:00:00. > :00:07.Hi, I'm Leah with your afternoon Newsround. Stay right here for more
:00:08. > :00:10.of this. Why you could be heading for a job
:00:11. > :00:15.in space. And how could you resist this? It's
:00:16. > :00:22.a baby panda being shown off for the first time.
:00:23. > :00:26.But first to the dramatic weather that's been battering parts of
:00:27. > :00:30.America as well as the UK. The United States has been hit by a
:00:31. > :00:34.blast of air from the Arctic which has created some of its coldest
:00:35. > :00:39.weather in 20 years. And over here, giant waves and flooding have caused
:00:40. > :00:43.chaos in parts of the country. Last month was the stormiest in the UK
:00:44. > :00:48.for more than 40 years. Could this bad weather across the globe be
:00:49. > :00:51.linked? Ayshah has been finding out. Roads covered in snow and ice,
:00:52. > :00:57.thousands of flights cancelled, and schools shut because of a huge
:00:58. > :01:00.winter storm. Snow at this time of year in America is not unusual, but
:01:01. > :01:04.this year it's different. A massive amount of freezing air from the
:01:05. > :01:08.Arctic - called the polar vortex - has blown in, and it's so cold that
:01:09. > :01:12.people are being warned to stay indoors. And the wind makes things
:01:13. > :01:19.feel even colder. In some places it's expected to feel as cold as -51
:01:20. > :01:28.Celsius. Any skin not covered up would be quickly damaged. It is so
:01:29. > :01:36.cold that this couple boiling water instantly freezes in midair. Why are
:01:37. > :01:41.things so bad over there? At the moment across the States, they have
:01:42. > :01:49.this very cold air plunging in from the Arctic. In managing -- imagine
:01:50. > :01:55.your freezer at home is -20 Celsius. Today in parts of Canada, it is -26
:01:56. > :02:04.degrees. With the wind, it will feel even colder. The UK has had its
:02:05. > :02:10.stormiest December since 1969. Are these storms connected? Sort of. As
:02:11. > :02:13.this warm air across the United States meets the colder air, you
:02:14. > :02:18.have something called the jet stream, which is a conveyor belt of
:02:19. > :02:21.air. The storms developed on the Jetstream and come across the
:02:22. > :02:30.Atlantic. That's what we've had in the last couple of weeks or so. In
:02:31. > :02:32.America, in areas where it has been safe to be outside, some people have
:02:33. > :02:36.been braving the cold temperatures. These American football fans were so
:02:37. > :02:40.determined to watch the game they helped dig out their own seats. And
:02:41. > :02:43.there is some the good news on the way. Forecasters predict that the
:02:44. > :02:47.weather will improve both here and in the US by the end of the week.
:02:48. > :02:49.Next, fancy yourself as a future astronaut? Or maybe you're
:02:50. > :02:53.interested in helping launch a rocket into space? Dream jobs for
:02:54. > :02:56.some of you, but the good news is, more than ever before, these dreams
:02:57. > :02:59.could become reality. Business in space is literally taking off, and
:03:00. > :03:02.there are plans to create thousands more space jobs over the next few
:03:03. > :03:05.years. Ricky's been finding out more.
:03:06. > :03:09.Working in space isn't just about being an astronaut. There are loads
:03:10. > :03:12.of other space jobs - working in mission control, building a
:03:13. > :03:17.satellite, or developing technology to map a distant planet. At the
:03:18. > :03:21.moment there are 30,000 people in the UK working in the space
:03:22. > :03:24.business. But Chancellor George Osborne, who controls the country's
:03:25. > :03:29.money, wants there to be 100,000 within the next 20 years. It's
:03:30. > :03:34.studying maths and science that could help get you a space job. But
:03:35. > :03:38.some young people have been getting stuck in already. This week, two
:03:39. > :03:40.experiments dreamt up by teams of UK secondary school students will be
:03:41. > :03:50.sent to the International Space Station to be carried out by
:03:51. > :03:55.astronauts. Tell me about your experiment. Mine is looking at
:03:56. > :03:58.antibiotics, a type of medicine. We are going to see whether the
:03:59. > :04:05.medicine works better or worse in space. You are working something
:04:06. > :04:09.called slime mould. It is a really simple organism that kind of acts
:04:10. > :04:14.like it has a brain. It will grow to find the fruit and it will remember
:04:15. > :04:18.that path, so we are hoping that it will grow 3-dimensional Lee. How do
:04:19. > :04:24.you feel knowing that something you have worked on will be looked at in
:04:25. > :04:29.space? It is really exciting. I can't wait to see the results. It is
:04:30. > :04:33.really, really surreal. I den Piggott has hit us.
:04:34. > :04:37.We know you love them, so here's another chance to see a giant panda
:04:38. > :04:41.cub being shown off in public for the first time. Yuan Zai was born
:04:42. > :04:45.six months ago, the first to be born in Taiwan. Her mother Yuan Yuan and
:04:46. > :04:48.father Tuan Tuan came to Taiwan from China in 2008. She climbed around
:04:49. > :04:54.her cage before taking a nap with her mother.
:04:55. > :04:57.Head online to see the amazing pictures from an ice festival in
:04:58. > :05:01.China, where sculptors have made a whole city from ice. And you can
:05:02. > :05:02.also play our quiz. That's all from me. Newsround's back