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Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, I got to let you know that this November, with a special new episode featuring our friends at Circle Round and Terrestrials on Radiolab for Kids,
And don't miss when Elmo from Sesame Street stops by Wow in the World to make us all belly laugh on November 24th.
Oh, but that's not all, Reg.
On December 1st, we are sharing our 250th episode of Wow in the World with all of you.
We think this one is going to be music to your ears.
Literally.
Did I mention it's a musical?
And if you're a member of the World Organization of Wowzers...
Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you.
You can listen to our 250th episode early with me and other members from around the world on Saturday, November 22nd, at 7 pm.
Eastern.
That's right, we are throwing another listening party.
Join us as we dance along to our new songs.
React to the episode with other members in the chat and more.
Grownups.
If you want your wowzer to join this members-only listening party, you can sign up to become a member today at Tinkercastcom.
Slash wow.
Already a member?
Well, you can find the link and password to join the event when you sign in at Tinkercastcom.
Slash wow.
That's it.
It's going to be a November to remember.
But for now, let's get on with the show.
Woo!
I think we're on a bridge.
Any luck finding it in the pickling pagoda?
Man, still nothing, huh?
Well, keep looking, buddy.
My phone has to be around here somewhere.
Coming!
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run!
Good morning!
Hey, Mindy, I came as soon as I got your message in a bottle.
Yeah, which I threw into the ocean like three hours ago.
What took you so long?
Well, typically a message in a bottle could take as long as Wait.
Wait, if this was so urgent Mindy, why didn't you just call me?
Well, that's the problem, Guy Raz.
I may or may not have lost my phone.
Again?
Yeah, but this time I know it's around here somewhere.
Well, have you tried retracing your steps?
Yes...
Of course I have not tried retracing my steps.
Okay, let me think.
I definitely remember having it this morning when I was scrolling through Grandma G-Force's vacation pictures on Face Space.
Grandma G-Force is on vacation?
She was supposed to join me on a silent meditation retreat next week.
Well, I don't know if I should really call it a vacation when she's in Japan getting her PhD in sumo wrestling.
Sumo wrestling?
Yep.
University of Kyoto parking lot.
Is that an accredited course?
Yes, of course it's not an accredited course, Guy Ross.
Anyway, back to your phone.
After you checked out G-Force's face space, what did you do next?
Um, then I clicked on Whamazon and ordered this giant ice cream sandwich.
Uh, I think that might have just been an inflatable mattress.
Oh, that's...
That would explain the weird texture.
What?
Yeah, I just kept chewing and chewing, and chewing, and chewing, and chewing, and chewing, and chewing and chewing.
Okay, okay.
So then what did you do?
Come on, come on.
Think, Mindy.
I don't remember.
Mindy.
But I know it's around here somewhere.
That's why I sent you that message in a bottle inviting you to come over.
Maybe I could relax and take a nap while you search for it.
Of course.
How can I help?
Sorry, sorry.
Could you just call my phone?
Yeah, sure.
Let me just get my phone out here.
What's your number again?
Sorry.
555.
Uh-huh.
555.
Okay.
555.
What?
Five.
Sorry.
I know that's a lot of numbers to remember.
Okay.
Calling now. hear it.
Yeah, me too.
But where is it coming from?
I think it's over this way, Mindy.
No, no, no, no.
It's definitely coming from this way.
Are you sure?
I swear it's coming from over here.
Nope, I'm telling you it's got... Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
I think I'd call those inconclusive results.
Oh, man, still no closer to finding it.
I'm usually so these kinds of things.
Really?
Yeah, I don't want to brag or anything, but my family is kind of known for its exceptional listening skills.
Oh, of course.
Didn't you win the NPR Marco Polo competition last year?
Marco!
Polo.
Marco!
Polo.
Fish out of water!
That means you, Terry Gross!
Ah, W-H-Y, why am I so bad at this?
That'll teach you for dipping out for some fresh air!
Yep, reigning champs, five years running.
But if only these fleshy seashells on the side of my head were better at hearing where my phone was coming from.
Fleshy seashells?
Yeah, it's what I call my ears.
Well Mindy, first of all, those fleshy seashells are called ears and secondly, they do much more than just help you hear.
They also help you keep your balance and stop you from falling flat on your face.
Keep my balance?
Guy Raz, you're telling me that my ears help me stay on my... Whoa!
Feet?
That's right, Mindy.
Pretty incredible, huh?
Oh, yeah, real incredible.
Now help me up.
Here you go.
What's more incredible though, is how all of the little parts of the ear come together to help you hear.
Really?
Really.
Your ear is made up of three different sections.
The outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.
Hmm.
Let me see that mirror.
Outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear is somewhere in there.
All of these parts come together to help you hear what you hear.
Like how all of those cogs or gears in a clock work together to help tell the time.
Exactly.
So how exactly do our ears detect sound?
Well, I could tell you, Mindy.
Yes?
Or I could show you.
Yes!
I was hoping you'd say that.
All right, all right.
Wait right here.
I've got just the thing back in my place.
Wait, what?
Where are you going?
There was!
What do you have on your face?
Are those ski goggles?
Nope.
Onion cutting goggles?
Uh, uh-uh.
Are we playing pin the tail on your granddad?
So Mindy, this is my new virtual reality headset.
I've been meaning to find an excuse to try it out.
Cool.
And I got one just for you.
Put it on.
I'll boot it up.
OK.
Putting it on.
Well, don't you remember that time I took you to that fancy party and you just started introducing yourself to everyone?
Hi, so nice to meet you.
My name is Mindy.
My head's roughly the circumference of a basketball.
And do you mind if I double dip?
Did you get the pizza bag?
Oh, yeah.
Forgot about that.
Anyway, nice job, buddy.
You're a good listener.
All right.
All right.
Let me just put mine on.
Okay, I'm just going to put. mine over my eyes now.
Guy Raz, I can't see anything.
Where am I?
Am I blind?
Where did everybody go?
What's happening to me?
Can I have a sandwich?
Calm down, Mindy.
I just need to boot it up.
Are you ready?
Yeah, just take me out of this darkness.
Okay, here we go.
Three, two, one.
And here we are.
Whoa.
Guy Raz, this is bonker balls.
What am I looking at?
This, Mindy, is a giant human ear.
In fact, it's my ear.
Your ear, Guy Raz?
Why are we looking at a giant version of your ear?
Well, naturally, to learn how to hear.
What?
To learn how to hear.
What?
To learn how to hear.
What?
So what's the first step?
Well, the first thing our ears do is pick up sound waves.
So here, let me just show you.
I just need to fiddle with the simulation here.
And perfect.
Here it is.
Oh, what in the garage?
There are sound waves everywhere.
This is so cool.
Mindy, we are surrounded by sound waves all the time.
And it's these sound waves that enter our ears and then get turned into electrical signals that our brain then understands as sound.
So how does that work?
Well, these invisible sound waves are first picked up by the outer ear.
Which is the fleshy, floppy part of the ear on the side of your head, right?
The fleshy seashell?
Stop calling it that, but yes, that fleshy, floppy part is called the pinna.
And after these sound waves enter our ears, they travel down the ear canal.
What happened?
Oh, don't worry, Mindy.
All I did was transport us down to the next stage of the year.
We're still in the virtual reality simulation, remember?
Don't worry.
Oh, right.
Almost forgot.
So, um, Garros, what exactly is this weird, gooey stuff we're standing in right now?
Oh, that?
Uh, oh, it's, um... Because it looks kind of funky.
Yeah, it's, uh, my, uh... It's your what?
Uh, earwax.
Your earwax?!
!
Gross!
Ross, I'm standing in your virtual earwax?
Get it off!
Get it off!
Get it off!
This is so gross.
So gross.
So gross.
So gross.
So gross.
So gross.
Well, it might be gross Mindy, but earwax actually contains a bunch of different chemicals that fight off infections that might hurt the skin inside the ear.
Oh, so sort of like how some bees Books come with a paper book cover to keep the book from getting all messed up.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, okay.
But still gross.
Gross, but useful.
Hmm.
Gross, but useful.
Kind of like me.
What?
What?
Anyway, maybe we should just get out of here.
Aye, aye, Captain.
Where are we going next?
Well, the next part of the job is to turn these sound waves into vibrations.
And for that, we have to visit...
The eardrum.
Oh, man, you gotta warn me before you do that next time.
Sorry, Mindy, but here we are.
We're at the eardrum.
Well, I guess it does kind of look like a drum.
Man, I wish it brought my virtual drumsticks with me.
Yeah, and when the sound wave hits this piece of skin... Oh, look, here comes one now.
Oh.
See, watch this sound wave.
It vibrates this piece of skin back in.
Yeah, it's totally vibrating back and forth.
And these vibrations are then passed on through a series of tiny bones inside the ear to the last stop on our journey, the cochlea.
Uh-oh, does this mean another jump?
Yep.
Whoa, where are we now, Guy Raz?
Is this some sort of a baby pool?
There's water everywhere.
Oh, this isn't water, Mindy.
It's a runny mixture of sodium, calcium, chlorine, potassium, and electrolytes.
Ugh, well, whatever it is, it's dank and not in a good way.
So, um, where exactly in the ear are we now?
We're inside the cochlea.
And once the vibrations reach this part of the ear, They move all of this fluid inside the cochlea which brushes up on these fine little hairs on the side right here.
Ooh, so smooth.
And when all this fluid laps up against these hairs, it's like information.
And that information is turned into electrical signals that the brain can then understand as sound.
Man, that's so cool.
But it doesn't really help you find your phone.
Yeah, not really.
I did get to show off my virtual reality headset, though.
Yeah, speaking of which, I think we could take these things off now.
Sure thing.
Well, let me just shut them down.
Okay, pop this baby off.
That's better.
Pretty cool, right?
Super cool.
Maybe you could make a scan of my ears later and then we can finally figure out where my phone is.
What do you mean?
Well, the shape of your ear actually matters when it comes to how you're able to tell where a sound is coming from.
Really?
Yeah.
So I just read this crazy new study from a group of neuroscientists from the University of Montreal.
And just to be clear, neuroscientists are the type of scientists who study how the brain works right.
Yeah, exactly.
So this team of neuroscientists were able to figure out how the sound waves bounce around the outer part of our ears.
The fleshy seashell.
No, Guy Raz, the correct term is the pinna.
So it turns out how the sound waves bounce around in your pinna also help you tell where the sound is coming from.
Whoa, so it helps you tell whether a sound is coming from above or below your head?
Exactoritos.
Huh, so how do they work that out?
Oh, so this part's pretty cool.
They did it using a dome made of speakers and some ear molds made out of this rubbery plastic stuff called silicone.
And then what did they do?
Okay, so...
First the scientists got a bunch of volunteers to sit in the dome of speakers And then they played sounds through and got them to guess which direction the sounds were coming from.
Okay.
And then they got their volunteers to put on those rubbery silicone ear molds which fit right in the nook of their ears.
Okay.
And when they replayed the sounds for them with these ear molds in the, volunteers had a much harder time telling whether the sound was coming from above or below them.
Huh.
So what does it all mean?
Well, Guy Raz, it means that the shape of our ears affects how our brains are able to pinpoint or figure out where sounds are coming from.
OK.
So let me see if I have this right.
Because the ear mold changed how the sound waves bounced around their outer ears.
That changed how those sound waves were converted into vibrations and then That confused their brains.
Right, but that's not even the best part.
Well, why?
Okay, so the researchers had the volunteers keep these ear molds in their ears for one whole week.
And when they came back, the researchers had them do the same test again.
And what did they find?
Well, they found that the volunteers were able to predict where the sounds were coming from just as well as they did the first time around without the molds.
Wow, so their brains were able to adapt to their new ear shapes?
You know it, Guy Raz.
Huh, so what does it all mean, Mindy?
Well, it means that this research might one day lead to better listening devices for people who have trouble hearing.
That's so cool, Mindy.
You know I have a friend that's been in the market for uh.
Hey wait Mindy, what's that in your ear?
In my what?
What are you talking about?
In your ear, Mindy.
There's something in there.
Let me see here.
Oh, sticky.
Is it earwax?
No, it's definitely not earwax.
Is it... Gum!
Mindy, Mindy, why do you have gum stuck in your ear?
Okay, it's kind of a long story.
Oh.
I'll tell you it anyway.
So it all started one Saturday afternoon when I was trying to reenact the study that we were just talking about.
What?
But then I came to the part with the silicone ear molds and realized I didn't have any silicone.
So I had to make do with gum.
Gum?
Hey, anything for science, am I right?
We interrupt this episode of Wow in the World to bring you a brief public safety reminder.
Thank you.
And now back to the show.
Well Mindy, that gum is probably why you haven't been able to use your super hearing skills to find your phone right.
Oh, my googly-eyed cat.
Guy Raz, you're right.
I better get this stuff out of here.
How do you feel now?
Oh, like a whole new person.
Guy Raz, you want to try giving my phone another ring?
Sure thing.
I got it.
I know exactly where it's coming from this time.
It's coming from the kitchen.
Run, run, run, run.
Mindy, wait for me.
Got it.
Mindy, what is your?
There you are, you crazy little phone.
Never do that to me again.
I've missed you so much.
Mindy.
Was it in your fridge?
Well, technically the freezer.
Earlier today it froze up on me, so I just got so mad I threw it in there with all the other frozen stuff.
And now I'm just so glad I found you again, phone.
What?
Hey, Reggie, come here.
I found it.
I found phone.
It was in the freezer all along.
Man, so many mistakes.
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grownups, this message is for you.
Hey, grownups.
It's Mindy and Guy Raz here from Wow in the World.
Mindy and I have some brand new wow in the world toys out in the world just in time for the holidays, made for the kids who love science and for the ones who don't.
Yet, from our 100 experiments, that wow kit, to the telescope and astronomy kit, Our Wow in the World toys help your wowzer learn about their world through play.
Plus, you can hear exclusive audio content from me and Guy Raz to help your wowzer discover even more wows.
Grownups.
Give the gift of wow and wonder this holiday season with our latest Wow in the World toys designed with your curious wowzer in mind.
You can shop our Wow in the World toys at Tinkercast.com slash toys.
That's Tinkercast.com slash toys.
Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
Hi, Meninga Ross.
This is Peyton, and I am 10.
I am Haley.
I am 6 years old.
We live in Manhattan Beach, California.
My Wow in the World is that flies are pollinators.
Welcome to our carnivore.
Thank you, Mindy and Guy Ross.
We love your show.
Hello, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Harry.
I live in San Francisco, and I'm eight years old.
My wow is that when I ride my bike, I go 12.5 miles per hour average because it's downhill.
We love your shows.
Thanks.
Hi, this is Rosie from Massachusetts. dance to show other bees where flowers are.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Ross.
I love your show.
Hello, my name is Luke and I live in Pennsylvania, and my wow in the world is that hummingbirds weigh less than a penny.
Bye, I love your show.
Love your show.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Kate.
I'm from Denver, Colorado.
I'm nine years old.
My wow in the world is The age of Egyptian pharaohs lasted so long that Cleopatra was born closer to moon landings than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
I love your show.
My favorite episode was the one about CRISPR.
Your show makes me so happy.
Thanks.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Anders, and I'm nine years old and calling from Novo, Utah.
And my wow in the world is that anteaters have little hooks on their tongues that help them pick up.
Love your show.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Grace.
I'm seven years old, and I live in Long Beach, California.
My wow in the world is that the Statue of Liberty was originally brown, but the weather changed it to green.
Hey, everyone.
Thank you so much for joining us this week on Wow in the World.
And if you want to keep the conversation going, check out some of the questions we posted on this episode at our website, wowintheworldcom.
And grownups.
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Wowintheworld.com.
Our show is produced by Jed Anderson.
Say hello, Jed.
Hello.
With help from Thomas Van Kalken, Chelsea Erson, and Jessica Bode.
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