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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! me just see here.
Okay, Guy Raz, will you wind up those chattering teeth over there and have them walk themselves over to me please.
You mean the set of fake teeth with feet on the bottom?
You got it.
Okay.
Come here, little teepee, teepee, teepee.
Come here.
You know, Mindy, I could have just handed them to you.
Okay, now Reg, I want you to dip these teeth in the gooey caramel over there.
And Guy Raz, you're going to sprinkle them with these rainbow sprinkles and the chia seeds that I found in your kitchen.
What were you doing in my kitchen?
Looking for seeds.
Come on, now let's get those teeth good and sticky.
Ugh, this is disgusting.
And while you're doing that, I'm going to power up our little army of mouth robots here.
And...
There we go.
Attention, friends and neighbors.
It's me, Dennis, your favorite neighborhood snoop with some breaking neighborhood news.
Our own Thomas Fingerling has... I lost a tooth.
Tommy, unhand my tooth.
Ooh, did you hear that, Guy Raz?
Tommy, you're not supposed to scoop my scoop.
What?
You're stealing my thunder.
I didn't steal nothing.
You're stealing my megaphone right now.
I don't see your name on it.
Mindy, we should probably go outside and see what's going on.
Oh, good idea, Guy Raz.
Okay, tiny mouth robots.
We'll be right back, okay?
This is a special day, Tommy.
It's not every day you lose a tooth.
If you put it in your shoe tonight, the tooth donkey will leave you a special surprise.
Well, what if I don't want a donkey pooping in my shoe?
It's not going to poop.
Uh, Dennis?
Thomas Fingerling?
Oh, Mandy.
Guy, thank goodness you're here.
We have big news.
Uh, Thomas Fingerling lost a tooth?
Oh, how did you know?
Well, you two were just shouting it into your megaphone.
Wait, or is that my megaphone?
Oh, uh, I forget whose megaphone this is.
Dennis!
Does no one around here have any boundaries?
No.
Now get a load of this tooth.
Yeah, this fella here thinks I should put it in my shoe in exchange for donkey poop.
No, Tommy.
The donkey leaves a special surprise.
Wait a minute.
Are you sure that's a tooth you're supposed to lose?
Uh, well, what do you mean?
I mean that, you know, most people stop losing their teeth by somewhere around age 12.
Oh.
Well, how old am I?
Oh, boy.
Too old to be losing your front teeth.
Tooth?
Oh, no!
What I mean is that once a person loses all 20 of their primary or baby teeth by around the age of 12, most of those teeth have been replaced by a full set of 28 to 32 permanent teeth.
Give or take a few wisdom teeth.
Oh, nice.
Smart teeth, huh?
Wi-Fi enabled?
And 28 to 32 of them, huh?
Exactly.
Tommy, open your mouth and let me count your teeth.
Oh, okay.
One teeth, two teeth, butterscotch candy.
What?
Don't interrupt me while I'm counting.
Five teeth, six teeth, large gaping hole, seven teeth.
Oh, looks like we found another wiggler.
Uh, Thomas Fingerling, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?
Yeah, Tommy, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?
Oh, I see.
Dennis, take your fingers out of Thomas Fingerling's mouth.
Oh, right.
Once again, Thomas Fingerling, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?
Yeah, did you notice that the tooth you lost was loose when you brushed it last?
Well, uh, brushing, you say?
Yeah, so, uh... Thomas Fingerling, you do Brush your teeth, right?
Yeah, Tommy, you do brush your teeth, right?
Well, I don't know.
I mean, why would I?
Because that's how you clean your teeth, Thomas Fingerling.
Well, that teeth-brushing nonsense is just a bunch of horseradish.
Uh-oh.
Oh, boy.
I keep my teeth healthy by chewing on tree bark and grass.
Oh, my.
But your teeth are... aren't healthy, your permanent teeth are falling out.
And Dennis found an entire butterscotch candy plugging a hole where a tooth should be.
Oh, come on.
Not an entire butterscotch candy.
And your breath is also very bad.
What?
OK, OK.
Enough shaming Thomas Fingerling for his dental hygiene habits.
Yeah.
I mean, teeth brushing and flossing isn't for everyone.
See, that's what I'm saying.
What?
What I mean is that there are all sorts of reasons a person might not be able to take care of their teeth on their own.
Oh, really?
Like what, Mindy?
I don't know.
Like they might not have the manual dexterity or ability to hold and work a toothbrush in their hands.
Or even use of their hands at all.
Like someone with a physical disability that might make it difficult to care for their own teeth.
Or maybe an elderly person who can no longer work a toothbrush and floss the way they once could.
Well, that's true.
But I'm not elderly.
Of course you're not, Thomas Fingerling.
I just don't believe in all that brushy, brushy, flossy, flossy nonsense.
You don't believe in it?
No.
I believe in cracking nuts.
Attack!
And that's about it.
Okay, that doesn't make an ounce of sense, but... But maybe Guy Raz and I can help you out.
We can?
You can?
We can.
In fact, we were just working on a little invention back in the Laboratory of Bad Ideas.
Oh, an invention!
And I was thinking that maybe we could test it out on you, Thomas Fingerling?
What?
Oh, well...
I should probably go see if I still fit into my old crash test dummy suit first.
No, not that kind of invention, Thomas Fingerling.
I'm talking about a tiny teeth-cleaning robot invention.
Mindy, I think what Thomas Fingerling needs is a dentist.
Well, that's a good thing, because I just so happen to have my online unaccredited doctor dentist degree right here.
I just printed it out yesterday.
Let me see that.
Dr. Mindy, 100% genuine dentist, no artificial flavors and good for your Oh, wow.
Mindy, what is this?
It's proof that I'm a legit dentist now.
Not that I'll ever need it, since our tiny teeth-cleaning robot invention will be doing all of the dentisting, Guy Raz.
But are you sure our invention is even ready to be used on a real human, Mindy?
Yes, of course I'm not sure it's ready to be used on a real human, Guy Raz.
That's why we're using it on Thomas Fingerling.
Yeah, I don't even have a belly button.
See?
Come on, everyone, to the laboratory of bad ideas.
Oh, boy.
Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.
Opening the door.
Oh, wow.
Cool.
Look at these graduated cylinders.
Cool.
Oh, petri dishes.
Cool.
Oh, look.
Cools and hammers and wires and clamps and fake teeth.
Cool.
Quiet!
Everyone, welcome to the laboratory of bad ideas.
Huh.
Shouldn't it be the laboratory of good ideas?
Oh, yes, exactly.
Only the opposite of what you just said.
Oh, okay.
You see, Thomas Fingerling, in scientific innovation, it's important to come up with lots of ideas before you can get to the good ones.
Yeah, so having bad ideas might mean you're on the right track.
What Mindy means is that before you can even get to the good ideas, you have to have lots of ideas, and some of those ideas will be bad.
Which is good.
Huh.
You two rehearse that or something?
Well, uh... Yeah, pretty much.
Oh, hey, Reggie.
But for now, we're going to start with a good idea, an idea that came from a group of different types of scientists overseas, all working together from the University of Pennsylvania.
These scientists wanted to find a way to help people to take care of their own teeth, even when they don't have the physical ability to do so.
Oh, you mean if they couldn't chew on tree bark and grass?
Okay, that is how wild animals Animals clean their teeth, Thomas Fingerling, not human beings.
Well, I am a wild party animal.
Oh, that's almost the same.
Dennis!
And to add to what Mindy was saying, after trying out lots of ideas, these scientists were able to come up with the solution to this problem.
Huh.
A solution that would give people a completely hands-free toothbrushing experience.
What?!
!
Hands free?
A solution that involved the creation of a shape-shifting robotic microswarm.
Wow.
But wait, what's a shape-shifting robot microswarm?
Well, I could tell you.
Yes?
But I'd rather show you.
Oh, Mindy, you rascal.
Should I go get the invention we've been working on, you know, to help demonstrate, Mindy?
You know it, Guy Raz.
All right.
So Guy Raz and I were so inspired by what these scientists created at the University of Pennsylvania that we decided to try replicating or copying their invention on our own, just for our own purposes.
Okay, here you go, Mindy.
I got it.
Thank you, Guy Raz.
Why, whoever's that?
That Thomas Fingerling is a shape-shifting robotic microswarm, an army of teeny, tiny robots that have the power to brush, floss and rinse teeth any teeth at all hands-free and automatically.
Well, now I am not interested.
Oh, Mandy, I want a mouthful of robots.
What do I have to do?
So first things first.
For their shape-shifting robotic microswarm or tiny teeth-cleaning robots, the researchers used something called iron oxide nanoparticles.
Oh, yeah, nanobarnicles.
G-Force has got those on the heels of her feet.
Ew!
No nanoparticles teeny, tiny microscopic molecules and atoms combined together to create building blocks that can be used to create larger materials.
And in this case those larger materials are a shape-shifting bunch of bristles, brushes and even long strands of blocks.
Huh, so the nanoparticles can be whatever they want to be?
A brush can be a bristle and a bristle can be a floss?
Well, yes, with the help of magnetic fields.
A magnetic field is the area of a magnet that has magnetic force.
And a magnetic force is the push or pull between two magnetic objects or, in this case, magnetic nanoparticles.
So the scientists used magnetic fields to push and pull the nanoparticles where they needed them to go in order to shape them and form them into brushes, bristles and floss.
So taking what we learned, we decided to try it ourselves.
We made This swarm of toothpaste-spreading mouth robots out of a chemical compound, of something called iron oxide.
Hey, Mindy.
What's iron oxide?
It's basically a mix of iron and oxygen, and it's magnetic.
Huh.
A magnetic mouth robot party.
I'll be.
How does it work, Mindy?
Well...
We'll show you with the nanoparticles that we used for our patented teeth cleaning.
Swarm of tiny mouth robots.
So, Thomas Fingerling, do you mind if we put these in your mouth to demonstrate and also clean your horribly neglected teeth?
Well, I suppose.
Okay, great.
So, first things first, I just need you to open your mouth real wide and say, ah.
And do.
Excuse me.
I don't like that sound.
Yikes.
Okay, now I'm going to gently place these micro-robots into your mouth, and Guy Raz is going to control the movement and the shape-shifting of the nanoparticles using this magnet.
Uh-huh.
It's a very powerful magnet.
OK, now just stay still while I have them march right into your mouth here.
Oh, they march.
Cool.
Keep in mind, our tiny army of teeth-cleaning robots is a little different than the technology created by the real scientists, but it works just about the same.
If not better.
Definitely not better.
Ah.
It's like a party in my house, and all these robots are invited.
There we go.
Now, Guy Raz, let's begin by turning these magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles into brushes.
You got it Mindy, by controlling the magnetic fields.
I want you to make the brushes go up and down the teeth in a circular motion.
How's it looking up there, Mindy?
Well, The terrain is pretty rough in here, Guy Raz, but it seems to be working pretty well, just plowing through decades of bacteria and black buildup.
Oh, there goes the butterscotch.
What's really amazing is that, with this new technology, the shape-shifting micro-robots are able to get into all of the hardest-to-reach places in a person's mouth.
Sure do have a lot of nooks and crannies in there, Thomas Fingerling.
I'll say.
All right, Guy Raz, and now let's use the magnetic force to shape-shift these micro-robots into floss.
Okay.
Wow!
Look at that, Mindy!
The nanoparticles are realigning themselves into a long strand of floss.
And...flossing action!
Uh... Uh-oh.
Look, Mindy!
The microbot floss is dancing!
Is it doing the floss dance?
Oh, no!
They are doing the floss dance!
Oh, that's so 2017.
Oh, yeah.
Ah!
Better shut it down, Dairon.
All right.
You know, maybe our project can use a little more tweaking before it's ready for personal use.
Yeah, I guess we should probably get Thomas Fingerling to a real dentist.
But I thought you had a dental license.
Yeah, from the University of Fake It Till You Make It, baby.
That's a tough school to get into.
What?
What I mean is that this technology, whether it be our version or the one created by those scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, is going to need a little more time before it's ready to start hands-free brushing and flossing in a big way.
Yeah, I guess you're right, Mindy.
There's still some details to work out, like the different ways these microbots could be delivered to people using mouth-fitting devices.
Right, or how to personalize it to meet a person's specific dental needs.
And I'm guessing that this technology could be used in other ways besides just cleaning teeth.
I mean, maybe these microbots could get into other hard-to-reach places, like the pipes under your kitchen sink.
Oh, I never really thought about that, Guy Raz.
If these micro-robots could clean Thomas Fingerling's teeth, then maybe they can clean the pipes under my kitchen sink.
I mean, they've been pretty clogged ever since I washed that leaning tower of pizza down the drain.
You what?
It's fine.
Come on, Thomas Fingerling.
We've got to get you to a real dentist to have those teeth looked at, or at least what's left of them.
Oh, all right.
But can I bring the tiny robots with me for emotional support?
I guess.
Yes?
Emotional support, microbots.
I want one.
All right, everyone.
Off to the dentist we go.
Hooray!
Say, Thomas Fingerling, who is your dentist?
Oh, well, I thought that fellow there was named Dentist.
No, I'm Dennis.
Whatever.
Just brush my teeth, Dentist.
No, Tommy, I'm not brushing the butterscotch out of your teeth.
You need to do it yourself.
Well, I don't have a toothbrush.
Just steal one from Guy Raz like the rest of the neighborhood does.
What?
No.
Brush my teeth.
I'm not going to brush your teeth.
Here we go again.
The tooth donkey is going to be very disappointed, Tommy.
I don't want the donkey pooping my shoes.
It's not going to poop in your shoes.
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 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, I'm Ben, and I live in Dresher, Pennsylvania.
My wow in the world is that scientists have trained goldfish to drive cars.
Say hi to Dennis and Reggie for me.
Hi there.
And we live in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Our vow in the world is that some trees are female.
Say hi to Reggie, Dennis, Static Man, and Grandma G-Force for us.
What'd you say?
Bye!
Hi, Mindy and Rose.
My name is Bowie, and I live in L.A., California.
And now on the world is that sharks live...
200 million years before dinosaurs.
Isn't that wow?
Say hi to everyone for me, including Static Man.
Bye!
Oh!
Heaven!
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
And A.B.B.
Bye!
Where?
Hi, my name is Everett from St.
Paul, Minnesota.
My wow in the world is that praying mantises only have one ear, and it's inside their chest.
Say hi to Dennis and Reggie for me.
Bye!
I live in New York, and my wow is that colossal squids have hooks on the end of their tentacles.
Bye!
Hi, my name is Adelaide.
I'm from Chattanooga Tennessee, and I'm 10 years old, and my wow in the world is that polar bears don't have eyelashes.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
It's Oliver from Bisbee Arizona, and my wow in the world is scientists studying Mormon cricket's cut off the heads to see what the crickets had been eating and found many had eaten other Mormon crickets.
Thanks, Mindy and Guy Raz.
I love your show.
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 our senior producer, Jed Anderson and Tyler Tholtz.
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 the rest of our team of tinkerers, including Anna Zagorski, Becca Caban, Kit Ballinger and Henry Moskal.
To keep the wows rolling, visit us at Tinkercast.com.
There you can learn more about becoming an official member of the World Organization of Wowsers.
Learn more about upcoming events.
Shop our shop and pick up a copy of our new number one New York Times bestselling book, The How and Wow of the Human Body.
Grownups.
You can follow Wow in the World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at at WowInTheWorld, and our email address is hello at Tinkercastcom.
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!
The world was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
