(upbeat music) - Coming up next to a News Depth, we take a peep at one town sweet way to ring in the new year.

And tag along with some unexpected new recruits at a hospital.

Plus, we hear how girls are wrestling their way into a male dominated sport.

And Margaret takes us fossil hunting.

News Depth, is now.

(upbeat rock music) 2022 and it's raining candy.

Hello everybody.

I'm Rick Jackson.

Thanks for joining us.

Happy new year.

It's good to be back.

In New York City's Times Square in-person new year celebrations resumed this year, after taking a year off for COVID safety precautions.

But this year, a much smaller crowd of vaccinated revelers gathered to watch the ball drop, a tradition that's been going strong since 1907.

But one town in Pennsylvania, has put a sugary spin on this tradition.

Folks there rang in the new year by dropping, get this, a huge Peep.

Yeah, Bethlehem is known for being home to Just Born, the company that makes the marshmallow treats.

And folks there are proud to have the Easter basket staple as a symbol of their town.

Hannah O'Reilly was there for the big event.

Hannah?

- [Hannah] Peep's Fest was back this year.

(music playing) Families from all over the valley gathered under the steel stacks in Bethlehem, to watch the famous 400-pound Peep drop.

- [Crowd] Three, two, one.

Happy New Year!

- [Hannah] And while midnight can be late for some kids and adults to stay up and watch the ball drop, Just Born made the event early, so everyone could enjoy.

- We know it's hard for kids to stay up till midnight.

So we drop the giant Peep chick at 5:30 PM.

So it is nice and dark.

We drop it, great fireworks afterwards.

And then the kids get to go home and go to bed at a normal time.

The outdoor festival was held from three to six, with plenty of fun for the whole family.

- We have community groups, we have a live band, a magician, DJs, s'mores, a little bit for everybody.

- [Hannah] And nobody was entering 2022 without some Just Born candies.

The company gave out goodie bags for everyone that attended.

- Thanks, Hannah.

Just Born started operating in Bethlehem way back in the 1930s.

And for this week's question, we want to know what industry is your town known for?

Head online to write in about a company that's big, where you live.

Now, before the break, we'd ask you to design a News Depth banner to represent our show.

And boy, did we get some brilliant work.

I think we've waited long enough.

Let's open up our inbox.

London from Sidney Fenn Elementary, started her banner out with an interesting shape.

I put these symbols on my banner for a reason.

If I put them in order from the ones I liked best to least, I would petting zoo, inbox, poll, News Depth's A+, know Ohio, and lastly, spot on science.

I picked the shape of a banner, because it says, "Design your own banner."

And I don't see many banners around Medina.

Makenzie from Horace Mann Elementary got symbolic.

In my banner, I wanted to actually use symbols.

The triangle means dreams and goals, and the spiral means growth and evolution.

I chose these two symbols, because they mean the most to me.

The colors I chose mean something also.

Purple means sophistication and elegance.

Blue means peace and loyalty.

And yellow means comfort and happiness.

And all of these things mean a lot to me.

Thanks Mackenzie.

Yohan from Springdale Elementary let his banner do the talking.

He says simply, "This is what I think about News Depth."

Oh, I see it says, "News Depth saving the world."

Quite a compliment.

Thanks, Yohan.

Ava from Greentown Intermediate went interstellar.

If I were to design a banner, I would have the background dark blue.

Next, I would put your logo, that's the News Depth logo, in the middle.

Then I would put yellow stars and tiny white dots with some planets.

I thought of this design because it's out of this world.

And Charlotte from Mason Elementary found a spot for her favorite segments on her banner.

I chose the colors, orange, green, and blue, because they're the colors of the original symbol.

The beaker on the blue part on the flag, represents spot on science.

The paw print on the orange part of the flag, represents petting zoo.

Last, is the green part of the flag, which is the normal news depth symbol.

Great designs, everybody.

You really make us proud.

Okay.

Let's head back to the news with our new symbol.

Not everything was a sweet celebration over the winter break.

While we were away, the number of COVID cases climbed, and kept climbing, and kept climbing, breaking records for daily COVID infections.

More than 20,000 Ohioans testing positive in a single day, last week.

And plenty of people have ended up in hospitals, needing care from professionals.

But even the pros aren't completely immune to the illness.

And they've called in some backup.

Beteral Health is on the way to some parts of the state, and Ohio governor Mike DeWine, called on the Ohio National Guard to lend a hand as well.

The National Guard is a special part of the military that responds to emergency needs and communities.

They're often called on to help after natural disasters, or to keep things calm when protest happen.

Their motto is, "Always ready, always there."

And true to that motto, the Ohio National Guard was ready and there, to aid in the fight against COVID at a hospital, just really right down the street from where I am now.

Gary Tushman takes us inside.

- [Gary] In the overnight hours, Cleveland's MetroHealth medical center.

Justin Lightener goes into a room to take care of a patient.

- Hello.

- [Gary] So does Brandon Brown.

- What's going on, my guy?

- [Gary] And Jordan White does the same.

- Hi, can I take your vitals?

- [Gary] But none of these three people are employees at the hospital.

They are with... - The Air National Guard.

- [Gary] And the other two are with the Army National Guard.

All three have medical training.

- Let's check out this arm right over here.

Doing okay?

- I think so.

- [Gary] National guard member Justin Lightener, is working with one of the hospital's registered nurses.

They're taking care of 88 year-old COVID patient, Lois Murray, who just got transferred out of the intensive care unit.

- Here we go.

Give me a second.

All right, all good.

You decided to join the National Guard after seeing what happened on 9/11, when you were in kindergarten.

I just wanted to help my community.

- There are 28 national guard members working at this hospital, and they have their work cut out for them.

Not only because the hospital is full, but because about 400 employees at this hospital are out of work, because they have COVID.

- Air National Guard captain, Lynette Looney is the officer in charge of the guard mission at this medical center, which also consists of guard members who do non-medical tasks.

- Are you concerned that any of your National Guard members will contract COVID?

- Oh, absolutely.

Within two days of being here, we had four guard members that were symptomatic with sore throats, headaches, body aches, fevers, nasal congestion, and they all tested positive for COVID.

- [Gary] The personal risks are an inherent part of the mission.

The chief nursing officer at MetroHealth is grateful.

- Just take out some extra help and know that others are looking out for us is greatly appreciated.

- [Gary] Frank Hudson also ended up in the ICU after testing positive for COVID.

- How are you feeling.

- Good.

- Good?

You need anything?

You ready to get our of hospital?

Yeah, I bet.

- [Gary] Guard member Jordan White is 22.

She has an EMT in her civilian life, and wants to be a nurse practitioner.

- I'm going to put this on your finger.

Perfect.

You can relax a little bit.

- [Gary] Were the patients surprised when you tell them you were in the military, and you're taking care of them?

- Yeah.

(laughs) Yeah, they are.

They're like, "Oh really?"

Yeah.

They think it's cool.

And I think that's nice.

I'm glad that they feel that way.

- [Gary] The National Guard members also take care of patients in the hospital for other illnesses.

Patient, Sammy Hunter, is here for a torn aorta, and bleeding in his brain.

He's getting an EKG from a hospital RN, and guard member, Brandon Brown.

- I got a V4 right now.

Switch over.

V6.

And I got a V5.

There's a sense of pride that swells up in you, when you know you're helping your community.

It's a beautiful feeling, honestly.

- [Gary] Always on people's minds here, the sense of sadness that so many people don't get COVID vaccines.

- So in the ICU admission, the vast predominance up to 90% of the patients, are un-vaccinated patients.

- [Gary] Did you know that in addition to the nurses and the doctors, that you have people from the National Guard, the military helping you out?

- Oh yeah.

Oh, they are so good.

They are wonderful.

How does it make you feel?

That they're taking care of you?

- Very safe.

- Thanks, Gary.

The National Guard members are scheduled to be at the hospital for two weeks, but their stay can be extended, if they're needed.

From a hospital across town, we head to a country halfway across the world.

Qatar is a very small country in Western Asia.

How small?

Actually the state of Ohio is nine times larger.

Qatar's a peninsula.

A peninsula is a landform surrounded by water on multiple sides, yet still connected to a mainland.

So you can see here, Qatar is almost completely surrounded by the Gulf of Bahrain and the Persian Gulf.

But even though it's surrounded by water, Qatar is almost entirely desert.

And they're looking to change that.

That's because later this year, Qatar is gearing up to host the World Cup, the largest and most watched soccer match in the world.

And soccer or football as they call it in Qatar, requires grass.

A lot of grass.

Up next, Amanda Davey shows us how organizers are creating lush green fields from dust.

- One thing a World Cup can't do without, grass.

Which isn't something easy to come by in the desert.

(upbeat music) Welcome to Qatar's on.

So their equivalent of the field of dreams.

Over a million square meters of grass, or the equivalent of 168 football pitches a year.

The world cup needs turf for eight stadiums with 64 matches in just 28 days, and an added 48 training pitchers as well.

The man whose job has been to make it all happen, Yassar Al-mulla.

So I have to tell you, I have been through my career being told to get off the pitch.

Don't walk on the turf, and look at this.

- You know why?

- Go on.

- Because they are not sure about their turf.

(Amanda laughs) Honestly, they are not sure about their turf.

I can ask you, I'll bring you a football here, and I'll tell you to play on it.

And I will make sure that I can leave here for tomorrow to the stadium, because I am sure about what I have here.

This is the difference.

- [Amanda] Yassar and his team started their quest to find the perfect pitch back in 2016.

And they're certainly confident with what they've come up with.

- What we have here is one of the best of grass in the world.

We reached this point by doing a lot of testing, and experiment in the R and D center.

So all the turfs that you see here, we tried like 36 different kinds of species.

- [Amanda] The promise of being able to relay a pitch in just eight hours meant, fee for allowed the building of fewer stadiums than ever before at a World Cup finals.

It's all part of Qatar's quest for a carbon neutral sustainable tournament.

That is easier said than done in the desert, but even the water for the patches is part of the plan.

- We are using a treated water, which has been never used before in the agriculture.

So the treated station, just like half a kilo from here.

So that water was a loss, because like we didn't have that much of agriculture culture.

So we are using a treated water.

- There's obviously a lot of science on show at the turf nursery.

But if Yasser is to be believed, the secret of success is a whole lot more than that.

- I looked at people, they think, "Ah, it's only like a green carpet."

It's a living creature, man.

You have to take care of what you're known.

Like you have to understand.

Sometimes this color is telling you it has no times and language.

The pitch is talking to you, like the tree.

The tree is talking to you by the yellowish, like, "I'm sick.

I'm in a bad mood."

"It's not my season, my best season."

So you have to feel it more.

- From the desert to football's biggest stage, this might be the closest I get to the hallow turf, but come next year, football's biggest stars will be putting on a show.

Amanda Davis, CNN, Qatar.

- Thanks Amanda.

Next, we head to east Asia for a look at a much different sport.

Sumo is a form of wrestling, in which the wrestler attempts to force their opponent out of a circular ring.

It's considered the national sport in Japan.

But until recently, it hasn't been open to everyone there.

Don Rydel takes us to the mats where a different struggle has taken over the Sumo world.

- [Don] This is Sumo, the national sport of Japan.

Their wrestlers are hard to miss with their top knots and iconic loincloths, their hulking bodies, and high-impact bouts.

It's an ancient sport dating back more than a thousand years.

And through all that time, very little has changed.

As a professional sport, women have always been banned.

(students yelling) (speaking in Japanese) - Some people think that Sumo is just for men, but I want other girls to know that it's really fun, and they should definitely give it a go.

- [Don] Twelve-year-old, Nikkori Hada, loves Sumo, but her opportunities to train and compete are limited.

So girls like Nikkori also compete in judo and wrestling, often sparring against boys as well as girls.

- Men can become professional Sumo wrestlers, but that's not an option for women at the moment.

It would be great if the same opportunities could exist for women in the future.

- [Don] But changing attitudes in Japan, mean there might now be a future for girls and women in Sumo.

Sena Kajiwara, has been learning Sumo since she was eight years old.

And she's not just preparing to knock over her opponents in the dojo, she's also ready to topple the barriers to entry of a male dominated sport.

- There are some people who don't get why I do Sumo, but I'm not bothered by what they think.

If you want to do Sumo, you should do it.

I think if we get more girls and women in Sumo, then we'll be able to level the playing field, and make a living from Sumo.

I hope that happens.

- [Don] A number of scandals in recent years, have tarnished the reputation of Japan's national sport.

In 2018, when a city mayor collapsed in the ring, the women who were trying to save his life, were asked to leave.

(speaking in Japanese) According to tradition, the supposedly impure women, would pollute the sacred space of the dojo.

The man's life was saved, but the incident sparked a backlash in Japan, prompting the Japan Sumo Association to apologize.

(men yelling) (people clapping) - [Don] The following year, the inaugural Wanpaku girl's national Sumo championship, was held in Tokyo.

The event has been open to boys since 1984, but only now are girls aged between eight and 12, getting their shot.

Sena Kajiwara is the defending champion.

(speaking in Japanese) - Sumo is Japan's national sport.

Sena can be quite taciturn and earnest.

The tournament can be determined in an instant.

I think Sumo suits our character.

- [Don] Wanpaku was emceed by established Sumo wrestlers, including Hiori Kon.

(speaking in Japanese) The subject of a recent Netflix documentary, who has competed internationally.

Despite her success though, she can't compete professionally and earn a living, but she says, things are changing.

(speaking in Japanese) - This competition didn't exist when I was a girl.

It's amazing that we've gone from having nothing, to one, then two tournaments.

These girls have so much potential.

I want to help ensure these efforts are properly recognized in the future.

- I'm glad my daughter can immerse herself in the world of Sumo and enjoy herself.

She doesn't have to think about becoming a professional.

If the effort she's putting into Sumo takes her along that path, that's great.

But if it transfers to something else, then I'm happy.

- [Don] Meanwhile, Sena is certainly showing that she's got what it takes.

The 12-year old made it to the final of Wanpaku in 2021, but it looked as though she was on the brink of defeat.

However, she turned it around, and successfully defended the title.

- I was so nervous before the tournament.

I won the championship when I was in fourth grade.

So I felt a lot of pressure and expectations this time.

In the future, I want to keep up Sumo, and go as far as I can with it.

- And now we want to hear from you.

Tell us in this week's poll, should girls be allowed to play in all those same sports as boys?

Head online to vote.

Yes, always.

No, never.

Or sometimes, it depends.

And now, let's take a look at the results from the poll in our last show, before the break.

Remember that one?

Way back in December?

We asked you, do you follow the five second rule?

44% of you said, "Yep."

You do follow the five second rule.

20% were pretty grossed out.

You said, "No, yuck, no way."

And 36% of you said you used to, but after watching last week's spot on science, you've changed your mind.

Big number there.

Well, speaking of being grossed out, scientists in Europe believed they found the biggest bug that ever lived after a complete fluke.

In January of 2018, a chunk of sandstone fell from a cliff on a beach in Northern England.

The rock cracked open revealing the fossil of a giant millipede.

A millipede is a hard shelled segmented animal with two pairs of legs on most segments.

The creature named, Arthropleura, dates back 326 million years.

Scientists say the animal would have weighed about 110 pounds and been about 22 inches wide, and more than eight feet long.

Definitely not the kind of bug you can hit with a flyswatter.

Well, this Arthropleura was found by chance, but many scientists are actually on the hunt for fossils, and making new discoveries nearly every day.

Up next, Margaret introduces us to one of those fossil hunters, in this week's spot on science.

(electronic music) - I'm excited about this one.

We're headed on a hunt for fossils in a special Northeast Ohio spot with scientists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Science is all about making discoveries, and learning how the world works.

Fossils let us understand what the Earth used to be like, and how it's changed.

- So a fossil is any evidence of past life.

So it could be an animal, it could be a plant.

It could be some trace that the animals leave behind, like a track way, or even fossilized poop.

I am Dr. Caitlin Colleary, and I am the assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology, at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

- [Margaret] That's a long job title, which essentially means, Caitlin studies ancient animals that had bones.

Over time, the Earth has changed.

And so have the animals.

The fossils we're looking for today, can help teach us with a world was like long ago.

- So behind me, is actually the Cleveland shale.

So this is a really cool area for fossils.

And it's from the Devonian period, which was about 358 million years ago.

And it was the ocean.

And so we were actually a lot closer to the equator back then, too.

So it was like a tropical ocean, and it's full of really big, weird fish.

Dunkleosteus is probably the best known.

And one of the cool things about them, is that we only really find their heads, because they had bony plates in their heads, but their bodies were cartilaginous, like sharks.

So we usually don't find their bodies preserved, but we find a lot of heads.

And we actually learned a lot about them by studying their jaws.

That's something that's really commonly preserved, and we can figure out like the sort of things that they were eating, and what kind of behaviors they were doing.

Like what kind of animals they were basically.

The Dunkle is pretty different from today's sharks.

For example, instead of having teeth, it had long, sharp plates on its jaws, almost like a beak.

Its features weren't passed onto modern guys, because it went extinct with many of the other big, weird fish.

Scientists are still looking for clues about what changed in the environment to cause their demise, thus fossil hunting.

Okay.

Big bony headed fish.

That sounds like it would be easy to spot, right?

And surely, these scientists have some fancy equipment too.

- [Caitlin] There's really not any sort of advanced technology in terms of finding fossils, still.

So we kind of just walk around looking for them.

We know where to look because we know the age of the rocks, and the things that we're looking for, what types of rocks that they're in.

And so we go and walk around and look at those rocks.

- [Margaret] What's it like to actually find a fossil?

- [Caitlin] You get really excited first, especially if you're in the Cleveland shale, because you do not find fossils very often, and you excavate it, if you can.

We take it back to the museum.

The museum, maybe 10% of the fossils that we have at the museum, are actually on display.

Most of them are down in the basement where researchers work on them.

And we have a lab down there, where we clean up the bones and put them back together, and try to figure out what those animals were like.

- I might need to clean off my glasses better, because we didn't find any fossils on our trip.

But like Caitlin said, often it's when you least expect it that they appear.

- [Caitlin] So my favorite fossil that I ever found, was when I was in Panama, working along the Panama canal.

When they dug the Panama canal, they expose all of these rocks.

So we were working on the Panama canal, and I was sitting, looking at this outcrop all day, and it was hours and hours of finding nothing.

And at the end of the day, I moved back and started dusting off the spot where I was sitting, and I saw a tooth, and then I saw another tooth, and then I saw another tooth, and I realized that I'd been sitting on this tiny horse jaw all day.

And it was just like little tiny horses about the size of a labrador.

And we got to excavate the jaw, and it was really cool.

- If you happen to find yourself sitting on a tiny horse fossil, Caitlin says, "Snap a photo and take a note of its location, but don't try to excavate it yourself."

Instead, contact your nearest museum, and have the experts there come take a look.

- So fossils are basically the only way we really get to know about what life was like on the planet throughout all of Earth's history.

We have to be careful with fossils, and we also have to make sure that they end up in the hands of scientists.

Otherwise, there's so much information that we'll never actually get to learn.

- Thank you, Margaret.

Okay.

Quick, a riddle for you.

What do you get when you combine a student who likes roadblocks is a hard worker, a great friend, and a model student?

If you said Aliyah Rivera from Parma Park Elementary School in Parma Heights, I'd have to ask, "How did you got my notes?"

This week's A-plus award winner, is fourth-grader Aliyah Rivera.

Aliyah is a student who has a great attitude.

I know, a lot of teachers say that about their students, but Ms. Hall and Ms. Zeeman, her third grade teachers, told us that in Aliyah's case, it means she's a great friend to all, and always sees the positive in the world around her.

"She's always cheerful and has a smile.

She is a great problem solver, and is very creative in finding solutions to challenging problems," Ms. Zeeman explained.

Mr. Rivera, Aliyah's father, told us that he is very proud of how responsible and independent she is with her schoolwork and chores.

He also shared that she always has a big smile, and treats people with respect.

In the classroom, Aliyah is an academic leader, sets a great example for her classmates and younger students, and is always willing to help out.

Outside of the classroom, she loves animals, enjoys researching new things, playing roadblocks, and doing crafts.

When we met with Aliyah, she told us that math was her favorite subject, because she liked all of the challenging questions.

Maybe I'll call her next time I run into one of those pesky word problems.

Well, anyway, we asked her to give some advice, and she told me that it's always important to pay attention to details, because that can really make the difference between a good job and a great job.

For all of your hard work in and out of the classroom, Aliyah, you're this week's A-plus award winner.

Congratulations.

Well, now it's time to check in with our favorite feline who's been hard at work all throughout our winter break when she wasn't sleeping.

It's time for petting zoo.

(tribal music) (cat meows) Wait a minute.

She's still asleep.

News cat, (man claps) wake up, get to work.

Didn't you hear?

We're back from break.

Okay.

She's really flying over to that tablet.

Oh, let's see.

She's got a story about a rare bird attracting crowds.

This is up in Maine.

To find out what makes this bird so special, click the petting zoo button on our website.

And thank you, news cat.

Of course, there are plenty of ways to stay in touch.

You can send us a letter.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio.

Our zip code, 44115.

You can email us, newsdepth@ideastream.org, or you can tweet us.

Our handle is @newsdepthohio.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Rick Jackson.

Happy to be back this year.

We'll see you right back here next week.

- [Child] News Depth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

(upbeat music)