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Hey, Wowser fans!
Mindy and Guy Raz here and before we start the show, we've got some gigantic epic news to share with you.
That's right, Mindy.
Uh, what was that?
Oh, I'm so glad you asked, Guy Raz.
Mindy, is that a T-Rex in your gingerbread mansion?
Sure is, Guy Raz.
But look what's in his little hand.
Your door?
No, in his other hand.
Oh, wait.
Is that our new book, Dinosaurs Are Wow?
Aw.
Mindy, how did you find a T-Rex?
Uh, don't worry about it.
I just wanted to get a real dinosaur's opinion on our new book.
Since, you know, they're kind of the main character on this one.
Well, it looks like Steve is giving it two very sharp claws up.
Grownups.
If you want to bring the wows of dinosaurs to life with our new book Dinosaurs Are Wow, pre-order your copy today at Tinkercastcom.
Slash dinosaur.
There, you can shop at your favorite book retailer or support a local indie bookseller near you.
Once again, that's Tinkercast.com slash dinosaur.
And if you pre-order before October 28th, you will be invited to a special prehistoric party happening on our book birthday, October 28th.
Learn more at Tinkercast.com slash dinosaur.
That's Tinkercastcom slash dinosaur to join us in our virtual prehistoric pre-order party on October 28th.
Whew!
I gotta go drop Steve back off in the Jurassic period, and you've got an episode to listen to.
So, without further ado, hit it, Reg!
Hey, grownups.
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Wee-wow on the weekend.
Wee-wow on the weekend.
Wee-wow on the weekend.
Because this is what we do on the weekend.
Talking, laughing, me and Reggie.
Singing, laughing, and then we, oh wait, no, I said laughing twice.
Uh, whatever.
Wee-wow on the weekend.
Yeah, on the weekend, because this is what we do on the weekend.
Hello and welcome to.
We wow on the weekend.
I'm your host dennis, and also reggie is here as my co-host.
Hey reggie, do you notice anything different about me?
No, it's not that.
No, it's not that either.
Reggie, look at my hair.
How did you not see that my hair is blue today?
Oh, you were just teasing me.
Don't tease me.
I don't like it.
Yeah, I use blue hairspray.
No, it's the kind that washes out.
Because I might want another color later.
Well, what about you?
Do you think you'd ever change the color of your feathers for a day?
What color?
Really?
Oh, like kind of an ombre thing?
Oh, wow.
And then style it with a bowl cut and a handsome hat?
That's great!
You should do that.
Well, should we jump into our first segment?
Hooray!
Let's answer some questions with a Q&A segment!
Ahem!
The Q&A segment!
Okay, Reggie, where are the questions?
Reggie, no!
I wanna answer the questions that got written in, not the phone calls.
You were supposed to print them out!
You had one job, Reggie!
Well, quick, print them out now!
Is it done?
Hurry up, printer!
Finally, thank you.
Okay, this first question comes from username tween.
And the message says, Dennis, we are Emma and Chloe.
We are wondering if snooping on Mindy and Guy Raz is on a schedule.
Thanks.
We love you.
Well, Chloe and Emma, of course I have a schedule.
I eavesdrop on Mindy on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and then I snoop on Guy Raz on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
They're usually together on Mondays, so I check on them before I go to water aerobics.
Because, Reggie, water aerobics is fun and good for you.
Next question.
All right, this one comes from username mbwinter633.
And the message says, Dennis, why do leaves turn different colors in the different seasons?
Wow, good question, mbwinter633.
And I happen to know the answer.
Because, Reggie, I asked Guy Raz this same question last fall, and I wrote it down in my journal.
Okay, let's just see here.
Here it is, my journal entry from September 25th.
Today I asked Guy Raz why the leaves and the trees turn so many beautiful colors in the fall.
Do they just get tired of green and want a new outfit?
Guy Raz said, no, that actually the leaves on the trees are always red and yellow, all year long.
But you just can't see those colors during the sunniest months of the summer, because the leaves have a whole bunch of something called chlorophyll, which is green.
No, Reggie, I said chlorophyll.
Right, you got it.
Chlorophyll is the chemical that turns sunlight into tree food.
I know!
So when there's less sunlight, there's less chlorophyll, so the green color disappears and we start to see the orange and yellow colors of the leaves come through.
Isn't that cool?
I know!
Okay, next question.
This next question comes from username IamBlueberry2016.
The message says, what is your favorite food?
Mine is spaghetti.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'm confused.
Is this from a blueberry who likes spaghetti?
Oh, you don't think IamBlueberry2016 is really a blueberry?
Whew, that's a relief.
And a little misleading.
Whew.
Well, I am Blueberry 2016.
My favorite food is burritos.
No, wait.
Pizza.
No, wait.
Nectarines.
Nectarines, Reggie.
They're kind of like peaches.
Oh, yeah.
Maybe my favorite food is peaches.
What about a peach pizza burrito?
No.
Reggie, don't yuck my yum.
My favorite food is peach pizza burritos, and I don't care who knows it.
Next question.
Okay, this looks like the last one.
This one comes to us from username Nathaniel.
And the message says, do you ever see an invention getting made when you're not supposed to be?
Well, Nathaniel, that depends on what you mean.
Like, do you mean have I ever snuck into the laboratory of bad ideas?
And ignored the signs that say keep out?
And the other sign that says especially you, Dennis?
And the other sign that says seriously, Dennis, keep out?
I mean it, love Mindy?
And then have I secretly watched Mindy inventing a machine that turns fish food into energy efficient rocket fuel, and then jumped out and said hi Mindy, what you making?
And then she accidentally dropped it and the whole thing exploded.
Nope, that's never ever happened.
Sorry to disappoint you, Nathaniel.
Okay, I think we answered all the Q's for today.
Thanks so much for your questions, everyone.
And if you have a question for me, you can write to me or leave me a voicemail at 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
That's 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
I just might answer your question on WeWOW on the weekend.
WeWOW.
Okay, next up is a little segment I like to call Inside Tinkercast Studios.
Inside Tinkercast Studios!
This is the part where we revisit an episode of one of my favorite Tinkercast shows.
And today we're listening to Wow in the World, Season 1, Episode 16, called Hot Buttered Popcorn Pee.
What?
Reggie!
Who's peeing on popcorn?
Oh wait, no.
Are they...
Putting popcorn in the pee?
Reggie, what is this?
Oh, maybe it's a typo.
Like, is it supposed to say, hot buttered popcorn, please?
And somebody wrote it wrong?
Yeah, it's probably a typo.
Let's listen to the episode.
Okay, here we go.
And play.
Wee Wow will be right back.
Grownups, this message is for you.
That's it.
Now back to the show.
I smell popcorn.
Somebody's definitely making popcorn.
And I'm going to find it.
Because as the great detective Toucan Sam always says, follow your nose, it always knows.
Hey, Mindy, I'm in the kitchen.
I'm just doing some science experiments.
Wait, you're popping up science?
Well uh Well, in that case, Guy Raz, I'll take a bag of red vines and a large soda, because it smells like this science is about to take us to the movies.
First of all, Mindy soda and red licorice are both full of sugar and artificial colors and are linked to all kinds of long-term.
Um, satisfaction.
Because they are so delicious.
Oh, well.
Okay Roz, the last time we went to the movies, all you brought was dried seaweed and sprouted wheat berries.
This time, I'm packing the snacks.
Who said anything about the movies?
I'm doing science here.
Well, all I see is a bag of hot butter, jiffy pop on the counter, just waiting to release that delicious smell of movie theater all through the house.
Precisely, Mindy.
That's the experiment.
Here, can you hold this bag while I cut it open?
Yeah, sure.
By the way, Guy Raz, love the fact that you're wearing a white lab coat to make popcorn.
Really classes up the experiment.
There.
Ah, the smell of two acetyl-1-pyroline.
Wait.
What did you just say?
Oh, I'm taking in the smell of two acetyl-1-pyrolyne.
Uh, the what?
Mindy, you and I have just experienced the Maillard reaction right here in this bag of hot buttered popcorn.
Right, the Maillard reaction.
Uh, yeah, so what is that?
Well, it's what happens when you heat up kernels of uncooked popcorn, or when you toast bread, or when you cook some rice.
It's named after a famous French scientist named Louis Maillard, who first discovered it back in 1912.
Whoa, time out.
I need to imagine this discovery.
Oh la la.
I take the amino acid and the swim-reducing sugars, crank up the heat and voila the Maillard reaction.
Whoa, so according to my imagination, Louis Maillard basically invented hot buttered popcorn.
Well, not the popcorn, but he did discover what makes things like popcorn or rice or toasted bread smell so delicious.
And it happens when the acids and the natural sugars in these foods get heated up.
They form a chemical compound called 2-acetyl-1-pyrolyne or, for short, 2-API.
Okay, and just to be clear, Guy Raz, when you say chemical compounds, you're talking about the tiny microscopic molecules inside the popcorn.
Exactly, Mindy.
Molecules are invisible and they happen when two or more atoms form a bond or like a friendship.
Huh?
Also kind of like you and me, Guy Raz.
Best friends forever, right?
Yeah, and atoms are these teeny tiny, invisible little balls that are in almost everything in the universe, even in the air we breathe.
I'm breathing in all the atoms!
There are invisible atoms in the oxygen that fills our lungs, and almost everything in our universe includes invisible atoms from hydrogen, which is the most abundant chemical in our universe.
Yeah, and when an oxygen atom becomes friends with a couple of hydrogen atoms, you get a molecule better known as H2O.
That's my favorite molecule, Mindy.
H2O, better known as water.
Just love the taste of fresh molecules in the morning.
Okay, so now that we've got that down, back to the hot buttered popcorn.
I'm firing up Netflix.
Time to make my own molecular compound using hot buttered popcorn combined with the Minion movie.
Well, that's not exactly... Well, that doesn't matter.
Anyway, Mindy, we don't have time for movies.
We don't have time?
What are you talking about, Guy Raz?
Last week I broke all of your clocks when you were running late, so that you wouldn't have to worry about time.
The time is now 3.30 p.m.
I'll tell you what time it is, clock!
Time!
No, I mean now that we've experienced the Maillard reaction and now that we know the chemical compound 2-AP smells so delicious It really does.
We've got to get to the bottom of a mystery.
A mystery?
Guy Raz.
The only mystery I smell is why we're standing here staring at a fresh bag of hot buttered popcorn and not eating it.
Well, to get to the bottom of this mystery, we're going to have to take a trip to the rainforests of Indonesia.
Whoa, that is really far away.
But you know what?
My carrier pigeon Reggie can totally take us.
Hang on a second.
Hey, Reggie!
I need you to fly us to Southeast Asia.
Stat!
Hooray!
Whoa, watch out, Guy Raz.
Ooh, Reggie, you really stick that landing.
All right, Guy Raz, come on, hop aboard.
We've got no time to wait.
Okay, I'm ready, Mindy.
But by the way, thanks so much for letting us fly on Reggie.
It's so much easier than going commercial.
And no lines to get through security.
I know, he doesn't even care if you bring snakes on board.
Reggie, get ready to step on the gas.
Guy Raz?
Here we go.
Man, talk about a speedy delivery.
Must have been feeding Reggie some high-powered bird seed lately.
Mindy, Mindy.
Shh.
What?
Keep quiet.
Do you smell that? popcorn.
But why are we whispering?
Shh, Mindy.
What?
Keep it down.
We just found an important clue.
Okay, but all I smell is hot buttered popcorn.
I'm not seeing any clues.
That's the clue, Mindy.
The hot buttered popcorn is exactly why we're here.
Wait a minute.
We came all the way to the rainforests of Indonesia to eat hot buttered popcorn?
We could have just done that in your kitchen back home.
No, but we did come here to find the source of that hot buttered popcorn smell.
Well, wouldn't the source just be the hot buttered popcorn?
Well, actually the source of that hot buttered popcorn smell is an animal that lives in this forest.
Animals are making that popcorn smell?
That's right, and specifically an animal known as the Asian binturong.
It's also called the bear cat because it kind of looks like a cross between a baby bear and a cat.
Oh!
A cross between a baby bear and a cat?
Yes.
Oh, that's so cute.
I can't stand it.
Uh-huh.
Wow.
Well, if those bear cats are making popcorn, they better not be charging as much as they do at the movie theater.
Can you even believe it?
They're not actually making popcorn, nor are they selling it.
Okay, so then who's making the popcorn?
Well, no one.
In fact, Mindy, the smell you're smelling, the delicious smell of fresh, hot, buttered popcorn?
Yeah?
It's actually, uh... Yeah?
It's from, uh... From what?
Just say it, Guy Raz.
Urine.
Urine what?
Urine.
From their urine.
Uh yeah um, I think there might be something wrong with my ears, Guy Raz, because for a second there I thought you said that the smell of hot buttered popcorn that we're sniffing in this Indonesian rainforest is actually bearcat pee.
I thought that's what you said.
Yeah, that's exactly what I said.
Wow uh okay, so you're telling me that when bear cats pee, their urine smells like hot buttered popcorn?
That's what i'm saying mindy, and right now, by my sense of smell, there may be some bear cats lurking nearby in this forest.
Oh oh, in fact mindy, i think i see one right now.
Oh, i see it too, and i feet.
Hey, Bearcat, you're peeing all over yourself.
Mindy, you scared it away.
Well, somebody needed to warn it.
It's disgusting.
Mindy, the Bearcat pees on its own tail and feet on purpose, deliberately.
What?
Ugh, you're gonna have to explain this one to me.
Well, the Bearcat pees on its tail, so as it walks away it drags its tail on the ground and leaves a trail of pee.
Smells like... Hot, buttered popcorn.
Yes, and guess why it wants to leave that scent.
Well, if my scientific reasoning is still sharp, I guess it's because it was trying to signal something to the other bear cats.
Yes, exactly.
It's a way for this bearcat to send a message to another bearcat.
And that message is, keep out, stay away, this is my turf.
Okay, but I still don't get why their pee smells like hot buttered popcorn.
Well Mindy, a team of scientists led by Lydia Green of Duke University in North Carolina, were wondering the same exact thing.
Why does bear cat pee smell like hot buttered popcorn?
Man, I love science.
So what did they find out?
Well, the scientists were able to take samples of the bear cat's pee and then examine it very closely.
And they ran a bunch of experiments and lo and behold, Mindy, they found their answer.
So what was it?
Well, Mindy.
Remarkably, after looking closely at the bear cat pee, these scientists found the very same chemical compound found in hot buttered popcorn.
The 2-A-P compound.
Yes, which explains why their pee smells that way.
Yeah, but it still doesn't explain the bigger why their pee smells that way.
Well, here's the beauty of science.
The researchers simply don't know why.
I mean, they think it may be because when the bear cat's pee comes into contact with its skin there's a chemical reaction that results in that hot buttered popcorn smell.
Yeah, but if they could figure it out, it seems like that could be very valuable information.
It could.
We could help scientists figure out how certain smells are made and maybe even allow us to create certain smells in a laboratory.
Wow.
You know, I'm thinking that maybe this discovery could even help lead us to new ways of doing things like, I don't know, rescuing endangered animals, or something.
Yeah.
Mindy, in fact, the scientists are thinking the same thing.
I mean imagine a future where we could produce certain smells to attract endangered animals to a safer place.
Yes!
Or even attract an injured animal to a place where an animal doctor or veterinarian could treat it.
That would be amazing!
You know what, Mindy?
What, Guy Raz?
I think our work is done here.
Yeah.
All this hot buttered popcorn and pee business has really got me hungry.
I just want to fly back home, fire up the old Netflix and watch my favorite movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks Road Chip.
Again?
You know it.
You've watched that movie like... 349 times.
Yeah, 349 times.
I mean, can we watch something else this time?
Nope.
Hey, Reggie, get back here, you crazy old bird.
We're ready to fly back home.
Wow.
Now hold on tight, Guy Raz, because Reggie's about to crank it up to supersonic speed.
No.
Okay, Reggie, we're ready to go in three, two, one.
Ew, gross.
Reggie, it was about pee.
Ew.
No, I do not want hot buttered popcorn right now.
Well, that and I'm more of a kettle corn person.
Oh, I don't know why it's called kettle corn.
Um, I think it's because you make it in a tea kettle.
Oh, good idea.
Let's wrap up the show and go make some.
Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning in to WeeWOW on the weekend.
If you have a question for me, call and leave me a message at 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
That's 1-888-7-WOW-WOW.
Or leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
And I just might answer your question on WeeWOW on the weekend.
All right, the goodbye song.
Ahem.
That's the end of the show.
I need to go and make some tea kettle corn.
But I'll do another show tomorrow.
But for now, that's the end of the show.
Grownups, if you like Wow in the World, you can listen early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.
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