Look at these, errr, beautiful Hippos. Ok, they are ugly, but notice how they don’t have hair. How do they keep from getting sunburned? They live in the desert under direct sunlight so certainly their skin must get burned if they don’t find shade right? Au contraire. Listen and learn how evolution has made these animals resilient. Also, did you know Koalas have nearly identical fingerprints to us humans? Check it out!

If you aren’t familiar with what happens to Diet Coke when you add Mentos then watch the above video. Then listen to today’s episode to learn why this crazy phenomenon happens.

Listen to today’s episode and learn about an incredibly famous actress from the 1930′s and 40′s who got paid extremely well given she never had a speaking role!

Remember the episode about the $50,000 air cannon designed to ward off thunderstorms? That device turned out to be a total flop or more accurately scam. However, what if there was a device that did the opposite and instead created thunderstorms! A team of scientists say they have developed just such a machine. Here is how they claim it works. Listen to today’s episode for the full details on why this device was invented and how successful it is at making it rain. Plus, learn about man made earthquakes-ish!

Ever seen an island rise up from the sea right before your eyes? Check out these pictures and see for yourself. Truly a moment you have to see to believe. The full story including the gentleman who captured the pictures and how the island formed are in today’s episode. Plus  what happens if you get sick in Australia and are prohibitively far from medical care. It turns out they have doctors that make house calls, via airplane!

What is a Body Man and what does it have to do with the fact that when President Obama was asked by the New York Times if he had an iPad he responded “I have an iReggie”. A Body Man is a prestigious, thankless, and invisible job, but almost every president in recent history has had one. Listen to today’s episode to learn about the interesting job of being a body man.

The picture above is runway 27 today, but it won’t be long until it is labeled 28. Why the change? Runways are numbered based on their magnetic coordinates and with the magnetic north pole rapidly on the move this means the runway won’t have the same coordinates in a few years. Confused? Don’t be. Listen to today’s episode to learn about runways, the movement of the magnetic north pole towards Russia, and a guy who shipped himself via airfreight.

Were the Dark Ages really a time of pseudo-science and alchemy? Perhaps not. It turns out that period actually had a scientist as pope for a brief moment in time! Too bad it didn’t last. Sylvester II as he was known helped advocate for arabic numerals (the numbers we use today) and the armillary sphere (i.e. the world wasn’t flat). Listen to today’s episode for insight into a time of the Dark Ages that weren’t nearly as dark as you think. Plus, is it true the female praying mantis bites off the head of the male praying mantis after reproducing? Only the Daily Upgrade would have such random information. The full story in today’s episode!

What is the true cost of producing a penny? If you guessed more than a penny you would be correct! Find out all sorts of interesting facts about pennies in today’s episode including why we still make them even though it costs more than a penny to get them into your wallet. Conspiracy theories anyone?

The grey nurse shark pictured above has quite the way of reproducing. Baby nurse sharks eat each other in a battle to the death to see who will get to be born. The winner continues eating other sharks even after birth! Tune in for more details on these intense animals. Plus, hear a fact or two about the movie Jaws!

The above little dudette (she’s a lady lizard) has been known to the people of Vietnam for generations. To science, though, this lizard is a brand new discovery! That’s just the beginning of this lady lizard’s crazy story. What if I told you every single one of the above lizards is female. How is this possible? Listen to today’s episode for the full scopp!

Above is a picture of Saddam Hussein’s personal copy of the Quran. Interested to know what makes this copy so unique and why it is now locked behind a vault three doors deep? Saddam Hussein was clearly crazy, but this story will show you just how far he was willing to go as a megalomaniac.

Think you can decode the message above? No one could until over 200 years after it was written. Listen to today’s special episode to learn all about this secret letter and two of the Presidents it was related to. Speaking of Presidents, did you know Thomas Jefferson taught himself to read Arabic? Click here for more details.

The battle for turf in Glasgow, Scotland turned deadly after an ice cream truck war got out of hand. Think this story is too crazy to be true? Listen to today’s episode to hear all the details. On a side note, did you know the federal government regulates the amount of fat in ice cream?! True story.

Think shotgun weddings are a thing of the past? Think again! As someone getting married in the near future I was shocked to discover just how crazy weddings can get in certain parts of the world. In a section of India kidnappings are now a commonplace way to hitch a groom to the bride. Think I’m joking? Listen to the full story in all its glory to learn just how backwards the practice of marriage can go!

Check out the Gobekli Tepe pictured above. It is the oldest known temple in the world. Scientists believe it was constructed over 10,500 years ago. Talk about ancient history! Click here for more pictures. Listen to today’s episode to learn all about this mysterious site as well as an ancient city located just 15 miles from St. Louis!

Ever wondered how the Jewish community gets their McDonalds fix? It turns out if you’re in Israel or Buenos Aires you just head over to your local Kosher MickyDs! Listen to today’s episode to learn all about them. Plus, where is the oldest synagogue in the United States and just how old is it?

Curious what one of the most valuable baseball cards on the planet is? See the picture above and you’ll quickly see what makes the card so unique. Listen to today’s episode to learn how this card came to be and how it made its way into baseball card packs across the country. Can you guess who the player’s family is and what their importance (or lack thereof in some instances) meant to baseball the late 1980′s?

Check out the mystery fruit above. Do you think you’ve ever eaten a piece of it? You’re probably thinking you haven’t, but I bet you have! Listen to today’s episode to learn all about this squash looking fruit with a very strange green growth! Bonus points if you can name the fruit just by looking at the picture!

Anthropologists have discovered how to trace your ancestors by analyzing your earwax. In fact, you may be able to trace your ancestry just by listening and learning how they do it! Plus, what does a blue whale have to do with tracing your ancestors using earwax? A fantastic question and one you will have to listen to find out.

Why the picture of a rotary phone for an episode on area codes? Simple, they are the whole reason area codes exist the way they do! Note that area codes weren’t given out based on geography like zip codes. Listen today to learn the fascinating story of why your town has the area code it has! Plus, why do all area codes have a 1 or 0 as the second number?

The Mars500 project simulated an entire roundtrip to Mars including a 30 day exploration of the planet. The test was a great success and milestone in our progress to eventually colonizing Mars. Listen to todays episode for all the details on this 520 day journey.

What if you spent $50,000 only to find out your purchase was absolutely worthless and did nothing it claimed to do. This is a story farmers across the country fell victim to starting in the 18th century. What is this mystery object? Listen in to find out!

Check out the cloudbuster while you’re at it. Another product that does absolutely nothing.

Would you be able to guess where the above picture is from? If you answer Google Maps then you are correct, but I bet you can’t guess the country! Listen to today’s episode to learn about all sorts of Google Maps trivia including this man made lake, a U.S. government building (watch the angle change), and an incredible sculpture.

Also, check out these bioluminescent organisms used by Japanese warriors in WWII to read at night!

Was the US mainland ever attacked during WWII? Most people would say no other than Pearl Harbor, but the answer is yes. The man above, Fujita Nobuo, twice successfully bombed the west coast. The full story of his bombing runs is today’s Daily Upgrade.

Above is a picture of the world’s largest accidental man-made explosion. Where and when did it occur? Was anyone injured? Listen to today’s episode to learn all about the explosion that clocked in at 20% the size of the Nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, …except this was a complete a accident. Here is a picture of a half ton chunk of debris flung over two miles that is now a memorial.

What is the best way to catch a mouse? Conventional wisdom would say put out a mouse trap with some cheese like the picture above. Is this really the best way, though? What if mice don’t even like cheese?!

Interested in finding some buried treasure? Try looking in The Money Pit. This is the true story of buried treasure yet to be found. Even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was said to have taken a stab at digging for this treasure. You need not look farther than our northern neighbor Canada to take a swing at untold riches!

Today is all about Rosa Parks and why on December 5, 1955 she decided not to move. There is a lot more to the story than you’ve probably been told. Then for the back half of the show I talk about Alzheimers. If you would like to make a donation to the Alzheimers association you can do so here.

Your speakers aren’t broken. We had some audio trouble today.

Imagine if CNN said there was no news. It would be kind of creepy right? How could there be no news? That’s what today’s episode is about. Plus I dive into a little Star Wars trivia. Gotta love the Star Wars!

Can you buy milk (Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz) on Amazon.com? The answer is yes and I bet you can’t guess how much it costs! What else can you buy? Today we’ll focus on the weird things and if you have any of your own that you have found I want to hear about them.

Believe it or not there was a time when West Florida was its own country! The story of how this country came to be (and how quickly it folded) is today’s Daily Upgrade along with a strange fact about ancient math. Not sure about today’s music choice, though.

Humans may not have achieved immortality, but that doesn’t mean other species haven’t figured it out yet. Check out this Jellyfish whcih can quite literally live forever. How does it do this? That is today’s story along with an explanation about Octopus Shields!

Some people take superstitions to a whole new level. Even the rich and famous can be extremely superstitious. The gentleman picture above even became world renowned for his superstitions.

The Wood Frog pictured above has the ability to completely freeze and then thaw months later and come back to life completely unfazed. Can we as humans do the same?

Interested in learning about frost flowers? Check out the wikipedia page and see the gallery of pictures.

Check out the real burning bush. You can even buy seeds here if you are interested in growing your own shrub!

What does the historically famous house pictured above have to do with the two sharing an ancestor? You’ll be shocked at how many other people you’ve heard of that share this same ancestor too. Plus a bonus fact. How many minutes are there dinosaurs on the screen in the original Jurassic Park?

How do you make a movie when some of the actors refuse to come back for the sequels?

The story of the largest defection of US tropps in American history.

Some call it the Door to Hell. The eternal flame pit has been burning in the desert for more than 40 years. More pictures here or check out the satellite image to see just how remote this place is. Here in the states we have this at Eternal Flame Falls.

The first 100 episodes have been a pleasure to share with you. Here is to 100 more! Today we feature the remarkable and unbelievable story of Loui Zamperini as written by Daily Upgrade listener Charley Spencer. A full book has also been written about Loui Zamerini called Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

If you have a script (3/4 of a page story) that you think would do well on the Daily Upgrade feel free to submit it to jasonford1 at gmail dot com.

The island of Krokatoa and the explosion that rocked the world. Here is a drawing of the island’s size after the eruption.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

The book is called the Voynich Manuscript and the story behind it is one of the world’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

MAP PIRATES! Yarrrrrr!!!!! The non-existent town of Argleton and how map makers catch map pirates.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

What if Finding Nemo had been scientifically accurate? It turns out the movie would have looked more like Jurassic Park.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Plus, a little known fact about the video game from the 90′s that will leave you with an ironic chuckle.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

The image above is the first picture of a person. Can you find him? Click the image to go to a bigger version. Check out the first pictures of a solar eclipse or Abraham Lincoln too. All were taken with the same original camera technology.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Above is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia. If you’re curious where your antipode (exact opposite point on earth) is you can use this map.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

If you’re interested in learning more about how to commit the perfect crime I recommend the following paper.

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

…and here is the ridiculously expensive book about the Bajau. Indonesian Sea Nomads (Routledgecurzon-Iias Asian Studies Series)

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Sponsor: GoToMeeting with HD Faces, try it free! http://bit.ly/xp4FFv

Also, let us take in the great irony of my snafu the other day when I uploaded the non-bleeped episode by accident resulting in a giant f-bomb (if you’re in the dark it’s the F in snafu). My sincere apologies to those with children.

We’re all about ants today.

The orange things? Those are people.

Here are more pictures.