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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 and honeybees and snails and rocks and sugar peas and dogs and cats and fish and mangoes and dandelions and grapes.
Reggie, why'd you turn off the drum machine?
I'm almost finished.
Five, six, seven, eight.
Earth week, week, wow.
Earth week, week, wow.
Gonna have the whole earth on week, wow.
Earth week, week, wow.
Hello?
Hello?
Welcome to another day of WeeWow Earth Week!
I'm your host, Dennis!
And here's my co-host, Reggie!
This is the week where we do Earth stuff and listen to Earthy episodes of Wow in the World!
And today, I thought we'd round out the week with a little game I like to call... Treasure or Trash!
Treasure or Trash!
Treasure or Trash!
What's it gonna be?
Treasure or Trash!
Okay, Reggie.
Ready to play Treasure or Trash?
What do you mean, what is it?
I told you, it's a game.
Yeah, it's based off that saying you know, one person's treasure is another person's trash, or however it goes.
Yes, you're right.
It's also like upcycling, but we can't call the game upcycling, because I already sang the theme song for Treasure or Trash.
Quit stalling, Reggie.
Let's play.
Ahem.
I'm gonna show you a thing I found down in the basement here and you're gonna tell me if it's treasure or trash.
Okay, let's try it with this pile of stuff Mother doesn't want anymore.
Let's see, what do we got here?
Okay, how about this, Reggie?
It's a used plastic deli container.
Is it treasure or trash?
Ooh, you think it's treasure?
Tell the audience why you think it's treasure.
Oh, because you can clean it and put something else in there.
Okay, judges?
I'm the judges.
Judges say... That is correct!
Nice job, Reggie!
What would you put in this container?
Worms?
Gross!
Reggie?
Well, I'd rather put my favorite snack in there.
Dennis mix.
Dennis mix is like trail mix, but instead of peanuts and raisins, it's hummus and mini pizza bagels.
Okay, next item.
Let's see what we got here.
Aha!
Here we have a glass jar that used to have some pasta sauce in it or something.
Okay, Reggie, treasure or trash?
Ooh, you think it's treasure again?
Let's see what the judges say.
Ha ha ha ha!
That's right, Reggie.
It's treasure.
Because it's glass, it has additional beauty to it.
Now, what would you do with this beautiful glass jar?
Oh, a vase for flowers.
Oh, Reggie, that's a great idea.
Okay, let's do one more.
Let's see.
What do we got?
And here we have used tissue.
Ew.
Yeah, this is trash.
Definitely trash.
I think we're done with this game.
How's about we move on and listen to an episode of Wow in the World?
Hooray!
Let's see.
Let's do this one.
This one's from season eight, episode 24, called A Diaper Home for G-Force.
In this episode, we build Granny G a new house out of old diapers.
Oh, you're right, Reggie.
We turned trash into treasure.
It was upcycling.
Let's play the episode.
Okay.
Here we go.
And play.
Wee Wow will be right back.
Grownups.
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.
That's it.
Nope. the show what in the you're kicking me out of my own house uh What is going on?
Well, you can't throw me out, because I'm leaving.
And I'm taking all my belongings with me.
And the tub, too.
Come on, wagon.
We're going to live with Mandy.
Hey, Grandma G-Force, is everything OK?
Well, it's just that I heard you yelling at your cat down there, and Colonel Toots Thunderpaw is my landlord.
Oh, right.
Your landlord.
That means that he owns the house?
Yeah.
And you pay him rent money to live there as his tenant?
No.
What?
You don't pay rent?
No.
Don't you need to pay rent to live there?
I don't know.
You tell me.
Here's the contract.
Okay, let's see here.
Wait, Grandma G-Force, I can't read this.
It's all a cat scratch.
Tell that to my lawyer.
He's also a cat.
Okay.
Hey, Grandma G-Force.
Hey, Mindy.
Hey, pigeon.
What's going on over here?
Grandma G-Force, why do you have all your stuff in this little red wagon?
That's what I'm trying to figure out.
I'm moving in with you, Mandy.
Wait, really?
Yeah.
That's weird.
We can have slumber parties every night.
No.
And bake cookies together, grandma and granddaughter style.
Oh, nice.
And you can tell me all the funny stories about me from when I was a baby.
And you can even have the top bunk if you want it.
Unless, of course, you want the bottom bunk.
Then you can have that one too.
No.
What?
I changed my mind.
I'm going to go live with you, Garage.
Aw.
What?
Me?
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Grandma G-Force, what's wrong with living with me?
Why can't you just live there?
Hey, Guy.
Hey, Mindy.
Hey, Reggie.
Hey, Granny G. Hey, Dennis.
Hello, boy.
What's going on at your house, Grandma G-Force?
I don't know.
I don't live there no more.
I guess I just live in this wagon now.
Oh, that makes sense.
It does?
Yeah, I just walked past your house and Colonel Toot's thunderpaw is turning it into a baby farm.
A what?
A baby farm!
An indoor-outdoor farm for babies to spend the day!
Uh... You mean a daycare center, Dennis?
Yeah, that's what I said.
A baby farm.
Look, you can see the babies piling in from here.
Oh, wow.
That's a lot of babies.
Wow.
Turning my house into a baby farm?
Why that?
Good-for-nothing landlord cat threw me out, and now I don't got no home.
No place to call home?
Well, you really did it this time, G-Force.
Oh, hey, Thomas Fingerling.
Hi, Tommy.
Thomas Fingerling!
Not now, Fingerling.
If I were that cat, I'd have kicked you out a long time ago.
Thomas!
You never paid your rent.
You never flushed your toilet.
You never mowed your grass.
You had a hundred raccoons living in there and eating all the hot dogs.
Wait, what?
Is that true?
Oh, yeah, I seen it.
And now your house is a baby factory.
A baby farm.
A dog farm.
Them babies don't even need a house.
They're living in their luxury diapers.
Is that what you want, Colonel Toots Thunderpaw?
Me living in a diaper?
Wait!
What?
That's it!
What?
Spit it out!
What you just said, Grandma G-Force, it gave me an idea for your house. crisis situation.
Go on, Mindy.
What if we all teamed up to build Grandma G-Force a house made out of diapers?
Mindy, that's ridiculous.
It's not ridiculous, Guy Raz.
It's science.
No.
No, really.
Hear me out.
I just read a new scientific study about diaper houses in the Journal Science Reports.
This everyone.
Mindy, this is not the time for science.
We have got to find a home for Grandma J-Force.
Because she ain't living in my house.
I wasn't asking, fingerling.
I wasn't inviting, J-Force.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Mindy, was this the study that was conducted by that team of engineers from Japan's University of Kitakyushu?
That's the one, Guy Raz.
The one that led to the building of a sustainable house made out of Diapers?
You know it.
And if professional engineers can build a house out of diapers, then we can too.
Who's with me?
Oh, me.
Me, me, me, me.
Me.
Well, I'll be.
A house made out of doo-doo.
No, Tommy.
They wouldn't use dirty doo-doo diapers.
They were probably fresh, clean, new-new diapers.
Oh, no.
They weren't used dirty doo-doo diapers, all right.
What?
Ew.
But they were cleaned before being used to build the house.
Oh, that's good.
Yeah, I remember reading something about this.
These engineers in the study had a hypothesis, or an educated guess, that dirty diapers, which are usually made out of some combination of wood pulp cotton, absorption materials and synthetic or human-made fibers, could be used in place of sand in the creation of concrete.
And concrete is that hard gray material that's used to build things like sidewalks and buildings like homes.
But one of the key ingredients in creating concrete is actually pretty expensive and in worldwide shortage right now.
A rare key ingredient?
What is it, Guy Raz?
Well, the key ingredient is...
Sand?
Huh?
The world is running out of sand?
Oh no!
My beach vacation!
Actually, Dennis, sand is the second most used natural resource in the whole world behind water.
Huh.
And it's used in pretty much every construction project in the world.
And not just in concrete, but in the formation of glass, too.
Wow.
And believe it or not, if humans don't start to conserve it, there won't be enough sand to go around.
So what does all this have to do with G-Force's diaper house?
So glad you asked, Thomas Fingerling.
So these researchers wondered if the materials found in dirty diapers could replace some of the sand typically used to make concrete.
Huh, and the diaper concrete could be used to build a whole diaper house?
Exactly, Dennis.
A diaper house.
Well, what are y'all waiting for?
Somebody build me a diaper house.
Okie doke.
Anything for science.
Hooray!
OK, OK, so for the diaper house in this study, the engineers needed water.
Oh, I'll go get the hose.
Cement.
I've got a bag of cement in my garage.
Gravel.
A little bit of sand.
I stole Colonel Toot's Thunderpaw's litter box on my way out.
Oh, uh, okay.
I guess that'll do.
Yes, it will.
Okay, I got the hose.
And here's a bag of cement.
Now, the only ingredient we still need is the dirty diapers.
Don't worry, Mandy.
I got you right here.
Thomas Fingerling, where did you get a whole pile of dirty diapers?
From a pile of babies.
Huh?
A pile of babies?
Yeah, from the baby farm.
Oh.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
Boy, looks like we got everything we need.
Now what?
Well, after collecting the materials, including a whole lot of diapers... Check.
The engineers got to work.
In order to use these dirty diapers in the concrete, they first needed to be cleaned.
Now, who would like to clean the dirty diapers?
Not I, said the dentist.
Dennis.
Just throw them in the dishwasher like everything else.
Wait, you put...
Everything in the dishwasher?
Everything.
I'll put you in the dishwasher too, garage.
Uh, no thank you.
Okay, Dennis, I am putting you in charge of cleaning the dirty diapers.
Uh, no!
Why can't Tommy do it?
Because Thomas Fingerling already collected the diapers.
Okay, fine.
Come on, Reggie.
Reggie, you are not busy.
Uh, here, Dennis.
Take this little scraper I found in Grandma G-Force's wagon to clean out the big stuff.
Thank you.
That's my spatula.
Well, now it's my poo remover.
Now, once each diaper was cleaned, the engineers then had to rip them to shreds.
I won't let them.
Oh, okay.
Uh, great.
I just got my teeth sharpened.
What?
No, not with your teeth.
Grandma G-Force.
Here, use this shredding tool.
OK.
That's my fork.
Well, now it's my diaper mangler.
Please, stop stealing my kitchen utensils.
Oh, yeah, this diaper mangler works real good.
Now, once the diapers were cleaned shredded, it was time to mix the cement.
Grandma G-Force, do you have a large mixing bowl in your wagon of personal belongings there?
No.
Well, do you have anything that we could use to mix the cement?
Well, let's see here.
How about this tub?
What?
You took the bathtub out of the house?
And the bath water, too.
Oh, wow.
Okay, well, uh, I guess we are going to mix our diaper concrete in this bathtub.
Okay, well, what do we do first, Mindy?
Well, first we need the water.
Already in the tub.
Aw, but I wanted to spray the hose.
Sorry, Dennis, but I think we have enough water in the tub.
Sorry.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
Dennis!
Sorry.
Okay.
The next thing we need is the cement.
Got it right here, Mindy.
Thank you, Guy Raz.
And next, the gravel.
And the sand?
Wait, Missy, I thought the whole point of this was that we weren't using sand.
Yeah, you said sand was an endangered species or some such thing.
Okay, I did not say that.
What I said was that these engineers wondered if the materials found in dirty diapers could replace some of the sand in the concrete.
Because even a small percentage could make a big difference.
Oh.
Okay, a little. bit of Colonel Toop's Thunderpaws litter box sand.
Okay, that's enough.
There you go.
And the final ingredient, shredded diapers.
Oh, I get to dump the shredded diapers.
And then they mix it up.
Thomas Fingerling, mind handing me that paddle from Grandma G-Force's wagon over there?
You do?
Thank you.
Hey, that's my kayak paddle.
I borrowed it.
Hey, Mindy.
Yes, Dennis?
How did you know how much of each ingredient to use?
Actually, that's a great question, Dennis.
How did you know, Mindy?
Well, I didn't.
You didn't?
Nope.
And neither did these engineers when they set out to make their dirty diaper concrete.
Oh.
Actually, Mindy's right.
According to the study, the engineers had to test six different ratio mixtures before they found the right combination of ingredients.
I do not know what ratio means.
Oh, I do.
I listen to the baseball game on the ratio.
No, no, no, no.
That's a radio.
A ratio just means the different amounts of each ingredient used compared to the others.
Oh, right.
Hmm.
Yeah, so if they use too much water compared to the amount of diapers, it might be too liquidy or thin and make the concrete too weak.
And if they use too much sand and gravel compared to the amount of cement, it might be too thick and grainy and make the concrete crack once it dries.
Exactly.
So they tested out six different combinations before they found the right mixture.
Hmm, how's our mixture?
Does it look like the right ratios, Mindy?
Well, uh... Let me taste it.
What?
No, do not ever put concrete into your mouth.
Yeah, or into someone else's mouth.
Well, how else are we gonna know if it's good?
Well, to know for sure, we'll have to do what the engineers did and test it as a building material.
Oh!
Whoa!
Wow.
But before we do that, we have to form it into bricks and then wait 28 days for them to dry and harden.
What?
I ain't got no 28 days.
I need my doo-doo diaper hut now.
Okay, okay.
Well, we'll just keep moving and see what happens when we impatiently build a house out of wet diaper bricks.
Way ahead of you, Mandy.
Look, I gave it a veranda.
Oh, boy.
Wait, wait.
That concrete hasn't even hardened yet.
It has absolutely no structural integrity.
Anything you build is going to collapse.
I want a moat.
Oh, great idea.
Okay, so back to the testing.
Since these engineers were using used diapers as a building material, they had to make sure that they were safe.
Safe?
Yeah, you know, they had to test for poop in the walls.
Uh-huh.
But what they found was that diaper concrete didn't contain any more microbes or bacteria than regular concrete.
Really?
And it don't smell too bad neither.
Actually, it does smell a little bad.
Oh, well, that could have been me.
Tommy!
Excuse me.
The other important test of this diaper concrete was whether it would be strong enough to handle the weight of an entire house.
What was that, Guy Raz?
These diaper bricks need to hold an entire house?
Yeah, Dennis.
A brick needs to be able to support the weight of all the other bricks and materials you stack on top of it.
Oh.
Well, I just stacked up a third story and added a spiral staircase.
These bricks will hold all that, right?
Uh, you might want to go a little easier there, Dennis.
Remember how we didn't know how much of each ingredient to use in making the concrete?
And we didn't let the bricks dry and harden either.
Ah, it's fine.
Tommy says it's fine.
Whatever.
Okay, Mindy, back to the story.
So what did the engineers discover when they tested the strength of their diaper concrete?
Well, they discovered that not only was the diaper concrete just as strong as regular concrete, but that in some cases, depending on what the concrete was used for, it could replace nearly half of the sand used in the mixture.
Wow.
And since dirty diapers are free and easy to find, diaper concrete could be a much cheaper alternative to regular concrete, which means Which means that homes built with diaper concrete would be more accessible to more people in more parts of the world.
People who might not otherwise have enough money to buy a home of their own, built with regular concrete full of sand.
And little old grandmas like me who don't want to pay rent to their cat landlords.
That, too, I guess.
I'm getting tired.
No one told me that diaper concrete was so heavy.
Yeah, seems almost about exactly as heavy as regular concrete.
Because it is.
How's it looking, Mindy?
Uh, it's looking a little lopsided.
Is it starting to collapse?
Maybe.
It's okay.
It's just starting to lean over on account of we never let the diaper bricks dry and harden.
Oh, don't worry, Benny G. Your new house is just going to be a little sideways.
I'll make you a little sideways.
What was that?
I said, thank you very much, boy.
Now get out of my house.
Great job, everyone.
Uh, Mindy?
Yes, Guy Razzi?
Uh, did you hear that?
Hear what?
Uh, while the experiments seem to work for the engineers in this study, I'm not sure it worked as well for us.
Well, what do you mean?
Ah!
Like a veranda!
I do not know what a veranda means.
And this diaper house is collapsing.
Everybody, run for your lives!
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Wee Wow!
Our show is written by Ruth Morrison and Jed Anderson.
The role of Baby Dennis is played by Jed Anderson.
Ah, well, then who plays the role of Big Dennis?
Never you mind.
Original sound design and production is done by Henry Moskal and Marion Lozano, with help from Jed Anderson and Tyler Thole.
Original music for WeWow is composed and performed by Tyler Thole.
Special thanks to Jessica Bode, Rebecca Caban, Dr Natasha Crandall, Kenny Curtis, Lizzie Freilich, Kristen Yang, Meredith Halpin-Ranzer, Twee Mack, Erica Medina, Henry Moskal, Jodi Nussbaum, Ali Paksima, Guy Raz, Linda Rothenberg, Steph Sosa, Mindy Thomas, Joanna Weber, Anna Zagorski and all of the other Tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ.
Be sure to visit Tinkercastcom, where you can become an official member of the World Organization of Wowzers.
Learn about upcoming events, shop our wow shop, find our best-selling books and learn about all the other amazing podcasts from Tinkercast.
Thanks again for thinking, tinkering, experimenting, and exploring with me this week.
Be sure to check out episodes of Wow in the World on Mondays, two What's in a Wow on Fridays and We Wow on the Weekend with Dennis.
Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
