[ theme music plays ] >> welcome to "teen kids news." i'm brandon. let's begin with our top story. [ up-tempo music plays ] if any of you never feel stressed-out, now's a good time to go get a snack or check your instagram. but if you're part of the other 99% of us who do

from time to time, then sit back and listen up. emily gets some tips on how to deal with stress. >> the first thing you need to know is that stress is normal, unless you're a genius, an incredibly gifted athlete, or a music or art prodigy. but i wouldn't call them normal. some stress is actually good for us. it can release adrenaline just when we need it to avoid danger or accomplish a goal. but too much stress can be a problem. it can throw you off your game, even make you sick. so knowing how to avoid being overstressed is something every one of us needs to have in our toolkit. and that's why we're talking today with dr. megan jones. she's a psychologist from stanford university. hi, doctor. >> hi. >> okay, whenever i have to take a big test, i feel lots of stress. what can i do about that? >> well, i think we all feel lots of stress before a big test, but what you can do is actually pay attention to the

feel so stressed. so, the way that we think affects how we feel, and you might want to pause and go somewhere where you have some privacy, take a few minutes, and write down your thoughts. so write down, "i'm not gonna do well on this test," "i might fail," "i haven't studied hard enough --" whatever those thoughts are that are making you stressed. then, try to think positively and think confidently. so what you tell yourself really matters. so let's go back to that stress thought, "i can't do this." what can you say instead? so revise that thought to, "i'm gonna do well if i try hard enough," or, "i can do this -- i just need to focus." things that make you feel more confident will help reduce that stress. >> interesting. so now i've made myself feel more confident.

>> yes, a great in-the-moment tool for reducing your stress is to focus on your breathing. you can do that in a lot of different ways, but one tool that i find to be really easy and effective is counting your breaths. so what you want to do here is count the number of breaths that you're taking. so you say one when you're breathing in and say two when you're breathing out, three when you're breathing in, four when you're breathing out, and just keep going until it feels right. it might be 10 times. it might be 15 times. so let me show you what that looks like. my feet are on the floor, and i'm sitting comfortably in a chair. i'm gonna breathe in... [ inhales deeply ] ...one... and breathe out... [ exhales deeply ] ...two.... breathe in three... [ inhales deeply ] ...breathe out four. [ exhales deeply ]

you are, too. >> i think i could definitely try that, dr. jones. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the bottom line is don't let stress take control of you. there are ways you can take control of your stress. for "teen kids news," i'm emily. >> we've got lots more to tell you about on "teen kids news."

>> there's an entire history lesson in the state flag. you just need to know what to look for. [ up-tempo march plays ] >> virginia is often called "the mother of presidents." four of our first five presidents were born there. since then, four more presidents have been proud virginians. >> virginia's state flag is a reference to overthrowing king george. you see the roman goddess virtus standing atop a tyrant, and she's holding a sword in one

the tyrant is laying on the ground with his crown knocked off of his head. >> it's hard to see, but the tyrant holds a broken chain and a broken whip. "sic semper tyrannis" means "thus always to tyrants." with "flag facts," i'm veronique. >> bet you didn't know that one of your favorite childhood books was written on a bet. the publisher of the dr. seuss books challenged the author to write an entire book using fewer than 50 different words. dr. seuss rose to the challenge and wrote "green eggs and ham." and so he won the bet. all i can say is glad i am that he wrote "green eggs and ham." >> this important message is brought to you by the national road safety foundation. [ hard rock music plays ] [ mid-tempo music plays ] [ hard rock music plays ] >> i'm ready to go.

>> dude, i'm running late. i'll be there as fast as i can. [ mid-tempo music plays ] [ hard rock music plays ] [ heartbeat ] [ hard rock music plays ] [ tires screech, glass breaks ] [ siren wailing ] [ cheers and applause ] [ heartbeat ] [ police radio chatter ] [ soft music plays ] [ crowd cheering ] [ heartbeat ] [ flatline ] >> all: life is not a race! go your own pace! [ cheering ] [ theme music plays ] >> coming up, i'll tell you how a hole in the tucson desert helped to keep our country safe

>> nuclear power -- when used for peaceful purposes, it can light up entire cities. when used for war, nuclear power can devastate entire cities. nicole reports on how weapons based on splitting a tiny atom set in motion a global arms race. [ dramatic piano music plays ] >> nuclear weapons put an end to world war ii. the bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki caused terrible destruction and the surrender of japan. nuclear weapons have never been used since, except as a threat to prevent further war -- not with the japanese, but with the soviet russians. one of those threats was here in the arizona desert. it's now a fascinating museum. >> this site was built because it was in the 1960s during the cold war, where we were sort of at war with the former soviet union.

their nuclear missiles at the united states, we aimed missiles back at them -- missiles called icbms. icbm stands for "intercontinental ballistic missile." that means it could fly from our continent to another continent, carrying a nuclear warhead. one kind of icbm was the titan ii. it was a giant rocket kept armed and ready to launch in an underground chamber called a silo. in all, there were 54 silos spread across uninhabited areas of the u.s. they're no longer in use, but you can take a tour of one thanks to the arizona aerospace foundation. >> well, nicole, first of all, welcome to launch complex 571-7. >> thank you. >> we're gonna go underground. >> whoo-hoo! >> nuclear missiles are always kept underground because that is the safest place you can be in a nuclear war. >> that is true. >> so we're gonna go down about 35 feet. [ gong crashes, mysterious music plays ]

>> as i followed chuck, he explained what it was like to visit the site when it was manned by the air force and fully operational. visitors didn't just drop by. >> so, this little area that we just came through is called the entrapment cage. we're gonna keep everybody that comes in locked in this little cage until we figure out that they actually belong here -- looking at them on a closed-circuit television camera. to get in. >> huh. what's the special code? >> oh, the special code changes with every person who comes on the complex. it's what's called a "one-time code." >> now that it's a museum, we don't need a code, but we still need to get past these special doors. they're designed so that one door only opens after the other door closes. and the walls down here are super thick, four feet of concrete. chuck led us to the nerve center of the big underground complex. >> well, this is the control center.

>> and this is where the crew waited while they were waiting for the order to launch their missile, and lucky for us that they never got that far and we're all still here to talk about it. >> mm-hmm. >> so, the control center is pretty cool. the cool thing about the control center is that it's a three-story building, so the crew's quarters is right upstairs. think about that. it's like a motel, too. and then downstairs is an equipment room. and the three floors are not attached to the walls. >> huh. >> the entire structure is bolted together and suspended from eight huge springs around the perimeter of the room. so in response to a nuclear shock wave, we would just bounce up and down or sway from side to side, and we'd be safe. so, really, what all of this equipment is, all of this is just designed to keep the missile in a constant state of readiness and to let us launch it if we get the legitimate order to do that. >> wow. when we return, i get to

responsible for launching a titan ii nuclear missile.

[ theme music plays ] >> we're in the command center at the titan missile museum near tucson, arizona. chuck is running me through the complex procedure of launching a titan ii nuclear missile. [ suspenseful music plays ] >> so, nicole, i'm gonna ask you to have a seat in the commander's chair right there. >> okay. >> and we'll talk about what's the process for actually launching the missile. first of all, the only person in the united states who can authorize the use of nuclear weapons is... >> the president. >> president, right. i knew you would know that. it's in all the movies, right? wherever the president goes, he's followed around by this guy with a briefcase, and they often refer to that as the "football." >> if the president were to open the briefcase and send the message to launch, it set off a response like this at every

[ alarm beeping, static ] >> [ speaking indistinctly ] >> so, you and i are gonna grab our decoder books and start writing down the message in these notebooks. we're gonna write every letter and number that we hear down in the spaces provided. and it goes on and on for like 35 characters. when we're done copying the message, we're gonna swap notebooks and check each other's work. they'll read the message for you again so you can check your work. and if we're convinced that we've copied the right message, then we have what is called a valid message and authorization to take our locks off this big red safe. and there are two locks on the safe. there's a lock for me and a lock for you. and we know our own combinations, but we don't know each other's, so we both have to agree to open the safe. out of the safe, we're gonna take a couple different things.

authenticator cards, and they look something like this. so, in our secret message, they gave us a code word. and we're gonna look at the first two letters of the code word. say it's "q, 5," all right? and we're gonna open this envelope up. [ blows ] and inside, there's the whole code word. and if that code word matches the code word in our radio message, then this is a legitimate order from the president of the united states. >> attention, crew. we have a valid launch order at this time. would you acknowledge, please? >> [ speaking indistinctly ] >> this is [indistinct] >> mft. >> all right, the next thing we take out of the safe is our launch keys. it takes two keys to fire the missile. you put a key in right here 'cause you're the commander. i put a key in way over here 'cause i'm the deputy. keys need to be turned within two seconds of each other and held in the turn position for five seconds to start the launch. that guarantees that two people are required to do this. one person can't run back and forth, all right? what else?

get the time of launch. write it with what amounts to a crayon right across the face of the clock so you don't forget. and last but not least, we get the secret unlock code for the missile. >> this next secret code will unlock valves to fuel the missile. it comes in with a launch order. the code is complex to make sure the launch is very deliberate. >> you need to accomplish four things to launch the missile, and they are authenticate the message -- right? -- install your keys, figure out the time of launch, enter the bbl combination. once you've done that, you are good to go. all set, commander? >> all set. >> now, first of all, let's just reiterate that this is a retaliatory weapon. so we would not be asked to launch this unless the enemy have already fired at us. so we can assume that topside, up there, nuclear bombs are going off someplace. so this is our cue to go.

what you need to do is give me a countdown like, "three, two, one, turns keys," all right? oh, and by the way, crew always use their left hand to turn the key. >> oh. is there a reason for that? >> yeah, there is. the reason the crew use their left hand is because, if you use your right hand, you obscure your view of these lights. it's important to see when those lights come on. okay, commander. give me the countdown, and we'll send this missile on its way. >> okay. three, two, one... >> turn keys and hold. [ suspenseful music plays ] >> i see a light come on. >> okay, you may release. that's all there is to it. the little green light that says "launch enable," for all intents and purposes, that little light should say, "welcome to world war iii." >> it's comforting to point out that these missiles were only launched in drills like this one. >> red alert, red alert, red alert.

>> g-e-o, loud and clear. >> roger. initiate-terminal-count order has been received. powerhouse, start locks only. launch exercise checklist, please. >> oh, and one more thing -- the museum wants everyone to know the missile here is no longer armed and dangerous. >> this is the top of the silo. this structure right behind me is the silo door. rides back and forth on railroad tracks like this. weighs 760 tons. can be fully opened in 20 seconds. the missile is right under that glass window. we put a glass window on there to satisfy the soviets so they could look down there with spy satellites and figure out that it's not an active missile. in time of war, this is where the missile would come out and begin its fire. >> we'll continue our tour of this incredible museum when "teen kids news" returns.

[ theme music plays ] [ mysterious music plays ] >> we're below the surface of the arizona desert. today this is the titan missile national historic landmark -- a museum. but for many years, this missile site was on constant alert. just sitting in the commander's chair gives you the feeling of the tremendous responsibility these officers had. yvonne morris used to sit in it for real. >> i spent four years in this chair, from 1980 to 1984, because i was a titan ii missile combat crew commander who was stationed at this site during that time. >> now she helps run the museum, but, back in the day, she was in the hot seat. >> i was in charge of the crew that would've launched the missile that was based here if we had been ordered to do so. >> how did it help keep us safe from attack?

its job was peace through deterrence. that meant that we were supposed to show the former soviet union that, if they ever launched their missiles against us, that we would launch titan ii missiles -- among others -- against them and that we would retaliate with such force that they would not be able to survive it. and that's called mutual assured destruction. >> mutual assured destruction -- it's "mad" all right. and the memory of that tense time is the reason this museum exists. >> well, we made it into a museum because you can't know what the future is gonna be or you can't influence the future if you don't understand where you came from. and so, in the future, people are gonna have to make some very important decisions about nuclear weapons and how they're used. and they can get the information or at least some of the information that they need to know to make those decisions

>> interesting as the control center was, there was still a lot more to see on our tour. >> okay, nicole, let's head down toward the silo, and, while we're going, just gonna stop real quickly along the way. there's something i'd like to show you. [ mysterious music plays ] these are propellant-handling suits. >> wow. >> propellant for titan ii is really toxic, and so, if you're gonna be working with it, you got to wear these suits. they're like moon suits, but they're not air-conditioned. >> [ laughs ] >> so if you're wearing one on the surface and it's like 105 degrees, about 15 minutes is all you can stand. >> oh, my gosh. >> stark raving mad. you want to try the helmet on? >> absolutely. >> check this out. go ahead. >> oh, it's heavy. >> yeah, the whole suit, everything -- oxygen, everything -- weighs almost 50 pounds. [ music continues ] to get to the silo, we'd need to walk through this large tunnel. it's called a "cableway." a cableway is fully

these are springs on both sides. and the reason is it's carrying electric power cables from the silo, it's carrying missile-telemetry cables over here, and it's carrying piping to the control center on this side. >> so the whole thing is shock-resistant? >> that's right. if we got a hit, it'd all stay together. >> but it never got tested. >> it never got tested. >> that's a good thing. >> all right, nicole, we're gonna go where we never take visitors. >> ooh! >> right this way. >> wow! >> so, here it is. >> this is the missile, huh? >> this is the missile. this is titan ii. and the whole purpose, the only purpose of this whole big missile, is to deliver that nuclear warhead to a target on the other side of the world. >> just that little bit of black at the top there? >> just that little black cone at the top is the only part that actually makes it to the target. everything else is thrown away in flight. >> for this huge missile. oh, my gosh. how big is it?

take a look over the edge. >> [ gasps ] wow! >> it is 10 stories straight down. >> it's such a long way down that, to visit the bottom of the missile, we had to take an elevator. >> all right. >> all righty. >> this is so cool. you'll love this. >> wow! >> look up. >> [ gasps ] oh, my goodness. >> is that something? >> whoa! fortunately, america has never had to fire a nuclear missile in wartime -- and hopefully never will. for "teen kids news," i'm nicole. >> that wraps up our show. be sure to tune in to week. bye for now.

>> write to us at info@teenkidsnews.com. >> here's a shout-out to pr newswire for including "teen kids news" on their big screen in times square,

- [nicole] this week on awesome adventures, we're in southern california. (upbeat music) it's time for awesome adventures. come with us as we travel the globe, taking kids on incredible journeys. it's all here on awesome adventures. welcome to awesome adventures. i'm nicole here in beautiful southern california. warm sunshine, picturesque beaches, incredible hikes, and of course, the glitz and glam of hollywood. southern california really has it all. so, this week, we're going to get a sample of some of the sites and adventures in one of the most popular spots in the us. if you draw a line