Man may want to build a settlement on the moon. This is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but already a reality that space agencies are working towards. NASA's Mission Artemis is working towards building a community that can live on the moon. But it requires a lot of planning. One of the many steps includes a lander 'Peregrine' that was to land on the moon, and send important readings back to NASA. But that mission may not be successful. Peregrine is running out of fuel and will not be...

Iceland is famed not just for its ice, but also its fire. It's a land that sees volcanic eruptions once every four-five years. People of the land are hardy and used to these interruptions to daily life. But a fault line that had maintained volcanic silence for over 800 years (the last time it saw this kind of activity was around 1200AD) has made its presence felt. The people of a nearby fishing town (Grindavik) tried building lava barriers to protect themselves. But did this work? Could they...

In the Stone Age, women were fine hunters and men were adept at collecting fruits. The myth that men did all the hunting and women gathered food was recently shattered by new scientific evidence. Archaeology, human studies and simple biology - explains it all! There was nearly 100% gender equality in society during the hunter-gatherer times. Recommended listen for 6-8 yrs: With parental assistance 9+: Independently 18+: Recommended Listen and Please share with friends & family Co-host:...

For nearly 1400 years, China has had a tradition of gifting panda bears to countries it wants to establish friendly relations with. For example, in the 8th century AD, the Tang dynasty empress Wu Zeitan is credited with having gifted the Japanese emperor two panda bears from forests in China. This was a gesture of goodwill between the nations. While this tradition has continued across centuries, relations between the USA and China broke down soon after the second World War. How did things...

Every year, GCHQ - an intelligence organisation based out of the UK, releases a Christmas puzzle. This is for children aged 11-18 to mull over the hints and crack the secret codes. In this episode, a 12-yr old joins the host and tries solving some of the puzzles released in the past few years. Listen to the episode and try solving the puzzle alongside us. To access the GCHQ 2023 Christmas puzzle, click here To access the SOLUTIONS to the GCHQ Christmas 2023 puzzle, click here. Support us...

Who would have thought that two-thirds of Planet earth remains a no-go for a lot of Black people? Zandile took up scuba diving and free diving and her folks asked her 'why do you want to do white people things?' This episode is a conversation with two primary schoolers - 3rd grader Nayra Maheshwari and 4th grader Smyan Shetty, from India. They explore ideas related to racism and segregation. To watch the video of Zandile free-diving, click here. Do you like to read stories? Read our...

As part of our Year-end Wrap up of 2023 series, this episode celebrates the life of a 16-year old archer who defied all odds and won medals for India (and continues to do so!). Sheetal Devi was born with a medical condition that did not allow her limbs (in her case, arms) to fully develop. How she overcame these odds and became an armless archer to win two gold medals for India at the recently held Asian Para Games in China, is a story that is bound to melt hearts. How does someone shoot an...

The world population touched 8 billion. India replaced China as the most populous. Artificial Intelligence made breakthroughs that promised students much relief and writers much pain. The world was wrecked by conflicts - the continuation of the Ukraine war, the cold tensions between the US and China and the Israel Palestine conflict. What do these mean to today's children? What are their views on these events? Listen to the full episode to find out more. For full details of the History of...

In March 2022, a young black gymnast in Ireland was not given a medal she deserved thanks to her skin colour. Her parents called for an apology. Nothing happened for a full year. Soon, the video of this act of racism went viral. Her parents also tagged Simon Biles (the 4-time Olympic gold winning Gymnast from the USA) and asked her for help.  Simon was moved by what she saw and called out Gymnastics Ireland (the organisation that had hosted this event) for their racist attitude. She also...

The year of 2023 had its bright and shiny moments in space exploration, science discoveries and tech inventions. This episode focuses on two positive stories  - the return of the humpback whales (thanks to a ban on commercial whaling) AND the invention of VR goggles as treatment for lazy eye syndrome. A hurrah moment for young infants who can now deal with the treatment with greater ease and lesser pain and anxiety. Child co-hosts: Agastya (sixth grader from Mumbai) and Kiaansh (fifth...

As the year 2023 draws to a close, we bring to our young listeners a quiz on one of their favourite book series - Thea Stilton and Geronimo Stilton. Also, in this episode three young bookworms join us and share their book recommendations. Child co-hosts: Prakriti (almost '10' year old) from Mumbai, Isabelle (10-yr old) from Mumbai and Eesha (14-year old) from Chennai. To read the newsletter on the three books, please click here.   Recommended listen on how to write your own story - Epi 110...

This is the happy story of how 41 construction workers who were stuck behind the debris of a collapsed tunnel in Himachal Pradesh got freed after a 17-day long ordeal. The army and air-force, a few massive drilling machines, a team of mountain experts and several doctors came to the rescue. But it was the valorous efforts of a few skilled miners who used the rat-hole method that helped in the final leg. Support the showDo you like to read stories? Read our newsletters here Get Whatsapp alerts...

Saudi Arabia will be hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2034. It has already started hosting F1 car racing tournaments on its roads. It is also hosting one of the world's largest professional golf tournaments - LIV Golf (this will be the largest outside of the US and Europe). Why has the country suddenly gone sports-crazy? Listen to the episode to find out why. Co-hosts in this episode: 8th graders - Raghav Sharma and Pragya Mishra from Bal Bharati Public School, Dwarka, Delhi, India Episodes...

Ever heard of a national leader saying that one of his goals is to plant 15 billion trees. If you have not, meet Kenya's President William Ruto. To meet his immediate goal of planting 100 million trees, he declared a national holiday. In a country of 50 million people, all it takes for a person is to plant 2-4 trees to get to the goal of 100 million trees. The government of Kenya also made available seeds for all these trees, free of cost, in its nurseries. People were free to plant any other...

This is the last and final part of our Wildlife podcast series. There are two happy stories we talk about here - (A) How rhinos in eastern India have been saved from poachers by the vigilant members of the forest community, and (B) How one man single-handedly planted an entire forest with his own hands. Jadav Payeng never went to any fashionable academic institution to learn about ecology. He just felt that creating a forest was the right thing to do. Nobody told him that he was stark raving...

In the most recent semi-finals between India and New Zealand, Virat Kohli scored his 50th century.  He broke the record for the highest number of centuries scored by any cricketeer in ODI (Sachin Tendulkar held the record previously). This episode is a quiz style podcast, with 5 children participating in a quiz on this cricketing legend 'Virat Kohli' or 'King Kohli' as he is sometimes called. Pit yourself against Aarush Jaiswal (7th grader from Indore), Devansh Bhojnagarwala (4th grader from...

The British discovered the dense forests of Andaman and the lack of elephants there to pull these logs. How elephants got to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar is a theme we explore in this episode. Fourth grader Chandrika from Bengaluru, India also explores how man-human conflicts are slowly being reduced as part of Project Elephant. To listen to the entire podcast series on India's wildlife, click here  Support the showDo you like to read stories? Read our newsletters here Get Whatsapp...

Indian skies are full of crows, pigeons and sparrows. But vultures have collapsed in numbers from a few million to a few hundred in under a decade. Want to find out how? Listen to 8-yr old Advik (who reiterates that he is almost nine) and Smyan Shetty  explaining the why and how of this story. To listen to the entire podcast series on India's wildlife, click here  Support the showDo you like to read stories? Read our newsletters here Get Whatsapp alerts here Follow us on Instagram Email...

Forest trackers also called 'pugees' play an inimitable role in conserving India's forests. They can reconstruct whole events inside forests just by looking at the pugmarks. Listen to the full episode to find out how. The pugees play a crucial role in monitoring the health of wildlife and getting medical support as quickly as possible. This is a continuation of the previous episode (part 5) and our sprightly young co-host Chandrika joins us in this episode as well. Podcast cover art has been...

The Asiatic lions had gone extinct in large parts of Central Asia. The last remnants were to be found in the forests of the princely states of Gujarat, in India. There were only a handful of these lions left (20). The Nawab of Junagadh played a key role in protecting these lions from going extinct. Listen to this episode to find out how. Chandrika, a sprightly fourth-grader joins us in this episode, exploring India's success story in reviving the Asiatic lions. To listen to the entire...

Project Tiger was launched in 1973 amidst the gloomy news that the tiger numbers had plummeted to a measly 1400 from a high of 40,000 in 1900. An Indian officer called Kailash Sankhala, also called the Tiger Man of India, pushed the case for a special protection plan for tigers. Thus was born Project Tiger. This was also around the same time when M.K.Ranjitsinh was helping  the Indian government draft one of the tightest wildlife protection acts - The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. One of...

Tigers are either feared or hunted or both. Sometimes when they turn into man-eaters, they turn into the stuff of legends (and eventually give birth to stories such as the Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett). This episode explores a different side of a tiger. The tiger can also be a creature that is careful, caring and considerate. There are instances of tigers being excellent friends of humans and being allowed to roam around freely in their presence.  Saroj Raj Chaudhury was a forest...

After the British left India in 1947, Indians were feeling mighty happy. But they also had to figure out how to build the country, grow more food and earn a lot of money. In the middle of all of this, if some poachers were killing tigers for their skins or rhinos for their horns - not many were paying attention to that. There were a handful of wildlife conservationists at that time, who did all they could - to first bring this to the attention of India's leaders. This episode covers three...

We begin our new podcast series on 'India's Wildlife' - tracing stories from before India became independent, right until 2023, when India tries to bring back the cheetah from extinction. In the first episode, we trace the hunting habits of Indian Maharajahs and the British posted in India. We look at how hunting helped or hurt the wildlife balance inside India's forests. Shambhavi Nautyal, a ninth-grader from Ahlcon Public School, joins us in this episode, sharing stories about hunting was...

For a lot of us, going to school involves a walk around the corner, or a trip by a bus or a car. That is not the case for many children across the world. This is a real life story about a group of children who have to travel between two mountains to get to school and what happens when the cable car ferrying them gets stuck mid-air. This story has a happy ending. So worry not. Go ahead and give it a listen. An eighth grader - Temjentila, from Dimapur's Charis High school in Nagaland joins us...