators overhead: a research project found that the little rodent cuts the grass so it can keep a lookout. Plus: a new company is selling work from home pods/writing cabins made from sections of old airplanes. 

Voles cut grass to watch flying predators (University of Exeter)

Turning old airplanes into home offices (CNN)

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Today in 1948 that a guy in Portland, Oregon, dedicated Mill Ends Park, two square feet of green space in the middle of a parkway. It's still the world’s smallest park today. Plus: it’s Peeps season again, and the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin wants your submissions for the 14th Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition.

Mill Ends Park (Portland.gov)

Call for Artists: RAM 13th Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition 

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Today in 1750, the birthday of an astronomer who definitely made her mark on the sky: Caroline Herschel, the first woman to discover a comet. Plus: residents of Pooler, Georgia, are down one giant mailbox painted to look like a cow, but don't worry, it'll be back. 

Caroline Herschel (NASA)

Eight Women Astronomers You Should Know (JSTOR)

Who moo-ved the giant mailbox? Chatham County landmark disappears, but don't have a cow (WJCL)

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Maine became a state today in 1820. One of its best-known inventors was Chester Greenwood, who came up with a way to keep his, and many other people's, ears warm. Plus: there's a new world record for longest car, though you'll be forgiven if you don't see a whole lot difference between this car and the previous record holder. 

Greenwood, Chester (Maine, An Encyclopedia) 

The story of the modern-day earmuff and its inventor, Chester Greenwood (Washington Post)

World’s longest car, over 100 ft, restored to its former glory (Guinness World Records)

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