WEBVTT - Cake in Space, a Musical Mushroom, and a Very Lonely Snail 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.920 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:19.120 and iHeartRadio. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.320 Guess what, Mango, what's Ouwell, we are finally here. This 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.560 is the end of twenty twenty five, and you know 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.920 what that means. It's actually time four and I think 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.480 this is right, the forty fourth annual Part Time Genius Awards. 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.520 It's hard to believe we've been doing this for forty 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.800 four consecutive years, or about this single interruption, like that's 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.840 we were doing this this awards as a podcast before 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.680 podcasts were podcasts before Mango. 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:49.200 How long ago? 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.920 This was forever ago, so long. We used to do 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.480 it on our Walkmans. Yeah, Sony Walkman's. We were just 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:56.560 like tape it and mail it to one another and 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:58.120 just synk them up. 0:00:58.360 --> 0:00:59.480 Incredible, incredible. 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.160 But you know, this is one of the things I 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.280 look forward most too, because end of your lists are 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.360 always really fun. But somehow looking at the things that 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.679 are so weird and so wonderful just makes my heart leap. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.559 You know. It's so fun to see all the things 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.119 that improve over the course of the year, even in 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.360 really difficult years like this one. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.480 Yeah, that's right, And you know, weird and wonderful is 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.920 exactly what we have on deck here today, because this 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.240 year's honorees include an invention that will make it easier 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.560 to enjoy cast roles in space. I know that was 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.960 a concern of ours, A musical mushroom, a very nerdy 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.720 new math holiday, and that's just to name a few. 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.200 So change into your fanciest of outfits, poor glass of 0:01:43.240 --> 0:02:07.520 something festive, and let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.000 welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.560 always I'm joined by my good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.880 and over there in the booth wearing the fanciest tuxedo 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.600 I think I've seen in a long time, and holding 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.120 a briefcase that's been handcuffed to his arm. 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:22.600 That's all. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.200 I didn't notice that until we just started here. That's 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.080 our PALIN producer, Dylan Fagan. But actually I think I 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.040 get it. It's like how Ernst and young people show 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.160 up at award shows with the vote tallies and the 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.639 names of the award winners, right yeah, yeah. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.640 Super secure, Except we already have all of tonight's winners 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:43.400 written down right here. I'm not sure we need to 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:44.320 go to those lens. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.880 Yeah, it's true, it's true. All right, Well, I hope 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.560 Dylan has the key for that thing at least. But Mengo, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:51.880 before we give our first award out, I'm curious if 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.560 you could give yourself an award for something that you 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.320 did this year, what would it be? 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.040 Hmmm. I think the most impressive thing I did this 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.040 year is that when I realized that kids started saying 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.480 six to seven after someone accidentally said like six to seven, 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.440 I stopped using those numbers insequentially. Wow. 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:13.760 Yes, yeah, that's a. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.880 Real numerical awareness award, I think is what I'd get 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:18.600 for this year. 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.600 That is really really impressive. So I think I win 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:28.120 the award for enduring during an entire day where I 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.360 had worn two different pairs of shoes or two shoes 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.360 from different pairs, and I stuck it out. I didn't retreat, 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.120 I didn't go back to the hotel. It was a 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.280 busy day in New York. We were trying to get 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.400 stuff done, and I just went with it. I just 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.000 embraced it. People pointed out all day long. I told 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.480 them what happened, and I endured, and I was really 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:46.320 proud of myself. 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.280 Oh I love that it's very fashioned forward too. Did 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.520 you try to sell it as something that's like, oh, 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:52.680 this is going to come around next year. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.440 I know a couple people ask that, and I haven't 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.440 noticed whether they've followed up with actually doing this themselves, 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.080 but I'm gonna say that they did. I'm going to 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.720 say that this started a trend. We'll probably notice it 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:03.720 going in the next year. 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.680 I'm glad. I'm glad we can make our listeners aware 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.440 as well. So let's get started with our first award, 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.560 which is the Grammy Award. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.000 So Mango, I don't I hate to break this to you. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.920 I don't think we can give out a Grammy Awards 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.640 that's actually well definitely trademarked. 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.599 Yeah, So not that Grammy Award. It's our own Grammy Award. 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:30.920 It's the Generating really awesome Mushroom Music Yes Award, And 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.440 that yes, I think makes me sound like Uncle Baby 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:39.040 Billy from Writers Stones. But this award goes to John 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.360 Ross and Andy Kidd. They are a pair of UK 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.839 based experimental artists also known as Bionic and the Wires, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.560 and they describe themselves as a fusion of technology, art 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.360 and nature, which is a fancy way of saying they 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.240 attach bionic arms to mushrooms and make them play instruments. 0:04:58.279 --> 0:04:59.200 So do you want to hear a club? 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:16.800 I mean obviously so yeah. 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:19.880 So that is from a video uploaded earlier this year 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.640 called Mushroom in the Wild playing Keyboard. It has one 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.520 point four million views on YouTube, and it's exactly what 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.679 it sounds like. There's a wild mushroom with sensors attached 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.080 to its cap, and those sensors are connected to a 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.560 pair of bionic arms and it is so cute. Each 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:38.000 one is holding a little mallet and they play a 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.200 tiny synthesizer. It is just the very best thing I've 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:42.760 seen today. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.640 That is fantastic. And this isn't a special mushroom that 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.160 went to Juilliard. It's just a regular mushroom growing in 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:48.800 the woods, right. 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.360 Yeah. It really taps into their innate abilities. So here's 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.360 how it works. The mushroom is alive, which means it's 0:05:55.480 --> 0:06:00.240 doing stuff like photosynthesis, it's doing stuff chemically and growing. 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:05.800 All these active processes generate bioelectrical signals, and that's what 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.400 the sensors are picking up and registering as vibrations. Those 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.600 vibrations get converted to motion and that means the bionic 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.240 arms holding the mallets. And there's just something so strange 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.960 and beautiful about listening to music made by an individual mushroom, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.360 which is not a sentence I'd ever thought. 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.400 I'd said, Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. All right, Well, 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.839 our next award is a game changer for folks who 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.240 love trying new foods but hate being surprised by a 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.400 blast of painful spice. Now we're calling it the putting 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.960 the hot ones guy out of work Award, and it 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.120 goes to this team led by Weijun Ding and Jinghu 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.000 at the Shanghai Institute of Technology. See, the only way 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.320 to tell if a food is spicy is to taste it. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.359 And if it is spicy and you can't handle the heat, 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.760 while by tasting it, you've exposed yourself to the thing 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.159 that you're trying to avoid. Right, it's a real dilemma here. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.400 I guess you could have someone else tasted for you, 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.640 like the way kings used to have tasters. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.440 That is one way you could, but people would probably 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.560 just stop going on to eat with you, I'm guessing. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:10.119 And luckily researchers have invented an artificial tongue that uses 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.840 a special sensor to detect the presence of capsation and 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.840 other spicy compounds like alison, which gives fresh garlic that burn. 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:20.720 And the way they came up with this is actually 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.160 pretty amazing. So you've seen hot ones. What do they 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.760 have standing by in case guests start to panic? 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:27.160 A glass of milk? 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.760 Right, It's exactly right. So milk has proteins called casins 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.600 that bind to spicy compounds and neutralize the heat. So 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.320 this artificial tongue sensor contains milk, powder and chemicals that 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.960 conduct an electrical current. Now, when it comes in contact 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.880 with the spice, the current decreases, indicating that the casin 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.200 is binding to something hot. So they tested the tongue 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.880 with peppers, ginger, garlic, and a lineup of eight other 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.440 different hot sauces, and overall it was as accurate as 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.720 a panel of human testers and detecting these different spice levels. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:00.240 Oh. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.560 I love that because I love eating hot food, and 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.520 I love that you can have a measure that other 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.200 people can rely on, you know, because I feel like 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.160 I'm not a good indicator of how hot something is. Yep, Well, 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.720 this next award is definitely cool. I am calling it 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.200 the Golden Banana Peel Award, and it goes to Martin Muser, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:27.120 Oshroff Attila and Sergei Zukomlinov at Zarland University in Germany 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.880 because earlier this year they figured out the real reason 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:31.520 why we. 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.760 Slip on ice. I assume they came up with something 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.319 more scientific than because ice is slippery. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.080 Yeah, And in fact, they disproved a theory that's been 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.200 around for about one hundred and fifty years. So back 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.960 in the eighteen hundreds, a British engineer named James Thompson 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.320 suggested that two forces conspire to make us wipe out 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.400 on icy surfaces, pressure and friction. In other words, when 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.439 you step on ice, your weight applies pressure, and because 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.400 your shoes are warmer than the ice, that pressure makes 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.600 some of the ice melt. Then friction kicks in, making 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.360 your foot slide against the wet surface. But it turns 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:11.200 out that's actually not quite what's happening. So using computer simulations, 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.880 Muser and his team discovered that molecular die poles are 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.520 the real source of slipperiness. So you're probably wondering what 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:19.280 a die pole is. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.840 I only think of north pole, South pole. Is there 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.480 a die pole that's like an addition to that or something. 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.360 That's kind of the same idea. So molecules can have 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.760 degrees of positive and negative charge or polarity, and a 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.520 positive end and a negative end, and these poles orient 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.080 them in a particular direction. Now, when water freezes, the 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.079 molecules align in a nice, tidy crystal structure. But when 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.800 you step on it, the orientation of molecules in your 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.240 shoe messes everything up. It's like walking into Martha Stewart's 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.400 kitchen and throwing a bucket of ping pong balls everywhere. Right, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.600 So when the ice crystal structure is disrupted, some of 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.680 it falls apart and turns back to liquid, so you go. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.120 Of course, none of this will prevent you from slipping 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.280 on ice, but at least now you can impress people 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.720 with your knowledge of molecular physics while you're waddling along 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:09.920 a frozen sidewalk. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:11.920 That is pretty cool. I'm guessing you may get more 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.600 mileage out of this one than I do, since you 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.920 live in the Northeast and I'm in Alabama. But still 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.080 pretty cool in the end. All right, Well, time for 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.640 our fourth award, and Mango, I have a question do 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.760 you remember what you were doing on September sixteenth, twenty 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:26.839 twenty five. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:34.680 Mm, probably desperately searching for a blated gift for my 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:35.720 kid's birthday. 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.680 Well, what you should have been doing is celebrating Pythagorean 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.600 triple square day, which was identified by a recent Williams 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.199 College grad named Jake Malarkey. I love that is the 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.600 last name, and his math professor, Colin Adams. 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.480 So I remember the Pythagorean theorem partially because I remember 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.240 Shack saying he was like the Pythagorean theorem and there 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:02.120 was no solution. C squared is the solution of But 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.719 how does that apply to a random band September. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.600 It's not a random day September sixteenth, twenty twenty five 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.640 or nine sixteen twenty five. All three of those numbers 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.120 are perfect squares. Nine is three squared, sixteen is four squared, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.959 and twenty five is five squared. And you'll notice something 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.440 about those numbers, right, Sure, they're consecutive exactly, and it 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.000 gets better or at least mathier. So that sequence three 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.280 four five is a Pythagorean triple, which goes back to 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:33.440 the theorem we learned in school. A squared plus b 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.080 squared equals c squared. Substitute the numbers in for A, 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.440 B and C three squared plus four squared equals five 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.880 squared or nine plus sixteen equals twenty five. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.120 Yes, yeah, it's like a like a magic try. 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.199 Nope, it's actually just math. But yeah, it's still very cool. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.880 And September sixteenth, twenty twenty five was the only date 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:59.960 in this century that nails the Pythagorean triples square. So Congress, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.640 as to Jake and Colin, we're giving you the Once 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.000 in a Blue Moon Award. I actually think this one 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.040 is really really cool. 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.480 Yeah, it's really fun. So speaking of rarities, next up, 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.520 it's the Wingman Award, or the year it's the wing Woman, 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.800 because it's going to a New Zealand cartoonist and illustrator 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.680 named Giselle Clarkson. I actually checked out her art online 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.679 and it is really wonderful. But that's not why she's 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.439 getting an award tonight. She is being honored for her 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:32.120 efforts to find a rare snail a mate. And before 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:34.560 you start picturing a dating app for snails, let me explain. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.920 So one day Giselle was pottering around in her garden 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.320 and she noticed an unusual snail. It's shell coil to 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.480 the left, not to the right, which might not sound 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.560 like a big deal, but for snails it is a 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.520 very rare mutation. In fact, just one in forty thousand 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.120 snails have it. And the thing is, lefty snails can 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.920 only mate with other lefty snails because their shells affect 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.920 the position of their reproductive organ and so if a 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.000 lefty stail tried to mate with a righty things just 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:05.000 would not line up. 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:05.600 That is wild. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.120 And if it's only one in forty thousand snails, in 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.240 the odds of two lefties finding each other, I mean, 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:11.480 that's so so small. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.240 Yeah, it really is so Luckily, Gazelle has always been 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.920 interested in snails, and as soon as she spotted this 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.320 little guy, she knew he was special and that if 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.240 he was going to find his true love, he would 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.640 need some help. So she named him Bed, moved him 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.080 to her tank in her living room, and teamed up 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.280 with New Zealand Geographic magazine to launch a campaign to 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.280 find him a mate. Now, before everyone runs outside to 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.320 start checking their yards for left shelled snails, I should 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.559 mention that New Zealand has pretty strict rules about importing 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.439 animals even if they're looking for love, which means Ned's 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.080 partner needs to be a Kiwi. Now, Gazelle hasn't found 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.560 a match for him just yet, but she is holding 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.040 out hope. So if you happen to be in New Zealand, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.520 keep your eyes peeled for a snail who looks a 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:01.480 little different, maybe a little lonely. And if they enjoy 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:06.360 taking long walks in the garden, that'll help too. All right, Well, 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.240 fingers Crossed, twenty twenty six is Ned's lucky year. All right, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:11.680 we have to take a quick break. But when we 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.960 come back, Water Buffalo's who made a midlife career pivot 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.120 and what it takes to cook in space, So don't 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:35.280 go anywhere. Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.120 closing the book on twenty twenty five by handing out 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.360 our coveted end of year awards. I know everyone is 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.920 covening them, but if you're feeling left out, do not worry. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.840 We also have a limited number of our official, equally 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.360 coveted Part Time Genius membership cards, and we'll send you 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.480 one for free if you give us your name, address 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.160 and one fun fact. You can leave a message at 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.200 three or two four oh five five nine two five. 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.600 That is our part Time Genius hotline, or you can 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.120 email us at high Geniuses at gmail dot com. That's 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.920 Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com. You can also dm 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.400 us on Instagram or Blue Sky. There are no shortage 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.120 of ways to reach out. 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.200 I mean, I feel like Mango. Honestly, it's the best 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.840 deal of the season. It really is just such a 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.080 cool thing. Not only do these cards look super snazzy, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.840 I mean they're also a great way to win an argument. 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:27.680 Can't agree on what's the longest river in Europe? Slap 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.280 one of these puppies on the table and whatever you say. 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.520 I mean, who's going to argue with a card carrying 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.040 part time Genius. 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.760 Yeah, I'm not sure how this works, but the Volga 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.680 is the longest river in Europe. Card or no card. 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.600 That is word for word what my daughter told. 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:45.840 Me, Mango. 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.120 So how about you just give out the next award? 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.720 All right, Well, it's time for one of the most 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.800 competitive awards of the evening. It's the Bovine Glow Up Award, 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.280 and it honors the member of the cattle family who 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.120 underwent the most positive trend information this year. This can 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.960 be in terms of appearance, or self confidence or just 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.360 general well being. So there's a lot of opportunities here 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.760 to be entered into this one, and it's always down 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:12.920 to the wire with this one. But the twenty twenty 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:18.240 five winner is Todd. So Todd's a Todd. Todd did 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.840 it freaking finally, you know what I mean. He's a 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.320 five year old water buffalo with black fur, and he 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.200 won first place at the annual water Buffalo Beauty pageant 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:30.040 in chn Bury, Thailand. 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.480 We had all been keeping an eye on Todd this 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.800 whole time, you know, certainly aware of some elements of 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.960 his progress. But why is there a beauty contest for buffaloes? 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.680 Aren't they, you know, treated as like beasts of burden 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.600 normally mango please? I mean this, The term is draft animals, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.640 not beasts of burden. But even that doesn't apply in 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.920 this case because while water buffaloes used to plow fields 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.520 and rice pattis in Thailand, most farms have long since 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.880 switched to tractors, so that made plowing faster, but it 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.080 also left farmers with a conundrum. Water buffaloes have been 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.880 a major part of Thai agriculture, for generations, and people 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.879 who work side by side with them didn't like the 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.679 idea of selling them off for meat. So about a 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.560 decade ago, a group of farmers decided that they'd start 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.119 pampering their buffaloes instead. They gave them comfy pins and 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.040 a space to rome, and so folks even began treating 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.040 their herds to daily baths and a special high vitamin diet. 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.560 So pretty soon Thailand's buffaloes were looking so big and 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.480 so healthy that people started holding competitions just to show 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.520 them off. These events rekindled national interest in water buffalos, 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.240 and now the Thai government offers assistance to any farmers 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.920 who want to join the festivities. How does a water 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.959 buffalo beauty contest even work? Right? Like? Who determines that 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.800 one water buffalo is more beautiful than another? Yeah? 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.720 I mean, I guess high qualified judges that that's who 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.760 does it. And they wear these bolo ties and cowboy 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:00.960 hats so you'll know that they're legit. Like once you 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.360 have those things on, you're like, oh, this person, they 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.919 get it. So and the judges rank each contestant in 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:11.199 these three categories. There's horn size, there's hoof smoothness, and 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:13.240 overall physique. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.760 So they're judging how buff is your buff. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.320 That's exactly right. And like I said, Todd, the buffalo 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.040 won Best in Show this year. It was his first competition, 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.080 but I'm guessing not his last. He shared this honor 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.600 with his owner, who's a food vendor and a farmer, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.439 which I thought was just so sweet. And the farmer 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.159 says here, it's like the saying goes, people raise buffaloes 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.000 and buffaloes raise people. It's like a family member. Did 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.680 you say that in your house, lockering up all the time. 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.000 I mean that was sort of the main thing we 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:42.880 lived by. 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.119 People raise buffaloes and buffaloes raised people. I love it. 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.920 Now a family member with prize winning horns and super 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.480 smooth hoofs is a great thing. But our next award 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.960 is good news for any aspiring astronaut worried about the 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:05.760 menu options, especially on long haul space flights. It is 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.919 the Pie in the Sky Award and it goes to 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:14.520 aerospace engineer Jim Sears of Boulder, Colorado. So earlier this year, 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.359 Sears unveiled a next gen space oven called SAATED, which 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.960 is an acronym for safe Appliance, tidy, Efficient and delicious. 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.360 It is barely larger than a toaster, but it's poised 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.800 to have a big impact on space based cuisine, finally 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.159 providing astronauts with a practical way to cook food in 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:34.280 zero gravity. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.640 I was actually thinking about this not too long ago, 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.680 because obviously, growing up you would, you know, one of 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.240 the most exciting things going to like science stores or 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.280 things like that, was buying all the sort of replica 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.480 space food or whatever. And I was wondering, like, how 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.680 much that's advanced? Are they not cooking now in space? 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.240 Are they still just eating freeze dried ice cream up there? 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.480 I mean, it's not quite that dire, but it is close. 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.639 Like most of the food served on NASA missions and 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.000 aboard the ISS is freeze dried or dehydrated, and the 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.679 only way to like quote unquote cook it is to 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.520 soak it in water. Flammability is obviously a huge concern 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.640 in space, so cooking with high heat hasn't been an option. Yeah, 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:12.199 I can see how an open flame would be a 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:14.480 bad idea, but I feel like, you know, with an oven, 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.640 the heat sources contain there, So why are space ovens 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:18.600 just now catching on? 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.800 The major hold up actually has been the lack of gravity. 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.160 So with the standard connection oven, a fan pushes heat 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.520 around because hot air cooks food faster when it's circulating, 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.000 but you actually need gravity for that. So Sears came 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.560 up with an oven that used conductive heat transfer, which 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:39.760 relies on direct contact rather than air currents. So basically, 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.760 you load your ingredients inside this metal cylinder, which spin 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.680 its around so fast that it creates its own artificial 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:50.200 gravity through centrifugal forces, and this pushes the food up 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.040 against the walls of the cylinder, which are heated with 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.399 ceramic heaters, and a few minutes later you've got this 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.479 perfectly crisp cylindrical pizza or you know, a rich, moist 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.040 cylindrical birthday cake. It's pretty great. 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:06.840 It actually kind of sounds like those tilta worlds at 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:07.840 a carnival. 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.160 It is, except the walls are hot and the passengers 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:16.959 are pizza dir Yeah. Yeah, But you know what's amazing 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:19.240 is that soon astronauts will be able to enjoy home 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.639 cooked or rather space cooked meals up there. And you know, 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.080 it might not be the best news for their waistlines, 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:27.840 but it should do wonders for them morale. 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:30.119 Yeah, I think i'd be more willing to book a 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.120 trip to Mars if I knew they were serving pizza 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:34.920 on the way. But speaking of tasty treats and hard 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.879 to reach places, our next award is the Cherry on 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:40.560