Something Amazing

A family in Australia has recreated an entire 15-hour flight in their living room! Also the inventor of N-95 masks (used by front-line medical workers) has come out of retirement to help. Also, the story of Violet Jessup and how she survived three separate shipwrecks! Plus we read your mail from hellosomethingamazing@gmail.com

Another episode from our socially distant bunkers - Matt tells Amberly about the Irish Prime Minister's hobby and how Lin-Manuel Miranda is making dreams come true in John Krasinski's Some Good News internet show. Amberly tells Matt about some goats taking over a town and the legacy of an amazing astronaut: Ronald McNair

Recorded from social isolation, using a direct link from Matt's home office to Amberly's blanket fort - we're back doing what we always do: telling each other "Something Amazing" from quarantine. In this episode: the competition from 1920's New York that has everyone laughing except "Sober Sue", viking's weapons, Graham Merfield - who ran a marathon by doing laps of his garden and the astrophysicist Dr Daniel Reardon who got magnets stuck up his nose while inventing a device to protect against Corona Virus.

In this episode we spend a lot of time discussing rollercoasters. Also Amberly has some quirky facts from an international zoo visit as well as recapping the impossible-to-guess birthday surprise she took Matt on. As promised here's the video of the Rollercoaster catch: youtube.com/watch?v=d6KNEe_2qDw And the video of Atlantis in WA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzD4LEQ289E

To celebrate 50 years since man first walked on the moon, Matt has pulled together some amazing facts about the moon landing. Also, Amberly tells Matt about a hero you should know about and also sprinkles in some moon facts of her own!

In this episode Amberly tells Matt about a spicy high, as well as a bunch of "banger facts" (basically, a lot of fact in a row). Matt tells Amberly about a very strange home invasion and a new way to dispose of yourself once you die has just become legal in California.

It's 2019 and we're back baby! New facts, new stories, same old Matt and Amberly as hosts. For the first week back Matt shares a mystery he's been saving up since New Years Eve as well as a sport that was invented by an AI after being fed the rules of 400 existing sports. Amberly tells Matt about another weird sport "extreme ironing" as well as why space walkers may not have fingernails. You can email us: hellosomethingamazing@gmail.com

Amberly tells Matt about how a car you know almost had a terrible name and why the Ancient Greek statues had little willys! Matt tells Amberly about why people are emailing trees and gives an update on lab-grown meat. Also listener Matt sends us an email with a video about a robot in space. You can watch the video yourself, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE0LQ2y_-Pk

It's Christmas!! So we have a special Something Amazing chock-full of Christmas cheer, egg-nog and presents. This Podcast is chocked fuller than a Christmas cracker with great Christmas themed facts you can whip out at family gatherings.

This week Amberly tells Matt about

This week, Matt tells Amberly about Art that sold at an auction for an incredible amount drawn by AI. Also Brain to Brain networks exist now! Amberly tells Matt about the cutest little Dik Dik and a weird fact about M. Night Shyamalan‘s past.

Amberly tells Matt about "Kevinism" and gives some prime examples of when your name is an insult in Germany. Also, she gives the back story of how Wrigley's came to become famous for making gum. Matt tells Amberly about how robots are learning to do a backflip by watching YouTube videos and which porn site is now letting you search by emoji!

Amberly tells Matt about someone who literally died of politeness and how some squirrels got arrested for spying. Matt tells Amberly about the world's first Space Mining university course and how Google has invented killer robots (of the good kind!)

Matt's amazing facts for Amberly this week include Google Translate spitting out weird religious prophecies and a world record domino toppling attempt that ended in disaster! Amberly tells Matt about the naming of a town and the naming of an old carny trick. Plus, we open up the mailbag!

Matt shares the greatest something amazing he's ever found. There's other stuff but really this episode is mainly about how good Matt's first fact is. PS - Matt wrote this.

This week Amberly tells Matt about a mayor that's a dog and the story of the inventor of a strange bit of clothing. Matt tells Amberly about a guy who successfully managed to sue Google for search results and how WiFi can be used to see through walls! Also why does Facebook want you to send them your nudes?

In this week's episode: Matt tells Amberly about IBM's Watson taking on a pair of  human debaters for the first time. Also an AI that can see into your future! Amberly tells Matt about what a cuckold is and where the word comes from. Also, she has another weird movie that you'll probably never see...

In this weeks episode Matt tells Amberly about a bio-hacker who won a court case after he inserted a train ticket into his arm. Also, a robot soccer team and a 19 year olds award winning window washer drone. Amberly tells Matt about a strange Japanese bank-heist with a murderous twist. Finally, a lying competition that you won't believe!

In this episode, Matt tells Amberly about a competition designed to find the best fake videos on the internet. Also, why are Swedish bank robbers finding it so hard to "work"? Amberly tells Matt about NASA's chief sniffer (it's a real job!) and the movie starring John Malkovich that you'll never get to see.

Matt's sitting in the King Chair and is very relaxed! In this episode - Matt tells Amberly about FIT - a new AI built for the fashion industry and how a serial killer was caught using a website you use to search your family history. Amberly tells Matt about the science of a favourite smell and how some bees were used to catch a big illegal pot farm.

What an episode! We have facts from Japan, Instagram and a billionaire's mega factory.

In this weeks episode: IBM has built the world's smallest computer and it only costs 10c! A man has a stroke and loses the ability to feel negative emotions, Google has a new bathroom mirror that can analyse your health and a woman's butt causes a plane to be grounded. How embarrassing!

Matt tells Amberly a couple of a breakthrough in VR technology and how doctors are using the tech to practise surgery. Also, there's $1.5m up for grab in a Science competition to solve one of the world's biggest problems. Amberly tells Matt about a Scottish entrepeneur who tricked a major empire. Also, a country has turned off their entire internet for 5 hours for a very strange reason.

It only took us until March to get to episode 2 of 2018 but we bloody made it! Matt tells Amberly about a startup that is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”. Also, Winograd Schema questions are things that humans find easy to answers but computers find them really hard. Test if you're a human! Amberly tells Matt the surprising artist behind Chupa Chups and reveals a corporate fraud that everybody can get behind!

We're back for 2018! Amberly reports LIVE from NASA in a pre-recorded field trip. Matt tells Amberly about the worst inventions from the world's largest consumer electronics show. Also a lifesaving drone saved some kids from drowning over the holidays!  Here's the videos of the inventions we talk about: https://futurism.com/ces-2018-most-absurd-technologies-to-come/ Here's the lifesaving drone video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzs-4yNyL58

Every single fact is about Christmas and is AMAZING! Merry Christmas, Love from Matt and Amberly. See you in 2018!

It's our penultimate episode for 2017! Matt gives Amberly an update on the world of Biotech: meat free meat, cow free milk and a lamp made of mushrooms. Amberly is all doom and gloom this week - Facebooks emotional experiment, Rios decaying Olympic village and a really bad nights sleep.

In this episode Amberly has a theme - and it's DOGS. There's even bonus dog facts! Matt tells Amberly about simulation theory, and how some Scientists believe they have disproved it. Also, police have invented a Pokemon Go style app to help find stolen cars.

A new species of great ape has been discovered! Amberly tells Matt the amazing story of how reading some old Dutch papers lead to the discovery of a new species of Orangutan. Also, Amberly has a robot fact! It's all about the underdog helping clean up nuclear waste. Matt tells Amberly an animal fact about how cocktaoos are destroying the NBN. Finally, somone has built an AI to mess with scammers and it is brilliant.

In this Cephalopodcast we are joined by comedian, writer and octopus "expert" Luke Ryan. It's all about Octopuses. Octopussy? Octopodes! Who knew we could fill 30 minutes with AMAZING facts about the weird 8 legged creatures of the deep? Well, now you will know - because you're going to listen to it. Enjoy!

Amberly gets to run free! All the animal facts she's ever wanted to talk about she finally unleashes a torrent on Matt. Matt tells Amberly about a "social ranking system" that China wants to be made public (and compulsory) by 2020. It's very Black Mirror. Also, a robo-siurgeon has beaten a human in a glorified cutting competition.

In September Togo turned off the internet, and what happened is nuts! A whole country without Whatsapp paints quite a picture. Also, Matt tells Amberly about an Australian bird that is helping achieve thought-to-text technolgoy. Amberly tells Matt some Canada facts thanks to the mailbag (this also explains the episode artwork) - and also teaches a couple of new words. Finally, the inventor of the polio cure is just a grade-A legend. Amberly tells Matt why. 

Matt tells Amberly about the world's top 3 cobots, who are robots that work collaboratively with humans. First, there's YuMi - the robot that recently conducted an orchestra in Italy. Then there's the surfing robot that is helping to save the great barrier reef. Finally, Google's Project X is using drones to deliver burritos in rural Australia! Amberly tells a couple of facts about babies - first of all how they get them to look new born in movies, and secondly allegedly they cry in different accents. Also, you can hear Sophia the first robot to address the United Nations.

Amberly is now 25! Is she older? yes. Is she wiser? You be the judge! In this episode we open up the Mailbag and read an international letter. Also, that same country invented the Hawaiin pizza. There's also an update on the Sex Robots (also not a good one) and Matt tells Amberly the origin story of the worlds most famous pair of scissors.

The last episode with 24 year-old Amberly! Amberly tells Matt about the dwarf archetypes that Disney rejected. Also, before Elton John said yes to writing the music for the Lion King, another surprising pop act said no. Matt tells Amberly about Australia's new space agency and also introduces "Harmony" - the world's first AI sex robot.

First of all - sorry there's no "this week on Something Amazing". We plum forgot about it! So instead I'll type it here - AMBERLY: This week on ...  TOGETHER: Something Amazing MATT: An 8-year-old bullied for her love of bugs just got published in a Scientific journal. AMBERLY: You know those inflatable tube people you see out the front of car yards? I'll tell you their origina story! MATT: Robots are being taught good human manners AMBERLY: and Mount Everest has a secret. Shhhh. MATT: That and friendship and more all completely unedited here on ...  TOGETHER: Something Amazing!

We're back in our "studio" (Matt's spare room) and this week Matt proves to Amberly that you can hear the difference between hot and cold water. Also, hear the results of an experiment where robots were doing some touching as sexy music played. Amberly tells Matt a strange little fact about polar bears and teaches Matt about the "backwards bicycle". Finally, we open up our mailbag to read a letter from one of our listeners!

This is a very special live episode with guests from Melbourne Fringe playing our Something Amazing game! Liam Ryan, Josh Glanc and Shania Choir all join us on the show talking about sleep, baby's digestive systems and Shania Twain.

Amberly tells Matt about fire and a cow that evaded police it's way to freedom! Matt tells Amberly about getting that fifth limb you always wanted and how a new breakthrough has happened allowing us to get ever closer to controlling computers with your mind. We also open up the Mailbag! If you want to write us, you can do it at hellosomethingamazing@gmail.com.

This week Matt tells Amberly about a former Google data scientist who has researched what successful people have in common. A wife trying to teach her husband a lesson about lotto wins a million dollars. Also a ten minute silent track is climbing the iTunes charts. Amberly tells Matt about a strange battle in Australia's history and how Austria ended up losing a battle to itself.

In this very special (?) Something Amazing - because we only needed one email to veto doing this, and we never received that email - we are doing the POOISODE! All the facts, stories and tidbits in this episode are all about everyone's favourite excrement: POO! But, of course, they are still all something AMAZING.

In this episode of Something Amazing - Amberly introduces Matt about the sport of cup-stacking. Also, Matt and Amberly play a round of hangman where Amberly has found the hardest word to guess. Matt tells Amberly how computers see, and a trend called "dazzle" which is designed to blind computer vision. Finally, 2 robots were shutdown after their program to negotiate saw them invent their own language. You can see Dazzle here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/makeup/374929/ and you can read more about Facebook's negotiating robots here: https://www.cnet.com/news/what-happens-when-ai-bots-invent-their-own-language/

This week Amberly tells Matt the origin of a bunch of different well-known sayings. Matt tells Amberly about "Shrinkflation" which explains why icecream and chocolate bars are getting smaller. It's not just your imagination! Also, Amazon AI designed to create phone cases goes nuts and fills the store with over 30,000 hilarious products. You can see the pictures here: http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-amazon-ai-designed-phone-cases-fail/

We're back after a short holiday! This week Amberly tells Matt about 3 places in the world that share a strange link and why carrots are orange. Matt tells Amberly about Dubai's plans to have 25% of its police force be robots by 2030. Also an Australian animal is completely confusing self-driving cars.

On this episode of Something Amazing - Amberly teaches Matt about "sin eaters" and a feature length movie that was basically just an ad for Maccas. Matt tells Amberly about a famous CEO whose alleged Netflix binge in retirement was proved false but replaced with an even better true story. Also Fake News existed back in World War II, and the government set up weird "rumour clinics" to try and stop them.

This week on Something Amazing - Amberly tells Matt about what happens when you cut a brain in half. Matt tells Amberly about a new solar paint that allows you to coat your house in clean energy.  Also, we open up the mailbag to get an update from you about how far away we are from robot surgeons and musicians. You can watch Shimon the music playing robot here: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/06/this-artificially-intelligent-robot-composes-and-performs-its-own-music/

In this episode Amberly tells Matt about how the colour mauve was invented and also how there is a weird pattern to humans discovering colours. Matt lets Amberly know that when a computer tried to learn and name colours it went hilariously wrong. Also, AI can now predict accurately when you're going to die. Would you want to know?

In this epsiode Amberly tells Matt a lot of facts about how evil crows are. Also, have you already experienced your one-billionth second? Matt tells Amberly about a migrating butterfly that remembers a mountain that hasn't existed for thousand of years. Also - AI experts predict when robots will be better than humans at everything. Finally, we open up our mailbag and hear Something Amazing from YOU. You can email us too: hellosomethingamazing@gmail.com.

On this episode of Something Amazing, Amberly tells Matt about a man who won a scrabble championship in an unusual way. Also a women inventor who had her invention stolen from her. Matt tells Amberly about the "library of babel" - where everything that can ever be said is written down. You can visit it here: https://libraryofbabel.info

On this episode of Something Amazing: Matt tells Amberly about a song that has enetred the UK charts in 2004 and has stayed there ever since. Also, how two big companies are working to help you link your brain up to a computer. Amberly tells Matt a surprising origin of a 1991 hit song! The video of Totale Finsternis from Tanz der Vampire is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-dLnxg8SE

In the first ever episode of Something Amazing, Matt tells Amberly about a herpetologist who documented his own death in a diary. Also, there's an app being developed that can predict when you're about to have a fight. Amberly tells Matt about some dolphin facts!