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Hi, my name is Xena, and I'm from San Jose, California, and you're listening to Sleep Tight Science.
Did you know that there's a butterfly in the rainforest so bright, pilots have spotted it from the sky?
What? Hello, friends, and welcome back to Sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science.
In this episode, we're exploring three amazing topics from the natural world and from inside you.
First, we'll learn about the world of invertebrates, the boneless creatures that crawl, swim, and buzz all around us.
Then we'll look into the lush leafy wonderland of rainforests, where sunlight barely touches the ground and colourful animals hide in every corner.
And finally, we'll take a closer look at the human body, how it works, what it's made of, and some interesting facts you might not believe.
We've been flipping through our science books and exploring these incredible facts.
We hope you find them as interesting as we do.
So get cozy and let's learn some interesting science.
Have you ever looked under a rock and seen a tiny creature wiggling or scurrying away?
Maybe a worm, a spider, or even a centipede?
Those little animals, and millions more like them, belong to a group called invertebrates.
So, what exactly is an invertebrate?
Well, it's any animal that doesn't have a backbone.
bone. That's it. No spine, no vertebrae, no bones running down the middle of their backs.
While you and I and dogs, birds, fish and frogs do have back bones and are called vertebrates, most animals on earth are actually invertebrates.
In fact, scientists believe that more than 90 % of all animal species are invertebrates.
But even though they all share one thing in common, no bones, invertebrates are an incredibly diverse bunch. Some are squishy, like jellyfish.
Some are crunchy, like beetles.
Others have soft bodies and hard shells, like snails and clams. And some, like octopuses, are so smart they can open jars.
There are around 35 major groups, or phyla, of invertebrates.
Some of the biggest and best known include arthropods, like insects, spiders, and crabs, mollusks, like octopus, squids, and snails, Cells, cnidarians, like jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones.
Echinoderms, like sea stars and sea urchins.
Anelids, like earthworms and leeches.
And even sponges, which are animals too.
Some invertebrates have radial symmetry, which means their bodies are arranged like a circle around a central point, like the arms of a starfish.
Others, like insects and worms, have bilateral symmetry, which means their left and right sides are mirror images.
Even though they're tiny, strange -looking, or easy to miss, invertebrates are incredibly important.
They pollinate plants, clean up dead matter, help keep oceans healthy, and are a big part of food chains all around the world.
So the next time you spot a bug or a squiggly creature, take a closer look.
It just might be one of the world's most fascinating invertebrates, living its tiny, boneless life in a big, wide world.
So now that we know what invertebrates are and just how many kinds there are, let's learn some fun facts!
Did you know some invertebrates wear their skeletons on the outside?
It's true! Insects, spiders, and lobsters all have hard outer shells called exoskeletons.
There are more than 10 ,000 species of sponge, and they're animals.
Even though they don't have brains, hearts, or even heads, sponges are living creatures that filter water and help clean the ocean.
Some don't even move at all.
Did you know that worms are amazing at regrowing their bodies?
If a worm gets cut in half, the part with the head can sometimes grow a whole new tail.
But no, it won't grow two worms. That's just a myth.
The world's leggiest creature is a kind of millipede with 750 legs.
Scientists found it deep underground in California and gave it the nickname Eumelipes persephone.
The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate ever discovered.
It can grow over 12 meters or 40 feet long and has eyes the size of melons.
That helps it see in the dark ocean depth where it lives.
If the colossal squid is the largest invertebrate, then the longest invertebrate in the world is a ribbon worm.
It may not look impressive curled up, but stretched out, it can reach 55 meters or 180 feet.
Longer than a blue whale.
The smallest invertebrate in the world is called a wheel animal.
It's so tiny, it can be as thin as a credit card. You'd need a microscope just to spot one.
Did you know horseshoe crabs have blue blood?
And it's not just cool.
It's incredibly valuable to scientists.
Their blood helps detect bacteria and keep medical equipment safe.
Did you know mollusks make up almost a quarter of all marine life?
There are around a hundred thousand known kinds of mollusks like snails, squids, and clams. Some are soft and slow, while others like the octopus are fast, clever, and full of surprises.
Some invertebrates don't have heads.
That's right โ no eyes, no mouth, no face.
Some sponges, worms, and jellyfish have bodies that work just fine without a head at all.
Centipedes and millipedes might look the same, but they are very different things.
Centipedes are meat -eaters.
They hunt bugs and insects.
sex. Millipedes are plant eaters.
They munch on leaves and decaying plants.
Did you know there are around 2 ,700 different kinds of earthworms?
And they're all busy underground helping to mix up soil, keep plants healthy, and break down organic matter.
Up next, we are going to learn about a place that is packed with life, color, and sound.
A place where the air is thick, the leaves are huge, and it It rains.
A lot. Do you know what it could be?
Have you ever imagined a forest so full of life that every tree seems to say something, every leaf seems to breathe, and every shadow might be hiding something amazing?
If you did, you might have imagined the rainforest, one of the most magical and mysterious places on Earth.
Rainforests are forests that receive a lot of rain, but not just any forest qualifies.
Rainforests are made up of broad -leaved evergreen trees, and they grow in places that are warm and wet, almost all year long.
In some tropical rainforests, it can rain over 2 meters, more than 6 feet, every year.
Rainforests are found in many parts of the world, like the Amazon in South America, the Congo Basin in Africa, and the rainforests of Southeast Asia and Northern Australia.
Australia. Some even grow in cooler parts of the world and are called temperate rainforests.
What makes rainforests so special, is their incredible biodiversity.
Their home to more types of plants and animals than anywhere else on land.
The rainforest buzzes with life at every level.
Whether it's tiny frogs hopping along the dark, tangled forest floor, towering trees reaching toward the sky, colorful birds flitting through the branches, or countless insects crawling through the undergrowth, life flourishes everywhere, spanning the shadowy depths below all the way up to the bright leafy canopy high above.
Sometimes when sunlight reaches the forest floor, like where a tree has fallen, it creates a tangle of vines and plants we call a jungle.
So next time you hear the word rainforest, think of a place where it rains nearly every day, where sunlight barely reaches the ground, and where the natural world is working together in one of the most complex, beautiful ecosystems on earth.
Now, let's learn some rainforest fun facts.
facts. Did you know scientists believe rainforests are Earth's oldest living ecosystems?
Some have been around for more than 180 million years, since the time of the dinosaurs.
Rainforests cover less than 3 % of Earth's surface, but hold more than half of all plant and animal species.
That means most of the life on land is squeezed into just a tiny part of the planet.
That's why rainforests are so important to protect.
In a rainforest, you could walk for three minutes and not see the same kind of tree twice.
That's how many different species grow side by side.
up to 25 times more than in other forests.
Some rainforest butterflies are so colorful, you can spot them from an airplane.
Some rainforest snakes don't just slither, they glide.
Certain species can launch themselves from tree branches branches and drift through the air by flattening their bodies like parachutes.
Did you know some rain forest flowers look like insects?
This clever trick helps them hide from predators or attract pollinators who think they've found a friend.
Some flowers in the rain forest grow as big as small trees.
trees. Plants compete for light in the crowded jungle, and some have grown supersized just to survive.
The long -nosed potteroo is one of the rainforest's tiniest animals.
It's a fuzzy little creature from Australia, with a snout longer than its foot.
Perfect for sniffing out food on the forest floor.
Did you know that rainforests are disappearing because of deforestation?
That's when large areas of trees are cut down, often to make space for farms or roads.
This puts the whole ecosystem at risk, including animals and plants we haven't even discovered yet.
Now that we have learned some facts about the rainforest, let's take a look at one of the most fascinating ecosystems of all, the human body.
your body is an incredible machine made up of tiny parts complex systems and smart teamwork that keeps you alive and well every day from the top of your head to the tip of your toes everything is connected and working together to help you move, grow and learn.
At the very tiniest level, your body is made up of cells, so small you'd need a microscope to see them.
Cells group together to form tissues, which form organs like your heart or stomach. And those organs work together in systems. There are 11 major systems in your body, like the muscular system, nervous system, digestive system, and more.
Together, these systems help you walk, breathe, eat, sleep, and even think.
And while each system has its own special job, they all rely on each other to keep your body balanced and healthy.
You are also a mammal, which means you have hair, warm blood and, if you're a grown -up female, you can feed babies with milk.
Like all mammals, humans are vertebrates with a backbone and your body has bilateral symmetry, meaning your left and right sides are pretty much mirror images.
Your body is also made up of water, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, each playing an important role.
Water helps with chemical reactions.
Proteins build tissues, fats store energy, and carbohydrates like glucose give your cells the power to keep going.
Now that we know the human body is made up of cells, systems and some pretty incredible teamwork, let's take a closer look at some of the wild, weird and wonderful facts about you.
Did you know your skin gets replaced about 1 ,000 times in your lifetime?
Your body is constantly shedding old skin cells and growing new ones.
You might not notice it, but it's happening all the time.
Your brain can't feel pain.
Even though it processes pain for the rest of your body, the brain itself has no pain sensors.
That's why during some brain surgeries, patients are awake.
Did you know babies can hiccup before they're even born?
Scientists believe hiccups help develop muscles babies will use to breathe once they're out in the world.
Your stomach is filled with acid strong enough to etch metal. It's called hydrochloric acid, and it helps break down the food you eat.
Luckily, your stomach has special lining to protect itself.
Did you know there are about 37 trillion cells in your body?
That's three seven zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero.
Each one doing its own special job to keep you alive They are alive and healthy.
The small intestine is actually longer than the large intestine.
Even though it's called small, it can stretch up to 6 meters or 20 feet long.
It's just narrower in width than the large intestine.
Did you know that your left lung is smaller than your right?
Why? To make room for your heart, which nestles just slightly to the left in your chest. Did you know all three bones in your ear could fit on top of a penny?
They're the tiniest bones in your body, and they help you hear every whisper and giggle.
Your eyes can see about ten million different colors.
That's why the world looks so vivid and beautiful, from the green of the grass to the pinks and purples of a sunset.
Did you know the jaw is the only body in your skull that moves?
Your skull has 22 bones total, but only one that helps you chew, yawn, and talk all day long.
In this episode, we took a trip through some of the most fascinating parts of the natural world.
Above us, below us, and inside us.
We started with invertebrates, boneless animals like insects, jellyfish, and worms, and learned just how many there are and why they matter so much to life on Earth.
Then we stepped into the rainforest, where we discovered giant flowers, gliding snakes, and butterflies so bright you can see them from the sky.
Finally, we took a closer look at the human body and uncovered fun facts about our bones, brains, and the trillions of cells that that keep us going every day.
Thank you to Zane Nunez from San Jose, California, who introduced our show.
You were super awesome.
Thank you to Billy Corderoy, aged 8 in Sydney, Australia.
Adeline Simmons, age 8 in Conroy, Texas.
Kinsley, 5 years old from Kansas, USA.
Everett age 8 and Alden age 6 from Singapore Zeta Nicholas 5 years old from Vermont Elias 8 years old from Alberta, Canada Nana 7 and Aulia 5 from Cambridge, Massachusetts Otto 6 years old Kyra 5 years old in Los Angeles, California California, Kyler, five years old from Singapore, Gayle Walpraden, Kian, and Nancy Susky, our librarian friend in Cresswell, Oregon who sent in some questions on behalf of her littles.
Thank you all for asking questions that spark our curiosity and keep us learning.
we would love to hear from you ask your parents to help you write us a note to the email address in our show notes you can also visit our website and send a message that way also leave us a rating or a comment wherever you listen to the podcast we love to get your feedback did you know that when you sleep your brain can go on all kinds of adventures adventures?
You might even dream about some of the cool science stuff we talked about.
You can fly through space, visit other planets, shrink to see tiny atoms, or even invent something amazing.
Your dreams can take you anywhere.
And who knows, maybe tonight you'll dream about discovering something new and exciting in the world of science.
Good night. Sleep tight.
Thank you.
