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Hey, Wowser fans! It's me, Mindy, and before we start the show, I have some exciting news for you.
And do you know what exciting news calls for?
Confetti! Lots and lots and lots of confetti.
Uh, Richie, you might want to stand back for this.
Hooray! I got some of it in my mouth.
Where was I? Alright, the big news is, I am adding a little extra pizzazz to our World Organization of Wowsers Member Welcome Kits this November.
That's right. Until November 30th, all new members of the World Organization of Wowsers will receive my super special, limited edition, pocket confetti.
Because you never know when you're gonna need an emergency celebration.
And that's not all.
I'll also be throwing in friendship bracelets to celebrate all of my new friends in the World Organization of Wowsers.
Grown -ups to give the gift of WoW all year long to a Wowser in your life, including quarterly mailings from Reggie, birthday cards in the mail, and over a thousand online activities.
Plus, every membership helps support Tinkercast's mission to spread a WoW to families and classrooms all around the world.
Sign up today at Tinkercast .com slash membership.
I'm calling this Mindy's New Member November.
So, grown -ups, what are you waiting for?
Once again, that's Tinkercast .com slash membership.
That's it. And now, let's get back to the show.
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We wow on the weekend, we wow on the weekend, we wow on the weekend, cause this is what we do on the weekend!
Talking, laughing, me and Reggie zinging, laughing, and then we—oh, wait, no, I said laughing twice.
Whatever! We wow on the weekend, we wow on the weekend, we wow on the weekend, cause this is what we do on the weekend!
Hello and welcome to We Wow on the Weekend!
I'm your host, Dennis, and that's my co -host, Reggie!
Reggie, why are you making all that noise?
And what's in that box you're messing with?
Oh, wait, wait, wait, don't tell me, don't tell me!
No, we gotta sing What's in the Box first!
Yes, we do! I found a box down here in the basement and now I'm gonna find out what's in the box.
Okay, Reggie, what's in this box?
Oh, there's a note from Mindy!
Ahem! Dear Dennis, that's me.
It's me, Mindy! Here's everything you need for Mindy's new member November welcome kits.
Huh? Mindy's who now what, member?
Okay, fine, I'll keep reading.
That's right, Dennis!
Mindy's new member November!
From now until Saturday, November 30th, 2024, new membership kits include a special, limited edition, friendship bracelet, and pocket confetti!
Pocket confetti? What's pocket confetti?
Oh, it's just a little sealed bag of confetti that you can carry in your pocket in case there's a confetti emergency.
Oh, wow! Let me see, let me see, let me see!
Oh, it's so cute! It's a little open it.
Yes, Reggie, it's a confetti emergency!
I just need to... I'm on confetti, open up, open, open, open, open, open, open!
Oh, Reggie, there's confetti everywhere!
Well, can you clean it up, please?
I need to finish reading Mindy's note.
Thank you, Reggie! Okay, now, where was I?
Um, new membership kits, limited edition, friendship bracelet, and pocket confetti.
Okay, here we go. These limited edition welcome kits are available now, so get cracking on the packing, Dennis!
And once you... What the...
Reggie, turn that off!
I know I said to clean up the confetti but that vacuum's too noisy!
You're ruining the show!
Also, leave the confetti.
I'm starting to like it.
It's pretty. Okay, now, come over here and help the president of the World Organization of Wowsers pack these exclusive Mindy membership kits!
That's right, Reggie!
It's time for limited edition welcome kit preparation song!
Ah, limited edition, very wonderful, B .I .P, young, common, and colorful, pack it up, ship it, it's non -refundable!
Actually, I don't know what the terms and conditions are.
Yeah! Okay, here we go.
First, I take one of these top secret envelopes.
Yes, the ones with Reggie poop on them for authenticity.
Okay, we've got the World Organization of Wowsers official t -shirt.
Put one of those in.
Then we have the welcome card.
Oh look, it's got an emergency disguise mustache that you can use.
That's pretty cool.
I know I have a mustache already.
I'll just stick this one over the top.
You can never have too many mustaches.
Okay, and then we've got this autographed picture from Mindy and Guy Russ, and here's the friendship bracelet.
They say, you wow my world.
Cute. I'm taking one.
Because Reggie, I'm the president, I get a bracelet.
And finally, a packet of Mindy's pocket confetti.
There we go, and there we have it.
A limited edition welcome kit for Mindy's new member November.
Okay, Reggie, you go deliver this and then come back for the next one.
Okay, fine. We'll pack a few more and then you can go deliver a bunch.
Oh, good idea. Let's listen to a podcast while we pack the VIP limited edition welcome kits for Mindy's new member November.
Yes, we, Reggie, you have to help.
No complaining, Reggie, because it's time for 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 2 Episode 35 called an eyebrow evolution.
Yay, eyebrows. What do you mean you don't like eyebrows?
Eyebrows are the mustaches of the forehead.
What? You don't have eyebrows?
Let me see. Give me your head.
Oh, yeah, you're right.
You don't. Huh? Oh, I have an idea.
Okay, hold still. There we go.
And there. Ta -da. Eyebrows.
Oh, whoops. I think I accidentally drew them on a little too high.
Yeah, you look like you're surprised.
Don't worry, Reggie.
It'll be perfect. We're listening to Wow in the World so you can just be all like, whoa, oh, wow.
That's so surprising.
Okay, here we go. And play.
Wow in the World will be right back.
Grownups, this message is for you.
Hey Grownups, Mindy here from Wow in the World.
And in case you haven't heard the big news, me and my friend Carly Q from Who Win Wow Mystery Edition are going to be making it Wow in the Big Apple on November 16th.
Introducing Make It Wow presented by Audible.
There's more to imagine when you listen.
Make It Wow is the Bonker Balls competition game show where teams of kids from our live audience are challenged to turn their wildest and weirdest ideas into jaw -dropping inventions live on stage.
And that's not all.
This show also features live music from the pop -ups and special guest appearances from Dennis, Grandma G -Force and Thomas Fingerling.
Grownups, visit Tinkercast .com slash events to get your tickets today.
That's it, back to the show.
Okay, snippity snip snip, glue glue glue, check the mirror.
Wow, these guys look amazing.
Oh, Gyros, I'm coming.
Run, run, run, run, run.
Good. What in the, um, Gyros, Gyros, you fainted.
Gyros, how many fingers am I holding up?
Rectangle. Yep, you're fine.
Now let me just gently lift you up and help you shake off some of this grogginess.
Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.
Wow, what happened to you?
I just opened the door, you took one look at my face, screamed, and hit the ground.
Well, that's because you've got two gargantuan black furry caterpillars attacking your forehead, Mindy.
What? They're right above your eyes.
Can't you see them?
Black furry caterpillars?
Um, here, smile really big so I can see my reflection in your teeth.
Oh, um, cheese. Gyros, those aren't caterpillars.
Huh? They're my new eyebrows.
Would you stop falling over in disbelief?
This is getting ridiculous.
What are the neighbors gonna think?
Morning, Mindy. Hey, it looks like you've got fuzzy caterpillars on your face.
Nobody asked you, Dennis.
Oh, Gyros, you're still on the ground.
Here, let me just gently peel you up, get you inside.
Easy does it. Come on.
So what's with these new eyebrows, Mindy?
I mean, your old ones were just fine.
Wait, is that tar on your face?
Oh yeah, I took the hair clippings from my last haircut and attached them to my forehead's eyebrow area using a scoop of black tar from Dennis' driveway renovation and then mixed that with some brown sticky stuff that was leaking out of my refrigerator.
Looks good, right? Right.
So, uh, why? Well, it turns out that eyebrows are super important to us humans and in ways you might not expect.
See, I just read this amazing new scientific study in the Journal of Nature, Ecology, and Evolution.
Oh, I see you've got it right here.
Yeah. So these evolutionary anthropologists from the University of York in the UK, just to be clear, an evolutionary anthropologist is a scientist who studies the way humans and our ancestors behave and also what they've looked like over hundreds of thousands of years.
Yeah. So basically they study the history of humans before we were, you know, humans the way we think of ourselves today.
Got it. So anywho, one day these anthropologists were just sitting around wondering, hey, what's up with eyebrows today?
You mean like modern eyebrow trends and braving and waxing and threading, microblading, tattooing, tarring?
Okay. First of all, the tarring idea I came up with myself, and second of all, you sure do know a lot about eyebrow trends.
Well, I read a lot.
So as I was saying, these anthropologists were wondering why we modern humans have movable eyebrows and smooth foreheads when our ancient hominin ancestors had these stiff bony looking ridges for eyebrows that basically just made them look mad all the time.
And by ancient hominin ancestors, you mean some of our earliest human relatives.
Oh yeah. And in this case, I'm specifically talking about our ancient hominin relatives known as the Homo heidelbergensis.
Yes, Homo heidelbergensis are hominin cousins who are believed to have lived somewhere between 200 ,000 and 700 ,000 years ago.
And in many ways, they were a lot like us modern humans today.
You hear that guy, Ross?
I just hatched an idea.
Uh oh. Why don't we hop in the old wow machine and head back in time to say, I don't know, 400 ,000 years ago?
Hmm, 400 ,000 years ago.
That would be during the middle plasticine era.
Yeah, we can just travel back in time and have a little family reunion.
That way, we can see how much we have in common with these ancient relatives of ours and see for ourselves what's up with this evolving eyebrow situation.
Mindy, I don't. Come on!
Whoa, let me at least run home to get my Homo sapiens t -shirt so that the reunion, these hominin cousins of ours, at least know which family I belong to.
Oh, do you know if this is a pop up kind of thing?
Okay, let me just open the hatch here.
Sticky. Okay, hop in, brother!
Mindy, I'm not your brother.
I'm your best friend.
Not at this reunion, Gyroz.
Homo sapiens speaking.
You're basically my little bro.
Little bro? Compared to these ancient relatives of ours, Gyroz, practically gonna look like twinsies!
Okay, now hop inside the wow machine, Gyroz.
We don't want to keep family waiting.
Are these ancient relatives even expecting us?
I mean, did we get an invitation to this reunion?
Yes, of course we did not get an invitation to this reunion, Gyroz.
Where we're going, they don't even have language for that yet.
Oh, oh, right. Now to punch in the coordinates, we're looking at Europe or was it Asia or maybe Eastern or Southern Africa?
You don't know what continent we're going to?
Gyroz, scientists don't even know for sure, so we're just gonna wildcard it.
Okay? What? 400 ,000 years ago and Homo Heidelberg -Gens's family reunion, here we go!
You okay, little bro?
Mindy, once again, I'm not your little...
Whoa! Whoa! Looks like we made it to the reunion!
Hey, hey, hey guys, hi!
It's me, Cousin Mindy, and this is my little brother, Gyroz.
I'm not her little brother.
We're both from the Homo Sapien side of the family.
I'm not her brother!
Anywho, I know it's been a while, what, like 400 ,000 years at least?
Where is the time gone?
Well, I am just so glad we can make it to this little family reunion shindig here.
I don't know about you, but do you think we look alike?
Mindy, does it seem a little unusual to you that these relatives of ours brought wooden spears to the family reunion?
What's so weird about that, Gyroz?
You brought a quiche.
Well, that's what you bring to a party.
I don't think they're gonna be hungry for quiche, Gyroz.
Looks to me like they're filling up on that elephant they just hunted down.
Ew. Why do you think no one's talking to us, Gyroz?
Mindy, they're not even talking to each other.
They all kind of look busy and angry.
Yeah, look at these guys over here.
They're just building fires and shelters out of sticks and rocks.
Doesn't exactly feel like much of a reunion to me.
Hey, cousins. You know that home thingy you're building over there?
I think it would look really great with some little, you know, Cape Cod windows and maybe a veranda.
You know, Gyroz, besides the fact that they're eating elephants running around with spears and never heard of quiche, if you dressed them up in our clothes, it would probably be kind of hard to tell them apart from ourselves.
Yeah, although their heads are a little bigger.
Speak for yourself.
But their brains are a little smaller.
And they do walk upright like we do, but I'm not sure they'd have enough grace to handle a ballet class.
But there does seem to be one pretty obvious difference between us and them, and that is Oh, dude, you better bow through that.
Okay, two obvious differences.
Look at their foreheads, Mindy.
Well, they do all look super angry.
Okay, yes, but why?
It's the eyebrows, Gyroz.
This is what I read about in that study I was telling you about.
So it looks to me like they have these large bony ridges over their eyes and they stick out so far.
They almost look like a ledge on the bottom of their foreheads.
And speaking of foreheads, compared to ours, theirs almost look horizontal.
I mean, they slant way back instead of standing up smooth and vertical like ours.
So it does make me wonder, Mindy, if these are our ancient cousins and we look alike in so many ways, then why don't we have those same protruding eyebrow ridges like they do?
Well, that's what these anthropologists wanted to find out.
Hey, Mindy, I think they're looking at us.
I'm pretty sure they're eyeing your quiche, Gyroz.
What? Oh, hey, guys, feel free to take a slice.
I made it with free range eggs from chickens raised in a lovely farmhouse with lots of natural light and - Gyroz, did she just hide that other guy in the face with your quiche?
I spent all morning on that quiche!
Looks like someone needs to learn some basic human social skills.
Yeah, evolve already, guys.
Oh, give him a few hundred thousand years.
Know what, Gyroz? I think we've seen enough.
Yeah, I agree. Maybe it's time to get out of here.
Let me just walk over there and ask them for my quiche pan back at least.
What? No, we don't have time for that - Gyroz, get in the well machine now!
Hey, that quiche pan is not a hat.
Good run! Okay, okay.
All right. Punching in the coordinates now.
Resin -Day USA. Here we - What?
Where did he come from, Mindy?
Hey, Puss! Mindy, Mindy, there is an ancient human in our well machine headed towards the present day.
Okay, uh, everybody stay calm.
I've got everything out of control.
Mindy, you have to stop this thing right now.
We can't take him home with us.
Hey, Puss, we've only moved forward like 300 ,000 years, which means that we still have 100 ,000 years to go before we make it back to the present day!
I'm telling you, Mindy, we need to stop this well machine right this minute!
Now what? Okay, pal.
Now we're just pulling over for a little potty break, so go ahead and step outside.
Allow me to open the hatch for you kind sir.
Whoa! What a difference 300 ,000 years makes!
So we're now only a hundred thousand years in the past?
Yeah. So this must be the time when our ancient ancestors were starting to create groups and to socialize in some of the ways that we were recognized today.
Yeah. And when you socialize with other people, being friendly can get you a lot further than being mean and aggressive and angry.
Which brings me back to the eyebrows.
Check out the brows on these hominin ancestors.
Yeah, that big eyebrow ridge we saw 300 ,000 years ago seems to be getting smaller and less stiff.
And you know what? They're looking less angry than our cousins that we were just visiting 300 ,000 years ago.
Or this guy. Oh, oh yeah.
You're still here. Sorry.
I don't think I caught your name earlier.
Red Grok -an -ner -ah.
B -Bread? Red Grok -an -ner -ah.
Grok? Red Grok -an -ner -ah.
You know what? I'm just gonna call you Chandler for short.
How's that? Chandler?
Yeah. So back in Chandler's Day, it's been presumed that meanness or aggression was necessary for survival.
Mostly because, you know, he and his pals didn't have the social tools, like language and facial expressions, to help them get along with each other, things that we do today.
Which brings us back to this ancient eyebrow study, Guy Ross.
So does this mean we're going to finally find out why we present day humans don't have that giant eyebrow bone?
Well, it means we could be getting closer.
Come on, let's head back to the present day and I'll explain everything when we get there.
But what about Chandler, Genma?
Oh, Chandler can come too.
Well, are you sure that's a good idea?
Guy Ross, of course I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Ready, Chandler? I think that's an angry yes.
Punching in the coordinates.
Modern day USA. Take two.
Here we go. Modern day.
Sweet modern day. After you, Guy Ross.
Thank you. After you, Chandler.
Chandler. Good morning, Dennis.
Good morning, Mindy.
Mindy, your house is melting and now there's frosting all over my driveway.
It's brand new and the wind is picking up.
You know what, Chandler?
Oh. Why don't you just introduce yourself to our neighbor, Dennis.
Oh, hello there. My name is Dennis.
Oh, is that a spear?
I had a friend who had a spear just like that one.
He was in the military or something and Yotham had to carry a spear.
They're going to get along just fine.
You know you have quiche all over your face.
So Mindy, back to those eyebrows.
Were those anthropologists ever able to figure out why ours looks so different from Chandler's here?
Let's walk and talk, Guy Ross.
So these anthropologists did a few different experiments to try and understand the purpose of those crazy eyebrow ridges.
Oh, yeah. Experiments like what?
First, they made a computer model of a famous Homo heidelbergensis skull named cowboy one.
It was discovered in Africa almost 100 years ago.
And then what? Then they took this computer model and basically just started playing with it.
Playing with it? Yeah.
They did things like shrink the eyebrow ridge to see if it made any difference to the way the skull, eyes, cheeks, and jaws would have been able to move or to function.
And what did they find?
They found that the ridge didn't seem to have any structural purpose at all, meaning that it wasn't really a bone that these ancient humans even needed, at least not in the same way that we need bones to help hold up our bodies or help us move or walk.
So then what did they do?
So then one of the anthropologists done this study, a guy named Paul O 'Higgins, heard about an experiment that was done by another anthropologist, who, by the way, also happened to be a Bigfoot seeker and an eyebrow enthusiast.
And I hope his name was Grover Krantz.
Are you making this up, Mindy?
Not this time, Guy Rozz.
So what was the experiment?
Well, Grover Krantz had a fake eyebrow ridge made, attached it to his face over his existing eyebrows, stepped outside into a crowded place, and basically said, here I am, world!
You're telling me he tried to make himself look like an angry, ancient homo Heidelbergensis?
Hey, anything for science!
Anything for science?
So how did the world react?
Well, pretty much exactly how you'd expect.
He got a lot of strange looks, people avoided walking past him on the street.
Basically, everyone just kind of quietly freaked out when they saw him.
And was that giant eyebrow ridge protecting his eyes from sweat and sun and his hair?
That's the thing, Guy Rozz, it really didn't do anything.
I mean, it didn't even work any better than his own existing eyebrows.
So what does all of this mean?
Well, it got these researchers thinking that maybe, if the eyebrow ridge didn't have a structural purpose the way that bones normally do, perhaps the loss of this ridge in us modern -day humans matters to our social structures instead.
You mean like the way we use words and body language and other signals like facial expressions to communicate with other humans?
Bingo, Guy Rozz! And it all started about 100 ,000 years ago when our hominin ancestors began losing the ridges but keeping the eyebrows.
It's also about the time when they started to develop new ways of socializing with each other.
You know, Mindy, when you think about it, without these ridges in the way, we're able to pull our eyebrows up before happy or surprised or down if we're sad or angry.
Or maybe raise one eyebrow while lowering the other to show that we're skeptical.
I give you that signal quite often, Mindy.
I've noticed. Oh. Guy Rozz, our modern eyebrows are able to say so much without having to say a word.
And our ability to understand these silent signals is part of what makes us uniquely human.
Pretty wow, huh? Yeah.
So do we know this for sure?
I mean, do we know that humans lost the ridge to make room for more ways to communicate socially?
Well, since these anthropologists didn't have a wow machine to take them back in time, we still don't really know for sure.
I mean, it could be that humans started to communicate socially first, and then the ridge started to disappear allowing for a flatter, smoother, and more communicative forehead.
Kind of a what came first, the chicken or the egg situation.
Exactorados. Well, speaking of eyebrows being able to communicate, I'm having a hard time telling what your new black tar and hair clipping eyebrows are trying to say.
Oh, well, now that I know how important eyebrows are for us humans to be able to communicate socially, I just kind of wanted to make sure that my eyebrows could communicate as loud as my voice.
I think that's a mission accomplished, Mindy.
Oh. Hey, look across the street.
I think Dennis's eyebrows are communicating something with Chandler.
What? What's the matter?
Oh, hey! Ow, use your word.
Ow! Come on. You're mumbling.
You're mumbling like a teenager.
Chandler. You know, Mindy, maybe it's about time we run old Chandler back home to 400 ,000 years ago.
Yeah, I guess it would be pretty awkward if he started to evolve past Dennis.
I can hear you, Mindy.
Love you, too. Chandler, back to the wow machine.
Play date's over. Chandler.
Wait a minute. Mindy stole tar from my driveway renovation?
Well, I'm mad, Reggie, because that driveway tar wasn't tar.
It was chewed up black licorice that I chewed myself.
I lost so much spit that day.
Reggie, why do you look so surprised?
Oh, yeah. I drew eyebrows on you.
Come here. Let me wash them off for you.
No, I wasn't going to use my spit.
Okay. Yeah, I was going to use my spit.
Fine. After the show, we'll go upstairs and use not spit to clean off your surprise face.
Okay. Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning into Wee Wow on the weekend.
If you have a - Reggie, what?
Oh, right. The membership thing.
Hand me Mindy's note again.
Thank you. Attention, Wowsers.
Celebrate Mindy's new member November with a new membership this November to the World Organization of Wowsers.
Grownups, if you sign your wowzer up by Saturday, November 30th, 2024, you'll receive a special limited edition friendship bracelet and pocket confetti from Mindy.
Grownups, visit tankercast .com slash membership or check the link in the description of this episode to sign up today.
Should we do the goodbye song?
Great. That's the end of the show.
I need to go and remove Reggie's eyebrows using something.
That's not my spit, but let's be honest, it's probably going to be my spit.
But I'll do another show tomorrow.
But for now, it's the end of the show.
Bye. Hey, Grownups.
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