Among the questions answered in this episode: Is it better to be taller or shorter? Do animals grow the same way that humans do? What superpowers does your brain have before it’s done growing?
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SPEAKER 1: Is it coming yet?
[THEME MUSIC]
SPEAKER 2: Any second now. It's almost here, prepare yourselves.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
SPEAKER 2: We can't wait.
JAMIE POST: Hi, you're listening to Brains On.
MOLLY BLOOM: A show featuring awesome kids and the stuff that makes kids awesome. Today the show is all about growing.
JAMIE POST: We've got some questions.
MOLLY BLOOM: Is it better to be taller or shorter?
JAMIE POST: Do animals grow the same that we do?
MOLLY BLOOM: What superpowers does your brain have before it's done growing?
JAMIE POST: What does the Tooth Fairy do with all those teeth?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll answer all of these questions right now. Keep listening.
CHILDREN (SINGING): It's time to get our brains on. We're going to get our smarts on. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time! Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On. I'm Molly Bloom, and here with me today is--
JAMIE POST: Jamie Post.
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi, Jamie.
JAMIE POST: Hi.
MOLLY BLOOM: Jamie's going to be sharing hosting duties with me today. And we're going to start with our friends West and Cole.
WEST: [BEATBOXING]
COLE: I can do better.
WEST: No, you can't.
COLE: My name is Cole.
WEST: My name is West.
COLE: I am eight years old.
WEST: So am I.
MOLLY BLOOM: Now West is one of the shortest kids in his class, and Cole is one of the tallest. And have you guys always been the tallest in the shortest, since you remember?
WEST: Yes.
COLE: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: If you could switch, if you could go-- if you could be the tallest and you could be the shortest, would you do it?
WEST: No.
COLE: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why not?
COLE: Well, because I like being tall.
WEST: Why?
COLE: Because I want to be as tall as my dad. And when you're tall, you can reach high things.
WEST: But when you're small, you can go through tiny obstacles. But when you're big, you can't.
COLE: So?
MOLLY BLOOM: I'm going to give you some different scenarios, so like situations. And I want you to tell me if it would be better to be taller or shorter. So the first one is hide and go seek.
COLE: Probably shorter.
WEST: Shorter.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why do you guys say that?
COLE: Because when you're smaller, you carry less weight on your body. And you can go in way different places than big people.
MOLLY BLOOM: And what about reading? Does that any difference if you're tall or shorter?
WEST: No.
COLE: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: No difference? What about sleeping?
WEST: Short.
MOLLY BLOOM: What do you think?
COLE: Tall.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why?
WEST: My answer is because when you're short, you get more space. My answer because--
COLE: My answer is because when you're tall, you get more of the bed, and it's comfier.
MOLLY BLOOM: What about grocery shopping, does it make any difference?
COLE: I'm going to have to say big on this one.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why?
COLE: Well, because if you're tiny. like somebody, you can't reach the foods or if you want to weigh the foods, there's a weighing thing, and you can't reach the weighing thing.
WEST: That's practically never true.
COLE: You know that big-- wall of vegetables, pretend there's a vegetable you want for your kid. But it's way, way up here. And when you're tiny, you can't do it. You have to ask somebody to get it for you.
WEST: That's better because you don't have to do it. [LAUGHS]
COLE: It's not better.
WEST: Yeah, it is.
COLE: It's not better because it's embarrassing.
WEST: No, it's not. For you, it might be, but not for me because sometimes I can't reach stuff. But then you just go like, that's easy. And it's really helpful because sometimes it's something that I really badly need, and I can't get it. But you can.
MOLLY BLOOM: Awesome, so teamwork.
WEST: Teamwork, high five.
BOTH: Brains On, Growing.
[THEME MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: So Jamie Post, co-host, it rhymes. Let's move on to our next question.
JAMIE POST: Do animals grow the same that we do?
MOLLY BLOOM: Humans usually finish growing somewhere in their teens. So you're nine. So you've got several more years to grow. Do you have an older sister or brother?
JAMIE POST: I have an older sister.
MOLLY BLOOM: How old is she?
JAMIE POST: 13.
MOLLY BLOOM: In our culture, most kids don't leave home until they turn 18, usually, right?
JAMIE POST: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: But it's different for kinds of animals. Mountain lions, for example, they leave their mothers when they're somewhere between 1 and 1 and 1/2 years old. And elephants, though, are more like us. They reach maturity in their teens. But then there's lobsters at the other end of the spectrum. And they never stop growing.
JAMIE POST: That's amazing.
MOLLY BLOOM: It is amazing. So another kind of animal that grows differently than we do is a snake.
[RATTLING SOUND]
Our friend, Sanden Totten, spoke with someone who knows firsthand.
PAT KRUG: I'm Pat Krug. I'm a marine biologist and a proud owner of a boa constrictor snake.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's your snake's name?
PAT KRUG: Nicholas.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How big is Nicholas?
PAT KRUG: I think he's about 7.5-feet long. Some boas are twice that long, and the biggest snake in the world, the anaconda, is probably about four times that big.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Four times?
PAT KRUG: Yeah, they can be over 30-feet long.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, I hope I don't run into that snake.
PAT KRUG: They eat alligators.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Oh, whew, I'm off the hook.
PAT KRUG: [LAUGHS]
SANDEN TOTTEN: How big was Nicholas when you first got him?
PAT KRUG: He was about two weeks old. He was a baby snake, and he was about the size of a pencil.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A pencil?
PAT KRUG: Yep.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And now he's seven-feet long?
PAT KRUG: Yeah, he's 23 years old now, though, which is pretty old for a snake.
SANDEN TOTTEN: 23. Did he have a Moody teenage phase, like people teens do?
PAT KRUG: He absolutely did. He learned how to open the door to my closet because he used to live in my closet. And sometimes he would just run away. But that just meant he would crawl into the next room and hide under my bed.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A snake hiding under your bed.
PAT KRUG: Yeah, sometimes on my bed, though. He wasn't a very good hider.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Do baby snakes wear diapers like human babies?
PAT KRUG: [LAUGHS] Not that I've ever seen.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So where do they go to the bathroom?
PAT KRUG: Well, wherever they happen to be. But snakes have such good stomachs that what they poop out is just a pellet of undigested bone and fur. And everything else is gone. It's like chalk.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So it's not even messy.
PAT KRUG: Not at all. I just pick it up and throw it in the trash.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I guess they don't need diapers.
PAT KRUG: Nope, not like we do.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What do snakes eat to grow big?
PAT KRUG: A snake like a boa constrictor will eat mice or rats. A snake like a boa or an anaconda in the wild might eat deer or alligators or just about anything big enough that they can catch. And their jaws can come apart so they can swallow things much, much larger than their own heads.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What does Nicholas eat?
PAT KRUG: He eats rats.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Nicholas eats rats. Does he have to eat vegetables, like human kids do? They have to eat vegetables to get big.
PAT KRUG: Nope, snakes do not ever eat their vegetables. And they do grow very, very big, however. I think if you had to eat a vegetable or an alligator, you'd probably pick the vegetable.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How fast do they grow?
PAT KRUG: If they're eating a lot, they can grow about a foot a year. And you can tell how much they're growing because in order to get bigger, they have to shed their skin.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Shed their skin?
PAT KRUG: Well, you know a snake is covered in scales, right? And so those scales trap them in their own bodies. And so to get bigger, they have to actually crawl out of their old scales. And then they'll have new shiny scales underneath. And they get bigger that way.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So they just crawl out of their old skin and leave it there?
PAT KRUG: Yep, it peels away backwards, and they crawl right on out and leave it behind.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Like having a really bad sunburn, it just peels off?
PAT KRUG: Exactly, yep. You can see their whole body and even the clear scales that cover their eyes because they don't have eyelids. They can't blink. But they have a see-through scale over each eye. And it's left behind when they shed their skin.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, so they always have their eyes on you.
PAT KRUG: Yeah. [CHUCKLES] Well said.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Is there anything in that interview that's surprised you?
JAMIE POST: That they have scales on their eyes.
MOLLY BLOOM: When they leave their skins behind, have you ever seen that?
JAMIE POST: Yeah, I have a box.
MOLLY BLOOM: You have a box of skins?
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh my gosh, how many do you have?
JAMIE POST: Three.
MOLLY BLOOM: You have three skins?
JAMIE POST: And I have a couple of rattles from the rattlesnakes. In science, they have a snake. And when they take it out to hold it, kids just freak out. They're like, the snake's going to come and get me.
MOLLY BLOOM: But you're not afraid.
JAMIE POST: Mm-mm.
MOLLY BLOOM: Have you touched it?
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: What does it feel like?
JAMIE POST: It's rough, but still smooth and rough.
MOLLY BLOOM: And then the skin that you have from the snake, what does that feel like?
JAMIE POST: It feels empty. It's like a piece of lumpy paper.
MOLLY BLOOM: But can you see through it?
JAMIE POST: Yes. Well, it's like a yellowish. But you can see through it.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's kind of translucent--
JAMIE POST: Mm-hmm.
MOLLY BLOOM: --is the word, I think. Interesting. Would you like a pet snake?
JAMIE POST: No, because I heard that they open doors. And that story. And it just-- and that it hides under your bed, ugh.
MOLLY BLOOM: And I'm amazed when he said that some snakes in the wild are four times as long as a seven-foot snake. So what would that be?
JAMIE POST: 28?
MOLLY BLOOM: 28-feet long.
JAMIE POST: That's really long.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a really long. What is that? What would you compare that to? That's like longer than a car, for sure.
JAMIE POST: Yeah, maybe a bus?
MOLLY BLOOM: That is a big snake. And it can eat alligators. So that just gives you an idea of how giant that snake is. So now it's time for the mystery sound.
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC]
I'm going to play a sound, and I want you to guess what it is. Here we go.
[SCISSORS SNIPPING]
Jamie, do you have any guesses of what that sound was? I think she knows. She has a knowing look in her eyes. But we are going to wait to reveal the answer for a second. We're going to let you guys think about that.
And while you're thinking about that sound, we are going to answer the next question, which is, what superpowers does your brain have before it's done growing? And growing up is great for lots of reasons. You get bigger and stronger. But your brain has some super powers right now that you won't have once you're done growing.
JAMIE POST: The Brains On players are here to explain.
ANNOUNCER: Faster than high-speed internet, more powerful than a fancy computer, able to reach rational conclusions in a single bound, it's your brain!
[CHEERING]
BRAIN: Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 3: Wait, you're a brain?
BRAIN: Not just any brain. I'm your brain.
SPEAKER 3: My brain?
BRAIN: I am the quickest, sharpest, most excellent learner you will ever meet. You're lucky to have me, actually.
SPEAKER 3: I am? Hm, I guess I am.
BRAIN: Guess? Pfft, you know it. I can say this because as your brain, I know what you know. Listen, let me break it down for you. You're still little, right? You may think adults rule the world because they're so big. They can drive cars. They get to stay up as late as they want.
SPEAKER 3: Yeah, they think they can do anything.
BRAIN: Exactly. But here's the thing, they can't.
SPEAKER 3: They can't?
BRAIN: No, Siree, nope. No, they can't. Your brain can do things theirs aren't totally incapable of doing. Your brain is young. It's fresh. It's got superpowers.
[EXCITING MUSIC]
SPEAKER 3: Superpowers, really? Like what?
BRAIN: Your brain is a born translator. It can learn a new language way faster than any adult brain. You could probably learn Chinese in seven months.
SPEAKER 4: Ni hao.
BRAIN: Ni hao.
SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
BRAIN: I bet you could learn Italian in five months. Bongiorno.
SPEAKER 5: Bongiorno, come stai?
BRAIN: And if you wanted to learn sign language, you could probably pick it up before a grown-up even learns the basics. You are a language-learning machine.
SPEAKER 3: Really? Wow.
BRAIN: And it's not just languages. You can learn all kinds of new skills really fast. A kid's brain is like Silly Putty. It can be quickly sculpted into all kinds of things. I could learn the bow and arrow and be an archer's brain with just a little practice.
[ARROW HITTING TARGET SOUND]
I could decide to be a chef's brain, learn to make excellent dishes with just a little bit of hard work.
[BELL DINGS]
Oh, my cake is ready, or I could dive into the world of deep space and be an expert on astronauts in no time flat.
[SPACESHIP LAUNCHES]
SPEAKER 6: Ah, Houston, we have liftoff.
BRAIN: Really, the possibilities are endless.
SPEAKER 3: Wow, my brain is great. I mean, you're great. I mean, we're great. You know what I mean.
BRAIN: Do you know why we can do all this?
SPEAKER 3: No, why?
BRAIN: Because we're young. Sure you're going to grow. Your body is going to get bigger. You're going to get muscles and big feet and a mouth full of grown-up teeth. But by age 10, your brain is already almost adult size. And it has more synapses than any adult could dream of.
SPEAKER 3: Synapses, what's that?
BRAIN: Synapses are like the pathways your brain uses to send information. Imagine a city with lots of streets. The streets are like synapses. Cars are like information.
[CAR HORN HONKS]
The more streets you have, the more cars you can move around. So in your brain, the more synapses you have, the more information you can process.
SPEAKER 3: So my brain has lots of streets to send information around on?
BRAIN: Exactly. But here's the thing, as you grow older, your body starts closing off roads it doesn't need, shutting down streets that don't get used. It'll make the ones that do get used bigger, so information can travel fast on those roads.
SPEAKER 3: Like driving on a highway.
BRAIN: You got it. But before that happens, when you're still a kid, you can send information down lots of little side streets and take all kinds of shortcuts. It helps you learn new things super fast.
SPEAKER 3: Huh, I better learn a lot while I still have all these synapses.
BRAIN: You said it. So go ahead, put me to the test. I'm up for it, practice piano--
[PIANO MUSIC]
--learn to ice skate, pick up a new language, or five new languages. I can do it. After all, I'm the quickest, sharpest, most excellent learner you will ever meet. And I'm right inside your head.
CHILDREN: Brains On!
JAMIE POST: Brains On, Growing.
MOLLY BLOOM: So before we reveal the mystery sound, let's hear it one more time.
[SCISSORS SNIPPING]
All right, Jamie, what is your guess?
JAMIE POST: I think it is someone cutting hair.
MOLLY BLOOM: You're right. It's hair being cut. So even after the rest of you stops growing, your hair never stops growing.
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you have to get your hair cut. And so we talked to Carolyn Long, that was her cutting the hair. She's a hairdresser and a hair expert. And she knows a lot about how hair grows. So she let us come to the salon, where she works. And she told us all about hair--
BOTH: Speed.
CAROLYN LONG: Hair grows at an average rate of a half an inch a month. Some are a little faster. Some are a little slower. So in a year's time, your hair will grow on average about six inches.
BOTH: Color.
CAROLYN LONG: All hair color are the combination of all of the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. And so if you think about what you get when you mix red, yellow, and blue paint together, you get brown. So all hair color is a variation on brown. Even a blonde is just a very, very, very light shade of brown.
So an interesting thing about gray hair or silver hair or white hair is it's not so much a brand new color, is it's actually the absence of color. So what happens is those red, yellow, and blue molecules fade away over time. And what was exposed is your hair without any pigment in it.
BOTH: Curls.
CAROLYN LONG: Curly hair has to do with the shape of the follicle. That is where your hair sprouts from your head. If you have a follicle that is shaped like an oval or an oblong or like a pinched, closed shape, what happens is that as the hair grows out of that follicle, it gets pinched along the way, so that it starts to curve.
If you think about curling ribbon for wrapping a package and you run it along the blade of a scissor, the same effect, whereas straight hair emerges from a follicle opening that is round. So there is nothing to pinch it as it emerges from the scalp.
BOTH: Is it living?
CAROLYN LONG: The actual hair strand itself is technically dead, as we know it. There's no life going through it. There's no blood. There's no anything. It's all about keeping it in good shape. But once a hair leaves your head, it is dead.
CHILDREN:
- Brains On!
WEST: Brains On, growing.
MOLLY BLOOM: As you grow, your teeth fall out to make way for your grown-up teeth. So we have one more question before we wrap this up.
JAMIE POST: What does the Tooth Fairy do with all those teeth?
SPEAKER 7: The Tooth Fairy comes.
SPEAKER 8: The Tooth Fairy takes your teeth and leaves something in return.
SPEAKER 7: Then when I wake up, there's something besides my tooth under my pillow.
SPEAKER 9: Money?
SPEAKER 7: I think she makes stuff out of them, like beds.
SPEAKER 9: Throws them in the closet or something.
SPEAKER 8: She makes it into magic, turns it into money, and get lots of toys.
SPEAKER 7: Oh, she makes them into pixie dust. She use it to fly.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? That is what I've always wondered. She takes them away, and that much I know. From the pillow, you put them under. I imagine what it would be like to be her because she never comes out so that I can see her. But what does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth?
Does she have to count them because that would take hours? Are they stacked to the tallest tooth tower? Is there a closet that's full of incisors? Does she report to Tooth Fairy supervisors? Could be she only keeps shiny enamel used to make pictures to put on the mantle, decorations for her open-toe sandals. Maybe her house needs some molar panels.
The ones with cavities with cavities could make a necklace. And wait, how does she even know my address? I've got to tell her about a receipt. So what did the Tooth Fairy do with my teeth? What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth?
I imagine what it would be like to be her because she never comes out so that I can see her. But what does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? Gotta be something or other. I've got a loose one that I'll use as bait, if I can stay up and catch her.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks for listening to Brains On. This episode was produced with help from--
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
Hey, thanks for being here today.
JAMIE POST: Thanks for having me.
(SINGING) It's time to get our brains on. We're going to get our smarts on. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. Brains On!
WEST: Woo-hoo! Woo!
[THEME MUSIC]
SPEAKER 2: Any second now. It's almost here, prepare yourselves.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
SPEAKER 2: We can't wait.
JAMIE POST: Hi, you're listening to Brains On.
MOLLY BLOOM: A show featuring awesome kids and the stuff that makes kids awesome. Today the show is all about growing.
JAMIE POST: We've got some questions.
MOLLY BLOOM: Is it better to be taller or shorter?
JAMIE POST: Do animals grow the same that we do?
MOLLY BLOOM: What superpowers does your brain have before it's done growing?
JAMIE POST: What does the Tooth Fairy do with all those teeth?
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll answer all of these questions right now. Keep listening.
CHILDREN (SINGING): It's time to get our brains on. We're going to get our smarts on. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time! Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On. I'm Molly Bloom, and here with me today is--
JAMIE POST: Jamie Post.
MOLLY BLOOM: Hi, Jamie.
JAMIE POST: Hi.
MOLLY BLOOM: Jamie's going to be sharing hosting duties with me today. And we're going to start with our friends West and Cole.
WEST: [BEATBOXING]
COLE: I can do better.
WEST: No, you can't.
COLE: My name is Cole.
WEST: My name is West.
COLE: I am eight years old.
WEST: So am I.
MOLLY BLOOM: Now West is one of the shortest kids in his class, and Cole is one of the tallest. And have you guys always been the tallest in the shortest, since you remember?
WEST: Yes.
COLE: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: If you could switch, if you could go-- if you could be the tallest and you could be the shortest, would you do it?
WEST: No.
COLE: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why not?
COLE: Well, because I like being tall.
WEST: Why?
COLE: Because I want to be as tall as my dad. And when you're tall, you can reach high things.
WEST: But when you're small, you can go through tiny obstacles. But when you're big, you can't.
COLE: So?
MOLLY BLOOM: I'm going to give you some different scenarios, so like situations. And I want you to tell me if it would be better to be taller or shorter. So the first one is hide and go seek.
COLE: Probably shorter.
WEST: Shorter.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why do you guys say that?
COLE: Because when you're smaller, you carry less weight on your body. And you can go in way different places than big people.
MOLLY BLOOM: And what about reading? Does that any difference if you're tall or shorter?
WEST: No.
COLE: No.
MOLLY BLOOM: No difference? What about sleeping?
WEST: Short.
MOLLY BLOOM: What do you think?
COLE: Tall.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why?
WEST: My answer is because when you're short, you get more space. My answer because--
COLE: My answer is because when you're tall, you get more of the bed, and it's comfier.
MOLLY BLOOM: What about grocery shopping, does it make any difference?
COLE: I'm going to have to say big on this one.
MOLLY BLOOM: Why?
COLE: Well, because if you're tiny. like somebody, you can't reach the foods or if you want to weigh the foods, there's a weighing thing, and you can't reach the weighing thing.
WEST: That's practically never true.
COLE: You know that big-- wall of vegetables, pretend there's a vegetable you want for your kid. But it's way, way up here. And when you're tiny, you can't do it. You have to ask somebody to get it for you.
WEST: That's better because you don't have to do it. [LAUGHS]
COLE: It's not better.
WEST: Yeah, it is.
COLE: It's not better because it's embarrassing.
WEST: No, it's not. For you, it might be, but not for me because sometimes I can't reach stuff. But then you just go like, that's easy. And it's really helpful because sometimes it's something that I really badly need, and I can't get it. But you can.
MOLLY BLOOM: Awesome, so teamwork.
WEST: Teamwork, high five.
BOTH: Brains On, Growing.
[THEME MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: So Jamie Post, co-host, it rhymes. Let's move on to our next question.
JAMIE POST: Do animals grow the same that we do?
MOLLY BLOOM: Humans usually finish growing somewhere in their teens. So you're nine. So you've got several more years to grow. Do you have an older sister or brother?
JAMIE POST: I have an older sister.
MOLLY BLOOM: How old is she?
JAMIE POST: 13.
MOLLY BLOOM: In our culture, most kids don't leave home until they turn 18, usually, right?
JAMIE POST: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: But it's different for kinds of animals. Mountain lions, for example, they leave their mothers when they're somewhere between 1 and 1 and 1/2 years old. And elephants, though, are more like us. They reach maturity in their teens. But then there's lobsters at the other end of the spectrum. And they never stop growing.
JAMIE POST: That's amazing.
MOLLY BLOOM: It is amazing. So another kind of animal that grows differently than we do is a snake.
[RATTLING SOUND]
Our friend, Sanden Totten, spoke with someone who knows firsthand.
PAT KRUG: I'm Pat Krug. I'm a marine biologist and a proud owner of a boa constrictor snake.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What's your snake's name?
PAT KRUG: Nicholas.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How big is Nicholas?
PAT KRUG: I think he's about 7.5-feet long. Some boas are twice that long, and the biggest snake in the world, the anaconda, is probably about four times that big.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Four times?
PAT KRUG: Yeah, they can be over 30-feet long.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, I hope I don't run into that snake.
PAT KRUG: They eat alligators.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Oh, whew, I'm off the hook.
PAT KRUG: [LAUGHS]
SANDEN TOTTEN: How big was Nicholas when you first got him?
PAT KRUG: He was about two weeks old. He was a baby snake, and he was about the size of a pencil.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A pencil?
PAT KRUG: Yep.
SANDEN TOTTEN: And now he's seven-feet long?
PAT KRUG: Yeah, he's 23 years old now, though, which is pretty old for a snake.
SANDEN TOTTEN: 23. Did he have a Moody teenage phase, like people teens do?
PAT KRUG: He absolutely did. He learned how to open the door to my closet because he used to live in my closet. And sometimes he would just run away. But that just meant he would crawl into the next room and hide under my bed.
SANDEN TOTTEN: A snake hiding under your bed.
PAT KRUG: Yeah, sometimes on my bed, though. He wasn't a very good hider.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Do baby snakes wear diapers like human babies?
PAT KRUG: [LAUGHS] Not that I've ever seen.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So where do they go to the bathroom?
PAT KRUG: Well, wherever they happen to be. But snakes have such good stomachs that what they poop out is just a pellet of undigested bone and fur. And everything else is gone. It's like chalk.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So it's not even messy.
PAT KRUG: Not at all. I just pick it up and throw it in the trash.
SANDEN TOTTEN: I guess they don't need diapers.
PAT KRUG: Nope, not like we do.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What do snakes eat to grow big?
PAT KRUG: A snake like a boa constrictor will eat mice or rats. A snake like a boa or an anaconda in the wild might eat deer or alligators or just about anything big enough that they can catch. And their jaws can come apart so they can swallow things much, much larger than their own heads.
SANDEN TOTTEN: What does Nicholas eat?
PAT KRUG: He eats rats.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Nicholas eats rats. Does he have to eat vegetables, like human kids do? They have to eat vegetables to get big.
PAT KRUG: Nope, snakes do not ever eat their vegetables. And they do grow very, very big, however. I think if you had to eat a vegetable or an alligator, you'd probably pick the vegetable.
SANDEN TOTTEN: How fast do they grow?
PAT KRUG: If they're eating a lot, they can grow about a foot a year. And you can tell how much they're growing because in order to get bigger, they have to shed their skin.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Shed their skin?
PAT KRUG: Well, you know a snake is covered in scales, right? And so those scales trap them in their own bodies. And so to get bigger, they have to actually crawl out of their old scales. And then they'll have new shiny scales underneath. And they get bigger that way.
SANDEN TOTTEN: So they just crawl out of their old skin and leave it there?
PAT KRUG: Yep, it peels away backwards, and they crawl right on out and leave it behind.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Like having a really bad sunburn, it just peels off?
PAT KRUG: Exactly, yep. You can see their whole body and even the clear scales that cover their eyes because they don't have eyelids. They can't blink. But they have a see-through scale over each eye. And it's left behind when they shed their skin.
SANDEN TOTTEN: Wow, so they always have their eyes on you.
PAT KRUG: Yeah. [CHUCKLES] Well said.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Is there anything in that interview that's surprised you?
JAMIE POST: That they have scales on their eyes.
MOLLY BLOOM: When they leave their skins behind, have you ever seen that?
JAMIE POST: Yeah, I have a box.
MOLLY BLOOM: You have a box of skins?
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh my gosh, how many do you have?
JAMIE POST: Three.
MOLLY BLOOM: You have three skins?
JAMIE POST: And I have a couple of rattles from the rattlesnakes. In science, they have a snake. And when they take it out to hold it, kids just freak out. They're like, the snake's going to come and get me.
MOLLY BLOOM: But you're not afraid.
JAMIE POST: Mm-mm.
MOLLY BLOOM: Have you touched it?
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: What does it feel like?
JAMIE POST: It's rough, but still smooth and rough.
MOLLY BLOOM: And then the skin that you have from the snake, what does that feel like?
JAMIE POST: It feels empty. It's like a piece of lumpy paper.
MOLLY BLOOM: But can you see through it?
JAMIE POST: Yes. Well, it's like a yellowish. But you can see through it.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's kind of translucent--
JAMIE POST: Mm-hmm.
MOLLY BLOOM: --is the word, I think. Interesting. Would you like a pet snake?
JAMIE POST: No, because I heard that they open doors. And that story. And it just-- and that it hides under your bed, ugh.
MOLLY BLOOM: And I'm amazed when he said that some snakes in the wild are four times as long as a seven-foot snake. So what would that be?
JAMIE POST: 28?
MOLLY BLOOM: 28-feet long.
JAMIE POST: That's really long.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a really long. What is that? What would you compare that to? That's like longer than a car, for sure.
JAMIE POST: Yeah, maybe a bus?
MOLLY BLOOM: That is a big snake. And it can eat alligators. So that just gives you an idea of how giant that snake is. So now it's time for the mystery sound.
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC]
I'm going to play a sound, and I want you to guess what it is. Here we go.
[SCISSORS SNIPPING]
Jamie, do you have any guesses of what that sound was? I think she knows. She has a knowing look in her eyes. But we are going to wait to reveal the answer for a second. We're going to let you guys think about that.
And while you're thinking about that sound, we are going to answer the next question, which is, what superpowers does your brain have before it's done growing? And growing up is great for lots of reasons. You get bigger and stronger. But your brain has some super powers right now that you won't have once you're done growing.
JAMIE POST: The Brains On players are here to explain.
ANNOUNCER: Faster than high-speed internet, more powerful than a fancy computer, able to reach rational conclusions in a single bound, it's your brain!
[CHEERING]
BRAIN: Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 3: Wait, you're a brain?
BRAIN: Not just any brain. I'm your brain.
SPEAKER 3: My brain?
BRAIN: I am the quickest, sharpest, most excellent learner you will ever meet. You're lucky to have me, actually.
SPEAKER 3: I am? Hm, I guess I am.
BRAIN: Guess? Pfft, you know it. I can say this because as your brain, I know what you know. Listen, let me break it down for you. You're still little, right? You may think adults rule the world because they're so big. They can drive cars. They get to stay up as late as they want.
SPEAKER 3: Yeah, they think they can do anything.
BRAIN: Exactly. But here's the thing, they can't.
SPEAKER 3: They can't?
BRAIN: No, Siree, nope. No, they can't. Your brain can do things theirs aren't totally incapable of doing. Your brain is young. It's fresh. It's got superpowers.
[EXCITING MUSIC]
SPEAKER 3: Superpowers, really? Like what?
BRAIN: Your brain is a born translator. It can learn a new language way faster than any adult brain. You could probably learn Chinese in seven months.
SPEAKER 4: Ni hao.
BRAIN: Ni hao.
SPEAKER 4: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
BRAIN: I bet you could learn Italian in five months. Bongiorno.
SPEAKER 5: Bongiorno, come stai?
BRAIN: And if you wanted to learn sign language, you could probably pick it up before a grown-up even learns the basics. You are a language-learning machine.
SPEAKER 3: Really? Wow.
BRAIN: And it's not just languages. You can learn all kinds of new skills really fast. A kid's brain is like Silly Putty. It can be quickly sculpted into all kinds of things. I could learn the bow and arrow and be an archer's brain with just a little practice.
[ARROW HITTING TARGET SOUND]
I could decide to be a chef's brain, learn to make excellent dishes with just a little bit of hard work.
[BELL DINGS]
Oh, my cake is ready, or I could dive into the world of deep space and be an expert on astronauts in no time flat.
[SPACESHIP LAUNCHES]
SPEAKER 6: Ah, Houston, we have liftoff.
BRAIN: Really, the possibilities are endless.
SPEAKER 3: Wow, my brain is great. I mean, you're great. I mean, we're great. You know what I mean.
BRAIN: Do you know why we can do all this?
SPEAKER 3: No, why?
BRAIN: Because we're young. Sure you're going to grow. Your body is going to get bigger. You're going to get muscles and big feet and a mouth full of grown-up teeth. But by age 10, your brain is already almost adult size. And it has more synapses than any adult could dream of.
SPEAKER 3: Synapses, what's that?
BRAIN: Synapses are like the pathways your brain uses to send information. Imagine a city with lots of streets. The streets are like synapses. Cars are like information.
[CAR HORN HONKS]
The more streets you have, the more cars you can move around. So in your brain, the more synapses you have, the more information you can process.
SPEAKER 3: So my brain has lots of streets to send information around on?
BRAIN: Exactly. But here's the thing, as you grow older, your body starts closing off roads it doesn't need, shutting down streets that don't get used. It'll make the ones that do get used bigger, so information can travel fast on those roads.
SPEAKER 3: Like driving on a highway.
BRAIN: You got it. But before that happens, when you're still a kid, you can send information down lots of little side streets and take all kinds of shortcuts. It helps you learn new things super fast.
SPEAKER 3: Huh, I better learn a lot while I still have all these synapses.
BRAIN: You said it. So go ahead, put me to the test. I'm up for it, practice piano--
[PIANO MUSIC]
--learn to ice skate, pick up a new language, or five new languages. I can do it. After all, I'm the quickest, sharpest, most excellent learner you will ever meet. And I'm right inside your head.
CHILDREN: Brains On!
JAMIE POST: Brains On, Growing.
MOLLY BLOOM: So before we reveal the mystery sound, let's hear it one more time.
[SCISSORS SNIPPING]
All right, Jamie, what is your guess?
JAMIE POST: I think it is someone cutting hair.
MOLLY BLOOM: You're right. It's hair being cut. So even after the rest of you stops growing, your hair never stops growing.
JAMIE POST: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you have to get your hair cut. And so we talked to Carolyn Long, that was her cutting the hair. She's a hairdresser and a hair expert. And she knows a lot about how hair grows. So she let us come to the salon, where she works. And she told us all about hair--
BOTH: Speed.
CAROLYN LONG: Hair grows at an average rate of a half an inch a month. Some are a little faster. Some are a little slower. So in a year's time, your hair will grow on average about six inches.
BOTH: Color.
CAROLYN LONG: All hair color are the combination of all of the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. And so if you think about what you get when you mix red, yellow, and blue paint together, you get brown. So all hair color is a variation on brown. Even a blonde is just a very, very, very light shade of brown.
So an interesting thing about gray hair or silver hair or white hair is it's not so much a brand new color, is it's actually the absence of color. So what happens is those red, yellow, and blue molecules fade away over time. And what was exposed is your hair without any pigment in it.
BOTH: Curls.
CAROLYN LONG: Curly hair has to do with the shape of the follicle. That is where your hair sprouts from your head. If you have a follicle that is shaped like an oval or an oblong or like a pinched, closed shape, what happens is that as the hair grows out of that follicle, it gets pinched along the way, so that it starts to curve.
If you think about curling ribbon for wrapping a package and you run it along the blade of a scissor, the same effect, whereas straight hair emerges from a follicle opening that is round. So there is nothing to pinch it as it emerges from the scalp.
BOTH: Is it living?
CAROLYN LONG: The actual hair strand itself is technically dead, as we know it. There's no life going through it. There's no blood. There's no anything. It's all about keeping it in good shape. But once a hair leaves your head, it is dead.
CHILDREN:
- Brains On!
WEST: Brains On, growing.
MOLLY BLOOM: As you grow, your teeth fall out to make way for your grown-up teeth. So we have one more question before we wrap this up.
JAMIE POST: What does the Tooth Fairy do with all those teeth?
SPEAKER 7: The Tooth Fairy comes.
SPEAKER 8: The Tooth Fairy takes your teeth and leaves something in return.
SPEAKER 7: Then when I wake up, there's something besides my tooth under my pillow.
SPEAKER 9: Money?
SPEAKER 7: I think she makes stuff out of them, like beds.
SPEAKER 9: Throws them in the closet or something.
SPEAKER 8: She makes it into magic, turns it into money, and get lots of toys.
SPEAKER 7: Oh, she makes them into pixie dust. She use it to fly.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? That is what I've always wondered. She takes them away, and that much I know. From the pillow, you put them under. I imagine what it would be like to be her because she never comes out so that I can see her. But what does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth?
Does she have to count them because that would take hours? Are they stacked to the tallest tooth tower? Is there a closet that's full of incisors? Does she report to Tooth Fairy supervisors? Could be she only keeps shiny enamel used to make pictures to put on the mantle, decorations for her open-toe sandals. Maybe her house needs some molar panels.
The ones with cavities with cavities could make a necklace. And wait, how does she even know my address? I've got to tell her about a receipt. So what did the Tooth Fairy do with my teeth? What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth?
I imagine what it would be like to be her because she never comes out so that I can see her. But what does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? What does the Tooth Fairy do with your teeth? Gotta be something or other. I've got a loose one that I'll use as bait, if I can stay up and catch her.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks for listening to Brains On. This episode was produced with help from--
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
Hey, thanks for being here today.
JAMIE POST: Thanks for having me.
(SINGING) It's time to get our brains on. We're going to get our smarts on. Fire up your neurons. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. Brains On!
WEST: Woo-hoo! Woo!
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