Australian Broadcasting Corporation



BTN: Episode 7 Transcript 20/3/18

Hey, Amelia here. Thanks for joining me for another ep of BTN.

Coming up today.

• We look back at the life of a famous scientist who showed us the universe.

• In part 2 of our population series, we travel into the future to find out if big is actually good.

• And how do planes work? We sent Matt out to pretend to fly one to find out.

US Tariffs

Reporter: Matt Holbrook

INTRO: You can see Matt not fly a plane later. But first. We're heading to the US where President Donald Trump got the whole world talking about tariffs recently. He announced a new one on steel and aluminium imports. But it got a lot of people worried. Here's the story.

These guys are best friends.

FRIENDS: Best friends.

Well, kind of. They do everything together.

FRIENDS: Some things.

Share stuff, play battleship, and pose for the camera. You know, the usual. They're just like these famous best friends, really. Although their relationship is less about sharing food, and more about sharing exports. Less playing battleship and more actual battleships. And, well the photos thing is fairly spot on. The point is, they're close. But recently, US President, Donald Trump, announced he's introducing a new tariff on steel and aluminium.

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: We're going to be instituting tariffs.

And that made some people in Australia question how close these friends really are. Let me explain. A tariff is an additional cost charged on certain goods that come in from another country. And it got many Aussies really worried about how it would affect them. 500 million dollars’ worth of America's steel and aluminium comes from Australia. While that's a pretty small fraction of its 60 billion-dollar annual imports, it's a big deal for the Australian companies that make it.

STEVEN CIOBO, MINISTER FOR TRADE: The imposition of a tariff like this will do nothing other than distort trade, and ultimately, we believe will lead to a loss of jobs.

Donald Trump says he's doing it to support American industries. See, America's steel and aluminium industries are struggling right now, because both things can be made cheaper overseas. So, by forcing countries to pay more to send their goods there, American steel and aluminium seems cheaper by comparison. That keeps more money in the country, and supports local businesses.

There can be downsides, though. Tariffs can mean higher prices for customers, and if you start imposing tariffs on other countries, those countries might hit back and apply tariffs of their own. So, trade can quickly get a lot messier, and more expensive, for everyone. That's why many countries have trade agreements, allowing trade with each other without being slugged with extra costs.

Luckily, in this case, we later got a reprieve because of our friendship, including trade history, and our defence partnerships (that's the battleship reference). Donald Trump announced Australia won't have to pay anything extra to export its steel and aluminium after all.

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: We have a very close relationship with Australia. We have a trade surplus with Australia - great country; long-term partner. We'll be doing something with them.

But while being best friends can come with some perks, it's not so fun for those left out of the deal.

Stephen Hawking

Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: World-famous scientist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76. He was a pioneer in cosmology and theoretical physics. Here's how he made such a big impact on the world.

He was often called the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Einstein. Known for his ground-breaking theories that changed the way we think about the universe and even time itself. But Stephen Hawking's amazing career actually started as a young man who struggled to get around to doing his homework. That was the word around Oxford University where he studied physics. That's the examination of all matter and the forces that interact with it. He then went on to Cambridge to research cosmology, the study of the origin of universe.

But when he was 21 Hawking's life hit a big hurdle. He was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. Which causes the brain to stop sending messages to a person's muscles. At the time, doctors said he would only live for around 2 years, but he proved them very, very wrong.

STEPHEN HAWKING: However difficult life may seem there is always something you can do and succeed at.

And with the help of a special wheelchair and speech computer that's exactly what he did. Hawking spent much of his time researching the beginning of the universe and black holes. His most famous discovery was probably when he demonstrated that black holes emit some radiation. Before this it was believed that nothing could escape their gravitational pull. The radiation from black holes has since become known as Hawking Radiation. He also spent a lot of time thinking about what existed before the big bang. Which sounds pretty complicated right? But Hawking wrote books that explained his big ideas in ways that could be understood by the average person. In 1988 he published 'A Brief History of Time'. Which became really popular and sold more than 10 million copies.

But he wasn't just known for his books. He also had a lot of fun becoming a regular on TV screens around the world. He featured in shows like the Big Bang Theory. And came to life as an animated character on Futurama and The Simpsons. He even had a big Hollywood film made about his life. Throughout his life Stephen Hawking inspired people to look beyond our planet and expand our knowledge of the universe. His family says that he'll be greatly missed but the legacy of his amazing ideas will live on.

Quiz

We'll head into space for our first quiz.

How long does it take light to travel here from the sun? Is it

8 mins 20 secs

16 mins 20 secs

Or 30mins 20 secs

The answer is: 8 mins 20

This Week in News

Firefighters have been battling bushfires in New South Wales and Victoria. More than 200 people had to evacuate after a fire broke out near Bega in New South Wales. It destroyed around 70 homes and buildings.

Meanwhile people in Victoria have been battling blazes of their own. 18 homes have been destroyed in the state's south west.

In Darwin people are cleaning up the city after it was hit by a cyclone. Tropical Cyclone Marcus swept through on Saturday and these videos show things got a little scary.

The Northern Territory Chief Minister closed all the schools in Darwin and Palmerston and even asked some businesses not to open while they worked to fix things the electricity and water supply.

South Australia went to the polls on Saturday and voted in a Liberal government for the first time in 16 years. Stephen Marshall is now the state's new Premier.

Kids from around the country gathered in Sydney on the weekend for the first robotics competition.

The annual comp challenges teams to build a robot that can complete certain tasks the fastest.

The winner gets to head to the world championships in the US.

COMPETITOR: We're going to compete in Houston next month for the world championships. We're also an all-girls team, we're one of the few all-girls teams in Australia.

But our award goes to this kid and his robotic sunnies!

Check that out again in slow mo.

And students a school in Hobart have made a giant human pie. Not an edible pie; the maths kind. See, it was pi day last week on the 14th of March.

Basically, a celebration of that fancy number used in lots of calculations that involve circles. This school used it as a way to get kids excited about maths. Oh, and as a reason to eat real pies of course.

Australia’s Population Future

Reporter: Jack Evans

INTRO: Okay. It's time for the second part of our special on Australia's population.

Last week we looked back at our journey to 24 million. Now we're looking ahead to see how big our population could get and whether we're really ready for it.

Did you know that every 104 seconds a baby is born in Australia? Or that in 2017, 169,993 people moved here from all over the world? While that might mean a lot more potential friends in the future. It also means we need to start thinking about how we're going to prepare for all these extra people.

In just one year, Australia's population has grown by nearly 400,000 people. That's like adding an extra Canberra annually. Most of them are moving to our major cities. By 2050 Melbourne's population, for example, is expected to nearly double to 8 million people. There are some benefits to having more people in the country and it’s not just lots of potential new friends. More people means more businesses; more buildings means more jobs; and more people paying taxes. But it might also mean more issues ahead.

For starters, experts say we're going to need better public transport and fewer cars if we want to stop the main roads of the future looking like this. That means construction of better rail networks and more efficient roads especially in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

PROFESSOR PETER MCDONALD, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE: We haven't done well with transport infrastructure for a long, long time. Other cities in the world have great metro systems that move people around really, really well. They have very fast trains between the big cities. We're still back in the 19th century in this regard.

Transport's not the only thing that's going to feel the pressure either. More and more families are currently moving to our capital cities. That means we're going to need more schools.

JAMES MERLINO, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, VICTORIA: We need to accommodate in Victoria, 90,000 additional students over the next five years, just incredible enrolment growth. So, we've got 56 new schools in the construction pipeline, 11 of which are opening for the 2018 school year. But we just need to keep that pace up, year after year, because the enrolment growth, the birth rate, interstate migration, this pressure is not going to stop.

But with limited space schools are going to have to be built more like this. But education and transport aren't the only potential problem areas. Experts say healthcare, housing, the environment and vital resources like water could all feel the pinch as the country grows. That's why some people reckon we should keep Australia's population around the size it is now. It's pretty hard to limit how many babies are born though. So, they suggest limiting the number of people Australia takes from overseas instead.

Other people say we should embrace a bigger Australia and all the benefits that come with it. And instead get started fixing all of the potential problems before they happen. In the meantime, though, it's clear we're all going to have to get used to sharing a bit more of our country and possibly our cake.

Ask a Reporter

Have you got a question about our population? Ask me live on Friday during Ask A Reporter!

Head to our website for all the details.

Poll

And we'll also make that topic our poll this week too. Let us know what you think on our website.

Do you think Australia’s population should grow or stay the same size?

Kids Contribute Promo

Have you shared your good deeds in the BTN Kids Contribute Survey yet?

It looks like this and it's super easy to fill in. You can do it on a computer, tablet or mobile. It'll only take 5 or 6 minutes and all of your details and answers are completely anonymous. After the Easter holidays we'll crunch all the numbers to help tell Australia just how valuable you guys really are. Thanks for getting involved.

Sport

The Aussie women's cricket team have reclaimed the world number 1 ranking after crushing India 3 – nil in their One Day International series. In the final match opener, Alyssa Healy, scored her maiden century.

ALYSSA HEALY, CRICKETER: I've played a lot of cricket to not have one so I'm pretty excited to sit here finally with a 100 under my belt.

To the women's AFL now and the Adelaide Crows' hopes for a back to back premiership came to an end over the weekend with the Collingwood Magpies taking a 53-32 win at Olympic Park Oval.

Their win means the Brisbane Lions and the Western Bulldogs will face off in the grand final on Saturday.

And finally, a young Mick Fanning fan up in Queensland's snagged an incredible gift from the superstar surfer. Fanning was competing in the Gold Coast Pro but after being knocked out he gave his surfboard to this kid who was just after an autograph.

Amelia Earhart

Reporter: Ruby Cornish

INTRO: Some bones discovered on an island in the Pacific in 1940 are likely those of Amelia Earhart according to new research. She was a legendary aviator that disappeared while attempting to fly around the world. Next up, we'll take a look at her life. Then Matt will find out how the planes she loved so much actually work.

It's one of the world's greatest mysteries. In July 1937, intrepid pilot Amelia Earhart set out on what she hoped would be her first solo flight around the world, but she disappeared. There are lots of theories about what actually happened and we'll get to those. First, let's see where her amazing story began.

Amelia grew up in America in the early 1900s. She hadn't always been interested in planes, but when she was about 23 she had her first ride in one and she made up her mind then and there to become a pilot. In fact, she wrote in her diary at the time "by the time I got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly." In those days, women didn't have the same rights as men. They'd only just won the right to vote, and the idea of a woman piloting planes was pretty out there. But Amelia wasn't fazed. She began flying lessons, and a few years later became the 16th woman in America to get her pilot license.

In 1928, she became the first woman ever to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip lasted nearly 15 hours and she had to contend with strong winds, icy conditions and a bunch of mechanical problems along the way. And Amelia's achievements didn't stop there. Before long she found herself a major celebrity. She kept breaking flight records, became a best-selling writer, and an activist for women's rights. In July 1937, she set off on her attempt to fly all the way around the globe. but on her longest leg of the journey, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, her radio messages stopped and that was the last anyone heard from her.

Many people believe her plane crashed and still lies somewhere on the ocean floor, but there is another theory too. In the 1940s, builders discovered some bones on the tiny Nikumaroro Island, that’s right here in the South Pacific Ocean and about 650 kilometres from where Amelia was meant to land. But experts who studied the bones at the time decided they actually belonged to a man.

Fast forward to today and those bones are long lost. But an American professor decided to revisit the case anyway. He used a pair of Amelia's pants to figure out her measurements and used a photograph of her holding a can of oil to estimate the length of her arm bones. His verdict? He thinks the bones are a likely match.

So, has the Amelia Earhart mystery been finally solved? We can't be sure, and we probably won't ever know with 100 per cent certainty. But what we do know is that no matter what happened on her final trip, Amelia is still inspiring little girls to have some very big dreams.

Did you know?

Did you know?

Amelia Earhart bought her first plane within six months of her first flying lesson.

She paid $2000 for it and nicknamed it 'The Canary' because it was yellow.

How do planes fly?

Reporter: Matthew Holbrook

INTRO: Hi BTN, my name is Jana, and I'm Charlotte. And our question is: How do planes mechanically fly?

Aeroplanes, they're the big heavy hunks of metal taking over our skies.

MATT HOLBROOK, REPORTER: Someone should do something about them.

JACK: Something like celebrate their wonderous ability to defy gravity while taking us places quickly and conveniently?

MATT: Oh Yeah.

Anyway, I've come to a place that does just that: The South Australian Aviation Museum. Where better to understand how planes fly, than a place showcasing how flight technology has changed and improved over time? I'm getting some expert help, from volunteer, John.

MATT: Tell us about this.

JOHN ROBERTS, VOLUNTEER: This is a Mark V, Spitfire 1943. It was pretty fast in its time.

MATT: So, John, how do planes like this one actually fly?

JOHN: It's the airflow going over the top of the wing and underneath the wing. Because of the forward motion, and you increase as the engine goes, and takes you faster forward, this wing will actually lift up.

Wings make lift by changing the direction and pressure of the air crashing into it. These wings have a curved upper surface and a flatter lower surface. The curved upper part of the wing lowers the air pressure directly above it, and the lower part of the wing increases it, helping to generate lift. There are a few other forces going on, too. Importantly, thrust from the engine, which sends a plane forwards. There's the resistance of the air as the plane moves through it, that's called drag. And there's weight. You need more lift, than the weight of the plane to move it upwards into the sky.

The Spitfire may have been fast for its time, but John tells me it's got nothing on the F111, used by the Australian Air Force up until 2010.

MATT: This is enormous, John, it must have some serious power going on behind it to make it go.

JOHN: You're quite correct there, Matt, there are two engines inside this aircraft. It actually flies at 2,500 kilometres per hour. If you put that into perspective, you can fly from Adelaide to Melbourne in 12 minutes. Now that's fast.

MATT: That is fast. Should we go do it, then?

JOHN: Sounds good.

MATT: This is slightly overwhelming John, what am I supposed to do now?

JOHN: It's very impressive, isn't it, Matt? You have the joystick for flying, and that will take you in any direction you wish. You are the captain.

MATT: I'm the captain?

JOHN: You are the captain.

MATT: Well, we're not going anywhere, I can tell you that much.

JOHN: And this young chap here who will eventually sit there is the weapons co-ordinator, he looks after all the armament, that type of thing.

After brushing with supersonic speeds, I'm going back to flight school.

MATT: John, can you tell me what this is all about, this looks like fun!

JOHN: This was what was used in the fifties to see if any pilot or human being, male or female, had any co-ordination to the limbs to the brain. The idea is to keep that light to the middle there for two and a half minutes. If you could do that, you became or entered to become a pilot. So, there you go, Matt, prove your point, you should be a pilot and not a TV host.

MATT: I thought this would be fairly easy, and it's not.

Not exactly reassuring, but I definitely have a newfound appreciation for these magnificent machines and the people who fly them.

Closer

And that wraps us up for today. But we'd love to hear what you thought about today's stories on our website and, while you're there, please make sure you have a go at our Kids Contribute survey.

Thanks, and I'll see you next week for more BTN.

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