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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! on the weekend we wow on the weekend because this is what we do on the weekend talking laughing me and reggie singing laughing and then we oh wait no i said laughing twice uh whatever we wow on the weekend yeah we wow on the weekend we wow on the weekend because this is what we do to Wee Wow on the Weekend.
I'm your host, Dennis.
And Reggie's also a host as well, also.
We're down in my mother's basement just hanging out, being cool.
Reggie, I am so cool.
Yeah, huh?
Remember the time I accidentally crashed my bike into the bushes by the library and I got a scrape and I hardly even cried.
Yeah.
I crashed because I was wearing sunglasses and I couldn't see, which was cool.
Oh, whatever.
We need to move on because today we have a brand new segment.
I know.
I call it Reading Reviewsies.
Reviewsies.
You know, the comments people write on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or whatever and they give us stars.
Yeah, I printed a bunch out and I'm going to read them.
Ahem.
I'm reading reviewsies for me and for you, Zs.
We've got us some doozies, so let's read reviews.
Zs.
Okay, let's see what we got here.
This reviewsie comes from cat12345678910111.
The title says, nice.
And the message says, cool.
Huh.
That's a really short Reviewsy.
Oh, and they gave us five stars.
Thanks, Cat12345678910111.
Next comment.
Okay, this next Reviewsy comes from username Fiona.
The title reads, The Best Show Ever.
Aw, thank you, Fiona.
And the message says, I have watched all your episodes twice.
They are so great.
I love Dennis so much.
Oh, thank you.
I am extremely lovable.
Let's see, how many stars?
What?
One star?
Oh, why?
Oh, what an emotional rollercoaster of a reviewsy.
I need to sit down.
Oh, right, I'm already sitting down.
Right, right, right, right, right.
Okay, next comment.
This next one's from username...
The Gymnast of the West.
Ooh, mysterious.
The title says, 11 out of 10.
The message reads, Happy New Year!
Fireworks emoji!
I love your podcast.
You should make an episode about the science of stress.
Well, Gymnast of the West.
As it happens, there's an episode of Wow in the World called Gaming Your Way to Zen.
Reggie, nuh-uh.
It's not called The Zen of Video Games.
It's called Gaming Your Way to Zen.
Yes, it is.
Look.
Season 3, Episode 5, The Zen of Video Games.
Huh.
Okay, whatever.
You're right.
Anyway, in the episode, Guy, Roz, and Mindy enter a relaxing state of flow by playing video games.
Oh, right.
If you leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, I just might read it.
Five stars or more, please.
What?
It only goes up to five stars?
Sheesh.
I feel like we should be able to squeeze in a sixth or seventh star, you know?
Okay, next up is a little segment I like to call...
Inside Tinkercast Studios.
Inside Tinkercast Studios.
This is the part where we revisit an episode of one of my favorite Tinkercast shows.
And this weekend, we're revisiting episodes from the very first season of Wow in the World.
Today, we're doing a story from episode nine called Dogs and humans.
In this episode, Mindy and Guy Raz discuss a striking similarity between dogs and humans.
No, Reggie, we don't smell the same.
Well, I don't want to spoil the surprise.
Let's just play the episode.
Okay, here we go.
And play.
Wee Wow will be right back.
Grownups, this message is for you.
Hey, grownups, it's Mindy and Guy Raz 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.
Now back to the show.
Hey, Guy Raz.
Hello, Mindy.
How's it going, buddy?
It's going well, thanks.
So I've got a serious question for you.
Okay.
What kind of dog loves to take baths?
Well, actually, Mindy... Okay, Guy Ross, it's a joke.
What kind of dog loves to take a bath?
A shampoo doll!
Okay, moving right along.
Well, actually, Mindy, that brings me to a science story.
Oh, I love stories.
What do you have?
Well, you know that old saying about humans and dogs?
Oh, yeah.
Never eat a dog unless it's in a bun.
Maybe it was something like, never eat a dog if it can run...
Like, away from you?
I don't know, Guy Raz.
I don't know what the saying is.
Actually, the old saying I was thinking about, Mindy, is dogs are man's best friends.
I'd never heard that one.
We call dogs our best friends, because you know they're loyal and loving no matter what, even on a bad day.
Or a bum.
You know, even on a bad day, Mindy, your dog will still love you.
Yeah, and it'll show you that love by slobbering all over your face.
But Mindy, the reason why dogs and humans are such good pals might have something to do with...
Evolution.
Oh, evolution.
So like the way we've changed over millions of years.
Exactly.
We humans have changed over time.
We've had to learn how to cooperate with each other in order to make sure that we survive.
Oh, we know all about cooperation, Guy Raz.
Do you remember that one time I asked you to put your cell phone in the aquarium so that I could talk to the fish?
And you didn't want to do it, but you did it anyway because you're a good friend and also because you fell into it.
That was cooperation.
Yeah, exactly.
And you know long, long before humans had cities, or horses, or supermarkets or Or airports, or taco trucks.
Yeah, right, right.
Long before we had all of those things, Mindy, we had to find food. out in the wild.
And over time we figured out that if we were going to make it on this planet, we had to work together.
So some people would look for food, other people would build places to live, other people would cook the food.
Basically, we had to become friendly.
So survival of the friendliest?
Exactly.
Humans had to become friendly because, as any kid knows Mindy, by being friendly you are more likely to get what you want.
Okay, I think I've got this.
So say, I want you to give me 100 bucks, I might say something to you.
Like Guy Raz, you're looking so dashing today.
I hardly even recognized it was you.
Uh, yeah.
No, that's not it.
Anyway Mindy, friendliness is how early humans were, in one sense, able to become the most dominant species on planet Earth.
Okay, and just to be sure, when you say species, you mean groups of living creatures, right?
Yeah, but not just creatures, Mindy.
A species is a similar group of living things that Create more of that same species.
So, for example, cats are a species.
So are horses and tigers.
But so are plants and flowers like the water hyacinth.
And even things like garlic and fruit flies.
And, of course, our nearest relatives, chimpanzees.
Knew it!
Guy Raz, I took one look at your toes last summer and knew that your great-grandma had to have been a chimpanzee.
Uh, well, we're not... really relative in that sense.
We actually broke away from chimpanzees about 7 million years ago.
So not like in our family.
But yes, we humans are distant relatives of chimps.
We are different, of course, very different than chimps.
But out of all the species on Earth, they are the closest ones to us.
Wait a minute.
So does this mean that chimps are also friendly in the same way that humans are?
Well, it's interesting you ask Mindy, because when it comes to friendliness, our closest animal relatives might be.
Oh oh, pick me.
You want to take a guess?
Is it?
Man's best friend.
That's exactly right, Mindy.
Dogs.
So how do we even know this?
Well Mindy, scientists at the University of Arizona recently discovered that dogs and two-year-old humans show similar patterns of something called social intelligence.
Okay, so I don't want to sound socially unintelligent, Guy Raz, but what exactly does that mean?
Well, it means that, among all creatures, dogs seem to be able to understand what's going on around them in ways that are similar to a two-year-old kid.
Wow, so how do we even know this?
Well, the scientists at the University of Arizona took a group of chimps and a group of dogs and they gave them some brain games to play.
So, for example, the scientists would hide a toy in a room, and then they'd start to look in the direction of the toy, or even point their fingers to the part of the room where the toys were hidden.
And lo and behold, the dogs would stand up and walk to that part of the room and find the toys.
But when it came to the chimps, Mindy, they would just sit on their bottoms and do nothing.
Wow, that's crazy town.
So then what did the two-year-olds do?
Mindy, those little humans did exactly the same thing the dogs did.
And what's more is that the scientists found that dogs and the kids were better than the chimps at making eye contact, at looking right into the eyes of the scientists.
Such manners.
So why is this a big deal?
Well, it's a big deal, because making eye contact is an example of that term I mentioned earlier social intelligence.
And it suggests Mindy, that dogs, like humans, probably evolved or changed over millions of years to become friendly.
As you said, survival of the friendliest.
That's so cool.
So, Guy Raz, now that we know about dogs, what does this discovery mean for us humans?
Well Mindy, it's possible that we might be able to better understand when and how humans develop certain behaviors and why it's easier for some humans to be friendly, but sometimes harder for other humans to be friendly.
We know that at around nine months, human babies start to understand what's going on around them.
They start to notice how other people around them behave.
And if we can get an even better understanding of how dogs have figured this out.
It could help us crack the code about certain mysteries related to human behavior that we don't yet understand.
Yeah, like why we get the hiccups or why we can't sneeze with our eyes open.
Or why Or why we get bored.
Or why our feet fall asleep when we sit on the toilet for too long.
Or why we toot.
Or why we daydream.
Or why our cheeks turn red when we're embarrassed.
Gosh!
Oh, wow!
Cool!
That was great!
Dogs have as much social intelligence as two-year-old humans!
Reggie, do you think I have as much social intelligence as a dog?
Because one time... on the internet, I saw a video of a dog that could ride a skateboard.
What?
Skateboarding isn't social intelligence.
Oh.
Well, another time on the internet, I saw a video of a dog popping bubbles with a raccoon.
Is that social intelligence?
Well, okay, maybe it's not social intelligence, but it was Definitely adorable infectiousness.
Well, that will just about do it for today, listeners.
If you have a question for me, remember to call and leave me a message at 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
That's 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
I just might answer your question on Wee Wow on the weekend.
Okay, let's do the goodbye song.
That's the end.
But for now, that's the end of the show.
Bye!
Grownups, if you like Wow in the World, you can listen early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, or on Wondery Kids Plus on Apple Podcasts.
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