T. rex Tracks, Telescope Mysteries & Quantum Superpowers! (9.15.26)

0:00Pouring in curiosity! Activating podcasts! Let's ignite the experiment! You're Recha! Good morning! It's Tuesday, September 15th, 2026. You know those glints you see when sunlight bounces off water at the beach? Scientists think that's how we'll spot alien oceans. Eleanor Cornish and Tyler Robinson at the University of Arizona say NASA's Roman Space Telescope might catch a flash from a distant planet during its crescent phase. We've found over 5,500 planets outside our solar system and dozens could have oceans, but we've never actually confirmed one. This could be the first proof of an ocean on another world. Now for some tech. Open AI just bought glass imaging for over $300 million. It's a company making smartphone cameras smarter. With AI glass imaging was started by two former Apple engineers who created portrait mode.

1:02Here's what's cool. Instead of editing pictures after you take them, their tech uses AI to help phone cameras capture better images right when you press the button. This matters because open AI's been rumored to be working on its own phones and gadgets. Story 2 Scientists in North Dakota just found something super rare. Four footprints from the same adult T-Rex showing it took 13 feet strides as it walked. The tracks are about 66.5 million years old and stretch across the Hell Creek formation near Marmarth. Tyler Lyson from the Denver Museum says bones tell us a lot, but footprints capture a moment in time you can actually follow where the dinosaur was going. Quiz time, here's a question from what we just covered. How many planets have scientists found outside our solar system? Is it a more than 3,000 planets?

2:02Is it B, about 1,200 planets? Is it C, over 5,500 planets? Or is it D, enough to fill a galactic pizza delivery menu? Take 5 seconds and lock in your answer. Analyzing data. Observing results. It's C, over 5,500 planets. These planets outside our solar system are called exoplanets, and astronomers discover new ones almost every week. Nice job if you got that one. Time for this day in history. On this day, September 15th in 1835, Charles Darwin arrived at the Galapagos Islands. Darwin's observations of finches and tortoises would later inspire his theory of evolution, changing science forever.

3:03Wow! Let's keep it moving. Out in space. The James Webb Space Telescope's been spotting these weird bright red objects called Little Red Dots all over the early universe. And guess what? Astronomers think they might have cracked the mystery. On August 12th, 2026, scientists reported that some of these dots could be black hole stars. Giant stars with black holes inside, shining billions of times brighter than our sun. This discovery could explain the hundreds of these dots J.W.S.T. has been finding throughout the universe. Moving on, here's something wild. When you focus a laser super tightly on a single atom, the strongest interaction doesn't happen at the beam center, but shifts slightly to one side. Physicists at the Paul Shayer Institute just discovered this optical magnus effect, and it's like how a spinning ping pong ball curves through the air. It matters because scientists use lasers to control qubits in quantum computers, and that

4:05tiny sideways shift could cause errors or give researchers a new way to connect qubits together. Over in technology, scientists in Austria are hooking up a quantum computer to an electron microscope, and it's kind of genius. Right now, electron microscopes just count electrons to build images, but each electron also carries quantum information that usually gets ignored. Researchers at TUWean say their new system could let scientists create clearer images while using fewer electrons. That's huge for studying delicate biological samples, like individual proteins, which get damaged when too many electrons hit them. They're building the first quantum computer electron microscope right now at TUWean. Okay, one more. This one comes from our latest batch of stories. When did scientists report their findings about the little red dots? A. July 12, 2026.

5:08B. September 8, 2025. C. August 12, 2026. Or maybe D. On the same day, my little brother finally cleaned his room, so never think it over. You've got five seconds. Observing data. Observing results. Did you get it? The answer is C. August 12, 2026. The James Webb Space Telescope launched on December 25, 2021 and began sending back its first images in mid-2022. Pat yourself on the back if you picked the right answer. Time for our discussion question. Foo. Would you rather discover an ocean on a distant planet or find dinosaur footprints showing how a T-Rex walked? There's no wrong answer.

6:09Just talk about it. Big shout out to Nord Country Elementary School in Chico, California. If you want your school featured, leave us a review. We'd love to give you a shout out. Here's your word of the day. Today's word is elaborate, very detailed and complicated. Here it is in a sentence, the scientist gave an elaborate explanation of how black holes work. See if you can work elaborate into a conversation. Here's something you might not know. The closest start to earth is Proxima Centauri, about 4.2 light years away. That's pretty wild. Wow. Ready for a joke? What did the triangle say to the circle? You are pointless. You're welcome. Today we covered spotting alien oceans from space. Opening eye buying a camera company, T-Rex footprints showing 13 feet strides, mysterious

7:12red dots in the early universe, curved quantum light near atoms and quantum computers powering microscopes. That's all for today. See you tomorrow on Science Kids News Flash. Science is happening all around us every single day. And there's always something new to discover. Keep being curious and we'll see you tomorrow with more mind blowing science. Thanks for joining us on Science Kids News Flash. This podcast was brought to you by Kids News Flash Universe. Be sure to check out our other podcasts, Kids Ask History, Space Kids News Flash Animal Battle Royale, AI Kids News Flash, and the Daily Catcast. Experiment concluded. Curie Autos you preserved. Until our next discovery.