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New Temperate Planet That Could Support Human Life Discovered in Pisces Constellation by UK Scientists

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Artist’s concept of Gliese 12 b with a thin atmosphere – Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech/IPAC by R. Hurt
Artist’s concept of Gliese 12 b with a thin atmosphere – Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech/IPAC by R. Hurt

Scientists have discovered a new Earth-sized planet 40 light years away which could potentially support human life.

The planet, named Gliese 12 b, was spotted by astronomers at the University of Warwick who made the exciting discovery using NASA satellites.

With an estimated surface temperature of around 42°C (107°F), experts say it is one of the few known rocky planets where humans could theoretically survive (if the transportation existed).

Scientists are still unsure of the composition of the atmosphere of Gliese 12 b, but it has a similar depth to the one on Venus.

In a report published Thursday, the team, from universities in the UK and US, described Gliese 12 b as “the nearest transiting temperate, Earth-sized planet found to date.”

It confirmed the planet’s existence and characteristics like its size, temperature, distance from Earth, and that it orbits its ‘Sun’ every 12.8 days.

“This is a really exciting discovery and will help our research into planets similar to Earth across our Galaxy,” said Warwick Professor of physicist Thomas Wilson.

“Thrillingly, this planet is the closest Earth-sized and temperature planet we know.

“The light we are seeing now is from 1984 (40 years ago)—that’s how long it has taken to reach us here on Earth.

“Planets like Gliese 12 b are very few and far between, so for us to be able to examine one this closely and learn about its atmosphere and temperature is very rare.”

Artist’s concept of Gliese 12 b compared to Earth – Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech/IPAC by R. Hurt

The scientists are part of an international team who have worked with NASA to discover the planet using data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).

At first, they discovered the planet’s sun, called Gliese 12—a cool red dwarf located in the constellation Pisces. That star is about one-quarter of our Sun’s size, with about 60 percent of the surface temperature. And the distance separating Gliese 12 and the new planet is just 7 percent of the distance between Earth and our Sun.

BIG STAR STORY: Astronomers Discover Hundreds of Mysterious Filaments Pointing Towards Our Milky Way’s Massive Black Hole

The planet receives 1.6 times more energy from its star as Earth does from the Sun.

“We know of only a handful of systems to date that are both close enough to us and meet other criteria needed for this kind of study, called transmission spectroscopy,” said Michael McElwain, a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and a co-author of the paper.

“To better understand the diversity of atmospheres around temperate planets similar to Earth, we need more examples like Gliese 12 b.”

NASA said in a statement, “One important factor in retaining an atmosphere is the storminess of its star. Red dwarfs tend to be magnetically active, resulting in frequent, powerful X-ray flares”, but both teams concluded that Gliese 12 shows no signs of such extreme behavior.

CHECK OUT THIS NEW PLANET: Ringed Planet That Defies Known Physics Discovered in Outer Reaches of Our Solar System

“This is a unique candidate for further atmospheric study that may help unlock some aspects of our own solar system’s evolution,” said Larissa Palethorpe, co-lead of the study and doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh and University College London. “Earth remains habitable, but Venus does not due to its complete loss of water. Gliese 12 b’s atmosphere could teach us a lot about the habitability pathways planets take as they develop.”

The report also states the discovery will help astronomers “find our own place in the Universe”.

“Gliese 12 b also represents one of the best targets to study whether Earth-like planets orbiting cool stars can retain their atmospheres, a crucial step to advance our understanding of habitability on Earth and across the Galaxy.”

“Further analysis of the Gliese 12 system will allow us to understand evolutionary and compositional trends, which is important as we try to infer the number of true-Earth analogues on our journey to understanding our own place in the Universe.”

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Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ From Rob Brezsny

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Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of May 25, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
When I first got my job writing a horoscope column, I wasn’t looking for it. It found me. My bike had been stolen, and I was looking for a new one in the classified ads of the Good Times, the local Santa Cruz newspaper. There I serendipitously spied a “Help Wanted” ad. The publisher of the *Good Times* was hiring a new astrology writer to replace Robert Cole, who had just quit. I quickly applied for the gig and got it. Ever since, Robert Cole has been a symbol for me of an accidental and unexpected opportunity appearing out of nowhere. I mention this, Gemini, because when I meditate on you lately, I see the face of Robert Cole.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In myths and legends, the consummate spiritual goal has various names: the Holy Grail, philosopher’s stone, pearl of great price, nirvana, alchemical gold, key of life, and many others. I appreciate this profusion of sacred symbols. It encourages us to not be too literal about identifying the highest reward. The old fables are equally equivocal about where the prize can be found. Is it in an empty desert or dark forest? In the deepest abyss, on a mountaintop, or in the backyard? I bring these thoughts to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming months will be an excellent time to conduct a quest for the marvelous treasure. What do you need most right now? What’s the best way to begin your search?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I have good news for any Leos who are devoted to pragmatism and rational analysis. Just this once, my horoscope will offer no lyrical teasers or mystical riddles. Your pressing need for no-nonsense grit has moved me to offer straightforward, unembellished counsel. Here it is, dear: Cultivate connections that will serve your passionate ambitions. Make vigorous use of your network and community to gather information that will serve your passionate ambitions. Meditate on what course corrections might be necessary to serve your passionate ambitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
For many of you Virgos, your health seems chronically unsettled. You may be constantly hyper-vigilant about the next glitch that could possible affect your well-being. There’s a problem with that approach: It may intensify your fear of frailty, which in turn saps your vigor. But I’m happy to report that in the coming months, you will have an enhanced power to break out of this pattern. To get started, try this: Every morning for four minutes, picture yourself overflowing with vitality. Visualize every part of your body working with joyful heartiness. Send streams of love and gratitude to all your organs. Do this for the next 21 days.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Many people regard the word “faith” as referring to delusional hope or wishful thinking. But I ask you to rethink its meaning—and consider the possibility that it could be an empowering force in the coming months. How? Imagine a faith that’s earthy and robust. You actually feel it vibrating in your heart and gut. It literally alters your brain chemistry, fortifying your natural talents and attracting needed resources. It liberates you to feel pragmatically excited as you pursue your goal of fulfilling your soul’s code.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
When I was born, my parents gave me the name “Robert.” It’s derived from an Old North French word meaning “shining” and “bright with glory.” In Middle English, though, “robert” was a designation for “a wastrel, a marauder, a good-for-nothing.” I use this dichotomy as a reminder that my own nature is a mix of brightness and darkness. A lot of me is shining and inspirational, but there’s also a part that’s ignorant and confused. And what’s true about me is true about everyone else, including you: We are blends of the best and the not-so-best. Now is a good time to draw strength and wisdom from meditating on this reality. Your shadowy aspects have important and interesting truths to reveal to your brilliant aspects—and vice versa.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Here are some meditations on emotions. They are as key to our intelligence as our thoughts! But it’s crucial that we distinguish between emotions generated by delusions and emotions that are responses to true perceptions. Let’s say I get angry because I imagine a friend stole money from my room while visiting, but then later I put on my vest and find the supposedly stolen cash in the vest pocket. That is a delusional emotion. But if I am sad because my friend’s beloved dog is sick, that is emotion based on an accurate perception. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because I believe it is essential that in the coming weeks you discern between the two types.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
As an adjunct to the Ten Commandments, I have formulated the Ten Suggestions. Here’s Suggestion #1: Wash your own brain at least three times a year. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course. What I mean is that like me and everyone else, you are always accumulating junky thoughts and useless feelings. Some are generated by our old, conditioned responses, and some pour into us from the media and entertainment industries. And it’s best to be proactive about the toxic build-up—not allow it to become monumental. In my astrological opinion, now is an excellent time for a regular mind cleanse.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
So many writers have said terrible things about our existence on planet Earth. “Life is a disease,” wrote George Bernard Shaw. “Life is a bad dream,” declared Eugene O’Neill. Life is “a vast cold junkpile,” says Stephen King. There are thousands more of these unnuanced disparagements. Why? Here are the facts, as I see them: As tough as it can be to navigate through problems and pain, being alive in our miraculous bodies with our dazzling awareness is a sublime gift. We are all blessed with a mysterious and fascinating destiny. In accordance with the astrological omens, Aquarius, I invite you to celebrate being alive with extra gratitude and ebullience. Begin the jubilee by feeling amazement and awe for your mysterious and fascinating destiny. Second step: Identify five sublime gifts in your life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In the coming weeks, I ask you to refrain from indulging in extreme nostalgia. On the other hand, I encourage you to explore the past and sift through memories with the intention of clarifying what really happened back then. Pluck new lessons from the old days that will help you forge smart decisions in the near future. Use your history as a resource while you redefine the meanings of pivotal events. For extra credit, create a new title for the book you may someday write about your life story.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the coming weeks, you will experience uncomfortable weirdness if you do the following: 1. Meander without focus or purpose; 2. give yourself permission to postpone, procrastinate, and engage in avoidance behavior; 3. ignore the interesting though challenging truths that are right in front of you; 4. hang out with people with mediocre ambitions. But you will experience healthy, uplifting oddness if you do the following: 1. Trust your instincts and intuitions; 2. authorize your spontaneity to invigorate and guide you; 3. take the straightforward path that gets you to the destination most efficiently; 4. be crisp and nimble.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Mysterious energies will soon begin healing at least some of the wounds in your financial genius. As a result, I predict new powers of attraction will awaken in you, making it likely you will add to your wealth in the coming months. To synergize these happy developments, I recommend you give yourself permission to have joyous fun as you lust for more cash. More good news: I will supplement your good fortune by casting a benevolent spell to boost the flow of riches into your bank account.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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“Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.” – Hosea Ballou

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Quote of the Day: “Tears of joy are like the summer rain drops pierced by sunbeams.” – Hosea Ballou

Photo by: dspindle (CC license)

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

Good News in History, May 25

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk, view the historic Dragon capsule that returned to Earth on May 31 following the first successful mission - Bill Engals, public domain

12 years ago, a new era of space exploration began when the SpaceX Dragon capsule became the first privately owned and manufactured spacecraft to enter space and dock with the ISS. It might not have been Elon Musk’s firm to make this milestone, but Kistler Aerospace, who also received a contract for Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) from NASA failed to fulfill their obligations and the partnership ended shortly after. READ more about the development and flight of the Dragon… (2012)

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Take a Trip to the Earth’s Quietest Room Where You Can Hear Yourself Blink

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Andy Corbley
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The inside of the anechoic chamber, credit - Julian Walter
The inside of the anechoic chamber, credit – Julian Walter

If you were asked where the most silent place on Earth is, you might respond Antarctica or somewhere in the Sahara Desert, but you’d actually be wrong.

It’s in Minnesota—where among the many buildings of Orfield Laboratory lies the Anechoic Chamber, a place so scientifically configured to absorb sound, that a mere blink becomes deafening.

The ambient noise inside the Anechoic Chamber is at negative decibels—minus-24.9 dBA to be exact—which is a Guinness World Record and so quiet that it’s actually below the threshold of human hearing. With zero sound of any kind, visitors, who sometimes can hardly stand the silence, report hearing their body’s minute functions like blood pumping and eyes blinking.

“When it’s quiet, ears will adapt,” Steven Orfield, the lab’s founder, told the Daily Mail’s Ted Thornhill in 2012. “The quieter the room, the more things you hear. You’ll hear your heart beating, sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. In the Anechoic Chamber, you become the sound.”

Part of what creates ambient sound is the reflection of it on walls and glass—the typical stuff rooms are made out of. If one steps into a foam-lined recording booth, they may notice the audible sound levels drop or seem significantly muffled: that’s because the foam is inhibiting the reflection of soundwaves; but some are still able to bounce off and create sound.

The Anechoic Chamber is a steel box suspended on springs inside a larger steel box. The interior box is lined with brown fiberglass ridges of different sizes that completely neutralize soundwaves of all different frequencies coming from any direction. These ridges even cover the floor, and so visitors stand on a suspended mesh.

MORE COOL PLACES IN THE US: Some of the Best National Parks Where You Can Avoid the Summer Crowds

Orfield says that some people, probably city dwellers, can’t take it for long. The typical tour is 90 minutes, 20 of which are in the chamber. He claims that what most people don’t realize is their coordination of movement is deeply informed by subtle sounds, and removing them entirely means that some people have difficulties even walking.

“You take away the perceptual cues that allow you to balance and maneuver,” he said. “If you’re in there for half an hour, you have to be in a chair.”

OTHER WEIRD ATTRACTIONS: Bee Therapy Retreat Where Vibrations From Bees and Scent of Honey Believed to Be Healing

Some companies have used the chamber to test various things, for example, Harley Davidson used it to chill out the engine noise on a recent model, while NASA has used it to help astronauts get accustomed to the vacuum of space.

It’s a rather unique attraction for those visiting the Minneapolis area, and a whole hour with up to four people in the chamber costs $400.

WATCH the Action Lab Explore the Anechoic Chamber, especially at 3:00 when they pop a balloon inside… 

SHARE This Amazing Place To Visit With Your Friends From Minnesota… 

Pennsylvania School Official Fulfills Dying Marine’s Last Wish

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Andy Corbley
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Marine veteran Richard Remp gets High School diploma from Superintendent Justi Glaros – Family photo
Marine veteran Richard Remp gets High School diploma from Superintendent Justi Glaros – Family photo

When a dying veteran’s last wish was to receive a high school diploma, a superintendent teamed up with an American Legion Outpost commander to make it happen.

Thanks to their tireless effort on behalf of a man who had given his all and more for the country’s armed forces, his final moments would be those of pride and joy as he was handed the honorary education he never received.

At Sharon School District in Pennsylvania, Superintendent Justi Glaros got a call from Legion Post 247. The caller, 247’s second vice commander, James Cappuccilli, explained that a marine who had given up higher education to fight in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, was hoping to receive an honorary diploma.

The marine, Richard Remp from Sharon, but who then lived in Poolesville, MD, had watched when another elderly marine was presented with a diploma, and thought he might like to have one too. Glaros did some research and found out that it was a simple procedure provided that the veteran had fought in one of those three wars.

Remp had fought in all three, but he had attended a neighboring high school, making it a longer chore for Glaros to get everything in order.

In the meantime, Remp suffered a fall, and when he was brought to the hospital it was discovered he had stage 4 prostate cancer that was aggressively attacking his liver. The prognosis was not much time.

MORE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES: Oklahoma Teen Wins Volkswagen Beetle After Attending a Stranger’s Funeral: ‘Perfect winner was drawn’

The neighboring school needed a month to fulfill the order for the honorary diploma, at which point Glaros jumped into action. Summoning the schoolboard, she explained the situation and got the go-ahead to print a diploma from their own high school.

“I’m blessed to be in the position to be able to do it for this man,” Glaros said. “The opportunity to give the diploma to him is what I wanted.”

HONORING VETERANS: Military Veterans Who Lost Limbs Receive Mortgage-Free Homes to Honor Their Service

It was an opportunity she had to hurry to take, driving four-and-a-half hours down to Remp’s home and delivering the diploma by hand as part of a graduation ceremony last weekend in the man’s living room.

“The last thing he remembers is the fact that she came down and gave him the diploma,” American Legion Post 247 Commander Julian Singh told the Sharon Herald. “That was his last waking moment.”

Remp passed away Sunday at the age of 98. He had received a combat commendation ‘V’ for valor.

Astronaut Training Pays Off at 90: Ed Dwight Finally Reaches Space, Making History as Oldest to Ever Do it

By
Andy Corbley
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Photo of Ed Dwight by Blue Origin
Photo of Ed Dwight by Blue Origin

60 years after passing Air Force selection as a candidate to be the first African-American astronaut, Edward Dwight fulfilled that dream by blasting off with Blue Origin on Sunday for a short trip into space.

Riding aboard the New Shepherd rocket from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ private space company, Dwight flew into space for a 10-minute jaunt above the Kármán Line, the imaginary barrier that separates Earth’s atmosphere from outer space.

“Fantastic! A life-changing experience. Everyone needs to do this!” Dwight told NPR. “I didn’t know I needed this in my life, but now I need it in my life.”

Beating out Star Trek actor William Shatner to become the oldest person ever to enter space at 91 years of age, Dwight nearly fulfilled the ambitions and dreams of a generation of black Americans when, during the Kennedy Administration, it was announced that NASA was keen on sending a black man to space, and that Dwight was the best-trained candidate to do so.

Recalling those days to Smithsonian Magazine, Dwight said he used to get 1,500 pieces of mail a week, all addressed to ‘Astronaut Dwight, Kansas City.’ By then, he had spent 6 years quickly climbing through the Air Force’s ranks to become a captain while accruing 9,000 hours of flight time, 2,000 of which came in high-performance jets.

Holding an aeronautics degree from Arizona State University and enough flying hours to qualify for the flight test school at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, Dwight was one of 136 people who applied for NASA’s Astronaut Group 3, and one of 26 specifically recommended by the Air Force.

The Kennedy Administration, Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay, and others felt that a black astronaut would be a fantastic public relations and political demonstration of the country’s progress. By April 1961, the USA had already lost out to the Soviets in the race to put a man in space, but putting the first black man in space, they thought, would be maybe even more inspirational.

OTHER PRIVATE SPACE FLIGHT: Japanese Startup to Launch Public Space-Viewing Balloon Flights to Rival SpaceX

“Why don’t we put the first non-white man in space?” Edward R. Murrow, a former broadcast journalist who had become Kennedy’s director of the United States Information Agency, wrote to NASA administrator James Webb “…we could retell our whole space effort to the whole non-white world, which is most of it.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Dwight wasn’t selected, but rather proceeded to have a long and prosperous career as an artist and sculptor until a group of deep pockets paid for his seat aboard the New Shepherd launch in honor of his service and inspiration to the country.

MORE INSPIRING AFRICAN AMERICANS: All-Black Climbing Team Makes History Reaching Top of Everest, Inspiring Diverse Adventurers

Feeling like now he has “bragging rights,” Dwight has no plans to stop pursuing the stars even at his advanced age. Compared to his training back at Edwards, he said the separation of the capsule from the rocket was “more dynamic” than he expected.

“I want to go into orbit. I want to go around the Earth and see the whole Earth. That’s what I want to do now,” he told NPR, which has a board member who helped pay for Dwight’s ticket.

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Tiny Indian Ocean Island Shows How Quickly Seabirds Recover When Invasive Predators Are Removed

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Andy Corbley
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Pair of brown noddies (by Phil Guest, CC license); and red-footed booby (by Gregg Yan, CC license)
Pair of brown noddies (by Phil Guest, CC license); and red-footed booby (by Gregg Yan, CC license)

18 years after rats were eradicated, Tromelin Island off the coast of Madagascar is a thriving colony of seabirds once again.

The same story happened over and over during the age of exploration: Europeans brought rats or rabbits on board their ships and dumped them on delicate, pristine island ecosystems.

Hundreds of islands became desolate wastelands this way, damage that has for the most part been reversed, as GNN has reported, in one of the greatest conservation stories ever told.

Now, this small teardrop of sand, rock, and palm trees in the southern Indian Ocean, is the most recent example of conservationists being able to completely rewild a landscape back to a period before European contact.

Spanning just 1 square kilometer, Tromelin Island is now home to thousands of breeding pairs of 7 seabird species like the masked and red-footed boobies.

By 2013, these two species had doubled in number from the precarious, rat oppressed lows of just a handful in 2004. In the subsequent 9 years, white terns, brown noddies, sooty terns, wedge-tailed shearwaters, and lesser noddies all came back on their own initiative.

ISLANDS RETURNING: The Greatest Conservation Story Ever Told Isn’t Really Being Told

Matthieu Le Corre, an ecologist at the University of Reunion Island, told Hakkai Magazine how, in some cases, restoring seabird populations can be a tricky thing based on the particular species’ nesting habits.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Endangered Seabirds Flourishing on Island for First Time in Decades as Invasive Rabbits Removed

On other islands where Le Corre has worked, they’ve had to install robotic bird calls and life-size replicas to convince the birds the island is a safe place to nest again. But Tromelin Island needed no such help, since these terns, noddies, and boobies are much more dispersed in their nesting patterns.

“In terms of conservation, it’s a wonderful success,” Le Corre says.

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“Imagination is the eye of the soul.” – Joseph Joubert

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Quote of the Day: “Imagination is the eye of the soul.” – Joseph Joubert

Photo by: Jr Korpa

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

Good News in History, May 24

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50 years ago, Diamond Dogs was released on the label RCA by British pop-rock sensation David Bowie. A thematic, if not a concept album, Diamond Dogs was born as an attempt to adapt George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to music. After being denied the rights by Orwell’s widow, Bowie devised an urban apocalyptic scenario based on the writings of William S. Burroughs. The album’s single, Rebel, Rebel reached number one in the UK and number five in the US, and remained a near-mainstay on his tour setlists well into the musician’s final years. READ more… (1974)

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Flabby Feline Has Taken to Swimming Lessons for Losing Weight–And it’s Working

By
Andy Corbley
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Avonvale Veterinary Centres via SWNS
Avonvale Veterinary Centres via SWNS

A fat cat that weighs more than double his healthy size has been thrown into the deep end on a mission to lose weight by swimming.

Moses, who weighs as much as a French bulldog, started the unusual hydrotherapy sessions in a bid to slim down in much the same way that people with bad knees, a bad back, bad hips, or too great a body mass index use pools to start exercising.

The nine-year-old cat piled on the pounds after refusing to go outside or exercise despite his owner putting him on countless diets.

At Avonvale Veterinary Centre in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, staff say that his weight loss mission is going ‘swimmingly.’

“When he first came to us, Moses was nearly 10kg in weight,” said Olivia Stokes, veterinary hydrotherapist, meaning 22 pounds. “His owner said he had been on diets and been encouraged to exercise before but had still not been able to lose weight.”

“So, we decided to try a different approach with hydrotherapy. I have been in the industry for five years and a qualified hydrotherapist for almost two years, and I have never experienced hydro with a cat before, so Moses was a first for me.”

Obviously this was because Moses didn’t like water, as is true for so many cats. Stokes tried a variety of toys and treats to get Moses started but eventually switched to tougher methods, including starting him on a moving treadmill before adding water.

Now she says that Moses sits and waits on the treadmill for the water level to come up before starting.

OTHER FAT LOSS STORIES FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: Obese Dog Who Weighed Three Times More Than Healthy Pup Has Made a Radical Transformation

“Once he has been walking for 13 minutes, I then lift him up, raise the water level further, and swim him for a couple of minutes to give him a full body workout,” she added.

Moses is now starting to shape up, and as well as losing weight has become far more active and livelier at home. He is already down 2.2 pounds, and the vets see an increase in muscle tissue as well.

Avonvale Veterinary Centres via SWNS

“That’s a loss in body weight of almost four percent in about six weeks, which is perfect as we don’t want to lose the weight too quickly,” said Stokes. “The important thing is that his body shape is clearly changing as he loses the fat and builds back muscle.”

ALSO CHECK OUT: Minnesota Cat Sanctuary Unveils New Outdoor Playground for Feral Rescues: ‘People care about them’

“I am very proud of Moses’ progression; he’s even walking with the incline on the treadmill now.”

Moses’ owner Jenna Joshi is thrilled with her pet’s progress.

“I could see a difference almost straight away,” she remembers. “After his first hydro session, he came through the cat flap, which he hadn’t done in a long time.”

“We are still having regular weight checks, still doing hydrotherapy, and making good progress. It was difficult at first but now he doesn’t complain and knows exactly what he needs to do when he goes for his sessions.”

The best treatment for overweight animals is to monitor their food intake and don’t let them get fat in the first place. It can take far more time for a housepet to lose weight than even a semi-determined human being, but fortunately Moses has a strong will and a determined human.

If This Cat Can Lose Weight, Your Friends Can Too: SHARE This Story With Them…

Scientists Grow Micro-Diamonds ‘from Scratch’ in 15 Minutes Thanks to Groundbreaking New Process

By
Andy Corbley
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Diamonds made with the new technique are mostly pure — but they're too tiny to fit on your finger. (Image credit Institute for Basic Science)
Diamonds made with the new technique are mostly pure — but they’re too tiny to fit on your finger. (Image credit Institute for Basic Science)

In South Korea, chemists have recently developed a way to grow artificial micro-diamonds in minutes, rather than days.

Furthermore, the technique doesn’t require high temperatures or intense pressure, and are made “from scratch” with the potential to revolutionize the diamond industry by providing unlimited micro-diamonds for polishing and cutting uses.

Gemstones are formed typically by intense heat, intense pressure, natural catalysts, or some combination of the three. Diamonds require an awful lot of the first two to manufacture artificially, but Rodney Ruoff, a physical chemist at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea, has eliminated the need.

Instead of gigapascals of pressure and temperatures as high as 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius), Ruoff and his colleagues needed graphene, silicon, gallium, iron, and nickel—and that’s it.

“For over a decade I have been thinking about new ways to grow diamonds, as I thought it might be possible to achieve this in what might be unexpected (per ‘conventional’ thinking) ways,” Ruoff told Live Science by email.

Ruoff started with gallium, which had been shown in a previous, unrelated paper to catalyze the formation of graphene. Graphene is pure carbon, just like a diamond, but the chemical structure is straight and flat rather than the latter’s tetrahedral formation.

At that point, the experiment met its most expensive component—a home-built chamber designed by co-author Won Kyung Seong—that could house the gallium-nickel-iron mixture in a graphene crucible and withstand the introduction of hot methane gas. When all these elements came together—with a pinch of silicon—diamonds were formed in 15 minutes at sea level pressures inside the chamber.

MORE DIAMOND SCIENCE: Huge Black Diamond Sold for $4.3 Million–and No One Knows Where it Came From or How it Was Formed

The chemical minutiae of how the experiment succeeded is still murky, and it will be at least another few years before the scientists or others working with similar methods will know for sure whether Ruoff’s process can produce diamonds for jewelry, because the ones described in their study were thousands of times smaller than lab-grown diamonds used for jewelry.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS: Rare Diamond Within a Diamond Is Unearthed in India and Dubbed ‘The Beating Heart’

However, the ‘film’ of micro-diamonds could very well serve to take the place of larger diamonds for the purpose of being crushed into powder. Because diamond is the hardest substance known, diamond dust is the tool by which diamonds are polished, and Ruoff’s 15-minute micro-diamonds (copyright available) may save jewelers thousands of dollars in the cost of diamond dust.

SHARE This Awesome Experimental Chemistry With Your Friends… 

Grandson Surprises Grandpa by Restoring 1954 Pickup Sitting Broken for 40 Years: ‘I never thought I’d live to see that’

By
Andy Corbley
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Grandpa sees truck restored – Blake Kincheloe / YouTube
credit – Blake Kincheloe CC 3.0. ND-SA

A son recently surprised his grandfather by repairing his 70-year-old pickup truck to a fully functioning automobile, and the video will bring a tear to your eye.

“50 dollars and a hog” is what Richard Kincheloe’s mother paid for a red, 1954 International Harvester pickup truck, which Richard, now a grandfather, drove around for years until it broke down.

His grandson Blake Kincheloe, grew up thinking of the International as his own little truck, even giving it the nickname “Cannonball”, however it has served as a multi-ton paperweight and spider hotel, sitting broken and idle on Richard’s property.

Coming of age, Blake contemplated what a swell idea it would be to have the old truck up and running again.

Taking it into C&J’s Classic Cars, he first planned for nothing more than a set of modern brakes, but soon a full restoration was ongoing, adding parts all over the car from brake lights, which the original didn’t have, to a bathroom door latch because the door handle mechanism was unsalvageable.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: He Found His Dad’s 1930s Car at An Auction–and Got it Working Again (LOOK)

Then came the big day; when Blake and his father would drive Cannonball down Richard’s driveway for the first time in 45 years.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Teens Step in to Rebuild a Jeep After Sentimental Family Project Stalled With Dad’s Death

“What’s that pappa?” a female voice can be heard asking Richard in a video made by Blake and other family/friends as the truck approached. “Well, I’ll be danged!” he exclaimed.

As for his priceless response, it’s best to listen for yourself (NOTE: Some word choices may not be for children.)

WATCH the short USA Today video below (with ad), OR the longer original video at the bottom… 

SHARE This Charming Family Video With Your Friends Who Love The South… 

France Celebrates Baguette on Scratch-and-Sniff Stamp, Honoring the World Heritage-Declared Food

By
Andy Corbley
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Baguette stamp - credit La Poste
Baguette stamp – credit La Poste

The French postal service has released a scratch-and-sniff stamp that will fill your letter room or office with the aroma of freshly baked bread as it honors the classic baguette.

The best thing since sliced bread, the baguette was recently honored by UNESCO with the status of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage,’ or in other words, a standout element in the story of humanity that can’t be pinned down to the words on a page, the outcome of a battle, or the bricks making up a monument.

The stamp was unveiled last Thursday by La Poste on the occasion of Sant-Honore’s feast day—the patron saint of bakers.

“The baguette, the bread of our daily lives, the symbol of our gastronomy, the jewel of our culture”, La Poste says on its website.

It will cost €1.96 and run for a limited time with just under 600,000 copies set for printing. It depicts a baguette wrapped in blue and white ribbons.

The stamp’s ink is coated in microcapsules that burst when the customer scratches it, releasing the scent. La Poste purchases the special ink pre-made, and the smell is derived from a collection of bakeries.

STAMP THIS STORY: 12 Famous American Waterfalls Are Looking Gorgeous on New Stamps From USPS

“And the difficulty for us is to apply this ink without breaking the capsules, so that the smell can then be released by the customer rubbing on the stamp,” Damien Lavaud, printer at Philaposte, was quoted as saying by France Bleu, according to France24.

MORE SIMILAR HONORS: Iron Maiden Wins Royal Mail Seal of Approval With 12 New Stamps

UNESCO attempts to summarize the value and uniqueness of baguettes over other breads with the following description.

Baguettes require specific knowledge and techniques: they are baked throughout the day in small batches and the outcomes vary according to the temperature and humidity.

They also generate modes of consumption and social practices that differentiate them from other types of bread, such as daily visits to bakeries to purchase the loaves and specific display racks to match their long shape.

SHARE This Charming Celebration Of The Greatest Of France’s Modest Achievements… 

“Love begins by taking care of the closest ones, the ones at home.” – Mother Teresa

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones, the ones at home.” – Mother Teresa

Photo by: Kelly Sikkema (cropped)

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

Good News in History, May 23

By
Good News Network
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Arabic caligraphy of the Greatest Name, an unofficial icon of the Baháʼí faith

180 years ago today, Báb, a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar, Iran, announced that he was a prophet, and, remarkably, was not murdered for heresy. Instead, he founded by Baháʼí Faith which preaches unity of the Abrahamic faiths and peoples into a universal brotherhood of goodwill. Expounding a hybrid doctrine from the Bible, Torah, and Quran, Báb, or “The Gate”, encouraged the learning of arts and sciences, modernizing education, improving the status of women, cultivation of ethics, independent investigation of truth, and human nobility. READ more about the days surrounding his revelation… (1844)

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Scientists Buzzing After Unique Native Bee Colonies Discovered Right on Their College Campus

By
Andy Corbley
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Colletes mining bee on Washington College campus – Credit Pamela Cowart-Rickman
Colletes mining bee on Washington College campus – Credit Pamela Cowart-Rickman

In a charming coincidence, a pair of bee and insect specialists from Washington College are buzzing with excitement about a unique and newly documented population of native bees right on their very own campus.

Although the large group of ground-nesting bees has been noticeable on one corner of the campus for years, recent identification of at least five different species all using the same area has sparked interest from researchers.

The section of the college green located in front of East and Middle Halls is a hotspot for these vital pollinators, with ground-nesting ‘mining’ bees from the Andrena and Colletes genera thriving on the hill at the base of the halls.

Recently, thanks to her keen eye and love of insects, photographer Pamela Cowart-Rickman realized that the area has multiple species of native mining bees all nesting together, something that has not been well documented.

Cowart-Rickman, who studied biology at WC as an undergrad and developed a love of insects has tentatively identified five different species that are all sharing the same nesting grounds. They include four different Andrena (mining bees), one Colletes (cellophane bees), and likely three cuckoo bees in the genus Nomada.

“The Washington College site provides rare nesting habitat for multiple native bee species, several of which are uncommon and unidentified,” said Sam Droege from the US Geological Survey’s Bee Lab.

“We always talk about providing plants to support native bees and other pollinators, but we rarely think about providing adequate nesting habitat for their survival. These native bees provide beneficial pollination to fruiting trees and plants, not only on the College campus, but also the Chestertown community.”

“They have been nesting amongst and on top of each other for several years in this same location,” said Cowart-Rickman of the bees she has spotted. “The various Andrena have the largest nesting area and emerge first in late February. The Colletes have a smaller area and emerge later in late April.”

Several of the species present on Washington College campus – credit Pamela Cowart-Rickman

Cowart-Rickman devotes her free time to photographing insects and has been helping researchers identify and track populations. She has found and documented several species for MD Biodiversity, BugGuide, iNat, and researchers at the Canadian National Collection of Insects.

When she realized what she had stumbled upon right outside her own office building on campus, she reached out to Dr. Beth Choate, deputy director of the Washington College Center for Environment and Society. Choate, who has published research on the abundance of wild bee populations in urban and rural gradients, was also intrigued by the nesting sites Cowart-Rickman had found. The two decided to investigate further.

“On a nice day in the spring, you can see the male bees hovering right at grass level. There were hundreds of these males searching for a female to mate when we were out there,” said Choate.

MORE INSECT INSPIRATION: Spiders Use Their Webs as Giant Microphones to Hear What’s Going on Around Them, Says New Research

Females create a small burrow in the ground for rearing young and a ball of pollen and nectar is placed in each to feed the larval bee when it emerges from the egg, Choate explained. Once the males and females mate, the female returns to her nest and lays the egg in the carefully constructed burrow to develop.

The area of the campus where the bees have been found nesting together – credit Matt Lester

“Ground-nesting bees need bare, minimally covered ground in order to dig into the soil. They also prefer sunny and well-drained soil, but it will be interesting to learn what is unique about the soil in this space and why the aggregation has become so large,” said Choate.

“Since ground-nesting bees are solitary and do not form colonies, they generally aren’t as noticeable as this aggregation. Females often create nests near one another; however, an aggregation this large is unique.”

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Australian Scientists Manage to Identify 1,100 Species in their Backyards, Highlighting Value of Urban Biodiversity.

After seeing one of Cowart-Rickman’s nesting bee photos on iNat, and realizing the rarity of the site, Dr. Jordan Kueneman, a researcher with Project GNBee who is working on tracking ground-nesting bees at the Danforth Lab at Cornell University, reached out to Cowart-Rickman about possibly providing further research samples and information.

“We were very excited to learn about the ground-nesting bee aggregations at Washington College, for a myriad of reasons,” said Kueneman. “First, the size of the aggregation is substantial, and multiple species are utilizing areas of the overall site to nest. This scenario is ideal for understanding nesting requirements for bees and how those vary by species.

“Second,” Kueneman continued, “intermixed aggregations of nesting bees are particularly interesting to study from an ecological perspective, as the cost/benefits of varying nesting strategies and behavior can be more easily studied, particularly in the context of phenology, nest architecture, and risk of parasitism.”

BEE STORIES: Bumblebees Share Knowledge Like Humans and Chimpanzees, Suggesting the Hive Mind Is More Personal

He noted that due to its location, the Washington College aggregation can easily provide the opportunity for students and the public to learn about the biology of ground-nesting bees and the value they provide to the environment. He is also hopeful that knowledge of the history of the area and the site’s management can help inform how ground management practices on campus have impacted the population in the past and provide opportunities to explore how current management will impact this population in the future.

Research and monitoring of the aggregation will continue as teams from both schools work together to study what makes this site so appealing to multiple species of bees.

SHARE This Fascinating Bee Behavior With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Mushroom Hunters Stumble Upon Mysterious Stone Sculpture in Thai Forest

By
Andy Corbley
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Officials investigating the stone carving – Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation
Officials investigating the stone carving – Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

Three Thai villagers were out looking for mushrooms when they came across this boulder depicting a woman in breathtaking detail.

“Went mushroom hunting and found this,” Pramul Kongkratok, one of the locals, wrote on social media according to the Nation Thailand. “I’ve lived here for so long, but just learned we have this around here. It’s a blessing.”

Showing admirable responsibility, Mr. Kongkratok called the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation to investigate, who in turn we’re told contacted art and antiquities authorities to ascertain how old the carving might be.

Some theories, however, have quickly emerged: notably that it could have been made in the 6th century during the flourishing of a kingdom called Dvaravati, which was located in modern-day Thailand near the border with Cambodia, exactly the place where the carving was found.

However, the carving style is not really comparable to other examples of Dvaravati reliefs like this one of musicians seated in a row.

Another theory is that it depicts the mother of Lord Buddha, Maya Devi. In part this is because the woman figure is holding a branch of the Bodhi tree, or pipal in Hindi, the tree under which Prince Siddharta Gautama meditated for 7 days and attained Enlightenment.

Rarely depicted alone, and if so, typically lying down in order to illustrate the story of Buddha’s birth—when his mother dreamt the spirit of a white elephant entered her womb, many are as skeptical of the Maya Devi claim as the claim of Dvaravati origin.

DELIGHTFUL MYSTERIES: Dozens of Strange 12-Sided Objects from Roman Times Have Been Found—No One Knows What They’re For

In general, the artists living during the golden age of Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia kept significantly conformist carving styles, while this discovery doesn’t.

MORE ARTISTIC DISCOVERIES: Danish Artist Hides Enormous Trolls in Forests Around the World Using Recycled Wood—LOOK

Smithsonian reports that a Wat, or Thai Buddhist monastery, inhabited by a group of artistically inclined monks, is located less than a mile from where the carving was found in Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary.

Whatever the origin, it’s a beautiful carving and a delightful reminder that the world is full of surprises.

SHARE This Delightful Mystery With Your Friends Who Love Asia… 

A Canadian Farmer Had Millions of Surplus Potatoes and Worked Overtime to Give Them All Away

By
Andy Corbley
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EastWest Food Rescue group / Facebook
EastWest Food Rescue group / Facebook

From Canada’s province of Manitoba comes the story of how dozens of volunteers succeeded when presented with a mammoth logistical challenge: giving away 12 million pounds of potatoes.

There are bumper crops, and then there’s whatever happened on Isaiah Hofer’s Manitoba farm last year.

Potatoes were coming out of the ground in such numbers that after fulfilling all his normal deliveries and quotas, Hofer still had 10 million pounds of potatoes left.

“[P]eople that have been in this industry for the last 40 years, they’ve never seen something like this,” said Hofer. “We had at least almost 100,000 bags of surplus potatoes. In potato language, a bag is 100 pounds [45 kilograms].”

He had a few options, including leaving them to rot as fertilizer, turning them into animal feed, or selling at a tiny profit or even a loss in such a flush market. In the end, Hofer followed his heart and resolved to give all of them away to the needy.

In his email inbox, he saw a letter from the industry group Keystone Potato Producers Association which happened to be spotlighting the work of a US food charity outfit Farmlink Project.

Farmlink arose from the government-enforced business closures and supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, and was responsible for connecting farms with surplus food with food banks cut off from usual deliveries.

Since 2020, they have rescued around 100 million pounds of food from going to waste on farms and distributing it to food banks across North America. Contacting some other farmers he knew, Hofer was soon able to offer Farmlink 12 million pounds (5.4 million kg) of potatoes for donation.

Teaming up, Hofer and Kate Nelson, chief marketing officer and a co-founder of Farmlink, began to strategize about how to get rid of the spare spuds, and Foodsharing Ottawa was their first target.

CBC news, reporting on the story, said that there has been a dramatic spike in food insecure households in Canada since last year, and Foodsharing Ottawa’s volunteer executive director Wendy Leung knew that just one of Hofner’s 40,000-pound potato donation parcels could make a huge difference.

CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING WORK: UK Restaurant is Letting People Pay-as-They-Can While Rescuing Tons of Food

Suddenly though, Leung had to swap her typical logistical tools of cardboard boxes, hatchbacks, and shopping carts for a forklift, climate-controlled facility, semi trucks, and a large volunteer workforce if it meant getting hold of the potatoes.

Hofer and Nelson, who were looking at a CAD$30,000 cost for their donation, were able to rely on some contacts who provided packaging and transportation.

Their efforts paid off, and Hofner’s farm saw the departure of 115 trucks carrying the spuds to food banks and charities as far afield as San Diego, California. Many were sent to the populace province of Ottawa.

MORE FOOD BANK STORIES: Iowa Teen Has Donated 7,000 Pounds of Produce from Her Own Garden to Food Banks: ‘A really good feeling’

“Together, I think we actually gave back to over 50 local organizations across the city with countless numbers of individuals and households,” Leung told CBC. “And all these potatoes were claimed actually within eight to nine days.”

In 2020, GNN reported on a similar volunteer effort to rescue 200 tons of potatoes and onions from rot during the pandemic, when EastWest Food Rescue was formed to coordinate the volunteer hauling of the produce from farms in Washington State out to the coastal cities for use in food banks.

SHARE These Heroic Donation Efforts To Feed Millions In Canada… 

Rare Deep Sea Squid with ‘Headlights’ Captured on Video–Mistaking the Camera for Food–WATCH

By
Andy Corbley
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Taningia danae squid with bioluminescent headlights – Credit: University of Western Australia / Inkfish
Taningia danae squid with bioluminescent headlights – Credit: University of Western Australia / Inkfish

Australian marine biologists recently captured video of a large, deep-water squid attacking one of their cameras over 3,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.

The deep-sea hooked squid is one of the largest deep-dwelling squid species, but rather than the animal’s size, it was the glowing lights on the end of its tentacles that most interested scientists.

A team from the Minderoo campus of the University of Western Australia’s Deep Sea Research Center was deploying baited, free-falling cameras to record video footage of deep-sea life.

Chief scientist Heather Stewart, from the collaborating Kelpie Geosciences, UK, and an adjunct at UWA, was working in an area known as the Samoan Passage where she let the camera fall to 5 kilometers down before recovering it.

“As we were reviewing the footage, we realized we had captured something very rare,” Stewart said.

They had found a Taningia danae, or deep-sea hooked squid, renowned for having the largest photophores of any animal known. Photophores are bioluminescent organs that form a part of the squid’s hunting strategy—flashing fish with bright light to disorient them in the lead-up to an attack.

MARVEL AT MARINE LIFE: Amazing Video of Giant Phantom Jellyfish from Deep in the Dark Fathoms at 3,200 Feet – WATCH

“The squid, which was about [30 inches] 75cm long, descended on our camera assuming it was prey, and tried to startle it with its huge bioluminescent headlights,” Stewart added.

Professor Alan Jamieson, director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center, said observing deep-sea squid in their natural habitat, especially in the mid-water, was notoriously challenging.

MORE DEEP SEA STORIES: Man Who Found World’s Deepest-Dwelling Octopus and Jellyfish Scores 3-of-a-Kind, With Deepest-Dwelling Squid

“Many records of this species are from strandings, accidental bycatch or from the stomach contents of whales,” Professor Jamieson said.

“The rarity of live observations of these amazing animals makes every encounter valuable in gathering information on geographic locations, depth, and behavior, plus it is such a unique animal that we hardly ever get to see, so we had to share it.”

WATCH the video with narration below… 

SHARE This Amazing Encounter Of The Deeps With Your Friends… 

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