From left: Sanden Totten, Molly Bloom, Menaka Wilhelm, and Marc Sanchez in January 2020.
Brains On!
May 18, 2021
How does taste work? We react to our very first episode!
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Brains On has a very special milestone coming up -- it’s almost our 200th episode! To celebrate, we're re-listening to our very first episode which was all about eating. We'll play the episode and chime in with commentary to give you some behind the scenes glimpses and backstories along the way. We’ll also hear an update from our very first co-host ever -- Ian Roberts, who is now a college student and an adult. Plus a brand new Moment of Um answers the question: Why do we have birthmarks?
Audio Transcript
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MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to--
MENAKA WILHELM: Brains On--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Where we're serious--
MARC SANCHEZ: About being curious.
CHILD: Brains On is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi friends, it's me, Molly Bloom. I'm here with my pals, Menaka Wilhelm--
MENAKA WILHELM: Hi.
MOLLY BLOOM: Sanden Totten--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Hello.
MOLLY BLOOM: And Marc Sanchez.
MARC SANCHEZ: Greetings.
MOLLY BLOOM: Brains On has a very special milestone coming up. It's almost our 200th episode. But before that, we thought it would be fun to revisit our very first episode.
SANDEN TOTTEN: We came up with the idea for Brains On way back in 2011, so like 10 years ago now. Wow.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, back when Molly, Sanden, and I started working on the first episode, there weren't any podcasts for kids. So we were doing something completely new. And it took us a little while to figure out what we wanted the show to sound like.
SANDEN TOTTEN: After experimenting and writing and playing around, we finally finished and shared the first episode in January of 2012.
MOLLY BLOOM: It is still available in our podcast feed, so we are not totally embarrassed of it. But it's definitely a little different from the Brains On episodes we make now.
MENAKA WILHELM: So today we're going to really listen to that very first episode and give you some behind the scenes glimpses and back stories along the way.
MOLLY BLOOM: The four of us will be interrupting here and there with some reactions and thoughts and memories.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And we'll hear from our very first ever co-host, Ian Roberts, who is now actually a college student and a full-grown adult. They grow up so fast.
MARC SANCHEZ: You know what's funny is that our co-hosts get older, but we all stay the same age.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, how is that?
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: You know, I've never heard this episode before.
MARC SANCHEZ: I know. It's been a while since I've heard it, too, probably about nine years.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, OK, this is going to be fun. It's going to be like looking back at old photos but for our ears.
MENAKA WILHELM: All right, let's do it. We now present to you the very first episode of Brains On, which had the very descriptive title, "Eating."
CHILD: Is he coming yet?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Any second now. It's almost here. Prepare yourself. I can't wait.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
IAN ROBERTS: Hi, you're listening to Brains On--
MOLLY BLOOM: A show featuring awesome kids and the stuff that makes kids awesome. So do you know why some foods taste better to adults than they do to kids--
IAN ROBERTS: And vise versa?
MOLLY BLOOM: Do you know what happens to food once you're done tasting it?
IAN ROBERTS: Do you know how to make a spring roll?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll cover all that right now. Keep listening.
CHILDREN: (SINGING) It's time to get our brains on, [INAUDIBLE]. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. Brains On! Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On.
OK, let's pause here for just a second. This is present day Molly, Marc, Sanden, and Menaka speaking. So there's a theme song with words.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yep.
MOLLY BLOOM: We do not have that theme song anymore. Now we just have the bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, which we are also familiar with. Does anybody want to talk about why we changed theme songs?
SANDEN TOTTEN: I really don't remember, because listening back to that I'm like, this song is pretty good.
MARC SANCHEZ: The thing that I remember was it was a big deal when we came up with a theme song and sort of like we all went into a recording studio and made it with a friend of ours, who's also in this episode. And his son is in this episode. And then we used it for a few episodes, I think. But we got feedback that it sounded like--
MOLLY BLOOM: That it was for younger kids.
MARC SANCHEZ: Younger kids, yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: We wanted the show to be for kids in elementary school, like 6 to 12-year-olds and beyond, and like something adults would like to listen to, too. And we played it for some friends with kids. And they were like, oh, this is a show for little teeny kids, like three-year-olds.
I don't know if that's the fact that kids are yelling in the song or something like that. But we're like, all right, I love that song. But I guess we're going to leave it on the cutting room floor for future episodes.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, for our 200th episode when we come and revisit it.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: But then we changed another song. So Marc wrote that song. And he also wrote a song that you hear now in episodes, the "Bump Bump" song. Those are both Marc Sanchez creations.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I don't know if anyone picked up on this, but Molly, you sound a little deeper back then.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
MENAKA WILHELM: You definitely sound different.
MARC SANCHEZ: You have more of a lower timbre.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think that is a product of me not having talked into a microphone very much, so I think the voice you hear now is really closer to my real voice. But since I wasn't really used to talking to a microphone, I think I was trying to sound very professional. So I lowered my voice a little bit.
MENAKA WILHELM: A little more serious.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yes, but I don't feel the need to do that anymore. Now I can just be myself, because I'm like, oh, microphones, my best friends.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, should we listen to the show? Yeah.
I'm Molly Bloom, and here with me today is-- why don't you introduce yourself?
IAN ROBERTS: OK, I'm Ian Roberts. And I'm in the sixth grade.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ian will be here sharing hosting duties with me. And we're going to start the show today in the kitchen.
IAN ROBERTS: Do you want to wrap it up?
KIRSTEN: I'm Kirsten, and I'm 12 years old.
EMILY: I'm Emily, and I'm 6 and 1/2. I love making these. It's really fun.
MOLLY BLOOM: So those are the Emerson sisters. And they were kind enough to invite us over to show us how to make spring rolls.
KIRSTEN: We are taking spring roll wrappers and putting them into warm water for a couple of seconds and then-- Emmy, do you want to add what you want?
EMILY: We put some cucumbers, then we have some shrimp--
KIRSTEN: Mint, and cilantro.
MOLLY BLOOM: They said spring rolls are fun, because you can put really anything in them-- vegetables, meat, herbs. And then you get to dip them in delicious sauces.
KIRSTEN: We're folding and wrapping it up. First, you roll kind of like half of it then fold in the sides, then fold it in the rest of the way.
MOLLY BLOOM: These girls love to cook.
KIRSTEN: What do you like to make, Emmy?
EMILY: I like to make my peanut butter breakfast. It's where you get granola and you put bananas and peanut butter and mix them all together. It's really good.
MOLLY BLOOM: And that makes them pretty adventurous eaters, too.
EMILY: I like every-- well, pretty much everything I try. But everybody likes chocolate cake. I like chocolate cake, too.
MOLLY BLOOM: And they told us that they use all their senses when they cook.
KIRSTEN: Taste.
EMILY: Smell. I use it a lot to make sure that I like it.
MOLLY BLOOM: We're going to get back to some of those senses, like taste and smell, in a second. But first, we're going to go to a different sense. We're going to listen. All right, what reactions do we have to the spring rolls?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Well, for starters, there was no question. Now, every episode starts with a question that like opened up the whole thing. But we didn't come up with the idea of answering questions until a few episodes later. This one we just-- I mean, we didn't have anyone sending us questions back then. So we just started the show and went right into our first segment.
MOLLY BLOOM: But I think what happened-- I think we did think about asking questions. But we didn't have listeners yet. But I know the first question we ever answered from a listener and that was in the episode "How does paint stick?" That was the first lesson or question we got. And we answered it. It's a really good question.
MENAKA WILHELM: That's a good one.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK, let's listen to the mystery sound.
MOLLY BLOOM: So Ian, are you ready for the mystery sound?
[MYSTERY SOUND]
OK, we'll hear it one more time.
[MYSTERY SOUND]
Do we have any guesses?
IAN ROBERTS: It sounds sort of like an explosion of some sort.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a pretty good guess. And so it has to do with cooking.
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, I think maybe a kind of a stir fry?
MOLLY BLOOM: Interesting, interesting guess. So while you're puzzling over the mystery sound, we're going to find out all about tasting. Our friend Sanden Totten spoke with seventh grade science teacher, John Iverson.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's start with the first question. What is taste?
JOHN IVERSON: Taste would be when your tongue hits upon a chemical. The chemical is then sent as a message to your brain. And your brain says, hmm, that's sweet or that's sour.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So how many tastes are there?
JOHN IVERSON: Five that most scientists currently say we all have.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So there are five tastes.
JOHN IVERSON: We have salt, bitter, sweet, sour, and umami.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's that last one?
JOHN IVERSON: That last one is a Japanese word that means savory or hearty. It's a flavor that most people in the United States and Europe didn't recognize until just recently.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So it's a new taste.
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, it's a new taste that we've always had all along.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Umami, OK. So tell me again, tell me a little about how the tongue works?
JOHN IVERSON: The tongue, a muscle underneath. But there's a thin layer of skin that has many different cells that are taste receptors. We do have taste receptors all over the tongue, a little bit inside the mouth, and a little bit in the very first part of your throat as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Can we see the taste receptors?
JOHN IVERSON: Yes, you can see the taste buds. If you actually take a blue popsicle and you just put it right on your tongue for a number of minutes, get your tongue all blue, when you stick your tongue out, look in the mirror, you can see all these little white dots. Those are your taste buds.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How many does the mouth have?
JOHN IVERSON: It depends on the person. Some people would say we have anywhere from 3,000. And some people would say up to 10,000.
SANDEN TOTTEN: 10,000 taste buds in my mouth?
JOHN IVERSON: Oh, that's nothing. Catfish have close to 15,000 themselves. And not only do they taste with their tongue, but they also have these barbells, these whiskers. That's why they're called catfish. Those are used to sense taste as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So they have taste buds on their whiskers?
JOHN IVERSON: Yes. Some fish actually taste with their fins and parts of their scales as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What are some other animals that taste in different ways?
JOHN IVERSON: Some butterflies taste with sensors on their feet. Ants as well have parts of their jaw that have taste buds on them. There's also things like cockroaches will sense taste with their antenna. Some butterflies taste with sensors on their feet.
MOLLY BLOOM: How do you think it would be to taste with your feet?
IAN ROBERTS: I think it would be pretty gross. You'd taste your socks every morning when you put them on.
MOLLY BLOOM: That probably wouldn't be good.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: So did any of that surprise you in that interview or anything interesting to you?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I was interested by the catfish. It has more taste buds than we do.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, I wonder-- sometimes I wonder what we're missing when we're tasting. Yeah, but the guy was saying, too, that actually kids-- and we'll get to this in a little bit-- have more taste buds than adults do. And that's actually why you might not like all the same foods that your parents like. They taste stronger to you.
So we'll hear even more about tasting in a little bit. And we'll get to do some tasting ourselves. Let's go back to that mystery sound. Your previous guesses were an explosion or a stir fry. But this is actually Jessica Bartel's favorite cooking sound. She's a professional chef. And she has a clue for you.
JESSICA BARTEL: Well, it's a tall cylinder with a little threaded connector. And then the top of it is a nice, convenient handle that'll hold on. You can grab it, hold on to it. There's a knob that opens and closes the gas and a little trigger.
MOLLY BLOOM: So any more guesses after that?
IAN ROBERTS: No, I think that made me a little more lost than before.
MOLLY BLOOM: So it's a tool that she uses for baking, but it's not necessarily something that you might think of right away. It's-- you ready? We'll hear the sound one more time.
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
[MYSTERY SOUND]
MOLLY BLOOM: Any last guesses?
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe something using pressurized air? It sounds--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yes, it's a blowtorch.
IAN ROBERTS: What, a blowtorch?
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. What would you imagine you would use that for in baking?
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe like trying to crack something open? We have a walnut tree in our backyard. And I was trying to crack the nuts open. It was impossible.
MOLLY BLOOM: So what did you do?
IAN ROBERTS: I eventually soaked them in water for like a day or two, then let them dry, so the shells were really brittle. And then I could crack it open and get the nut.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's very smart. Yeah, well let's hear from Jessica how she uses it with her baking.
JESSICA BARTEL: Brulees and cakes and caramelizing and softening and melting and helping things stick and glue.
MOLLY BLOOM: So she uses it for everything.
IAN ROBERTS: Wow.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you know when you see those little creme brulees, they're little puddings with the top, it's all hard? So when you take sugar and you put an open flame on it, it gets kind of hard and crunchy like that.
IAN ROBERTS: Wow, I'm blown away.
MOLLY BLOOM: And it's a blowtorch. High five, that was great.
CHILDREN: Brains On!
MENAKA WILHELM: Good one, Ian.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think we can all appreciate Ian's pun there. We love a good pun on Brains On.
MENAKA WILHELM: Incredible.
MOLLY BLOOM: This is a really good time to check in with our friend Ian and see what he's up to now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
IAN ROBERTS: So my name is Ian. I'm 20 years old. And I'm a student at the University of Minnesota. Right now I'm studying ecology, evolution, and behavior. It's one major. I thought I could apply that to a lot of real world issues.
We are kind of living in a world where a lot of change has happened in the past few centuries. We're using land really differently than we used to. We're emitting a lot more greenhouse gases. And I think kind of the way forward is we have to make some really serious changes in how we use land.
So a degree in ecology would let me study how this restoration process happens where we take like a field that used to have crops growing on it, like corn or wheat, and we maybe turn it back into something like a prairie, if we're talking about Minnesota. And those prairies are going to provide what are called "ecosystem services," where they are soaking up water before it turns into a flood, or sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or just providing a habitat for endangered species. So I think all of that's really important.
Coming into the first episode of Brains On, I was young. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I felt like I wasn't the greatest academic student, maybe. So I just want to reach out and say to everybody who's interested in science, you can do it. You can do it if you have the drive and the motivation.
It's not nearly as much about the book intelligence as you think it is. And there's a place for you in science, 100%. It's really just about asking questions and being curious. And I think everybody has the capacity to do that.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ian is doing some really awesome work. This summer, he's going to be an intern with a lab. And part of his job is going to be tracking wild bees on the Minnesota prairie. Sounds pretty cool. And we're going to stay in the present for a little bit longer to let you know about an episode we're working on right now.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Our 200th episode is going to be all about the sun. And we want to know, if you could add a planet to our solar system, what would it be like? Menaka, what do you think?
MENAKA WILHELM: I would want to add a donut-shaped planet to our solar system. And it would make gravity really wacky. And it would feel different to be in different parts of the planet.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, I love that.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Whatever you're dreaming up, send us your ideas to brainson.org/contact.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's where we got this question.
JOSIE: Hi, I'm Josie from Denver, Colorado. My question is, why do we have birthmarks?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll be back with an answer to that question. And we'll read the most recent group of listeners to be added to the Brain's honor roll at the end of the show.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
OK, we are back. Let's time travel back almost 200 episodes and learn some more about taste buds. So all right, so we're going to go back to Sanden and John Iverson. So if you want to taste along with them, like Ian and I are going to do, you will need to get your hands on a few different kinds of foods.
IAN ROBERTS: Something salty?
MOLLY BLOOM: So that would be like chips or pretzels.
IAN ROBERTS: Or maybe something sweet?
MOLLY BLOOM: And that would be like dried fruit or cookies or candy.
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe something bitter, too.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, that would be like spinach, parsley, stuff like that.
IAN ROBERTS: Something sour?
MOLLY BLOOM: So lemon, lime.
IAN ROBERTS: And last but not least, savory.
MOLLY BLOOM: So that could be beef jerky or mushrooms or even cheese. So let's get started with the tasting. Here we go.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So John, how many tastes are there?
JOHN IVERSON: Five tastes.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And let's talk about them. So let's start with sour. What have we got in front of us?
JOHN IVERSON: We have a lime. And not only can I see it, which is another part of our taste sensations, is looking at different foods. But also, I can smell it. I can already smell it. It is really-- I can just anticipate that it's going to be sour, just from the smell.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And what happens when you can anticipate food?
JOHN IVERSON: Your saliva starts to run out of your salivary glands in your mouth. In this case, I can already feel my cheeks tightening up knowing that they're going to be doing that in a second.
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, so we're going to talk about the taste, sour. Let's do it. All right, so we're taking the lime here. We're just going to take a little bite.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right, let's do it, ready?
IAN ROBERTS: OK.
MOLLY BLOOM: Woo.
JOHN IVERSON: I can feel it already.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What happened?
JOHN IVERSON: The back muscles in my cheeks just start to tighten up so much.
IAN ROBERTS: I like it.
MOLLY BLOOM: You like it?
JOHN IVERSON: And my salivary glands start to pump out more and more saliva to make sure that my mouth doesn't have the sour taste in it anymore. So what have we got here?
SANDEN TOTTEN: We have some spinach greens. And these taste what?
JOHN IVERSON: These are bitter, very bitter. And you get the sensation with bitter food sometimes that this isn't something that you should be eating. And it seems to most scientists reasonable that before we had labels that said this is food, this is not food, that this was our body's way of saying what you're eating isn't going to be good for you.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Maybe that's why today kids don't like eating their vegetables. They're thinking, maybe this is poison. I'm sure I've heard kids say that before.
JOHN IVERSON: I've heard my own kids say that. And believe me, as a parent, I'll tell you. You're not going to get away with it. You still should eat your greens.
SANDEN TOTTEN: All right, let's eat some greens.
MOLLY BLOOM: I'm not a huge fan of spinach. Are you?
IAN ROBERTS: I'm not either.
MOLLY BLOOM: Shall we do it anyway?
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, ready? One, two, three.
IAN ROBERTS: Bottoms up.
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, right in the back of my mouth I get the taste. On the tip of my tongue, I don't really taste the spinach very much at all.
IAN ROBERTS: I have to say, dandelions are worse. Have you ever eaten a dandelion?
MOLLY BLOOM: No, what do they taste like?
IAN ROBERTS: It's just like bitter beyond belief. It's like coffee without the taste of coffee. It's just essence of bitter.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's move on to everybody's favorite, sweet.
JOHN IVERSON: So you know what these are?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Dried pineapple.
JOHN IVERSON: And this tastes?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Very sweet.
JOHN IVERSON: Well, let's just jump right into it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Where are you tasting it?
IAN ROBERTS: The very middle of my tongue.
JOHN IVERSON: I like this taste a lot.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, what happens when we eat sweet things?
JOHN IVERSON: You feel happy. You feel happy. Your tongue just, I would say, just erupts in this great joyous ah, I have sugar. I have things that I want in my mouth. I noticed that you ate much more of the pineapple than the spinach.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Well, we all have our favorites.
MOLLY BLOOM: So what's your favorite sweet usually?
IAN ROBERTS: My favorite sweet thing? Well, being a kid I'd have to say candy. Now that Halloween was just over, you know, sweet craving--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, did you eat all your Halloween candy already?
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, no.
MOLLY BLOOM: How long--
IAN ROBERTS: I usually ration it. And it lasts me until January.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's pretty good. What, do you eat certain ones first?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I usually like the tart things. I eat them first and then slowly work down to like, the chocolate covered raisins that some crazy parent hands out.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you're not a fan of those?
IAN ROBERTS: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: But you eat them anyway?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
JOHN IVERSON: Sweets are something that most children prefer. And as you get older, your sense of desire or wanting for sweet foods becomes less and less. As you get older, your tastes change.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why is that? Why do they change?
JOHN IVERSON: As you grow older, your body continually replaces cells, skin cells that die, also taste buds or taste cells that die. And some scientists believe that you don't replace as many as you get older. So you're not so concerned about the bitterness of foods. That's why more adults handle coffee than children. And also, perhaps some of the sweet taste buds don't get replaced. And that would make sense that the adults don't crave the sweets as much as children do.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So kids and adults might actually have different tongues. That's why we like to eat different foods. Well, let's move on to salty.
JOHN IVERSON: We crave salt at times.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why is that?
JOHN IVERSON: Our body loses salt every time we go out for a run and we sweat.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So our sweat is salty, because it's full of salt?
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, for our bodies to do all the things we want it to do, to think, to jump, to sleep, we need salt in our cells.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's try getting some salt back in our cells. I got some chips here.
JOHN IVERSON: I can smell it. And I already know it's going to be salty.
[CRUNCHING SOUNDS]
MOLLY BLOOM: So you're a salty guy.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: I wonder if you like salt more, because maybe you're like active, because like he was saying, you kind of lose a lot of salt when you exercise.
IAN ROBERTS: I do actually jog. That's a hobby.
MOLLY BLOOM: So there you go, maybe that's why you crave salt.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's the connection between saltiness and thirstiness?
JOHN IVERSON: Salt actually removes moisture from things. Salt dries things out so much that we want to replace the water in our mouth. We can't always do it with the saliva we have. And that's why we get thirsty.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Now, let's go on to the last taste here, umami or savory.
JOHN IVERSON: Oh, looks like you brought some beef jerky for us for the savory taste.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, let's try it out.
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, very chewy--
[CHEWING SOUNDS]
But good.
MOLLY BLOOM: While we're chewing, we'll hear what they say about it.
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
JOHN IVERSON: I can know that this is nourishing, that it's something my body really does need.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why does your body need beef jerky?
JOHN IVERSON: It doesn't necessarily need beef jerky, but the meat itself, the protein, this is the building block of a lot of our body. Our muscles in particular need the protein to keep doing what they're doing and to grow and grow bigger and stronger.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So if our bodies were a LEGO machine, the beef has proteins, which are like the little LEGO pieces we use to build a bigger and better machine.
JOHN IVERSON: That'd be correct, yeah.
CHILDREN: Brains On! Woohoo!
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: It just kind of comes out of-- it's like somebody just jumped out of a closet.
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: It is a little startling.
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: Oh my God.
JOHN IVERSON: I bet you're paying attention now, though.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I just imagine a group of kids just like jumping from behind the couch.
[LAUGHTER]
They burst out of the kitchen, "Brains On!"
[LAUGHTER]
JOHN IVERSON: Ah, I wet my pants.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh man, yeah. Yeah, I apologize to people who don't like to hear eating noises.
MENAKA WILHELM: The chips are really satisfying. It feels like you've turned the corner once you get to the salty, crunchy.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's true. I mean, we wanted to make the show interactive. And so we were trying to think of something people could do along with the show. And so that seemed like a good thing to try, like eat and listen and have a good old time.
MENAKA WILHELM: Yeah, I think the two segments of this episode are like activities in the world. And we do a lot more of like building activity into skits and things now. But it's cool to get to do stuff in real life.
MOLLY BLOOM: Very true. Let's get back to the episode.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Brains On tasting.
MOLLY BLOOM: So next, the Brains On players are here to tell us what happens to all this food once it's eaten.
GRAY: Microphones, headphones, action.
MOLLY BLOOM: When you eat something, your body digests it. Digestion is how your body turns food, like salads, sandwiches, and smoothies, into vitamins, minerals, and proteins to help you grow. The first step in digestion is eating. So time to eat.
ANNA WEGGEL: Uh-oh, here I go.
GRAY: This sandwich is awesome.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, ouch, ow. Who are you? What's going on?
GRAY: Me? I'm a mouth. And you are a delicious sandwich.
[CHEWING SOUNDS]
So I'm chewing you up.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ow, oof. Hey, why it's got to be so hard when you chew, and I'm all wet?
GRAY: Ha! I see you are new to being eaten. Chewing is the first step in digestion. I use my teeth to mash you up into [CHEWING SOUNDS] little bits. Then I mix you up with saliva to make you soft.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, watch it.
GRAY: And when I've made you all nice and mushy, I can pass you off to the next stage of digestion by simply swallowing.
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, can we pause real quick? OK.
[LAUGHTER]
I didn't realize-- like, I think I remember writing that skit about the sandwich being eaten. But now listening back, that is terrifying. That poor sandwich!
[LAUGHTER]
I feel so bad for it.
MARC SANCHEZ: Because it's played by a kid, too, who sounds like--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, like the cutest kid ever.
MARC SANCHEZ: Who sounds like he's actually been eaten.
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: I mean, he was a good actor. What was his name, Gray, I think?
MARC SANCHEZ: It was our friend Sam's son.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Gray, his name was Gray. Yeah, that was some good acting, because I legit felt sorry that he was being eaten.
[LAUGHTER]
And fun fact, that voice of the mouth is Anna Weggel, who you'll sometimes hear on Smash Boom Best.
MOLLY BLOOM: Also the voice of Kara, of Kara and Gilly.
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's right.
MENAKA WILHELM: Wow, she's been around a long time.
SANDEN TOTTEN: It was her very first voice for Brains On.
MARC SANCHEZ: Step two.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Back to it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step two of the digestion process, swallowing. Swallowing is when the food you chewed goes down your throat.
ANNA WEGGEL: I'm falling.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Don't cry, little sandwich man. I've got you in my muscular grip.
ANNA WEGGEL: Who are you?
SANDEN TOTTEN: I am the esophagus. I'm a muscular tube in your throat. And I'm going to carry you from the mouth to the stomach.
[WIND BLOWING]
ANNA WEGGEL: Where's that wind coming from?
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's the windpipe. But you don't want to go down there. You'll choke the body. And the body will cough you out. But don't worry, little sandwich man. The epiglottis will cover the windpipe hole, so you will be safe on your way.
SPEAKER: Hey yo, let me just cover that up. And you're good to go.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Thank you, epiglottis. OK, sandwich man, you ready to go down to the stomach?
ANNA WEGGEL: I guess so.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Have a nice swim. Huh-huh-huh, hoo-a!
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, OK, pause again.
[LAUGHTER]
That was my terrible impression, I think, of Arnold Schwarzenegger maybe?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who used to be the governor of California but before that was an actor and a bodybuilder. He's a very strong person.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A famous muscle man. And we were talking about a muscular tube, your esophagus. You know, this goes way back to-- when I was in, I think, fifth grade, I had a project where we had to act out the digestive system. And I was partnered up with my best friend at the time, Sean Hyson. And he had the idea to make the esophagus be like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
MOLLY BLOOM: Wow.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And I just basically remembered that years later when we were making this episode. I was like, Oh, I'm just going to take his idea without giving him credit. So Sean Hyson, if you're listening, that was your idea. And it was much better when you did the accent than when I tried to be Arnold Schwarzenegger.
[LAUGHTER]
But anyway, thanks. Thanks for helping our first episode.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thank you. All right, back to the episode.
Step three in digestion, the stomach. The stomach is a sack inside your belly where food gets broken down into a messy liquid.
[WATER SLOSHING]
DEREK STEVENS: It's all wet and warm in here.
[WATER SLOSHING]
Well, hello. Welcome to the stomach, baby. Relax, kick back, and enjoy the soothing vibes of my gastric hot tube.
[WATER SLOSHING]
ANNA WEGGEL: Oh, the water tingles.
[WATER SLOSHING]
DEREK STEVENS: Oh yeah, that's because it's acid, baby, stomach acid. And it's going to gently break you down into even smaller pieces.
[WATER SLOSHING]
So just enjoy the ride.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ah, I feel like I'm melting.
DEREK STEVENS: It's nice, right? These acids are pretty powerful. And by swishing you around, I'm going to make you all loosey goosey. Well, it's time you be moving along, little fella. Next stop for you, the small intestine. Stay groovy.
ANNA WEGGEL: You too, stomach.
MOLLY BLOOM: That was Derek Stevens, a very talented voice actor who works with us, who also is the voice of MC Skat Cat in the Paula Abdul song, "Opposites Attract."
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, that was a-- this sandwich has taken quite a journey.
[LAUGHTER]
MARC SANCHEZ: What was that, "hot tubes?" What?
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, why wouldn't it have been hot tub? Did we not--
MENAKA WILHELM: I bet it was-- I bet it was like a typo and none of us caught it.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Hot tub, should have been hot tub.
MENAKA WILHELM: Hot tub.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Should have been a hot tub, not hot tube.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step four, the small intestine. At this point, your sandwich has turned into a soup-like goo. In the small intestine, your body picks the vitamins and minerals it needs from that goo.
ANNA WEGGEL: Huh, it's dark in here.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch, pinch.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, ouch!
SPEAKER: Pinch, pich, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Hey, sorry, I'm just picking you dry.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ouch, ouch, what?
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, I'm the small intestine, which is a funny name for me, because I'm 22 feet long. I'm a tube coiled up inside the body. And my job is to pick all your nutrients and vitamins.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, and look at all this protein you've got. You were once a chicken sandwich, weren't you?
ANNA WEGGEL: Yeah, I was a chicken sandwich. What are you doing with all my vitamins and proteins and stuff?
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, it goes all over the place to the muscles, to the brain, to the whole body, actually.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: We're going to build a better body using these parts from you.
ANNA WEGGEL: You're taking my everything! There'll be nothing left.
SPEAKER: Pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, don't worry. There will be something left. And actually, it's time you head off to the next step of digestion, my big brother, the large intestine.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step five, the large intestine. This is the body's last chance to soak up what it needs from food.
LARGE INTESTINE: Hey.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey?
LARGE INTESTINE: I'm the large intestine. I'm also a long tube.
[WATER SLOSHING]
ANNA WEGGEL: OK, so what happens here?
LARGE INTESTINE: You're kind of a liquid mess at this point.
[WATER SLOSHING]
Now, I'm just going to absorb some of that water.
[WATER SLOSHING]
And this might be kind of awkward.
ANNA WEGGEL: Awkward?
[SLURPING NOISE]
Hey, whoa, you're taking all the water away. I'm drying out.
[SLURPING NOISE]
LARGE INTESTINE: Yeah, the body needs your liquids. Come on, now. I'm going to leave you in the colon. That's the last part of the body you'll see.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Step six, getting rid of waste. Some parts of the food you eat the body doesn't need. So it gets rid of it.
ANNA WEGGEL: The colon? You're just going to leave me here in the colon, just like that?
LARGE INTESTINE: Not for long. Just wait, door's about to open. Bombs away!
ANNA WEGGEL: Bombs away? What, wait? What's that smell? Hold on, it's me. I'm a poooooo.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And that my dear friends, is how digestion works.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, my goodness.
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's probably one of the best lines in any Brains On. "Wait, it's me, I'm a pooooo."
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, we introduced poop really early.
MENAKA WILHELM: There's always been poop.
MARC SANCHEZ: From day one.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh my goodness, and yes, all those voice actors are people we worked with at NPR News. And they were really good sports to play those very silly parts. And the small intestine was played by Marc Sanchez.
MARC SANCHEZ: That's right, our first use of the pitch shift function.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Marc, you were good at voices even way back then. I was impressed listening to that. I'm like, wow, he's just-- he was on. Moll and I both sounded weird in that episode. And you sounded like--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah.
MARC SANCHEZ: Here's my theory. Here's my theory. I was the only one who had a kid at the time. So I had a head start on making goofy, silly noises and voices before you two.
MOLLY BLOOM: Good point. All right, let's finish listening to the episode. So all this food is making me hungry. Should we wrap this up?
IAN ROBERTS: Thanks for listening to Brains On.
MOLLY BLOOM: This episode was produced with help from Ian Roberts--
IAN ROBERTS: Chris Roberts--
MOLLY BLOOM: Marc Sanchez, Jackie Fuller--
IAN ROBERTS: Sanden Totten--
MOLLY BLOOM: Anna Weggel--
IAN ROBERTS: Jeff [INAUDIBLE].
MOLLY BLOOM: Derek Stevens--
IAN ROBERTS: Bucky Emerson--
MOLLY BLOOM: Gray Keenan--
IAN ROBERTS: Sam Keenan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks Ian, thanks for coming in.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I had fun.
MOLLY BLOOM: Awesome.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHILDREN: Brains On!
[CHEERING]
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Any final thoughts after listening to this cute little baby episode?
MARC SANCHEZ: I think that's a good description. It is like a baby episode where we were sort of learning to walk. But I think we grew up into a fine young person.
MOLLY BLOOM: The show's ready for college.
MARC SANCHEZ: Right?
MENAKA WILHELM: Yeah.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Menaka, what did you think hearing this for the first time?
MENAKA WILHELM: I thought I was glad to hear the skit at the end, because I was like, where are the characters? Where are the skits? That's our bread and butter these days. It's neat to hear-- some of the stuff that happens in the show today, which is that we really ask kids questions and we really pay attention to what kids are paying attention to, it's still there in that very first episode. Those things all carry through.
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, no matter if you've been listening to Brains On since the beginning or this is the very first time you're listening, we are really glad you're here. We could not do this without you.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, your questions really do power the show. So send them to us at brainson.org/contact. And don't forget to send us your ideas about what planet you'd like to see added to the solar system.
MENAKA WILHELM: And now before we go, it's time for our "moment of um."
[HUMMING]
CHILD: My question is, why do we have birthmarks?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JENNA LESTER: My name is Jenna Lester. And I'm an assistant professor in the department of dermatology at University of California, San Francisco. If you look at your skin, you are looking at thousands of different skin cells and a few different types of skin cells.
And one type of skin cell called the melanocytes, which are the skin cells that give the color to our skin, also make birthmarks. And when you are developing as a baby, some of those cells decide to just behave a little bit differently.
So they don't come quite to the surface of the skin. They are maybe just below the surface of the skin, or they're a little bit bigger. And so they move differently than the other skin cells. And as a result, they make birthmarks.
And some birthmarks you're born with. The medical term for a birthmarks are "nevi." The singular is nevus. And the ones that you're born with are called congenital nevi. And then there are other ones that you develop over time. And those are called acquired nevi.
I think you should be proud of your birthmarks. And they're just another thing that makes you unique from the person sitting next to you. They're with you your whole life. And they grow with you and change with you. And you check it out every so often.
Make sure if it grows really quickly, or if it begins to hurt you, or if it begins to get itchy that you let someone know. But most often they're totally healthy. They're nothing to worry about. And you probably won't even think about them every day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: This list has left a mark on my heart. It's the Brain's honor roll. These are the fabulously creative listeners who send us questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We'll be back soon with more answers to your questions.
ALL: Thanks for listening.
MENAKA WILHELM: Brains On--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Where we're serious--
MARC SANCHEZ: About being curious.
CHILD: Brains On is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi friends, it's me, Molly Bloom. I'm here with my pals, Menaka Wilhelm--
MENAKA WILHELM: Hi.
MOLLY BLOOM: Sanden Totten--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Hello.
MOLLY BLOOM: And Marc Sanchez.
MARC SANCHEZ: Greetings.
MOLLY BLOOM: Brains On has a very special milestone coming up. It's almost our 200th episode. But before that, we thought it would be fun to revisit our very first episode.
SANDEN TOTTEN: We came up with the idea for Brains On way back in 2011, so like 10 years ago now. Wow.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, back when Molly, Sanden, and I started working on the first episode, there weren't any podcasts for kids. So we were doing something completely new. And it took us a little while to figure out what we wanted the show to sound like.
SANDEN TOTTEN: After experimenting and writing and playing around, we finally finished and shared the first episode in January of 2012.
MOLLY BLOOM: It is still available in our podcast feed, so we are not totally embarrassed of it. But it's definitely a little different from the Brains On episodes we make now.
MENAKA WILHELM: So today we're going to really listen to that very first episode and give you some behind the scenes glimpses and back stories along the way.
MOLLY BLOOM: The four of us will be interrupting here and there with some reactions and thoughts and memories.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And we'll hear from our very first ever co-host, Ian Roberts, who is now actually a college student and a full-grown adult. They grow up so fast.
MARC SANCHEZ: You know what's funny is that our co-hosts get older, but we all stay the same age.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, how is that?
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: You know, I've never heard this episode before.
MARC SANCHEZ: I know. It's been a while since I've heard it, too, probably about nine years.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, OK, this is going to be fun. It's going to be like looking back at old photos but for our ears.
MENAKA WILHELM: All right, let's do it. We now present to you the very first episode of Brains On, which had the very descriptive title, "Eating."
CHILD: Is he coming yet?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Any second now. It's almost here. Prepare yourself. I can't wait.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
IAN ROBERTS: Hi, you're listening to Brains On--
MOLLY BLOOM: A show featuring awesome kids and the stuff that makes kids awesome. So do you know why some foods taste better to adults than they do to kids--
IAN ROBERTS: And vise versa?
MOLLY BLOOM: Do you know what happens to food once you're done tasting it?
IAN ROBERTS: Do you know how to make a spring roll?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll cover all that right now. Keep listening.
CHILDREN: (SINGING) It's time to get our brains on, [INAUDIBLE]. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. Brains On! Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On.
OK, let's pause here for just a second. This is present day Molly, Marc, Sanden, and Menaka speaking. So there's a theme song with words.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yep.
MOLLY BLOOM: We do not have that theme song anymore. Now we just have the bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, which we are also familiar with. Does anybody want to talk about why we changed theme songs?
SANDEN TOTTEN: I really don't remember, because listening back to that I'm like, this song is pretty good.
MARC SANCHEZ: The thing that I remember was it was a big deal when we came up with a theme song and sort of like we all went into a recording studio and made it with a friend of ours, who's also in this episode. And his son is in this episode. And then we used it for a few episodes, I think. But we got feedback that it sounded like--
MOLLY BLOOM: That it was for younger kids.
MARC SANCHEZ: Younger kids, yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: We wanted the show to be for kids in elementary school, like 6 to 12-year-olds and beyond, and like something adults would like to listen to, too. And we played it for some friends with kids. And they were like, oh, this is a show for little teeny kids, like three-year-olds.
I don't know if that's the fact that kids are yelling in the song or something like that. But we're like, all right, I love that song. But I guess we're going to leave it on the cutting room floor for future episodes.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, for our 200th episode when we come and revisit it.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: But then we changed another song. So Marc wrote that song. And he also wrote a song that you hear now in episodes, the "Bump Bump" song. Those are both Marc Sanchez creations.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I don't know if anyone picked up on this, but Molly, you sound a little deeper back then.
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
MENAKA WILHELM: You definitely sound different.
MARC SANCHEZ: You have more of a lower timbre.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think that is a product of me not having talked into a microphone very much, so I think the voice you hear now is really closer to my real voice. But since I wasn't really used to talking to a microphone, I think I was trying to sound very professional. So I lowered my voice a little bit.
MENAKA WILHELM: A little more serious.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yes, but I don't feel the need to do that anymore. Now I can just be myself, because I'm like, oh, microphones, my best friends.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, should we listen to the show? Yeah.
I'm Molly Bloom, and here with me today is-- why don't you introduce yourself?
IAN ROBERTS: OK, I'm Ian Roberts. And I'm in the sixth grade.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ian will be here sharing hosting duties with me. And we're going to start the show today in the kitchen.
IAN ROBERTS: Do you want to wrap it up?
KIRSTEN: I'm Kirsten, and I'm 12 years old.
EMILY: I'm Emily, and I'm 6 and 1/2. I love making these. It's really fun.
MOLLY BLOOM: So those are the Emerson sisters. And they were kind enough to invite us over to show us how to make spring rolls.
KIRSTEN: We are taking spring roll wrappers and putting them into warm water for a couple of seconds and then-- Emmy, do you want to add what you want?
EMILY: We put some cucumbers, then we have some shrimp--
KIRSTEN: Mint, and cilantro.
MOLLY BLOOM: They said spring rolls are fun, because you can put really anything in them-- vegetables, meat, herbs. And then you get to dip them in delicious sauces.
KIRSTEN: We're folding and wrapping it up. First, you roll kind of like half of it then fold in the sides, then fold it in the rest of the way.
MOLLY BLOOM: These girls love to cook.
KIRSTEN: What do you like to make, Emmy?
EMILY: I like to make my peanut butter breakfast. It's where you get granola and you put bananas and peanut butter and mix them all together. It's really good.
MOLLY BLOOM: And that makes them pretty adventurous eaters, too.
EMILY: I like every-- well, pretty much everything I try. But everybody likes chocolate cake. I like chocolate cake, too.
MOLLY BLOOM: And they told us that they use all their senses when they cook.
KIRSTEN: Taste.
EMILY: Smell. I use it a lot to make sure that I like it.
MOLLY BLOOM: We're going to get back to some of those senses, like taste and smell, in a second. But first, we're going to go to a different sense. We're going to listen. All right, what reactions do we have to the spring rolls?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Well, for starters, there was no question. Now, every episode starts with a question that like opened up the whole thing. But we didn't come up with the idea of answering questions until a few episodes later. This one we just-- I mean, we didn't have anyone sending us questions back then. So we just started the show and went right into our first segment.
MOLLY BLOOM: But I think what happened-- I think we did think about asking questions. But we didn't have listeners yet. But I know the first question we ever answered from a listener and that was in the episode "How does paint stick?" That was the first lesson or question we got. And we answered it. It's a really good question.
MENAKA WILHELM: That's a good one.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK, let's listen to the mystery sound.
MOLLY BLOOM: So Ian, are you ready for the mystery sound?
[MYSTERY SOUND]
OK, we'll hear it one more time.
[MYSTERY SOUND]
Do we have any guesses?
IAN ROBERTS: It sounds sort of like an explosion of some sort.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a pretty good guess. And so it has to do with cooking.
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, I think maybe a kind of a stir fry?
MOLLY BLOOM: Interesting, interesting guess. So while you're puzzling over the mystery sound, we're going to find out all about tasting. Our friend Sanden Totten spoke with seventh grade science teacher, John Iverson.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's start with the first question. What is taste?
JOHN IVERSON: Taste would be when your tongue hits upon a chemical. The chemical is then sent as a message to your brain. And your brain says, hmm, that's sweet or that's sour.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So how many tastes are there?
JOHN IVERSON: Five that most scientists currently say we all have.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So there are five tastes.
JOHN IVERSON: We have salt, bitter, sweet, sour, and umami.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's that last one?
JOHN IVERSON: That last one is a Japanese word that means savory or hearty. It's a flavor that most people in the United States and Europe didn't recognize until just recently.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So it's a new taste.
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, it's a new taste that we've always had all along.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Umami, OK. So tell me again, tell me a little about how the tongue works?
JOHN IVERSON: The tongue, a muscle underneath. But there's a thin layer of skin that has many different cells that are taste receptors. We do have taste receptors all over the tongue, a little bit inside the mouth, and a little bit in the very first part of your throat as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Can we see the taste receptors?
JOHN IVERSON: Yes, you can see the taste buds. If you actually take a blue popsicle and you just put it right on your tongue for a number of minutes, get your tongue all blue, when you stick your tongue out, look in the mirror, you can see all these little white dots. Those are your taste buds.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How many does the mouth have?
JOHN IVERSON: It depends on the person. Some people would say we have anywhere from 3,000. And some people would say up to 10,000.
SANDEN TOTTEN: 10,000 taste buds in my mouth?
JOHN IVERSON: Oh, that's nothing. Catfish have close to 15,000 themselves. And not only do they taste with their tongue, but they also have these barbells, these whiskers. That's why they're called catfish. Those are used to sense taste as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So they have taste buds on their whiskers?
JOHN IVERSON: Yes. Some fish actually taste with their fins and parts of their scales as well.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What are some other animals that taste in different ways?
JOHN IVERSON: Some butterflies taste with sensors on their feet. Ants as well have parts of their jaw that have taste buds on them. There's also things like cockroaches will sense taste with their antenna. Some butterflies taste with sensors on their feet.
MOLLY BLOOM: How do you think it would be to taste with your feet?
IAN ROBERTS: I think it would be pretty gross. You'd taste your socks every morning when you put them on.
MOLLY BLOOM: That probably wouldn't be good.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: So did any of that surprise you in that interview or anything interesting to you?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I was interested by the catfish. It has more taste buds than we do.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, I wonder-- sometimes I wonder what we're missing when we're tasting. Yeah, but the guy was saying, too, that actually kids-- and we'll get to this in a little bit-- have more taste buds than adults do. And that's actually why you might not like all the same foods that your parents like. They taste stronger to you.
So we'll hear even more about tasting in a little bit. And we'll get to do some tasting ourselves. Let's go back to that mystery sound. Your previous guesses were an explosion or a stir fry. But this is actually Jessica Bartel's favorite cooking sound. She's a professional chef. And she has a clue for you.
JESSICA BARTEL: Well, it's a tall cylinder with a little threaded connector. And then the top of it is a nice, convenient handle that'll hold on. You can grab it, hold on to it. There's a knob that opens and closes the gas and a little trigger.
MOLLY BLOOM: So any more guesses after that?
IAN ROBERTS: No, I think that made me a little more lost than before.
MOLLY BLOOM: So it's a tool that she uses for baking, but it's not necessarily something that you might think of right away. It's-- you ready? We'll hear the sound one more time.
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
[MYSTERY SOUND]
MOLLY BLOOM: Any last guesses?
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe something using pressurized air? It sounds--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yes, it's a blowtorch.
IAN ROBERTS: What, a blowtorch?
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. What would you imagine you would use that for in baking?
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe like trying to crack something open? We have a walnut tree in our backyard. And I was trying to crack the nuts open. It was impossible.
MOLLY BLOOM: So what did you do?
IAN ROBERTS: I eventually soaked them in water for like a day or two, then let them dry, so the shells were really brittle. And then I could crack it open and get the nut.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's very smart. Yeah, well let's hear from Jessica how she uses it with her baking.
JESSICA BARTEL: Brulees and cakes and caramelizing and softening and melting and helping things stick and glue.
MOLLY BLOOM: So she uses it for everything.
IAN ROBERTS: Wow.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you know when you see those little creme brulees, they're little puddings with the top, it's all hard? So when you take sugar and you put an open flame on it, it gets kind of hard and crunchy like that.
IAN ROBERTS: Wow, I'm blown away.
MOLLY BLOOM: And it's a blowtorch. High five, that was great.
CHILDREN: Brains On!
MENAKA WILHELM: Good one, Ian.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think we can all appreciate Ian's pun there. We love a good pun on Brains On.
MENAKA WILHELM: Incredible.
MOLLY BLOOM: This is a really good time to check in with our friend Ian and see what he's up to now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
IAN ROBERTS: So my name is Ian. I'm 20 years old. And I'm a student at the University of Minnesota. Right now I'm studying ecology, evolution, and behavior. It's one major. I thought I could apply that to a lot of real world issues.
We are kind of living in a world where a lot of change has happened in the past few centuries. We're using land really differently than we used to. We're emitting a lot more greenhouse gases. And I think kind of the way forward is we have to make some really serious changes in how we use land.
So a degree in ecology would let me study how this restoration process happens where we take like a field that used to have crops growing on it, like corn or wheat, and we maybe turn it back into something like a prairie, if we're talking about Minnesota. And those prairies are going to provide what are called "ecosystem services," where they are soaking up water before it turns into a flood, or sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or just providing a habitat for endangered species. So I think all of that's really important.
Coming into the first episode of Brains On, I was young. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. And I felt like I wasn't the greatest academic student, maybe. So I just want to reach out and say to everybody who's interested in science, you can do it. You can do it if you have the drive and the motivation.
It's not nearly as much about the book intelligence as you think it is. And there's a place for you in science, 100%. It's really just about asking questions and being curious. And I think everybody has the capacity to do that.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ian is doing some really awesome work. This summer, he's going to be an intern with a lab. And part of his job is going to be tracking wild bees on the Minnesota prairie. Sounds pretty cool. And we're going to stay in the present for a little bit longer to let you know about an episode we're working on right now.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Our 200th episode is going to be all about the sun. And we want to know, if you could add a planet to our solar system, what would it be like? Menaka, what do you think?
MENAKA WILHELM: I would want to add a donut-shaped planet to our solar system. And it would make gravity really wacky. And it would feel different to be in different parts of the planet.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, I love that.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Whatever you're dreaming up, send us your ideas to brainson.org/contact.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's where we got this question.
JOSIE: Hi, I'm Josie from Denver, Colorado. My question is, why do we have birthmarks?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll be back with an answer to that question. And we'll read the most recent group of listeners to be added to the Brain's honor roll at the end of the show.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
OK, we are back. Let's time travel back almost 200 episodes and learn some more about taste buds. So all right, so we're going to go back to Sanden and John Iverson. So if you want to taste along with them, like Ian and I are going to do, you will need to get your hands on a few different kinds of foods.
IAN ROBERTS: Something salty?
MOLLY BLOOM: So that would be like chips or pretzels.
IAN ROBERTS: Or maybe something sweet?
MOLLY BLOOM: And that would be like dried fruit or cookies or candy.
IAN ROBERTS: Maybe something bitter, too.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, that would be like spinach, parsley, stuff like that.
IAN ROBERTS: Something sour?
MOLLY BLOOM: So lemon, lime.
IAN ROBERTS: And last but not least, savory.
MOLLY BLOOM: So that could be beef jerky or mushrooms or even cheese. So let's get started with the tasting. Here we go.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So John, how many tastes are there?
JOHN IVERSON: Five tastes.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And let's talk about them. So let's start with sour. What have we got in front of us?
JOHN IVERSON: We have a lime. And not only can I see it, which is another part of our taste sensations, is looking at different foods. But also, I can smell it. I can already smell it. It is really-- I can just anticipate that it's going to be sour, just from the smell.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And what happens when you can anticipate food?
JOHN IVERSON: Your saliva starts to run out of your salivary glands in your mouth. In this case, I can already feel my cheeks tightening up knowing that they're going to be doing that in a second.
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, so we're going to talk about the taste, sour. Let's do it. All right, so we're taking the lime here. We're just going to take a little bite.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right, let's do it, ready?
IAN ROBERTS: OK.
MOLLY BLOOM: Woo.
JOHN IVERSON: I can feel it already.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What happened?
JOHN IVERSON: The back muscles in my cheeks just start to tighten up so much.
IAN ROBERTS: I like it.
MOLLY BLOOM: You like it?
JOHN IVERSON: And my salivary glands start to pump out more and more saliva to make sure that my mouth doesn't have the sour taste in it anymore. So what have we got here?
SANDEN TOTTEN: We have some spinach greens. And these taste what?
JOHN IVERSON: These are bitter, very bitter. And you get the sensation with bitter food sometimes that this isn't something that you should be eating. And it seems to most scientists reasonable that before we had labels that said this is food, this is not food, that this was our body's way of saying what you're eating isn't going to be good for you.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Maybe that's why today kids don't like eating their vegetables. They're thinking, maybe this is poison. I'm sure I've heard kids say that before.
JOHN IVERSON: I've heard my own kids say that. And believe me, as a parent, I'll tell you. You're not going to get away with it. You still should eat your greens.
SANDEN TOTTEN: All right, let's eat some greens.
MOLLY BLOOM: I'm not a huge fan of spinach. Are you?
IAN ROBERTS: I'm not either.
MOLLY BLOOM: Shall we do it anyway?
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, ready? One, two, three.
IAN ROBERTS: Bottoms up.
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, right in the back of my mouth I get the taste. On the tip of my tongue, I don't really taste the spinach very much at all.
IAN ROBERTS: I have to say, dandelions are worse. Have you ever eaten a dandelion?
MOLLY BLOOM: No, what do they taste like?
IAN ROBERTS: It's just like bitter beyond belief. It's like coffee without the taste of coffee. It's just essence of bitter.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's move on to everybody's favorite, sweet.
JOHN IVERSON: So you know what these are?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Dried pineapple.
JOHN IVERSON: And this tastes?
SANDEN TOTTEN: Very sweet.
JOHN IVERSON: Well, let's just jump right into it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Where are you tasting it?
IAN ROBERTS: The very middle of my tongue.
JOHN IVERSON: I like this taste a lot.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, what happens when we eat sweet things?
JOHN IVERSON: You feel happy. You feel happy. Your tongue just, I would say, just erupts in this great joyous ah, I have sugar. I have things that I want in my mouth. I noticed that you ate much more of the pineapple than the spinach.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Well, we all have our favorites.
MOLLY BLOOM: So what's your favorite sweet usually?
IAN ROBERTS: My favorite sweet thing? Well, being a kid I'd have to say candy. Now that Halloween was just over, you know, sweet craving--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, did you eat all your Halloween candy already?
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, no.
MOLLY BLOOM: How long--
IAN ROBERTS: I usually ration it. And it lasts me until January.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's pretty good. What, do you eat certain ones first?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I usually like the tart things. I eat them first and then slowly work down to like, the chocolate covered raisins that some crazy parent hands out.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you're not a fan of those?
IAN ROBERTS: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: But you eat them anyway?
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
JOHN IVERSON: Sweets are something that most children prefer. And as you get older, your sense of desire or wanting for sweet foods becomes less and less. As you get older, your tastes change.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why is that? Why do they change?
JOHN IVERSON: As you grow older, your body continually replaces cells, skin cells that die, also taste buds or taste cells that die. And some scientists believe that you don't replace as many as you get older. So you're not so concerned about the bitterness of foods. That's why more adults handle coffee than children. And also, perhaps some of the sweet taste buds don't get replaced. And that would make sense that the adults don't crave the sweets as much as children do.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So kids and adults might actually have different tongues. That's why we like to eat different foods. Well, let's move on to salty.
JOHN IVERSON: We crave salt at times.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why is that?
JOHN IVERSON: Our body loses salt every time we go out for a run and we sweat.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So our sweat is salty, because it's full of salt?
JOHN IVERSON: Yeah, for our bodies to do all the things we want it to do, to think, to jump, to sleep, we need salt in our cells.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Let's try getting some salt back in our cells. I got some chips here.
JOHN IVERSON: I can smell it. And I already know it's going to be salty.
[CRUNCHING SOUNDS]
MOLLY BLOOM: So you're a salty guy.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: I wonder if you like salt more, because maybe you're like active, because like he was saying, you kind of lose a lot of salt when you exercise.
IAN ROBERTS: I do actually jog. That's a hobby.
MOLLY BLOOM: So there you go, maybe that's why you crave salt.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's the connection between saltiness and thirstiness?
JOHN IVERSON: Salt actually removes moisture from things. Salt dries things out so much that we want to replace the water in our mouth. We can't always do it with the saliva we have. And that's why we get thirsty.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Now, let's go on to the last taste here, umami or savory.
JOHN IVERSON: Oh, looks like you brought some beef jerky for us for the savory taste.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, let's try it out.
IAN ROBERTS: Oh, very chewy--
[CHEWING SOUNDS]
But good.
MOLLY BLOOM: While we're chewing, we'll hear what they say about it.
IAN ROBERTS: Sure.
JOHN IVERSON: I can know that this is nourishing, that it's something my body really does need.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Why does your body need beef jerky?
JOHN IVERSON: It doesn't necessarily need beef jerky, but the meat itself, the protein, this is the building block of a lot of our body. Our muscles in particular need the protein to keep doing what they're doing and to grow and grow bigger and stronger.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So if our bodies were a LEGO machine, the beef has proteins, which are like the little LEGO pieces we use to build a bigger and better machine.
JOHN IVERSON: That'd be correct, yeah.
CHILDREN: Brains On! Woohoo!
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: It just kind of comes out of-- it's like somebody just jumped out of a closet.
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: It is a little startling.
[LAUGHTER]
MENAKA WILHELM: Oh my God.
JOHN IVERSON: I bet you're paying attention now, though.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I just imagine a group of kids just like jumping from behind the couch.
[LAUGHTER]
They burst out of the kitchen, "Brains On!"
[LAUGHTER]
JOHN IVERSON: Ah, I wet my pants.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh man, yeah. Yeah, I apologize to people who don't like to hear eating noises.
MENAKA WILHELM: The chips are really satisfying. It feels like you've turned the corner once you get to the salty, crunchy.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's true. I mean, we wanted to make the show interactive. And so we were trying to think of something people could do along with the show. And so that seemed like a good thing to try, like eat and listen and have a good old time.
MENAKA WILHELM: Yeah, I think the two segments of this episode are like activities in the world. And we do a lot more of like building activity into skits and things now. But it's cool to get to do stuff in real life.
MOLLY BLOOM: Very true. Let's get back to the episode.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Brains On tasting.
MOLLY BLOOM: So next, the Brains On players are here to tell us what happens to all this food once it's eaten.
GRAY: Microphones, headphones, action.
MOLLY BLOOM: When you eat something, your body digests it. Digestion is how your body turns food, like salads, sandwiches, and smoothies, into vitamins, minerals, and proteins to help you grow. The first step in digestion is eating. So time to eat.
ANNA WEGGEL: Uh-oh, here I go.
GRAY: This sandwich is awesome.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, ouch, ow. Who are you? What's going on?
GRAY: Me? I'm a mouth. And you are a delicious sandwich.
[CHEWING SOUNDS]
So I'm chewing you up.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ow, oof. Hey, why it's got to be so hard when you chew, and I'm all wet?
GRAY: Ha! I see you are new to being eaten. Chewing is the first step in digestion. I use my teeth to mash you up into [CHEWING SOUNDS] little bits. Then I mix you up with saliva to make you soft.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, watch it.
GRAY: And when I've made you all nice and mushy, I can pass you off to the next stage of digestion by simply swallowing.
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, can we pause real quick? OK.
[LAUGHTER]
I didn't realize-- like, I think I remember writing that skit about the sandwich being eaten. But now listening back, that is terrifying. That poor sandwich!
[LAUGHTER]
I feel so bad for it.
MARC SANCHEZ: Because it's played by a kid, too, who sounds like--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, like the cutest kid ever.
MARC SANCHEZ: Who sounds like he's actually been eaten.
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: I mean, he was a good actor. What was his name, Gray, I think?
MARC SANCHEZ: It was our friend Sam's son.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Gray, his name was Gray. Yeah, that was some good acting, because I legit felt sorry that he was being eaten.
[LAUGHTER]
And fun fact, that voice of the mouth is Anna Weggel, who you'll sometimes hear on Smash Boom Best.
MOLLY BLOOM: Also the voice of Kara, of Kara and Gilly.
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's right.
MENAKA WILHELM: Wow, she's been around a long time.
SANDEN TOTTEN: It was her very first voice for Brains On.
MARC SANCHEZ: Step two.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Back to it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step two of the digestion process, swallowing. Swallowing is when the food you chewed goes down your throat.
ANNA WEGGEL: I'm falling.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Don't cry, little sandwich man. I've got you in my muscular grip.
ANNA WEGGEL: Who are you?
SANDEN TOTTEN: I am the esophagus. I'm a muscular tube in your throat. And I'm going to carry you from the mouth to the stomach.
[WIND BLOWING]
ANNA WEGGEL: Where's that wind coming from?
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's the windpipe. But you don't want to go down there. You'll choke the body. And the body will cough you out. But don't worry, little sandwich man. The epiglottis will cover the windpipe hole, so you will be safe on your way.
SPEAKER: Hey yo, let me just cover that up. And you're good to go.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Thank you, epiglottis. OK, sandwich man, you ready to go down to the stomach?
ANNA WEGGEL: I guess so.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Have a nice swim. Huh-huh-huh, hoo-a!
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: OK, OK, pause again.
[LAUGHTER]
That was my terrible impression, I think, of Arnold Schwarzenegger maybe?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who used to be the governor of California but before that was an actor and a bodybuilder. He's a very strong person.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A famous muscle man. And we were talking about a muscular tube, your esophagus. You know, this goes way back to-- when I was in, I think, fifth grade, I had a project where we had to act out the digestive system. And I was partnered up with my best friend at the time, Sean Hyson. And he had the idea to make the esophagus be like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
MOLLY BLOOM: Wow.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And I just basically remembered that years later when we were making this episode. I was like, Oh, I'm just going to take his idea without giving him credit. So Sean Hyson, if you're listening, that was your idea. And it was much better when you did the accent than when I tried to be Arnold Schwarzenegger.
[LAUGHTER]
But anyway, thanks. Thanks for helping our first episode.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thank you. All right, back to the episode.
Step three in digestion, the stomach. The stomach is a sack inside your belly where food gets broken down into a messy liquid.
[WATER SLOSHING]
DEREK STEVENS: It's all wet and warm in here.
[WATER SLOSHING]
Well, hello. Welcome to the stomach, baby. Relax, kick back, and enjoy the soothing vibes of my gastric hot tube.
[WATER SLOSHING]
ANNA WEGGEL: Oh, the water tingles.
[WATER SLOSHING]
DEREK STEVENS: Oh yeah, that's because it's acid, baby, stomach acid. And it's going to gently break you down into even smaller pieces.
[WATER SLOSHING]
So just enjoy the ride.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ah, I feel like I'm melting.
DEREK STEVENS: It's nice, right? These acids are pretty powerful. And by swishing you around, I'm going to make you all loosey goosey. Well, it's time you be moving along, little fella. Next stop for you, the small intestine. Stay groovy.
ANNA WEGGEL: You too, stomach.
MOLLY BLOOM: That was Derek Stevens, a very talented voice actor who works with us, who also is the voice of MC Skat Cat in the Paula Abdul song, "Opposites Attract."
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, that was a-- this sandwich has taken quite a journey.
[LAUGHTER]
MARC SANCHEZ: What was that, "hot tubes?" What?
[LAUGHTER]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, why wouldn't it have been hot tub? Did we not--
MENAKA WILHELM: I bet it was-- I bet it was like a typo and none of us caught it.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Hot tub, should have been hot tub.
MENAKA WILHELM: Hot tub.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Should have been a hot tub, not hot tube.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step four, the small intestine. At this point, your sandwich has turned into a soup-like goo. In the small intestine, your body picks the vitamins and minerals it needs from that goo.
ANNA WEGGEL: Huh, it's dark in here.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch, pinch.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey, ouch!
SPEAKER: Pinch, pich, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Hey, sorry, I'm just picking you dry.
ANNA WEGGEL: Ouch, ouch, what?
MARC SANCHEZ: Yeah, I'm the small intestine, which is a funny name for me, because I'm 22 feet long. I'm a tube coiled up inside the body. And my job is to pick all your nutrients and vitamins.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, and look at all this protein you've got. You were once a chicken sandwich, weren't you?
ANNA WEGGEL: Yeah, I was a chicken sandwich. What are you doing with all my vitamins and proteins and stuff?
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, it goes all over the place to the muscles, to the brain, to the whole body, actually.
SPEAKER: Pinch, pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: We're going to build a better body using these parts from you.
ANNA WEGGEL: You're taking my everything! There'll be nothing left.
SPEAKER: Pinch.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, don't worry. There will be something left. And actually, it's time you head off to the next step of digestion, my big brother, the large intestine.
MOLLY BLOOM: Step five, the large intestine. This is the body's last chance to soak up what it needs from food.
LARGE INTESTINE: Hey.
ANNA WEGGEL: Hey?
LARGE INTESTINE: I'm the large intestine. I'm also a long tube.
[WATER SLOSHING]
ANNA WEGGEL: OK, so what happens here?
LARGE INTESTINE: You're kind of a liquid mess at this point.
[WATER SLOSHING]
Now, I'm just going to absorb some of that water.
[WATER SLOSHING]
And this might be kind of awkward.
ANNA WEGGEL: Awkward?
[SLURPING NOISE]
Hey, whoa, you're taking all the water away. I'm drying out.
[SLURPING NOISE]
LARGE INTESTINE: Yeah, the body needs your liquids. Come on, now. I'm going to leave you in the colon. That's the last part of the body you'll see.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Step six, getting rid of waste. Some parts of the food you eat the body doesn't need. So it gets rid of it.
ANNA WEGGEL: The colon? You're just going to leave me here in the colon, just like that?
LARGE INTESTINE: Not for long. Just wait, door's about to open. Bombs away!
ANNA WEGGEL: Bombs away? What, wait? What's that smell? Hold on, it's me. I'm a poooooo.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And that my dear friends, is how digestion works.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, my goodness.
SANDEN TOTTEN: That's probably one of the best lines in any Brains On. "Wait, it's me, I'm a pooooo."
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, we introduced poop really early.
MENAKA WILHELM: There's always been poop.
MARC SANCHEZ: From day one.
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh my goodness, and yes, all those voice actors are people we worked with at NPR News. And they were really good sports to play those very silly parts. And the small intestine was played by Marc Sanchez.
MARC SANCHEZ: That's right, our first use of the pitch shift function.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Marc, you were good at voices even way back then. I was impressed listening to that. I'm like, wow, he's just-- he was on. Moll and I both sounded weird in that episode. And you sounded like--
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah.
MARC SANCHEZ: Here's my theory. Here's my theory. I was the only one who had a kid at the time. So I had a head start on making goofy, silly noises and voices before you two.
MOLLY BLOOM: Good point. All right, let's finish listening to the episode. So all this food is making me hungry. Should we wrap this up?
IAN ROBERTS: Thanks for listening to Brains On.
MOLLY BLOOM: This episode was produced with help from Ian Roberts--
IAN ROBERTS: Chris Roberts--
MOLLY BLOOM: Marc Sanchez, Jackie Fuller--
IAN ROBERTS: Sanden Totten--
MOLLY BLOOM: Anna Weggel--
IAN ROBERTS: Jeff [INAUDIBLE].
MOLLY BLOOM: Derek Stevens--
IAN ROBERTS: Bucky Emerson--
MOLLY BLOOM: Gray Keenan--
IAN ROBERTS: Sam Keenan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks Ian, thanks for coming in.
IAN ROBERTS: Yeah, I had fun.
MOLLY BLOOM: Awesome.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHILDREN: Brains On!
[CHEERING]
[LAUGHTER]
MOLLY BLOOM: Any final thoughts after listening to this cute little baby episode?
MARC SANCHEZ: I think that's a good description. It is like a baby episode where we were sort of learning to walk. But I think we grew up into a fine young person.
MOLLY BLOOM: The show's ready for college.
MARC SANCHEZ: Right?
MENAKA WILHELM: Yeah.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Menaka, what did you think hearing this for the first time?
MENAKA WILHELM: I thought I was glad to hear the skit at the end, because I was like, where are the characters? Where are the skits? That's our bread and butter these days. It's neat to hear-- some of the stuff that happens in the show today, which is that we really ask kids questions and we really pay attention to what kids are paying attention to, it's still there in that very first episode. Those things all carry through.
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, no matter if you've been listening to Brains On since the beginning or this is the very first time you're listening, we are really glad you're here. We could not do this without you.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Yeah, your questions really do power the show. So send them to us at brainson.org/contact. And don't forget to send us your ideas about what planet you'd like to see added to the solar system.
MENAKA WILHELM: And now before we go, it's time for our "moment of um."
[HUMMING]
CHILD: My question is, why do we have birthmarks?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JENNA LESTER: My name is Jenna Lester. And I'm an assistant professor in the department of dermatology at University of California, San Francisco. If you look at your skin, you are looking at thousands of different skin cells and a few different types of skin cells.
And one type of skin cell called the melanocytes, which are the skin cells that give the color to our skin, also make birthmarks. And when you are developing as a baby, some of those cells decide to just behave a little bit differently.
So they don't come quite to the surface of the skin. They are maybe just below the surface of the skin, or they're a little bit bigger. And so they move differently than the other skin cells. And as a result, they make birthmarks.
And some birthmarks you're born with. The medical term for a birthmarks are "nevi." The singular is nevus. And the ones that you're born with are called congenital nevi. And then there are other ones that you develop over time. And those are called acquired nevi.
I think you should be proud of your birthmarks. And they're just another thing that makes you unique from the person sitting next to you. They're with you your whole life. And they grow with you and change with you. And you check it out every so often.
Make sure if it grows really quickly, or if it begins to hurt you, or if it begins to get itchy that you let someone know. But most often they're totally healthy. They're nothing to worry about. And you probably won't even think about them every day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: This list has left a mark on my heart. It's the Brain's honor roll. These are the fabulously creative listeners who send us questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We'll be back soon with more answers to your questions.
ALL: Thanks for listening.
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.
