Episode Transcript
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0:00
Oh right Explorers welcome along. It's
0:02
time to get creative and to
0:04
get curious way searching out with
0:06
a sign. Secrets in the fun
0:08
kids Science Weekly. My
0:12
name is Data will come along every
0:14
week you and me. We traveled all
0:17
over the place finding some of that
0:19
science the no one's discovered before this
0:21
week which adds a food scientist married
0:23
Mckenna all about how climate change will
0:26
affect what you eat for dinner. People.
0:29
Who work and crop science and farmers
0:32
and so forth are terminal optimists. They
0:34
have to be right. And what they
0:36
say at this point is that this
0:38
is a big world, and there's a
0:40
lot of growing areas in the world
0:42
that we're not fully. Exploiting. So
0:45
it's not necessarily that we're all
0:47
going to starve, but we might
0:49
have to get used to food
0:51
crops coming from different places. Then.
0:54
They come from. Now. And
0:58
are gadget genius tech grow mom
1:00
is back looking at how brilliant
1:02
inventions a maid and how they
1:04
help you every day. And today
1:06
we're making things brighter. Any
1:10
days or another type of lighting made from
1:12
tiny bulb that are lined up in grades.
1:14
you can see these on some torches, psycho
1:16
lights and even on some street and traffic
1:18
lights and in people's lights at home. H.
1:20
L E D's may to produce one
1:22
color of light when electricity parties through
1:24
it. They use even less energy than
1:26
Cfl and can last ten years. And
1:30
this we got Dangerous that looks a
1:32
tiny deadly creature with rough skin. The
1:34
Uzis boys and it's all on the
1:36
way it up, Rodney. Fun kid sides
1:39
weekly. Let's.
1:45
Start things off with your
1:48
science in the news and
1:50
scientists have discovered a gigantic
1:52
ring shaped structure in space
1:54
which is changed everything they
1:57
thought we knew about the
1:59
universe. It is one point
2:01
three billion light years across. It's named
2:03
the Big Ring by astronomers. It's made
2:06
up of galaxies and galaxy cluster. You
2:08
need a telescope to see so far
2:10
away and even that thought, see what
2:13
this is actually been found by telescope
2:15
pictures with computers joining it all together.
2:17
It takes a lot of computing power
2:19
and he sees everything We thought we
2:22
knew about the universe, science and the
2:24
way it works because our idea was
2:26
the all matter with spread smoothly across
2:29
the universe. But this ring
2:31
looks to have some order to
2:33
it. Like these galaxies are linked
2:35
across billions of light years. That
2:37
completely changes how we thought the
2:40
universe works. and this is a
2:42
seed steel. Imagine. If.
2:44
We discovered this Know. What? We
2:46
might discover the in the future
2:48
and how strains that things might
2:50
be and how wrong we could
2:53
have been in the past. That's
2:55
was brilliant about science. Also talked
2:57
about discoveries: A huge ancient city
2:59
has been found in the Amazon
3:01
rain forest, hidden for thousands of
3:03
years by vegetation. On this discovery,
3:05
toys is what we know about
3:08
the history of people living in
3:10
the Amazon. Houses in town squares
3:12
were found in the country of
3:14
Ecuador, all linked by roads. And
3:16
to now is it lies in the shadow
3:18
of a volcano that would have made really
3:20
rich soyuz filled with nutrients. Grow plants though
3:23
side of okay they might lead to the
3:25
disks. Spurs see
3:27
that is older than any other side we
3:29
know in the Amazon. And we
3:31
really only for people who live there. Are. They
3:35
speak for is what we were
3:37
saying. that constantly discovering new things
3:40
about how we were and what's
3:42
happening in the future and it
3:44
completely changes everything we thought we
3:47
know. Science is a is a
3:49
constant journey of discovery. Were always
3:51
asking questions and finally looking back
3:53
to the past. a dog sliver
3:56
of rock pulled from a limestone
3:58
quarry in the United. They
4:00
has found the world's oldest!
4:02
Be if Skyn. The.
4:05
Fossil is nearly two hundred ninety million
4:07
years old and the skin would have
4:09
once been on the Amnio. It's who
4:11
were four legged vertebrates the Evo from
4:14
amphibious they with the early Brits I
4:16
was birds and mammals as they were
4:18
the creatures the first went swimming in
4:21
the seats on land at this in
4:23
his own evidence have of them. Less
4:35
Second with Betty and Mild and
4:37
these are microbe friends and who?
4:39
A company taking a look inside
4:41
your body, how it works, were
4:44
all your organs do and they've
4:46
been dealing with big questions, ethical
4:48
dilemmas where there is a right
4:50
and the rome to the answer.
4:53
This. Sweet! They're looking at what it
4:56
would be like if we replaced body
4:58
parts. Maybe. You could
5:00
live forever. But. What would be
5:02
lest of the original person? Would.
5:04
We end up as a valuable and who
5:07
would be responsible for fixing us that. Now.
5:10
Is the books and the numbers Council on Fire
5:12
I said. Go
5:16
ahead. sorry about the rocket my
5:18
friends family and now you know
5:20
microbes that live at the bottom
5:22
of an old as a single
5:25
celled organisms that are very single
5:27
minded. Have a man never agree
5:29
on anything on procedural of the
5:31
snorting. So lads, what's the topic
5:34
today? Oil. Really
5:37
taking me forever to get a word
5:39
in on Saturday seats is debate is
5:41
all about. Knitting. or
5:45
trying to i mean come on
5:47
we'd all love to live forever
5:49
wouldn't i wouldn't says using it
5:51
would get a bit boring after
5:54
like the five hundred birthday you
5:56
might see through years of opening
5:58
presents Unlikely.
6:00
Well, human beings seem to try very
6:03
hard to stay alive as long as
6:05
possible, don't they? They take medicines, replace
6:07
broken hips and knees, use wooden legs,
6:09
and have pacemakers to keep their hearts
6:12
ticking. It's a good point. Although I
6:14
think prosthetic limbs are plastic, not wooden.
6:16
But that's not really trying to live
6:18
forever, is it? It's just fixing broken
6:21
bits. But what if you could fix
6:23
all the broken bits for years and
6:25
years and years? Well, I suppose. Yeah,
6:27
well, you'd live forever then. Unless, I
6:30
don't know, you were exploded in a vacuum of
6:32
space. Exploding
6:35
in a vacuum? Well, how do you
6:37
want to tell my mate if I'm in
6:40
a vacuum? Okay, bad example. I
6:42
just wouldn't like the idea of all
6:44
that metal and plastic clanking about inside
6:46
me. It seems like the more stuff you
6:48
need, the more you have to trust it to keep
6:50
working. I mean, even tablet computers go on
6:52
the blink at times. Well, humans have to
6:54
trust their bodies all the time. You don't
6:56
see them sitting around saying, Please,
6:58
please, please, please, please, please,
7:01
please, please, please, please. Perhaps
7:04
you'd forget about all the implanted bits and
7:06
bobs. But what if you had loads of
7:08
stuff replaced, and one day you woke up,
7:10
and it freaked you out being some kind
7:12
of robot cyborg human? What would you say then?
7:16
Ungrateful. That's what I'd
7:18
say. Ungrateful, robo-humans. Yeah,
7:21
and if all of me was replaced, is
7:23
there a point where I wouldn't actually be human
7:25
anymore? And what if I don't like being a
7:27
robot anymore? What if I'm bored of living forever?
7:29
Take it out! It's up to you what you
7:32
put in your body, isn't it? Whose body is
7:34
it anyway? Take it out! Well, it might
7:36
be your body, but if you want to
7:38
go back to the way you were, then
7:40
someone has to take it all out, unless
7:42
you fancy doing the surgery on yourself. No,
7:46
mate. Definitely not. That is not the direction I'd
7:48
want to go in. But you've shown another little
7:50
problem there. We have to rely on others to
7:52
put this stuff in and out. What if it
7:54
goes wrong and it needs fixing? Malefunction. Do you
7:56
have to pay for the repairs? So
8:00
what if you have to pay for repairs?
8:02
If you've got the cash you could even
8:04
get some super enhancements. Ah, but what
8:06
if you're poor? Are you saying only rich people get
8:09
the choice of living forever? That doesn't sound fair to
8:11
me. Life isn't fair, mate.
8:13
Lazy thinking, there. If you ask me,
8:15
we should be thinking about how we
8:17
can best use the science and technology
8:19
at our disposal to make things fair.
8:22
It's a brain-busting Bonnie Bamboozler for sure.
8:25
Sure is. Catch you next
8:27
time. Bonnie and Mal, or the
8:29
Peasies, with support from the Lufford
8:31
Council on Bioethics. Find out more
8:34
at funkidslive.com/Benny and Mal. Let's
8:37
get to your questions, then. I love
8:39
this part of the show where you
8:41
send over anything sciency that you've been
8:43
wondering as a voice note to the
8:46
Free Fun Kids app. You can also
8:48
find it and record yourself on the
8:50
Science Weekly page at funkidslive.com. Our
8:52
good friend and star of this week's
8:54
show, Jake, has done that. I just
8:57
want to know, if energy can't be
8:59
created, where do you come from? Now,
9:01
energy, Jake, is really tough
9:03
to get your head around. And
9:05
energy can't be created or destroyed.
9:08
It's only converted. It's moved from one
9:11
form of energy to another. And
9:14
that is a fundamental idea of science. It's
9:16
known as the conservation of energy.
9:20
Now, the general belief is that all
9:22
energy came about from the Big Bang
9:24
billions of years ago, that huge burst
9:26
which flung matter across the universe. And
9:29
all the energy we have comes from
9:31
that. We use it, and it
9:33
ends up going back into the universe. The
9:36
main source for energy here on Earth comes from
9:38
the Sun. Solar
9:40
energy, which comes from nuclear fusion
9:42
on the Sun, converts one form
9:44
of energy to another. That
9:46
solar energy helps the
9:49
plants grow and stay alive. The plants
9:51
are then consumed by animals. You
9:54
might eat plants. You might eat animals too.
9:56
So you've got that energy now. That changes
9:58
to kinetic movement energy. in you,
10:01
which then goes on and on and on.
10:04
It's like a flowchart. Have you done
10:06
those in school? One thing comes another
10:08
thing which helps in other things. So that
10:11
energy isn't created. It's just
10:13
constantly changing form. And
10:15
that is how energy isn't made, but it's
10:18
always there. Jake, thank you very much for
10:20
the question. This has been sent over to
10:22
me from Rowan in Scotland who wants to
10:25
know, what do viruses eat? Well,
10:27
viruses that can infect your body work
10:29
like being a parasite. It's a brilliant
10:31
question because you have to wonder what
10:33
keeps viruses alive in your body. And
10:36
by starving them of that, it's one way
10:38
that you defeat the virus. When
10:40
you get infected by one, it goes straight for
10:42
your cells and it feeds off those cells. You
10:46
make something called ATP, adenosine triphosphate.
10:48
It's a compound in your cells
10:50
that gives them energy to grow
10:53
and to move and it
10:55
also feeds the virus. So as
10:57
you get infected, the virus will stick to
10:59
your cells. It'll become like a vampire bat,
11:01
like a leech, a parasite, a mosquito that
11:03
sucks all that ATP that uses that energy
11:05
to help them out too. And
11:07
that is how viruses stay alive,
11:09
Rowan. Thank you so much for the question.
11:11
If you have anything you want answered next
11:13
week on the show, make sure you leave
11:15
it as a voicemail for me on the
11:18
free Fun Kids app or at funkidslive.com. It's
11:21
the Fun Kids Science Weekly. Now we talk a
11:23
lot about the climate crisis on the show and
11:26
how it impacts your life. What
11:29
will it impact on your plate? What
11:31
about what you eat for dinner? Let's find out. Marin
11:33
McKenna is a science author and has done a
11:36
lot of digging in this. Marin, thank you
11:38
so much for joining us. So let's just start
11:40
off. There is so much to be thoughtful
11:43
and perhaps concerned with the
11:45
change in climate. What
11:47
made you really interested in how
11:50
it might impact food in the
11:52
future? So like
11:54
any journalist, I read what other journalists
11:57
are writing over the year, right? The
12:00
other newspapers and magazines and so
12:02
forth and on. Slugs and sings
12:05
on the web and over the
12:07
course of the year I just
12:09
kept seeing all these stories about
12:11
how many crops were suffering this
12:14
year. Potatoes and tomatoes and corn
12:16
and barley and olives and oranges.
12:18
There was story after story about
12:21
how strange weather patterns were setting
12:23
the production of all these crops.
12:25
and when you look into what
12:28
the reason is, it's all. That
12:30
the changing weather patterns have something.
12:32
To do with climate change So. Every
12:35
basic level. How. Is
12:37
a fixing it because. You.
12:39
Know some is officer and we're told
12:41
that but winters will be colder, will
12:43
get more rain will get a lot
12:46
more of the extremes. Why will that
12:48
affect how are orange juice grow? How
12:50
many our lives we can. A very
12:52
simple stuff like that. So. Every
12:54
crops that we eat is grown
12:56
in a place says best for
12:58
it right? Like olives they're grown
13:00
in Spain. Spain makes more olive
13:02
oil than anywhere else in the
13:04
world because the warm dry conditions.
13:07
On. The slopes where those trees are.
13:09
Are best for that particular plant.
13:11
That's the same reason why we
13:14
grow corn in particular parts of
13:16
the United States, or oranges in
13:18
Florida and California. But the sings
13:21
that those crops. Need to grow.
13:23
The best are moving away from
13:25
where the crops are. The are
13:28
inches might be in a place
13:30
is getting drier or hotter or
13:32
is getting much more rain. More
13:34
rain than the crop can really
13:37
sustain. So the weather that the
13:39
crops adapted to is now leaving
13:41
them. And. Leaving the crops
13:43
behind? So what can we do
13:45
about this in the future without
13:47
being too interested and all having
13:49
to individually change every single part
13:51
of what we do and what
13:53
we eat? What. it should
13:56
really how can this be fixed
13:58
moving food or is it light
14:00
and oranges will never be the same again.
14:02
There's really only two things you can do
14:04
broadly. One is you can move the crop
14:07
to where the weather's good now. And
14:09
the second is you can change the crop.
14:12
But neither of those are things that can happen
14:14
really quickly because we're talking about really
14:16
big industries. So maybe if you're
14:18
someone who grows grapes to make
14:20
wine, you might change
14:23
the kind of grapes that you grow and make a different
14:25
kind of wine, or you might move
14:27
the coffee plants further up
14:29
a mountain where it's cooler than the kind
14:31
of temperature that the coffee used to grow
14:33
in. But that's a
14:36
big production, moving that kind of
14:38
crop production around. The other thing is that
14:40
we could re-breed crops, whether they do
14:42
it the traditional way that farmers have
14:44
always done it, or they do it
14:46
in the laboratory with something like CRISPR.
14:49
But you still have to take
14:51
those tinkered with crops and test them
14:53
out in the field. And that takes
14:55
a couple of years to figure out whether
14:57
the crop that you've tinkered with really
15:00
works as well as you thought it
15:02
would. Now, for the last few years,
15:04
I know I have, and many
15:07
people listening might have really cut
15:09
down on how much meat that
15:11
we're eating. Because we're told that
15:13
meat, agriculture, emissions, mainly from cattle
15:15
and beef, is very harmful to
15:17
our atmosphere. And that's impacting the
15:19
climate, right? So we're eating
15:21
a lot of vegetables. Well, the problem is, is
15:24
there going to be any vegetables left for
15:26
us to eat? Will there be a time,
15:28
Marian, when there is nothing grown that we
15:30
can possibly eat? People who work in crop
15:33
science and farmers and so forth are terminal
15:35
optimists. They have to be, right? Because
15:37
even if the climate weren't changing, there's
15:39
always something that's happening on a farm that's
15:41
going to be depressing. And so you just have to have
15:43
a good attitude about it. And what
15:46
they say at this point is that
15:48
this is a big world. And there's
15:50
a lot of growing areas in the
15:52
world that we're not fully exploiting. So
15:54
it's not necessarily that we're All
15:56
going to starve, but we might have to
15:58
get used to. The crops
16:01
coming from different places.
16:04
Than. They come from now. Zealots, time
16:06
travel a second Marin that's throw ourselves
16:08
twenty years into the future. Thirty years.
16:11
I'm sitting down in my No Doubts
16:13
Mega Man soon because of unloads a
16:15
Monday. My dining table looks out over
16:18
my massive swimming pool. I'm up in
16:20
the hills. the sun is shining. I
16:22
know ago my awards for various podcasts
16:25
and films I've started. I'm very impressed.
16:27
Was a very much more than welcome
16:29
to come over the wall We see
16:31
Molson, Adina play into the Thirty Years
16:34
Mary. Sue. For one thing, it might not
16:36
be peace. In lit bit sick
16:38
and because the princes the chicken
16:40
is to lease much less harmful
16:42
to the climate than pieces. So
16:44
maybe we give up on cutting
16:46
down the amazon. then we turn.
16:48
Around to growing much more
16:50
chicken. so there's second moon
16:52
we might. Not be drinking the
16:55
kind of wine the people are used
16:57
to drinking. and we might not even
16:59
be drinking beer because barley as one
17:01
of those crops that's being affected by
17:04
where the climate is. Changing. But
17:07
we might still be able to eat
17:09
things like salad and tomatoes and minutes
17:11
and things like that if we can
17:14
figure out how to grow them in
17:16
a more protected way like in glass
17:18
houses for instance that doesn't use. A
17:20
lot more energy because energies going to
17:23
get more expensive. And last question and
17:25
is it's really for you to. Calm.
17:28
Me down. I'm a vegetarian and I think
17:30
I might be the only vegetarian that put
17:32
on loads more way because I substituted me
17:34
for just like Pastor. Just. Loads
17:36
of pass us so please
17:38
tell me. That. In thirty
17:41
years. With all my
17:43
small size or can have some spaghetti lot
17:45
as be a is not going away. As
17:47
if I don't think that's because he's going
17:49
away to spaghetti the wheat crop right? So
17:51
in the United States. Wheat production
17:54
is moving north. It's moving out
17:56
of the Us parts of the
17:58
country where. We had those who. Derek
18:00
Amber waves of grain that's in
18:02
one of our national anthems, and
18:04
it's moving toward more colder climates
18:07
and up into Canada, so we'll
18:09
still have weeks. But
18:11
I'm not sure you're going to be able have
18:13
to have olive oil on your spaghetti, and I
18:15
might even be a little skeptical of tomatoes. You
18:17
might have to find some other. Sauce to
18:19
put on it and stuff like her
18:22
and of Troy spaghetti. Four assists in
18:24
Mary Mckenna Thank you so much for
18:26
joining us If you are welcome This.
18:30
Is a part of a show where we
18:32
explore the universe and strange parts of our
18:34
planet. To. Hung out though we'd
18:37
is the strangest. The most deadly things
18:39
in the world is queued dangerous down.
18:41
This week we are headed to North
18:43
America us to take a look at
18:45
the Ruskin. Nice. So. Can
18:48
you guess what animal is? What? Makes
18:50
it unique. Skins like.
18:53
It's a new and he's got rough
18:55
skin. A new is an amphibian that
18:58
it looks like a lizard. They have
19:00
four legs, a long tail, a thick
19:02
head at the top. The Ruskin You
19:05
is quite speaking with a much more
19:07
rounded head than others. It's normally brown
19:09
or dog green with a bright orange
19:11
on the belly, and they grow to
19:14
just under twenty. Census is so looks
19:16
like this in his ruff from in
19:18
Albany and he makes something very strange.
19:21
They sweat as offices poised. To
19:23
defend themselves and predators. Now they do
19:25
warn you about these if I feel
19:28
for and they they make a disgusting
19:30
vile sense but as far as or
19:32
anything it's on of radiates from their
19:34
body which lets other creatures know to
19:37
stay aware that if they carry on
19:39
a moose. Wow! This poison code had
19:41
through the toxic. You. Might remember
19:43
one of the first I understand the
19:46
we ever did was all about the
19:48
pufferfish. It's a face that expands itself,
19:50
the puffs itself our that makes a
19:52
toxic sweat which continue straight away. You
19:55
be easier when it's the same with
19:57
this animal Edu a a rough skin.
20:00
Be prepared correctly, you could
20:02
swallow their toxins and things
20:04
get very bad guy. oh
20:06
my. Stray away now. thankfully
20:08
he said you. it's got
20:10
rough skin, looks a bit
20:12
like a strange beast from
20:15
aside by media doesn't have
20:17
three appetizer. And. It's
20:19
of Ruskin new but then again
20:21
your last night who do like
20:23
Sweden must look appetizing. for those
20:25
that means against a place and
20:27
I understand list. Before.
20:33
We finish up this week. Let's second
20:35
with second. I'm I'm She is our
20:37
guys. It guru er, genius who knows
20:40
everything about why things work, how they
20:42
were made, who made them, and how
20:44
we use them every day. This league
20:47
Second: a mom is making us brighter
20:49
by making things brighter. Sex
20:52
Know months off file. You
20:55
probably know to turn lights off when you not
20:57
using them. Oh you should. Be
20:59
no her like actually work when you.
21:01
Flip the switch. Old types of both
21:03
send electricity to a thin line with
21:06
close when who's responsible doesn't last for
21:08
a long than and current difference on
21:10
the most common parts of both these
21:12
days or energy efficient ones. Cfl.
21:15
Or compact fluorescent lights,
21:17
electricity, Makes a glimpse inside give us
21:19
night. They use a lot less energy and
21:21
last much longer. Any these are another type
21:23
of lighting. may from tiny bones that are
21:26
lined up increase. You to see these on
21:28
some thoughts is like a lights and even on some
21:30
street and traffic lights. And in people's lights
21:32
at home. H L E D's may
21:34
to produce one hundred light When electricity
21:36
passes through it, They use even less
21:38
energy than Cfl and last ten years,
21:40
why not check out the bones in
21:43
your house or the energy efficient. With
21:46
the Institution of Engineering and Technology
21:48
advancing and serving knowledge. And
21:56
Isaac this week weekly. So much
21:58
for listening. Is anything science A?
22:01
You announce it on the podcast next week make
22:03
so you leave as a boy say for me
22:05
on the free Fun Kids Out or at some
22:07
Kids lies.com. While you that
22:09
you can second with loads of are brilliant
22:11
podcast series he had a few today be
22:13
got tons more for use. You could also
22:16
get them on the free from Kids are
22:18
Safe and were of shows and twenty three
22:20
our children's radio stations. cake listen to us
22:22
all around the country on the front Been
22:24
gives up or funk it's like.com and if
22:26
he gospels the got wake up and off
22:28
it's of I think.
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