Good morning and welcome to Kid News, I'm Kim.

Today is Wednesday, September 21st, 2022, and we begin with an answer to a question that

will simultaneously blow your mind and make your skin crawl.

Scientists with an aptitude for ants decided to find out just how many of the picnic pests

live among us.

The total 20 quadrillion, which when written out is the number 20, followed by a dizzying

string of 15 zeros.

That means there are 2.5 million ants for each and every person on the planet.

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong then calculated the total weight of all those

ants, and it came to more than all birds and animals combined.

As astounding as these numbers are, they might actually be on the low side because some

areas of Africa and Asia didn't participate in the study.

So why count ants in the first place?

Because they are considered essential to our ecosystem.

As the late scientist E.O. Wilson once said, ants are the little things that run the world.

Fiona is picking up speed, the hurricane that first slammed into Puerto Rico as a category

one went on to pummel the Turks in Cacos as a category three, and now it's put a bullseye

on Bermuda.

Forecasters predict it'll slam ashore their late tomorrow, possibly as a category four,

with winds as high as 140 miles an hour.

In its wake, there's already an historic mess.

Up to 25 inches of rain fell on parts of Puerto Rico, flooding is widespread, and power

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