Mindy Thomas

Hey, Wowzer fams. Mindy here. And before we start the show, is your family looking for some new podcasts to check out on your next family road trip? Well, I have got some that I think might just wow your entire family. So let's say you got some animal lovers. You've gotta meet. Flip and Mosi. Flip and Mosi are travel vlogging aliens who are discovering Earth and its amazing creatures for the first time. And along the way, they learn what it takes to be an earthling. Or maybe you're someone who loves to solve mysteries. With who Win Wow. Mystery Edition, you can join Carly Q on her time traveling adventures and discover the truth behind history's biggest mysteries, like the Loch Ness monster or what happened to Amelia Earhart. And if you've got someone who prefers bouncing down the road to a beat, we are turning the tables on your favorite fables with Once Upon a Beat. In this hip hop twist on classic stories, Grammy winner DJ Fuchs adds some rhythm and rhyme to tales as as old as time. Once Upon a Beat, we'll have your whole family tapping their feet. You can find Flip and Mosey, who win wow. Mystery Edition and Once Upon a Beat. Wherever you find your podcasts, just search them in your favorite podcast app and hit the follow button so you don't miss out. Happy travels. And now a quick ad break and then we'll get on with the show.

Dennis

Wee wow on the weekend. Wee wow on the weekend. We wow on the weekend. Cause this is what we do on the weekend. Talking, laughing, me and Reggie singing, laughing.

Guy Raz

And then we.

Dennis

Oh, wait, no, I said laughing twice. Whatever. We wow on the weekend. Yeah, we wow on the weekend. Laugh. Wah. We wow on the weekend. Cause this is what we do on the weekend. Hello and welcome to Wee Wow on the Weekend. I'm your host, Dennis, and that's Reggie. We're coming to you from mother's basement on Saturdays and Sundays. And look, Reggie, I was digging around down here and found mother's old photo albums. Want to see what I looked like as a baby? Okay, let's see here. Ah, look, there I am in my crib. And here I am in my high chair wearing a little baby bomb. Wasn't I just the cutest, patootest? What do you mean I look old? Oh, I don't know. Let's see. When was this picture taken? Uh, last summer. Oh, whatever. Let's move on. I want to answer some questions from my devoted listeners in the Q and A segment. The Q and A segment. Alright, let's just get the old answering machine pulled up here. Okay, here we go. Hi, you've reached Dennis from wewow 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?

Mindy Thomas

You?

Dennis

Probably not. But I guess I can answer yours. Leave me a message.

Mindy Thomas

Hi. My name is Amos Dennis. How do boats float?

Dennis

How do boats float? Great question, Amos. The answer is they float on water. What do you mean? That's where boats float and not how boats float. Water is not a place. Oh, yeah. I guess they could float on other things, too, like pudding or jelly. What about the time when Mindy filled her pool with Oobleck, and then I rollerbladed through the Oobleck, and then I got stuck in the Oobleck and you had to save me? You think boats could float in Oobleck? Oh, wow. Cool. You think boats can float on air? Oh, yeah. I suppose they'd have to be going pretty fast to do that. Next question.

Mindy Thomas

Hi, my name is Leo. I'm from Columbus, Ohio. Hey, Dennis. What's your favorite tiger?

Dennis

My favorite tiger? There's more than one tiger? Well, I just know the one on the cereal box. What's his name? No, not that. I'm just gonna call him Terrence. Terrance. The tiger from the cereal box. That's my favorite tiger. Well, what other tigers are there? Okay. The Bengal tiger, the white tiger, the Liger. What's that? A lion tiger. Really? Is that real? Oh, wow. Next question.

Mindy Thomas

Hi, Dennis. My name is Kira, and I was just wondering what you think I should do when I'm bored.

Dennis

Well, Kira, I think you should just be bored. Yeah, being bored is how all the good stuff happens, baby. Because being bored is boring. So you have to start getting not bored. Like when I'm on a long car ride, I start exploring, exploring my own brain to see what's in there. It's true. I have this type of game I like to play when I'm bored. It's called a board game. And there's this one board game where I just sort of twist around through my own mind. I call it Twister. And there's this other board game where I imagine I live in a land made entirely of candy. Can you guess what that one's called? Reggie? No. It's called Sugar Town. Well, fine. You can make up your own board game and call it whatever you want. Thanks for your calls, everyone. If you've got a question for me, call and leave me a message. The number is 1-888-7. Wow. Wow. I just might answer your question on Wii Wow on the weekend. Okay, that takes care of that. All right, next up is 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 this weekend, we're revisiting episodes from the very first season of wow in the world. Today, we're doing a story from episode seven called Bag O Worms. In this episode, we're introduced to Mindy's pet wax worm, Welda. I know. I forgot all about Welda. Such a cute name. Reggie. No, I don't think Welda the wax worm is actually made of wa. I think they're called that because they can eat beeswax. Well, I don't know. Let's just play the episode. Okay, here we go. And play

Mindy Thomas

Wee. Wow will be right back. Grown Ups, this message is for you. Hey, Grown Ups, Mindy here. And it should come as no surprise that I love talking to people. I do it every Friday on two. What's in a People who Wow Edition? And I've got to tell you about something else designed to bring the joy of conversation back to kids. It's called Pinwheel Home, and it's a modern take on the landline phone. The Pinwheel Home is just like the phones you remember, except it connects using your WI fi and plugs into a regular wall outlet. Plus, adults approve all contacts, so you don't get strangers or spam calls. And calls to other Pinwheel Homes are free, so you can talk to all your friends. Pinwheel Home lets kids safely connect with their friends and family. Plus it builds conversation skills and promotes independence. Visit pinwheel.com wow. To learn more. That's P-I N W H E-E-L.com wow. To learn more. Hey, Wowzer Fams. It's me, Mindy. Did you know that you can listen to your favorite songs from wow. In the World all summer long? That's right, regular. Whether you can't stop singing Oops, I slipped on a penguin or you can't stop dancing to the scientifically most danceable song in the world, you can now listen again and again and again on your favorite music player. Just search wow. In the World in your music app. Oh, good point, Reg. And if you're looking for more summer jams from your favorite Tinkercast podcasts, you can find songs from Flippin Mosey and Once Upon a Beat. Wherever you get your music that's it. And now a quick ad break, and then back to the show. That's it. Now back to the show. Good morning. Good morning to you and you and you and you. Good morning. Good morning, garage.

Guy Raz

Good morning. Mindy, what. What on earth are you doing with all those plastic bags?

Mindy Thomas

Oh, this? I'm just whipping up a little breakfast for Welda here. Welda?

Guy Raz

Uh, Welda?

Mindy Thomas

Oh, haven't I introduced you yet? Guy Raz, Welda is my new pet wax worm. Isn't that right, Welda? Guy Raz, hand me the salt over there.

Guy Raz

Uh, Mindy, I've seen you do a lot of weird things during the course of our friendship, but mixing up a bowl of grocery bags has got to be the.

Mindy Thomas

Look, she's eating it. Take another bite, Wilda. Take another bite. You love those grocery bags. Yes, you do.

Guy Raz

What?

Mindy Thomas

I have to feed her with a spoon because she doesn't have hands? Take another bite. This is her favorite food.

Guy Raz

Wow, it's working. You're actually feeding that wax worm a grocery bag?

Mindy Thomas

She can't get enough of them.

Guy Raz

Mindy, I was always under the assumption that wax worms fed on honey or beeswax. Are you sure you should be feeding it grocery bags?

Mindy Thomas

Guy Raz, she's my pet, and we've lived together for six hours. Do I not look like I know what I'm doing?

Guy Raz

Well, I just.

Mindy Thomas

Let me tell you a story, okay? It all started in Spain with a scientist named Frederica Berto Chini. She's part of the Spanish National Research Council. And one day, she was just minding her own beeswax, literally, when she noticed a bunch of wax worms living in her beehives.

Guy Raz

And just to be clear, what makes a wax worm different from other types of worms? Because Welda here looks more like just a regular white caterpillar to me.

Mindy Thomas

Well, that's because she is a caterpillar. Wax worms are the larvae of wax moths, AKA bee moths.

Guy Raz

And by larvae, you mean the stage before metamorphosis? Or the transformation from wax worm to, I guess, wax moth?

Mindy Thomas

Yeah, and lots of creatures go through metamorphosis. Caterpillars turn into butterflies, tadpoles turn into frogs, maggots turn into regular flies, and hamsters turn into rabbits. What? Making sure you're paying attention.

Guy Raz

You know, Mindy, all this talk about caterpillars and butterflies reminds me of a picture book that I love to read called the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Dennis

Do you know that book?

Mindy Thomas

Oh, yeah, I love that book. But in that the Very Hungry Caterpillar E. Fruit and cake and sausage. My caterpillar, or wax worm, if you will, is way more civilized. She wears clothes and eats grocery bags.

Guy Raz

Yeah, let's get back to that. How did this scientist. What did you say her name was?

Mindy Thomas

Oh, Frederica Bertoccini.

Guy Raz

How did Frederica find this out?

Mindy Thomas

Well, like I said, she was cleaning the wax worms out of her beehive like nobody's business, plucking them out and putting them in a plastic grocery bag, maybe to use as, like, fish bait for later. Anyway, when she went back to the worm bag a little while later, she found it full of holes.

Guy Raz

Wow. So the wax worms had eaten their way out.

Mindy Thomas

You know it. And so, being the savvy scientist she is, Frederica decided to take this clue and explore it further.

Guy Raz

How so?

Mindy Thomas

Well, first, knowing that three heads are better than one, she brought this discovery to some scientist pals at the University of Cambridge in England. Their names are Paolo Bombelli and Christopher Howe.

Guy Raz

And what did they.

Mindy Thomas

They did some experiments and discovered a special protein in the waxworm's belly that attacks the chemicals that make up the plastic in the bag.

Guy Raz

Wow, that sounds very similar to the way that the acid in our stomachs work to break up the food that we eat.

Mindy Thomas

Yeah, exactly.

Guy Raz

I think I might be starting to see where this is going, Mindy.

Mindy Thomas

Oh, yeah.

Guy Raz

Well, as we know, plastic bags are not good for the Earth. Right?

Mindy Thomas

Right.

Guy Raz

And I think I read recently that there are a trillion of these bags every year.

Mindy Thomas

Yeah. Which, according to my calculations, is about 2 million grocery bags used every single minute. Crazy, right?

Guy Raz

Yeah, really crazy. And like the plastic water bottles that we were talking about on another episode, plastic bags probably take a lot of energy to make.

Mindy Thomas

Yeah. Apparently the amount of energy it takes to make 12 of these bags is enough to drive a car for a mile.

Guy Raz

It's too bad we can't power cars on grocery bags.

Mindy Thomas

I know. And it turns out there isn't much we can with them, and that includes recycling.

Guy Raz

Yeah. I know that there are some plastics that we can recycle, but the plastic in grocery bags isn't one of them.

Mindy Thomas

That's because they're made out of a plastic called polyethylene, and it's really hard to break down, especially when we humans are producing 8 million tons of it every year.

Guy Raz

But it seems like what you're saying is that these scientists discovered an enzyme or a little, teeny, tiny microscopic baby protein inside the wax worm's belly that can break it down, just like your

Mindy Thomas

mom did on the dance Floor of your senior prom, Guy Raz.

Dennis

Word to the mug.

Mindy Thomas

Go guys mom. Go guys mom. Break it down now.

Dennis

It's your birthday.

Mindy Thomas

Mark it down now. Go guys mom.

Guy Raz

Umm, anyhoo.

Mindy Thomas

So, yeah, that's what they think they've discovered. Basically, they've come to the conclusion that if waxworms eat the bags, their bellies will break down the stubborn polyethylene and turn it into another. Another useful type of liquid used to make things like polyester fabric or even antifreeze for your car. And that liquid is called ethylene glycol, which, coincidentally, was what my parents almost named me.

Guy Raz

Uh, that would be a mouthful.

Mindy Thomas

Speaking of mouthfuls, check out Welda over there going to town on that bag.

Guy Raz

Now that's a very hungry caterpillar.

Mindy Thomas

Yeah, and I know what you're thinking, Guy Raz, and I need you to calm down, because before you get all excited thinking that you can just start going all around town using and tossing all of your grocery bags like they're going out of style because wax worms like Welda here will eat them. Just know that this theory is still being tested, and it has a long way to go before it can be proven. But it's still pretty exciting to think how just a little curiosity as basic as paying extra attention to wormholes in a grocery bag could possibly lead to fixing a huge problem right here on our planet.

Guy Raz

I can't hardly wait until this thing becomes a reality, Mindy.

Mindy Thomas

Me neither. In the meantime, Guy Raz, I'm just gonna climb into this grocery bag here feet first, and then all I need you to do is pick it up by the handles and then take me to the store because my legs are too tired to walk. Thank.

Dennis

You. Hooray. That was great. Reggie, whatever happened to Welda the wax worm? Did she show up again in another episode? Oh, right. She probably turned into a wax moth. Ah, that's nice. Hey, Reggie, would you carry me around in a grocery bag? Like how Guy was gonna carry Mindy around in a grocery bag at the end of the episode, Please? Okay, great. Let's wrap this up and go see if we can find a big enough grocery bag. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Thanks for listening to this episode of We Wow on the Weekend. If you have a question for me, call and leave me a message at 1-88-8-7, wow wow. That's 1-888-7- wow wow. I just might answer your question on Wee Wow on the weekend. Oh, Reggie, should we do the goodbye song? Okay, that's the end of the show now. Carry me around in a grocery bag and I'll tomorrow. But for now, that's the end of the show. Bye.