Self-Taught Artist Carves Logs into Amazing Sculptures Using a Chainsaw

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Aug 29, 2026

An artist is carving out a living by making amazingly-realistic wooden sculptures—after teaching himself how to use a chainsaw.

The 53-year-old started carving with chainsaws 30 years ago and now makes thousands, selling his unique commission pieces across the UK.

Simon Bogg usuallly spends up to three days working eight hour shifts to craft his most intricate pieces—including horses, birds, rhinos, badgers, and elephants.

The father-of-two freestyles each piece without any planning or mapping beyond simply using a source photo as a model for the more complex sculptures.

His most popular creations are the carved owls, which can fetch anywhere upwards of $150, depending on the level of detail.

Simon’s biggest carving measures 22-ft tall (6.7m), and some of his pieces fetch between $6,800-$9,500 (£5,000-£7,000) each.

He admits it’s a risky job, “Everything we do with a chainsaw you shouldn’t do with a chainsaw.”

The fully self-taught artist from Louth, Lincolnshire, originally was in the building trades. Then his mother asked if he could make a mushroom.

“I had never done anything with a chainsaw before. I used hers and spent a Sunday afternoon doing it.”

“A week later she rang and said I’ve got five orders for you.

“I did the five mushrooms, then I did a bear, and then I worked a country show and sold everything I made. They loved it.

“Now I’ve been doing it nearly 30 years—15 years full-time.

Simon tends to make three carvings per week, on average, with varying complexity.

Each one is either made from imported Cedar Wood from the Pyrenees Mountains or timber from local gardens.

Chainsaw artist Simon Bogg with tree sculptures (owl, top, and rabbit) and log stash – SWNS

“I just get a lump of wood—and get on with it. Chop away what you don’t need and then start shaping up.”

Some of Simon’s best works include a giant carved stag, an amazing rearing horse, and an elephant—his most recent—which he says could be worth around $6,800 (£5,000).

Hoisting a chainsaw for multiple hours can lead to sore backs, aching wrists, and pains.”

Not to mention the risk of deafness and lingering vibrations.

“People say, ‘When am I getting a proper job’.”

“But I love it.”

Simon Bogg with his wooden owls carved by chainsaws – SWNS

SWNS news agency asked him which animals were his favorite to sculpt.

“I really like the big ones, that are in your face…

“The things that people say are impossible.”

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Deep Sleep Brain Waves Offer Protection Against Alzheimer’s, Shows New Research

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Good News Network

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Aug 29, 2026

Poor sleep quality has been linked to cognitive decline, neuro-degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease in seniors—but it may be possible to counteract certain risks.

A new study shows that specific sleep brain waves provide protection against the harmful effects of a brain chemical associated with wakefulness, sleep transition, and narcolepsy.

Concordia University-led researchers examined levels of the neurotransmitter orexin in the cerebral spinal fluid of 60 adults with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease over a three-year period.

They found that individuals with elevated levels of orexin, which is vital to sleep and appetite regulation, were more likely to exhibit symptoms of cognitive decline, including poorer memory and thinking, more severe behavioral and psychiatric symptoms and had higher levels of biological markers associated with neurodegenerative disease and inflammation.

However, that relationship was found to be mitigated by specific brainwaves during sleep. Individuals who produced stronger sleep spindles and sleep oscillations — types of brainwaves associated with memory support and preservation — during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep had less cognitive decline over time than those with weaker ones.

This sleep activity appears to provide neural resilience against the negative effects of higher levels of orexin on their cognition and mental health.

“This study shows that there is a direct association between orexin levels in the brain and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease,” says study co-author Thanh Dang-vu, a neurologist and professor in the Department of Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology.

Clear pathways to treatment

The study’s data, published in the journal Neurology, was collected by researchers at Lleida University in Catalonia, Spain. The 60 participants spent a night in a sleep laboratory where researchers recorded their brain activity using overnight poly-somnography. The following morning, cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected to measure orexin and other established Alzheimer’s biomarkers.

Participants also completed a series of cognitive and neuropsychiatric assessments at regular intervals over the next three years, allowing researchers to examine how sleep, brain chemistry and cognitive decline changed together over time.

Struggle Sleeping? These 3 Sleep Habits Are Tied to Signs of Brain Aging, New Study Finds

“Having this longitudinal data is important, because Alzheimer’s disease is a moving target,” says the study’s co-first author Arsenio Paez, a neuroscience lecturer in the Sleep, Cognition and Neuroimaging Lab.

“With this data, we can see how the course of people’s Alzheimer’s disease changes over time. Alzheimer’s is a very long process, so this gives us a better picture of how conditions can change over time and we might intervene at different stages of the disorder.”

The researchers note that orexin-blocking drugs are already being used to treat insomnia and narcolepsy, and are being explored as possible therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.

This study suggests that monitoring sleep spindles, slow oscillations and orexin levels could help measure disease progression and to identify which patients would benefit from specialized treatment.

“This study shows us that there are new ways to potentially act on sleep to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and opens the door for further studies moving forward,” says Dang-vu.

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Dogs Provide Security and Comfort at Busy Train Station in ‘British First’

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Good News Network

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Aug 29, 2026

Dogs patrol train station SWNS — (L-R) Riley, Buster and Flo in London's Waterloo station – SWNS

(L-R) Riley, Buster and Flo in London’s Waterloo station – SWR / NR Wessex / SWNS

London’s Waterloo station has become the first major train hub in Britain to employ dogs on regular patrols.

Canine caretakers Riley, Buster and Flo are providing “additional reassurance” to passengers as part of a three-month trial.

The pups, two cocker spaniels and a Labrador, were deployed by South Western Railway (SWR) and NR Wessex, partnering with Alpha Canine Specialists.

The adorable dogs are aged 9, 10, and 11—and this London train hub gig will be their final deployment before retirement.

Regarding security, the dogs are intended to act as a visual deterrent, and are “part of a wider program designed to keep customers and colleagues safe”, SWR said.

“Deploying these dogs is not linked to any increased threat. It’s simply part of providing more visual deterrence and offering our customers some additional reassurance.”

Chris Bond and Sakinah with Riley and Buster in front of Waterloo clock – SWR / NR Wessex via SWNS

“Security needs constant innovation and we’re taking positive steps to reassure our customers that we take their safety very seriously,” said Dan Harrison, station manager for SWR and NR Wessex.

Other recent measures include launching a better CCTV system, and investing in an outreach worker who engages with vulnerable young people.

“In the same way, we recently equipped all our colleagues with new high-visibility tabards (to wear in the station) to make them more easily identifiable to customers who might need their help.”

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

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Aug 29, 2026

Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is 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 29, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The coming months could be a legendary turning point you will celebrate in the future: a pivotal time when you finally outsmart an old adversary and untangle a knotted inheritance, clearing the way to pursue your true calling with undiluted devotion. Or, on the other hand, the days ahead could be another round in the long saga of “almost”: a decisive phase when you avoid a challenge that has been begging for your full brilliance, leaving your future without shining clues for how to further decode the ancient riddle. Which destiny will you accomplish, dear Virgo? Will you answer the call to adventure? Or ignore it until it fades away?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Some of my most useful revelations arrive in the dark. Once, while hiking in a wooded canyon at dusk, I lost the trail and had to feel my way forward by the sound of the creek. In that blind descent, an insight about a personal riddle I’d been pondering for months appeared unbidden, as if it had been waiting in the shadows for me. As I followed the stream bank to safety, I celebrated by singing Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah.” The moral of the story is that some lessons can be best learned by going down: into the body, into confusing feelings, into the rich compost of mysteries we may be hesitant to explore. How about you, Libra? In my professional opinion, your next pivotal breakthroughs are lurking in the fertile darkness rather than the brilliant heights. I hope you’re brave enough to descend. The treasure is buried, as treasure often is.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift. It’s the idea that Earth’s continents were once joined in a single supercontinent and have gradually drifted apart to their present positions over millions of years. Most scientists initially rejected his hypothesis because he couldn’t explain how the movement occurred. He didn’t live long enough to receive vindication, but decades later, his novel hypothesis was fully accepted. I’m pleased to report that your wait will be far shorter, Scorpio. Please keep your faith in the novel ideas and perceptions that others don’t understand yet. The world’s almost ready for your innovations.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
There is a kind of lightning called a “sprite.” It’s a ghostly red discharge that blossoms high above thunderstorms. I suspect you may soon experience your own personal versions of this wonder. Fleeting insights may appear in unexpected places. Emotionally rich revelations could arrive out of nowhere. Because the moments could pass quickly, it will be crucial to notice them when they arrive. They could stimulate major shifts in your understanding. Keep your perceptive powers highly attuned.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Fertility clinics store frozen human embryos. Numbering in the hundreds of thousands, they are suspended in a long, chilly pause, awaiting instructions from the people who created them. This accumulation of potential life on hold makes me think of you. If you would thaw and reclaim the neglected, untouched regions of your own imagination, you would become an even more formidable generator of focused creative power. The encouraging news is that the coming weeks will be an unusually favorable phase to expedite this process.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Some earthquakes unleash energy in violent bursts, but others are incremental commotions that unfold gradually over days or even weeks. The way they reorganize the Earth’s crust is kinder and gentler. Let’s regard these slow quakes as an apt metaphor for the initially disruptive but ultimately constructive transformations underway in your beautiful life, Aquarius. You may not see spectacular evidence that change is percolating, but I guarantee that it is. Old structures are in a transitional phase of subtle disarray, creating conditions for new dispensations you can’t imagine yet. My prediction: The rearrangement of your landscape will be healing.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The Sargasso Sea is the only sea on Earth without a land boundary. It’s defined entirely by four strong Atlantic Ocean currents that circle it. Its edges aren’t solid walls but slowly shifting rivers of water. I think this anomalous body of water is always a vivid symbol of your world, Pisces, and even more so these days. Your boundaries are currents, not coastlines. You hold your shape through movement, not through rigid definition. This is more challenging to maintain than solid borders, but it’s also a great potential strength. Use it with aplomb!

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
On the sci‑fi TV show Stargate SG‑1, benevolent aliens known as the Asgard visit Earth to seek assistance from a secret US government team. The ultra-advanced, hyper-intelligent Asgard have been unable to defeat their great nemesis, another alien species called the Replicators. Their hope is that their primitive partners, the humans, might stumble onto some basic, straightforward answer that their own sophisticated minds can’t see. The gamble pays off. One of Earth’s leading physicists, who’s a naive amateur by Asgard standards, devises a rough, unsophisticated strategy that works wonderfully. Treat this as your parable, Aries: Put your faith in simple, uncluttered approaches, and don’t underestimate “beginner-level” fixes.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
During one of my visits to the annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, I encountered a prankster named Mother Very Superior. This nonbinary performer was dressed like a nun and wore a prominent chastity belt. Wielding a toy whip, they gently lashed me on my shoulders and prayed over me, saying, “I absolve you of all your sins. Therefore, you are now free to commit a raucous slew of new sins.” I hope you get a similar dispensation, Taurus. To be fully available for the rollicking delights you’re eligible for, it would be wise to reduce your karmic debt.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Archaeologists studying ancient Roman shipwrecks found that sailors deliberately made their vessels heavier by stowing rocks in the hull. This reduced the profitability of their voyages, since it reduced their cargo capacity. On the other hand, it meant they wouldn’t capsize during storms. An excellent trade-off! Let’s use this scenario as a metaphor for your life right now, Gemini. I’m going to suggest that you will benefit from adding more ballast. Seemingly burdensome elements could keep you steady if conditions become unruly. Consider this: Not everything heavy is holding you back. Some of it’s keeping you strong and stable.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
During the Baroque era, Cancerian artist Artemisia Gentileschi painted powerful biblical and historical women who killed tyrants and delivered their people from violent domination. By channeling her creative passion into figures of righteous fury, she transformed her personal trauma into psychological power. I invite you to be inspired by Gentileschi as you reconfigure your own story in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Wouldn’t it be fun and potent to transform the way you imagine both the past and future plot threads of your destiny?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In traditional sourdough baking, a small portion of fermented dough called a starter is saved and refreshed regularly. Some bakeries maintain the same lineage for years. The starter is a living culture of wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria that feed on flour and water, producing acids and gases that leaven the dough and create bread with complex flavor, aroma, and texture. Let’s use this as a metaphor for your life, Leo. What long-running resource can you use to help create situations that will empower you to thrive in interesting ways during the coming months?

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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“A journey is like marriage. The way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Aug 29, 2026

Quote of the Day: “A journey is like marriage. The way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

Photo by: Marc Groth

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

Good News in History, August 29

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Aug 29, 2026

Dr. Ambedkar on a 2015 Indian postage stamp - credit GODL India — Dr. Ambedkar on a 2015 Indian postage stamp - credit Ministry of Communications GODL India

On this day, 79 years ago, Dr. Bhimrao R. Ambedkar was appointed to chair the Indian constitutional drafting committee. This national hero is responsible for the constitution being one that is largely considered one of the most robust and progressive in all world law, as it guaranteed equal treatment under the law for all members of India’s many castes, something not even Mahatma Gandhi envisioned for a post-Independence India. READ more about his work on the constitution… (1947)

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World’s Oldest Person Celebrates 117 Years of a ‘Nonconfrontational’ Approach to Life

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Andy Corbley

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Aug 28, 2026

Oldest person in the world - Courtesy of Ethel Caterham Family — Courtesy of Ethel Caterham Family

The world’s oldest person as acknowledged by the Guinness World Records turned 117 last Friday

Ethel Caterham was born in the United Kingdom on August 21st, 1909, when the great-great grandfather of the current king was sitting on the nation’s throne.

Meeting King Charles III in September 2025 – Courtesy of Ethel Caterham Family

She was the 7th of 8 children, and told ABC News in an emailed statement that she attributes her longevity to a “nonconfrontational” attitude in life; never arguing, while rarely compromising.

“Thank you for all of the kind birthday wishes,” said told the American network. “Even at 117, I’ve had many firsts this year, from stroking a llama to holding hands with the King! I’ve had a lovely day celebrating with my family and friends, and I look forward to seeing what next year brings!”

She has outlived her husband by 50 years, as well as her two daughters, and today enjoys the care and company of 3 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

MORE ADVICE FROM OUR ELDERS:

In her youth she loved travel, and worked as a nanny for a British family living in India. The work allowed her 3 years to explore the subcontinent where she met her husband Norman, a major in the British Army.

She becomes the oldest person alive after a Brazilian nun, Inah Canabarro Lucas, passed away at 116.

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Frogs Produce a Protein That May Be an Antidote for Deadly Shellfish Toxin in Humans

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Andy Corbley

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Aug 28, 2026

An American bullfrog, which is the largest frog species in North America Carl D. Howe via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.5

He’s no poison-arrow frog, but that doesn’t mean the American bullfrog doesn’t understand poison—far from it, according to scientists.

Hidden within the humble bullfrog’s genetics is the equipment to produce an antidote to a deadly shellfish toxin that afflicts thousands of people every year.

It’s sometimes thought that a phenomenon of blooming marine microorganisms known as “red tide” is why shellfish is not kosher. These algal blooms produce saxitoxin, or STX, which accumulates in shellfish and causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) when consumed.

STX is considered a chemical weapon under international law, was stockpiled by the US during the Cold War, and featured in the famous case of American Air Force pilot Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy aircraft was shot down over the Soviet Unio. The CIA had issued Powers a suicide pin containing STX to use should he face capture.

Powers declined to take the suicide route, which interestingly enough is believed to have won him sympathizers among the judges at his trial for espionage in Moscow as it underlined, as they saw it, the cruelty of their opponents—that they would instruct their patriotic sons to commit suicide; at least according to Jan Morris’ coverage of the trial for the Manchester Guardian. That’s enough history for now though.

Paralytic shellfish poisoning affects some 2,000 people worldwide officially, although the vast majority of cases go unreported, according to experts.

There is no antidote for STX, but a new UC San Francisco study is likely to change that.

In research published July 16th in Nature Communications, a team led by Daniel Minor, PhD, and professor in UCSF’s Cardiovascular Research Institute, found that a protein called saxiphilin can neutralize saxitoxin in mice, preventing and even reversing otherwise lethal poisoning.

The protein, which occurs naturally in bullfrogs and other frogs around the world, acts like a molecular sponge. It binds tightly to saxitoxin in the bloodstream before the toxin can reach the nerve and muscle cells it normally attacks.

Earlier efforts to find an antidote against the toxin focused on interrupting the complex biological processes it uses to disable nerve cells—or trying to trigger immune responses against it. Those approaches were largely unsuccessful.

“It turns out that one naturally occurring protein is all that’s required to take this toxin out of commission,” Minor said.

The discovery could have important public health implications, helping to protect recreational harvesters worldwide, as well as coastal indigenous communities in the US and Canada who face the highest exposure to red tide through traditional subsistence harvesting, often far from emergency medical care.

The current study builds on 2021 research in which Minor and colleagues showed that saxiphilin binds strongly to saxitoxin, essentially soaking it up like a sponge and blocking its toxic properties. But whether that interaction would work inside a living organism remained uncertain.

ALSO CHECK OUT: CRISPR Identifies Commonly Available Drug That Works as Cobra Venom Antidote

To find out, Minor and postdoctoral PhD scholars Samantha Nixon and Sandra Zakrzewska tested saxiphilin in mice exposed to lethal doses of STX. When saxiphilin was given before or along with STX, the protein prevented poisoning. It also cured nearly all mice who got the protein after they were exposed to STX, a scenario that most closely resembles what would occur when someone unknowingly eats poisoned shellfish.

Minor said this latter scenario was particularly encouraging, given the size of the antidote molecule, which the researchers thought might slow down its action.

“We had this really big protein that needed to catch up with a tiny toxin molecule that has a running start on it,” Minor said. “We really weren’t sure this was going to work.”

BETTER ANTITOXINS: Revolutionary Antidote Neutralizes Venom of 19 of World’s Deadliest Snakes–Thanks to Man Who Immunized Himself

The protein not only improved survival but also reduced symptoms associated with severe poisoning, with no harmful side effects.

The team also discovered that saxiphilin spread throughout the body, reaching the brain, heart, and muscles, allowing it to intercept the toxin wherever it traveled.

STX is not a single toxin but a family of over 50 variants with closely related structures. In two studies, published in 2025 and 2026, Minor showed that saxiphilin can bind a wide range of these variants, making it a good candidate for an antidote.

SURPRISES FROM THE AMPHIBIAN WORLD: Tiny ‘Frog Saunas’ Help Endangered Amphibians Fight off Fungal Disease

His next goal is to determine whether smaller, engineered versions of saxiphilin could provide the same, or maybe even better, protection against an array of STX variants. More broadly, he believes the work offers a blueprint for finding antidotes to many other natural toxins that currently have none.

“Nature has had to solve this problem multiple times,” he said. “So, there is resilience to toxins all over the biological world.”

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Abu Dhabi Ice Cream Entrepreneur Uses Her National Crop to Make Healthier Soft Serve

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Andy Corbley

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Aug 28, 2026

An Arab entrepreneur has turned her country’s national crop into creative new ice cream recipes.

It needed several years of experimentation, and she broke several ice cream machines before perfecting her soft-serve blends, but the result is a truly one-of-a-kind ice cream parlor.

Amira Al Dosari is the founder and pioneer behind date-based soft serve ice cream. For this native of Abu Dhabi, the date is an icon of her nation’s economy, history, agriculture, and culture of hospitality.

Though heavy in sugars, dates also contain fiber such that dates have been found to lower circulating blood sugar levels. This is because the fruit’s fibrous matrix slows the release and absorption of sugar contained within.

Al Dosari never imagined using dates to make ice cream, but at age 53 she took an ice cream making class and was disturbed by quantity of ice cream made with pre-prepared mixes, artificial colorants, and refined sugar.

“I was thinking about what the future could be for (children) who eat a lot of sugar when they are that young. How would that affect their body?” she told CNN’s Youmna Sukkar in a brilliant featured story.

Date connoisseurs will know that there are many date varieties with varying textures and flavors. Al Dosari thought to take one of the softest and sweetest varieties known as a kholas date, and see if it were possible to make ice cream without any added sugar.

She told Sukkar that sugar in soft-serve ice cream doesn’t only make it sweet, but also consistently soft and creamy. It took a long time, and was a big challenge to find a way to render the kholas dates down into a product that could give soft serve ice cream these properties. But that’s exactly what she did.

MORE IDEAS LIKE THIS: Entrepreneur Transforms Olive Waste into Eco-Friendly Fuel That Cuts CO2 Emission by One-Third

Now she’s working on her 448th flavor of date ice cream from her shop called Ice Station near Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Port. The date is the star of the show there, as it not only contributes to the sugar in the ice cream but to multiple flavors.

The pits are roasted and ground into a coffee-like substance that’s poured over ice cream to mimic the Italian affogato, while the date palm fronds contribute the bitterness, antioxidant content, and vivid green of the “matcha” flavor.

CREATIVE RECIPES: Scientists Make a Super-Honey Using Cocoa Bean Waste For Chocolatey, Heart-Healthy Jolt

“We know that the entire plant is quite safe for consumption, so it was just more about how we could present this in a way that is enjoyable for everyone?” said Al Dosari’s daughter, Ghalia Al Mazrouei, who works as a sustainability consultant and helped her mother find new ways to utilize the date palm.

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Renter Is Shocked When Landlord Gives Her a Home After 20 Years Being a Good Tenant There

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Andy Corbley

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Aug 28, 2026

house buy signing day keys Getty Images for Unsplash+ — Getty Images for Unsplash+

Landlords get a bad rap, often unfairly, but now from Melbourne comes the story of one who gave a long-term tenant the home she was renting.

The magnanimous gesture is typical, 9 News reports, of the late self-made millionaire, who fancied himself a philanthropist in the waning years of his life.

It was 23 years ago that Jane Sayner went house hunting in Melbourne and found a 2 bedroom unit with a garden in St. Albans—a northwest suburb of the city.

She liked the garden the most, but she liked the area too—and also the landlord.

John Perrett, she described, was the definition of generosity. Having amassed a multi-million dollar fortune by himself, he was also a pharmacist, community man, soccer lover, and a property investor.

“I got a phone call from him one day and he said, ‘I want you to talk to my solicitor, he is here at the moment and can you give him your full name because I’m leaving you the unit,'” Sayner told 9 News, remembering that fateful phone call.

She said she pinches herself to this day, more than 6 years later.

GENEROUS GESTURES: Louisville Restaurant Donates 100% of Profits–Over $100K in its First Year to Local Nonprofits

Mr. Perrett died in 2020 in his mid-eighties due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. The house he gave to Sayner, while his fortune he donated to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, at which he received a kidney transplant that lasted him 30 years.

The donation totaled AUD$19.6 million.

SELF-MADE: Inspiring CEO Gives Company to Charity After Working 80-hour Weeks for 58 Years, Saving it from Bankruptcy

“We are extremely grateful as a department of the hospital at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for such a bequest. It’s just amazing,” said Professor Nigel Toussiant from the hospital, who added that it would support patients and operations for decades to come.

Sayner retired at 74 and still lives in the home her late landlord gave her, thanking the man under her breath every few days.

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“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Aug 28, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill

Photo by: Marc Groth

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

Good News in History, August 28

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Aug 28, 2026

118 years ago today, Roger Tory Peterson, the inventor of the modern field guide, was born. The American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator published his groundbreaking Guide to the Birds in 1934, at age 25, and its first printing sold out in one week. The Peterson Field Guide series eventually included topics ranging from rocks and seashells to reptiles and edible or medicinal plants. He won numerous awards, like the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, after igniting in our hearts a curiosity and love for the natural world. READ a bit more about Peterson and his books… (1908)

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5 US Cities Hire Robot Called ‘Dax’ to Help Survey and Repair Sidewalks–Kids Love Him

By

Andy Corbley

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Aug 27, 2026

Citizens across the nation have reported strange figures on city sidewalks. They’re white, short, and inhuman.

But this unidentified rolling object comes in peace. His name is Dax, and he’s here to help.

This summer saw the curbside debut of the Daxbot in cities around the US, developed by an Oregon-based robotics firm for the purpose of improving city sidewalks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daxbot (@idigdax)

Moving at walking pace, they continuously perform surveys of the sidewalk level, measuring gradients, width, and vertical changes—the kinds of things that would be done by a surveyor crew. The data is packaged up and forwarded to city planners for the purpose of more easily triaging which sidewalks are more urgently in need of repair.

So far, ‘Dax’ is on the ground in Bangor, Maine; Hoboken, New Jersey; Hollister, California; Tyler, Texas; and Hilton Head, South Carolina.

It might seem like a niche job, but as a report on the Daxbot’s work in Tyler published in Straight Arrow News outlines, conditions on a black asphalt roadway under a July sun in Texas are harsh and unforgiving. Finding surveyors to work under these conditions is difficult.

In cities like Hoboken and Tyler, authorities are setting goals of zero pedestrian traffic deaths, and well-maintained level sidewalks are considered an important part of achieving them. For strollers, bikes, kick scooters, or skateboards, the old tree root that uplifts the sidewalk isn’t just an impediment, but a gentle, subconscious suggestion to move off the sidewalk and onto the road.

Though hardly a death sentence, being that much closer to moving cars is that much closer to danger. Indeed, 9 in 10 pedestrian traffic deaths will occur on the road surface, not the sidewalk. As if city planners needed anymore data to convince them using Daxbots is a good idea, one unit in Tyler was hit on a crosswalk by a truck making a right turn.

ROBOTS AMONG US: Robot Helps Restore Lost Seagrass Meadows Around the World

“Hoboken has become a national model for street safety because we’ve consistently invested in making our streets work better for everyone,” the city’s Mayor Emily Jabbour said.

“By combining innovative technology like Daxbot with feedback from residents and guidance from accessibility advocates, we’ll better understand where improvements are needed…”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daxbot (@idigdax)

Bangor plans to use 6 of the robots, which stand 35 inches tall and will wear hi-visibility jackets. They will cover about 6 miles of sidewalks a day.

Straight Arrow News heard from a Daxbot company spokesperson who explained that the robot, reminiscent of Pixar’s WALL-E, was first tested by delivering pizzas. It was a city planner who called one day, asking if it could survey sidewalks, that set Daxbot on the path it’s on today.

More children, seeing the robots almost inevitably offers a moment of joy and wonderment, and several cities encourage residents to take selfies or photos of the robot and post them on social media, tagging official accounts.

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Man Saves Baby Otter with CPR: ‘A life’s a life, no matter what it is’

By

Andy Corbley

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Aug 27, 2026

The revived otter - credit, supplied to CTV

It takes a village to raise a child they say. Well a story comes to us now from Alert Bay in British Columbia, where it took a village to save one.

It was a retired logger and fisherman named Gordon Mellish who first rescued three baby otters, having been told by a neighbor on the marina that the trio were tangled in a fishing net.

A small crowd gathered around the man as he cut them free. The first 2 seemed unharmed, while a 3rd wasn’t moving. CTV News’ Adam Sawatsky spoke to the man about what happened next.

“Gave the heart a little pump and nothing was going on, so I grabbed it and picked it up, I wrapped my mouth around its mouth and nose and gave it a breath of life.”

Mellish has given mouth-to-mouth CPR on 10 humans across his years on the water, but never to an otter.

Coming out of the crowd was Robin Quirk, a local whose motherly instinct drove her to care for the revived baby, building a shelter from the Sun and birds of prey, and placing down a bed for it to lie on while expert advice was consulted.

A wild animal rescue center was a long drive and a ferry ride away, so Quirk cared for the otter in her car overnight before making the trip out the next day.

“You know how if you can’t get your baby to sleep, you take it for a drive?” Robin told Sawatsky. “Well, the otter slept the whole way.”

Arriving at the rescue center, the otter spent a week in rehabilitation, before returning to Alert Bay where both Mellish and Quirk were invited to watch as the baby otter returned to the water.

Mr. Mellish relished the moment when, upon leaping into the water, the animal looked back and as he waved, nodding its head before swimming away. Subsequent sightings have confirmed that it has rejoined its siblings and mom, and it seems even to recognize Quirk—provided she whistles the lullaby she had made up in the car ride to the shelter.

Mammals have to stick together.

“A life’s a life no matter what it is,” Gordon said. “Try to do your best to save it.”

WATCH the story below…

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Pakistan Combines River Dolphin Sanctuaries Along the Indus River, Protecting 250 Miles of Habitat

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Andy Corbley

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Aug 27, 2026

Pakistan has created a wildlife sanctuary along 123 miles of the Indus River where it’s estimated 440 of these extraordinary freshwater cetaceans live.

The endangered Indus River Dolphin has seen large declines in the amount of river it’s able to access as Pakistan’s economic growth drove river infrastructure projects like dams and irrigation canals.

Some 2,000 are believed to remain, with pockets of the population divided across 3 stretches of the Indus River totaling around 430 miles.

With the Punjab government’s creation of the Punjnad Indus River Dolphin Sanctuary, it not only safeguards the heart of the dolphin’s habitat in Punjab, but connects it with an existing protected area in neighboring Sindh Province, creating roughly 249 miles—about the length of New York State—of connected habitat under legal protection, according to WWF-Pakistan.

The WWF chapter will work closely with the governments in Islamabad and Punjab to development a management plan for the sanctuary to ensure the dolphins therein can thrive, not merely survive.

The organization has been working since the 1990s in the conservation of the dolphin, and points out that as an apex predator in the waterway, its flourishing requires a whole-of-ecosystem flourishing. If the nation can but protect its dolphins, it may very well protect the whole riverine environment at the same time.

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‘Wood Foam’ Startup Uses Logging Waste as Substitute for Plastic, Producing 400 Pounds Daily

By

Andy Corbley

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Aug 27, 2026

The University of British Columbia has taken low value timber waste and turned it into “wood foam” to replace plastic in packaging.

With one of the largest timber industries in the world, the innovation clears two hurdles in one leap: cutting back on polluting, long-lived plastics, and utilizing a waste product from an already existing industry.

Already, a pilot plant in East Vancouver is producing around 400 pounds of the so-called wood foam every day.

Among plastics, polystyrene foam is arguably the most environmentally problematic. Anyone who’s pulled a TV or coffee machine from a box filled up with the stuff will know how readily it shreds into microplastics, but what they usually don’t know is that scientists estimate it requires twice as long to breakdown as other commonly used plastics—remaining in the environment for around 1,000 years.

Speaking of remaining in the environment, at every stage of the logging supply chain, wood material is wasted. In the forest, sawdust, chips, and pulp accumulates on the forest floor and can like as a quick-burning accelerant for forest fires. On the sawmill floor, meanwhile, this residue has to constantly be gathered up and disposed of.

Substituting one for the other was obvious for the UBC team which developed the wood foam, led by Professor Feng Jiang, and the company which spun it out into a business called DicinFoam, led by CEO Richard Chen and CTO Zhu Yale.

The homogenized feedstock for the wood foam – supplied by Clare Kiernan via UBC

“We’ve made it from low-value pulp, wood fibers, and forestry residues,” Zhu told CBC News. “What we’re trying to do is we want to extract the majority of the value out of it and make it into our day-to-day packaging needs.”

The mixed-media material is homogenized before being fed into a special machine that forms the foam panels and heat presses them. The company has plans to scale up to a 1,000 tons-per-year operation on the shores of Burns Lake on the territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation who own the company.

MORE FORESTRY ADVANCEMENTS:

“Every tree that gets harvested, 30% of the tree doesn’t get utilized,” CEO Chen said. “If we can even get a fraction of that and replace everyday existing products that are made of plastics … I feel that’s a big deal—especially when we have materials just sitting in the forest.”

If the 1,000-ton plant is a success, DicinFoam imagines a 15,000 ton-per-year plant on Vancouver Island. At this scale, the team says, the end product will be cost-competitive with the polystyrene foam they hope to replace.

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“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity… and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Aug 27, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity… and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein

Photo by: Jannes Jacobs (cropped)

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

Good News in History, August 27

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Aug 27, 2026

William Least Heat-Moon - CC 3.0. Joe Mabel

Happy 87th 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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Scientists and Volunteers Take Big Step Towards Saving Rare ‘Cryptic’ Australian Orchid

By

Andy Corbley

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Aug 26, 2026

Rosella spider orchids takes years to flower -Supplied Andie Dittman for Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria — Rosella spider orchids take years to flower for first time - Supplied by Andie Dittman / Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

Rosella spider orchids take years to flower for first time – Supplied by Andie Dittman / Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

There are many orchids at risk of extinction in Australia alone, few more than this rosella spider orchid.

Thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers however, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Victoria actually possess a nursery with twice as many orchids as were estimated to exist in the wild when they started, providing a stable foundation for the flower to reestablish itself.

“The orchid conservation team at the Botanic Gardens [in Victoria] have something like 500 species in propagation,” Alex McLachlan, a research scientist at the gardens, told ABC News AU.

“There’s about 8 threatened species, including non-orchid species, that are going back out into the wild this year.”

McLachlan and his colleagues describe Australia’s orchids as a “cryptic” bunch. They keep a “low profile,” often appearing as just a single green leaf like a blade of grass, if appearing above ground at all. When they flower, they’re often relying on several different cues, and they may be designed entirely to attract a single species of wasp, bee, fly, or beetle.

Each one offers a riddle that has to be solved before the plant can be saved.

The rosella spider orchid is just like this, emerging with a single purple flower between August and September, hoping to attract a single species of native bee called Leioproctus platycephalus.

Despite being native to New South Wales and Victoria states, there are only 4 locations known to contain this spider orchid, and together they add up to something not much larger than a suburb of Melbourne.

In 2000, just 120 wild rosella spider orchids were recorded. Thankfully, in 2023, that number had increased 5-fold, but not enough so that one good wildfire wouldn’t end the species’ existence.

McLachlan has over 500 plants in his nursery once waiting to be transplanted to a secret site where the bees are known to live. Getting to this point required years of hard work, as the orchids require a specific fungal species to germinate. They have symbiotic relationship with this microscopic fungus, and cannot be started from seed without it.

Not knowing the romance of the soil, the fungi, and the seeds, McLachlan and his team had to do it by hand, introducing seeds and fungal spores in a petri dish.

AUSTRALIA’S PLANTS: Aboriginal Elders Lead Prescribed Burn–and Rare Orchids Appear by Thousands

“The seedlings will form, and then they’re kept in our growth room back at Cranbourne,” he told ABC. “And they’ll stay in their little plates for about 3 months until they’re big enough to then go up into flasks.”

It will be another year until they’re ready to be put into soil. Recently, in July, volunteers and scientists were able to do just this, after 3 years of careful laboratory horticulture.

GETTING A HELPING FROND: Rare British Plant Makes Extraordinary Comeback from Brink of Extinction

ABC News described the orchids of Australia as enjoying “cult” like followings, which meant that McLachlan and his colleagues had no shortage of offers for help as they trucked the young orchids out to privately-managed land and begin to stick them into the ground with cages over top to protect them.

It’s “the fun bit” but also bittersweet, as the team knows how many plants need this kind of helping hand. The good news, however, is that there are many hands ready to help with this special little flower and others like it.

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Resurrecting Plant Inspires ‘Fridge Free’ Vaccines That Could Save the Millions of Doses Wasted Annually

By

Andy Corbley

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Aug 26, 2026

Pleopeltis polypodioides, or the 'resurrection fern' is a plant that inspired the fridge free vaccines - credit, a.dombrowski CC BY-SA 2.0

A new ‘fridge free’ production method for vaccines could create far more reliable immunizations for low and middle income countries, as well as cut back on waste.

Currently, it’s estimated that a large percentage of all vaccine doses are thrown out because the “cold chain,” a strict process of temperature controlled storage from the moment of production to the end-use case, is interrupted.

It’s a drawback to the medicines in high income countries, but in the Global South, where temperatures are often much higher year-round and where immunization can be the difference between life and death for millions, it’s an even bigger challenge due to modest rural medical infrastructure, and reduced refrigeration and power availability.

Seeking a better solution for vaccine transportation and storage, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is testing a powder-based vaccine product inspired by “resurrection plants,” which can appear lifeless for months before springing back to life when it rains.

The powder was shown in tests to remain stable and viable for a year, before the addition of water allowed it to be injected long after most other vaccines would have had to be thrown away. Additionally, it not only remained viable in room temperature, but after temperature cycling of -4°F to 104°, such as might be experienced by the shift from an aircraft cargo bay to the back of a truck on a rural African road.

The technology came from the resurrection plants’ own adaptations to their dry climates in Africa and South America. One is the production of a sugar called trehalose, which stabilizes the plant’s cells during drought.

The NIHR used nothing less than this very sugar to stabilize a previously-liquid tetanus-diphtheria vaccine in powder form.

Administered to 60 people as part of a trial run by the fridge-free vaccine’s co-developers Stablepharma, it was found to be safe and well-tolerated, while also producing comparable immune responses to currently utilized temperature controlled vaccines.

“This obviously has potential to remove cold chain dependence, reduce wastage and improve access,” said Professor Saul Faust, the director of the NIHR Clinical Research Facility in Southampton.

KEY INNOVATIONS: Innovative Tapeless Zipper Saves Tons of Fabric While Creating a Better Fit on Your Clothes

A larger trial of 160 people is scheduled to begin in the coming months. The vaccine in question is already approved for human use, so only a few steps remain towards a potential commercialization.

BBC reports that novel mRNA vaccines would not be candidates for this trehalose powder storage form, but that more traditionally-formulated vaccines would, as well as some medicines—such as monoclonal antibodies—which need to be kept in a fridge.

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