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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! the wall.
One bottle of milk.
You take one down, you pass it around.
No more bottles of milk on the wall.
Again!
99 bottles of milk on the wall.
99 bottles of milk.
You take one down, you pass it around.
Maybe we should try out a different song? bottles of milk got boring after the third time.
Let's sing something with a little more pep in it, Steph.
Yeah, something with a little more toot.
Tommy!
Well, I'm sorry for trying to get everyone in the mood for the milk museum.
It's just... Wait a minute.
Thomas Fingerling?
Did you just... toot?
Uh, no.
There it is! did it again.
He's been doing that all week.
No, I haven't.
That was a long one.
Mr. Fingerling, it stinks in here.
Can we maybe crack a window with this ice cream truck?
Good idea, Guy.
Let's crack the window.
I have a better idea.
What's that?
A new upgrade I made.
You ready?
Ready for what, Mindy?
Instant convertible ice cream truck!
Say what?
Here, let me just pop open the roof here to get off.
Uh-oh.
What, Mindy?
Uh, the roof won't come off the ice cream truck.
This ice cream truck's getting a little old, huh?
Here, quick, roll down the windows.
What stink?
It's fine, just nobody breathe through your nose, okay?
Wait, all you can breathe through your nose is... Help, Mindy!
Yeah, Mindy, help!
What are you all fussing about?
Tommy!
Are you sure you're okay back there, Thomas Fingerling?
You seem to be passing wind a lot more than usual.
I'm feeling fine and dandy, thank you very much.
Well, there must be some reason for all this tooting.
Yeah, Mr. Fingerling, has your diet changed at all recently?
Oh, not that I can think of.
Of course, I did drink a gallon of milk this morning.
Excuse me?
Did you say you drank a gallon of milk this morning?
Yep.
Uh...
Mr. Fingerling, why in the world did you drink a whole gallon of milk this morning?
Well, we're on our way to the milk museum, ain't we?
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Tommy, are you saying you've never tried milk before?
No, I haven't.
I don't trust liquids I can't see through.
Well, that must be it, Mr. Fingerling.
I think you must be lactose intolerant.
Uh, lactose and waterant?
Lactose intolerant, Thomas Fingerling.
It means that your body has trouble processing lactose.
Ew.
Whose toes?
Lactose.
Now, is that the toes next to the pinky toe?
No, no, no, no.
Not lactose. lactose.
Well, I don't hear a difference.
Okay, here's the thing, Thomas Fingerling.
Inside of most dairy products we eat and drink, there's a sugar called lactose.
Yeah, and most of us have this little worker molecule in our gut called lactase.
And that lactase helps us to break down this sugar.
Okay, I'm with you so far.
However, there is a pretty sizable chunk of the human population about 65 of humans that don't have enough of that molecule that helps break down lactose.
And those people are lactose intolerant?
Exactly.
Huh.
So what happens if someone who is lactose intolerant drinks oh I don't know a gallon of milk in a single morning?
Well, one of the most common side effects is...
Flatulence.
Okay, that one wasn't me.
Oh, well, that one was me.
And that one.
And that one.
I wonder if they'll have anything about lactose intolerance at the Museum of Milk.
I wouldn't be surprised, Mindy.
Our ability to digest lactose is one of the most important things to happen in the history of humanity.
Well, as far as milk goes.
You mean we haven't always had the ability to drink other animals' milk?
Nope.
It's actually something we as a species developed over the last few thousand years.
Speaking of thousands of years, are we almost there?
Yeah, my legs are starting to seize up.
Well, if that river of white liquid surrounding that castle-like building over there is anything to go by, I'd say we're here.
The Museum of Milk has a milk moat?
Looks like it.
All right, let me just find us a place to park here.
And, oh, look over there.
A sign that says, ice cream truck parking.
Perfect.
What?
Okay, everybody out.
Let's go, everyone.
The Milk Museum awaits.
Alright.
Oh, I'm so excited.
Me too.
Huh.
Now how are we going to get across this milk moat?
Oh, over there, Mindy.
Look, a drawbridge.
Good spotting, Guy Raz.
Hello?
Is anyone home?
Hello.
Welcome to the milk museum.
Thank you.
Can you lower this drawbridge and let us in?
Yes, but it's not a drawbridge.
It isn't?
No, it's a strawbridge.
Get it?
Straw.
Oh, boy.
You know, for drinking.
Because it's a milk museum.
Yes, we get it.
I don't get it.
Do you have a reservation?
Oh, you bet we do.
There should be five of them.
What email address did you use?
This is ridiculous.
Yeah, I'll say.
Oops, sorry.
Uh, I think it was milkmadmindy at yippie.org.
Huh?
Oh, here we go.
Found it.
Lower the strawbridge.
Lowering the strawbridge.
Oh, wow.
Getting lowered a little faster.
Woo!
Yay!
Woo!
Finally.
Come on, everyone.
Strawbridge, Strawbridge, Strawbridge, Strawbridge.
Welcome to the Milk Museum.
Enjoy your visit.
Whoa!
Look at that.
This place is huge, Mindy.
Yeah, and so bright, white, just like milk.
I should have brought my blackout sunglasses.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Tommy, shush.
So are we just going to stand around farting, or are we going to actually learn how they put the chocolate in the milk?
Well, let's see here.
Oh, look, they have a program of what's happening in the museum.
Hey, check it out, Mindy.
What is it?
There's a full immersive exhibition on the evolution of lactase in humans.
What?
Hey, isn't that what we were just talking about in the ice cream truck?
Yes!
Well, then what are we waiting for?
Yeah, what are we waiting for?
Excuse me?
Tommy, please stop!
It's not my fault.
It's my Macintosh intolerable.
Ew!
And I have to let it out, or I'll explode.
No, you won't!
Well, it feels like it.
Ah!
Quit it!
Oh!
Okay, let's just head over to the exhibit.
Maybe it'll give us some ideas on how to help Thomas Fingerling's chronic tooting over here.
I mean, he could just not drink a whole gallon of milk in a single morning.
Well, sure, but what do we do if I already drank the gallon of milk?
Right.
Okay, it looks like the exhibition starts over there, so follow me, everyone.
Walk walk walk walk walk walk, walk the door.
Huh, it looks like we're in some sort of movie theater mindy yeah, maybe this whole exhibition is just one long movie.
Well, if it is, it better have popcorn.
Oh popcorn, i want popcorn yeah, with extra butter nope no no, no one is getting buttered popcorn now.
Everyone find a seat before the show starts okay Alright, everyone have a seat.
Yeah, I got mine.
Good, because I think the exhibit is about to... Kairos!
Are those robots?
Sort of, Mindy.
I think they might be animatronics.
Ooh, you mean like mechanical puppets?
Exactly.
It looks like These ones are dressed up like cavemen.
Ah, milk.
America's favorite liquid.
Whether it's over a cereal or warmed up next to a plate of chocolate chip cookies, we love our milk.
But it wasn't always this way.
Around 6,000 years ago, human beings discovered cow milk for the first time.
There was one problem.
Gross!
What's that smell?
Well, they did say it was fully immersive.
Oh, they're spraying that work smell into the audience.
Well, two can play at that game.
You see, these early ancestors of ours lacked a good supply of one key enzyme. known as lactase.
Hey, Kairos, lactase.
That's what you were talking about before.
I know, Dennis.
Without enough of this enzyme, early human consumption of cow's milk resulted in an excess of gas.
Ooh that Until recently, scientists believed that humans develop lactase and the ability to digest milk over thousands of years.
But now, a recent study has come up with a different theory.
What's happening?
I think the animatronics are changing scenes.
Oh, yeah.
Look.
They're all dressed differently now.
The year is now 2000 BC.
And milk drinking has really caught on.
Mm, mm, mm.
Milk is good.
Very good.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
But uh-oh.
What's this?
Oh, make it stop.
Still no lactase.
Oh, but look carefully.
Over there.
See that ancestor in the back?
The one with the milk mustache?
I see he isn't farting.
That's right.
He must have developed lactase.
And his gut no longer gets all rumbly-tumbly like everyone else's does when they drink cow's milk.
Now I know what you're thinking.
So what?
What's the big deal?
That is exactly what I was thinking.
Tommy, shh.
Well, little does this human know it, but his milk digestion abilities are going to come in very handy.
Well, here we go again.
Ooh, looks like they're setting up for the next scene.
The story must be moving forward in time again.
Oh, all of the animatronic robot characters look the same, but now there's only one.
Yeah, I wonder what happened to the rest.
Famine.
It is now 30 years later, and due to a lack of food and nutrition, many humans did not survive.
Yeah, that's pretty wild.
Cow's milk was a last resource for survival.
Those who could not digest it perished.
Those who developed lactase and could digest it Wait a minute.
So people ran out of food and resorted to drinking cow's milk to survive?
That's what gave us the ability to drink it?
That's what scientists think, Mindy.
These lactose-tolerant ancestors of ours were then able to pass their milk-drinking genes on to the next generation, which were again passed to the generation after that, and the one after that and the one after that.
Until we arrive at the milk-loving nation we belong to today.
Wow, what a great show.
This has to be one of my top five animatronic narrative theater experiences of the year, Guy Raz.
How many have you seen?
That's not important.
Hey, Mindy!
Can we go to the gift shop next?
I want to see if they've got any whoopee cushions.
Actually, Dennis, I think it's pronounced whoopee cushion.
That's what I said.
Whoopee cushion.
Sure, Dennis.
I'm running low on baked beans myself.
Hey, come on, everyone.
We're going to check out the gift shop.
Hooray!
So, Mindy, what did you think of the maybe a bit too immersive exhibit?
Oh, my wow, Guy Raz.
Talk about razzle dazzle.
Now that's how you present a theory.
A theory?
You mean what we just saw isn't scientific fact?
Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
See, it's really difficult to predict exactly what happened all those years ago.
And scientists never like to say that they're 100% sure about something.
Exactly, but according to this exhibit program, it says that the study that the show was based on was published in the journal Nature and conducted by more than 100 scientists, all from different science fields.
And the research was conducted over many, many years, so it seems like a pretty solid theory to me.
That's pretty cool.
Whoa!
Look at the size of this gift shop, Mindy.
It's so beautiful!
Wow, so many different flavors of milk.
I want raspberry.
Excuse me.
I hope they have blue.
That's my favorite flavor.
Whoa, look at all these different kinds of milk they have here.
Oh, yeah.
Almond milk, soy milk, oat milk.
Ah, so many milks!
Well, it does make sense, Mindy.
I mean...
Those 65 of humans that, even all these years later, still haven't inherited the gene that helps them digest lactose.
Well, they can't drink cow's milk.
But they can drink all these other milks.
Ooh, look at this one.
Cat's milk.
Now, do you think this is milk for cats or milk from cats?
Mr. Fingerling, this could be the solution to your problem.
Uh, what problem?
Ugh.
That problem.
All right.
What's your big idea, Mr. Razzy?
Well, if you don't want to give up milk, why don't you just switch to one of these cow milk alternatives?
Oh, I don't think so.
I don't trust those.
What?
Why not?
Well, think about it.
How does anyone milk an almond?
Who has fingers that small?
No, no, no, no.
Sounds too shady to me.
Although, I don't mind the sound of this one.
What do we got here?
Beef milk.
There.
What do you think of that?
Beef milk?
No, no.
That's just regular milk.
Mindy, can you help me out here?
Never mind that guy, Roz.
I think I found something even better.
You did?
Yeah.
Here, check this out.
Two trapping undies?
Yeah, it says in the back here that they were invented by a citizen scientist.
And look.
They have a built-in charcoal filter in the back to absorb those tooth smells before they can leave your behind and escape into the atmosphere.
I have to admit, Mindy, that's kind of genius.
I know.
Hey, Thomas Fingerling, what size underpants are you?
What was that?
I think we've just found the perfect gift for you.
Hooray for me.
Excuse me.
Oh, excuse me. be right back grown-ups this message is for you hey grown-ups it's mindy and guy ross 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.
Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Rosalie, and I live in Boise, Idaho.
Dennis, static van, and the sleigh cat.
Bye, love your show.
My name is Ellie and I'm from Southern Maryland.
And my wow is that okapis are herbivores that eat clay and charcoal for nutrition.
Hello, my name is Lucia.
I live in Minnesota.
And my wow is that Clouds can weigh more than a million pounds.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Hello, my name is Gemma.
I live in Boulder, Colorado, and I'm eight years old.
And my wow in the world is that some cheeses are injected with mold to make a creamier texture and blue coloring.
Say hi to Dennis.
Hi there.
Bucky the horse.
Sleigh cat.
And Grandma Cheeseburg.
Oh, isn't that nice? because I do too.
My name's Kai and I live in Scandium Minnesota, and my wow in the world is Dimetrodons have scales, but they're more closely related to mammals than they are reptiles, including us humans.
Hi, my name is Elliot and I'm from Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and my wow in the world is that butterflies and cased with their feet.
By Mindy, Guy was Dennis.
Howdy.
Grandma G-Force.
Oh, yeah.
Mindy Swaycat.
Bjorn and all the other people from Biomimically World.
Oh, wow.
It's nature's way or the highway.
Okay, thank you.
Good day now.
Um, the bee family.
I'm the baby.
Wah, wah.
Someone change my diaper.
Wah.
And the bee that can do math.
Wah.
Hey, this is my flower.
Get lost.
And the entire and all the other wow clue.
End of messages.
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 senior producer, Jed Anderson and Tyler Tholtz.
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 the rest of our team of tinkerers, including Anna Zagorski, Becca Caban, Kit Ballinger and Henry Moskal.
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 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 at wowintheworld, and our email address is hello at tinkercastcom.
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, be fun wowing!
Wow!
The world was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
