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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 7pm 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!
Hey grownups, if you're planning on taking a family trip to Orlando this summer to be transported to magical universes well, you should know there's one portal you don't want to miss.
Your portal to the original universe Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where they have flying dragons too.
It's about science where no spells are required.
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Take a behind-the-gates bus tour for an exclusive look at NASA's legendary launch sites and the future of space exploration.
Visitors also have the chance to meet an astronaut.
Talk about a core memory in the making.
And get this, our friends at Kennedy Space Center have offered our listeners $7 off admission.
Just use code WOW at checkout.
With missions to Mars, rocket launches, and deep space exploration...
No trip to Orlando is complete without landing at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Discover something real.
So what are we doing at the mall again, Mindy?
Oh, we're here for magnets, Guy Raz.
Magnets?
Uh-huh.
Magnets.
What do you need magnets for, Mindy?
The ice cream truck.
Why does the ice cream truck need a magnet?
Well, it's not just the ice cream truck.
I need some for the sleigh cats, too.
The sleigh cats?
Yeah, we're going wireless.
I'm confused.
Okay, I can explain.
So I'm going to attach a bunch of little tiny magnets to all of the sleigh cats.
Okay.
And then one giant magnet to the front of the ice cream truck.
Right.
And then the magnetic attraction between the cat magnets and the ice cream truck magnet will help to pull the ice cream truck along.
No leashes required.
Are you sure that's going to work, Mindy?
Yes, of course I'm not sure it's going to work, Guy Raz.
Now we just got to wait for Reggie.
He said he'd meet us here in 30 minutes, but I haven't seen him yet.
Huh, maybe you just got lost.
No way.
Reggie has an excellent sense of direction.
You know, he took orienteering in high school.
Huh.
Reggie!
Where have you been, buddy?
I was starting to get worried.
You got lost?
I...
I told you, Mindy.
Yeah, I told him about the orienteering.
Huh, that's odd.
What?
What is it, Mindy?
Reggie says that he got all turned around and lost his sense of direction.
He ended up at the knuckle hut?
Reggie, that's nowhere near here.
Well, it's actually quite common, Mindy.
You know, birds losing their sense of direction.
It's actually called vagrancy, and it usually happens when there's bad weather.
Huh.
But Reggie says that the skies were clear today.
Perfect weather for flying.
Interesting.
Reggie, are you feeling okay?
Okay, good call, buddy.
You go take a soak at Birdbath and beyond, and we'll come find you when we're done, okay?
Aw, poor little Reggie.
He's all shook up.
I wonder what caused him to get all turned around.
Yeah, I wonder too.
Well, sounds like a mystery for future Mindy to solve.
Right now we need to figure out how to get to pulling out my map here.
Magnet Mike's Modern Magnet Megastore.
Catchy name.
Well, it's more of a warehouse than a megastore, but... Wait a minute.
I just hatched an idea.
I don't like that look in your eye, Mindy.
Hold on.
Let me just find it here in my adventure toolkit.
You brought your adventure toolkit to the mall?
Yeah.
Never know when an adventure is going to break out.
Oh, here it is.
Guy Raz, quick, put these on.
Rollerblades?
Yeah.
Mindy, why am I putting on these rollerblades?
All will be revealed in a moment, Guy Raz.
What else are you looking for in there, Mindy?
Uh, hang on.
This.
Is that a magnet?
Yeah.
It's a pretty big one, too.
Here, hold on to this for me.
Why do I need to... Oh, no.
What's happening, Mindy?
It's working.
What's working, Mindy?
What's going on?
You're a magnet, Guy Ross.
It's dragging you straight to the magnet storm.
It's getting faster, Mindy.
That just means you're getting closer.
I think so.
Wow, you really sped off there.
Well, I really didn't have a choice, Mindy.
You put me in a pair of magnetic rollerblades.
Okay, that is true.
But look, those magnetic rollerblades brought you straight to the Magnet Mega Mart.
Come on, let's go inside.
Hooray.
Whoa, look at all these magnets, Guy Raz.
They're stacked sky high.
Big magnets, little magnets, in-between magnets.
Yeah, there's barely room for anything else in here.
Do you see anyone working in this place?
Well, to be honest, I can't see a thing in here, Mindy.
There's magnets everywhere.
Hello?
Anybody home?
Well, well, well.
What do we have here?
Oh, um, hi.
My name is... Yes, Mindy.
I was wondering when you would show up.
I'm sorry.
Do you know each other?
Well... Miss Mindy, I believe it was twelve individual magnets affixed to a cat harness.
One does not soon forget an order like that.
Wait, are you...
Magnet Mike?
Of Magnet Mike's Magnet Mega Mart?
Mega Store.
And indeed I am.
It's good to see you again, Mike.
I'm here for more magnets.
Naturally.
But you should know, one does not choose a magnet, Miss Mindy.
The magnet chooses them.
Uh, I don't get it.
Allow me to demonstrate.
Wait right here.
Ow!
Well, he was interesting.
Yeah, super helpful though, right?
Uh-huh.
Hey, look at this, Mindy.
What is it?
Well, it looks like a stack of magazines.
Magnets Monthly?
There's a whole bunch of them here.
Let me see that.
Whoa, the M23 Ultra Magnet, now only $234 plus shipping and handling?
Look at all these cool uses for magnets, Mindy.
There's articles on medical imaging machines, magnetically levitating trains.
Whoa, look at this.
Well, if you're talking about the M23 Ultra, I'm already way ahead of you.
No, Mindy, look at this article.
Magnets messed with my bird's brain?
What?
Yeah.
What's it about?
Well, it says here that it's based on a new study from UCLA that has to do with bird vagrancy.
Bird vagrancy?
Isn't that what you were talking about before with Reggie?
Yeah, it's when a bird loses its sense of direction and ends up in the completely wrong place.
Well, what does it say?
I see you found my collection of magnetic periodicals.
What?
The magazines.
Oh, right, right.
There's some really interesting stuff in here.
Yes, of course.
I am, after all, the editor-in-chief of Magnets Monthly.
Oh, my, wow.
You are the editor-in-chief of Magnets Monthly?
Indeed I am.
Mindy, you didn't even know the magazine existed two minutes ago.
Now, Miss Mindy, I believe I have something here for you.
Oh, right.
The ice cream truck magnet.
Ahem.
Now, why don't you try this on for size?
Whoa!
12.4 inches with a neodymium core and a pull strength of... Oh, my.
I think this one might be too strong, Magnet Mike.
Yes, the magnet appears to have clamped to that steel wall.
Uh-huh.
But fear not, Miss Mindy.
The right magnet is out there.
We just need to find it.
Wait here.
I'll be right back.
There he goes again.
Okay, back to the magazine.
Gotta find that article about the bird brain so I can figure out what's up with Reggie.
Uh, flipping, flipping, flipping.
Oh, here it is.
What does it say?
It says here that a recent study from the University of California, Los Angeles, suggests that disturbances to the Earth's magnetic field might lead birds astray.
The Earth's magnetic field?
You mean like the North Pole and the South Pole?
Yeah, so the Earth is actually a giant magnet, right?
Right.
And the North Pole and the South Pole both attract things like certain kinds of metal.
Right.
And that's how compasses work.
The little metal tip in the compass is pulled towards the poles.
Exactoritos.
So what does that have to do with birds and vacancy?
Well, let's see here.
So, according to this study that they conducted at UCLA, many birds use this magnetic field to navigate.
Like a compass in their brain.
And when the Earth's magnetic field gets disrupted, it can cause them to lose their sense of direction.
And what sort of thing would disrupt the magnetic field of the entire planet?
Well, it says here that it can be affected by the sun's magnetic field.
The sun has a magnetic field too?
Yeah.
And when the sun starts burping out fire... You mean like with solar flares and sunspots?
Yes.
These kinds of sunburps can affect our magnetic field right here on Earth.
Of course.
I have returned.
Here we are, Miss Mindy.
Thank you.
7.2 inches of a metallic blend of copper, cobalt, nickel, titanium.
Oh, my.
My glasses, it sucked them straight off my face.
Oh, that's a good magnet.
Curious.
Very curious.
What's curious?
I think...
Yes.
Wait right here.
I have one last magnet for you to try.
Thanks, buddy.
So you think this disrupted magnetic field could have anything to do with why Reggie's been getting lost lately?
Maybe.
How did they find out in the study?
Well, it says here that the first thing that the researchers did was collect almost 60 years worth of data or information from 22 million birds.
Whoa, that's a lot of birds.
Yeah, and then they took a look at which birds had suffered from that strange thing where they get lost.
You mean vagrancy?
Yeah, and they found out that, although the main cause of vagrancy seemed to be stuff like bad weather, there was a strong correlation between disruptions to the Earth's magnetic field and lost birds.
Ah, and a correlation is a scientific way of saying that there was a strong link between these two things.
Exactly.
It looks like just about any time there was a disruption to the Earth's magnetic field, the amount of birds getting lost went up.
Wow, so maybe Reggie really was affected by a disruption to the Earth's magnetic field.
Sure does look that way.
But how can we know for sure?
I've got it!
What?
My guy phone.
What about it?
Well, I can see if there was any major solar activity in the last couple of days.
And if there was, that would mean that the Earth's magnetic field would have been affected or disrupted.
And Reggie's sense of direction could have been messed up.
Yes.
Well, what are you waiting for?
Come on, Guy Raz.
Get out your guy phone.
Okay, okay.
I'm getting it.
Solar activity.
Okay, let's set this to the last two.
24 hours and... Mindy, look at this.
Let me see that.
Heightened solar activity in the last 24 hours?
Guy Raz, do you know what this means?
Well, I'd say we've cracked the case, Mindy.
Look at us, Guy Raz.
Come on, we gotta go tell Reggie.
Let's do it.
Oh, stop!
Surprise!
Now, Miss Mindy.
Sorry, Magnet Mike.
We were just about to leave.
We have to go tell our friend Reggie about... Ah, ah, ah, ah.
Before you go, I have one last magnet for you to try.
Okay, but we're in kind of a hurry, but... All right, let's see it.
Here you are.
Whoa.
Magnet Mike, it's... it's... Perfect.
Precisely.
We'll take it.
It'll fit perfectly on the hood of my ice cream truck.
How much do I owe you?
This one's on the house.
It's free?
I did not get into magnets to make money.
You didn't?
No.
I helped the right magnet find the right hare-brained inventor.
And today, I believe we've done just that.
Aw, thank you so much, Magnet Mike.
Indeed, you're welcome.
Until next time, my friends.
Ta-ta!
What a nice magnet salesman.
A little odd.
All the best people are.
Come on, Guy Raz.
We gotta go find Reggie and tell him what we found out.
Right behind you, Mindy.
All right, now which way to Birdbath and beyond?
Uh, I think I saw it next to where I got my elbows repatched.
Well, what are you waiting for, Guy Raz?
Come on, put on Dennis' rollerblades and let's get going.
Wait, these are Dennis' rollerblades?
Ha ha ha!
Come on!
Fine.
Okay, and then you hold on to our new magnet here, and I'll hold on to your ankles.
Okay.
And here we go!
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grown-ups, this message is for you. 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 wowser learn about their world through play plus 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.
Wow in the World.
Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name's Ahad, and I live in Jersey City.
And my Wow in the World is a light year.
It's 5.88 trillion miles long.
It's in that bunker world.
Say hi to Mindy, Guy Ross, Reggie.
Aw, isn't that nice?
Dennis.
Hi!
And all the other silly characters on your show.
Thanks, bye!
Hi, Minion Guy Ross.
My name is Maddie, and I live in North Carolina.
And my wow in the world is that flying squirrels can glow pink under UV light.
Say hi to Dennis.
Ahoy there!
Reggie.
And Bucky for me.
Ah!
And my wow in the world is that fruit flies' brains are the size of poppy seeds.
Love your show, and say hi to Dennis, Grandma G-Force, and Thomas Fingerling for me.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name's Leanne.
I live in Aurora, Colorado.
And my wow in the world is that every snowflake is different, and I live in Toronto Canada, and my wow is that shooting stars aren't actually stars, they're meteoroids moving so fast that it heats up and glows as it moves through the atmosphere.
Say hi to baby Dennis and tell Dennis that he is awesome.
Bye, wow.
And my wow for y'all is did you know that box jellyfish are the most deadly of jellyfish?
Thanks.
Say hi to Mindy, Guy Ross, Reggie, and Grandma DeForest for me.
Oh, snap.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Lily, and I live in California.
This is my wow. and I will move around.
And my wow in the world is acorn woodpeckers peck holes in trees to put acorns in the soil for later.
Say hi to Dennis.
Oh, would you look at that.
And Reggie.
And Thomas Fingerman for me.
Oh, wow.
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 Tyler Thole with help from our supervising producer, Jed Anderson.
You can also hear Jed Anderson in the voices of Dennis Thomas Fingerling, Reggie and 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 Moskal, Ruth Morrison, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, Sana Ali-Mohamed, 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 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!
Be fun wowing!
The world was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
