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Azia: Hey guys, I am Azia Celestino, and Thursday is here! We have got a lot going on.

First up, your generation is definitely not staying silent. Yesterday the world was watching as students across America made a dramatic move, demanding lawmakers listen to them and create new gun laws. Emily Reppert was at a school in New York City where students were taking part, calling for change.

Emily: Across the country, tens of thousands of students walked out of class yesterday morning to send a message.

Camille Mercado: Legislators don't see what's coming. We have a loud voice, and we're not afraid to use it.

Emily: And at 10 a.m., these students in New York City stood together in the street, holding signs and wearing orange to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting in Florida on the one-month anniversary.

The walkout is set to last for 17 minutes, one minute for each victim who lost their life in the Parkland shooting. And, as you can see behind me, this is 17 minutes of silence.

Ethan Levy: It’s very tragic. We just waited 17 minutes for 17 lives. We're trying to pay our respects, and we just hope that we can prevent things like this in the future. 

Emily: It was part of a nationwide school walkout protesting gun violence and demanding change.

Ethan: I just hope it gets the message out that we really need gun control right now. We have a — we're in, like, a gun epidemic in this country. 

Emily: A message they want to turn into action. Outside the White House, thousands held signs and chanted for change and for politicians to "listen." In Topeka, Kansas, a sea of students exited the school and headed to the capitol. In Charlotte, North Carolina, students placed flowers in front of the names of each victim, and in Birmingham, Alabama, they held up candles. 

About 2 percent of schools nationwide took part in the walkout. Some schools supported the movement, while others warned students that they could get marked absent for participating. And some students purposely didn't participate. In cities like Chicago and in Philadelphia, students said they felt the protests didn't recognize everyday violence in urban communities.

Amaya Toby: It's not like the issue doesn't matter, because of course it matters — it's lives that just got lost. But at the same time, we're not cherishing all lives. 

Emily: In New York City, these students marched through the neighborhood. 

Why do you think it is important for young people like yourself to have your voices heard? 

Lauren Schulsche: I think we are the generation that’s gonna rise up and really bring change. I think, as horrible as all of this has been, the importance of that dialogue and the importance of getting those opinions out there is really crucial. 

Camille: We're going to be the future, and if they don't want to make the change now, we'll make it when we grow up. 

Emily: Emily Reppert, Channel One News. 

Azia: Thanks, Emily.

Next up, he was a genius and a great scientist. Stephen Hawking died at his home in Cambridge, England, yesterday. He was considered to be the 21st century's Albert Einstein.

You might have seen him on “The Big Bang Theory” or “The Simpsons,” but what you might not know is Stephen Hawking changed the way scientists look at our universe, from the big bang to black holes.

Professor Michio Kaku: What Hawking did was he showed that black holes are not really black, overturning decades of thinking. Black holes are gray; they emit what is called Hawking radiation. And that’s what happens when you apply quantum mechanics to black holes. So he set the agenda.

Azia: His life played out in the recent popular movie “The Theory of Everything.” Hawking was born in Oxford, England, in 1942. He was a 21-year-old Ph.D. student when he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and he was told he had just a year or two to live.

Stephen Hawking lived more than 50 years longer. He was confined to a wheelchair and spoke through a computer, but Hawking was living proof that people could overcome even the greatest obstacles.

Professor Stephen Hawking: It is quite an achievement. I never thought I would get so far.

Azia: His 1988 book, “A Brief History of Time,” which explained the mysteries of the universe in everyday language, became a bestseller and made him a worldwide celebrity. President Obama awarded Hawking the Medal of Freedom in 2009 for pushing the boundaries of science.

President Barack Obama: Professor Stephen Hawking was a brilliant man and a mediocre student.

Azia: And he kept on pushing. He took a zero-gravity flight in 2007, something he always wanted to do, and it was the first time in 40 years he could move without his wheelchair. Stephen Hawking will be remembered for his brilliant mind and fierce determination. He was 76 years old.

And here is a fun fact: Stephen Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo, and he died on Albert Einstein's birthday, which is also Pi Day. Talk about the theory of relativity.

Okay, after the break, the dark secret hidden in your tech devices.

Azia: We are surrounded by technology: our smartphones, tablets, laptops, but you probably don't put a ton of thought about what is inside of your devices.

Keith: Yeah, Azia. Most of the electronics we use every day contain an element that is hard to get, and you might be shocked to see who is doing the work to get it. Take a look at this “CBS News” investigation.

Eleven-year-old Ziki Swaze has never been to school. He has no idea how to read or write, but he has a job. He is one of an estimated 40,000 children — as young as 4 — in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who spend their days digging in trenches and laboring in lakes, hunting for a treasure: cobalt, a rare metal that is used in batteries for things like cellphones and laptops, tablets and even electric cars.

And more than half the world's supply comes from the DRC. Twenty percent of that is mined by hand, and the pay is just pennies. 

Every evening, Ziki returns home with a dollar or two to provide for his family. 

Ziki Swaze: I have to go and work there because my grandmother has a bad leg and she can't. There is no one to look after her. I am the one who helps.

Keith: It is a common story in the DRC. Kids need to work to survive.

Ziki: I feel very bad because I can see my friends going to school, and I am struggling.

Keith: Officials deny that children are working in the mines, but along collapsing dirt roads, children are everywhere, digging for cobalt among abandoned open pit mines. So Ziki, like other kids, spends much of the day breathing in toxic fumes.

But for companies who use the cobalt in their products, they admit there are problems in the supply chain.

Apple says it leads the industry in standards and last year cut ties with the largest cobalt supplier. Microsoft said it does not tolerate child labor and that it is working with rights groups to eliminate it. Samsung said it is mapping its supply chain. And Tesla explained it performs audits and has very little cobalt in its batteries. 

But it is hard to track where the cobalt comes from and to make sure it wasn't mined by kids. 

Now, at the Good Shepherd Project, Sister Catherine Mutindi and her colleagues have rescued over 1,000 children from the mines. The kids who manage to get here get a hot meal and a break from reality. 

Sister Catherine Mutindi: We have over 100 orphans, total orphans, in this school, and they have lost their parents in the mines. 

Keith: This safe haven is funded by international charities, including USAID and, most recently, by a company that supplies cobalt — Congo Dongfang Mining. After it was exposed for using cobalt mined by children, the company donated $71,000 to this project, and it says it has new guidelines for collecting the cobalt.  

Children here are taking classes but also learning how to be kids again. 

But for Ziki, he has just one dream.

Ziki: School.  

Keith: Keith Kocinski, Channel One News. 

Azia: And that brings us to Words in the News: supply chain, which is the process involved in the production and distribution of a product. It basically starts out with raw materials, which, in this case, was the cobalt in the Congo, and it makes its way to a factory, a distributor, a store and then ultimately to you, the consumer. 

And Channel One has traveled to places like China and Bangladesh to see how a lot of the stuff you guys buy gets made. You can check that out on .

Okay, our time is running out, but we have one more thing before you go, a special call for an animal to take away the stress in your life and give you a little Zen.

Call in the llamas! At UCSF Mission Bay, medical students took a break from school to chill and say, “Llama take a selfie!” During a visit from the Llamas of Circle Home, they got all the pics and cuddles in while feeding the friendly animals.

The university says these llamas are specially trained to provide emotional support to help manage stress and depression.  

Woman: So we actually have done therapy dog events before on campus, but it usually ends up being a couple dogs and a lot of very stressed-out students. So this time, we decided to go with something a little bit bigger with the llamas — something different too — try to get people to come outside, leave the library or hospital for a little bit.

Azia: Talk about “llamaste”!

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