Marc’s built an interactive Antarctica exhibit in the Brains On Labrakitchen’s walk-in freezer! When Molly and Ruby come by looking for some ice cream, Marc challenges them to a game of Antarctica trivia.
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MOLLY BLOOM: Now entering Brains On!" headquarters.
[BEEP]
[DOOR OPENS]
I'm so hot. That game of Capture [? Sanden ?] Sandbag was exhausting. Who knew sandbags were that heavy?
RUBY GUTHRIE: I'll say I need to cool down.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, Ruby. You know what would taste so good right now?
MOLLY AND RUBY: Ice cream! Mint chocolate chip ice cream!
MOLLY BLOOM: Quick. To the labra kitchen walk-in freezer.
[DOOR OPENS]
MARC SANCHEZ: Welcome, Molly and Ruby!
MOLLY BLOOM: Yikes!
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ahh!
MARC SANCHEZ: Ooh. Ooh. Sorry. Did I scare you?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Marc, what are you doing in the walk-in freezer?
MARC SANCHEZ: Well, I'm building an Antarctica-themed exhibit. It's the coldest place at Brains On! headquarters, so I figured it's a good place to set up shop. Here, let me give you a tour.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Sure. But we were actually looking for--
MARC SANCHEZ: Right over here, you'll find some ice--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Cream?
MARC SANCHEZ: And over here, you'll find some more ice--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Right, right, right, right, but--
MARC SANCHEZ: And then here on my fingertip is a real live Antarctic midge. It's a teeny-tiny fly. And it's the only insect found in Antarctica.
MOLLY BLOOM: Where?
MARC SANCHEZ: Right here. See? They're only 1/8 of an inch long.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's so small!
MIDGE: Hi there. Nice to meet you. I'm Midge.
MOLLY AND RUBY: Hi, Midge.
MARC SANCHEZ: And you know what's wild? The Antarctic midge is mainland Antarctica's biggest land animal. What? There are lots of penguins and seals down there, but they spent part of their lives in the water. There are just so many cool facts about Antarctica. I'm feeling a game of Antarctic trivia coming on.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ooh! I love trivia.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, me too, Ruby. And I've been memorizing obscure Antarctica facts for this very purpose. Let's play.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, but only if we can have some mint chocolate chip ice cream at the end.
MARC SANCHEZ: Sure, sure, sure, sure. OK. All right, all right. Ruby, you're up first. Antarctica is home to more fresh water than anywhere else on earth, and it's all frozen in enormous sheets of ice. Ruby, does Antarctica have 40%, 70%, or 95% of the world's freshwater? What say you?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ooh. Well, if it has most of the freshwater, I'm going to go with 95%.
MARC SANCHEZ: Ruby, your deductive reasoning skills are superb. However, your answer is wrong.
[LOSING HORN]
The answer is 70%.
RUBY GUTHRIE: No!
MARC SANCHEZ: Womp-womp.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Next time.
MARC SANCHEZ: All right. Molly, you're up next. Eight species of whales spend part of the year in the waters in and around Antarctica. Name three of them.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, no. OK. The Antarctic whale.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK. That's a good guess.
MOLLY BLOOM: The super-dee-duper, freezing cold beluga whale.
MARC SANCHEZ: I think that one's on the endangered species list, but OK. One more.
MOLLY BLOOM: Number three is a narwhal!
MARC SANCHEZ: A narwhal! Great job, Molly. Well, fact is, the eight whales are the southern right whale, the sei whale, humpback is a classic, fin whale.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's made up.
[LAUGHTER]
Just like naming body parts of whales now. Next is the blowhole whale. And then--
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, my gosh, Molly. No, I'm just kidding.
[LAUGHTER]
Next is the minke.
MOLLY BLOOM: Half point for me there, I think.
MARC SANCHEZ: Well, yeah. I mean, if you were to say rhymes with pink and starts with an M, sure. And then there's the sperm whale, blue whales and, of course, orcas.
MOLLY BLOOM: I almost said blue whale, too. I thought it was too easy.
MARC SANCHEZ: You got to go with the classics.
MOLLY BLOOM: I got to go with the classics instead of the ones I made up. [LAUGHS]
MARC SANCHEZ: Molly, I am so sorry. You got zero out of eight.
[LOSING HORN]
But great guessing anyway. I really enjoyed hearing those answers. And now, we have one final round. And this is for both of you. This one is for all the marbles.
That's right. All the Antarctic ice marbles. Here we go. If all the Antarctic ice sheet melted, would the sea levels rise the height of five telephone poles stacked on top of each other, the height of Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World, or the height of the Empire State Building, that huge skyscraper in New York City? What do you think?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yikes.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Wow. Yeah, this is upsetting to think about.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] Yeah, I'm laughing because I'm sad. I'm going to go with Empire State Building.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK.
RUBY GUTHRIE: I'll go for Cinderella's castle, just for something different and hopefully a little--
MARC SANCHEZ: Shorter?
RUBY GUTHRIE: --less sad to think about.
MARC SANCHEZ: Shorter than the Empire State Building?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Yeah.
MARC SANCHEZ: Congratulations, nobody. Looks like I'm getting all the marbles, because the answer is five telephone poles stacked on top of each other.
[LOSING HORN]
RUBY GUTHRIE: No!
MARC SANCHEZ: Wow. This is like an exciting soccer game. 0-0. And I do have a special gift for you just for playing. You each get honorary Antarctic midge antenna headbands. Woo-hoo! You get a headband! You get a headband! You get a headband!
MIDGE: I already have a pair, Marc.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, right Sorry, Midge.
MOLLY BLOOM: Now, where's our--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Mint chocolate chip ice cream?
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh. Yeah. It's right over here on this ice sheet. [GASPS] But the carton is empty! Midge!
MIDGE: Sorry.
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 Pearlman, 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.
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
[BEEP]
[DOOR OPENS]
I'm so hot. That game of Capture [? Sanden ?] Sandbag was exhausting. Who knew sandbags were that heavy?
RUBY GUTHRIE: I'll say I need to cool down.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, Ruby. You know what would taste so good right now?
MOLLY AND RUBY: Ice cream! Mint chocolate chip ice cream!
MOLLY BLOOM: Quick. To the labra kitchen walk-in freezer.
[DOOR OPENS]
MARC SANCHEZ: Welcome, Molly and Ruby!
MOLLY BLOOM: Yikes!
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ahh!
MARC SANCHEZ: Ooh. Ooh. Sorry. Did I scare you?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Marc, what are you doing in the walk-in freezer?
MARC SANCHEZ: Well, I'm building an Antarctica-themed exhibit. It's the coldest place at Brains On! headquarters, so I figured it's a good place to set up shop. Here, let me give you a tour.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Sure. But we were actually looking for--
MARC SANCHEZ: Right over here, you'll find some ice--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Cream?
MARC SANCHEZ: And over here, you'll find some more ice--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Right, right, right, right, but--
MARC SANCHEZ: And then here on my fingertip is a real live Antarctic midge. It's a teeny-tiny fly. And it's the only insect found in Antarctica.
MOLLY BLOOM: Where?
MARC SANCHEZ: Right here. See? They're only 1/8 of an inch long.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's so small!
MIDGE: Hi there. Nice to meet you. I'm Midge.
MOLLY AND RUBY: Hi, Midge.
MARC SANCHEZ: And you know what's wild? The Antarctic midge is mainland Antarctica's biggest land animal. What? There are lots of penguins and seals down there, but they spent part of their lives in the water. There are just so many cool facts about Antarctica. I'm feeling a game of Antarctic trivia coming on.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ooh! I love trivia.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, me too, Ruby. And I've been memorizing obscure Antarctica facts for this very purpose. Let's play.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, but only if we can have some mint chocolate chip ice cream at the end.
MARC SANCHEZ: Sure, sure, sure, sure. OK. All right, all right. Ruby, you're up first. Antarctica is home to more fresh water than anywhere else on earth, and it's all frozen in enormous sheets of ice. Ruby, does Antarctica have 40%, 70%, or 95% of the world's freshwater? What say you?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ooh. Well, if it has most of the freshwater, I'm going to go with 95%.
MARC SANCHEZ: Ruby, your deductive reasoning skills are superb. However, your answer is wrong.
[LOSING HORN]
The answer is 70%.
RUBY GUTHRIE: No!
MARC SANCHEZ: Womp-womp.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Next time.
MARC SANCHEZ: All right. Molly, you're up next. Eight species of whales spend part of the year in the waters in and around Antarctica. Name three of them.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, no. OK. The Antarctic whale.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK. That's a good guess.
MOLLY BLOOM: The super-dee-duper, freezing cold beluga whale.
MARC SANCHEZ: I think that one's on the endangered species list, but OK. One more.
MOLLY BLOOM: Number three is a narwhal!
MARC SANCHEZ: A narwhal! Great job, Molly. Well, fact is, the eight whales are the southern right whale, the sei whale, humpback is a classic, fin whale.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's made up.
[LAUGHTER]
Just like naming body parts of whales now. Next is the blowhole whale. And then--
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, my gosh, Molly. No, I'm just kidding.
[LAUGHTER]
Next is the minke.
MOLLY BLOOM: Half point for me there, I think.
MARC SANCHEZ: Well, yeah. I mean, if you were to say rhymes with pink and starts with an M, sure. And then there's the sperm whale, blue whales and, of course, orcas.
MOLLY BLOOM: I almost said blue whale, too. I thought it was too easy.
MARC SANCHEZ: You got to go with the classics.
MOLLY BLOOM: I got to go with the classics instead of the ones I made up. [LAUGHS]
MARC SANCHEZ: Molly, I am so sorry. You got zero out of eight.
[LOSING HORN]
But great guessing anyway. I really enjoyed hearing those answers. And now, we have one final round. And this is for both of you. This one is for all the marbles.
That's right. All the Antarctic ice marbles. Here we go. If all the Antarctic ice sheet melted, would the sea levels rise the height of five telephone poles stacked on top of each other, the height of Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World, or the height of the Empire State Building, that huge skyscraper in New York City? What do you think?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yikes.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Wow. Yeah, this is upsetting to think about.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] Yeah, I'm laughing because I'm sad. I'm going to go with Empire State Building.
MARC SANCHEZ: OK.
RUBY GUTHRIE: I'll go for Cinderella's castle, just for something different and hopefully a little--
MARC SANCHEZ: Shorter?
RUBY GUTHRIE: --less sad to think about.
MARC SANCHEZ: Shorter than the Empire State Building?
RUBY GUTHRIE: Yeah.
MARC SANCHEZ: Congratulations, nobody. Looks like I'm getting all the marbles, because the answer is five telephone poles stacked on top of each other.
[LOSING HORN]
RUBY GUTHRIE: No!
MARC SANCHEZ: Wow. This is like an exciting soccer game. 0-0. And I do have a special gift for you just for playing. You each get honorary Antarctic midge antenna headbands. Woo-hoo! You get a headband! You get a headband! You get a headband!
MIDGE: I already have a pair, Marc.
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh, right Sorry, Midge.
MOLLY BLOOM: Now, where's our--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Mint chocolate chip ice cream?
MARC SANCHEZ: Oh. Yeah. It's right over here on this ice sheet. [GASPS] But the carton is empty! Midge!
MIDGE: Sorry.
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 Pearlman, 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.
[PLAYFUL MUSIC]
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