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Good morning and welcome to KidNews.
I'm Kim. Today is Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, and we begin with actor Jack Black waiting into Minecraft movie mayhem.
For weeks now, theaters have been dealing with rowdy teens hurling popcorn when his yells, chicken jockey, and screaming at the top of their lungs at the line I am Steve.
It seems harmless, but not everyone is happy with the hijinks.
This weekend, Mr. Black made a cheeky, in -person appeal to an unsuspecting audience in LA.
Videos show him incognito impersonating a theater owner yelling, no throwing popcorn, and absolutely no chicken jockeys.
Then the big reveal, oh yeah, I am Steve.
Are you ready to rock?
Roll the projector.
The crowd went wild, and so is the film's box office.
A Minecraft movie has cleared 552 million in global ticket sales in less than two weeks.
It's the highest -grossing movie of the year in the U .S., and already one of the biggest video game adaptions of all time.
NASA is offering a $3 million prize to help it solve a stinky out -of -this -world problem.
Somehow, some way, the agency needs an answer on how to deal with human waste in space.
Right now there are 96 bags of poop sitting on the moon from the Apollo missions.
The goal of the Luna Recycle Challenge is to find a way to process the poo without adding to the growing mess and without having to bring it back to Earth.
The winning idea will be used in future missions, including plans for long -term outposts on lunar surface and beyond.
What do you get when a mouse watches the Matrix – apparently a scientific breakthrough?
A global team of 150 researchers genetically engineered a rodent to make nerve cells in its brain glow so they could see what connected to what and when.
Then, they showed the mouse snippets of sci -fi movies, sports, and nature.
Using high -tech microscopes and imaging, the scientists traced 84 ,000 neurons through 500 million junctions to create the largest functional map of a brain to date.
Picture 3D, super -colorful spaghetti.
Researchers liken their achievement to the Human Genome project, which opened the door to gene therapy.
This mapping, they say, will one day lead to better understanding of, and possibly treatment for, brain disorders, like Alzheimer's and autism.
Paige Beckers has an NCAA title under her belt and now she has Wings, Dallas Wings.
The UConn star, who just a week ago led her school to the pinnacle of March Madness, was selected with the first pick in Monday's WNBA draft. The Wings won only nine games last year and haven't seen major success since 2008.
The hope that she'll transform the team and the league just like Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese, Aja Wilson, and Sabrina Ionescu before her.
She's off to a good start.
Just days after Dallas announced it would go first in the draft, which meant they had the best chance of getting Paige, the team announced it had sold out of tickets for all of 2025.
In other Kid News Notes, remember the 5 .2 earthquake in Southern California we told you about yesterday?
Now there's video from the San Diego Zoo of how its elephants reacted.
One moment, they were sunning.
Then next, as the camera starts bouncing, you can see the adult pachyderms quickly form an alert circle around the younger ones.
The big ones backed in, tail -first pinning the babies inside.
Even after the shaking stopped, they stayed in their huddle, ears out and flapping in a defensive stance.
The video is remarkable.
we've put a link to it on our website.
And if you've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, tonight might be your chance.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says charged particles from the sun are colliding with gases in our atmosphere to create ribbons of light across the poles.
Canadians will have the best view, but residents of the Northern US from Washington to Maine will also have a fighting chance, especially if skies are clear.
Still to come, a cautionary tale about why penguins can't or more to the point, shouldn't fly.
But first we want to shout out Zach Edelson of Aspen, Colorado, for nailing his 360 this ski season.
Your Mimi and Emmy are so proud of you.
And we also hear that you're going to light up the stage this weekend in your first school play.
All of us at KidNews wish you the best. Now today's KidNews quiz.
Who showed up to a random showing of a Minecraft movie this weekend?
After Jack Black. NASA is offering $3 million to someone who can solve what problem?
Human waste in space.
What did a mouse watch to help researchers create the largest map of the brain to date?
The matrix, who went first and to where in the WNBA draft?
UConn star Page Becker's to the Dallas Wings.
In today's Kid News Kicker, can a penguin cause a midair mishap?
It can, and it did.
A helicopter flight taking off from Bird Island in South Africa crashed moments later when an unsecured penguin in a cardboard box slipped off the lap of a passenger and rammed into the chopper's controls.
The aircraft rolled right then hit the ground from a height of about 50 feet.
No one was injured, not even the penguin, but the helicopter is a mess.
As someone posted online, God will do anything to keep those penguins flightless.
And thank you to Rebecca Trafton, also known as Zach Edelson's Mimi, for sponsoring today's quiz.
And, Zach, congratulations on rocking your 360 this ski season!
We hope you say hello to stardom this weekend in your first school play.
And it's shout -out time for our teachers, Mrs. Stevens and her Bulldogs at Ruth Musser Middle School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, to Texas for Ms. LeBlanc and her Lightning Bugs at Serene Hills in Austin and Mrs. Crimmings and her science -loving Bearcats at Steward in Aledo.
Ms. Morganna, who'd like to shout out her winning avalanche basketball players, joyful cheerleaders and hard -working Sherpas at Everest in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
And Ms. Lynch and Stumpy the Pig at Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix, Arizona.
Thanks for listening.
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Have a great day and we'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.
