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Kazakhstan Efforts to Restore Last Wild Equine Species Receive Huge Boost of 150 Horses

Przewalski's Horse at the Highlands Wildlife Park - CC 3.0. Floato
Przewalski’s Horse at the Highlands Wildlife Park – CC 3.0. Floato

With the imminent arrival of 150 Przewalski’s horses to the Kazakh steppes, the future of the world’s last non-domesticated horse species is poised to bolt.

Following up on a successful introduction of 5 mares and 2 stallions from Berlin and Prague, Hungary’s Minister of Agriculture István Nagy announced the country would be shipping 150 horses to Kazakhstan in order to safeguard the animal’s future from disease and inbreeding.

Around 6,000 years ago at an unspecified place on the Eurasian Steppe, of which Kazakhstan makes up a major component, human beings domesticated the horse. It changed history forever, but not more so than for the ancient residents of Kazakhstan and related topographies who used them to roam, trade, raid, and conquer for millennia.

From that first day until now, all individual species interbred themselves more or less out of existence with the exception of Przewalski’s horse, which is why its return is so exciting.

Kazakhstan has become something of a conservation and rewilding champion among low and middle-income countries. It has been in the process of restoring major members of its ungulate populations, including the saiga antelope, Bukhara deer, and Przewalski’s horse.

It even plans to reintroduce the tiger by welcoming members of a subspecies related to the local “Turanian” tiger which went extinct over 70 years ago. In the fall of 2023, two cats from the Netherlands arrived in the large Illy-Balkhash Nature Reserve, and this year another 5 are expected from Russia.

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For the Przewalski’s horses, the seven individuals transferred from Berlin and Prague arrived at the Altyn Dala Reserve in Kazakhstan’s Kostanay region. The incoming 150 will be located across the country.

MORE CENTRAL ASIAN WILDLIFE: Wild and Wonderful Saiga is No Longer Endangered with a Million Roaming Now in Central Asia

Hungary sits at the Western terminus of the Eurasian steppe, and takes its name from a people who emerged from its grasslands, the Huns.

It’s fitting then that it should be an ancestral relative that offers the Kazakhs this amazing opportunity to restore a quintessential figure to the grasslands—the wild horse.

SHARE This Great Progress Towards A Wilder Kazakhstan… 

Shelved Movie ‘Wile E. Coyote vs. Acme’ Will Finally Hit Screens with a Hilarious Plotline

A scene from Coyote vs Acme - credit Warner Bros. Discovery, fair use
A scene from Coyote vs Acme – credit Warner Bros. Discovery (Fair use)

Few in America will likely be aware that a critically acclaimed live-action/animated Looney Tunes movie starring Wile E. Coyote was wholly made, but then shelved by Warner Bros. studios.

But, after a raucous outcry from the creative team who fell in love with the project and spent months bringing it to life, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) finally agreed to sell the rights to Ketchup Entertainment for what an insider told The Wrap was around $50 million.

Called Coyote vs. Acme, the film is reported to boast that brilliant mixture of adult and childish humor that made Looney Tunes relevant for so long among American audiences.

The “Vs.” in the name implies legal action—wherein Wile E. Coyote files a lawsuit against Acme for the countless faulty products he purchased from the company in his pursuit of the indomitable Road Runner.

Even though the film had consistently been highly rated by critics and early-screening audiences, it almost received an Acme anvil to the head before anyone in the public could view it.

Reported extensively by The Wrap, Coyote vs. Acme had been green-lit by a previous team of executives, 4 of whom were replaced during production.

The new suits, who had to delay the theatrical release to avoid contending with Barbie, decided to switch strategies and finally—following the wave of indignation from the film’s production team—acquiesced to letting them shop it around.

What they didn’t tell the team was that the price would be fixed, and WBD would do the talking. After failing to find a buyer for an $80 million take-it-or-leave-it price tag for streaming and non-streaming releases—and rejecting a $50 million offer from Paramount that would include a theatrical release, WBD was prepared to shelve the film permanently and take a $40 million tax write-off in advance of a bad third-quarter earnings drop last year.

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In summary, over a year of creative labor from stars Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor, and Tone Bell, was nearly “silenced by a movie studio’s balance sheet.”

Will Forte, who plays Wile E. Coyote’s legal counsel, said specifically that the decision made his “blood boil.”

But before that was all folks, it was announced on Monday that the film was finally sold to Ketchup Entertainment—who recently released another Looney Tunes movie entitled The Day The Earth Blew Up. 

Getty Images for Unsplash+

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“We’re thrilled to have made a deal with Warner Bros. Pictures to bring this film to audiences worldwide,” Ketchup Entertainment CEO Gareth West said in a statement.

“‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is a perfect blend of nostalgia and modern storytelling, capturing the essence of the beloved Looney Tunes characters while introducing them to a new generation. We believe it will resonate with both longtime fans and newcomers alike.”

A release date of 2026 in American theaters is believed to be most likely.

SHARE This Saga Of Corporate Vs Creativity With Your Friends Who Loved The Looney Tunes…

Mausoleum with Gladiator’s Epitaph Discovered in Imperial Roman Colony in Southern Italy

An overview of the mausoleum - Credit Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l'area metropolitana di Napoli
An overview of the mausoleum – Credit Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’area metropolitana di Napoli

In the southern Italian region of Campania, excavations in a known Roman colony called Liternum have uncovered a necropolis of substantial historic interest containing a gladiator’s tomb bearing an inscription in his honor.

One of the most romanticized of all ancient warrior societies, the mausoleum where the inscription was found suggests that these gladiators could win substantial post-career retirements and posthumous honors.

One of the a cappuccina tombs found at the Liternum – Credit Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’area metropolitana di Napoli

Located in the present-day municipality of Giugliano in Campania, the site dates to the first century BCE, and saw use as a final resting place well into the middle imperial period some two to three hundred years later.

A release from the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and the Countryside of the Naples Metro Area details that the stratigraphy of the site and the recovery of grave goods including coins, oil lamps, and ceramics, demonstrate how funerary customs changed over the empire’s history.

The necropolis at Liternum consisted of two funerary enclosures, totaling around 1,500 square feet and enclosed in white-washed grey tuff blocks with red detailing.

The deceased were interred there in several ways, including funerary urns set within about 20 plastered niches cut into the walls, large ossuaries, and enclosures on the floor sealed with pitched roofs of terracotta tiles—called “a cappuccina” tombs.

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Among the most relevant discoveries were diverse marble cenotaphs, some of which remained intact, and one in particular that bears the epitaph of a gladiator, documenting the value and memory of these combatants in Roman society, a statement from the Superintendency read. 

Its presence in Liternum suggests that the city was home to gladiators who, after their careers in the arena, found their final resting place there.

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“The Giugliano territory is experiencing an extraordinary period of discoveries, first with the Tomb of Cerberus and now with this necropolis,” the Superintendent Mariano Nuzzo said. “The quality of the structures and their excellent state of preservation enrich our understanding of the history of the Liternum colony and deepen the study of the sociocultural context of the time.”

Excavations are still ongoing, and more secrets may yet reveal themselves, perhaps about Liternum’s place on the Via Domitiana, a road that went from Rome to Campania that was known to have been lined with necropoli and tombs.

SHARE This Latest Discovery From The Roman World… 

Stir Stick to Detect if Your Drink Is Spiked Developed by Chemists Hoping to See Them on Every Bar Top

The Spikeless teaam, including consultant Sasha Santos (left) and chemists Samin Youssef and Johan Foster - credit, UBC
The Spikeless team, including consultant Sasha Santos (left) and chemists Samin Yousefi and Johan Foster – credit, UBC

After 12 years of research and development, a team of Canadian chemists has created what could be the ultimate tool for detecting if your drink has been spiked.

More discreet and accurate than anything else on the market, the simple, innocuous-looking drink stir comes with a tip that will change color if exposed to any of the common drugs used by predatory bargoers.

Called Spikeless, the stirrer was envisioned by a team of brothers at the University of British Columbia and can detect common drink spiking drugs like GHB and ketamine, which are otherwise odorless and tasteless, within 30 seconds.

Dr. Johan Foster, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, and his brother, Andrew, came up with the idea in 2012 and predicted the tool could be carried around with one’s phone, wallet, and keys, or provided by venues upon request.

“Anywhere there’s a bar—clubs, parties, festivals—there’s a risk,” said Samin Yousefi, a UBC master’s student in chemical and biological engineering and the device’s co-inventor alongside the Fosters.

“People have tried cups, coasters, straws, even nail polish to detect these drugs. Our device is more discreet than existing alternatives and doesn’t contaminate the drink.”

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The tool still requires approval from Health Canada, and the inventors haven’t come up with any mass-manufacturing process for it yet.

Global News, a Canadian news outlet reporting on the invention, quoted one expert in the field of sexual abuse and violence, Sasha Santos, who said that providing defense solutions and education, while also leaving the onus to prevent such predation entirely on the individual, hasn’t worked to reduce rates of incidents involving spiked drinks.

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If the cost of Spikeless could be made low enough, establishments could simply have a tray of them on the bar or drink stand, where they could be used like normal drink stirrers.

WATCH the story below from Global News… 

SHARE This Great, No-Brainer Invention With Your Friends… 

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” – Oscar Wilde

Eddie Kopp

Quote of the Day: “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” – Oscar Wilde

Photo by: Eddie Kopp

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, April 2

Guinness putting on theater makeup at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival 1953

111 years ago today, Sir Alec Guinness was born, an English actor who would become one of the greatest in a generation who transitioned from theater to film following the Second World War. During the 50s and 60s he experienced great success as Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won both the Academy and BAFTA awards for Best Actor, Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and General Yevgraf Zhivago in Doctor Zhivago (1965). READ about the Star Wars filming, and WATCH a monologue… (1914)

49-Year-old Becomes First Blind Woman to Swim English Channel: ‘Nothing is Impossible’

Melanie Barratt out in the English Channel - credit SWNS
Melanie Barratt out in the English Channel – credit SWNS

A Paralympic gold medalist has become the first blind woman to swim across the English Channel, and she finished under time.

She said that being blind has left her feeling “isolated,” but thanks to swimming, she has a “newfound confidence” and hopes her feat “inspires others”.

49-year-old Melanie Barratt took on the challenge after falling in love with open-water swimming.

She swam the Channel, from Shakespeare Beach in Dover to Cap Gris Nez Beach in France, in 12 hours and 20 minutes, faster than the expected 14 hours, and described it as “a dream come true.”

“My life has been filled with challenges because of my blindness, and it often led me to feel isolated and unsure of myself,” said Barratt.

Melanie, now a special needs assistant after winning two gold medals, two silvers, and a bronze at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Paralympics, said she “never thought it would be possible to achieve something like this.”

It’s no mean feat, even for an Olympian, as the Channel weather regularly takes the lives of sailors and refugees in crossing.

Melanie Barratt with her haul from the 1996 and 200 Paralympics – credit SWNS

Melanie was born with scarred eyes after her mom contracted congenital toxoplasmosis during pregnancy. She grew up virtually blind and was only able to make out bright colors and shapes. She first began swimming with the British Blind Sport charity.

“I loved the water,” she remembers. “The charity helped me by teaching me to swim straight and how not to bump my head into the pool ends.”

“I struggled to fit in at school because of my blindness, so I often turned to the pool as an escape.”

Slowly improving, a swimming partner invited her to the Paralympic games, which lit a fire underneath her that pushed her to succeed. After Sydney, Melanie retired from competitive swimming and wanted “something more.”

“Sadly, my guide dog doesn’t swim,” she said, according to English news media outlet SWNS. “But I became friends with an incredible open-water swimmer who took me under her wing.”

“The shock of the cold water made me aware of every single cell of my body, and it was freeing.”

Once hooked on open-water swimming, Melanie competed in several races, including a 10k lake swim, the Thames Marathon, and a relay race in Lake Geneva in July 2023.

It was as freeing as it was frightening, since there were no indicative surfaces or objects for her to use as a reference point. A solution presented itself as her husband paddling alongside her in a kayak, the bright colored paint of which she could see.

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“I also started using bone-conducting headphones that allowed him to communicate with me throughout my swims,” she says. “It made open-water swimming more accessible.”

Two years before her Geneva feat, Melanie signed up for the English Channel swim, describing it as “the Everest of swimming,” and on August 28th, 2024, she swam the Channel in 12 hours and 20 minutes, receiving a Guinness World Record for the feat two months later.

“Halfway through the swim, I felt scared and sick. I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said. “But I had the most amazing team and I was really determined.”

MORE RECORD-SETTING SWIMMERS: Heavy-Set Grandmother Completes Terrifying 29-Mile Swim Through Shark-Infested Waters to Break the Record

“Life is incredibly difficult being blind, and it’s very limiting, but sport and open-water swimming have given me a newfound confidence and made me proud of who I am.”

“My husband and two boys always know I love to push myself and that I always need something to work towards, and I hope I’ve inspired others to do the same.”

SHARE This Woman’s Unreal Accomplishment On The Open Sea… 

6 Expert Parenting Tips for Getting Closer to Your Kids–Try Changing Up These Routines

Photo by Some Tale on Unsplash
Photo by Some Tale on Unsplash

A therapist has revealed six parenting tips for building a stronger connection with your child.

Melinda O’Neil, 37, an associate licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in Pleasanton, California, has been a therapist for one year and child counselor for seven.

O’Neil—also the mom of a six-year-old son—focuses on connection, empathy, and personal growth as key components of effective parenting.

From fostering independence to encouraging emotional intelligence, here are her top tips for parenting.

Become a fan

It’s easy for parents to tune out when their child is talking about video games, dinosaurs, or the latest pop star, but O’Neil says engaging with their interests is crucial for bonding.

“[Renowned physician and educator] Maria Montessori always said, ‘Follow the child,’” O’Neil summarizes.

“That means embracing whatever they’re into—whether it’s excavators, the alphabet, animals, or trains.”

She acknowledges that parents may not always love their kids’ taste in music, but she encourages them to listen anyway.

“[L]istening with them means you know what they’re listening to. Plus, it’s a great way to bond. If they want to go to a concert, chaperone!”

“Even if you don’t love the artist, bring some earplugs—it’s about showing interest in their world.”

Rephrase your questions

Parents often ask, “How was school today?” only to be met with a one-word response. O’Neil suggests taking a more intentional approach to foster open communication.

“Ask specific questions about their day,” she said. “Instead of ‘How was school?’ try ‘Did you see your friend today?’ or ‘What was the funniest thing that happened?’ Make communication a two-way street.”

By engaging in detailed conversations, parents create an environment where children feel safe opening up.

“It’s not just about you talking at them or them talking at you—it’s about having real conversations where they feel heard.”

Own your own mistakes

Kids are always watching, and O’Neil says parents should be mindful of the behaviors they model.

“If you make a mistake, own it,” she explained. “Say, ‘I got really frustrated and shouldn’t have reacted that way. Next time, I’ll take a deep breath.’”

By doing this, parents show kids that mistakes are a normal part of life and that they can be handled with accountability and grace.

“It’s a lot of pressure because kids are always copying us,” she admitted. “But modeling healthy responses teaches them how to navigate emotions and interactions in a positive way.”

– credit: Quinn Dombrowski, CC 2.0. via Flickr.

Try new things

While it’s important to follow a child’s interests, O’Neil also stresses the value of trying new things.

“Structured activities beyond the park—like cooking classes, new hobbies, or different restaurants—help kids expand their world,” she explained.

“And if they’re hesitant? Encourage them anyway. Remind them, ‘You might like it!’”

She acknowledges that not every new experience will be a hit.

“If they try something and truly don’t like it, that’s okay,” she said. “Congratulate them for trying. But the key is to keep encouraging curiosity and new adventures.”

Let them be emotional

Emotions can be messy, but O’Neil says learning to sit with them is crucial for emotional intelligence.

“Feelings can make us uncomfortable, but if your child is experiencing one, let them,” she advised. “Be present. Sit with them in their sadness, frustration, or joy.”

She notes that emotions naturally cycle every seven minutes.

“Give them that space,” she said.

“If they’re crying, tell them, ‘It’s okay to cry.’ Even if it makes you uncomfortable, practice sitting with it instead of shutting it down.”

Getty Images / Unsplash+

Parent yourself

The best parenting starts with self-growth, O’Neil says.

“One thing I see every day is that many parents weren’t taught how to manage their own emotions,” she explained. “So as adults, we’re almost re-parenting ourselves.”

She stresses the importance of self-reflection.

“The best thing you can do for your child is to become a healthier version of yourself.

“Acknowledge your mistakes, work on your emotional responses, and show yourself the same compassion you’d show them.”

At the end of the day, O’Neil says parenting is about connection, empathy, and being willing to grow alongside your child.

“Promote empathy and compassion,” she said. “And that includes being compassionate with yourself.”

SHARE These Good Foundational Parenting Points With Any New Moms And Dads On Your Social Media… 

How Valerie the Weiner Dog Survived 18 Months in the Australian Bush to Make it Home

Josh Fishlock, Valerie, and Georgia Gardner - credit family photo
Josh Fishlock, Valerie, and Georgia Gardner – credit family photo

On an island south of Adelaide, a strange creature has been seen creeping through the bush. A long cylindrical body and long snout flanked by floppy ears are dead giveaways.

But this wiener dog named Valerie isn’t lost anymore. After almost 18 months of living wild on Kangaroo Island, local police are poised to get her out of there and reunite her with owners Josh Fishlock and Georgia Gardner.

In 2023, the pair were enjoying a camping holiday on the island with their miniature dachshund Valerie, who weighs no more than 8 pounds soaking wet. The pampered pooch was used to pink sweaters and toys, treats and ramps to help her get upstairs, and so the couple thought it would be safe to leave her closed in her cage with plenty of pleasures while they went fishing.

But within minutes of casting their lines, another camper told them that Valerie had escaped, run underneath a van, and then bolted into the bush when some people tried to coax her out.

“We spent the next five days searching for her through the bushland, hiking up and down big hills and camping overnight,” Georgia told the Sunday Times. They had packed only one pair of clothes each, and amid the stink, the rain, and the lack of any sign of their beloved pooch, the two reluctantly gave up and returned home to Albury.

Meanwhile, on the island inhabited by large venomous black tiger snakes and wedge-tailed eagles that prey on the native wallabies, Valerie’s fate seemed sealed.

But it seems there’s more wolf than wiener in Valerie than meets the eye, and a survival instinct evidently kicked in that has seen her make it through 500 days of wild living.

Via a local Facebook group, Georgia said they heard last month that Valerie had been seen on the island at the end of February, just over nine miles from the campsite where she had been lost.

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Georgia then contacted Jared Karran, according to the Times, who works as both a local police officer and wildlife rescuer. Karran organized an effort to locate Valerie’s territory by baiting and setting out cameras. They eventually spotted her—alive and in rude health.

One local tour operator said the most likely food source has been roadkill, and that the eagles would have been her biggest threat. Valerie is extremely canny, and Karran is reluctant to try and trap the dog. Instead, they are hoping to reactivate her domesticated instincts and coax her out into a space where she can be apprehended.

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For their part, Georgia and Josh are preparing for a 13-hour-long drive back to Kangaroo Island to retrieve her.

“We’re just waiting to see what condition she’s in and whether she’s still domesticated,” Georgia says. “It’s all pretty overwhelming. I just want to give her a big hug.”

SHARE This Unlikely Story Of Survival Of A Diminutive Dachshund… 

‘Change Has Been Amazing’ For Depleted Mountain: with New Vegetation Comes Deer, Pumas, Andean Bears

The paramo in Colombia - Getty Images for Unsplash+
The paramo in Colombia – Getty Images for Unsplash+

High along the peaks and ridges of the mountains in Ecuador, a 25-year-long conservation program is bearing succulent fruit in the form of cleaner water and abundant wildlife.

Established in the year 2000, Quito’s fund for the protection of water has allowed a critical South American ecosystem unique to the world and vital to both plants and animals to reclaim vast tracts of its former landscape, and people are noticing the difference.

“Before the water fund, the páramo in Antisana was very degraded. The only thing you would see was sheep.” Silvia Benitez, the Nature Conservancy’s Director of Freshwater for Latin America, said in a statement. “The change has been amazing. Vegetation is back. The wetlands are restored.”

“Now people see groups of deer. They see puma. I saw a fox. I had never before seen a fox in this area.”

The story of this quarter-century success began when the United States nonprofit the Nature Conservancy partnered with Quito’s water utility company, known as EPMAPS. The second-highest capital city on Earth by altitude, Quito is surrounded by a famous ecosystem called the páramo, a biodiversity hotspot where masses of mosses, lichen, high-altitude palms, and endemic grasses create a mountain environment unlike any other.

The páramo covers slopes above 10,000 feet in elevation all over the Andes Mountains, and acts like a giant sponge absorbing and condensing moisture from the lower ground before releasing it in streams and rivers further down. The Nature Conservancy estimates that in Colombia, where páramos cover just 2% of land area, this hydrological service provides 70% of all municipal water. It’s estimated that páramo sequesters 6 times more carbon than tropical rainforest.

EPMAPS and the Nature Conservancy organized $21,000 in seed money to kick-start a trust fund that would charge downstream users of water from the páramos around Quito for the conservation measures needed to protect them.

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Called the Fund for the Protection of Water, or FONAG, it’s accumulated $2.5 million in annual contributions over the last 25 years, and as a result, páramos are retaking ranchland that once displaced them, and the wildlife like whitetail deer, Andean bears, Mountain tapirs, and condors are returning as well.

FONAG has so far protected and conserved 55,000 hectares of páramos. But that is just the beginning. In the coming decades, FONAG plans to protect a total of 150,000 hectares of páramos.

Andean Condor. Photo by Enrique Ortiz

“Since FONAG’s beginning, its priority has always been the protection of the water sources. But when you conserve water sources, it’s almost automatic that you have other co-benefits—biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and social benefits,” said Bert de Bievre, Technical Secretary of FONAG.

Local communities have become very involved in FONAG’s work. Two dozen have become páramo rangers, local ranchers have moved their animals to lower elevations, agriculturalists have worked with EPMAPS to switch to low-impact methods of cultivation away from watersheds, and the Nature Conservancy runs a nursery that grows many of the endemic páramo plants for use in reforestation.

SOUTH AMERICAN CONSERVATION: Locals Finally Save ‘the Yosemite of South America’ After Decade Long Battle with Industrialist Who Owned it

The Quito-FONAG model is now being implemented across the northwestern areas of South America, and it shows how much can be achieved by simply letting rivers run free.

“Each year, the global water sector spends $700 billion on building and repairing pipes and reservoirs, using grey solutions to engineer themselves out of a problem created by deforestation, agriculture or other threats upstream,” said Brooke Atwell, Associate Director of the Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Watersheds strategy.

“If we were able to reallocate just 1% of that spending ($7 billion) toward protecting nature, it would eclipse all global philanthropic spending on conservation today.”

SHARE The 25 Years Of Quiet Success Above Ecuador’s Capital… 

“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” – Charles Bukowski

Quote of the Day: “What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” – Charles Bukowski

Photo by: Gert Boers

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, April 1

49 years ago today, the Apple Computer company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to sell their ground-breaking Apple I personal computer kits. Their startup is now the most valuable company in the world, becoming the first publicly-traded company to be valued at $1 trillion in 2018—a figure that has nearly quadrupled since then. READ some interesting historical bites of Apple… (1976)

Presumed Extinct: World’s Smallest Otter Found in Busy Nepal River After 186 Years without a Sighting

An Asian small-clawed otter - credit, Rajeev Chaudary, supplied to IUCN
An Asian small-clawed otter – credit, Rajeev Chaudhary, supplied to IUCN

Though officially classified as vulnerable, no credible sighting of the Asian short-clawed otter, the smallest species of its kind, has been made in almost 200 years.

So when forestry officials in Nepal found an injured, juvenile otter at the confluence of two major rivers last November, they never imagined that their actions might determine the fate of the world’s smallest otter.

Fortunately, they sent images to the scientific community in the region, who realized that the animal had reappeared, having not been seen since 1839.

“The sighting of an Asian small-clawed otter after 185 years is a remarkable discovery for conservation in Nepal, ending concerns that the species may have been extinct in the country,” said a note from the IUCN’s Otter Specialist Group.

“The sighting highlights the need for detailed study of the status of this species in Nepal and urgent implementation of conservation initiatives.”

This small member of the Lutrinae subfamily measures 28.6 to 37.6 inches long and weighs in at a maximum of 7.7 lbs. Its claws, as the name suggests, are short and don’t grow past the pad on its webbed feet.

Occasionally reported living in Makalu Barun National Park, Nepal, the juvenile was found along the junction of the Rangun Khola river and its feeder stream, the Puntara Khola, in the far west of the country. The river was tranquil after the monsoon rains, and plenty of space along the banks was occupied by sand and gravel miners, bathers, clothes-washers, and fishermen.

OTTERS AT HOME: Out-of-Control Invasive Crab Species Has Met its Match: Cute and Hungry Otters

“As it was found in a fragile and injured state, the forest officers decided to feed and nurse it, but they didn’t know which species it belonged to,” Mohan Bikram Shrestha, lead author of the note, told Mongabay.

The forest officers, led by Rajeev Chaudhary, shared the images of the creature with the Shrestha and the specialist group, which helped them identify it.

MORE REAPPEARANCES: Majestic Sei Whales Reappear in Argentine Waters After Nearly a Century

“Otters are resilient to highly modified anthropogenic landscapes, flexible in habitat selection, and able to recover from low numbers,” the conclusion on the note added. “Nevertheless… a timely conservation effort for this exceptionally rare species, a keystone aquatic mesocarnivore, is now urgently needed in Nepal.”

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In East Africa, Rats Have Prevented 400,000 New Cases of Deadliest Infection Using Their Super Sense of Smell

An APOPO employee with one of their trained rats - credit APOPO, handout
An APOPO employee with one of their trained rats – credit APOPO, handout

For most people, a rat is at best an unwelcome guest, and at worst, the target of immediate extermination. But in a field clinic in Tanzania, rats are colleagues—heroes even.

Far from a trash bin-dwelling NYC street rat, the African giant pouched rat is docile, intelligent, easier to train than some dogs, and for East Africans, the performer of lifesaving tuberculosis diagnoses every day.

400,000 new cases of tuberculosis (TB) were estimated to have been prevented by these rats, whose sense of smell would make a bloodhound take notice. As the number-one killer among infectious diseases worldwide, many of those 400,000 can be translated into lives saved.

“Not only are we saving people’s lives, but we’re also changing these perspectives and raising awareness and appreciation for something as lowly as a rat,” said Cindy Fast, a behavioral neuroscientist who coaches the rodents for the nonprofit APOPO.

“Because our rats are our colleagues, and we really do see them as heroes.”

APOPO uses giant pouched rates to sniff out traces of TB in the saliva of patients. In parts of Tanzania, a saliva smear test under a microscope by a human may only be 20-40% effective at detecting TB.

By contrast, a giant pouched rat like Ms. Carolina, a now-retired service rat who worked for APOPO for 7 years, raised the rates of detection on TB samples by 40% in the clinic where she worked.

It would take 4 days for scientists to analyze the number of samples that Carolina could screen in 20 minutes. For that reason, when Carolina retired last November, a party was thrown at the clinic in her honor, and she was given a cake.

TB is sometimes thought of as a thing of the past—a disease for which doctors used to prescribe “dry air,” leading modern humors to muse at the antiquated, pre-antibiotic medical advice.

But it remains the number-one cause of death globally from a single infectious pathogen, and Tefera Agizew, a physician and APOPO’s head of tuberculosis, told National Geographic that once people see what the nonprofit’s rodents can do to slow the spread, they “fall in love with them.”

MORE SNIFFER ANIMALS: Rats With Tiny Backpacks Being Used to Sniff Out Wildlife Smugglers Trafficking in Animal Parts

3,000 times in her career did Carolina detect one of the six volatile compounds that can be used to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and she got a hero’s send off to a special compound to live out the rest of her days with her closet friend and sniffer colleague Gilbert, in a shaded enclosure dubbed “Rat Florida.”

“We’ve made special little rat-friendly carrot cakes with little peanuts and things on it that the rat would enjoy,” Fast said. “Then we all stand around and we clap, and we give three cheers, hip hip hooray for the hero, and celebrate together. It’s really a touching moment.”

APOPO has made headlines for its use of these rats in other lifesaving tasks as well: landmine clearance.

LANDMINE CLEARENCE WITH DRONES: Drones Find Dozens of Landmines Littering Ukraine So They Can Be Defused

One of the world’s great underreported scourges (a lot like TB, coincidentally) is landmine contamination. There are 110 million landmines or unexploded bombs in the ground right now in about 67 countries, covering thousands of square miles in potential danger. Thousands of civilians are killed or injured by these weapons every year.

GNN reported on APOPO’s demining efforts using pouched rats back in 2020. One rat named Magawa alone identified 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordnance across an area the size of 20 football fields.

If at the start of this story you didn’t like rats, maybe Magawa and Carolina will have changed your mind.

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Girl Joins Mensa at 13 After Scoring Higher Than Albert Einstein–Even with No Exam Prep

SWNS
SWNS

A 13-year-old girl has been invited to join the Mensa society after getting the maximum score on the IQ test—higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Sofia Kot Arcuri has been accepted into the club after achieving 162, the highest possible score for a girl of her age.

Proud mom Cecylia Kot Arcuri said she always knew Sofia was smart, but didn’t expect her to ace the test without any preparatory work.

“She just walks around throwing random facts at you,” Mrs. Arcuri said, adding that she has been top of her class from the moment she started school. “When you think of someone of high intelligence, you’d think they’d be quite geeky, but really, she’s a normal girl.”

“She’s got loads of friends, is bubbly, and loved by everyone.”

The Mensa High-IQ Society has been around for over 100 years, and focuses on welcoming those extremely gifted minds among us into a space of collaboration and camaraderie. The American chapter of Mensa boasts 50,000 members of the over 150,000, located in 90+ countries worldwide.

Isaac Asimov, Commander Chris Hadfield, Steve Martin, and John McAfee were all members of Mensa, along with the inventor of the mobile phone and author of The Clan of the Cave Bear novels.

Due to Sofia’s intense workload from school, she “didn’t have time to prepare” for the Mensa test in January, and hadn’t practiced any Mensa tests prior to the big day.

Her mother said she was over the moon after receiving her results on March 14th.

MORE MENSA-MINDS: Boy Whose IQ is the Same as Einstein Joins Mensa to Make Some Friends

Sofia is top of her class in computer science and wants to pursue a career in coding when she grows up.

“She came home one day and said, ‘there was a bug the teacher didn’t even know how to solve, and I did it,” said the understandably proud Cecylia.

SWNS

“She’s also a ballet dancer and performs in shows with her dance school. She loves musical theatre and is always playing the piano.”

OTHER ACADEMIC ACES: Diligent Planning Sees Teen Accepted into 231 Schools, Winning $14.7 Million in Scholarships–Here’s Some Advice

Cecylia’s father and Sophia’s grandfather, Antoni Kot, was a head teacher and mathematician who was very well known in his homeland of Poland, tutoring students until age 86 when he died.

“His brain was sharp even in his last minutes, and we believe Sofia inherited her love of math and coding from him,” she said.

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When You Board This Philadelphia Trolley, the Driver Makes Sure You Leave with A Smile – (WATCH)

A SEPTA railcar - credit SEPTA, retrieved from Facebook
A SEPTA railcar – credit SEPTA, retrieved from Facebook

It’s a wise man or woman who treats strangers with kindness because of the old maxim that you don’t know what kind of day they’re having.

For Tracey Holms-Williams, a Philadelphia trolley operator, that’s more than just a maxim—it’s her Modus Operandi.

Working for the Southeast Philadelphia Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for 26 years, Tracey does her best to help both people and kindness get around the city.

“You’re coming into my house,” Holms-Williams told ABC 6 WPVI in front of her trolley. “So you’re coming into my house, I want to greet you, I want to make you feel good, I want you to have a nice time.”

“Sometimes I’ll say ‘Hold up, don’t get on yet, I’ve got to roll out the red carpet!'”

SEPTA sees an average passenger load of around 750,000 per day, but it’s only a few hundred who will hop on Holms-Williams’ trolley and enjoy all the positive and uplifting quotes and posters pasted on the inside; part of her dedication to inspiring the whole city to keep its chin up.

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Holms-Williams sees herself and her colleagues as being on “the front lines” of civic mindset, and as such, wants to treat everyone to a laugh or a smile.

“I just try to make everybody feel good,” she says. “I put the positive quotes up there to inspire people because you never know what kind of day they’re having.”

WATCH the video below from ABC 7… 

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“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Dawid Zawiła – Unsplash

Quote of the Day: “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Photo by: Polina Kuzovkova / Unsplash+

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, March 31

The Meaning of Life theatrical release poster - fair use

42 years ago today, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life was released in the United States to modest box office success and enormous cult acclaim. Less of a continuous film like the comedy troupe’s previous Life of Brain, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail and more of a collection of sketches, The Meaning of Life is divided into various chapters of a human life, but begins when six fish in a restaurant fish tank watch one of their friends get taken for dinner and start wondering “what’s it all for?” READ more about this hilarious film from the comedy masters… (1983)

Researchers Discover New Mechanism for Rapid Liver Regeneration to Restore Damaged Livers

Getty Images for Unsplash+
Getty Images for Unsplash+

Researchers at the National Cancer Research Centre in Spain (CNIO) have discovered a mechanism that is triggered just minutes after acute liver damage occurs—and it could lead to treatments for those with severe liver problems.

The avenues for future treatments of liver damage include a diet enriched with the amino acid glutamate.

“Glutamate supplementation can promote liver regeneration and benefit patients in recovery following hepatectomy or awaiting a transplant,” wrote the authors in a paper published in ‘Nature’.

The liver is a vital organ, crucial to digestion, metabolism, and the elimination of toxins. It has a unique ability to regenerate, which allows it to replace liver cells damaged by the very toxins that these cells eliminate.

However, the liver stops regenerating in cases of diseases that involve chronic liver damage–such as cirrhosis—and such diseases are becoming increasingly prevalent, associated with poor dietary habits or alcohol consumption. So activating liver regeneration is key to treating the disease.

Learning to activate liver regeneration is therefore a priority today, to benefit patients with liver damage and also those who’ve had part of their liver cut out to remove a tumor.

The research has discovered in animal models this previously unknown mechanism of liver regeneration. It is a process that is triggered very quickly, just a few minutes after acute liver damage occurs, with the amino acid glutamate playing a key role.

“Our results describe a fundamental and universal mechanism that allows the liver to regenerate after acute damage,” explained Nabil Djouder, head of the CNIO Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer Group and senior author of the study.

ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH: Edible Carbon Beads Can Reduce Cirrhosis Liver Disease By Restoring Gut Microbiome

A “complex and ingenious” perspective on liver regeneration

Liver regeneration was known to occur through the proliferation of liver cells, known as hepatocytes. However, the molecular mechanisms involved were not fully understood. This current discovery is very novel, as it describes communication between two different organs, the liver and bone marrow, involving the immune system, according to a CINO news release.

The results show that liver and bone marrow are interconnected by glutamate. After acute liver damage, liver cells, called hepatocytes, produce glutamate and send it into the bloodstream; through the blood, glutamate reaches the bone marrow, inside the bones, where it activates monocytes, a type of immune system cell. Monocytes then travel to the liver and along the way become macrophages – also immune cells. The presence of glutamate reprograms the metabolism of macrophages, and these consequently begin to secrete a growth factor that leads to an increase in hepatocyte production.

In other words, a rapid chain of events allows glutamate to trigger liver regeneration in just minutes, through changes in the macrophage metabolism. It is, says Djouder, “a new, complex and ingenious perspective on how the liver stimulates its own regeneration.”

The research also clarifies a previously unanswered question: how the various areas of the liver are coordinated during regeneration. In the liver, there are different types of hepatocytes, organized in different areas; the hepatocytes in each area perform specific metabolic functions. The study reveals that hepatocytes producing a protein known as glutamine synthetase, which regulates glutamate levels, play a key role in regeneration.

MORE PROGRESS: Tumor-Destroying Sound Waves Treatment Coming to a Hospital Near You For Liver Cancer

According to the CNIO group, when glutamine synthetase is inhibited, there is more glutamate in circulation, which accelerates liver regeneration. This is what happens when the liver suffers acute damage: glutamine synthase activity decreases, blood glutamate increases, and from there, the connection with the bone marrow is established, reprogramming macrophages and stimulating hepatocyte proliferation.

Possible therapeutic applications

The experiments have been carried out in mice, but the results have been tested with bioinformatics tools, using databases of mouse and human hepatocytes.

According to Djouder, “dietary glutamate supplementation may simply be recommended in the future after liver extirpation, and also to reduce liver damage caused by cirrhosis.”

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The first author of the paper, CNIO researcher María del Mar Rigual also wants future research to explore using glutamate supplements in humans who have undergone liver resection for tumor removal.

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Neighbors Celebrate 101st Birthday On the Same Day–Living Next Door to Each Other For 4 Decades

Neighbors Josie Church (L) and Anne Wallace-Hadrill outside their homes in Oxford will celebrate their 101st birthdays on April 1 - SWNS
Neighbors Josie Church (L) and Anne Wallace-Hadrill outside their homes in Oxford will celebrate their 101st birthdays on April 1 – SWNS

Two longtime English neighbors are celebrating their joint 101st birthday, born on the same day in 1924.

Josie Church and Anne Wallace-Hadrill have lived side-by-side in Oxford since the 1980s, and the great-grans have celebrated their birthdays together for years.

“I think life has gone quite quickly,” said Josie. “I don’t think we’ve thought much about the time passing. It’s just passed.”

Both women threw themselves into volunteering and creative activities after their husbands died—and the women have been fast friends ever since.

“Anne was very busy when she was younger—so was I—always very productive and creative.

“She did a lot of painting and tapestry, and she was always busy, and I was always busy doing something else, somewhere else, because that’s the sort of life we live.”

Anne, studied English at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a radio mechanic during the Second World War. After graduating, she worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary.

“I was always interested in words. It was my trade.”

She was very proud to receive a medal for her service from the Royal Navy last year, described as “long overdue” by the representative who gave it to her.

Anne Wallace-Hadrill (R) and Josie Church – SWNS

Josie was trained in nursing for three years at Preston Royal Infirmary and remembers the introduction of the National Health Service.

“In those days,” Josie said, “You had to live (on campus) and you couldn’t get married, and it was very strict. People wouldn’t put up with that sort of life now.”

FUN OLDSTERS: 3 Friends All Over 100 Reveal Secrets to Long Life, ‘Happiness, Staying Active and Keep a Boy Toy Nearby’

Her time in nursing during the Second World War included a “chilling” experience of caring for SS German soldiers she described as “very difficult patients who didn’t wish to be taken care of by us.”

She moved with her husband to Oxford so he could continue his degree after the war.

“Oxford was very strange because each college had a large intake of older people who’d gone through the war and were taking up their university places. So you’d get the old men and then the young 18-year-olds coming in from school.”

They don’t remember the moment they discovered they had the same birthday but they especially enjoyed the celebration of their centennial year arranged for 2024.

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“We live on the most amazing road. It’s like one big, extended family,” said Josie, mom of three “wonderful” children.

“Everybody knows everybody else. If you have a problem, you just give a shout and somebody will come. I think we are lucky.”

When asked by the SWNS news agency what tips they might give for leading a long life, Josie concluded: “Just live.”

WATCH: Older Gentleman Steals Dance Floor With Flawless Michael Jackson Moves: Age is Just a Number

“You do what seems to be needing doing, and then you do that—and then something else takes its place. You just go on from one thing to another.

“We don’t engineer our lives. I think they’ve just engineered us.”

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