Thursday, July 20, 2023
The Matildas get a surprise visitor; a Panda gets the chop; when science gets snotty; and it’s just like a heatwave!
Squiz Kids is an award-winning, free daily news podcast just for kids. Give us ten minutes, and we’ll give you the world. A short podcast that gives kids the lowdown on the big news stories of the day, delivered without opinion, and with positivity and humour.
‘Kid-friendly news that keeps them up to date without all the nasties’ (A Squiz Parent)
This Australian podcast for kids easily fits into the daily routine – helping curious kids stay informed about the world around them.
Fun. Free. Fresh.
LINKS
The Matildas get a surprise visit from Cathy Freeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-yIYDVATFk
Cathy Freeman wins gold in the 2000 Olympics 400m: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U7Tra5Qm0Q
Possibly the world’s lowest car: https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/132568711/the-worlds-lowest-car-looks-totally-fake-but-isnt
1969 Moon landing: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/
Newshounds
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https://www.squizkids.com.au/about-newshounds/
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THE LOWDOWN
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Do you have a hero that you look up to and wish you could be just like? Now imagine, you’re sitting in a room, watching a video of that person, and you turn around and …there they are!
That’s exactly what happened to the Matildas this week.
The Australian women’s soccer team are in their final preparations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They’re readying themselves to be the very best they can be, many of them thinking about their own sporting idol, Cathy Freeman!
You won’t have been born when the Olympic Games were held in Sydney in the year 2000, and a young Aboriginal woman, named Cathy, held the hopes of Australia on her shoulders winning gold in the women’s 400m sprint. Ask your parents, it was a very big deal!
This week, the Matlidas were gathered together, watching this historic moment, when they turned around, and there was Cathy! We’ve stuck a link to the video in your episode notes. It was pretty emotional.
If anyone understands the excitement and pressure these women are under then Cathy does. There were hugs and tears as the athletes listened to Cathy’s advice and motivation. When the Aussie women step out onto the ground against the Republic of Ireland in Sydney tonight, let’s hope they take some of Cathy Freeman’s magic with them!
And if you want to find out more about the unexpected history of Women’s Football, we released a Shortcut on it earlier this week. I’ve stuck a link in your episode notes. Why not pop it on in the car on your way to Saturday morning sport this week?
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 in Italy. Home of pizza, gelato and now, what is possibly, the world’s lowest car.
A bunch of Italian YouTubers, known collectively as ‘Carmagheddon’, have filmed themselves chopping a Fiat Panda, an Italian built car, in half – horizontally! They’ve removed the entire bottom section of the car. Imagine just eating the bottom half of a burger and being left with the top burger bun and you’ve pretty much got it.
They’ve removed the doors, the wheels, and even the engine! “That’s not a car!” I hear you say. Yes, but inside, they’ve added a go-kart motor and wheels, and the driver can open up the hatch at the back, crawl in, lie down on a wooden platform and drive. They need to lie flat on their back watching a camera display to see where they’re going.
The link to the video is in your episode notes. You really have to see it to believe it!
WEIRD SCIENCE
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How do you feel about whale snot? Whatever you said, I’ll bet you’re not as excited about it as Doctor Iain Kerr, the head of a marine mammal research and conservation group called Ocean Alliance. Doctor Kerr proclaimed that “One day I got covered in a cloud of whale snot that was sticky and smelly, and I thought wait a minute, I smell an idea!”
Gathering data about whale migration and feeding patterns is really important work, but using boats with noisy outboard motors was probably quite stressful for the whales and might have even changed their behaviours.
That was until Dr Kerr’s snot encounter, which was a lightbulb moment, meaning that it changed how he thought about the whole thing. He decided to build drones to quietly approach the whales, collect snot from their massive blow holes, gathering information about their health, while at the same time sticking small GPS trackers to them to learn about where they go and what they do.
Just another day in the office! It seems like Dr Kerr’s having a whale of a time [MUM JOKE BUZZER] Ooops, there goes my first Mum joke buzzer!
NEWSHOUNDS
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Hi Squiz-E, I heard that you’ll be dropping in to 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, Squiz-E’s nose is twitching because he’s come across some ‘Disinformation’ about climate change on the internet.
Disinformation is when people purposefully spread misleading information, and Squiz-E’s discovered a tweet that shows satellite images of sea ice in the Arctic in both 2006 and in 2023 that appears to cover a similar area. The author uses these pictures alone, to draw the conclusion that global warming is a hoax (meaning that it’s not real).
Luckily, we know that you should STOP, THINK and CHECK when you see anything that seems a bit fishy, and you don’t have to do too much extra research on the internet to discover that most of the world’s scientists have producedoverwhelming evidence that human activity is contributing to the warming of the planet. Unfortunately that includes the record temperatures that have been set in Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States this week. The city has had 19 days straight of the thermometers rising to more than 43 degrees celcius, and much of the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing similar conditions.
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!
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 dropped in to inspire the Matidas before the FIFA Women’s World Cup starts tonight?
- What sort of car did a group of Italian Youtubers chop in half?
- What experience provided a lightbulb moment for Doctor Iain Kerr?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 20 – Do you recognise this voice? [One Small Step Audio] Yes, that’s Apollo Astronaut Neil Armstrong, as he steps out onto the surface of the moon for the first time waaaayyy back in 1969. I’ve popped a video in your episode notes. That was a pretty special day!
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… Jessica from Junee, Ray from Point Cook, Tasman from Newrybar, Max from Beecroft, Jack from Kotara, Willow from Narromine, Adam from the Gold Coast, Brae from Woonona and Bob from Dee Why.
And belated birthday shout outs go to …. Archie from Wagga Wagga, Matias from Woongarrah, Santino from Kotara and Cassiano from Brisbane.
Also as a note: if you’re just tuning back in after the school holidays, we did lots of belated birthday shoutouts in last week’s podcasts – so if you missed yours, have a listen back – I’d just hate for you to think you missed out.
Classroom shoutouts today go to … class Blue1 and Mrs Ryan at Ellenbrook Primary School, class 6B and Ms Gregg at Somerville House in Brisbane, class 3/4S and Mrs Stapley at Beecroft Public School, class 3/4P and Ms Pearce at Russell Lea Public School, class 6G and Mrs Garton at North Rocks Public School and class 5/6Y with Mrs Young and Mr Convy at Warnervale Public School in Hamlyn Terrace. Lastly to the students at Saint Joseph’s Primary School in Narrandera and Mr Pratt who is celebrating a birthday this weekend.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Cathay Freeman
- A Fiat Panda
- Being covered in whale snot