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Good morning and welcome to Kid News.
I'm Kim. Today is Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024, and we begin with what could be a sour switcheroo for trick -or -treaters.
People who study the kinds of candy given out at Halloween say less will be chocolatey this year and more will be fruity and tangy.
The reason? Chocolate is getting more expensive, with cocoa prices up more than double due to extreme weather and a drought in West Africa, which produces about 70 % of the world's supply.
As a result, adults looking to stock up for the big night are bypassing the pricey stuff and reaching for sugary substitutes like gummy bears and Sour Patch Kits.
But, as we reported yesterday, the most popular Halloween candy isn't chocolate anyway.
It's candy corn. The small pyramid -shaped three -colored waxy candy was invented in the 1890s in Philadelphia, and it's still going strong 130 years later.
As far as sweets go, candy corn is near the top of the charts for having the most carbohydrates, and now there's scientific evidence that our love of it might be rooted in our DNA.
Scientists have found the gene that makes us crave carbs dates back 800 ,000 years to our ancestors, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.
Those with more copies of the gene had an easier time digesting starchy food, which helped them adapt to new diets, which helped them survive.
Researchers say the knowledge they've gained will help them understand why we find foods like french fries and warm bread so irresistible.
The study is published in the journal Science.
Speaking of fries, they briefly took center stage in the U .S.
presidential election, which is exactly two weeks from today.
The two candidates both spent the weekend stumping, but took their messages to two different battleground states.
Vice President Kamala Harris went to a church in Atlanta, Georgia, while former President Donald Trump worked the french fryer at a McDonald's in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
VP Harris will participate in a CNN town hall tomorrow.
Mr. Trump will host a rally in North Carolina this afternoon.
The island nation of Cuba can't catch a break.
Hurricane Oscar made landfall there Sunday night, two days after the country's entire electrical grid collapsed and plunged everyone into darkness.
It's not just a matter of lights.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the failure of Cuba's aging and long problematic power grid has rocked an already struggling economy, with outages affecting everything from running water to ATMs, refrigeration and air conditioning.
All schools on the island have had to close, and at night, residents are banging pots and pans in protest.
As of yesterday, about half the island had power restored, but rolling blackouts are expected to last for months.
The Great Pyramids of Egypt are about 4 ,500 years old.
And of course, visitors are not allowed to climb on them as they are very fragile.
But apparently dogs didn't get the memo.
Last week, some paragliders sailing over the top of one of them spotted something odd and zoomed in with their cameras to get a better look.
Turns out, it was a pooch running around and chasing birds at the top of Khafre, the second tallest of all Egyptian pyramids at 448 feet.
They worried the dog might have been stuck there, but when they returned the next day, he was gone, and another paraglider shot video of what looked like the same dog making his way down.
Still to come, what do Madagascar frogs and the final frontier have in common?
We'll explain. But first, today's Kid News Quiz.
Why might your trick -or -treat bag be a little light on chocolate this year?
Because of the high price of cocoa.
What double whammy hit the Caribbean island nation of Cuba?
Hurricane Oscar and a nationwide failure of its electric grid.
A dog climbed a pyramid in Egypt that is how tall.
Khafre is 448 feet.
How long until election day?
It's exactly two weeks from today.
In today's Kid News Kicker, seven newly discovered frog species have been named after Star Trek captains.
The frogs were found on the island of Madagascar, which is located east of the continent of Africa.
Instead of croaking, these frogs make whistling noises that the researchers say sound like sound effects from Star Trek.
They also note it takes quite a trek to get to the frog's location.
So they named the tiny creatures Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Burnham and Pike.
It wasn't really hard to name the frogs after the fictional commanders.
The researchers merely said, make it so.
Before we go, we want to say hello to our Kid News classrooms.
Ms. Schoening and her Lynx at Lynnhaven in San Jose, California.
Mrs. Kurth and her Hawks at Hickory Grove in Dunlap, Illinois.
And Mrs. Austin and Lenore the therapy dog, Owosso Trojans Blue and Gold at Bryant in Owosso, Michigan.
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Have a great day and we'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.
