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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.
Clap, clap.
We wow on the weekend because this is what we do.
Welcome to WeWow on the Weekend.
I'm your host, Dennis.
And that's my co-host, Reggie.
We're here in my mother's basement with an incredibly special guest.
Hello.
No, quiet.
Not yet.
I need to play the guest segment song.
Oh, sorry.
Okay.
Guest segment, the segment with the guest.
A guest comes on the show and, just like the title suggests, we bring them out.
And then we Stop stop stop stop stop stop, stop.
Um, is everything all right?
Yeah, just that the song is long and kind of awful and it's making me a little nauseous.
Oh, right, yeah.
Anyway, my guest today is the all-important, all-knowing, all-delivering post office mail carrier.
Welcome, post officer.
My name's Jen.
I'm sorry, did you say your name is Jared?
No, my name is Jen.
Chad?
Jen.
My name is Jen, as in Jennifer.
Your name is Jelly Bird?
Can you not hear very well?
Jelly Bird is the cutest name I've ever heard!
Wonderful.
I'm thrilled for you.
Welcome, Post Officer Jelly Bird!
Hooray!
Thank you.
Hey, Reggie.
Wait, you two know each other?
Yeah, I'm a mail carrier.
I know everyone.
Oh, wow!
Hey, Reg, we still on for Thursday night?
Nice.
Wait, what's on Thursday night?
Oh, uh, we play cards.
Oh, really?
Just the two of you?
Oh, no.
There's a few other guys.
I know a guy.
Guy Raz.
Actually, I shouldn't have said guys.
I meant people.
There are a few other people who play with us.
Oh.
But also Guy Raz.
Oh, I want to play.
You can come if you want.
Hey, what game do you play?
Euchre.
Oh, no.
Ew.
I want to play Pinochle.
No.
Fine.
Never mind.
I don't want to come.
All righty.
So...
Post Officer Jellybird, please tell us about what it's like to deliver the mail.
Well, the first thing you got to do is sort the mail.
Oh, hear that, Reggie?
She sorts it.
And then what?
Then I put it all in my truck.
Oh, a truck.
Can I drive your truck?
No.
Can I pretend to drive your truck?
Negative.
Can I sit in the passenger seat?
Uh-uh.
Can I look at your truck while you drive it?
Yes.
Okay, what happens after the truck is all loaded with mail?
Then I deliver them to the corresponding addresses.
Wow, corresponding.
You're so well-spoken.
Thank you.
And I notice you have a key on a long chain.
What's that about?
Uh, yeah.
This is called an arrow key because it's kind of arrow-shaped.
Oh, yeah, I see.
And I use this key to open up the mailboxes.
Wait, all of them?
Yep.
That's the most amazing key I've ever seen!
A key that can open anything in the world!
Well, not anything.
Can it open a house with 15 locks on the door?
No.
Can it open a treasure chest full of jewels?
No.
Can it open a spaceship and then turn on the spaceship and you can fly around?
No, just the mailboxes.
Wow, just mailboxes.
Okay, next question, Post Officer Jellybird.
Alrighty.
We are now in the digital age.
Do you also deliver all the emails?
What?
No.
You don't carry them around in your email bag and put them in everyone's computers?
I do not.
Oh, well, that's a little disappointing.
Okay, next question.
This is a weird interview.
Post Officer Jellybird, the question on everyone's mind is, what's in the mail?
Well, there's letters, postcards, the odd parcel, packages.
Right, right, right, right, right, right, right.
But what's In everyone's mail, what are people writing to each other?
Well, I can't go around reading other people's mail.
Uh-huh.
There are rules about that.
Yeah.
Laws.
Oh, for sure, for sure.
Ordinances.
Various regulations that absolutely forbid me or anyone else from opening other people's mail.
Ah, right.
Not open it, but you can look at the outside of it.
Exactly.
And I do have some of yours here if you want to take a look-see.
Oh, my mail delivered live on the show is so exciting what i get, what i get.
Okay, you got a catalog from a clothing store called super villain outfitters.
Oh, that's an old subscription and a static electricity bill must be the wrong.
And the rest are letters addressed to someone named static.
Okay, thank you so much, post officer jellybird.
This has been a terrific interview, but i believe that's all the time we have for today.
Yes, it is reggie.
Is he always like this reggie?
I am not always nervous and sweaty.
I'm just excited to move on to the next segment is all.
So that's the end?
The guest segment is over.
But next is a little segment I like to call Inside Tinkercast Studios.
Inside Tinkercast Studios.
Do you want me to stay?
Yes.
Oh.
This is the part where we revisit an episode of one of my favorite Tinkercast shows.
And today we're listening to Wow in the World season one, episode 17 called Brain Freeze.
This sounds interesting.
I know.
It's an episode where it's so hot out that Mindy's gingerbread house caves in.
I remember that.
Her gingerbread mailbox melted too.
I had to put her mail next to a puddle of icing.
Oh, that's some good behind-the-scenes information.
Behind the scenes of what?
Never you mind, Post Officer Jellybird.
Would you like to do the honors of pressing play?
Alrighty.
And here we go.
WeeWow will be right back.
Grown-ups, this message is for you.
Hey, grown-ups.
It's Mindy and Guy Raz here from Wow in the World.
Mindy and I have some problems.
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.
Grown-ups.
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.
That's it.
Now back to the show.
Oh, the dark days of summer have officially arrived.
Yep.
Hotter than a jalapeno's armpit out here, Guy Raz.
I'm sweating like Richard Simmons to the oldies.
I'm sweating like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Know what I mean?
Well yeah, I get it, because the cat doesn't want his tail to get.
Oh no no, not as funny when you have to explain it.
So, what are we gonna do about the roof of your house, Mindy?
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, this happens every summer.
The roof just sort of melts and then caves in.
Yeah, but it does look great during the month of December.
Yeah, but this time it's going to take us until at least December to rebuild it.
Wait, us?
Well, you don't expect me to rebuild a life-size gingerbread house all by myself, do you?
Who's going to help keep me from eating all the candy?
No, no.
I was the one who advised you against living in a human-sized gingerbread house to begin with, and I was the one who Took you to the emergency room after you got sick from eating your own front door.
This chocolate door sure does look delicious.
Maybe I'll just take one little bite.
Okay, um, I'll just take one more.
Oh, that was close.
Where is your front door?
Is that the doorknob sticking out of your mouth?
Mindy, that door was over a hundred pounds of chocolate and you ate it all?
Oh boy, come on.
We're going to the doctor.
Okay, so I did eat my entire chocolate door, but I learned Well, that's good.
And now I only eat the butterscotch windows.
We are not rebuilding that gingerbread house, Mindy.
I mean, it's too hot outside.
And hey, by the way, do you have anything cold and refreshing that we can take from the freezer?
Ooh, yeah, we can bake some brown cows.
Some what?
But we gotta move fast before the kitchen caves in.
Here, quick!
Put on this helmet.
Mindy, this is a walnut shell tied to a shoelace.
It'll adjust to fit your tiny head.
Come on, let's go.
Mindy, this doesn't feel safe.
Quick, hand me the vanilla ice cream.
But I want chocolate.
Whatever, just scoop it into this bucket.
Okay, like this?
Yeah, then dump in these 45 bottles of root beer.
Are you sure these are the right measurements?
Measurements, measurements.
Quick, grab a couple of straws.
I can't find the straws.
Then It's about to crash in on us.
Whoa, come on.
Let's go.
That was a close call.
Yeah.
I'm going to miss that gingerbread house.
But with a little spit and elbow grease, it'll be good as new before you know it.
Actually, better than new.
It'll be a gingerbread mansion.
Phew.
Phew.
I'm so hot and thirsty.
Can I take a sip of this?
By the way, what is this?
It's a brown cow, Guy Raz.
Ice cream and root beer.
Well, normally I would not drink something like this.
Too much sugar and lots of food coloring.
But I'm just so hot.
Why is it in the bucket?
I like things over the top.
Never would have guessed.
Here, take this pool noodle and suck it up like a straw.
Like someone's got a case of the old sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia.
What?
Mega brain freeze, Guy Raz.
You sucked up that entire bucket of brown cow so fast that you gave yourself brain freeze.
What?
You know, brain freeze, that quick, intense headache you get when you guzzle down something cold too fast.
But what just happened?
Well, funny you should ask, because I was actually just about this.
And?
Okay.
So according to Dr Stephanie Vertries, a headache specialist and a professor at the Texas AM College of Medicine, brain freeze is what happens when cold food touches a bundle of nerves in the back of your palate or, you know, the roof of your mouth.
Well, this must have been something different because it It felt more like a quick, sharp headache.
Well, that's because that bundle of nerves called the sphenopalatine ganglion... That's a mouthful.
Literally.
So the sphenopalatine ganglion, or as some scientists just call it, the SPG... That's better.
Yeah, so the SPG nerves are super sensitive to cold foods.
And when the cold food caves in on them, they freak out and tell the brain it's headache time.
But why?
You mean, why can't the brain just...
Well yeah, I mean, it's hot outside and I just wanted to drink something cold and delicious as fast as I could to cool off.
Well, there's another neuroscientist, the kind of scientist that studies the nervous system, so like the brain, the spinal cord and the nerve cells.
His name is Dr. Dwayne Godwin.
And does he have the answer?
Well, he says that the one thing our brains don't like is when things change quickly.
And that brain freeze is there to prevent it.
To be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy.
Hold it right there.
What are you doing?
It tends to happen when the weather and your body are super hot and the food touching the roof of your mouth is super cold.
Well, is there a... cure for brain freeze?
Okay, so so far there's no cure for brain freeze, and since they come and go lickety-split and aren't really dangerous for us, it's easier to just avoid them altogether.
So how do you do that?
Well, Dr Vertries has some good advice that might come in handy the next time you decide to inhale a bucket of root beer and ice cream.
Interesting, and what does she say?
So she says that if you want to avoid brain freeze, to just chill out and eat Hold food slowly.
That way your mouth can warm up your food and not freak out the SPG nerves in the back of your palate.
This would have been some helpful information before I sucked down that brown cow, Mindy.
Well, Guy Raz, technically your brain freeze.
Was your body telling you to slam on the brakes and slow it down, while you were slurping that brown cow up as fast as you could?
But you just weren't listening.
Huh.
Interesting.
So Mindy, you mentioned that those nerves are located in the back of the roof of our mouths, and that's right where the ice cream was hitting it.
Yeah.
So Dr Vertries also says that it's safer to keep the food in the front of your mouth, because when you hit those nerves further back they trigger the brain freeze bonanza.
But what if you get really hot and really excited and give yourself bonanza? brain freeze anyway.
Like if you see a milkshake or an ice cream float and your brain just freezes and you forget everything I just told you.
Well, not necessarily.
Yeah.
Look, I know how much you love your kombucha almond milkshake, so I do know of one good trick.
Oh yeah?
Well, what does it all do anything to keep that from happening again?
Okay, so if you feel a brain freeze coming on... Yes?
Just put a jelly bean in your belly button...
What?
Okay, wait.
Wrong remedy.
If you feel a brain freeze coming on, tilt your head back and press your tongue to the roof of your mouth for 10 seconds.
Okay.
And with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, say, I'm a little teapot.
What?
Trust me.
I'm a little teapot.
Nice.
I'm a little teapot.
You're a little teapot.
Are you sure this...
The heat from your tongue will warm up the sinuses behind your nose and then warm up the SPGs that caused the brain freeze to happen in the first place.
So Mindy, if brain freeze is so harmless and quick to go away on its own, why do these scientists even bother to study it?
Well, it turns out that understanding how brain freeze works can also help scientists to understand how some other, more serious headaches work and can be treated.
Like what? migraine headaches.
Yeah, so those SPG nerves that we've been talking about are also responsible for migraines and cluster headaches, which can be super painful and last way longer than your typical ice cream headache.
Wow.
So understanding these SPG nerves could possibly help scientists figure out different ways of dealing with other kinds of headaches.
Yeah, exactly.
And in fact, According to Dr Vertries, some people will purposely give themselves brain freeze in an effort to break their migraine headaches.
And that works?
Well, she says it can actually work, but not always for everyone.
The body and the brain do hold many mysteries.
They sure do, little teapot.
No.
Hey.
So now that you're all cooled off, are you ready to start helping me rebuild my gingerbread house?
No way, Mindy.
No way.
Well, then I'll just have to move in on your fancy new couch.
Pass me the gumdrops and frosting.
Okay, so I'm thinking we start with a wraparound peppermint porch and a chocolate pond and a sugarless gum diving board off the roof, and I want five stories and a gumdrop door.
Wow, that was so cool!
What did you think, Post Officer Jellybird?
Yeah, that was pretty good.
Kind of made me want a soft serve or maybe an Italian ice.
Me too!
We should go get ice cream!
I'm game.
Hooray!
Ice cream!
Are you just going to leave all the mics on?
Yeah, it's kind of a bit we do.
Oh, okay.
What kind of ice cream do you want, Post Officer Jellybird?
I want one of those popsicles with the gumball eyes.
Ooh.
Those things freak me out.
I also want a frozen candy bar.
Is that ice cream?
No, but now I want to freeze everything before I eat it.
Reggie, I am not going to get brain freeze.
I learned from Wow in the World that if you Thanks for joining us for this edition of WeWow 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 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.
