Looks like Marc has a beautiful new plant but doesn’t know where to put it. Direct sunlight or indirect sunlight? It’s too hard to figure out! But you know what’s not hard to figure out? Whether or not you should play Molly’s new game, Radical Design! Grab your Smarty Pass to see what producers Marc Sanchez and Rosie duPont think homes would look like on other planets.
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AUDIO TRACK: Now entering Brains On headquarters.
[ELECTRONIC BEEPS AND WHIRS]
[RUMBLING]
ROSIE: Yes, Marc. Your ficus elastica is a beautiful plant. But I don't think-- I think it looks good by the window. There.
MARK: Rosie, no. You can't put Alphonse Elastica Bryant in the corner. His burgundy leaves need to be seen. Who's going to see it? There.
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi, Rosie and Mark.
MARK: Molly Bloom?
ROSIE: Our friend and host of Brains On?
MOLLY BLOOM: I couldn't help but notice you're having a bit of struggle on the best place for Mark's new plant. Is that a ficus elastica, AKA a rubber plant? Those leaves are quite stunning.
MARK: Why, yes it is. His name is Alphonse Elastica Bryant also. And I wanted to show off his stunning leaves to as many passersby as possible. That's why I think he should go by the window.
ROSIE: Look, I love Alphonse as much as anybody. But he doesn't need to be out by a window and beg for attention. A cool plant like that wants to be chilling in the corner, waiting for people to come to him. What do you think, Molly?
MARK: Yeah. What say you, Molly Bloom?
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, I think I have a pretty good solution.
MARK: Go on.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think you should--
MARK: Yes?
MOLLY BLOOM: Play a new game that's sweeping the universe. Radical Design. It's that new show on Home Planet Television where designers work as a team and imagine living spaces on different planets.
ROSIE: Ooh, I love HPTV.
MARK: And I love getting radical.
EVERYONE: Let's do it!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: OK. I'm going to tell you about the atmosphere and terrain of a few real planets. Then you'll have to come up with a design for a super cool house there. Keep in mind, none of these planets are actually habitable for lots of reasons. So your goal isn't realism, it's radicalism. The more radical, the better. Got it?
MARK: Yeah.
ROSIE: Yep.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right. The first planet is Mercury. Mercury spins a lot slower than Earth, which makes one day there as long as 59 here. And because of that slow spin, there are 180 days between each sunrise and sunset. However, Mercury makes one full trip around our brightest star in only 88 Earth days. Its terrain is rocky and full of craters like our moon. But alas, Mercury has no moon of its own.
Temperatures can also swing from over 800 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 290 degrees. So to recap, very long days, very rocky, and wild temperature swings. Designers, get radical.
MARK: Ooh. I think we're up for the challenge, yeah, Rosie?
ROSIE: Oh, heck yeah.
MARK: I'm thinking 180 days between each sunrise and sunset, that's going to mean we're going to forget what sunrises and sunsets look like. So I think on one side of the home should be a sunrise. It should be painted in a sunrise color, and the other in a sunset color.
ROSIE: Beautiful, Mark. And you know what I'm picturing? A yurt. Yurts are domed structures.
MARK: I love a yurt.
ROSIE: So that dome structure is evocative of the sun rising and sinking. And then instead of it being just like a regular old ceiling, I think it's just glass. Because the days are 59 days long, so it's just like sunlight for a really long time. And so you've got these amazing skylights that let all the light in.
MARK: But no harmful UV rays.
ROSIE: But no harmful--
MARK: That's a lot of light.
ROSIE: --rays. And also, this is going to be triple paned glass that keeps the climate inside very nice and toasty. So you don't have to worry about getting freezing cold or way too hot.
MARK: And you know what they say about yurts, right, Rosie?
ROSIE: What?
MARK: A good yurt don't hurt.
ROSIE: Oh. I was going to say, you're always right when you live in a yurt.
MARK: Pretty radical. Yurt.
ROSIE: Very radical.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK. For your next planetary design, I give you Jupiter. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, but that doesn't mean there's a whole lot of there there. It's mostly gases. It famously has a big red spot that's actually a ferocious storm that has been raging for over 100 years. And Jupiter has moons aplenty. 95 recognized moons orbit this massive gassy orb. Including Europa, which scientists believe has a massive ocean underneath its icy crust.
So to recap. Made of gas, giant storm that's been going for a long time, and lots of moons. So designers, what would your dream house on Jupiter look like?
MARK: OK, I got two radical things I'm thinking about Jupiter immediately. One, I don't want to be on Jupiter, because there's a big storm brewing. And it's never going away. So I want some sort of slingshot thing that sends people to Europa.
ROSIE: Oh my gosh. I love this, Mark.
MARK: Hang out on the icy moon. Chill on Europa. But if you do have to be on Jupiter, I think the house should be umbrella shaped. Because it's in a storm, or at least the red spot is. Which I'm picturing that's where I'd end up with a home, for sure.
ROSIE: OK, can I add this umbrella shape on top of basically what looks like a bubble that you blow, you know? So it's all see through. And it has this little umbrella hat. And you get to sit inside this bubble. And so the storm is whipping around outside and the bubble. But you're inside that bubble, so you're protected. So you're just--
MARK: It's like a reverse snow globe.
ROSIE: Yes, exactly. And then you can float out to Europa. But one of the requirements is as you get closer to Europa, you have to start speaking with a French accent.
MARK: Ooh, I love it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Wow.
MARK: Love it.
MOLLY BLOOM: You ready for the last planet? All right. Well too bad, because I'm throwing in a twist. This next design takes us to our old pal Pluto. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was considered a planet until 2006. That's when astronomers came up with new criteria for something to be considered a planet, and Pluto didn't fit the bill. Now it's called a dwarf planet. So Pluto is about as wide as the United States, with average temperatures of negative 387 degrees Fahrenheit. So you might want to bring a parka.
OK, designers to recap, it's tiny and cold. So please tell us about the home you'd like to make on Pluto.
ROSIE: Well, OK. So Mark, what do you think about having an American flag wallpaper on the outside of this house?
MARK: OK.
ROSIE: Because it's as wide as the United States. Wide as the United States. Tribute there.
MARK: I see.
ROSIE: Very thick walls because it's so cold. And these walls might be made out of adobe.
MARK: OK.
ROSIE: Made from Pluto dust, yeah.
MARK: I like the representation of the flag to say how wide it is. I think the inside, I'm going to have to go with a Disney theme, because we've got Pluto and we've got dwarf planet. So we've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Pluto the Dog. Pluto's a dog, yeah. So it's going to be very theme park oriented, I think. So maybe roller coasters. This basically is going to be as big as Pluto on the inside as almost on the outside.
MOLLY BLOOM: Are there characters I can hug?
MARK: Oh yeah. Plenty of plushy characters. There's going to be Donald Duck. Probably it's going to be like a knockoff Disney. So there's going to be characters from the Universal world, like from-- you can have your Shreks, you can have your Trolls.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think mean Shrok.
MARK: Shrok.
MOLLY BLOOM: And your Tralls.
[LAUGHS]
Because it's a knockoff.
[LAUGHS]
All right, you two make a pretty radical team. Well done.
MARK: Thank you.
ROSIE: Thank you so much, Molly Bloom. But what about Alphonse Elastica Bryant? Where does he belong?
MOLLY BLOOM: That's easy. You're both wrong.
[GASPS]
As a ficus elastica, Alphonse would not appreciate all the direct sun he gets by the window. Similarly, putting him in a dark corner wouldn't be enough light. But if you move him to this wall, Alphonse will get a healthy amount of indirect light. A perfect compromise.
MARK: Alphonse, you look magnificent.
ROSIE: So cool.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: And that's it for this Smarty Pass episode. It was made by Aron Woldeslassie, edited by Sanden Totten, and produced by Lauren Humbert. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman, and the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Brains On is a non-profit public radio program. Thank you, Smarty Pass friends, for your support.
MARK: Bye-bye.
ROSIE: Bye. Bye.
[ELECTRONIC BEEPS AND WHIRS]
[RUMBLING]
ROSIE: Yes, Marc. Your ficus elastica is a beautiful plant. But I don't think-- I think it looks good by the window. There.
MARK: Rosie, no. You can't put Alphonse Elastica Bryant in the corner. His burgundy leaves need to be seen. Who's going to see it? There.
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi, Rosie and Mark.
MARK: Molly Bloom?
ROSIE: Our friend and host of Brains On?
MOLLY BLOOM: I couldn't help but notice you're having a bit of struggle on the best place for Mark's new plant. Is that a ficus elastica, AKA a rubber plant? Those leaves are quite stunning.
MARK: Why, yes it is. His name is Alphonse Elastica Bryant also. And I wanted to show off his stunning leaves to as many passersby as possible. That's why I think he should go by the window.
ROSIE: Look, I love Alphonse as much as anybody. But he doesn't need to be out by a window and beg for attention. A cool plant like that wants to be chilling in the corner, waiting for people to come to him. What do you think, Molly?
MARK: Yeah. What say you, Molly Bloom?
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, I think I have a pretty good solution.
MARK: Go on.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think you should--
MARK: Yes?
MOLLY BLOOM: Play a new game that's sweeping the universe. Radical Design. It's that new show on Home Planet Television where designers work as a team and imagine living spaces on different planets.
ROSIE: Ooh, I love HPTV.
MARK: And I love getting radical.
EVERYONE: Let's do it!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: OK. I'm going to tell you about the atmosphere and terrain of a few real planets. Then you'll have to come up with a design for a super cool house there. Keep in mind, none of these planets are actually habitable for lots of reasons. So your goal isn't realism, it's radicalism. The more radical, the better. Got it?
MARK: Yeah.
ROSIE: Yep.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right. The first planet is Mercury. Mercury spins a lot slower than Earth, which makes one day there as long as 59 here. And because of that slow spin, there are 180 days between each sunrise and sunset. However, Mercury makes one full trip around our brightest star in only 88 Earth days. Its terrain is rocky and full of craters like our moon. But alas, Mercury has no moon of its own.
Temperatures can also swing from over 800 degrees Fahrenheit to negative 290 degrees. So to recap, very long days, very rocky, and wild temperature swings. Designers, get radical.
MARK: Ooh. I think we're up for the challenge, yeah, Rosie?
ROSIE: Oh, heck yeah.
MARK: I'm thinking 180 days between each sunrise and sunset, that's going to mean we're going to forget what sunrises and sunsets look like. So I think on one side of the home should be a sunrise. It should be painted in a sunrise color, and the other in a sunset color.
ROSIE: Beautiful, Mark. And you know what I'm picturing? A yurt. Yurts are domed structures.
MARK: I love a yurt.
ROSIE: So that dome structure is evocative of the sun rising and sinking. And then instead of it being just like a regular old ceiling, I think it's just glass. Because the days are 59 days long, so it's just like sunlight for a really long time. And so you've got these amazing skylights that let all the light in.
MARK: But no harmful UV rays.
ROSIE: But no harmful--
MARK: That's a lot of light.
ROSIE: --rays. And also, this is going to be triple paned glass that keeps the climate inside very nice and toasty. So you don't have to worry about getting freezing cold or way too hot.
MARK: And you know what they say about yurts, right, Rosie?
ROSIE: What?
MARK: A good yurt don't hurt.
ROSIE: Oh. I was going to say, you're always right when you live in a yurt.
MARK: Pretty radical. Yurt.
ROSIE: Very radical.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK. For your next planetary design, I give you Jupiter. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, but that doesn't mean there's a whole lot of there there. It's mostly gases. It famously has a big red spot that's actually a ferocious storm that has been raging for over 100 years. And Jupiter has moons aplenty. 95 recognized moons orbit this massive gassy orb. Including Europa, which scientists believe has a massive ocean underneath its icy crust.
So to recap. Made of gas, giant storm that's been going for a long time, and lots of moons. So designers, what would your dream house on Jupiter look like?
MARK: OK, I got two radical things I'm thinking about Jupiter immediately. One, I don't want to be on Jupiter, because there's a big storm brewing. And it's never going away. So I want some sort of slingshot thing that sends people to Europa.
ROSIE: Oh my gosh. I love this, Mark.
MARK: Hang out on the icy moon. Chill on Europa. But if you do have to be on Jupiter, I think the house should be umbrella shaped. Because it's in a storm, or at least the red spot is. Which I'm picturing that's where I'd end up with a home, for sure.
ROSIE: OK, can I add this umbrella shape on top of basically what looks like a bubble that you blow, you know? So it's all see through. And it has this little umbrella hat. And you get to sit inside this bubble. And so the storm is whipping around outside and the bubble. But you're inside that bubble, so you're protected. So you're just--
MARK: It's like a reverse snow globe.
ROSIE: Yes, exactly. And then you can float out to Europa. But one of the requirements is as you get closer to Europa, you have to start speaking with a French accent.
MARK: Ooh, I love it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Wow.
MARK: Love it.
MOLLY BLOOM: You ready for the last planet? All right. Well too bad, because I'm throwing in a twist. This next design takes us to our old pal Pluto. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was considered a planet until 2006. That's when astronomers came up with new criteria for something to be considered a planet, and Pluto didn't fit the bill. Now it's called a dwarf planet. So Pluto is about as wide as the United States, with average temperatures of negative 387 degrees Fahrenheit. So you might want to bring a parka.
OK, designers to recap, it's tiny and cold. So please tell us about the home you'd like to make on Pluto.
ROSIE: Well, OK. So Mark, what do you think about having an American flag wallpaper on the outside of this house?
MARK: OK.
ROSIE: Because it's as wide as the United States. Wide as the United States. Tribute there.
MARK: I see.
ROSIE: Very thick walls because it's so cold. And these walls might be made out of adobe.
MARK: OK.
ROSIE: Made from Pluto dust, yeah.
MARK: I like the representation of the flag to say how wide it is. I think the inside, I'm going to have to go with a Disney theme, because we've got Pluto and we've got dwarf planet. So we've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Pluto the Dog. Pluto's a dog, yeah. So it's going to be very theme park oriented, I think. So maybe roller coasters. This basically is going to be as big as Pluto on the inside as almost on the outside.
MOLLY BLOOM: Are there characters I can hug?
MARK: Oh yeah. Plenty of plushy characters. There's going to be Donald Duck. Probably it's going to be like a knockoff Disney. So there's going to be characters from the Universal world, like from-- you can have your Shreks, you can have your Trolls.
MOLLY BLOOM: I think mean Shrok.
MARK: Shrok.
MOLLY BLOOM: And your Tralls.
[LAUGHS]
Because it's a knockoff.
[LAUGHS]
All right, you two make a pretty radical team. Well done.
MARK: Thank you.
ROSIE: Thank you so much, Molly Bloom. But what about Alphonse Elastica Bryant? Where does he belong?
MOLLY BLOOM: That's easy. You're both wrong.
[GASPS]
As a ficus elastica, Alphonse would not appreciate all the direct sun he gets by the window. Similarly, putting him in a dark corner wouldn't be enough light. But if you move him to this wall, Alphonse will get a healthy amount of indirect light. A perfect compromise.
MARK: Alphonse, you look magnificent.
ROSIE: So cool.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: And that's it for this Smarty Pass episode. It was made by Aron Woldeslassie, edited by Sanden Totten, and produced by Lauren Humbert. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman, and the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Brains On is a non-profit public radio program. Thank you, Smarty Pass friends, for your support.
MARK: Bye-bye.
ROSIE: Bye. Bye.
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