The Very First Trophy

Hello, Newslings! · 0:00

Do spiders dream? Scientists just watched a spider sleeping... and they saw something amazing. Stick around to find out more!

Hey Newslings! It's Friday, October thirtieth, twenty twenty-six. Ready to explore the big wide world? Let's go.

Here's the plan for today. Story one, a baseball team that waited more than fifty years... and finally won! Story two, a pause in the fighting in one town in Ukraine. Did it work? And story three, a tiny island that made a giant discovery. Plus a kid inventor, the answer to last episode's Mystery Sound, and a spider that might be dreaming. Let's dive in.

First, a big cheer to this week's leaderboard! And welcome to our newest listener, Tripp J. We're so glad you're here!

The Brewers' very first trophy · 0:59

Story one. Do you like baseball? Even if you don't, get this. On Wednesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series. And it's the very first time the team has ever won it!

The World Series is the big championship of Major League Baseball, in the United States and Canada. Two teams play each other, and the first team to win four games is the champion.

The Brewers play in the city of Milwaukee, in the United States. The team has played there for more than fifty years. They made it to the World Series once before, in nineteen eighty-two... but they lost. Have you ever waited a really long time for something? Like, more than forty years?

This year, they played the Tampa Bay Rays, from Florida. And the Rays had never won it either! So, either way, a team was getting its very first trophy.

And picture this. At the Brewers' ballpark, after a home run, their silly mascot, Bernie Brewer, zooms down a twisty slide! And today, Milwaukee is having a parade for their team.

Bottom line: the Brewers kept trying, season after season... and now, they're champions.

Sound It Out · 2:13

Here's today's Sound It Out word. Invention... Let's clap it. In... ven... tion. Three beats! And it starts with the letter I, just like igloo.

A pause in the fighting · 2:27

Story two. This one is serious, so let's take it slowly.

There's a war in Ukraine, a country in Europe. Russia's army has been fighting there for more than four years. One small town, called Oleshky, sits next to a big river. Russia's army controls the town now. About two thousand people still live there, and many of them are old. Because of the fighting, it's been very hard to get food, water and medicine in.

So, last week, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a pause in the fighting around the town. A pause like that is called a ceasefire.

Is the pause holding? So far, yes. The ceasefire started on Tuesday morning, even two days earlier than originally planned. And a Ukrainian official said the first thirty hours passed without a single problem.

Now comes the slow part. Teams have to clear the road into town of mines. Mines are dangerous weapons left there from the fighting, and experts carefully clear them away so they don't hurt innocent people. Then helpers can bring in food, water and medical help. And people who want to leave can leave.

The ceasefire is planned to last until Sunday night. And Ukraine hopes new talks about ending the whole war can happen soon, in November.

We can all hope that the ceasefire, a pause in the fighting, lasts long enough so that people can get help. Even a small pause, in one town, can make a big difference.

A tiny island's giant discovery · 4:09

Story three. Let's go to Scotland, to a tiny island called Lismore. Only about one hundred and seventy people live there. That's fewer than in a lot of schools!

Old records showed that, more than fourteen hundred years ago, a holy man called Saint Moluag started a monastery on Lismore. A monastery is a place where monks live, pray and study. But nobody had found much proof.

So the island's little history club decided to find out. Islanders helped raise the money themselves. And volunteers helped archaeologists dig around the island's church.

What they found showed this was much more than a small church! Pieces of big, carved stone crosses. A workshop, with handmade pottery and signs of toolmaking. And more than a thousand tiny bits left over from metalworking, plus little pots for melting metal, called crucibles.

Can you imagine digging near your house... and finding a workshop more than a thousand years old?

The archaeologists say Lismore was once a big centre for worship, crafts and learning. Not just a small island church.

If you tell someone one thing about this, tell them: you don't have to be big to make a big discovery.

Kids Who Rock: Kim Ji-on · 5:28

Now, it's time for our Kids Who Rock story.

Meet Kim Ji-on. She's twelve, and she goes to a small school on an island in South Korea.

Kim learned that in a fire, smoke can be dangerous, even before the flames get close. So she invented something clever. You know the little grip some people stick on the back of their phone? Kim turned one into a mini breathing filter. In an emergency, it unfolds, and covers your nose and mouth. Inside, there's a special kind of charcoal that soaks up some bad gases, and a filter that catches tiny bits of smoke. She says it could give people the first one or two minutes they need to get out.

Out of almost seven thousand inventions by students in South Korea, hers won the top prize. And Kim says she'll give her prize money to help people in poorer countries.

She thought about keeping people safe... and then she shared her prize. That's a kid who rocks!

Around the World: The town that turns purple · 6:32

Next, we're going to Australia, to a town called Grafton, in New South Wales.

Right now, Grafton is turning purple! More than a thousand jacaranda trees there are covered in purple flowers. Whoa! So the town is having a party: the Jacaranda Festival. It's said to be Australia's longest-running flower festival. And on Saturday, there's a parade... hey, another parade! For young people.

Where lots of you listeners live, it's autumn right now, and leaves are turning orange and falling. But in Australia, it's spring!

Here's why. Our Earth is tilted. So, for part of the year, the top half of the Earth leans toward the Sun, and the bottom half leans away. Then they swap. Each half of the Earth is called a hemisphere. Australia is in the bottom half, the Southern Hemisphere. So its seasons are the opposite of the top half's.

What season is it where you live right now? Take a look out the window! And here's one more fun fact: jacaranda trees first came from South America. People brought them to Australia more than a hundred and fifty years ago.

So, picture this: on one side of the world, leaves are falling... and on the other side, a whole town is turning purple, with blooming flowers!

Whoa Fact: Do spiders dream? · 7:55

Okay, Newslings. It's time for a Whoa Fact.

Did you know... that spiders might dream?

Scientists in Germany watched a kind of jumping spider from Australia, about as big as a coin. At night, they filmed them with special cameras that can see in the dark. They slept upside down, in a little silk hammock they'd made.

And while they slept, the scientists saw little twitches... and eye movements. That's a lot like the part of our sleep when we often dream! But the scientists say nobody knows yet if spiders actually dream.

So... what do you think? Do they dream about flies? Or... Whoa!

Want to hear yourself on Newslings? Send us a joke, or a fun fact, and tell us where you learned it. Ask a grown-up to help you, on newslings dot x y z. Tap the microphone, or find "Send us a clip" in the menu.

Poem time: Hurt No Living Thing · 9:00

It's poem time! Today's poem goes with our spider. It's by Christina Rossetti, and it's called "Hurt No Living Thing". Listen for the word "harmless". Harmless means it won't hurt anyone. Count the little creatures as you listen!

The poem is read by a LibriVox volunteer (public domain).

Mystery Sound number 2 · 9:41

It's time for our Mystery Sound! On Tuesday, you heard this sound...

Did you guess it? It was... popcorn popping!

Okay, here's a new one. This one is a bit harder. Listen closely.

Hmm. What do you think it was? Tell your family your guess, and I'll tell you the answer on Sunday!

[Mystery Sound number 2 plays here. The answer is on Sunday.]

Six baby dolphins · 10:21

Before we go, here's something hopeful.

In Cambodia, a country in Southeast Asia, there's a long river called the Mekong. And in that river live rare dolphins, called Irrawaddy dolphins. When one comes up for air, you might see a little grey curve, and a fin, breaking the water.

This year, six baby dolphins were born there! That brings the group to about one hundred and eighteen. Not long ago, there were fewer and fewer of them each year.

So people are working hard to protect them. River guards watch over the water. And fishing nets that can trap dolphins are banned in the most important parts of the river.

Many people along the river believe these dolphins are special, even sacred.

So let's all welcome the six new baby dolphins to the Mekong River!

Today's Big Question · 11:24

Want to see the purple trees, and the dreaming spider? They're on our website, newslings dot x y z, with today's pictures, the quiz, and our friendly reading coach.

That's it for today, Newslings. Let's do a quick look back. Story one, the Brewers' very first World Series win. Story two, a pause in the fighting in Oleshky, so people can get help. And story three, the tiny island with a giant discovery.

Here's your big question for the weekend. If a spider could dream, what do you think it would dream about?

Stay curious, and I'll talk to you on Sunday, November first.

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