Good morning and welcome to KidNuz. I’m Kim. Today is Friday, January 10th, 2020 and we begin with…

A teenager turning heads at NASA. High school senior Wolf Cukier (guessing Koo-kee-er) was just three days into his internship with the space agency when he discovered a brand new planet nearly seven times the size of Earth in a constellation 13-hundred light years away.  It’s a big find; big enough for NASA to make an announcement about it. Even so, Wolf doesn’t get to name it. New planets discovered by the satellite he used are only given identification numbers, so his will be known as TOI 1338 B. A bummer, he says, because he and his brother believe “Wolftopia” would have been a much better choice.

Ticks don’t give a lick whether you’re a grammy winner or not. Singer Justin Bieber announced this week that he’s battling Lyme Disease, an illness that comes from the bacteria of the dreaded deer variety. Those ticks are tiny, about the size of a pin head, but to humans their bite can be devastating. Symptoms include fever, chills, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, neck stiffness, shortness of breath, headache, fatigue and a rash. A fellow pop star knows just what he’s going through: Avril Lavigne battled lyme disease a few years ago and has reached out to Justin with support. In case you didn’t know, Lyme disease is spelled with a Y:  L-Y-M-E and gets its name from the place where it was discovered — the town of Lyme, Connecticut.

As it turns out, the signs were a bit premature. Rangers at Glaciers National Park in Montana are replacing the posters that warn visitors that its signature glaciers would melt by 2020. The signs went up more than a decade ago to reflect climate change forecasts made by geologists. But the models have changed and while the warming is real, the complete melt off is no longer expected to take place so quickly. The new signs will read: “When they will completely disappear depends on how and when we act. One thing is consistent: the glaciers in the park are shrinking.” And the facts back that up. A recent study found that in the past half century, some of the ice formations in Montana had lost 85% of their size and the average shrinkage was 39%.

It’s just not an image anyone would expect to see  – for science or otherwise. Researchers at Woods Hole in Massachusetts velcro’d tiny 3D glasses onto the heads of little mollusks known as Cuttlefish to study their depth perception. It reportedly took some wrangling but once the glasses were on, the squid like creatures were treated to two different pictures of shrimp, which just so happens to be their favorite food. The goal was to determine if they processed information from each eye separately… or together, something scientists figured out by watching how the cuttlefish positioned themselves for attack. According to the study’s author, mollusks didn’t mind the specs and, if they were bothered, could have used their tentacles to take them off.

Do you have pooping anxiety? The latest headline grabbing invention at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas suggests you might. And that’s why with much fanfare, a bathroom products company has rolled out a “toilet paper robot.” The little droid has a teddy bear face, two wheels, and is designed to deliver relief for those moments when – just a few moments too late – you realize the roll is empty. Presuming you’ve brought your phone with you – as many kids, teens and even adults are known to do – the answer is just a tap away. Is there a need? According to the company, we all use the bathroom 6-7 times a day, and spend 156 hours a year on the throne so, at some point or another, we’ll probably pull up short on paper products.

Before our quiz this morning, a reminder that KidNuz has partnered with a nonprofit and donations are now tax deductible. Please visit our website to support us and consider having your employer make a matching donation! Now today’s KidNuz quiz:

1. Who just found a new planet? A high school intern working at NASA.


2. How did researchers get cuttlefish to wear sunglasses? With velcro


3. What is the average shrinkage of Montana’s glaciers? 39 percent in the past 50 years.


4. Who just announced his has Lyme Disease? Pop star Justin Bieber.

In one for the road: More on ticks. There are hundreds of different kinds of those little buggers. Deer ticks are what got to Bieber. Another common type is the Dog Tick. They’re bigger, up to a half inch long and they, too, like to take a bite out of humans. But the disease they carry isn’t lyme disease. It’s Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which generally gives you a headache, fever and a rash. It’s not quite as severe as lyme disease and can be treated with antibiotics.

Our birthday shoutout today goes to Naya in Burlingame, California. And this weekend we celebrate Claudia in Redwood City, California, Shepherd and Spencer in Auburn, Alabama, Blake in Chandler, Arizona and Ken in Tustin, California. Thanks for listening, don’t forget our Week in Review quiz, and we’ll see you back here for more KidNuz Monday morning!

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