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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!
Good morning, Dennis!
Listen, I've been sneaking bites of your gingerbread mansion and I just thought you should know it tastes really terrible.
It's really bitter.
Why is it so bitter?
Oh, hey, Mindy.
Hello, Dennis.
Oh, hi there, Guy.
I was just telling Mindy her mansion here tastes like gingerbread wrapped in grapefruit and dipped in earwax.
It's really gross.
Maybe you should ask her why it's so gross.
Happy unbirthday, Guy What?
Mindy, it's not my birthday.
My birthday was like nine months ago, and you forgot.
Don't you remember?
Forgot that I remembered your birthday?
Uh... Because I seem to remember forgetting to remember that I forgot to remember.
This is giving me a headache.
Oh, that headache is just me, Guy Raz.
Well, in any case, it's not my birthday, but I'll be sure to remember this moment the next time it comes around, okay.
Okay, thanks.
Watch your foot there.
Bye.
I know that it's not your birthday, Guy Raz.
That's why I said, happy un-birthday.
Happy, huh?
Happy not your birthday to you.
Happy not your birthday to you.
Happy not your birthday, dear Guy Raz-y.
Happy not your birthday to you.
Mindy, what is all of this even about?
What is all of this even about?
Guy Raz, it's about the exciting day that I have planned for your unbirthday.
Well, I was just planning on taking it easy today.
You know, maybe a few crossword puzzles spend some time catching up on reading.
Terms and conditions.
Reggie!
What?
Is that Reggie?
Hey, Reg!
Mindy, why is Reggie driving your motor pickle?
Because you don't let the pigeon drive the bus, Guy Raz.
Everybody knows that.
Guess I'll have to hop on the old motor pickle then.
After you.
Thank you.
Okay, Reg, we're going to need you to take us to that new place, The Spit Take.
The Spit Take?
It's a new experimental restaurant that specializes in all of your favorite foods.
Artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale.
Kale!
Happy unbirthday, Guy Raz.
Brussels sprouts, artichokes.
Here we go!
Thanks for the ride, Reg.
Yeah, thanks, Reggie.
You didn't tell me that this new experimental restaurant was shaped like a human mouth, Mindy.
Oh, yeah.
And lucky for you, it looks like they're rolling out the red carpet in honor of your big unbirthday.
I don't think that's a red carpet, Mindy.
It looks like that red carpet is a tongue.
What are we waiting for?
Come on, let's go inside.
Whoa, people are eating at tables that look like teeth.
What is this place?
So the spit tank opened right after this scientist from Purdue University unveiled an amazing new study.
Yeah?
What was it?
It was a study that explored the link between our spit and our willingness to eat things like leafy green vegetables and dark chocolate and coffee.
Huh.
I feel like all those things share something in common, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Hello and welcome to the spit tank.
Party for two?
Don't mind if I do.
Right this way.
What's this slippery wet stuff all over the floor in here?
It's dripping from the ceilings and from everywhere.
This place feels like a damp cave.
Oh, that's the organic saliva imported from the Mediterranean.
Or was it the Netherlands?
Ooh la la.
Did you hear that, Guy Raz?
Imported saliva.
What?
We're walking in spit?
Here at the Spit Take, we only import the finest saliva from around the world.
Each batch a perfect combination of water and chemicals to keep your mouth moist.
Ugh.
Don't say moist.
Yeah, nobody likes that word.
Now, here we are.
Please take a seat.
Guy Raz.
Ever since that study I mentioned was unveiled, culture vultures from around the world are all agreeing that spit is it.
Spit is it?
As in in style or on trend or the zeitgeist?
Really?
Yosef will be with you in just a few moments.
Enjoy.
I'm so excited!
Hello there, my name is Ginger.
I'll be taking care of you all today.
Can I get you anything to drink?
We have coffee and we have chocolate milk.
And... And that is it.
I'll have a chocolate milk, please.
I'll just have a water.
Is it okay if there is coffee in your water?
No, I would just like a water, please.
We don't have water, sir.
But you just said there's water in the coffee.
One coffee it is.
I'll be right back to take your order.
But...
I forgot to mention that here at the Spit Take, they only serve food and drinks with a bitter taste.
Bitter?
Mindy, what kind of restaurant is this?
Um, a restaurant that serves literally all of your favorites.
I mean, go ahead, look at the menu.
Hmm, okay, uh, broccoli rabe with olives and Garlic, stir-fried mustard greens, roasted Brussels sprouts.
Mindy, these are all my leafy green favorites.
Happy unbirthday, little buddy.
But, Mindy, I do have a confession to make.
Uh, are you about to tell me a secret?
Because I've got to make sure I'm live-streaming this.
What?
Here, tuck into this end.
No, put the phone down, Mindy.
This is not for the whole world to know.
Fine.
All right, what's the secret confession?
I... What?
I didn't always... Didn't always what?
I didn't always like... Just say it, Guy Raz.
I didn't always like the taste of leafy green vegetables.
Mindy, say something.
Chocolate milk!
What?
Hope I'm not interrupting anything.
Just wanted to drop off your coffee here and your chocolate milk, ma'am.
Now, either of you first-timers here... We are.
It's my aunt's birthday.
Okay, so here's how the restaurant works.
We are an experimental eatery that sources and serves only the most bitter foods.
And we prepare them in the most bitter way possible.
There's no sugar or milk in this coffee water at all.
Fantastic spit-take serving.
That's what we like to see here.
What?
Guy Raz, that's kind of the point.
And while everything will probably taste a little bit toxic at first, we will continue to bring these foods out to your table until you start to enjoy them, which could take up to seven days.
Is that okay?
Okie doke.
Huh?
Great.
I'll be right back with your broccoli kale bitter bites.
Mm-mm.
You are going to detest them.
But... Ah.
Okay, Guy Raz, you were just starting to tell me the mind-blowing secret that once upon a time, you did not like the taste of kale.
Oh, right.
Well, to be honest Mindy, it's kind of hard for me to talk about because, as you know, these days I'm known as the kale crusader.
You know, the kale guy.
Oh, yeah.
I've seen you parading through the farmer's market with your please don't kale my vibe posters saying no to constipation.
Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, it is essential for a healthy digestive track.
Consider this your body's wake-up kale.
Heed this kale to action.
It's time to kale and quits on junk food.
Oh, hi there, guy.
Hello, Dennis.
Ooh, nice bullhorn.
What is that, like 20 watts?
Should've got the 50 watt.
Then people could hear you a little better.
Whew.
What can I say?
I'm a kale fan.
Kale, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens.
I never leave home without them.
But Mindy, there was once upon a time where that wasn't the case.
Let me guess.
When you were a little kid.
Yeah, how did you know?
Wow, it feels really good to get this off my chest.
Guy Raz, most kids don't like the taste of green leafy vegetables.
But I wasn't like most kids, Mindy.
Hmm.
Color me surprised.
Guy Raz, I want you to think back to when you were just a tiny Guy Raz-y, okay?
Okay, thinking back.
Now I want you to think back to the very first time that your mom fed you some leafy green kale from the garden and what that tasted like to you.
Okay, imagining those days.
Days.
I've harvested some brassica oleraceae from the garden.
Here, try some.
Ah, feel the delicious dance of your olfactory and gustatory cells.
Yes!
Ew!
Bitter, bitter, bitter!
Yeah, I do remember it tasting pretty awful and bitter.
Yep.
And that brings us back to that study I was about to tell you about earlier.
Oh, right.
The one about the new connections between our spit and foods with a bitter taste?
Yeah.
So here's the scoop.
This researcher named Dr Cordelia Running, from Indiana's Purdue University knew that bitter-tasting foods like kale and Brussels sprouts were nocturnal.
Exactly loved by most people.
As opposed to the other four basic tastes, salty, sweet, sour, and umami?
Umami?
Yeah, umami is a savory taste found in foods like meat and fish and some vegetables and even dairy products like cheese.
Ooh, mommy.
Sorry.
So I guess the idea behind this study was that most people, when given the choice, would rather eat something salty or sweet or any other taste over bitter.
Yeah.
So out of all five of the basic flavors, bitter is known to be the most unpleasant, to say the least.
But it's also the flavor found in some of the healthiest foods for our bodies.
And while it might be good for you, no one is going to ask for a big kale cake topped with mustard greens and dollops of Brussels sprouts on their birthday cake.
Happy birthday to you.
Not now.
What I'm getting at, Guy Raz, is that Dr Running had a hunch that maybe this rejection of bitter foods is something that we can change about ourselves biologically, by actually changing how we physically taste, physically right down to our teeny, tiny taste buds.
As opposed to psychologically, where we convince ourselves that we really, really like these foods.
Exact Doritos, Guy Raz.
So is this where our saliva or spit comes in?
Almost.
But first I should say that Dr Running took this hunch she had and decided to conduct an experiment.
Ooh, I love a good scientific experiment.
What was it?
Okay.
So she got 64 people to agree to drink chocolate milk every day for a whole week.
And every time they drank it they had to rate the flavor from bad to good, like on a scale of 1 to 10.
Drinking chocolate milk for science?
Hmm.
Hey, anything for science, Guy Raz.
But I don't understand.
I mean, chocolate milk is one of the sweetest treats I can think of.
It's kind of nutritious, but very delicious.
Delicious?
Not so fast.
See, this chocolate milk was flavored with chocolate or cocoa that contained only 4% sugar.
Ah, much less sugar than a regular chocolate bar that contains up to 23% sugar.
Right, so as you can imagine, chocolate or rather cocoa with almost no sugar in it...
Might taste pretty bitter.
For most people, maybe, but not for me.
I love dark chocolate.
Like you said, Guy Raz, you're not like most people.
So what did Dr. Running learn from her experiment?
Well, she learned that while the chocolate milk tasted crazy bitter to most people at first... Yeah?
By the end of the week...
Most of the people in the study actually started to like it.
At least it seemed to lose some of its bitter taste the more they drank it.
So over the course of the week, something in their bodies was changing the way they tasted the bitterness in the cocoa.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Which brings us back to spit.
Ugh.
Do we really need to talk about spit at the dinner table?
Guy Raz, we are literally in a restaurant shaped like an open mouth and called the Spit Tank.
Hi, hi, just checking in.
Anything I can get you guys?
Maybe some citrus peels to snack on?
Citrus peels?
I think we're going to need a few more minutes to look over the menu.
Thanks.
Okay.
Back to spit.
I feel like we never left it.
After the people in the study drank their bitter chocolate milk and rated the taste they had to.
You know What?
Send their spit to Dr. Running.
What?
So, like, they spit into an envelope and just mailed it to her?
No, I'm pretty sure that would be too messy.
Envelopes drooling all over the mailboxes.
I think they used something more scientific, like, I don't know, maybe a test tube or something.
Oh.
And then they mailed their spit to her.
And what exactly did she do with tubes of spit from 64 different people?
She took them to Purdue's Spit Lab and studied them.
I'm sorry, did you say Spit Lab?
Oh, well, the full name is Purdue's Saliva Perception, Ingestion, and Tongues Laboratory.
But most people just call it the Spit Lab for short.
An entire laboratory dedicated to studying spit for science?
Anywho, what she found was pretty wow.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
So, after studying the spit samples from these 64 different people, she and her team started noticing that there were changes in the spit during the course of the experiment.
Changes?
Like what?
Well...
First, I should mention that, in addition to helping us chew and swallow and break down the food that we shovel into our traps, spit is also full of these teeny tiny molecules called proteins.
And those proteins help us to taste the different flavors caused by the chemicals in our foods.
Like sweetness and sourness and bitterness.
You know it.
But after studying the spit of these people, She noticed that the more of this bitter chocolate milk they drank, the more certain proteins in their spit began to change.
Huh.
So the more their spit came into contact with the bitter flavors in the cocoa, the more those special proteins were made in their spit and the less they were able to taste the bitterness.
Well, basically, yeah.
So their spit glands actually learned to make more of that protein.
That dampened or decreased the bitter flavor.
Kind of like when you dump a bunch of water in my orange juice to water it down and think I don't notice.
So just to be clear, Dr. Running discovered that after a week of drinking bitter chocolate milk...
The people in the experiment had more of these diluting molecules than when they started?
Pretty bonker balls, right?
The building blocks of their spit basically changed to tell their brains that the bitter cocoa wasn't so bitter after all.
Wow.
You know Mindy, this could explain why I love eating kale now, but I didn't like it when I was a little kid.
Yeah?
What do you mean?
Well, even though I didn't like kale or Brussels sprouts or even dark chocolate as a kid, I still had to eat them.
So when you were a little kid, you actually tried again and again, and again and again to eat the bitter foods that you detested.
Yeah, with almost every meal.
I couldn't have dessert until I did.
But Mindy, over time, I started to actually enjoy these foods.
And now, well... I'm the kale crusader!
Whoa.
Guy Raz?
Your spit actually changed to make you like the taste of those bitter, leafy green vegetables.
Man, just goes to show that maybe it's not just the taste that determines what we eat.
But what we eat can, over time, determine the taste.
I might have to chew on that one for a while.
Uh, Mindy?
It's just taking me a while to chew on this broccoli kale bitter bite.
Hi, hi.
Just checking in to see how those bitter bites are going for you, huh?
Ugh.
Still crazy bitter.
Can I spit it out now?
Oh, of course you can.
There's a spit trough right over there.
A spit trough?
Ugh.
I'll bring out another serving.
Like I said, it could take up to seven days or more for your saliva to change enough for the bitter flavor to go away.
Ugh.
Guy Raz, here, put on these magnifying goggles and check out my spit.
See if you can see any changes in it yet.
Mindy, I'm not gonna... Happy unbirthday to you.
Wow, just for me?
Is that a cake made entirely out of raw kale?
You know it.
Oh, look, it's even decorated with tiny little broccoli florets, Mindy.
This is the best not my birthday ever.
Go ahead, Guy Raz, take a bite.
Okay.
Too bitter, Mommy.
Too bitter, Mommy.
He might need a few more bites before his saliva gets used to it.
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grown-ups, this message is for you.
Hey, grown-ups.
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.
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.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Shelby and I'm eight years old.
I live in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
My wow in the world is that when you open a thermos water bottle on an airplane, it sprays because of low air pressure.
Bye, I love your show.
Hi, Indy and Guy Ross.
My name's Cormac and I'm seven years old.
And I'm Evan and I'm five years old.
And we live in Chicago, Illinois.
And all around the world. you need a proton and an electron to make electricity.
Bye.
I love you so.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
I'm Hensley.
I'm from Georgia, and my wow in the world is that, um, is that Norwells have super long teeth.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Raz.
Love you too, Reg.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz.
My name is Chia, and I live in Hawaii.
And my wow in the world is that underwater volcanoes made the Hawaiian Islands thousands of years ago.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Ross.
I love your show.
Oh, hi.
Hi, my name is Brody.
I live in Sterling, Alberta.
My wow in the world is that bull sharks can live in both brackish and salt water.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Sophie, and I am seven years old.
I am calling from Tucson, Arizona.
My well in the world is that your ancient ground sloths lived 2.5 million years ago.
They were as big as a cow and lived in caves in southwestern North America.
Bye.
Hi, Mindy and Guy Ross.
My name is Ella, and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I am seven years old.
My wow in the world is that babies have more bones than adults do.
Bye, Mindy and Guy Ross.
I love your show.
I think you should make your podcast into a TV show.
That would be so awesome.
Bye.
End of messages.
Hey, everyone.
Thank you so much for joining us this week on Wow in the World.
And if you want to keep the conversation going, check out some of the questions we posted on this episode at our website, wowintheworldcom.
And grownups.
There you can find more details on how your kids can become part of the World Organization of Wowzers.
Lots of cool perks, exclusive t-shirts, autographed pictures of us and a bunch of other cool stuff wowintheworldcom.
Our show is produced by Jed Anderson.
Say hello, Jed.
Hello.
With help from Thomas Van Kalken, Chelsea Urson, and Jessica Bodie.
Meredith Halpern-Ranzer is the big boss.
Our theme song was composed and performed by The Pop-Ups.
You can find more of their awesome all-ages music at thepopups.com.
And parents and teachers.
If you want to send us an email, our address is hello at wowintheworldcom.
Grown-ups.
You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at And if you want to be featured at the end of the show, call us up and tell us your wow in the world.
Our phone number is 1-888-7wowwow.
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If you want to upload any photos or videos or messages to us, please visit wowintheworldcom and find a link where you can do just that.
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Leave us a few stars and a review and be sure to tell a friend about the show.
Until next time, keep on wowing.
Wowing.
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