Indy & Wienie 500, the Ebola Outbreak, and Egg-citing Science

Episode
Written By Tracy Kaplan

10 Things You Need to Know: Episode 643

1. Race Weekend Recap 🏎️🌭

2. NBA Conference Finals 🏀

3. Mini Marathon, Big Inspiration ❤️

4. AI Goes Whale Watching 🐋

5. SoCal Wildfire 🔥

6. Ebola Outbreak 🦠

7. H2-Oh No 💦

8. Meta's Making Moves 🧑‍💻

9. SpaceX's Super Starship 🚀

10. Egg-citing Science 🥚

RESOURCES

STAY CONNECTED

🫶 Support news for kids by donating today!

✔️ Subscribe to our newsletter!

📱 Follow us on Instagram @thetennews

📧 Email us at hello@thetennews.com if you have any questions or want to submit audio!

TRANSCRIPT

INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO

RYAN: WE WON! Pamalamma New York wooooon!

PAM: Yeah, it’s been an incredible run from the New York Knicks. I couldn’t believe they swept–

RYAN: Oh yeah, but I was actually talking about the hot dog on wheels that won the race for New York. 

PAM: The hot dog on whee—Ohhh yeah! The Wienie 500 was this weekend. I forgot! 

RYAN: Well I remembered, and I also remembered that we should probably start the show. I’m Ryan Willard.

PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland. It’s Thursday, May 28th.

RYAN: This is Ten Things You Need to Know. 

RYAN: We’re at the starting line for the Wild World of Sports! <SFX Wild World of Sports>

PAM: We’ve got your race weekend recap! The 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 certainly lived up to its reputation as the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Felix Rosenqvist is your 2026 champion, winning the 200-lap race by the smallest margin in Indy 500 history. He edged out David Malukas by just 0.0233 seconds at the finish line. Rosenqvist also took home a record $4.34 million for the victory, while 22 other drivers earned more than $1 million, something that was once rare even for the winner. 

RYAN: And, we can’t forget about the Oscar Mayer Wienie 500! This year’s race was bun-forgettable as the New York Dog won first place AND the first-ever ‘Borg-Wiener Trophy'. Paying homage to the Borg-Warner Trophy, which has been awarded to the winner of the Indy 500 for 90 years, the Borg-Wiener Trophy is a polished metal trophy featuring 55 mini Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles on the outside. The best part? After the race, the trophy was filled with hot dogs for the winners to enjoy! Gimme the glizzies!

RYAN: And the second most exciting thing in MY world of sports has been the 2026 NBA conference finals! In the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games to extend their 11 game win streak. The Knicks have made it to their first NBA Finals since 1999! LETS GO KNICKS!

PAM: And Games are still underway in the Western Conference, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs still battling for the final spot in the NBA Finals. The series was tied 2-2 entering this week’s games, and a winner could be decided as early as tonight. If not, the teams will need Game 7, scheduled for this Saturday, to determine who advances to face the Knicks for the championship title.

RYAN: Now, onto what may be the biggest sports story of the month. A 14-year-old Riley Kid battling cancer completed the IU Health 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, but in his own way. Instead of taking to the streets of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, Tyler Nichols completed the mini-marathon in the hospital hallways of Riley’s oncology unit. Over the span of two days, Tyler completed 210 laps of the same circle with his IV pole of fluids and a bit of chemo in tow. His positivity and ambition inspired other Riley kids to get out and walk the halls, and now the hospital is considering ways to let more patients participate in the Mini at Riley next year! 

PAM: A new high-tech system is helping protect some of the ocean’s largest travelers in the San Francisco Bay. Scientists recently launched a whale detection network powered by artificial intelligence that uses special thermal cameras to spot whales by detecting their body heat and mist from their blows. When a whale is close by, the system sends an alert to ship captains so they can slow down or steer clear of the animal. The system, called ‘WhaleSpotter’ was created as a result of the growing number of gray whales entering the bay, where busy shipping lanes have made for some dangerous collisions. The hope is to help protect the whales while also making the bay safer for mariners!

RYAN: And, in the southern part of California, over 17,000 people were ordered to evacuate as a fast-moving wildfire burned through dry brush near Simi Valley, California. The fire spread quickly due to strong wind gusts that topped 30 miles per hour, threatening neighborhoods and destroying at least one home. 

PAM: More than 850 personnel have been assigned to the fire, along with air and ground resources from across Southern California to help stop the blaze, but it wasn't until weather conditions improved, bringing cooler temperatures and calmer winds, that crews were able to make significant progress. Even so, officials warned that stronger winds could return, making the fire harder to contain.

RYAN: Hey grownups! It’s almost the Summer time which means we’re almost at the end of Season 6 of the Ten News…which also means, we’re gearing up for Season 7! And we need your help. To stay independent and unbiased, we are crowd funded. So if you’d like to make a tax deductible donation, we have a link in our show notes. No gift is too small or large and we greatly appreciate it. We couldn’t do this show without you. Speaking of…back to it!

PAM: We’re back with an update on the Ebola outbreak in Africa. But first, what is Ebola? Ebola is a serious viral disease that can begin with flu-like symptoms and may resemble other infectious diseases like malaria or typhoid and symptoms can include fever, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Unlike illnesses that spread through the air, Ebola typically spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is infected. So far, at least 220 people are believed to have died from the outbreak, according to the head of the World Health Organization. The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an Ebola outbreak on May 15, and since then, the number of suspected cases there has surpassed 900. Uganda has also reported seven confirmed cases. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, its highest level of global health alert.

RYAN: And over in the Tech world… <SFX Tech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself> Back here in the U.S., data centers are making headlines. After residents of Fayette County, Georgia, noticed unusually low water pressure, they helped uncover a surprising issue. A nearby data center construction project, the Quality Technology Services (QTS) Fayetteville Data Center Campus, had used nearly 30 million gallons of water, and the usage was not being properly tracked or billed because the site was not correctly linked to the county's billing system. By the way, that’s enough water to fill dozens of Olympic-size swimming pools! Following this discovery, QTS and Fayette County Water worked together to fix the billing and meter-tracking problems, and QTS paid a whopping 147 thousand dollar bill covering months of water use.

PAM: Speaking of data, Meta is making some big changes to its workforce. 7,000 of Meta’s employees are being moved into four new organizations and roles that focus on artificial intelligence. This shift will include laying off nearly 8,000 employees and not filling approximately 6,000 open positions. Meta’s head of people stated that the company is doing this as part of its continued effort to run the company more efficiently. At the end of March 2026, Meta employed 77,986 workers, down from the company's highest employment level of 86,482 in 2022. This is the latest example of Silicon Valley and corporate America leaning into AI while cutting back on other parts of their business. 

RYAN: We gotta get… <SFX OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD!> Well, not completely out of this world. SpaceX launched its biggest Starship yet on a test flight last Friday. The mega rocket blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites for deployment during the mission. This marked the 12th test flight of the Starship program, which is being developed to eventually take humans to Mars. The upgraded version is also part of NASA’s plans for future lunar missions, including landing astronauts on the Moon. The rocket features a bigger and stronger build, a larger fuel transfer line to feed its 33 main engines, and has basically more of everything, from cameras to navigation, and computer power.  

PAM: And for the last thing you need to know, let’s go to our Trivia Master, Owen. 

OWEN: Thanks Pam! I’m sure you’ve heard us talk about the wild animal stories from Colossal Biosciences, from bringing back the Woolly Mammoth to cloning dire wolves. Which…is pretty wild to say out loud. Well, they’re back at it and have hatched a new technology. Can you guess which animal they have successfully hatched without a real egg!? Is it?

  1. A dinosaur

  2. A penguin

  3. A chick, or

  4. A turtle?

The answer is… C! The company hatched chicks using a fully artificial egg! Colossal’s artificial egg project is a part of their work to “de-extinct” the South Island Giant Moa. This is the tallest known bird species to walk planet Earth and was first found in New Zealand before going extinct in the 15th century. Sounds like an egg-cellent idea. 

RYAN: And that was Ten Things You Need to Know. 

PAM: Hey Ry, did you need a ride home today? 

RYAN: Nah, I’m good thanks. I’m gonna walk and get my steps in.

PAM: Okay, suit yourself. <SFX a wiener mobile pulls up outside the office> <SFX engine running>

RYAN: Sweet summer child. IS THAT A WIENER MOBILE?! HOW ARE YOU GETTING A RIDE IN A WIENER MOBILE?!

PAM: I know people. I’ll still give you a ride home, after you’ve given out some Ten News Snaps…

RYAN: GAME. But first, here’s a quick note for the grownups.

<AD BREAK>

RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps!

PAM: A Ten’er named Turtle from Myrtle left us a 5 star Apple Podcast review and said, “Could you do a combo episode with the people from Greeking Out?! Also this podcast is tuff.” Thanks Turtle! That’s a great idea, we LOVE Greeking Out. Oh and also, she left four butterfly emojis.

RYAN: What?! No to the thank you! Not about Greeking Out of course, I was talking about the butterflies. And a Ten’er named Work of Stars suggested that I try Minecraft Education and said, “you can code in this version.” Ooooh, cool rec, thanks! I’ll have to check it out!

PAM: And two extra notes for the grown-ups, you can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Ten’ers Club on our website. 

RYAN: And if you want to help support the Ten News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes. The whole team thanks you for your support! “The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

PAM: The Ten News creative team is racing the wiener mobile around the parking lot and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, the Duke of Earl Davis and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody. 

RYAN: Our Production Director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald Albright, Albright, Albright! and show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan. I’m Ryan Willard.   

PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland, thanks for listening to the Ten News.

Tracy Kaplan
Next

The Artificial Intelligence Takeover