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Chef Returns to Kitchen Thanks to Floating Seat Invented After a Motorcycle Injury Made Him Immobile (WATCH)

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Andy Corbley
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Chef Peter Lammer schwebt – Standing Ovation GmbH
Chef Peter Lammer – Standing Ovation GmbH

An Austrian chef who lost almost all control of his legs is back on the line again thanks to a brilliant invention from a friend.

A C-shaped metal hook suspended on a set of rails from the ceiling allows Chef Lammer to literally float through the kitchen, while setting his hands free to chop, dice, quarter, and fillet.

10 years ago, Peter Lammer from Salzburg suffered a serious motorcycle injury that left him without the use of his legs. Even with course after course of physical therapy, he is considered 80% disabled.

Besides unimaginable pain and mental strain, his financial future was hopeless and massively threatened from one day to the next. The love for his family as well as the passion for his job lit a fire of inspiration in the heart of Lammer’s friend, 52-year-old Bernhard Tichy.

Tichy ran a nearby zip line adventure course, and had an understanding of hanging movement. Together, they developed Standing Ovation, a one-of-a-kind device that allows disabled users to sit comfortably on a bicycle seat at the point of a large hook. The hook is attached by carabiners to a railing on the ceiling that allows the user to slide up and down the workplace.

AFTER THE INJURY: Paralyzed Man Sets Off to Cycle Entire Length of Britain on a Motorized Bike Controlled by His Chin

The user’s torso weight is transferred to Standing Ovation via the device and thus the hands remain free for work. Likewise, when lifting loads, any additional weight is taken over by a spring system in the device and there is no additional strain on the legs.

MORE GREAT ACCOMODATIVE INVENTIONS: Italian-Made Exoskeleton Gets Disabled Users Walking and Standing

With Standing Ovation, Lammer can pull a pot off the stove, and with a small flick of his leg, go gliding down the kitchen line to the prep station.

“All the experts said that I would never be able to do a standing job again,” Lammer told Reuters from the kitchen of his Salzburg restaurant Johanneskeller.

WATCH Lammer do his thing below from ABS-CBN News… 

SHARE This Amazing Accommodation For This Dedicated Chef…

“If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act.” – Howard Zinn

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Quote of the Day: “If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act.” – Howard Zinn

Photo by: Florian Cordillot

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

Good News in History, August 27

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Good News Network
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William Least Heat-Moon - CC 3.0. Joe Mabel

Happy 85th Birthday to Osage-American travel writer William Least Heat-Moon. His debut novel, Blue Highways, (1982) is a chronicle of a three-month-long road trip that Least Heat-Moon took throughout the United States in 1978 after he had lost his teaching job and been separated from his first wife. He tells how he traveled 13,000 miles, as much as possible on secondary roads, and tried to avoid cities. His second work was River-Horse during which he traveled across the US entirely on waterways. READ more about what he encountered… (1939)

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‘Everything Went Right’ Says Dad Who Lost His Wedding Ring on the Highway While Delivering Newborn in Backseat

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Andy Corbley
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Danya and Rebecca Mahota with their daughters - Danya Mahota, released.
Danya and Rebecca Mahota with their daughters – Danya Mahota, released.

“Everything could have gone wrong, and everything went right,” were the concluding thoughts of Danya Mahota, new father for the second time.

It all started when his wife Rebecca, at 40 weeks pregnant, felt the contractions coming on fast and hard.

En route from their home in Brewster to the hospital in Plymouth, a 56-minute drive in the summertime traffic near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Rebecca’s water broke.

As the saying goes, the second one comes quicker, and few could match the speed of little Summer, whose head was already out after the very next contraction. As that was happening, Mr. Mahota was pulling over on the side of the highway to help.

Summer was born there on the highway, and the Mahotas promptly sped off to the hospital with their newborn wrapped in a blanket.

Mahota was speaking with ABC affiliate WCVB in the aftermath of one of the most dramatic days of his life, and explained that at the hospital where Summer was pronounced healthy and complication-free, he noticed his wedding band had slipped off.

CHECK OUT THIS: Mom and Daughter Reunite With Nurse Who Saved Their Lives 30 Years Ago–Now as Co-Workers

Days later, he returned to the highway to search for the personal treasure.

“Just as we were about to leave, I looked down, and by the grace of God, I found it right between my toes. I was scraping some grass away, and I just couldn’t believe it,” he told WCVB. “Everything could have gone wrong, and everything went right.”

MORE FEEL GOOD MOMENTS: Woman Gives Birth in Lobby of Welsh Cinema and the Daughter Now Has Free Movies for Life

The story made it to GMA, where the parents of two daughters shared some insight from their harrowing highway experience.

“We would just like to remind all expecting parents that the hospital guidelines of when to go to the hospital are not always concrete, and in fact, it might be sooner, so follow your instincts and get down there if you can tell things are happening!” they wrote via email.

WATCH The story below from GMA…

SHARE This Feel Good Family Story With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Seven ‘Spectacular’ Silver Bracelets from the Viking Age Unearthed by a Danish Student

By
Andy Corbley
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Poul Madsen Moesgaard Museum
Poul Madsen Moesgaard Museum

A 22-year-old Danish student has become the latest metal detective to dig up treasure buried by Vikings.

In the area around the Danish city of Aarhus, Gustav Bruunsgaard was out with his metal detector when it started beeping. The lad was already in an area where finds from the Viking Age have been uncovered, and one must have imagined he was excited.

He had every reason to be. He found a silver bracelet or arm ring, and returning later in the week, discovered another 6, which together weighed a little more than a pound of silver.

He reported his findings to the Moesgaard Museum in Højbjerg where the bracelets are currently on display. Experts at the museum reckon the rings date to the early 9th century, which, considering that Vikings were excellent storytellers, solidly would have represented the “good ole’ days” for them.

Generally considered to have been started in earnest after a famous raid on an English monetary in 793 CE, raiding Norsemen terrorized the coasts of Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, the Baltic nations, and some of the earliest Russian principalities along the Volga River.

In most of the early 9th century, this seaborne threat was too new, and local authorities too weak and decentralized to mount any meaningful defense against these invaders.

Poul Madsen Moesgaard Museum

“The Elsted farm treasure is a fantastically interesting find from the Viking Age, which connects Aarhus with Russia and Ukraine in the east and the British Isles in the west,” Kasper H. Andersen, a historian at the museum, said in the statement.

One of the coiled rings is of a type that originally came from Russia or Ukraine, which has since been imitated in the Nordic countries. The three band-shaped, stamped rings are of a southern Scandinavian type, which inspired bangles in Ireland, where they became very common. The three smooth bangles are rare, but are known from Scandinavia and England.

“In this way, the find emphasizes how Aarhus was a central hub in the Viking world, which went all the way from the North Atlantic to Asia.”

All that raiding and trading generated enormous profit, and silver was the Viking Age’s measure of value, the museum statement explains.

NEWS FROM THE VIKING AGE: Thousand-Year-Old Viking Hall Fit for the Gods Unearthed By Archaeologists in Denmark

The seven bangles have a total weight of more than half a kilo. Bangles like these were adapted to a common weight system, so you could easily see the value of the individual rings. It served as a means of payment and transaction, as well as demonstrating the financial capacity of the owner.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: 1,000-Year-Old Viking Coins Found by Young Girl With Metal Detector in a Cornfield

It’s believed the buried bracelets represent a hoard of hacksilver, which behind silver coins minted in Constantinople, Europe, and the Arab world, served as a common medium of exchange. Rings like the ones Bruunsgaard found were used as reference weights so that pieces of looted silver could be “hacked” apart into the correct size for trading practices.

The objects thusly hacked tended to be jewelry, raw ingots, or pieces of religious paraphernalia.

GNN reported recently on a discovery about the necessary sophistication of Viking economics and jurisprudence.

SHARE This Fantastic Find With Your Friends Who Love Vikings… 

Shells to Sweaters: Sustainable ‘Sea Wool’ Earns Millions for Taiwan Business Spinning Oyster Shells into Yarn

By
Andy Corbley
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Credit - Clint Patterson, unsplash CC 0.0.
Credit – Clint Patterson, unsplash CC 0.0.

A man in Taiwan is helping reduce fashion waste by creating a sustainable alternative to artificial textiles from an already existing waste stream.

He’s using oyster shells—which when ground up and processed can produce a flexible yarn similar to sheep’s wool that’s been appropriately dubbed “sea wool.”

According to the Taiwanese Department of Agriculture, 160,000 metric tons of mollusk shells are discarded annually from restaurant and fishing businesses.

This isn’t necessarily a waste material, as many fisheries have a policy to dump discarded shells onto oyster reefs. The shells are made of 95% calcium carbonate which is the perfect ingredient to repair and grow living oyster reefs as it greatly increases the number of surfaces the oyster larvae can glom onto.

Eddie Wang grew up in western Taiwan, where oysters and other shellfish have long been a profitable and delicious local industry. The South China Morning Post reports that Wang first got the idea to turn the shells into a thread from lower-income locals who use(d) crushed oysters to insulate their homes.

It was a great idea as it turns out, and materials scientists were keen to work with Wang to develop the industry and make it competitive with existing garment production.

TAIWAN NEWS: Abandoned Airport Turned into Sensory Experience Park Providing Green Refuge in Crowded Taiwan City

Today, Wang’s factory manufactures 900 tons of sea wool thread every year, and earns $6 million gross.

The top relevant results for a search on Google of “Sea Wool Clothes,” turns up the large men’s wear outlet Huckberry, whose line of gorgeous sea wool sweaters are priced very competitively with real wool sweaters of similar weave and texture.

MORE ALTERNATIVE TEXTILES: MIT Scientists Develop the Perfect Breathable Earth-Friendly Fabric Using The Same Material as Single-Use Bags

Being that oysters are calcium carbonate, a product used in many different industries, powdered oyster shells could be used to replace limestone quarrying, the major source of calcium carbonate, and a large source of emissions and pollution.

WATCH the story below from SCMP… 

SHARE This Awesome Alternative To Textiles With Your Friends… 

6-Year-old Boy Found in the Forest After 150 Searched for Five Days

By
Andy Corbley
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Vietnamese state media
Vietnamese state media

Relief flooded Vietnamese social media and news waves when reports that a young boy lost for 5 days in the tropical rainforest had finally been found.

A search party of police, volunteers, and soldiers reached 150 in number as they combed the mountains in the northwest Yen Bai Province.

The five year old Dang Tien Lam was playing in a creek with his siblings when after wandering up a hill, he probably became disoriented and searched down the wrong slope for his playmates.

It can take as little as a few hundred yards in tropical jungle to lose all track of where you’re going, and this small miststep was the first chapter in a 5-day ordeal that ended when the boy was found under a cassava bush by a farmer.

His clothes were completely soiled, and he was too weak to stand.

“I’m so tired, I can’t stand up, please carry me up,” Lam said, according to 52-year-old farmer Ly Van Nang. “[The child told me] that when he got lost, he could not find his way home, and the more he walked, the more he could not find a way out.”

Local news said the boy survived by eating leaves, wild fruits, and drinking streamwater.

MIRACULOUS RESCUES: Woman Lost 8 Days in the Australian Bush Survives to See Her 4 Children Again ‘It is miraculous’

The police, commenting on the story, offered “congratulations” on his eventual safe return, and said it was a “miracle” that he had survived and been found. Vietnam is a heavily forested country, and Yen Bai a heavily forested province.

The story is reminiscent of the children lost in Colombia’s rainforests last year.

MORE VIETNAMESE NEWS: ‘Mother Theresa of Vietnam’ Overcame Decades of Homelessness to Help Hundreds of Orphans

The four children were passengers on a plane that went down and killed all three adults on board.

The children, aged 13, 9, and 4, along with a 12-month-old baby, sheltered and found food to eat using indigenous knowledge remembered from their upbringing.

SHARE This Harrowing Oreal And Safe Return With Your Friends… 

“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.” – Benjamin Disraeli

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Good News Network
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By Dekler Ph

Quote of the Day: “Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Photo by: Dekler Ph

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

By Dekler Ph

Good News in History, August 26

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233 years ago today, John Fitch was granted a US patent for a boat propelled by steam power which used mechanical paddles to propel it atop lakes and rivers—an invention that revolutionized commercial transportation of both passengers and freight. The American inventor, clockmaker, silversmith, surveyor, entrepreneur, and engineer, also provided beer, rum, and other supplies in 1778 to General Washington’s troops at Valley Forge. READ more about the first steam ship and its inventor… (1791)

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Astronaut’s Jaw-dropping Photos of Powerful Aurora was Also Captured by Airplane Pilot From Another Angle

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Aurora and Moon over Earth – Photo by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick / SWNS

Two weeks ago, NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) alerted the media of a huge geomagnetic solar storm that had begun on August 11.

Within hours, a stunning aurora was created that was captured by two photographers—a pilot in a passenger plane, and an astronaut orbiting from above.

The series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that produced a jaw-dropping display for over 48 hours, which might have been seen over North America “as far south as Alabama and Northern California”.

NASA’s Matthew Dominick aboard the International Space Station has garnered thousands of fans online, thanks to his incredible shots of the Moon and Earth from orbit.

In the picture, the Colorado-native captured the vibrant light show with the moon behind the supply craft that was attached to the ISS.

Another snapshot depicts the Soyuz spacecraft set against the bright green aurora background.

Meanwhile, the pilot of a passenger jet had the best seat within our Earth’s atmosphere for the spectacle.

Scott Bateman MBE captured the atmospheric display from the cockpit of an Airbus A350-1000 at 39k feet / SWNS

From the cockpit of an Airbus A350-1000, Scott Bateman captured the atmospheric display while flying a long-haul international route.

He described the stunning scenes as he flew across the world: “It was spectacular! It started as we passed Chicago at 39,000-feet and lasted until the dawn over Ireland, when it turned purple.

Purple Northern Lights over Ireland by Scott Bateman MBE, from the cockpit of an Airbus A350-1000 (via SWNS)

“I have never seen the aurora borealis so vivid with reds and purples.

Red and green Northern Lights by pilot Scott Bateman MBE, from his cockpit at 39k feet / SWNS

His pics were shot on his iPhone 15 with no editing or filters. “We had a front row seat in our Airbus.”

CHECK OUT: NASA Stunned by Discovery After Mars Rover Breaks Open a Rock

A result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar flares and winds, auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers in the sky.

SHARE NATURE’S ARTWORK With Friends And NASA Fans On Social Media…

Empty Nesters Travel to All 63 US National Parks: ‘Life’s Too Short’ But What is the Perfect Age for Adventures?

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Good News Network
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Matt and Karen Smith in the Grand Canyon (via SWNS)
Matt and Karen Smith in the Grand Canyon (via SWNS)

It’s American Adventures Month—and in a new survey of 2,000 Americans, over one-third reported that they’ve become more adventurous as they age.

Even though 42 was deemed to be ‘the perfect age to go on an adventure’ (when averaging respondents’ answers), a huge majority still believed that ‘age is just a number’.

In fact, 83% agreed that no matter how old you are, you can always be adventurous–with the majority of baby boomers, Gen X, and millennials going on 4-5 trips per year.

One couple in their 60s has even become the ultimate role model for any adventuring empty-nesters, after having visited all 63 U.S. National Parks.

The Talker Research poll commissioned by Storyteller Overland also compiled some of the best advice for living a more adventurous life as you age (see the tips at the bottom)—but, let’s learn how Matt and Karen Smith pulled off their tour of every National Park within two years.

16 years ago, their youngest son moved out of the house, and the couple—after losing friends and family of a similar age—eventually realized that ‘life is too short’.

“All of a sudden, we realized our mortality,” said Karen. “We realized that we didn’t have to be home all the time and that if we wanted to visit all these national parks now was the time.”

“Matt also has a new corporate job that he wasn’t particularly happy with.”

Matt said they started off by visiting national parks close to their home in Seattle, Washington.

Karen and Matt Smith in Glacier National Park, Montana (via SWNS)

“We did not buy an RV to travel around the country, we either drove from Seattle or flew.”

They both agreed that one of their favorites was Yellowstone—for its “epic views”.

“Yellowstone is incredible. We are seeing bison, which is the emblem of North America and you can look out your car window and see a grisly bear with its cubs, or wolves. It is one of the most unique experiences I have ever had.”

Another favorite for Matt was floating down the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience, seeing the canyon from the bottom and spending 16 days on the river. It is just you, your team, and your friends. We were at peace with nature.”

NEED TO GET AWAY? 10 Places Perfect for Remote Workers–And Some Will Pay You Thousands to Move There

Previously, Matt and Karen would usually vacation in Europe, but Karen said visiting the national parks has allowed them to fall in love with a different side of America.

“We had almost seen every country in Europe but we never really saw what was in our own back yard. Before we did this, we wouldn’t have been able to name all the national parks—and now we’ve visited them. It is such a life changing experience.”

AMERICANS’ BEST ADVICE FOR LIVING A MORE ADVENTUROUS LIFE

  • “You’re only as young as you feel.”
  • “Try something different. Something you never would have thought you would do.”
  • “Look inside yourself and decide what you would probably not do, unless you give yourself permission, yet something you have dreamed of doing. Then take steps to do it.”
  • “Go for it—and take lots of photos to put on an Echo show on your kitchen counter so you will see them every day and look back for many years to come.”
  • “Be spontaneous, take detours.”
  • “Seek both adrenaline thrills and relaxation.”

GOOD NEWS FOR AIRLINE TRAVELERS: New Rule Requires US Airlines to Give Automatic Refunds for Canceled or Delayed Flights and Late Baggage 

INSPIRE YOUR PALS AND PARENTS By Sharing The Tips On Social Media…

Classical Music Lifts Our Mood by ‘Synchronizing’ Parts of the Brain, Says Study of Patients with Depression

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Salieri's handwritten notes on part of the opening movement from Pafio e Mirra – SWNS / Austria National Library
Salieri’s handwritten notes on part of the opening movement from Pafio e Mirra – SWNS / Austria National Library

Whether Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart, it’s widely recognized that classical music can affect a person’s mood.

Now, scientists are using brainwave measurements and neural imaging techniques to show exactly how Western classical music elicits its positive effects on the brain.

The discovery could lead to effective ways to use music as treatment to activate the brain in people with treatment-resistant depression.

“Ultimately, we hope to translate our research findings into clinical practice, developing convenient and effective music therapy tools and applications,” said Professor Bomin Sun, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The study focused on 13 patients with treatment-resistant depression who already had electrodes implanted in their brains for the purpose of deep-brain stimulation.

The implants are placed in a circuit connecting two areas in the forebrain—the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc).

Using the implants, the researchers found that music generates its antidepressant effects by synchronizing the neural oscillations between the auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing of sensory information—and the rewards circuit, responsible for processing emotional information.

“The BNST-NAc circuit, sometimes referred to as part of the ‘extended amygdala’—underscores the close relationship between this circuit and the amygdala, a central structure in emotional information processing,” said Prof. Sun, a corresponding author of the paper published in the journal Cell Reports.

“This study reveals that music induces triple-time locking of neural oscillations in the cortical-BNST-NAc circuit through auditory synchronization.”

GENIUS! New Research into Beethoven’s DNA Reveals He Didn’t Inherit his Musical Talent

The patients in the study were divided into two groups: low music appreciation or high music appreciation. The research team found that those in the high music appreciation group showed more significant neural synchronization and better antidepressant effects, while those in the low music appreciation group showed poorer results.

By grouping the patients, the researchers were able to study the antidepressant mechanisms of music more precisely and propose personalized music therapy plans that would improve treatment results.

For example, when inserting theta frequency noise into music to enhance BNST-NAc oscillatory coupling, those in the low music appreciation group of patients reported higher music enjoyment.

Several pieces of Western classical music that most participants had no familiarity with were used in the study, to avoid any interference that could arise from subjective experience.

“We concluded that the music choices during the formal listening process were individualized and unrelated to the music’s emotional background,” said Sun.

Integrating the fields of neuroscience, psychiatry, and neurosurgery

Now the team plans to study how the interaction between music and the deep structures of the brain play a role in depressive disorders.

SING FOR YOUR HEALTH: Singing or Playing Music Throughout Life is Linked with Better Brain Health While You Age

They also plan to introduce other forms of sensory stimuli—including visual images—to investigate potential combined therapeutic effects of multi-sensory stimulation on depression.

“By collaborating with clinicians, music therapists, computer scientists, and engineers, we plan to develop a series of digital health products based on music therapy, such as smartphone applications and wearable devices.

MORE MUSIC MAGIC: Watching Symphonies Can Synchronize Heart, Lungs, and Even Electrical Impulses of the Listener

“These products will integrate personalized music recommendations, real-time emotional monitoring and feedback, and virtual-reality multi-sensory experiences to provide convenient and effective self-help tools for managing emotions and improving symptoms in daily life.”

RECOMMEND SOME MOZART To Anyone With Depression–Share on Social Media… 

Injured Bald Eagle Plucked From River in Daring Rescue By College Staffers in Maryland (WATCH) 

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David Kramer and Emma Cease rescue bald eagle from Chester River in Maryland –Washington College
David Kramer and Emma Cease rescue bald eagle from Chester River in Maryland –Washington College

A bald eagle, injured and alone near the Chesapeake Bay, earned an A+ for the staff at Washington College after they made a daring rescue along the rocky banks of the Chester River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Two weeks ago, David Kramer noticed a post on Facebook asking if anyone could help with an eagle who seemed to have an injured wing and foot and was hobbling around on a dock over the river.

Kramer, who is the Director of the College’s Center for Environment, where students are provided with a living laboratory for their studies of wetlands, farmlands, and forest. He also happens to be an experienced avian rescuer.

He quickly grabbed two other department staffers, along with a net and blanket, and hopped in a truck to locate the bird, which was not predisposed to give-up easily.

After approaching the raptor, it tried to fly across the river and crashed into the water, so they drove across the bridge and managed to gain access to a backyard where the eagle had landed on the opposite shore.

Kramer approached the bird swiftly and a staffer’s video (view below) shows how he secured the animal’s feet before lifting him up and bringing him ashore.

David Kramer rescues bald eagle in Chester River Maryland – Washington College

Emma Cease helped to gently tuck the broken wing inside the padded blanket as they wrapped the eagle for the trip back to the River and Field Campus—during which it quietly sat in her lap.

Kramer, who has years of experience rescuing, researching, and working with bald eagles and other birds, is a listed rescuer with Tristate Bird Rescue, where the eagle became a patient, and is likely rehabbing from surgery today.

CHECK OUT: Two Rare Parrots Sent From Different Zoos So They Might ‘Fall in Love’ and Save Species With Just 300 Wild Birds Left

He also works with the Moon Owl Raptor Center in the Chesapeake Bay region and urges people to call the professionals if they spot an eagle or other large bird in need of help anywhere near this brackish estuary—the third largest in the world.

“If you don’t have handling experience, DON’T approach the bird,” cautions Kramer. “Bald Eagles have three sharp ends, if they can get you with one, they will. The thing is to get the bird safely restrained. We want to limit injury to people as well as the bird.”

Washington College is no stranger to bird encounters. In the last year, the staff at its Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory has caught, identified, banded, and released over 13,000 birds representing more than 125 species—including the big ones: herons, owls, ospreys, hawks, and woodpeckers.

Located on the Chester River, a few miles north of Chestertown, MD, the Bird Observatory is nestled in a waterfront refuge on the College’s River and Field Campus.

Chesapeake Bay map with Washington College – Google

The land serves as an important stopover habitat for shorebirds, and is home to thousands of migrating and wintering ducks and geese each year.

This unique Campus encompasses nearly 5,000 acres of diverse ecological communities just minutes from its main campus in Chestertown, including 2.5 miles of Chester River shoreline, a 90-acre freshwater lake, multiple streams and seasonal wetlands, 1,200 acres of forest, 3,000 acres of agricultural fields, and 228 acres of restored native prairie with natural grasses that have allowed northern bobwhite (also known as the Virginia quail) to flourish. The property also features 50 acres of managed, successional habitat for one of the most active bird-banding stations on the East Coast, handling approximately 14,000 birds a year.

GREAT NEWS: Stork That Went Extinct in the UK 600 Years Ago is Spotted in the English Skies: ‘It was a great sign’

Watch the :30 rescue video below…

 

If you spot an injured raptor, but are not within their local region, Kramer says you can look up local rehabbers for help.

The recovery of bald eagle populations in all 48 states is a major conservation success of America’s Endangered Species Act, with estimates showing that the numbers which had been decimated in the 20th century had quadrupled by 2020, in just 11 years—climbing to an estimated 316,700 birds, including 71,400 nesting pairs, up from only 417 pairs in 1963.

The United States government came to the bald eagle’s rescue by naming it one of the first species afforded full protection under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

KNOW ANYONE LOOKING FOR A PURPOSE? Share the Cool Story on Social Media… 

“Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye.” – Thomas Fuller

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Screenshot

Quote of the Day: “Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye.” – Thomas Fuller

Photo by: Khamkéo

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

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Good News in History, August 25

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Good News Network
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The Cepheus C & B Regions - Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA

21 years ago, NASA successfully launched the Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer was the third infrared space telescope, but the first to use an Earth-trailing orbit (more on that below). The telescope bucked the tradition of being named after famous and dead astronomers and was instead named after the living Lyman Spitzer, an employee at the RAND Corporation who first advocated space telescopes in the 1940s. READ more about what it discovered… (2003)

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Cone Snail Poison is Deadly But May Now Lead to Better Diabetes and Hormone Drugs

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6 dangerous cone snails – Photos by Almed2 and H Zell compiled by Mario NET-CC BY-SA 4.0
6 dangerous cone snails – Photos by Almed2 and H Zell compiled by Mario NET, CC BY-SA 4.0

Deadly poison from cone snails could be a newfound key to making better drugs to treat diabetes, according to a new study.

The toxin, from one of the most venomous creatures on the planet, may also lead to new medicines for additional conditions caused by hormone disorders, said the researchers.

They identified a component within the venom from the Conus geographus that mimics a human hormone called somatostatin—which regulates the levels of blood sugar and several other hormones in the human body.

The team, led by scientists from the University of Utah in the United States, said the somatostatin-like toxin helps the snail hunt its prey. In humans, somatostatin acts like a brake pedal for many processes in the body, preventing levels of blood sugar, several hormones, and many other important molecules from rising dangerously high.

The cone snail toxin, called consomatin, works similarly—but consomatin is more stable and specific than the human hormone, which makes it a “promising” blueprint for drug design, according to the results published in the journal Nature Communications.

By measuring how consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells in a dish, the researchers discovered that consomatin interacts with one of the same proteins that somatostatin does.

Importantly, though, while somatostatin directly interacts with several proteins, consomatin only interacts with one. Such a fine-tuned targeting means that the cone snail toxin affects hormone-determined blood sugar levels, but not the levels of several other molecules.

They concluded that the cone snail toxin was more precisely targeted than the most specific synthetic drugs designed to regulate hormone levels, such as drugs that regulate growth hormone.

Although the snail toxin may be dangerous to use as a therapeutic, the study of its structure could lead to the design of safe drugs for endocrine disorders.

Ho Yan Yeung and Thomas Koch examining cone snails – Credit: Safavi Lab / SWNS

Consomatin lasts far longer in the body than the human hormone, due to the inclusion of an unusual amino acid that makes it difficult to break down. Studying that feature would be useful to pharmaceutical researchers looking to make drugs that will have long-lasting benefits.

Senior author Professor Helena Safavi, of the University of Utah says the toxin’s precision can be “extraordinarily useful” when treating disease.

“Venomous animals have, through evolution, fine-tuned venom components to hit a particular target in the prey and disrupt it. If you take one individual component out of the venom mixture and look at how it disrupts normal physiology, that pathway is often really relevant in disease.”

She described it as “a bit of a shortcut” for medicinal chemists because consomatin shares an evolutionary lineage with somatostatin, but over millions of years of evolution, the cone snail turned its own hormone into a weapon.

MORE DIABETES GOOD NEWS: Diabetes-Reversing Drug Boosts Insulin-Producing Cells by 700%

Consomatin’s deadly effects hinge on its ability to prevent blood sugar levels from rising. It lowers the level of blood sugar so quickly that the cone snail’s prey becomes non-responsive. Then, its second component keeps blood sugar levels from recovering.

“We think the cone snail developed this highly selective toxin to work together with the insulin-like toxin to bring down blood glucose to a really low level,” said Dr. Ho Yan Yeung of the University of Utah, the study’s lead author.

She explained that the fact that several parts of the cone snail’s venom target blood sugar regulation hints that it could include many other molecules that do similar things.

POPULAR: New Artificial Pancreas for Type 2 Diabetes Manages Blood Sugar Twice as Well as Jabs –Now Approved in UK

“It means that there might not only be insulin and somatostatin-like toxins in the venom,” said Dr. Yeung. “There could potentially be other toxins that have glucose-regulating properties too.”

It may seem surprising that a snail is able to outperform the best human chemists in its drug design, but Prof. Safavi says that the cone snails have evolutionary time on their side.

“We’ve been trying to do medicinal chemistry and drug development for a few hundred years, sometimes badly.”

RECYCLING OYSTER SHELLS: Restaurants Find Companies to Take Their Spent Oyster Shells to Restore Oyster Reefs

“Cone snails have had a lot of time to do it really well—and they are just really good chemists.”

SEND THIS COOL DISCOVERY To Seashell-Loving Friends On Social Media…

Flintstones-like Home is Built Around 200 Million-Year-old Red Rock in Colorado–And is Now For Sale

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The 'Flintstones home' in Larkspur, Colorado – The Thayer Group / SWNS
The ‘Flintstones’ home in Larkspur, Colorado – The Thayer Group / SWNS

Check out this real life ‘Flintstones’ home, a property built around a giant 200 million-year-old red rock.

The two bedroom house in Larkspur, Colorado, has a unique style, with the boulder incorporated into the interior of the home—perfect for a geology (or Flintstones) fan.

The home, which is on the market for $989,900, is integrated with nature, nestled around a 45-foot-high section of one of Colorado’s beloved ancient red rocks.

The 2 bedroom-2 bath property boasts “Garden of the Gods” like surroundings, a picnic area, Milky Way views from the private hot tub, and all the peace and serenity a homeowner could wish for.

“Welcome to The Rock House,” the listing says.

“Entering through the pergola covered, double custom iron front doors, you will realize this isn’t your average home. It is perfectly integrated with nature.”

The Thayer Group / SWNS

Up the first set of stairs is the guest suite with barn doors and modern bath—including a walk-in closet and additional bonus room.

The Thayer Group / SWNS

The rock even protrudes into the office, to soothe your stress while working from home.

The Thayer Group / SWNS

“Travel upstairs to the landing where you’ll find the home’s featured outdoor deck and viewing space—a large, two tiered deck that gives you breathtaking views.”

The Thayer Group listing

The 2,432 sq-ft property at 6619 Apache Place was listed this month (MLS 5031680) by Keller Williams Action Realty, The Thayer Group. See all the photos and more info, here.

CHECK OUT: A Real Life Barbie Dreamhouse For Sale on Zillow Goes Viral For Happy Seller in New Jersey

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Second-Largest Diamond Ever Found is Unearthed in Botswana: A ‘Remarkable find’

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Lucara Diamond (released)
Lucara Diamond (released)

The second-largest diamond ever unearthed was found in Botswana last week.

Lucara Diamond, a Canadian company, found the huge 2,492 carat stone in the Karowe mine where they had deployed X-ray technology in their search.

The diamond is the biggest reported in over a century, since the ‘Cullinan Diamond’ was discovered in South Africa in 1905, measuring 3,106 carats. That one was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British Crown Jewels.

Weighing about a pound, the massive rock (still unnamed) will go on display in Botswana this week—and its discovery will help fund critical education and healthcare programs in the African county.

A Lucara news release said the “remarkable find” was detected and recovered by the Company’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray Transmission technology, installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds.

The latest “historic discovery” joins an impressive roster of other significant finds from the mine, including one at 1,758 carats and another at 1,109 carats.

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492 carat diamond,” said William Lamb, President of Lucara.

LOOK: Geologist Finds Rare Formation Inside Rock That Looks Exactly Like Cookie Monster!

“It represents not only the unparalleled wealth found in Botswana’s soil, but also the remarkable progress the nation has made in developing its diamond industry for the benefit of its citizens.”

The country is the world’s largest diamond producer, with the gems accounting for 80% of Botswana exports and a third of its revenues by value. In recent years, the nation has partnered with the industry to implement rigorous environmental standards and maximize its positive impact on local communities.

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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 August 24, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Now and then, zoologists decide that their classifications of species need to be revised and refined. For example, three subspecies of soft-furred, teardrop-shaped hedgehogs in Southeast Asia were recently elevated to distinct species of their own. They are no longer considered to be subspecies of Hylomys suillusbut, but are now named H. dorsalis, H. maxi, and H. peguensis. I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because I suspect that you, too, are ready for an upgrade to a new category all your own. It’s time for you to claim greater sovereignty. You will be wise to define how distinctive and unique you are, to distinguish yourself from influences that are superficially like you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
When mega-famous artist Pablo Picasso was asked how he felt about NASA landing people on the moon in 1969, he said, “It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it, and I don’t care.” I invite you to use his statement as one of your power mottoes in the coming weeks. Now is an excellent time to identify the experiences, influences, events, and people about which you have absolutely zero interest. Once you do that, I predict you will have a rush of clear revelations about the most interesting experiences, influences, events, and people you want in your future.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu made an observation that could serve as your watchword in the coming months. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,” he wrote, “while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” In my astrological opinion, Scorpio, you are now primed to embody and express these states with unique intensity. If you embrace the inspiring challenge of loving deeply and being loved deeply, you will reach new heights of strength and courage.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Many musical instruments must be constantly adjusted to ensure they stay in tune. This usually means that the note A above middle C vibrates at 440 cycles per second—with all other notes tuned in relation to it. Having sung in bands for years, I have seen how guitarists, bass players, violinists, and even drummers have to continually attend to their tuning during performances. Imagine the diligent finesse it takes to keep an entire orchestra of many instruments in tune with each other. I suspect that one of your jobs in the coming weeks, Sagittarius, will have similarities to this kind of management and coordination.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Dancing is always good for you, but it will be extra healthy and energizing in the next four weeks. I hope you will be inspired to dance as often as possible, even if you just do it alone in your kitchen or bedroom while listening to music that moves you. Do you need rational explanations for why this is a good idea? OK, here are the hard facts: Dancing reduces stress, raises serotonin levels, enhances well-being, and is excellent physical exercise. Here’s another motivational reason: Dancing literally makes you smarter. Scientific research clearly says so. Furthermore: In the near future, you will be in a playful, sexy, exuberant phase of your astrological cycle.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“Quo signo nata es?” is the Latin expression for What’s your sign? Did anyone in ancient Rome ever say that? Probably not, since it’s a modern idiom. However, astrology was very popular in that society and era. According to scholar Rhianna Padman in her essay Astrology in Ancient Rome, Romans “believed that the specific positions of celestial bodies at the moment of a person’s birth could greatly impact their life and character.” Back then, Thrasyllus of Mendes was a prominent astrologer who became a key advisor to Emperor Tiberius. Anyway, Aquarius, I bring “Quo signo nata es?” to your attention so as to inspire the following assignment: Update all your old favorite things. Put new spins on symbols and ideas that have served you for a long time. Take the best parts of your traditions and transplant them into the future.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The coming weeks will be an excellent time to declare amnesty about all matters affecting your close alliances. Dissolve grudges, please. Tussle less, play more. Relax your demands and expectations—and nicely ask your companions to relax their demands and expectations. If possible, forgive others and yourself for everything; failing that, forgive as much of everything as feels right. You might even convene a ritual in which you and your intimate collaborators chant the following affirmation: “We are gleefully free to reimagine and reinvent the ways we fit together!”

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Some centenarians testify they have lived more than a century because they smoked many cigarettes, drank a lot of booze, and ate a steady diet of junk food. Should the rest of us adapt their habits? Of course not. The likelihood of remaining healthy while following such an unsound regimen is infinitesimal. Just because a few lucky people miraculously thrived like that is not a sound argument for imitating them. I bring this to your attention, Aries, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade your commitment to healthy habits. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to love your body better, this is it.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus stage magician Doug Henning had lavish ambitions. They served him well as he became a star performer in theater and on TV. “If I produce a 450-pound Bengal tiger,” he said, “it’s going to create a lot more wonder than if I produce a rabbit.” That’s the spirit I invite you to embrace in the coming weeks, Taurus. The cosmos is authorizing you to expand your understanding of what you can accomplish—and then accomplish it. Dream bigger dreams than you have previously dared.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The color of planet Earth is predominantly blue with green, brown, and white mixed in. And for people all over the world, blue is more often their favorite color than any other. Why? In part because blue typically evokes peace, tranquility, security, and stability. It’s often used in therapeutic environments, since it makes us feel more at ease about expressing our feelings. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Gemini, because you are entering a blue phase of your cycle. It will be a favorable time to harvest the benefits of relaxing and slowing down. You are more likely to feel at home with yourself and accept yourself just as you are.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, born under the sign of Cancer, says that 95 percent of our buying choices originate in our subconscious minds. Behavioral psychologist Susan Weinschenk believes 90 percent of all our decision-making is unconscious. But I propose that in the coming weeks, you increase the amount of conscious awareness you bring to sorting out your options. Cosmic energies will conspire in your favor if you do. You will receive unexpected boosts and generate creative enhancements if you resolve to rouse more lucid analysis and careful thoughtfulness.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
A wealthy hedge fund manager named Raj Rajaratnam paid Leo singer Kenny Rogers $4 million to perform at his epic birthday party. But the night turned nightmarish for Rogers when Rajaratnam insisted that he sing his hit song The Gambler over and over again. Finally, after 12 repetitions, Rogers refused to do more… I wonder if you, too, might soon have to deal with a situation that’s too much of a good thing. My advice: Make sure all agreements between you and others are clear and firm. Get a guarantee that you will receive exactly what you want, and don’t do more than you have promised.

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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“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Quote of the Day: “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Photo by: Aaron Andrew Ang (Lake Lucerne, Switzerland)

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

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