50 Million Robot Caterpillars 🐛 (10/15/20)
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Description
In today’s episode: 💯 Discover why the US Census is so important 🦩 Find out what some zoo animals did while humans weren’t around during the pandemic 🦟 Hear about what one agency in the Florida Keys is doing to fight mosquitoes.
Links
💯 Test your knowledge of population data from the US Census: Play Population Bracketology
🚸 Learn more about the world's most prolific mother: Feodor Vassilyev on Guiness World Records
🦒 Read how some zoo animals are doing without visitors: The Gray Cockatoo Is Lonely Without You
🦟 Learn more about the Monroe County Mosquito Control District's interesting plan to fight mosquitoes: Approved for Release in Florida Keys
💬 We want to hear your comments! Send us an email: hello@thetennews.com
🖼️ See what we look like on social media: The Ten News on Instagram
Transcript
Bethany Van Delft: [00:00:00] Hey there, I'm Bethany Van Delft and this is The Ten News. The show where in the time it takes to count all the people who live with you, your neighbors and the people down the street, we find out what's up in the world.
[00:00:13] In today's episode, we'll discover why the US census really counts. See what I did there? Find out what some of the zoo animals did while humans weren't around during the pandemic? And answer this question, which of the following methods did the mosquito control agency of the Florida Keys approve in effort to eliminate the pesky bugs?
[00:00:34] Stick around till the end of The Ten to find out.
[00:00:37] Okay, let's get into Ten News.
[00:00:41] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, four, three, two, one.
[00:00:46] Maybe you've noticed reminders pretty much everywhere about the 2020 Census - they're everywhere. It's a once a decade thing and it's a pretty big deal. Let's go to our [00:01:00] correspondent, Pamela Kirkland to find out why.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:01:03] It happens once every 10 years. And it's old, like really, really old, but it's also something very important that every person living in the United States is encouraged to participate in.
[00:01:17] What am I talking about? It's the Census, but what is it and why should you care if you're counted? We asked Alex and her mom Yasmin Aboah who know an awful lot about it to make sense of the Census.
Alex Aboah: [00:01:34] Hi, I'm Alex. I am a student and I'm 12 years old. I really enjoy the outdoors and I'm very passionate about the 2020 Census.
Yasmin Aboah: [00:01:48] Hi, my name is Yasmin and I am Alex's mom. And I became interested in the 2020 Census, because of work that I was doing [00:02:00] at Count the Nation, which is associated with the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab.Pamela Kirkland: [00:02:07] What exactly is the census for people who don't know?
Alex Aboah: [00:02:11] It's a survey that happens once every 10 years of everyone who lives in the United States, they count newborns, children, teenagers, adults, teachers, parents, and grandparents, basically everyone.
[00:02:23] The first census was in 1790.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:02:27] That's a long, long time running. Why does the census count matter?
Alex Aboah: [00:02:34] The census data matters for kids and families, because this is how the government gives money to our communities. Based on the number of people who live in a city or state also called our population. The money pays for funding, for our schools and teachers, libraries, parks, health clinics, breakfast, and lunch programs at some schools and college scholarships money for some students. The census money [00:03:00] pays for a lot, which is why it's important for our family to participate and for all of us to be counted. And the census numbers also determine how many representatives go to Washington DC to represent us and our needs. So I live in California and there are almost 40 million people who live in the state, which is the largest population in the country.
[00:03:22] And California has 53 representatives out of 435. But this may change based off of the 2020 census numbers.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:03:30] Where did this passion for the Census and the Census count come from?
Alex Aboah: [00:03:35] My mom would not stop talking about it because she worked on it. She got me super interested in it. After the many times she's talked about it.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:03:44] Okay mom. So how much were you talking about the Census to Alex?
Yasmin Aboah: [00:03:50] A lot. It's something that I wasn't really too aware of. Um, myself. I didn't realize how important it was to everything [00:04:00] that we do and all the services that we use in our communities. So once I learned more about it than I thought it was really important for, uh, Alex, to realize that and to be able to talk to her friends in her peer group about why it was important that everyone participates.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:04:18] If you are a kid, how do you participate in the Census.
Alex Aboah: [00:04:23] So that you can help your parents fill out the census online by going to my 2020 census.gov, it takes less than 10 minutes.
[00:04:31] If you aren't counted now, you won't be able to be counted for another 10 years. So it's super important.
Yasmin Aboah: [00:04:36] If a child is 10 years old and their parent forgets to count them, they can't be counted again until they're 20 years old. So the importance of being counted over the next 10 years really affects, um, everyone's life every single day.
[00:04:54] So, working together to make sure our communities and our schools are stronger by doing [00:05:00] something that takes seven minutes, uh, over the internet is something that I think we should all try to do.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:05:06] Alex, is there anything you would tell kids who were interested in learning more about the census and what they can do to get involved and encourage their parents to fill it out?
Alex Aboah: [00:05:18] The younger generation has so much power. And by just asking your parents to fill up the sentences can do like, make a big difference. And even just like going on the internet and researching it on your own can be very interesting and beneficial. And you could tell your parents about it. And at the end of the day, it's, it's a really good thing to do.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:05:41] The deadline to fill out the Census, which can be done online was originally October 31st, but due to a recent Supreme court ruling, it may end sooner. Sure. Everyone in your house has counted and remind your grownups to fill out the census a S a P if [00:06:00] they haven't already. For more information visit my 2020 census.gov.
[00:06:09] Speaking of counting households, did you know that the highest recorded number of children born to one mother is 69. Uh, what? Wait a minute. 69! Holy guacamole. According to Guinness world records, she was a Russian peasant woman who lived in the 1700s and gave birth to sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Who helped with the homework.
[00:06:44] Huh?
[00:06:44] Have you ever wondered what the animals at the zoo think of all the visitors who come to see them, and what happens if there is suddenly no visitors [00:07:00] at all? To give us some insight, our correspondent, Anya Schultz found out what happened at the Denver Zoo in Colorado during pandemic shutdown.
Anya Schultz: [00:07:09] There are over 3000 animals at the Denver Zoo. Normally the place is packed with visitors who come to see the lions and tigers and elephants, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the zoo didn't let anyone visit for around three months. Emily Insalaco is one of the people in charge of the Denver zoo. She said some of the animals really miss seeing people, especially one very friendly giraffe named Dobby.
Emily Insalaco : [00:07:38] Dobby, our giraffe, he spent one morning overseeing all of the work our horticulture department did. And so he stood right at the edge and, and watched, I think he was supervising, making sure they were doing it correctly.
Anya Schultz: [00:07:49] Emily said another animal that loves people is Vin. She's a Gibbon, which is a type of ape that lives in the forest of Southeast Asia.
Emily Insalaco: [00:07:58] Another one of our [00:08:00] animals that loves our guests is Vin, she is one of our Gibbons that lives out over the islands, in our Toyota elephant passage exhibit. And she is always watching for guests. And when we were quiet, that was another animal that whenever she saw anybody, she'd kind of come out and watch what they were doing.
Anya Schultz: [00:08:20] Some animals use the quiet time at the zoo to discover new places to explore
Emily Insalaco: [00:08:25] We had a tiger that was a little on the shyer side. And when the zoo closed down, he started exploring his exhibit in different ways and started exploring this overhead ramp that he really hadn't used before. And then he's continued to use that ramp now that we've been open to people.
[00:08:42] So I think it gave him just that little bit of confidence to try something new while the zoo was a little quieter.
Anya Schultz: [00:08:47] Emily said when the zoo was closed, some lucky animals got to explore the space. She said, zookeepers took flocks of flamingos on walks around the property. That makes me wonder what does a [00:09:00] zookeeper actually do for their job?
Emily Insalaco: [00:09:02] The zookeepers are kind of the superheroes. They're the ones that are out there every day. Um, They come in early in the morning and they check on their animals and they give their animals medication if they need that. And they make diets for the animals, then they train the animals and they clean up the exhibits and, um, set up new things for the animals to check out throughout the day.
[00:09:21] And they get out there and they talk to our guests so they can do all of the really fun things.
Anya Schultz: [00:09:25] The Denver Zoo is now open, but they've made some big changes to stay safe. Everyone wears a mask. And when you visit, you can only walk through in one direction, no more running back to get one last look at the zebras.
[00:09:39] Emily said for now, if you can't visit your local zoo safely, you can go on a virtual Safari. Just check out the Denver zoo on YouTube for some behind the scenes animal action.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:09:51] Thanks for that report, Anya, but I have a question. Did the zookeepers shelter in place with the animals at the zoo?
Anya Schultz: [00:09:58] Great question. I'm told [00:10:00] that the zoo did prepare to have animals staff lived there, but because they were able to implement a lot of other safety measures, it didn't actually come to that.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:10:08] Oh, well, that's good Anya but I was kind of hoping to hear like some wild party went on like monkeys jumping on the bed and like bounce it off oh the walls, oh well.
[00:10:19] Remember our trivia question from earlier in the show, which of the following methods did the mosquito control agency of the Florida keys approve in an effort to eliminate the pesky bugs? Was it
[00:10:36] A) releasing 750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes. I feel itchy, just thinking about it.
[00:10:46] B) releasing 100 million angry dragonflies or
[00:10:51] C) releasing 50 million tiny robot Caterpillars
[00:10:56] I don't like where this is going. Did you guess it? [00:11:00] The answer is a. 750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes. Oh my gosh. I'm itching already. When these modified bugs reproduced with the natural ones, the female offspring won't be able to survive, meaning a drastic decrease in the number of mosquitoes in the community. Whether it'll work or go down like the plot of a creepy SciFi movie remains to be seen.
[00:11:29] Times up! That's the end of The Ten News for today. You can catch new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small, But Mighty media in collaboration with Next Chapter podcasts and distributed by iHeart radio. The Ten News writing team is led by editorial director, Tracey Crooks, with contributions from Steven Tompkins, Pamela Kirkland, and Anya Schultz.
[00:11:57] The creative producer is Jenner Pascua. [00:12:00] Marketing is led by Jacob Bronstein with social media and web support by Bryn Jura and Adam Pharr. Editing and sound design by Edgar Comey and Greg Cortez under the production direction of Jeremiah Tittle. Executive Producer, Donald Albright and show creator. Tracy Leeds Kaplan round out the team.
[00:12:20] If you have questions about the show, a story idea, or a fun fact you want to share, email us at hello@thetennews.com and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review The Ten News on Apple podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I am Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to The Ten News.
[00:12:42] Go stock up on bugs spray!
