WeWow on the Weekend

Grown ups, this message is for you. Hey grown up. It's Skyros and Mindy here. And before we jump into today's adventure, we want to share something important with you. Something we've never asked in our entire nine years of making this show. That's right. For nine years, WoW in the world has been free. Every teacher, every curious kid, and every grown up who listens. And we've been able to keep it going through partnerships, sponsors, distributors,

readers, and honestly, a whole lot of scrappy ingenuity. But the truth is The media industry has changed a lot since we launched this show in 2017. And it's becoming a lot harder to financially sustain a show like WoW in the World without additional help. And that's because every episode you hear, every silly character voice, every story twist, every science Writers, producers. Imposer's research. And one lady who keeps extra

Exploding beakers in the studio. Mindy! What? Science is messy, Gyroz! Every single episode. It starts with us searching far and wide for real scientific discoveries, sometimes buried in complex scientific journals. And then we try to Translate that science into an adventure story that kids and grown-ups can enjoy together. After that, we send it to science experts for free. So you know what you're hearing.

Accurate, trustworthy, and full of integrity. And then we record all the voices from guys. To Uh, Dennis. Welcome everyone! Dennis! Sorry. And finally, our team adds original music, sound design, editing, mixing, and mastering until the world of the story comes to life inside your ears. No AI, no shortcuts. Just real humans making something to spark your curiosity? And we do it because we believe can inspire kids and grown-ups to do great things.

Especially now, when the world is full of confusing information, we can

based science is more important than ever. And here's the hard part we want to share with you. You expect and should get. We need your help. That's right. For the first time ever, we are asking our listeners, you. To help support this show. If your family values what we create, if you've laughed or learned something new, if the show has inspired curiosity in your home, or just saved your sanity on a long road trip. We're asking you to consider making.

Making a contribution. And any amount truly helps. Extra large, astronomically huge. I'm being inclusive. Anyway, your directly to paying our team. Research, write, produce, fact check, And build this world every week. It keeps the show sustainable so we can keep making it. Wow and the world free for everything. So grown ups, if you have the means to help support our show. Dot com slash. Where you can pick from a handful of fun things we've curated as thank you gift.

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Hello and welcome to Wee Wow on the Weekend! I'm your host, Dennis. And Reggie's here too, also. Hey Resi! I was just wondering what Dinosaur. What pigeons? Reggie, those are dinosaurs. Birds are basically dinosaurs, but I wanted you. Fun like stegosaurus or spinosaurus or dimetrodon. No, Reggie, not the T Rex. That's everyone's Do another one! Ooh, the Archaeopteryx! Good one! See now that's how you pick a favorite dinosaur. My favorite dinosaur is the

But not the Dilaposaurus from the dinosaur book mother gave me. I like the Dilaposaurus from the movies. Because, Reggie, in the movies, they have more. Neck frails. And I want neck frill. I also like the Denisedon. No, the Denizodon isn't real. Yet, but it will be once I discover it. Yeah! Oh, you're right. We better move on with the show. Let's get started with a QA segment. Alright, let's just get the old answering machine pulled up here. Okay, here we go.

Hi, you've reached Dennis from Wee Wow on the weekend. That's me. Do you have a question? Well I do too. Lots of them. And who's gonna answer all my questions? You? Probably not, but I guess I can answer yours. Leave me a message. Hi Dennis and Reggie. My name is Thomas from Warner Robins, Georgia, and I have a question for Dennis. Okay, Thomas, what you got? What is the craziest thing you've seen Grandma G Force do while snooping on her?

What's the craziest thing I've seen Grandma G Force do? Well, honestly, Grandma G Force is really boring to snoop on because She does the same thing every day. Yeah, first she plays guitar in a rock band, then she practices mixed martial arts. Then comes her afternoon skydiving appointment, followed by monster truck jumping over a pit of robot crocodiles, and then an afternoon nap! I know! It's just boring old regular grandma stuff! Next question!

Hi Dennis, my name is Caleb. I'm eleven years old and I'm from Mount Laurel, New Jersey. I'm just wondering what the fastest computer ever made was. Thanks. Ooh, the fastest computer ever made! Yeah, I agree. I'm pretty sure the fastest computer was that laptop Mindy strapped to a rocket ship and shot into outer space. How fast do you think that computer went, Reggie? What? 26,000 miles per hour? Oh yeah, that has to be the fastest computer ever made.

Next question. Hi Dennis, my name is Eamon. I am eight years old. I live in Cornwall, New York, and my question is. Why do humans have two legs instead of four? Oh wow! Why do humans have two legs instead of four? I don't know, but I would love to have four legs. Because, Reggie! Then I could wear two pairs of pants! Then I could mix and match pants! For two times the fashion fun. Yeah, and then I'd get to wear four shoes.

Can you imagine? And four ice skates and four rollerblades and four cowboy boots and four flip-flops? Yeah, and two sets of pedals on my bicycle. I'd go so fast. Oh, you're right. With four legs I'd have to clip twenty toenails instead of just ten. Ugh! And think of all the sock laundry! Yeah, that would be really time-consuming. I have much better things to do than spend all my time clipping toenails and washing socks.

And that's why we have two legs instead of four. Thanks for all your calls, everyone. If you've got a For me, call and leave me a message. The number is 1-8887. Wow wow. That's 1-888777. Seven Wow Wow I just might answer your question on Wee Wow on the weekend. Okay, that takes care of that. Now it's time for our next segment, 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 29, called Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Well, Reggie, do they? Kind of! Reggie, what do you mean? In this episode, aren't you friends with a plover or something? Right, and a bar-tailed godwit! Okay, fine. Let's just listen to the episode. Alright, here we go. And play. Wee Wow will be right back. Grown-ups, this message is for you!

It's me, Carly Q, from Who When Wow Mystery Edition. Big news to share. I've learned a lot on my time traveling adventures over the years, like what to pack when you're traveling to Victorian England, or the must-try foods when you're visiting the Viking Age. Spoiler alert, the food is pretty good, but they don't have pie yet, which is a bummer. I can't wait to share my time travel tips and tricks with you all. You can listen to my new bite-sized episodes in When WoW Podcast. Starting next week.

Looks like lunch break is over. Now let's get on with the show. It's Mindy. And guys. And we have an important message to share with you. For nine years, WoW in the world has been free for every family, teacher, curious kid, and grown up who listens. And we've kept it going through. Sponsors, distributors, and honestly, a whole lot of scrappy ingenuity. But the truth is, the media industry has changed a lot since we launched this show in twenty seventeen.

And it's becoming a lot harder to financially sustain a show like WoW in the World without additional help. And that's because every episode you hear is handcrafted by an entire team. Real humans. So for the first time ever, we are asking our listeners, you, to support the show. If your family values what we create, if you've laughed or learned something new.

Or if the show has inspired curiosity in your home, we're asking you to consider making a contribution. Your support goes directly to paying our team and keeps Wow in the world free. Free for everyone who listens to it. So grown ups, if you can, just visit Tinker G. slash support to see the thank you packages that we've put together for your support.

visit Tinkercast.com slash support and we'll put all this information in the podcast show notes. Thanks for helping to power the WoW at Tinkercast, and now let's get on with the show. That's it! Now back to the show! collection! Run, run, run, run! I'm still coming! Crawl, crawl, good mor! Wait, what is this no? Sorry? We missed you, your package was undeliverable as nobody was home. Not again. You're not getting away with it this time, buddy!

What are you doing? I was coming over to help you organize your band-aid collection, not to be your human tackling dummy. Oh sorry, guy Roz, I thought you were the delivery guy. Here, let me help you up. One, two, skip to my loo and Thanks. Wait. Why were you trying to tackle the delivery guy? Well, my lasso's in the shop and I'm still working out the kinks on the old trapdoor hole.

What in the See what I mean? I didn't even push the button! Mindy, that's dangerous! Only if you're standing on it. So did you still want to do that band-aid sorting? I I was thinking we could start by organizing them by not right now, Gyroz. I gotta head down to the post office to get Reggie's package. Reggie still gets his mail delivered here? Uh, I thought he had a P.O. box.

So not a package for Reggie Gyras, a package from Reggie. A package from Reggie? Why? Where is he? Oh man, it's been so hard to keep up. I think he's in Mexico now, maybe or maybe it was Kosovo. Or was it Monaco? I don't know. It's definitely one of those O countries. Wait, Rich is on vacation? Yeah, he does it every year. Come inside, I'll show you. Okay. Just make sure to take your shoes off. I just refrosted.

The floor. Oh, okay, sure thing. One and two. Uh uh, Mindy? I'm in the kitchen! Okay. Whoa, Mindy, why are there so many jars of uh are are those pickles? Yeah. I'm experimenting with a bunch of new flavors. I've got rack So drop. Tropical fruit pickles? The perfect summer snack! Oh, okay. This is what I wanted to show you. Your fridge? No, look what's on the fridge, Gyroz. Sticky fingerprints? No, these.

Oh, are are those postcards from Reggie? Yep, and those are all just from this past month. Reggie's really been clocking in the fly miles, if you know. Wow, look at this. Hawaii. The great wall. China, Hokkaido, Japan? Ah, Hokkaido, that's what it was! I knew it ended in a no. And you said he does this every year? Yeah, it's his migration vacation. His migration vacation? Yeah, so here's the deal. Pigeons, like Reggie, are nesting birds, right? Which means that they like to stay in one

Spot their whole lives. Yeah, but Reggie is also a very popular bird. You can say that again. But Reggie is also a very popular. So he has a lot of inner species friends. A few Canadian geese. Ah, I think his roommate in bird college might have been a bald eagle. And they are all migratory birds. Migratory meaning on the move. So uh Joins up with them and goes along for a ride?

And let me just check to make sure I've got my bird facts straight here. Okay, hang on. Just let me get my level. Your level? Yeah. So you can see if you got your facts straight. No, no, Mindy. When when I said I wanted to get my bird fact straight. I just meant I wanted to double check the meaning of migration. Oh, well why didn't you just say so? Okay. Migration is when birds move from one area to another for either the winter or the summer. Ah yes, and they usually head

South to warmer weather in winter and then back up north when it heats up again, right? Exact Doritos! So for example, most birds in North America move south for the winter to get away from the cold and to raise their That makes sense. And then in the springtime, just before summer, they pack their bags and fly up north for the all-you-can-eat buffet of insects.

And bugs that have been hiding all winter. Ah, so not only do birds migrate south in the winter to avoid the cold, but also to find more food. Yep. And according to Reggie's Some of these birds are extreme endurance.

Blades. Just check out this postcard he sent me from Hawaii after traveling with his golden plover pals. Huh interesting, but but Mindy, I can't read this. It just looks like a bunch of bird footprints. Oh, you don't read pigeon scratch. Do you Huh? That's cool. I'll read it to you. here. Um having a great time. Took a ukulele. did some whale watching, some surfing, and oh, here we go. It's a very nice way to relax after a 3,000 mile one-way flight.

3,000 miles, Mindy. That's farther than New York to Los Angeles. I know, and that's not even the crazy part. Don't tell me they ran out of the Mediterranean tapa snack boxes. What? No, the crazy part is that they did it all in one trip. Yep. Four days straight. You mean without Stopping with no rest breaks and no food? Nope, not at all.

Wow, that's incredible. I mean, don't you remember that one time you stayed up for one whole night embroidering your grandma G Force's wrestling robe? You fell asleep in your cereal the next day. Ah nothing beats a nice Uh, Mendy? Hmm, that's funny. I don't remember that brunch. So how do these birds not sleep or eat for four whole days? Well that's actually super fascinating. So in terms of food, these birds basically have one big meal before they take off.

Kinda like how you have six bowls of spaghetti before you ride a roller coaster. You know what guy raws, and I do that for two reasons. Number one, they never let me bring my spaghetti on the ride. And number two, I won't be able to eat again until after the roller coaster ride is over. That's not anyway, so these birds basically do the same thing? Yeah, so it's an animal. Behavior known as Hyperphagia I say it that way to help me remember. Hyperphasia? Huh, bro.

Uh look. I know that it might sound like a Super classy word, but really it's just a fancy pants way of saying shoving a whole bunch of food in your mouth, which is really just a fancy pants way of saying, eat like I do. Here, want me to demonstrate? No, no, no, no. I I think I got it. So these birds bingy.

Insects and food to keep them going for the four days it takes to fly from say Alaska where they spend the summer to Hawaii where they spend the winter? Yep, and they do this for almost three weeks before taking off. But how do they go without sleep? I mean, everyone has to sleep, Mindy. Well, Gyroz, that is a question that has baffled scientists for a while. How do birds sleep? while they fly. Right, because most birds who travel over land can just swoop down, make a nest bed

Catch up on a little sleep and then head off again in the morning. But if you're traveling over water like the Golden Plover is Such love. So how do they do it? Well, migratory birds like the golden plover can do something called unihemispheric. Una hemispheric sleep? Yep. If I got this. So our brains and animals' brains are made up of two different brains. Right? Right. The right hemisphere and the left hemisphere. You got it. And these two parts of the brain work together to help us function.

And uni means one. You're getting it. So unihemispheric sleep probably means that one hemisphere sleeps. Which means that these migratory birds put half of their brain to sleep while the other one stays awake to, you know, flap its wings and stuff. Yes! Winner winner plover dinner. Caras. Sometimes I forget how many brains are under that bike helmet of yours. Mindy, that's not a helmet, that's my head. But you're exactly right, Gyros.

Research from the Max Planck Institute in Germany has shown that migratory birds, like the plover, are able to shut and rest most of their bodies while still using enough of their brains to avoid crashing into other birds. And I bet they're also To keep track of where they're flying so they can soar on the air currents. You know it! That's so cool. Exactly.

Steve. Steve? Oh yeah, Steve is the name of Reggie's plover friend. Oh, okay. And believe it or not, Steve isn't even the longest distance flyer that Reggie rolls with. Really? Yeah, take a look. Of these other postcards. Just last month, Reggie flew for eight days straight with his bar-tailed Godwit friend. Ha! It says here he traveled more than 7,200 miles. Yeah. Whoa, that's like Los Angeles to New York.

Back to LA and then halfway to New York again. I know, and again, all without a single break. Wow. Reggie sure leads one incredible life. Say uh do you know when he's coming back? You know what? I'm not sure, but we can always find out. Really? Yeah. Well how? By going out and visiting him. We can just Ask him in person when he plans on coming back. But Mindy, without Reggie, how are we gonna visit him at uh where was he again? Uh let me check the postcard here.

Lake Komukeko, Hokkaido, Japan. Right. Well, how are we gonna get to Lake Komukiko in Japan without Reggie? Mmm, well, I guess we're just gonna have to take the time machine. But Mindy, uh, according to the manual, the time machine is only supposed to be used for traveling to the past or to the future. Okay, well, number one, I made the manual.

And number two, considering that Japan is 17 hours ahead of our time zone, then technically we are going to the future. Huh. Now come on! We just got it back from the dry climate. The dry cleaners? Well yeah, of course. You didn't expect me to machine wash it, did you? You? I guess not. So we'll just take the time machine for a quick trip out to Japan, ask Reggie when he'll be back, and then we'll We'll be back before you can even say pigeon scratch. Pigeon scratch? Come on! When?

Ready? Ready? Ready? Here we are. Alright, let me just get my garage door opener here. All right, guy Roz, come on in. Just follow me. We're just gonna squeeze past the motor pickle here and over Reggie's. Saddle. Oh. Oh, look, there are those emu spacesuits we only wore once. Oh, careful! Careful! You almost stepped in my crab wrestling arena! Oh sorry, uh what happened to the crabs? Ah, here we go. The time machine. Let me just open the hatch here.

Mandy, you really should replace this door. Ugh, yeah, I know, but you would not believe how hard it is to get spare parts for this model. Yeah, it does look pretty unusual. What model year is it? Hmm, let me see here. Um 2145. Oh man, well those future models are super rare in the present. Anywho, hop on in! We've got a plover pit stop to ponder. Okay, let me just like Muki Koho. Hokkaido, Japan

Modern day. Modern day. There we go, all set. Hope you got your barf bag ready. Barf bag. Because here we go! Made it. Nice water landing, Mindy. Thanks, Skyroz. I've been practicing. Now grab your floaties, we're headed outside. Ah, nothing like a wet land, wet landing. All right, come on, follow me, Gai Raz. Mindy, wait you don't It is It's really, really shallow. Are you okay, Mindy? Mindy, you should never ever jump into water without knowing how deep it is. That's how you hurt yourself.

Information would have been useful like this. Minutes ago. Place out, Mindy. There must be thousands of birds here. Yeah, that's why I wanted to bring you here, Gyroz. This is a migratory pit stop. Check it out, they've got a a seed shack. Over there. They've got some little stalls for birds to do their business. Wait a minute, Mindy. Did you say a migratory pit stop? Yeah, well the technical term is migratory link.

But they basically work the same way that pid stops do for us humans. Oh, you mean like on a long road trip? Exactly. Just like how on a long road trip you might pull over into a pit stop on the side of the road to grab a snack or go to the bathroom or even maybe spend the night. These migratory birds have to do the same exact thing. Oh now I'm getting it. So these marshy, swampy wetlands

pit stops because there's plenty of insect life to snack on and well that mud does look kind of cozy for a bird. Maybe I'll just sit down right But Mindy, I've heard that a lot of these wetlands are in danger. Really? What from? Well, from habitat destruction for one, when Humans build buildings and cities too close to them, but also from things like climate change. which is changing the entire ecosystems of wetland areas like this.

Oh man, that's terrible news, Gyroz. I know, because if migratory birds can no longer live in these wetlands, then they'll run out of places to stop over and rest their wings for their long trip. Exactly. And without that, these birds could start to die off and even become in danger. But Mindy, there is something that you and I can do to help. There is? Yes, there is, but first

We have to get ashore, so uh let me just help you back up here. Thanks, buddy. Now we just need to get this thing ashore. Ooh. I've got just the thing. Wait right here while I grab it from downstairs, okay? I keep forgetting this time machine has a basement. And the laundry! Ren, Ren, Ren. Mindy, Mindy, what on earth are those? These are the time machines rowing oars. Actually you're swinging those things, Mindy. It's okay, it's okay.

Alright, Guy Roz, you take the port, I'll take the starboard. Okay, got it. Let me just set up the boom box here. A boom box? Mindy, why do we need a boom box? For rowing. Huh? Let's row. Book is bowl, get me down the street. But they like this look. Ah, we made it to shore, Gyros. Nice teamwork, buddy. Ouch! All right, I'm ready to start protecting these wetlands for some birds. Where do we start? Well, let me just have a look around here. Ah, there we are. Found some.

Uh, those are feathers. Exactly. Now I just need to put them in this envelope here and put an address on it. Let's see here. Brandis Australian Nuclear Science. Technology Organization, Sydney, Australia. Uh guy, put a stamp on it, and let's see here. Ah, there, there we go. There's Uh, why did you just send those plover feathers off to Australia? Well, it's the way we can help protect these wetlands, Mindy. By mailing off some musty old bird feathers halfway around the world? Exactly.

Dr. Brandis and her researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia are using feathers just like these. For what? Well for starters. To try and map out where these wetlands are. Hmm. And is that it? Well, the feathers can also tell them how healthy the birds are in these places. Huh. Interesting. And not just that, Mindy, by studying feathers and These scientists can also know whether these wetlands are adequately protected

by the humans around them. That's so wow, but how do they get all of this information just by studying the bird's feathers? Like they can tell how healthy it is? Well, what Dr. Brandis and her team do is they look for a Protein in the feather called keratin. Oh, I know what keratin is. It's also found in human hair, right? That's right. And just like how human hair can tell us a lot about the person it came from.

The keratin in a bird's feather can tell us a lot about the bird that it came from. Wow, that's a lot of information in one feather. In fact Mindy, the keratin in the bird's feathers also keeps a record of all the food the bird ate. And so the scientist can get a really good idea of of how much food was in the environment they were in at certain times. Huh. So, kinda like how the rings on a tree can tell us a lot about what the environment was like when the tree was younger? Yep, exactly.

So the more feathers that Dr. Brandis gets from a certain habitat can give us a better and clearer understanding of how healthy that ecosystem is, and if it needs any help from conservationists or people who want to help protect it.

plan. Cool. Anyway, I I don't see Reggie anywhere here. Do you Mindy? No, I don't see him either. Let me ask around real quick. Hang on. Um, excuse me, uh, Mr. Plover. Sorry, my plover's a little rusty. Um, I'm gonna try this again. Uh Oh man, really? What'd he say, Mindy? I said Reggie took off last week. He's probably flying somewhere over New Zealand by now. Mindy, you dragged me all the way here. Guy Roz, stay calm. As usual, I've got

Everything out of control. Now we just need to hop back into the time machine, head back to the neighborhood in case he's trying to contact us there, okay? Let's go. All righty. Let me just Scoot over and make some room for me. Ah, we really need a two-seater. You ready, Mindy? Okay, just plugging in the coordinates, and here we What was that? Ugh, I think I just squished the motor pickle. Oops. Come on, let's get back inside. Run, run, run, run, run. Sweet

Hey, what's this? I think it's another postcard from Reggie. Yeah, must have arrived while we were away. Let's see here. Loving Auckland. Haven't seen any hobbits yet. What? I'll be back next week. Hey Roz, this is a disaster. What's a disaster? next week and I have nothing ready for his welcome home party. Well, that that's okay, Mindy. We've got some time, and I can help. What do you need? Well, I'm gonna need some bird seed. Of course. A couple of pinatas.

Uh-huh. 400 loose steel washers. A dump truck. Uh what? A liability insurance policy up to a million dollars. What? And some pixie dust, cause I wanna fly too. Wow, that was so cool and the golden plover sounds so cute. Reggie, your migration vacation sounds amazing! What did you do in Hokkaido? You had ramen! You went to a hot spring? You went snowboarding? Maggie! I wanna go on a migration vacation too! Can we, can we, can we, can we, can we, can we? Hooray!

Okay, let's wrap up the show and get packing. Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning in to Wee Wow on the Weekend! If you have a question for me, call and leave me a message at 1-888-7WOW. That's one, eight. Wow! I just might answer your question on Wee Wow on the weekend! Alright, let's make a list. I need to pack my pajamas and my pants and my socks and my shoes and my eye mask and my eye creams and my

Thanks for joining us for this edition of Wee Wow on the Weekend. Our show is written by Ruth Morrison and Jed Anderson. The role of baby Dennis. Anderson. Ah, well then who plays the role of Victorists? Never you mind! T original sound design and production is done by Henry. With contributions from Jed Anderson and Original music for Wee Wow is composed and performed Special thanks to Jessica Boni. Dr. Natasha Crandall, Kenny Curtis, Lizzie Freilich, Kristen.

Meredith Helpin Ranzer. Mack, Erica Medina, Henry Muskell, Jody Nuspa. Ali Paksima! Kaira! Sosa. Mindy Thomas. of the other Tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ. Be sure to visit Tinkercast.com where you can become an official member of Learn about upcoming events. And learn about all the other amazing podcasts from Tinkercad! out in the basement this weekend. Be sure to Episode of Wow. And re Oh no! No, baby Dennis! We wow! Oh right! We wow!

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