Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids Today, your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Bryce Corbett.
It's Monday, February 23rd.
In Squiz Kids today, is the moon the eighth continent?
Historic tortoise release on Galapagos Islands.
Aussie Olympic flag bearers revealed and punch the lonely monkey.
That's what's making news, kids style.
The Lowdown.
Is it possible that the moon is the Earth's eighth continent?
That's one of the questions that could be answered when astronauts take an historic trip to the far side of the moon as part of the great race to the lunar surface.
Are you ready for some outer space concepts that will blow your little minds?
Okay, here goes.
Scientists have long worked on the theory that the moon was formed billions of years ago, after a planet around about the size of Mars smashed into Earth and broke up into smaller pieces.
Now, according to this theory, the explosion that took place about 45 billion years ago sent bits of this smaller planet, mixed with bits of the Earth, ricocheting back out into space in molten rock form, which is to say, a kind of liquid rock, and that that liquid rock eventually cooled and became the Moon, which is why some scientists refer to the moon as Earth's eighth continent.
It's one of the mysteries that scientists hope to unravel when the next human mission to the moon, called Artemis II, eventually lifts off.
Four astronauts are currently primed and ready to clamber into the rocket to take a 10-day trip out into space, spinning out around the far side of the moon, a part of the moon that we don't know all that much about.
Now, exactly when that mission will have liftoff suffered a little bit of a setback yesterday when engineers found a problem with the helium flow, which is something that's crucial to a successful launch.
The mission had been earmarked for an early March blastoff.
But because it's such a complicated scientific process to get a rocket up into space and there are four human beings sitting in the capsule at the top of that massive rocket, safety has to be the number one concern.
Spin the globe.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops.
Today we've landed in Japan, where a baby monkey in a zoo has gone viral after forming a deep attachment with a stuffed toy orangutan.
The life of Punch the monkey got off to a pretty rough start.
He was rejected by his parents and yes, this can happen in the monkey world and ignored by other members of the monkey troupe.
Unfortunately for Punch, he only had his zookeepers to rely on for company, and they gave him a stuffed toy orangutan which he dragged around with him all over, the monkey enclosure video of which went online and went viral around the world.
Happily now though, the monkey tribe have started to take an interest in young Punch, with videos surfacing at the weekend of older members of the monkey troop picking nits and lice from Punch's fur.
I mean, it sounds like an odd way to show affection, but that's how it's done in the monkey world and, as any mum or dad out there will tell you, there's no greater test of love than combing nits out of your kid's hair.
Here's to a knit-free year.
Two of Australia's shining stars from the Winter Olympics have been selected to wave the flag at the closing ceremony, which takes place this morning.
Gold medal mogul skier Cooper Woods and silver medal aerial skier Danielle Scott have been chosen to fly the flag for Australia at what has been our most successful Winter Olympics ever.
The closing ceremony kicks off at 630am this morning and will take place in an old Roman Colosseum in the ancient city of Verona in Italy, where the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet was set.
So, you know, it's a pretty special venue.
And speaking of special, if you didn't see US figure skater Alyssa Liu's gold medal winning performance over the weekend, do yourself a favour and seek it out online.
She was hailed as a future champion at the age of 13, but the pressure of performing was so great that she retired at the age of 16, only to decide to come back many years later and compete in these Olympics, just for the fun of it, and she took home a gold medal for her troubles.
You see, everyone shines in their own time.
Animal Kingdom.
And so to the magical Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador we go, where more than 100 very special giant tortoises have been released to go and revive an ancient bloodline.
Hundreds of years ago, the population of giant tortoises on the island of Floriana was devastated, as sailors used to catch them and take them on long voyages to use for food.
Tortoise soup anyone?
Problem was, the practice was so widespread, the giant tortoises on Floriana became extinct.
But luckily, scientists recently found giant tortoises on a nearby island whose DNA pretty much matched the extinct giant tortoises on Floriana.
And through a conservation and breeding program, they managed to produce 128 healthy young tortoise who this weekend were released into the wild on Floriana to hopefully flourish and perform the important role that they once did maintaining the island's ecosystem.
Go you good things.
Q&A call out.
Attention all science lovers.
If you've ever wanted to ask Dr. Carl a question, now's your chance.
Australia's favourite science explainer has agreed to take the Squiz Kids hot seat to answer any questions you might have for him.
Send the questions in as a class.
Send them in as yourself.
Just send them in already.
Any pressing scientific question you might have.
Like, why is the sky blue?
Or, how did the moon form?
Or, why is Bryce such a cool dude?
You never know.
That might be scientific.
Just get cracking because the cutoff for questions is next Tuesday.
And while I've got you, stay tuned later this week for details of a very exciting new Squiz Kids competition which could see you and a parent flying to Canberra for a couple of days.
I can't say too much right now, but keep listening.
It's exciting.
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.
Some scientists have long worked on the theory that the moon is in fact the what continent of Earth?
Is it the 7th, the 8th or the 9th?
And see how I avoided saying 6, 7 there.
Sorry, teachers.
Yes, the answer is eighth.
Question number two.
Starting with G?
What's the name of the famous group of islands off the coast of Ecuador where giant tortoises have just been released?
Did you say Galapagos Islands?
Well done to you.
Question number three.
What's the name of the baby monkey in Japan that went viral last week with his stuffed toy, orangutang?
Yep, that's right.
His name is Punch.
Shout out.
It's Monday, February 23.
Today is National Banana Bread Day.
Mmm.
It's also a special day today for these squiz kids celebrating a birthday today and tomorrow.
Edward from Pimble, Anna from Lugano, Landon from Forest Lake, Jack from Melbourne, Robert from Taramara, William from Mansfield and Eddie from Yass.
And for later, birthday shoutouts go to Danica and Taylor from Rose Bay, William from Cogra and Elijah from Edensa Park.
And classroom shoutouts today go to grades 4, 5 and 6 with Miss M and Wendy at Goornong Primary School.
To the students with Miss Clark, Miss Beard and Mr Simone at Mount Riverview Public School.
And to Class 5-6G with Miss Gillespie at Lucas Heights Community School in Barden Ridge.
And a special belated birthday shout out to Miss Hughes from Minambah State School in Morayfield, who celebrated a significant birthday over the weekend.
Hope you had fun.
Don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out, or if you're after a classroom shout-out, drop us a line at squizkids at thesquizcomau, or fill out the form on our website.
Well, that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today.
We'll be back again tomorrow with a special Squiz the World episode, a brand new one, as we jump into the super-fast, supersonic Squiz Kids jetliner and pay a virtual visit to the amazing country of Colombia.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
