Thursday, July 13, 2023
Combatting coral rubble in the Great Barrier Reef; Hawaii’s unique surfboards; Ricciardo returns and Squiz-E’s bigfoot warning.
LINKS
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Newshounds
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Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Complete the form on our Squiz Kids website. Link: SHOUT OUTS or / send us an email at [email protected]
THE LOWDOWN
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There are many threats to our wonderful and glorious Great Barrier Reef, some of which you may have heard about like coral bleaching, or the Crown of Thorns Starfish. For those Octonaut fans, you may be familiar with the crown of thorns starfish, which are actually predators to coral, as they eat the coral polyps.
Coral bleaching is when the coral loses it’s stunning colours, and turns a ghostly white. This is because the water temperature rises because of global warming.
But there is also the problem of coral rubble, this is when fragments of coral break off and cover the ocean floor, after say, a boat crashes into it, or the area is hit by cyclones.
And coral can’t regenerate under loose coral rubble.
So scientists at Queensland’s University of Technology have invented a biodegradable glue to literally stick the broken coral back together.
By stabilising the broken pieces of coral on the seabed, it means coral larvae and marine life can return and naturally start to regrow on a solid seabed, otherwise it could take a century for the broken coral to naturally interlock back together and become stable enough for new marine life. Do you know how long a century is? That’s 100 years, so a really, really long time.
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’ve landed on the islands of Hawaii, where a surfer is saving the ecosystem, one surfboard at a time.
Hawaii is an island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and makes up one state of the United States of America. Many years ago a type of tree called the albizia tree was planted throughout Hawaii after being imported from Indonesia. As it turns out, it is an invasive tree and dangerous to the natural Hawaiian ecosystem.
Local surfboard maker Joey Valenti loves the sport and loves the islands which he calls home. So he had a great idea to help the environment and benefit his sport at the same time. As these trees are being removed, the wood is considered trash – but Joey is using this wood to make beautifully designed surfboards. By using the hollowed-out wood planks, Joey says it makes the surfboards light but still preserves their strength.
Very cool idea indeed.
SPORT TIME
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Australian Formula one driver Daniel Ricciardo is making a return to the F1 grid; this time racing for team AlphaTauri.
This move has been a bit of a bombshell somersault within the sport, where Team AlphaTauri shocked fans by dropping their lead driver and secretly lining the Aussie up to take his place.
Ricciardo is team Red Bull’s reserve driver, so he is being loaned to AlphaTauri on a short term deal, which is said to be a game changing move in Formula One.
Riccado has eight grand prix wins under his belt. But this move offers him a chance to prove himself in the competition again – despite the team being in last place, and reports it’s one of the slowest cars on the grid.
None the less, all eyes will be on the Aussie in his first race back, which is in Hungary next week.
NEWSHOUNDS
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Oh hello Squiz-E, yes I was expecting you today – As per our new schedule, you’ll be visiting us at Squiz Kids HQ on Thursdays from now on. Every week Squiz-E the Newshound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he’s sniffed out on the internet – and today, his nose is twitching after almost being tricked by a big foot alert!
In the United States, a facebook post by the US Forest Service said ‘bigfoot warning… attention campers: the bigfoots are coming down from the high country to feed on fish and vegetation at the river’s edge.’ Of course the post was a fake. The Government department confirmed they did not make the post – nor is there an actual bigfoot to be actually scared about. What happened is that their account was hacked. But that didn’t stop the post going viral and being shared by hundreds of other facebook users.
It’s yet another reminder to always do as Squiz-E says: and that’s to Stop. Think and Check before believing everything we see, read or hear on the internet.
Thanks Squiz-E – you’ve done it again!
NEW SCHEDULE NEWS
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Hey ! Were you listening on Monday? Did you get the memo that Squiz Kids is dancing to a whole new tune .. with a brand new schedule?
The daily news pod, Squiz Kids Today will now drop Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays ..and like I just mentioned Newshounds moving to Thursdays … Shortcuts and Squiz The Worlds will drop on alternate Tuesdays, and we’re bringing our super fun Kids v Adults Weekly News S’quiz forward to Fridays – so you can test who’s been paying the most attention to the week that just was.
Same cool Squiz Kids content, still absolutely, gob-smackingly free – just delivered differently. Which also means you’ll be hearing less from me, and more from Bryce. So thanks for a great last semester and catch you around S’quiz kids.
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 …
- What is the name of the starfish which is a predator to the Great Barrier Reef?
- True or False, Hawaii is part of the United States of America?
- Do bigfoots really exist?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 13 – It was one hundred years ago today the famous Hollywood sign was put up in the hills above Los Angeles. Each letter is around 15 metres tall and the sign now represents the home of movie industry.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Kosta from Cronulla, Janine from Oran Park, Archer from Fulham, Ryan from Glenhaven, Hannah and Timmy from Albany Creek and Carlos from Yeppoon.
And we will continue to work our way through the belated holiday shout outs… today’s go to… Manny from Mount Gravatt, Liana, Mia and Levi from Nuriootpa, Rhianna and Annie from NSW, Aiden G from Western Australia, Zoe from Wantirna, Kloe and Isabelle from Lavington, Evan from Gordon, Vedarnk from Oran Park, Jack from Kingsgrove, Mavis from Moonah, Ellie from Blaxland, Elyse from Lavington, Allesandro from Griffith, Leo from Wareemba, Willow from Croydon, Isabella from Belrose and Alice from Parramatta.
Classroom shoutouts for our friends in Queensland and Victoria who are back at school this week … class 3/4 with Ms Garland and Mrs Mitchell at Lake Bolac College, class 6R4 and Mrs Adams at Spring Mountain State School, class SP3 with Mrs Gardner and Mrs Parkinson at St. Pius the 10th Parish School in Warrnambool, classes 5/6 H and M with Mr Meeson and Ms Hume at Mandama Primary School, class 7G and Miss Hopes at Padua College in Kedron and lastly to class 4/5F and Ms Fernandez at Cannon Hill State School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Crown of Thorns Starfish
- True
- Ha ha, of course no.
Don’t forget .. if you’ve got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out – or if you want a classroom shout out – drop us a line at [email protected] or fill out the form on our website.
That’s all we have time for. Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids Today – we’ll be back again on Monday.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day. Over and out.