Hey there! Welcome to today's News Bites.

I'm Nancy Sun…

And I'm Brody Halverson.

In today's news:

Paying the price for littering, and super strong spider silk.

And in today's Tasty Tidbit….

We've got two things that often go together to make us laugh, stay tuned to hear all about it!

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台北提高亂丟垃圾罰款

Taipei Higher Littering Fines Do the Trick

Wherever there's people, there's trash.

Sometimes people don't throw away their gabage the way they should.

Not only does this break the law (法規), it also becomes an environmental problem.

All that trash can create pest infestations (入侵).

Recently, Taipei increased fines and patrols to tackle (處理) the trash problem.

Wanhua district borough chiefs (里長) met with the mayor in July to talk about garbage problems.

On Aug 15th, the Taipei City Government approved 12 more patrols in the district.

And the lowest fine for littering was raised from $1,200 to $3,600 NT.

從8月15日開始，在台北市違規亂丟垃圾，最低罰款從1,200元提高到3,600元，亂丟菸蒂、亂吐檳榔汁等6類行為，也加重處罰。

Since then, more than 4,500 fines were issued.

The type of littering that happens the most often, is throwing cigarette butts (煙蒂) on the ground.

They are small, but cigarette butts have a big impact on the environment.

When cigarettes are lit, thousands of chemicals burn and concentrate (集中) in the ends.

When they're thrown on the ground, they get into drains and may eventually get into the water supply.

These cigarette butts also look bad.

They can be found anywhere, on the ground, in flower beds, even in the sandboxes in park playgrounds.

Officials believe that having more patrols and issuing more fines has helped.

But they also hope people will help keep the environment clean.

Afterall, punishment is no the best way to solve the littering problem.

Everyone must work together to make the city a cleaner place.

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基改蠶吐超強蜘蛛絲

Genetically-modified Silkworms Produce Super Strong Spider Silk

Spiders are amazing.

They can be very tiny, or so big that they could catch a bird.

But the silk they use to make their webs have been stunning (驚艷) scientists for decades.

Spider silk is an exceptional (優異的) material.

It's strong and tough.

But it's also lightweight and flexible at the same time.

But making their silk on a large scale has been almost impossible.

Spiders only produce enough silk to make their own webs.

Even so, scientists haven't given up on this special material.

They tried changing the genes of many animals to make spider silk.

But the silk they made was only 30 to 50 percent as strong as natural spider silk.

Now, researchers may have found a way to make lots of spider silk.

They made some changes to the genes of silkworms.

And these silkworms began to spit out spider silk.

This silk isn't as strong or stretchy as natural spider silk.

But it is still better than other man-made fibers.

In fac, the new silk made by the silkworms is 6 times stronger than Kevlar.

That's the material used to make bulletproof vests (防彈背心).

Researchers say this silk can be used for many things.

The silk could be used as thread for surgery (手術縫合).

It could also be used for protective clothing.

And the silk could replace synthetic fibers (合成纖維), like polyester (聚酯纖維) and nylon (尼龍).

This could help us make less microplastics.

But before using the new silk to make things, there is still one problem to solve.

Scientists need to know if the silkworms will pass down their spider silk genes.

If scientists need to add genes to every generation (世代) of silkworms, this may cost too much money.

Even with this problem, scientists are still excited about the potential (潛力) of spider silk.

They hope that with some more work, the silkworms will produce stronger silk.

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So, in today's News Bites:

Recently, Taipei increased fines and patrols to tackle its trash problem.

On Aug 15th, the Taipei City Government approved 12 more patrols in Wanhua District.

And the lowest fine for littering was raised from $1,200 to $3,600 NT.

Officials also hope people will help keep the environment clean.

________________________________

And,

Researchers made some changes to the genes of silkworms.

And these silkworms began to spit out spider silk.

This silk isn't as strong or stretchy as natural spider silk.

But the new silk is still 6 times stronger than Kevlar.

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趣味小點

Tasty Tidbit

In today's Tasty Tidbit,

What's better than cartoons and jokes when you need a good laugh?

Get ready…

Who is Peppa Pig's favorite artist? "Pigcasso", of course!

And here's 13-year-old Whitney from Yu Shan Public Junior High School in Chiayi City, to tell us something about one of her favorite cartoon characters.

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[CLIP]

Slug:

>

And we feel the same way about our favorite characters Whitney.

If you have a fun fact or a joke you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [email protected], and you might hear it at the end of an episode!

Tune in again next time for an all new episode of News Bites!