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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!
Double check that invite that Guy Raz sent us.
Let's see here.
What does it say?
Oh, okay.
Dear Mindy and Reggie, please join me for a potluck dinner at my micro house tonight.
I will be preparing a kale salad with quinoa?
Quinoa?
Sounds delicious.
If you could bring a dessert to the dinner, you would be my hero.
Okay, fine.
He didn't say that last part, but he did say to bring a dessert.
And it sounds like my caviar tart pops are just about done.
Opening the toaster.
Okay, let me just get all my stuff together here.
Adventure toolkit.
Dessert.
And an open mind.
OK, Reg.
All ready to go?
Oh, think you can get the door, Reg?
My hands are kind of full.
Thanks, buddy.
Reggie, I told you.
We're going to Guy Raz's house.
We're going to knock on the front door, ring the doorbell seven times and then let ourselves in without waiting for him to answer.
What do you mean he's not in his house?
Where is he?
Working in his vegetable garden?
Here he is.
Hey, Guy Razzy, over here.
Huh, that's weird.
Maybe he's singing to his tomato plants again and can't hear me.
Guy Raz?
Razzy, what are you doing out here in your veggie patch?
I thought you'd be neck deep in salad prep by now.
Guy Raz, are you even listening to me?
Huh?
Well, two can play at this game, buddy.
See how you like it.
Oh, come on, Guy Raz.
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Uh, Mindy?
I'm fine.
Guy Razzy?
Were you just talking to my scarecrow?
Scarecrow?
What?
Ugh.
Maybe?
Yes?
Uh-huh.
It's not my fault, Guy Raz.
Your scarecrow looks just like you.
Well, I had to dress him up in my own clothes and glasses because that's all I had.
Well, you sure fooled me.
Well, it's not you I'm trying to fool, Mindy.
It's those pesky birds that keep eating all my vegetables.
Oh!
There are other birds besides Reggie?
Well, it all started last week when I came out here to harvest my crops.
Oh, boy, I can't wait to harvest my crops.
I'd spent months planting, watering, and singing to these plants to get them ready for eating.
But then, just when I came out to pick them... My plants!
They've been eaten!
No.
Some birds had swooped in and eaten all of my vegetables before I had a chance to pick them.
So you decided to place a life-sized replica of yourself in your vegetable garden.
Well, I know I'm not perfect.
Personally scary, but I thought maybe a scarecrow of me could keep those pesky birds away from my crops.
And, uh, how's that working out?
Well, just take a look around, Mindy.
This whole vegetable patch is a disaster zone.
Yeah, this vegetable garden's looking like a half-eaten salad.
I just don't know what to do.
Hold the phone, Guy Raz.
I think I might have just the thing.
Really?
Uh-huh.
And I've got it right here in my adventure toolkit.
Oh, here.
Can you hold my Tart Pops?
Okay.
All right, let's see here.
No, not that.
Not that either.
More pets!
Get out of here, pets!
Mindy, why did you even bring your adventure toolkit in the first place?
Oh, you know, Guy Raz, with the kind of stuff that you eat, every dinner's an adventure.
Gotta be prepared.
Now, where did I put those eyes?
Eyes?
Uh-huh.
I know I had them in here somewhere.
Oh, here they are.
Look, they rattle, just like mine.
Wait a minute, Mindy.
Are those googly eyes?
Uh-huh.
And these ones are extra googly.
Just what you're going to need if you want to keep those birds away from your salad garden.
Really?
Uh-huh.
How?
Well, I'll show you.
So, I'm just going to take the Guy Razzy glasses off your scarecrow here.
Will you hold on to these, please, Guy Raz?
Yes.
Now, I'm just going to place one extra large googly eye on the right side of the glasses.
Okay.
And one extra large googly eye on the left side of the glasses.
There we go.
Now, let's put these glasses back on the scarecrow and...
I'm not following you here, Mindy.
All you've done is make my scarecrow look ridiculous.
How is this supposed to keep my crop safe?
Okay, first of all, I've only made your scarecrow look more ridiculous.
And second of all, according to science, these googly eyes are the best way to keep those pesky birds away.
These googly eyes?
How?
OK, so it's not just your salad garden that has the bird problem, Guy Raz.
Every single year, fisheries all over the world are just pillaged by pesky seabirds.
Oh, I've read about this.
And fisheries are kind of like the farms of the ocean, right?
Yeah, exactly.
So instead of raising cows or chickens, they raise different kinds of fish.
And these fish keep getting eaten by the seabirds?
Oh, yeah.
It's a big problem.
And not only that.
But a lot of these seabirds also end up getting caught up in the nets that the fisherfolk use to herd their fish.
Huh, so it sounds like it's not only bad because these birds are eating all the fisherfolk's fish, but it's also bad for the birds themselves.
You got it.
But here's the thing, Guy Raz.
You can't exactly just put up a bunch of scarecrows in the middle of the ocean to keep the birds away.
Yeah, that would be pretty ridiculous, Mindy.
Ridiculous?
How about redonkulous?
So here's the thing.
These researchers from a conservation group called Bird Life International.
They came up with a different idea.
And not just a different idea, but a better idea.
Which was?
Googly eyes!
Sorry.
Googly eyes?
Yep.
The idea was that these googly eyes would make the buoys look like terrifying predators and scare the birds away.
And did it work?
Did it work?
Well, why don't we set up this scarecrow over here and do a little experimenting of ourselves?
Well, what do you mean?
I mean, let's set up this googly-eyed scarecrow in your salad garden and then go hide in that bush over there and see if it works.
What about the potluck dinner?
Kairos, does a potluck dinner taste as good as a science experiment?
No, it doesn't.
So come on!
Anything for science?
Anything for science?
Yes!
Okay.
Let's get this googly-eyed Guy Raz scarecrow stuck in the ground here.
Anyone?
Can you help me out here?
Okay.
Now, come on.
Let's go hide in that bush over there.
Come on, Guy Raz.
Stop.
Stop dragging me along, Mindy.
Hey.
Mindy, oh, this bush is so prickly.
Well, stop wiggling around so much.
Okay, fine.
Well, how exactly is this supposed to work, Mindy?
Okay.
So, as I was saying before, when those researchers attached the googly eyes to their buoys in the water, they were hoping that they would mimic the eyes of a predator and scare the birds away.
Right, and I imagine if the birds see large eyes bobbing up and down in the ocean, they think it's a predator and then probably go looking for food somewhere else.
Exact Doritos.
Oh, oh, hold on.
I think I see one coming.
Oh, hey, Guy Raz.
What you up to?
I think... singing to your tomato plants again?
Seriously?
That was just like one time.
Something seems different about you, Guy Raz.
Did you get a new haircut or something?
No, that's not it.
Is it new glasses?
Guy Raz, I'm talking to you.
Did you get new glasses?
Guy, what is wrong with you?
He totally fell for it.
Wait a minute.
You're not breathing.
Oh, no.
You're not emergency.
Don't worry, Guy Raz.
I'll save you by running away and finding someone who knows how to save you.
Dennis!
Medic!
Medic!
Does anyone know CPR?
That was unexpected.
At least the googly eyes seem to be effective at keeping Dennis away.
Yeah, but the real question is...
Did these googly eyes keep the birds away from those fishing nets?
Okay, so the researchers from Bird Life Conservation, you know, the ones that were trying to keep the seabirds from getting caught up in the fisher folks' nets.
Uh-huh.
Yeah well, they attached these massive googly eyes to a handful of buoys in a bay off the coast of Estonia.
And Estonia is a country in Eastern Europe right next to Finland and Russia, right?
That's the one.
And what did they find?
Well, they set them all up.
And then they basically did what we're doing right now.
They headed back to shore and started observing what the birds did.
Go on.
And after observing these googly-eyed buoys for about 250 years, 50 hours?
Which, if my math serves me right, is about 10 and a half days.
Yeah, so after about 10 days of observations, they made a startling discovery.
What was it?
Oh, hold on, Guy Raz.
I think someone else is coming.
Huh?
Shh.
Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Raz staring at his vegetables again.
It's Grandma G-Force.
I said, Mr. Ross staring at his vegetables.
What in the?
Oh, ignoring me, huh?
Well, I don't like being ignored.
If you're not careful, you're going to get one of these.
Oh, G-Force just head-butted my heirloom tomato plants.
Oh, and a body slam to the That's cold.
I call that one the G-Force special.
Let that be a lesson to you, boy.
You don't ignore a three-time pepper-eating wrestling champ.
That's my Grandma G-Force.
Yikes.
Remind me never to ignore Grandma G-Force.
She's just grumpy because she hasn't had her afternoon nap yet.
Uh-huh.
Anywho, where were we?
Oh, yeah.
So these researchers observed these googly-eyed buoys for around 10 days, and then they calculated how much of an effect they were having at keeping the seabirds away from the fishing nets.
And what did they find?
Well, they found that the buoys with the googly eyes on them reduced the number of birds in the area by 20 to 30 percent, meaning that the googly-eyed buoys were scaring the birds away, therefore protecting the fish.
Wow, that's pretty significant, Mindy.
Yeah, and not only that, but they found that when the eyes were removed from the buoys, that the birds well, they just flocked right back.
Meaning that it wasn't just an accident and that the googly eyes really were scaring off the birds.
You know it.
That's Pretty incredible, Mindy keeping all those fish and birds safe, and all it took was a pair of googly eyes.
Who knew?
Oh, hold on, Mindy.
Someone else is coming.
Someone else is coming?
Oh, hey there, Mr. Ozzie.
You scared me.
What you doing out here?
Oh, I see.
Silence.
Just silence.
Contemplating life, huh?
Shh.
Wow, you are zen.
I wish I were like you.
My mind's always clickety-clacking away.
Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap.
And I'm always like, hey, mind, be quiet.
But it don't ever listen.
I can't put my finger on what's different about you today, Guy Razzi.
But I like this new you.
It's peaceful.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Well, that's about as much silence as I need for one day.
See you later.
Well, looks like Thomas Fingerling is a pretty big fan of googly-eyed Guy Raz.
Looks like it.
So what's the next step for these googly-eyed buoys, Mindy?
Well, after the successful trial experiment in Estonia, the researchers now want to take these googly-eyed sea crows international.
As in, they want to see if this experiment can be replicated elsewhere?
That's right, a world tour.
In fact, the next place that they'll be deploying their googly eyes is in Iceland.
Iceland?
You mean that island country way up north that's halfway between America and Europe?
That's the one.
Iceland is super big into fishing, and so they also have a problem with seabirds and fish nets.
And these researchers want to see if it will work on a bigger scale?
Yeah.
So they're planning on tinkering with the design of these googly-eyed buoys and then setting them up at a large lumpfish fishery.
Well, it's good to know that these googly eyes are having an effect on seabirds, but I wish we could find out whether they're also going to keep those pesky birds away from my crops.
Yeah, me too.
I mean, all we've learned so far is that these googly eyes seem to make our neighbors very emotional.
Wait, that was over there.
What?
A flock of crows.
Actually, Mindy, a group of crows is called a... Look, Guy Raz.
They're perching on top of your micro house.
And it looks like they're eyeing up my vegetables again.
Wait a minute, Guy Raz.
Wow, Mindy, did you see that?
They all just...
Yeah, looks like that googly idea really did work after all.
Wow, it did, Mindy.
Thank you so much for helping me out with my pest problem.
I'm coming, Guy.
I'm coming.
I'm going to save you.
I think you might have spoken too soon.
Guy Ross, I'm back.
I couldn't find a doctor, but I did find the next best thing.
Tommy, hurry up.
All right.
Don't bosh me.
Also, what are we doing here?
Why are you looking at me?
I don't know.
Okay, I think the fun's over.
Dennis, that's not Guy Raz.
Ah, what was that?
Is that bush talking to us?
Dennis?
Better poke it with a stick to be sure.
It's not.
It's not the bush.
Dennis, it's us.
G, Mindy, and another Guy Raz.
Another one?
Well, I'm seeing double.
No, there's not.
There's one Guy Raz and one scarecrow.
Well, I thought scarecrows were supposed to be scary.
Yeah.
And what are you doing in that bush?
Snooping?
Looks to me like they were sleuthing.
Sleuthing?
That's even worse.
We weren't sleuthing, Dennis.
We were observing.
Oh, that's just a fancy science word for sleuthing.
That's not a bad point.
Anyway, Mindy and I were just about to head inside for some dinner and since you're all here, would any of you like to join us?
Oh, I'd love to!
Except I'm still full from all the tomatoes I ate earlier.
Tomatoes?
What tomatoes?
You know...
The tomatoes, the free ones from this free garden.
They're free.
Oh, no.
Free garden?
This is my vegetable patch.
And I haven't been able to eat anything ever since I had that bushel of peppers I picked out of here.
My peppers?
Well, I ain't been eating your vegetables, Mr. Rossi.
Well, that's a relief.
But I did carve all your pumpkins into boo-boo beanie boppers.
Oh!
So, wait a minute.
All of you have been the ones ransacking my vegetable garden?
Well, yeah.
Looks like you were worried about the wrong kind of pest, Guy Raz.
Oh, if I were a pest, I'd be called the Dennis Beetle.
Ooh, I'd be a stink bug.
Excuse me?
Tommy!
You!
Loud in the world, we'll be right back.
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.
Play?
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.
Hey, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Anika, from New Jersey, and I'm wowed in the world that goblin sharks were discovered 100 years ago and we still know very little about them.
They have a big nose to help them find their prey in the deep ocean.
Say hi to Reggie and Grandma Geek Horse.
Say what?
And Thomas Singling.
And don't forget...
Well, obviously.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Charlie and I live in Los Angeles, California.
And my wall in the world is that peanuts aren't technically nuts.
Say hi to Dennis for me.
Hi there.
Hi, my name is Bailey and I live in Kings Beach, California.
My wall in the world is that there is a sea called Dead Sea and it has so much in it that you could float in it without any flotation devices and or swimming, and can you guys ride ready?
Come over, and i am, and i am, your biggest fan.
Bye, hi.
My name is amanda, i live in robbinsville, new jersey, and my wow is that the mariana trance is so deep that you can fit Mount Everest in it and still have room for more things.
My name is Franklin and I live in New York City.
My wow in the world is that it rains diamonds on Uranus.
Say hi to Reggie for me.
Hi, I'm Blake and I live in San Diego.
And my wow in the world is that squirrels have belly buttons.
Bye, thanks for calling.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Connor, and I live in Spokane Valley, Washington.
My wow in the world is that the Eiffel Tower can be 15 centimeters taller in the summer.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Raz.
Love your show.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
I'm Paige, and I'm six.
I'm Robert, and I'm eight.
We live in New Jersey.
Our wow is about scorpions.
Did you know scorpions glow in the dark when you shine a black light on them?
Bye.
Hey, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Lila, and I'm from Memphis, Tennessee.
And my wild world is that jellyfish have no blood, no brains, and no bones.
So I don't even know how they can move.
I guess it's just natural to them.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Raz.
I love your podcast.
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.
Our senior producer, Jed Anderson, brings our show to life with sound design and music editing and is also in charge of wrangling Dennis Thomas Fingerling, Reggie and many of the other silly.
Special thanks to the rest of our team of tinkerers, including Anna Zagorski, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, Henry Moskal and Tyler Thole.
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 Wowzers.
Learn more about upcoming events.
Shop our shop and pick up a copy of our new number one New York Times bestselling book, The How and Wow of the Human Body.
Grownups, you can follow Wow in the World on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at wowintheworld.
And our email address is hello at tinkercast.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 chance to be featured at the end of our show or an upcoming episode of Two What's and a Wow.
Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, keep on wowing!
Made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
