Hey, smarty pants and smarty families.
So today I was supposed to bring you the sad news that this would be the last day of our special happy birthday.
50 off Who Smarted Plus subscription.
But guess what?
With Thanksgiving and Black Friday coming up, I just had to extend it another couple of weeks.
So now you have until the end of November to sign up for Who Smarted Plus and get an entire year of smarting ad free, including a brand new subscriber only bonus episode every single week.
That's right.
For just 166 a month, you'll be supporting the show and giving the gift of smarting to the smarty pants in your life, just in time for the holidays.
You can't even get a decent slice of pizza for $1.66.
So what do you say?
Go to our website, whosmarted.com, and click birthday subscribe today.
That's whosmarted.com, click birthday subscribe.
This is only available on our website at whosmarted.com.
You are smart.
And I and all your friends at Who Smarted will be glad you did.
Thanks and happy holidays.
Hi, it's Trusty.
First, a big thank you to our subscribers.
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Questions answered by me.
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And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Hey smarty pants.
Right now I am in a spooky gift shop in a spooky part of the world picking out a postcard to send my grandma.
Let's see.
Greetings from Transylvania.
Boring.
I'm having a blood-sucking good time.
That's a little gruesome for Grandma.
How about greetings from my cozy coffin?
Cute, but no.
As I'm sure some of you smarty pants have already guessed, I'm in Transylvania.
The land of vampires.
According to legend.
But between you and I, we both know vampires best.
Don't really exist.
Ooh, does that card have a meat cake on it?
Oh, nope.
Just a regular cake.
But also, ouch!
I grabbed the postcard so fast I gave myself a nasty paper cut.
Have you ever given yourself a paper cut, Smarty Pants?
They're the worst!
I should probably get a Band-Aid.
Maybe the woman behind the counter has one.
Excuse me?
I just gave myself a paper cut on one of your postcards.
Any chance you have a Band-Aid?
A paper cut?
A band-aid?
It must be my lucky day.
Uh, excuse me?
Oops, I meant, what a terrible mishap.
I'm sure I have a band-aid in the back.
Come with me and we'll go find the first aid kit.
Um, you want me to come with you?
What?
Are you afraid?
No, it's just, you know, you're acting like a...
Valentina.
Huh?
My name is Valentina.
But I'm also a... Vampire?
Very helpful person.
I found the first aid kit.
Let me see your very bloody finger.
Actually, it's not too bad.
But it's so beautifully bloody.
Actually, it's just a tiny spot.
Maybe I don't even need a band...
There, all done.
And what is your name again?
I'm the trusty narrator from the Who Smarted podcast.
Oh, is that the show where you teach the smartypants about fun things?
Like blood?
Hey, are you sure you're not a vampire?
Who, me?
No, I'm just a mild-mannered gift shopkeeper with a thirst.
I mean...
Fascination with blood.
Right.
That's not creepy at all.
So, Valentina, if you know so much about blood, why do we bleed anyway?
And what makes blood red?
Oh, and what's the deal with nosebleeds?
They seem so random.
One minute you're walking down the street when suddenly, bam, you got a gusher.
Seems you're fascinated by the red stuff, too.
Come, follow me down this long, dark And I'll answer all your bloody questions.
Oh boy, smarty pants.
Get ready to join me and this woman, who may or may not be a vampire, as we take a big bloody whiff of science and history on Who's Smarted.
Who's Smarted?
Who's Smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science?
Or history?
Or science?
Wow, this is some long hallway.
Are we still in the gift shop?
Okay, Mr. Narrator.
Before we get into the how and the why of bleeding, let's cover some blood basics.
Humans are just full of blood.
Your hearts pump blood throughout your body to keep you from being undead.
I mean, alive.
Blood also provides your organs and tissues with nutrients and oxygen so they can function properly.
But blood itself has many different parts to it.
Parts?
What do you mean, parts?
Isn't it just red liquid?
Smarty pants!
You know about these blood parts?
You have much to learn.
Come, let us enter the Museum of Blood.
Do most gift shops have a Museum of Blood?
In Transylvania, all shops have a Museum of Blood.
As I was saying, many things make up your blood.
First, you have red blood cells which carry oxygen throughout your body.
It's your red blood cells that also determine your blood type.
Smartypants, do you know the four main blood types?
There's A, B, AB, and O, and they come in positive or negative.
There's a lot to cover in blood types, so we'll probably make that a separate episode.
All you need to know for now is that your blood type is inherited from your parents.
And you need to know it in case you donate or have to get blood.
I take all blood types.
Right.
Anyway, moving on.
Next, you also have white blood cells.
Smarty Pants, do you know the very important job that white blood cells have?
Is it to A, fight infections, B, regulate body temperature, or C, clean the red blood cells?
If you said A, help fight infections, you're right.
Well done, smarty pants.
Moving on, we have platelets.
Yuck, they look nothing like plates.
More like spiders.
Platelets are cell fragments that clump together to stop the bleeding when a cut occurs.
Kind of like that delicious paper cut you just got.
Did you just say delicious?
Maybe.
Anyway, is that what's happening under this band-aid right now?
Yes.
The platelets are coming together to help stop the flow of blood.
You're yummy.
Warm.
Bright red blood!
Speaking of bright red, you were wondering where blood gets its wonderful color, no?
Yes.
I'm also going to ignore that crazy outburst and evil laughing.
Blood gets its color from something called hemoglobin.
It's a molecule that contains iron.
The iron is what gives your blood its scrumptious red color.
If you step this way, you'll see the final component of blood.
Ew, what's that yellow watery liquid?
Don't tell me that's in our blood.
I know, I know.
I prefer the red parts too.
But yes, this yellowy, watery liquid is in your blood.
It's also very important.
What is it?
Mostly water.
But it contains important proteins, nutrients, and hormones.
Smartypants, what do you think this watery liquid in your blood is called?
Is it A, magma?
B, plasma?
Or C, omega?
If you said B, plasma, nice.
Wow, Valentina, I never realized there was so much stuff inside blood.
It takes a village.
Or in the case of blood, it takes cells, hormones, nutrients, molecules, and proteins.
Okay, now that we know what's in blood, we want to know why do we bleed?
You break through layers of skin and you cut open blood vessels too.
Blood vessels are the tiny little tubes your blood flows through.
When you have a cut, the blood spills out of those blood vessels through whatever opening was created.
It would be like if you had a plastic bag full of water and you made a little incision in the bag with a knife.
That water's gonna spill out.
Okay, okay, that almost makes sense.
Almost?
What do you mean, almost?
Well, so-called blood expert who does not identify as a vampire, what about nosebleeds?
There's no cut when a nosebleed happens.
It just happens.
How?
Why?
Why do noses just start spontaneously bleeding?
Oh, spontaneous is a fancy word for unexpected bleeding.
Oh, it's neither spontaneous nor unexpected.
You see, the inside of your nose contains lots of teeny tiny blood vessels along the surface.
There's two main causes that irritate those tiny vessels and cause nosebleeds.
Smarty Pants, any idea what they are?
Are nosebleeds caused by A, allergies and minty smells?
B, dry air and nose picking?
Or C, hot weather and nose hair?
The answer is B.
The two most common reasons your nose might bleed are if the air is too dry, and or you pick your nose.
Both of these irritate your nose's blood vessels, but other things can cause a nosebleed.
Such as inhaling a strong chemical like ammonia or taking medications that thin your blood.
So what you're saying is nosebleeds aren't random.
No.
There is always a cause.
Just like delectable paper cuts.
Okay, okay, relax.
Uh, there's another scenario I'm curious about.
One time I was slicing vegetables. when I accidentally cut myself with a kitchen knife.
I yelled, ouch!
But when I looked out at the cutting board, instead of seeing blood-covered broccoli, there was no blood.
There was definitely a cut in my skin.
So how is it possible that no blood started gushing out?
Excellent question.
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Now back to who's SMARTED.
Ouch!
I just nicked my finger with a knife.
I better get a band-aid.
Only, where's the blood?
Why are some cuts bloodless?
Well, you see, your skin has many layers and the The outermost layer does not contain blood vessels.
So, if the cut isn't very deep, you might not bleed at all.
Whoa, did you know that, Smarty Pants?
That's so cool!
Same goes for a puncture wound.
A puncture wound could be from a nail, a knife, or a tooth.
A tooth?
Oh, you mean, like, from a vampire? or a teething little brother.
Puncture wounds tend to be straight and long, and so it may not cause as much damage to the blood vessels, possibly resulting in no bleeding.
Wow.
Are there any parts of the body that can't ever bleed?
Nothing. aside from the obvious ones like hair, teeth, and nails.
There is one part of your body that sadly doesn't bleed.
What do you think it is, Smarty Pants?
Is it A, the surface of your eye?
B, the surface of your brain?
Or C, the skin of your elbows?
It's a tricky one, Smarty Pants, but the answer is... A!
Mwah!
The outermost surface of your eyeball is called the cornea.
The cornea has no blood vessels and therefore cannot bleed.
But you said blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all the parts of our body.
So does that mean our eyes are not oxygenated or nutritious?
Oh, they're nutritious, all right.
Just not very delicious.
Huh?
Sorry, I'm just hungry.
You see, instead of blood bringing oxygen and nutrients to your cornea, it's actually your tears, along with a watery substance behind the cornea called aqueous humor, that supply the cornea with its nutrients and oxygen.
Ooh!
Interesting.
So if the cornea is the part of the body that doesn't bleed at all, is there a part of the body that bleeds the most?
Indeed there is.
There is a very special, very important part of your body practically bursting at the seams with rich red warm, gushing blood.
Sorry, I got a little carried away.
I'll say.
But before you say the answer, let's see if the smarty pants can get it.
Which part of the human body tends to bleed the most if it becomes cut or wounded?
Is it your stomach?
Your head?
Or your appendix.
Which do you think?
If you said your head, you're right.
Good job if you got that.
But why would your head bleed the most?
I figured it would be your chest or stomach near your heart.
That makes sense.
But it's your head.
And the reason is simple.
As you've learned, bleeding occurs when blood vessels break and your head contains lots of blood vessels.
More blood vessels means more blood loss from head injuries.
Ah, that makes sense.
These injuries can include deep ones where there may be bleeding on or around the brain.
Or more superficial head injuries, like a cut to your scalp, Because the skin of the scalp also contains lots and lots of blood vessels.
Is there a reason your head has so many blood vessels in it?
Absolutely.
As you also learned earlier, blood carries oxygen to various body parts.
Because your brain is super hard working, it needs lots of oxygen to function.
So, a lot of blood is pumped up towards your head.
You know Valentina, if you told me this morning that picking up a postcard would result in a paper cut, which would result in learning tons of cool facts about blood and bleeding, I'd say you had a very active imagination, like the kind that believes in vampires.
Well, you know how it is.
Transylvania is an ancient place full of many mysteries.
It's easy to get caught up in strange myths and legends.
So, have you decided which postcard to buy?
Yes, I'll take the fake meatcake one and this one that says, always be positive.
Wait, did I get blood on it?
Oh, it's just a picture of blood.
Oh, I get it.
Be positive like one of the four main blood types.
How fun.
Ring me up, Valentina.
Valentina?
Sorry, trusty.
The sun will be up soon.
I gotta fly.
My associate will take care of you.
Nice meeting you.
A big shout out to Grace in Aurora, Colorado.
Thanks for smarting with us.
We love hearing how much fun you have listening to Who Smarted, because you enjoy all the silly stuff we do while helping you learn lots of new things.
That's what we do, Grace.
This episode Blood was written by Phil Plasma Jeremy and voiced by Charlotte Coagulate Cohn and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hemoglobin-Hahn.
Our associate producer is Max Antibody Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian...
Be Positive Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Type O Negative Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
