0:00

The. Hello a explorer. Or.

0:02

Well come along to the club. We

0:04

going on an adventure to try and

0:06

search out the secrets laying around the

0:08

solar system. It's a brand new fun

0:11

kid sign sweetly. My

0:15

name is Dan. Thank you so much

0:17

for being that this is the only

0:19

place where we discover all the signs

0:21

that no one else bothers about. We.

0:24

Learn what's really out there. This week

0:26

you can hear all about a brand

0:28

new gallery that saw a museum. It's

0:31

filled with loads of hands on stuff

0:33

to explain energy and how it's changing

0:35

in the future. Were

0:38

showing some of these technologies from

0:40

solar panels to big wind farm

0:42

generators and. The exciting thing

0:45

for for me I think is to get

0:47

up close and personal to some of these

0:49

technologies and see them for yourself and appreciate

0:51

that those. Can help us in in

0:53

our our future to be more responsible on

0:55

this planet. Oh

0:58

so I've got some of your questions to

1:00

answer and this week one will take us

1:03

into space to take a look at baby

1:05

stars. Fusion

1:07

of hydrogen into helium and that's

1:09

the point that it becomes a

1:12

star, So essentially a protest or

1:14

becomes a stop when it's gathered

1:16

enough mass and when that cool

1:18

gets to ten million degrees. And.

1:23

We will hear about one of

1:25

the rarest animals on the planet.

1:27

It's a creature that's not really

1:29

been spotted fifteen years. it's all

1:31

coming up it a brandy. Fun

1:34

kid science weekly. Let's.

1:41

Kick things off with your science

1:43

in the news. And we start

1:45

with some sad news: sewage spills

1:48

into England's rivers and sees by

1:50

water companies more than doubled last

1:52

year. According to the Environment Agency,

1:55

there were three point six million

1:57

hours it spills compared to one

1:59

point. Than five million hours

2:01

the year before. So.

2:03

All those millions of hours think

2:05

of how much water, how much sewage

2:08

is being pumped into our rivers are

2:10

sees also Uk The industry bodies the

2:12

series companies said it was unacceptable that

2:15

record levels were down to heavy

2:17

rain. so we that a lot of

2:19

rain and that's flooding places where sewage

2:21

is cats he called help but over

2:24

slow But you can understand why some

2:26

people are frustrated with the water companies

2:28

because all of this much is being

2:31

pumped into rivers, seas and other

2:33

places. That we consume Posada sweet

2:35

say Starship Kiss made a big

2:37

broke it it's third test flight.

2:39

The to stage vehicle had a

2:41

clean get away from it's launch

2:44

site over in Texas. It said

2:46

it's up a bit around the

2:48

globe which reinstated over the Indian

2:50

Ocean. No radio contact with last

2:52

towards the end with Spacex say

2:55

it was incredible to see how

2:57

far he got this time around.

2:59

Need an amazing isn't it? We've

3:01

been following us Space X, Ceylon,

3:03

Musk and Space Company. We've been

3:05

following their attempts to ask rockets

3:07

into the atmosphere and they they

3:10

do get better and better each

3:12

time. I wonder where they might

3:14

be in the years from now.

3:16

Final story this week: Upper New

3:18

Gallery the expose the past that

3:20

the prison and the Future Energy

3:22

has opened at the Science Easy

3:24

it is Who'd Energy revolution, the

3:27

A Danny Green Energy Gallery and

3:29

examines how the world can limit

3:31

climate change. This week a very.

3:33

Keen to talk about sluts on that

3:35

lot with a gallery to rates at

3:37

the switch on. As a cop in,

3:40

there are so many different ideas that

3:42

we can about. Climate. Change

3:44

Ways to save the world and Ways

3:46

to present climate change. When you were

3:49

coming up with a new gallery, how

3:51

did you stop? I guess it starts

3:53

from. We. All know that. Burning.

3:56

saying such as: coal

3:58

oil gas religious. Generating

4:01

electricity to power the things that

4:03

we need such as our lights

4:05

off, Tv up posters are also

4:08

things such as you know petrol

4:10

and diesel can be burned power

4:12

cause you know passes big. Sits.

4:15

Across the oceans are unfortunately.

4:18

A when Japan things this release is

4:20

queued greenhouse gases into the air which

4:22

come on the planet and can cause

4:24

more kind of extreme weather such as

4:26

but heavy rains or floods or in

4:29

some places less rain or or fires.

4:31

So if we kind of wanted to

4:33

avoid the worst effects of climate change

4:35

we really need to. Change

4:37

the way we do energy or energy

4:39

sources to ones that don't release these

4:42

greenhouse gases. And that's what's called the

4:44

low carbon energy transition. And this is

4:46

what the gallery, the size museum is

4:48

all about. That's what's it about. So

4:50

what's in it? and what can we

4:53

find if we wander around? Yeah, well,

4:55

we've got a whole range of potential

4:57

options for the seek to of energy,

4:59

and we're displaying many of these inventions

5:01

or technologies together in our gallery province.

5:04

Discovered experience for themselves. So for example,

5:06

we've got. Probably the oldest

5:08

electric car certainly in the country,

5:11

your listeners, My family's my own

5:13

electric car on the quite modern

5:15

technologies for this one's from. The.

5:18

Eighty Nineties is over hundred and twenty years

5:20

old so as to gonna say the some

5:22

of the technology for the. Delay.

5:24

For this energy transition we've had for

5:26

a long time and it's just about how

5:29

we use the more effectively in the future.

5:31

That's one really cool thing is a

5:33

bright yellow and black electric taxi. It was

5:35

nicknamed the Bumble Bees him and it drove

5:38

around the streets of London in a

5:40

eighteen nineties already like afford to pay put

5:42

com I have a a close look at

5:44

this electric taxi it do we know

5:46

anything about. Why it was made

5:48

in them? Why we didn't make more?

5:50

Yes so it was invented by a

5:52

man quarterback. It's called the Bears Electric

5:54

Taxi Cab and he was really competing

5:56

with the horse. It was a company

5:59

called the Great Horseless Carriage Anthony and

6:01

it really does look like a carriage

6:03

but not without a horse. and so

6:05

he. He was trying to kind of

6:07

clean up the streets of London and

6:09

away because they wouldn't be any horse

6:11

manure or horses wouldn't get tired. And

6:13

the batteries on this electric taxicab you

6:15

could just take out and replaced with

6:17

charged batteries and then go off and

6:19

take passengers around around the city and

6:21

know for as long as the the

6:23

batteries last it and this gallery elixir

6:25

the past, the prison and the future

6:27

of energy in your. Time.

6:29

What you learn about how our knowledge

6:32

of energy. How it's changed

6:34

through the is well really I

6:36

suppose our know this is changes

6:38

that getting a better appreciation of

6:41

the effects of or energy choices

6:43

and so you know. Now.

6:46

We know. Stop. Burning.

6:48

A lot of fossil fuels can be

6:50

damaging to the planet and. We've.

6:52

Got so many exciting technologies to

6:54

use to help us move away

6:56

from biting and were showing some

6:59

of these technologies from solar panels

7:01

to big wind farms, generators and.

7:04

Exciting thing for up to me I think

7:06

is to get up close and personal to

7:08

some of these technologies and see them for

7:11

yourself and appreciate that those can help us

7:13

and and all our future to be more

7:15

responsible on this planet. You say get Up

7:18

close. One of the things the Science Museum

7:20

always does really well. We get hands on

7:22

in a way that we are able to

7:24

do other museums and other galleries. What? What

7:27

can we do? What we can walk me

7:29

touch. What can we play with at the

7:31

Adelante Green Energy Gallery. One thing I think's

7:33

quite cool. Is that we all know about. Batteries.

7:36

and you know if this a battery on on your

7:39

your your game we all that type device and can

7:41

it can run out and you can lead to recharge

7:43

it. Bought. An we've got a

7:45

hands on experience of a gravity

7:47

battery. so no batteries use chemicals

7:49

to store energy. So if you've

7:51

gotten access in in energy and

7:54

say on a really windy day

7:56

when is so much wind and

7:58

that generates electricity from wind. You

8:00

could store that electricity by wincing up

8:03

a wait inside a very deep hole

8:05

such as an old mine shaft And

8:07

them. You. Can use that energy

8:09

later on when you need it by releasing

8:11

the weight. Gravity take the weight down and

8:13

then electricity is generated from a tab on

8:15

motor there. So we've got a hands on

8:17

exhibit where you can. Win. Shots you

8:20

gravity battery press a button and then that

8:22

releases the weight and studied up to the

8:24

ground and and generates electricity. And.

8:26

To that's the kind of hands on

8:28

one. We've also got a couple of

8:30

games where you can step inside the

8:32

shoes of an engineer working on different

8:34

problems such as balancing a national grid

8:36

to help keep it running with all

8:38

these renewable and sometimes variable energy sources

8:40

for placing solar energy in different parts

8:42

of the world where it's needed the

8:44

most. So there's plenty on offer to

8:46

get hands on as well as up

8:48

place to the historic or new objects

8:50

in the gallery. The So Energy revolution

8:52

the A Danny Green Energy Gallery is

8:54

is looking at the past. The Prison

8:56

and the future. And because you've been. Looking.

9:00

And researching that. if you had to

9:02

make this gallery getting like fifty years,

9:04

what might you put in it? What

9:06

are we doing now that might become

9:08

incredible and world saving a in a

9:10

few years' time. One of the kind

9:13

of technologies that really excited me and

9:15

you know if it sees. Could

9:17

be a real exciting prospect for the

9:19

future is fusion power and this is

9:21

the reaction that powers the sun and

9:24

all the stars in the universe and

9:26

if we could he have recreate those

9:28

reactions down on us and we might

9:30

have potential unlimited energy to power on

9:32

Aids and if is good enough for

9:34

the sun's shown is good enough for

9:37

us will listen to the new exhibition

9:39

is Energy Revolution the A Danny Green

9:41

Energy Gallery it's on at the Science

9:43

museum on of a top into. As.

9:45

Been involved into in it Together. Thank you so much

9:48

for joining us Oliver No problem Thanks very much having

9:50

me. I'm. james stewart and

9:52

inside the planet earth onto the be

9:54

joined by some of the world's top

9:56

scientists introduce you to some the weed

9:59

out the full ideas being trialled

10:01

to try and save our planet.

10:03

Led of course by your questions.

10:05

Hi James I know that climate change is

10:08

affecting our oceans. Is there anything that's being

10:10

done to look after it? Our

10:12

other solutions involve some simpoo.

10:15

This is Saving Planet First, available

10:17

wherever you get your podcasts. Let's

10:20

get to your questions then. We have

10:22

one which will take us across the

10:25

universe in just a second to look

10:27

at ittle-biddle baby stars. Now

10:29

if you have a question that you

10:31

really want answered, make sure you send

10:33

it to us best ways by leaving

10:35

it as a voice though on the

10:37

free Fun Kids app or you can

10:39

do it to funkidslive.com too. This one

10:41

has been sent in as a message

10:43

to me from Raffi. Thank you Raff.

10:45

Raffi asks why when you see someone

10:47

yawn do you want to yawn?

10:50

Do you know what's amazing about this?

10:52

It's something that we do all

10:55

the time. That everyone knows

10:58

what happens. You

11:00

don't have to be Albert Einstein to know

11:02

if you see someone yawn it's

11:05

quite contagious. You're likely yawn

11:07

yourself. Even with

11:09

all that experts don't exactly

11:11

know. They think it

11:13

might have evolved. So over

11:16

hundreds and thousands of years

11:19

we have evolved that ability

11:21

that we yawn when other people do. Maybe to keep

11:23

us on our toes or on our toes. If you're

11:25

aware if you need to be on guard and you

11:27

see someone yawning it might make you

11:30

yawn and help you realise that hang on

11:32

you maybe you're a bit tired. You should

11:34

be extra vigilant and aware because other people

11:36

feel tired. Maybe it snaps you into action.

11:38

That would have been really helpful in times

11:41

when we were cavemen right? If you saw

11:43

someone probably hairy with a huge

11:45

club in his hand. If you saw them yawning

11:47

you'd think oh hang on they're a bit tired.

11:49

Maybe I need to snap to attention. Maybe I

11:52

need to get to it. And

11:54

The reason that we yawn really isn't

11:56

to do with us being tired. It's

11:58

because we've not taken in enough. Oxygen

12:00

when we're breathing so you have one massive

12:02

breath and that saw your knees. Experts also

12:04

think it might be to do with social

12:06

mirroring. When you see someone do something your

12:08

brain thinks it might be a good thing.

12:10

Today the other had that when you see

12:12

some on scratch their face and some legal

12:15

was gets of the a cheat it's your

12:17

brain that constantly almost makes you want us

12:19

to in it's always looking for different cues

12:21

and ways that you can improve and figure

12:23

out what to do so well See that's

12:25

why. We. Think that we your own

12:27

and why we think that we your and

12:29

when we see other people your and but

12:32

we don't exact month. Anti much that

12:34

costs and let's get on another one. This is

12:36

a voice nice and into the freeze on kids

12:38

out the by Danny. Island. Danny

12:44

thank you for your question. All

12:47

about prose host star turning into

12:49

a proper star I guess about

12:51

go some help him whenever we

12:53

and travel across the galaxy. says.

12:55

One person I turned to first because

12:57

they know everything Dora Patel from the

13:00

National space and to joins us Dora

13:02

Thank you for being that cillizza of

13:04

what what is a proton star. Yes

13:07

it really depressed and set the prices.

13:09

Thought is basically. Just a very

13:11

very young star was haven't started

13:13

what we call nuclear fusion said

13:16

his post have club my style

13:18

skin off my own what's insult

13:20

sexist, really young and it still

13:22

growing interesting material or less. Than.

13:25

A really young in style turns of

13:27

you know it's not a we go

13:29

to see how how old are these

13:32

really young stars? Yeah, Honestly speaking when

13:34

we talk about. Time. It's Martha kind

13:36

of the time we used to say when

13:38

we're talking about a better to be swiftly.

13:41

Talking just a few hundred thousand

13:43

years and the bare minimum levy

13:45

star start to go and it

13:47

may take you know a few

13:49

million years for them to become

13:52

a fully self star. So with

13:54

humans. We. Have very clear

13:56

boundaries on. A Huge He's

13:58

right when you're upset of. year old,

14:00

then you're a baby, then you become

14:02

a toddler, then you become a kid,

14:04

then you become a teenager, then you're

14:07

an adult, right? Is it similar with

14:09

stars? Do we have defined names for

14:11

ages? Yeah, in a sense we do

14:13

but they're not necessarily a particular

14:15

and defined age. So it's more a

14:17

broad range of sort of ages. So

14:20

a proto star is anywhere from I guess

14:23

a few like we said, hundreds of

14:25

thousands of years and they're collecting material

14:27

up to a few tens of millions

14:29

of years, perhaps when they become a

14:31

nuclear fusing star or what we call

14:33

a proper star, but then

14:35

stars can live for many more millions

14:37

of years. Stars like

14:40

our son will live for billions of

14:42

years and there are even very small

14:44

stars which actually use their fuel very

14:46

slowly that can live for trillions of

14:48

years. So when we think

14:50

about stars and their ages, it doesn't really

14:52

give us an idea of their true age but

14:54

thinking about our son, it's about four and a

14:56

half billion years old and we consider it to

14:58

be like a middle-aged adult. It's about halfway through

15:01

its life. So we know what a

15:03

proto star is, the question,

15:05

how does it turn into a star? So

15:08

what has to happen for it to decide

15:10

to make nuclear fusion?

15:12

Yeah, so stars are

15:14

basically born from what we call

15:16

molecular clouds or a pretty aware

15:18

nebula, so these big clouds of

15:20

gas and dust in space and

15:23

essentially something happens that causes this material

15:25

to be pulled together by gravity. So

15:27

that might be a shockwave

15:29

from a relatively nearby star that's

15:32

exploded or it might be

15:34

from something like two galaxies that are

15:36

colliding and then therefore the clouds within

15:38

them start to get closer together and

15:40

knock into each other. So when this

15:42

material comes together, gravity pulls it together

15:45

to form what we call a dense

15:47

core and then

15:49

eventually it's kind of a balancing act

15:51

between gravity pulling this material in and

15:54

then a bit like when you've got a

15:56

balloon and you fill it with air you

15:58

get pressure from the gas in inside the

16:00

balloon pushing back outwards and expanding the

16:02

balloon. So it's not just balancing it

16:05

between the star. Lots of material being

16:07

pulled in and that star trying to

16:09

hold itself up. But eventually gravity wins

16:11

and it pulls enough material together to

16:14

the point where that core gets to

16:16

10 million degrees Kelvin,

16:18

which is roughly 10 million degrees

16:21

Celsius. And that's the point

16:23

where it can undergo fusion of

16:25

hydrogen into helium and that's the

16:27

point that it becomes a star.

16:29

So essentially a protostar becomes a

16:31

star when it's gathered in

16:33

enough mass and when that core gets to

16:36

10 million degrees. We know

16:38

what stars look like.

16:40

These brilliant bright balls of

16:42

energy fusion happening all the

16:44

time. What do we know

16:46

about how protostars look? Yeah,

16:48

so protostars when they're very small

16:50

and they're just starting to pull that

16:52

material together, they're not going to be

16:54

very well visible. So we're not going

16:56

to be able to see them very

16:58

easily. And in fact, they're hiding within

17:00

these huge clouds of gas and dust,

17:02

which makes them tricky to spot anyway.

17:04

But as they gather more material, although

17:06

they're not giving it late by nuclear

17:08

fusion, they are getting warmer.

17:10

So just like when you pump air

17:13

into a bike tire, we know that

17:15

the tire gets hot, right? The air

17:17

in there is being squashed together and

17:19

therefore it gets a bit hotter. Similarly,

17:21

these protostars, once they start to gather

17:23

enough material, they will get hotter and

17:25

they will emit light in the form

17:27

of infrared. So some of you might have

17:30

heard of infrared light. We

17:32

have infrared cameras to see hot bodies

17:34

in the dark. And similarly, we

17:36

can use infrared telescopes to spot

17:39

these protostars in this huge cloudy

17:41

regions in space where they're starting

17:43

to form. How well have we

17:45

done with spotting them? We are

17:47

quite close to a star with

17:49

our sun. We know where other

17:51

ones are around us. What about

17:53

protostars? Do we have any idea of

17:56

where they are in the universe and how many we

17:58

might have? Yeah, so there are tele- all

18:00

over the world that are actually looking for protostars,

18:03

and we're starting to find more

18:05

and more evidence of protostars in

18:07

the earlier stages of their life.

18:10

So with things like the James Webb

18:12

Space Telescope that works with infrared light,

18:14

we're able to see these protostars forming

18:17

earlier than we've been able to see

18:19

them before. But of course,

18:21

we're still not yet at the stage

18:23

where we completely understand, perhaps, exactly

18:26

how protostars come to be and exactly

18:28

what they're like at the beginning of their lives. But

18:31

we're starting to put together a much better

18:33

picture in it. In fact, lots of stars

18:35

are actually born together from the same cloud

18:37

of gas and dust. And

18:39

so one of the big questions is, well,

18:42

if our sun were born in a similar

18:44

way, where are all the other stars that

18:46

our sun would have been born with? Like

18:48

star twins, star triplets, star quadruplets. Do we

18:51

know very quickly if they have any connection,

18:53

if the sun does have a twin that's

18:55

been born from the same kind of nebula?

18:58

Is there any link? Do we know? Yeah,

19:00

so this is one of the bigger questions

19:02

where we've not yet understood whether our sun

19:04

is a little bit of a deviant or

19:07

a little bit of an oddity that it

19:09

didn't quite form. Likely, you see many of these

19:11

other protostars forming. But if it did form in

19:13

a group, one of the questions is, okay, so

19:15

what happened to those stars? So it's still a

19:17

bit of a mystery. It's still a bit of

19:19

an unknown. And that is why,

19:21

when we got any question across the

19:24

galaxy, we head straight to the National

19:26

Space Centre. Dara Patel, thank you so

19:28

much for helping us with Danny's question. No worries. Let's

19:35

get to this week's Dangerous Dan.

19:37

We're going into the mountains around Vietnam

19:39

to try and find the Saola. And

19:43

I really mean try and find it.

19:45

It's one of the rarest animals on

19:47

the planet. It was first discovered back

19:49

in 1992, so 30 years

19:52

ago, when forest scientists were

19:54

searching mountains for anything unusual.

19:57

That was 1992. The last time one was photographed... was

20:01

in 2013. It's

20:03

in the bovine family, the Saula, so

20:05

it's closely related to catals and goats

20:07

and antelopes. Here's the thing, it's known

20:10

as the Asian unicorn because

20:12

it's from Asia and a few other reasons. It's

20:14

rare just like a

20:16

unicorn, perhaps people think it's mystical, but

20:19

also it's got two huge horns

20:23

just like a unicorn. This

20:25

creature has two long slender horns

20:27

that can stretch back, they arch from

20:29

the top of its head to over

20:31

a meter tall. It's got a dark

20:33

brown coat with white markings on its

20:35

face and legs which make it incredibly

20:37

tough to spot in the wild. It

20:39

blends in with the snow or with

20:41

the rocks around the mountains where it

20:43

lives and because of this we don't

20:45

know how many there are really. It's

20:48

a pretty endangered species but there could

20:50

be loads, I don't know. Probably isn't

20:52

as experts from Vietnam would see it

20:54

more and more and would know more

20:56

about it you might think, but

20:58

who knows maybe they're there and just really

21:00

good at hiding. It's got hooves and thick

21:02

teeth and here's something

21:04

strange. In

21:06

the past when people have found them

21:09

they have captured them, taken them to

21:11

try and study them, but

21:13

sadly the animals don't last very long

21:15

in captivity. They die quite quickly, it's

21:18

sad, it's strange, no one really knows

21:20

why and it's one of

21:22

the rarest animals on the planet which is why

21:25

the Saola goes on to our dangerous down list.

21:31

Let's head back into space then shall

21:34

we and catch up with one

21:36

of our favorite geniuses Professor Pulsar

21:38

with Dara Patel. Earlier on we

21:41

heard all about protostars. What about

21:43

other types of stars? Well

21:45

Professor Pulsar is an expert on space and

21:48

he joins us to tell us

21:50

some of the other things that

21:52

move through the universe like shooting

21:54

stars and why some of them

21:56

twinkle. that

22:00

is, support from the UK Space Agency.

22:04

Somewhere between Polaris and Ursa Minor,

22:06

just a glint in the night

22:08

sky to the naked eye, it

22:10

looked a little closer, and you

22:12

will see it as Professor Pulsar's

22:14

exploration craft, the intrepid vibe

22:17

piloted by a trusted Captain

22:19

T. Torrey. While the pupils

22:21

of Deep Space High take their school

22:23

holidays, Pulsar is roaming

22:25

the universe to explore the most

22:28

dastardly difficult mysteries and

22:30

broadcasting his findings back to the planet.

22:33

It can only be another

22:35

episode of Professor Pulsar's case

22:37

explanation. Professor, I'm

22:40

picking up some incoming data on the

22:42

Medrange scanners. Stand by. It sounds like

22:44

another question. Hey. Oh,

22:48

she can call us what a good-less

22:50

me. I'm used to tricky questions, but

22:52

I can't understand what that even means.

22:54

Computer, replay that question. Accessing database, replay

22:57

last question. Hey. Professor,

23:01

I think that question may have got scrambled

23:03

up on its way from Earth. Computer, run

23:05

the descrambling program on it. Great

23:11

work, Captain T. Torrey. Right, let's get on

23:13

the case of solving this little mystery. Computer,

23:15

can you find me an expert, please? Searching?

23:18

This looks promising. Stevenage, England on

23:20

planet Earth, patching through to flight

23:22

decks. This is Captain T.

23:24

Torrey of the Intrepid Five. Please identify

23:27

yourself. My name's Sharn, and I'm an

23:29

engineer at Airbus Defence and Space. Loading

23:31

file. As the world's second

23:33

largest aerospace company, Airbus Defence

23:35

and Space has expertise in a range

23:37

of disciplines, from aircraft to defence to

23:40

space. One of the projects it is working

23:42

on at the moment is the Solar Orbiter,

23:44

a satellite mission launching in 2017, which will

23:46

travel to the sun to

23:49

closely study areas which are difficult to view

23:51

from Earth. It is hoped it will help

23:53

us learn more about the complex workings of

23:55

the sun. Thanks, Computer. So, Sharn, we

23:57

have a bit of a cosmic conundrum. that

24:00

you might be able to help with,

24:02

can you explain what causes shooting stars?

24:04

Well in space there's lots of particles

24:06

and bits of rock floating around and

24:08

every now and then one of these usually quite

24:10

tiny pieces of rock enters the top

24:13

of the Earth's atmosphere and because

24:15

it's travelling so quickly it appears to burn

24:17

up in the upper atmosphere and that's what

24:19

we see as a shooting star. So it's

24:21

not actually a star, it's just a piece

24:24

of debris or rock that's coming into our

24:26

atmosphere. Most shooting stars come from pieces of

24:28

rock that are from the size of a

24:30

grain of sand so really really tiny up

24:33

to probably about a metre in diameter. So

24:35

they're not actually that big so it's quite

24:37

impressive that we can see them all the

24:39

way from the ground and they can streak

24:42

right across the sky. Thanks Sean, you're

24:44

a star. Professor, I have another star

24:46

related question flagged on the database. Perhaps

24:48

there's another expert at Airbus who can

24:51

help. That's

24:53

identified. Connecting. Well done T-Tory,

24:55

who are we speaking to? Hi I'm Kyle

24:57

Palmer, I've just finished university and I'm now

24:59

working at Airbus Defence in Space in future

25:01

missions which means I design all the future

25:03

missions that won't be launching till after 2020.

25:06

Good, good. Computer, please load up our

25:08

question for Kyle. Why

25:12

do some stars twinkle and

25:15

others do? So stars themselves are

25:17

basically suns like our own and are just

25:19

as bright if not a lot, lot brighter

25:22

but they're very very far away which means

25:24

that it takes a while for the star light to

25:26

reach us and when it does it then has to

25:29

pass through our very thick atmosphere so

25:31

that we can actually see them and when we see them they

25:33

appear to twinkle because of all the light rays

25:35

are hitting off all the stuff in the atmosphere

25:38

and they look really faint and they twinkle. The

25:40

stars which appear to not twinkle are

25:43

actually satellites and the International Space Station and

25:45

planets in our own solar system which are

25:47

a lot closer to us and therefore they're

25:49

a lot brighter in the sky and that

25:52

means that we don't quite see the twinkle

25:54

in quite as much. Well, a shining example

25:56

of a space mystery soul. And

26:13

I see for this week's episode of

26:16

The Fun Kids Science Weekly, thank you

26:18

so much for catching up with us.

26:20

If you have anything science-y that you

26:22

want answered next week on the podcast,

26:24

make sure you leave it as a

26:26

voice note for me on the FreeFunKids

26:28

app or at funkidslive.com. You heard Professor

26:30

Polsar a second ago. We've got loads

26:32

more brilliant podcasts and episodes for you

26:34

to listen to on Google, Apple, Spotify,

26:36

wherever you get your shows, and they're

26:38

at funkidslive.com too. And Fun Kids are

26:40

our children's radio station from the UK,

26:42

listen all over the country on the

26:44

app, on our website, and if you've got a smart

26:46

speaker, wake it up and ask it to play Fun

26:48

Kids. I'm

26:54

James Stewart and in Saving Planet Earth,

26:56

I'm going to be joined by some

26:58

of the world's top scientists to introduce

27:00

you to some of the weird and

27:03

wonderful ideas being trialled to try and

27:05

save our planet. Led, of course, by

27:07

your questions. Hi, James. I

27:09

know that climate change is affecting our oceans.

27:11

Is there anything that's being done to look

27:13

after it? And one of the

27:15

solutions involves some sim poo. This

27:18

is Saving Planet Earth, available wherever

27:21

you get your podcasts.