14/03/2016 Newsround

Hello, it's Ayshah here with Newsround for you on Monday

afternoon, live on CBBC.

Keep watching to find out why a bread ban has done

wonders for ducks.

And why temperature is so important to these baby turtles.

A rocket has blasted off to space on its way to Mars today.

At 9:31am the craft lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome

in Kazakhstan to start an incredible journey.

We have ignition.

And we have blast off.

The Trace Gas Orbiter hurtling into space.

Even though the launch was successful, we will not know

until 9pm if the rocket is on the right path

to the red planet.

And then it has got a long journey ahead.

It will take seven months to get there.

Once on the surface, its main mission is to search

for the signs of life.

It will do that by looking for methane gas, and if it is there,

it could show if there has ever been life on Mars.

The satellite also has a small vehicle which will be ejected three

days before the carrier rocket arrives.

It will enter the atmosphere at over 30,000 mph.

It will be used to test whether a second mission can be sent

to the red planet in 2018.

The next, much more ambitious, surface part of the mission

will focus on the search for possible presence of life very

early in the history of Mars.

All the missions that have gone until now to the surface have dug

in ten centimetres.

We are going down two metres, that is a big deal.

Scientists hope the information they get from this latest rocket

will help them uncover if there was ever life on Mars.

Can you imagine if temperature decided whether you were born a girl

or a boy?

Well, that's what happens with turtles.

Experts are now worried that rising temperatures could cause problems

by creating too many girls.

This team of scientists have crossed deserts,

seas and beaches to dig for buried treasure.

That treasure, turtle eggs.

They have come to these islands to find out more about turtles

and how climate change will affect their future.

We go out and collect eggs from nesting females.

We bring them back to incubate them to find out the switch point

where they switch from male to female.

The switch point is the key.

At certain temperatures, these eggs switch from having males

in them to females.

For humans and other mammals, your gender is decided

by what genes you have.

But for some reptiles, like these little turtles,

it is actually caused by how hot or cold the egg gets.

For many turtles, if the sand is warmer than 29 degrees,

there is a good chance they will be girls.

If it is any colder, it will probably be boys.

The problem is temperatures around the world are going up,

which means too many girl turtles will be hatching.

If it keeps getting warmer, there will be more females,

and the males will keep dying at a greater rate

than they are being replenished.

It is a demographic collapse.

Scientists don't believe it will happen right away,

but they are concerned that if we don't prepare for it,

it might one day happen.

I don't think turtle populations are at risk any time soon.

They live for a long time, potentially 120 years,

so the change will be slow.

But the point is that climate change is very rapid compared

to what turtles have experienced in the past.

Finding a solution is vital, so with research like this,

hopefully more of these little hatchlings can look forward

to a happy future, even if they have a few obstacles

on the way.

There is a wave!

Go in, little fella!

Go on!

There you go, bye!

Feeding the ducks is probably something that most

of you have done.

Experts say a campaign to stop people throwing bread into canals,

ponds and rivers has been successful, but more needs

to be done.

Bread's bad for ducks, and it can spread disease

and attract pests when it's not eaten.

The Canal River Trust want people to replace bread with healthier bird

snacks like seeds, fruit and vegetables, and even frozen

peas!

That's all for today.

Newsround's back right here tomorrow morning at 7:40am with Ricky.

Buy

Buy buy.