B (2:42)

Aha.

C (2:43)

Hi, Jessie Ben. I want Unicorn Week. Zoe. Wait, Zoe. I thought this was from Jessie Ben. Well, how am I supposed to know who wants Unicorn Week? Reggie Zoe or Jessie Ben? Oh, good point. Everybody probably wants Unicorn Week. So how we coming on Unicorn Week, Reggie? Bad.

B (3:08)

Why?

C (3:10)

Science says unicorns are mythical creatures. Well, what about narwhals and rhinoceroses? And unicorn fish. Well, keep working on unicorn week and get back to us, Reggie. Next, reviewsie. This one comes from username 467-743-56754 SJT. The title reads Dennis. Oh, that's a good title. And the message says, hi, Dennis. I love wee wow on the weekend and wow in the world. Keep up the good work. Aw, that's so nice. P.S. don't be annoying.

B (3:49)

What?

C (3:50)

Don't be annoying. All I do is be annoying. It's my thing, Reggie. How am I supposed to both keep up the good work and not be annoying? It's impossible. Well, I'm sorry, 4677. Whatever, SJT. That is simply too much to ask. It can't be done. Next, reviewsie. This reviewsie comes to us from username Friend me. The title says wow and the message says, this is great. Smiley face emoji. Also, Dennis has a mustache.

A (4:24)

What?

C (4:25)

I do? Oh, yeah, I forgot. I do have a mustache. How's it looking today? What? There's crumbs in it. Reggie, why didn't you say something earlier? Oh, good point. There's no cameras. We're audio only, baby. Next, reviewsie. Okay, this last reviewzy comes to us from username poopcat45. The title reads, I love this show. Silly face emoji. Smiley face emoji, laughing face emoji. And the title says, I love wee wow on the Weeknd. And my cousin knows Guy Raz. And I have a signature from Guy Raz in my wow. In the wild book. And I love Dennis and everyone, especially Dennis. I love this show. Reggie, did you hear that poopcat45 has Guy Raz Ra's signature? I know. I've been trying to get his signature for years. Remember, I'm trying to get him and Mindy to sign my petition to only allow unicycles in the neighborhood. No more bicycles. Actually, I need your signature too, Reggie. Reggie. Oh, whatever. Thanks for all your reviewsies, listeners. Keep them coming. If you leave a comment on Apple podcasts or Spotify, I just might read it on Wee Wow on the weekend. Five stars, please. Thanks. Okay, time for our next segment. Inside Tinkercast Studios. Inside Tinkercast Studios. This is the part where we revisit an episode of one of my favorite Tinkercast shows. And today we're listening to wow in the World, Season 1, Episode 27 called Invasion of the Sea Pickles. I don't know about this one, Reggie. I mean, sea pickle. It sounds kind of gross. And the invasion part Sounds kind of scary. Okay, I'll be brave, but I get to turn it off if I don't like it. Okay, here we go. And Play.

B (6:34)

Wee. Wow will be right back. Grown Ups, this message is for you. Hey, grownups. Mindy here from wow in the World, the number one podcast for curious kids and their grownups. That's you. And we are so excited to bring the wow Wows of the world to your home with our brand new wow in the World stem toys from Wondery Kids and Themes and Cosmos. Channel your inner astronomer with our wow in the World telescope kit. Or zoom in on the tiny wows of nature with our wow in the World microscope and biology kit. You can even tinker like real scientists with our 100 experiments that wow kit. And with every wow in the World stem toy, you unlock access to exclusive audio content from me and my buddy, Guy Raz. There are so many ways to wow. So whether you're shopping for a kid who loves science or one who doesn't just yet, our wow in the World stem toys are the perfect gift for your curious kids. Grown ups. Visit tinkercast.comtoys to shop the wow. Now that's it. Now back to the show, wow in the World.

A (7:47)

Ah, this is so nice, Mindy. Thanks for inviting me to lunch today.

B (7:52)

Oh, you're welcome, Guy Raz. Mostly I just didn't want to eat in front of the bathroom here by myself. But also, that's what best friends are for.

A (7:58)

Yeah, it sure beats eating by myself.

B (8:01)

This calamari fish burger is off the hook. I love that this place serves it between two puns.

A (8:09)

And I just got an order of the fish tacos.

B (8:11)

Wait, why are you eating tacos with a dinglehopper?

A (8:14)

Uh, you mean this fork?

B (8:16)

So. So fishticated grillin me, Guy Raz.

A (8:19)

Hey, by the way, did your sandwich come with a pickle? Because I love pickles.

B (8:23)

Oh, let me see here. What? No pickle? You gotta be squidding me.

A (8:29)

It's totally okay. Don't worry about it.

B (8:31)

It is dolphinitely not okay, Guy Raz. You can't have a fish sandwich without a pickle. The pickle is the whole porpoise. This is officially a disaster.

A (8:43)

No, really, Mindy, it's fine. Don't worry about it.

B (8:45)

Wait, I know where we can catch some fresh pickles.

A (8:49)

Mindy, there's gonna be plenty of other opportunities to eat pickles. But wait a minute. Did you just say catch some pickles?

B (8:56)

Yes, I did. I've been harrying about these fresh pickles that you can find all over the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Come on, hit your net. We're gonna catch us some sea pickles.

A (9:06)

Uh, Mindy, I think you're taking this a little bit too far.

B (9:10)

Ready? Put on your wet, you cuckoo old bird. Next stop, the southwest coast of Alaska.

A (9:18)

Mindy, I really don't think this is necessary. I mean, we could just run to the store and.

B (9:22)

Nope, you gotta trust me on this one, Guy Raz, because I know the perfect pickle to go with my fish sandwich and your fish taco. Once we get them on the plate together, it's gonna be like a family reunion. You'll see.

A (9:36)

Well, come on, let's go.

B (9:38)

Here, snap on your snorkel and hold on to your halibut, Guy Raz, because here we go.

A (9:57)

Man.

B (9:58)

Nice water landing, Reggie. You okay, Guy Raz?

A (10:03)

Mindy, we forgot to pay our bill at the restaurant.

C (10:06)

Oh, it's fine.

B (10:07)

We're not done eating yet.

A (10:08)

But we're in the garden.

B (10:11)

Here, hold onto my foot and I'll swim us to shore.

A (10:15)

What is happening?

B (10:17)

You said you loved pickles, so we're gonna catch you a pickle. Made it. What an adventure.

A (10:30)

Mandy, what are we doing here?

B (10:33)

Roz, wipe all this seaweed off your eyes and take a look around.

A (10:38)

What are those things?

B (10:39)

Guy Raz, feast your eyes on the great sea pickles.

A (10:46)

What?

B (10:46)

All you can eat.

A (10:47)

They're everywhere.

B (10:48)

Go ahead, pick one up.

A (10:50)

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We are not eating these.

B (10:55)

Sure we are. A pickle's a pickle. I can't help it if these ones glow in the dark, aren't green, wiggle in your hands, and smell like fish. Go ahead, take a bite.

A (11:04)

Mindy, I just don't think.

B (11:06)

Wait a minute. Sea pickles are not edible.

A (11:12)

Well, I could have told you that.

B (11:14)

And they're not even real pickles.

A (11:17)

I could have told you that, too.

B (11:18)

But they are super fascinating, which makes this whole trip worth it.

A (11:22)

Mindy, my fish tacos are sitting in a restaurant on the other side of the country getting cold. What are we doing here?

B (11:31)

Guy Raz? Your fish tacos can wait, because we're about to fill our bellies with science. And when I say bellies, I mean brains, because we can't eat these pyrosomes.

A (11:42)

Wait, pyrosomes?

B (11:43)

Oh, yeah. So pyrosome is. How you say sea pickle in science.

A (11:48)

Interesting. So let's take a look at these things, Mindy. I mean, they really do look like pickles. And then there are thousands of them laid out all across this shore?

B (11:57)

Yeah. So pick one up.

A (11:59)

Okay.

B (12:00)

Now, what does it feel like to you?

A (12:02)

Well, it's a little bumpy, like a pickle, but it's sort of fluffy and slimy. I mean, it feels kind of gelatinous, almost like it's made out of a. Kind of a jelly.

B (12:15)

Yeah.

A (12:16)

And for a pickle, it's not exactly green. In fact, it's pinkish and sort of clear, like it's translucent.

B (12:25)

Crazy, right? It's almost like you can see right through it.

A (12:28)

And if I cup it in the palm of my hands, it glows in the dark.

B (12:33)

Oh, yeah. So some sea pickle pyrosomes are bioluminescent, which means that they're a living organism that produces light, and in this case, kind of a bluish greenish light.

A (12:45)

Wow. So just like some jellyfish.

B (12:47)

Exact oritos. And if you break up the word pyrosome, pyro being the Greek word for fire, and som or soma meaning body, you get a bunch of little fire bodies.

A (13:02)

Wow.

B (13:02)

Here, put on these magnifying goggles and take an even closer look.

A (13:07)

Wait, there's a bunch of tiny creatures moving around in there. What are those things?

B (13:12)

Oh, so those are zooids, Guy Raz.

A (13:16)

Zooids? Yeah.

B (13:17)

So zooids are the teeny, tiny little bioluminescent creatures that live inside the sea pickle and basically make it what it is.

A (13:26)

Wow.

B (13:27)

And these little colonies of zooids use their glowing bioluminescent light to talk to each other and to work together like a team to. To make their pyrosome pickle propel and swim through the ocean.

A (13:40)

Wow. So much life inside this one little pickle. So are they all about this size, Guy Raz?

B (13:47)

Some pyrosomes can get up to 6ft wide and 60ft long.

A (13:53)

That's large enough to fit full grown humans inside.

B (13:56)

Now, you know what I want for my birthday this year?

A (13:59)

Don't get any ideas, Mindy. Man. So how do they eat, by the way? I mean, and that's a lot of little mouths to feed in there.

B (14:06)

Okay, so I should start by saying that pyrosomes are filter feeders, which means that they eat little, teeny, tiny sea creatures called plankton.

A (14:17)

But given that each pyrosome is kind of like its own little colony of smaller creatures, how do they do it?

B (14:24)

Oh, okay, so this is pretty cool. So sea pickles, or pyrosomes, move slowly and effortlessly through the ocean by pushing water through their body, sort of like a tube. And then the zooids inside grab their plankton out of that water as it passes through.

A (14:44)

And what do they do with everything else that comes through with the water?

B (14:48)

Well, they just filter it out through the other end of the tube.

A (14:51)

So let me just make sure I've got this straight. The pyrosomes suck in water with lots of stuff. The zooids grab only the stuff they want, and then the rest of the waste and water gets blown out the other end of the tube.

B (15:05)

You got it, Guy Raz. It kind of works like one of those conveyor belt sushi places.

A (15:09)

Wow. These creatures are incredible, Mindy. Magical, almost.

B (15:13)

I know.

A (15:14)

So why aren't they in the fish tanks of every dentist's office around the world?

B (15:18)

Oh, well, that's because up until now, they've been a pretty rare find.

A (15:22)

But we're standing on a beach with.

B (15:24)

Thousands of them, so that's the mystery.

A (15:28)

Did you say mystery?

B (15:30)

Mystery.

A (15:32)

What?

B (15:33)

So this is where it gets dark. Guy Raz, have a seat on the sand. Yes, just.

A (15:37)

But my wool trousers. Well, you know what happens if I sit on a sea pickle?

B (15:41)

Okay, fine. Then just stand. I just want you to listen carefully because that's what you do when someone uses a voice and tells you that they have a mystery.

A (15:51)

Right? Okay, got it. But I think there's a squid in my shoe.

B (15:55)

Guy Raz, I'm trying to tell you a mystery.

A (15:57)

Sorry.

B (15:58)

Hey, Jed. Yellow, can we bring the music down?

C (16:01)

Okey doke.

B (16:03)

Thank you. Guy Raz, there has been an invasion of pyrosomes.

A (16:11)

Invasion of the sea pickles.

C (16:13)

Hold onto your halibuts.

B (16:15)

They're coming for us.

A (16:16)

Prepared for an attack.

B (16:18)

Pull yourself together, man. Guy Raz, look at me. Look at me in the eye. They are not here to attack you.

A (16:27)

But you said invasion.

B (16:28)

Well, it is an invasion, but not the kind you're thinking of.

A (16:32)

Phew.

B (16:33)

However, this invasion of sea pickles, or pyrosomes is causing big problems and clogging up the waterways off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.

A (16:43)

Well, what kinds of problems? I imagine that a lot of fishermen looking for salmon and halibut are met with a huge surprise when they reel in a bunch of sea pickles.

B (16:53)

You know it, Guy Raz. And in fact, just a few months ago, some researchers were searching for rare fish in Canada's Columbia river, and they threw their nets out into the water. And five minutes later, when they reeled them back in, they were shocked and surprised to see their nets filled with 60,000 nets. Sea pickles in five minutes.

A (17:18)

So where do they come from and why now?

B (17:21)

Well, up until now, These sea pickles, or pyrosomes, were so rare and so mysterious that they were known to marine biologists as the unicorns of the sea.

A (17:31)

That's a lot of unicorns swimming around this shoreline.

B (17:34)

And like unicorns, marine biologists knew that they existed, but they were never able to really spend much time observing them because they were so hard to find in the warm, tropical, far, far out waters where they lived.

A (17:50)

So water's much, much further south.

B (17:53)

Yup. But I said. But over the last three years, the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest have warmed to hotter than normal temperatures. And millions of these things have been showing up, and they're being found all the way from Northern California to the the southwest coast of Alaska.

A (18:12)

So do scientists think that the warming temperatures in the water up here makes these pyrosomes feel more at home?

B (18:19)

Well, they don't know for sure, but that is one hypothesis or scientific guess that marine biologists are exploring. And there's a team of researchers at the University of Oregon studying this great sea pickle invasion. And they're also looking for clues like changes in the sea currents and the eating habits of these little creatures.

A (18:40)

Interesting.

B (18:41)

Yeah, and they're hoping that the answers to these questions might just lead to an explanation.

A (18:47)

Well, I guess for now we can take care of this problem by alerting the bigger fish that there's a sea pickle buffet just waiting for them.

C (18:54)

Oh, well.

A (18:55)

Calling all whales.

B (18:57)

Calling all dolphins. Hey, Ra's. Whales and dolphins don't speak English.

A (19:01)

No, yeah, you're right. I mean.

B (19:07)

Um, Guy Raz, use your human words.

A (19:11)

I mean, what?

B (19:12)

There are not enough whales or dolphins in these waters to possibly eat all of these sea pickles.

A (19:19)

Wow. I guess this really is the great sea pickle problem. So what do we do?

B (19:24)

Well, for now, we head back to the restaurant so you can finish your fish tacos. Reggie. Where's Reggie?

A (19:30)

Should we take a pickle for the road, Mindy?

B (19:32)

Pretty sure you could get a sweet dill on one around here, Guy Raz.

A (19:36)

I relish that idea.

B (19:38)

Look at you krillin it with the puns.

A (19:42)

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch where you're stabbing, Mindy. You almost stepped on some road dill.

B (19:48)

Not that funny when it's true.

C (19:56)

Wow, that was so cool and mysterious. I have so many questions. Why are there so many sea pickles? And how do they get so big? And how does bioluminescence work? And who's that jet guy who controls the music? I wish I could see a sea pickle.

A (20:13)

Really?

C (20:14)

You'll take me to Alaska. Okay, let's go right now. Wait. Let's wrap up the show first. Thanks to all you listeners out there for tuning in to Wee Wow on the weekend. If you have a question for me, call and leave me a message at 1-888-7-WOW-WOW. That's 1-8887-WOW-WOW. I just might answer your question on WeWow on the weekend. Okay, let's go. It's not too cold in Alaska, is it? I don't like when places are too cold or too hot or don't have enough places to eat or have too many and then I can't decide what I want. Oh, you know what I want right now is a big plate.

B (21:01)

Grown Ups if you like wow in the World, you can listen early and ad free right now on Wondery.

A (21:07)

Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Wondery Kids plus on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

B (21:17)

And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com thanks for joining us for this edition of We Wow on the weekend. Our show is written by Ruth Morrison and Jed Anderson. Original sound design and production is done by Henry Moskal and Marion Lozano with help from Jed Anderson and Tyler Thull. Original music for We Wow on the Weeknd is composed and performed by Tyler Thull.

A (21:48)

Special thanks to Steph Sosa, Rebecca Caban and all of the other tinkerers at Tinkercast hq.

B (21:55)

There's still time to share your Wee Wow crafternoon challenges with us grown ups. You can upload pictures and videos of your projects to us@tinkercast.com share or call us at 1-888-7-WWOW.

A (22:09)

Our website is tinkercast.com there you can learn more about becoming an official member of of the World Organization of Wowzers. Learn about upcoming events, shop our shop and pick up a copy of the latest edition of our number one New York Times bestselling book series wow in the Wild.

B (22:28)

Thanks again for thinking, tinkering, experimenting and exploring with us this week. Meet us back here on Monday for Wow in the World and remember who wows We Wow Wow in the World. Wow in the World was made by Tinkercast and sent to you by Wondery.