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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!
Hey, Guy Ross!
Mindy?
What?
Is she... is she riding on a... on a bird?
Sorry, we're still working on the landing.
Guy Raz, are you okay?
What in the... Guy Raz, I'd like to introduce you to my new carrier pigeon, Reggie.
You what?
I was just flying him around the world collecting awesome stories to share.
And then Mindy Mindy I know that homing pigeons are a thing, but
They're not meant to carry humans.
Oh, no, I trained them.
It's fine.
Okay, so you were collecting stories.
So what'd you find?
Well, all I really got was a pair of corn shoes, but it's totally fine.
I got a lot.
That's the story?
Just trust me on this one.
Well, what do you have for today's show?
Well, Mindy, how about a trip to the moon?
Okay, sure.
Can I bring my tuba?
I'll go get it.
I don't think you'll be needing that up in space.
That's cool.
Probably even fit inside of it anyway.
Can I ride Reggie?
Your carrier pigeon?
All right, Reggie.
Time to hit the gas.
That is one strange bird.
We can hear you.
Let's see here.
Make a left at the bathtub.
OK.
Walk five more steps, then hang a Roger at the Rusty Camaro, then do a 180-degree spin and kick.
And What kind of directions are these?
She's led me to a landfill full of trash.
Hey, Guy Raz, over here!
Minnie, what is this?
I thought you invited me to a picnic.
Guy Raz, this is a picnic.
See, I cleared out a space for the picnic blanket.
And I found some crusty old sandwiches in that rusty washing machine over there.
Oh...
Right.
I'm starving.
What are you doing?
Never eat a sandwich out of a trash dump.
There was a cat living in that thing.
Yeah, I noticed that.
He'll be fine.
Mindy, what's going on?
I mean, why did you invite me to literally the worst party? place on earth for a picnic.
Well, it's funny you should ask.
There is nothing funny about this situation.
Guy Raz, what do you think has happened to every single pair of sneakers that you've ever outgrown or worn out?
Well, I'd have to think.
Let's see.
My Hush Puppies thrown away.
My Reebok Pumps.
Yep, we threw those out too.
My old K-Swiss.
Wait a minute.
Could it be that some of my old shoes are somewhere in this landfill full of trash?
Okay, now I'm not here to reunite you with your old vans from fifth grade, but I am here to introduce you to a new kind of sneaker.
A sneaker so special that it will never see the likes of a place like this.
Oh, thank goodness.
This is a sad and disgusting place.
So what is this new kind of shoe?
Guy Raz, open this picnic basket.
And see for yourself.
Ah, cats everywhere.
Oh, that's okay.
They're friendly.
But did you find the shoe?
Mindy, Mindy, this is just another ordinary sneaker.
Not just any, Guy Raz.
This is a sneaker made out of... Wait for it.
Wait for it.
Wait for it.
That's it.
I'm going home.
Corn!
Corn?
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Well, corn and cotton.
See, here's the thing.
Reebok, the company that's been making sneakers for decades, recently discovered a way to make shoes that are sustainable, meaning that they won't hurt the earth when we outgrow and get rid of them.
And they're doing this with corn?
Yeah.
So as you probably know, the soles or bottoms of most shoes are made out of plastics.
And to make plastics you have to burn oil and and use all these crazy chemicals that can be really bad for planet Earth.
Yeah, I seem to remember reading something about this, Mindy.
Something about scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who figured out that just to make one pair of sneakers, it makes so much pollution.
Actually, 30 pounds of an invisible gas called carbon dioxide.
That's like a medium-sized dinosaur dog amount of carbon dioxide.
Yeah, crazy, right?
And carbon dioxide is going to be around no matter what, which would be fine, except for the fact that we humans have been going bonker balls with this stuff and now the Earth is starting to freak out.
Well Mindy, the good news is that we humans can actually help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that's released into the atmosphere.
And we can do that by, you know, walking more rather than driving, or fixing, and reusing old things rather than buying new ones, and even turning off the lights or the electronics when we're not using them.
Which brings me back Mindy, I love the earth, but I am not eating your corn shoes.
Ew, no, Guy Raz.
These new corn kicks... Uh, is that what they're calling them?
No, that's what I'm calling them.
Oh, okay.
Anywho, have you ever seen those paper plates and cups and forks made out of corn?
I have.
They're amazing because they disintegrate or turn into dust after just a few weeks, so...
They're much, much better for the environment.
Well, these shoes are kind of made in the same way.
They come from a special kind of corn used to feed animals.
And the top part of the sneakers are made entirely from cotton.
Wow.
And will these shoes just disintegrate after a few weeks?
Well, they'll last a lot longer than that.
But these shoes won't live in a landfill like this for hundreds of years like ordinary shoes, because they'll be broken down by tiny microorganisms in the earth and ultimately turn to dust, only to become part of the earth again.
So just like when we compost things like banana peels and food scraps in our backyard and then they turn into soil that we can use in our gardens
Yep, and the coolest part is that one day the people who make these shoes are hoping to turn them into compost or dirt that can be used to grow the corn and the cotton to make a new pair of shoes.
That's so cool.
So...
When can I get a pair of these shoes?
Well, you're going to have to wait until back to school time later in the fall to get your feet into them.
Well, until then, we better get up on our feet and get out of here, Mindy.
It's getting kind of late and pretty stinky.
Oh, yeah.
Any idea how to get out of here?
I'm starving.
Mindy, are you telling me we're lost in a landfill and there is no picnic after all?
No, I didn't say that, but you just did.
What's your name?
Bram.
And how old are you, Bram?
Oh, just six.
My birthday was a couple weeks ago.
You're going to be seven before you know it.
Maybe in 500 billion days.
Give or take.
So Bram, we talk a lot about real stories, but I heard that you have a wow-worthy, totally made-up story.
Is that true?
Yes.
Can we hear it?
Okay.
Let her rip.
Once upon a time...
There was this old lady, but she never died.
That's because she was so healthy.
So she just ate soup, challah, fruits.
But she liked vegetables, too.
And one day, she needed somebody to help in her house.
Just like Streganoda.
It was Streganonia Jr.
So Big Anthony liked the same.
Big Anthony, he just... didn't really do anything, but she paid him $500 every night.
Big Anthony ran to his house as if he didn't want to do chores.
He went to bed and counted his piggy bank.
He had a million dollars.
Big Anthony was only two years old.
So the big grandma was very mad she was tackling him And wrestling him.
But then the grandma got arrested for wrestling a two-year-old.
The end.
Whoa.
Is Strega Nono your favorite book?
Yeah.
Bram, thank you so much for sharing that.
Bye.
What?
I think we're done. hey grown-ups it's mindy and guy ross 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.
Grown-ups.
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.
You know, Guy Raz, I've been thinking about planning a little vacation somewhere.
But not just anywhere.
Just someplace a little bit different.
How about the moon?
And when you say moon, do you mean Earth's moon?
Or you've got to be specific.
Yeah, of course.
But you know, Mindy, you raise an important point because...
Our planet Earth isn't the only planet with a moon.
In fact, lots of planets have their own moons.
A moon is a natural satellite.
Wait a minute.
I thought that a satellite was like a metal object that we launched into outer space from rockets and then waited for it to circle around the Earth.
That's true, Mindy.
Most satellites we send up into space are like floating communication stations that send signals back down to Earth and help us communicate over the internet and even watch TV and listen to radio.
So how is the moon a satellite?
Well, a satellite is just a fancy word for something that orbits or circles around a planet.
The moon is also a satellite because it orbits our planet.
But you said that lots of other planets had moons.
They do.
In fact, in our own solar system, Mindy, there are at least 181 moons orbiting other planets.
And when I'm talking about our solar system, I'm just talking about the eight planets that circle around our sun.
You know, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and...
Exactly.
And each of these planets has its own moons, which are mostly solid rocks that simply orbit their planets.
So why is our moon so bright?
Well, our moon appears to be bright Mindy, because it simply reflects the light from the sun, sort of like a giant mirror.
Oh, okay, got it.
So let's get back to this talk about taking a vacation to the moon.
Well, Mindy, as you know, there have been a total of six human missions to the moon.
They all happened between the years 1969 and in 1972, and only 12 humans in history have ever walked on the surface of the moon.
So what happened in 1972?
Why didn't more people get to go?
Well NASA, the part of our government that is in charge of space exploration stopped sending humans to the moon because those missions were very, very expensive and very, very dangerous.
And NASA scientists realized that we can still learn a lot about space by doing experiments closer to Earth.
So where do humans go when they visit space?
Well, they go to a part of space called low Earth orbit.
And that's where the International Space Station floats around our planet.
It's about 249 miles above planet Earth.
And you can think about it a little bit like a floating science lab in space.
It's also a satellite that orbits around our planet Earth.
That's awesome.
So how long does it take to get there?
Mindy, astronauts have been able to get to the International Space Station in just six hours.
That's like flying from New York to Los Angeles.
Wow, that's not even that You'd only need like one or two bathroom breaks during that trip.
But Guy Raz, how long would it take to travel to the moon?
Well, you know how I told you that the International Space Station is just 249 miles from Earth?
Yeah?
Well, the moon is 240,000 miles from Earth.
And it can take at least three days to get there.
And Mindy, the last time any human traveled beyond low Earth orbit was on that last moon mission in 1972.
Yeah, but that was so long ago.
Will we ever go back again, like in our lifetime?
Mindy, the answer appears to be yes.
What?
I am ready for takeoff, Guy Raz.
Got my moon boots on and I'm packing my bag.
Well, you may want to just hold off on that for a bit Mindy, because there is a good chance that Any kid listening may have a shot at walking on the moon in his or her lifetime, but it'll still take some time.
Well, kids today are a very patient species.
So how will they do this?
Well, a company called SpaceX has announced that it will send two humans on a trip that will take them around the moon sometime in 2018.
Ooh, pick me, pick me!
Will we get to walk on the moon?
Well, so far there are no plans to land the spaceship on the moon, but it will be the first time any human has gone so far into space in 45 years.
Now SpaceX is a company that makes rockets, and it's working on spaceships that could one day take humans to distant space like for a vacation.
That's so cool!
But how are they going to do it in 2018?
That's like Well, SpaceX has developed a spaceship called the Dragon 2.
Ooh, good name.
And it will be big enough and powerful enough to take two humans on a trip of a lifetime and then safely bring them back to Earth.
So who are these lucky ducks?
So far, Mindy, we don't know.
SpaceX is keeping it a secret.
I can keep a secret?
No, I can't.
But the company hopes that it will be the first step in making it easier for other humans to go.
You know, SpaceX was started by a very interesting businessman named Elon Musk.
And a lot of people think he's one of the greatest inventors alive today.
Some people even compare him to other great inventors like Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs, the guy who created the Apple iPhone.
Wait a minute.
I know who Elon Musk is.
Isn't he that guy who created that fancy electric Tesla car?
That's exactly right, Mindy.
And Elon Musk has a dream to one day send humans, get this to Mars, which would probably be one of the most complicated and challenging missions that any human could take, because a trip to Mars is likely to take six months.
Eesh, that's a long time on the space road.
So, Guy Raz, back to the moon.
If this happens next year, will we be able to watch the launch?
Mindy, I have a feeling that people around the world will watch it live on TV, if it happens next year.
And those who are lucky enough may get to see it with their own eyes.
Or somebody else's eyes, if you're wearing their glasses.
So, Guy Raz...
How will this whole thing go down?
Well, the rocket will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral on Florida's East Coast, which is also known as the Space Coast.
And what's so cool is that SpaceX will use the same launch pad that was used to send American astronauts to the moon between 1969 and 1972.
And I bet many, many people will probably stand on the beaches near Cape Canaveral to watch the giant blast off when it happens in 2018.
Wow, just the thought of all of this happening in our lifetime, Guy Raz, I am so spaced out.
So did you guys hear that someone in your lifetime might be going to the moon?
I wouldn't say that would be true, but... It is totally true.
But it would take a lot of days.
How long do you think it would take to go to the moon?
About a month.
Were you even listening to that last story?
No.
What were you doing?
Playing with my foot.
Okay.
Let's say...
That somebody knocked on your door and they said, you have just won a one-way ticket to the moon.
But you can only bring one thing.
What would that one thing be?
I don't know.
A suitcase.
Full of what?
One thing.
Faux.
You're going to bring soup in a suitcase to the moon.
Seriously?
Of all things, you're going to fill the suitcase with soup?
It's going to be like leaking all over space.
That's the thing.
There's no gravity.
You don't even need a spoon.
Okay.
Wow.
That's a wrap.
Guy Raz, what an adventure this last show was.
I know.
We...
Our show is written by me and Mindy Thomas.
And our producer is Jed Anderson.
Say hello, Jed.
Yello.
Our theme song, Wow in the World, was written and performed by The Pop-Ups.
Check them out at thepopups.com.
Also big thanks to all of the awesome kids you heard in today's episode, like Bram Bertie Rhett Susanna, Emily and Eli.
We're back with a brand new episode of Wow in the World next week.
And in the meantime, go forth and discover your own Wow in the World.
Wow in the World is made by Tinkercast.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Wondery Kids Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
