WeWow on the Weekend

of Tinkercast.

“You may have heard my name at the end of the credits.”

As they say, I power the wow, but I don't do it alone.

I've had the absolute pleasure of steering the ship with the most talented crew of Tinkerers you can imagine. This team of writers, producers, musicians, educators, parents, former children, not only embody the spirit of play, curiosity and innovation, but they've made it their life's work to create content that inspires play, curiosity, and innovation.

Right now, we need your help to keep the wind in our cells and keep us bowing. This is our final week of our fun drive, and we're so grateful for those of you that have already contributed. Truly, it means the world to us to know how much you value what we do, but we're not even close to meeting our goal, but ever you're able to give help, and for those of you

“with means to help significantly, we really need you now.”

When we started up Tinkercast nine years ago, many of us were parents, just like you. And as parents, we once start kids to look up, have conversations, feel agency in their world. As media makers, we once had a tell stories that could connect laughter to learning, and kids to the real amazing wells in their world.

Since then, we've built the company we've always wanted to work at with the dream team

we wanted to play, tinker, and grow with. And grow we did. In fact, our audience, that's you, it's still growing every month. We're so honored you welcome our shows into your homes, your cars, your ears, your imaginations, and your worlds every week.

We hear from you that we bring your family, joy, and laughter, and a shared experience that brings you closer together, and we want to keep doing that for your family and for those families that are just discovering our shows now. Again, this is our last week of asking our audience directly for financial support. We still have a long way to go to meet our goal.

Please visit tinkercast.com/support and give what you can. You could also choose from a handful of different thank you gifts for your different levels of giving. We're talking personal shoutouts from your favorite characters, special audio and video messages, just for your wellzers, a chance to go behind the scenes of show recording and more.

Once again, that's tinkercast.com/support. As chief executive tinker, along with my co-founders, Guy and Mindy, and our unbelievably talented team of tinkerers, we thank you. Now, on with the show. Because this is what we do with the weekend talking laughing, me and Reggie, who's singing, laughing, and then we, oh, wait, no, I said laughing twice.

Whatever, we are on the weekend, now we are on the weekend, now we are on the weekend, now we are on the weekend, because this is what we do on the weekend. Hello and welcome to WeWaWama weekend, I'm your host Dennis, and that's my co-host, Reggie, the giant pigeon. Hey Reggie, guess what? I learned a magic trick, want to see? Okay, watch this, watch this.

Ah, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see here, I have a perfectly ordinary deck of cards, perfectly ordinary. But I'm not talking weird, I'm talking like a magician, now pick a card, any card, wait, no, not that one, not that one either, not that one. Oh, that's a great card, actually no way not that one, Reggie, just pick this card, okay, very good sir, memorize your card, now put it back in the deck. No, Reggie, not in the middle, how much was to find it in there, just put it right on top.

“Okay, great, now magic magic, oh, it's crocus, and is this your card, Ta-da magic, pretty impressive, right?”

I want to have her, you loved it.

Okay, let's get into our first segment, the K-1, I segment.

Alright, let's just get the old answering machine, hold 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?

You, probably not, but I guess I can answer yours, leave me a message. Hi Dennis, and Reggie, my name is a genre.

I can probably answer all your questions, depending on how many. Bye.

“Finally, someone who can answer all my questions, okay, ready Reggie?”

Why am I missing one of every sock to fish at thirsty? What's that weird smell? Where exactly is Coke about? Do you think clouds taste like anything?

And finally, after you add milk to your breakfast cereal,

can it be considered a type of breakfast soup? Okay, Jara, call us back with the answers, thanks. Hi Dennis, my name is Joshua, and I live in Los Angeles, California. Hi Joshua, I have a real wine. What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence?

No, no, wait, five o'clock. Well, what time do elephants usually sit on fences? And why? Alright, it's a riddle. Okay, what time, what time, um, fence 30?

Hi for the answer, it's time to fix the fence. I hope you got it, bye.

I get it, because when the elephant sits on the fence,

the fence then becomes a chair, and it's not a fence anymore, and you have to fix it. Good one, Joshua, next question. Hi Dennis, my name is Cindy. Hi Cindy.

My question is, are your wedges really best friends

“or is it your midday friend and you just follow them?”

Of course we're best friends, right, Reggie? Exactly, and Mindy and Guy are also our best friends. That's right Reggie, you can have more than one best friend. It's totally allowed. Best friend is just a level of friendship.

It goes strangers, acquaintances, regular old normal friends, close friends, then best friends. Alright, and goose friends, I forgot about Gary the goose. Best friends, so many best friends, best friends forever, yeah. Next question.

Hi Dennis, I'm Grant, and I'm from Houston, Texas. Hi Grant. My question is, why can cats be upside down? How can ants be upside down? Well, Grant, my aunt quousel does in the circus, and she hangs upside down from a trap-piece.

“Now, a trap-piece is like a swing, and you have to hang upside down at times in order to...”

Why, Reggie, why? Oh, you think Grant means ants like bugs? Oh, okay, so how can those little buggy ants walk upside down on leaves and stuff? Oh boy, I don't know Grant, I don't know! Ants seem to just go wherever they want whenever they want.

Upside down on my picnic blanket, and... I don't want to alarm you Grant, but there's an ant in your name. Hope that helps. Thanks for all your questions, everyone. If you've got a question for me, call and leave me a message.

Number is, one, eight, eight, seven, wow, wow. I just might answer your question on, "Wait, wow, on the weekend." Okay, that takes care of that. All right, next up is a little segment I like to call, and so I think your cast studios! Ah, I'm inside Dickrcast Studios. This is the part where we revisit an episode of one of my favorite Dinkrcast shows.

And today we're listening to "Wow" in the world season two episode 19 called "Ladies and Jams" made the supervillains super bugs. What? Oh, super bugs? Like flies that have telekinesis and shoot lasers out of their processes?

Oh, super bugs, like powerful germs.

That's even worse. Why can't you and Guy Ross ever do an episode that's like the science of great fruit-scented hands, so? Or adventures in staying home and reorganizing the tea cabinet? Okay, fine. We'll listen to the germosode. All right, here we go. And wait.

We will be right back. Grownups, this message is for you. That's it. Now back to the show. What a beautiful day for a little gardening. Let me just turn on my old garden hose here.

There we go. Some for you, Ms. Petunia. And for you, Mr. Hydrangea.

What? What?

Oh, hey, good morning, Mindy.

Watch out for that. Good morning, Guy Ross. Are you okay, Mindy? Yeah, fine. Take my hermonica, broke my fall. You're hermonica?

Yeah, let me just... Yep, still pitch perfect. So what you doing out here? A little medical research? No, Mindy. I'm just doing some light gardening. Oh, look, look here. Everything is in blue. I've got some hydrangeas.

Nice. I've got some tulips. Such friendly flowers. There's some orchids. Lava.

But that... Don't I tree you planted earlier this year? Still hasn't sprouted.

“Well, do you remember what kind of Cheerios we used?”

I think it was whole wheat.

Well, there you go. Holy Cheerios, always bloom late.

Well, if you say so, hey, wait a minute. Why did you think I was doing medical research? Well, my first clue was that white lab coat you're wearing. Mindy, I always wear a lab coat when I garden. Of course you do.

But second of all, I was just reading this new scientific study that says that the next medical breakthrough could be found in the dirt beneath our feet. The dirt beneath our feet? You mean like this stuff?

Yep, living inside that handful of dirt are millions of tiny microscopic lifeforms called bacteria. Ah, yes, of course, bacteria. bacteria are those tiny little organisms

that live almost everywhere on planet Earth from our oceans to the soil even in our own guts. What called the phone guy, Ros? Huh?

There's bacteria in my guts! Almost 29 trillion in you alone, Mindy. 29 trillion? Hang on a second. I got to write this down.

Okay. Let's see here, carry the one. Okay, no wait. I got it. 29 trillion is 29 with...

1, 2 people 12, 0s after it. Exactly. And 29 trillion bacteria live inside of you and another 29 trillion live inside of me and everyone else and so on.

Wow. Bacteria comes in all shapes and sizes too. Sometimes they're helpful. Oh, yeah. Like how bacteria can help turn milk into yogurt.

Right. Or some of the bacteria in our guts that help keep us healthy. That's nice of them. But there are some bacteria that are bad for us

and these kinds of bacteria often infect us with diseases and can make a sick. How dare you bacteria? But since the 1940s, we've been using a special type of medicine called antibiotics

to help us fight off these nasty bacterial bugs. Right, antibiotics. That's what this new research is about. Really? Really?

“But first, I think we need a crash course”

and antibiotics. And Guy Ross, this crash course in antibiotics will give me the opportunity I've been waiting for to try out my new home theater system. Home theater system?

Oh, yeah. Reggie helped me set it up last weekend. 5.1 surround sound, 4k display. There's even a machine that shoots popcorn right into your mouth. That's a real time saver.

You're telling me, come on, let's go. Oh, okay. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.

Why do you always do that, Mindy?

What? Talk to yourself as you walk. Oh, well, or run. I've been-- Or basically do anything.

Well, how else? What I know what I was doing. Uh. Okay, here we are. Just need to kick in the door here.

Heeeey. Yo, Mindy, you could probably save yourself a lot of time from having to bake a new gingerbread door every few days if you just stopped kicking them all in. Well, the last time I ate my way through the door,

I got sick. So where's this brand new home theater of yours? Right this way, just follow me, Guy Ross. Oh, hey, before we start, you want to snack for the movie? Movie.

Wait a minute.

“So what is the movie you have to do with antibiotics?”

Oh, it came with the system. Hmm, what did? The entire history of antibiotics. The entire history of antibiotics came with your home theater system. I know, crazy coincidence, huh?

You can say that again. Crazy coincidence. Mindy. Okay, so you want to movie snack or what? Uh, do you have any kale chips?

But I can scoop some mayonnaise into a cone for you. Uh, no, thanks. Uh, okay. I'm gonna see here. Oh, I got some gravy.

To munch on during the movie? I don't munch on gravy during a movie, Guy Ross. Huh?

You second through a straw.

“Uh, I think I'll pass on the movie snacks.”

Mindy. Sit yourself or for me. Okay, Guy Ross. Now, I just need you to squeeze right through that door and then you'll be in my home theater, okay?

Through that cocky door? Well, it's only a doggy door if you have a dog, which I do not. So, come on, you can get through there your small ass. Take a deep breath and squeeze your way through.

Okay. I'll be right behind you. Okay, tighter squeeze than I thought. I'm gonna give you a little shove. What?

Ready on the count of three. One, two, three, and try. You can do it. Come on. One, two, and three.

Oh, see? That wasn't too bad. All right. Behind you. Ah, Mindy.

“So, what do you think of my home theater?”

Wow. You could fit like 300 people in here.

Yeah, first I thought maybe it's a little too much.

But then, red tube is like, please. I want to have all my friends over to watch some old movie called The Birds. And I was like, "This is for The Birds." Okay, fine, Reggie. You always get your way.

This is so cool, Mindy. Uh-huh, Mindy. I'm back here, Guy Ross, in the projector booth. Somebody's got to run this bad boy. Oh, right.

Okay, just going to boot up the old projector here. There. Should be a business now. Okay. Hello.

And welcome to the Grand Mod GeForce Theatre. Thank you for joining us today. For updates on upcoming movies, special deals and discounts on food, please ask one of our attendance for information on how to sign up for our... Okay, fine.

Tonight's film will be antibiotics of history.

“With running commentary from yours truly.”

Running commentary. Uh-huh. So sit back and relax as we take you through the history of molecular medicine. The year is 1928. And Dr. Alexander Fleming, a famous bacterial economist.

Uh-huh. A famous bacterialologist. Like, uh-huh. Wait, back to your law members. Back to your allergies.

Uh-huh. Practice this word all night.

Hang on a second, Guy Ross.

Dr. Alexander Fleming, a famous bacterial... Back, back. Scott Bacula. Are you trying to say, "Bacteriologist"? Uh-huh.

But you did mean a bacteriologist, right? A scientist who studies bacteria. Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Okay, start the movie. That was that.

Sorry! Okay, back to the film. Um, when Alexander returned home from his summer vacation... Uh, how I do enjoy the Scottish moors. The found that his lab was a complete mess.

This lab is a complete mess. And there, he discovered that a mold called Petacillium-Nodetam had contaminated her poison-dolive as petri dishes. Oh, no! My petri dishes.

And many petri dishes are those little discs of plastic or glass that scientists put bacteria and other things on, so they can look at them under the microscope. You got a guy, Ross. And when he put one of these moldy petri dishes under the microscope...

He noticed that the petacillium mold had completely stopped the growth of the bacteria that he already had on that petri dish. Um, what type of bacteria was that, Mindy? It was a bacteria called... That's what called, Ross.

That's what a cocky. Mindy isn't that a deadly disease? Well, technically it's a big family of bacteria, Guy Ross. And just like in most families, there are some members that are totally fine,

but others, well, let's just say they're the kinds that can be a little cuckoo for cocoa puffs if you know what I mean. To mean like, you're at Mojo? Yeah. But unlike my Aunt Mojo, these guys don't stay out

singing karaoke until three in the morning. Instead, they cause all kinds of problems for us humans. Everything from food poisoning to skin infections. Oh, boy. But you're right.

They can sometimes turn deadly. Especially before Alexander Fleming's discovery. I can imagine because before the discovery of antibiotics, things as simple as a paper cut or a scraped knee could be deadly because open wounds could let

Look, Coco. Exactly.

“Which is why Alexander Fleming's discovery”

was such a huge deal. So what happened next?

Well, you spent the next few months

just hoiling away. Creating more and more of this tenacillium mold. Twyltoyl, twyltoyl, twyltoyl, twyltoyl. And eventually, he discovered that this mold could be used to create medicine

that could not only stop staff lacaca, but all sorts of other infectious bacterial diseases as well. Creating the world's first antibiotic medicine. I call it penicillin. Fascinating.

But that's not the end of the story. It isn't? Not even close. Now, let me just find the best forward button here. Here it is.

Wait a minute. When you said you had the entire history of antibiotics, I didn't think you meant you literally had the entire 100 years on tape. Oh, yeah. I got everything from that day.

“Alexander Fleming found a worm in his apple.”

Oh, no. You're a woman, Maya. To us talking about antibiotics in your backyard just a few minutes ago. What?

Maybe I always wear a lab coat when I garden.

Of course he do. But second one. What? It's too far. Let me just hit the rewind button here.

We need to stop it around. 1941. There. Right this way, sir. Huh.

Who's that, Mindy? Oh. That guy rose. Is Dr. Howard Flory. He's just showing Mr. Albert Alexander into his lab.

Oh, Albert Alexander. I know him. He's the first person who was ever treated with antibiotics. You know it. He got tricked by a rose thorn in his garden.

And then his cut got infected with. Staffel of Hawkeye. The bacteria from Fleming's lab. Yeah. And even though Alexander Fleming had been able to combat small microscopic doses of Staffel

of Hawkeye in his lab. To treat a whole person. That would take a lot more mold. Oh my. Choosing this is what on earth is going on here.

Well. Oh my gosh, man. You look at Flory's lab. It's covered in bottles of flasks and tubes of. Oh, wait.

Wait. What's that? My friend is beautiful. 100% organic certified fresh mold mold. Many fat disgusting.

And look. Flory's lab is completely covered in the stuff. I know, right? Turns out you need 2,000 liters or 528 gallons of mold. Just to get enough kind of cylinder to treat one person.

528 gallons. That's like three hot tubs worth of mold. Yep. And all are just one guy or doubt. So obviously, they had to find a better way to make this much pennicillin.

Obviously. And that better way came in the form of a cantaloupe. A cantaloupe. Yep. And for this, we're going to need to fast forward again.

91441. Hey, who's that walking into Flory's lab now? Oh, that's his laboratory assistant, Mary Hunt. And look. She's just returned from the market with a cantaloupe.

I got that to live here as well, sir. Just in time for brunch. And growing on that cantaloupe is a very special kind of mold. Ah. More mold, guys.

But the fungus found in this mold produced 200 times as much pennicillin as that fungus Alexander Fleming discovered. Wow. That's a lot of mold. And that's not even the best part.

With a little bit of tinkering. Tinkering. Tinkering. They were able to make this fungus produce 1,000 times as much pennicillin as Alexander Fleming's original discovery.

“So that means they were now able to make enough of it to treat people?”

Exactly those guys. As they say, the rest is antibiotic history. Wow. What a movie. And you know what?

It gets me thinking. Oh yeah.

Since that first antibiotic pennicillin made its way to our hospitals almost 80 years ago,

we've made so many more medical discoveries and developed a whole bunch more antibiotics. Yeah. And so much so that when people have access to doctors and medicine,

I mean, nobody freaks out about getting a deadly infection from a paper cut anymore.

And it's probably also made surgery a lot safer too. Hey, Mindya. What are you doing? Oh, much better. Man, it was so cramped in there.

Someday as much as I enjoyed the movie, I still don't understand what any of this has to do with my gardening. Oh, right. So as much as these antibiotics have helped us keep these nasty bacterial bugs away. Yeah. Well, these bugs have basically spent the last 80 years getting smarter and learning new ways to fight back.

“The bacterial bugs are trying to fight the antibiotics?”

Oh, yeah. And the smartest bugs, or at least the bugs that are winning the battle, are called super bugs. And they are what scientists call antibiotic resistant. Antibiotic resistant? Yeah.

Which is basically just a fancy way of saying that antibiotic medicine doesn't always work

against these bacterial infections anymore. Oh, that's right. And I was reading that some scientists are concerned that if more and more of these bugs become antibiotic resistant, then we'll soon go back to a world like the one before Fleming's Discovery. Yeah.

A world where a paper cut could be deadly. Exactly. But have no fear, Guy Ros. Super heroes scientists to the rescue. These super scientists men and women are on the case.

Searching high and low for new antibiotics to fight these new super bugs. Ah, well, where are they searching? Well, you know that dirt in your backyard? Scientists are looking for the next big antibiotic in the dirt in my backyard. Well, I mean, not just the dirt in your backyard, but dirt everywhere.

Wait a minute. You know what? Let's head back out to your backyard and I'll show you.

“Plus, I think I hear the cleaning crew is about to come in.”

Yep. Looks like it's time to get out of here. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. After you? Thank you very much.

Ah, back in my beautiful, pristine, well-kept antibiotic farm. Oh, well, I was going to say a horticultural display, but... But nothing, Guy-Waz, you are currently standing on a potential gold mine of medical wonders. Come in, y'all. I see, here's my beautiful flower display in there.

And those pogo sticks, you and Reggie left. I told you not to leave pogo sticks in my backyard anymore. Oh, so that's where we left, dumb. Well, anyway, I don't see any antibiotics from mold anywhere. Well, the antibiotics that we're looking for are going to be found in some gross mold Guy-Waz.

Do not know. They'd be found in some gross dirt. In my flower dirt? Exactly those. And like I said earlier, there are trillions of bacteria living inside this dirt.

In fact, in just one ounce of dirt, there can be as many as 8.5 million different bacteria.

Wow. 8.5 million. That's like the entire population of New York City living in this tiny morsel of dirt. And guess what? What, Mindy?

Those bacteria? Our act. Our act. That's right. Every death underneath our feet.

Millions of bacteria are clashing into epic microbial battle. And each of these microbes uses a different type of microbial weapon to bite the others. Oh, yes. And some of these bacteria are the ones that spread infectious diseases and make us sick. Hot.

And so I'm guessing that these scientists are studying how these roaring bacteria defeat each other.

“So they can try to use that same technique in hospitals, right?”

Right. These superhero scientists are trying to take the weapons that the good bacteria is using against the bad infectious bacteria. Wow. And then use these weapons to defend ourselves the next time the bad bacteria decides to infect a human. So how do they do it?

Well, after inspecting soil samples sent in from other scientists from all over the world, the team was able to extract or take out 10,000 new microbial weapons that could potentially be used to fight super bugs. Super drugs for super bugs. Yep. And one of these microbial weapons that they were able to get from these dirt samples has proven to knock out a nasty super bug called

So I guess there's hope for the future of medicine after all. I mean, just think about it, Guy Roz.

There could be a million more medical discoveries still waiting out there.

Some may be even lurking right beneath our feet. You're absolutely right, Mindy. But you know, in the meantime, there's a much more effective and potentially cheaper way to combat antibiotic resistance. Really?

“Well, it makes him like a pretty simple thing, Mindy, but washing your hands is actually the best way to stop these bacterial infections in their tracks.”

We've even got the science to back it up. Battling bacteria with soap and water? Baby could do that. Yeah, in fact, researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom recently conducted a huge survey, where they divided 20,000 people into two groups.

And one group was told to go to a website that encouraged them to wash their hands. Okay. And that website would remind the people in that group about the benefits of washing hands and the dangers of not washing your hands. And so what happened?

Well, three years later, the researchers went back to that group and compared them with another group that never saw the website at all.

So what did these researchers find? Well, they found that the group that was reminded to wash its hands, the people in that group didn't get sick as often as the people in the other group that weren't washing their hands. Like less cold, flu and all those other infections we get? Exactly. But do we know exactly why?

Well, I'm glad you asked, Mindy. Ah, Guy Ros, what are you doing? I'm just getting out of my PowerPoint.

“You made a PowerPoint presentation for this.”

Well, I'm really into hand washing. Yeah, I can tell. It's even on my family crest. See, check it out. It's on this patch on my shirt here.

Let me see. And, Moon, Dorey, my new one, to Warren. What? It's Latin for wash your hands. Got it. Okay, let me just finish getting set up here. Boot up the projector.

And, there we go. Okay, where was I? All right, right. The three benefits of hand washing. Number one.

The boy. It stops us from catching infections from the people around us. Number two. You said number two. Number two.

“It stops the people around us from catching any infections we might have.”

And, number three, if you don't get an infection, that means you don't have to visit a doctor, which saves you. So, what you're saying is that our hands are like a highway that infections use to travel. And, hand washing with soap is the big roadblock we need. Spoken like a true member of the hand washing society. So, there's something that all of us can do to help to beat these nasty super bugs.

That's right. I even put it into a song. Man, now there's a song. I was so impressed with your gratitude appreciation song last year. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm out yet. Thank you so much. Oh, it's about to launch into the good part. Well, well, I thought I'd make up my own song for hand washing. Aw, look at you, you little show pony.

I knew I'd rub off on you eventually. Look, do you want to hear it or not, Mindy? I rise. There is literally nothing. I'd rather hear more in this moment than your hand washing pump up jam.

Okay, well, let me just get out my boombock here. And you showed it to keep a lot of it. I got here in your backyard. And here we go. All right.

Here we go. Put your right hand in and watch it the round. Get some soap in your left hand and go to town. All right. Yeah.

Gotta hand washing. I gotta do it. Get into it. Put your right hand and watch it on the round. Get some soap in your left hand and go to town.

Turn around. And show that bacteria who's alive. Wow, that was so cool.

Bitchy, that could be a no medical breakthrough hiding in the dirt.

Well, I have dirt. Yeah, I'll back in the garden. There's probably tons of size going on in my flower beds. We need to go look right now. Let me get my gardening gloves and a microscope and my big floppy sun hat.

Oh, right. Let's wrap up the shelf first. Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning into WeWaWa on the Wake End.

That's 1-8-8-8-7-WaWa.

“I just might answer your question on WeWa on the Wake End.”

Okay, should we do the Goodbye song?

Good.

I'm... that's the end of the show.

“I need to go and look for signs in the dirt.”

But I'll do another show tomorrow.

But for now, that's the end of the show. Bye!