Hey, Wowzer fans, Mindy here. And before we start the show, I've got a question for you. Are you ready to make it? Okay, here's the deal. My buddy Carly Q and I are hitting the road to make it wow with you in the D.C. area. That's right. We'll be making it wow in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday, March 29th. Make It Wow is a live bonker balls competition game show where real kids are the star of the show.
Two teams of Wowzers will turn their wildest and weirdest ideas into jaw-dropping inventions live on stage. Tickets? are on sale now. Grownups visit Tinkercast.com slash events to get your ticket today. That's Tinkercast.com slash events. We count. wait to make it wow with you this spring, but until then, let's get on with the show. ...for a mention of that magnificent proportion.
anyone would just abandon a perfectly good drive-through car wash. I mean, just imagine what would have happened to it if I didn't find it first. What do I plan to do with it? Like I even have a choice. Reggie I have to rescue it I can't rescue a car wash well I can't just leave it here and let it be abandoned a second time that would be cruel lasso out of my adventure toolkit here here we go I'm just gonna swing it over the entire car wash here
Oh, hey, Mindy. I didn't expect to see you at the car wash today. Oh, hey, Guy Raz. I was just coming over here to get my electric scooter waxed, and, uh, is anyone working here today? I'm afraid not, Guy Raz. Sadly, this car wash has been abandoned. Abandoned? Yeah. So Reggie and I... I'm sorry. I completely... on my own, without any help from Reggie at all, have decided to rescue it. You wanna rescue a car wash? What? And you don't? Wow.
But I knew you better, Guy Raz. Here, help me swing this lasso over the car wash. Are you sure this is a good idea, Mindy? I'm not sure this is a good idea, Guy Raz. Oh, hi, Mindy. Hi, Guy. I thought I would find you here. Really? Why? Because I followed you here. Dennis, I told you to stop. doing that? And I told you no! Well, as long as you're here, Dennis, then maybe you can help me get this car wash back to my gingerbread mansion? Huh? Wait, that's why you're tying a lasso to the...
Car wash? You want to drag it home with you? Of course I want to drag it home with me, Guy Raz. Why else would I be tying a lasso to the car wash? But... This place has been here for 50 years, Mindy. It's cemented and bolted to the ground. Well, I believe in you, Mindy. Thank you, Dennis. But I'm not going to help. Yeah, this is where I draw the line, Mindy. Well, fine. If no one's going to help me rescue this car wash, then I'll just have to do it myself. Oh, okay. All right.
Lasso securely lassoed. Also called a lariat. And on the count of three, I'm just going to pull until I get this thing in motion. Simple physics. Physics are not on your side this time, Mindy. One, two, three, pull! Here, let me try this again. Red Mansion. Dennis? Will you take me out for ice cream after? Sure, whatever you want, Dennis. I want two scoops. Dennis! Oh, fine. One really big scoop, then.
Okay, Mindy, how are we going to do this? I really do have to go to bed in seven or eight hours. Okay, Dennis, Reggie, you're going to push from the back of the car wash, okay? Hi, Captain Ice Cream! And Guy Raz, you're going to help me pull from the front. So grab hold of this lasso here. Lariat! Okay. And when I say pull, we're going to start... pulling this car wash down the road, and we're not gonna stop until we reach my gingerbread mansion. Okay, everyone? One, two, three.
dragging a car wash through rush hour traffic. How long do you think this is going to take, Mindy? I don't know. I've never dragged an entire car wash to my house before. on my ice cream, kay? You got it, Dennis! Sorry, I just need to stop to take a little break, Mindy. But Gairaz, we're in the middle of a four-way intersection. That's never stopped you before. That's true. Hey, Dennis, Reg. What? We're taking a quick break. Will you two direct traffic until we're ready to move again? Fine.
to a waffle cone. Whatever you want, Dennis. Whew, take a load off. So, Guy Raz, while we rest here, you read any good science studies lately? Oh, well, you know, I did just read this fascinating discovery in the journal iScience. What was it about? Well, it's about how certain cetaceans interact with coral reefs in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt. Cetaceans. Oh, you mean like marine mammals? You know, whales?
corpuses, dolphins. Yeah, and in this case, bottlenose dolphins. Oh, bottlenose dolphins are my favorite dolphins. They always look like they're smiling. They are pretty adorable. You know, Guy Raz, I actually speak bottlenose dolphin. You do? Uh-huh. You were saying that the study has something to do with the way these dolphins were interacting with the coral reefs? Yeah, so the story begins in 2009. Ooh, I feel a story time coming on.
In 2009, a biologist named Angela Ziltner was observing bottlenose dolphins in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt. Uh, time out. What? Sorry, when you say biologist, you're talking about a scientist who studies living organisms like plants and animals, right? That's right. Okay, time in. Okay, so while Dr. Ziltner was observing these dolphins, she began to notice something unusual. Unusual? Like were they wearing clothes? What?
No. Well, then what was so unusual about the dolphins? Well, she noticed that as they swam through the big, bushy, spongy, soft coral... They took the time to rub their bodies up against specific spots that contained specific corals and sponges. So that... Would be like you or me walking through an active car wash and leaning into specific spots on specific brushes and sponges to maximize the soapy massage powers? Wait, what? I'm in the...
Stop interrupting the story. Sorry, sorry. Got car washes on the brain. Thank you. Guy, I have a question. Yes, Dennis? What's a coral? Dennis, you're really interrupting the flow of this story. Well, I'm curious and I have a question. Oh, I got this guy, Roz. So Dennis, coral is a type of living sea creature that mostly lives in warm tropical waters. Uh-huh. but stays in one spot for their whole adult life. They can also look a lot like bright, colorful underwater fireworks or plants.
Yeah, and when you have a lot of coral living together in one place, they form what is called a coral reef. Oh, got it. Thanks. Also, can we start moving again? I'm starting to feel like... I'm a coral standing here at this intersection. And Reggie does too. We're basically a reef now. Yeah, fair point. We should probably start moving again. Okay, let me grab my lasso here. There he is!
Let's get back to dragging this car wash back to my gingerbread mansion. Okay. Come on, Reggie. Oh, quit whining. There's going to be ice cream when we're done. Moving again on the count of three. Mind if I get back to the story I was telling you about this scientific study I read? The one about the dolphins and coral reefs? Oh, sure, Guy Raz. Anything to distract me. Okay, now, where was I?
You were saying how the dolphins swam through a car wash of coral and rubbed up against their favorites. Okay, uh, something like that. Once Dr. Ziltner observed the dolphins rubbing up against specific corals and sponges, she noticed something else. Something about the way they were doing it. What did she notice, Guy Raz? Yes! What did she notice, Guy Raz? Well, she noticed that the whole system created by these dolphins was extremely well organized. Oh, just like you, Guy Raz. That's right.
The dolphins would line up and take turns rubbing against particular corals. They took turns? So Dr. Ziltner set off on a quest to discover why. After all, this was the first time any scientist had ever observed dolphins doing this in the wild. Huh, and you mentioned that they would rub their bodies on specific corals? As they worked their way through the reef? Yes, they seemed to prefer certain corals over others. So they had their favorites. Like a favorite ice cream!
Exactly out of the hundreds of coral species in the reef, the dolphins seem to only seek out a select few. after rubbing their bodies on them, Dr. Zoltaner would notice that these specific corals would leave stains on the dolphin's skin. Oh, Mindy! I noticed earlier that you had a stain on your skin. It's right above your lip, under your nose. Oh, that's not a stain, Dennis. It's my signature chocolate milk mustache. Oh.
So, Guy Raz, what was so special about these specific corals that the dolphins just couldn't get enough of? Well, that brings me to the next stage of the study, Mindy. Ooh. Dr. Zeltner wondered if the dolphin's unusual behavior could have something to do with the mucus that these corals exude. Wait, mucus? As in snot? Coral snot?
Well, yeah. So Dr. Ziltner reached out to Gertrude Morlock, a chemist from Germany. And Dr. Morlock agreed to help her investigate these corals to learn what was about them. Made them so attractive to these dolphins. Huh. Mandy! Huh. Are we almost there? question, Dennis. Uh, sorry, Dennis. I can't hear you real well back there. I said, what are you going to do? So, Guy Raz, back to the story of this dolphin study. Okay, well...
This brings us to the summer of 2019, many years after Dr. Ziltner first discovered the dolphins lining up to rub against these corals. And at this point, she's enlisted the help of that cat. Chemist Dr. Morlock to help figure out what was in all that coral mucus, right? That's right. So with permission, because coral reefs are protected, Dr. Ziltner and Dr. Morlock...
were able to take a few small samples of these corals back to the lab for examination. Ah, they wanted to discover what chemicals were inside all that mucus. And they did. They did? They did. And what the scientists found was a... bunch of different chemicals in the corals known to provide a sort of sunscreen to boost the immune system and help
keep skin healthy. So it turns out that the coral reef might actually be serving as sort of a drive-through health spa for dolphins? It sure seems like it. Dolphins can be prone to skin rashes and fungal infections, and it turns out that this coral mucus could be used as a sort of lotion or cream to help them treat these things on their skin.
What do you mean? Well, what are you going to do with this car wash? What am I going to do with it? Yeah, I mean, now that it's your responsibility, you should probably have a plan for... taking care of it. Oh, yeah. Well, uh, this might shock and surprise you, Guy Raz, but I didn't really think this through.
You can turn this car wash into a drive-through health spa for humans. You just pull your car up, open all your windows, and drive through. Dennis, that's a ridiculous idea. Dennis, that's a great idea. idea what sort of like a coral reef but for humans And instead of corals and sea sponges exuding mucus, you can just have the brushes and sponges shooting out cream to treat my eczema. Ooh, yeah. And special healing soaps and sunscreens and moisturizing lotions.
Uh, Mindy? And wrinkle creams? And sour creams? And creams of wheat? Mindy? And we can name it the Drive-Thru Dolphin Spa. since the inspiration for this came from those dolphins in that study. Oh, and the sign will be written in human and dolphin. Did you happen to notice a sign on the front door of this car wash before you decided to rescue it? Uh, no, because I never read signs, Guy Raz.
Well, maybe you should have read this one, Mindy. Why? What does it say? The sign says, we are on a lunch break. The car wash will reopen in 30 minutes. Mindy! I don't get it. How does a car wash eat lunch? It doesn't have a mouth. Oh, I see. The car wash didn't eat lunch. The staff running the car wash were eating lunch. And the car wash was never abandoned. And we have to return the car wash. Well...
I guess that means two scoops of ice cream for me after all. Right, Mindy? Uh-huh. Mindy! Guy, quit complaining. Two scoops. We'll be right back. Grownups, this message is for you. That's it. Back to the show. to Dennis, Reggie, and Thomas Fingerling and Grandma G-Force for me. my diaper. Win. Ben Reggie. Hi, Mindy and Gray Ross. My name is Edie, and I live in Park City, Utah, and my wow in the world is that lobsters pee through their eyes.
Washington. My wow in my world is that oxylabils can regrow parts of their bodies, including parts of their brain. Say hi to Dennis. Hi. Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't hear that. And your sleigh cats, Mindy. And Bucky the horse. And my wow is ladybug spots are used to their predators to make them think that they're poisonous. Say hi to Grandma G-Force, Reggie, and Thomas Fingerling.
And that is for me. Howdy. Bye. Hi, Mindy and Guy Raz. My name is Liam, and I'm seven years old. I'm from Los Angeles, California. My law in the world is that... If you eat too many carrots, your skin will change orange. Hello, my name is Paul from Maple Valley, Washington. My role in the world is that the planet Uranus was almost named George. Say hi to Reggie. Dennis. Ahoy there. Grandma G-Force and Thomas Fingerling for me. Oh, snap. I'm the fairest one of all. Bye. Love your show.
Grownups, if you like WoW in the World, you can listen early and add... free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Wondery Kids Plus on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. 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 senior producer, Jed Anderson and Tyler Tholl. 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 ran... The Pop-Ups.
Find them at thepopups.com. Special thanks to the rest of our team of Tinkerers, including Anna Zagorski, Rebecca Kavan, Kit Ballinger, and Henry Moskell. 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 Wowzers. Learn more about upcoming events, shop our shop, and pick up a copy of our new number one New York Times bestselling book.
How and Wow of the human body. Grownups, 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 in a Wow. Thanks again for listening, and until next time, be fun wowing! The world was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.