Psst, hey WoWzer fans, Mindy and Guy Raz here, and before we start the show, it's almost summertime.
And you know what that means?
It's almost time for my annual summer re -watch of the 26 -hour long docuseries on the history of whales?
Sure, Guy Raz, but I was actually thinking about summer road trips.
Oh, that's right. Wowzers, if your family has some summer road trips coming up, take a pit stop to find some wow.
We've teamed up with our friends at Geocaching HQ, the Aspen Institute, and The Nature Conservancy to create Planet WoW, an epic geocaching eco -adventure that shares the wow's of places on Earth and encourages curious kids like you to become the next generation of Climate Crusaders.
We've sent out Planet WoW trading cards to members of our World Organization of Wowzers to plant in a geocache near them.
and you can check and see if one of those cards are in a geocache near you at tinkercast .com slash planet wow.
there you can also find the location of our official planet wow geocaches and if there aren't any trading cards nearby your route print yours at home and plant them in a geocache along the ride we have printable cards available on our website tinkercast .com We can't wait to hear what you find on your ego adventures this summer.
Leave us a video or audio message about places in your world that WOW you for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode of WOW In The World.
That's it, and now, let's get back to the show.
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It is estimated that over 4 million people have been abducted by alien life forms. But only one of them asked for it.
This is Elio of Earth.
If any aliens are listening, come and get me.
From Disney and Pixar.
Yes, it's really happening!
He'll go where no one has gone before.
Welcome to the communiverse.
This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
This is the bathroom.
Disney and Pixar's Elio, Rated PG.
The rental guidance suggested.
Only in theaters June 20.
Proceed in three two one, detention.
The money for adventure is a magnificent proportion.
I don't know what you've been told but we're in a golden age.
So many discoveries that are jumping off the page.
Wild in the world, wild in the world Wild in the world, wild in the world Wild in the world, wild in the world Wild in the world, wild in the world The lion that's deep Let it run away, Houston Happy flappy birthday to you Hoopy floopy birthday to you Hoopy floopy birthday, grandma G -Force Nooooo What?!
I do not like that song But it's your birthday, and that's the birthday song.
We always sing it. Yeah.
Well, I still don't like it.
Well, maybe you'll like this.
Ha. Cha cha. Ooh. Ooh.
Cha cha. Oh. Look at those knuckles.
Or how about this? Cha la la la la la.
Happy birthday, it's a happy birthday.
It's a birthday day.
Wah wah. Cha la la la.
No. I do not like that.
Well, that's OK, Grandma G -Force.
You still get one birthday wish.
One wish, huh? Yeah, what would make you happy on your birthday?
I don't know. We could cut the cake.
Or cut a rug. Or cut the cheese.
I don't want to cut nothing.
OK, so no cutting. What do you want for your birthday, Grandma G -Force?
Well, I want. Yes. I want.
Yes. Yes. I want to go to Antarctica.
Oh. Right now. What?
You heard me. I said I want to go to Antarctica.
I want to go where the people aren't.
Ha, I think you mean, I want to go where the people.
No. Well, it is your birthday, Grandma G -Force.
And you do get one wish.
Unless you use that wish to wish for more wishes.
You get one wish. Well, I already said I want a wish to go to Antarctica.
I want to go to the bottom of the world.
Well, Antarctica is the southernmost continent with the least number of people on the entire planet.
But Mindy, it's also covered almost entirely by a giant sheet of ice.
And do you have any idea how cold it is there?
Shh. Well, first of all, I can hear you whispering.
but we're in the mid -day.
And second of all, during its winter season, between June and August, it can get as cold as negative 112 degrees Fahrenheit or negative 80 degrees Celsius.
See Mindy, oh wait, Grandma G -Force, how did you - I know about things, boy.
And don't worry about the cold guy, Roz.
We'll wear coats and mittens.
Here, a coat and mittens?
Here you go, here you go.
Mindy, we're going to need more than...
Hooray, Mittens! Good thinking, Mindy!
Oh, boy. That pedals it then to Antarctica we go!
Happy birthday, Grandma G -Force!
Yes! Well, who's the belle of the birthday ball?
Is it Reggie? No, it's me.
I'm special. Brr! Brr!
Brr! Think you could give us a ride, Reg?
Hee -hee -hee -hee -hee!
Great, let's all shuffle outside then and once we're in the air, Guy, Rod and I can fill you in on some fun facts about Antarctica!
Huh -huh -huh, no! Yes!
OK, but they better be fun.
OK, I'll climb up first and then I'll pull the rest of you up, OK?
All right! OK, now hold still, Reg!
Grrr -rah! Ah! Ah! Birthday girl fixed a ride on the pigeon's head!
What? You're a girl.
And the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants.
That's my self -pigeon.
Booyah. You're a pigeon.
Put on this birthday hat.
Mm! Come on, everyone!
Climb aboard! OK. Yeah.
Oh god. Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on. Ah.
OK. Everyone ready?
Yup. All settled in.
Aye -aye, captain! Oh great, cuz here we...
Woo hoo! Uh, welcome aboard, ambient airlines, please make sure that your seatbelts are securely fastened.
Your tray tables are in the upright and locked position, and that your guy phones are in pigeon plane mode.
We expect a bumpy ride today, so if you feel like you're going to barf, try not to get it on your fellow passengers.
Thank you and enjoy your flight.
So, Grandma G -Force, why the sudden interest in Antarctica?
Is it the penguins or the glaciers or the Southern Lights?
The cold, desolate wind?
The iceberg dead ahead?
Ah, Reggie! Look out!
Reggie! I wanna go to Antarctica cause I wanna see a bloody waterfall.
Ew! A bloody waterfall?
Gee, Force. Why you always gotta be so gross?
It ain't gross. Just a little revolting is all.
Wait, I think I've heard of this.
You're talking about bloodfalls?
Ew, God, Roz! Not you, too.
No, no. Hear me out.
I recently read about this in the Scientific Journal.
No, spoilers, boy. I don't want to read about it.
I want to see about it.
I want to see the bloody waterfall's dripping and spraying and spewing and spurting and oozing blood all over Antarctica.
Aahh! Ahem, attention passengers, this is your captain speaking.
It is. Shh! Oh, sorry.
As we begin our final descent on Antarctica, you'll notice several research stations scattered across the continent.
This is where scientists live and study all of the extreme weather conditions that Antarctica has to offer.
Guy Raz. Yes? If I survive Antarctica, will you Can you get me a t -shirt from the gift shop?
Well, I don't see any gift shops here, but I do see, uh ...
Could it be? Oh, well, that'll be!
What? I wanna see! Scooch over.
Let me see! Ooooh. Well, Happy Birthday to me.
And now passengers, if you look below, you'll see something unusual.
Something intense. Something red!
Oh! Blood falls! That's bloody waterfalls!
Light crew, prepare for landing!
Hmm...cong kioska, no!
Don't land on the bloody waterfall!
Oh, no! Wee! Landing!
Standing! MR! Landings, landing!
Landing, landing! And that concludes our flight!
Thank you for flying Avian Airlines!
Please be sure to comment, subscribe, and rate us five stars.
Okay, I'll go down first and then I'll help the rest of you down.
Don't worry, I'm not getting off this pigeon plane.
Reggie, hold me! Dennis, come on!
It's Grandma G -Force's birthday and this is her one wish!
Yeah, boy! Okay, fine.
Sure is cold down here.
Hey, lookie over there.
It's a little bird in a tuxedo.
There ain't no bird, fingerling.
That's a penguin. Wow!
What a fashionable bird. Actually, penguins are aquatic, flightless birds that use their wings more like flippers.
Neat! Everyone, you're missing the main attraction.
Look down there. What?
Where? What am I looking at?
Right over there! Blowing from the tip of that glacier over there!
Look at that! Let there be blood!
I don't like it. Oh, you think it's real blood, Gyrozz?
Yes, it's real blood, and don't nobody tell me notherwise!
Well, why don't we walk over there and take a closer look?
And then I can tell you everything I read about Blood Falls in this scientific journal, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Ah! Oh no, I don't want to do that.
Come on, everyone. This could be interesting!
Yeah, it is interesting!
Oh, OK. Fine. Go ahead, Guy Raz.
OK, well, from what we know, Antarctica's Blood Falls was first discovered by the Australian geologist, Griffith Taylor, while on an expedition all the way back in the year 1911.
Oh wow! That's over a hundred years ago!
That was also the year G -Force was first discovered.
Hush your mouth fingerling, I'm only a teenager.
Now, as Griffith Taylor observed this five -story waterfall of angry, blood -red waters, he believed it to be the result of red algae in the water.
Oi, by galley, all of this blood water must be the result of too much red algae in the water.
Why are you talking like that, Thomas Fingerling?
I ain't Thomas Fingerling, mate.
I'm Australian geologist, Griffith Taylor, I am.
You sound terrible.
Yeah. Quit interrupting.
I'm theorizing about too much red algae in the water.
But, as time went on, the theory of red algae in the water was proven to be false.
Ahh, dingoes! Sorry, Mr. Geologist Boy, but you're wrong like Donkey Kong.
Over time, new theories from new researchers began to emerge.
Hello, yes, I'm a new researcher And I believe this red water is probably just a bunch of red iron in the sub -glacial lake that feeds this waterfall.
Wait, wait, wait, I don't get it.
Where would someone put an iron in a lake?
I thought I was the only one who did that.
What? Oh, no, no. See, iron is a kind of metal. And when it comes in contact with water and air, a chemical reaction occurs.
And that chemical reaction, called oxidation, causes the iron to slowly break down and form a reddish -brown substance called rust. Oh, rusty, just like Fingerling's knees.
What? I don't have rusty knees.
Oh, huh. I guess they are a little rusty.
Never mind. Okay, so, Guy Ross, are you saying that this bloody waterfall is nothing but a bunch of iron rust mixed with water?
Well, if you'll allow me to get back to my story.
Oh, right. The story.
Sorry. Please continue.
For many, many years, it was widely believed that oxidized or rusty iron was the cause of the blood -red waterfalls.
But fast forward to 2023 when a team of researchers from the Ohio State University decided to dive in a little deeper.
Deeper into the bloody waters.
One of the first things the team did was analyze and measure the amount of iron in the water.
And while they expected to find quite a bit, in the end, they were able to determine that the waterfall only contained a teeny, tiny amount of iron.
Oh, you don't say? Proving that the theory that it's just a bunch of rusty iron water is false.
And proving that it's real blood.
Wait, is it real blood for real?
I know that was real blood.
I want a birthday blood bath.
Come here, you old waterfall.
No, no. Grandma G -Force, please.
I'm not finished with the story.
Well, hurry up. I'm tired of this story.
I'm not tired of this story, Guy.
Yeah, me neither, Guy Roz.
Yeah, me neither. OK, good.
So, as I was saying, while this team of researchers did not discover massive amounts of iron in the water, what they did discover, with the help of a super -powered microscope were iron -rich nanospheres in the water.
Wow, super -nanny whirl -o -spheres!
No Dennis, nano -spheres!
Nanospheres are teeny tiny particles.
So tiny that they can be one hundred times smaller than the red blood cells in our body.
So we're talking small, tiny.
Can't even see them.
And when the iron in the nanospheres oxidizes, does anyone remember what happens when something oxidizes?
Nope, I do not. I remember, Guy!
Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can happen when a metal like iron is mixed with water and air.
Wow, Dennis, that's great!
You're really paying attention.
Hooray! Compliments!
Now, as I was saying, when the teeny -tiny nanoscopic iron -rich nanospheres oxidized, they give the water flowing into blood balls its bloody rich color.
Oh wow. Well, that is a very disappointing conclusion.
I wanted it to be blood.
Brrr. But there's more to this mystery.
There is? There is.
see the lake that feeds into Blood Falls is unlike most other lakes in that it's subglacial.
Why are we gasping?
You're gasping because subglacial means that this lake is hidden under the ice.
Where I'll be, a hidden lake!
A secret lake! A lake where the people like.
That's right! this subglacial lake can't even be seen from the surface.
You're right, Mindy, I can't see a lake anywhere.
That's because it's hidden under snow and ice.
And what makes this lake even more of a mystery is that it's home to teeny tiny microscopic life even though it's super salty, super dark, and there's no oxygen.
No oxygen?! What is this, Mars?
Well, it's funny that you should mention Mars, Grandma G -Force.
Mars! Because this sub -glacial lake and Mars actually have a lot in common. They're both rusty?
Well, yes. They're both red and rich in iron particles.
And they're both cold and salty like G -Force here.
Uh, excuse me? Can't argue with that.
And you're not going to find very much oxygen in either place!
Well there is a tiny bit of oxygen on Mars, but not enough to catch a breath.
And these similarities have researchers wondering if microscopic life can live for millions of years in the harsh conditions of a sub -glacial lake, well, could it also live on Mars?
Could there be life on Mars?
Well, there's only one way to find out.
Yeah. We gotta go to Mars.
for my birthday to see for ourselves.
Yeah! No, no, no. Asah!
Life on Mars! Life on Mars!
Life on Mars! No, no, no, no, no. We are not going to Mars.
What? What I mean is this clue tells us that there's so much more to discover.
And it's going to take a lot of brain power and a lot of experiments and a lot of technology that hasn't been invented yet to discover it.
Oh, OK. But what's amazing about this is that we might be one step closer to a major scientific discovery.
Hooray! One step closer!
Well, OK, thank you very much, garage.
Now I'm going to go find that secret lake.
Well, it's a subglacial lake, and you're never going to find it.
There's you. Right behind you Granny G well, I guess I'll go to Have their fun guy Roz for now.
I just want to enjoy the beauty of these bloody red waterfalls It's pretty gross looking.
Yeah, let's go home.
Yeah Wow in the World will be right back.
Grown -ups, this message is for you.
Hey, grown -ups. It's Mindy and Guy Raz from Wow in the World.
And guess what? What's the good news, Mindy?
Once Upon a Beat is back with brand new episodes.
Oh, I love that podcast. We here at Tinkercast have partnered with our friends at Wondery to bring your family new episodes of Once Upon a Beat.
Once Upon a Beat remixes fairytales and fables as old as time.
Giving them a fresh spin with some rhythm and rhyme!
This podcast is hosted by the amazing DJ Fuche and features original hip -hop songs from Grammy award -winning artist, secret agent, 23 Skidoo.
Once Upon a Beat is where hip -hop and fairy tales meet and you can listen to new episodes right now.
Follow Once Upon a Beat on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to Once Upon a Beat early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app in Apple Podcasts.
That's it. Back to the show.
["Wow in the World"] Wow in the world.
Beep. Beep. Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the Beep, get ready to record. Beep.
Hi, I'm Ryland. I live in South California, and I'm eight years old.
My wall in the world is that dry ice, instead of melting into a water, a liquid, it sublimates into a gas.
Say hi to Grandma G.
first. Big whoop! And the annoying Dennis.
Aww! And the bird that needs to get in my cemented.
Haha! Adios! Hi, I'm Benigne Erez.
I'm Olena from Edmonton, Alberta.
My wow is that right now there are billions of invisible ghost particles called neutrinos zooming through your body There's a lot of two kilometers under Settle burial Ontario devoted to starting neutrinos.
They would Thomas family Hi, my name is Ellie I live in Calgary Alberta and my wall in the world is vanilla flavoring is produced by a goo from a beaver's rear end.
Hi, I'm Gavin. I live in Calgary, Alberta.
My Wow in the world is that thousands of years ago, a black bear -size beaver roamed Canada.
Hey, Mindy and Guy.
This is Edward calling in from New Jersey.
Did you know that lanternflies are an invasive species until trees.
Bye. Hi, I'm Hamley from Canada and I want to say that a group of sharks is called a shivoo.
Hi! Hi, my name is Darwin.
I'm 8 years old and live in Crested Butte, Colorado.
My vow in the world is that the marabou stork can swallow 2 .2 pounds of meat in 1 goat.
Say it, Reggie, do Dennis for me!
Hi, Mazy and Girls.
My name is Izzie and I'm 7 years old.
I live in California.
My wow in the world is ring tailed lemurs have stink in their tail and use it for stink fights.
Say hi to Reggie, Bucky, the annoying Dennis, and the sleigh cats for me.
Bye. Bye. Close the show!
End of messages. Grown -ups, if you like Wow in the World, you can listen early and ad -free right now on Wonder Plus.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery App or on Wondery Kids Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad -free on Amazon Music.
And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery .com slash survey.
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 supervising producer, Jed Anderson, and Tyler Thull.
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 Steph Sosa, Henry Moskel, Ruth Morrison, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, Sana Ali Muhammad, Anna Zagorski and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ.
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 about upcoming events, shop our WOW Shop, find our best -selling books and learn about all of our other amazing podcasts from Tinkercast!
Grownups, you can follow WOW in the World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at WOW in the World, and our email address is hello at tinckercast .com.
And if you're a kid with a big WOW to share with us, call us at 1 -888 -7 -WOW -WOW for a of our show or an upcoming episode of Two What's in a Wow.
Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, be fun wowing.
Wow in the world, wow in the world, wow in the world, wow in the world.
Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and set to you by Wondery.
