Squiz Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast, the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
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 Bryce Corbett. It's Monday, June 30.
In Squeeze Kids today, Australia has an inland sea, Latvia's maggots to the rescue, grizzly bear visits the dentist and Squeeze Kids school holiday content.
That's what's making news, kids style.
Here's a question to get your brain cranking on this fine Monday morning.
Does Australia have an inland sea in the middle of the desert in the centre of the country?
Well, usually no, it doesn't.
But right now, it does.
And that's because in a place called Katitanda, or Lake Eyre as it was called by Australia's European settlers, rain that fell in Queensland during cyclone Alfred four months ago has finally made its way across the desert and is filling up a once bone -dry, ginormous natural basin.
Yes, that's right, the big cyclone that ripped through Brisbane in February And dumped a year's worth of rain on the Queensland outback Is still having an effect on the Aussie landscape Transforming what is usually a barren salt flat into a thriving ecosystem Shrimp and crustaceans have started to appear in the water Fish numbers have suddenly skyrocketed Tiny marsupials have started to multiply As plants and wildflowers pop up out of the ground as far as the eye can see and with all of this new life has come millions and millions of migratory birds, traveling from as far away as Japan and Russia to
feed and breed. The result is a place that is usually lifeless has now become a bustling, thriving explosion of life in one of the most incredible transformations that the world has ever seen.
I've stuck a link to a video news news report about it all in today's episode notes.
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 in Latvia, which is a tiny country in Eastern Europe on the border with Russia, where maggots are being used by a local council to help process garbage.
Now, if you're eating breakfast, you might want to brace yourself for this one.
You know how flies are always hanging around garbage bins?
That's because they're looking for rotting food to lay their eggs in.
When those eggs hatch, they hatch as maggots, teeny tiny little squirmy larvae.
Maggots feast on rotting food, helping to break it down.
It's totally gross, but a really important part of the bio -life cycle.
So now a local council in Latvia is breeding flies, which lay about 500 eggs every three weeks, and then sticking the resulting maggots directly into the food waste that people from Latvia chuck into their bins.
So the maggots are doing all the garbage waste processing on behalf of the council.
And get this, in the capital of Vilnius, the waste processing plant there breeds flies, which produce about 3 million maggots every month, who, between them, chomp through about 11 tons of food waste.
Amazing. And gross.
But mostly amazing.
Animal Kingdom Have you ever heard the expression, a bear with a saw head?
You might have heard your parents or teachers say it about you, or maybe themselves, when you're perhaps being grumpy or painful or have just woken up in a bad mood.
Well then spare a thought for Tundra, the 360 kilogram Alaskan brown bear who has had a toothache for the past few months that nothing was able to fix.
Tundra lives in a zoo in Minnesota in the United States and last week vets at the zoo pulled off a world first. putting the big fella under a giant amount of anaesthetic and getting him on the operating table to stick a bear -sized crown on his aching tooth.
A crown is a dental implant that sits over the top of a broken tooth and protects it.
And because Tundra is such a big, strong fella, the crown was made of titanium, which is a super strong metal and silver in colour.
So now when he smiles, he looks like a 12 -foot -tall, hairy bear rapper.
Respect. I've stuck a video of the procedure in today's episode notes.
It's Q &A time. Has the Governor -General of Australia met the King and been to Buckingham Palace?
What's her favourite AFL team?
And, most importantly of all, can she ban homework?
Those questions and many more will be answered tomorrow when part one of the Squiz Kids Q &A with Governor -General Sam Mostyn drops on this very podcast feed.
Teachers, this is a great way to bring the civics curriculum to life in the classroom.
Kids, it's a great chance to get to know the woman who represents the king here in Australia and understand a little bit more about how our system of government works.
Part one drops tomorrow, part two on Wednesday and then the full video will drop on the Squiz Kids YouTube channel on Thursday.
Get involved. And while we're on the subject of upcoming content, make sure you've subscribed to SquizKids in your favourite podcasting app, so you don't miss out on our excellent winter school holiday content starting next week.
We'll kick off with a winter movie guide next Monday, and then we'll have SquizKids brain teasers every day thereafter, where Christy posts a riddle in the morning and the answer in the afternoon.
Genius! And while we're usually a podcast, these school holidays, Christy's jumping onto the big screen on Fridays to answer kids' weirdest science questions in our brand new video series, Squiz Kids Science Shorts.
Find out why we fart and whether a bigger brain really makes you smarter, but you can only do so on YouTube.
Subscribe to Squiz Kids on YouTube and don't miss a single thing.
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.
Katitanda in the middle of Australia is also known by what anglicised name?
That's right, it's also known as Lake Eyre.
Question number two.
What super strong metal was used to create a crown for Tundra the Bear's new tooth?
That's right, it was titanium.
Question number three.
In which country in Eastern Europe are maggots being used to process food waste?
Well done if you said Latvia.
CHEERING Shout -outs.
It's Monday, June 30.
Today, the first ball is served at Wimbledon in England, as two weeks of tennis on the famous grass courts is about to begin.
It's also the start of Queensland's school holidays, you lucky Queenslanders.
Today is also a special day for these Squizz Kids celebrating a birthday today and tomorrow.
Ciara from Ganmain, Connor from Greenfield Park, Isaac from Camp Hill, Grace from Tennyson Point, Olivia from Oran Park, Park, Sylvie from Berthanga and Imsal who's listening all the way over there in Abuja, in Nigeria.
Hello to you, Imsal.
I think you might be the first birthday shout out we've done in Nigeria.
Great to have you on board. And belated birthday shout outs go to Delta from West Meadows, Evie from Bulleen, Lucas from Ashbury, Jasmine from Spotswood and Sophia from Holland Park.
and classroom shout outs today go to students in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 with Ms Wilson at Exeter Public School Year 3 and 4 with Ms Chesworth at Yarrawarra Public School Class 6 Blue with Mr Zagam at St Catherine Labore Catholic Primary School in Guymer Class 5 and 6J with Ms Gillespie at Lucas Heights Community School in Barden Ridge and Class 4B with Ms Barry at Berwick Lodge Primary School don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out or if you're after a classroom shout out 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 with part one of our q a episode with the governor general sam mostyn in the meantime get out there and have a most excellent day over and out Thank you.
