From the brains behind brains on it's smash boom best. The show for people with big opinions.
Hi, I'm Molly Bloom and this is Smash Boom Best, the show where we take two things, smash them together and ask you to decide which one is best. Todays debate zooms out to the farthest reaches of space, then back into the tiniest details of life on Earth, its telescopes versus microscopes.
We've got astronomer Mark Papa Chalk here to leave you starry -eyed for team telescopes.
Tell your family, tell your friends, tell everyone the best tool is a telescope.
And, writer and producer May Nicole will help fill you with Marvel for team microscopes.
Micro, Bomidey, we're scoping stuff that's tiny.
And here to judge it all as Yasmin from Vancouver, Canada, Yasmin is a grey belt in in Jutsu loves making her own Halloween costumes is fluent in Japanese and once did an entire Smash Boom best style debate with her dad.
Hi, Azman! Good day!
Hi! Hi! So what were the sides doing your dad represented in your debate?
So it was Apple'sversus Orange's sense.
I love Apple Juice and my dad is strongly orange.
So we decided to have a debate about that and I won.
Hey, congratulations.
What tactics did you use to win?
I presented a lot of facts and I didn't a lot of research, so I think that's how I won.
Hary impressive. Okay, so since you have debated, I'm curious if you have any advice for our debaters today.
Bring positive energy and make me want me to vote for you.
Make Jasmine Watva for you excellent advice.
Well Jasmine's side with Mark Ormanica, only time will tell, but first here are the rules of the game.
Every debate consists of four rounds, the Declaration of Greatness, the micro route, the sneak attack, and the Final six.
After each round are Judge Jasmine will award points to the team that impresses her the most, but she'll keep her decisions top secret until the end of the debate.
Listeners we want you to judge too.
Mark down your points as you listen at the end of the show head to our website smashboom .org and vote for whichever team you think won.
Okay. Mark, Monica and Yasmine, are you ready?
Yes! This whole thing is a dream come true.
So ready. Definitely.
My enthusiasm for looking at small stuff is anything but micro.
Then it's time for the Declaration of Grace.
In this round, our debaters will present a well -crafted immerse of argument in favor of their side, then they'll each have 30 seconds to reboot their opponent's statements.
We flip to coin, and mark your up first. Tell us what makes telescopes, so terrific.
– All right, let's get into it.
I think telescopes are wait, who's that?
I'm the dreaded space pirate.
Spacebeard! Who knew?
Oh yes! Behold my great big busie beard!
I braid in all these little stars!
It's as deep as the night sky!
I'd be hearing your be talking about silly schools.
I, I cabin. Well, I'd be using them to scan the horizon for land or sail, it do be making far away things much easier to see.
Do you use it to look at the night sky?
only if by night sky you mean the beer, I do lose things in it sometimes.
and who are all them?
oh I've taught my chirst and crew of scotti eggs and bread students to sing you our favorite spyglass sea shuntie.
wait I don't think of them on the waves I count off without my trusty cow so it's them far away from me, so we can see the sea or loaf.
I'm old boy he said I could see that?
Oh, alright. Sorry.
Got to catch you off.
Sadly, we don't have time for that.
Yours. I got to stay focused so I can explain why telescopes are the most incredible tools humans have ever made.
Telescope's help see far away stuff.
They do this by taking a light, then bending or bouncing it around to make images appear bigger.
The first to look at the night sky where the telescope was Galileo Galilee.
Whoa, cause he saw craters on the moon.
The rings of Saturn and whole new worlds orbiting around Jupiter.
Magnifico. His observations blew minds because it helped confirm Earth was just one planet among many.
And then there was Edwin Hubble.
He noticed that the fuzzy parts of space weren't just clouds.
They were other galaxies.
Whoa! Space is full of island universes.
And of course, there was Virirubin, where the telescope she observed how galaxies move over time.
and she noticed that the movements only made sense if there were some invisible stuff hiding in plain sight.
Incredible! There has to be something there that can't be seen.
This led to the discovery of dark matter.
Thanks to telescopes we went from thinking the universe was revolving around the Earth to realizing it was bigger and more wondrous than anyone could imagine.
And telescopes are useful in Earth too.
Ever looked through a pair of binoculars to watch a bird?
Or maybe taken some opera?
Or a bird singing opera.
Well, binoculars are just two tiny telescopes, one for each eye.
But the coolest thing about a telescope is that you can use it to share the universe with someone else.
I remember the first time I used a powerful telescope in college.
I appeared through a tiny hole and saw Saturn's rings for the first time.
It was a literal window to another world.
Soon I was bringing all my friends there so they could see Saturn and have their minds blown to.
In fact, I think that's why I became an astronomer, so I could keep sharing the universe with whoever wants to look.
Even me even you space beard you're Well that makes me want to see wait.
Hold on now it's time that we sent Sam but first I stand without this without aids, but can we see my party crew Just away just away everything.
oh man, a delightful song stinging the praises of an object that helps us see the really big picture.
Yasmin what's to tell to you about Mark's Declaration of Greatness?
I enjoy lots of the facts and I just I very much enjoyed this sea shanty.
It's tell us why telescopes can't even cope.
You've got 30 seconds and your time starts now.
Okay. I did also love that you are singing to us and not just telling us about telescopes.
However, telescopes, you're looking at things and they're far away, and they're still really far away.
You can see stuff that's cool with the telescope, but many of the space things can be very overwhelming.
They're very big. And in general, I just think it's cooler to be sort of like zooming in, to looking at something small and making it bigger than like squinting through or taking a photo of something big.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
I think space spirit if you was here, he'd be very happy to hear how everybody likes this.
fancy. And I got to say that big things are definitely big.
Yeah, I think I have a point I want to make about that later for sure.
Mark, Poppinchock says big things are big.
Okay. Mainica, it's your turn.
Tell us why microscopes are full of hope.
Let's start in the early days of the microscope, about 350 years ago in the Netherlands, A man named Antonee von L Coinhoek was one of the first people to really make use of this new invention that lets you see tiny things up close.
Today, I shall look at this poem, Water beneath my microscope.
It's me! I'm algae.
Huh, huh. A cavorting specimen, a completely new teeny tiny creature with green and glittering scales.
Ah, yeah! Algy! Like I said, who are you?
I'm Anthony von Lavenhoek.
That name doesn't ring a bell.
Well, I'm not exactly famous, I run a fabric shop.
On the side I love making these little microscopes.
I took inspiration from a few people who made scopes before me, but I'm probably the best microscope maker of my time.
Sounds like it's maybe not paying your bills.
Rude but, yeah. Still, I've seen so many wonders up close.
The rhines of cheese prime from my teeth Blood from my veins.
Even my own poop. Okay, brave Am I or my icy wee beasties everywhere?
They're small but alive like little animals I shall call them animalcules since that's Latin for little animals animals are, and the molecules rule So until this time we didn't know that living things could be this small or that there were tiny beings all around us.
Microscopes opened up entirely new worlds.
And I've seen these worlds myself, because I have a microscope, too.
Like when I've zoomed in on pollen from flowers, the grains come in all kinds of colors, like plants sprinkles.
When I look at needles from the fur trees outside my house, I see they're curved with little ridges like tiny celery.
And when I've sculpted blood, I can see the bits that make our blood red.
The disc's called red blood cells!
Haha, I don't forget, I saw blood cells wave before you.
I could never! And nice timing, Antoni, I'm just getting to how microscopes have changed our world.
And you are one of the people who kick this off!
Tell THAT to the microbe that thinks I'm a nobody!
Oh, don't worry about what one little microbe told you.
Probably they're just cranky after going undiscovered for billions of years.
Without microscopes, we'd never have found them.
And microscopes have shown us worlds inside of our own bodies too.
We learned that we've got tiny living things called microbes within us.
When we digest our food billions of tiny pals in our guts help us out!
They're also on our skin, in our mouths, all over, some keep us healthy, and others make us sick.
And understanding these tiny beings has helped us stay healthier too.
Before microscopes, we sometimes miss the mark about what made people sick.
As your medieval doctor, I think the cause of your illness is an imbalance of liquids in your body.
Like you probably have too much blood, that or you know, the planets.
With microscopes, we've been able to understand that microbes like bacteria can make us sick and we can fight them.
Eolnesses, they seem to be caused by tiny animalcules, But, if we wash our hands, we can get rid of germs and stop them from spreading.
And look, I found that this chemical stops germs from growing.
We can use this as medicine to help people heal.
And since the days of animal fuels, microscopes have only gotten better at showing us the world's within our own.
Some microscopes even let us see the atoms that living things are made of.
There are still plenty of living things that we haven't discovered, yet, so sure.
Tell a sculpt show us neat things, too, but we've only ever discovered life with one kind of scope, and it's when we look inward, rather than out, with our trusty microscopes.
Oh, a delightful argument there, animal kills sound so adorable, but life -changing to know about them.
Yasmin, what stood out to you about Maynica's Declaration of Greatness?
It – uh - first of all, I did not know that microbes are grumpy.
Second it really reminded me of how we were talking about osmosis in science class this year and we used microscopes on red onions to see the cells and some of the things inside of them so that was really cool and I like that experience with microscopes.
Very cool indeed. Okay Mark, it is time for your rebuttal.
Tell us why microscopes are a big ol' joke.
You've got 30 seconds and your time starts now!
Okay, well I want to point out that Vanleon Hook made one of the first microscopes, but one of the person who made one before that was Galileo.
And do we think about Galileo's microscope?
No, because he focused on the much cooler thing that telescope.
And you know, it's cool to think about these tiny things, but also a little discomforting know that there's millions of creatures crawling all over my skin and just in point out that your small is small but the bigger things are much, much bigger, the kind of size of things that we get in telescope are much bigger compared.
Yeah, I think we should talk about Galileo's microscope so uh more than we do.
That's nice! Okay Yasmin, it is time to award some points.
Please give one point to the declaration of greatness you liked best and one point to the rebuttal that won you over.
You get to decide what makes a winning argument.
Did one team's jokes make you giggle?
Was another team's logic extra convincing?
Award your points, but don't tell us who they're going to.
Have you made your decision?
Yes! Excellent, Maynica and Mark, how are you two feeling so far?
I'm feeling great. I think there's a lot of really great stuff to talk about and the best things to talk about are really small, and also, I'm excited for the next round because I'd like everyone to note, it's the micro round, not the tell around.
Oh, oh, oh. Well, if it was the macro around, this podcast would be a lot, lot longer.
We've got to keep it short for a reason.
Sounds like a smooth horn has to small things as quick as we can.
Okay. It's time for a quick break.
Gather your specimens and get focused.
And we'll be right back with more Smashroom Best. You're listening to State of Debate home to raging rhetoric and awe inspiring argumentation.
Oh hey debate buddies!
I'm here with the exquisitely dressed Todd Douglas.
It's me and I'm with the su balance smileer, Taylor Lincoln.
Aw, thanks Bo. Did you do something different with your hair?
It looks divine. Why yes, I tried washing it, and Todd your nails are so well trimmed.
Male hygiene is my passion.
Aren't compliments the best. But you know what's the worst?
A logical fallacy. Those are bad arguments that hurt your case and we saw a nasty fallacy dealt by one of the sweetest people in the world.
The compliment fairy.
Ooh the compliment fairy used the ad -hominin fallacy that's when you attack someone's character instead of their ideas.
Let's listen. Hello Sarah your curls are a ray of sunshine.
Mac. Did I tell you I love your singing voice?
Oh, Charley, I heard you ace your math test. You were the smartest kid in the world.
Thanks compliment fairing.
But don't be silly.
Silly. Oh heavens no. I'm just telling you how you're the most intelligent little tyke.
Yeah, but how would you know if I'm the most intelligent?
Have you surveyed all takes in the world, plus, how are you defining intelligence?
Even education professionals struggle to define intelligence.
Furthermore, what constitutes a little type or a kid for that matter?
Are you comparing by intelligence to that of a teenager or a baby?
Because that hardly seems fair.
See? All of your quibbles just serve to emphasize how it comparably smart you are.
Frankly, you're lack of insight into the compliment you gave me calls into question the authenticity of your compliments in the past Well, of course, you wouldn't agree.
You're the smartest kid because you're just to know it all, aren't you?
Ouch, not cool. Yeah, and even with the best intentions, you can still make a fallacy By the way, the compliment fairy did apologize to Charlie right after this and trust me It was the most sincere apology ever Good to hear but can we be sure it was the most sincere ever?
Drop it, Todd. We'll see you next time on, State of Debate.
The Solidus Story podcast is about how teaching kids to read went wrong.
But now we have a story about a school district where things are going very right.
Let me make sure my friends are sitting Chris Kross Apple Plus, and the Neuro -Lab.
I've never had a child that couldn't read.
How did they do it?
When I tell some of my other colleagues at Navy at other schools that this is what I do, I never say you're good in me.
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It's Alien 100 day.
Well, I wash my nose muffler and tummy doughgas, I'll listen to a new podcast. How about brains on my favorite science podcast?
So this is Mark Snow's.
It's not actually as hairy as I would have thought.
Whoa, check out that big crowd of figures.
And they're cheering for something?
Loggies and gentleflam, Bolks and gems gather round.
Today, we w - Zop, signal down.
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Listen to brains on.
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Best. Smash, Smash Tool.
You're listening to Smash Boom Best!
I'm your host Molly Bloom.
And I'm your judge Yasmin.
And we love getting debate suggestions from our listeners.
Take a listen to this adorable debate idea from Emmy.
Blue Sheen first says hello Kitty.
Aw, but now we chose!
We'll check back in at the end of this episode to see which side Emmy think should win.
And now it's back toward debate.
Telescope's vs. microscopes.
That's right, and it's time for round two, the microround.
Four of the microround challenge, each team has prepared a creative response to a prompt they received in advance.
For Mark and Mayna comment prompt was, Simey.
We told each debater to give us a monologue as something that is seen by either your microscope or telescope, to describe what it's like to be truly seen.
Mark went first last time, so Maynica, you're up.
Give us your most magnificent microscope monologue.
to meet you. Hello.
I see you peeping in me with your microscope.
Me. I'm algae of course.
Technically I'm just one alga.
But who's asking. My ancestors have been in pond water for three billion years.
And you just show up one day with your little microscope lens.
You scoop me from my home and expect me to spell everything out for you?
Wait. Sorry. That sounds very rude.
It's actually nice to meet a - what were you called?
A huge fan? A chubin?
Oh, human, that's right.
First of all, no. Hahahaha, I'm not a teeny, tiny mermaid.
Though I do have green and glittering scales.
Sometimes, people mix me up with someone named Angie.
I've never met her, we're different.
Thanks to your microscopes, you can learn all about how us Algae, we're here before plants.
Mm hmm, they descended from us.
We've been busy making like half the oxygen on this planet, but also we've kind of wondered, for all these billions of years, if there was anything bigger than us out there, we just have never had a meagoscope to search with.
But here you are. A giant lumbering creature beyond our little pond world.
I'm kind of starstruck, but by your largeness.
Largestruck? Is that a thing?
So, yeah, nice to meet you.
But do you think when we were done here, maybe you could return me to my pond?
It's just, it's the only place I've ever known.
I'm sure you understand.
That glamorous Alga really taking advantage of that close up.
I love it. Okay Mark now it's your turn.
Tell us all about the terrific telescope.
Hey, hello tiny human up here.
It's me and Ramada!
I'm a galaxy. But not the galaxy.
You live in a whole other galaxy.
Probably with millions of planets just like yours.
Look at that! Did I just blow your mind?
Well that's what it must have felt like for you humans the first time you saw me.
I mean, really some.
Before telescopes, you just saw me as a blurry spot on the night sky, like a bug left over on a windshield.
But when you finally got your scopes working, you could see I was a whole lot more and nothing you'd ever seen before.
You saw I got these glorious spiral arms. Flattered you finally noticed them.
I've had to pump a lot of solar systems to build these bad boys.
and boy I felt so cool when you built bigger telescopes and you kept looking and you finally realized that I was full of stars going about their lives just like the ones in your Milky Way put over a million light years away let me tell you it's a long drive.
Finally, finally someone could see me for what I Now with friends who can see the real me, cause I'm shining here.
Wow we got to hear from a galaxy that's not even ours.
Incredible work telescopes.
Okay Jasmine, what stood out to you about Mark and me, because micorems. How different humans must have like realized the world is when these things came around because I feel like lots of mythology and stuff surrounds these kind of things because I feel like it's really mysterious in a way, and I feel like it still is too people.
Yeah, that is a really really good point.
Alright, Jasmine, it is time to award a point for this mic around, but don't tell us who it's going to.
Have you made your decision?
Fantastic, then it's time for our third round, the super stealthy.
Aha. SNEAK ATTACK. This is our improvised round where debaters have to respond to a challenge on the spot.
Today's sneak attack is called, the Zoom Zoom Challenge.
Each debater is given a series of short sound clips That are either slowed down or sped up And they have to guess what the sound is based on the altered audio In effect, each clue will microscope in or telescope out of the original sound Debaters.
Does this make sense?
Are you ready for your sneak attack?
Yes! I'm very ready for this!
In a big way! Okay, we're gonna start with Mark Here is your first clip Any guesses Mark?
I would have to wake up pretty early to guess that one, but I think it is a rooster.
What's the answer? Nice.
I sped up rooster. You got him, right?
Okay, manica. It's your turn.
He got your first clip Mmm.
What do you think? Don't look slow down it sounds either like orchestral music or a chair scooting back against the floor in a very nice way.
Let's get the answer.
Oh it's like a harmonica.
Is it a train whistle?
The answer is a train whistle.
A train whistle. All right, Mark, you're up here is your second clip.
Mmm. Another tricky one.
I think it's pretty cold in New York right now.
I've got to zip up when I go outside.
I think it's a zipper slowed down.
Let's hear it. In its normal speed.
Correct again, Mark.
It is a zipper. All right, Meena, here is her second clip.
Whoa. That was very fast. I think we better hear that again.
Ah! What do you think?
Well, this sounds like, yeah, like an ant screung by my mother.
Um, but what could it be that a human could have recorded?
Um, maybe it's someone like tapping their fingers on a desk.
Hmm, typing, maybe it's typing on a keyboard sped up.
Let's hear it at its normal speed.
Nice. You're correct.
Excellent work. I feel like yours have been harder than my toy.
But I was like what?
Mark, here is your final clip.
Oh, that was a whole story.
Okay. Yeah. This debate has got me pretty parched.
I think it's somebody opening like a beverage, like a pop from a beverage.
Excellent, guess let's hear the answer.
Nice. Here's Mark. A great word. There we go.
So it can be in open.
That was tricky. Yeah.
All right, Meineka, here is your final clip.
It sounds like a bird. Does sound like a bird. All right, let's hear it again.
Okay, I think I have to go bird. But which one?
Good to tell you. What do you think?
A bird. Animal... A bird. A record scratch. LAUGHTER It's a DJ for me, this is a DJ!
I think it could be a bird, DJ.
All right, let your final answer.
I think it might be a different kind of animal.
Like, it might be a squirrel.
Mhm. That's my final answer.
Squirrel. OK. Yeah.
Here is what it sounds like at its normal speed.
The answer is a dog barking, specifically a shitsoo, which is obviously not that much bigger than a squirrel.
So, OK. I appreciate that, Molly.
You were pretty close.
I thought it might be a monkey.
I do so. I do really hard. Also just like the idea that if you fast forward a dog, you get a DJ bird. Yeah.
I'm going to get a shitsu in name of DJ Bird. OK, excellent work, Mark and Meena.
Now, asman, you get to decide who gets the point for this 4th round.
And again, it is completely subjective.
So you can take into account the difficulty of the clips how well people guessed the creativity on display Have you major decision yes, I think I have Perfect, then it's time for our final round The final six in this round each team will have just six words to sum up the glory of their side.
Okay, maynaca, let's hear your six words for the marvelous microscope.
World to see. Right here, baby!
Mm -hmm! Delightful.
Okay, mark, it is your turn.
Give us six words on the tremendous telescope.
Telescope views bring universe to you.
Mm, very nice. Okay, Jasmine.
It is time to award a final point four, the final six.
Have you made your decision?
Yes, I have. Wonderful.
Talley up those points.
Are you ready to crown one team the Smash Boom best?
Yes. Drum roll please.
And the winner is ....
Microscoves! Cloud!
Goodness. Thank you Yasmine.
Also, you made the right choice.
Thank you for being correct me.
You don't need a telescope or microscope to see how heartbroken I am.
Oh it's such a good job.
It's totally fair. So it was one by one point in the rebuttal.
Originally I had it on your sign and then I changed it.
Oh no! Oh man it was as close as close could be.
Wow, yeah, well I mean, I thought you did a great job, Marc.
I loved hearing about how binoculars are telescopes.
I mean, I used those all the time.
Well, Maika we actually are talking about various snowing things because microscopes and telescopes use lenses to move light around and to make things that you wouldn't be able to see.
So really, we're both kind of winning here, although you're the one who actually wants to see it.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Well, that is it for today's debate battle.
He has been crowned of microscope to the Smash Burn best, but what about you?
Head to SmashBoom .org and vote to tell us who you think won.
SmashBoom Best is brought to you by Brainscon in the EPM Studios.
It's produced by Molly Bloom, Anna Wiegul.
And... We had engineering help from Josh Savagio, Gary O 'Kereof, Heath and Furby Magicley with sound design by Anna Wiegul and Rachel Brie.
Our editors are Shayla Farzahn and Sandin Totten with fact -checking by Rebecca Rand and we had production help from the rest of the brands on the universe team Rosie DuPont, Rachel Breese Anna Goldfield, Niko Kunzales -Wisler Ruby Guthrie, Lauren Hertford Joshua Wright Rebecca Rand, Mark Sanchez Anne, Charlotte Traver Our executive producer's Beth Pearlman and the APM Studio's executives in charge our Chondrick of Ati and Joanne Griffith Our announcer is Marley, For Your Worker Otto and we want to give a special thanks to Austin Cross and Taylor Coffman Mark, is there anyone you'd like to give
a shoutout to today?
Uh, I'll give a shout out to my professors in college who got me access to that telescope when I first started.
Thank you to them for extending me on this journey.
Awesome. And how about you, mayn't it have any special shoutouts?
Yeah, I would like to shout out some of my favorite small things that inspired me as a prepared, which you don't need a microscope to see.
One of them is Michelle de Chell in shoes on.
Another is the song All The Small Things by Blink 182.
And lastly, I love those extra small Vaseline tubs that are shaped exactly like Thank you.
Yeah, Smith, do you want to give any special thanks for shout outs?
To my friends at Tupper.
My mom, my dad. And all the people who have bought the books about science and all different topics over the years.
That's lovely. Before we go, let's check in and see who everything should win.
The Cushine versus Hello Kitty Debate.
I know as it'll be pushing because she's just adorable and she is just so fluffy and cute and she just comes in mermaids, unicorns, everything.
She's just so adorable.
Smashroom best is a non -profit popular korean program.
If you're between ages of 13 and 18 and you'd like to be a judge, or if you're any age If you have an idea for a knockdown drag out debate, head to smashcoomb .org slash contact and drop us a line And make sure to sign up for the brains on universe newsletter for bonus activities reading recommendations, conversation starters, and more We'll be back with a new Smash Boom Best Debate battle next week Bye Bye Tella Good big, I mean goodbye MUSIC Thanks for pretending to remain impartial at this play.
Ha ha ha, I am sorry.
The oldest story podcast is about how teaching kids to read went wrong.
But now we have a story about a school district where things are going very right.
Let me make sure my friends are sitting in Christ's cross apple sauce, and the nurse laugh!
I've never had a child that couldn't read.
How did they do it?
When I tell some of my other colleagues that may be at other schools, that this is what I do.
They say, you're kidding me?
New episodes of Soul to Story are available now in your podcast app.
