We’re in the final week of National Hispanic Heritage Month, so we wanted to tell the story of the first Hispanic woman in space, Ellen Ochoa, talented and versatile even by astronaut standards. Plus: an art student in China breaks stuff for art's sake, through a very peculiar vending machine. 

Ellen Ochoa: A Pioneer on Land and in Space (National Archives) 

Broken Plate Vending Machine (The Awesomer)

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A startup in the UK has found a way to use mushrooms to create a new, greener kind of home insulation. But don't worry, it isn't just growing mushrooms inside the walls of your house. Plus: an Australian company that delivers coffee by drone is reworking its business model because nesting ravens are attacking their aircraft. 

Your next house could be insulated by mushrooms (Fast Company)

'They think it's Terminator': Angry birds take down drone deliveries (Canberra Times)

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On Indigenous Peoples Day, here's the story of sculptor Edmonia Lewis. She was born in the 1840s to a Black father and a Chippewa mother, and became the first Native American and Black woman to become an acclaimed sculptor. Plus: Happy Thanksgiving to our listeners in Canada. It’s a big country, except for the exhibit known as Little Canada, which features miniature versions of some of the country’s most famous cities, landmarks and attractions.

Edmonia Lewis (Smithsonian American Art Museum) 

Little Canada

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Glass is versatile stuff, but fragile. A new project out of McGill University is modeled after the material in mollusk shells and could make glass a lot more durable. Plus: in Brazil, Fabio Gomes Trindade makes outdoor art that incorporates the shapes and colors of the nearby trees and bushes. 

Unbreakable glass inspired by seashells (McGill University)

Street Artist Incorporates Flowering Plants Into His Graffiti to Stunning Visual Effect (Oddity Central)

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Today in 1959, a write-in candidate for city council in São Paulo, Brazil, won a huge victory. The catch: that candidate was a rhinoceros from the São Paulo Zoo. Plus: today in 1935, a man in Houston, Missouri finds a hat he'd lost three years earlier. 

Rhino Horns In On A Brazilian Election (Life Magazine)

Hat Lost 3 Years Returns (Bend Bulletin)

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One of the many things we’ve learned over the last 19 months or so is that a lot of people around us can get lonely and isolated, even if they want social contact. In the Netherlands, a grocery store chain is trying to help by offering Kletskassa, or "chat checkout," where customers and clerks can strike up conversations if they need them. Plus: October is National Roller Skating Month, and whenever you’re next in Lincoln, Nebraska, you can check out the National Museum of Roller Skating.

Jumbo opens ‘chat checkouts’ to combat loneliness among the elderly (Dutch News)

Here Are 22 Things You Can Only Find In Nebraska (Only in Nebraska)

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In a part of the world where the energy grid isn't as reliable as residents might like, Reedii rents out energy “capsules” to those who need to charge cellphones, plug in lights or use other powered devices. And the "capsules" are charged with solar power! Plus: did you know there are six asteroids named for the six members of Monty Python? 

This Nigerian startup sells solar-powered batteries at corner stores (Fast Company)

Celebrating National Asteroid Day with Monty Python and asteroids #9617-9622 (Tellyspotting)

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Today's the birthday of a mystery author known to millions of kids, Donald J Sobol. He wrote the Encyclopedia Brown series, about a 10 year old detective who solved cases because he knew, as his nickname suggested, all sorts of unusual and obscure facts in the era way before the internet. Plus: it’s National Taco Day, and here's the story of one of the largest tacos ever made. 

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Author (Crimereads)

Guinness confirms 102-meter taco is world’s largest (Mexico News Daily)

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It's International Coffee Day, so here's the story of a woman in Dresden, Germany, who made it a lot easier to brew coffee: Melitta Bentz, the inventor of the coffee filter. Plus: it's World Smile Day, and in Polk County, Oregon, there's a giant smiley face on a hillside made of trees!

Overlooked No More: Melitta Bentz, Who Invented the Coffee Filter (New York Times)

Giant Smiley Face on Oregon Hillside Is Made Up of Trees (Oddity Central)

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A project out of a Saudi university has built a cooling system that uses salt, water and heat from sunlight, but not electricity. Plus: one of the finalists for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame is sand. Just sand. 

No Electricity? A New Cooling System Uses Sunlight and Saltwater (Interesting Engineering)

2021 National Toy Hall of Fame Finalists 

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