A red-headed Brit named Russ Cook claims he’s become the first person ever to run across the entire length of Africa after crossing a finishing line in Tunisia.
The feat was immense, filled with danger, and when the self-styled “Hardest Geezer” arrived at the shores of the Mediterranean, he had run just over 385 marathons in 352 days; a total of over 10,000 miles.
More importantly as Cook sees it, his inspirational accomplishment has raised over £650,000, close to a million dollars, for a selection of charities.
His route crossed 16 countries, deserts, rainforests, and mountains, and saw him get entangled in visa issues, muggings, sandstorms, injuries, sickness, and snowstorms. It started in South Africa’s remote southern town of La Agulhas and landed him on a Tunisian beach with a strawberry daiquiri in his hand.
BBC reports that his route started in South Africa, and was followed by Namibia, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia.
His first 60 marathons went off without a hitch when he started in April 2023, but it was in Angola that he and his team were robbed at gunpoint, with money, passports, and phones all stolen.
The next major setback occurred in Cameroon where he was constantly battling food poisoning. After crossing Nigeria to Benin he felt like a shell of himself. By that point he had run something like 210 marathons.
Reaching the very unique country of Mauritania on day 267, people were endlessly stopping on the roads to offer water and supplies. But then, unable to transit into the vast Algerian Sahara because of visa difficulties, he needed the help of the British government to intervene on his behalf.
Quote of the Day: “Truth is strong, and sometime or other will prevail.” – Mary Astell
Photo by: Gavin Allanwood
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?
15 years ago, Parks and Recreation, a television mockumentary debuted on NBC, and leaped right into the hearts of millions of Americans. Without being their introductory roles, the show nevertheless catapulted its cast into nationwide comedy acclaim, particularly for Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Chris Prat, and Aubrey Plaza, who all went on to hugely successful careers.
The show ran for 7 seasons, from 2009 to 2015, and wracked up 125 episodes. Produced and written by the creators of The Office U.S., “Parks and Rec” as it was commonly called, had a very similar style. WATCH some of the funniest moments… (2009)
The Indian megacity of Bengaluru typically sizzles in the summer months when citizens are taught to save water, but one man’s outreach to students in the school system has saved millions of gallons of water this year alone.
Environmentalist Dr. Hariharan Chandrashekhar began the Rain Reach program in Bengaluru schools after a spate of mass well digging rapidly depleted the water supplies to 8.5 million inhabitants, and around 40 schools inside the city.
The program is introduced to kids aged 9 to 15 to ensure that they understand how to avoid wasting water from an early age and go on to build up a life-long habit.
Focusing on collecting and storing rainwater, using rain gauges to monitor and budget rainfall, treating and reusing wastewater for non-hygienic purposes like irrigation and toilet flushing, the program has so far saved over 9 million gallons (34 million liters) of water.
Water has been a major target of private and public sector Indian action recently. Almost 79 million households have been provided with access to a tap water connection since the nationwide initiative called Jal Jeevan launched in August 2019, bringing 56% of rural households in the nation tap water.
In India’s remote Western Ghats, a gorgeous blue and yellow gecko species has been named in honor of Vincent Van Gogh, whose painting Starry Night, was the first thing that entered Ishan Agarwal’s mind when he saw it.
Found during one of many expeditions into these underdeveloped, underexplored mountains running parallel to India’s western coastline, it enriches both the eyes and the scientific literature.
Belonging to the genus Cnemapsis, it is one of 2,300 members worldwide and over one hundred in India alone. Not so long ago, however, there were only a few dozen.
“We have incredibly diverse fauna, but we know little about it,” Agarwal told Nat Geo of the Western Ghats, in which he has spent 12,400 hours exploring.
Cnemapsis vangoghi was found during one such exploration, after the flash of indigo and mustard yellow which caught Agarawl’s eye.
It looked similar to another gecko of the same genus, C. galaxia, but during lab work, his suspicions were confirmed that it was actually a new species. It and a second, closely related species, are described for the first time in a study published in the natural ZooKeys.
Found in the Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve, Agarawl suspects that this gecko is receiving much greater protection than many of India’s native reptiles because of its location under the ‘umbrella’ of the charismatic cat.
Umbrella conservation strategies allow naturalists to advocate for the conservation of a single species whose needs of territory, prey species, and protection are largest, and ipso facto helps conserve dozens or even hundreds of other species that share that territory.
In this case, protecting tigers means protecting geckos.
Agarwal says that new techniques for studying DNA allow for much greater specificity in describing species, and that the genus Cnemapsis is “ridiculously diverse.”
SHARE This Starry-Skinned Gecko And The Intrepid Scientist Who Discovered Him…
A digitally made image of the University of Leeds' Research Farm with attached fly breeding center - credit, Entocycle.
A digitally made image of the University of Leeds’ Research Farm with attached fly breeding center – credit, Entocycle.
There’s been a lot of talk in the media over the last few years about insect protein, whether used in fake beef, protein bars, or other processed applications, but a startup in the UK has come up with a way to integrate bugs into the food supply chain in a way that not only cuts emissions, but doesn’t upset the stomach.
The now 9-year-old start-up Entocycle uses bugs to replace corn, soy, and fishmeal as high-quality animal feed for pigs and chickens.
Of the major meat sources around the world, chickens and pigs are known in the industry as ‘monogastrics’ meaning they have one stomach as compared with other meat sources like beef, sheep, and goat, which are ruminants, meaning they have several stomachs.
Ruminants eat only grass, roughage, and other vegetable material, but while chickens and pigs have been fed corn, soy, and other agricultural products for years, bugs would have made up an important and large part of their natural diets, especially for the latter, which were domesticated from tropical jungle fowl we must remember.
At Entocycle’s London development facility, thousands of black soldier fly larvae are turned into protein feed for pigs and chickens. This species of fly will eat almost any wasted food, making insect farming a double whammy for environmental waste management, as it offers the potential to divert food scraps from the landfills where they would normally generate methane, a potent, albeit short-lived, greenhouse gas.
“It is the quickest, cheapest, most sustainable insect to farm and it’s a non-disease, non-pest species found all over the world,” says Entocycle founder and chief executive Keiran Whitaker.
While it might seem that a fly wouldn’t be able to produce a sufficient amount of eggs to create enough food for all world poultry and pork farming, they actually do create a serious amount of protein. But it’s so much more than that.
A previous study published in 2021 found that incubating pig manure with black soldier fly larvae substantially reduced manure nutrient levels with reductions in nitrogen, carbon, energy, phosphorus, and potassium in the residual material, potentially decreasing the environmental problems caused by surplus manure on farms making its way into the river systems during heavy rains, a major problem in England for example.
These flies also have a positive effect on animal health, with several scientific studies conducted in recent years supportive of the benefits. A 2022 study found that the supplementation of black soldier fly larvae in pig diets had beneficial effects on the growth performance of pigs and on improving meat quality.
Because of this, a 40-foot walk-in fly breeding center developed by Entocycle was installed at the University of Leeds’ Research Farm, which tests out innovative agricultural technology on a farm that aims to be entirely circular.
Across the Atlantic, US food giant Cargill is already using insect feed in its pork and poultry operations, manufactured by a company called Innovafeed.
WATCH the story below from Reuters…
BUZZ Over To Your Friends’ Social Media Pages And Share This Exciting News…
Disaster struck a truck transporting 102,000 young salmon to a hatchery in Oregon when it overturned on the road and the giant fish tank it was carrying burst open.
However luck was on the side of the small fries, almost all of whom rode the wave of water out of the tank and into Lookingglass Creek, the waterway which connects with the hatchery they were traveling to.
The driver had just left a local hatchery in Elgin, Oregon, about 300 miles east of Portland with 80,000 pounds of salmon and water. His eventual destination was the Imnaha River near Lookingglass Hatchery in Northeast Oregon, but with early morning dew on the roads, the driver skidded while heading around a sharp curve and the yaw of the water-filled container brought it down onto its side before sending it sliding over the road and down into a rocky embankment.
It was one of the worst disasters in the history of the program, dating back to 1982, which brings salmon “smolts” or young salmon, from river hatcheries downstream to hatcheries stopped up by dams far upstream.
While 24,000 of the smolts weren’t able to flop their way from the bank to the river, 77,000 were.
Typically, the smolts are brought up to the river hatcheries a short time before their eventual journey to the Pacific Ocean.
At their destination on the Imnaha River, they were meant to acclimate for a few days before their 650-mile journey through the Snake and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific.
“They hitch a ride on the spring runoff, tail first, so there is less resistance, that way they can conserve energy until they get to the ocean,” said Andrew Gibbs, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s fish hatchery coordinator for eastern Oregon in an interview on Wednesday.
Even though they weren’t born there, just a short few days at the constructed pool in the Imnaha Rivee is enough for them to specifically remember the route back from the ocean, using a kind of reserve scent signal.
By placing smolts in various rivers, creeks, and tributaries, the state ensures that salmon are running back upstream past all manner of communities, both human and animal, that rely on them for food, commerce, and recreation.
“They kind of smell their way back,” Gibbs said. “It’s an incredible life history.”
SHARE This Flop Of Luck From Oregon With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.” – Alphonse de Lamartine
Photo by: Sebastián León Prado
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?
Nakagin Capsule Tower and Wheelock Place - Jordy Meow CC 3.0. and Elisa.rolle CC 4.0. SA
90 years ago today, the architect Kisho Kurokawa was born. This brilliant mind was the co-founder of the Metabolist architectural movement, which sought to fuse the post-war architecture of the island with organic forms to create structures in harmony with a sort of Marxist vision of humanity in the future. Kurokawa designed and built dozens of large structures across Asia, including the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, Central Plaza 1 in Brisbane, Australia, and Lane Crawford Place in Singapore. READ more and see more buildings… (1934)
Artist impression of the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R) – San Antonio's Southwest Research Institute / ASTROSCALE U.S. / SWNS
Artist impression of the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R) – Credit: ASTROSCALE via SWNS
A spacecraft is being built that could orbit the Earth and aid other ships that need a refuel—extending their missions.
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas, will build and test a small demonstration spacecraft as part of a $25.5 million Space Mobility and Logistics (SML) project funded by the U.S. Space Force (which was created in 2019 by Congress to “preserve U.S. space superiority”).
Led by prime contractor Astroscale, the spacecraft, called the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R), will carry hydrazine propellant from a depot—also in orbit—to spacecrafts running low on fuel.
Scheduled to be launch-ready by 2026, the APS-R can service any spacecraft fitted with a compatible refueling port.
“Running low on fuel is a common issue for spacecraft in Earth orbit,” said SwRI Staff Engineer Steve Thompson, the SwRI project systems engineer. “When they have expended all of their fuel, their mission ends — even though the vehicle may be in otherwise excellent health.
“A refueling vehicle can extend those missions, and we can get additional lifetime out of spacecraft that are already in orbit.”
The APS-R will operate in geostationary orbit around the Earth, meaning it will follow a circular orbit in sync with the Earth’s rotational period of 24 hours.
“Recently, other approaches to life extension have emerged, such as a vehicle that can use its thrusters to push another spacecraft where it needs to go after it runs out of fuel,” Thompson said. “A refueling vehicle broadens life extension options with a flexible alternative.”
Over the next 16 months, SwRI will construct the host vehicle, which is quite small, in the Institute’s new processing facility.
The maximum dimensions are 24-by-28-by-45 inches when stowed for launch, and the total vehicle launch mass weighs just 437 pounds, including propellant.
When the host spacecraft is complete, SwRI will integrate the Astroscale-supplied payload and perform system-level environmental testing to prepare the vehicle for launch.
SHARE THE AWESOME INNOVATION With STEM and Space Lovers on Social Media…
Chris Bien with mammoth tooth she found on a beach – SWNS
Chris Bien with mammoth tooth she found on a beach – SWNS
[SWNS] – An amateur fossil hunter is celebrating a once-in-a-lifetime discovery after finding a huge mammoth tooth on a beach.
Chris Bien was visiting Holland-on-Sea, Essex, as part of her birthday celebrations when she took a walk on the beach with her husband Mark. She stopped to sit on a rock by the water’s edge when she looked down and saw a wavy line pattern in the gravel.
“I saw it poking out and thought it must be a tooth to have a pattern like that,” said the 56-year-old mother-of-one.
“I started scraping away with my hands but it was so deep in the ground that hands weren’t good enough. Mark and I had bought a trowel with us and so we dug it out that way – it was fully fossilized. (Watch the moment in a video below…)
“I was in disbelief. While we were digging it out I was hoping it was a mammoth tooth but I kept saying to my husband: ‘it can’t be’.
“I had said earlier that day ‘I’m going to find a mammoth’s tooth’ and then we had a moment where we just burst out laughing as we stood on the beach holding it.
“It is so beautiful with its ridges. I’m overjoyed.”
By Chris Bien via SWNS
The find is believed to be the root of the tooth and measures six-and-a-half to seven inches in depth and width, weighing over 4 pounds (2 kilos).
After seeking advice online, Chris believes the tooth could have belonged to a steppe mammoth, one of the largest mammoth species. They were ancestors of the woolly mammoth and roamed the earth around 1.8 million years ago.
Chris added that she thinks the fossil is only half a tooth as there’s only two inches of the chewing plate and the rest is the root, indicating some of it is missing.
She is going to preserve the tooth and it is already soaking in distilled water where it will stay for a few weeks. After drying out, it will be preserved in a coating of preservation glue and ethanol.
Chris volunteers for her local museum in Worthing and has been a part of the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society for 17 years.
The North Essex beaches are known for being a trove of fossilized treasure. Other finds she has made are mammoth leg and toe bones, and an Ice Age horse tooth and ankle bone.
“I want people to know about the deep, rich history behind this find.”
Watch the moment captured on a video…
ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO LOOK DOWN–By Sharing the Find on Social Media…
A poll of 2,000 literary lovers in Britain has revealed the top 35 places to visit made famous by iconic authors and the scenes from their books.
Some of the top must-see locations for book buffs are right in London, including Shakespeare’s Globe theater, the John Keats home, and 221-B Baker Street, better known as the home of Sherlock Holmes.
Travel 56 miles (90 km) northwest of London to Oxford, and tip a pint of ale at the Eagle and Child Pub, where authors JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, who created the mystical realms of Middle Earth and Narnia, held regular meetings on Thursday evenings with their writers’ group The Inklings.
Further into the countryside of West Yorkshire, visit Haworth, the #1 most beloved literary stop. It was the home of the Brontë sisters and its moorland setting had a profound influence on the writing of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.
Many of the sites, like Haworth, also have museums located on the property.
Sherwood forest, with its historic connection to the legend of Robin Hood, and Shakespeare’s birth town of Stratford-upon-Avon, also joined Jane Austen’s Chawton cottage in Hampshire in the top 35 ranking (see full list below).
Globe Theater in London
“Iconic locations such as Shakespeare’s Globe and the home of the Brontë sisters hold such cultural importance, and it’s great to see them feature so prominently in our research,” said Darren Hardy, author and editorial programs manager at Amazon, which commissioned OnePoll to carry out the survey to launch the Kindle UK Storyteller Award, celebrating the best self-published stories.
The University of Oxford English Literature Professor Elleke Boehmer said the British Isles are rich in vital literary traditions.
“In Britain, you almost get the sense in some literary places of the land, trees and surroundings pregnant, still, with the writer’s presence, or a sense of how they have interacted with the context—like Coleridge’s Quantock hills.
“The walks that he made through those hills still exist today, and as we walk them we can imagine him pacing out the lines of his poetry, like ‘The Ancient Mariner’, looking out onto the Bristol Channel at the passing ships from around the world.
“Some of my favorite literary sites, like Coleridge’s Nether Stowey, the Brontës’ Haworth or DH Lawrence’s Eastwood, also feature truly wonderful and significant houses where the rooms in which the writers were born, or wrote some of their key works, are preserved for all generations.”
The poll also asked people to name their favorite British writers—Charles Dickens came out on top, followed by Charlotte Brontë and George Orwell.
TOP 35 LITERARY LOCATIONS IN THE UK
1. Haworth, the home of Brontë sisters
2. Shakespeare’s Globe theater, London
3. Jane Austen’s Chawton cottage
4. 221B Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes
5. The Eagle and Child Pub, where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis wrote
6. Sherwood Forest
7. Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
8. Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon
9. British Library, London
10. William Wordsworth home, Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Cumbria
11. Hilltop House, the home of Beatrix Potter
12. Whitby, the setting for Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula
13. PoohSticks Bridge, A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh scene in Ashdown Forest
14. Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Stratford-upon-Avon
15. Chatsworth House, named in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
16. Charles Dickens’ birthplace museum, Portsmouth
17. The Jane Eyre trail, Peak District
18. Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey
19. Agatha Christie’s Devon retreat, Greenway
20. Roald Dahl’s Gipsy House, Great Missenden
21. Keats’ House, London
22. Thomas Hardy’s Birthplace, and Max Gate House, Dorset
23. Sedbergh book town, Lake District
24. Abbotsford, near Selkirk, Scotland, made famous by Walter Scott
25. Dylan Thomas boathouse, Laugharne, Wales
26. John Rylands library, Manchester
27. Charles Dickens home at 48 Doughty Street
28. John Milton’s Cottage, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire
29. D.H. Lawrence Birthplace and Hagg’s Farm
30. Elizabeth Gaskell’s house, Manchester
31. Lamb House, Rye, East Sussex, associated with Henry James
32. Rudyard Kipling home, Bateman’s in East Sussex
33. Shelley Lodge, Marlow, home of Mary Shelley
34. Woolwich, and central London, famously associated to Bernardine Evaristo
35. Samuel Taylor Coleridge home, Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey
The Kindle Storyteller Award is a £20,000 literary prize recognizing outstanding writing, open to authors publishing in English in any genre through Kindle Direct Publishing. Readers play a significant role in selecting the winner, helped by a panel of judges including various book industry experts.
“We are looking forward to seeing what stories are submitted for this year’s Kindle Storyteller Award – perhaps some will have been inspired by some of our iconic literary landmarks and the authors connected to them.”
SHARE THE COOL LIST With Travelers and Book Lovers on Social Media…
Katie Everett in Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital – SWNS
Katie Everett in Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital – SWNS
A British woman says an eye test saved her life, after her optician spotted a brain tumor during a routine examination.
Katie Everett’s eyesight had gotten noticeably worse and, indeed, they found an abnormality in both of her eyes, so referred her to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.
After an MRI scan there, doctors diagnosed her with meningioma, the most common type of primary brain tumor.
Now, two-and-a-half years later, Katie believes the routine eye test found a tumor that would have otherwise been undetected.
She underwent two operations to have the mass removed in July 2021 and went on to have radiation therapy, which prevents tumors from growing back in 90 percent of cases.
The surgery was a success, although not all the tumor could be removed, meaning Katie has to have check ups for the next 10 years.
The beautician, from Hampshire, England feared she might have otherwise gone blind: “If it was left any longer, I could have lost my vision completely due to it pressing on my optic nerve.”
“It’s hard to believe, I really didn’t think something like that could happen,” said the 31-year-old.
The type of tumor Katie had is classified as benign and is slow-growing, however, it was pressing on her pituitary gland which caused her menstrual cycles to stop and severely impacted her vision.
“I’ve had some hair loss where the radiotherapy was targeting the mass, and my nose and throat are still recovering from the second surgery where they cut away what they could of the tumor.
“Other than that, I feel fortunate to be able to share my story to help raise awareness.”
She also helped by raising lots of cash for tumor research.
“We’re grateful to Katie for sharing her story, as well as fundraising an incredible amount,” said Mel Tiley, community development manager at Brain Tumor Research.
As so often occurs, life’s biggest challenges can bestow inspiring benefits.
“It’s made me realize that even when you don’t feel that you’re strong enough to deal with something like this, when it comes down to it you somehow find the strength within you.”
ENCOURAGE FRIENDS TO GET A CHECK-UP By Sharing With Friends on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Silence is the mother of truth.” – Benjamin Disraeli
Photo by: Guillaume de Germain
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?
93 years ago today, perhaps the greatest American whistleblower in history, Daniel Ellsberg was born. In March of last year, Ellsberg revealed to the media he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and passed away before the year was out. Ellsberg was the man who leaked a top-secret Pentagon study of the U.S. government’s decision-making during the Vietnam War, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. It revealed that everything told to the American people and the world besides regarding the war was a lie, and the whole operation was characterized by immense negligence of American commanders. READ more about this great American, and what we know as a result of his heroism… (1931)
As Americans prepare for the wondrous celestial spectacle of a total solar eclipse on April 8, cloudy skies or thunderstorms have been forecast for some areas in the direct path of totality.
The latest national weather forecast shows that during the eclipse heavy rain and severe thunderstorms are likely to be soaking parts of the southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley, which includes Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Arkansas and the majority of Texas.
The best chances for viewing the totality under clear skies—while the moon passes in front of the sun creating darkness during the day—will be the New England area or the northern regions of Indiana and Ohio.
Another region with potential for clear skies runs from northern Arkansas to central Indiana through southern Illinois and Missouri, although this area has the greatest uncertainty due to possible high clouds.
With Dallas, Texas likely to be mostly cloudy or rainy, people interested in the eclipse might want to look into driving to northern Arkansas or eastern Oklahoma.
Best places for viewing the totality
Further north in Indianapolis, skies should be partly sunny, with possible clouds.
Another city ripe for the eclipse spotlight is Buffalo, New York, which also features a forecast of partly sunny, with possible clouds.
However, a cloudy forecast doesn’t mean your experience will be totally ruined. As opposed to completely overcast, a ‘broken sky’ with clouds that don’t form a thick layer can be thinner in spots and offer some viewing opportunities—so there’s hope for some clearing compared to an overcast day. The sky will also grow quite dark during totality and may turn different, sunset-like colors.
High clouds are also not as bad. Under these, while in the path of totality, people may get a few chances to see the phenomenon. The eclipse will be visible, but blurry behind a layer of thin clouds.
Don’t forget to wear glasses, which are widely available inexpensively, because even during eclipses it is never good to stare at the sun.
SHARE THE UPDATED FORECAST With Eclipse Watchers on Social Media…
Ultrasound images in female patient with multifocal papillary thyroid cancer, showing no more tumor growth - China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing / SWNS
Ultrasound images in female patient with multifocal papillary thyroid cancer, showing no more tumor growth – China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing / SWNS
A new study this week shows that patients could avoid thyroid cancer surgery with a minimally invasive procedure that could be used for this disease, and would spare people from having to undergo an operation.
Researchers at China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing developed the new application using microwave ablation, and the research marks the first multi-centre analysis of patients who used the new procedure compared with those who got surgery for their multi-focal papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).
“These findings challenge traditional treatment paradigms and open new avenues for less invasive management strategies,” said Dr. Ming-An Yu, director of interventional medicine.
Thyroid surgery can impact the patient’s quality of life due to factors like scarring, lifelong hormone replacement, and potential complications, such as permanent hoarseness.
The study, published in the journal Radiology, looked at 775 patients with Stage 1 PTC, who were being treated with either microwave ablation or surgery at ten different centers between 2015 and December 2021.
The patients—229 in the microwave ablation group and 453 in the surgical resection group, all with two or more lumps found in the gland—were followed-up for between one and four years.
Microwave ablation was associated with similar progression-free survival rates to surgery—but with fewer complications and a greater potential for preserving thyroid function.
Rowan Brannan with the 2,000-year-old gold Roman bracelet – Amanda Kenyon via SWNS
Rowan Brannan with the 2,000-year-old gold Roman bracelet – Amanda Kenyon via SWNS
A 12-year-old boy picked up a treasure in the dirt that his mother thought was just strapping used for packaging, but it turned out to be 2,000 years old and made of gold.
Rowan Brannan was with his mother Amanda walking the dog in a field in Sussex, England, when he spotted the band which dates back to the first century AD.
“Rowan has always been into finding all sorts of bits and pieces. He’s very adventurous and is always picking stuff up off the ground,” said his mom. “I’m forever saying ‘put it down—it’s dirty.”
It was caked with dirt, but the more Rowan kept holding the bit of metal, the more he was convinced that it could be actual gold.
“It was just normal to me, because I pick up a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t,” said the dutiful lad.
Rowan took the piece home and researched how to tell whether it was real gold.
It met all the criteria on the checklist, but they didn’t realize just how lucky Rowan’s discovery was until a hairdresser came to their house.
She told the pair that she was going on a metal detecting trip, which reminded Rowan to show her the metal he had found.
She took a photo of the piece and showed it to the leader of the metal detector group who said it looked old and recommended they contact a British Finds Officer.
Rowan described how the excitement kept building over the months following his discovery. He learned that the find was classified as ‘treasure’ because it was older than 300 years and was made of a precious metal.
The family was asked to bring the item to Horsham to the Finds Liaison Officer because the artifact belongs to the nation.
“Then it got to the treasure process,” said the excited boy.
Amanda said the piece has gone through the Coroner’s Court in a ‘fascinating’ process where they have been learning more and more about the bracelet.
“It’s very exciting whenever we read an email and we have been kept up to date throughout the whole process.”
After much study, officials told the boy from Bognor, that he’d uncovered an “exceptionally rare” armilla Roman bracelet, a fact that was confirmed by the British Museum.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of April 6, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries author Eric G. Wilson claims, “Darker emotional states—doubt, confusion, alienation, despair—inspire a deeper and more durable experience of the sacred than contentment does.” I disagree. I know for a fact that an exquisite embrace of life’s holiness is equally possible through luminous joy and boisterous triumph and exultant breakthroughs. Propagandists of the supposed potency of misery are stuck in a habit of mind that’s endemic to the part of civilization that’s rotting and dying. In any case, Aries, I’m pleased to tell you that in the coming weeks, you will have abundant opportunities to glide into sacred awareness on the strength of your lust for life and joie de vivre.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Will humans succeed in halting the decimation of the environment? Will we neutralize the power of fundamentalism as it fights to quash our imaginations and limit our freedoms? Will we outflank and outlast the authoritarians that threaten democracy? Sorry I’m asking you to think about sad realities. But now is an excellent time for you to ponder the world we are creating for our descendants—and resolve to do something in loving service to the future. Meditate on the riddle from Lewis Carroll’s book, Through the Looking Glass: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.”
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The genius polymath Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) contributed much treasure to science and engineering. One encyclopedia sums up his legacy: “He was the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method, and modern science.” Unfortunately, many of Galileo’s ideas conflicted with the teachings of Catholicism. The church fathers hounded him for years, even arresting him and putting him on trial. The Vatican eventually apologized, though not until 350 years after Galileo died. I expect that you, too, will generate many new approaches and possibilities in the coming months, Gemini—not Galileo level, of course, but still: sufficiently unprecedented to rouse the resistance of conventional wisdom. I suspect you won’t have to wait long to be vindicated, however.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Now would be a perfect time to prove your love. How? You might begin by being extra considerate, sensitive, sweet, and tender. I hope you will add sublime, scintillating touches, too. Maybe you will tell your beloved allies beautiful truths about themselves—revelations that make them feel deeply understood and appreciated. Maybe you will give them gifts or blessings they have wanted for a long time but never managed to get for themselves. It’s possible you will serenade them with their favorite songs, or write a poem or story about them, or buy them a symbol that inspires their spiritual quest. To climax all your kindness, perhaps you will describe the ways they have changed your life for the better.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo naturalist and ornithologist William Henry Hudson (1841–1922) said, “I am not a lover of lawns. Rather would I see daisies in their thousands, ground ivy, hawkweed, and dandelions with splendid flowers and fairy down, than the too-well-tended lawn.” I encourage you to adopt his attitude toward everything in your life for the next few weeks. Always opt for unruly beauty over tidy regimentation. Choose lush vitality over pruned efficiency. Blend your fate with influences that exult in creative expressiveness, genial fertility, and deep feelings. (PS: Cultural critic Michael Pollan says, “A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.”)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
I praise and celebrate you for your skills at helping other people access their resources and activate their potentials. I hope you are rewarded well for your gorgeous service. If you are not, please figure out how to correct the problem in the coming months. If you are feeling extra bold, consider these two additional assignments: 1. Upgrade your skills at helping yourself access your own resources and activate your own potentialS. 2. Be forthright and straightforward in asking the people you help to help you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I don’t regard a solar eclipse as a bad omen. On the contrary, I believe it may purge and cleanse stale old karma. On some occasions, I have seen it flush away emotional debts and debris that have been accumulating for years. So how shall we interpret the total solar eclipse that will electrify your astrological house of intimate togetherness in the coming days? I think it’s a favorable time to be brave and daring as you upgrade your best relationships. What habits and patterns are you ready to reinvent and reconfigure? What new approaches are you willing to experiment with?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
At your best, you Scorpios are not invasive manipulators. Rather, you are catalysts. You are instigators of transformation, resurrectors of dead energy, awakeners of numb minds. The people you influence may not be aware that they long to draw on your influence. They may think you are somehow imposing it on them, when, in fact, you are simply being your genuine, intense self, and they are reaching out to absorb your unruly healing. In the coming weeks, please keep in mind what I’ve said here.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In my astrological opinion, it’s prime time for you to shower big wild favors on your beautiful self. Get the fun underway with a period of rigorous self-care: a physical check-up, perhaps, and visits with the dentist, therapist, hairstylist, and acupuncturist. Try new healing agents and seek precise magic that enhances and uplifts your energy. I trust you will also call on luxurious indulgences like a massage, a psychic reading, gourmet meals, an emotionally potent movie, exciting new music, and long, slow love-making. Anything else, Sagittarius? Make a list and carry out these tasks with the same verve and determination you would give to any important task.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The coming days will be a favorable time for you to wrestle with an angel or play chess with a devil. You will have extraordinary power in any showdown or collaboration with spiritual forces. Your practical intelligence will serve you well in encounters with nonrational enigmas and supernatural riddles. Here’s a hot tip: Never assume that anyone is wiser than you. You will have a special knack for finding compassionate solutions to address even the knottiest dilemmas.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Your featured organ of the month is your nose. This may sound beyond the scope of predictable possibilities, but I’m serious: You will make robust decisions and discriminating choices if you get your sniffer fully involved. So I advise you to favor and explore whatever smells good. Cultivate a nuanced appreciation for what aromas can reveal. If there’s a hint of a stink or an odd tang, go elsewhere. The saying “follow your nose” is especially applicable. PS: I recommend you take steps to expose yourself to a wide array of scents that energize you and boost your mood.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
When is the best time to ask for a raise or an increase in benefits? Can astrology reveal favorable periods for being aggressive about getting more of what you want? In the system I use, the time that’s 30 to 60 days after your birthday is most likely to generate good results. Another phase is 210 to 240 days after your birthday. Keep in mind that these estimates may be partly fanciful and playful and mythical. But then in my philosophy, fanciful and playful and mythical actions have an honored place. Self-fulfilling prophecies are more likely to be fulfilled if you regard them as fun experiments rather than serious, literal rules.
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
Quote of the Day: “The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away.” – Wilson Mizner
Photo by: Melanie Stander
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?
