The Slime Factory: How Snails Engineer the Ultimate Sticky Goo! 🐌🧪

Fun Kids Science Quest

Fun Kids

Science, Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to Science Quest! 🚀 This week, we are counting down to an epic return to the Moon, heading inside a high-stakes space station emergency, and diving straight into the slimiest, creepiest, most brilliant secrets of the animal kingdom.

🌕 The Next Moon Crew: NASA has officially unveiled the four-man astronaut crew for the historic Artemis III mission! Find out who is leading the flight and how they are preparing to test out the next generation of lunar landers.
🛠️ Space Station SOS: Matt Cook from the UK Space Agency joins us to break down the dramatic, high-stakes emergency repairs happening aboard the International Space Station this week. Find out how astronauts fix massive technical glitches while floating in zero gravity!
🪶 Birdwatch Blockbuster: A tiny seaside town has been completely taken over by hundreds of "twitchers" (birdwatchers) who have rushed from all over the UK to spot an incredibly rare, out-of-bounds heron!
🦭 Deep-Sea Armor: Luke asks a mind-boggling question: how can deep-sea creatures live at the very bottom of the ocean without getting instantly crushed by the immense weight of the water?
🐌 The Slime Factory: Chris Holland from Sheffield University answers Joshua’s question: how exactly do snails manufacture their thick, sticky slime? Get ready for a gross but fascinating dive into molecular engineering!
🪰 Dangerous Dan: Keep your eyes peeled for the horrific New World Screwworm Fly. This tiny parasite might look ordinary, but its larvae are aggressive meat-eaters that can cause catastrophic damage to animals from the inside out.
🧠 Brain Box: Professor of Behavioral Ecology Seirian Sumner steps into the Brain Box to decode the mind-blowing, brilliant social networks of the insect world.

And shrink down to the size of a pebble and dive straight into the microscopic world of insect behavior with explorer Marina Ventura! This week, Marina is looking at the incredible, highly organized world of ants. Discover how thousands of tiny insects work together like one giant, single super-brain to build massive underground fortresses, defeat predators, and share food without a single argument!

Follow Science Quest for your weekly dose of space mysteries, engineering feats, and nature’s cutest stars! 🎙️✨

Join Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Squishmallow squad get us underway. Oh, strong header from Maui. Straight to boil on the wing. Here comes Gordon. Let's it go! The Squishmallow squad are now in Happy Meal. Some fun, some food. It's all inside this happy meal. Until 1 3rd of August from 11 a.mium. Includes one pre-selected book or toy. Squish mellow's range comprises toys only. Wildstock's last. Fair ordering policy applies. Fuel your World Cup fever with BBC Match of the Day magazine
0:23.8	and get a free World Cup special issue
0:26.6	packed with star players, expert insight and football fun.
0:32.0	Subscribe before the 22nd of June for just £44.99 for six months. Lead the squad, this World Cup.
0:41.7	Welcome along, Explorer. It's time for another earth-shattering galaxy quaking trip across the universe.
0:49.2	Let's go for a brand new science quest. My name is Dan.
0:57.5	This is your one-stop spin through the solar system.
0:59.7	We will search for those science secrets.
1:04.7	Today, diving into the gross world of snail slime to see how it's made.
1:09.9	On the bottom of their foot, they're covered with millions of little cells.
1:12.6	And those little cells squeeze out the mucus and it forms a very thin layer underneath the body of the animal. But where most
1:19.6	of the mucus comes from, which we've just found out, is from under its chin. Also, you can hear about a man-eating fly,
1:29.5	and in the brain box this week is an expert
1:32.1	who will decode the bizarre and brilliant world of insects.
1:37.1	And I remember suddenly realising this,
1:39.9	and running out of the library and running upstairs
1:42.5	to where my supervisor was and bursting into
1:44.9	his office and said, I've worked it out. I've just realised what it all means. And I think he was
1:51.3	slightly shocked. It's all on the way in a brand new science quest. Let's start with your science in the news. and it's our first space story this week.
2:05.3	NASA has named the crew for its next major moon mission, Artemis 3.
2:10.4	Randy Bresnick, Luca, Parmitano, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio will travel into space next year.
2:17.2	They won't go that far though.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 6 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Fun Kids, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Fun Kids and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.