Quote of the Day: “Love has no age, no limit; and no death.” – John Galsworthy
Photo by: James Wheeler
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?
On this day 80 years ago, English actor Bernard Hill, most known for his portrayal of King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings, was born. Hill owns the distinction of being the only actor who has been part of two films that have won 11 Academy Awards, with the first being Titanic, in which he played Captain Edward Smith, and the second being The Return of the King. READ a bit more… (1944)
In 2017, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft sent data back to Earth from the dwarf planet Ceres, located in our solar system’s main asteroid belt, that the body contained deposits of organic compounds.
At first, it was hypothesized that these were deposited by comet or asteroid impact, but a new analysis of the data has suggested that, in fact, these deposits are far more likely to originate within the planet itself, putting it suddenly and dramatically within the most likely candidates to host evidence of life beyond Earth.
Though exciting, it’s potentially less of a surprise than if such evidence were found elsewhere; Ceres is a water-rich body with potential geologic activity, both believed to be prerequisites for life. Debate and study about its origin and evolution are both extensive and inconclusive.
Researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) looked back over the data from 2017 when organic compounds were detected in Ceres’ Ernutet Crater and discovered an additional 11 regions where similar organics are located.
“The significance of this discovery lies in the fact that, if these are endogenous materials, it would confirm the existence of internal energy sources that could support biological processes,” explains Juan Luis Rizos, a researcher at IAA-CSIC and the study’s lead author.
“Ceres will play a key role in future space exploration. Its water, present as ice and possibly as liquid beneath the surface, makes it an intriguing location for resource exploration,” Rizos told Sci-Tech Daily. “In the context of space colonization, Ceres could serve as a stopover or resource base for future missions to Mars or beyond.”
Ceres is the second-wettest planetary object in the inner solar system behind only Earth.
To make the discovery, the team at IAA used a combination of the Dawn Mission’s instruments to examine a particular area. First, they scanned the whole of the planet with a camera that possessed a high spatial, but low spectral resolution. With it they identified where to look more carefully—a region between the Urvara and Yalode basins.
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They then examined with a camera that had high spectral, but low spatial resolution, and found evidence of the organic molecules. Their distribution in the region hinted at an ejection event which must have followed the impacts that created the basins.
These were much larger than any in Ceres’ history, catapulting material—in this case potentially organic material—from deep within the dwarf planet to the surface.
If a future spacecraft or telescope can confirm that they are organic in nature, then it would virtually confirm that Ceres is producing these organic compounds endogenously and would then probably be the best place to look for life in our solar system, as the shelter of the planet’s crust would protect water and life from solar radiation.
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“The idea of an organic reservoir in such a remote and seemingly inert location like Ceres raises the possibility that similar conditions could exist on other Solar System bodies. Without a doubt, Ceres will be revisited by new probes in the near future, and our research will be key in defining the observational strategy for these missions,” concludes the lead author of the paper.
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Three children were overjoyed after receiving ‘the best Christmas present in the world’—bionic arms.
Zoey Hampton-Pigeon, Finley Jarvis, and Colette Baker were given their new ‘life-changing’ Hero Arms on December 12th thanks to the fundraising work of a woman whose own child needed a prosthetic years ago.
Sarah Lockey saw her daughter Tilly lose both hands to meningitis. Today though, Tilly is a confident young woman who wears two Hero Arms daily, who hosts, together with her mom, a fundraising campaign every year called the Big Hero 3, which selects three random children across the UK to receive a prosthetic made by the Open Bionics Foundation.
Advanced, intuitive, robust, and light, the Hero Arm is “the world’s most affordable advanced multi-grip prosthetic arm,” according to the Foundation. The Hero Arm is available in over 801 locations across the US for below-elbow amputee adults and children aged 8 and above, and all throughout the UK where it is manufactured.
This year, the Big Hero 3 campaign raised £20,000. Two other charitable foundations, along with an anonymous donor, made up the rest of the £40,000 required, allowing Finley, Colette, and Zoey to have what will probably be the best Christmas ever.
To wit, Colette’s mom Alyse said her daughter ‘screamed’ when she found out she was not only receiving a Hero Arm, but would get one before Christmas.
“For Ettie, she’s excited about being able to do things like handstands, ride her bike without an adaption, and tying her shoes,” she said. “As parents, we are excited about these things too, but also all the other ways the Hero Arm will change Ettie’s life.”
Zoey was born with a missing limb, which the family discovered during an ultrasound in the 20th week.
“When Zoey was born she saw several specialists but there are no answers about why this happened to Zoey, it’s just one of those things,” said her father Thomas.
His daughter is an active young girl and member of a gymnastics club. She goes to swimming lessons and loves trampolining, but she’s most looking forward to being able to use a jump rope.
“A Hero Arm will make such a massive difference to her independence enabling her to do all these tasks, as well as her beloved skipping, without relying on help from others.”
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The last child is Finley Jarvis—born with no hand due to his mom being involved in a serious car accident whilst carrying him.
“Finn is a happy-go-lucky boy—he is kind, fearless, and extremely switched on,” said his father Ben. “He is now 11 and about to attend Brymore Academy secondary school—an agricultural school. With this opportunity of a Big Hero Arm the possibilities for him to excel are endless.”
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Lockey said she and Tilly are hoping to do another campaign next year if any donors who want to get involved to help are interested.
“It is just incredible for three children to benefit and for their families all to meet and fundraise together,” Lockey said.
MEET the children below in a video update from the families…
SHARE This Inspiring Fundraising Work On Behalf Of These Sweet Sprouts…
In Washington, the Senate recently passed a bill to fund training programs for CPR and defibrillator use in schools.
It had been advocated for months by Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who in 2023 suffered cardiac arrest on the field during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Called the HEARTS Act for ‘Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research, and Training in Schools,’ the House passed a similar law earlier in autumn, and President Biden, who met with Hamlin in the Oval Office during his advocacy campaign for the House bill, plans to sign it before he leaves office next month.
“Since experiencing cardiac arrest, I’ve been honored to work with partners who understand how important it is to provide CPR education and have access to AEDs to save lives,” Hamlin said, using the official acronym for what is commonly called a defibrillator.
“I’m very grateful to Senator Schumer for his work making his common-sense legislation a priority. My journey has shown us that no one expects cardiac arrest to happen and we all need to be prepared.”
Cardiac arrest is a strange phenomenon in that it is a death sentence, but one which can be readily cured provided someone is nearby who’s been trained in the use of an AED and knows how to perform CPR.
Similar efforts to Hamlin’s advocacy were undertaken in soccer stadiums, rather than classrooms, after that sport witnessed a similar near-catastrophe when Denmark’s star attacking midfielder collapsed on the pitch from cardiac arrest during a game at the European Championships in 2020.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Teen Brings Drowned Toddler Back to Life on Thanksgiving While Adults Watch Stunned (WATCH)
When the next edition of the tournament came around this past summer in Germany, all stadiums had booths where fans could learn CPR and defibrillator use pro bono.
The Get Trained, Save Lifes, campaign was a partnership between the EURO Championships and the European Resuscitation Council to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest and the importance of bystander CPR.
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By the end of the tournament, 38,000 fans, stadium workers, and team staff had been certified as trained in the lifesaving maneuver.
GNN has also reported on lives being saved with literal hours of CPR, rather than the 20 to 30 seconds typically shown in hospital soap operas.
SHARE This Story With Your Friends And Maybe Go Get Trained In CPR Too…
Imagine a world in which a vaccine is a cream you rub onto your skin instead of a needle a health sector worker pushes into one of your muscles.
Even better, it’s cheap, entirely pain-free, and not followed by fever, swelling, redness, or a sore arm. No standing in a long line to get it either.
This is the vision that researchers at Stanford hope to achieve with a new tetanus vaccine derived from a bacterial species that’s found on the skins of virtually all human beings; one that’s largely harmless to us, yet nevertheless will trigger a ferocious antibody response if it breaches the skin barrier or gets inside the bloodstream.
A team of scientists led by the Standford Ph.D. in bioengineering Dr. Michael Fischbach hypothesized that Staphylococcus epidermidis, the harmless and ubiquitous bacterium, could be used as a delivery mechanism for the pathogen in a vaccine.
During experiments, Fischbach found that when the S. epidermidis bacteria were engineered to contain a small genetic trace of the tetanus bacteria, the immune system targeted it just as ferociously as before, while also resulting in a separate immune response to the tetanus gene of the kind one would expect from a vaccine.
The team learned through further examination of S. epidermidis that it naturally produces a large protein called Aap. This tree-shaped molecule is five times larger than normal proteins, and so large its ‘branches’ protrude from the cell wall. Fischbach and his team believe that this is the reason why the immune system’s response to this microbe is so robust: immune cells on our skin and hair follicles can study it even without coming in direct contact with it.
Mice, which have no native colonization of S. epidermidis, were found to have greater-than-vaccine level immune responses to this bug after it was swabbed directly onto their fur.
Fischbach and his team determined that this could be the basis for a topical vaccine, one in which the bacteria is engineered to carry the genetic material of humanity’s most dangerous diseases. Further tests carried out on the mice found that application of S. epidermidis engineered to carry tetanus generated enough antibodies to protect mice from six times the lethal dose of tetanus toxin—a truly astonishing discovery.
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“We think this will work for viruses, bacteria, fungi, and one-celled parasites,” Fischbach told Stanford University press. “Most vaccines have ingredients that stimulate an inflammatory response and make you feel a little sick. These bugs don’t do that. We expect that you wouldn’t experience any inflammation at all.”
Most vaccines given to humans come in two forms, a live vaccine or a dead vaccine. Live vaccines contain the real thing, and side effects of the kind one would expect from an infection are not uncommon. In dead vaccines, the virus or bacterium can’t replicate. Antibody response to a dead vaccine is enhanced in modern vaccines by the presence of an ‘adjuvant’—like aluminum salts.
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Aluminum is a toxic heavy metal like cadmium or lead, and its identification when found with the virus causes the immune system to respond much more seriously. The brilliance of what Fischbach called the “plug-and-play” vaccine cream developed in his lab is that the adjuvant is a harmless skin bacteria that already exists on the skin and hair of nearly every human on the planet.
Fischbach believes trials for the cream will commence in humans within 2 to 3 years.
SHARE This Breakthrough On Topical Vaccine Application With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” – Mark Twain
Photo by: Jr Korpa (cropped)
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?
251 years ago today, members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians stole aboard trade ships in Boston harbor and began throwing tea shipments into the water in protest of tea taxes on the Colony. The precise details were the passage of the Tea Act in British parliament, which the colonists believed violated their rights as Englishmen; that it provided for taxation without representation. It was the touchstone of the American Revolution, and remains a critical lesson to all nations of the world. READ more and some historical parallels… (1773)
When dozens of employees at Klick Health said they wouldn’t be able to hug loved ones over the festive season, the company created some magic to orchestrate sentimental reunions to surprise team members.
In a new video called ‘Holiday Hugs’, the company first produces some amazing AI embraces for the workers missing loved ones.
Then, those heartwarming deep-fakes lead to surprise appearances ending in real-life in-person hugs.
“I just wish I could really squeeze her right now,” said teary-eyed Klickster Kari Bocassi from New York, after watching the AI-generated hug with her sister Marlene.
Then, moments later she bursts onto the set for a long in-person embrace.
The siblings spent the past 14 years caring for their mother after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but haven’t been together for the holidays since Marlene moved to Virginia.
Similarly, Toronto’s Fred Duarte gets the bear hug of his life when his brother Rico, who lives in Brazil, walks into Klick’s production studio for their first holiday reunion in seven years.
Created in partnership with the Foundation for Social Connection in Washington D.C., the effort comes as a public poll commissioned by Klick found that 74 percent of Americans and Canadians won’t be able to hug at least one person they wish they could over the holidays.
Just like the folks in the video, survey participants cited two major reasons why they’re not getting together for the holidays: 1) geographical distance and 2) loved ones having passed away. Klick could overcome both.
Watch the ‘Holiday Hugs’ video below, and continue reading to hear about the AI hugs…
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Pointing out the health benefits of hugging, Klink Health says they don’t just make people feel better emotionally, they also have numerous health benefits: “According to the National Institutes of Health, hugs can lower blood pressure and boost the immune system.”
“There’s nothing quite like the warmth and reassurance of a heartfelt hug,” added Klick’s Chief Creative Officer Rich Levy. “Seeing the joy and tears of our Klicksters reminds us that no technology can truly replace the magic of human connection, but it can help bring us closer in the most surprising ways.”
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‘Holiday Hugs’ was filmed in Klick’s in-house Studio K production facility, where the production team took Klicksters’ photo submissions and transformed them into video clips of lifelike hugs between them and their loved ones, using the Gen-3 Alpha Turbo tool by Runway.
If you’re interested in creating your own AI-generated holiday hug, Klick animators created a how-to-video showing how they did it.
GIVE A VIRTUAL HUG To Loved Ones By Sharing the Cool Video On Social Media…
Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have made a critical breakthrough that promises better outcomes for pregnancies threatened with pre-eclampsia, a condition that arises due to insufficient blood flow to the placenta, resulting in high maternal blood pressure and restricted blood flow to the fetus.
Pre-eclampsia is one of the leading causes of stillbirths and prematurity worldwide, and it occurs in 3 to 5% of pregnancies. Without a cure, options for these patients only treat symptoms, such as taking blood pressure medication, being on bed rest, or delivering prematurely—regardless of the viability of their baby.
Making a decision to treat pre-eclampsia in any manner can be a moral conundrum, to balance many personal health decisions with long-standing impacts—and for Kelsey Swingle, a doctoral student in the UPenn bioengineering lab, these options are not enough.
In previous research, she conducted a successful proof-of-concept study that examined a library of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)—which are the delivery molecules that helped get the mRNA of the COVID vaccine into cells—and their ability to reach the placenta in pregnant mice.
In her latest study, published in Nature, Swingle examined 98 different LNPs and their ability to get to the placenta and decrease high blood pressure and increase vasodilation in pre-eclamptic pregnant mice.
Her work shows that the best LNP for the job was one that resulted in more than 100-fold greater mRNA delivery to the placenta in pregnant mice than an FDA-approved LNP formulation.
The drug worked.
“Our LNP was able to deliver an mRNA therapeutic that reduced maternal blood pressure through the end of gestation and improved fetal health and blood circulation in the placenta,” says Swingle.
“Additionally, at birth we saw an increase in litter weight of the pups, which indicates a healthy mom and healthy babies. I am very excited about this work and its current stage because it could offer a real treatment for pre-eclampsia in human patients in the very near future.”
While further developing this cure for pre-eclampsia and getting it to the market for human use is on the horizon for the research team, Swingle had to start from scratch to make this work possible. She first had to lay the groundwork to run experiments using pregnant mice and determine how to induce pre-eclampsia in this animal model, processes that are not as well studied.
But, by laying this groundwork, Swingle’s work has not only identified an avenue for curing pre-eclampsia, it also opens doors for research on LNP-mRNA therapeutics addressing other reproductive health challenges.
“It turns out that there are relatively few studies that have been done with mRNA LNPs in pregnant mice, and little to none done in pre-eclamptic mice,” says Swingle. “Everything is different in pregnancy research. In mice, instead of tracking gestational weeks, we track gestational days so we know exactly how far along their pregnancy is. I had to learn the anatomy of a mouse placenta, and then determine the best ways to establish a mouse model of pre-eclampsia that best imitates the disease in humans.”
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In this study, pre-eclampsia was induced in pregnant mice. Then, they injected the LNP with the minimum effective dose once, at day 11 of their 20-day gestation. This one-time injection cured pre-eclamptic mice until the end of pregnancy, but now the team must explore how many doses would be needed to treat the condition in larger animals and humans.
“At this stage in our research, we would bring this LNP to larger animals such as rats and guinea pigs first to determine how well it works in the ‘gold standard’ models of pre-eclampsia before we could advance this work to human trials,” says Swingle.
“Testing our LNP on guinea pigs will be particularly interesting, as their placenta closely resembles a human’s and their gestational period is longer, up to 72 days. We will be asking the questions ‘How many doses do these animals need?’ ‘Will the minimum effective dose change?’ and ‘How well does our current LNP work in each?’”
As Swingle thinks ahead for next steps in her research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, she will also collaborate to further optimize the LNP to deliver the mRNA even more efficiently, as well as understanding the mechanisms of how it gets to the placenta, a question still not fully answered.
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They are already in talks about creating a spin-off company and want to work on bringing this LNP-mRNA therapeutic to clinical trials and the market.
Swingle, who is currently finishing up her Ph.D. research, has not only successfully led this new series of studies advancing pre-eclampsia treatment at Penn, she has also inspired other early career researchers in the field as she continues to thrive while bringing women’s health into the spotlight.
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The funniest and most popular photography competition in the world—The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards—announced the winners of the 2024 competition this week, with the top honor going to a red squirrel stuck in a tree.
Over 9000 images were entered, the highest number in the contest’s ten-year history, from professional and amateur photographers vying for the top accolade.
The competition was tight among the 45 finalists, with judges selecting their favorites, with only a few points between the top 5 entries. But Milko Marchetti’s image called, ‘Stuck Squirrel’ was popular across the board.
The moment was over in a flash, Milko recalled.
“I have taken many photographs of squirrels, in many situations over the years in Italy, but this one struck me as really funny and such a strange position, because it is that exact moment when the squirrel is detaching its back legs from the trunk to enter its hide.”
“Whenever I show this image at the nature seminars at my local photography club, the audience always explodes with laughter, so I had to enter it!”
The competition was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers and passionate conservationists to create a refreshing, fun, and free photography competition unlike any other, showcasing funny images of the earth’s most amazing wildlife and raising awareness about conservation.
As the over-all winner, Milko gets a once in a lifetime safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya, with Alex Walker’s Serian plus a photography bag.
There were 9 Category Winners, including this charming snap of a Mantis mediterranea from Spain, which won the Insect Category.
There were special mentions for the younger generation of emerging photographers including the winning shot of a frog that won the Nikon Young Photographer Award (for those under 25), with a close up of a frog smiling at the camera. Kingston Tam from Australia received a Z8 + 24-120mm kit from Nikon for their entry.
There were Highly Commended Winners too, like the owl and woodpecker (pictured, top) and this one of a flying squirrel in Japan looking like a boss.
Another Highly Commended Winner features King Penguins in the Falkland Islands. The image shows a male trying to make a move on a female who has already paired up with another male. The body position and wing posture make the message clear, ‘back off!’
CHECK OUT LAST YEAR’S WINNERS: The Comedy Wildlife Photo Winners Are Here–And They’re Absolutely Adorable
To see more winners or to enter next year’s competition, visit the Comedy Wildlife Photo website.
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Story reprinted from the book, HumanKind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time
When Larry Stewart was growing up in his grandparents’ home in a small Mississippi town, he didn’t know they were impoverished. It wasn’t until he started school that he learned what he “lacked”—the bathrooms, telephones, hot water and gas stoves to be found in other kids’ homes.
As a young adult, Larry confronted poverty again. Living paycheck to paycheck, he became homeless when his employer went out of business owing Larry more than one check. So Larry resorted to living in his car, covering himself in his laundry in an effort to stay warm and hoping to forget his hunger. By the time he’d gone two days without a regular meal, he was so desperate that he went to the Dixie Diner and ordered breakfast without knowing how he’d pay for it.
When he finished eating, he started looking around on the floor, pretending he’d lost his wallet. The cook even came out from behind the counter and helped him look.
Then, suddenly, the search was over.
“You must have dropped this,” the cook said. He was holding a twenty-dollar bill.
Larry was so grateful that he made a vow to himself: as soon as he was able, he’d do something for others like what the cook had done for him. Over time, he became financially stable, and he set out to keep his vow. Although he wasn’t well off by any means, he knew he couldn’t put off getting started.
One evening, he stopped at a drive-in restaurant and noticed that the waitress was wearing a tattered coat that couldn’t have been keeping her warm. When he handed her money to pay for his food, he knew it was the moment.
“Keep the change,” he said.
Tears welled in the waitress’s eyes, and her hands shook as she held the money. “You have no idea what this means to me,” she said, her voice shaking, too.
But Larry did have an idea what it meant to her.
Afterward, he was so inspired by what had happened that he started driving around looking for people who needed help. They weren’t hard to find, and he gave away $200 in fives and tens.
The more successful Larry became, the more money he gave away. By the time he’d earned considerable wealth in cable and phone services in Kansas City, Missouri, he was anonymously giving away substantial amounts as a “Secret Santa.” He consulted with local social workers, firefighters, and police officers to find needy and deserving recipients. He also found some of them on his own, at laundromats, social service agencies, government housing facilities, and businesses that paid minimum wage. At thrift stores, he often found people who were raising their grandchildren. When he would give them anywhere from $100 to $300, it would change the whole complexion of their Christmas as well as their outlook. For many of them, this money made it possible to buy presents and cover necessities like utility bills.
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Larry didn’t want people to have to beg, get in line or apply for money. “I was giving in a way that allowed them to keep their dignity,” he said in an interview with a local news station years later. Just like the cook at the Dixie Diner had done for him.
All told, Larry gave away more than $1.4 million over the years. There are many stories from people whose homes he saved. People who told their families there wasn’t going to be a Christmas but wound up being able to buy gifts because of the money Secret Santa gave them. People who were able to pay their bills and get their gas turned back on, thanks to Larry.
In 2006, after serving as an anonymous Santa for more than twenty years, Larry was diagnosed with terminal cancer. At that point, he decided to go public because a tabloid newspaper was about to reveal his identity. Larry thought he should be the one to tell his story, hoping it would recruit more Santas to take his place. He’d seen that every time a Secret Santa was written about in the media, the coverage was followed by a wave of new Secret Santa appearances. He hoped making his identity public would continue to add to the ranks.
Larry got his wish. Thousands of people visited his website and signed up to become Secret Santas. And based on the number of people who emailed the site about their experiences that Christmas season, the new Secret Santas did more than sign up; they also turned out in force.
When Larry died in 2007, his handpicked successor—an anonymous Kansas City businessman—took over for him and continues to lead the Society of Secret Santas today. Its members follow in Larry’s footsteps around the world. The postings on the society’s website tell of giving money to victims of fires, people who had been evicted from their homes, and veterans and military families in need. They tell of former NFL player Dick Butkus handing out hundred-dollar bills in San Diego and former Major League Baseball player Luis Gonzalez doing the same in Phoenix.
A foundation was also formed in Larry’s honor to accept donations to be used by the Santas. The first donation was from former Kansas City parking attendant Sam Williams, who wanted to make a small gift in memory of the man who’d given him a hundred-dollar bill a few years before. “He gave me the biggest gift I ever got in my life,” Williams told KMBC News.
Larry gave Secret Santas everywhere a gift, too. As the society’s website says, “The compassion shared from one spontaneous random act of kindness is elevating, priceless and not easily explained. It is an instant connection between souls that can change a life forever. Being a Secret Santa has blessings beyond words.”
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What’s more, it’s a gift anybody can give. “It’s not about the man, it’s not about the money—it’s about the message,” says a Secret Santa. “Anyone can be a Secret Santa with a kind word, a gesture, a helping hand.
And what impact that gesture may have is anybody’s guess. “You never know what one little act of kindness will do for somebody,” as Larry told Ted Horn, chef-owner of the Dixie Diner, when he tracked him down twenty-eight years after their first meeting. “It can change their whole life…It changed mine.”
This story is from the book, Humankind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time, a National Bestseller filled with true stories about how one small deed can make a world of difference.
Quote of the Day: “All nature is but art unknown to thee.” – Alexander Pope
Photo by: Mae Mu (a star anise)
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?
11 years ago today, China became the third nation to land a rover on the moon with their Chang’e-3 orbiter and rover. The soft landing it achieved was the first on the moon since the Soviets in 1976. Landing in a molten crater called Sinus Ilium, it was to carry out some surveying and geology, during which it discovered a new kind of basaltic rock. READ more… (2013)
Though rarely mentioned among the most homicidal cities in the country, Boston has seen her fair share of mean times. But according to a new report, there have never been fewer murders in the city than now.
That’s because 2023 saw the fewest on record, and barring an explosion of violence in the last 17 days of 2024, this year will contain even fewer than that.
The city of Boston saw 37 homicides in 2023, which according to Christian Science Monitor, was the lowest number recorded since the Boston Regional Intelligence Center began counting.
At the time, the murder rate of 5.29 per 100,000 residents was the city’s lowest in the 21st century. For perspective, the decade spanning 2000 to 2010 saw only three years where homicides fell below 60 per year.
By September 2024, the homicide rate had fallen 60% year-over-year, and as of December 10th, the city of 654,000 residents had witnessed just 22 homicides.
Shootings have also reached a record low despite being the leading cause of homicide in the city in 2024, signaling broader declines in violent crime in general.
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“While it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific cause for the steep decline, public safety experts point to the tight-knit network of neighborhood associations and community-based organizations focusing on young people at risk for violence,” writes Troy Aidan Sambajon for the CSM.
THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE: US Crime Rate Drops to ‘Historic’ Lows With Murders, Rapes, and Robbery Plunging, New Statistics Show
This time last year GNN was reporting on the homicide rates in Detroit and Chicago falling precipitously: 18% and 19% respectively, while Los Angeles also recorded a 25% drop compared to 2022.
SHARE This Positive End-Of-Year Statistic With Your Friends From Mass…
From Switzerland comes a new technology that aims to decarbonize the transportation methods we use right now.
Through a thermochemical process driven 100% by solar power, the energy startup Synhelion can synthesize gasoline, diesel, kerosene, or any other fossil fuel currently in use.
Their colloquially termed ‘solar fuels’ are carbon neutral, as they emit only as much CO2 as was used in their production, compared to fossil fuels that come from deep underground and add to the global carbon cycle.
The technology that powers the DAWN solar fuel plant pictured above relies on concentrated solar radiation reflected from a bank of mirrors into a receiver that creates temperatures as high as 1,500C°. This not only powers the production of fuels through synthesizing H20 and CO2, but also is fed into a storage system that powers the production after dark.
Launched in 2016, Synhelion has needed some time to get its feet under itself, but with its first industrial-scale plant in operation, transportation services are starting to take notice.
In September, Swiss aircraft manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft signed a five-year agreement with Synhelion that includes a commitment to purchase solar kerosene for their aircraft starting in 2027. Under the agreement, Pilatus will acquire 200 tons of solar fuel per year.
Just 8 days later, Lake Lucerne Navigation Company (SVG) and Synhelion announced an identical five-year agreement for 100 tons per year. The company’s iconic steamboats, integral to Lake Lucerne’s landscape for over a century, were originally powered by coal and later by heating oil.
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With Synhelion’s solar fuels, neither these ferries, nor Pilatus’ aircraft, nor anyone else for that matter, need to retrofit or replace their existing vehicles. The solar fuels combust exactly the same as their fossil fuel equivalents, offering the chance for these firms to save tens of millions in the process of getting to net zero.
“We believe that solar fuels are, as of today, the best way to rapidly defossilize aviation,” Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus, said in a statement.
“Synhelion’s renewable solar fuels offer the ideal solution to defossilize our historic steamboats,” said Stefan Schulthess, Managing Director of SGV. “We’re excited to support this disruptive technology.”
TO GET EXCITED ABOUT THE FUTURE: Scientists Perfecting New Way to Turn Desert Air into Water at Much Higher Yields
The 2027 date for both agreements reflects when RISE, the first commercial-scale production facility for solar fuels is slated to be ready for operations, with the capacity to produce 1,000 tons of fuel per year from its location in sunny Spain.
Studies show that even at the current pace of electrification, there will be many remaining internal combustion engine vehicles around the world that will also need to be powered sustainably to meet net-zero emission targets by 2050.
While they still emit CO2, solar fuels also consume CO2 from the air during manufacture, and because the process is synthetic, nitrous oxide and other emissions harmful to human health are absent.
WATCH an explainer video below…
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In a US study of 192,000 participants, five servings of dark chocolate a week was associated with a lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
This was in direct contrast to milk chocolate consumption, which was not associated with any protective effect, and rather was linked to higher weight gain.
The study included 34 years of data and over 18,000 incidents of type-2 diabetes, pointing to how dark chocolate, particularly the kind with 70% cacao or more, can be part of a healthy diet.
Everyone should first understand that the study is the most fertile soil for a phenomenon in science literature known as the ‘healthy user bias.’ Put simply, people who care about looking after themselves are more likely to select dark chocolate, because of its lower sugar content, than milk chocolate, just as those people who are less bothered about monitoring their overall sugar intake won’t be bothered about which chocolate is available.
Furthermore, the 192,000 participants were nurses and health practitioners, and are therefore those most likely to be aware of the risks of added sugar in food.
Even though the authors of the study, published in the British Medical Journal, report to have adjusted the results for diet, personal, and lifestyle factors, the healthy user bias can manifest in other ways; and the diets of the individuals were gathered from food frequency questionnaires which are notorious for participants entering what they imagine or want to perceive themselves as eating, rather than what they actually ate.
These are not only challenges related to this study on chocolate, but almost all dietary literature because people don’t have the time or desire to lock themselves in a metabolic ward to perform a randomized controlled trial that would yield the gold standard of medical data.
With these caveats printed, there was still a 21% associated risk reduction in developing type-2 diabetes, the most rampant metabolic disorder in the US and around the world, when consuming dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate.
One potential strength of the study was that 5 or more servings of dark chocolate per week was actually associated with a 10% lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes when compared with those who ate no chocolate at all.
It could be because they are selecting other options such as vanilla ice cream, but it’s a possible indication that the finding is something more than corollary.
Another potential strength of the study was that it identified a dose-dependent response to dark chocolate’s protective effect. In the study, every additional weekly serving was associated with a 3% greater risk reduction in developing type-2 diabetes.
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While this could again be down to the healthy user bias, in the sense that every additional day of the week consuming dark chocolate means one less consuming a more sugary dessert, it may also point to the influence of an organic compound present in chocolate that isn’t found in processed deserts: flavanols.
Flavanols are a plant chemical that acts as an antioxidant. Readers who frequent the supplement aisle at the pharmacy may have seen a bottle marked ‘Quercetin’. Derived from the Latin word for oak, quercetin is a flavanol, and is sometimes taken to ease inflammation of the prostate, reduce blood pressure, and tame upper respiratory tract infections.
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Some studies have suggested it may have a potential for improving heart health, though more research would be needed to know for sure. Going off of first principles, quercetin is found in vibrantly-colored fruits and vegetables, like bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and dark leafy greens like kale and cabbage, and probably contributes in many small ways to proper physiological functioning, or we wouldn’t have evolved palates to enjoy these foods.
More research is definitely needed to explore this association, but consumers and individuals can use it regardless as a good guide for selecting foods, particularly deserts: more dark chocolate, less milk chocolate.
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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 December 14, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
If you burn wood to heat your home, I prefer burning ash and beech wood rather than, say, pine and cedar. The former two trees yield far more heat than the latter two, so you need less of them. Let’s apply this principle as we meditate on your quest for new metaphorical fuel, Sagittarius. In the coming months, you will be wise to search for resources that provide you with the most efficient and potent energy.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The world’s longest tunnel is over 35 miles long. It’s the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps. I’m guessing the metaphorical tunnel you’ve been crawling your way through lately, Capricorn, may feel that extensive. But it’s really not. And here’s even better news: Your plodding travels will be finished sooner than you imagine. I expect that the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible any day now. Now here’s the best news: Your slow journey through the semi-darkness will ultimately yield rich benefits no later than your birthday.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Would you like to avoid wilting and fading away in January, Aquarius? If so, I recommend that during the coming weeks, you give your best and brightest gifts and express your wildest and most beautiful truths. In the new year, you will need some downtime to recharge and revitalize. But it will be a pleasantly relaxing interlude—not a wan, withered detour—if in the immediate future you unleash your unique genius in its full splendor.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
My treasured Piscean advisor, Letisha, believes it’s a shame so many of us try to motivate ourselves through abusive self-criticism. Are you guilty of that sin? I have done it myself on many occasions. Sadly, it rarely works as a motivational ploy. More often, it demoralizes and deflates. The good news, Pisces, is that you now have extra power and savvy to diminish your reliance on this ineffectual tactic. To launch the transformation, I hope you will engage in a focused campaign of inspiring yourself through self-praise and self-love.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
If you were walking down the street and spied a coin lying on the sidewalk, would you bend down to pick it up? If you’re like most people, you wouldn’t. It’s too much trouble to exert yourself for an object of such little value. But I advise you to adopt a different attitude during the coming weeks. Just for now, that stray coin might be something like an Umayyad gold dinar minted in the year 723 and worth over $7 million. Please also apply this counsel metaphorically, Aries. In other words, be alert for things of unexpected worth that would require you to expand your expectations or stretch your capacities.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The Taurus writer Randall Jarrell compared poets to people who regularly stand in a meadow during a thunderstorm. If they are struck by the lightning of inspiration five or six times in the course of their careers, they are good poets. If they are hit a dozen times, they are great poets. A similar principle applies in many fields of endeavor. To be excellent at what you do, you must regularly go to where the energy is most electric. You’ve also got to keep working diligently on your skills so that when inspiration comes calling, you have a highly developed ability to capture it in a useful form. I’m bringing this up now, Taurus, because I suspect the coming weeks will bring you a slew of lightning bolts.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
My upcoming novels epitomize the literary genre known as magical realism. In many ways, the stories exhibit reverence for the details of our gritty destinies in the material world. But they are also replete with wondrous events like talking animals, helpful spirits, and nightly dreams that provide radical healing. The characters are both practical and dreamy, earthy and wildly imaginative, well-grounded and alert for miracles. In accordance with your astrological potentials, I invite you to be like those characters in the coming months. You are primed to be both robustly pragmatic and primed for fairy-tale-style adventures.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In December 1903, the Wright Brothers flew a motorized vehicle through the sky for the first time in human history. It was a very modest achievement, really. On the first try, Orville Wright was in the air for just 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet. On the fourth attempt that day, Wilbur was aloft for 59 seconds and 852 feet. I believe you’re at a comparable stage in the evolution of your own innovation. Don’t minimize your incipient accomplishment. Keep the faith. It may take a while, but your efforts will ultimately lead to a meaningful advancement. (PS: Nine months later, the Wrights flew their vehicle for over five minutes and traveled 2.75 miles.)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
During the rest of 2024, life’s generosity will stream your way more than usual. You will be on the receiving end of extra magnanimity from people, too. Even the spiritual realms might have extra goodies to bestow on you. How should you respond? My suggestion is to share the inflowing wealth with cheerful creativity. Boost your own generosity and magnanimity. Just assume that the more you give, the more you will get and the more you will have. (PS: Do you know that Emily Dickinson poem with the line “Why Floods be served to us — in Bowls”? I suggest you obtain some big bowls.)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The term “cognitive dissonance” refers to the agitation we feel while trying to hold conflicting ideas or values in our minds. For example, let’s say you love the music of a particular singer-songwriter, but they have opinions that offend you or they engage in behavior that repels you. Or maybe you share many positions with a certain political candidate, but they also have a few policies you dislike. Cognitive dissonance doesn’t have to be a bad or debilitating thing. In fact, the ability to harbor conflicting ideas with poise and equanimity is a sign of high intelligence. I suspect this will be one of your superpowers in the coming weeks.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“Amazing Grace” is a popular hymn recorded by many pop stars, including Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, and Willie Nelson. Created in 1773, it tells the story of a person who concludes that he has lived an awful life and now wants to repent for his sins and be a better human. The composer, John Newton, was a slave trader who had a religious epiphany during a storm that threatened to sink his ship in the Atlantic Ocean. God told him to reform his evil ways, and he did. I presume that none of you reading this horoscope has ever been as horrible a person as Newton. And yet you and I, like most people, are in regular need of conversion experiences that awaken us to higher truths and more expansive perspectives. I predict you will have at least three of those transformative illuminations in the coming months. One is available now, if you want it.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“Thinking outside the box” is an American idiom. It means escaping habitual parameters and traditional formulas so as to imagine fresh perspectives and novel approaches. While it’s an excellent practice, there is also a good alternative. We can sometimes accomplish marvels by staying inside the box and reshaping it from the inside. Another way to imagine this is to work within the system to transform the system—to accept some of the standard perspectives but play and experiment with others. For example, in my horoscope column, I partially adhere to the customs of the well-established genre, but also take radical liberties with it. I recommend this approach for you in 2025.
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Quote of the Day: “It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” – W.T. Ellis
Photo by: Getty Images for Unsplash+ (cropped)
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?
On this day 86 years ago, the commission for Major League Baseball met to establish some rules and agreed on the weight and dimensions of the standard baseball. It was to be 9 to 9.25 inches (229 to 235 mm) in circumference, with a weight of 5 to 5.25 ounces (0.142 to 0.149 kg), and be made of 108 stitches which play a large part in the aerodynamism of the object. READ what else was agreed on that day… (1938)
