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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.
We wow on the weekend.
We wow on the weekend because this is what we do.
Welcome to Wee.
Wow on the Weekend.
I'm your host, Dennis.
And that's Reggie, my sidekick.
I mean, co-host.
I mean, um, what'd you get up to last night, Reggie?
Really?
And then what?
Where do walrus learn how to DJ?
50 frogs with glow sticks?
Wow, what a wild night.
Oh, me?
I stayed in, built a fort out of the couch cushions, wrote a gossip blog called Denising and made confetti.
Yeah, I made confetti.
Two whole bags.
How?
With a confetti maker, Reggie.
What's a confetti maker?
Reggie, are we even friends?
Oh, right, right, right, right, right.
We should move on and answer some questions from my adoring fans.
It's time for the Q&A segment.
The Q&A segment.
All right, let's just get the old answering machine pulled up here.
Okay, here we go.
Hi, you've reached Dennis from WeWow on the weekend.
That's me.
Do you have a question?
Well, I do too.
Lots of them.
And who's going to answer all my questions?
You?
Probably not.
I guess I can answer yours.
Leave me a message.
Hi, Dennis.
It's Lucy.
I'm nine from Venice, California.
I have a riddle for you.
One night, a king and a queen walked into a castle.
No one was in there.
It was completely empty.
Who else was in the castle with the king and the queen?
I hope you can answer it.
Oh, a riddle.
I love riddles.
Okay.
One night, A king and a queen walked into an empty castle, but there was someone else in there, but also no one was in there.
Huh.
Oh!
Oh, I know!
It's, uh, it's, it's, uh, uh, no, wait, uh, no, never mind.
Um, this is hard!
Okay, Dennis, you can do this.
Just be logical.
Think back, what did Lucy say exactly?
Okay, I pushed the button, there was a beep, and then...
Dennis, it's Lucy from Venice, California.
I have a riddle for you.
And then she said um Reggie, be quiet.
I'm trying to remember what Lucy said after hi, Dennis.
Well, Lucy said my name, and then I got distracted because my name is so melodious.
All right, one night, a king and a queen walked into an empty castle with no one else in there.
Who else was in there?
Um, I don't know, a mouse or something.
And the answer is the knight.
Huh?
Don't you get it?
One knight, a king and a queen walk into a castle.
Bye.
Oh, one knight.
Like a knight in shining armor.
Wow, that was a good one.
And I almost had it.
Next question or riddle.
Hey, Dennis.
My name is Claire.
I live in Georgia and I am 11 years old.
My question is, how did you and Reggie meet?
Thanks.
How did me and Reggie meet?
Wow!
Thanks for your question, Claire.
Reggie, do you remember how we met?
Reggie, no!
I met you way before that.
Yeah, huh?
Remember?
It was season three, episode three, and Elevator to the Stars.
I saw you from my driveway.
You were going to fly Mindy and Guy Raz to the Elevates concert.
Woo!
Yeah, now you remember.
I was very concerned for your safety and I told you I was a card-carrying member of an activist group for imaginary animal rights.
Yeah, that was a good episode.
Next question.
Hi, Dennis.
My name is June, and I have a question for you.
What is the funniest joke you've learned in your whole entire life, and why?
Say hi to Reggie for me.
Bye.
Wow, June.
The funniest joke of my whole entire life?
Oh, yeah.
Reggie, June says hi.
Okay.
Funniest joke.
Funniest joke.
Oh, I know.
This is a good one.
Okay.
So, an elephant, a giraffe, and a lizard get on an airplane and they... Wait, no.
It's not an airplane.
It was a helicopter.
Or actually, no, they were on an airplane because they were at the airport.
And then the lizard said, wait, no, was it a chameleon or a lizard?
Are chameleons lizards?
Whatever.
It was definitely a chameleon because the punchline is that it changes color.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Pretend I didn't say that.
Okay, so the giraffe, the elephant and the chameleon are going through security at the airport and the security guard tells the elephant to take off her hat.
I forgot to say that the elephant is wearing a hat.
Okay, and then... Hang on, Reggie.
I'm trying to remember the next part.
And then... Oh, I remember.
And then the chameleon says, I've been here the whole time.
That's a good one.
Thanks for your calls, everyone.
If you've got a question for me, call and leave me a message.
The number is...
888-7-WOW-WOW.
I just might answer your question on WeWow on the weekend.
Okay, that takes care of that.
All right, 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 seven called The Velocity of Poop.
Reggie, ew, is this a gross one?
Well, did Guy Raz think it was gross?
Oh, he didn't?
Okay, I'll give it a shot.
Here we go.
And play.
WeWow 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.
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 curious, wowser in mind.
You can shop our Wow in the World toys at Tinkercast.com slash toys.
That's Tinkercast.com slash toys.
That's it.
Now back to the show.
Animals, take your starting positions at the gate.
Hey, Barron! race about to happen.
Hey, Mindy, yeah, I'm the official timekeeper.
Wait, is that an elephant and a tiger at the starting line?
What is this?
Yeah, yeah, can you hold my jacket for a second?
I gotta get the stopwatch ready.
On your marks, get set, go!
Go!
Oh, buddy.
Uh, Guy Raz, they're not moving and I'm pretty sure that elephant just went poop.
Let's see here.
Five seconds.
Yeah, so this race didn't appear to actually begin or move anywhere.
Oh boy, that tiger just pooped.
Oh man, what is happening, Guy Raz?
It stinks out here.
Oh no, Mindy, the race went exactly to plan.
What are you talking about?
The elephant just stood there and pooped.
Yeah, I know.
Wasn't that great?
What?
Guy Raz, have you gone bonker balls?
You're standing here on a rack with an elephant and a tiger holding a stopwatch.
You got a sweatband on your head.
And neither one of these animals seem interested in running.
And oh boy, they just pooped again.
Well, who said this was a running race, maybe?
What is happening?
Well, I'm trying to recreate an experiment carried out by two researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, David Hu and Patricia Yang.
Right.
So let me just make sure I got this straight.
You are standing on this running track holding a stopwatch watching an elephant and a tiger poop in the name of science.
Well, probably not exactly like this, Mindy.
But yeah, these two scientists basically timed how fast certain animals poop.
Okay, so you're telling me that two scientists from one of the finest universities in the world timed how fast animals poop.
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm telling you, Mindy.
Oh, boy, there they go again.
Guy Raz, why would they do that?
I wouldn't even do something that crazy.
Well, Mindy, it has to do with something called scatomancy or copramancy.
Scatacopra what?
Well, these were methods used by ancient doctors a long long, long time ago in places like China, ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome.
Okay, and this has what to do With animal poop?
Well, actually a lot, Mindy.
In ancient times, if you were sick, doctors would examine your poop.
They would look at the size and the shape and the color and try and figure out if they could identify clues that would help them understand why you were sick.
Uh, hold the phone, Guy Raz.
I've got some science business to take care of.
I'll be right back!
Sorry, I'm back.
My science lavatory was occupied.
So you're saying, Guy Raz, that we can find out all of that stuff just by examining our poop?
Which I would never, ever actually do, by the way.
Well, yeah.
And in fact, Mindy, even modern day doctors sometimes do the same thing.
Because our poop is simply what our body produces from our food itself after it takes in the vitamins and nutrients from the food.
Okay, so let me just make sure I've got this straight.
These two researchers, David Hu and Patricia Yang, did this experiment just to find out if these animals were healthy.
Well, in this case, not exactly.
They were actually more interested in finding out how fast different mammals poop.
Oh, now this is getting interesting.
And Mindy.
What they wanted to find out is why poop comes out in different shapes and sizes in different mammals, including us humans.
Wow.
Yeah, I'm still having trouble wrapping my brain around this one.
So what did they do?
What they did was they videotaped 34 different mammals at the Atlanta Zoo.
So elephants, lions, gorillas, bears.
And then they watched videos of the animals pooping.
Ah, well, I guess science does happen in all kinds of ways.
So what did they find out?
Well, the first thing they found out was about poop size and the size of the animal.
So the bigger the animal... The bigger the poop?
Yes, which sounds kind of obvious, right?
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty obvious.
But here's another interesting thing these scientists observed.
There's more?
Yeah, they found out that bigger animals poop faster than smaller animals.
Okay?
So an elephant, for example, takes about five seconds to poop, but a dog can take up to 20 seconds to poop.
Oh, please tell me they were wearing nose plugs during this experiment.
Well, as far as I understand, there were some stinky situations, but...
But what they found is that most mammals take between 5 and 20 seconds to go poop.
Wow.
Okay, so this is gross and fascinating, but I have to ask, Guy Raz, why is this even important?
I'll get there Mindy, but before I do that, can you guess why bigger animals poop, poop out faster than smaller ones?
Why does an elephant poop faster than a monkey?
Because they're in a bigger hurry or maybe their poop's just so heavy it just falls out really fast.
Well, actually the scientists discovered that the bigger the animal, the more likely their poop is covered in a thicker layer of a slippery coating.
Ah!
And the smaller the animal, the thinner the layer of that slippery coating.
So how is this information going to help make the world a better place, Skyroz?
Aha.
Well, as you know Mindy, science is about curiosity and discovery, and it doesn't always have to have a point.
But in this case...
David Hu's research might actually help people and other animals who have trouble going to the bathroom.
Huh, that's interesting.
Yeah, this research might lead to new medicines that could make life a little more comfortable for lots of people who have pain when they go to the bathroom.
And that could be an incredibly important invention.
Well, this is all starting to sound like a pooper-duper idea.
And it gets better, Mindy.
In 2015, this scientist, David Hu, won a famous award known as the Ig Nobel Nobel Prize for another study he wrote about.
He won the Nobel Prize?
The most famous prize in all of science?
The same prize that Albert Einstein won?
Well, actually it was the Ig Nobel Prize.
It's an award given to a scientist whose research makes people laugh.
I thought science had to be serious.
There's laughing allowed in science?
Okay, wait a minute.
So what was the research?
Well, he won that award for studying how fast mammals go...
Of course he did.
So what did he discover?
Well, he discovered that, on average, we mammals take about 20 seconds to empty out our bladders, which is where we store our pee inside our bodies.
Oh, check it out.
I think that elephant tiger that you were observing on the racetrack might be a Animals to your starting positions.
Who will prove to be number one at number one?
On your mark, get set, go!
Go! doing that pee experiment on their own.
I guess it's time to clean it up.
Oh, would you look at the time.
Gotta run, not it!
Reggie?
Care to explain?
You said it wasn't a gross one.
Reggie, there was pooping and tooting and peeing.
Yes, I know poop is important for science, but that's not the point.
The point is, now I have to go wash my ears out.
Oh, well.
Ahem.
Thanks, everyone, for listening to this episode of Wee Wow on the Weekend.
Be sure to give our phone lines a call to ask me, Dennis, a question.
The number is 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
That's 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
I just might answer your question on Wee Wow on the Weekend.
Reggie, no.
I told you already.
I have to go wash my ears out.
Because I think there's animal toots stuck in there and I need to get it out.
No, Reggie, I'm not going to use shampoo.
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Wee Wow on the Weekend.
Our show is written by Ruth Morrison and Jed Anderson.
Original sound design and production is done by Henry Moskal and Marion Lozano, with help from Jed Anderson and Tyler Thull.
Original music for WeWow on the Weekend is composed and performed by Tyler Thull.
Special thanks to Steph Sosa, Rebecca Caban, and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ.
There's still time to share your WeWow Crafternoon challenges with us.
Grownups, you can upload pictures and videos of your projects to us at Tinkercast.com slash share or call us at 1-888-7WOWOW.
Our website is Tinkercast.com.
There you can learn more about becoming an official member of the World Organization of Wowzers.
Learn about upcoming events, shop our shop and pick up a copy of the latest edition of our number one New York Times bestselling book series.
Wow in the Wild.
Thanks again for thinking, tinkering, experimenting, and exploring with us this week.
Meet us back here on Monday for Wow in the World.
And remember, who wows?
We wow!
Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
