Real images of potholes submitted by users of Project Sadak - credit, Parth, provided to Better India
Real images of potholes submitted by users of Project Sadak – credit, Parth, provided to Better India
A 15-year-old in the Indian capital of New Delhi created an AI-powered app that allows citizens to report potholes, grade their severity, and instantly report them to the authorities.
What’s more, the AI gives the citizen the power to overcome bureaucratic paralysis and inaction by instantly drafting emails and letters to relevant authorities—no need to look for extension numbers or email addresses.
Called Project Sadak, it was designed by a young man named Parth whose parents got into an accident on a pothole in New Delhi at night on their motorcycle while riding back from celebrating a family occasion in nearby Agra.
Already interested in science and technology and armed with that harrowing experiencing, Parth decided to try and create something that would improve road conditions in the world’s most-populous country.
“The platform was built by me from scratch,” he told The Better India. “Initially, yes, I started writing code, but as the complexity began to rise, I had to make use of AI.”
The app allows users to take a picture of a pothole, use a GPS function to locate it in their area, and post them both to the Project Sadak server. AI makes sure the picture is of an actual pothole, while human review ensures that the given grade—severe, medium, or benign, accurately reflects what’s in the picture.
This ensures the worst potholes flash red and are not drowned out amid the complaints of angry citizens. Once the entry is finished, the user can automatically sign their name digitally to an email and send it to the authorities in their part of New Delhi.
Project Sadak report screen – credit, Parth, provided to Better India
“Initially, we were emailing the parties manually,” Parth admits, “but now the platform automatically writes an email and submits the report.”
So far, 360 potholes have been reported, and 11 have been repaired—albeit almost all by Parth himself, utilizing contractors through his father’s construction business.
He blamed government corruption and diffusion of responsibility for why he himself had to take care of the problem, however one pothole was reported in Bengaluru, and even though the AI couldn’t find the contact information for the authorities, it was fixed.
Further improvements envisioned by Parth include full AI automation from photo to email, and a WhatsApp chatbot that will allow people to use Project Sadak without downloading an app.
Additionally, the app lacks a monitoring system for whether potholes already reported are eventually repaired.
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The groundbreaking ceremony for the Hermes 2 plant in Tennessee - credit, Kairos Power, released
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Hermes 2 plant in Tennessee – credit, Kairos Power, released
A nuclear energy firm has broke ground on the first advanced nuclear reactor plant in the country, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Set to come online in 2030, it will help stymy the growth in energy costs from several large data centers run by Google in the Tennessee/Alabama area.
Beyond that, the well-researched technology aims to usher in a new age of safer nuclear power at a time when the US nuclear fleet is aging.
Headquartered in California with a manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, Kairos Power has been developing their own design for a small modular reactor run with molten salt for over 10 years in close concert with America’s nuclear regulatory agency.
The technology has faced criticism from scientists for being wasteful and overpriced, but with all things nuclear, it’s important to consider that innovation in the field which might have been carried out years ago never occurred due to the backlash from several famous reactor meltdowns.
Yet it’s arguable there’s no better time to upgrade and modernize this carbon-free power resource than now.
Two of the world’s 4 largest nuclear energy fleets, those of Japan and France, were constructed in the aftermath of the Arab Oil Embargo of the 70s, and so it’s little surprise that geopolitical circumstance is breathing life into the industry.
The massive energy demand from AI, cloud computing, and data storage is doubling this up, with the same firms looking to build the facilities to power these services also finding that nuclear energy is the only fossil-fuel-free method that can ensure there’s enough power on the grid.
The Kairos plant, called Hermes 2, will use molten salt as a coolant instead of pressurized water, which can operate at ambient pressures and thereby remove one of the major catalysts for reactor meltdowns: high-pressure explosions, or rather explosions coming from a rapid fall of high pressure to low pressure, such as occurred in reactor 2 of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.
Kairos will also swap standard uranium fuel rods for TRISO, a next-gen preparation for uranium fuel the size of a poppy seed that consists of a kernel of uranium surrounded by a tri-carbon layer, including ceramic and graphite, which can not only withstand much higher temperatures than fuel rods, but prevent the escape of fission byproducts.
TRISO has been under co-development by the US and UK governments since 1960. Fear of nuclear energy following events at places like Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island stymied continued research into the superior fuel product since then.
“For nuclear projects to be successful, we need more than just the right technology. We need to understand every aspect of project delivery,” said Mike Laufer, a nuclear engineer who is president and founder of Kairos, at the groundbreaking ceremony.
As the bullish uranium investor Rick Rule likes to say, Japan, which must import all its fuel, can store enough energy with uranium in a single warehouse to power Japan for 5 years.
Energy security is merely one aspect of the renewed interest in nuclear energy, with the second being concerns over the electricity consumption of data centers.
In spring, GNN reported on the passage of Republican-led bill HB 1847 in Tennessee where Hermes 2 will be located, and where Google runs 2 data centers on the grid managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It places an impact threshold on the grid of 50 megawatts. Anything beyond that may not be billed to the general ratepayers.
To wit, Google signed a development agreement with Google for 500 MW from multiple advanced reactors. Hermes 2 represents the first 50 MW delivery under that agreement.
A rendering of the plant – credit, Kairos Power, released
“To power the future, we need to grow the availability of smart, firm energy sources,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s Global Head of Data Center Energy. “This collaboration with TVA, Kairos Power, and the Oak Ridge community will accelerate the deployment of innovative nuclear technologies and help support the needs of our growing digital economy while also bringing firm carbon-free energy to the electricity system.”
“Lessons from the development and operation of the Hermes 2 plant will help drive down the cost of future reactors, improving the economics of clean firm power generation in the TVA region and beyond.”
Advanced nuclear reactors cooled by molten salt are, however, a largely new and unproven technology at scale. A succinct review published in 2022 showed that new forms of nuclear fission may produce more waste than traditional, light water reactors, and that the waste they do produce is more varied.
The review looked at over a dozen proposed reactor designs and fuel/coolant pairings, reflecting how like all emerging technologies, many of the methods are yet-untested on a market-scale. This would normally be a good thing—competition allows for the market to select the best technologies for proliferation, but the intense regulatory and environmental scrutiny, and the capital investment in R&D required for developing new methods of nuclear fission, make it an extremely risky business.
TRISO, however, has seen commercial deployment—in Canada in the 1980s where it faced multiple problems, and China in the 2010s which not only saw success, but 2 world-first safety demonstrations. In the event of a total power supply loss, the decay heat inside the reactor would dissipate and cool down naturally without any human intervention or emergency core cooling.
The TRISO shell of ceramic and graphite showed no signs of compromise even at temperatures of 1,620°C—far higher than what would be encountered even in extreme accident situations. During tests in 2014 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the irradiated TRISO was exposed to more than 300 hours of testing at temperatures up to 1,800°C (more than 3,000°F), again, without showing any degradation.
While China’s HTR-PM nuclear plant used helium as a coolant, which saw issues in the Canada plant Kairos will use molten-salt, which dodges the operational issue of helium (albeit encountered in the 80s) by potentially introducing more complex waste streams.
Kairos has worked closely with the US Nuclear Commission throughout the design and permitting of Hermes 2 and Hermes, a smaller, test-scale project of the same technology established in Oak Ridge years earlier. In the USNC’s final environmental impact assessment, the agency concluded that compared to the 57 currently-operating nuclear power plants in the US, the relatively low total quantity of uranium (4.66 metric tons) estimated to be used for the license period of 11 years makes its footprint on the overall waste disposal system in the country much smaller than light-water reactors.
The molten salt, the most potentially-hazardous of all produced waste, will be stored onsite in specialized containers until it solidifies, after which it will be treated as solid waste for the purpose of storage, according to the regulatory final decision. There are also the 11 years of operation to potentially develop better and safer methods of containment and disposal.
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Golden spiny mouse - credit, Mickey Samuni-Blank CC BY-SA 3.0
Golden spiny mouse – credit, Mickey Samuni-Blank CC BY-SA 3.0
A protein associated with longevity in humans has recently been found at high concentrations in an extraordinarily long-living mouse.
The discovery makes the case for more research into a poorly-understood, potentially gene-determined, metabolic pathway for healthy aging that could help scientists better understand the aging process across mammals.
The golden spiny mouse is unusual among rodents. Active during the day rather than at night, if a human being had the equivalent life-expectancy of this resident of the Middle-Eastern deserts, than we wouldn’t need a Supreme Court to interpret the Founders’ language in the Constitution: they’d still be alive today and we could ask them about it.
“Mice in the wild typically live around 9 months,” says senior author Vishwa Deep Dixit, a Professor of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine. “But some of these golden spiny mice are living out in the desert for up to five years. And that’s just what we’ve been able to observe; their maximum lifespan is unknown.”
“In order to live that long, they have to forage, they have to avoid predators. So it’s not like they’re living this long in a way that we would think of as ‘aged.’”
What the Yale professor means is that their “healthspan” seems to be as long as their “lifespan,” or described differently, the mice retain many of their physical and mental capabilities right up until their eldest days.
Biology’s primary objective as regards aging is to maximize the effectiveness of a breeding strategy. Nature is a brutal environment where most animals die young from predators or the elements, so natural selection has few reasons to select long life as a conserved trait when animals are being eaten or are freezing to death after just a couple of years.
It’s more advantageous to have creatures reach sexual maturity, and therefore midlife, quickly, than risk being devoured by wolves or wildcats as an infant or juvenile. Yet in some circumstances, this isn’t what’s observed. Some animals which suffer very low rates of predation have been known to develop very long lives (whales, albatross) and it seems the golden spiny mouse might be one of them.
With their diurnal lifestyle, they not only dodge the food competition of nocturnal rodents, but also the predation risks of nocturnal predators like snakes. Multiple adult females are known to care for single litters of pups, which themselves spend more time in gestation and therefore spend less time as helpless, defenseless targets.
Wanting to know if these traits have conferred some genetic predisposition to longevity, Dixit and his team from Yale conducted some research into golden spiny mice.
The team would find 3 potential markers of longevity, chief among which were immune cells in fat tissue that exerted hyperactivity in a gene that produces a protein called clusterin. In humans, high amounts of clusterin has been identified often in people aged 100 years or older.
Clusterin helps clear misfolded proteins from the body, is associated with lower neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease cases, and longer lifespan in many mammals.
In tests in both human white blood cells and lab mice, clusterin was found to lower inflammation and increase markers associated with healthy aging. In the mice, for example, aged individuals retained much of their physical activity from their youth, as well as healthier organ function than their peers.
In addition to clusterin, the team found that the thymus organ, a gland which sits above the heart and produces a white blood cell key for proper immune function, remained functionally intact in old age—even as it quickly deteriorates in most other mammals after reaching adulthood.
Dixit and his colleagues say the evidence points to metabolic pathways in golden spiny mice that help control resistance to aging. Similar pathways may also exist in humans, though more research is needed.
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A decade ago, a young American began recording interviews with World War II combat veterans to satisfy his curiosity about the war.
That curiosity became something of an obsession, and 3,000 veterans later, his hard drives and SD cards have become something of a national treasure.
Brought to us from Steve Hartman for CBS News’ “On the Road,” 28-year-old Rishi Sharma says it’s been a privilege to meet the “moral compass” behind our society.
“I’ve spent every single day of the last 10 years doing that,” said Sharma, having recently finished speaking with a 100-year-old survivor of Iwo Jima.
Sharma was first interviewed by Hartman in 2016 when the fresh-faced post high schooler was mostly driving around his southern California region for his curiosity.
At that time, the young man was planning a multi-year trip around the country with the aim of saving as many stories from veterans as could be saved before the curtain came down on the Greatest Generation.
Hartman shared that back when he first met Sharma, there were some 700,000 WWII vets still among us. Today, that number stands at 30,000.
“Just the advice they impart silently steers the ship of this country,” Sharma said.
WATCH the story below…
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Quote of the Day: “It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.” – Hippocrates
Photo by: Bruno Rodrigues
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?
Happy Birthday to Sir Patrick Stewart who turns 86 years old today. The English actor of stage and film grew up poor, yet not only excels in Shakespeare, but plays the lead in his own science fiction series—Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also stars as Charles Xavier in the superhero X-Men series. READ more about the captain… (1940)
A research team in Colorado has developed a suite of new therapies that prompt aging or damaged joints to repair themselves within weeks, according to animal studies.
The new osteo-arthritis treatments include a single, regenerative injection to a joint and a biomaterial repair kit that recruits the body’s own cells to patch holes in damaged cartilage.
“In two years, we were able to go from a moonshot idea to developing these therapies to demonstrating that they reverse osteo-arthritis in animals,” said lead principal investigator Stephanie Bryant, professor of chemical and biological engineering at CU Boulder.
“Our goal is not just to treat pain and halt progression, but to end this disease,” said Bryant.
Bryant joined orthopedic researchers from Colorado State University and CU Anschutz, and now the team will advance to the next phase of a $30 million project, under Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (the NITRO program) led by ARPA-H.
Osteo-arthritis is the third most common disease in the U.S., impacting roughly one in six people over age 30 worldwide. It causes cartilage, the buffering tissue that keeps bones from grinding together, to decay. Over time, it can damage bone too, reshaping the joint and making movement excruciating.
With no known cure, patients are generally limited to two options: Treat the pain or replace the joint.
The Colorado team is taking two approaches—first, repurposing an existing drug already approved by the Food and Drug Administration and applying it to treat osteo-arthritis.
Bryant, a materials scientist, and her colleagues developed a patented particle delivery system that can be injected into the joint and provide intermittent bursts of the drug for months.
Secondly, for those with significant lesions in cartilage or bone, the team developed a cocktail of engineered proteins that can be injected arthroscopically and cured into place, where it recruits the body’s own progenitor cells to patch the gap.
When the team used the injection to treat animals with arthritic joints and injuries, the joints returned to a healthy state within four to eight weeks.
When they patched holes in bone or cartilage, they saw “full regeneration and repair of the defect,” said Bryant.
In human cells derived from patients undergoing joint replacements, the therapies had a clear regenerative effect. With phase one successfully complete, the team is now advancing to phase two.
“At the moment, the options for many patients are either a massive, expensive surgery or nothing. There’s not a lot in between,” said Dr. Evalina Burger, professor and chair of the Department of Orthopedics at CU Anschutz.
She and Bryant imagine a day when those in the earlier stages of the disease could access an affordable single-dose therapy to keep their joints healthy for years. Those with injured tissue could have it fixed in a single doctor’s visit with a quick recovery.
The team hopes to publish their animal findings in a peer reviewed journal later this year and has formed a company to move toward commercialization. If future studies go according to plan, Bryant anticipates clinical trials could be underway in as soon as 18 months.
“This could be a real game-changer for patients,” said Bryant.
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Archeologist Dr. Andrew Birley with the Roman Genius found in Northumberland, England - SWNS
Archeologist Dr. Andrew Birley with the Roman Genius found in Northumberland, England – SWNS / The Vindolanda Trust
A perfectly preserved Roman statue which was deliberately buried 1,600 years ago has been unearthed near Hadrian’s Wall.
The 1.5 ft-high figure carved from sandstone is a ‘protective spirit’, also known as a ‘genius’, which is displayed like a shrine to invoke security and wealth.
The statue was discovered at Vindolanda Fort in Northumberland, England, hidden under the floor of what was a military barracks.
Archeologist Dr. Andrew Birley came across the “incredibly rare” Roman Genius during a dig on June 16.
“I was completely unprepared for what I found on this stone,” Birley recalled after he spotted a flagstone with an unusual shape while digging.
“My first thought was simply, ‘Who on earth am I looking at?’”
Thankfully, the region is rich with scholars knowledgeable about Hadrian’s Wall, which stretches 73 miles across northern England coast to coast at the narrowest point of the country—built starting in 122 AD as a sort-of border to mark the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
Dr. Andrew Birley / SWNS / The Vindolanda Trust
Dr. Birley soon learned the significance of the discovery.
“The unanimous response came back within hours: we had uncovered a previously unknown relief of a Genius—the protective spirit of a place.”
The figure is holding a cornucopia, symbolizing abundance and prosperity.
It was found beneath the floor of the fort’s 4th Century infantry barracks building, which was built atop an earlier military structure.
Archaeology magazine reported that Dr. Birley is the third generation of his family to lead work at the Vindolanda Roman settlement—going back nearly one hundred years at one of the best preserved Roman sites in Britain.
While inscriptions dedicated to a Genius are relatively common across Roman Britain—reflecting the widespread worship of these protective spirits—surviving carved stone reliefs are rare.
“As archaeologists, moments like these are incredibly rare,” said Birley.
“We feel privileged to have uncovered and preserved such an important part of the site’s story.”
An Indiana man accomplished the unimaginable after setting an audacious goal fourteen years ago: to walk the Earth’s circumference—24,901 miles.
It took dedication and consistency over the course of thousands of days, but Russell Mumper met that goal on June 25.
“He didn’t finish it with anything fancy,” his daughter, Shannon Mumper, told GNN.
“My mom held up a checkered flag and he ‘crossed the finish line’ with our two family dogs on the driveway.”
As the Vice President for Research at Indiana University, Mumper is familiar with the scientific method, so he tracked every statistic throughout his journey that began in 2012 (including pairs of sneakers he’s worn out).
It’s not something he did for fame or recognition.
He fell in love with walking (and hiking) and stayed committed to the goal for over a decade. Shannon says it’s a testament to his nature.
Russell Mumper with his “fur babies” Lucy and Milly
“My dad is the most hardworking man I know.”
He completed the feat at 60 years-old, while working full-time. The family even moved their residence across state lines three times during this period.
Russell simply gravitated to one of the healthiest ways to escape everyday stress.
“I had no idea how long it would take,” he said.
“Nearly 14 years later, after logging 5,900 separate walks and taking approximately 55 million steps, and wearing-out 49 pairs of trail shoes (thank you New Balance!), I reached my goal.
“Along the way, I averaged about 5 miles per day and accumulated enough total elevation gain and loss to equal climbing and descending Mount Everest 46.5 times.”
Japanese Tree Frog (Hyla japonica) by Greg Peterson – CC BY-SA 3.0
Japanese Tree Frog (Hyla japonica) by Greg Peterson – CC BY-SA 3.0
Japanese scientists have discovered a naturally-occurring bacteria in a frog species with remarkably-potent anticancer activity—in fact, it destroyed cancer tumors in one dose.
Led by Professor Eijiro Miyako, the team at Japan’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology discovered that a natural bacteria from the intestines of a Japanese tree frog (Ewingella americana) achieved a 100% tumor elimination rate in mice with just a single intravenous.
Not only did the gut bacteria kill the cancer cells, it also engaged the animal’s immune system for “comprehensive tumor destruction”.
While the relationship between gut microbiota and cancer has attracted considerable attention in recent years, most approaches have focused on indirect methods. In contrast, this study takes a completely different approach: isolating, culturing, and directly administering individual bacterial strains intravenously to attack tumors.
The research team isolated a total of 45 bacterial strains from the intestines of Japanese tree frogs, fire belly newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster), and grass lizards (Takydromus tachydromoides). Through systematic screening, nine strains demonstrated anti-tumor effects, with E. americana exhibiting the most exceptional therapeutic efficacy.
In mice with colorectal cancer, a single intravenous administration of E. americana achieved complete tumor elimination with a 100% complete response rate—dramatically surpassing the efficacy of current standard therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PD-L1 antibody) and liposomal doxorubicin (chemotherapy agents).
“These findings suggest that gut microbiomes of lower vertebrates harbor numerous uncharacterized bacterial species with exceptional therapeutic potential,” said the authors.
“Our study underscores the critical importance of microbial biodiversity in advancing cancer treatment strategies.”
The innovative therapy strategy also exhibited an excellent safety profile, according to a press release (wherein you can read more about how it works).
Safety profile of E. americana: • Rapid blood clearance (half-life ~1.2 hours, completely undetectable at 24 hours)
• Zero bacterial colonization in normal organs including liver, spleen, lung, kidney, heart
• Only transient mild inflammatory responses, normalizing within 72 hours
• No chronic toxicity during 60-day extended observation
Future research and development will expand to other cancer types, evaluating the efficacy in breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, and other malignancies.
The team will also focus on developing safer and more effective delivery approaches including dose fractionation and intra-tumoral injection. And they plan to investigate any synergistic effects with existing immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
The research demonstrates that unexplored biodiversity represents a treasure trove for novel medical technology development.
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Quote of the Day: “I believe the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment.” – Dalai Lama
Photo by: Carles Rabada
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?
The Montreal Biosphere - credit Eberhard von Nellenburg - CC 3.0. BY-SA
131 years ago, the architect, visionary, and writer Buckminster Fuller was born. Fuller developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome structural shape, which he most famously used to design the Montreal Biosphere. Soaking with honors, awards, and appointments, Fuller published 30 books in his life, invented numerous words, and held 28 US patents. READ some details about the great inventor and watch a video… (1895)
Two new rapid tests, EndoSure and Endotest, can drastically reduce the wait time for a proper diagnosis of endometriosis—from an average nine-year wait to just days.
The saliva test just approved for use by the UK’s national health system, NHS, is being called “game-changing” by experts in the field of endometriosis.
Guidance issued this month says doctors can now use two new non-invasive diagnostic tests, which will be funded by the NHS while researchers collect more data on their success rate.
The Endotest analyses a saliva sample for tiny biological markers called microRNAs, which can indicate whether endometriosis is likely present. The 45-minute EndoSure test detects endometriosis by measuring electrical signals in the gut using sensor pads on the abdomen after the patient has fasted.
Endometriosis affects around one in ten women of reproductive age in the UK. It’s a painful condition wherein cells like those in the womb grow in other parts of the body. Perhaps worst of all, the average wait time until a definitive diagnosis is more than nine years.
Until now, it was diagnosed using a laparoscopy procedure carried out under general anesthesia and involves the insertion of a small camera through a tiny cut in the abdomen to look inside the pelvis for signs of the condition.
Announcing the new tests, Dr. Anastasia Chalkidou explained why reducing the wait time is so important.
“That delay means living with chronic pelvic pain… These technologies have the potential to change that by allowing earlier and better treatment quickly.”
Ami Robertson, 23, experienced symptoms of endometriosis at age 16, but was repeatedly told she had irritable bowel syndrome.
She was finally diagnosed using the non-invasive tests, enabling her to access treatment for the first time.
“I spent years being told my pain was something else entirely. I started to doubt myself, wondering if it was all in my head,” said the Pilates instructor from Glasgow, Scotland.
“When I finally had the test, it took less than an hour and gave me something I’d never had before: concrete evidence I could take to my doctor.
“For the first time, I was believed, and I could finally get the help I needed. Today my quality of life is night and day compared to before.”
Simran Chavda, 15 (pictured below with her mom), began experiencing severe pelvic pain at 13, but repeated doctor visits failed to identify the cause. Her mother, a GP, Dr. Sharan Uppal, said having the non-invasive test finally gave them the evidence they needed to push for a referral and, ultimately, a diagnosis of widespread endometriosis.
Simran Chavda with her mother Dr. Sharan Uppal – SWNS
“Getting my diagnosis honestly felt like the best thing in the world.”
“The test itself was easy, it wasn’t painful at all—just drinking water and being monitored. Really simple. And I’m already starting to feel better after my surgery. I know I’m not going to be in pain all the time, and that means everything.”
Symptoms of endometriosis include heavy menstrual bleeding, fatigue, pain when urinating, pelvic pain, difficulty getting pregnant, and painful bowel movements.
For Ebony Dowdell who had periods that lasted as long as four months, it took eight years for her to get a diagnosis and treatment for her endometriosis.
She had a laparoscopy procedure in July 2024 but was still not officially diagnosed until she saw further professionals.
The 20-year-old from Southampton had robotic-assisted endometriosis excision laparoscopy surgery to remove her endometriosis in April 2025, but believes if she’d had a quicker diagnosis it wouldn’t have gotten to that stage.
“Having a diagnosis makes you feel human, you know it is not in my head and you are not crazy. A quicker diagnosis system would make a huge difference to people, and younger people would be getting diagnosed earlier too.”
The Endotest saliva sample is sent to a laboratory for analysis, but the EndoSure results, derived from electrical signals in the gut, are available as soon as the 45-minute test is complete.
Dr. Gail Busby, a gynecologist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, called the tests “a game-changer”.
“They give us answers much earlier, without the need for invasive surgery, and that means we can start the right treatment sooner. An earlier diagnosis doesn’t just change one person’s life, it frees up appointments and surgical slots for everyone waiting for care.”
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London typewriter artist James Cook – Credit: SWNS
London typewriter artist James Cook – Credit: SWNS
A London artist has created a series of amazing artworks—including a scene from Wimbledon’s centre court—using just keystrokes from a vintage typewriter.
From his studio in Canning Town, East London, James Cook says he types over a million letters and symbols onto the piece of paper to create his masterpieces—using only his right index finger.
The 29-year-old has been using typewriters since he was 17 and first worked with one during a school art project.
Today, he also owns around 100 typewriters from across the world, with most of them arriving as donations from fans.
The artist’s work mainly consists of famous cityscapes—like Rome, Paris, and New York—and celebrity portraits, including Shakespeare and Tom Hanks.
His most recent piece, “Wimbledon 2026”, took six weeks to complete, and has been viewed over 8 million times on social media. (Watch his video at the bottom…)
James Cook via SWNS
“I fell in love with the typewriter after using it for a school art project,” said James, from Braintree, Essex. “It felt like such a unique way to capture the world.
Most people are shocked that drawings like these are even possible.
“I still can’t believe sometimes that this is my job.
“The Wimbledon piece has taken me to another level, as now I have actual players and legends like Billie Jean King commenting on my work.”
James Cook artwork detail – SWNS
While in high school working on his assignment to ‘create art with technology’, James learned about Paul Smith, the original “Typewriter Artist” who used the machines to overcame severe spastic cerebral palsy.
“I’ll never forget traipsing around the charity shops in my area looking for one. We had no luck until an older couple overheard my dad asking the shopkeeper behind the counter.
“They said I could have their 1950 Oliver Courier model, and I went that same afternoon to pick it up.
James continued producing his typewriter art while studying architecture at University College London—earning a degree that “inspired” a lot of his cityscape work.
When James started posting about his work on social media, it led to him landing some commissions. But his big break came after his work was shown on the BBC News, leading him to be able to become a full-time artist.
James Cook’s studio – SWNS
He says small A4–sized artworks can take around five days with larger A3 pieces taking weeks at a time.
Prints cost between $130 – $400 (£96 to £300) depending on the size.
His love of tennis inspired his latest Wimbledon piece, which took him around 378 hours, working 9 hours a day.
He fed the paper through the retro 1932 Smith Premier typewriter dozens of times to produce the extraordinary drawing.
“I have always wanted to go to Wimbledon but have never managed to get tickets. So I decided to capture the competition in my own artistic way.”
The artwork depicts a game on centre court between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer—but upon closer inspection, whimsey is at play, with fun characters and phrases hidden throughout the piece.
These include a ball boy picking up balls, but his bag is ripped, and a man dressed up as a giant strawberry. Names of players, like Andy Murray and Venus Williams, are sprinkled throughout, along with tennis jargon like “deuce” and “rally”. (Watch the animation below…)
“My favorite is the woman who climbed up a ladder and is trying to sneak a peek of the game because they couldn’t get a ticket.”
The artist said he developed this light-hearted style after being inspired by the ‘Where’s Waldo’ puzzle books as a child.
Britain’s most unique hospital is now open—where the “patients” are houseplants.
Some are “put on drips” and some may go into quarantine, but all get the same loving care from Rosanna Costello, who started the business to help customers keep their indoor plants alive.
Found in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Hilda Houseplant Hospital allows horticulturalists, whatever the level of expertise, to drop off their plants for ‘surgery’, which may include repotting, pest removal, or liquid drip.
Rosanna remembers going into plant shops where she could buy compost and repotting accessories for doing it yourself. But even though she knew how to do it, she still wanted advice and someone who knew better, to help avoid pitfalls.
“I’d had this idea from when I first got into houseplants, because that was what I had wanted.”
“The feedback was that people wanted a drop-off – a few people wanted to learn how to do it themselves, which is why we run workshops – but the majority of people wanted it done for them and then aftercare advice.”
Rosanna says customers bring the plant into the shop and describe the issues they’re facing at a consultation, with care prices based on the size of the plant.
She then quarantines the plant if pests are involved, and repots and trims according to the client’s needs and living space, giving the plant one final clean before contacting the owner to let them know the ‘surgery’ has been a success.
“They bring their plant in and we take a ‘patient history’ – essentially find out how long they’ve had it for, what they think might be wrong, and what they want to happen with it,” said Rosanna.
“I’m a big believer that it’s your houseplant, it lives in your home, it has to work for you.
“So if you want it split into two, if you want to keep it in one pot, if you want it to not grow much bigger – all these considerations.
“A lot of the time, people have pests and either don’t know they’ve got them, or they don’t know how to deal with them, so we’ve created our own unique quarantine and treatment system.
“Once they’ve been repotted and trimmed, we feed them, give them a really good cleaning, and let the customer know they’re ready to collect.
“There’s an awful lot of feelings and emotions attached to the houseplants that we see, and when they come to collect and get care information, there’s so much relief and joy.”
Rosanna said people should avoid adhering to an arbitrary routine of ‘watering once per week’. They can simply pick up the pot: If it feels light it’s time for some water.
When there’s a heatwave, though, weekly waterings might be okay. Or, just move the plants out of direct sunlight and keep an eye out for drooping or curling leaves, which are signs the plant is dehydrated.
“But we’re not trying to make it overcomplicated or make people feel like they need a whole new degree in science to understand.”
Two Monstera plants at Hilda Houseplant Hospital in Edinburgh – Rosanna Costello – Credit: Katielee Arrowsmith / SWNS
The Hospital’s most commonly treated plant is the monstera—a large, tropical plant which is notoriously tricky for new gardeners to maintain.
“They are such a popular houseplant, but they can very easily go a bit wild if you don’t have them trained up a pole, or give them a good feeding,” she said.
“We put them onto a moss pole to get them trained up—rather than out—so they’re not taking over people’s living rooms. We’re also giving them a really good cleaning, because they’ve got such beautiful big leaves.”
Rosanna believes that houseplants are a key part of experiencing nature while living in cities, and she hopes to eventually open a second branch of Hilda somewhere new, helping more people to have happy plants.
“I always think back to the pandemic, when we realized how important houseplants were, because we were inside all the time. I think city living in flats makes people really need their houseplants to have a healthy home life.
“Then they need help with those houseplants because you don’t want to keep a huge bag of soil under your sink, or be repotting on your dining room table.
1. The best way to know when your plants need watering is to pick up your plants and feel how heavy they are. If they feel light, it’s probably time for a water.
2. Don’t use outdoor compost on your houseplants. Outdoor compost is not free-draining enough and will often come with fungus gnats as an unwanted addition.
3. Don’t be afraid to trim off leaves and stems. It’s a perfectly natural part of the growth cycle and has added benefits. Not only do the plants look better, but you take away potential pest hiding places.
4. During a heatwave: Intensity of light is likely to burn and frazzle the leaves, so it may be good to move plants back from the windows, particularly south facing sunny spots, so that they don’t get sunburned.
Also remember that open windows and warm weather may allow uninvited houseplant pests to get to your plants, so watch for any signs of pests.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of July 11, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Male humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean change their songs over the years. New phrases can spread across thousands of miles as other whales take up and transform them. Researchers don’t know why, but the pattern is clear: The whales value novelty even in their ancient rituals. They create an evolving musical tradition. Consider what this practice might suggest for your own relationship with the past, Cancerian. The memories and patterns you’re carrying don’t have to remain frozen. You can honor your history while remixing it, adding new verses, and changing the key. What needs to be preserved isn’t the exact form but the living spirit.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo-born oceanographer Marie Tharp created the first comprehensive maps of the ocean floor. Her work was pivotal in proving theories about plate tectonics. She did much of this work in the 1950s, when women weren’t even allowed aboard research vessels. She had to rely on data collected by others, never seeing the terrain she mapped. But her limitation became her advantage; distance allowed her to perceive patterns that field researchers missed. I suspect that you, too, are working with incomplete information, Leo. Does this disqualify you from drawing conclusions? No! I believe your inability to access certain details will compel you to see larger patterns. What you’re missing might be precisely what enables you to see what others can’t.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The “problem” confronting you right now is unusual: Your vision is too sharp, your thinking too precise, and your words too unambiguous. This would usually be good news to celebrate, but at the moment it’s blocking you from noticing the subtle openings life is presenting. Those portals may only reveal themselves if you soften your intense scrutiny and call on a creative, blurry logic. It’s like how, at night, you sometimes see more clearly when you peer from the edges of your vision rather than staring straight ahead.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
This is a perfect moment to express your own unique power more than ever before. I invite you to act with conviction, assert your influence, and claim what you’ve earned. For best results, clarify your ambitions and assert your authority. Write down a formal vow or two. Don’t wait for approval from anyone higher up, and don’t waste time wondering whether destiny is on your side. The succulent opportunities aren’t somewhere else or someday later. They’re here and now.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I’m exultant when a vigorous bike ride up the trail of my local mountain leaves me so cleansed and energized that a flash of truth strikes and instantly dissipates the illusions I’ve been clinging to. I get a delightful shock when, while wandering through a city’s maze of asphalt and litter, a sudden breeze carries the earthy aroma of a rebellious garden. I love it when the reckless choices of misguided leaders jolt my community into doubling down on our quest for audacious harmony, inventive affection, and untamed wisdom. How about you, dear Scorpio? Where do you search for your awakenings and salvations? Keep your inner radar tuned; they’re circling close.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian physicist Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) proposed that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations might build megastructures around stars to capture their energy. These “Dyson spheres” would be detectable from Earth as unusual infrared signatures. We haven’t found any yet, but his idea revolutionized how we think about looking for alien intelligence. Moral of the story: Valuable contributions can come from inventing the framework for how to search for unknown things. In the coming weeks, Sagittarius, you might not solve problems, but you could redesign the questions. You may not find the answers, but you could create better tools for exploration.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Do you have a muse? If not, please find one. You shouldn’t go another day without a provocative, inspiring presence to stir your imagination and drive you deliciously wild. If you already have a muse and that genius has been faithfully fueling your creative fire, bestow a reward. Give a gift or blessing that provides a muse-like boost to your muse. And if your existing muse has grown quiet lately, go off on an adventure together. Dream up plans to stimulate the bursts of kaleidoscopic energy that you two are capable of generating.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In some monastic traditions, practitioners engage in “work prayer.” They transform ordinary labor into spiritual practice not by thinking holy thoughts while working, but by bringing complete presence and fond attention to ordinary labors. Chopping vegetables becomes meditation. Sweeping floors becomes devotion. The sacredness arises from their wholehearted attitude. This would be an excellent experiment for you to try, Aquarius. Divine solace and inspiration will arrive as you perform your daily duties with verve and gratitude. Try this: For a few days or even two weeks, approach routine duties and familiar obligations with a ceremonial reverence. Be joyful for the privilege of being alive in the most ordinary ways.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
You’ve entered a phase when your magnetism and charisma will expand as you focus on ruminating deeply about what’s most meaningful to you. Seeking out new teachers and fresh lessons will bring lucky breaks and helpful influences into your sphere. Each fresh insight will polish your allure, and every surge of curiosity will add to your glow. Be extra sexy and ultra smart: Cosmic energies will work in your favor as you weave your id and intellect together.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
There are only two types of humans, right? Some of us serve beauty, truth, and goodness, while the rest pledge their allegiance to illusions, lies, and shadows. Our planet is now caught in a colossal showdown between these two sides. And it’s high time for you to align yourself with one or the other. JUST KIDDING! The truth is far messier and more interesting: Every one of us is a blend of luminosity and ignorance. And now is a perfect moment to study how those two currents move within you. When you clearly see how you contribute to the murky jumble, your commitment to love, harmony, and justice will soar.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
You’ll move with style and purpose if you take quick jaunts, dare gentle risks, and make a few nimble leaps of faith. You’ll go awry and astray if you wander too far afield, chase swaggering adventures, or try vaulting across yawning chasms. Keep it light, sharp, and intuitive, Taurus. Refrain from lugging heavy emotional baggage or drifting into daydream limbo. It’ll be wise to trust your sprightly impulses, but foolish to dissect them so ruthlessly that the magic leaks out. The color amber and the number three will be your allies. Somber gray and the number four will not. Align with sly visionaries and soulful realists but sidestep bitter contrarians and nostalgic clingers.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I swear I’m smarter in some places than in others. My intelligence soars in Barcelona, Kyoto, Aix-en-Provence, France, and Florence, Italy. But I seem dull-witted in Munich, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. Even in Northern California, my long-time home, some areas bring out the best in me. I feel mediocre on Valencia Street in San Francisco, for instance, whereas I’m extra wise in downtown Berkeley. Why is this? The branch of astrology known as astrocartography says that my strengths are more likely to shine in certain spots than others. In the coming weeks, Gemini, I urge you to experiment with the possibility that this may be true for you, as well. Wander far and wide. Find out where you feel most aligned with your deep, bright, genuine self.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
Quote of the Day: “Happiness lives in three places: letting go of what was, enjoying what is, and trusting what will be.” – Chris Bharnes
Photo by: Dino Reichmuth
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?
90 years ago today, the RFK Bridge, also known as the Triborough Bridge, opened to traffic in New York City. Together, the series of bridges and viaducts span over 5,000 feet and link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. The first section of the complex passes over the Harlem River, and is the largest vertical-lift bridge in the world, while the second section connects Randalls Island with the Bronx, and the third connects Wards Island to Astoria in Queens over the East River. READ about the various bridges… (1938)
From South Florida comes the story of an intrepid teenager who’s developed a mini curriculum on hurricane preparedness to fit into school lessons.
Having suffered (or perhaps been enriched) from the impact of Hurricane Irma on her community, 16-year-old Elise Raurell created Storm Smart in 2015 as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award.
If it can be believed, Raurell says that South Florida schools don’t teach students anything about what a hurricane can do to a city. Guides on topics like how to prepare emergency kits, or safety information, like not entering standing water if powerlines are down, or keeping away from glass windows—none of it was being, and so Raurell thought she’d do it herself.
Not only that, but the Storm Smart modules allow students to teach other students, and be adopted quickly and effortlessly into any school or classroom.
“Growing up in South Florida, going to public school, I realized that we weren’t really learning anything about hurricane preparation safety, even though it’s super important,” Raurell told CBS News.
Over 500 students have received Storm Smart educational materials so far, some from Raurell herself, but many more from other students stepping up to take on the responsibility of disseminating the information themselves.
“One of the most rewarding parts of this program is seeing students learn the material and then go on to teach their peers about it, and through that learn leadership and teaching skills,” Raurell said.
Thetford Mines industrial test plant - credit, Dundee Sustainable Technologies supplied to the Northern Miner
Thetford Mines industrial test plant – credit, Dundee Sustainable Technologies supplied to the Northern Miner
A Quebec chemical firm has developed a cyanide-free, and generally non-toxic method to extract gold from mineral ores—an option that could potentially relieve companies from a significant portion of current environmental compliance.
The firm, Dundee Sustainable Technologies, also offers a patented chemical process called GlassLock, which addresses one of the industry’s most pressing environmental concerns: arsenic.
The technology can replace cyanide leaching during extraction to isolate the arsenic and turn it into an inert glass. Mixed with common components like silica, recycled glass, and hematite, the arsenic is then vitrified into a stable and insoluble glass product that can be removed and processed far more easily.
Mining companies are not the polluting, Gold Rush-era businesses they used to be. Regardless of where Canadians go around the world to mine, they operate fully-ensconced in the ESG framework of private sector accountability for the ecosystems they work in.
Retreatment of mine waste, pollution control, and reclamation of mining land are costs budgeted for and built into the earliest economic viability assessments of any mining project. Environmental permitting times take anywhere from 8 to 20 years in North America on average while government offices asses any potential harm or risk to air quality, watersheds, and wildlife.
These requirements put enormous risk and burden onto companies looking to supply the market with everything a modern civilization needs to build and produce—from the copper that makes the wires which run through our devices, to the zinc that makes the pipes which bring water through our homes.
In this business environment, Dundee Sustainable Technologies has worked for years from Canada’s strong mining jurisdiction of Quebec to develop cleaner ways to process ores that can both protect the natural ecosystem surrounding mining concessions and relieve the often-small management teams behind mining operations of some of the most stringent regulatory burdens.
Dundee’s gold circuit process uses sodium hypochlorite and sodium hypobromite in ambient pressures and room temperature to extract gold from ore at a fraction of the time of the cyanide-in-leach method. Contact time is short, just 2 hours compared to 36 hours, and the process operates in a fully closed loop. All chemicals are recycled within the circuit for reuse.
Without cyanide and other toxic leaching reagents, mining plans can be designed without “tailings ponds“—basically small manmade lakes that hold and slowly treat effluent and mine tailings from the milling and leaching process. These themselves aren’t necessarily bad for the environment, unless any number of weather events should disturb them—heavy rain, flooding, an earthquake, or a landslide to name a few.
Already, mining companies are using some of Dundee’s methods. Freegold Ventures Limited, a company formed to develop the Golden Summit project in Alaska, one of the largest undeveloped gold resources in the Americas, has included GlassLock in a suite of metallurgical test work as it prepares a mine plan for the roughly 30 million ounces of gold on its property.
In tests, Freegold used GlassLock to recover 95% of the gold contained in the ore while isolating 98% of the contained arsenic as inert glass, reducing the toxicity from 7% to 0.17%. It also was able to remove the need for cyanide leaching, and the resulting gold concentrate would be direct-to-smelter quality.
“The results of this program were extremely positive and encouraging for Freegold as it advances the project through Pre-Feasibility,” the company wrote in a press release.
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