0:00

Alright, Explorers! I'm a bit bored of life

0:02

down here on planet Earth, so let's see

0:04

what the universe can tell us. It's

0:07

time for a brand new Fun Kids

0:09

Science Weekly. My

0:13

name is Dan, and welcome along. Thank

0:15

you for following, for streaming, for listening.

0:17

This is our band, our club of

0:19

excited Explorers. We search out all the

0:22

science secrets that not many people know

0:24

about. This week you can hear why

0:26

the largest trees in the world are

0:29

suddenly quite at home in the UK. They

0:33

were very well protected. They were kind

0:35

of isolated on this northwest coast of

0:37

California in an environment where there's

0:39

no other kind of predators and there's not

0:42

much in the way of competition. And

0:44

so that allows them to grow for a very, very

0:46

long time, and that in

0:48

turn allows any kind of tree

0:50

to grow particularly very large. Also,

0:54

we've got a genius answering one of

0:56

your questions. It's all about

0:59

oxygen in space. Or

1:01

rather, why there is an oxygen in space. It

1:05

gives out a little tiny bit of its

1:07

weight and turns it into pure energy, which

1:09

is what makes the fiery effect of the

1:11

sun. So if you've got the weight of

1:13

two hydrogen atoms and weighed them, they'd

1:15

be slightly heavier than the helium atom.

1:18

And the difference is the light

1:21

and the heat that comes out. And

1:24

you can find out everything about a

1:26

deadly plant that has an ingenious way

1:28

of capturing prey. It's all

1:30

on the way in a brand new Fun

1:32

Kids Science Weekly. Let's

1:39

kick things off with your science in the news.

1:42

And your Easter egg might

1:45

cost more this year. You see,

1:47

most chocolate is made from cocoa

1:49

grown in West Africa, but a

1:51

humid heat wave has blasted the

1:53

crops. It's been

1:55

boiling there, and it means

1:58

there's much less the fun.

2:00

farmers and chocolate makers can

2:02

use. Experts say that it's human

2:04

induced climate change, it's made the

2:06

extreme heat 10 times more likely

2:09

and that means that easter eggs

2:11

have risen in price by 50%

2:14

or more so they've almost doubled in

2:16

how much they are, all because of

2:18

climate change affecting the amount of cocoa

2:20

that can be grown in West Africa.

2:22

Also a new species of beetle has

2:24

been discovered, it almost wasn't though experts

2:26

thought that it was actually bird poo.

2:29

This new species of bug was found

2:31

in Australia, some people call it a

2:34

punk beetle because it's got white hair.

2:36

James Tweed who helped discover it says

2:39

it's very unique, there are not many

2:41

insects out there that have fluffy long

2:43

white hairs, they stand straight he says,

2:45

it looks a bit like a mohican.

2:48

They're about a centimetre long and

2:50

it goes into so

2:52

many species of beetles that we know

2:55

about, there are hundreds of thousands of

2:57

them. And our final story this week,

2:59

the world's largest trees are having

3:01

a great time here in the

3:03

UK, a study has found that

3:05

giant redwoods are flourishing away from

3:07

their native range in California. Let's

3:09

find out more with Matthias Disney

3:11

from UCL Geography. Matt thank you

3:14

for being there, just so giant

3:16

redwoods, let's as much as we

3:18

can talk about the science behind the tree,

3:20

why are they so big? There's no one

3:22

reason, I mean they just happen to be

3:24

a very successful species that have adapted to

3:28

climate and conditions over time.

3:31

Being big is quite an advantage

3:33

for any species, animals as well

3:35

as plants because it allows you

3:37

to out-compete other people and it

3:39

allows you to survive in times

3:41

of, when times are hard. So

3:43

being big confers a lot of advantages, so that's

3:46

one reason why they're big. Why they're big here

3:48

is a different question. Well let's try and answer

3:50

that, why are they big here? We were brought

3:52

over here about 170 Years

3:54

ago when people started collecting them because they were

3:57

really interested in these trees, they'd seen them in

3:59

the... The Horn. Yeah, I thought

4:01

rights. Can we bring them over here? And

4:03

can we grow them? Because if so, then

4:05

it's worth a lot of money because enough

4:08

people wanted wealthy landowners this or wanted to

4:10

show off their money and by planting these

4:12

colors very large trees and growing them was

4:14

was one way to do that. So they

4:16

were brought say about hundred seventy years ago

4:19

and it turns out that the climate here

4:21

is actually pretty good for them. so that's

4:23

the one of the main reasons is that

4:25

they're not too far outside that kind of

4:27

comfortable zone here in the Uk. Let's think.

4:30

About a nice is high in which is

4:32

in California and I believe the tallest tree

4:34

in the world. It's called Hyperion and that

4:36

save it s L. What? Is

4:38

about California, The climate, the land. That

4:40

means these can grow so tall and

4:42

lived so long layover in the states

4:44

again is not really a one own

4:47

answer to that of in Hyperion. On

4:49

to decide that Hyperion a hundred and

4:51

sixty meters the tallest tree in the

4:53

world that's a slightly different species is

4:56

also a redwood that's a coastal redwood

4:58

close to the that the giant sequoias

5:00

that we've been looking out over here.

5:02

We have coast redwoods here as well,

5:05

but they were imported a bit lighter

5:07

and they. Are not so widespread as

5:09

as the Giants, but I guess the

5:11

main thing is that they will work

5:13

very well protected. They were kind of

5:16

isolated on this this north west coast

5:18

of California in an where know there's

5:20

no other kind of predators and there's

5:22

not much in the way of competition

5:24

and so that allows them to grow

5:27

for a very very long time and

5:29

that in turn allows any toiletry to

5:31

grow particularly very large. That of course

5:33

mid nineteenth century or the early nineteenth

5:35

century the kind of colonial settlers arrived.

5:38

And started shopping them down for timber

5:40

and that removed a huge number of

5:42

these these large trees and so reduced

5:44

and so the kind of the numbers

5:47

that they are. Now they're thriving over

5:49

here. I know there has been analysis

5:51

dumb to figure out. Why? he

5:53

can you tell us more about the

5:55

that that this sample of as he

5:57

thousand trees yeah so it looking at

5:59

the trees across the UK, what

6:01

we found was that the ones that

6:03

were in the kind of more damp

6:05

areas, areas where there's plenty of rainfall,

6:07

so the trees that we saw in

6:09

Scotland, which are some of the oldest

6:11

ones in the UK, they were doing

6:13

the best. The ones that were growing

6:15

the slowest were the ones that we

6:17

measured in Havering Country Park down towards

6:20

the southeast just outside London on the

6:22

borders of Essex, where it's a lot

6:24

drier. So there, it

6:26

seems like the rainfall is the thing that's

6:28

limiting their growth. They're still pretty big

6:30

trees, but they're nowhere near as big as the

6:32

ones in Scotland. So the rainfall,

6:34

the kind of relatively cool climate we have,

6:36

it's not too extreme. So we might complain

6:39

about our climate at times, but it's not

6:41

extreme. You know, our winters aren't too cold,

6:43

our summers aren't too hot. We get plenty

6:45

of rainfall most of the time in most

6:47

places, and that's pretty good for these trees.

6:49

And whenever we bring a different species of

6:51

any form of wildlife, even if it was

6:54

170 years ago, we have

6:56

to talk about the ecosystem and how things are

6:58

affected. What do we know about maybe other

7:01

trees or wildlife that have flourished

7:03

or ones that haven't done so

7:06

well because of the prominence of

7:08

these redwoods? A little

7:10

bit of both. I mean, I started noticing

7:12

them all over the place a few years

7:14

ago after I did some work on redwoods

7:16

in California, and I was surprised myself at

7:18

how many there are seemingly

7:20

in the UK. And then I was trying to

7:22

find out exactly that, you know, where would I

7:25

go to look for this kind of information? And

7:27

it just wasn't anything. So that was one of

7:29

the things we wanted to do is pull together

7:31

what information there was out there. And it's

7:34

not systematic at all. What we

7:36

did is we collected together records

7:38

here and there. So forestry records

7:40

and records that people have from

7:42

land ownership. One of the most

7:45

interesting sources of information, there's

7:47

a guy called Ron Levy,

7:49

who runs a website called Redwood World, and

7:52

he's just an enthusiast. And he's been collecting

7:54

locations of these trees for a decade or

7:56

more. And he very kindly

7:58

shared his data with us. and he's

8:00

got about four or five thousand trees

8:02

in his database and got GPS locations

8:04

for them and photos and so on.

8:07

So his database was about

8:09

the biggest single source

8:12

for the locations of these trees. And obviously it's

8:14

not absolutely not comprehensive

8:16

across the whole UK, but

8:18

that was the starting point. And since

8:20

we published this study in the last

8:23

week, he's been inundated with sightings that

8:25

people are sending from all over. So

8:27

we're hoping that the next iteration of

8:29

our map, once Ron gets to put all

8:31

the data into his database, we will

8:33

have a lot more of those UK Redwoods maps. Well,

8:36

I'm really excited to see what happens. And this

8:38

is what I love about science, is that there's

8:40

so many different avenues. And I

8:42

love chatting to different people like you,

8:44

who have found loads of

8:46

incredible trees. So Matthias Dizdi from the

8:48

UCL Geography, thank you so much for

8:50

joining us. No problem, thank you. Thank

8:52

you very much, Matthias, for coming on

8:55

the show. It's amazing to

8:57

think how much science has changed, right?

8:59

Way back, 100 years ago,

9:01

we would have just taken wildlife, taken

9:03

animals and plants, moved them anywhere and

9:05

not thought about it. But now we're

9:08

really aware of the decisions

9:10

we make and how that affects

9:12

the local ecosystem. And I

9:14

really love that. So thank you to Matthias for

9:16

coming on the show. Should we do your questions

9:18

then? I love this part. Where

9:21

we answer the science problems

9:23

that you send over

9:25

to funkidslife.com or that you send in as

9:27

a voice note on the Free Fun Kids

9:29

app. This one has been sent in from

9:31

Nicky, who is in Trinidad. It's a message

9:33

to me. Nicky wants to know, how

9:35

were whirlpools made in the middle of the

9:38

sea? Have you ever seen these? Sometimes

9:41

they happen, they just pop up around the ocean,

9:43

massive whirlpools. Think of the water as it swells

9:45

around your toilet. It's like that, a little bit

9:47

less gross. And they just pop up

9:49

in the ocean sometimes. There are a

9:52

few reasons, Nicky, why this happens. Everything

9:54

from the wind to what it looks

9:56

like underwater. One of the big

9:58

reasons are torrents. strong

10:00

movements of seawater in one

10:03

direction that swirl, that speed

10:05

through the ocean. And

10:07

when they meet down there, when two

10:10

currents collide head on, they can create

10:12

a swirl. Because you've got a lot

10:14

of force, a lot of speed, and

10:16

it wraps around each other almost, which

10:18

creates this vortex of swirling water. Also

10:21

under the ocean there are cliffs,

10:23

canyons, even mountains. And when water,

10:25

when these strong, fast currents hit

10:27

those, it creates a chaotic area

10:30

of turbulence, which can

10:32

also make whirlpools. And

10:34

extreme weather, like storms or hurricanes,

10:36

can make underwater currents and tides

10:38

do very strange things. They can

10:40

crash different water patterns into each

10:43

other, and that can make the

10:45

whirlpools too. Because there's such

10:47

a lot of energy, because you've got water

10:49

going in different directions, they almost have to

10:52

lock into each other and swirl around

10:54

to create the whirlpool. Nikki, thank you

10:56

so much for that question. How

10:58

does all the stars and the

11:00

sun stay on fire, when there's

11:03

no oxygen in space? Clara, thank you

11:05

so much for your voice note. How

11:08

do the sun and the stars

11:10

stay on fire in space with

11:13

no oxygen? To help us

11:15

get the answer, science writer Tom Jackson joins

11:18

us. Thank you so much for being there.

11:21

There's a lot to pick out in this one about the

11:23

sun and the stars being on fire, no oxygen. Where

11:25

do we start, Tom? Well, you're

11:28

right that you can't have fire without oxygen,

11:30

but the sun isn't on fire. It looks

11:32

like it might be, because it's hot and

11:36

glowing like a flame, but

11:38

it's doing something else. It's

11:40

doing something called nucleofusion, which

11:43

you may have heard about. It's

11:46

a reaction that atoms do. It's different

11:48

to the nuclear reactions

11:50

that you get in a

11:52

nuclear power station. But what's

11:54

going on is that the

11:56

sun is a vast ball

11:58

of hydrogen plasma. plasma.

12:01

Well, everyone's seen lightning strikes and

12:04

the glow in, when you see

12:06

lightning, that's plasma. So imagine something

12:08

glowing and super hot, but

12:10

just a vast ball of it. That's

12:13

the sun, that's a star. Right in

12:15

the middle of this ball of plasma,

12:17

there are hydrogen atoms and they're being

12:19

squeezed so much that

12:22

they push together and

12:24

with two atoms pushed together, they

12:27

fuse and create one larger atom,

12:29

an atom of helium and that

12:31

gives out a lot of energy.

12:33

And if you imagine that it's

12:35

happening billions of times every second

12:37

inside the sun, the sun's giving

12:40

out a huge amount of energy. The

12:42

most amazing thing I think about this is

12:44

that the fusion that's happening inside the

12:46

sun gives out its energy, but

12:49

it takes 170,000 years for that light and that heat to

12:54

make it to the surface and then shine

12:56

at us. So the light that's

12:58

coming out the sun now was made, well

13:01

let's see, what was happening 170,000 years ago?

13:03

We don't know. All the people in

13:05

the world were living in Africa. There was

13:07

no history, there was no writing, was there

13:09

art or pictures maybe,

13:12

but it was a very long time

13:14

ago. It takes 170,000 years to go from the middle

13:16

of the sun

13:18

to the edge of the to the surface of the sun and

13:21

then it only takes eight minutes to

13:23

go from the sun to us. That

13:25

is perhaps

13:28

the best thing I've ever learnt doing this.

13:31

The fact that it takes 170,000

13:33

years and you would think with all

13:35

that energy it might be a bit

13:37

quicker. Like why is it, what's happening?

13:39

Why is it so slow? Do we

13:41

know about this journey that the new

13:44

atoms are making? There's just so much

13:46

stuff in the way. So when an

13:48

atom gives out, so you get two

13:50

hydrogen atoms, they fuse together to make

13:52

one helium atom. What happens there is

13:54

that it gives out a little tiny bit

13:56

of its weight and turns it into pure energy,

13:59

which is what makes the fiery effect

14:01

of the sun. So if you've got

14:03

the weight of two hydrogen atoms and

14:05

weighed them, they'd be slightly

14:07

heavier than the helium atom. And the

14:09

difference is the light

14:11

and the heat that comes out. And that

14:14

means the sun is losing weight. And

14:16

I've did some sums every day,

14:18

it becomes 350 billion tonnes lighter. It's

14:23

so massive. It's massive, isn't it?

14:26

And we're told Tom that it's losing this weight,

14:28

but it's going to get bigger and bigger and

14:30

bigger and eventually swallow us in like 4 billion

14:32

years. Something like that, yeah. It's going to swell

14:35

up and sort of take up more space, but

14:37

actually cool down as it does it. So instead

14:39

of all being tight and fiery and squashed together,

14:41

it'll swell up. And that means that all the

14:44

heat and light will spread out a bit

14:46

and it'll cool down a bit. But back to

14:48

the question why it takes 170,000 years. It's

14:51

because there's so much stuff between that light being

14:53

given out and the surface, the

14:55

light just wants to shine through stuff. And we're

14:57

used to it shining through the air

15:00

at us from the sun or from a

15:02

torch or a light bulb or something. And

15:05

there's nothing much in between. It just shines

15:07

along and eventually it hits something and it

15:09

either reflects off and goes into

15:11

our eyes and we can see it or

15:15

some of it gets absorbed and that's how you

15:17

get different coloured objects. So inside the sun, it's

15:19

trying to do that. Off it goes and it

15:21

gets just immediately gets taken in by the next

15:23

atom along and then that atom gives it out

15:25

and it goes to the next one and the

15:28

next one and the next one and the next

15:30

one. And there's so much stuff in there that

15:32

it just takes ages and ages and ages for the

15:34

light to shine its way out to the edge of

15:36

the sun. There's other things going on as well. That's

15:39

the general reason.

15:41

So a bit of light that's made in

15:43

the centre of the sun takes 170,000 years

15:45

and eight minutes to reach

15:48

your eye. Clara, thank you so much. So the

15:50

long and the short of it is how the

15:52

stars and the sun stay on fire in space

15:54

with no oxygen. They're not on fire so don't

15:56

worry about the oxygen. Let's

16:01

get to this week's dangerous Dan then. Every

16:03

week on the show we chat about some of the

16:06

most unique, weird, strange and

16:08

deadly things that pop

16:10

up across the universe. This

16:13

time we're looking at a plant that

16:15

has a very smart way of trapping

16:17

its lunch. You will

16:19

find the pitcher plant across

16:22

the world in tropical, warm

16:24

places. Normally they're brightly coloured,

16:26

greens, reds and pinks

16:28

all in there. We

16:31

know that in wildlife if a flower, a

16:34

plant is brightly coloured it normally means it

16:36

wants to get your attention. Quite often it's

16:38

the reverse for animals. If a creature,

16:40

an insect is brightly coloured it really

16:42

doesn't want you to come near, it's more

16:45

a warning that says look stay away because

16:47

I might have to eat you. The pitcher

16:49

plant is shaped in a very unique, deadly

16:51

way. Imagine a bin, I guess, a small

16:53

rubbish bin with a lid that

16:55

flips up and down. It's kind of what it

16:57

looks like, a very brightly coloured version of that

16:59

and that's how it gets its lunch. Because

17:02

there's not many nutrients, good

17:04

stuff in the soil nearby. So

17:07

it lures insects and creatures with these bright

17:09

colours and with the sweet smell of a

17:11

nectar that it makes to come over to

17:13

the flower. The problem is when something gets

17:15

near it lands on the rim of the

17:17

pitcher plant and or right

17:19

on the edge of the hole, looking

17:22

over the middle where a

17:24

lot of the time it slips down,

17:26

down into this plant where it

17:29

can't get out. It falls into

17:31

what's almost like a pelican's big bill

17:34

that hangs down because the inside of

17:36

the pitcher is filled with a liquid

17:38

which quickly gets to work breaking down

17:40

the prey that has fallen inside so

17:42

it can eat and not just insects

17:44

too. This one in the Philippines, there's

17:47

huge species that can

17:50

grow enormously with a hole and

17:52

opening the size of a foot.

17:55

So big creatures, even birds, can

17:57

fall down into the plant and

17:59

get swallowed, broken down and eaten,

18:02

isn't it amazing how different

18:04

forms of wildlife have to thrive

18:06

what they do to survive all around the world and

18:08

that is why the pitcher plant goes straight onto our

18:10

dangerous down list. Let's

18:14

catch up with Marina Ventura

18:17

then, our trusty explorer and

18:19

we are heading into the ocean this week.

18:22

She knows everything about all

18:24

the creatures, all the different

18:26

types of environments and ecosystems

18:29

that's down there. So

18:31

let's see what Marina wants to tell

18:33

us on her ocean adventure and we're

18:35

finding out why the sea is very

18:37

important for all humans. Marina

18:40

Ventura's ocean adventure supported by

18:42

the Natural Environment Research Council,

18:44

the science of the natural

18:46

world. Yahoo

18:51

adventurers! That Greek to

18:53

hello! And having

18:55

a bit of a rest today,

18:57

swimming in the warm Aegean Sea

18:59

around the Greek Islands is beautifully

19:02

blue and warm, perfect for relaxing.

19:06

The seas aren't just good fun, they're mega

19:09

super important in loads of ways for

19:11

humans like us, even when we just

19:13

take a breath of air. Phytoplankton

19:18

in the water provides half of the

19:20

oxygen that we breathe and in the

19:22

future biofuel from seaweed could run our

19:24

cars and heat our houses. Clever

19:27

huh? I'm going to

19:29

dry off and have a sunbathe on the beach. And

19:34

as well as that, the sea provides a

19:36

whole toolkit for scientists. Here

19:39

we have some amazing anemones, they're

19:41

handy too. One

19:43

called the bubble tip anemone produces a

19:45

protein that can be used to colour

19:47

in other microscopic samples. Just

19:51

quite like felt-it pens. The

19:54

bubble tip produces a brilliant red colour

19:56

under fluorescent light and other

19:58

proteins from other forms of sea life. provide other

20:00

colours. All these colours help

20:02

scientists see the different parts of specimens when they're

20:05

looking at them under the microscope. It's

20:08

even thought we could find a cure for

20:10

many diseases from the ocean, even

20:12

the common cold. Bless you!

20:15

Sea life might not sneeze, but viruses

20:17

affect all forms of life. One

20:21

tiny algae can defend itself brilliantly

20:23

against viral attack by performing a

20:25

magic trick. If it

20:27

is attacked by viruses, the algae responds

20:30

by completely changing its physical appearance,

20:32

making it impenetrable to the deadly

20:34

virus. It's called the Cheshire

20:37

Cat algae because it can change so quickly

20:39

and the virus just doesn't recognise it anymore.

20:42

Imagine if we could do that. Let's

20:48

find out what other treasure can be found

20:50

in the sea with Map app, the electronic

20:52

essential for every explorer. It's

20:54

in my rucksack. Hang on.

20:58

That's not it. I thought I'd packed it near

21:00

the top. My

21:02

lovely pink wellies, but I won't be needing

21:04

them today. Ah, here

21:07

it is. Hello.

21:10

Gosh, it's hot in here. You want

21:13

a fact about cooling down?

21:15

Not today. We're finding out

21:17

how the oceans benefit us. Ah,

21:19

well, I've got the perfect fact for that.

21:22

A way of taking stock of the

21:25

treasures in the ocean is by

21:27

bioprospecting. Collecting and

21:29

analysing samples, and

21:31

one scientist who's at the forefront

21:34

of bioprospecting is Craig

21:36

Venter. His yacht, Sorcerer

21:38

II, is rather like

21:40

an environmentally friendly floating

21:42

laboratory. Big enough to

21:44

cross oceans and manoeuvrable enough to

21:46

go wherever it's needed to collect

21:48

samples. Once,

21:50

during a short stay around Bermuda, more

21:52

than 1.2 million new genes and more than

21:55

1,800 species of

22:00

microbes were identified, including

22:02

148 previously unknown bacteria. Amazing!

22:09

That's all we have time for today, but join

22:11

us soon for more Mysteries from the Deep. Doodlepip,

22:14

adventurers! Marina

22:16

Venturas Ocean Adventure, a fun

22:18

kids production in association with

22:20

the Natural Environment Research Council,

22:22

the science of the natural

22:24

world. And

22:28

that's it for this week's Fun Kids Science

22:30

Weekly. Thank you so much for listening to

22:32

the show. If you have a question that

22:34

you want answered by an expert next week,

22:36

make sure you leave it as a voice

22:38

note for me on the FreeFunKids app or

22:40

at funkidslive.com. You've heard a brilliant episode of

22:42

Marina Ventura. You can hear loads more podcast

22:44

episodes wherever you get your shows, Google,

22:46

Apple, Spotify, any place like that on

22:48

the FreeFunKids app and at funkidslive.com too.

22:50

And Fun Kids, we are a children's

22:53

radio station from the UK. Listen all

22:55

over the country on our app, on

22:57

the website and if you've got a

22:59

smart sneaker, wake it up and ask it to pay

23:01

Fun Kids.