Questions for discussion

Old news 1. What part have newspapers played in history? 2. Why is running a newspaper expensive? 3. How do newspapers make money? 4. What are some benefits of newspapers over radio or TV news bulletins? 5. How has the internet changed the way we get news? 6. What has Fairfax Media announced recently? 7. Why are some people concerned about how journalism will be affected? 8. What do you think the future of newspapers is? Explain your answer. 9. Do you think people will want to pay for online news? Why of why not? 10. What do you understand more clearly since watching the BtN story?

Post a message on the Behind the News Guestbook http://www.abc.net.au/btn/

Rhino trade 1. Explain what is meant by the following statement: `The rhinos horn may be

their main weapon, but it’s also their biggest threat.’ 2. How much per kilogram can rhino horn be worth on the black market? 3. What is rhino horn used for? 4. What is a poacher? 5. Why have some conservationists been cutting the horns off rhinos? 6. What does the wildlife vet compare dehorning rhinos to? 7. What are rhino horns made of? 8. Why do some people want the legalisation of the rhino horn trade? 9. Do you think rhinos should be dehorned? Explain your answer. 10. What are some other solutions to the problem? Post your ideas on the BtN

Guestbook.

Find five interesting facts about rhinos and draw an illustration for one of the facts.

Soft drinks

1. Discuss the Soft drinks story with another student. 2. Why is the mayor of New York City concerned about obesity? 3. In your own words, describe what he plans to do. 4. What has happened to the size of soft drinks over the years? 5. The super size ban would also affect diet soft drinks. True or false? 6. Apart from soft drinks, what other drinks would be affected? 7. Why are some people opposed to the ban? 8. Some drinks that can contain large amounts of sugar are not included in the

plan. What are they? 9. Do you think super size soft drinks should be banned? Explain your answer. 10. What else could be done to address the obesity problem?

EPISODE 18

26TH

JUNE 2012

` Should super size soft drinks be banned?’ Vote in the BtN online poll

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/

Modern maps

1. Briefly summarise the Modern maps story. 2. What part have maps played over the years? 3. The art and science of making maps is called

a. Topography b. Cartography c. Orienteering

4. How were maps made many years ago? 5. How has technology changed map making? 6. Global Positioning System is also known as… 7. People learning map making today do far more than make maps. What else

do they learn? 8. What sorts of unusual places are being mapped? 9. What do you think the future of maps is? 10. What was surprising about this story?

People use maps to locate reference points. Give some examples of reference points on maps.

Weird water 1. What was the main point of the story? 2. What is the chemical formula for water? 3. Why is water described as `sticky’? 4. Water is the only substance on earth that occurs naturally as a solid, liquid

and gas. True or false? 5. What happens to the water molecules as they go from a solid to a liquid to a

gas? 6. Why do we need water to survive? 7. The human body is around ___________ per cent water. 8. Water covers almost three quarters of the Earth’s surface, so why is it so

important to save it? 9. Give your own reasons why we need to conserve water. 10. Illustrate an aspect of the BtN story.

Find out some interesting facts about water by doing the water quiz http://www.abc.net.au/water/fun/

Rhino trade

Focus Questions

1. Explain what is meant by the following statement: `The rhinos horn may be their main weapon, but it’s also their biggest threat.’

2. How much per kilogram can rhino horn be worth on the black market? 3. What is rhino horn used for? 4. What is a poacher? 5. Why have some conservationists been cutting the horns off rhinos? 6. What does the wildlife vet compare dehorning rhinos to? 7. What are rhino horns made of? 8. Why do some people want the legalisation of the rhino horn trade? 9. Do you think rhinos should be dehorned? Explain your answer. 10. What are some other solutions to the problem? Post your ideas on the BtN

Guestbook.

Rhino trade

Negotiate with students how many activities they will need to complete from each section.

Remember and understand

Find five interesting facts about rhinos and draw an illustration for one of

the facts.

The following words relate to the rhinoceros. What does each word mean?

pachyderm

endangered

herbivore

extinction

poach

Show on a map where rhinos are located in the world.

Find out more about a rhinos eyesight, hearing and sense of smell. Write a

brief description of each.

Apply and Analyse

Rhinoceros’ horns are made of keratin fibres – the same material found in hair, fingernails and scales. What do you think the functions of the horn are?

What are some of the special adaptations that the rhino has to help it survive in its environment? (Include information about a rhino’s horn, skin, feet, ears, nose and lip.)

EPISODE 18

26TH

JUNE 2012

Learning Area

Society and Environment

Key learning

Students will research the issue of dehorning rhinos as a way to help protect the species.

What other animals are poached for a valuable body part? How has the problem been addressed and could the same approach be taken with the rhinos?

Evaluate and create

Do you think the idea to dehorn rhinos to reduce the number of poachers killing the animals would work? Are there any other solutions to the problem? Explain your answer to a group of students in your class.

How many species of rhinos are there and which ones are endangered? Create a creature feature about a species of rhino. Include general information, behaviour, habitat, number in the wild and in captivity.

Find out the similarities and differences between black and white rhinos. Make a Venn diagram (two overlapping circles) to compare and contrast the two species’.

Related Research Links

ABC 730 - Scientists call for legal rhino horn trade http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3524580.htm Behind the News – Rhino rap http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2750870.htm UN Works – Endangered species: Rhinoceros

http://www.un.org/works/OLD/environment/animalplanet/rhino.html

Rhino Resource Centre – Rhino species

http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/species/

Slimming soft drinks Focus Questions

1. Discuss the Slimming soft drinks story with another student. 2. Why is the mayor of New York City concerned about obesity? 3. In your own words, describe what he plans to do. 4. What has happened to the size of soft drinks over the years? 5. The super-size ban would also affect diet soft drinks. True or false? 6. Apart from soft drinks, what other drinks would be affected? 7. Why are some people opposed to the ban? 8. Some drinks that can contain large amounts of sugar are not included in the

plan. What are they? 9. Do you think super size soft drinks should be banned? Explain your answer. 10. What else could be done to address the obesity problem?

Slimming soft drinks

Ask students to brainstorm a list of food and drinks they consume that contain sugar. Which is the most common food and drink on the list? Discuss with students what the nutritional value of soft drinks is. What is meant by the term `empty calories’? How does it relate to soft drinks? Students will be analysing a selection of drinks and calculating how many teaspoons of sugar are in each drink. They will then use the information to create a public education campaign to make people more aware about the sugar content in some drinks. Sometimes sugar is called something else on the nutrition information on food and drink packaging. Students research what some other words for sugar are. (Fructose, dextrose, sucrose, maltose, corn syrup, honey, glucose, molasses) Use the nutritional information on drink labels to convert sugar content from grams to teaspoons; 1 teaspoon = 4 grams. Choose four types of drinks

Soft drink

Juice

Flavoured milk

Other (iced tea, energy drink etc) Record the: Serving size Sugar (grams) Energy (kilojoules) What did they find surprising about the results? Students can share their findings

in the form of a public education campaign.

EPISODE 18

26TH

JUNE 2012

Learning Area

Health and Physical Education

Key learning

Students will create a public education campaign to raise awareness of the sugar content in some drinks.

Discuss with students different approaches that could be taken about the issue.

Here are some examples:

Create a cartoon/animation, using celebrities or humour to get the

message across or shock tactics.

Include a logo, jingle or gimmick to help get the message across.

Students share their public education campaigns with other students in the school.

Related Research Links

ABC Lateline – NYC closer to banning supersize soft drinks

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3524654.htm

Better Health Channel – Sugar

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Sugar

BtN: Episode 18 Transcript

26/6/12

On this week's Behind the News

We look at an unusual solution to stop poachers killing rhinos.

Why super size soft drinks are being targeted in the fight

against obesity.

And we look at the future of map making as technology takes

over.

Hi I'm Nathan Bazley, welcome to Behind the News. Also on the show

today a group of scientists turn to rock music to teach kids about

water. But before all that.

Old News

Reporter: Sarah Larsen

INTRO: A lot of people are talking about the future of newspapers.

It's been a lot harder for newspapers to make money in recent years

mainly because people can now get their news online for free. Last

week two of Australia's biggest media companies announced some

big changes. Sarah takes a look at that announcement and what it

could mean for the future of newspapers.

PAPER BOY: Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Before there was Twitter and 24 hour news there was this.

The morning and evening papers set the news agenda and broke the stories that changed history.

It took a lot of people to publish a paper, a lot of time and a lot of money, but they were profitable. People would pay a lot to put an ad in the paper knowing their message would get to thousands.

Over the years newspapers got some competition. First there was radio which could give up to date information as it happened then TV, where you could actually see the news unfold.

But newspapers survived and even today there are plenty of people who like to start the day like this.

REPORTER: The good thing about a newspaper is that you can fit a lot more information here than you can into a radio TV news bulletin. I can take my time, decide what I want to read when I want to read it.

But the internet is changing everything. Now you access information from all over the world whenever you want. You don't have to pay for it and you don't have to wait for it to be delivered. Nowadays when news breaks it usually breaks online and that's where we heard this last week.

GREG HYWOOD, CEO, FAIRFAX MEDIA (Fairfax Digital): The days of the huge printing plants built for our legacy print classified business are well and truly over. There will be redundancies.

That announcement was made by the boss of Fairfax Media, Australia's second biggest newspaper business.

It publishes the Age in Melbourne, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Financial Review.

But lately business hasn't been going so well and Fairfax is making big changes. It's going to close some of its printing presses and send some jobs overseas to save money. 1900 people will lose their jobs.

Australia's biggest news organisation, News Limited, is also making changes.

It's merging newsrooms, cutting jobs and buying online media.

MIKE SMITH, FORMER EDITOR, THE AGE: I think this is the biggest thing in newspapers for a hundred years. This is the end of the golden age of newspapers. The big question though is whether it also means the end of the golden age of journalism

For the moment there aren't any plans to actually close the major newspapers. But some are wondering if these changes are the beginning of the end for newspapers as we know them.

And there are questions about how that will affect journalism; whether reporters will still have the time and money they need for quality reporting.

But the newspaper companies say they're just trying to adapt to a changing world.

They're hoping their online editions will help business grow. But making money online can be more difficult. There's a lot of competition for ad space here.

From next year News Limited will start charging for access to some of its sites and some reckon Fairfax might follow.

They're hoping people will be willing to pay for the newspaper even if it isn't made of paper any more.

But at least for now there are still some who prefer it the old fashioned way.

Presenter: Let's see what else is making the news. Here's Tash with

the Wire.

The Wire

A boat carrying around 200 asylum seekers capsized off Christmas

Island last week. Authorities rescued 110 people, but up to 90 people

are feared dead. The survivors have been taken to the Christmas

Island detention centre.

*****

Egypt has a new President. Mohammed Mursi is the first

democratically elected leader in the country's history. Mr Mursi is

from a group called the Muslim Brotherhood. That group was banned

when Egypt's last president, Hosni Mubarak, was in power. The

current military regime says it will hand over power by the start of

next month.

*****

And WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still trying to avoid

extradition to Sweden where he faces criminal charges. He's hiding

out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He's asked Ecuador to

grant him political asylum, which would mean he would live there and

not be extradited. Ecuador is considering the request.

Rhino Trade

Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: You might have heard before that rhinos are often killed for

their horns. The poachers sell the horns for money. Well some

conservationists have come up with an unusual solution to the

problem. But not everyone thinks it's a good idea. Let's see what it is.

NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: They are one animal you certainly

wouldn't want to face off against. With their massive front horn,

rhinoceroses sure look pretty intimidating.

But while it may be their main weapon, it's also their biggest threat.

Because their horn is the main reason many are killed.

They may not look all that valuable, but on the black market, rhino

horn can be worth as much as $60,000 a kilo. It's been used for

thousands of years in some traditional Asian medicines. But

unfortunately, the easiest way for poachers to get it is to kill the

animal. And so far this year, more than 200 have died for this very

reason. That doesn't have to be the case though.

Take a close look at these rhinos and you'll notice something pretty

interesting. They're all hornless and they're all still alive and healthy.

Well this one is about to be pretty sleepy.

This private game farm has had trouble with poachers coming in and

killing rhinos for their horns. So they decided the best way to stop it

was to remove the temptation.

MARTINE VAN ZIJIL LANGHOUT, WILDLIFE VET: Dehorning is

the same as clipping your nail or clipping the hoof of a horse. As long

as you don't go in the tissue, it's not invasive for the animal.

NATHAN: Well okay, they do use a saw instead of clippers, so it's

probably not exactly like clipping your nails. But rhino horns are

made of keratin, which is the same protein that forms our nails and

hair.

Within a few minutes it's all done and they say the animal doesn't feel

it much at all. But this tactic would take a lot of work to carry out in

the wild. So some say the next step would be the legalisation of the

trade of rhino horns, so that proper businesses could be set up to

harvest the horns safely.

The South African Government is looking at how this horn trading

could be made legal, while making sure poachers couldn't profit from

it. One idea so far is to genetically track where every horn comes

from. And if the government make it work, they'll stand to make a lot

of money from it too, because they have a huge stockpile of rhino

horns that they've seized, just sitting around.

But of course, some other conservationists say this isn't the way to go.

KIRSTY BREBNER, ENDANGERED WILDLIFE TRUST: Having seen

it done and just seeing basically the majesty of that animal taken

away, it affected me psychologically, so how does the baby then come

back and see its mum with no horns?

So is this a case of having to be cruel to be kind? Or is there a better

way?

Presenter: Even though they say it's not cruel it doesn't seem ideal. Do

you have a better idea? Let us know on the guestbook on the BtN

website.

Quiz 1

Now we're going to have a story about soft drinks next. But first let's

have a quiz about them.

The question is:

What gas is used to make the bubbles in fizzy drinks?

Carbon dioxide

Nitrous oxide

Helium

Answer: Carbon dioxide

Slimming Soft drinks

Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: Nitrous Oxide is laughing gas and helium is the light gas

that goes in party balloons. Drinking too many fizzy drinks can be a

big reason for obesity. So much so that over in America the mayor of

New York wants to put a limit on the size of soft drink people can

buy. So how bad can a bit of soft drink actually be? Let's find out.

KID: Hey!

POLICE: I'm with the Soft Drink Police Department. You're busted!

KID: Chill out. It's just soft drink!

Just soft drink?!

NATHAN BAZLEY, REPORTER: Not if you're walking through New

York, where soon enough, soft drink could be a crime.

Welcome to the big apple. A big city of bright lights, screaming at you

to eat, drink and be happy. As you can see, serving sizes here aren't

exactly small. But that's not the only thing that's big in New York.

More than half of the population are overweight and 6000 people a

year die from obesity related illnesses. So the city mayor has decided

to do something about it. He's targeted super sized soft drinks.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK MAYOR: Now there are many

factors that contribute to childhood obesity, but the single biggest is

soda.

When McDonalds first opened in the 1950s in the US, you could only

buy a drink that was about 200mls - less than a measuring cup. At the

peak in 2003, the two biggest sizes were 946 millilitres, and a

whopping 1.2 litres! Now the sizes are smaller, but the smallest is still

355 millilitres - almost double what was available in the 50's and it's

called a kids size! It's a pretty common story in other outlets too.

The plan is to limit any soft drink bought from a restaurant, fast food

store, movie theatre or stadium to 473mls. Any bigger would be

against the rules.

NATHAN: That's about this much. But it might surprise you to learn

that in this bottle of soft drink, there would still be roughly 13

teaspoons of sugar! In the US, some restaurants serve drinks three

times the size, which means you'd be looking at about 40 teaspoons of

sugar!

The plan won't affect diet soft drinks, because they don't contain any

sugar. But it will affect some other drinks you might not have thought

of.

THOMAS FARLEY, NYC HEALTH COMMISSIONER: Sport drinks,

energy drinks, sweetened teas and coffees, sweetened fruit drinks, so

called vitamin water.

That's because despite not always tasting as sweet, all of those drinks

can still contain heaps of sugar. Not that many New Yorkers seem to

care all that much.

NEW YORK RESIDENT: My wife, personally she drinks two litres of

soda every day and she's very thin like you.

NEW YORK RESIDENT: I'm gonna do what I want to do, period.

NEW YORK RESIDENT: I don't think that anybody government

official has the right to tell us what to eat or drink.

That's where most of the opposition to this plan comes from. While

others say soft drinks are being unfairly targeted, because in many

cases, orange juice can have almost as much sugar as soft drinks.

Milkshakes can have more, but neither are banned. And on the food

side of things, you'd get more sugar in a chocolate bar or doughnut

than you would in a glass of soft drink.

But it's an interesting debate. What do you think should come first,

health or the freedom to drink up big?

Presenter: OK let's make that our poll this week.

Online Poll

The question is:

Should super size soft drinks be banned? To vote just head to our

website.

Last week we ran the story of the Olympic swimmers who posted a

picture on Facebook of them posing with guns. They were punished.

We asked you if you thought they should have been.

28 per cent thought yes and 72 per cent thought no, they shouldn't

have been punished. Thanks for voting.

Modern Maps

Reporter: Sarah Larsen

INTRO: Helping you to find your way in the world is a competitive

business. Recently Apple announced that it's going to take on Google

Maps and develop its own mapping software. Technology like that is

changing the way we think about maps and it got us wondering how

map making has changed over the years? Here's Sarah.

WIZARD: The hill of doom lies 350 leagues to the east

HOBBIT: Um. I'm pretty sure it's west

WIZARD: No it's east

HOBBIT: The map says west.

HOBBIT: You're reading it upside down

HOBBIT: No I'm not

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: If you've got somewhere important to

go a good map is a valuable thing. For millennia maps have shaped

the world as we've known it. Leading the way to treasures, new lands,

and helping us to see our place in the world

The art and science of making maps is called cartography and it's

changed a lot over the years. In the old days maps were drawn by

hand. Cartographers would carefully observe and measure the land

around them, make some calculations, and try to draw what they saw

to scale. Some were pretty accurate like these charts that Captain

Cook made of Australia and New Zealand. But eventually we found

ways of making sure we got it right. Planes could take photos from the

sky and computers meant maps didn't have to be drawn by hand

anymore. Then there were satellites which let you see the earth below

and even find your place on it with the Global Positioning System.

Now finding where you are and where you're going is as simple as

clicking a button.

REPORTER: Image what Captain cook would have thought of Google

Maps! As programs like this get more popular paper maps are getting

less common. But that doesn't mean we don't need map makers

anymore.

MADDIE: You can turn off the vector and we can show the hills, road

and vegetation.

Maddie is learning the skills needed by today's map makers who do

far more than just cartography.

PAUL: Cartography was the science of making maps and these days

we take it far beyond that we make maps we make survey plans we

make 3D images which we draw over digital terrain model so we can

see what the terrain looks like at any point.

While the maps are made on computer programs there are a lot of

skills to learn. They learn how to analyse information from all

different sources and how to take measurements on the ground.

PAUL: This is a total station Sarah it measures distances and

directions to points and that enables us to get the co-ordinates of a

feature that we're going to put on a map.

Those maps are used by all sorts of people from town planners to

mining engineers. There are maps that track water courses and

vegetation, maps used by telecommunications companies and

fisheries. And while all the continents may have been found there are

still explorers of sorts mapping the places that haven't been seen

before. Like the bottom of the ocean or the minerals under the earth.

As long as we have places to go and treasures to find there will always

be a need for maps. There's just less excuse than ever before for losing

your way.

KIDS ARGUING

HOBBIT: Right wait a minute, this thing's got GPS. It's that way.

HOBBIT: Told you it was west

Presenter: OK let's have a quiz about that.

Quiz 2

The question is:

What do contour lines represent on a map?

Boundaries

Elevation

Scale

Answer: Elevation

And that kind of detail on a map is called topography. OK, let's take a

look at some of the big sport stories this week. Tash has the Score.

The Score

Italy is through to the semi-finals of Euro 20-12! In the match against

England, neither team could score during regular time, so it was

decided in a penalty shoot- out. With England missing two shots, Italy

advances to the semi-final to play Germany. Spain will play Portugal

in the other game.

Miami Heat has beaten Oklahoma Thunder, to win its second NBA

championship in six years! The home team won the best-of-seven

series 4 games to 1. Star player Lebron James scored 26 points.

GRAB: These fans - oh my god you guys are unbelievable, and this is a

dream come true.

******

Black Caviar the undefeated Aussie horse has won its first race

overseas. But at Royal Ascot in England it didn't go as well as many

fans would have hoped. Instead of a convincing win, she just scraped

through. The jockey said it was his fault for relaxing at the end but

scans have shown that Black Caviar was suffering from a slight back

injury

Weird Water

Reporter: Sarah Larsen

INTRO: We're always being told to save water. But at home and at

school is that a message you take seriously? One science group is

trying to teach kids to stop wasting water. As Alfie reports they've

made the liquid the star of its own stage show!

ALFIE TIEU, REPORTER: When you think of liquid gold you might

think of this, but many others think of this.

We've all heard the saying, "Water is precious," but do you know why?

BOY: I know that water is wet and everything's slippery when it's

covered in water.

This isn't a lesson in drama. These school kids are getting a science

lesson.

Soaked is a show put on by SA Water

MALE PERFORMER: A scientific rock concert that surfs the waves of

everyone's favourite fluid.

FEMALE PERFORMER: Banana milkshakes!

They reckon water is so awesome they're keen to share some of its

weird secrets. For example, did you know that water is sticky?

FEMALE PERFORMER: Honey is sticky. Water is wet.

MALE PERFORMER: And sticky!

What they're talking about is water molecules, the two Hs and the O

that you might have heard about. They're actually attracted to each

other, so with just a little encouragement drops of water can stick

together. That's why a bottle with two holes can be made to spurt one

stream of water.

Water is also unusual because it's the only substances on earth that

occurs naturally as a solid, liquid and a gas. In a solid, water

molecules don't have very much energy so they kind of just vibrate

around like this. But in a liquid they have more energy so they're able

to move around each other a bit more freely. In a gas, water

molecules go nuts, moving around each other very quickly. And then

there are the really important facts about water, like how we need it to

live.

MALE PERFORMER: Without water, no life!

FEMALE PERFORMER: No life? What, no puppies? No kitties? No

staphylococcus aureus?

MALE PERFORMER: What?

FEMALE PERFORMER: No flesh-eating bacteria?

The human body is around 60 per cent water. Your blood is 92 per

cent water and even your bones are 22 per cent water.

GIRL: Water is like, water is essential to living, it's just the way our

bodies are designed to have to use water, and most of the other things

we drink have in some way come from water. Like with milk, cows

drink water and they produce milk so everything sort of has water in

it.

But water covers almost three quarters of the earth's surface, so why

is it so important to save it?

It's because only a two-and-a-half percent of that water is fit to drink.

MALE PERFORMER: And of that two and a half percent 68.9 percent

is trapped as permanent ice, so in glaciers as permafrost. 30.8

percent is trapped underneath the ground and we can use a bit of

that, but it's mainly this stuff here, water in lakes and rivers.

The kids got thinking about why we need to conserve water.

BOY: It's a resource that can easily go over the years.

BOY: You need to know the scientific side of it. Because imagine if

you didn't know the scientific side of it, it's just like this drink to some

people.

With a bit of music, a bit of science and a lot of laughs, these guys are

helping to inspire the next generation of scientists, while getting kids

to appreciate the stuff that comes out of the tap!

Closer

That's it for the show. You can jump onto our website if you want to

get more info on any of the stories. You can send us your comments

and don't forget to vote in this week's poll. I'll see you next time.