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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!
Mindy, did you ever find really cool shapes in the clouds?
One time I looked up and I saw a dolphin being pushed in a baby stroller by a T-Rex.
Well, the T-Rex was having trouble pushing the stroller because his baby arms were too small and he was holding a latte.
Hmm, I must have missed that one.
And this morning, when I was looking up at the clouds, I saw a huge piece of cauliflower topped with shaving cream.
It looked delicious.
Uh, yeah, yeah, cool.
You've got a great imagination, Mindy.
Guy Raz, I saw a piece of giant cauliflower topped with shaving cream in the clouds.
It was real!
Uh, okay, well, moving on.
You know, scientists who've been observing Saturn have also been noticing some pretty unusual shapes recently, especially around one of Saturn's moons.
Wait a minute.
I know we've talked about this before, Guy Raz, but just to be sure, Saturn has a moon.
Just like...
We have our moon for our planet Earth?
Mindy, Saturn does not have one moon.
Well, you just said it did!
Well, I said one of Saturn's moons.
Saturn has... Are you ready for it?
Saturn has at least 62 moons, and probably as many as 150, but...
We've only been able to see 62.
Wow, that's crazy.
So this means that if the book Goodnight Moon was written about Saturn, it would be titled Goodnight Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon, Moon Moon.
Mindy, Mindy, Mindy, stop, stop.
We get it.
We get it.
Moon.
Man.
Sorry, Guy Raz.
I don't know what just happened there.
I think I might have left out a moon.
Nope.
Anyway, you were saying?
Well, astronomers have noticed that one of Saturn's closest moons, called Pan, has a very well unusual shape.
So what's the shape?
Well, it looks like an empanada.
An empanada?
An empanada.
Empanada.
Yup, an empanada.
Empanada?
An empanada.
Wait, what's an empanada?
Oh, Mindy.
You are in for a treat if you have never tried an empanada.
Empanadas are these little bread pockets filled with meat or cheese or vegetables, and you can find them in countries like Argentina Venezuela Chile, Colombia and even in Latin American restaurants here in the United States.
And Mindy, I can tell you from experience, they are amazing.
Okay, now I'm hungry.
Let's take a snack break.
No, uh...
You were right.
Those empanadas were delicious.
I told you.
They look like little giant raviolis.
Yeah, they're puffy in the middle and flat along the edges.
The puffy part is where you've got the yummy stuff inside.
And this moon, Mindy, pan...
It looks a little like an empanada.
And astronomers have just figured this out?
Yes and Mindy.
The reason why is because they recently got some really great photographs of Pan from a space camera called Cassini.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
There is a camera flying around up in outer space?
Yeah, in fact, Mindy, there are lots of them.
Well, not exactly cameras flying up in space, but space probes or small little spacecrafts that fly around planets and do things like take close-up photographs of them.
Huh.
Okay, I need Mars.
I need Venus.
I need faces towards the sun.
Jupiter, lose the pouty face.
I want to see some teeth, honey.
And then they send those photos back to Earth in a kind of an email to scientists who are working at NASA, the US space agency.
And just to be clear, there's no one... on these spaceships, right?
That's right, Mindy.
These are unmanned spacecrafts and they help scientists here on Earth understand what's going on in space by doing things like taking photos.
Oh, and that's how they realized that Pan isn't just a moon, but an actual empanada.
Well, it is a moon, actually, not an empanada.
And it's made of mostly rocks and ice.
So no beef and cheese?
So why do they call it Pan anyway?
Well, that's a great question, Mindy.
Pan was named after a mythological god named Pan.
Mindy, I know a lot of kids will have heard about Greek mythology.
These are ancient stories that come from the country Greece.
And way back a long long, long time ago.
The ancient Greeks believed in many different gods which were a little like Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Great question, Mindy.
Well, Pan is known as a shepherd moon because, just as a shepherd makes sure that the sheep don't get too far away from the flock and, you know, stay inside a closed-off area, the shepherd moon is generally a moon that orbits a planet with rings like Saturn or Neptune.
And these shepherd moons stay inside or very close to the rings.
They don't stray.
And so astronomers have compared these moons to shepherds, and thus, they call them shepherd moons.
Wow, that's a pretty cool explanation for how it got its name.
Anyway, Guy Raz, I'm going to head on down to the farmer's market and, like a good shepherd, I'm going to herd some empanadas right into my belly.
You want one?
Be careful, Mindy.
You know what they say.
Yep.
Twelve empanadas a day keeps the doctor away.
Or something like that.
Hi, what's your name?
Kendall.
How old are you?
Seven.
So, Kendall, what do you think the moon would taste like if you took a bite out of it?
Um, a Napoleon treat.
What is that?
Um, you have to have chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream.
You have to have a Rice Krispie treat.
Neapolitan?
No.
Napoleon treats.
Napoleon treats?
No.
Napoleon.
Neapolitan.
Napoleon.
Okay, I'll just take your word for it.
So where did you come from?
From my house.
And what's your name?
Abram.
How old are you, Abram?
Four.
So Abram, what do you think the moon tastes like?
No, moons are made out of rock.
And if you ate a moon on accident, what would you have to do?
Spit it out.
You'd have to spit out the moon?
Yeah.
Loud in the World will be right back.
Grown-ups, this message is for you. grownups, 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.
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 curiosity.
That's it.
Back to the show.
But mom, it's not going to be forever.
Dangerous?
Mom, they're my relatives.
Actually, as a human, they are yours, too.
They are our closest relatives here on Earth.
I'm not making this up.
Lonely?
Mom, they know how to give hugs and kisses, just like a real family.
We have a... I promise you, we have a lot in common.
I mean, we both like the outdoors, we both like bananas, And we both don't have tails.
Oh, I gotta call you back.
Guy Raz just walked in.
No, he's not wearing the flamingo suit.
We don't talk about it anymore.
I know, you thought it was adorable.
I gotta go.
I love you.
Bye, Mom.
Uh, hey, Mindy, uh, what are you doing over there?
Hey, Guy Raz.
I was just on the phone with my mom trying to convince her why it's a good idea for me to move to Gombe National Park in Tanzania to live with a bunch of wild chimpanzees.
Uh... Can you believe she thinks that's crazy?
Okay.
You know, Tanzania's...
Pretty far away.
I mean, all the way in East Africa.
And besides, there is no way your carrier, pigeon Reggie, is going to make it that far without getting lost, Mindy.
I know it's far, Guy Raz, but the more I learn about chimpanzees, the more I just really want one for a best friend.
Uh... I mean, I just feel like we have a lot in common.
Well, that's true, Mindy.
I mean, as you know, chimps are our closest relatives on planet Earth.
But I'm not sure it's such a good idea to, uh... to live with them.
I mean, for one thing, you really love to talk, and I don't think you speak chimpanzee.
Guy Raz, chimps can learn to speak sign language.
I'll just have them teach me.
I'm not really sure that's how it works.
Besides, you'll be living in the middle of the Gombe National Park.
No humans to play with.
No one to join you in a game of apples to apples or twister.
I mean...
Don't you think you might get bored?
Bored?
Guy Raz, chimps know how to organize and make up their own awesome games.
They do it all the time.
Okay, well, what about personal hygiene?
I mean, you know they don't have hairbrushes in the wild, Mindy.
Guy Raz, chimps take grooming very seriously.
In fact, they even use grooming as sort of a way to show friendship.
So, as far as personal hygiene and grooming goes...
I'll just let them show how much they love me by picking the bugs and dirt out of my hair.
Ugh, okay.
And I hear it's very calming, which is good for someone like me, who breaks out all the time.
Mindy, what even brought this on?
I mean, I know the chimps and humans share a lot of the same characteristics, but...
We're still a very different species from them.
Well, that's the thing, Guy Raz.
It turns out that we're even more alike than we ever thought before.
Really?
More than we ever thought before?
Yeah.
So for a long time, scientists have been looking for clues as to how humans learn to cooperate, know working together, instead of just looking out for number one.
Well, i think it's safe to say that most of us humans learned how to cooperate from our parents and our teachers.
Yeah, but how did our parents and teachers learn to cooperate?
In other words, how did our earliest ancestors learn to cooperate?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I mean, when you think about it, cooperation is sort of the, the bedrock, the foundation, the basis of our human civilization.
It's why we Homo sapiens were able to spread all around the world.
Yeah, I mean pretty much everything in our lives is dependent on cooperation, like how our cities and countries work and how we make and follow all of our rules and laws, and even big inventions like computers and spaceships and waffled tacos.
They all require cooperation because without it, Life as we know it would be very different.
Wow, imagine that kind of world.
Okay.
Wow, Mindy, sometimes your imagination is so loud, even I can hear it myself.
Well, I know that chimps also cooperate with each other, but what does that have to do with why we humans cooperate?
Well, remember how I said that scientists have been looking for clues to explain how we learn cooperation.
Yeah.
Well, it looks like chimpanzees might just hold the clue.
Well, if they're holding the clue, can't scientists just, you know, tickle it out of them?
Get it?
Tickle it out of them?
Ross, they're not literally holding the clue.
Well, but did you like my joke?
Here's the deal.
So while scientists have known for a long time that chimps could cooperate, they weren't sure about their motive for cooperating.
You mean they thought it was possible that chimps only help other chimps if they get something out of it.
Exactly.
Which would be selfish, right?
I'll say.
So now the question is, could chimps be altruistic?
Could they be willing to help other chimps even if there was nothing in it for them?
So could the chimps be kind and caring and Altruistic?
Yeah, like the time you tripped over my roller skates at the bottom of the stairs and scraped your knee and I offered to perform surgery on you, but you said no thanks, just give me a band-aid and stop leaving your roller skates all over the place.
Uh... And I gave you a band-aid and didn't even ask for a prize in return?
Uh, I don't know if I'd call that altruistic.
I seem to remember that for months after that, you'd go around telling people that you saved my life and introduce yourself at parties as Guy Raz's personal hero Hi.
I'm Mindy, Guy Raz's personal hero.
Now I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but I did totally save his life from a freak roller skate accident.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, it was really scary.
Kind of touch and go there for a while, but in the end, I really pulled through.
Oh, my gosh.
I guess I did.
Okay, so bad example, but you get it, right?
I mean altruism is doing something nice or helpful for someone else without getting anything in return.
Or even bragging to everyone about the nice thing you did.
Yeah, sure.
So these scientists wondered that if chimps could be altruistic, then maybe this could be a clue as to how humans evolved to be altruistic too.
Well, how did they go about trying to find this out?
Okay.
So there were two big experiments.
The first one was conducted by Martin Schmelz and Sebastian Gruneisen at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
And what was the experiment?
Okay, so pay close attention because this can get a little tricky.
Okay.
So the first thing they did... was create a little chimpanzee sharing game.
That sounds like fun.
What was the game?
Well, they took two chimps from the Leipzig Zoo and put them in two rooms next to each other, with a window dividing them in between.
Okay, I'm imagining it.
And the first chimp, a girl chimp named Ty, had four choices of ropes to pull.
Then they had a bunch of partner chimps play one at a time, and these were boy chimps.
Interesting.
So the boy chimps knew that Ty had four choices of ropes.
If she pulled the first rope, a banana would drop down and Ty would get to eat it all by herself.
Bet she liked that.
But if she pulled the second rope, the boy chimp would get the treat all to himself.
This is getting really interesting.
And then, if Ty pulled the third rope, she and the boy chimp would get a banana.
And can you guess what happened if she pulled the fourth rope?
A piñata full of smashed bananas would explode all over the lab?
Nope.
But that's what I'm planning for your surprise party.
My what?
Oh, I didn't say anything.
Anywho, if she pulled the fourth rope, she would pass her turn to the boy chimp, who would then get to choose a rope to pull himself.
So, did Ty always pull the first rope and get the banana all for herself and only herself?
Well, that's what you would think.
But there was a twist.
A twist?
And the twist was that Ty was encouraged by the scientists conducting the experiment to always pull the fourth rope and give the boy chimp the choice.
So did the boy chimps know that the scientists were encouraging Ty to give them the rope?
Nope.
As far as they knew, Ty was just being nice and giving her turn to them.
But Mindy, that meant that if she gave up her turn, the boy chimps could simply pull the first rope and keep all the bananas to themselves.
Well they could.
But the scientists began to notice that the boy chimps understood that Ty was doing something nice for them.
So did that mean that the boy chimps were nice back to Ty?
Yes, so in most cases, without even being encouraged, the boy chimps would pull the ropes.
That gave both them and Ty a banana.
What a bunch of pals.
I know, right?
And there's more.
What?
After Ty passed on her turn, the boy chimps had only two choices.
They could pull the first rope and get four treats just for themselves, or pull the second rope and get three treats, three for themselves and three for Ty.
And what rope did they pull?
Well, almost half the time the boy chimps pulled the second rope, meaning that they would get one less banana for themselves.
But enough to share with their friends.
Yep, those boy chimps were totally thinking of their friend Ty.
Mindy, would you like my last banana?
Well, it does look appealing.
You get it?
You get it?
Okay.
Let's just move on to the second experiment.
Okay.
So in the second experiment, Kevin Langergraber, a scientist from Arizona State University, studied why chimps go on patrol missions.
Patrol missions?
Yeah, so in the wild, chimps live in big groups just like we do.
Like in towns or cities or neighborhoods.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And just like in our towns and cities, chimps basically take on the jobs of community helpers.
So one may volunteer to be the group's police officer or security guard.
And then go on a patrol in the wild, keeping their eyes out for bad guys?
Yeah, and they walk around the very edge of the group's territory and look out for rival chimps who might want to attack.
Well, that sounds like a pretty risky job.
I mean, if predators came along or hunters, those patrol chimps would be the first to get hurt or even killed.
I know.
Crazy, right?
So this scientist, Kevin Langergraber, wondered if these patrol chimps would only volunteer if there was something else in it for them.
Isn't it for them like if they were only protecting their own family members?
Yeah, and this is kind of what the scientists expected.
But?
But it turns out that after 20 years of studying almost 4000 chimps in Uganda, the researchers discovered that more than 25, or one in every four patrol chimps had no relatives in the group they were protecting.
So they were protecting other chimps even if it meant sacrificing their own safety?
Yep.
The scientists call this idea group augmentation, which is just a fancy way of saying that chimps know that if they have to sacrifice themselves to protect the whole group, then everyone else in the group is better off too.
Huh.
And that also means that the group has a better chance of growing and surviving because they'll be able to make more baby chimps.
So...
Does any of this help us to better understand how humans learned to cooperate and be altruistic?
Well, we're still learning exactly how we became a species where millions of us live and work together, but these studies do help us understand the basic ideas behind cooperation and, of course, putting others before ourselves.
And so what does it mean for people who still find it, you know, kind of hard to share or play fair or to be nice?
Well, I really don't know what that means, and it's safe to say that we all have these moments.
But when it comes to putting others first, it doesn't hurt to ask ourselves the question what would a chimp do?
Or, more specifically, what would Ty do?
Yeah, she's my North Star.
So, are you still thinking of moving to Tanzania to live with the chimpanzees?
Well, that depends.
I mean, you're basically my best human friend in civilization, so...
What are the chances you would be willing to altruistically put on this ape suit and pick bugs out of my hair?
Uh, the last time you put me in an animal costume, I ended up in the flamingo pond at the zoo.
There's no way I'm getting in that ape suit.
Yeah, that flamingo thing was bananas.
Thanks so much for listening to Wow in the World this week.
And parents, if you want to continue the conversation with your kids.
We've posted some questions about this episode at our website, wowintheworldcom.
And while you're there, you can find links to some of the sources we used to tell our stories this week.
Also, we love hearing from you.
You can write us at hello at wowintheworld.com.
Our show is produced by Jed Anderson.
Say hello, Jed.
Hello.
Our theme song, Wow in the World, was written and performed by The Pop-Ups.
Check them out at thepopups.com.
Big thanks to the kids that you heard in today's episode.
Kendall and Abram, you guys were awesome.
Also, we love hearing what's been wowing you.
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Have your grown-ups help you share something that's recently wowed your world by dialing 1-888-7WOWOW.
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