Episode 4 Ultimate Brain

How can you make a guinea pig fall over again and again?

HE LAUGHS

What is this handsome monkey spinning a candle around on a table?

And have the stars of Friday Download

finally met their match?

You'll need to run your mind at full power to win the title

Ultimate Brain!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ah welcome, welcome, welcome to Ultimate Brain.

I have been scouring the Earth for the finest minds

known to mankind,

or at least to monkey kind.

Yes, my name is Dr Brain.

These people over here reckon themselves

to be among the finest brains in the country.

Let's find out if they're right, as they'll be playing for honour,

and the title of Ultimate Brain.

This team are Alex, Luke and Alex.

They've called themselves the Green Dragons.

Will they breathe fire all over their opponents?

Well, I'm not clearing it up if they do.

-How are you Green Team? ALL:

-Good, yeah.

-Good, good. Where are you from?

-Newcastle.

Oh, very nice.

Now then, Dr Alex, I happen to know you're rather musical.

Is that right?

-Yes.

-You play a few instruments?

-Yes.

What kind of instruments?

Piano and guitar.

Piano and guitar?

I think we should have an air piano and air guitar jam.

You hit the piano, I'll hit the guitar,

You get on the drums, let's go....

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

# I love science

# Yeah! #

That was pretty good.

Good luck, Green Team.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The next team are Armin, Bethan and Kassir.

Collectively known as, The Yellow Blazers.

Can they blaze a trail to victory today?

Hello, Yellow.

-ALL:

-Hello, Dr Brain.

Hi, how are ya?

-Good.

-Where are you from?

-Manchester.

-Very, very good.

Any sports you like?

Basketball.

Basketball. You good at basketball?

BOUNCING BALL SOUND EFFECT What about football?

-Yeah.

-Are you good at football?

-No.

-No?!

Well, you could play for England then!

THEY LAUGH

Great, just what we need.

I wonder what manager Roy Hodgson would think about that.

IMITATING ROY HODGSON: Yeah, I think she'll be great.

We could do with someone like her. Put her up the front,

she'll do really, really well. She's a good girl.

She gets on well with all the rest of the lads,

I'm really pleased with that.

NORMAL VOICE: So that's the yellow team!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The final team are Shannon, Richard and George.

Stars of CBBC's Friday Download.

Now they might think they know all about pop music

and looking cool, but do they know anything useful?

Well, do ya, eh?

You may know these faces already.

It's Dr Richard, Dr George and Dr Shannon.

Shannooon!

So how are you, actors?

-ALL:

-Very good.

Actors, are you in fine acting fettle today?

Of course.

Now, I happen to know, Dr Shannon... Shannooon!

..that you quite like, er, blowing things up, is that right?

It was an accident.

It was an accident, Guv.

I didn't mean to do it.

Tell that to the judge.

Come on, what happened?

OK. Basically I was making a hot chocolate.

-Yes.

-I was at my cousins, and my cousin didn't have a microwave.

So I was like, "Have you got a kettle?"

She said, "Yeah."

We just put the milk in the kettle,

cos then that will work and will heat it up, it will boil it quicker.

-So...

-Carry on!

Basically I didn't realise at the time, I was quite young...

-Yes.

-..that milk has a lower boiling point then water.

And that it would ruin the kettle.

And I erm, broke the kettle and all the filament burnt out and...

Oh, dear...

I still drank the hot chocolate and it tasted like burnt metal.

Please, don't try that at home.

So that's all of our teams, you've met them all now. Now let's see.

Come on, you've got to impress me, use every part of your brains,

but above all...

do your flipping best.

Now let us tickle the little grey cells with a nice simple question.

Come and see what I've found.

Yes, this may look like a giant piece of cheese

but in fact it's a table, a spinning table.

And inside here, we have a little candle

which is made out of the Guinea Pig's ear wax,

isn't that lovely?

It's sitting inside a little glass jar here,

so that when this table spins around thus wise,

the wind won't blow it out, you see?

Now the question is,

what will happen to the flame of the candle as it goes around and around?

Does it A, bend outwards?

Does it B, bend backwards away from the direction of travel?

Does it C, bend inwards?

Or does it D, something else?

Time to have a little think. Now.

TEAMS DELIBERATE

'The thing to remember is that as the table spins,

'it's as if there's a centrifugal force

'throwing everything outwards, but will the contestants know it?'

THEY CONTINUE DELIBERATING

So you've all had a little think, a little confer,

do we have your answers?

-ALL:

-Yep.

Let's see em.

It's a unanimous decision. Each of our teams have opted for B,

it bends backwards.

Everybody's gone for B.

Everybody thinks that the flame is going to go backwards.

Well, why do you think that?

Cos when it's like going round the wind won't push it back,

but the glass will move faster

and the gravity will pull it backwards.

I see, so this is going to go quicker than the flame.

Was that your thinking as well, Yellow Team?

-Yeah.

-Exactly the same?

Yep.

What about you, Blues, what was your thinking?

We thought that the candle, the wax bit,

is going to be moving quite quick round,

so the flames going to sort of lag, and it will stay behind it...

Ah, almost like it's hanging off the candle?

Kind of, yeah.

I see, very good.

Well, will they be right, will they be wrong?

Only one way to find out.

Off you go little flame...

Let's see what happens, get it up to a nice speed, then let it go.

What's happening, what's happening?

TALKING AMONGST THEMSELVES

Oh, look, it's bending inwards.

Answer C.

-I did not see that coming.

-Neither did I.

You didn't see that coming, did you?

So why do we think that happened?

-G-Force.

-G-force?

Yeah, gravity.

Well, let me tell you why that happened.

Now, if you put water into a bucket and spin it around,

it doesn't come out.

This is because the apparent centrifugal force

throws it outwards and into the bottom of the bucket.

Now the same thing happens with the air too.

Cool air inside the glass cylinder pushes towards the outside

more than the hot flame, so the flame gets pushed inwards.

Well, it's simple when you put it like that, isn't it?

So unfortunately nobody got that question right.

That means that everybody got it wrong,

which means no points for anybody. Well done, all of you.

Time now to use a different part of the brain.

BEHOLD!

So how can we climb from here, base camp,

to the top of this slippery, slushy slope,

all the way to press the button there at the top in the fastest time?

Well, we gave our contestants three days

and a massive budget of FIFTY POUNDS to come up with some ideas.

But who...who I say will be ascending this mighty, mighty mountain?

Well, I tell you something for nothing,

it ain't going to be me, is it?

MUSIC: "You're The Best Around" by Joe Esposito

It's your good friend Guinea Pig!

CHEERING

Here he is, what do you think?

What have you got me doing today?

Ah, you've got a little bit of climbing to do today.

First of all, let's see what happens when he tries to get up there

without a plan.

DR BRAIN LAUGHS

-ALL:

-Three, two, one...

-Go Guinea Pig!

Yes! Oh, look!

Snow everywhere!

Look at him. Down he goes. He tries to get up.

He's doing very well and his legs are flailing and he's on his elbows now.

He's crawling up, he's crawling like a ninja, like a commando.

I think that's enough. Back you come, Guinea Pig.

You've tried your best, you've done very well.

THEY LAUGH

There you go. Well done, Mr Guinea Pig, unlucky.

Now you see what he has to contend with.

-My pants are wet again.

-Oh, dear. Where are you hurt?

-Everywhere.

-Oh, good.

Are you going to go back to your hutch now?

Yeah, I'm going to go. I'm going to curl up in it.

I don't think so, you're going to do it again, but this time with a plan!

The Yellow Blazers, Armin, Bethan and Kisaa.

If Armin could invent anything in the world

it would be an anti-gravity motorbike.

They'll need something just as impressive here.

Do you have a name for this plan?

Operation Octopus.

Operation Octopus, now is that because of these,

sort of sucker things here?

Yep.

The plan is, that these are going to help him stick to the slope,

is that right?

Yeah, and then he can like, erm...

That squeegee is going to move some of the slime out of the way.

And climb higher.

-So he's going to be wiping...

-In a way, yeah.

And then he can grab on with his fingers,

and then let go of his body,

and then do the exact same thing again.

What monkey brain idea is this? It's never going to work.

Well, if you get it right, if it works, you get ten honour points.

So let's hope it does. Are you confident?

-Yes.

-Feeling good about it?

Well, I think there's only one way to find out

if this is going to work or not.

Off you go, Mr Guinea Pig. Courage, mon bruv.

So the Yellow Blazers hope the suction pads will help the guinea pig

stick to the ramp, enabling him to wipe away the slippery slime

with the squeegee as he makes his way to the top.

Easy peasy lemon squeegee.

He's in place, are you ready, shall we count him down together?

-ALL:

-Three, two, one...

Go on, Guinea Pig!

And off he goes, and he's down.

Now he's got to deploy the suckers here.

Yeah, use the squeegee to move everything out of the way.

SHANNON LAUGHS

Upwards, not sideways!

Upwards. Yes, come on, Guinea Pig!

-More effort.

-Wipe upwards!

-More effort. That's it.

Oh, look, now the suckers are working, aren't they?

Oh, but he has no suckers on his feet!

Use your body, use your body, use your body.

-Don't stand up.

-Use the squeegee!

Ah, yes, they want you to use the squeegee and use the suckers!

He seems to be sort of stuck, doesn't he?

Do it side-to-side. Like that, yeah.

-GUINEA PIG:

-Side-to-side, up and down, make your mind up!

Move forward.

You're not going anywhere!

He's stuck now. He's stuck. Oh, no, his un-stuck again.

Get moving. Use your fingers, your fingers as well!

Well, one thing is certainly working, isn't it?

The sucker pads are certainly working.

That's it come on, keep moving.

Scrape forwards and backwards!

Forwards and backwards!

-He's slightly stuck, isn't he? That's it, that's it.

-Keep moving!

How's he going to get up this last bit?

He's gone backwards. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!

I'm sorry we have to abandon plan. Abandon plan.

He's gone backwards, which means unfortunately the plan hasn't worked,

so unlucky, Guinea Pig, and unlucky, Yellow Team.

You did very well, there. It was working for a while, wasn't it?

What do you think went wrong?

It was the suction pads. They started coming off.

They had too much of that squidgy stuff on them.

Ahh.

Mr Guinea Pig, you did quite well, but you didn't win.

You're still a loser.

Ah, never mind.

That was the Yellow Team's plan, it didn't quite work.

Let's find out... BOOMING VOICE: ..the next plan.

The Blue Jets are Shannon, Richard and George,

stars of Friday Download among other things.

Can they upload the Guinea Pig to the top of the ramp?

See what I did there?

Who's been throwing cheese at my guinea pig?

Oh, no, wait. It's not cheese.

Ah, this must be the Blue Team's plan.

Now what do you call this plan?

This is Operation Sponge and Plunge.

-Sponge and Plunge?

-Yes.

So what have we got now, let's see Guinea Pig.

-What have you got?

-Well, we've got sponges...

and plunges.

Right so that's £2 of the £50 budget spent.

Where's the other 48. Did you spend it on hair gel?

Yes, you did, I know it!

So what is the plan, with your plan?

We're hoping that these sponges will sort of act, you know,

they'll sort of absorb all this...

-That's what a sponge does.

-..gooey stuff, you know?

Then we can use the plunges to sort of...

-Yeah, it's sort of...

-Like some Spider-man actions?

Yeah, exactly. That's, that's our inspiration.

-So you want this to absorb all the gunk...

-Yeah.

..and when that weighs me down having to use

all my upper body strength to climb to the top just using my arms.

-Yep, just like that.

-Could you make this any more difficult?

-I think you can do it.

-Do you think this will work? No? Not confident?

Well, maybe, maybe not. Maybe, maybe not.

-Thanks, guys.

-We believe in ourselves.

# They believe in themselves. #

That's all they need. Do you believe in yourself?

-No.

-Nah!

You look like a cheesy Dalek.

Operation Sponge and Plunge by Blue Jets.

They think that the many sponges attached to the guinea pig's body

will absorb the slime, making the ramp less slippery.

Then using the plunges our test dummy

can haul himself to the top of the ramp!

That's the plan anyway.

Are you ready? Let's count him in.

OK.

Three, two, one...

Go on, Guinea Pig! And he's off...

Oh, and he's slipping, and down he goes again.

Come on, you can do this.

Right take your time, step by step. Nice and slow.

Get down! Get down!

Oh, dear, I wonder how long all this has taken so far.

-Now you go on your stomach. There you go.

-He's trying again.

I don't want you to stand up, cos that's not working.

-Snow angel your way up.

-Oh, yes, that always works.

Believe you're Spider-Man, come on.

That's it, that's it.

You can do this.

He's still trying, he's still trying.

We're going forward, we're going forward.

It's not the end of the world.

That's the thing about the guinea pig, he never gives up!

-He never gives up.

-He's a fool.

-We should get somebody else in.

Oh, no, no, no! Nobody's stupid enough.

Come on, Guinea Pig, that's it!

Take it easy.

-Yes, he's nearly there!

-Yes!

No! He's down again.

You're nearly there, you're nearly there.

One more stand, one more sprint.

One more stand, take it easy.

Take it...

Oh, dear, he's going backwards, he's going backwards.

He's exhausted, he can do no more.

I think that's probably it.

Wait, he's up for one more.

Oh, he's trying for one more!

Down he's gone!

Down he goes.

Well done, though. You tried your best.

Guinea Pig, how did that feel?

Humiliating.

Why do we think it didn't work?

Well, I don't think it was anything to do with our actual design...

-No, yeah...

-I think it was the guinea pig himself.

Oh, you're blaming him?

-Yeah, I think...

-The design was flawless.

-Who are you blaming, Guinea Pig?

-You guys watch too much TV.

These things won't stick to the floor, they slide....

Whoa.

And he's down again.

You've tried, but once again...

you've failed.

The Green Dragons are Alex, Alex, Luke,

Alex, Alex, Alex and Alex.

When Luke gets older he wants to be a scientist

or a jet pilot.

Why not become a jet scientist?

Will his team ideas help the guinea pig fly

to the top of the slope?

I can't help but notice

he's not wearing anything more stupid than usual.

He only looks as dumb as he normally does. Why? What's your plan?

The Carpet Theory!

The carpet theory!

What does it involve?

Well, we were at school and we were thinking of different ideas.

We came up with the idea to have a carpet

that would stop the slip and then from there it evolved.

Ah, so it's not on him, he's going to be using a prop?

-Yes, he's going to be using a prop.

-Now what does this prop involve?

I'm fascinated to see if this works. You're going to bring it over to us.

-Why have I got a giant paint roller?

-Right.

-What am I painting?

Explain to him, what's he got to do?

He's got to run up the slope with that so the carpet comes down,

so he just runs on the carpet instead of the slime.

Oh! So he's got to deploy it, roll and walk at the same time?

Yes.

Let's hope your plan works. Are you feeling confident?

-Yes! 12 out of 10!

-12 out of 10?

-Yeah.

-That's pretty good, those are good odds.

The Carpet Theory.

The Green Dragons want the guinea pig to roll the carpet out

in front of him as he runs along the ramp,

placing the dry, non-slip carpet between his feet and the slime.

Will this plan hit the heights? Let's find out.

-Here we are.

-Let's go.

Three, two, one...

Go, Guinea Pig!

Oh, no, I see what you mean about the carpet.

Get on the carpet!

He's got to get on it, he's got to get on it.

-Yes!

-Oh, that's sort of working,

-but it's slipping a little bit underneath.

-Yes! Go on! Come on!

It's sort of getting there. Can he get up the peak?

That's the thing. He's got to get all the way up the peak. Oh!

He's run out of carpet!

He'll have to try another plan, he'll have to try another plan.

-Sprint up. Sprint up!

-He's going to try it.

-Dive! Dive!

-Hit the button and you've won.

So clo-o-o-o-o-o-ose!

Come on, surely one more go, you've got to try.

-Got to try harder.

-Pull the carpet, pull the carpet.

-That's it he says, "Pull the carpet."

-Stand on the carpet.

He's trying, this is a very good attempt.

This is a very good attempt, it could work.

NOOOO!

Oh, dear, I'm afraid that was the last attempt.

That's it, plan over.

Unlucky, Green Team. That means that nobody won the challenge.

-So close, but so far.

-So close and yet so far.

Ah, the Green Team's idea was actually a pretty good one.

Unfortunately, the carpet just didn't have enough traction.

Perhaps if they'd used a rolled up fluffy towel instead,

and the guinea pig had just kept moving,

rather than pausing before the steep incline

this might have just worked.

Stupid Guinea Pig!

Because he did get very, very close,

I'm going to actually award you five effort points.

CHEERING

Well done, Green Team.

Five effort points for the Greens there.

Very good and how are you feeling?

Bruised.

Time for the next challenge.

Now it's time for our teams to act on instinct.

It's the Brainless Challenge.

"Don't be afraid of silly ideas." Paul Arden.

Yes, it's time to use that bonkers part of the brain,

known as the...

HE BLOWS A RASPBERRY ..Area.

What have we got here? Well, each team has designated one dummy,

who's going to become their mummy.

And the artists, the other two members of the team,

have to cover your dummy

in this wonderful Egyptian cotton here.

And then they will become a mummy, we will then see them dance!

Ten points will be awarded to the team

with the best mummy and the sweetest moves.

Are we ready for this?

-ALL:

-Yes!

Here we go! Make your mummies! Go! Quick, quick, quick!

Get it all on. That's the best bit.

Remember, I want to see those mummies dance.

But if it's too easy you won't get points.

Go for the face, go for the face. Get some on the head.

Oh, good work from the Blues, there.

That's it. Doing well.

What's that? That's it.

You've got three seconds left.

KLAXON SOUNDS Ooh!

Step away from the mummies.

Step away, step away and let's have a look.

Ah, look at that.

Time to see some dancing.

MUSIC PLAYS

BREAKING WIND SOUND EFFECT

Now the winners...

I thought that was very good stuff you did there, Dr Armin.

It was sort of exotic and slightly Egyptian,

which was very good with the mummy.

So I'm awarding ten points to the Yellow Team.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Time to turn off the silly part of the brain. Ready?

THEY GURGLE

And so with the Yellow team at this point an eencie-weencie, ickle-little

bit, tiny bit in the lead, it's all to play for in the next round...

BOOMING VOICE:..Inspiration!

Oh, I've done it again.

We have here a bowl of ice in cold water.

Here we have a bowl of nothing in nothing.

What you need to do is get the ice cubes out of the water

and into the bowl full of nothing using only these props.

Salt, a scrubbing brush, a whisk, cotton wool, scissors, a pump,

drinking straws, a feather duster, a roll of paper and two bananas.

Start thinking now.

'We gave our teams just a couple of minutes to think about their answers.

'Remember, the golden rule is you mustn't touch the ice

'with your fingers, cos it's really cold, innit?'

So thinking time is all up. Everybody, let's see your boards.

The Yellow Team, would you like to explain to me what you've done there?

Well, we decided to get our cotton wool touching the ice slightly

and sprinkle some salt on the ice.

Then if you put the cotton on the ice cube,

-the cotton will stick to the ice cube.

-Why will that happen?

-I think it has some chemicals inside the salt...

-Chemicals?

..that reacts to the ice,

and makes it stick with a material that is touching the ice.

So, Green Team, let's hear your idea. How do you think you can do it?

Our idea is very similar, but instead of using a slab

of cotton wool, we're actually going to make it into string.

We're going to put the salt on top of the string

instead of putting it on before.

I see. Also using the salt.

All thinking alike.

I like this.

Ooh, the Yellows and Greens are on to something here.

The salt, or sodium chloride as we scientists like to call it,

will indeed melt the ice, which, given enough time,

will refreeze over the cotton wool, attaching it firmly, hopefully.

Well, let's see it then. Let's try it.

-How do you sprinkle the salt?

-Oh, that's up to you.

On to the ice.

It doesn't want to go on the ice.

Oh, now it's going on the ice.

THEY LAUGH

That worked really well, didn't it?

Well done, Yellow Team.

That hasn't quite worked.

Carry on, now. This is what's called a setback.

If at first we don't succeed, we try, try and we try again.

Let's see.

Oh. It's nearly... Now don't you touch it with your fingers.

Remember mustn't touch it with your fingers.

OK, I'm going to give you five seconds to make it work.

-Are you ready?

-No.

-Five...four...three...

-two...one...

-Make it work.

KLAXON SOUNDS

I'm afraid the cotton wool didn't quite work. Unlucky, Yellow Team.

I think the principle was pretty good, wasn't it,

what they were trying to do, there.

It started to work, and then it failed miserably at the end.

Unlucky, Yellow Team, back to your seats. But well done, good try.

Green Team, come on, let's try it.

Come, come. Come, come.

-Let's try it. What have you got?

-Cotton wool and salt.

Salt again.

Your time starts now.

Ah, now then.

-What's that doing? Why are you rubbing it?

-It's making it thinner.

It makes it thinner, I see.

Now here we go. Over to the bowl itself.

Pouring salt on to the ice there.

Dr Alex, you're holding the cotton wool on there

and concentrating very hard.

That'll be enough.

Ah, I see. What are you going to do now, then?

-Dr Luke, what's going to happen?

-We're going to leave it.

Well, we're going to leave it in and then the chemical reaction

should be able to stick it.

That's their formula, but will it work?

That's it. Do we think...? Oh! Oh, now something's happened there.

Some sort of reaction has happened.

Ah, now look, look, look.

That's it. Now get it in the bowl. If you want ten points,

you need to get it in the bowl. Quickly. You mustn't drop it.

If it hits the floor...

Oh, now don't forget, you mustn't touch it with your fingers.

This is very good. This is very good.

Here they go.

And there it is! Well done to the Green Team.

You managed to get two. Well done, well done. Ten points to the Greens.

Now the Blue Team. Let's see your plan. Let's have a look.

Well, we've avoided the whole science approach.

-As you can see here, here's the two bowls.

-Yes.

That's the one with the ice in.

Looks like a smiley face.

We are going to take some paper, double the paper over a few times.

-Right.

-To make it thick.

Yeah, and then scoop it under the ice.

-Yes.

-And just walk over with...

So it will sort of sieve it out, if you see what I mean?

-Fingers crossed.

-Oh.

Oh, good. Well, let's have a look and see if your plan works.

A bit of folding work.

MUSIC: "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby

Don't you touch the bowl.

-It's all over my shoes.

-You've got to sacrifice the shoes.

It's worked!

-Yes!

-Come on!

You get ten points. Well done, Blue Team. Go and have a seat.

We actually did it.

Who would have thought that would work? Not me.

So for the right idea but a slightly clumsy execution,

five points to the Yellow Blazers.

For a rather inelegant but effective solution,

ten points to the Blue Jets.

For using great science in their answer,

ten points to the Green Dragons.

It really is all to play for in this...

BOOMING VOICE:..the final round.

Shall we do it?

-ALL:

-Yes!

Hands on your brains. What's the scientific name for carbon dioxide?

-ANNOUNCER:

-The Yellow Blazers.

CO2.

CO2 is right. Name a planet in our solar system beginning with J.

-ANNOUNCER:

-Green Dragons.

-Jupiter.

-Jupiter is right.

Why did I fall out with my neighbour Carl?

-Cos the dog peed on your lawn.

-Is the right answer.

What material found in the centre of a pencil can you write with?

-Lead.

-Is the wrong answer. Pass it over.

-Graphite.

-Is right.

What is sodium chloride more commonly known as?

Salt.

-Yes, very good.

-Thank you.

What tree do conkers come from?

Conker trees.

No.

Horse chestnut.

Horse chestnut is right.

Chickens are descended from dinosaurs. True or false?

-False.

-Nah, it's true. T-Rexes.

I'm afraid it's true.

I have 60 banana muffins. Guinea Pig eats 33. How many do I have left?

27.

Is the right answer.

KLAXON SOUNDS

Oh, that's it. Time is up. That's all the questions.

Now time to find out the scores.

In third place with 14 points...

it's the Blue Jets.

In second place with 17 points...

it's the Yellow Blazers.

Which means our winners with a magnificent 23 points

are the Green Dragons!

CHEERING

Come on and join me.

Well done.

Magnificent work there, Green Dragons.

What do you think was the secret of your triumph?

-Our minds.

-Your minds.

Well done, and commiserations to our other two teams.

It's time now to come down and bow to your superiors.

Yes, they are the Ultimate Brains. It is our Green Dragons.

-Have you enjoyed yourselves?

-Yes.

-You've had fun?

-Fantastic.

You lot, have you had a good time?

Such a good time. Thanks for having us.

I'm so glad. Join us next time for more Ultimate Brain!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE