Kids, you have a lot of questions.
Is a crocodile a dinosaur?
Why do people vote?
How does your food turn into your poop?
But why?
A podcast for curious kids has answers.
I'm Jane Lindholm.
Join me as we dig deep into everything from science to history nature, emotions and sometimes even the weird.
Why are jellyfishes made of jelly?
Or are they made of jelly?
Find But Why wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey there, smarty pants.
Welcome back to Smarty Q, the show where you ask the questions and I, the trusty narrator, answer them.
Because, let's face it, there's nothing I like more than having curious kids from around the world send me their biggest weirdest, smartest questions about how the world works.
So let's get started.
Our first question comes from my smarty friends Eli and Maggie and their mom Shannon, in Maryland, who ask what is the bloop?
Ooh, great question.
So mysterious.
You see, back in 1997, scientists studying underwater microphones in the Pacific Ocean recorded a very strange sound.
It was extremely loud.
It came from deep underwater, and no one knew what made it.
The sound rose quickly in pitch and lasted about a minute.
Because it sounded so unusual, scientists gave it a nickname, the Bloop.
At first, some people wondered if it could be a giant unknown sea creature.
But after studying the sound for years, scientists discovered the most likely explanation.
It probably came from huge pieces of Antarctic ice cracking and breaking apart, something called an ice quake.
When enormous glaciers shift or split in the ocean, they can create sounds so powerful they'd travel thousands of miles underwater.
So the bloop wasn't a sea monster, after all.
Just the Earth's ice making a really big noise.
Bloop, bloop.
Okay, our next two questions come from the Larios family.
First up, Smarty Pants.
George Luis wants to know what's the difference between a mountain and a hill.
You might think the answer is simple.
Mountains are big and hills are small.
And while that's mostly true, you might be surprised to know that scientists and geographers actually don't have one exact rule for the difference.
Generally speaking, a hill is a raised area of land with a rounded top and gentle slopes.
A mountain is usually much taller, with steeper sides, and sometimes a pointy or rocky peak.
Some people say if it's taller than about 2,000 feet or 600 meters, it's probably a mountain.
But even that rule isn't used everywhere.
Sometimes the name just depends on what people started calling it long ago.
That means a place called a hill might actually be taller than some places called mountains.
Next up, dad, George Larios, has a fun music question.
How did Bad Bunny get his name?
Well, the top-selling Grammy-winning Super Bowl-performing superstar musician Bad Bunny, was born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio in Puerto Rico.
When he was a kid, he had to dress up in a bunny costume for a school picture, and he was not happy about it.
In the photo, he's wearing the bunny ears, but he has a very grumpy face.
Later on, when he started making music, he remembered that picture and thought it was funny.
So he chose the name Bad Bunny, basically meaning a bunny with a bad attitude.
And the name stuck.
Who would have thought that a grumpy bunny photo would lead to one of the biggest music stars in the world?
Okay, three questions asked, three questions answered, but we've got three more great ones coming up, including how many atoms are in the human body.
Right after this quick break, and a word from our sponsors.
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And now back to Smarty Q.
Our next question comes from Ozzy in Los Angeles, who asks on average how many atoms are in the human body.
Oh, wow.
Ready for a really big number?
The human body contains about seven octillion atoms.
That's right, I said it.
7 octillion.
That's the number 7, followed by 27 zeros.
Go ahead, try writing it out for fun sometime.
You see, atoms are the tiny building blocks that make up everything in the universe.
Air, water, trees, planets, stars, and people.
Most of the atoms in your body are in the form of four specific elements.
Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.
And even though atoms are unbelievably small, when you put octillions of them together, you get something pretty amazing.
You get you.
Okay, next up is a question from my smarty friend Lily, listening on Spotify, who asks why do we get cramps?
Great question.
Cramps happen when a muscle suddenly tightens up and won't relax right away.
You see, your muscles are supposed to squeeze and relax smoothly.
That's how you move your arms, legs, fingers, and toes.
But sometimes a muscle contracts too hard or gets stuck for a moment, and that causes a cramp.
So what causes that?
Well, there's a few reasons.
For one thing, dehydration.
When your body doesn't have enough water, it can cause cramps.
Or you could overuse a muscle.
Running, swimming, or playing sports for a long time can cause cramps.
And finally, if you're running low on minerals like potassium or magnesium, which help your muscles work properly, that could also cause your muscles to tighten up.
Ouch.
The good news is most cramps go away pretty quickly if you stretch the muscle, move around a little or drink some water.
Your muscles are basically saying, hey, I could use a break.
And speaking of a break, we'll be back with our last question right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.
Now back to SmartEQ.
Our final question comes from Luca, listening on Spotify, who asks, what is hemorrhaging?
Wow, that's a heavy question.
As you may or may not know, smarty pants, hemorrhaging is the medical word for heavy or uncontrolled bleeding.
Normally, when you get a cut, your body quickly goes to work fixing it.
Blood cells form a clot, which is like a tiny plug that stops the bleeding.
But if a large blood vessel is damaged or the body can't form a clot fast enough, blood may continue flowing out and doctors call that hemorrhaging.
It can happen outside the body, like from a serious injury, or inside the body, where doctors use scans and tests to find the bleeding.
That's why stopping bleeding quickly is very important in medicine.
Your body is actually very good at fixing small cuts, but big injuries sometimes need doctors and medical help to stop the bleeding.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of Smarty Q.
If you've got a question bouncing around in your brain that you'd like me to answer, just have a grownup, help you email me at whosmarted, at whosmartedcom.
Until next time, keep on smarting, smarty pants.
