266 years ago today, French astronomer Charles Messier mistakenly identifies the Crab Nebula with his 100 mm refracting telescope from a room in the Cluny Hotel in Paris. Abbreviated as M1, it was the first discovery that led to the Messier star catalogue, consisting of 110 objects in space that are still today abbreviated with an ‘M’ in his honor. The Andromeda Galaxy is M31, for example, and the Pleiades are M45. READ how the star catalogue grew and grew… (1758)
Artist Makes Furniture Out of Tennis Balls That Otherwise Would Take 400 Years to Decompose in Landfills
Every year, 300 million tennis balls are manufactured for the beloved sport, and almost all are throw out.
A Belgian eco-designer has begun to repurpose some of these into bespoke furniture in a circular way that ensures the rubber and felt balls don’t end up in landfills.
Mathilde Wittock and her team can hand carve 1,800 balls per day into micro-cushioning elements for a chaise lounge and a bench—her two flagship products.
To put that into perspective, 70,000 were used just in the recently concluded US Open.
They take around 2 to 3 weeks to make, but once they’re finished, one sees why it’s worth the wait. With the fuzz on the tennis balls dyed to match interior colors, they’re quite fetching, and must be delightfully comfortable.
“It takes around 24 different manufacturing steps to (make) a tennis ball, which is around five days. Then it has such a short lifespan,” Wittock told CNN in a video call from Brussels. “I was looking into tennis balls because I played tennis myself, so I know there is a lot of waste.”
Looking to find innovative sources of materials, the tennis balls seemed obvious because of their durability, short lifespan, and the fact that nearly all of them need 400 years to decompose in a landfill, provided they haven’t been given over to a dog first.
Tennis balls are filled with gas, which not only gives them their bounce but is also why the containers they come in are sealed like a soup can. Once open, the gas slowly leaves the core of the ball, leaving it flat and eventually unsuitable for the game.
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Wittock receives donated tennis balls from sports clubs like the Federation of Wallonia in Belgium, which recently gave over its entire stock of 100,000 used tennis balls, which she says should provide for around 9 months of production.
“Eco-design is about circularity. You can use great materials that are low carbon emission or recycled, but you need to think of the end cycle,” she said. “If it’s not a circle, and if you can’t reuse (the elements) into something else, it’s not eco-design. It’s even worse, because it’s new materials.”
MORE CIRCULAR ECONOMIC NEWS: Shoes Made From Coffee Grounds and Recycled Plastic Bottles Are Not Only Waterproof But Super Comfy
Owners of the furniture can hand their pieces back to Wittock, who will burn away the fuzz and send the rubber shells out for shredding, where they will be repurposed into bouncy play mats for kids.
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Lost Rembrandt Found Tucked Away Inside an Attic in Maine Sells for $1.4 Million in Bidding War
“Tucked away” in a home attic in Maine alongside a “collection of heirlooms and antiques” art appraisers found a lost Rembrandt portrait.
Depicting a teenage woman in 17th-century Dutch attire, it recently sold at auction for $1.4 million, delighting the handlers who know it will be preserved and shared with the art world in a manner befitting the Dutch master.
The sale was handled by New England’s Thomaston Place Auction Galleries and Appraisers, who were on a routine house call to Camden, Maine. Kaja Veilleux, the gallery’s founder and a seasoned appraiser, was the one who eventually pinned the portrait as something special.
“We often go in blind on house calls, not knowing what we’ll find,” Veilleux said.
Painted on an oak board, and set in a gold Dutch frame, Veilleux turned the work over and found a neat little tag from the Philidelphia Museum of Art with the word ‘Rembrandt’ on it. It also bore the name of the work, Portrait of a Girl.
Not something you see every day to be sure. While finding masterworks of all sorts hidden in attics and cellars is no strange phenomenon, they’re typically rediscovered in Europe. To find one in Maine was a real shock.
A bit of research uncovered that the work was loaned by a Mr. Cary W. Bok to the museum for an exhibition in 1970. How it ended up in Maine is a mystery.
“Not many painters paint like Rembrandt, for one thing, and one of the trademarks of the Rembrandt paintings and the Dutch masters is what I call a ‘ribbon candy collar,'” Mr. Veilleux, wearing a soft gold waistcoat as part of his auctioneer attire, told local news channel WMTW in a Nick Nolte-like gravelly voice as he gestured to the girl’s lace collar.
THINK THIS IS A RARE OCCURRENCE?
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It’s the first time he’s auctioned a piece for more than $1 million. He said that most things sell in about 30 seconds, but the Rembrandt sale went on for 10 minutes, with 9 buyers engaging in a telephone bidding war that “could have brought anything.”
But it’s not about the money for Veilleux.
“To me, it’s about bringing this art to light so it’s protected, cared for, and preserved.”
While it hasn’t been authenticated, Veilleux seems convinced, and suggested that $1.4 million is, in fact, a bargain.
WATCH the story below from WMTW…
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After 9 Years of Work, Chumash Tribe Finally Seals Protection of CA Marine Reserve Bigger Than Yosemite
A California tribe has become the first indigenous group in the Lower 48 to be named co-stewards over a National Marine Sanctuary.
Extending out into the waters between the technology capital of the world and the Hollywood Hills, the Chumash Tribe have been campaigning for decades to achieve it.
Since 1969, the Chumash have been advocating for the preservation of the unique coastal ecosystem that supported them for generations, one in which a delicate balance of coral, kelp, sharks, dolphins, whales, and seals create a bountiful seascape.
Since 2015, tribal leaders have been trying to get the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to designate it a marine sanctuary. And it’s been nearly a year since the Chumash were “months away from clinching” that designation.
Finally, on September 6th, the NOAA concluded the final regulatory step regarding the proposed Chumash National Marine Sanctuary with the issuing of a final environmental impact statement (FEIS).
Under NOAA’s “preferred alternative,” the bureaucratic term used to refer to the ultimate mixture of regulations to govern the area for conservation, tribal use, and offshore wind energy infrastructure, the sanctuary would include 4,543 square miles of coastal and offshore waters along 116 miles of California’s central coast.
Upon designation, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary would become the third-largest seascape in the National Marine Sanctuary System.
“In order to preserve something, in order to protect something, people have to love it, and that is like giving us the opportunity, the world stage, to share our stories and our history,” Violet Walker Sage, head of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, told CBS last year.
With the Biden Administration, the Northern Chumash found attentive listeners, and Walker, whose father was the chief who submitted the original proposal to the NOAA in 2015, knew these 4 years were the ideal moment to finish her late father’s work.
MORE STORIES OF TRIBAL RETURN: Largest Dam Removal in History Begins Restoring Salmon and California Tribal Way of Life
The Biden Administration appointed Deb Haaland, a Pueblo member, to lead the Dept. of the Interior. It went on to designate several sacred tribal areas in the south and southwest as national monuments, and perhaps, Walker thought, someone would finally listen to their pleas.
Bending an ear
“For the Chumash people, they have been a bit overlooked, unfairly, for some time now,” said NOAA representative Mike Murray, who worked with Walker on the final push for the marine sanctuary.
“We are here at NOAA to say, with Violet and others, ‘Let’s work in partnership and change that. Let’s have this protected area and every coastal attraction or visitor center or sign that one might encounter make it clear that this is Chumash territory, and this is very special, and there’s deep meaning in that.'”
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: CA Redwoods to Be First National Park Co-Managed with a Native American Tribe That Used to Own it
As required by the National Environmental Policy Act, NOAA must wait 30 days after publication of the final environmental impact statement before making its final decision on designation. Following the 30 days, should NOAA decide to designate the sanctuary, the agency will release the final regulations and final management plan.
The sanctuary, as described in the preferred alternative, would recognize and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ connections to the region, and be managed with their active participation and stewardship.
The sanctuary is anticipated to bring comprehensive community management to nationally significant natural, historical, archeological, and cultural resources—including kelp forests, rocky reefs, sandy beaches, underwater mountains, and more than 200 shipwrecks. It would span the area from Cambria to Santa Barbara, and connect the national marine sanctuaries of Monterrey Bay and Channel Islands, a passage that’s part of the migratory path of blue whales.
“Every tribal nation across the country maintains a significant cultural tie to its aboriginal lands and waters. Sadly, for many, those connections have been difficult to reach. But today, with this announcement, the Chumash people take great strides in restoring our connection to our maritime history.” said Kenneth Kahn, Chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, which will serve as a co-steward of the sanctuary, in a statement released by the NOAA.
The boundaries for the national marine sanctuary, as outlined in the preferred alternative in the FEIS, would not include areas where offshore wind turbines are currently planned to be built or where wind energy transmission cables are expected to be laid.
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“My father, the late Chief Fred Collins, began the journey to protect these sacred waters 40 years ago, and we have been so proud to continue his work,” Walker Sage said in the same statement. “I am delighted to celebrate his vision, today’s success, and the future of our People who will always be connected to past, present, and future by this special stretch of coastline and the true magic its waters hold.”
WATCH a promotional video of the new sanctuary…
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Beekeeper Finds Grandfather’s Long-Lost Hives Thriving in Quarry–and Turns Them into a Colony of Millions
A tad late for Grandparent’s Day, a man in Scotland recently found the hives tended by his grandfather that were presumed sold or lost for over 14 years.
Locating them in a quarry, he took up beekeeping in order to assume responsibility for his inheritance and his business now sells honey to farmers markets across Scotland.
Ross Main grew up with, and was very close to, his grandfather William, a beekeeper who regularly took him along to check on the bees.
William passed away from cancer in 2007, and Mr. Main assumed his hives had been sold. After the birth of his own son in 2015, Main was inspired to try and find them.
He traveled from his home in Fife in Scotland to the East Lothian quarry where his granddad kept his hives and was stunned to discover an original colony that had taken care of itself for years.
The hive was hundreds of meters down an overgrown track, dilapidated and falling apart.
“Seven years on, out of nostalgia, I went to the quarry and there was still a hive there,” said Main. “In that moment, I knew I wanted to look after the hive and rehome the bees, and I started learning from there.”
Main then began to teach himself beekeeping using videos on YouTube, collecting the bees from his grandfather’s original hive, donning a beekeeping suit, and transferring the colony to their new home.
He then grew them into a population of five million bees split into around 100 colonies all descended from William’s remnant.
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Ross’ business Main’s Apiaries now sells honey to farm shops from three harvests a year.
“Being around the bees could be quite scary because there were big swarms and I was quite young, but it really captured my imagination,” Main remembers. “I started with one hive, and they naturally multiply every year. Over the years, they’ve gradually built up and we’ve split them into new hives.”
As he gradually learned the trade, Ross began expanding his colonies, gifting the honey made to friends and family, and eagerly sharing his experience with anyone interested.
SIMILAR SMILE-INDUCING STORIES: Bee Bricks That Help Thousands of Solitary Bees Are Now a Requirement for New Buildings in Brighton
In 2021, he took the next step and started his business, Main’s Apiaries.
In addition to selling honey, Ross offers beekeeping experiences to prospective hobbyists, and even sells colonies to businesses interested in keeping honeybees on site, maintaining the hives himself weekly.
“We also offer corporate companies the opportunity to have hives on their land. They own the hives and the bees, and we do the maintenance throughout the year,” said Main, adding it’s important to diversify to maintain a viable business. “They support the local biodiversity within the area, and it promotes a healthy ecosystem.”
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“The idea of showing other people the bees came from the first time my granddad took me to see the bees. He opened the hives, and it was quite a magical thing to be around all these swarms of bees,” he said.
“It was an experience I never forgot, and I wanted to offer it to other people.”
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Sunday was Grandparents Day! Helping kids get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet: “When they enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” – Ogden Nash
Quote of the Day: Happy belated Grandparents Day! Helping kids get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet: “When they enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” – Ogden Nash
President Carter officially proclaimed the day in 1979 after decades of lobbying from Jacob Reingold and Marian McQuade, the West Virginia woman who persuaded her state to become the first one to celebrate and honor grandparents with a special day—the first Sunday after Labor Day.
Photo by: Ekaterina Shakharova
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Good News in History, September 11
On this day across history, imperial aggression was resisted or rolled back by indigenous peoples in both the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest (9) and the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297). In the first case, it was one of the greatest defeats in the history of the Roman Empire, and dissuaded them, even commanded as they were by the great Emperor Augustus, from further conquests in Germany. In the second case, William Wallace and Andrew Moray turned back the English forces at the bridge near Stirling, and while details of the battle remain disputed, it’s clear it gave the Scottish nobles and forces belief that they could hold their own in future battles. READ more… (9) – (1297)
Handy with a Hammer and Saw, Eagle Scout Hopeful Renovates Oklahoma Nun’s Food Bank
A boy scout and his family were volunteering at a local food pantry when he realized the outdoor seating was in need of a little TLC.
Looking for a project to help get him nearer to his title of Eagle Scout, and despite having little experience in carpentry, 14-year-old Simon Starnes got to work.
Sister BJ’s Pantry, run by Sister Barbara Joseph Foley, offers free meals to the homeless with a special community emphasis on Friday and Sunday mornings, when these less fortunate patrons come to sip free coffee and take a long breakfast on the days when the nearest food bank isn’t open.
“I went to volunteer there for the Sunday mission, which is making breakfast for the homeless and then handing it out to them. But as I was doing it, I saw the tables were in bad shape and a lot of them were warped and splintering,” Starnes, part of Boy Scout Troop 21, told the Oklahoman.
“I kind of wanted to help fix that. I thought that if I built those (tables), it could definitely help make the experience a lot better for them,” he said.
Having never built a table, he asked around his troop for advice and discovered that another prospective Eagle Scout was the architect of the original picnic tables, and another member of his troop had done the landscaping.
MORE SCOUT PROJECTS: Eagle Scout Leads Volunteers to Build Accessible Path Up to Beautiful Popular Overlook
Together with his father Scott, a friend, and three troop members, Starnes built 4 brand new picnic tables to the exact same dimensions as the originals.
Sister BJ opened the pantry in 2006, and says she has leaned heavily on the community and members of local church parishes.
“All my support all these years have come from private donations, and then, help within the Oklahoma City community,” she said. “That, in itself, is a good feeling. I love having all of the community support.”
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Historic Railway Village Transformed From Dangerous ‘No-go Area’ to Functioning Heritage Neighborhood
A major restoration project in lower England has seen one of the world’s largest railworks turned into a modern celebration of this industrial heritage.
See all these pitched roofs and block houses? Once upon a time, they were homes provided for the workers of the Swindon Railway Village, where mechanics and laborers lived and worked near what was the railway engineering complex in the world at one point.
Between 1841 and 1842, the Great Western Railway (GWR) transformed what was a sleepy market town that had changed little since its inclusion in the Domesday Survey of the Normans in 1066 CE, into a hub of steam and enterprise organization.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, arguably the greatest engineer Britain ever produced, established the ‘Swindon Works’ to construct and maintain steam locomotives that served the railways. This brought with it pioneering amenities such as the UK’s first modern public library and a ‘cradle-to-grave’ healthcare center that was later used as a blueprint for the National Health Service.
It also contained a whole village built to house and entertain the workers and their families, but over time, as the GWR lost its luster, the Swindon Works became largely obsolete, and until recently was the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.
“I was robbed and mugged here, it was a no-go area”, said a 91-year-old former railway blacksmith, Jack Hayward, surveying the GWR Park in Swindon. “What they’ve done to transform it is remarkable.”
The Swindon Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) was launched in June 2019, as an ambitious five-year plan to revitalise the town’s unique railway heritage. As a partnership between Historic England, Swindon Borough Council, and other organizations, the HAZ has renewed, repurposed, and refurbished a large area including more than 300 historic buildings.
Historic heart, modern beat
The original Swindon Works designed by Isambard Brunel came with a large park that contained a cricket pitch and a pub for cricketers. The pub, which has been boarded up for decades, has been restored as a community hub and visitors center to the whole area, while the park has been expanded, cleaned, beautified, cloaked in flowers, and ornamented with trees along the borders of the original park plan.
Streets that had been altered have been returned to their original courses and dimensions according to photographs made of the Swindon Works during their heyday, and special bronze plates embedded in the cement sidewalks denote when you are walking on the heritage roads.
Cherry blossom trees have been planted in the gardens of the workers’ cottages, and plaques containing information and images on the history and landmarks of Works have been placed throughout the village.
Three notable buildings: the railway works, the health center, and the Mechanics Institute, have all been renovated. The health center was built in 1892, and contained a pool and other amenities for the workers. A full restoration of the engineering and interior spaces of the pool room and changing areas was carried out.
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The Carriage Works, an eleven-unit building where train carriages were repaired, received £7 million “to repair the external stonework and guttering and to repair, reglaze and redecorate the windows and doors,” the Swindon local government said in a page on its website.
Unit 11 is now occupied by the Royal Agricultural University’s new Cultural Heritage Institute which is delivering postgraduate courses to train the next generation of heritage managers and professionals. What could be more appropriate?
STILL FUNCTIONING PIECES OF HISTORY: Visitors of Scotland Can Play ‘Real’ Tennis’ on the World’s Oldest Court Dating Back 500 Years
Far from just being a museum, several of the units are now opening to modern businesses for lease.
The Mechanics Institute was built resembling a church and included a covered market back in its day when it was producing the best-educated mechanically-inclined laborers in perhaps all Europe.
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After the Institute closed in 1986, and after succumbing to both vandals and arsonists, it was saved from demolition by the council. A local creative collective, twelve local artists, eleven local schools, and some willing volunteers created a series of murals around the Institute. The murals tell the story of the Swindon Works with a modern artistic flair, but under private ownership, the institute building itself—such a key landmark in the area—is no closer to being renovated.
An underpass that allows pedestrians to pass under major roadways, and which was once dubbed “muggings underpass,” has been completely transformed with modern lighting, plants, benches, and more murals from the groups that did the ones near the institute.
“They’ve done a great job of revitalizing the area. I’m hoping the 150-year history of Swindon railway works will not be lost,” said Mr. Hayward.
WATCH a beautiful virtual tour with narration from Swindon Town Council…
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When She Was Stopped for Speeding, Officer Gave Life-Changing Advice That Saw Her Graduate Nursing School
Two years ago, Alabama’s Abbie Rutledge was driving on her way to work when she saw the blue lights flashing behind her.
But what she didn’t know as she pulled over to the side of the road, heart beating up in her ears with anxiety, is that it would be one of the best things that ever happened to her.
Alabama state trooper J.T. Brown noted that Rutledge was speeding. The 20-year-old replied that she was sorry, didn’t have the money to pay a speeding ticket, and was stuck in a dead-end job.
Most people have a story about talking their way out of a ticket, and Trooper Brown has probably heard it all before. His response?
“How about we talk about it then?” he asked.
Rutledge told Steve Hartman of CBS News that the ‘talk’ went on for about 10 to 15 minutes, just sitting in the car talking about different career choices.
The conclusion, if one can believe it, was that the state trooper convinced Rutledge to enroll in nursing school.
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Two years later and Rutledge is a surgical technician at the University of Alabama Hospital. She loves her job, and credits Trooper Brown with her accomplishment.
She invited Brown to her graduation, showing him that she still has the citation from that fateful traffic stop, listed as $0.00, and including the handwritten message: “Promise me you’ll go into scrub or nursing school & slow down, and I won’t give you a ticket.”
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When asked if he ever imagined the talk would lead to any actual change in the young woman’s life, Brown replied simply, “Never.”
It shows the power that lending a considerate ear can have on a person, even if they’re a complete stranger.
WATCH the segment below from ‘On the Road’…
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Hubble Telescope Still Hard at Work Snapping Photos Like This Star-Packed ‘Triangulum Galaxy’
One of our closest and largest neighbors, the Triangulum Galaxy, was recently imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, proving it’s still useful in the face of the James Webb Telescope’s incredible infrared resolution.
Located within the triangle-shaped constellation Triangulum and about half the size of our Milky Way, this galaxy called Messier 33, or M33 for short, is the third-largest member of our local group of galaxies after the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Milky Way.
M33 is known to be a hotbed of star birth, forming stars at a rate 10 times higher than the average of its neighbor Andromeda. Interestingly, M33’s neat, organized spiral arms indicate little interaction with other galaxies, so its rapid star birth is not fueled by galactic collision, as is the dramatic case in many other galaxies.
M33 contains plenty of dust and gas for churning out stars, and numerous ionized hydrogen clouds, also called H-II regions, that give rise to tremendous star formation. Researchers have offered evidence that high-mass stars are forming in collisions between massive molecular clouds within M33.
This image captures reddish clouds of ionized hydrogen interspersed with dark lanes of dust. The apparent graininess of the image is actually swarms of countless stars. M33 is one of less than 100 galaxies close enough for telescopes like Hubble to resolve individual stars, as evident here.
M33 is known to lack a central bulge, and there is no evidence of a supermassive black hole at its core.
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This is considered strange since most spiral-shaped galaxies have a galactic center of densely concentrated stars, and most large galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers. Galaxies with this type of structure are called “pure disk galaxies,” and studies suggest they make up around 15-18% of galaxies in the universe.
MORE STELLAR PHOTOS: Astronaut’s Jaw-dropping Photos of Powerful Aurora was Also Captured by Airplane Pilot From Another Angle
M33 may lose its streamlined appearance and undisturbed status in a dramatic fashion―it’s on a possible collision course with both the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way. This image was taken as part of a survey of M33 in an effort to help refine theories about such topics as the physics of the interstellar medium, star-formation processes, and stellar evolution.
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“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” – William Wordsworth
Quote of the Day: “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” – William Wordsworth
Photo by: Inspa Makers
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Good News in History, September 10
Happy 85th birthday to Roy Ayers, sometimes called the “Godfather of Neosoul,” who pioneered a variety of off-mainstream jazz and funk genres with his creative compositions and blistering vibraphone solos. His best-known songs are Searchin’, Everbody Loves the Sunshine, and Running Away. Ayers is also a talented producer and session player, collaborating with the lines of Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Mos Def, Fela Kuti, Rick James, and others. READ more… (1940)
San Diego Zoo Celebrates Birth of Sumatran Tiger Cub–Contributing Genetic Diversity to Species with 600 Remaining in Wild
San Diego Zoo is celebrating the birth of a Sumatran tiger cub, a subspecies of which only 600 give or take one-third, remain in the wild.
The cub was born August 23rd to first-time mother Jillian. This birth is an important step in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s ongoing work to conserve Sumatran tigers.
Wildlife care specialists are closely monitoring mother and cub, and they report Jillian has quickly taken to being a mom and has been demonstrating all the expected and correct maternal behaviors.
The cub has shown attachment to Jillian and has been very active and vocal as they explore and grow.
“We are thrilled at the birth of this very special tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” said Lisa Peterson, senior vice president and executive director of the park. “This birth adds Jillian’s incredibly important genes into the pool of the population, furthering the genetic diversity and health of the Sumatran tiger subspecies.”
“Jillian’s care team has done an exceptional job monitoring her and her cub throughout this process, and it has been a joy for them to watch her enjoy motherhood. We hope this cub will allow our guests to gain a greater understanding of this incredibly special subspecies and the importance of conserving their natural habitats.”
The birth is a result of a breeding recommendation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’s Sumatran Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP) Program. Each SSP Program, overseen by conservationists nationwide, ensures genetic diversity and healthy, self-sustaining assurance populations of threatened and endangered wildlife.
The smallest tiger subspecies, Sumatran tigers are extremely threatened, and are the only tiger subspecies left in the Sunda Islands, with the Bali, Bornean, and Javan tigers extinct, (though the latter may still be alive).
Tigers face many challenges, including loss of habitat, human-wildlife coexistence, and poaching. People can help protect tigers by avoiding products made with non-sustainable palm oil, an industry that harms tiger habitats, and by refusing to purchase items made from endangered wildlife.
MORE ENDANGERED WILDLIFE BIRTHS: Doctors Called in for Rare Emergency C-Section on Gorilla in the Zoo–and the Baby Pics Are Incredible
Jillian and her cub will remain in her den for several weeks. This window of time is crucial, as it allows the youngsters to bond with and learn from their mother. When Jillian is ready, she will bring her cub out of the den, where they will have access to a specially designed maternity habitat.
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As of 2013, there were 375 Sumatran tigers kept in zoos all around the world as a means to safeguard and grow the diversity and numbers of this subspecies. Any hope that Indonesian ecologists may have for maintaining intact ecosystems on their largest islands in the future would in theory require tigers, especially Sumatra, but also Java, Bali, and Borneo where they were once native.
WATCH the little guy in his earliest days…
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World’s Largest Battery to Revolutionize Renewable Energy Storage in Maine with ‘Reverse Rusting’
In northern Maine, a company is planning the largest battery ever made by humans with 8,500 megawatt-hours of storage.
The purpose is to store renewable energy like solar and wind, produced but not needed, for times when the Sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
The batteries store and discharge energy via a novel process called “reverse rusting.” Inside the battery is iron, and as the battery stores electricity, it takes in oxygen from the air turning the iron inside into iron oxide—or rust. When it discharges, the oxygen is released and the oxide is removed, leaving the iron pure again.
While unusable for everyday electronics, this method works at scale and is around one-tenth of the running and manufacturing costs of using lithium-ion batteries.
Form Energy, the firm behind the project, received over $380 million in grants from the Department of Energy for projects all over the North Atlantic, of which $147 will go to the Maine battery project.
With 8,500 megawatt-hours of power at maximum capacity, the battery bank could power up to 85,000 homes for 100 hours. The battery system will have the most energy capacity of any announced in the world, Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy, said in a statement.
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The amount of power it contains would allow an electric car to circumnavigate the world 1,288 times. The batteries stand 3 feet tall, are about the size of a side-by-side washer-dryer unit, and 50 will make them the station, according to Live Science.
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Charles Barkley Keeps $1M Promise After 2 New Orleans Students Solve Pythagorean Theorem
NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has donated $1 million to an academy in New Orleans that just produced two groundbreaking young mathematicians.
The story begins last year when GNN reported on the success of two high school teens 2,000 years in the making.
Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson from St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans said they had solved the Pythagorean Theorem using trigonometry. Classical Greek brainiac Pythagoras created a theorem that goes like this.
The area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the other two sides. It is written as a2+b2=c2.
One of the interesting things about this bedrock mathematical equation is that for 2,000 years, no mathematician has been able to demonstrate the truth of it without simply using the equation itself as proof; what is called circular logic, and not accepted as true evidence of proof.
Johnson and Jackson reference Elisha Loomis’s The Pythagorean Proposition, a book investigating this concept, which “flatly states that ‘there are no trigonometric proofs because all the fundamental formulae of trigonometry are themselves based upon the truth of the Pythagorean Theorem,’” the girls wrote.
Following up on this 2,000-year-old conundrum, the two young women presented findings of the ‘Law of Sines,’ which they say proves fundamental truths in trigonometry without relying on the trigonometric equations themselves as evidence.
This accomplishment, which was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes, piqued the inspiration of Charles Barkley, who announced that he would give the academy a $1 million grant to help the institution continue to hone the talents of students like Jackson and Johnson.
“[Barkley] has a love and passion for what the academy stands for and how it is shaping the lives and futures of young girls in New Orleans,” a representative of the academy said, according to Nola.
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“This transformative gift will assist students as they excel and achieve whatever dream they create within the walls of St. Mary’s Academy,” the academy’s president Pamela Rogers, said in a press release.
Barkley, who will be donating $100K every year for ten years, recently made GNN headlines for turning down broadcasting contracts totaling $100 million that would have required him to leave TNT Sports after it lost the rights to broadcast the NBA.
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Entering the last year of NBA coverage, Barkley stayed on to ensure that all the staff who produce his television work keep their jobs until the end of the 2024-2025 NBA season.
“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley said in a statement released by Turner. “My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible.”
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“Art is the proper task of life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Quote of the Day: “Art is the proper task of life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Photo by: Jennie Razumnaya
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Good News in History, September 9
On this day in history, two masters of early ocean exploration returned to their prospective homes—Vasco da Gama 525 years ago to Lisbon, and Thomas Cavendish 436 years ago to Plymouth. The former had chartered the first European course to India via the Cape of Good Hope, while the latter completed the world’s first intentional circumnavigation. As it happened, Cavendish’s trip also saw the capture of the Santa Anna, the largest Spanish treasure ship ever to fall prey to English privateers. READ more about these accomplishments in seafaring… (1499, 1588)
Targeted Sound Waves Treat Pain and Depression in as Little as One 40-minute Session
A crown-like device has been relieving patients of pain and depression in clinical trials, and has the authors excited.
Called the Diadem, named for a crown-like adornment worn by sovereigns across time, it sends therapeutic sound waves to targeted regions of the brain with millimeter precision.
These sorts of non-pharma treatments can raise eyebrows with some, as for the last generation, the prescription of SSRIs for depression has been widespread and nearly universal among American clinicians.
But the paper’s lead author Tom Riis, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah, reports rave reviews among his team.
“We’ve been blown away by the positive results so far,” Rise told New Atlas. “After just a single 40-minute stimulation session, patients are showing immediate, clinically substantial improvements in symptoms.”
“While it should be kept in mind that not every participant saw drastic improvement, in the ones that did the change could be quite remarkable,” he added. “For several, you could just see it in their eyes—coming out of the session, their mood and behavior were a total 180 from when they had walked in. They were noticeably at ease, less burdened, more present.”
The paper on the device was conducted during phase 2 clinical trials, and the authors, blown away by the results as they admitted, are quickly looking to advance to phase 3.
In the phase 2 results, among 20 people who were treated with the Diadem, 60% of the patients reported a 33% reduction in pain immediately following treatment. When tested on those with clinically significant depression, 10 of 14 reported remission one week later after just one session with the device.
The Diadem works by sending ultrasonic frequencies to specific areas of the brain like the anterior cingulate cortex which is partly the center of pain and emotional regulation in our minds.
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Thanks to the device’s sophistication, the research team was able to penetrate the skull with the sound waves and reach the cortex to a millimeter level of precision.
One patient reported it felt like their brain had “woken up” while another one shared an anecdote of walking around the supermarket: “I was walking around the grocery store and just felt so clear. I was wondering, is this what normal people feel like?”
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The team is actively seeking participants for a phase 3 trial.
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Dogs Become Service Animals for God – Working as Staff in 900-Year-old Historic Abbey
Meet Eric and Florence who became official staff members at an historic English abbey—even though they are dogs.
The black Labradors belong to the lay minister who assists with every aspect of the Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire—and they became regulars due to a sudden scheduling conflict.
As the head “verger” of the church, Chris Skepper was left in a quandary last year when his wife and daughter went away from home for an extended period of time leaving him alone with the two dogs.
He decided to seek permission to bring Eric and ‘Flo’ to work with him, so they would not be left on their own for long stretches.
They now arrive like clockwork at Tewkesbury Abbey every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and two Sundays a month—having been dubbed official ‘assistant vergers’.
The pair are also acting as therapy dogs for anyone who visits the Abbey—and they even don their own name badges.
“People absolutely love them—staff and visitors alike,” said Chris.
“They have added to the positive atmosphere here at the abbey and have had such a warm welcoming.”
“It was agreed initially that the dogs were allowed to come in temporarily for those three weeks, as long as they were well behaved and didn’t interfere.”
“But they got such a positive reaction from members of staff and visitors that they were allowed to stay.”
Eric and Flo now come to work with Chris and follow him around the Abbey. During services, they lie quietly on their mats in the side aisle.
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On their working days, Chris asks visitors at the door if they would like to meet the dogs, which are 9 and 10 years old.
He has worked at the historic property since 2019, and has cared for the two black Labs since they were puppies.
He explains how the dogs provide a welcoming reception to people who may not be familiar with the Church.
“If you are involved in the Church, you forget how daunting it can be for non-church people to come into the building. There are these big dark doors, and people are not always sure what is going to happen when they go in.
“But then they come in, see the dogs, and think, ‘oh that’s ordinary! They can relate and it breaks down barriers.”
“Even if they don’t want to interact with the dogs, it puts a smile on their face.”
Chris says lots of people want to interact with the dogs, and he reports that they are very obedient with tasks and requests.
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“Labradors are bred for a job, and they want to be with you and please you. As long as you give clear direction, they know their purpose.”
Chris explains how a verger is responsible for doing all the ‘behind the scenes preparation’ for the Abbey–including preparing for all the services, moving chairs, polishing, and cleaning.
Chris says the Labradors are especially brilliant at their new jobs.
“I can tell, when I bring them to work and they hop out the car and I put their lanyards on, that they they know what they’re doing—and their tails are wagging away!”
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Everyone is welcome to visit Eric & Flo at the Abbey, which is open from 9:30am to 4:00pm daily
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