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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!
Hello and welcome to WeWow.
A hands-on crash course in Fun Fun 101 for science seekers and inventoritos everywhere.
I'm Mindy.
And I'm Guy Raz.
And this week is all about taking it easy and enjoying the great indoors.
Except... Except...
Except what?
Except I've been kind of craving some outdoor snowy fun in the great indoors, Guy Raz.
Well, Mindy.
I'm talking snow forts, snowball fights, snow cones.
Actually.
Snowmobiling down a mountain through a ring of fire.
A what?
So what do you say?
We step outside of these great indoors and into the great outdoors, where there's sure to be a winter wonderland waiting.
But Mindy, there's no snow outside.
Opening the door and... Aw, me!
Well, that's what I was trying to tell you, Mindy.
It's not snowy right now.
In fact, there are a lot of places where it doesn't snow much at all in the winter.
Well, I guess there's only one thing to do.
I don't like where this is going.
If it's not going to snow outside, then maybe we can make it snow inside.
I definitely don't like where this is going.
Reggie!
Oh, no.
Stop!
And let's get the fans going, too.
Indy!
Ah, nice and blizzardy in here.
What do you think, I, Roz?
I think I should have worn a sweater.
Wowzers.
For full instructions on how to make your own indoor snowstorm without snow machines, visit Tinkercastcom.
Slash WeWow.
And grown-ups can upload pictures or videos at tinkercast.com slash share.
And now, enjoy this episode of Wow in the World.
Psst, Reggie, hit the play button.
One more final detail and finished.
Perfecto.
Wait until the Guinness World Record Association finds out about this.
The world's first and largest sculpture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, made entirely out of sugar-free jello.
So perfect, so precise.
Did somebody say tower of pizza?
No, no, no, no, no.
Ross, where are you?
Mindy, did you just fall through the chimney?
I mean, I have a front door.
Where's the pizza?
I'm starving.
Wait, wait, wait.
Don't, don't come in here.
Whoa, cool jello sculpture.
Please.
You know, it kind of looks like that ancient tower in Italy.
What's it called?
Mindy, please.
Don't come any further.
It's super famous.
Man, what is it called?
It's in the tip of my tongue.
Mindy, please.
I'm submitting this for a Guinness World Record.
Wow, that thing could break a world record?
It is pretty awesome.
Well, thank you if I do say so myself.
But there's really never been anything like it.
I've actually been working on it for...
I feel like if you're going to enter this jello sculpture for a Guinness World Record, you might want to straighten it up a little bit.
Oh, no.
It's totally leaning towards the side.
Oh, no, no, no.
Please, please, Mindy, don't.
It's supposed to lean.
Here, just a little to the left.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I know what this is.
Oh.
It was the leaning tower of pizza made out of sugar-free jello.
Oh.
And now it's ruined.
Wait a minute.
I can fix it.
Fix it?
Mindy, look at this mess.
You can't fix this.
It took me three years just to design it and then another 300 hours to get the jello in just the right shape.
Guy Raz, all we need is a little glue.
Glue?
You want to glue jello back together?
Mindy, have you ever eaten jello?
Have I eaten jello?
Guy Raz, my Thanksgiving turkey was stuffed with jello.
What?
I mean personally, I would have made something like this out of stone or concrete but Mindy, there is no glue glue in the world that would stick to something as slippery or jiggly as jello.
Oh, really?
Let's just clean this mess up and pretend like it ever happened, OK?
But, Arroz, the glue!
Why do you keep talking about glue?
Glue doesn't work on jello.
What if I told you that there's a new kind of glue that just might work on that jello masterpiece splattered all over the floor there?
What?
Yep.
Impossible.
Impossible is my middle name, Guy Raz.
Really?
I thought it was Darlene.
And to get our sticky fingers on that super rare magical glue, all we've got to do is go to Europe.
Europe.
Oh, yeah.
Great idea, Mindy.
Let's just go to Europe.
Okay.
Reggie!
Reggie!
Didn't actually mean, Guy Raz.
If there is one thing you should know about me by now, it's that when I break something, I fix it.
What?
Know what?
I broke your crazy jello sculpture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and I am going to fix it.
Hop on the bird, Guy Raz.
Why do I let you rope me into these things, Mindy?
Hang on a sec.
I gotta run home and grab my adventure toolbox.
Wait, what?
Oh, yeah, here are my tweed blazers.
Yeah, these are custom-made.
I've got a guy that makes these elbow patches for me.
Oh, well, right, of course.
Well, if you ever get elbows, Reggie.
I'm back!
Okay, Reggie, we need you to take us to a forest in North, Central, or Eastern Europe.
I don't know, surprise us.
What?
Guyron, strap on your goggles.
This is going to be one wild ride.
Did you say surprise us?
Ready for takeoff, you crusty old pigeon.
Guy Raz, say the magic words.
Wait, where exactly are we going?
No, the other magic words.
Oh, right.
Here we go!
Ah, what a great landing.
Woo!
Roz, what did you think of the flight?
Well, I must admit, that was a very pleasant flight, and the service was outstanding.
I mean, I hardly ever eat cake, but that Black Forest chocolate cake was delicious.
Shh, here, take this magnifying glass.
Wait, I think I've been here before.
This is, uh, wait a minute, is this the...
So that's why Reggie served that cake on the flight.
Oh, no, he's just been watching a lot of Food Network lately.
Oh, well, what are we doing in the Black Forest of Germany?
Okay, so we're looking for a special kind of miniature glue factory that can only be found in the forests of Europe.
Well, what would a glue factory be doing in the middle of this country? calm and peaceful forest.
Well, Guy Raz, the only way to find out is... Oh, no.
Not that again.
I'm going to have to shrink us.
Wait, what?
Now, if I could just find my shrink wand in my adventure toolbox here and... Oh, got it!
Hey, Mindy, I don't think it worked.
Sure it did!
We are shrunk down.
And that ant is looking at us like we might be his lunch.
We better get out of here.
I can't believe you shrunk us with that thing.
We almost became human tacos for that ant.
Shh.
What?
Stay still, Guy Raz.
I think I see it.
See what?
The special miniature glue factory.
Look, it's right up there past the giant stalks of grass.
I don't see any tiny glue factory.
It's right there.
It's a giant slug.
Who's going to talk so loud?
Come behind this toadstool.
What?
OK.
Now, when we go back out there, we don't want it to hear us coming.
Hi, Roz.
That is Dusky Arion of House Ariande.
Sluglord of the forest.
The bonded one.
The uniter of all things unfastened.
The prince of pace.
The father of the fish.
He holds where all others... Okay, Mindy.
I get it.
He sounds powerful.
Yeah.
But he's also a big scaredy cat.
Which is good for us because we need to scare the slime out of him.
Aha.
Activate its defense mechanism.
Guy Raz, open the toolbox.
Uh...
Okay, what do you need from us?
First, we'll need a squeeze bottle.
Check.
Next, hand me two tiny turkey basters.
You mean medicine droppers?
They work for medicine or tiny Thanksgiving, Guy Raz.
Today, they're glue getters.
Now, on the count of three, we're going to jump out from behind this mushroom and scare him.
Are you sure we can do that?
We're tiny.
He's huge.
I'm Sure, he scares easily.
Just think of the scariest thing you can and yell it out, okay?
One, two, three.
To unshrink us.
Um, Guy Raz, my shrink wand is out of batteries.
What?
Just kidding.
Oh, boy.
Shrink wand, activate.
Glad to be back to full size.
I don't know.
I was kind of hoping that my shrink wand would break and leave us like that forever.
No.
Okay, now let's get this glue back to your house so we can fix your leaning tower of jello pizza.
Okay, if you think this is going to work.
Hey Roz, this is not my first time at the rodeo.
Reggie, prepare for takeoff.
Here we go!
Home sweet home.
Hey, thanks, Reggie.
Hey, by the way, Mindy, why did we have to go all the way to Europe to get that mucus?
Oh well, that's because that particular mucus or slime or glue that we were looking for can only be found in that dusky Arion slug, and he and others like him only live in Europe.
Huh, that's interesting.
But are you sure this slug slime glue is going to be enough to fix my leaning tower of pizza?
Guy Raz, hand me the squeeze bottle of the mucus slime glue we collected and then just sit back, relax and let me work my magic.
I just think that maybe I should be the one who... Nope.
I broke it.
I fix it.
Eh... So allow me to tell you a little story while I work here.
Uh...
Okay.
Once upon a time, like last week, there was a material scientist at Harvard's Weiss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
And that scientist's name was Jianyu Li, Ph.D.
Wait, so biologically inspired engineering.
That must mean technology inspired by nature, right?
Yeah, exactly.
But you're interrupting the story, Guy Raz.
Where were we?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, boy.
So, Jean-Yu Lee, Ph.D., and his seven tiny scientist friends, give or take... What?
...knew that there was a big problem in the medical-surgical world.
And that problem was?
Super gross.
I mean... What?
The problem was that there was not a tape nor a glue in the entire kingdom I mean hospital that would stick to blood and guts.
Okay, you mean like surgical tape or adhesive that you would use in a surgery?
Yeah, pretty much.
Can we scrap the fairy tale music?
Yeah, okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
When doctors have to perform a life-saving operation on a person, they need to be able to put that person's insides back together again.
You know, leave things in better shape than how you found them.
Kind of like what you're doing on my jello sculpture.
Exactly.
And just like your jello sculpture over here, using things like stitches or staples to put it back together could wind up causing even more damage.
And of course, it's too slimy and slippery for normal tape or glue to hold it all together.
Yes.
And, just like your jiggly jello sculpture over here, Some of the slippery, slimy organs in the human body, like the heart and the lungs.
They're so active and they move around so much that no tape or glue would even be flexible enough to keep up with them.
Well, super glue seems to work on pretty much anything, but I guess it would be poisonous inside of the human body.
Uh-huh.
And...
Super glue really only works on dry surfaces.
So trying to use that stuff to stick your slippery, wet guts together inside of your body would be impossible.
And on top of all that, super glue is super rigid.
So if you were to put it on a human heart and then let it dry, it would eventually just break from all of that heart pumping action.
Well, what about tape?
Tape is pretty flexible.
Well, tape is pretty flexible on jiggly surfaces but it would never stick to slippery slimy, wet surfaces like your jello sculpture over here or your guts.
So I guess this is where the slug slime comes in?
You know it, Guy Raz.
So, as we saw, when the dusky arion slug gets scared, it starts releasing all of this super strong, stretchy slime, slime all over the place.
Almost like a glue.
Exactly like a glue.
Wow.
So here's the sticky scoop.
Oh, boy.
Once the dusky arion slug releases its mucousy glue, it immediately starts to stick itself to whatever surface it's on.
Presumably, I guess.
So no birds or predators could just pluck the slug up from the ground and eat it right.
Yeah, it's a way of protecting itself.
So, back to the science lab.
Did those scientists from Harvard think that slug slime could be the answer to their surgical glue problems?
Well, yeah.
But before you get all freaked out, thinking that surgeons are putting people back together again using slug slime after an operation, I should probably note that these scientists were only inspired by the slug slime.
Ah.
And they were particularly inspired by what it was that made it so sticky and so flexible, even on slippery moving surfaces.
So did they get the recipe to make their own?
They sure did.
And before they knew it, they were engineering an entirely new kind of material that combines a lot of the same properties found in the slug slime with a gel that's flexible.
And when they finished, What did they come up with?
Well, they came up with a whole new kind of sticky gel or a glue that kind of looks like a gummy worm, or maybe even a gummy slug if you were to squeeze it out into the palm of your hand.
Interesting.
But what this sticky gummy gel glue can do is incredible.
So what can it do?
Well, it has all of the sticking power of super glue.
It's stretchier than even the stretchiest rubber band.
It won't poison humans, and it works on slippery, wet surfaces like blood and guts.
Wow, so it will stick to organs inside of the body?
Yeah, moving organs bones, cartilage and basically every other gross thing inside your body that you can think of.
So when will doctors be able to... begin using this?
Well, like most new inventions, the scientists are still working out some of the kinks.
Oh.
But so far they've used it to seal holes in pig hearts and rat livers, and they've even tested it out for short periods of time in humans.
And no one was poisoned?
Nope.
And, if all goes well, these scientists are hoping that this new glue will work to do amazing things, like healing up tiny holes in the hearts of some babies.
Or, I guess, to repair other parts of the body that are difficult to piece back together, like body tissue or torn cartilage inside of us.
Yep, and these scientists are even working on coming up with a version that's biodegradable.
Ah.
Yeah, so after your body is healed, it basically just disappears.
Well Mindy, looking at the progress you've made on my jello mold over here, I'd say that there might be something pretty magical about slug slime and the medical glue inspired by it.
I know, right?
And speaking of your jello sculpture, check this out.
Wow.
I told you I'd fix it.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa in jello form.
And held together by slug slime.
Don't eat it.
It looks good, though, right?
It really does look like the real thing, doesn't it?
What was that?
I just had an idea.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Not that again.
I've got my shrink wand.
No.
Guy Raz, we can just shrink ourselves again and then we can go on a tour of this one.
It'll be better than the real thing.
Mindy, I... Mindy, Mindy, you put us back to normal. just 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.
Welcome to the show.
Wow in the World.
Hi, thanks for calling Wow in the World.
After the beep, get ready to record.
Hi, my name is Zoe and I'm eight years old.
I live in Iceland Reykjavik.
My Wow in the World is that sometimes in summer in Iceland, the sun doesn't set.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and my wow in the world is that when glow bugs light up, they're looking for mates and and I love you guys Mindy yeah, I love your show, thanks.
Hi, my name is Calvin and I'm six years old and I live in Fredericksburg Virginia, and my wow in the world is piano Charlie.
I'm five and a quarter years old and I'm from Chicago.
My wow in the world is that bees never sleep.
Hi, my name is Mindy.
I live in California.
I'm a big fan and my wow in the world is that when you put baking soda and citric acid together and then put it in water, it fizzes.
And I made something that I put in the bath water and it's super cool.
My name is Emma and I live in Los Angeles, and I am seven and three quarters, and my wow in the world is scientists.
My three favorite scientists are Jane Goodall, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.
They're so cool.
Hi Mindy, hi Guy Ross.
My name is Rami, I'm seven and three quarters and I'm from LA.
I listened to wow in the world since your first episode and my wow in the world is that There's a place near San Francisco called Tamale Bay.
One day, when we were going back to the cottages, we saw nine deer, two wild turkeys and a vulture glided across the street.
Don't forget hawks.
Bye, Mindy and Guyron.
End of messages.
Wow in the World is written by Mindy Thomas and Tom Van Kalken with help from me, Guy Raz.
Original sound design and music editing is done by our supervising producer, Jed Anderson and Tyler Thold.
You can also hear Jed Anderson in the voices of Dennis Thomas Fingerling, Reggie and many of the other silly characters you hear on our show.
Jessica Bode keeps our facts straight as our fact checker and Meredith Halpern-Ranzer powers the wow at Tinkercast.
Our theme song was composed and performed by three-time Grammy nominees, The Pop-Ups.
Find them at thepopups.com.
Special thanks to Steph Sosa, Henry Moskal, Ruth Morrison, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, Sana Ali-Mohamed, Anna Zagorski and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ.
To keep the wows rolling, visit us at Tinkercast.com.
There you can learn more about becoming an official member of the World Organization of Wowsers.
Learn about upcoming events, shop our wow shop, Find our best-selling books and learn about all of our other amazing podcasts from Tinkercast.
Grown-ups, 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 our show or an upcoming episode of Two What's and a Wow.
Thanks again for listening.
And until next time, be fun wowing.
Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.
