ABC Listen.
Hello, my friends.
It's Ruby here and you're listening to Newstime.
Hey, Ruby.
Hello.
On this week's Newstime, we're going to blast off into space to share a message with the universe.
We'll hear some sweet bird song that hasn't been heard in more than a century.
And in our wow of the week we'll meet a student who's used a 3D printer to create a big life change.
What do you think?
Should we get into it?
You bet.
Story number five.
The men's AFL season has finished up for another year.
The Brisbane Lions roared their way to a grand final win.
And you might have heard.
There's a big change in store for 2026 with the way the games will begin at the centre of the Oval, like they do in soccer, just kicking the ball from the middle.
I think they should blow the siren as loud as they can, and then the cannon can shoot out the ball as far as they can.
I can promise you there will not be any cannons.
I think there should be centre people and the umpire just throws the ball into the air and one of them kicks it.
That's pretty close.
You see, since the 1880s, which is well over 100 years ago, AFL games have started with the centre bounce.
It's where umpires throw the ball towards the ground and when it bounces in the air, players try to jump and tap it to their teammates.
But from next season, the centre bounce is being bounced out.
Instead, umpires are going to throw the ball into the air at the start of every game.
Because maybe it could hurt someone in their way.
I don't think it is a good idea because the players could collide together.
I think it's just because it takes away the umpire's strongness. and it's just easier to not do it.
The AFL says the change will improve player and umpire safety and make the games a bit shorter.
Women's AFL has been starting games this way since it began back in 2017.
It does make you wonder about the future of AFL.
If you were in charge, would you introduce any new rules?
I would make the players go on the brooms and...
Use the tip of the broom to hit a footy ball and move it around to score goals.
I would say there's no outs and you can muddle up the teams.
If you kick it into the field where people are watching, that means the person who catches it brings the ball home and has to come to the next game to give them the ball so they can use the ball to play.
Some crowd participation.
I like it.
AFL bosses, if you're listening, feel free to use some of our ideas.
Story number four.
Imagine for a moment that you learned about an alien species living on a distant planet.
Imagine that they're too far away to visit, but that you can send them a message to tell them about Earth.
What would you say?
The Earth is nice and clean.
The aliens should come down and say something like, Asparagus is not meant to be eaten.
Well, not too long ago, some school students from Sydney spent time recording voice messages as part of the Humans Space Project.
That's collecting information about our planet from people all around the world.
The messages will be recorded onto a disc the size of a slice of bread and then sent off into space in the year 2027.
I think that they said that aliens should come down to Earth so we can learn more about them, learn more about the universe and stuff like that.
We are yet to find any proof of life on any planet other than Earth.
But if any aliens find this disc, they'll be able to learn about humanity from people in more than 80 countries and in 65 different languages.
Because the aliens need multiple choices.
Because you never know, there might be, like aliens or cyborgs or people out there that speak different languages.
The people behind this project have clearly worked very hard to share the story of humanity.
But what do you think?
Is there alien life out there somewhere?
I don't think there's any life, because sometimes some planets are too hot, some are too cold, maybe because there's lots of funny planets out there and there's ones we've never seen before.
Hmm well, we may never know.
Story number three in the town of menindee in far west new south wales, The school bell has rung to mark the end of another day.
Most kids are heading home, but 13-year-old Jazz Fousey is sticking in the classroom to give her teachers a lesson.
Can you guess what Jazz might be teaching them?
I think she teaches them games so they can teach others.
Um, how to teach more?
To teach us...
When we go to detention or reflection.
Not quite.
Jazz is a young Pakanchi Nyampa woman who spends a few afternoons a week teaching her school teachers Pakanchi, which is one of the traditional languages spoken by Indigenous people of the Darling River.
I think she does that because the teachers can speak to the traditional people and learn about their culture.
So that if some Indigenous people come to their school and they can't speak English, that they can talk to them.
Schools right across New South Wales are working harder to incorporate First Nations languages in their communities through an initiative called Language Nest, so we can respect those people who speak that language.
Jazz has spoken Pākinchi since she was a toddler and she often speaks it at home.
Jazz says she was invited by her school to come and teach the language to her teachers.
I was awkward at first.
I was like, I'm not going to teach the teachers.
I don't want to teach the teachers.
Like, that's awkward and stuff.
And then I started doing it.
I was like, wow, this is really cool.
So then I just kept on doing it.
That was Jazz saying, hello, I'm Jazz, a young Parkinsonian woman from Menindee.
I think she's proud of her language.
Jazz says she is proud of her language and now her teachers are learning it and Parkinchi's being revitalised in her community.
Great work, Jazz.
Story number two.
In a place called West Cape National Park in Western Australia, there's a creature making a sound that hasn't been heard in more than 100 years.
Tweed.
Tweed.
I think it sounds like a kiwi bird.
Let's have another listen.
This is the song of a noisy scrub bird, a flightless bird that's also endangered.
I can see a box with a bird in it that's about to be released into the wild again.
Maybe the bird got sick.
There's not much of it in the world and that we need to protect them.
Exactly.
Noisy scrub birds used to hop around West Cape National Park making this beautiful sound, but then they disappeared.
People thought they were extinct until they were rediscovered in a different part of Western Australia about 60 years ago.
Through conservation efforts, the noisy scrub bird has bounced back.
And recently three more were released into the national park for the first time in more than a century.
They tested it and made sure there were less predators there.
Yes, ecologists spent months making sure the national park had enough food and shelter and the right climate to support these birds.
They even strapped on tiny transmitters so the birds can be tracked.
So they know if they're extinct or not.
They can find them when they're not okay.
To make sure that they are safe from maybe creatures.
So far, so good for these little birds.
They've been moving around their new habitat and making bird calls, which tells ecologists there's enough food to keep them happy.
People have travelled from all over the world to try to catch a glimpse of the noisy scrub bird or to hear its beautiful song.
Ah, what a peaceful sound.
Whoops, we better not let that lull us off to sleep because it's time for... Wow of the Week.
This story made me go wow because it's amazing what a 3D printer can do.
This story made me go wow because Lewis's classmates helped her to get her left hand back.
I have a question for you.
What's the kindest thing a classmate has ever done for you?
One of my friends helped me up when I fall down to the back.
I think it's helping me when I fell off the spiderweb.
Lois Agnello is a student at a high school in Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.
Lois was born with only part of her left hand.
But one day, during her science and technology class, she had an idea.
What if she could use her school's 3D printer to print a hand?
Lois approached her science teacher, who thought it was such a good idea.
He got the whole class to work on the project.
It's cool, so...
She can also do everything the same as everyone else.
The class used an open source design from an Australian charity called Free 3D Hands.
It took three months of lunchtime meetings and testing before the class was ready to print and assemble a 3D hand for Lois.
I think Lois felt very thankful that she could use her left hand.
She sure did.
Lois said the hand was better than she ever could have imagined.
Now she can pick things up and type on computers and do anything a real hand can do.
Lois was really thankful that her classmates helped out.
I liked that all my friends wanted to join in at first.
Well, it means a lot to me because...
If I did it on my own, it would probably be really hard.
Now Lois is getting ready to fly to the Be the Change Summit in Tokyo in Japan, where she's going to share her story with thousands of young innovators.
I think that they will say first place because that story is so amazing.
What a wonderful team effort.
And with that impressive story, it's time for me to press print on another edition of Newstime.
Thanks, Ruby.
Thank you.
You are so welcome.
Maybe you can take a leaf out of Lois's book and think of ways to care for other people in your community.
Bye.
Bye, Ruby.
See you later.
Or as they say in Hindi, alvida.
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