Good morning and welcome to Kid News.
I'm Kim.
Today is Wednesday, February 25th, 2026, and we begin with a cosmic phenomenon in the making.
This coming Saturday evening, about 30 minutes after sunset Mercury Venus Neptune Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter will form a rare planetary parade across the night sky.
They aren't really in a line.
They'll just appear that way because their individual orbits have conveniently placed them on the same side of the Sun.
For the best chance of seeing all six, skies must be clear and you'll need an unobstructed view to the western horizon.
Four of the planets will be visible to the naked eye, but it'll take binoculars or a telescope to make out Uranus and Neptune.
If you miss Saturday's show, a five-planet parade should march through the sky two and a half years from now, in October of 2028.
For the first time in its history, Boston Globe readers will get yesterday's paper today.
And the blame for that falls on Old Man Winter.
As the paper explained on its website, for more than 153 years the press workers of the Boston Globe have overcome the elements, technical snafus and global pandemics to print a daily newspaper.
But in an unprecedented decision, executives determined that the conditions during Monday's blizzard made it impossible to print and deliver a paper Tuesday morning.
32 inches of snow fell in the town of Taunton Massachusetts, where the presses are located.
An executive said even if they could get a crew in, they weren't sure they could get the trucks out.
It's the first time the Globe called off daily production of the paper since its founding in 1872.
To make up for it, the Globe will print and deliver Tuesday's and Wednesday's papers today.
If you couldn't get enough of the Winter Olympics, you weren't alone.
According to NBC, an average of 235 million viewers tuned in every day of the two-week competition across all of its platforms.
The final numbers are still being tabulated but if they hold, that would make Milano Cortina the most viewed winter game since 2014 in Sochi, with almost double the viewership of Beijing in 2022.
Front Office Sports looked for the why and found multiple possible reasons, including the favorable time difference between Italy and the US and a historically successful performance by Team USA.
Who watched the most?
Sports lovers in Milwaukee took the top spot, followed by those in Minneapolis, Fort Myers Florida, Pittsburgh and Dayton Ohio.
It's an annual optical illusion drawing big crowds and loads of cameras to Yosemite National Park in California.
Every year around this time, when the setting sun hits, the horsetail falls just right.
It turns the water pouring off El Capitan into what looks like a cascade of molten lava.
The phenomenon known as the firefall happens only in late February and only lasts a few minutes each time.
Behind the glow-up?
Science.
The firefall requires a wet winter to generate enough water coming over El Cap.
Combined with the late February sun which sits low in the sky, hitting the falls at a rare angle where light scatters, colors shift and the result is fleeting but magical.
A little luck doesn't hurt either.
A few clouds at the wrong time of day means no fire on Horsetail Falls and a lot of disappointed tourists below it.
It's official.
NASA's massive moon rocket is headed back to the shop for repairs.
Weather permitting, the 322-foot Space Launch System and Orion capsule will do a super slow roll, starting at 9 Eastern time this morning, from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The trip is only four miles, but will take upwards of 12 hours.
Once inside, engineers will build platforms to get access to the area near the top where there's a problem with helium flow.
The required work will ground the rocket until at least April 1st, which is when the next launch window for Artemis II opens.
Still to come, a new wearable tech for toots.
We'll try to explain.
But first, we want to wish Evelyn Davis in Seattle, Washington, a very happy 11th birthday.
Whether you're dancing on stage, beautifully playing piano, devouring giant books or acing math quizzes, your mom, dad and Diana are all so in awe of you and your kindness.
Happy, happy birthday, Evelyn.
Now, today's Kid News quiz.
When might we see a rare parade of six planets at once?
Saturday, 30 minutes after sundown.
The Boston Globe didn't print a paper yesterday for the first time in how many years?
153 due to the blizzard.
According to the ratings, which U.S. city watched the most Olympics?
Milwaukee.
What's the name of the waterfall that hosts an optical illusion this time of year?
Horsetail Falls in Yosemite.
In today's Kid News Kicker, we're not often at a loss for words, but this next story had us close.
Researchers are working on a Fitbit for flatulence.
It's a wearable device or, as Christopher Mims of the Wall Street Journal so eloquently put it, an underwearable device.
The prototype is the width of just three nickels and sits, well, where you think it would.
And it's not just there to count toots, but that's certainly part of it.
The goal is to measure hydrogen output, much like glucose monitors measure blood sugar and Apple Watches track your heart to better understand the whys behind stomach issues.
The device is now being field tested and so many people have signed up.
The University of Maryland, which is running the study, has to make more.
Funny side note before this Fitbit for farts their nickname, not ours could be tested on humans, researchers had to test them in a lab using mannequin butts attached to gas canisters so they could simulate breaking wind on command.
You can't make this up.
Mr. Mims, thank you for doing the heavy lifting on this one.
And thanks also to the Davises in Seattle, Washington for sponsoring today's quiz.
Happy birthday to Evelyn and hello to all her teachers and friends at Westside.
And hello to our other Kid News classrooms.
Ms.
Yu and her CASA 5 from Canary Curiosity to Axolotl Creativity at Eaton in Bellevue, Washington.
Mrs. Salava and her kind, hardworking class at Eagle Point in Oakdale, Minnesota.
Mr. Lawson and his pandas at Priory Park in Guelph, Ontario.
Mrs. Milhone and her students at Palm Beach Day Academy in Palm Beach, Florida.
And Mrs. Schrader and her blue devils at Theodore Robinson Intermediate in Evansville, Wisconsin.
Thanks for listening.
Please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts.
And we'll see you back here for more kid news tomorrow morning.
