Squeeze Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermary people.
Squeeze Kids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun free, fresh and welcome to Squiz Kids Today, your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Christy Kidgerina.
It's Wednesday, December 3.
In Squiz Kids Today, action on supercharged e-bikes.
There's a bear in the air. yard sausage burials and some sticky science.
That's what's making news kid style.
The Lowdown.
Have you seen kids zooming around on e-bikes lately?
All across Australia.
They're becoming super popular, but some of them are also super powerful, which is why governments and police are stepping in.
Most e-bikes are totally fine.
They're designed to help you pedal until you reach 25 kilometers an hour, which is pretty fast, by the way.
But police in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria say that more and more kids are riding super-powered electric bikes that can go as fast as motorbikes.
Some have been clocked at 70 to 90 kilometers an hour, which is way faster than a bike is meant to go and has led to some very serious crashes.
So, leaders around the country are hitting the brakes.
In New South Wales.
The government is tightening rules so only the safe, slower e-bikes are allowed on roads and footpaths.
In Queensland, police are running special crackdowns, seizing illegal bikes and warning families about buying the wrong kind online.
And in Victoria, police say that if a bike is powerful enough to be a motorbike, they're going to treat it like one, with fines, confiscations and strict road safety checks.
And a quick message for all you kids, if your parents have said...
Hmm, maybe not an e-bike for Christmas.
I promise they're not trying to spoil your fun.
They're just trying to keep you safe.
Loads of families are making the same call right now.
And if you do have an e-bike, make sure it's the legal kind.
Always always, wear a helmet, ride slowly around others and remember footpaths and shared paths are for sharing.
Staying safe and helping others to feel safe is the real power-up.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops.
And today we've landed in England, where students are leading a very important search mission for a missing teddy bear.
Last month, Year 7 and 8 students at Walhampton School, working with the Southampton University Space Flight Society, spent weeks planning a high altitude science experiment.
They were gonna launch a weather balloon into the stratosphere complete with cameras, sensors and two passengers, Bradfield Bear their class mascot and a toy badger named Bill.
The balloon soared to an incredible 27 kilometres above Earth, capturing spectacular footage as it climbed.
But somewhere over Henley-on-Thames, Bradfield was jostled loose and drifted away.
I've popped a link to a remarkable video in your episode notes.
The balloon and Badger Bill landed safely back in a field, but Bradfield hasn't been spotted since.
The school has now issued a Facebook alert asking locals to check their gardens rooftops, sheds and hedges for any sign of the missing space traveller.
Teachers and students remain hopeful as the mission to bring Bradfield Bear home continues.
Music weirdest thing you've ever found stuck under your school desk.
All right, don't answer that question, because while some gum at school might be a few years old, the gum in this story is 10, 500 years old.
Yep, 10500.
No wonder you're not supposed to have it in class.
Archaeologists in Estonia have discovered a piece of ancient gum.
It's not mint, watermelon or bubble blast, but it's a wad of birch bark tar.
Now, Birch bark tar is like the ancient world's blue tack.
It's a sticky black goo made by heating up the bark of birch bark. birch trees.
It was strong enough to glue tools together, waterproof enough to patch cracks and soft enough that chewing it helped to warm it up so people could mould it.
When scientists analysed the DNA trapped inside the tar, they discovered that it had been chewed by a teenage girl with brown hair and brown eyes.
Big surprise, because many people assumed that Northern Europeans at the time all had blonde hair and blue eyes.
Other ancient wards discovered have had multiple sets of tooth marks, suggesting that some people had shared theirs.
Oh, just no.
And speaking of gum, this Saturday's Squiz Kids Science Short is all about chewing gum.
Can we stick to the fats?
Tune in and find out.
Pop Culture Corner.
From chewing gum to burying sausages.
Yes, really.
Thanks to social media and an old European superstition, some engaged couples in Australia are now digging tiny sausage graves in the backyard, all in the hope of the perfect wedding weather.
The tradition, which likely comes from parts of Central Europe and the United Kingdom, goes like this
Bury a sausage before the big day and hope the weather behaves.
Rural cooked?
Doesn't matter.
Pork?
Beef or chicken, you choose.
The rules are kind of fuzzy.
A couple in the Adelaide Hills even buried a raw sausage with their bridal party and chanted rain away, rain away, but still ended up with more than 20mm of rain on the big day.
You could say their good weather wishes hit a snag.
Oh, that mum joke alarm strikes again.
Oh, my days.
Christmas is getting closer and closer.
And here at Squiz Kids HQ, we are on high alert because the big bloke in red could land on our rooftop anytime. any day, any moment and we need to be ready because he's agreed to take the Squiz Kids Q&A hot seat again this year.
But he's super busy so we need all your Santa questions in by Friday.
If you've ever wanted to ask him how reindeer fly, how magic works or whether he actually likes those fruit mince pies, now's your chance.
You can hop on our website and record your, And while we wait for the Slater touchdown, has one of Santa's scout elves arrived at your place yet.
Remember, they're watching, they're reporting back to Santa and wow are they getting into some wild positions.
One was even found inside a taco.
A taco!
We've got your best Elf on the Shelf pics up on social media.
Get an adult to take a look on Instagram and make sure to send us yours and we'll post it.
And yes, there is a prize for the wackiest elf hiding spot.
So get those Santa questions in, keep an eye on your elf and let the Christmas countdown begin.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one, legal e-bikes in Australia must cut out at what speed?
Is it A, 10 kilometres an hour, B, 25 kilometres an hour or C, 100 kilometres an hour?
Excellent work if you answered B, 25 kilometres an hour.
Question number two.
Scientists discovered that the Stone Age teenager who chewed the ancient gum had what colour hair and eyes?
That's right she had brown hair and brown eyes.
Question number three.
What are some Aussies doing in the hopes of getting good weather on their wedding day?
If you answered burying a sausage, you are correct.
Yeah!
Shout out.
It's Wednesday, December 3rd.
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
And this year it's all about making sure everyone, no matter their abilities, can fully participate, be supported and feel included in their communities.
Now that is worth us all getting behind.
It's also a special day for these quiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
Perina and Austin from Vermont, South Olivia from Indooroopilly, Jet from Exeter, May from Eglinton, Hudson from Pakenham, Charlie from Mount Pleasant, Amelia from Carlingford, Clancy from North Sydney, Jock from Red Creek and Gabrielle from Kyle Bay.
And belated birthday shoutouts go to Millie from Paddington, Parker from Currie Currie and Marco from Sydney.
Classroom shoutouts today go to Class 4E with Mr Evans at the Anglican School in Googong.
Prep. with Madame L at Whites Hill State College.
And lastly but definitely not leastly, Class 5L at Thomas Hassell Anglican College in Middleton Grange, and a very happy birthday to their teacher, Mrs Bai.
And a reminder if you're celebrating a birthday over the Christmas break, send us your birthday shout out by Friday, December 12.
And we'll make sure that we include your birthday shout out in the weekly quizzes that will be going out each Friday over the school holidays.
So don't forget, if you have got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out, or if you're after a classroom shout out, you're better getting quick.
If you want it this year, drop us a line at squizkidsatthesquizcomau or you can fill out the form on our website.
And that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squeeze Kids today.
We'll be back again tomorrow.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
