World Down Syndrome Day 💙💛
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👽 What has the NASA Perseverance rover been up to since it landed on Mars? 💙💛 Let's learn what you can do to celebrate and raise awareness on World Down Syndrome Day! 🏀 Then, college basketball fans get wild in March every year. What is March Madness all about? ⛹️♀️ Plus! The Trivia Question of the Day!
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Transcript
Various voices 0:00
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:06
From Martian soundscapes to March Madness, in the next 10 minutes, we'll get the lowdown on what's up in the world. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is The Ten News. The last time he talked about NASA's Perseverance rover, it safely parachuted onto the surface of Mars. Since then, Perseverance has been living its best rover life, and exploring the Martian landscape. Recently, Perseverance beamed back the first ever audio recordings from the red planet. Wow. So what does Mars sound like? Listen for yourself. Does it remind you of a windy desert? Or is that just me? That tracks: windy desert. What's next for the rover? Oh, you know nothing major, just getting ready to search for signs of life in the Jezero Crater. Wow. More on that as it develops. March 21 is World Down Syndrome day. Down Syndrome is also known as trisomy 21. Because people with Down syndrome have three copies of their 21st chromosome. What does that mean? Wait a minute. Back up, let me explain.
Chromosomes are tiny thread-like structures that carry instructions that make each type of living creature unique. They're inside every part of you with the instructions on how to make you, kinda like a recipe. They usually appear in pairs. And most people have 23 pairs, which are numbered one through 23, totaling 46. chromosomes cool. people with Down Syndrome, have three copies of their 21st chromosome. Hence, March 21st, 3-21. So they have one extra chromosome. What happens when you have 47 chromosomes? Well, you might have pretty almond shaped eyes, you might be really good at reading how people are feeling. Or you might need a little more time to learn new things. Most people with Down Syndrome can do all the things people without Down Syndrome do. Sometimes it takes a little bit more practice. We all have different ways of learning. And when we're taught the way we learn best, we can do so much.
Sound Bit 2:38
You're right.
Bethany Van Delft 2:39
There was a time when people with Down syndrome weren't given opportunities to show all they can do because of prejudice and lack of information. Families and friends who loved someone with down syndrome, doctors and scientists who studied and learned a lot about Trisomy 21, fought hard for people with Down Syndrome to have the same opportunities to live a good life. And happily, things have changed.
Sound Bit 3:08
Nice.
Bethany Van Delft 3:09
Being included in life with their families, friends, peers and community and being taught the way they learn best, people with down syndrome taught the world that we are all more alike than different. People with down syndrome skis surf compete in the Olympics and triathlons, run restaurants, make movies. Inclusion is when everyone is given opportunities and supported to do all the things that we all love doing. And it is so important. World Down Syndrome day, a day officially observed by the United Nations and globally, is a day we bring awareness to down syndrome. What can you do to celebrate and raise awareness on World Down Syndrome day? You can rock the special colors blue and yellow, or you can wear two different pattern socks. And when someone asks you about it, tell them about World Down Syndrome Day. Share a story about a relative or a friend with down syndrome, something cool that they do or how they inspire you. And there are lots of things you can do every day too. A super easy thing you can do is just say hello. Invite people to join you and your friends at lunch or recess or after school. Everyone loves hanging with friends. Most importantly, you can practice inclusion by accepting people for being themselves and celebrating each other's differences. Like can you imagine how dull it would be if we were all exactly the same? Don't ever use hate speech like the R-word. It's really hurtful and super disrespectful. Use kind, uplifting words. Basically, treat people the same way you like to be treated and helped to create a place where everyone belongs. But you already do that Ten'ers don't you? 3-21. Happy World Down Syndrome Day.
Folks tend to go a little crazy this time of year for one thing, college basketball. The big national tournament just kicked off. So we asked our sports correspondent Kenny Curtis, to help us make sense of the method behind what fans lovingly call March Madness.
Kenny Curtis 5:44
The NCAA Division One men's basketball tournament is one of the most popular sporting events of the year. It's called March Madness. It's a single elimination tournament where 68 different teams all compete for the national title. And to become national champions, a team has to advance through six rounds without losing a single game, including the championship matchup.
Sound Bit 6:07
That's incredible.
Kenny Curtis 6:08
But how exactly do these teams get selected to play in the tournament in the first place? Well, that's a bit complicated. A lot of grownups really don't understand it, even the ones who watch it every year. The easiest way to get in the tournament is through an automatic bid. College sports are divided into groups of school teams called conferences, the teams that win their conference championship, automatically secure a spot in the NCAA tournament, regardless of their season record. That's how the first 32 teams get in. But what about the other 36 teams? Well, they're chosen by the NCAA selection committee through a complex ranking system.
Sound Bit 6:47
What?
Kenny Curtis 6:48
Basically, they look at a lot of different statistics like record and strength of schedule, and they try to figure out how good a team actually is compared to all of the other teams in the country. It's the committee's job to make sure that every team is ranked fairly, and they ultimately decide who gets invited to play in the tournament. Once all 68 teams are selected, the committee then has to seed each team. Now a seed is just a basketball term for a ranking. Each team is given a seed between 1 and 16, the better teams get the lower seed numbers. Once the teams are ranked and seated, the committee places them in brackets. brackets are basically just game schedules that look like flow charts or diagrams. They show who plays who and when. And they are divided up into four regions, East West, South, and Midwest. I don't know why there isn't a North there just isn't.
Sound Bit 7:42
Okay.
Kenny Curtis 7:44
there's four regions, so there can only be four teams assigned to each seat You with me? For number one seeds for number 2 seeds all the way down to 4 number 16 seeds, and each region features games or matchups between one set of the 1 through 16 you're with me. Okay, moving on. To keep things fair, the committee tries to balance each region equally in terms of competition. They also want to avoid having conference teams play each other early in the tournament. So the selection committee does a lot of mixing and matching to try to create the fairest possible tournament. And usually they do a pretty good job because every year, it's practically impossible to predict which teams will win in the tournament. That's what makes this event so interesting. Any team really can beat any other team on any given day, regardless of seating. A lot of people spend a lot of time and energy trying to predict which four teams will make it to the very end. That's called the Final Four. It's almost like a sport of its own. In fact, just two years ago, a number 16 seed, UMBC, beat a number 1 seed, UVA, for the first time in history.
Sound Bit 8:54
Way to go.
Kenny Curtis 8:55
And no one has ever ever picked a perfect bracket since the tournament began back in 1939. That's crazy. But then again, they don't call it March Madness for nothing.
Bethany Van Delft 9:12
Okay, get ready. It's time for...
Sound Bit 9:15
What what? What's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 9:18
Trivia on The Ten since you're all March Madness experts now here's a full court puzzler for you. Which college basketball team holds the NCAA is record for longest winning streak. Is it A) Duke University? B) Boston College or C) University of Connecticut?
Did you guess it? The answer is C. In March 2017 UCONN's women's basketball team won its 111th game in a row. That's 111th games in a row.
Sound Bit 10:06
Walker for three.
Bethany Van Delft 10:10
The team with the next most wins in a row is also UCONN's women's basketball team who first blew past the 1974 UCLA men's team record of 88 wins in 2010. And you can remind anyone of that if they ever tell you, you play like a girl. Time is up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for hanging out with us on today's episode of The Ten News. Yay. To keep the fun going, sign up for the Ten News Ten'ers club. A membership with exclusive things you won't find anywhere else, like bonus content, behind the scenes photos, early news of upcoming stories and exclusive audio call outs. Plus, as if there could be more, your very own principle Ten News press pass. That's thetennews.com. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for our new episodes Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeart Radio. Our editorial director is Tracey Crooks. Editing and sound design by Pete Musto, who also co wrote today's episode with Ben Austin de Campo. Our creative producer is Jenner Pascua. Stephen Tompkins is our head of audience development and our production assistant is Sarah Olender. Kenny Curtis contributed to today's episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and The Ten News is executive produced by Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. Do you want to be part of the show? Because we would love that! Have a grown up help you record a question or a joke or a fun fact you want to share and email it to us at hello@thetennews.com and show your love for The Ten News by going to your favorite podcast app and submitting a rating and review. It helps others find the show so they can join us for all the fun. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Catch you on the rebound!
