Squeeze Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
Squeeze Kids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun, free, fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squeeze Kids today.
Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Christy Kijerina.
It's Wednesday, March 18th. in Squiz Kids today, basketball madness in the US, demon hunters conquer the Oscars, the croc that hunted our ancestors and the search for future Olympians.
That's what's making news kids style.
The Lowdown.
How old are you going to be in 2032?
And what do you think you'll be doing?
Because in seven years time, The 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games and the 2032 Summer Paralympics will be held right here in Australia.
And the search for athletes to compete in them has officially begun.
The Australian Institute of Sport has launched a nationwide talent search with some of Australia's top athletes hoping to spread the word and get involved in the program.
The idea is to find young Australians who might not even know they've got Olympic or Paralympic potential yet.
Testing sessions will be held around the country for people aged roughly 13 to 23.
And you don't need to be an elite athlete.
Instead, the AIS is looking for natural ability.
Things like speed, strength, coordination and reaction time.
And then matching those traits to sports where the athletes are most likely to succeed.
It's the same kind of system that's helped uncover talent in the past, turning everyday kids into elite athletes.
So while most of us are still figuring out what we'll be doing in 2032, some of Australia's future Olympians might just be getting their start right now.
We'll pop a link where you can find out more in the episode notes.
Spin the globe.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a new story from wherever it stops.
And today we've landed in the United States, where one of the biggest sporting events of the year has just tipped off.
March Madness.
It's officially called the National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Tournament.
The NCAA is the organisation that runs sport between American universities.
And this is a giant knockout basketball tournament featuring the best university teams from across the country.
Now here's something that might surprise Aussie kids.
In the United States, college sport is really big.
Universities have huge stadiums, massive crowds and games that are broadcast on national television.
Many of the country's best athletes play for their university first before going professional.
Think Michael Jordan or Steph Curry.
The men's tournament features 68 teams, and March Madness is famous for what's called Cinderella teams.
That's small universities that suddenly beat the big teams and make an unexpected run through the tournament.
And there's also a huge women's tournament happening at the same time, where top teams like University of Connecticut Huskies are chasing the championship.
Over the next three weeks, the tournament will shrink from dozens of teams down to just one men's champion and one women's champion, with much of the nation awaiting the result, which is why Americans call it March Madness.
Ancient Earth, Long before humans ruled the planet, Rivers were ruled by ambush predators, animals that wait perfectly still before suddenly striking.
Now researchers studying fossils in Ethiopia in Africa, say one of those predators may have been hunting our ancient ancestors.
They've identified a previously unknown crocodile species called Crocodylus lucifinata, which translates to Lucy Hunter.
The name comes from Lucy, one of the most famous early human ancestor fossils ever discovered.
Lucy was found in 1974.
She belonged to a species called Australopithecus afarensis and lived in East Africa more than 3 million years ago, when early humans had begun walking upright but still shared their world with powerful predators.
This crocodile could grow up to 4 or 5 metres long.
That's about 13 to 16 feet, roughly the length of a small bus.
That made it the top predator in rivers and wetlands where Lucy's species lived.
Scientists say if Lucy and her family came down to the water for a drink, there's a very good chance.
Something like this crocodile was waiting nearby.
Sheesh, the ancient world was a dangerous place.
As if defeating Gui Ma wasn't enough, as if protecting the Hon Moon wasn't a big enough achievement.
K-pop demon hunters Rumi, Mira and Zoe swept the pool at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Monday, making history for their homeland of Korea.
The movie won Best Animated Feature.
That's a first for Korea.
The song Golden won the Oscar for the best song, and its performance during the star-studded ceremony brought the house down.
Also bringing the house down and making a little bit of Oscar history was the filmmaker, Autumn Durald-Akapoor, who was honoured for her cinematography work on the movie Sinners.
Cinematography is the art of using light landscape, movement and composition to tell a story in film.
It is an incredible art form.
And on Monday, Orton became the first woman and the first black person in the history of the Oscars to win the important award.
During her speech, she asked every woman in the auditorium to stand up saying she wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for them.
Just goosebumps.
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.
Nice work, people, if you said 2032.
Question number two what phrase is used to describe small universities that suddenly beat the big teams during March Madness?
And I'll give you a hint, they're named after a Disney princess.
Yeah, that's right, they are called Cinderella teams.
Question number three, the newly identified crocodile species is called Crocodylus lucifinata.
What does Luciminator mean?
Yep, terrifyingly, it means Lucy Hunter.
Shout out.
It's Wednesday, March 18.
Today is Global Recycling Day, a day that reminds us that many of the things that we throw away still have value.
Instead of thinking of old bottles, cans and paper as waste, the idea is to think of them as resources that can be turned into something new.
Your challenge today.
Before you toss something in the bin, check if it can go in the recycling instead.
And if it's bottles or cans, maybe you can make yourself some bin coin too.
It's also a special day for these squeeze kids celebrating a birthday today.
Tyler from Forest Lake, Charlotte from Rosewood, Crystal from Gladstone, Romani from Coggera, Elwood from Arncliffe, Marco from Cheltenham and Arthur from Mount Riverview.
The latest birthday shoutouts today go to Nala from Watervale, Maeve from Croydon and Arsh from the Central Coast.
Classroom shout-outs.
Today go to Year 4-5 class with Ms Amy and Ms Lazarus at Cowandilla Primary School.
Class 6MC with Ms McKelvie at Yarrabilba Primary School.
Class Honolulu 4 with Ms Hanson at Banks Public School in St Clair.
Class 5-6 Senior Nielsens with Ms Prayed at Avoca State School.
And lastly, but definitely not leastly, the students with Miss Fagan, Mr Edwards and Miss Austin at the Lara Public School.
And don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out, or if your class is after a classroom shout out, you can drop us a line at squizkids at thesquizcomau, or you can 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.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
