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Current News for Kids – 03

May 31, 2020

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Hi, Thanks for showing interest in my news episodes. In this episode, we discuss a variety of news from Space, technology, environment and of course Covid. We discuss how and why the Space X mission is being launched, who Elon Musk is and who the 2 astronauts are! (Psst… They are Dough and Bob. Listen to my episode for their last names) We also discuss about the 44.2 Tbps internet speed that Australian scientists have invented and How Africa is fighting the ever-expanding Sahara Desert. I really appreciate their efforts in building a 4750 miles long wall of trees! They are 21 countries across the Sahel, I’m sure they’ll put in great efforts. Hope you enjoy listening! Thanks, Siyona

Transcripts

Episode6: Current news for kids-03

[0.01] [Background Music]

[0.09] Hello Everyone, welcome to my podcast Little Mind Chats. Minds are little, not our thoughts! I’m your host Siyona.

[0.17] Hope you’re all having a good weekend! I know, with this lock down, weekdays and weekends feel the same. But the positive thing is… we’re slowly getting closer to the end of lock down 😊

[0.31] Following our tradition of fortnightly news, here’s some news for you. Things that happened in the last 2 weeks and caught my attention.

[0.41] Let’s start with Some Covid news

[0.44] Brazil recorded its highest daily increase, while Peru announced 6,500 new cases. But Deaths in United states crossed 1 million.

[0.59] Declaring a country free of Covid-19 Pandemic is currently the dream of every country. But Slovenia becomes the first country in Europe to declare an end to its Covid-19 epidemic. It had about 1400 cases reported over the past few months. Spain announces further easing of Corona virus restrictions while Mauritius is ending its lockdown. It’s Supermarkets, Cafes and Cinemas will be open but it’s famous beaches will remain closed. I wonder when I’ll get to see one of them!

[1.42] Moving on to some space news.

[1.44] NASA Space X Launch was called off due to bad weather just 16 minutes before the scheduled time. At the time of recording this episode, the launch, due to happen from the Kennedy Space centre was postponed to 30th of May 3:22pm ET time

[2.05] But what exactly was this mission?

[2.08] The mission was to launch two astronauts, ‘Dough Hurley’ and ‘Bob Behnken’ into the space in the Space X falcon rocket to the International space station. The last time United States sent any of its Astronauts to space was 9 year ago.

[2.28] What is Space X?

[2.30] Space X is an American space company founded by Elon Musk in 2002, with the goal of reducing space transportation costs, enabling the colonisation of Mars.

[2.41] On the technology side of things, there was an exciting and futuristic discovery Australian researchers from Monash, Swinburne and RMIT universities have tested a new internet speed at a record 44.2 Tbps that is, Tera bits per second. To help you understand this, let me put it this way, the country with the fastest internet speed is South Korea. This country has an average internet speed of 52.4 Megabits per second. This is very high internet speed in our world today. But the discovery made by Australian scientists would mean the internet speed they discovered is approximately million times more than South Korea’s. It would enable us to download a thousand High definition movies in under one second. Isn’t that cool?

[3.37]

[3.43] 21 African countries have joined hands to do their bit for the earth. They’ll be planting a wall of trees across the southern border of the Sahara Desert. This area is known as the Sahel stretching from one side of the continent to the other. It stretches across 4,750 miles. This fantastic effort is considered as the world’s largest Ecosystem restoration project.

[4.14] But why is this being done?

[4.18] The Sahel was once full of grasslands and woodlands. But is now one of the most environmentally degraded places on earth as Sahara expands into the Sahel. This has caused millions to migrate out. This project was started in 2007 and has already started showing promise to stop the environmental damage. I really hope all my friends in Africa can take part in this historic effort.

[4.52] It’s about a 15-year-old girl, Jyoti Kumari who cycled an unimaginable 1,200 kms that is 745 miles back home with her father who had hurt his leg in an accident. Oh God, just telling you this gives me goose bumps!

[5.19] Once the lockdown was enforced and public transport shut off in India, ! She even went hungry for two days. But continued to cycle all the way from Gurgaon near Delhi to her home in Bihar. I’m sure she could train into Tour De France someday if she wishes!

[5.48] I hope you enjoyed listening to the news. I would like to hear back so many things from you. Please do get in touch with me.

[5.56] But I hope you remember my previous week’s question on healthy eating. I had asked, Don’t forget to get in touch with me with your answers! by email on siyona@littlemindchats.com, WhatsApp me on +916366305959 or leave your comments on the ‘Get Involved’ page of my website littlemindchats.com.

[6.35] Watch out for my next episode every Sunday as we continue with our health series. Thanks to all of you who have been giving your feedback. It means a lot to me. That brings us to the end of this episode. Have a great week ahead. Thanks for Listening! Bye.