Monday, 26 October, 2020
Tigers, Broncos & Storm triumph; California’s unbreakable beetle; Aussie cyclist’s Giro glory; and asteroid spillage in outer space.
LINKS
Diabolical Ironclad beetle: https://apnews.com/article/beetle-armor-stronger-planes-cb50dd9573d65437de4b5209ccd4a2d8
Squiz Kids Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Send us an email at [email protected]
Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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They call him Dusty, his parents christened him Dustin Martin, and on the weekend, anyone who’s a Richmond Tigers fan was calling him a god. Thanks to the important part he played in the Tigers convincing win over the Geelong Cats in Saturday’s AFL grand final in Brisbane.
Dusty kicked four goals to help Richmond to its 81-50 win over the Cats – and made a little bit of history in the process, collecting the Norm Smith Medal for best on field during a grand final … for the third time.
3.8 million Aussies watched the game on TV, while almost 30,000 squeezed into the Gabba to see the spectacle live. It’s Richmond’s third premiership win in four years. Amazing …
In Sydney, meanwhile, the Brisbane Broncos took home their third NRLW grand final trophy beating the Sydney Roosters 20-10 in a wet and windy match. Broncos try-scorer Amber Hall was awarded the Karyn Murphy Medal for best on ground as the Broncos women’s team proudly flew the flag for Queensland.
But it was the good people of Melbourne who had cause to celebrate following the NRL grand final – as the Storm held off a resurgent Penrith Panthers to win the 2020 premiership by 26 points to 20. Despite going into the game minor premiers, the Panthers proved no match for the clinical, disciplined display put on by the Storm – who dedicated their win to Victorians who have been doing it so tough for the past few months. Hear hear.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops … and today, we find ourselves in the forests of southern California, in the United States, where a beetle is teaching scientists how to make unbreakable cars, planes and buildings.
It’s called the ‘diabolical ironclad beetle’ – which totally sounds like something straight out of The Avengers – and its shell is so strong that birds can’t peck through it and not even a car rolling over it can crush it.
Scientists are hoping by studying the beetle’s shell – which they say is like teeny tiny pieces of armour plating, arranged in a jigsaw pattern that makes it almost impossible to break – they will be able to mimic the beetle shell engineering to make stronger building materials and even planes that are almost impossible to destroy. Nature is just so clever…
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to a photo of the diabolical ironclad beetle … I just like saying that name …
SPORTS TIME
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Aussie cyclist Jai Hindley came within a whisker of winning the Giro d’Italia overnight, taking out second place in the prestigious bike race in Italy.
Held over 21 days on roads all over Italy, the Giro is second only to the Tour de France in terms of prestige – and difficulty.
Cyclists taking part have been riding for three weeks and in that time, have ridden some 3,500 kilometres. So, you know, their legs will be tired.
And in the end, at the final race-off, there was only 0.86 seconds between Perth boy, Hindley and his British opponent, Tao Geoghghan Hart.
Hindley was hoping to become the first Australian to win the event – but it wasn’t to be. He came in a very respectable second place instead.
And with that – a new Aussie star of cycling is born. Well done Jai. We salute you.
SPACED OUT
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Remember last week how we spoke about the incredible feat of human engineering that saw a spaceship land on an asteroid briefly, hoover up some rocks, and lift off again – to bring those rocks back to Earth?
The mission was so successful that the space ship may have collected more rocks than it can carry – and over the weekend, there was evidence some of the rock samples were spilling out.
Seems a rock from the asteroid has gotten caught in the trap door of the sample container during the operation. But scientists are still confident enough asteroid surface rock has been collected to deem the mission a success.
It might be a while before we know for sure though: the asteroid is 320 million kilometres away from Earth – meaning it won’t be back here with its precious cargo until 2023.
JUNIOR MASTERCHEF CALL OUT
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Quick reminder to get your questions in for Junior Masterchef master patissier, Filo, for our next Squiz Kids Q+A … what’s a patissier? It’s the French word for pastry chef – and that’s what Filo excels at. As well as being hugely entertaining. Filo has agreed to sneak out of the Masterchef kitchen for a moment – with Melissa, Andy and Jock’s permission – to take the Squiz Kids hotseat and answer any questions you might have about what it’s like to be on a national TV cooking show. Send your questions to [email protected] … you have until the end of the day tomorrow…
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Who won the AFL Grand Final?
- Which team won the NRL Grand Final?
- What sort of an insect are scientists studying in California to discover the secret of its shell?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s October 26 … Guy Sebastian’s birthday — and on this day 528 years ago, a lead pencil was used for the very first time … be sure to give your pencil some love today on its birthday.
Plus it’s a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Hallie and Oushami from Sydney, Marlowe from Ashgrove, Eliana from Werri Beach, Layla from Beechworth, Izzy from Jindalee, Kingsley from Kempsey, Angus and Ewan from Flinders, Hubie from Carlingford, Karina from Panania, Logan from Yarrawarrah, and Archie from East Gosford.
Today’s belated birthday shoutouts go to… Laura from Port Stephens and Liam from Perth.
Happy birthday one and all!
Classroom shoutouts… Year 3-2 and 3-3 at St Andrews Catholic College, 4/5R at Newcastle East Public School, 4JP at Belair Public School and Trinity Catholic School in Harden. And a very special shoutout to Mrs Porter and Class 14 at Romaine Park Primary School in Tassie, who, in response to our story last week that magpies don’t swoop on the Apple Isle, wrote in to tell us that they definitely do, and that in fact one of the teachers got swooped walking to her car the other day ! You heard it here first: Tassie magpies are swoopers too!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Richmond Tigers
- Melbourne Storm
- Diabolical Ironclad Beetle .. I seriously just love saying that name.