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Squiz Kids it's your daily news fix fun free fresh.
Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids Today your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Christi Kidgerina, it's Wednesday April In Squiz Kids today, cheers for a chicken jockey!
Alaska's bin busting bears, a Peter Pan toad and British slang goes bonkers.
That's what's making news kid style.
The Lowdown If I start the lowdown today with the words chicken jockey I reckon a lot of you will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Yep. The Minecraft movie is here.
And despite some critics calling it a disaster, it's gone and smashed a record like a pickaxe through stone.
In its opening weekend, the movie raked in a jaw -dropping $493 million Aussie dollars.
More than doubling the record set by the Super Mario Bros.
movie in 2023. Making it the biggest video game movie launch ever.
Experts say part of its success is down to how it mimics viral short -form video with fast -paced action and clippable moments.
Especially a little scene featuring Jack Black and a certain surprise entrance dropping into a boxing ring.
No spoilers. And the crowd loses it.
Videos of cinemagoers cheering, filming and posting online have gone viral.
Some adults weren't impressed by the chaos, posting online complaints about the cheering and applause.
But for Minecraft fans?
Well, let's just say it looks like an epic win.
Spin the globe! Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops, and today we've landed way up north in Alaska, where a group of grizzly bears has been given a job.
They're trying to break into rubbish bins.
Yup, the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage has teamed up with the state's waste department to test brand new bins.
And the goal? To make sure they're tough enough to stand up to a determined bear with a nose for snacks.
So why is that important?
Well, once a bear learns that bins mean food, it can start returning to campsites, neighborhoods or rubbish dumps.
That's risky for people and bad news for the bears.
Bears that get too used to humans or human food can become aggressive and sometimes have to be put down.
So even though no bin is totally bear proof, making them strong and hard to open helps keep wild bears and people safe.
And yes, of course, I've popped a link to the testing video in your episode notes.
It's a must watch if you want to see a bear with a bin on its head, or is that just me?
Weird Science. Now you might know that at Squiz Kids, we're big on raising awareness about invasive species and one of Australia's worst offenders is the toxic, warty and frankly not so cute cane toad.
They've been spreading fast across the country and current control methods like catching and freezing well they're a bit rough and we're not exactly winning either but Aussie scientists are on the case and they've come up with a mind -blowing new approach that could change everything.
Using a technique called gene editing, where scientists carefully change or remove a small part of an animal's instructions for growing, they have stopped cane toad eggs from turning into adult toads.
The result? Tadpoles that never grow up, nicknamed Peter Pan toads like a boy from the fairytale.
Even wilder, these super tadpoles are hungry, gobbling up the eggs of their brothers and sisters and eating three times as many cane toad eggs as normal.
And they mostly ignore frog eggs which is great news for native species.
With over 200 million cane toads in Australia this new method could help bring the population under control.
Trials in the wild begin later this year and if it works it could be a totally clever solution.
If you thought the last story was proper bonkers you're gonna lose the plot over this one.
Once upon a time it was Aussie and British kids copying American words like calling Lolly's candy or saying awesome or gotten but now it's American kids who are going mad for British slang.
Thanks to the rise of British shows like The Great British Bake Off or Peppa Pig, and let's be honest, the internet, heaps of US teens are picking up words like cue instead of line, calling something cheeky instead of silly, and saying wonky, nutter or dodgy when things get weird. And the fastest growing word of all, bonkers, Which, let's face it, is a bit bonkers in itself.
And don't forget that bluey is the reason some American kids are now saying dunny instead of bathroom.
So, what Aussie word should we get them saying next?
Mossy, brolly, bogan?
I reckon Trackydax deserves its moment in the sunlight.
Hey kids, just a quick message before we hop into the quiz.
Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who signed our petition calling for the Australian government to fund digital literacy education in our schools and help save Squizzy the news hound.
Thanks to you, we hit the 10 ,000 signature mark over the weekend, but we really wanna hit 20 ,000 by the time the election rolls around in just about a month.
So, if you haven't signed, do me a favor and pop on over to the Squiz kids website, squizkids .com .au and add your name to this very important cause and tell your friends to do it too.
Time for the squiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
question number one which two words are sending minecraft movie viewers bonkers yep that would be chicken jockey question number two how many cane toads are estimated to be in Australia well done if you said a whopping two hundred million question number three Which words do I think should be introduced to Americans?
I'll give you a hint.
They are very comfy Yeah, I'd love them to be saying tracky -dacks Shout outs its Wednesday April 9 National Unicorn Day Did you know the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
That's right, a magical creature with a twisty horn and flowing mane is one of Scotland's official symbols.
Some people thought unicorns were real thanks to travelers bringing back stories and gnar -wall tusks.
Today is also a special day for these Squiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
Andrew from Hawthorn East, Julian from Jaggarra country, Sumea from Point Cook and Alex from the Gold Coast. Classroom shout outs today go to Class 4 Blue with Miss B at Mount St. Patrick College in Mullumbah, Class Bumburong 2 with Miss Hickey at Goo Gong Public School Class 5 SM with Miss Malone at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Cooringal.
And lastly, but definitely not leastly, golden bears with Ms. G at Rocketship Rising Stars Academy in San Jose, California.
Hello to you! And a quick reminder that if you celebrate a birthday over the school holiday break, send us your birthday shout out by this Friday, April 11, and we'll make sure to include you in the weekly quizzes that'll be going out each Friday of the school holidays.
And if you do want a shout out, or if you're after a classroom shout out, just drop us a line at squizkids at thesquiz .com .au, 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.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
