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Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, I gotta 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!
All right, I've got my snacks ready.
Let's get some music pumping here.
Ah, too much pumping, too much pumping.
Ah, that's better.
And let's see, maybe I'll light a scented candle or two.
What do we got here?
Baked beans and bacon?
No.
What's this one?
The wind?
Ew, that makes no sense.
How about mother's purse?
Perfect.
Someone's here.
Oh, boy.
This is going to be the best Lizard Island season finale viewing party I've ever thrown.
Guy Rons, welcome.
Hey, Dennis.
I'm here for the viewing party.
Great.
Come on in.
Thank you for coming.
Sorry.
Am I early?
No.
I mean, kind of.
I put an early arrival time on your invitation because we're best friends.
Right.
Well, I brought some snacks.
Oh.
Snacks!
What'd you bring?
What'd you bring?
What'd you bring?
What'd you bring?
Oh, vegetables.
It's actually crudités.
It's French.
Oh, like French fries?
No.
Rats.
Well, hand it here and I'll just, uh... There we go.
Hey, did you just throw my snacks in the trash?
What?
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Yes.
Yes, I did.
Over there we have the living room.
That's where we'll be watching the lizard island season finale.
Over there is mother's room.
We're not allowed in there.
And where we're standing now is the kitchen where I cook and keep my collection of family heirloom tomatoes.
What tomatoes, guy open?
Pollinated, non-hybrid heirloom tomatoes.
They're sweet and delicious and not very pest resistant, which is why they're rotting and covered in flies.
And these heirloom tomatoes are family heirloom tomatoes passed down from my great, great great uncle dennis who oh, hold that thought coming.
Oh, there young man is your mommy home, tommy.
No, this is my viewing party, not mother's, oh Okay.
Well, sorry we're late.
The traffic was terrible.
Yeah.
Grandma G-Force, you live like three houses over.
There's no traffic.
We're talking about internet traffic.
The Wi-Fi we steal from you is terrible.
Oh.
Well, welcome to my home.
Please make yourself comfortable.
Ooh, well, well, well.
Would you get a load of this place, Fingerling?
Yeah, this place is real nice.
Oh, and look, free snacks.
No, stop eating my family heirloom tomatoes.
You're going to be haunted by my great, great, great Uncle Dennis.
Oh.
Whoops.
What?
Ooh, let me try one.
Give her here, boy.
No!
If you want vegetables, there's crudités in the trash.
Tomatoes aren't vegetables.
They're fruits.
Not according to the United States government, Tommy.
Oh, boy.
Okay, don't eat any more of my tomatoes.
Don't tell me what to do.
Mindy, you're dressed like a lizard.
Cool!
Uh, yeah.
I wasn't going to not dress up for the Lizard Island season finale.
Finally, someone who appreciates good television.
Come on in.
Thank you.
Oh, careful.
Hey, I said quit eating those.
We're not.
Yes, you are.
Dennis.
Oh, it's under the blue coffee table in the basket of mother's knitting needles.
Thanks, got it.
Hey, this one tastes like stale popcorn.
Faker, like, stop that.
These are family heirlooms, and they are not for eating.
Oh, come on, Phil.
Hey, Mindy, nice, uh, Oh, thanks, Guy Raz.
I made it myself.
Uh-huh.
And why exactly are you dressed up like a giant lizard?
Well, because we're about to watch the season finale of Lizard Island.
Lizard Island?
Uh-huh.
What is that?
Okay Roz, it's only the most watched reality show on TV about lizards falling in love with each other.
Does this mean you haven't been watching it?
Not really, Mindy.
I've been watching this documentary series on the German Expressionist movement of the 1930s.
It's actually super interesting.
No, it's not!
Huh?
Previously on Lizard Island... Hurry, everyone!
It's starting!
It's starting!
Huh?
What's starting?
Lizard Island!
What?
Everyone, just sit down!
I'm gonna go get some popcorn!
Oh, mine with extra butter, please!
And tomatoes!
Tommy, no!
Okay, Mindy, my show may come across as boring to some people, but it's very informative.
I've learned a lot from that show.
And I've learned a lot from my show, too.
From Lizard Island?
Uh-huh.
But it's a reality show about lizards, Mindy.
Why?
What could you possibly learn from that?
Okay well, first of all, Guy Raz.
Reality TV is just as valid of an art form as any documentary series that you might be watching.
Well, I... And I will have you know that the whole show is actually based on scientific research.
It's having real-world impacts.
Really?
How?
Well, this whole show is about lizards falling in love, right?
I guess.
I guess.
I mean, I've never seen the show before.
Okay, well, it is.
It's about lizards falling in love.
Well, how is watching a show about lizards falling in love having a real-world impact?
Well, I'm so glad you asked, because one in five lizard species are currently threatened by extinction.
And if we don't understand how and why lizards fall in love and make more lizards well, these threatened species may not be around for very much longer.
I don't know, Mindy.
I'm not even sure lizards have the ability to fall in love.
Well, that's because you haven't seen the show, Guy Raz.
If you'd seen Sunny and Ned, you would get it.
Sunny and Ned?
Oh, yeah.
They're the two main lizards on the show.
They live in Melbourne Australia, and they're about to find out if Sunny is going to pick Ned to be her partner for the 28th season in a row.
28? season?
Okay, I'm back.
Did I miss anything?
And tonight it all comes down to this.
Will our two lizard lovers leave the island together?
Will true love conquer all?
Will Sunny pick Ned, Scales, and all?
This is so exciting!
Mind if I just squeeze in here?
Give me a little space.
Dennis, there's a Perfectly good armchair over there.
Why don't you go sit on that?
Yeah, between Mindy's lizard costume and Grandma G-Force laying on it horizontally, I don't think there's enough room for all of us on this couch.
Ah, but I want to talk about the show with you, the two biggest Lizard Island fans at this party.
Two biggest fans?
Dennis, I hadn't even heard about this show until about 10 minutes ago.
Okay, fine.
Tommy, you want to talk about the show?
No, I want to chit-chat.
Oh.
OK.
Mr. Rousey, I really love what you've done with your house here.
Tommy, this is my house.
I liked it better when it was made out of gingerbread.
You two are a huge distraction.
In Melbourne, Australia, our lizard lovers join for their final date.
So if this is the end of the 27th season Mindy, are you telling me that these lizards have been together for 27 years?
Yes.
Isn't it the cutest thing ever?
Well, that's one way of putting it.
Well, how else would you put it?
Another word I'd use is unusual.
Unusual?
What do you mean?
Well, don't most animals in the animal kingdom have multiple partners through their life?
Yeah, particularly with mammals.
Really?
Yeah, they tried Mammal Island a few years ago, and it did not work out.
Yeah, it was a big thumbs down from Dennis.
Turns out that only 5% of mammals stick with their partners for life.
At least that's what scientists have estimated.
Which, I guess, wouldn't really work with the show's tagline.
One true love for life.
Exactly.
See?
Now you're getting it.
Yeah, Guy Raz.
Now you're getting it.
You're going to be a real lizard head in no time.
Lizard head?
Oh, yeah.
That's what the fans of the show are called.
There's a lot of us.
Well, after 27 seasons, that's not surprising.
I know.
So, Mindy, if this show has been around for 20 years, 27 seasons?
Does that mean that mating for life is a lot more common amongst reptiles and lizards?
Well, that's the problem, Guy Raz.
See, there hasn't been a lot of research done on lizard love.
In fact, the only reason they even know about the mating habits of shingleback lizards?
That's what Sunny and Ned are.
They're shingleback lizards.
Yeah, the only reason scientists even know about their relationship is because they accidentally stumbled on it while researching something completely different.
Really?
How did that happen?
Well, if I know this show which I do they're probably about to explain all of it in a flashback scene right about now.
It all started for our two little love lizards back in 1982.
Hair was teased, shoulders were patted and one reptilian biologist by the name of Michael Bull was looking for ticks.
Ticks?
As in those tiny parasites that get into your skin and suck your blood?
Yeah, those ticks.
Why would anyone be looking for them?
Guys!
They're getting to that part!
You see, at first Dr Bull was interested in studying the different species of ticks that lived on shingleback lizards.
To study these ticks.
He would capture shingleback lizards, mark them, take various measurements, then release them.
Huh.
Sounds boring.
Tommy!
Shush!
But after several years and thousands of lizard measurements, Dr Bull noticed something.
Oh, I'm listening.
He noticed that each year in the springtime the same male and female shingleback lizards would somehow find each other and pair up.
Wow.
This happened year after year, with lizard pair after lizard pair, including our very own, Sonny and Ned.
Ha ha ha ha!
For 27 seasons now, we've watched Sonny and Ned pair up every single spring.
But the question remains.
Will their love continue?
Or will this year be the end of their relationship?
Find out after these messages.
Okay, I'm gonna go get more snacks.
Does anybody want anything?
I'll take a glass of milk.
Gross.
But okay.
And I'll take another one of them heirloom tomatoes.
No, Grandma G-Force.
No more eating my family heirlooms.
Well, huh.
Mindy?
Guy?
Anything?
Uh, no thanks, Dennis.
I'm good.
Me too.
Okay, be right back.
So Mindy, in that flashback it looked like those shingleback lizards keep the same partners for long periods of time.
Ooh, Guy Raz, it sounds like you might be getting into Lizard Island now.
Well, I'm just interested in its scientific applications.
Sure you are.
Your secret's safe with me.
It's true.
Well anywho, as for the love lives of lizards, there hasn't been a whole lot of research into it because of something called.
Huh.
You mean when someone favors one thing over another?
Exactly.
In a lot of animal research.
We're more likely to research animals that are cute and cuddly than scaly and slimy.
So you're saying that there's a lot more research done into animals like bears and cats than snakes and lizards?
Yeah, which is why we don't know much about how lizards feel or love or...
Welcome back to the season finale of Lizard Island.
Here's your milk, Tommy.
Oh, I don't want it anymore.
So, wait a minute, Mindy.
You really think that these lizards are able to feel emotions like love?
I mean, maybe.
Like any good citizen scientist, I'm just going off my observations, Guy Raz.
Okay.
Like this one moment I observed in season five it Oh look, looks like they're doing another flashback.
And who could forget the tragic twist of fate from season five, when past contestants Trevor and Dominique were crossing the road?
Oh, I can't watch!
Oh, man, this was brutal.
And Dominique... Whoa!
...was tragically run over by a truck.
Ha!
What in the World Wide Web?
Oh, it's so sad!
Wait a minute, Mindy.
Did this really happen or is this just one of those reality TV show set pieces to pull on my heartstrings?
No, this really happened, Guy Raz.
This is a real-life scientific observation.
And what does this have to do with lizard love again?
Well, just keep watching.
In a heroic act of everlasting love.
Trevor stood by Dominique for days, hoping that she might revive.
Clarence!
Wait a minute, Mindy.
This looks an awful lot like mourning.
You know, feeling sad when someone close to you dies.
That's what I'm trying to say, Guy Raz.
Scientists point to instances like this to suggest that lizards might just have real life problems.
Emotions.
Huh.
I knew that some apes and even some birds mourned when someone from their social group passed away, but I never thought it was a thing with reptiles.
Exactly.
Lizards are a lot more emotionally complicated than we think.
Really?
Oh, yeah.
Check it out.
They're doing another flashback.
The courtship of Sunny and Ned has been one for the ages.
Who could forget this moment of chivalry, when Ned not only caught dinner, then proceeded to give the meal to Sunny, in an act of true romance?
Okay, wait a minute.
Is this real, though?
Or is this one of those stunts that the producers set up?
It's a reality TV show.
Of course it's real.
I mean... I know what you mean, Guy Raz.
And yes, these are actual observations that real researchers have made about lizards in the wild.
Wow, so it turns out that reptiles might have more human-like social lives than we first thought.
Yeah, and those intricate social lives make for great TV.
Oh, these are the most romantic lizards I have ever seen.
It's so touching.
You know what, Mindy?
I think I'm starting to get into this show.
Oh, yeah.
That's the spirit, Guy Raz.
I knew we'd turn you into a lizard head.
I wouldn't go that far, but I am interested in seeing how this show could have an impact on the real world.
Well, the thinking is, the more we can understand about how reptiles interact with each other And fall in love.
Right.
The more we know about all that, the better job we can do at protecting and conserving them.
I guess that makes sense.
Oh!
Oh!
The final ceremony is happening!
Everyone be quiet!
And so it's all come down to this.
The burning question of the season.
Sunny, will you pick Ned to be your partner for the 28th year in a row?
Sunny says yes.
Yes!
28 times yes!
They're just perfect for each other.
Well, I guess this show isn't so bad after all, Mindy.
I knew you'd like it, Guy Razzi.
And good news for you, because you've got so many seasons that we can catch up on.
Oh, no.
There's season one where Ned caught that fly, or season four where they introduced a snake into the house, or season six where Sunny told Ned... be right back grown-ups this message is for you 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.
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.
Northwest Arkansas, and I am seven years old.
My wow in the world is that an armadillo can hold its breath underwater for six minutes.
Say hi to Grandma, to you, Forrest, and Thomas Fingerling.
And, dun-dun-dun, Stag Man.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Miles.
Columbus, Ohio.
And my wow in the world is that a primrose python once exploded after it tried eating an alligator.
Hello, my name is Oliver and I'm from Raleigh, North Carolina.
And my wow in the world is that jellyfish lived before the dinosaurs muscles in their feet.
Say hi to grandma g for us.
Oh yeah, i'm twinkling gnarly and ricky.
Bye, i love your show.
Hi, henty and guy roz.
My name is charlotte and i'm from salt lake city and my wow in the world is that black holes are strong enough to suck in light.
Say hi to stavis, like cat.
For me.
My name is Logan, from Indianapolis.
My wow is that some cats are allergic to people.
Say hi to Mindy, Guy Raz, Bennett, Thomas Fingerling, G-Force, and Static Man.
I am Static Man!
My name is Joseph and I live in Knoxville Tennessee, in my wow in the world is that fire salamanders can shoot poison out of two glands on their head.
My name is Anna.
I am nine years old and from Goldsboro, North Carolina.
And my wow is giraffe's tongue is a dark color to prevent sunburn because they spend most of their time in the sun.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Flint and I live in Boston, Massachusetts.
My wow is Dogfishes catch their prey in six milliseconds.
Isn't that bonker balls?
Say hi to Dennis, Grandma G-Force, Thomas Fingerling, and Reggie for me.
Oh, that's cool, dude.
Bye.
End of messages.
Wow in the World is written by Mindy Thomas and Tom Van Kalken with help from me.
Original sound design and music editing is done by Tyler Tholl with help from our supervising producer, Jed Anderson.
You can also hear Jed Anderson in the voices of Dennis Thomas Fingerling, Reggie and many of the other silly characters you hear on our show.
Jessica Bode keeps our facts straight as our fact checker and Meredith Halpern-Ranzer powers the wow at Tinkercast.
Our theme song was composed and performed by three-time Grammy nominees, The Pop-Ups.
Find them at thepopups.com.
Special thanks to Steph Sosa, Henry Moskal, Anna Daniker, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, Sana Ali-Mohamed, Anna Zagorski and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ.
To keep the wows rolling, visit us at tinkercastcom, where you can become an official member of the World Organization of Wowsers.
Learn about upcoming events, shop our wow shop, find our New York Times bestselling books And learn about all of our other amazing podcasts from Tinkercast.
Grownups, you can follow Wow in the World on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Wow in the World.
And our email address is hello at Tinkercast.com.
And if you're a kid with a big wow to share with us, call us at 1-888-7-WOW-WOW for a chance to be featured at the end of our show or an upcoming episode of Two What's and a Wow.
Thanks again for listening, and until next time, keep on wowing!
Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
