Mystery Sound Extravaganza fall 2026

Brains On! Science podcast for kids

Hosts Molly Bloom and Hannah engage in a high-energy game of guessing mysterious sounds submitted by listeners. The episode features a varie

Key takeaways

• The Coquí frog is a tiny species native to Puerto Rico, often smaller than a penny.
• A mystery sound initially mistaken for sawing was actually the grating of Parmesan cheese.

Main topics

• Mystery Sound Guessing Game
• Animal Vocalizations

Notable quotes

We're serious about being curious.

Conclusion

An interactive and educational experience that encourages children to

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:02) Are you ready for a brand new adventure? Then check out Lions and Legends, the new kids and family podcast featuring fun, fantastical retellings of myths, legends, folktales, and fables from around the world. I'm Rebecca Shearer, former host of Circle Round and the new host of Lions and Legends, inviting you to follow Lions and Legends on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and come join the pride. Speaker 3 (0:36) Hi friends, it's me, Molly, and I am so excited to say that Brains On Live is hitting the road again this fall. Mark, Sandin, and I are heading to Charlotte on September 26th, Colorado Springs on October 17th, Norfolk, Virginia on November 7th. Evanston, Illinois on December 13th, and Princeton, New Jersey on January 31st. Our live show is super fun. There's literal magic tricks, a game show, mystery sounds, and even some dancing. And all along the way, we're learning about the brain. We hope you can join us at one of the shows. We'd love to high-five you in person. You can get tickets at brainson.org slash events. That's brainson.org slash events. Hope to see you there. Bye. Speaker 5 (1:22) Brains on Universe. You're listening to Brains On, where we're serious about being curious. Speaker 3 (1:32) You Speaker 5 (1:32) can Speaker 3 (1:32) do it, little guy. Come on. I know you can. Speaker 5 (1:36) Hi, Molly. What are you doing? Speaker 3 (1:38) I'm giving my tennis shoe a pep talk. Naturally. You see, I think a shoe squeaking on the floor while I play basketball would be a really cool mystery sound, but this shoe simply isn't being loud enough. Speaker 5 (1:53) Uh-huh. Do you think that's a shoe problem or a you problem? Speaker 3 (1:58) Like maybe I'm not moving my foot in the right way to produce a loud enough squeak? Speaker 5 (2:04) Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Speaker 3 (2:06) You know, fair. But I'm pretty sure it's just that my shoe doesn't have enough confidence in itself, hence the pep talk. I Speaker 5 (2:13) think the best mystery sounds are the ones where you're not trying to hurt. Like, you hear a cool sound and you're like, whoa, I should record that and send it to Brains On. Speaker 3 (2:22) It's true. Our listeners send the best mystery sounds. I gotta keep up. That's why I really want this shoe to make the perfect sound. Speaker 5 (2:31) But hear me out. Maybe you have so many great mystery sounds from your listeners that you have enough for a whole episode of mystery sounds and you don't need to record your shoe squeak after all. Speaker 3 (2:41) Hey, great point, Hannah. In fact, let's do that now. Speaker 7 (2:53) Hi, friends. Are you part of Smarty Pass yet? If not, you are missing out. We've got three new bonus episodes waiting for you there. The first is about a mysterious phenomenon called the Pokemon Shock, and it features Sanon and me at our hoax-hunting finest. Then there's a back-to-school episode where experts answer questions about handling anxiety, dealing with bullies, and making friends. Plus, we just dropped a bonus episode up forever ago. where Joy explores some pizza history. You can listen to all three right now if you're subscribed to Smarty Pass. And there's way more than bonus episodes. You get ad-free versions of all our shows, invites to online hangs, discounts on merch, and more. Becoming a subscriber is one of the very best ways to support us and the shows you love. Go to SmartyPass.org to learn more. Thanks! Speaker 3 (3:59) You're listening to Brains On, part of the Brains On universe. I'm your host, Molly Bloom, and today my co-host is Hannah from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hi, Hannah. Speaker 5 (4:07) Hi, Molly. I'm super excited to be here. We Speaker 3 (4:10) are super excited you're here. So thanks to your great suggestion, we're doing another epic mystery sound extravaganza. That's where we play sounds and ask you to guess what they are. Hannah. We actually met you at our Florida live show and you played a mystery sound for us when we met you, which was awesome. Here's the mystery sound you played for us. Okay, so we have our listeners a second to guess what that is. Listeners, what do you think it is? Okay, they're guessing. Hana, can you please reveal the answer? Speaker 5 (4:53) Of course. So that is a coquí frog, the national animal of Puerto Rico. I recorded that on like a field trip with my family, like with our friends. Speaker 3 (5:06) That's awesome. And so that coquí frog, it makes a coquí sound, right? Is that why it's called that? Speaker 5 (5:12) Yeah. Coquí, coquí. Speaker 3 (5:14) It's such a cool sound. Like when I first heard it, I thought it was a bird. I didn't really know frogs could sound so cool. So tell me, what does a coquille frog look like? Speaker 5 (5:23) It's like a normal frog, but it's very, very small. It's smaller than a penny. Speaker 3 (5:30) Whoa, that is really small. So do you have to go somewhere special to hear these frogs or are they kind of all over the place? Speaker 5 (5:39) all over the place, but at my house, we don't really hear them that much. Because at my grandma's house, when we go at night, I hear so many cookies. Speaker 3 (5:49) That's so cool. So it's mostly like a nighttime sound? Speaker 5 (5:51) Yeah. Speaker 3 (5:53) Very good mystery sound. So when you're listening to the show and we play a mystery sound, which mystery sounds do you feel like are easy to guess? Speaker 5 (6:03) Um, the ones that... Like come from tropical places, you know? Speaker 3 (6:08) Okay. So like more like similar to where you live. Speaker 5 (6:10) Yeah, exactly. If Speaker 3 (6:11) we're playing like shoveling snow, you're like, I don't have experience with shoveling snow. Speaker 5 (6:16) Yeah. But I might guess it's a piragua. Like something like that. Oh, Speaker 3 (6:23) yeah. Speaker 5 (6:23) Yeah, Speaker 3 (6:23) because Speaker 5 (6:23) that's Puerto Rican. I love piraguas. And Speaker 3 (6:26) that's like where you have like an ice block and you make like yummy. Yeah, like a Speaker 5 (6:29) gigantic ice block and you just shave it. Shaved ice. Speaker 3 (6:33) And Speaker 5 (6:33) it's Speaker 3 (6:33) delicious. Speaker 5 (6:34) Delicious. Let's see how we do today. Speaker 3 (6:37) You ready to guess some mystery sounds? Speaker 5 (6:39) Yeah. Speaker 3 (6:40) Okay. Let's just hope they're Speaker 5 (6:41) easy. Speaker 3 (6:42) Well, you know, we're going to see. It's time for the... Okay. Here's the first mystery sound. Speaker 5 (7:01) Okay, I heard water. Speaker 3 (7:03) Okay, me too. Speaker 5 (7:05) So this feels easy because there are a lot of water parks in Puerto Rico. Speaker 3 (7:14) Okay. So Speaker 5 (7:15) I'm going to say like a water park. Speaker 3 (7:17) I love that. Do you want to hear it again? Speaker 5 (7:19) Yeah, sure. Speaker 3 (7:20) Okay, here it is. Speaker 5 (7:27) Okay, I heard ducks. I heard, like, animal. First, I thought they were crazy kids that were running around and screaming. Speaker 3 (7:36) It did kind of sound like that. Speaker 5 (7:38) But then, I heard some, like, animal noises. Speaker 3 (7:42) Okay. Speaker 5 (7:44) I'm going to say like a duck pond, something like that. I know I heard splashing. Speaker 3 (7:49) Yes. Speaker 5 (7:50) So I'm going to be general. Speaker 3 (7:52) Okay. So Speaker 5 (7:53) I'm just going to say somewhere with water and birds. Speaker 3 (7:57) Oh, good guess. Are you ready for the answer? Speaker 6 (8:00) Yes. Speaker 3 (8:01) Here it is. Speaker 6 (8:02) Hi, my name is Birdie and that's me walking through a muddy field with geese overhead. Speaker 3 (8:10) Okay, I'm giving it to you. I say you got that correct. Muddy puddle with geese. Bird plus water equals Hana is correct. Yay. Nice work. Thank you. Okay. So we're warming up. I Speaker 2 (8:24) was scared. Speaker 3 (8:25) You got it right. You got the first one off the bat. Let's hear how we do with the second one. Here it is. Speaker 5 (8:49) Okay. Now that's loud. Speaker 3 (8:50) There's a lot happening there. Yeah. There's Speaker 5 (8:52) like Speaker 3 (8:52) multiple steps. Yes. What do we think is happening? Speaker 5 (8:54) Okay. So I heard ice. Talking about piraguas made me think about ice now. Speaker 4 (9:02) Okay, Speaker 5 (9:03) I'm just going to be very, very general. It's in a kitchen. Speaker