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Clever Elephant Returns Visitor’s Shoe After it Fell into his Enclosure – Watch

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Elephant gives shoe back to child at Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in China – SWNS
Elephant gives shoe back to child at Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in China – SWNS

Visitors to a zoo in China captured the moment a clever elephant returned a shoe using its trunk, after it fell into the enclosure.

A video shows the animal stooping to pick up the baby’s footwear and gently lift it back up into the little child’s hand.

The elephant is named Shanmai, which means ‘mountains’, and resides at Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in Weihai.

According to a staff member, the elephant first thought the shoe was food but when it realized it wasn’t upon picking it up, it returned it to its owner.

LOOK: Rescued Crow Is Boy’s Best Friend, Waiting for Him to Get Home from School Every Day: ‘We’re his flock’

Shanmai’s keeper rewarded the animal’s kind gesture with a watermelon. Watch the moment below…

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These Are the Strangest Things Americans Put in Salads

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salads by Luisa Brimble
salads by Luisa Brimble

What is the oddest thing you’ve ever eaten in a salad?

From marshmallows to meatballs, beef jerky and hotdogs — a new poll has uncovered how Americans are expressing their creative taste buds when it comes to salad toppings.

A poll of 2,000 U.S. adults revealed the strangest salad toppings people have used, with answers including a banana, some peanut butter, peppermint herbs and popcorn. Other quirky toppings are corn, walnuts, and many types of fruit.

Beyond topping oddities, most people point to the classics when asked to name their favorite ingredients. Best toppings include cheese (42%), tomatoes (37%), bacon (30%), croutons (28%) and cucumbers (27%).

What the “perfect” salad looks like

The top three favorite salad dressings are ranch (50%), Italian (30%) and Caesar (25%)—but for 61%, the real main event in a salad is the greens.

The top 5 greens were diverse, with the three favorites being romaine, spinach, and iceberg (though should iceberg really be categorized as a green?) Spring mix was also in the mix, preferred by 30%.

Commissioned by BrightFarms and conducted by OnePoll in celebration of National Salad Month, the study found salads are most enticing depending on their dressing (56%), quality of lettuce (42%), toppings (40%) and the harmony of different flavors (20%).

“If it’s done correctly, a salad can be a perfect meal that combines satisfying flavors, textures, and beautiful colors,” said Jessica Soare, Senior Director of Marketing at BrightFarms.

Results also found that 78 percent of respondents eat at least two salads per week, but nearly half said they’re more likely to eat salads while dining out—praising restaurants for being more creative with ingredients (43%), tasting better because someone else prepares it (34%) and because it takes too much time to prepare salads at home (26%).

“Everyone deserves a fresh salad that makes them feel satisfied about their choices,” concluded Soare.

Do you have any weird salad favorites? Post them in the comments on Social Media…

Ape Treating His Wound Using Medicinal Plant is a World First for a Wild Animal

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Facial wound on adult male orangutan - Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior via SWNS
Facial wound on adult male orangutan – Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior via SWNS

Even though there is evidence of certain self-medication behaviors in animals, so far it has never been known that animals treat their wounds with healing plants. Now, biologists in Indonesia have observed this in a male Sumatran orangutan.

After sustaining a facial wound, he ate and repeatedly applied sap from a climbing plant with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties commonly used in traditional medicine. He also covered the entire wound with the green plant mesh.

The closest relatives to humans, the great apes, are known to ingest specific plants to treat parasite infection and to rub plant material on their skin to treat sore muscles.

A chimpanzee group in Gabon was recently observed applying insects to wounds, although the efficiency of the behavior is still unknown. Wound treatment with a biologically active substance, however, has never been documented before.

Cognitive and evolutionary biologists from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany—Caroline Schuppli and Isabelle Laumer—conducted the study at the Suaq Balimbing research site in Indonesia, which is a protected rainforest area home to around 150 critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.

“During daily observations of the orangutans, we noticed that a male named Rakus had sustained a facial wound, most likely during a fight with a neighboring male,” says Laumer, the first author of the study.

Three days after the injury Rakus selectively ripped off leaves from a vine with the common name Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria). He chewed on them, and then repeatedly applied the resulting juice precisely onto the facial wound for several minutes. As a last step, he fully covered the wound with the chewed leaves.

“This and related liana species that can be found in tropical forests of Southeast Asia are known for their analgesic and antipyretic effects and are used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases, such as malaria.

“Analyses of plant chemical compounds show the presence of furanoditerpenoids and protoberberine alkaloids, which are known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, and other biological activities of relevance to wound healing.”

Observations over the following days did not show any signs of the wound becoming infected and after five days the wound was already closed.

Rakus, 47 days after first treating the wound using the medicinal plant – Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior via SWNS

“Interestingly, Rakus also rested more than usual when being wounded. Sleep positively affects wound healing as growth hormone release, protein synthesis and cell division are increased during sleep,” she explained.

Like all self-medication behavior in non-human animals, the case reported in this study raises questions about how intentional these behaviors are and how they emerge.

“The behavior of Rakus appeared to be intentional as he selectively treated his facial wound on his right flange, and no other body parts, with the plant juice. The behavior was also repeated several times, not only with the plant juice but also later with more solid plant material until the wound was fully covered. The entire process took a considerable amount of time,” says Laumer.

“It is possible, that wound treatment with Fibraurea tinctoria by the orangutans at Suaq emerges through individual innovation,” said Schuppli, a senior author of the study published in Nature. “Orangutans at the site rarely eat the plant. However, individuals may accidentally touch their wounds while feeding on this plant and thus unintentionally apply the plant’s juice to their wounds. As Fibraurea tinctoria has potent analgesic effects, individuals may feel an immediate pain release, causing them to repeat the behavior several times.”

Since the behavior has not been observed before, it may be that wound treatment with Fibraurea tinctoria has so far been absent in the behavioral repertoire of the Suaq orangutan population. Like all adult males in the area, Rakus was not born in Suaq, and his origin is unknown.

“Orangutan males disperse from their natal area during or after puberty over long distances to either establish a new home range in another area or are moving between other’s home ranges,” explains Schuppli. “Therefore, it is possible that the behavior is shown by more individuals in his natal population outside the Suaq research area.”

This possibly innovative behavior presents the first report of active wound management with a biological active substance in a great ape species and provides new insights into the existence of self-medication in our closest relatives and in the evolutionary origins of wound medication more broadly.

“The treatment of human wounds was most likely first mentioned in a medical manuscript that dates back to 2200 BC, which included cleaning, plastering, and bandaging of wounds with certain wound care substances,” said Schuppli.

(Source: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior)

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Watching Sports Boosts Well-being and Improves Your Health, According to ‘Ground-breaking’ Research

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Roger Wilson Stadium Buffalo Bills game – by runneralan2004 (CC license)
Roger Wilson Stadium Buffalo Bills game – by runneralan2004 (CC license)

Beyond simply providing entertainment and relaxation, watching sports fosters community and belonging, which benefits both individuals and their society.

Despite its recognized positive effects, limited evidence exists on the link between watching sports and well-being. To address this gap, the team of Japanese researchers used a multi-method approach and found that sports viewing activates brain reward circuits, leading to improved well-being.

This is especially true when watching popular sports like baseball or football, which can notably boost both physical and mental well-being.

Their research offers insights for public health policies and individual well-being enhancement.

Led by Associate Professor Shintaro Sato from the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University, the team found that watching sport—particularly in large crowds—goes “beyond entertainment” by fostering a sense of community and personal belonging.

“This sense of connection not only makes individuals feel good but also benefits society by improving health, enhancing productivity, and reducing crime,” said Professor Sato.

He explained that a significant challenge in well-being research is the subjective nature of measurement procedures, potentially leading to biased findings. These studies focused on both subjective and objective measures of well-being, combining secondary data analysis, self-reports, and neuro-imaging measures to understand the connection.

CHECK OUT: Eight Habits to Take Up by Age 40 if You Want to Live Decades Longer

In the first study, the researchers analyzed large-scale publicly available data on the influence of watching sports on 20,000 Japanese residents. The results of this study confirmed the ongoing pattern of elevated reported well-being associated with regular sports viewing. However, this study was limited by its inability to provide deeper insight into the relationship between sports consumption and well-being.

The second study, an online survey involving 208 participants, aimed at investigating whether the connection between sports viewing and well-being varied depending on the type of sport observed.

The experiment exposed them to a range of sports videos, assessing their well-being both before and after viewing.

The findings underscored that widely embraced sports, such as football, exerted a “more significant” impact on enhancing well-being compared to less popular sports, such as golf.

However, the most ground-breaking aspect of the research emerged in the third study where the team employed neuro-imaging techniques to scrutinize alterations in the brain activity of 14 Japanese participants before and after watching sports clips.

The results showed that watching sports triggered activation in the brain’s reward circuits, indicative of feelings of happiness or pleasure.

LOOK: Lonely Girls Club Gains Thousands of New Members for Picnics, Drinks, and Game Nights

Analysis also revealed that people who reported watching sports more frequently exhibited greater gray matter volume in regions associated with reward circuits, suggesting that regular sports viewing may gradually induce changes in brain structures.

“Both subjective and objective measures of well-being were found to be positively influenced by engaging in sports viewing,” said Prof. Sato.

“By inducing structural changes in the brain’s reward system over time, it fosters long-term benefits for individuals.”

“For those seeking to enhance their overall well-being, regularly watching sports, particularly popular ones such as baseball or soccer, can serve as an effective remedy.”

Prof. Sato says the findings, published in the journal Sport Management Review, have “profound” implications for not only sports fans but in a larger general population irrespective of their relationship to sports consumption.

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“The sun shines into cesspools and is not polluted.” – Diogenes

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Quote of the Day: “The sun shines into cesspools and is not polluted.” – Diogenes

Photo by: (public domain)

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 5

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James Beard in 1981 at a book signing - CC BY SA 3.0. - Bill Golladay

121 years ago today, one of the most influential chefs in American history, James Beard, was born in Portland. His towering success led to the creation of a foundation that gives out the James Beard Awards—the most coveted in American cuisine. Beard emphasized American cooking, prepared with fresh, wholesome, American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage. Beard taught and mentored generations of professional chefs and authored two dozen cookbooks. READ more… (1903)

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World’s Oldest Bird Named Wisdom Lost Her Mate But is Courting New Suitors at 72

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Wisdom the Laysan albatross (on left), the world's oldest bird, in mating dance - USFWS via SWNS
Wisdom the Laysan albatross (on left), the world’s oldest bird, in mating dance – USFWS via SWNS

The world’s oldest bird may have lost her mate, but she’s now courting new suitors in her 70s.

The Laysan albatross named Wisdom, was photographed dancing with potential mates on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, the seabird’s home.

Thought to be around 72 years old and recognized by her band number Z333, she returned again for nesting season in late November.

Her long-time mate, Akeakamai, has yet to be seen and was absent the last two nesting seasons.

But Wisdom was spotted in the spring socializing with other male birds.

Laysan albatross females lay a single egg in the first half of December, said Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the national wildlife refuge.

“She is quite spry for a septuagenarian,” Plissner reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “She was actively courting other birds.”

It is estimated that Wisdom has produced 50-60 eggs and as many as 30 chicks that fledged during her lifetime, according to Plissner.

WATCH: The World’s Oldest-Known Wild Bird—Named Wisdom—Hatches Another Chick at 70

March photo of the ‘spry septuagenarian’ – USFWS / SWNS

Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg. They aren’t known to breed before age 5.

CHECK OUT: Millions of Birds Now Migrating Safely Through Darkened Texas Cities After Successful Lights Out Campaign

Along with Wisdom, millions of seabirds return to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean to nest and raise their young.

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New Rule Requires US Airlines to Give Automatic Refunds for Canceled or Delayed Flights and Late Baggage 

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By Hanson Lu
By Hanson Lu

The White House recently announced it has issued a final rule that requires airlines to promptly provide passengers with automatic cash refunds when owed. The new rule makes it easy for passengers to obtain refunds when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights, and following significantly delayed checked bags, or failures to provide extra services when purchased.

“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them—without headaches or haggling,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”

The final rule creates certainty for consumers by defining the circumstances in which airlines must provide prompt refunds. Prior to this rule, airlines were permitted to set their own standards for what kind of flight changes warranted a refund, which differed from airline to airline, making it difficult for passengers to know or assert their refund rights.

Under the new rules, which will start going into effect within six months, passengers are entitled to a refund for:

Canceled or significantly changed flights:
Passengers will be entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed, and they do not accept alternative transportation or travel credits offered. For the first time, the rule defines “significant change.” Significant changes to a flight include departure or arrival times that are more than 3 hours domestically and 6 hours internationally; departures or arrivals from a different airport; increases in the number of connections; instances where passengers are downgraded to a lower class of service; or changes that result in less accessible or accommodating situations to a person with a disability.

Significantly delayed baggage return:
Passengers who file a mishandled baggage report will be entitled to a refund of their checked bag fee if it is not delivered within 12 hours of their domestic flight arriving at the gate, or 15-30 hours of their international flight arriving at the gate, depending on the length of the flight.

Extra services not provided:
Passengers will be entitled to a refund for the fee they paid for an extra service — such as Wi-Fi, seat selection, or inflight entertainment — if an airline fails to provide this service.

The DOT’s (U.S. Department of Transportation) final rule also makes it simple and straightforward for passengers to receive the money they are owed. Without this rule, consumers have to navigate a patchwork of cumbersome processes to request and receive a refund — searching through airline websites to figure out how make the request, filling out extra “digital paperwork,” or at times waiting for hours on the phone. In addition, passengers would receive a travel credit or voucher by default from some airlines instead of getting their money back, so they could not use their refund to rebook on another airline when their flight was changed or cancelled without navigating a cumbersome request process.

Refunds are required to be:

Automatic: Airlines must automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them or jump through hoops.

Prompt: Airlines and ticket agents must issue refunds within seven business days of refunds becoming due for credit card purchases and 20 calendar days for other payment methods.

In Cash or original form of payment: Airlines and ticket agents must provide refunds in cash or whatever original payment method the individual used to make the purchase, such as credit card or airline miles. Airlines may not substitute vouchers, travel credits, or other forms of compensation unless the passenger affirmatively chooses to accept alternative compensation.

In the full amount: Airlines and ticket agents must provide full refunds of the ticket purchase price, minus the value of any portion of transportation already used. The refunds must include all government-imposed taxes and fees and airline-imposed fees, regardless of whether the taxes or fees are refundable to airlines.

The final rule also requires airlines to provide prompt notifications to consumers affected by a cancelled or significantly changed flight of their right to a refund of the ticket and extra service fees, as well as any related policies.

Happily, during 2023, the flight cancellation rate in the U.S. was a record low at under 1.2% — the lowest rate of flight cancellations in over 10 years despite a record amount of air travel.

However, in the event that an airline causes a significant delay or cancellation, thanks to pressure from the Biden-era DOT, all 10 major U.S. airlines now guarantee free rebooking and meals—and nine guarantee hotel accommodations. These are new commitments the airlines added to their customer service plans that DOT can legally ensure they adhere to. Find the details displayed on a new web domain that links to DOT: flightrights.gov.

Getting rid of hidden fees

A second rule will require airlines and ticket agents to tell consumers upfront what fees they charge for checked bags, a carry-on bag, for changing a reservation, or cancelling a reservation. This ensures that consumers can avoid surprise fees when they purchase tickets from airlines or ticket agents, including both brick-and-mortar travel agencies or online travel agencies.

The rule will help consumers avoid unneeded or unexpected charges that can increase quickly and add significant cost to what may, at first, look like a cheap ticket.

Airlines must inform consumers that seats are guaranteed: To help consumers avoid unneeded ‘seat selection fees’, airlines and ticket agents must tell consumers that seats are guaranteed and that they are not required to pay extra. The new rule also prohibits airlines from advertising a promotional discount off a low base fare that does not include all mandatory carrier-imposed fees. LEARN all the details from DOT, here.

There are different implementation periods in these final rules ranging from six months for airlines to provide automatic refunds when owed to 12 months for airlines to provide transferable travel vouchers or credits when consumers are unable to travel for reasons related to a serious communicable disease.

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Vitamin D Improves Immunity to Cancer And Reduces Tumor Growth in Mice, Study Finds

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(c) Andy Corbley

Researchers have found that vitamin D improves immunity to cancer by encouraging the growth of a type of gut bacteria in lab mice.

Given a diet rich in vitamin D, they had better immune resistance to cancers and improved responses to immunotherapy treatment.

The team found that vitamin D acts on cells in the intestine, which in turn increases the amount of a ‘good’ bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microbe gave mice better immunity to cancer as the transplanted tumors didn’t grow as much.

The team from the Francis Crick Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health and Aalborg University in Denmark reported their findings in the journal Science.

To test if the bacteria alone could give better cancer immunity, mice were split into two groups. One received a normal diet but with Bacteroides fragilis, which improved immune response. The mice placed on a vitamin D-deficient diet were not able to resist tumor growth.

“What we’ve shown here came as a surprise,” said Caetano Reis e Sousa, head of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Crick, and senior author. “Vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favor a type of bacteria which gives mice better immunity to cancer.”

Previous studies have proposed a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans, although the evidence hasn’t been conclusive—but Bacteroides fragilis is found in our human microbiomes, too.

NEWS FLASH: Vitamin D Supplements May be Fending Off People’s Dementia, New Large Study Shows–Especially in Females

To investigate this, the researchers analyzed a dataset from 1.5 million people in Denmark1, which highlighted a link between lower vitamin D levels and a higher risk of cancer. A separate analysis of a cancer patient population also suggested that people with higher vitamin D levels2 were more likely to respond well to immune-based cancer treatments.

“This could one day be important for cancer treatment in humans.”

“A key question we are currently trying to answer is how exactly vitamin D supports a ‘good’ microbiome. If we can answer this, we might uncover new ways in which the microbiome influences the immune system, potentially offering exciting possibilities in preventing or treating cancer,” said Evangelos Giampazolias, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Crick.

So far, they’ve found that vitamin D helps gut bacteria to elicit cancer immunity, improving the response to immunotherapy in mice.

“These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the role of microbiota in cancer immunity and the potential of dietary interventions to fine-tune this relationship for improved patient outcomes,” added Romina Goldszmid, Stadtman Investigator in NCI’s Center For Cancer Research.

VITAMIN D-LIGHTFUL: Sunshine Could Ward Off Dementia and Strokes: First-Ever Direct Link to Vitamin D Found

Meanwhile, researchers in Japan believe vitamin D could be key in preventing ovarian cancer, after they found it stopped a key transformation in the metastasis of this highly lethal cancer. It actively reversed a process by which ovarian cancer turns the host’s defenses against them, suggesting it could be key as part of a treatment plan for early stage diagnosis.

“We know that vitamin D deficiency can cause health problems, however, there wasn’t enough evidence to link vitamin D levels to cancer risk. This early-stage research in mice, coupled with an analysis of Danish population data, seeks to address the evidence gap,” explained Cancer Research UK’s Dr. Nisharnthi Duggan.

A bit of sunlight can help our bodies make vitamin D—and most people can make enough vitamin D by spending short periods of time in the summer sun.

We can also get vitamin D from our diet and supplements.

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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 4, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
I don’t casually invoke the terms “marvels,” “splendors,” and “miracles.” Though I am a mystic, I also place a high value on rational thinking and skeptical proof. If someone tells me a marvel, splendor, or miracle has occurred, I will thoroughly analyze the evidence. Having said that, though, I want you to know that during the coming weeks, marvels, splendors, and miracles are far more likely than usual to occur in your vicinity—even more so if you have faith that they will. I will make a similar prediction about magnificence, sublimity, and resplendence. They are headed your way. Are you ready for blessed excess? For best results, welcome them all generously and share them lavishly.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you enjoy a celebratory purge sometime soon. You could call it a Cleansing Jubilee, or a Gleeful Festival of Purification, or a Jamboree of Cathartic Healing. This would be a fun holiday that lasted for at least a day and maybe as long as two weeks. During this liberating revel, you would discard anything associated with histories you want to stop repeating. You’d get rid of garbage and excess. You may even thrive by jettisoning perfectly good stuff that you no longer have any use for.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Graduation day will soon arrive. Congrats, Cancerian! You have mostly excelled in navigating through a labyrinthine system that once upon a time discombobulated you. With panache and skill, you have wrangled chaos into submission and gathered a useful set of resources. So are you ready to welcome your big rewards? Prepared to collect your graduation presents? I hope so. Don’t allow lingering fears of success to cheat you out of your well-deserved harvest. Don’t let shyness prevent you from beaming like a champion in the winner’s circle. PS: I encourage you to meditate on the likelihood that your new bounty will transform your life almost as much as did your struggle to earn it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Ritualist and author Sobonfu Somé was born in Burkina Faso but spent many years teaching around the world. According to her philosophy, we should periodically ask ourselves two questions: 1. “What masks have been imposed on us by our culture and loved ones?” 2. “What masks have we chosen for ourselves to wear?” According to my astrological projections, the coming months will be an excellent time for you to ruminate on these inquiries—and take action in response. Are you willing to remove your disguises to reveal the hidden or unappreciated beauty that lies beneath? Can you visualize how your life may change if you will intensify your devotion to expressing your deepest, most authentic self?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
If human culture were organized according to my principles, there would be over eight billion religions—one for every person alive. Eight billion altars. Eight billion saviors. If anyone wanted to enlist priestesses, gurus, and other spiritual intermediaries to help them out in their worship, they would be encouraged. And we would all borrow beliefs and rituals from each other. There would be an extensive trade of clues and tricks about the art of achieving ecstatic union with the Great Mystery. I bring this up, Virgo, because the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to craft your own personalized and idiosyncratic religious path.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Hidden agendas and simmering secrets will soon leak into view. Intimate mysteries will become even more intimate and more mysterious. Questions that have been half-suppressed will become pressing and productive. Can you handle this much intrigue, Libra? Are you willing to wander through the amazing maze of emotional teases to gather clues about the provocative riddles? I think you will have the poise and grace to do these things. If I’m right, you can expect deep revelations to appear and long-lost connections to re-emerge. Intriguing new connections are also possible. Be on high alert for subtle revelations and nuanced intuitions.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
It’s fun and easy to love people for their magnificent qualities and the pleasure you feel when they’re nice to you. What’s more challenging is to love the way they disappoint you. Now pause a moment and make sure you register what I just said. I didn’t assert that you should love them *even if* they disappoint you. Rather, I invited you to love them BECAUSE they disappoint you. In other words, use your disappointment to expand your understanding of who they really are, and thereby develop a more inclusive and realistic love for them. Regard your disappointment as an opportunity to deepen your compassion—and as a motivation to become wiser and more patient. (PS: In general, now is a time when so-called “negative” feelings can lead to creative breakthroughs and a deepening of love.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I assure you that you don’t need “allies” who encourage you to indulge in delusions or excesses. Nor do I recommend that you seek counsel from people who think you’re perfect. But you could benefit from colleagues who offer you judicious feedback. Do you know any respectful and perceptive observers who can provide advice about possible course corrections you could make? If not, I will fill the role as best as I can. Here’s one suggestion: Consider phasing out a mild pleasure and a small goal so you can better pursue an extra fine pleasure and a major goal.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I invite you to take an inventory of what gives you pleasure, bliss, and rapture. It’s an excellent time to identify the thrills that you love most. When you have made a master list of the fun and games that enhance your intelligence and drive you half-wild with joy, devise a master plan to ensure you will experience them as much as you need to—not just in the coming weeks, but forever. As you do, experiment with this theory: By stimulating delight and glee, you boost your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Aquarian author Lewis Carroll said, “You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution to their problem, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.” In my astrological opinion, this won’t be an operative theme for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. I suspect you will be inclined to believe fervently in magic, which will ensure that you attract and create a magical solution to at least one of your problems—and probably more.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Which would you prefer in the coming weeks: lots of itches, prickles, twitches, and stings? Or, instead, lots of tingles, quivers, shimmers, and soothings? To ensure the latter types of experiences predominate, all you need to do is cultivate moods of surrender, relaxation, welcome, and forgiveness. You will be plagued with the aggravating sensations only if you resist, hinder, impede, and engage in combat. Your assignment is to explore new frontiers of elegant and graceful receptivity.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The world’s record for jumping rope in six inches of mud is held by an Aries. Are you surprised? I’m not. So is the world’s record for consecutive wallops administered to a plastic inflatable punching doll. Other top accomplishments performed by Aries people: longest distance walking on one’s hands; number of curse words uttered in two minutes; and most push-ups with three bulldogs sitting on one’s back. As impressive as these feats are, I hope you will channel your drive for excellence in more constructive directions during the coming weeks. Astrologically speaking, you are primed to be a star wherever you focus your ambition on high-minded goals. Be as intense as you want to be while having maximum fun giving your best gifts.

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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“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas

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Quote of the Day: “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas

Photo by: Tim Mossholder

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 4

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The Natural Bridge, Virginia - Frederic Edwin Church in his 40s - Google Art Project, public domain

198 years ago today, Frederic Edwin Church, one of the foremost painters in the American landscape movement known as the Hudson River School, was born. His absolutely stunning depictions of North and South American wilderness put an emphasis on realistic detail, dramatic light, and panoramic views. In his pomp, Church was the most famous painter in New York City, and a wonderful selection of his works can be seen today at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. SEE some and read more about his life… (1826)

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Couple in Their 80s Have Fostered More Than 150 Children–No Plans to Stop Accepting Babies

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Andy Corbley
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The Isdales with their first foster child, Kim - released by the family
The Isdales with their first foster child, Kim – released by the family

English couple Margaret Isdale and her husband Robert decided to welcome a teenage girl into their home for foster care back in 1978.

Now almost 40 years later, they are receiving a lifetime achievement award, because the octogenarians have fostered an incredible 150 children and teenagers.

They’ve seen many dramatic circumstances, including a boy who had to have a kidney removed, and a child who came with no possessions of any kind apart from a set of pajamas, but they have no plans on slowing down.

From the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, they received a lifetime achievement award from Lincolnshire Foster Services, whose administrator, Michelle Sawmynaden, was in awe of the pair, saying that over their 46 years of raising other people’s children, lots of them have either gone back to their birth families or gone on to be adopted.

“It’s really quite humbling. It’s not about us, it’s about the kids we look after—they’re the important ones,” said Margaret, on the occasion of the award.

Their years have seen the love they offer children manifest in different ways. There was Kim, who was 4 years old when she entered the Isdale household with a heart complication and Down syndrome. They traveled as much as they could with her before she passed away at age 21.

MORE FOSTER-HOME HEROES: Couple Who Won 100,000 in Lottery Plans to Spend Money on Fostering Children

In other cases, there are happier endings, such as a child for whom they were asked to be the godparents. They had two children of their own, and even in their older age, they’re still going strong—fostering an eight-month-old baby.

ALSO SEE THIS WOMAN: Towering Statue Unveiled in London to Honor a National Hero You’ve Probably Never Heard of

“People say, how can you hand them over? Well, that’s part of what we do, and sometimes when you hand [a child] over the adoptive parents or birth parents keep in touch and they say how appreciative they are,” said Mr. Isdale. “That in itself is a reward.”

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Spain’s Newly-Found ‘Sword in the Stone’ Actually Reflects on its Rich Islamic Heritage, Not King Arthur

By
Andy Corbley
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Archaeology Service of the Valencia City Council - released.
Archaeology Service of the Valencia City Council – released.

Like the mythical Excalibur sword of King Arthur, a relic from 1,000 years ago was recently found lodged upright in a stone in Spain.

But while Arthur quested for the Holy Grail and gathered knight-brothers of the church on his holy mission, the sword in the stone in Spain was wielded by a Muslim.

Found 30 years ago buried upright at an archaeological site in Valencia, the sword has been restored and analyzed, with its secrets now revealed for the first time.

‘Excalibur’ is a short iron sword measuring 18 inches, (46 centimeters) with an ornate handle, that clasped the blade with bronze plates. The blade itself is of moderate size and curves slightly towards the tip, which has caused some confusion about the exact chronology since the Visigoth swords had a similar shape.

The sedimentary strata where it was found on the historic Chabas Steet however date it to Islamic times. The size of the weapon and the absence of a hand guard suggest that it may have been used by a horseman from the Andalusian caliphal era.

It is the first Islamic sword to appear in the city, according to a statement from the city council, and there is only one similar sword that was found in the excavations of Madinat al-Zahra, the caliphal city of Abd al-Rahman III, in Córdoba.

ANCIENT SPAIN: 24,000-Year-Old Cave Art Suddenly Found in Well-Known Paleolithic Cave Shelter in Spain

It was found in what was likely a domestic dwelling north of what was Valencia’s Roman-era central square, or forum, showing the incredible diversity of cultures that have called the city home.

OTHER SWORD DISCOVERIES: 1,000 year old Viking Sword Fished out of an Oxfordshire River with a Magnet

Islamic control of the Iberian Peninsula lasted more than 600 years, but it was preceded by the Byzantines, Visigoths, Romans, and Carthaginians. The Muslims called it Al-Andalus, which provided the name for the modern region of Spain, Andalusia.

Along with establishing several prominent cities such as Cordoba, Malaga, and Almeria, the Arabs gave Spain its most iconic monument: the Al-Hambra.

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Scientists Are Making Jet Fuel from Landfill Gas Aiming to Launch Circular Economy

By
Andy Corbley
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Methane wells in landfill – Image by Luisa Low, University of Sydney
Methane wells in landfill – Image by Luisa Low, University of Sydney

In a world-first, University of Sydney researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that could create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially creating a low-carbon aviation industry.

Offering the potential to clear two hurdles in a single leap, the scientists believe that if their process becomes cost-effective and widespread, all the world’s landfills could potentially be energy sources.

Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. According to the International Energy Agency, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is currently around two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels, and while methane only exists in the atmosphere for about 9 years, it’s increasing steadily, with waste emissions and the burning of fossil fuels accounting for a significant proportion.

Australia recently joined the international methane mitigation agreement with the United States, the European Union, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

“Globally, landfills are a major emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly a mixture of CO2 and methane. We have developed a process that would take these gases and convert them into fuels, targeting sectors that are difficult to electrify, like aviation,” said lead author, Professor PJ Cullen from the University of Sydney’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

“Modern landfill facilities already capture, upgrade, and combust their gas emissions for electricity generation, however, our process creates a much more environmentally impactful and commercially valuable product,” he said.

Global landfill emissions are estimated at 10–20 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, a value comparable to the emissions of the global energy sector.

Aviation currently accounts for approximately 3% of the world’s emissions. Creating a “closed loop” fuel based on existing emissions would eliminate the need for traditional and sustainable jet fuels, which add further emissions into the atmosphere.

OTHER LANDFILLS CONVERTED: Hundreds of Solar Farms Built Atop Closed Landfills Are Turning Brownfields into Green Fields

The process would work by extracting methane from a landfill site, known as a methane well, which uses a shaft-like mechanism to extract gases.

“The beauty of this is that this simple process captures almost the exact composition that we need for our process,” said Professor Cullen.

MORE SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUELS: First Flight of Regional Jet-Powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cells–40-Seater is Largest Ever to Fly

“Non-thermal plasma is an electricity-driven technology which can excite gas at both a low temperature and atmospheric pressure. Essentially, what this means is this approach facilitates the conversion of the gas into value-added products by inducing plasma discharge within forming gas bubbles. The process doesn’t require heat or pressure, meaning it requires less energy, making it highly compatible with renewable energy power sources.”

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Significant Blow to the Illegal Pet Trade: Big Bust Rescues Dozens of Lemurs and Tortoises

By
Andy Corbley
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Some of the lemurs after they were rescued - credit Wildlife Justice Commission Released
Some of the lemurs after they were rescued – credit Wildlife Justice Commission Released

In a pair of busts that will end up costing criminals millions, Thai police raided a suspected wildlife smuggling site and saved hundreds of animals.

48 lemurs, 30 primates of various species, several crocodiles, and over 1,000 rare tortoises were seized when a convoy of four smuggling trucks was raided in Chumphon, Thailand, as well as a farming front connected with the subjects.

Valued at over $2 million on the black market, this seizure spells good news for endangered species. Radiated tortoises and all the lemur species are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I, meaning that trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

Both species are native to Madagascar and are highly sought-after commodities in the global illegal pet trade market.

Coordinated by a suite of Thai law enforcement and wildlife organizations with aid from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the investigation is focused on dismantling a transnational organized wildlife trafficking network operating in Thailand, with linkages stretching across Africa, Asia, and South America.

Wildlife, including plants and seeds, make up the third largest illegal market in the world behind drugs and weaponry. But whereas the other two can always be easily replaced through manufacturing, endangered lemur species are finite and known to be in great peril from habitat loss alone.

In other words, a police seizure of this magnitude will not only be significantly disruptive to the criminals’ operations but create an extremely positive impact as well.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Rather Than Taking Jobs in Tech, 2 Young Software Engineers Use Talents to Crush Poaching in India

“This operation represents the largest reported seizure of radiated tortoises in Thailand and the largest globally since 2018,” said Olivia Swaak-Goldman, Executive Director of the Wildlife Justice Commission, who helped share “critical intelligence” with Thai authorities that led to the seizure.

“This resounding success sends a clear message that wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated, and perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

MORE WILDLIFE CRIME STORIES: 109 Countries Coordinate Sting Operation to Seize Illegally-Captured Wildlife, Leading to 600 Arrests

Since 2016, the Wildlife Justice Commission has been at the forefront of the fight against this illegal trade. Working in cooperation with law enforcement authorities, the Wildlife Justice Commission has disrupted trafficking networks in Asia and the Middle East and now, with this latest case, has helped rescue over 10,000 live animals including turtles and tortoises, big cats, orangutans and chimps.

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“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.” – Charles Dickens

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Good News Network
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Screenshot

Quote of the Day: “There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.” – Charles Dickens

Photo by: Cherry Laithang

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?

Screenshot

Good News in History, May 3

By
Good News Network
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Rescue on the Pit River Bridge, Virginia Schau, public domain

71 years ago today, two men were rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacramento River. At the same time, amateur photographer Virginia Schau photographed the effort and won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography as a result. She became the first woman to win the award. She captured the photo with a Kodak brownie. READ more… (1953)

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Drones Find Dozens of Landmines Littering Ukraine So They Can Be Defused

By
Andy Corbley
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At an explosives test range at Oklahoma State University, the author [pictured] tested his technology’s ability to detect land mines and dozens of other kinds of explosive ordnance. DEMINING RESEARCH COMMUNITY
At an explosives test range at Oklahoma State University, Jasper Baur tested his technology’s ability to detect land mines and dozens of other kinds of explosive ordnance – credit, Demining Research Community.

When drones appeared on the scene en masse, many people saw the potential immediately—for military purposes, for breathtaking photography, even wildlife conservation, but for one small group of technicians, the AI-armed eye in the sky had another obvious purpose: saving people around the world from being killed by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

The group, called Safe Pro AI, pilots drones carrying patented advanced computer vision software technologies that sweeps the ground for landmines.

Recently, the team from Safe Pro was invited by the UN and Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct training exercises in a field north of Kyiv. UN workers had scattered between 50 and 100 inert landmines and bombs in the field and told Jasper Baur and his colleagues to get to work.

Using flight planning software, Jasper and the co-founder on the project, Gabriel Steinberg pulled an all-nighter coding for the detection of all the mines in the more than 15,000 pictures the drones captured. It took 2 hours for the deep-learning algorithm to make it’s determinations from the photographs, in which it correctly located 72 of the hazards.

“[t]he UN deemed our results impressive enough to invite us back for a second round of demonstrations,” Baur writes in the most recent issue of Spectrum IEEE. “All our hard work paid off. Today, our technology is being used by several humanitarian nonprofits detecting land mines in Ukraine, including the Norwegian People’s Aid and the HALO Trust, which is the world’s largest nonprofit dedicated to clearing explosives left behind after wars.”

The sky is the limit for this kind of technology. Landmines and leftover shells and bombs contaminate over 50 nations and regions, from the obvious conflict zones of Afghanistan and Ukraine, to those of long forgotten conflicts (from the world’s perspective) like the Falklands War and Laos.

The drone in action, and an image it made of a detected landmine – credit, Demining Research Community

In 2020 alone, 146 square kilometers of land, nearly 4 million acres, were cleared of more than 135,000 antipersonnel mines, but thousands are killed and injured every year by devices now illegal under a UN treaty signed over 167 states. Despite this illegality, most warring nations still engage in the practice of mining, including both Russia and Ukraine, and the United States when it shipped cluster bombs manufactured in 1990 to help Ukraine’s war effort.

Because of this shortfall in international law enforcement, organizations like Safe Pro AI are imperative to keep the world, particularly children and rural folk, from stepping on them.

OTHER POSITIVE STORIES OUT OF CONFLICTS: ARK Becomes ‘Life Raft’ Saving Over 15,000 Animals from Ukraine With Rescue Partners in Germany

An area the size of Florida is now mined in Ukraine, and it takes around 60,000 drone photos to cover a square kilometer, and 3 minutes for a human to check each drone photograph.

“At that rate, it would take more than 500 million person-hours to manually search imagery covering all of Ukraine’s suspected contaminated land,” Baur writes.

The start of Safe Pro AI came in 2019 after Baur and some colleagues at  Binghamton University’s Geophysics and Remote Sensing Laboratory where he trained an AI system to detect a single kind of Soviet landmine known as a “butterfly mine” because of its shape.

MORE HUMANITARIAN TECH: Heavy-Lift Drone Can Haul 220-Pounds of Cargo for Delivery, Aid, or Construction Companies

In 2020 Steinberg and Baur founded the Demining Research Community, to focus on combating this explosive pandemic through robotics, geophysics, and remote sensing.

Last year, the Demining Research Community experimented by putting aerial magnetometry, thermal imaging, and LiDAR on their drones as well, which can help provide context for any visual images that the AI can’t make a good determination on.

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Revolutionary New ‘Living Plastic’ That Could Slash Damage to the Environment Developed by California Researchers

By
Andy Corbley
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A biodegradable "living plastic" is made by combining thermoplastic polyurethane pellets (left) and Bacillus subtilis spores (right) that have been engineered to survive the high temperatures used to produce the plastic. Photos by David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
Thermoplastic polyurethane pellets (left) and Bacillus subtilis spores (right) – Photos by David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Scientists believe they’ve found a way to make plastics more durable and biodegradable by adding bacterial spores that have been put through evolutionary rigors.

This kind of “living plastic” can break down in about five months without the necessary addition of any other microbes.

Researchers led by scientists at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) created this living plastic in the form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a soft but durable commercial plastic used in footwear, floor mats, cushions, and memory foam.

They explained that the material is filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break it down at the end of its life cycle.

The biodegradable TPU was made with bacterial spores from a strain of Bacillus subtilis that has the ability to break down plastic polymer materials.

“It’s an inherent property of these bacteria,” said study co-senior author Professor Jon Pokorski, of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “We took a few strains and evaluated their ability to use TPUs as a sole carbon source, then picked the one that grew the best.”

The research team used bacterial spores, a dormant form of bacteria, due to their resistance to harsh environmental conditions.

Pokorski explained that unlike fungal spores, which serve a reproductive role, bacterial spores have a protective “protein shield” that enables bacteria to survive while in a vegetative state.

To make the biodegradable plastic, the researchers fed Bacillus subtilis spores and TPU pellets into a plastic extruder. The ingredients were mixed and melted at over 200°F, then extruded as thin strips of plastic.

To assess the material’s biodegradability, the strips were placed in both microbially active and sterile compost environments. Prof Pokorski said the compost setups were maintained at around 100°F with a relative humidity ranging from 44 to 55%.

Water and other nutrients in the compost triggered germination of the spores within the plastic strips, which reached 90% degradation within five months.

“What’s remarkable is that our material breaks down even without the presence of additional microbes. Chances are, most of these plastics will likely not end up in microbially rich composting facilities,” said Professor Pokorski.

SOLVING PROBLEMS: Indian Startup Uses Rice Crop Waste to Make Biodegradable Foam Packaging–Instead of Burning it

“So this ability to self-degrade in a microbe-free environment makes our technology more versatile.”

Study co-first author Han Sol Kim, a postdoctoral fellow in Pokorski’s lab, tests the stretchability and strength of the living plastic credit – David Baillot

Although the researchers still need to study what gets left behind after the material degrades, they believe that any lingering bacterial spores are likely harmless.

Pokorski explained that Bacillus subtilis is a strain used in probiotics that’s generally regarded as safe to humans and animals and can even be beneficial to plant health.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the bacterial spores were evolutionary nudged to adapt to the hot temperatures necessary for manufacturing the TPU. The strains that survive this process are then isolated and put through the cycle again.

OTHER PLASTICS THAT BREAKDOWN: Scientists Create World’s First Truly Biodegradable Single-use Plastic That ‘Eats Itself’ in Just 2 Weeks

“We continually evolved the cells over and over again until we arrived at a strain that is optimized to tolerate the heat,” said study co-senior author Dr. Adam Feist, a bioengineering research scientist at UCSD. “It’s amazing how well this process of bacterial evolution and selection worked for this purpose.”

He said the spores also serve as a strengthening filler, similar to how rebar reinforces concrete, resulting in a TPU variant with enhanced mechanical properties—requiring more force to break and showing greater stretchability.

MORE INNOVATIVE MATERIALS: Scientists Create Biodegradable Batteries That Can Be Buried in Soil After Use

“This is great because the addition of spores pushes the mechanical properties beyond known limitations where there was previously a trade off between tensile strength and stretchability,” said Pokorski.

The research team is now working on optimizing the approach for use on an industrial scale.

“There are many different kinds of commercial plastics that end up in the environment – TPU is just one of them.” said Dr. Feist. “One of our next steps is to broaden the scope of biodegradable materials we can make with this technology.”

More markets looking to utilize this, and other forms of similar technology, the question will always be how expensive it is to make. Plastics are mass-produced, and anything that breaks down will have to be priced at an acceptable mark-up and produced in bulk for this and other biodegradable plastics to catch on.

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