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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!
I remember it.
Howdy, y'all.
Welcome to Southern Mama's big, fancy steakhouse.
Table for two?
Yes, thank you.
It's a special occasion, actually.
We're celebrating our anniversary.
Oh, how nice.
Believe it or not, we met at this very restaurant ten years ago today.
Well, gosh, aren't you two just the cutest?
Now, please follow me.
We have a very special table ready for milkshake.
Oh, no.
Kitty, be careful.
Not every door you burst through can be rebaked.
Remember?
It smells so good in here.
I still vote we go to the knuckle hut.
Nobody likes the knuckle hut but you, Fingerling.
Uh, on second thought, I think we might just have microwave dinners in front of the TV.
No, wait.
Please.
Okay, thanks.
Bye.
Don't go.
Howdy?
Uh, yes.
Hello there again.
One table for five, please and thank you.
Weren't y'all just in here, like, two hours ago?
Yeah, but that was our pre-rodeo dinner.
And we came back for our post-rodeo milkshakes!
Hooray!
I just want jalapeno poppers!
Okay, well, uh, why don't we just put you in the same booth you were in before?
Okay!
I call same seats!
Follow me.
Is it busy?
I love this place.
Sorry.
Sorry.
I brought you with my bullwhip here.
Sorry.
We just came from a rodeo.
I got this as a souvenir.
Can you believe it?
Sorry.
I didn't mean to bump you with it.
Mindy, are you sure you want to bring that bullwhip that you bought into the restaurant?
Well, how is my whip?
Cracking ever going to improve if I just leave it out there in the ice cream truck, Guy Raz?
I'm not even sure that this thing is meant for whip cracking, Mindy.
What do you mean?
Well, for starters, it's made entirely out of licorice.
Yes, and?
And here's your table.
There we go.
Thank you.
I'll be back with some water for y'all in just a minute.
Water?
No, that's boring.
Dennis, they'll come back and take our milkshake order in a minute.
Oh, right.
So... shake is everyone gonna get?
I need to see a menu.
I'm gonna get chocolate.
No, wait, double chocolate.
No, wait, triple chocolate.
Someone look and see if the menu has triple chocolate.
Now, where are them menus anyhow?
Oh, say no more, Grandma G-Force.
Let me just get my licorice bullwhip and... Oh, wow.
Uh, Mindy, what are you doing with that Just getting us some menus, Guy Raz.
What does it look like I'm doing?
Getting us some menus?
How are you going to get us some menus with your licorice bullwhip?
Well, I licked the end of the licorice bullwhip, making it super sticky.
So all I have to do is... Hey, I was just bringing you all that water.
Oh, man, the whip didn't crack.
It just flopped onto the waiter's tray and knocked everything over.
Well, guess I'll just go get you some more.
Well well well, looks like that candy cane of yours is packing more of a punch than you bargained for, Mindy.
It's a licorice whip, Grandma G-Force.
Mindy, what in the world are you doing whipping that thing about in a fully packed restaurant?
It's for science, Guy Raz.
How can this be for science?
Oh, I had a feeling you were going to ask me that.
Here, let me just look in here.
Oh, got it.
All right.
It's all in here.
Is this the program from the rodeo we were just at?
Yep.
The whole show that we just saw at the rodeo was based on a scientific study.
Oh, I was wondering why all the cowboys were dressed in lab coats.
What?
They weren't dressed in lab coats.
Oh.
Well, they may not have been dressed in lab coats, but those whip crackers were part of a study from Northeastern University in Boston, where they were trying to understand something called.
Biomechanics.
Biomechanics?
What?
Why would you want to buy a mechanic?
Those are expensive.
Yeah, I can't afford a whole mechanic.
No, I said biomechanics.
And biomechanics is just a fancy way of saying how scientists study how the human body moves.
Oh, right.
Exactly.
Like how the body moves and works to make a whip crack.
Like this.
Yeah!
Who keeps doing this?
Sorry, sorry.
Just trying to learn how to crack a whip over here.
Now, how do I get it to make that loud snappy noise at the end?
Mindy!
Oh, I like this thing.
Well, keep it away from my jalapeno poppers.
Yeah, and my milkshake.
Speaking of which, where is that waiter?
Okay, got your waters here.
And a few menus for y'all.
Thank you.
No need for a menu, Mr. Waiterman.
I want a triple chocolate milkshake, please.
Dennis, you can't order yet.
None of us have even had a chance to look at the menu.
I'll just give y'all a few minutes.
Thank you.
So, Mindy, why would these university researchers want to study the biomechanics of whip cracking?
Because...
Of robots, Sky Roz.
Robots?
I was wondering why all those cowboys at the rodeo were all made out of metal and wires and servos.
For the last time, Mr. Fingerling, the cowboys at the rodeo were just regular cowboys.
Oh, you sure?
So what does whip cracking have to do with robots, Mindy?
Well, it's simple.
Robots can't dance.
Do it.
Do what?
Crack whips.
The robots?
Exactly.
I'm a little confused.
Uh, me too.
Well, I never know what you're saying.
Me neither.
Well, it turns out that whip cracking is easy for us humans.
Tell that to the three glasses you already broken today.
But super difficult for robots.
Why is that?
Well, it says here in the program that robots are super good when it comes to manipulating solid and rigid objects like a book or a plate or something.
So hard things like metal and steel, which is why they're so good at doing jobs like building cars.
Exactly.
But when it comes to floppy objects... Like this whip...
Yeah, or clothes or shoes, you know, floppy things that you can't control as easily.
It suddenly gets really complicated and confusing for robots.
Because they can be twisted and stretched and rotated in a bunch of different ways that are hard to predict.
Yeah, so we might not think about it in our everyday lives, but these floppy objects are actually super complicated to control because they keep changing shape.
But our human brains are... are able to naturally understand how it all works.
Right.
And our human brains have had millions of years to understand this sort of stuff.
But robots?
Well, they're sort of like little babies trying to figure it all out.
All right.
How we doing?
Y'all ready to order?
Uh.
Well, I am.
These people are talking about science and robot cowboys and haven't even looked at the menu yet.
Well, that's OK.
I can take your order if you're ready.
I would like the triple chocolate milkshake with the double chocolate syrup, please.
OK.
So a quintuple chocolate milkshake?
You said I could get whatever I wanted.
That is true.
And I'll take some jalapeno poppers.
A jalapeno popper milkshake?
Nope.
Just the poppers, please.
All right.
And for you?
I want chili.
The hotter, the better.
Ooh, our chili chocolate milkshake.
That's a great choice.
What?
I don't want no chocolate in there.
Oh, so just a chili milkshake?
No, I want a chili and fish milkshake.
Uh-huh.
And I'll take it in a bowl.
All right, hot chilies and fish chunks and melted ice cream in a bowl.
That's right.
Got it.
And what can I get for you, sir?
Do you have any healthy milkshakes?
Oh, you mean like a smoothie with spinach, yogurt, avocado, and nutritional supplements?
No, we don't have that.
Uh, okay.
Well, in that case, I'll just get a peanut butter blast.
Ooh, that sounds good.
Make that two.
Two peanut butter blasts.
All right.
Got it.
I'll be right back with your food.
Thank you!
Yay!
Milkshakes!
So Mindy, you were saying these researchers from Northeastern University were studying the body movements of whip cracking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, sort of.
It says here that the volunteers for the study were mostly people without any real whip-cracking experience.
And why is that?
Because they wanted to see how regular humans are able to use floppy objects like bull whips with no experience, but robots can't seem to figure it out.
Ah, so just like humans can fold and handle things like floppy clothing and shoelaces...
Robots have a tougher time controlling the movements of these kinds of things.
Exact Doritos.
So how did the researchers study the body movements of these whip-cracking volunteers?
Well, see for yourself.
See, this program has behind-the-scenes pictures and everything.
Hi.
It says here that they had 16 volunteers use a whip that was 5.25 feet long.
Hey, I think that's just about as long as mine.
Mr. Fingerling, can you help measure this thing?
Oh, I suppose so.
Let's see here.
Two, four, six, eight, ten.
What's he doing?
Oh, Mr. Fingerling's fingers are exactly two inches long.
What?
It's so handy.
It's like having a measuring tape with you wherever you go.
What's after that?
Thirty.
This could take a while.
So, what did they do next?
Well, it says here that they lined the whip with motion-tracking dots.
Motion-tracking dots?
Dots?
What?
Yeah, they're these reflective little stickers that, when filmed with a special camera, they help researchers view the movement of the whip in slow motion and from any angle.
Hmm.
And they found that, for starters, the volunteers weren't great at whipping.
Some of them only hit the target about 30% of the time.
Well, that's still a farsight better than this one with her licorice doodad.
Shh!
Grab a G-Force!
And two, they found out that the faster people whipped, the more accurate they were.
Hmm, maybe that's my problem.
I've just been whipping too slow.
Mindy!
Maybe...
I just need to whip it faster.
60.
How we looking, Mr. Fingerling?
62.
And a half a finger makes 63.
So that's 5 feet 3 inches.
5.25 feet.
That's the same length as the whip that they used in the study, Guy Raz.
Oh, no, Mindy.
I know that look in your eye.
Don't do it.
Stand back, everyone.
I'm about to crack this whip.
For science.
But Mindy, those researchers from Northeastern University already whipped it for science.
Yeah, but they didn't use a licorice whip.
Aren't you curious to see the results of candy over leather?
No.
Well, watch out, because here I go!
All right, I've got your milkshakes here.
Mindy!
Oh!
Who keeps whipping my tray with licorice rope?
Hey, I did it!
Did you hear that whip crack?
Yee-haw!
Yes, but you destroyed all our milkshakes in the process, Mindy.
My milkshake!
My partners!
Help!
But a floor dirt never hurt nobody.
I'll just lick it up.
Oh, ma'am, no.
Please don't eat that.
Huh.
I wonder if there's a way for me to get that whip crack without smashing anything.
I would hope so.
What does it say those researchers did next, Guy Raz?
Well, it says here that their next steps are to teach those volunteers proper whip cracking techniques to see how their body movements change over time as they get better and better at the whip cracking.
Huh.
Maybe I should get some lessons.
I wonder if there's anyone that specializes in licorice whip cracking.
Hello there, folks.
I'm the manager here at Southern Mama's Big Fancy Steakhouse.
Uh-oh.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you all to leave.
You know, on account of all the whipping and glass smashing and yelling.
Yeah, that does make sense.
What?
Who was yelling?
Can I get this chili fish chunk milkshake to go?
No.
Well, looks like that's one more restaurant we can't come back to.
And good riddance.
Come on, let's go to the knucklehead.
For milkshakes?
Oh, for jalapeno poppers.
Hooray!
Jalapeno poppers!
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grown-ups.
This message is for you, 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 wowser learn about their world through play plus 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 tinkercastcom slash toys.
That's tinkercastcom slash toys.
My name is Hudson and I live in Houston, Texas.
And my wow is that pine martins, basically just a type of tree weasel, can catch squirrels.
Bye.
Say hi to Dennis.
Hi.
Thomas Fingerbane.
What?
And Grandma G-Force for me.
Wow.
Hi, this is Ian Guyrod.
My name is Berkeley, and I live in Edmond, Oklahoma.
And my wow in the world is that Tasmanian tigers can open their mouths 120 degrees.
Isn't that amazing?
And even though they're believed to be extinct, people think they have seen them before.
Bye.
Say hi to Reggie for me.
My name is Rama.
I'm an Alachua.
And my wow in the world is butterflies taste with their hind feet.
Nigel.
And I'm Tyler.
And we're in the toy mish again.
And our wow is cockroaches are so fast that if they were the size of humans, they could run 200 miles per hour.
Hi to Reggie, Guy Raz, and Mindy.
Bye.
Hi, my name is Felix.
I live in North Chevy Chase.
And my wow is that a group of jellyfish Hi, Mindy and Guy Rock.
My name is Henry and I'm six years old.
I'm calling from LaGrange, Illinois.
My wow in the world fact is that bears prefer bee larvae instead of honey.
There are huge paws that distribute their weight.
Unfortunately, due to global warming, the ice is getting too thin, even for polar bears.
P.S.
We know that you are static man, Dennis.
Hi, Mindy and Kyra.
I'm Poppy.
And I'm Josie.
And we are from New York City.
My wow in the world is that the oldest jellyfish fossil found is around 500 million years old.
And that jellyfish will probably outlive humans forever because they're so well adapted to their environment.
My one on the log is that the Freedom Tower is 1776 feet tall, the same year as the Americans became independent.
Say hi to Dennis.
Ahoy there.
Say what G for.
Oh, yeah.
Say what G for me.
I love your show.
Bye.
End of messages.
Wow in the World is written by Mindy Thomas and Tom Van Kalken with help from me, Guy Raz.
Original sound design and music editing is done by Tyler Thole 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 Muhammad, 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 Wowzers.
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.
