04.15.2026

As the old saying goes, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. And that means spring is right around the corner, and sports, travel, and after-school activities are about to take over. Keep your students' momentum going through these busy days with IXL, a super popular online platform to sharpen skills in language arts, science, and math for kids from kindergarten through high school. The format is focused and flexible, and will give your kids a confidence boost as they wrap up the year. Give it a try at IXL.com slash KidNews and get 20% off monthly and annual plans. That's IXL.com slash KidNews. Good morning and welcome to KidNews! I'm Kim. Today is Wednesday, April 15th, 2026. And we begin with troubling news for the icon of the Antarctic. Emperor penguins are now considered an endangered species, not just near-threatened. The status change was just made by the global network of scientists, governments, and conservation groups known as the International Union for Conservation of Nature. According to the IUCN and reported by CBS News, global warming will reshape the entire Antarctic continent and devastate the animals that call it home. Emperor penguins, the biggest of the species, rely on sea ice to live, hunt, and breed. The IUCN believes changes to that ice could drop the emperor penguin population in half by the 2080s. We're midway through a wild week of weather in the U.S. It began with at least 10 tornadoes, winds up to 115 miles an hour, a series of thunderstorms, and softball-sized hail hitting parts of Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. And the danger for 125 million Americans isn't over yet. Forecasters expect violent storms to linger for the southern plains to great lakes through Friday. On the flip side, the northeast is basking in summertime temps in the 80s, while California dries out from inches of late-season rain and feet of springtime snow in the mountains. Taylor's leading the pack again. The American Music Award nominations came out yesterday, and the life of a showgirl Songstress is on top with eight, including Album of the Year and Artist of the Year, Hot Hunter, Heels, Sabrina Carpenter, Morgan Wallin, Olivia Deen, and Somber, all with seven. Swift is already the most awarded artist in AMA history with 40 wins. According to People magazine, she has the chance to tie with Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston for most awards in a single year if she takes all eight categories. We'll find out on May 25th when the ceremony kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern. You can't pay for this kind of publicity. During a live stream from the Orion capsule last week, a jar of Nutella unexpectedly floated past the head of one of the astronauts. Not only that, but the label was at the perfect angle and perfectly in focus. Ferrera, the makers of that chocolate hazelnut delight, had no idea their product hitched a ride until social media tipped them off. In short order, an ad was born. Nutella floating through space with music and the tagline, Nutella is out of this world. How valuable is that opportunity? According to the Wall Street Journal, basically priceless. Space is the only place where marketing is banned. NASA has a strict policy against promoting products intentionally or even accidentally. In fact, when astronaut Reid Wiseman let slip that he was bringing an iPhone with him to take pictures, he caught himself. I don't think I can actually say that as a government employee. We have small, highly powerful computing devices that we'll take with outstanding cameras. But since Mickey Mouse has eroded gotten so much attention, Magawa is an African giant pouched rat, hailed as a hero for sniffing out more than 100 landmines in his little lifetime. According to the Washington Post, he could search an area the size of a tennis court in 20 minutes, something that would take a human several days to do. In total, he detected mines across one and a half million square feet of land. To honor his dedication, Cambodia, the country where he capped off his career, just erected a seven-foot-tall Stone Magawa monument, basically an oversized replica of the nation's most diligent rat. Cambodia, which is in Southeast Asia, has been scarred by decades of war, is striving to be landmine-free by 2030, but it has a ways to go. According to the nonprofit Apopo, six million explosives need to be found and removed. Still to come, the robots are coming and they're wearing sneakers. We'll tell you why. But first, Mrs. Johnson in Pearl City, Illinois wants to shout out her Aquan Academy 5th and 6th grade Bulldogs to keep up the fantastic job and stay strong, with lots of grit till the end of the school year. You got this. Now, today's Kid News Quiz. What is the news status for Antarctica's Emperor Penguins? Endangered. How many Americans are in the path of severe storms this week? 125 million. How many 2026 AMA nominations does Taylor Swift have? Eight. What product floated by the head of astronauts during the Artemis II mission? Nutella. In today's Kid News Kicker, robots are doing their stretches and lacing up their sneakers to hit the streets in two major cities. In Beijing, hundreds of freaky-looking humanoids trained over the weekend for an upcoming half-marathon on the 29th. That's a huge increase over last year's inaugural robot race, when only 21 competed and most suffered battery burnout or face-planted. This time around, organizers say the technology is far better. And in Boston, more bots. Sports event planner David Grilke is organizing a robot race through the city's seaport this weekend. It won't be nearly as big or as long as in Beijing, but he says it could be the start of a new professional robots league. He's hoping 15 humanoids and quadrupeds will top off their batteries and run at least 50 yards. Thanks again to Mrs. Johnson and her hubby in Pearl City, Illinois for sponsoring today's quiz and go Bulldogs at the Aquan Academy. And hello to our other Kid News classrooms. Mrs. Edwards and her Oakdale Rockets at Oakdale in Edmond, Oklahoma. Mrs. Jones and her Rattlers at Murfreesboro High School in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Ms. Stevie and her Crumbs Lane Cougars at Crumbs Lane in Louisville, Kentucky. Mrs. Goins and Rocky the Raccoon at Pizga Forest in Brevard, North Carolina. And Mrs. Martin and her Hawks at Hollis in Bartonville, Illinois. Thanks for listening. Please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. And we'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.