Some health experts suggest that when the world gets back to normal we should do away with the handshake. It is an effective way to spread germs, but it's also had some pretty useful functions in its long history. Plus: since it's the anniversary of the first episode of "Game of Thrones," we visit a guy in California who installed a 15-foot-tall dragon in his front yard. 

Why do we touch strangers so much? A history of the handshake offers clues (National Geographic) 

When Did Shaking Hands Become a Standard Way of Greeting Someone? (Mental Floss)

‘Dragon House’ in Imperial Beach Turning Heads (NBC San Diego)

We'd like to shake the hands of our backers on Patreon - if that were an OK thing to do these days

Falls on hard pavement can be very, very dangerous for some of us. That's why a research group called SAFERUP is trying to make safer, bouncier pavement. Plus: the Rakuten Monkeys baseball team in Taiwan is planning to have robot mannequins in the stands to cheer them on until fans can return to the ballpark. 

Ground-Up Tire Pavement Could Be Safer for Pedestrians and Athletes (Popular Mechanics)

Taiwanese Baseball Team Will Use Dressed-Up Robots Instead of Fans When Season Begins This Weekend (12up)

Support from Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers is even better than support from robot mannequins!

Artist Itsuo Kobayashi has been keeping an illustrated food diary since 1980, drawing and describing each meal, the ingredients, the price and how it made him feel. Plus: for National Banana Day, we go to - where else - the International Banana Museum in California.

For Over 30 Years Itsuo Kobayashi Has Been Keeping an Illustrated Food Diary (Spoon & Tamago)

Opening a Banana Museum next to a toxic desert lake makes absolutely no sense—but that’s part of its a-peel (Roadtrippers)

Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers make every episode of this show possible! 

Today's the day in 1828 that Noah Webster went to the copyright office to register his work “An American Dictionary of the English Language.” This work, no pun intended, defined American English as people actually spoke it, but it also included some words that haven't exactly stayed with us. Plus: there are perhaps no words for the mulletty goodness that resulted when a woman in New Zealand tried to cut her hair with a kitchen knife. 

Happy Birthday, Webster's 1828! (Merriam-Webster)

An A to Z of Noah Webster’s Finest Forgotten Words (Huffington Post)

'Don't have any scissors': Hamilton woman cuts own hair with kitchen knife (Stuff.co.NZ)

Cool Weird Awesome's backers on Patreon are the very definition of amazing

A company called Carbios says it’s been using what it calls a “mutant enzyme” to break plastic down into the components to make new plastic in mere hours. But will this mutant eventually try to rule humanity for its own good? Plus: an education student in Kentucky creates see-through plastic masks to help deaf and hard of hearing people during the current difficulties. 

This "Mutant Enzyme" Can Break Down Plastic Bottles In Hours (Futurism)

College student makes masks for the deaf & hard of hearing (Lex18.com)

Cool Weird Awesome gets its super powers from backers on Patreon!

We're replaying some of our favorite robot-themed episodes of the show this week. In this episode from October 2019, we hear about an autonomous device that’s  ready to clean up after our dogs on demand, thanks to a large scooper on  its underside. If they’re willing to do this job, maybe robots aren’t  trying to conquer us after all. Plus: “dogfishing” is a problem for  online dating. People are using other people’s dogs in their profile pics in the hopes it will land them more dates. The internet is weird.

Beetl Robotics

Dogfishing: When online daters pose with adorable pets that aren’t theirs (Washington Post)

Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon and we’ll always clean up after ourselves

We're replaying some of our favorite robot-themed episodes of the show this week. In this episode from July 2019, we learn about a quadcopter drone that uses spring-loaded arms and a process called “rapid aerial morphing” to fold itself up as it flies. So we’re a  step closer to real-life Transformers. Plus: the story of the all-robot band Compressorhead, whose members twist and turn their mechanical  parts so they can ROCK!

Spring-Loaded Drone Collapses Mid-Flight to Zip Through Windows (IEEE Spectrum)

Compressorhead (Weirdest Band In The World)

Support Cool Weird Awesome for just $1 a month as a backer on Patreon!

We're replaying some of our favorite robot-themed episodes of the show this week. In this episode from July 2019, we check in on a little white robot swimming through rice fields in Japan, imitating a duck! It’s actually helping to grow the rice by aerating the  water and stopping weeds from growing. Plus: if you prefer non-robotic  ducks, then you’ve got some options with the World’s Largest Rubber Duck.

Nissan Builds Robot Duck To Help Rice Farmers Keep Weeds Out Of Their Paddies (Designboom)

World’s Largest Rubber Duck

Quack – er, back – this show on Patreon!

We're replaying some of our favorite robot-themed episodes of the show this week. In this episode from June 2019, researchers teach robots to row themselves gently down the stream  and to connect to each other autonomously. They could help clean  the water or even turn themselves into temporary footbridges. Plus: a band in Mexico knew just what to do when the mall they were playing in started to flood. Celine would have been proud.

Autonomous boats can target and latch onto each other (MIT)

As heavy rain floods shopping center, musicians play Titanic theme (Mexico News Daily)

Keep Cool Weird Awesome exciting and new as a backer on Patreon!

We're replaying some of our favorite robot-themed episodes of the show this week. In this episode from April 2019, a New Zealand company tests a robot that’s supposed to move through an apple orchard, spot ripe fruit, yank it from the tree and bring it back to the farmer.  They’re either helping us do a hard job or taking  the first step toward an agricultural Skynet.

Your Apples May Soon Be Picked By Laser-Shooting Robots (Wired)

Brian Shaw Devours Nearly Everything on The Taco Bell Menu (Muscle and Fitness)