Hello and welcome to The Week Junior Show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Jo and Eve from The Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
In a week where Chancellor Rachel Rees revealed the autumn budget and COP30 talks came to an end, we're going to be talking about some of the other stories that inspired and entertained The Week Junior team.
And make sure you're listening closely, because at the end of this episode we'll be asking a question about what you've heard and And if you answer it correctly, you could win a prize.
But before we dive into this week's issue, Jo and Eve, there is something I want to talk to you about.
In the magazine this week there is a story about banknotes in Mexico that have become really popular because they feature a picture of an axolotl.
And that got me thinking, what is something you'd like to add to a banknote?
Eve, how about you?
I think I would go for a hazel dormouse because...
I was thinking axolotls are so cute and so are hazel dormice.
And I just want to keep that cute theme going.
It could be maybe a picture of it sort of curled up in a little ball.
It would just be really cute.
It would make it less scary spending money, wouldn't it?
Because you'd be like, oh, but it's just a cute animal on this piece of paper.
Exactly.
Joe, how about you?
So I was having to think about things that are British or really strongly associated with Britain.
And something that a lot of people in this country love is sport.
We're a proud sporting country.
And I thought about famous sporting moments.
But I thought that might be quite tricky because the different nations of the UK tend to compete separately.
But then I thought about the Olympics, which is one place where they all compete under one banner.
So maybe a picture of someone competing for Team GB in the Olympics a hurdler, a sprinter or something like that.
I thought that would be really nice.
That's a very smart idea because you're kind of covering a lot of the bases there.
Any person in particular that would spring to your mind that you would like to see on a note?
The first thing that came to mind, do you remember at the 2012 Olympics?
It was Super Saturday, wasn't it?
And I think, was it Greg Rutherford won?
Is his name Greg Rutherford?
Yeah, the long jump.
Yeah, and then Jess Ennis won that day.
And I think maybe Mo Farah won the same day as well.
There was a few that won on the same day and it was Super Saturday and it was incredible.
So maybe...
Maybe then?
That's a great idea.
I'm going to go on a similar theme as a person because I'm used to seeing people on banknotes.
And I was trying to think of who I like and who I'm inspired by.
And I always used to love the Beano.
So I'm going to go Dennis the Menace and Gnasher.
I want Gnasher under his arm.
I want him on a £10 note.
I just think it'd be really fun to see a cartoon character on a banknote.
So I'm sure our listeners right now have their own ideas of what they'd like to add to a banknote.
You can tell us.
Email hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or leave a voice note at funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Just grab a grown-up, look for that big red button and record your voice.
And if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior roving reporter badge.
Now, last week, in honour of the Week, Junior's 10th birthday, we shared our own advice that we'd give to our 10-year-old selves.
And then we asked our readers and listeners what piece of advice they would give to a grown-up.
So we got a bit of advice here from Victor.
Hello, The Week Junior.
My name's Victor and I'm 11 years old.
If I had to give a piece of advice to an adult, I would probably tell them not to eat beans or any food that makes you gassy, because if you pass wind while talking to a child, they might not take you seriously.
Thanks, The Week Junior.
Love your show.
You know what?
Solid advice from Victor.
That is...
That is important stuff that all grown-ups need.
Thank you for that.
We had one here from Rosie.
Always take a break if you need it.
That's the key to life.
For grown-ups.
If you have a shift at work or somewhere, you can always rely on your friends or other people to help you.
Rosie, that is wonderful.
Taking a break and relying on friends.
Rosie's there to look out for our well-being and make sure we're well-rested, which I appreciate.
Thank you, Rosie.
And how about this from Lara?
Hi Week Junior, my name is Lara and I am 10 years old.
The advice I want to give to parents is to not give untrue facts to your children.
For example, some parents say, don't eat your watermelon seeds, they grow trees in your stomach.
And then the kid gets scared.
Bye, love your show and magazines.
Anyone else feel that was very specific from Lara?
Like something has been said to Lara and she feels the need to rectify a fake fact given to her.
Thank you so much for sending in your voice notes.
We love hearing what you've got to say.
And this week, if you want to tell us what you would like to add to a banknote, you can.
Just send a voice note to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
And we can't wait to hear what you would add to a banknote.
We need to turn our attention now to the magazine and talk about what's been in the headlines this week.
So, Joe, what big story do you have for me?
It's a cover story and it's about a three-year-old boy called Oliver who has become the first person in the world to receive a special treatment for a rare health condition called Hunter Syndrome.
Now, Hunter Syndrome is caused by a gene in the body that doesn't work, leading to delays in development in young children.
Genes, which are made up of DNA, contain the instructions for how a person will develop and grow.
Hunter syndrome affects about one in every 100000 to 170000 boys born around the world and it becomes very serious.
Oliver, who's from the US, received the treatment for the condition at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in England yesterday.
So the treatment works by actually adding a working copy of the faulty gene to the child's body.
Scientists took blood from Oliver and removed stem cells, which are cells that can change and do the job of other cells.
They added the working copy of the gene to the stem cells and put the cells back inside Oliver to help his body do what it couldn't before.
It's now been nine months since the start of the treatment and Oliver is doing well.
His dad, Ricky, said he's like a completely different child.
He's running around everywhere.
He won't stop talking.
And there are four other boys receiving the treatment at the moment.
And it's hoped that, if the treatment continues to be successful, it can be used to help other children.
So a really, really lovely story that we've led with on our front page this week.
Yeah, such a positive, good news story.
Thank you, Jo.
Eve, what else have you seen in the news this week?
So my story is about a painting by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, which has broken the record for the most expensive painting by a woman ever to be sold at auction.
So her painting, which is called El Sueño La Cama, means the dream, the bed in English.
And it was sold for 41.8 million pounds in New York in the US on the 20th of November.
So Frida Kahlo, who is thought by many as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, is best known for her self-portraits, which is a painting of yourself, and this particular self-portrait was painted in 1940, which was 15 years after she was injured in a bus accident, and so the accident caused her to suffer from health problems for the rest of her life.
And in the painting, Frida Kahlo is laying in bed and her bed is floating in the clouds, and then there is a skeleton laying on the bed above her, and it's a very beautiful painting, and you can see it on page five of the magazine.
But it also broke the record for the most expensive artwork from Latin America.
And funnily enough, the record was previously held by another painting by Frida Kahlo.
So I just love that story.
Wow.
I was going to say she's doing very well for herself.
But of course, she always was because she was an incredible artist.
She was amazing.
Really cool story.
Thank you, Eve.
Now moving on, it's time for my favourite part of the show.
This is Real or Rubbish.
Where I get a story, I have to guess if it's true or false and go on then Eve.
What is the story this week?
So this story is about some noisy horses who have recorded a phone alert.
Okay, come on then.
So a woman from Suffolk in England recently received a complaint via the local council that her 12 horses were making too much noise, after someone living nearby said that they were constantly neighing.
And so, realising she could put her noisy horses to good use, Mandy Young came up with the idea of recording their neighing and turning the noise into a phone alert sound for people to buy.
And lots of fellow horse lovers have snapped up the message alerts making Mandy Young lots of money.
So Bex, what do you think?
Would people really buy a neighing horse message alert?
Or are we just trying to foal you into thinking this story is real?
Well, Eve, it's a shame her neighbours weren't too happy.
I couldn't help myself.
So the thing that So there wasn't really a resolution, was there?
Like the horses are still neighing and annoying the neighbours.
It's just now she's making some money from it.
Yeah well, I guess.
Yeah, she was obviously thinking they're pretty loud, but everyone you know you want your phone when it goes off.
You want to be able to hear it from across the house.
So it was clever thinking, really.
Just record the horses and then put them on the phone.
Also, you say that it was for a lot of horse lovers out there.
I hate to be rude, but well, I will be.
Surely the horse lovers either have their own horses or could get an audio or video recording of a horse from like YouTube or something.
Why are they paying for this thing?
Well, because I suppose the money... Because looking after horses is expensive.
So you know, the money that she's raising from selling these phone noises she can, you know, then put back into looking after her own horses.
So maybe people just thought, oh, that's a nice way to help her raise money.
She's got 12.
12's quite a lot.
12 is a lot of horses.
I've said the word horses so many times now it's kind of lost all meaning.
And is it just like a horse neighing?
Or is it like, has she auto-tuned horses to like, say, the tune of Wicked for Good?
Like, is it like, is that, it's like the horse is the singer of Wicked for Good?
I wish it was the horse singing Wicked.
I think it's just sort of general neighing.
General neighing.
And if you Eve, were to have a horse as your sound effect when you've got a WhatsApp message or a text message or whatever, would you not be really distracted and be like where's that horse?
What's happened?
I'd be so confused.
Well, I suppose I don't live near a field, so I wouldn't particularly be too concerned.
If my phone went off now and it went, then I'd think oh, I've got a text.
I wouldn't think oh, there's a horse, there's a horse in my house.
I think I'd never be able to get over the idea that maybe it was a real horse.
I think if I had that sound.
But maybe for some people I mean, I've got a lot of friends who do love horses I'm sure for them it would be a good idea.
I don't know whether people would buy it, though.
I'm not too sure about that.
Um, So while I'm thinking about this situation, let's talk about our book of the week.
This week, it's The Wizard's Guide to Magical Experiments by A.J.
Wood.
It's filled with 40 magical science experiments to try out at home to train up to become a wizard.
So you can make a lava lamp, mix invisible ink, grow your own crystals and brew a batch of magic lemonade.
Then along the way, you'll learn about lots of important science topics as well.
So if you'd like to win a copy of The Wizard's Guide to Magical Experiments, stay with us until the end of the show to find out how you can enter our prize draw to win a copy.
Now, we're joined by a special guest.
It's Editor Laura.
Hello, Laura.
Welcome to the show.
Hi, Bex.
How are you doing?
I'm very good.
Thank you.
What do you have for us this week?
Well, Bex, I want to highlight our All About Soil feature in this issue.
Now it doesn't sound like the most thrilling subject, but as it's World Soil Day on December 5th, we decided to excuse the pun, dig in and find out more.
So you might just think of soil as dirt, basically, or mud when it rains.
But the stuff that splatters your shoes when it gets wet is absolutely essential to life on Earth.
And that's why we have World Soil Day.
So it exists just to show how important healthy soil is and how we should protect it.
Now, half of Earth's species live in soil and it provides 95% of the food that we eat.
There's so many amazing facts in this feature so I can't get through them all, but I just wanted to give a taster of it.
But yeah, basically the fruit and vegetables, that that we grow in it of course we eat, but also animals eat plants and we, unless we're vegetarian, eat some of those animals.
So that's why it's so essential.
And in the feature you can find out exactly what soil is.
So it's made up of all kinds of things, including little bits of broken up rock and billions of microscopic organisms which we can't see but are all busy underground doing things.
And we also talk about what else soil can do for us.
Not only does it nurture life, but it helps protect our planet from climate change.
It locks carbon dioxide safely away underground, which means it can't enter the atmosphere where it can cause global warming, of course.
But unfortunately, soil is under threat.
And I hate to say it, it's us pesky humans again that have caused a lot of the problems.
So things like pollution, cutting down trees, can harm soil because it leaves it vulnerable to erosion, which is when the sort of nutritious top layer is blown or washed away by weather.
But there's loads of good news and there's lots of scientists working to improve soil health.
And you can read all about that and some of the animals who are soil heroes.
So helping to improve it just with their natural behaviour, basically.
I didn't realise until recently there were kind of different types of soil basically, and different things for different reasons.
What's been your favourite fact you've learned about it?
Oh, so many things.
I mean, you can find out, yeah, there's loads of different layers of soil, for instance.
But my favourite fact, which just absolutely blew my mind, is that just one teaspoon of soil holds more living things than there are people on earth.
I just had a drink and I was going to do a spit take there.
That was incredible.
My goodness.
I didn't know that fact at all.
That was awesome.
That's a great fact.
And I imagine we can find out that and loads of other things in this week's magazine, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And all those soil heroes as well.
There's lots of interesting critters that you can find out more around how they help soil.
Brilliant stuff.
Thank you so much, Laura.
Thanks for that.
Now it's time for this week's big debate.
And the question is, is cloud seeding a good idea?
So Eve and Joe will be going head to head to take a side each on this argument.
But before we hear from them, here's some information that you need to know.
Iran has started cloud seeding, which is a process that involves spraying clouds with special chemicals to create rain.
So the Iranian government is doing this because Iran is having its worst drought in many years.
And a drought is a long period with little or no rain.
According to Iran's main weather organization, this year's rainfall in the country is only about one tenth of the annual average.
And this autumn has been the driest for around 50 years.
This has led to the lakes drying up.
And if rain doesn't come soon, the capital city, Tehran, could limit people's water use.
So is cloud seeding a good idea?
We've got Joe on team yes, Eve team no.
Each of them have 60 seconds to make up their case and make up my mind.
So Joe is going to go first.
Let me just get the old timer here ready for you, Joe.
Or whenever you're ready, take it away.
All right.
Droughts are becoming more common in some parts of the world.
And cloud seeding is a form of technology that could help save people's lives.
Creating rain could refill lakes, replenish water supplies and nourish crops, which all sound like pretty good things.
Without cloud seeding, some places might just become too dry to live, and the technology has uses away from staving off droughts as well.
It can be used to create snow for ski resorts, increasing the length of their seasons, and for breaking up fog that causes disruption at airports and to other forms of transport.
Cloud seeding also has already been used in countries such as the US, China and the UAE.
And we know it works.
So let's get on board with the technology and embrace progress.
Oh, look again, a great end to that.
Let's get on board with the technology and embrace progress.
Jo, thank you very much.
But Eve has something to say about this, I'm sure.
So Eve, tell me your thoughts.
Well, excellent points, Jo.
But Some experts have expressed concerns over the chemicals used in cloud seeding, because there are worries that the chemicals could cause skin irritation or problems over time for humans and animals, as well as damage to the soil where the rain falls.
And as Laura has just pointed out, soil is very crucial and important.
But also if areas that don't get much rain suddenly get loads of rain, that could cause flooding.
And also, if there's no clouds in the sky or the clouds don't have enough moisture in them, then the cloud seeding won't actually work anyway.
And then it's a complete waste of time and money.
I just don't think it should be seen as a solution.
Governments should instead be dealing with the causes of droughts like climate change.
They should be seeking long-term solutions to protect our planet instead of just trying to put a plaster on the problem.
That is also an excellent point.
Yeah, we should be dealing with why it's happening and not just kind of like trying to fix it in a very quick way.
And yeah, I hadn't thought about the chemicals being involved there.
So if you're listening at home and you've got a big opinion on this, we'd love to hear it.
You can tell us right now by voting online at theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
You can also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or send us a voice note.
Just go to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.co.uk Scroll down until you see that big red button.
Now, in last week's Big Debate, we asked you if doctors should recommend visits to art galleries to boost people's health.
What did our listeners and readers vote, Eve?
Well, most of them were in favour of looking at art to feel better, and 70 voted in favour of doctors recommending it.
Okay, excellent stuff.
Joe, any opinions on this?
Yeah, one said...
Not only does visiting an art gallery help with stress levels, people can also use it as a reason to get a break from work.
Something to bear in mind at the Week Junior.
Another said, not everyone receives the same joy and calmness from art as other people.
Some have their own way, like gardening.
That is a really good point of view, actually.
Yeah, some people have other things that kind of chill them out and calm them down, I suppose.
Thank you so much for all of your thoughts on last week's big debate.
Like I said, if you want to vote on this one, just go to theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
Now, every week, readers of The Week Junior send lots of messages into the inbox to tell us what they've been up to.
And right now, editorial assistant Elena is here to share some of her favourites.
Hello, Elena.
Hi, Bex.
Hi, everyone.
As usual, we've had a lot in our inbox from readers and listeners.
Marina had a look at our 10th birthday issue and the 13 pieces of advice celebrities gave their 10-year-old selves.
She said I got my new issue and loved the page with all the quotes so I decided to put it on my pin board.
And she cut each piece of advice and pinned it.
And I just think this is such a good idea because it's such great advice from the Week Juniors friends, and I feel like they're good reminders to read every single day.
And I was wondering Joe, which piece of advice from these would you pin in your room to see every day?
I really like Ellie Goldstein's advice, which is follow your hopes and dreams, be happy, be proud of who you are be confident.
It's a short piece of advice, but I sometimes think...
Those are kind of the best, you know, they're short but sweet.
And, you know, they're really nice principles to live by.
Be confident, be proud of who you are, you know, never be ashamed.
Yeah, Alice is short, but it encompasses so much.
I really like hers too.
My favorite.
I think is to grab menses.
He said not to bring other people down, to get ahead in life and to always prioritize kindness over everything else.
And I don't know.
I just thought it was original and it really ties with advice to do your own thing and not to care about what other people think.
And I don't know, these were so lovely.
I loved the issue and I loved that Marina liked it as well.
This week, we also had a voice note from Jamie, which I really liked because I learned a new thing.
Listen to him.
Hi, my name is Jamie and I'm from Scotland.
Today, I learned a new word and it's the longest word in the world.
It goes, Bye.
Yeah.
The things you learn.
We obviously had to look this word up.
Pneumonoultramicroscopic silicovolcanoconiosis, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is an artificial lung word set to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.
Now, I don't think this is used very often at all, but it's good to know that if I ever need to talk about that, I'll look very smart in front of my friends.
Eve, did you know this word?
I didn't.
No, I can't say I've ever heard this word before.
I think the longest word I know is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
I can't even say it.
Yeah, I think that's the longest word I know.
And it's not even a real word.
It's just all thanks to Mary Poppins.
I always thought that was the longest word.
I don't know.
I mean, I feel like it's the kind of fact that we should all know that neomo no whatever, is the longest word in the English language.
But yeah, we didn't.
So thank you so much, Jamie.
And thank you so much, Marina, too.
And just a weekly reminder that if you send us a voice note and it's played on the podcast, like Jamie's, you will get a roving reporter badge.
Thank you, everyone, again, and see you next week.
Thank you very much, Elena.
There is a very long place name in Wales which I can never pronounce, but I reckon there must be one of our listeners who can.
I would love to hear.
Let's challenge them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you're listening right now and you know exactly what I mean.
Really famously long place name in Wales.
I'd love to hear you send us a voice note, please.
So just go to funkidslive.com slash the week junior and get involved.
Send us your voice notes.
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the magazine this week and the team's favorite stories.
So Eve, who has been your hero of the week?
So my Hero of the Week is from our People page, and it's nine-year-old Asa, who won the Young Person of the Year at the Sense Awards.
And Sense is a disability charity and it holds the awards to celebrate the achievements of disabled people and those who support them.
And Asa helps his disabled mum Rai, who uses a wheelchair, And he helps with things like vacuuming, tidying and doing the laundry.
And he came up with the idea of a useful hour before bed, where he does an hour's worth of useful tasks.
And Asa's mum said, he does so much for me and for us so we can have the best life we can together.
And I just think it's a really inspiring story.
So well done, Asa.
A useful hour is a great idea.
I could do with that.
I was like, how can I use that?
And Joe, what's been your favourite fact this week?
My favourite fact this week is from a piece I wrote about the film Zootropolis, which is out now.
But the name of the movie actually depends on which country you're in.
So in the UK, it's called Zootropolis.
In the US, you'll hear it called Zootopia.
And then in Germany, it's called Zoomania.
So there's a lot of names swimming around out there and we had to be very, very careful when we were writing the story.
I keep getting very confused, because I knew about the Zootropolis Zootopia, but not the Zoomania thing.
That's a third one in the mix.
I know, it's incredible, isn't it?
Yeah, Zoomania, never heard of it before.
I love that.
Okay.
Well, when I'm watching the film, as I absolutely will do, I'll think of that.
Thank you, Jo.
The story I saw this week just made me laugh, because it's about a 3D model of a woolly mammoth skeleton.
It's going to be called...
Tom Bones in honour of Sir Tom Jones.
That's because it's on display at the National Museum in Cardiff.
And I think apparently Tom Jones was very happy to be kind of homaged with Tom Bones.
And Tom Bones just really made me laugh.
Just what a great name for anything or anyone.
So all of those stories this week are in the magazine.
Definitely go and check them out.
Before we go, it's time for the moment of truth.
Eve, we've got to talk about this real or rubbish, please.
Let's stop horsing around.
Tell me what the story was.
Sorry, that's made me laugh.
This is the story about the woman who used her noisy horses to record a phone alert.
And it's been really popular.
Loads of horse lovers have been buying it and she's been making lots of money from it.
I've got a few thoughts about this.
And the more I think about it, the more I just think how annoyed would the neighbour be if she complained about the noises of the horses.
And what happened, instead of the horses being moved or quietened down, was that the neighbour was like actually yeah no, horses are quite noisy.
I'm going to use that noise and make money from it.
That wouldn't go down well, surely?
Yeah, probably not.
But then I suppose the neighbour doesn't need to buy the phone alert.
She's got them in the back garden.
Yeah, she's got real-life action.
I'm going to say the story is rubbish, purely because the idea of people buying sound effects for their phones seems a bit old-fashioned and I feel like people would just record a horse in their back garden or in the field.
So I'm going to say the story this week is rubbish and that is why.
Should we do a drumroll?
Okay, drumroll.
You're right, Bex.
It is rubbish.
There is no neighing horse message alert, but Mandy Young did actually receive a complaint about her noisy horses, not nosy horses.
But she said that it was ridiculous to complain because where they live is super horsey and there's loads of horses around.
So, you know, it's just kind of part of part of the area.
Yeah, fair enough.
If you live in the countryside, you get horses.
Fair play.
Well, thrilled I got that one right, obviously.
And also thrilled at how many horse puns we both squeezed into there.
So thank you for letting me do that.
Now, finally, it's time for Listen Up.
This is the bit of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our book of the week, which this week is The Wizard's Guide to Magical Experiments by A.J.
Wood.
So all you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this episode.
And if you think you know the answer, grab a grown up and head to theweekjuniorcouk slash.
Listen up to fill in our online entry form and enter the prize draw before the closing date of the 4th of December at midday.
And of course, congratulations to Otto, who won a copy of Wild Journey two weeks ago.
So the Week Junior team will randomly select a winner from all of the entries with the correct answer.
And if you're under 16, you must have a parent or guardian's permission to enter, and terms and conditions apply.
Find out more at theweekjunior.co.uk slash terms.
So are you ready?
Listen up.
Which artist painted El Sueño La Cama?
If you know the answer to the question, go to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash.
Listen up to enter our giveaway.
Lovely stuff.
Thanks, Joe.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you to Joe, Eve, Elena and Laura.
Next week, we'll be back to discuss more of the fascinating stories that are happening in the world.
And don't forget to send a voice note in for a chance to have your voice on the podcast and to win a roving reporter badge.
Also, we'd love you to rate, review and subscribe or follow us wherever it is you get your podcasts.
And of course, if you like The Week Junior show, you'll love The Week Junior magazine.
Head to theweekjunior.co.uk to find out more.
Bye. by heading to theweekjunior.co.uk forward slash podcast offer.
