Hey, Wowzer fans. Mindy and Guy Raz here. And guess what? What's the good news, Mindy? Once Upon a Beat is back with brand new episodes. Oh, I love that podcast. Grownups, do you ever think some of those fairy tales and fables from back of the day are just a little bit dusty? Well, we here at Tinkercast have partnered with our friends at Wondery to bring your family new episodes of Once Upon a...
Once Upon a Beat remixes fairy tales and fables as old as time, giving them a fresh spin with some rhythm and rhyme. This podcast is hosted by the amazing DJ Fuch and features original hip-hop songs from Grammy Awards. And you can listen to new episodes right now. Follow Once Upon a Beat on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to Once Upon a Beat early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app in Apple Podcasts. That's it. And now let's get back to the show. Wake! On! We will! Fish and mangoes and dandelions and grapes. Reggie, why'd you turn off the drum machine? I'm almost finished. Five, six, seven, eight. Hello and welcome to another day of Wee Wow Earth Week. I'm your host, Dennis. And here's my co-host.
Reggie! This is the week where we do Earth stuff and listen to earthy episodes of Wow in the World. And today, I thought we'd round out the week with a little game I like to call... Treasure or trash? Ahem. Treasure. Okay, Reggie, ready to play Treasure or Trash? What do you mean, what is it? I told you, it's a game. Yeah, it's based off that saying, you know.
One person's treasure is another person's trash, or however it goes. Yes, you're right. It's also like upcycling, but we can't call the game upcycling because I already sang the theme song for treasure or trash. It's stalling, Reggie. Let's play. Ahem. I'm going to show you a thing I found down in the basement here, and you're going to tell me if it's treasure or trash. Okay.
Let's try it with this pile of stuff Mother doesn't want anymore. Let's see, what do we got here? Okay, how about this, Reggie? It's a used plastic deli container. Is it treasure or trash? Ooh, you think it's treasure? Tell the audience why you think it's treasure. Oh, because you can clean it and put something else in there. Okay, judges? I'm the judges. Judges say...
That is correct! Nice job, Reggie! What would you put in this container? Worms? Gross! Reggie? Well, I'd rather put my favorite snack in there. Dennis Mix! Dennis' mix is like trail mix, but instead of peanuts and raisins, it's hummus and mini pizza bagels. Okay, next item. See what we got here. Here we have a glass jar that used to have some pasta sauce in it or something. Okay, Reggie? Treasure or trash? Ooh, you think it's treasure again? Let's see what the judges say.
That's right, Reggie! It's treasure! Because it's glass, it has additional beauty to it! Now, what would you do with this beautiful glass jar? Oh, a vase for flowers? Aw, Reggie, that's a great idea. Okay, let's do one more. Let's see, what do we got? And here we have a... Use tissue? Ew! Yeah, this is trash. Definitely trash. I think we're done with this game. How's about we move on and listen to an episode of Wow in the World? Hooray! Let's see. Let's do...
This one. This one's from season eight. Episode 24 called A Diaper Home for G-Force. In this episode, we build Granny G a new house out of old diapers. Oh, you're right, Reggie. We turn trash into treasure. It was upcycling. Let's play the episode. Okay, here we go. And play. WeeWow will be right back. Grownups, this message is for you. That's it. Now back to the show. Girls! Hey, quit throwing my dumb elbow. What in the... You're kicking me out of my own house. Well, I...
Be my landlord and my roommate. And you're also bad. What is going on? Throw me out! I'm leaving. And they're turbed too! Oh, come on! We're gonna play with Mandy. Hey, Grandma G-Force, is everything okay? Yeah. Well, it's just that I heard you yelling at your... cat down there and... Is my landlord Oh, right Your landlord That means that he owns the house? Yeah And you pay him rent money?
To live there as his tenant? No. What? You don't pay rent? Don't you need to pay rent to live there? I don't know. You tell me. Here's the... Okay, let's see here. Wait, Grandma G-Force, I can't read this. It's all a cat scratch. Tell that to my lord. He's also a cat. Okay? Hey, Ross. Hey, Grandma G-Force. Hey, Mindy. Hi, Pigeon. What's going on over here?
Grandma G-Force, why do you have all your stuff in this little red wagon? That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm moving in with you, Mandy. Wait, really? Yeah! This is a dream come true. That's weird. We can have slumber parties every night. No. And bake cookies together, grandma and granddaughter style. And you can tell me all the funny stories about me from when I was a baby.
And you can even have the top bunk if you want it. Unless, of course, you want the bottom bunk, then you can have that one too. What? I changed my mind. I'm gonna go live with you, garage. Aw. What? Me? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Grandma G-Force, what's wrong with living in your own house? Why can't you just live there? Hey, Guy. Hey, Mindy. Hey, Reggie. Hey, Granny G. Hey, Dennis. Hello, boy. What's going on at your house, Grandma G-Force? I don't know. I don't live there no more.
I guess I just live in this wagon now. Oh, that makes sense. Does? Yeah, I just walked past your house and Colonel Toot's Thunderpaw is turning it into a baby farm. A what? A baby farm! An indoor-outdoor farm for babies to spend the day! You mean a... Yeah, that's what I said. A baby farm. Look, you can see the babies piling in from here. Oh, wow. That's a lot of babies. Wow. Turning my house into a baby. to a baby's mom like that.
Good for nothing landlord cat threw me out and now I don't got no home! place to call home? Well, you really did it this time, G-Force. Oh, hey, Thomas Fingerling. Hi, Tommy. Thomas Fingerling. Not now, Fingerling. If I were that cat. I'd have kicked you out a long time ago. Thomas Fingerling! You never paid your rent. You never flushed your toilet. You never mowed your grass. You had a hundred raccoons living in there and...
Eating all the hot dogs. Wait, what? Is that true? Oh, yeah, I seen it. And now your house is a baby factory. A baby farm. A daycare center. Them babies don't even need a house. They're living in their luxury diapers. Is that what you want? Turn of toots, Thunderpaw, me! Living in a diaper? What? That's it. What? Spread it out. What you just said, Grandma G-Force. It gave me an idea for your housing crisis situation. Go on, Mindy. What? Yeah. to build Grandma G-Force a house made out of diapers.
That's ridiculous. It's not ridiculous, Guy Raz. It's science. No. No, really. Hear me out. I just read a new scientific study about diaper houses in the journal Science Report. Mendy, this is not the time for science. We have got to find a home for Grandma J-Farce. Because she ain't living in my house. I wasn't asking, Fingerling. I wasn't inviting, J-Farce. Ay, ay, ahora. Wait, wait, wait.
Mindy, was this the study that was conducted by that team of engineers from Japan's University of Kitaki Yushu? That's the one, Gairaz! The one that led to the building of a sustainable house made out of diapers? You know it! And if professional engineers can build a house out of diapers, then we can too! Who's with me? Oh, me! Me, me, me, me, me! I'll be.
A house made out of doo-doo. No, Tommy, they wouldn't use dirty doo-doo diapers. They were probably fresh, clean, new-new diapers. Oh, no, they were used dirty doo-doo diapers, all right. What? Ew. But they were cleaned before being used to build the house. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I remember reading something about this. These engineers in this study had a hypothesis or an educated guess.
that dirty diapers, which are usually made out of some combination of wood pulp, cotton, absorption materials, and synthetic or human-made fibers, could be used in place of sand in the creation of concrete. hard gray material that's used to build things like sidewalks and buildings, like homes. But... one of the key ingredients in creating concrete is actually pretty expensive and in worldwide shortage right now. A rare key ingredient? What is it, Guy Raz? Well, the key ingredient is sand.
The world is running out of sand? Oh, no. My beach vacation. Actually, Dennis, sand is the second most used natural resource in the whole world behind water. And it's used in pretty much every construction project in the world. And not just in concrete. But in the formation of glass, too Wow And believe it or not If humans don't start to conserve it There won't be enough sand to go around
So what does all this have to do with G-Force's diaper house? So glad you asked, Thomas Fingerling. So these researchers wondered if the materials found in dirty diapers... could replace some of the sand typically used to make concrete. Huh, and the diaper concrete could be used to build a whole diaper house? Exactly, Dennis. A diaper house. Well, what are y'all waiting for?
Somebody build me a diaper house. Okie doke. Anything for science. Hooray! Okay, okay, so for the diaper house in this study, the engineers needed water. Ooh, I'll go get the hose. I've got a bag of cement in my garage. Gravel? A little bit of sand. Well, hey! I stole Colonel Toot's Thunderpaw's litter box on my way out. Oh, uh, oh. Okay, I guess that'll do. Yes, it will. Okay, I got the hose. And here's a... bag of cement. Great. Now the only ingredient we still need is the dirty diaper.
Don't worry, Mandy. I got you right here. Thomas Fingerling, where did you get a whole pile of dirty diapers? From a pile of babies. Huh? A pile of babies? Yeah, from the baby farm. Oh, right. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, boy. Looks like we got everything we need. Now what? Well, after collecting the materials, including a whole lot of diapers... Check. Got to work! In order to use these dirty diapers in the concrete, they first needed to be cleaned. Now, who would like to clean the dirty diaper?
Not I, said the Dennis. Dennis. Just throw him in the dishwasher like everything else. Wait, you put... Everything in the dishwasher? Everything. I'll put you in the dishwasher too, garage. No, thank you. Okay, Dennis, I am putting you in charge of cleaning the dirty diaper. Why can't Tommy do it? Because Thomas Fingerling already collected the diapers. Okay, fine. Come on, Reggie.
Reggie, you are not busy! Uh, here, Dennis. Take this little scraper I found in Grandma G-Force's wagon to clean out the big stuff. Oh! Thank you. That's my spatula. Well, now it's my poo remover. Now, once each diaper was cleaned, the engineers then had to rip them to shreds. I won't let them. Oh, okay, uh, great. I've just got my teeth sharpened. G-Force! What? No, not with your teeth, Grandma G-Force. Here, uh, use this shredding tool. Okay. That's my fork!
Well, now it's my diaper mangler. Please stop stealing my kitchen utensils. Oh yeah, this diaper mangler works real good. Once the diapers were cleaned and shredded, it was time to mix the cement. Grandma G-Force? Do you have a large mixing bowl in your wagon of personal belongings there? No. Well, do you have anything that we could use to mix the cement? Well, let's... Let's see here. How about this tub? What? You took the bathtub out of the house? And the bath water too.
Oh, wow. OK, well, I guess we are going to mix our diaper concrete in this bathtub. OK, well, what do we do first, Mindy? Well, first we need the water. Already in the tub. Aw, but I wanted to spray the hose! Sorry, Dennis, but I think we have enough water in the... Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Dennis! Sorry. Okay, the next thing we need is the cement. Got it right here, Mindy. Thank you, Guy Raz. And next, the gravel. And the sand. Wait, Mindy, I thought the whole point of this...
Yeah, you said sand was an endangered... species or some such thing. Okay, I did not say that. What I said was that these engineers wondered if the materials found in dirty diapers could replace some of the sand in the concrete. because even a small percentage could make a big difference. glitter box sand? Nope. Okay, that's enough. There you go. And the final ingredient, shredded diaper. Oh, I get to dump the shredded diapers. And then they mix it up. Thomas Fingerling, mind handing me that
paddle from Grandma G-Force's wagon over there? Thank you. Hey, that's my kayak paddle. I borrowed it. Hey, Mindy. Yes, Dennis? How did you know how much of each ingredient to use? Actually, that's a great question, Dennis. How did you know, Mindy? Well... I didn't. You didn't? Nope. And neither did these engineers when they set out to make their dirty diaper concrete.
Actually, Mindy's right. According to the study, the engineers had to test six different ratio mixtures before they found the right combination of ingredients. I do not know what ratio means. Oh, I do. I listen to the baseball game on the ratio. No, no, no, no. That's a radio. A ratio just means the different amounts of each ingredient used compared to the other.
Oh, right. Yeah, so if they use too much water compared to the amount of diapers, it might be too liquidy or thin and make the concrete too weak. And if they use too much sand and gravel compared to the amount of cement it might be too thick and grainy and make the concrete crack once it dries exactly six different combinations before they found the right mixture. Hmm, how's our mixture? Does it look like the right ratios, Mindy? Well, uh... Let me taste it. What? No, do not...
ever put concrete into your mouth. Yeah, or into someone else's mouth. Well, how else are we gonna know if it's good? Well, to know for sure, we'll have to do what the engineers did and test it as a building material. But before we do that, we have to form it into bricks. and then wait 28 days for them to dry and harden. What? I ain't got no 28 days.
I need my doo-doo diaper hut now. Okay, okay. Well, we'll just keep moving and see what happens when we impatiently build a house out of wet diaper bricks. Way ahead of you, Mandy. Look, I gave it a veranda. Oh, boy. Wait, wait. That concrete hasn't even hardened yet. It has absolutely no structural integrity. Anything you build is going to collapse. I wanna moat. Oh, great idea.
Okay, so back to the testing. Since these engineers were using used diapers as a building material, they had to make sure that they were safe. Safe? Yeah, you know, they had to test for poop in the wall. But what they found was that diaper concrete didn't contain any more microbes or bacteria than regular concrete. Really? And it don't smell too bad neither.
does smell a little bad. Oh, well, that could have been me. Tommy! Excuse me. The other important test of this diaper concrete was whether it would be strong enough to handle the weight of an entire house. What was that, Guy Raz? These diaper bricks need to hold an entire house? Yeah, Dennis. A brick needs to be able to support the weight of all the other bricks and materials you stack on top of it. Oh.
added a spiral staircase. These bricks will hold all that, right? Uh, you might want to go a little easier there, Dennis. Remember how we didn't know how much of each ingredient to use in making the con... the bricks dry and harden either. Fine. Tommy says it's fine. Whatever. Okay, Mindy, back to the story. So what did the engineers discover when they tested the strength of their diaper concrete? Well... they discovered that not only was the diaper concrete just as strong as regular concrete,
but that in some cases, depending on what the concrete was used for, it could replace nearly half of the sand used in the mixture. Wow, and since dirty diapers are free and easy to find, Diaper concrete could be a much cheaper alternative to regular concrete, which means... Which means that homes built with diaper concrete would be more accessible to more people in more parts of the world.
People who might not otherwise have enough money to buy a home of their own built with regular concrete full of sand. And little old grandmas like me who don't want to pay rent to their cat landlord. That too, I guess. I'm getting tired. No one told me that diaper concrete was so heavy. Yeah. Seems almost about exactly as heavy as regular concrete. How's it looking, Mindy? Uh, it's looking a little lopsided. Is it starting to collapse? Maybe? Oh, no!
It's okay. It's just starting to lean over on account of we never let the diaper bricks dry and harden. Don't worry, Granny G. Your new house is just going to be a little sideways. I'll make you a little... sideways. What was that? I said, thank you very much, boy. Now get out of my house. Great job, everyone. Hooray, we did it. Yay, look at how we built it. We built a house of diapers.
Uh, Mindy? Yes, Guy Razzie? Uh, did you hear that? Hear what? Uh, while the experiments seem to work for the engineers in this study... I'm not sure it worked as well for us. Well, what do you mean? I do not know what a veranda means. then this diaper house is collapsing. Everybody, run for your life! Wow! Grownups, if you like WoW in the world, you can listen early and ad-free right now on Wondery+. Join Wondery+, in the Wondery app, or on Wondery Kids+.
And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. Thanks for joining us for this edition of Wee Wow! Our show is written by Ruth Morrison and Jed Anderson. The role of Baby Dennis is played by Jed Anderson. Oh, well then, who plays the role of... Speak to this! Cover you mine!
Original sound design and production is done by Henry Moskell and Marion Lozano with help from Jed Anderson and Tyler Thole. Original music for WeeWow is composed and performed by Tyler Thole. Special thanks to Jessica Bodie. Rebecca Caban, Dr. Natasha Crandall, Kenny Curtis, Lizzie Freilich, Kristen Yang, Meredith Helpen-Ranzer, Twee Mack, Erica Medina, Henry Muskell, Jody Nussbaum, Ali Paxima, Guy Raz, Linda Rothenberg, Jeff Sosa, Mindy Thomas.
and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast HQ. Be sure to visit Tinkercast.com where you can become an official member of the World Organization of Wowsers. Learn about upcoming events. Shop our wow shop. Find our best-selling book. and learn about all the other amazing podcasts from Tinkercast. Thanks again for thinking, tinkering, experimenting, and exploring with me this week. Be sure to check out episodes of Wow in the World on Mondays to What's in a Wow on...
on the weekends. And remember, who wows? I wow! No, baby Dennis, we wow! Oh! Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.