Space Snapshots, Robot Training & Croc-Filled Rivers! (9.18.26)

0:00Yo yo, hey, it's time to dash. Welcome to Kids News Flash. News for Kids. We keep it cool. Stay in the know is the golden rule. Hey there, and welcome to Kids News Flash. The news show made just for curious kids like you. I'm Katie, here to help you stay up to date on what's happening around the world. Stay in the know is the golden rule. It's September 18th, 2026. Let's see what's happening in the world today. Happy National Cheeseburger Day. Americans eat about 10 billion hamburgers a year, and most of those have cheese on them. Peppie! Tell someone about it. Small days like this are fun to notice. Now, here are today's top stories. A space photo just one big. Allie-Elebedley's picture of the shark nebula won the Royal Observatory Grennitch's astronomy photographer of the year competition. He captured it from Kuwait.

1:01It shows a dark cloud of space dust that so dense it blocks starlight. And it's 650 light years away. The competition drew almost 4,000 entries from 66 countries. Plus, there's a young photographer winner. 15-year-old Nikolaus Drimpolis, from Greece, took a close-up shot of the moon showing orange and blue colors from iron and titanium deposits. Here's what else is making news. Millions of Nigerians just bought shares in Africa's biggest oil refinery. The company, owned by billionaire Aliko Dengote, sold over 4 billion shares starting Monday. That's just over 3% of the business. You could buy in for as little as $4, and people went wild for it. Investment apps actually crashed from too many people trying at once. Now social media is full of jokes about new owners, calling up Dengote to discuss business or telling truck drivers not to speed with company property. There's also this.

2:01Scientists just mapped every single connection in a fruit-flies brain. That's 139,000 nerve cells and 50 million connections. The most detailed brain map ever made. Google's AI team worked with researchers for years to trace all the tiny pathways that let the fly see, move, and make decisions. Why does a fly's brain matter? It's helping scientists understand how all brains work, including ours. The team's already using the map to figure out how memories form and how brains learn new things. Quiz time. Here's a question from what we just covered. Who owns the oil refinery that just sold shares to millions of Nigerians? The Nigerian government. Be a group of international investors. See billionaire Aliko Dengote or maybe D, a cooperative of local farmers. You have five seconds to think about your answer.

3:13The correct answer is see billionaire Aliko Dengote. Dengote is Africa's richest person with a net worth of over $13 billion. Hope you nailed that one. Time for a little blast from the past. On this day, September 18th, in 1970, guitar legend Jimmy Hendrix passed away at age 27. Hendrix is widely considered the greatest electric guitarist ever. He could play the guitar behind his back and with his teeth. We've got more stories. Let's keep going. In tech news, robots learning at lightning speed. A British startup called VSim built a robot named Freddo that learned to walk and grab objects in minutes by training in a virtual world first. Founders Michelle Liu and Kear Story say their software's way faster than older systems because it's built for powerful aliens.

4:14Here's the wild part. Freddo runs 20,000 simulations per second while he's moving so he can predict what will happen about a second ahead. That means he can handle messy, unpredictable spaces like your house. In sports, Brisbane's 2032 Olympics will hold rowing events on a river that's home to about 500 saltwater crocodiles. But here's the twist. The crocodiles aren't what's worrying the rowing world. The Fitzroy River in Rockhampton has never had a recorded crocodile attack on humans in over 40 years. What's got international rowing officials concerned is fairness. The river has natural bends and currents that some athletes say could give certain lanes an advantage. Over in Washington, Iran's leaders head to New York. The U.S. is letting Iranian officials travel to New York next week for the UN General Assembly. Even though the two countries have been at war since February, Iran's president and foreign minister can attend,

5:15but they'll face travel limits and won't be able to buy luxury items. A U.S. State Department spokesman said they won't let Iranian leaders go on shopping sprees while people back in Iran deal with power shortages and rising prices. The war has now lasted seven months and pushed up energy costs worldwide. Second quiz. Let's see how you do on this one. How many simulations per second can Freddo run while he's moving? Could it be a 2000 simulations per second? B, 10,000 simulations per second. Maybe C, 20,000 simulations per second. Or D, 50,000 simulations per second? You have five seconds to think about your answer.

6:16Times up. The answer is C, 20,000 simulations per second. That processing speed lets Freddo predict what will happen about a second into the future, helping him navigate unpredictable spaces. Give yourself a high five if you got it right. Here's today's what do you think? Hmm. Would you trust a robot that learned how to do things by practicing in a video game world first? Think about it and share your thoughts with someone. A shout out to Zach Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colorado. Glad you're here. Want a shout out for your school? Leave a review with your school name and we'll give you one. Uh-huh. Let's learn a new word. Today's word is symbiotic. Involving interaction between two different organisms living in close association. Here it is in a sentence.

7:17The relationship between bees and flowers is symbiotic. Both benefit from it. See if you can work symbiotic into a conversation. Uh-huh. Here's something you might not know. A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus. Think about that for a second. Wow. All right, here's a joke for you. What did the T-Rex use to cut wood? A dinosaur. You're welcome. Today we covered a winning space photo of the shark nebula, millions of Nigerians buying oil refinery shares, scientists mapping a fruit flies entire brain, a robot learning to walk in virtual reality, crocodiles and Brisbane's Olympic rowing river, and Iranian officials heading to the UN. That's all for today's Kids News Flash. If you love today's stories, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Keep being curious and I'll see you tomorrow with more amazing stories. Special thanks to our co-producers Tyler and Katie.

8:21This podcast was brought to you by Kids News Flash Universe. Be sure to check out our other podcasts, Science Kids News Flash, AI Kids News Flash, Launch Kids News Flash, and more. For daily news for kids in five minutes or less.