What's new today

"Why can't the Sri Lankans grow enough food for themselves? How do refugees free from an island nation? Why did the people not oppose bad governments many years ago - why wait till now?" - Questions posed by a 10-year old. Listen to this conversation between a 10-year old and an adult - that unravels how the crisis started in Sri Lanka, and what's going on there now. Email your queries and comment...

Imagine the drones that you have seen in weddings taking photos? Something similar, only much bigger, is helping Ukraine fight its war against Russia. What's a drone? How do drones keep enemies at bay, in a war ? Did you know that even farmers use drones? And what is Dominoes planning to use them for? Listen to the podcast to find out more about this. If you have any thoughts or queries, please em...

A short loud squeal vs a long grunt - one could mean excitement and the other anxiety. Each sound emitted by animals can give us excellent clues to understand their mental state better. If, you like many of us, are not very sure which is which - an app will likely be out shortly. If you listen to a new grunt around you and you upload it on the app, you might find out for yourself if the animal is...

Before we understand the word inflation, listen to this story of how our Christmas gifts and everything else we order on our phones and laptops get to our homes. It begins with a little phone call or an order that our neighbourhood sellers make to our factories. As the pandemic struck us, workers in many factories have had a tough time getting to work and making things. This podcast tracks how a t...

Our story for today begins more than 50 years ago. It was a pleasant night in summer in July 1969. Well past 10 pm EST, people in the US sat up wide awake in front of their TV sets to watch a grainy, black and white video of man landing on the moon for the first time in the history of mankind. Following this stellar achievement, the US sent over 10 missions with many more crew members who set foot...

Today's story begins over 30 years ago when a rather large country called the Soviet Union broke off into smaller units. One of them is a unit we call today as Russia. Many Russians were sad that some land parts that were close to their heart were lost to them. One of them was Ukraine. An old Russian civilisation called the Ruriks had set up their rule from Kiev, which is today the capital of Ukra...

China flew over 150 airplanes over the Taiwanese air defense zone in the past week or so. Taiwan retaliated with its aircrafts, alert to defend itself if a threat arose. So far, there hasn't been an open war. But what does this mean for Taiwan's independence and democracy ?Why does China want to attack Taiwan ?Taiwan is a tiny island near China. More than 70 years ago, two groups of people compete...

The Nobel Prize for Physiology 2021 goes to two scientists who have helped us identify which receptors in our bodies sense heat, touch, temperature and pressure. In this podcast, we explain what these 4 receptors (TRPV1, TRPM8, PIEZO1, PIEZO2) mean, in simple terms for kids to understand. We also answer questions raised by our young listeners -a) We always knew that we had sensors for touch and he...

This festive season, grocery stores the world over may find fewer toys, furniture, clothes and other such items. After the pandemic, people started buying more things both on ecommerce portals and in person once the neighbourhood stores opened. As a result, factories in Asia - which is where most of the world gets its stuff, started producing more. But in the meanwhile, another little crisis had b...

SpaceX, Amazon and many more internet satellite companies are planning to send over 60,000 satellites into the space over the next few years. While this can serve many under-served parts of the world with faster and cheaper internet connectivity, this can also have a harmful impact, by way of light pollution. Light pollution is caused by the fact that there can be more visible satellites than ther...

Thousands of Haitians are camping outside the US, near the Mexican border, seeking refuge. These Haitians have spent over a decade living and working outside Haiti, in various countries in S.America, mainly Brazil and Chile. Haiti was impacted by an earthquake over a decade ago, and more recently in August this year. Jobs and food are scarce to come by in Haiti. The US, however, is turning back th...

People in UK face a shortage of fuel in fuel station and groceries in supermarkets, not due to shortage of food or fuel, but due to a shortage of truck drivers who can haul these items across the country. Between Brexit and the pandemic, the UK is faced with a grim winter. For the immediate future, the government plans to issue 10,000 more visas to combat the shortage. But it waits to be seen, how...

China's factories are faced with rising demand but these factories are unable to produce enough as they don't have enough power. China is keen on keeping its carbon emissions under control. So Chinese coal power stations are not allowed to increase power output in keeping with the rising demand. Chinese factories, as a result, are working fewer hours. Global supply chains involving phones, laptops...

Google turned 23 on the 27th of Sep. Happy birthday Google ! As intricate as Google has become a part of our lives, there are many fascinating trivia about Google that we explore about its past. Its first servers were housed in Lego bricks, its lawns are mowed by a team of goats and its motto is 'Don't be evil'. If you want to see the picture of the Lego bricks and the first server of Google, you...

Last week, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and a few more billionaires pledged $5 billion towards protecting land and water. This money was to be used to conserve biodiversity - as in, taking care that a wide variety of species of birds, animals, trees and plants thrive well. Some of us might think of managing global warming by riding bicycles instead of cars, it would serve us well to remember tha...

Netflix has bought the rights to all of Roald Dahl's works. Netflix already has a series based on Charlie and the chocolate factory in the works. In addition, the company plans to release animated and live action movies or series on atleast 16 of his works. So, for those of you who love Willy Wonka, Matilda, BFG and more, there is a lot in store !Evergrande, a Chinese company that builds and sells...

If you lived in India, you would have known that there was a mad scramble for vaccine shots in April and May this year. A lot of people feared that there would not be enough vaccines going around. So, the government decided to stop exporting or sharing it with other nations. But now, as factories in the country are able to produce a lot more, India has decided to begin exporting again. India is th...

Price of electricity in Europe is now more than double of what it was in January 2021. Winter has been more prolonged this year, going right upto March. People needed more power to keep their homes heated this year. As more people worked from homes, there was more demand for power from residences, almost up 8% this year. Supply of natural gas from Russia has declined. Food prices in Europe are als...

Taliban's new rules allow schools to open, but only for boys. Schools are facing shortages of teachers since many of the roles of teachers till recently were filled by women. UN aid agencies are trying to pressure the Taliban to open schools for girls too. Australia scraps a deal with France to buy submarines. Instead Australia goes ahead and buys nuclear powered submarines from the USA. Threatene...

Welcome to 'What's new today', a lively kids and families podcast. We invite children in every episode to co-host the show with Sangeetha (the host), and they chat about current events. These conversations are unscripted, filled with wit and curiosity. New episodes will be released every Monday and Friday. Video excerpts and behind the scenes shots of our podcast episodes can be found on Instagram...