science

Wow in the World

Wow in the World is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wow in the World rather than just read about it. In short: Wow in the World is a children's podcast hosted by children's media and audio veterans Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas. which debuted on May 17, 2017 and produced by Tinkercast, LLC, a company established by Thomas and Raz to produce children's audio., and distributed by Wondery. Initially, it was distributed by NPR as part of its efforts to invest in podcasts and digital media aimed at wider audiences, including families…

Key takeaways

Wow in the World belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wow in the World to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wow in the World from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wow in the World is a children's podcast hosted by children's media and audio veterans Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas. which debuted on May 17, 2017 and produced by Tinkercast, LLC, a company established by Thomas and Raz to produce children's audio., and distributed by Wondery. Initially, it was distributed by NPR as part of its efforts to invest in podcasts and digital media aimed at wider audiences, including families, as well as Guy Raz's connections to the broadcaster for producing popular shows like the TED Radio Hour and the business podcast How I Built This. Distribution was handed over to Sony Music in April 2021, but the deal with Sony was very short lived. The Amazon-owned podcast network Wondery agreed to distribute the Tinkercast assets in September the same year. The show focuses on science and technology and each episodes is about 25 minutes long. However some episodes, such as the spin-off game show Two Whats?! And a Wow!!! are 15 minutes long and other bonus episodes may run for 5–10 minutes.

Background In 2014, Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas had a Twitter exchanged that led to some collaborations. The show was financed by its hosts and is recorded in Thomas's basement studio in Fairfax, Virginia. They began producing episodes for Wow in the World together and the podcast debuted on May 15, 2017. The podcast is the first children's podcast to be distributed by NPR. The show is produced by Tinkercast. Each episode is about 25 minutes long. The theme song is by The Pop Ups. The podcast's intended audience is children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. The hosts of the show cite their sources during the program. The podcast is a science and technology focused program. On April 6, 2019, the show did a live event at Tampa Theatre. By 2020, the show had produced four seasons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hosts of the show started a spinoff series called Two Whats?! and a Wow!. Two Whats?! and a Wow! released daily episodes. Tinkercast also started a spinoff called Camp WeWow. On November 22, 2021, the show did a special episode discussing the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Reception Charlotte Hilton Andersen wrote in Reader's Digest that the hosts "have a knack for picking science stories that kids will find fascinating". ABC News said of the show that "Curious kids will be captivated, and you'll find it hard not to love it too."

Awards

Adaptation The podcast was adapted into a book series. The first book in the series was titled Wow in the World: The How and Wow of The Human Body and the second was titled Wow in the Wild: The Amazing World of Animals. The intended audience of the book series is children ages 7–10. The book was discussed at the 2021 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books as well as the 2021 San Antonio Book Festival. The books are written by Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz with illustrations by Jack Teagle.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wow in the World

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wow in the World claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wow in the World before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wow in the World ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wow in the World

In research: Wow in the World appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wow in the World in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wow in the World is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2017 podcast debuts, Audio podcasts, Children's podcasts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wow in the World outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wow in the World in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wow in the World means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wow in the World out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wow in the World in simple terms?

Why does Wow in the World matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wow in the World?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wow in the World.