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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!
Thank you. everybody.
When we're done playing the song, you're gonna take your instrument and you're gonna smash it on the ground like so.
Oh my gosh!
Then you wait a minute and the crowd goes wild.
Uh, so do you have another guitar since you smashed that one?
Ooh!
See, maybe I should have done that after band practice.
Okay, cave rockers, let's take it from the top.
Band practice has officially begun.
Reggie, you want to count us off?
My roses are dead and my violets are too.
But there's one thing they You're not supposed to enter on vocals until bar three of verse 17.
And you're flat.
Okay, cut.
Take five, everyone.
Oh, whew.
Finally.
My pan flute needs a rest.
Oh, never mind.
Still good.
What is it, Reggie?
Needs more seashell?
Well, how is a seashell going to help our band make a hit song?
Blow into it?
Like a horn?
A wind instrument?
Wait, you say there's a scientific study on this?
Let me see that.
Around 18,000 years ago, seashell found, cave in southern France, used as a musical instrument?
What in the wow?
Mindy?
Mindy?
Reggie?
You in there?
Make sure he says the password.
Um, hang on, Guy Razzi.
I'll open the garage door for you.
Oh, hey, Mindy.
Hi, Guy.
Hello there, Mr. Razzi.
Now, have we met before?
Whoa, what are all you doing in here?
We're being held hostage.
Oh, we're just having a little band practice.
See, we've got Dennis on the pan flute.
Toot, toot, toot.
I play the flute.
Grandma G-Force on the boo-boo beanie boppers.
Oh, yeah.
Oh!
Thomas Fingerling on, uh, percussion?
Oh, it works for me.
Ha!
Cha-cha!
Ha!
Cha-cha!
And I'm on lead vocals since I used to sing with dolphins professionally.
Huh?
Oh, sorry, Reg.
And Reggie here is the only classically trained musician in our band.
So his job is to count us off and give us encouraging coos.
Oh, right.
And now he wants to play the seashell.
Ah, a classic case of needs more seashell.
What?
You know, needs more seashell.
I gotta have more seashell.
It's a classic Wednesday Night Live bit.
Oh, yeah.
I remember that one.
Anywho, Reggie was just showing me this new scientific study about an 18000-year-old seashell that appears to have been used as some kind of musical instrument back in the day.
Wow.
18,000 years ago, huh?
That would have been during the Upper Paleolithic era, I think.
The Upper Paleolithic era.
Is that where the paleo fad diet comes from?
Was it an era of fads?
Well, if you consider two and a half million years a fad, well then... What?
Did someone say two and a half million year old dad?
No!
Oh, well.
It'd make a good reality TV show.
Oh, I'd watch that.
Dennis, the Paleolithic period was a period of human history where our ancient human relatives used to live in caves and simple huts.
Yeah, the Paleolithic period is also known as the Stone Age, and that's because these early humans would use stones and sometimes bones to make simple tools.
Yeah, and they were hunters and gatherers and only ate things like woolly mammoth and deer and bisons.
And the occasional fruit and nut.
And all the early humans did this?
Yes!
Well, see, that's a fad.
Dennis!
Then came the bread fad.
Now, bread.
That's something I can sink my gums into.
Snack break.
I'm going to go help myself to your kitchen, Wendy.
Me too, Fingerling.
Those kitchen walls taste delicious.
Okay, okay, I'll drop the fat thing, but I still don't see why the Paleolithic era was so great.
Dennis, the Paleolithic period is amazing because it's the first time that ancient humans began to leave behind art.
That's true.
They would create art using whatever they had around them.
Water, animal fats, tree sap, bones, clay, antlers, even blood.
Ew.
And they would use these things to create small figurines and cave paintings.
Yeah, and according to this new study that Reggie found, they would even create musical instruments.
Musical instruments out of 18,000-year-old seashells?
Well, I mean, they weren't 18,000 years old 18,000 years ago, but yeah.
Wow.
According to this study, researchers first found this particular seashell back in 1931.
It was found at the entrance to a cave in southern France.
Mindy, 1931?
That's like 90 years ago.
I thought you said this was a new study.
It is.
See?
Look at this.
When the researchers found the shell, they brought it to a nearby natural history museum.
And there it just sat around on a backroom shelf with a bunch of other old relics for the next 85 years.
So, a discovery waiting inside of a museum to be discovered?
Exact Doritos.
But it says here that in 2016, the wait was over.
An archaeologist by the name of Carol Fritz from the University of Toulouse in France, found the shell in the museum's archives and knew she had stumbled upon something special.
Mindy, I'm bored.
The story's boring.
Can we get back to band practice?
Oh, uh, sure, Dennis.
But first, we have to run a little errand and pick up Reggie's musical instrument.
Reggie's instrument?
Yeah remember, needs more seashell, gotta have more seashell.
Oh no mindy, you've got that.
Look in your eye what look?
Let me see.
Oh yeah, it's kind of playful and mischievous.
Wait mindy, is your eye twitching?
Yes mindy, there is No way I am going to help you steal an ancient musical seashell in a museum heist.
Museum heist?
Museum heist?
What?
No, I'm not planning to get the seashell out of a museum, Guy Raz.
They've got alarms in that place.
I'm planning to get it out of the hands of the ancient cave dweller who turned it into a musical instrument over 17000 years ago.
Get the cave person to uh, let us borrow it.
Aw, yeah.
Uh, Mindy, how are you going to... Ooh, there's that twitchy eye again.
Oh, no.
Now, as you'll see here in my garage I've got a semi-functional wow machine with the capability to travel back in time.
I call front seat.
Oh, sorry, Dennis.
It's only got seats for Guy Raz, Reggie, and me.
It was custom built.
Oh, well, then I call Reggie's lap.
Are you sure this is a good idea, Mindy?
Yes, of course I'm not sure this is a good idea, Guy Raz-y.
Now hop on it.
Isn't that the point of writing in a time machine?
Doesn't this thing make time irrelevant?
Yes, but I charge myself by the minute.
And do you know how many minutes 18,000 years is?
Yeah, guy.
Time is money.
Okay, Reggie, hold me.
There we go.
Everybody comfy?
Nope.
Yep.
Punching in the time-traveling coordinates, rewind and reverse, 18,000 years.
Gairaz, what's the name of that cave location in the study?
Oh, let me check the study here.
Uh, looks like it's the Marsoulis Cave, located in the foothills of the French Pyrenees Mountains.
That one right there?
Uh, yep.
Yep, it should be right there on the border between southern France and Spain.
Okay.
French mountains, border of Spain and France?
Here?
When we step out of this wow machine, we are going to be in the Paleolithic period, the Stone Age, okay.
Okay.
And it's very likely that we'll run into some ancient humans.
Okay.
Yeah, so, you know, just try to blend in, okay?
Not a problem.
My nickname in high school was Blender.
Really?
No.
Okay, ready to open the hatch, Mindy?
Uh-huh.
Thanks, buddy.
Wow.
Looks like we made it, Mindy.
The Stone Age.
Wild wildebeest.
Wooly mammoths.
And look, some of our ancient human relatives.
Oh, relatives.
Like a family reunion?
You are right.
I am underdressed.
Look at those people.
I've never seen so many fur coats in one place.
Those aren't fur coats, Dennis.
Those are skins from animals they've had to hunt for food.
Oh.
Ew.
Ah, bonker balls.
I completely forgot about dressing like the locals.
You know what we're going to have to do, Guy Raz?
Mindy, there is no way I am going to hunt down and skin a woolly mammoth.
Yeah, no, me neither.
I'll just wear Reggie.
Reggie, come here and be my feather boa.
No, no, no.
No one is going to wear Reggie or skin a woolly mammoth.
Dennis, I need you to check the back of the wow machine for all of the boo-boo beanie boppers you can find okay.
Aye, aye, Captain.
What are we going to do with boo-boo beanie boppers, Mindy?
Oh, we're going to rip out their guts and wear their fur.
What?
Okay, got them.
And wow, you've got quite a collection, Mindy.
Look, Guy, she's got the warthog and the aye-aye and the slow loris and the hyena.
Oh, Guy, look how cute the hyena is.
So now what are we going to do with them?
Get them all, Dennis.
But, Mindy.
Listen, we need their furry hides for clothing.
Uh.
If you can't do it, I will.
Oh, Mindy, no.
Oh, the hyena.
Oh, wait.
That's actually starting to look really good.
Oh, wow.
There we go.
Oh, that looks great.
All right.
Everything's fine.
There's a fur cloak for you, Dennis.
And a fur suit for you, Guy Razzi.
Well, what are we waiting for?
Time to step out into the Stone Age.
Now, remember, everyone, just remain calm and try not to draw any attention to yourself.
Everyone.
My name is Dennis.
I come from the future.
Now, which one of you is my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandpapa?
Hmm.
They didn't hear me.
Maybe because they've congregated in that hollowed out rock over there.
You mean that cave, Dennis?
Who are you calling a cave, Dennis?
Huh?
Come on.
Follow me, everyone.
And remember, just try to blend in.
Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.
So, do you think we're really going to find that ancient musical seashell here?
What?
I said, do you think we're really going to find... Shh!
Oh, sorry.
Mindy, Dennis, Reggie, did you hear that?
Uh, hear what?
Oh, yeah, I heard that.
That horn sound, it's coming from the cave over there.
That must be the Marsulis Cave.
And that horn must be coming from the 18,000-year-old seashell in that study.
Come on, everyone.
Let's follow the sound.
Okay.
So, Mindy, what does the study say about the seashell?
Well, it says that Dr Fritz and her team studied the shell and determined that it was a giant conch shell, presumably home to an ancient sea snail.
A big honking sea snail?
Did it play the shell like a horn?
Uh, doubtful, Dennis.
Oh, right.
I bet the sea snail sold seashells down by the seashore.
Probably where that tongue twister came from.
Uh Well, at first the researchers thought that the shell must have been used as some sort of a drinking vessel.
Oh, cool!
An ancient water bottle!
But upon closer inspection, after creating a three-dimensional digital model of the shell on a computer, they noticed something different.
Unusual?
What was it?
So first of all, part of the shell's outer edge had been chipped away and made smooth.
And then they discovered that the pointy tip at the top had been broken off on purpose.
Jay Willikers!
But isn't it possible that these things would have happened naturally anyway, Mindy?
I mean, this shell is over 17,000 years old.
Well, you might think...
But then they noticed some kind of brown gunk maybe leftover clay or beeswax all around the rim of the broken off tip.
Huh.
What about the inside of the shell, Mindy?
Did they find anything suspicious in there?
Actually, they did, Guy Raz.
Dr. Fritz and her team used a CT scan and a teeny tiny medical camera.
Oh, you mean like what doctors use to examine the inside of a human body?
Exactly.
Yeesh.
And what did they find?
Well, they found a hole.
A hole?
A hole that was almost half an inch in diameter, running from the tip of the shell through the inside center.
Just like you'd find in a musical horn.
You know it.
I mean, think about it.
The smoothed outer edge of the shell would make it easier for an ancient human to hold.
Yeah, and the, The broken tip and the hole running from it would make it easier to insert a mouthpiece.
Yeah.
The researchers thought that the early human who made it may have stuck a hollowed-out bird bone into the opening to use as a mouthpiece to blow into.
Wow!
And all of this combined led the researchers to conclude that this seashell had been purposely turned in To a musical instrument.
And that cave is like an ancient auditorium.
Listen to those sweet acoustics.
Now, before we make our move, let's hide behind this rock while we survey the scene.
Okay.
Well, scene surveyed.
I'm going to go say hello.
Dennis, do not draw it. to yourself.
Okay, fine.
I'll just stay here quietly behind this rock and slowly stand up and suddenly run away to go meet my ancient relatives.
Dennis, get back here.
Hi, ancient relatives.
I think it's too late, Mindy.
He's been spotted.
Oh, this old thing?
This is just my fur cloak.
Dennis!
It looks like they're having some sort of a cave party or something.
It's definitely a gathering of some sort.
And look, that one over there is holding a giant conch shell.
Look at that seashell, Guy Raz.
That must be the one.
This cave reminds me of your garage, Mindy.
Maybe they're having band practice, too.
That's a great song.
Did you write it?
And where did you get that seashell horn?
Like a paleolithic instrument store or something?
You made it?
Get out of here.
What's happening, Mindy?
I'm trying to see.
Well, how about a trade?
Oh, it looks like Dennis is making some kind of a deal with the ancient humans.
Okay, I'll give you my fur cloak.
And you give me your musical seashell horn.
Dennis just traded his boo-boo beanie bopper cloak for the seashell horn.
Well, I better be going.
Nice to meet you.
Thanks a bunch.
What?
He's going to change the course of history with that thing.
Here he comes.
Here he comes.
Dennis!
Dennis!
Dennis!
Hiya, Mindy.
I got the musical seashell horn thingy for the band.
Nice work, Dennis.
Oh, no problem.
All right, well, everyone, let's get back to the wow machine.
Yeah, come on, everyone.
We've got a band rehearsal to get to.
Mindy, wait up.
Okay, opening the hatch.
Oh. the rush is about.
With this machine, we literally have all the time in the universe.
No time for that, Dennis.
But it doesn't make any sense.
Closing that.
Okay.
Punching in the coordinates.
Ginger Fred Mansion.
Present day.
And here we Well, P-Force, looks like snack time's over.
Where you clowns been?
Oh, we just got back from the most amazing adventure.
There were woolly mammoths and ancient cave people, and you were there, and you were there.
No, we weren't.
Okay, that's enough.
Story time's over.
All right, everyone, we're going to take it from the top.
Reggie?
Here's your seashell horn.
Oh, an ancient cat shell horn.
Okay, from the top.
My roses are dead and my violets are too.
But there's one thing, baby, I love rats and also giraffes and sometimes cat food and... What?
This song needs more seashell.
Did he say more cowbell?
What?
Well, that don't make no sense.
Have more seashell?
Okay, take three.
My roses are dead, but there's one thing.
And also giraffes and sometimes cat food.
Wow in the world, we'll 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.
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.
Back to the show.
Wow in the World.
Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
Um, hi, my name's Mabel.
I live in Glen Falls, and my Wow in the World is that A group of blue jays.
It's called a party.
Hi, and I got your book of the How in the World the Human Body.
I'm going to let you show.
Bye.
Oh, and say hi to Mindy and Guy Raj and Reggie for me.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raj.
My name is Henry, and I live in Philadelphia.
And my wow is that horses can sleep standing up.
Say hi to Reggie.
Mom's fingerlings, Grandma G-Force, and Baby B. I'm the baby.
Someday you want to come visit me.
Bye.
Hi, my name is Rush.
I'm seven, and I live in Sun Valley, Idaho.
My wow in the world is that Trish can yawn, sneeze, and burp.
Say hi to Reggie for me and the annoying dinner.
Ahoy there.
Bye.
I live in Deer Park, Illinois.
My wow is there are 17000 kinds of butterflies all over the world except in Antarctica and dry deserts.
Say hi to the story cast and amazing dentist for me.
Hi!
My name is Mia.
I live in Vancouver, Canada.
My wow in the world is that Pilates don't have tails, and they have two thumbs on each hand.
Hi, my name is Bennett.
I'm from Whittier, California.
I am seven, and my love in the world is your biggest bone is called your femur bone.
Say hi to Reggie, Grandma G-Force, Thomas Fingering, and Dennis.
Howdy!
Bye!
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Oliver, and...
End of messages.
Hey, everyone.
Thanks so much for hanging out with us this week on Wow in the World.
And to keep the wow rolling, consider becoming a member of our World Organization of Wowzers.
Each membership includes episode, specific digital activities, science experiments, book lists and more.
Plus, you'll get a welcome box including a special edition members only T-shirt and an autographed picture of us.
Find out more at Tinkercast.com.
There you can also find more info on our upcoming shows.
Shop our shop and find our New York Times bestselling book, The How and Wow of the Human Body.
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 characters you hear.
And Grandma G-Force wrangles Grandma G-Force.
Grandma G-Force, get out of the credits!
Jessica Bode keeps our facts straight as our fact checker.
And Meredith Halpern-Ranzer powers the wow at, And special thanks to the rest of our Wow in the World team, including Anna Zagorski, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger and Henry Moskal.
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 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 the show or on an upcoming new episode of Two.
What's in a Wow?
Also, be sure to subscribe to Wow in the World wherever you get your podcasts.
And you can also ask your smart speaker to play Wow in the World.
Thanks for listening.
And until next time, keep on wowing.
Keep on wowing.
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