A (0:01)

Happy birthday to us. That's right. WhoSmarted turned five years old this month. How exciting. That's not all. WhoSmarted also reached 25 million downloads. And that's because of you, our Smarty Pants listeners. And to celebrate, we want to give you a gift. What is this gift you're wondering? I'm glad you asked. If you love WhoSmarted, I'm sure you've heard us mention our WhoSmarted plus subscription. You know, the one that gives you a brand new bonus episode every week. Plus every episode of WhoSmarted. Trusty trivia and Smartyq's ad free. Not to mention subscribers directly support WhoSmarted. So we can keep making the show for many more years to come. And to show our appreciation to you, we're offering a 50% discount on our annual subscription. We've never done this before. Instead of $39.99 for a full year of smarting, you can subscribe to WhoSmarted plus for just 1998 a year. That's right. Who Smarted plus is half off? Quick quiz, smarty pants. Is 1998 a year the same as A, $1.67 a month, B, 38 cents a week, or C, a nickel a day? Did you say all of the above? You're right. Just think of all the time you'll save not listening to ads while enjoying subscriber only special episodes. That's got to be worth at least five cents a day, right? Of course, in offer, this good can't last forever. So you must subscribe by November 15th to lock in your 50% off WhoSmarted plus subscription. Again, that's 50% off our WhoSmarted plus subscription, just $19.98 for the entire year by November 15th. To join the celebration, go to our website WhoSmarted.com and click Birthday Subscribe. This offer is only available directly through our website@whosmarted.com and don't worry, you can play your subscription on Apple Podcast, Spotify or any other podcast platform. But to get the special birthday price, you have to go to whosmarted.com and click Birthday subscribe in the top menu. But remember, you only have until November 15th, so sign up@whosmarted.com today. Hey there, smarty pants. Welcome to another curiosity packed episode of Smart, where I, the trusty narrator, answer the amazing question submitted by you, the Smartypants. Now let's get right to it. Our first question comes from Samuel, who asks, how does metal stretch when hot, but shrink when cold? Ooh, loving the science Question, Samuel. Here's how it works. Metals are made up of tiny particles called atoms that are arranged in a grid. When metal is heated, the atoms start to vibrate faster and push a little farther apart. This makes the whole piece of metal expand or stretch. When the metal cools down, the atoms slow their vibrations and move closer together so the metal shrinks. This is why things like bridges and train tracks have expansion joints. Little gaps that allow the metal to safely expand in the heat and contract in the cold. Next up, Kai and Cooper from Pacifica, California, want to know, why do whales breach? In case you don't know, smarty pants, breaching is when a whale leaps out of the water and makes a big splash. Scientists aren't 100% sure why whales do it, but here are the leading ideas. First, communication. The giant splash makes a loud noise that other whales can hear from far away. Next, parasite removal. Breaching might help whales shake off itchy parasites on their skin. Next, play or display. Sometimes animals do things just for fun or to show strength and health. And finally, navigation. A high leap may help whales get a look around above the water surface. But like I said, nobody knows for sure. Well, except the whale. Moving on. Ryan in Houston, Texas, asks, why do humans swing their arms when they walk? Great observation, Ryan. At first glance, swinging your arms might seem like wasted energy, but it's actually the opposite Arm Swinging helps balance your body while you walk and makes the motion more efficient. Studies show that swinging your arms reduces the amount of energy your muscles need to keep you moving. Without swinging, walking feels stiffer and actually burns more energy. It also helps with stability, keeping you from tipping over. So next time you take a walk, let those arms swing away. Smarty pants. Okay, we still got a few more great questions coming up, including one about why bug bites itch. But first, let's take a quick break for a word from our sponsors. WhoSmarted is brought to you by Squarespace. Now, you know I'm good about creating new adventures and episodes of WhoSmarted, but you don't know that I procrastinate on other stuff, like a website for one of our new projects. Oops. When the website builder Squarespace reached out about sponsoring WhoSmarted, I decided to test it out. And now I feel silly for putting off building that website. Squarespace's blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes. I just told it a few details about the project, and boom, it generated everything. And everything you need is right there. I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch all from one dashboard. Now it's your turn to stop procrastinating and start building. You can use Squarespace to launch that business site or any site that you've been dreaming about. But putting off today, there's no excuse anymore. Especially since you can head to squarespace.com smarted for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, you can use Code smarted to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com smarted code smarted welcome back to SmartYqs. Our next question comes from Liam in Minnesota, who asks why are bug bites itchy? Ouch. When a mosquito or another bug bites you, it injects saliva into your skin while sucking your blood. That saliva contains proteins and chemicals that stop your blood from clotting. Your body's immune system reacts by releasing a chemical called histamine, which causes the blood vessels around the bite to swell and the nerves to send that itchy signal to your brain. So the itch isn't really from the bug, it's from your body fighting back. That's why anti itch creams or antihistamines can help calm the reaction. And finally, Dorothy and Elizabeth want to how is electricity carried through your entire town? That's an awesome question. Electricity starts at a power plant where it's generated often by turbines turned by steam, water or wind. From there, it travels through high voltage transmission lines to substations where the voltage is lowered. Next, it moves through distribution lines. Those are the wires you see along roads or buried underground, and finally into homes, schools and businesses. Transformers along the way keep lowering the voltage so it's safe to use in your lights, computers and and toasters. So the next time you flip a light switch, you can thank the whole system of power plants, wires, substations and transformers working together to keep your town or city running. And that's all for today. Please remember, if you've got a smarty question you'd like me to answer on SmartYqs, just email me at WhoSmartedosmarted.com until next time. Keep on smarting, smarty pants. Who smart and.