0:00

Oh. I explore are you have

0:02

stumbled upon. The. Smartest

0:04

show in the solar system.

0:08

My name's Dan. Welcome to the fun good

0:10

Signs weekly. This is the podcast that towards

0:13

the galaxy we get you back in about

0:15

half an hour. It's quick gonna that's time

0:17

travel I can't explain why. can tell you

0:19

is the brilliant things we've gone the show

0:21

this week. we will actually look ahead to

0:23

next week. Especially what's in the sky.

0:26

Next week we'll find out how we know what,

0:28

whether it's like in the future. Can't

0:31

or what the weather's going to be like

0:33

in a week's time unless you know really

0:35

what it's like now. I. Need to know

0:37

the all over the whole world to predict

0:39

the weather in the Uk in a week's

0:42

time you need to know about the weather

0:44

and from Australia and taught girl America everywhere.

0:47

Also in our quest to

0:49

find the greatest science ever,

0:51

we will look into your

0:53

mind and hear about neuroscience.

0:57

Without being able to remember, we couldn't be

0:59

here. We'll think about not been able to

1:02

remember your breakfast, what you did yesterday, who

1:04

you're familiar, who we are was a person

1:06

is. Absolutely made by ah memories

1:08

or be really difficult to imagine any

1:10

sort of good life without memory. And

1:15

you can learn all about one

1:17

of the most deadly spiders in

1:19

the world. Only. Three year

1:21

is though. they're not actually coming anywhere

1:23

near, so you're fine. Let's get to

1:25

it with a brand new fun kid.

1:27

Science Weekly. And

1:33

will start with your science in

1:35

the news. A sophisticated satellite which

1:37

has been made in a joint

1:39

team of the European and Japanese

1:41

Space Agency's it's launched across the

1:43

atmosphere to measure how clouds influence

1:46

the climate You see some low

1:48

level clouds are known to cool

1:50

the planet but once much higher

1:52

up maybe act as a blanket

1:54

to make a warm as so

1:56

this satellites trying to figure out

1:58

what clouds actually do. How is

2:00

it affecting climate change? It's called the

2:02

EarthCare mission. It will use a laser

2:05

and a radar to probe the atmosphere

2:07

to find precisely what's happening. You see,

2:09

this is amazing, isn't it? We're thinking

2:11

so much about climate change about what

2:14

we do so much

2:16

that we are sending satellites into space

2:18

to look at it from up there. Also,

2:20

the North Atlantic Ocean could

2:23

get as many as seven

2:25

major hurricanes of category three

2:28

strength or more this

2:30

year, which is more than double the

2:32

usual number. That's what the genius is

2:34

over on the United States, where the

2:37

department says. Record high

2:39

sea surface temperatures are partly to brain

2:42

as well as a likely shift in

2:44

regional weather patterns. Now, there's

2:46

no evidence climate change is producing more

2:49

hurricanes, but it is making the most

2:51

powerful ones more likely and it brings

2:53

heavier rainfall, which again shows that what

2:55

we do, how it affects the world

2:57

around us. Think about that.

3:00

Almost, well, more than double the

3:02

normal strong hurricanes that we have

3:05

because of really warm sea temperatures

3:07

and different weathers around the world doing

3:10

something more unusual that we might not

3:12

have expected. And our final story this

3:14

week, London Zoo is looking for you

3:16

to help celebrate its 200th birthday. They've

3:20

got on a history high project which

3:22

wants to build a collection of items

3:24

from the zoo's past to celebrate in

3:26

a big display in 2026. Now

3:30

Tina Campanella is from ZSL London Zoo.

3:32

She's big into the project. Tina, thank

3:34

you so much for being there. Just

3:37

take us back 200 years into the

3:39

very start of ZSL London Zoo. Why

3:41

was it made? What was it doing?

3:43

Well, that is a great question. And

3:46

so ZSL, Zoological Society of London, was

3:48

formed way back in 1826 for

3:52

the advancement of zoological science.

3:54

So essentially it was so

3:56

that people who were fascinated

3:58

by animals could... find out

4:00

more about them because back then we

4:02

didn't really know very much about animal

4:04

biology or in fact anything really. And

4:07

so this group of people got

4:09

together because they wanted to share

4:11

all that knowledge and really further

4:13

that zoological science. And what

4:15

they wanted to do was to

4:17

have a space where those people,

4:19

fellows we called them, could come

4:22

to a space and actually see animals up close

4:24

so they could learn about them with

4:26

them right in front of them. And

4:28

so we created London Zoo, it took

4:31

two years to do that and London

4:33

Zoo opened just to fellows in 1828.

4:35

But 1826 is the moment that we

4:37

decided to form

4:41

the Zoological Society of London. So in

4:43

2026 you're celebrating

4:45

your bicentennial anniversary, right? Your 200th

4:48

birthday. And I

4:51

know the History Hive project is putting on

4:53

quite a good show. What have

4:55

you got for the collection so far? Because

4:57

I know you've been searching. So

5:00

we have an amazing library and

5:02

archive and it's open to the public.

5:04

So anyone can come and see some of

5:06

the things we have or read about

5:08

our past or even read books

5:10

on zoology if you're interested in animals.

5:13

And what we have in there really

5:16

is a collection of our historical records.

5:18

So we have, you

5:20

know, minutes from every single day going

5:22

back to when we first opened, which is

5:24

an incredible resource. And we have some small

5:27

items like for example, we have a few zookeeper

5:29

costumes from the 1930s and the 1960s. And my

5:33

favourite is a soap that we have

5:35

in the shape of a baby polar

5:37

bear that came out in the 1950s.

5:39

And that was to celebrate the birth

5:41

of the first baby polar bear ever

5:44

born in a zoo called Baby Brumas.

5:46

And Baby Brumas was so popular that

5:48

3 million people came to see him

5:51

and or her as she was later discovered

5:53

to be. And a soap company called Cullingford's

5:55

actually created a soap that people could buy

5:57

to commemorate the end of the day. this

6:00

amazing moment. So we have one of

6:02

those. Now what we're looking for is

6:05

things like that really. They might not be

6:07

things that you have. So we're looking

6:09

for a variety of things. We're looking

6:11

for any kind of objects that you

6:14

or your parents or your grandparents might

6:16

have. We're also looking for people's stories

6:18

about London Zoo or Whitsmaid Zoo or

6:20

ZSL in general. If you visited and

6:22

had an amazing moment, maybe your grandparents

6:25

visited and they bring you to the

6:27

zoo today and they have pictures of

6:29

themselves coming to the zoo. Or maybe

6:31

you just had a special moment at

6:33

the zoo and you would like to

6:35

tell us about it. Ultimately, we

6:38

want to say that our history is

6:40

basically part of your history and you're

6:42

part of our history and we want

6:44

to know more about it. Now the

6:46

History Hive project, it wants to build

6:48

a collection of quote

6:50

the tangible and the intangible, which is

6:52

like a wild thing to say. I

6:54

can't get my head around it. What

6:56

do you mean by the tangible and

6:58

intangible Tina? So tangible would be physical

7:01

objects. So if you had a baby

7:03

boomers soap, for example, or if you

7:05

had a zookeeper uniform or something

7:07

else that might be able to help us

7:09

tell a part of our

7:11

story, whereas the intangible is

7:13

more about personal experiences. So

7:16

like I said, if your parents

7:18

got married at the zoo, or if

7:20

you had a visit here that

7:22

was particularly important or if you

7:24

came here and inspired you to

7:26

do something positive for nature, that's

7:29

the kind of intangible things that we're

7:31

talking about. What has a visit to

7:33

London Zoo or which made zoo meant

7:35

to you? And this is a brilliant

7:37

opportunity for you to maybe chat to

7:39

your parents or your grandparents about stories

7:42

to do with the zoo that would never

7:44

normally pop up in chat. So that's a

7:46

brilliant idea. Tina, if someone finds

7:49

stories or finds something floating

7:52

around the loft, How

7:54

can they get in touch? What Do you want them

7:56

to do? So We have set up a special page

7:58

on our website. The really simple form

8:01

for people to fill out an that Through

8:03

that form you can upload images. you can

8:05

upload any footage if you have any any

8:07

footage of a bit of a trip that

8:10

if is hop or you can let us

8:12

know about objects that your your grandparents are

8:14

you family my house and so if you

8:16

had to. W W W.that a

8:19

cell.org Thank. You very much t

8:21

Tina Campanella from London Zoo said a

8:23

cell London Zoo I always love the

8:25

brilliant way they bring their zoos, the

8:27

creatures in and the history of the

8:29

place to live. right? Let's his meal.

8:31

Questions answered Shall we will have another

8:33

expo The show just like Tina in

8:35

a second. If you have any think

8:37

science Edu on on said on this

8:39

podcast make sure you leave it for

8:41

me. Best way is as a voice

8:44

snow on the free Been Gives up

8:46

or upon kids like.com That way you

8:48

can star in the podcast that. Way

8:50

you could be featured, you could be

8:52

the highlight and I can find an

8:54

expert on so what is the you

8:56

once and know? I hear it's question

8:58

from Lucy in Cornwall who is ten

9:00

years old I said as a message

9:03

to me online Dc wants to know

9:05

if you're on a screen in bed.

9:07

why does it make it harder to

9:09

fall asleep While some scientists think it's

9:11

to do with the blue lights you

9:13

see when you're screens. Make.

9:15

Lights When they're showing things, the

9:17

blue light rays in that spectrum

9:20

stimulates the part of your brain

9:22

that makes melatonin. Melatonin is a

9:24

chemical. It's a hormone that controls

9:26

your sleep cycle. It tells you

9:28

when to wake up and went

9:30

to go to bed. So if

9:32

that pop your brain. Is

9:34

stimulated if is says

9:37

making more melatonin than.

9:39

It will confuse it. You. Know

9:41

if it's time to sleep or of it's time

9:43

to wake up the down in your brain. So

9:45

that wasn't I did. The thing is is many phones

9:48

now have a bill in blue light filter. Which.

9:50

Should stop your brain doing this.

9:53

But. then he still com fall asleep. Sometimes

9:55

other experts that think that it simply because

9:57

you are switched on. The. Your brain

9:59

is. Working because you're scrolling your flicking,

10:01

you're seeing so many different things. Maybe

10:03

you're concentrating and that threats switches will

10:05

brighten on more. Which means you know

10:08

already in a sleepy state that you

10:10

may be should be if you're going

10:12

to bed. Lisi. So that's why.

10:14

We. Things. When. You look

10:16

at screens he be trying to go to bed. He'll

10:19

make it harder for you to sleep. Thank you so

10:21

much to the question says the on another one this

10:23

is a voice note sent in that to the free

10:25

fun kids up from a max What? Yeah max. Two

10:29

satellites. Neither were. that's. What? Max

10:31

Thank you very much for your voice.

10:33

Know how the satellites know what the

10:35

weather is gonna be like? It's always

10:37

something that we wander and now we

10:39

can look quite far into the future

10:42

to find the forecast calmly. Let's find

10:44

out more with Douglas Parker, who is

10:46

a professor of meteorology from the University

10:48

of Leeds Douglass Thank you for being

10:50

there. So let's start with that. How

10:52

do satellites know what the weather is

10:55

gonna be like The first? The size

10:57

of satellites. Are just don't notice them

10:59

a seat and space for so they don't really

11:01

know what what the weather's going to be. Nice

11:03

and feature. What? Do they give

11:05

us pictures of the weather's is now. And

11:08

then it's up to a wonderful costa Said

11:10

somebody may be at the mess office to

11:12

look at those places and use those too

11:14

soon. The some what the weather's considered feature.

11:17

And. We also use computers which is based

11:19

on earth and one's face and I am

11:21

but those computers work out what the weather

11:23

will be like using the pictures of yet

11:25

from satellite. So if your computer or if

11:28

you i weather forecast of properly trained in

11:30

it when you see these photos the satellites

11:32

are taking what are you looking at. Usually

11:34

what you're looking at is the clouds but

11:36

you're looking down on them from space. So

11:39

of course we're mostly used to looking up

11:41

at clouds. Are we can

11:43

only see the base of the very close to us we can.

11:45

There's you, the bottom of the clouds. Of Europe

11:47

and space you can see a lot more. can see

11:49

lot more information you can see you know across the

11:51

whole of. England, the whole of Europe,

11:54

And. See can see clients all over

11:56

and wide areas of the world and.

11:58

A. lot of weather forecast is about where the

12:01

weather's going to move. So

12:03

I'm here in Leeds, but if I know

12:06

that it's raining in Manchester and the wind

12:08

is blowing in that direction towards

12:10

me, then that rain might move towards me. So

12:12

if I can see that picture from satellites, and

12:14

I know which way the wind is blowing, I

12:16

can see where the rain might be moving. So

12:20

that's the most important thing we can see is

12:22

the clouds, but then we do have a lot

12:24

of special satellites that show us other things, which

12:27

you can't usually see with your eyes. So they

12:29

can tell us about the temperature, perhaps the temperature

12:31

of the ground. They can see snow on the

12:33

ground. They can tell us how cold the clouds

12:35

are at the top. They can detect lightning. So

12:37

they can tell us where lightning is happening. So

12:40

satellites do give us pictures of things that

12:42

we really couldn't see just from

12:44

looking up from the ground. When we see the

12:46

weather forecast on tele, we often

12:49

hear words like low pressure system,

12:51

high pressure system. How

12:53

are weather forecasters able

12:55

to tell the

12:58

pressure system that we're in and maybe what

13:00

we're moving into in a week's time? So

13:02

the most important thing is to be measuring

13:05

the weather that we have right now. So you can't

13:07

tell what the weather's going to be like in

13:09

a week's time unless you know really

13:11

what it's like now. And you need to know

13:13

that all over the whole world. So

13:16

actually to predict the weather in the UK

13:20

in a week's time, you need to know about the weather right

13:22

across the globe from Australia, Antarctica,

13:25

America, everywhere, because weather patterns travel. They

13:27

move around the world and they can

13:29

move a long way in a week.

13:32

So the first thing is we have to have a

13:34

really good picture of the weather around the world. And

13:37

then from that, we do

13:39

have computers. We still have a lot of calculations.

13:41

And what we put into the computers, the numbers

13:43

that we put in are things like pressure, but

13:45

also temperature, the humidity, the amount of water that's

13:48

in the air, lots of things

13:50

like that. And they go into the computers and

13:52

they do a lot of calculations and they've

13:54

become extremely good at working out these

13:56

kinds of predictions, not to say a week or so in

13:58

advance. I'm in. just

14:00

a second ago that we

14:03

are getting very good at it as

14:05

you said like a week in advance

14:07

how are we improving what are we

14:09

doing differently how are we looking at

14:11

the world and the weather and what's

14:13

happening to get better

14:15

and how much better

14:17

can we become in like 50 years

14:20

time. There has been some very important

14:22

science was done perhaps 50 years ago

14:24

70 years ago which showed

14:26

that there's probably a limit on how

14:28

far we can predict accurate into the

14:30

future so there's a theory which

14:33

is called the theory of chaos which

14:35

says that eventually things

14:37

like the weather become quite chaotic over time

14:39

so even if we know it very well

14:42

you know what the weather is right now there's a limit

14:44

to how far into the future we can predict so

14:47

this is something that we we've known to be

14:49

true for quite some time but at the same

14:51

time the accuracy you know and how far into

14:54

the future we can go is exactly how far

14:56

is not so clear so we

14:58

are improving our weather forecasts all the time and

15:00

what's happened just recently in the last two years or

15:03

so is that artificial intelligence

15:05

so using computers with AI

15:07

or machine learning has

15:09

really taken off and in that we

15:12

can do these computer predictions much much

15:14

faster than we could before but

15:16

what we really don't know is if we will

15:18

be able to make them more accurate and that's

15:21

a really big discussion question with scientists at the

15:23

moment well we shall find that out but for

15:25

now max that is how satellites help us know

15:28

what the weather is gonna be

15:30

like thank you so much Douglas

15:32

Parker for joining us thank you

15:34

thank you to professor Douglas Parker

15:37

for telling us how do satellites know what

15:39

the weather will be like and thank you

15:41

to max for sending in a question if

15:43

you have something sciencey that you want answered

15:45

next week on the podcast make sure you

15:47

leave it as a voice note for me

15:49

on the free fun kids app or at

15:51

fun kids live.com and it's time to travel

15:54

all around the world we do this every

15:56

week to hear about some of the most

15:58

mean weird strange unique deadly things in

16:01

the universe. And

16:05

for this week's Dangerous Dan, we're headed to

16:07

the sands around the south of Africa to

16:10

take a look at a beast that shows

16:12

why often the most dangerous animals don't want

16:14

to come near humans. You'll

16:16

find the six eyed sand spider

16:19

around Namibia and South Africa. They

16:21

are medium sized but with quite

16:23

long legs and a flat but

16:25

beefy body. Their body is

16:28

actually covered in brownish red fine hairs

16:30

which really help it blend in well with

16:32

the sand around it and that's how it

16:34

gets its name. The six eyed

16:36

sand spider. It spends most

16:39

of its time buried under the sand in

16:41

very dry places. It tries

16:43

to avoid all human contact and

16:46

it's brilliant at camouflaging. It

16:48

lies in weight. It's

16:51

an ambush predator so it

16:53

waits patiently looking for prey to

16:55

come nearby when it strikes

16:57

ever so quickly. It

16:59

bites with an incredibly potent

17:02

venom. It's among the

17:04

most dangerous of all the spiders. Its

17:06

venom can kill small animals in a

17:08

matter of hours but it

17:10

doesn't really come into contact with humans

17:12

often. They prefer to stay safe because

17:14

they've got such powerful venom they don't

17:16

want to have to use it on

17:19

something much bigger than them. They want

17:21

to use it on food they need

17:23

to eat. So it tends to keep

17:25

quiet to recluse but if it does

17:27

and if it bites then its venom

17:29

can cause us severe damage. It causes

17:31

necrosis to parts of your body. That's

17:33

when the body tissue dies and maybe

17:35

an entire arm or leg could rot

17:37

off. So it's amazing

17:39

that this beast rarely meets a human

17:41

but when it does the effects can

17:43

be deadly which is why the six

17:46

eyed sand spider goes straight onto our

17:48

dangerous hand list. This

17:52

week on Battle of the Sciences where we try

17:54

to find out which is the greatest

17:56

science ever who should come first

17:59

in their field, we're

18:01

learning what's in your brain, it's all to

18:03

do with what has happened and how

18:05

much that influences you. We're learning about

18:07

the neuroscience of remembering with Professor Alex

18:09

Easton who is good enough to join

18:12

us. Alex, you start off, you have

18:14

one minute to tell us why your

18:16

science should be the greatest of them

18:18

all. That minute starts in three, two,

18:21

one, take it away. Well, it's really

18:23

easy without being able to remember. We couldn't

18:25

be who we are. Think about not being

18:28

able to remember your breakfast, what you did

18:30

yesterday, who your family are. Who

18:32

we are as a person is absolutely made by

18:35

our memories. It would be really difficult to imagine

18:37

any sort of good life without

18:40

memory. But also there's so many

18:42

different types of memories. So whatever you

18:44

want to study, short term memory, long

18:46

term memory like me, memory for facts,

18:48

memory for events, memory for things in

18:50

your life, they're all different. You can

18:52

study different types of memory from different

18:54

types of angles. But really

18:56

the absolute reason why memory is the best.

18:59

Without it, you couldn't do any other science.

19:01

Can you imagine doing any science where you

19:04

couldn't remember the facts or the information you

19:06

had to use to study that science? Quite

19:08

simply, without memory, you've got nothing. Well, there

19:11

you go. You've done it in 50 seconds

19:13

and it's a strong case and it's given

19:15

me so many questions. So

19:17

I guess the big one is what

19:19

do we know about memory because it's

19:22

so different for every single person. It

19:25

seems quite hard to

19:27

define, right? So what

19:29

do we know about how we

19:31

remember things? There are so

19:33

many types of memory. I think what's really

19:35

important is that when you talk in everyday

19:38

life about memory, it feels like it's one

19:40

thing, but it simply isn't. Memory

19:43

for information, facts, knowledge, that

19:46

all resides in one part of the

19:48

brain. Memory for what you had for

19:50

breakfast is in another part of the

19:52

brain. All these things are slightly

19:54

different. So let me talk just about the memory that

19:56

I study, which is long-term memory, memory free events, memory

19:58

for what you have for the brain. for breakfast,

20:00

memory for what happened yesterday. What

20:04

we know about that is there's a region

20:06

in the brain called the hippocampus. Without that

20:09

structure, you just can't remember these long-term events

20:11

in your life. In the 1950s,

20:14

a very, very famous patient called Henry

20:16

Mleisen had surgery to remove

20:18

his hippocampus. And for

20:20

the next 50 or so years of his

20:22

life, he simply couldn't learn any new facts

20:25

in his life. And just imagine

20:27

what that's like. Imagine not being able

20:29

to remember what you did yesterday,

20:32

who the person you're having a conversation is.

20:34

So all these things

20:36

are really important, but the hippocampus is absolutely

20:39

crucial. Now that doesn't mean we know exactly

20:41

what it does. That's a really interesting question.

20:43

We know bits and pieces about what it

20:45

does, but we don't know how

20:47

we put all of that together to get

20:49

the experience that we have when we remember.

20:51

What are memories stored as?

20:53

If we think of it a bit like a

20:55

filing cupboard, you know, and we might write something

20:58

down to ourselves, stick it away, and then we

21:00

come back to it a few years later. And

21:03

we know that so much of our body is

21:06

powered by electrical signals. When

21:09

I'm remembering what I

21:11

did on holiday 10 years

21:13

ago, I can see

21:15

the image, I can see the picture. What's

21:18

going on in my brain there in the

21:20

hippocampus? What is it being

21:22

stored as this information? It's a really, really

21:24

important question. We all, when we have that

21:26

experience of having a picture in our heads

21:28

of a memory, we think it's

21:31

like taking a video or taking a photo on

21:33

our phone or anything like that. And it simply

21:35

isn't what we're absolutely not doing in our brains

21:38

is storing an image. What

21:40

we are doing is rebuilding

21:42

an idea. So

21:46

in a way, what we learned

21:48

about 100 years ago was that

21:50

memories aren't completely accurate. What

21:52

we have is rules about how the world works.

21:55

And we use those rules to rebuild our memories.

21:57

So we only need to know a little bit

21:59

of information. information and then we

22:01

use rules about the world to rebuild it. So

22:04

it's a bit like the way chat

22:06

GPT works to take information that's available

22:08

to us and use rules about the

22:10

world to build sensible things.

22:13

So there's loads of memories you have that aren't

22:15

actually real but what they are is

22:18

a best guess using some of

22:20

the bare-bone information you've remembered

22:22

and the scaffolding from

22:24

facts that you know to build

22:27

an experience that you have as memory. And

22:29

my last question I always ask this to

22:31

scientists. Let me throw you forward say 30-40

22:33

years whenever it is you hang up your

22:36

lab coat and stethoscope. What's one thing that

22:38

you really want to know when

22:40

you call a time when your career? What question

22:42

do you really want answered? I think it's what

22:45

you said a minute ago. It's

22:47

what is a good memory. So

22:49

I've just said memories all sorts of different

22:51

types of memory. But what happens

22:53

in the real world when you use all

22:56

those things at once? It's like a group

22:58

of people working together in a football team

23:00

or something like that. The team is better

23:02

than any individual player. So how

23:04

is memory in the real world better

23:06

than any type of memory on its

23:08

own? That's a really big question. I'd

23:10

love to be able to answer that.

23:12

Well, let's hope we remember the neuroscience

23:15

of remembering us as the greatest science.

23:17

It's been a pleasure to chat. Alex

23:19

Easton, thank you for joining us. Thanks

23:21

very much. What do you think? Is

23:23

neuroscience is the study of what's happening

23:25

deep down in your mind? Is it

23:27

the best science of them all? I've

23:31

loved chatting to so many different experts. I don't think

23:33

we found the very best in the battle of the

23:35

sciences yet. So we'll have another one on next week.

23:37

Now, earlier on in the show, we heard

23:40

from Douglas Parker, right, who answered

23:42

Max's question all about satellites and

23:44

how they know what the weather

23:46

will be like. Well, it's

23:48

got me thinking about a brilliant series that

23:50

we do called Deep Space High. You might

23:52

have heard on the podcast before. It's

23:54

all about the smartest school in the solar

23:56

system. It's Professor Pulsar.

23:58

He teaches there. He is a

24:01

genius and he's done a really good

24:03

lesson with more about weather,

24:06

just like Douglas Parker's chat earlier. So

24:08

I thought we'd take a listen to

24:10

find out how satellites study weather, how

24:13

they also measure pollution and keep an

24:15

eye on global warming too. Deep space

24:17

high, space kink with the science and

24:19

technology facility people. Hey,

24:23

remember, we're in.

24:28

Why are you cussing

24:30

in your face with

24:34

that gloop? It's

24:37

not gloop, it's

24:40

back to five million sunblock. Space

24:47

weather forecast said strong solar winds

24:49

and we have super sensitive skin

24:51

on my planet. Yeah, but weather

24:53

reports aren't always right though, are

24:56

they sir? Perhaps,

24:58

but that's why weather satellites are especially

25:00

important and they also happen to

25:03

be the next stop on our space camp tour.

25:05

Buckle up everyone. Weather

25:11

observation is very important, especially for a

25:13

planet like Earth where there are living

25:15

things, not least people like you Alex.

25:18

It isn't just to tell people if they need to

25:20

take an umbrella, it can save lives. Where

25:24

does weather come from? That's a very good

25:26

question bloke and I'm glad you asked. Whether

25:28

it's clear or cloudy, hot or cold

25:30

or dry or wet. It's always

25:33

wet where I live. Thank you Alex. Well

25:36

it all depends on the movement of

25:38

the air and air moves because of

25:40

temperature and moisture differences that are incredibly

25:42

difficult to keep track of. Satellites

25:44

do a really good job of monitoring the

25:46

weather to help the forecasters work out what's

25:48

likely to happen next. Hey,

25:52

I left. That's one of the meteor sats

25:54

flights. So, is that

25:58

like watching the clouds? ...a

26:00

cloud, storm below, and sending

26:02

the images back to Earth. That's right, but

26:04

it's not just rain clouds and storms they can see.

26:07

These clever devices can pick up all sorts.

26:09

Sam storms, volcanic ash blowing across the globe.

26:11

And if we go up to the dark

26:13

side of the Earth where it's night time,

26:15

you'll see something else they can hold. Oh

26:20

wow! You can see all this

26:22

city lights wrinkled over the planet in the

26:24

dark. Exactly. City

26:26

lights might look pretty, but they're actually a type of pollution,

26:29

and one that weather satellites can monitor. They

26:32

can also measure more well-known types of pollution

26:34

too, like smoke clouds or even oil spills.

26:37

Sir, I can't help you

26:39

because of my environment. Exactly.

26:42

For where there is damage done to the environment, satellites

26:45

can see how bad things are, like

26:47

measuring the hole in the ozone layer. Look

26:50

out, we're approaching crisis. Yes, it is enormous. Cryosat is

26:52

an Earth observation satellite that's

26:54

main job is to monitor the thickness of the ice

26:56

at the poles. As the planet warms, the ice melts

26:58

and this means sea levels rise. Cryosat

27:01

can keep track of the changes to help people on

27:04

Earth understand what's going on. Global warming is no joke.

27:07

OK, global warming definitely isn't a joke.

27:11

But he's a great weather joke, sir. What's the problem

27:13

with the weather? OK,

27:15

global warming definitely isn't a joke.

27:18

But he's a great weather joke, sir. What

27:20

does a rain cloud wear? Sons

27:23

of pants. You

27:26

should have seen that one coming. And

27:41

that is it for this week's Fun Kids Science Weekly. Thank

27:44

you very much for listening. Thank you for all

27:46

our geniuses for coming on. If you have something

27:48

sciency that you want answered next week on the

27:50

podcast, make sure you leave it as a voice

27:52

note for me on the free Fun Kids app

27:54

or at funkidslive.com. You've heard some brilliant podcast series

27:56

today with Deep Face Eye. We've got

27:58

more of that and loads more. or on

28:00

Google, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your shows, it's on

28:03

the Free Fun Kids app too. And Fun Kids are

28:05

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28:09

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28:11

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28:13

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