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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!
Thank you. for me to sit back, relax, throw up my feet, and watch the Bruni Soto Show.
And we are back.
Today on the Bruni Soto Show, we're talking with victims of cuteness people and animals who are too cute for their own safety.
First up, we'd like to welcome seven-year-old Graham, who says he's so cute he can hardly walk down the street without a grandma threatening to eat him.
Now, Graham, can you tell us what it's like to go through life in fear of your own cuteness?
Well, it started out when I was a baby.
My mom would invite friends over, and then they'd say, Oh, he's so cute.
I just want to pinch his cheeks.
And then they actually did.
When I was seven months old, I had to learn how to run so I could get away from them.
Oh, gosh.
All right, all right, okay.
Settle down, audience.
Shh.
Now, Graham, is it true that just last week you were so cute that a grandma tried to eat you?
Yes, it's true.
Maybe it's my rosy cheeks.
Maybe it's my freckles.
Maybe it's my teeny nose.
I don't know what it is.
But whenever grandpas and grandmas come over, they just say, I just want to eat you up.
Oh, wow.
Oh, Graham, did that really happen?
Yeah, this one grandma started chasing me, screaming, you look like a porcelain doll.
Oh, no.
Graham, have you ever actually been eaten by a grandma?
No, I keep my teddy bear with me for protection.
And the cutometer just broke, ladies and gentlemen.
Graham?
I'm sorry to tell you that you are cute enough to eat.
Coming up.
Next we'll hear from a baby hedgehog, who is so cute that it makes people want to poke their own eyes out.
But first, these messages.
Oh, hey Mindy, what are you watching in here?
Just my favorite daytime talk show, the Bruni Soto Show.
The what?
Today, she's featuring people and animals who are too cute for their own safety.
Uh, I'm not sure that's a thing.
Oh, sure it is.
Haven't you ever seen something so cute you just wanted to barf all over it?
Uh, no, I can't say that I have.
Well, what about that one time that Reggie got a hold of the shrink wand and accidentally shrunk himself down to a tiny, thumb-sized pigeon?
Oh, yeah, that was pretty cute.
Pretty cute?
You got so overwhelmed by his cuteness that you threatened to turn him into a keychain, Guy Raz.
Well, I... Hey, Jed, can you cue the flashback?
Sure.
Reggie, no!
That's my shrink wand!
Reggie, stop!
I could just squeeze the guts out of you and then turn you into a keychain.
Well, I guess I did get a little overwhelmed by the pocket-sized Reggie, but it's not like I was actually going to squeeze his guts out and turn him into a keychain Mindy.
I would never do anything to hurt him.
Of course you wouldn't, Guy Raz.
I know that.
You know that.
Reggie knows that.
But what you may not know is that in that moment, you were experiencing what scientists refer to as cute aggression.
Cute aggression?
Mindy, I'm not an aggressive person.
Guy Raz.
Cute aggression is what this behavioral scientist named Catherine Stravopoulos from the University of California Riverside describes as the desire to squeeze, crush or bite cute things, but without ever meaning to hurt or harm.
Huh, so you're saying that there's actually a scientific explanation for this?
You know it.
Oh, we're back from commercial break.
Wait, you were just about to give a scientific explanation.
And we are back.
Joining us on the Rooney Soto Show.
We invite a baby hedgehog to share his story and his struggles with extreme cuteness.
Helping to translate is his animal language interpreter.
One day I was on display at an elementary school.
It was a Meet the Animals exhibit.
A child came up to my habitat and shrieked, and I quote this hedgehog is so cute, I'm going to poke my own eyes out.
And did this child, in fact, poke his own eyes out?
No.
But it was a super-duper weird thing to say.
And it's always happening.
Like, look at its little paws.
I just want to eat them right up.
Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom.
Or, OMG, it just yawned.
I think I'm going to die.
Frankly, it's disturbing and a burden.
But a burden I must bear.
Speaking of bears coming up next a teddy bear, so cute you'll want to kick down the door.
I do that every day.
So, Mindy, you were just saying that there's actually a scientific explanation for cute aggression?
Oh, yeah.
So, like I said, this was all part of a research study done by this behavioral scientist from the University of California Riverside named Catherine Stravopoulos.
And Professor Stravopoulos wanted to figure out what in the world is happening inside our brains when we experience something so cute.
We can't even.
Can't even what?
Uh, that's it.
You just can't even.
Oh.
You got it?
It's like, oh, it's so cute.
I can't even.
Yeah.
So does she have an idea of what might be happening inside the brain when we think something is so cute we want to pinch it or squeeze it, or even eat it?
Welp, she did have a little hunch, or hypothesis rather.
And just to be clear a hypothesis is an educated idea or explanation that can be tested through study and experimentation.
Right.
So her hypothesis was that maybe it could have something to do with the part of our brain that's in charge of rewards.
Meaning like the part that gets activated when we experience pleasure or the feeling of wanting something.
Exact Doritos.
So what did...
Professor Stravopoulos do to find out if this hypothesis was correct?
Well, she decided to conduct an experiment.
An experiment?
Like an investigation?
Yep.
And so the first thing she did was gather 54 willing human participants and shoved them all into one tiny laboratory.
I'm sorry.
Shoved them into a tiny laboratory?
Okay, that part I made up.
They probably just invited them to like a medium-sized lab or something.
Huh.
And as far as these human participants go, are we talking older humans, younger humans males, females.
We're talking a trail mix of grown-ups between the ages of 18 and 40 years old.
20 of them were men and 34 of them were women.
So, total mixed bag.
Human trail mix?
Huh.
Yeah, remind me to patent that idea.
And so what did she do with all these people?
Well, she had them all put on these strange little swim cap looking things called electrocaps.
And then she hooked these caps up to her computer to measure the electrical signals, or zaps, between their neurons.
And by neurons you mean the teeny, tiny cells in our brains that send and receive and hold information.
You can say that again.
And by neurons, you mean the teeny tiny cells in our... Sorry.
Neurons are super important when it comes to helping the brain do its job, which is basically to control everything we say and do to stay alive.
Got it.
And then she did something pretty unusual.
What did she do?
So after getting them all hooked up to their special brain signal measuring equipment, she started to Oh back on.
I'll tell you during the next commercial break.
What?
Our next guest is a yoga instructor who came across a stuffed teddy bear so cute that after one look he kicked down the door of his yoga studio and ran away screaming.
Please welcome Brad!
Now, Bradley, tell us what happened when you first laid eyes on this stuff-a-bear teddy.
Well, it was Valentine's Day and someone had sent a valentine to one of our other instructors a bouquet of red roses and a teddy.
A teddy so small. that it fit inside of a novelty coffee cup.
It had an itsy bitsy nose the size of a lentil and watery anime eyes that looked right into my soul.
Oh, I'm sorry.
It's okay, Bradley.
It had a tiny t-shirt.
It said, I heart you very much.
You're safe now.
Tell us what happened next.
I just couldn't handle it.
I fell out of my inverted eagle pose, busted through the door of the studio and ran.
I ran and I screamed.
I didn't come back for three months.
Well, Bradley, we have a surprise for you.
For me?
Come on out, Teddy!
Ah!
I can't even!
I can't even!
Oh, look at it!
Coming up next, a voice so cute that we have to disguise it.
But first, a quick break.
Personally, I did not find that teddy bear all that cute.
Huh.
What?
It's not that cute.
Now a duckling and a baby fox who are best friends?
Now that is cute.
Wait, what are we talking about?
Where am I?
You were just starting to tell me what Professor Stravopoulos did after hooking everyone up to those electrocaps to measure the electric signals in their brains.
Yes, yes, yes.
Okay.
So after getting them all hooked up to their special brain signal measuring equipment, she started to show them photos.
Photos of what?
Photos of cute things.
You know, like baby animals and less cute adult versions of these animals.
She also showed them photos of cute babies, and then photos of cute babies that had been changed to make the babies look even cuter than cute.
And then what?
Well, she asked the people a bunch of questions like are you overwhelmed by how cute this baby animal is?
Are you dying to take care of this cute little baby?
Does this picture make you want to barf from all the cuteness?
She asked that?
Well, maybe not in those words exactly, but she wanted to get an idea of the level of cute aggression that the person felt when they looked at the pictures.
And what did she discover?
Oh, hang on a sec.
The show's back from a commercial break.
Mindy!
Welcome back to the Bruni Soto Show.
Our final guest has a voice so cute that we've had to disguise it to protect them from the danger of being so cute.
Please give it up for Peanut.
That is a pretty cute name.
I know, right?
Kind of makes me want to pie you in the face, Guy Raz.
Now Peanut, tell us what it's like to live with the world's cutest voice coming out of your cute little mouth.
Well, one time I was performing the Star Spangled And someone from the crowd shouted I just want to squeeze the guts out of that cute little verse and toss it over the 50-yard line.
People think it's easy having the words cute as far as, but really some days I wish I sounded like a girl going.
Oh, sweet and petite baby peanut, we sympathize, we do.
But I think I speak for everyone in this studio audience when I say we just want to hear your real voice.
Right, audience?
Are you sure?
That's pretty cute.
Producers, go ahead and remove the voice changer.
Peanut, we'd like you to sing the Star Spangled Banner for us.
We'll meet a dog who is a professional human catcher.
Wow, I did not see that coming.
Okay, back to what Professor Stravopoulos discovered after showing the people these pictures of cute babies and animals.
Oh, right.
So it turns out that when she looked at the results of the electro swim cap situation, she discovered that her original hunch or hypothesis was right on.
Wow.
When she looked at the results of this experiment, she noticed that whenever the people showed signs of being overwhelmed with cute aggression, the parts of their brains that had to do with the reward system lit up like a disco ball.
That's incredible.
But that's not all.
There's more?
Guy Raz.
Not only did the reward part of their brains light up, but so did the part that deals with the emotion system in the brain.
So the part of our brain that deals with our emotions.
You got it.
But why?
Why?
Yeah, why is it that when we see something cute, we have the sudden urge to pinch it or squeeze it or pet it or scream or bust through a door?
Well, Guy Raz, Professor Stravopoulos still doesn't quite know for sure.
But she suspects that maybe over time, cuteness aggression in humans is something that's evolved in us as a way to help keep us from completely falling apart whenever we're overcome with something that's too cute to handle.
Huh.
So it's almost like the negative emotions, like wanting to smush something that's really cute kind of helps to balance out the positive feelings before they get out of control and you can't move.
It's almost like trying to balance a scale in your head.
Exactly.
So here's basically how it works.
Okay.
First, you see an overwhelmingly cute baby.
And then the reward system in our brain goes berserk and you feel like you can't handle its cuteness.
Your aggressive emotions kick in and balance you out before you completely go off the rails and that scale in your head topples over to one side.
And I suppose that by balancing the reward part of your brain with the emotion part of your brain, you find your brain in better condition to care for that baby.
Exact Doritos, Guy Raz.
Pretty wow, huh?
Yeah, exactly.
You know, Mindy, this reminds me of something.
There have been lots of studies over the past 75 or so years where scientists set out to find out once and for all what makes something or someone cute.
Like a checklist to see if something is cute or not?
Well, yeah, sort of.
In fact, one Austrian biologist named Konrad Lorenz.
He came up with something called kinder schema, which is just a fancy word to describe the features or the details that we humans find adorable and cute.
Oh, yeah?
So what were they?
Well, for starters, a large round head, especially compared to the size of the body.
Hey.
Hey, my head's about the same size as a basketball.
Number two would be a large forehead.
Uh, check.
Sometimes, Guy Raz, when I'm pinched for cash, I use my forehead as a billboard and sell ad space.
Do what?
Next on the list.
Uh, well, the next thing would be really big eyes and kind of set low on the face.
Wait, my eyes are big, and they always look like they're sliding down my face.
Okay, uh, well, the next one would be these rounded, big cheeks.
Uh, butt or face?
Face, Mindy.
Check.
And then a round body shape.
I do tend to roll whenever I fall down the stairs.
And finally, a really soft and kind of elastic body.
I don't know what that means, but I can do this.
Okay, Mindy, stop.
Are you feeling it, Guy Raz?
Feeling what?
The cuteness aggression takeover.
Guy Raz, I checked off every box on the old cute list.
Oh.
Are you feeling like you just can't handle it?
Uh.
Do I make you want to growl and barf from all the cuteness?
No.
Well, that's cool.
Catherine Stravopoulos also discovered that not everyone experiences cute aggression.
It's perfectly normal to not want to freak out and punch something when you're overcome by its cuteness.
Mindy, I think this list applies more to human babies and young animals than it does to grown humans like you or me.
Wait.
I just hatched an idea.
Oh, no.
We're going to try a cute little scientific experiment of our own, Guy Raz.
I'm listening.
Now, close your eyes and don't go anywhere.
I gotta go grab something.
Be right back!
Run, run, run, run, run.
Run, run, run, run.
I'm back.
What in the... Put this on.
Uh... panda suit?
No, not the whole suit, just the body.
Anything for science.
Now stay still so I can attach this fuzzy bunny tail.
Ouch!
And these puppy paws.
Why are they so sweaty inside, Mindy?
And this kitten head.
Well, don't forget the whiskers.
And last but not least, the baby diaper.
The what?
Now turn around and take a look in that full-length mirror.
Mindy, this is ridiculous.
I hardly recognize myself.
I'm so cute.
Hmm.
But we're going to have to do something about your voice and your size.
Uh.
Oh, I know.
Hey, Reg.
Can you hand me that shrink wand?
Thanks, buddy.
Alakabuki.
Suki no snaz.
Use this shrink wand to shrink Guy Raz.
Shrink wand, activate.
Mindy, Mindy, no!
I know, Reg.
He's so cute.
I could just toss him into a bowl of cereal and eat him with a spatula.
Mindy, what have you done?
It's an experiment to see if I can turn you into the most aggressively cute human animal that ever existed, Guy Raz.
Anything for science?
Anything for science.
Now, let's take you outside and see how the world reacts to your cuteness.
Come on, hop into this little basket.
Mindy, you're not going to parade me around the neighborhood looking like this, are you?
Now let me just open the front door to the world.
Hi, Mindy.
How's it going?
Oh, is that the elusive miniature panda puppy bunny butt kitty face?
Pretty cute, huh, Dennis?
It's so adorable, I might die.
I'm just kidding.
I won't die.
Dennis, it's me, Guy Raz.
Nice try.
That's exactly what a panda puppy bunny butt kitty face would want me to think.
Ah, it's so cute it makes me want to rub sand in my eyes.
Mindy, look what you've done.
I can't believe it.
My experiment worked.
Cuteness aggression in action.
Mindy, let's take pictures of it.
We can sell cute little calendars and make millions.
I'll come over.
Just hold still while I climb this fence.
I'm not very athletic, so this might take a minute.
Run.
Stay there.
Wait, Guy Razzi, you can't run away.
You're too tiny.
Someone will step on you.
I'll save you, little buddy.
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grownups, this message is for you.
Hey, grownups.
It's Mindy and Guy Razzi 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.
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 curiosity.
That's it.
Back to the show.
Wow in the World Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
My name is Roisin.
I live in Jersey City, New Jersey.
My wow in the world is that dolphins can jump out of water 15 feet.
If trained, they can jump 15 to 30 feet.
Hi, my name is Nate.
My name is Andrew.
And we live in Houston, Texas.
Our wow in the world is that vampire stories were first created to explain sickness and death.
Bye, love your show. and I'm from Annapolis, Maryland.
My wow in the world is that there are types of particles that make up protons and neutrons inside an atom.
The particles have very odd names, including top, bottom, up, down, charm, and strange.
Love your show.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Garo.
My name is Jonathan.
I live in Newcastle and my wow in the world is that the Saturn V was the biggest rocket made by man.
Say hi to Reggie for me.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm Eden.
I'm from Surrey, British Columbia.
My wow in the world is that giraffes sleep on their feet.
Hi, I'm Roz.
Hi, Mindy.
Hi, Reggie.
My name is June, and I live in Altayton, California.
My wow in the world is wood frogs in Alaska freeze over up to seven months.
Their hearts stop beating and they stop breathing.
They look pretty much dead.
They thaw out in the spring and come back to life.
Bye, Guy Raz.
Bye, Mindy.
Bye, Reggie.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Xavier and I live in D.C.
My wow is that more than And my name is Eli.
We live in Kirkland, Washington.
And our wow in the world is that the world's largest eagle's nest was 114 inches wide, which is longer than both of us together laying down.
Hi, Reggie.
We love your show, Mindy and Guy Ross.
End of messages.
And check dates for our upcoming live events.
That's wowintheworld.com.
Our show is produced by Jed Anderson.
Who provides the bells, whistles, and silly characters.
Say hello, Jed.
Hello.
Our show is written by me, Guy Raz, and Thomas Van Kelken, who also provides silly characters.
Tom?
Hello there.
And big shout out to Bruni Herring and our buddy Bram for lending their voices to this episode.
Thanks also to Jessica Bode, Casey Koffer, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, and Alex Curley.
Meredith Halpern-Ranzer powers the wow at Tinkercast.
Our theme song was composed and performed by The Pop-Ups.
For more info on their two-time Grammy-nominated all-ages music, find them at thepopups.com.
And grown-ups, you can follow Wow in the World on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at wowintheworld.
And our email address is hello at wowintheworld.com.
And if you're a kid with a big wow to share with us, call us at 1-888-WOW.
Keep on wowing!
Jinx!
And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
