Conductor Blown Away After Guy in Audience Steps in for Pianist During La La Land Concert Mishap–WATCH

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Jun 2, 2026

Screenshot — Mashup from audience video from concert via YouTube

Mashup from audience video from concert via YouTube

From a beam of limelight in Sydney comes the story of a young man fulfilling something of a dream as he stepped in to perform on stage after a professional pianist felt ill.

La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, is an homage to Hollywood and the dream of making it on the Silver Screen, and a live performance of the lauded score was in full swing at the Darling Harbor Theatre in the Australian city.

Among the onlookers were Sterling Nasa and his friend Scarlet, admiring the score played by an orchestra beneath the projection of the film on a large screen. By the interval, it had proven a real treat.

But 20 minutes became 30, which quickly became 40, and the audience was restless. Something wasn’t right, and everybody knew it. Among the panic and cold sweat back stage, calls were going out to colleagues and institutes looking for replacements as the concert pianist felt too sick to go on.

But since the show must, the film’s Oscar-winning composer and conductor, Justin Hurwitz, walked out alone to address the audience.

“I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are…” Hurwitz told the country’s ABC Radio “so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here.”

Hurwitz asked if there were a trained pianist in the audience who was a master sight reader, and with the admitted help of Scarlet, Mr. Nasa eventually raised his hand. Hurwitz realized he had to be deadly serious about the proposal, knowing the score as he did, and asked several follow-up questions.

But to the sound of a applause, Nasa walked down and took his place at an electronic piano in the orchestra, understandably nervous. The bagpipes tutor at his school of Scots College had studied piano and organ, but he had no preparation. The score—featuring John Legend compositions—was intense, and he had never played it despite being a longtime admirer of Hurwitz’s work.

The show restarted with Nasa filling in, until the ultimate test came in the form of a synth solo composed by Legend for a particular part in the film where the notes try to keep pace with Gosling’s frantic on-screen movements.

“I saw it on the score and I thought, oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sight-read that in one go,” Nasa told ABC. Hurwitz had dreaded the moment too, and both men—like the characters in the movie—had to just close their eyes and take a leap of faith.

HIDDEN TALENT: 55-Year-old Janitor Cleans Up on America’s Got Talent Winning $1M for Heart-Wrenching ‘Don’t Stop Believing’

“I took a little bit of a creative liberty and just decided to improvise, which I think ended up being a good choice,” Nasa admitted. Hurwitz agreed, saying it was an entirely different kind of skill, and an entirely unexpected turn of events that left the 2,500-seat hall enraptured by the hidden talent that had not long earlier sat among them.

Shaking hands backstage after the final bow was full of mutual disbelief, with Hurwitz admitting his head was “spinning.”

“Yes, it was a gamble,” he said, but one which paid off.

WATCH the moment below…

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Wisconsin Trooper Has a New Pawtner–a Kitten He Saved After it Was Hurled Out of a Moving Car

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 2, 2026

Trooper with kitty- credit Wisconsin State Patrol via FB — Credit: Wisconsin State Patrol via FB

When a Wisconsin state trooper arrived to help a motorist who had stopped on a ramp up to I-90, he never could have imagined how his life was about to change.

Trooper Brody Schmitz arrived at the driver’s side window, and heard a disturbing story.

“The motorist informed him that she had witnessed someone throw kittens out of a moving vehicle,” the Wisconsin State Patrol wrote in a Facebook post.

“Unfortunately, the offending vehicle was not located, but a kitten was found. Trooper Schmitz took the kitten to a nearby animal shelter to have it cared for while he was at work, but told them he wanted to adopt him.”

Schmitz named the tuxedo kitten Toby, and took him home in his arms and/or hat.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that Wisconsin State Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for details.

“The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways,” one person commented on the Facebook post.

Indeed, the comment section was filled with interesting stories of the same sort.

“I rescued a cat out of a car engine down in Detroit last summer. Called the police and told them why I was breaking into the vehicle. They showed up to help me,” wrote one.

“I found my furbuddy on duty. Dispatched 911 to an aggressive animal. Caller was afraid of cats so i took the young kitten to patrol with me. After climbing on my shoulder i knew he was going home with me,” wrote another.

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Rescuing London’s Precious Building Materials Diverting Them from Dumps for Reuse

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 2, 2026

A salvage and reuse operation in London is ensuring that every charming bit of wood, brick, glass, porcelain, and steel that has made the city beautiful can continue to do so with a second life in the circular economy.

Started through an epiphany of “street logic” by a man frustrated by red tape, Yes Make is making things all over London out of what the city might otherwise throw out.

“We’re creating a regenerative supply chain for the city we love,” says Joel De Mowbray, founder of Yes Make, to the Guardian. “Turning things that would otherwise go to waste into objects that have cultural potential.”

Yes Make operates in tandem with Material Cultures, which played an equal part in the endeavor of finding somewhere in the expensive London real estate market to run a salvage yard.

That place is a 5-acre industrial site in the city’s Newham borough called Tipping Point East which promotes circular construction. As well as being the largest site of its kind in London, it’s also the biggest in the whole of the United Kingdom.

The Guardian reports that more than half of the UK’s waste is generated by the construction industry. It recycles some of it, but not nearly enough for De Mowbray’s liking—especially when he looked at what was going to waste: like a 105-year-old sequoia tree from the Linford Arboretum.

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A post shared by YES MAKE (@yesmakeldn)

Instead, it was brought to Tipping Point East where Yes Make organized an educational workshop run by the National Saw Mills organization on how to use a portable saw mill to turn an old-growth tree into lumber.

There are huge quantities of high-quality, imported, or exotic lumber that have gone into making London, and as the city constantly balances modernization and preservation, some of that wood gets squeezed through the cracks. De Mowbray has ensured he and his outfit are there to pick up all the mahogany, teak, and afromasia that does.

Yes Make’s most recent project was the new HEJ Coffee Roastery on Old Kent Road. De Mowbray’s team arrived with a custom structure made from reclaimed Douglas fir and oak salvaged from the London Docklands.

“Designed to frame the roasting space and invite the public in, this piece holds stories of the tides and the city alike,” they wrote on Instagram.

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A post shared by YES MAKE (@yesmakeldn)

Beyond lumber, Tipping Point East also refurbishes and certifies construction materials for bulk sale to contractors at sometimes one-tenth the price of new stock.

GNN has previously reported on similar operations: in Savannah, Georgia.

Re:purpose Savannah is a 501(c)3 that takes old, condemned buildings apart for their bricks, timber, door frames, metalwork, and other components and sells them to construction firms building new homes for discerning clients. They’ve taken apart beach houses, dairies, bungalows, cottages, and traditional homes in town.

The non-profit sells all of the salvaged material at its own lumber yard, where old boards, beams, joints, and flooring undergo a light touch of restoration to remove decay or split ends.

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2026 Sees the Most Right Whale Calves Born in One Season Since 2009

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 2, 2026

A mother right whale and her first calf - credit, Florida FWS

This year’s calving season along the southeast coastline of America has documented the most North Atlantic right whale calves since 2009.

Additionally, trends in calf births seem to indicate a normalization of breeding and birthing among the animals that could accelerate population recovery.

GNN has lately devoted many column inches to the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered whales in the world, as well as one of the largest.

Decades of diligent conservation seem to have allowed the whales to really turn a corner in the last 36 months, with milestones like record numbers of sightings, strange vagrancies, and an increasing population being celebrated.

Now, 23 calves were born during the 2026 right whale calving season—the highest number since 2009. Of the 23 mom-calf pairs identified this season, 20 of these were returning moms.

Since that year, the average has been around 15 animals, but some years there have been 7 or fewer.

13 of these returning moms last had calves in the 2021 or 2022 seasons, marking a shorter interval between births than the recent average of 7 to 10 years. This is closer to the normal or healthy interval of 3 to 4 years.

A WHALE OF A STORY: Increased Sightings of the Two Largest Whale Species Decimated By Hunting Provides New Hope for Survival

There were 500 sightings of 129 whales migrating southward, a 29% increase compared to last year’s calving season. Many of these sightings were made by citizens aboard civilian boats, which the NOAA encourages us collecting in a safe manner.

“These public reports add to data researchers collect during aerial and vessel surveys which contribute to updated right whale population and calving season numbers,” the NOAA wrote in a report.

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“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one learned in school.” – Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Jun 2, 2026

Quote of the Day: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one learned in school.” – Albert Einstein

Photo by: Vitaly Gariev (cropped)

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Good News in History, June 2

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Jun 2, 2026

On this day 80 years ago, the Italian Republic was born out of the monarchy of King Umberto II. The day is celebrated as “Festa della Repubblica” and is one of the biggest holidays on the Italian calendar. It’s celebrated under the late spring sunshine with parades, concerts, and merrymaking of all sorts, with one of several iconic dishes being a spit-roasted maialino or young pig. READ more… (1946)

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How Japanese Fish Printing Grew from Documenting Day’s Catch to Acclaimed Artform

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 1, 2026

Gyotaku, or fish prints, drying on a line - credit, Science History Institute, photograph by Conrad Erb CC 3.0. via Wikimedia

From its humble origins as a method of documenting noteworthy catches, for sale or for record setting, the art of fish printing, or “gyotaku” has rapidly become an international fine art phenomenon.

As Japanese as a Geisha cutting a sushi roll with a samurai sword, gyotaku is infused with all the lovely idiosyncrasies of the country—from its famous appreciation for fish, to its extreme demands of discipline and attention.

Gyotaku can be traced back to the 19th century when fishermen would smear a fish with sumi ink and press it onto washi paper to create a print of the fish. Unable to do anything half-heartedly, the Japanese fishermen gradually learned the tricks of how to make the best prints, and eventually switched from monochrome to color paints.

Since then the practice has developed into a true artform, with methods, schools, and techniques for drying and preparing the fish.

Preparation is key since a fish comes with all kinds of slime and liquid that could ruin the delicate rice paper typical of gyotaku prints. The slime has to be removed and various openings plugged to prevent water from leaking out.

Two chief methods exist: the first is known as direct gyotaku and involves only straightforward steps of drying the fish, layering on the ink or paint, and rubbing it with washi paper. The image appears in reverse.

The indirect method sees either paper or cloth placed over the fish and secured with rice paste to a board. This allows the artist to create a work that isn’t in reverse.

Both methods permit the fish to be eaten, and in both too the eye must be painted after, since no pigment will stick to fish’s eye. Additional innovations have seen a variety of different coloring techniques that reflect the iridescence of a fish’s scales or the density of the animal’s skin pigments during various life stages.

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A post shared by Masatsu Matsunaga (@gyotaku_masatsu_matsunaga)

Japan Times spoke with the grandson of a renowned gyotaku master, Keisuke Matsunaga, who said that pigment application is a race against time and must be completed in about 30 minutes before renewed moisture from the fish begins to degrade it.

One consistent theme is that there can be nothing but the eye added afterwards. Any touch ups push the artform from printing towards painting.

Gyotaku has spread far beyond the shores of the home islands, developing in Australia, Italy, America, Hawaii, Brazil, and elsewhere.

Elena Di Capita in her studio – credit, supplied courtesy of the artist

In Italy’s seaward region of Liguria, Elena Di Capita, has expanded the horizons of gyotaku in Europe, and in fact “is the artist that brought it to Italy,” she tells GNN.

Her work is focused mainly on schools of anchovies, the most important fish in her home region. She deviates from the traditional gyotaku by mixing different biological environments and by creating huge compositions with a highly dynamic look.

A bycatch composition – credit, courtesy of Elena Di Capita

Additionally, she explains she works with bycatch, a term to describe fish caught incidentally in the pursuit of gamefish. In effect, these animals “died for nothing” and so by creating metaphorical geographies through gyotaku, she gives the fish a new meaning and a tribute to their accidental loss.

“My work with them is about giving them dignity. It’s a way to celebrate life,” she told the Times.

In the US, gyotaku is not uncommon to find in aquariums or in elementary school classrooms. Gyotaku in its most rudimentary form is something children can do and do fairly well.

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Ecosystem of Pansies Thrives on Soil Contaminated by Lead Mining–Turning it into Clean Organic Compounds

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 1, 2026

Spring Sandwort, a metallophyte - credit, Douglal, CC 4.0. via Wikimedia

For areas contaminated by lead and zinc mining across Europe, a class of plants known as “metallophytes” are helping enrich nature while diminishing pollution.

The Guardian reported on this kind of ecological double speak, where wildflowers seemingly grow in healthy abundance on semi-mountainous landscapes in the north of the UK, a place that has seen lead and zinc mining since Roman times.

Calaminarian grassland is a rare biome that exists where topsoil has been eroded away by water and wind enough for plants to touch the tips of zinc, lead, or cadmium deposits; calamine being an old European name for zinc.

Chief among the plants that thrive on the continent is the Viola calaminaria, or the zinc violet, a rare yellow flower that blooms in metal-rich soils. In the UK, it’s the mountain pansy, and its almost never a natural phenomenon.

Covering just 450 hectares (1,100 acres) these grasslands are especially found in areas like Durham, the North Pennines, and Cumbira. Here, most of the UK’s lead and zinc mines were closed over 100 years ago, but their presence on the landscape is clear thanks to the pansies, spring sandwort, and Alpine penny-cress, a group collectively known as metallophytes.

Next to them can be found sea thrift, bladder campion, and kidney vetch, writes the Guardian’s Mark Hillsdon, hardy species that are tolerant in a variety of intolerable landscapes.

Today, mining companies in the West undergo rigorous environmental reviews and permiting processes, and their land reclamation and environmental remediation work is budgeted in from the earliest feasibility studies.

In the 19th century, nothing of the sort was required, and often miners would dam and then unleash rivers onto mining areas to strip away soil and reveal the metal deposits. That contaminated dirt would accumulate in big “spoil piles” which have overtime been covered by a layer of humus and turned into the calaminarian grasslands.

English county authorities are at pains to decide what to do with these curious places: their existence is predicated on one or many neurotoxic pollutants, but the plants’ ability to take up the toxic heavy metal, and weave it into complex organic molecules in their roots which renders them nontoxic is not only saving millions of dollars in remediation work, but going on while the area is enriched from the food web diversity they help anchor.

ALSO CHECK OUT: New Bamboo Plantations Are Healing Villages Choked by Toxic Ash from Coal Plants in India

On the other hand, Durham and Cumbria are keen to reduce levels of zinc, cadmium, and lead in wild rivers and streams, and environmental authorities are aware that this will diminish these unique and almost precious microhabitats.

Even still, there may be a calaminarian boom before the habitat goes bust. In county Durham, the government’s Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) program is establishing calaminarian grasslands by hands on identified mine spoil piles along the River Tees.

DECONAMINATING SOILS: Cotton and Squid-Bone Sponge Can Soak Up 99.9% of Microplastics, Scientists Say

Planted by the thousand around the spoil piles’ perimeters, they stop heavy metals from leaching out into the river and surrounding soils.

GNN has reported before on fungal solutions to cleaning up pollution from mining and industry, but never vegetation.

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No Vaccine No Problem: Papua New Guinea Malaria Deaths Fall by 92%

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 1, 2026

Malaria hospital in Tanzania - credit Olympia Wereko-Brobby, SMS for Life

Using only current methods of prevention, testing, and treatment, Papua New Guinea has reduced the rate of malaria deaths from 13 per 100,000 inhabitants to just 1.

PNG is responsible for some 90% of all malaria cases in the Western Pacific region.

Lucy Dally, the country’s malaria coordinator, presented this incredible drop in the fatality rate at the Morobe Health Authority 2025 Review Meeting last week.

By 2023, the country’s total case count reached its highest since 2012 at 913,701, but has since begun to fall in line with a new expanded rapid diagnostics test and Artemesinin Combination Therapies program.

It’s been a long road for PNG and the authority. In 2000, 700 people a year died of malaria. Last year, that number fell to 148, with only 66 malaria deaths being recorded in Morobe, the most-populous province.

“The decrease in malaria-related deaths is due to different parties working together,” said Dally. “The surveillance team picks up information and informs the malaria team, who then takes action.”

The country’s national strategy aims to reduce malaria cases by 63% and deaths by 95% while seeing 95% of residents sleeping under insecticide-treated nets. This year, provincial health teams distributed nets, medicines, and test kits to 60 different health centers around the country.

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3 Teens Win Global Earth Prize for Inventing Tamarind Powder That Easily Removes Microplastics

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 1, 2026

The winners with their Plas-Stick invention, Avyana Mehta, Ariana Agarwal, Vivaan Chhawchharia, and their teacher Minal Jain - credit, the Earth Prize, released

In mid-May, GNN reported that 3 teens from India had won a major continental science prize for their brilliant use of an ingredient in Indian cuisine as the basis for a microplastic filter.

Now, from Geneva comes the announcement that 16-year-olds Vivaan Chhawchharia, Ariana Agarwal, and Avyana Mehta, have claimed the Global Earth Prize in addition to the Asian one, as voted by 23,000 experts from dozens of countries around the world.

“Being named the Global Winners of The Earth Prize is incredibly special for all of us, especially as the first team from India to receive this recognition,” the trio said in a statement.

“What started as an idea between students has now been recognised among thousands of projects from around the world, which feels both surreal and deeply motivating.

Their grand prize-winning invention is called Plas-Stick, and used powdered tamarind seed as the base for an all-natural microplastic clumping agent. After a short agitation period, the clumped microplastic-tamarind mass can be removed with nothing more than a magnet.

Notably, Plas-Stick is the first-ever Global Winner of The Earth Prize from India.

Designed for use in shared water containers, the biodegradable powder binds invisible plastic particles into visible clumps that can then be easily removed with a handheld magnet, offering a simple and low-cost alternative to complex filtration systems.

The idea was sparked by the team’s studies in environmental science and a visit to a rural community, where they observed how drinking water is often stored in shared containers without access to advanced filtration systems.

Globally, over 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water infrastructure, increasing reliance on stored water that may contain microplastics. Microplastics may be the most significant environmental and human health contaminant on Earth. Particles ranging in size from the 1/1 to 1/1,000th the width of human hair have been found virtually everywhere anyone has thought to look for them, including on the summit of Everest and the bottom of the Marianna Trench.

MORE INSPIRING PERFORMANCES: Teacher Wins $1M Prize for Turning India’s Slums Into Hundreds of Open-Air Classrooms

They have been recorded in worryingly high quantities in every human organ and tissue, including the brain and even placenta. Though the full gamut of toxic damage related to microplastic exposure isn’t fully known, what’s certain is that they act as strong endocrine disrupters.

Determined to create a solution that is both effective and accessible, Chhawchharia, Agarwal, and Mehta developed a system that requires no electricity or complex infrastructure. It in fact requires only a crop that’s already used widely in South Asian cuisine, which is both cultivated and thrives in the wild.

COMBATTING MICROPLASTICS: Seeds from ‘Miracle Tree’ Can Filter More Than 98% of Microplastics from Tap Water

“Plas-Stick was designed to be simple, affordable and accessible, and this support allows us to take it beyond pilot schools and scale it to many more communities that need it most!”

Now following their Global Winner recognition, the team plans to scale the solution through decentralised production hubs and expand to rural communities across India, making safer drinking water more accessible across rural Indian communities and beyond.

The Earth Prize is run by The Earth Foundation, a non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded during the School Strike for Climate in 2019. At a time when climate anxiety affects a majority of young people—59% reporting they are very or extremely worried about the environment—the Prize provides a pathway from concern to action, equipping students with the tools to develop tangible, real-world solutions.

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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Jun 1, 2026

Quote of the Day: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

Photo by: Henry Burrows

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Good News in History, June 1

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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Jun 1, 2026

100 years ago today, the great American television personality Andy Griffith was born in North Carolina. He is fondly remembered today for 9-year productions The Andy Griffith Show, and as the folksy defense attorney Ben Matlock in Matlock. He was also a Tony Award nominee on two separate occasions, and the star of Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, which “stunned” moviegoers with his then-unknown talent. READ more about this great southern actor… (1926)

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Grieving Mother Finds 3-Carat Gem at Crater of Diamonds State Park After Son and Father Die

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Good News Network

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May 31, 2026

A grieving mother discovered a 3.09-carat white gem at Crater of Diamonds State Park, catching a wave of emotional release and hope following a year of personal loss.

Keshia Smith planned the trip to Arkansas a year ago, joining her boyfriend and brother on the journey from Pennsylvania.

Little did she know she’d be healing from the loss of her son six months ago and would have just buried her father the week before departing.

“I really needed this,” she told KAIT-TV. “I just can’t believe it actually happened!”

While digging in the dirt, she spotted a heart-shaped shiny stone—a stunning white diamond—and park officials said her discovery was “meant to be.”

“To me it looks like a heart. That’s the first thing I saw when I found it.”

She named it the Za’Novia Liberty Diamond, honoring her grandchildren and the significance of America’s 250th year.

Crater of Diamonds State Park on Facebook

“Moments like this remind us why Crater of Diamonds State Park is such a special place,” Park officials wrote on its Facebook page.

Some Facebook commenters claimed it was a fake find, because it looked so polished. The confusion stems from a basic misunderstanding of how diamonds from the Arkansas State Park naturally look when they come out of the ground.

Despite online skepticism, diamonds from the Arkansas volcanic pipe naturally feature smooth, rounded edges and a distinctively high, metallic-like surface shine. Their “adamantine luster” refers to the stone’s inherent ability to reflect light intensely before it is ever touched by human tools.

And, because diamonds are completely non-porous and do not stick to surrounding clay or dirt, they often emerge from the soil looking perfectly clean, flat, and glass-like.

The general public is used to seeing rough quartz or diamonds from deep-shaft African commercial mines, which often look like frosted, milky shards of ice. Park staff verified the gem at the Diamond Discovery Center, confirming its natural authenticity and its weight of exactly 3.09 carats.

LOOK AT THESE, TOO:
• Indebted Indian Laborer Finds Life-Changing $100,000 Diamond
• Man Finds Largest Colorless Diamond in Arkansas State Park’s Modern History

The lucky find on April 22 was the second-largest rock pulled out this year at the southern US site.

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Britain’s First Furniture Orchard Grows Chairs Right on the Trees (WATCH)

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Good News Network

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May 31, 2026

Gavin Munro grows chairs for Full Grown SWNS Vertical — Gavin Munro grows chairs for Full Grown (SWNS)

Gavin Munro grows chairs for Full Grown (SWNS)

A British couple has spent 20 years perfecting the practice of sculpting trees to grow into the shapes of ready-made seats designed with living branches.

Alice and Gavin Munro began creating the ‘furniture orchard’ on a two-acre English farm in 2006, but the harvesting typically takes between 6-9 years per chair.

The process involves pruning young tree branches as they grow over a special metal frame to form the shape.

Each item is dried for a year after being chopped, and are then sold to customers as artworks valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

The couple now wants to launch a program to help others grow their own. Not just chairs and benches, but lamps and tables, too.

“Since we started we’ve used all sorts of different types of trees,” said Gavin, who calls his business called Full Grown.

“Primarily we’ve shown pieces from willow, but we’ve tried apple, cherry, oak, ash, beech and hawthorn.”

Chair grown on a tree by Gavin Munro / Full Grown (SWNS)

His first experiments were growing the chairs upright, but they soon realized it would work better if they grew upside down. They’ve also moved on from the plastic mold around which the branches would grow. Now they use metal. (Watch the video below…)

Gavin came up with the ground-breaking idea while he was hospitalized as a child with a rare congenital condition that causes an abnormal fusion of two or more neck vertebrae. During months when he underwent several operations to straighten his spine, he had the idea while viewing the scenery from his hospital bed.

Gavin went on to study art and furniture design, before setting up his furniture business in 2006.

Gavin Munro creation by Full Grown (SWNS photo)

“This has all been my husband’s idea,” Alice told SWNS news. “He got the time to observe the woodland over many months and observe the creatures. His parents also had some overgrown bonsai and the silhouette looked like a throne.

“Then he was in California collecting driftwood on the beach—and he saw some sticks laid out together in what looked like a table. He thought, ‘how hard would it be to grow into that shape’.”

Gavin wanted to create useful, beautiful objects, and collaborate with nature, so he started to grow some chairs in a corner of a friend’s farm in 2006—and they still rent the orchard from them in Derbyshire, to this day.

“You’re basically taking a piece of bark from one branch and bringing them together, so they grow together.

“It’s absolutely bizarre to do. It’s like bonsai meets 3D printing.

“We use a frame, it’s sort of a long oblong nearly so it can stick and shape properly. When it’s been coppiced with the water shoots coming out there are specific times of the growth where it’s easier to bend.

“You’re effectively tying the branch to the frame with these garden ties.”

Upside down chair growing from tree by Gavin Munro / Full Grown (SWNS)

“We’ve tried growing a few different items of furniture, but we’re focusing on chairs—and a bench design which seems considerably easier.

“We experiment to help figure out how each species reacts to what we want to do.

“It might take another two decades to work out how to best share this knowledge.

The couple are now also setting up the Full Grown Academy to pass down the skills in the hope that more people will carry on the process.

They are selling the chairs as artworks which are “priced accordingly” and gallery owner Sarah Myerscough says they can be worth around £75,000 (nearly $100,000).

Alice and Gavin Munro began creating the ‘furniture orchard’ – SWNS

COOL! Public Sidewalk Art is Hidden Until it Rains in Seattle–Now You Can Do it Anywhere in the World

A bronze cast of one of their chairs appeared at this month’s Chelsea Flower Show in the UK, while several other chairs have been displayed in galleries worldwide.

“We’re quite lucky that the prototypes and failures are being seen as art,” Gavin mused.

“They cost too much at the moment to mass produce. Out of the few hundred we started, we’re going to be lucky to have a dozen new chairs over the 20 years of labor.”

TRASH INTO TREASURE:
• Artist Creates Striking Portraits Out of Old Denim Jeans Cut into Tiny Pieces (WATCH)
• Narnia Themed Treehouse Built Next to C.S. Lewis’ Home Features Magic Wardrobe–Now it’s a Holiday Rental

“Growing your own in your garden is the most accessible way of doing it at the moment—and lots of people have been wanting to do this in their own gardens, so that’s our next level.

“We’ve got six chairs out there in the world that are sittable, and there’s a handful more still growing and drying in the workshop.”

Their aim is to have an orchard like this in every town, but that may be a dream needing many more green thumbs.

SHARE THE FABULOUS IDEA With Nature-Lovers on Social Media…

Incredibly Rare Bongos Caught on Trail Cam in Area They Were Thought to be Extinct

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Good News Network

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May 31, 2026

Trail cam shows young female African antelope returned to Maasai Mau © Chester Zoo / Mountain Bongo Project

It’s World Bongo Day today, and scientists dedicated to their survival have shared new field camera images that prove these magnificent animals have reappeared in a region where they were thought to be extinct.

For more than half a decade, conservationists feared the wild mountain bongo population, detected in four isolated areas eight years ago, had shrunk to a tiny range in the Aberdare mountains in Kenya.

Now trail cam photographs show bongos exploring a remnant forest fragment in Maasai Mau, roughly 200 kilometers from the Aberdares population.

“The excitement in camp was unbelievable when we first looked through the photos,” said Oscar Dyer, Director of Operations for the Mountain Bongo Project (MBP).

“Seeing a bongo here again is incredibly exciting—and it reinforces our determination to continue searching, protecting this forest, and finding evidence of more bongos in the area.”

The image is the result of years of hard work by MBP rangers on the ground in one of Kenya’s most inaccessible forests, and comes at a key moment in bongo conversation.

A hi-tech AI survey carried out last year by England’s Chester Zoo, with the support of Kenyan wildlife officials, estimated only 28 bongos in the Aberdares stronghold, but MBP confirmed there could be 40 individuals—and the appearance of the Maasai Mau bongo brings renewed hope for the species.

Trail cam shows young male African antelope returned to Maasai Mau © Chester Zoo / Mountain Bongo Project

The mature male captured by the cameras was likely first identified back in 2018 by Chester Zoo’s Dr. Tommaso Sandri, a MBP Advisory Council member who suggested that if it has remained hidden for years then other bongos may also still be in the area.

That hope was borne out when cameras returned more images.

Markings analysis has now confirmed these show an additional young male and a young female have appeared in the region.

“This is huge news,” he said. “Unlike Aberdares, Maasai Mau is not a national park, and the reappearance of bongo may focus organizations on increasing broader protections.”

Bongos are the largest forest antelope in Africa, but their extreme rarity and shyness make them difficult to track, so it’s a testament to the persistence of the MBP rangers who are Maasai people that work in difficult and isolated conditions to monitor and protect it using their long-held knowledge about the local ecosystem.

Trail cam attached to tree catches rare African antelope in Maasai Mau – © MBP

Fortunately, there are about 900 bongos in zoos and sanctuaries like the one operated by the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC). The recent translocation of four European-born males from zoos will help preserve vital genetic diversity for the species in the Kenya sanctuary population.

“The Mau population represents a significant genetic pool for mountain bongos and it is therefore vital for long-term conservation,” said Robert Aruho, who heads the MKWC.

Reinforcement from bongos cared for by organizations like Chester Zoo and MKWC could provide a way forward, boosting the population to sustainable levels. Meanwhile, MBP continues to protect the bongos still roaming in the wild.

HELP HAD ARRIVED: Emotional Officials Watch 17 Endangered Mountain Bongos Arrive in Kenya for Reintroduction

Credits: Petr Topič / Safari Park Dvůr Králové

“The mountain bongo is not beyond saving, but it does need us to act together,” said MBP’s Director of Operations Oscar Dyer.

“Collaboration between organizations like MBP, Chester Zoo, and our partners brings hope and is turning knowledge, protection, and persistence into real impact on the ground. With sustained support, we can ensure wild bongos continue to live in Kenya’s forests.”

Historically, bongos were affected by game hunting and collectors, but they are still affected by habitat destruction as a result of logging or farming.

They prefer areas with rich volcanic soil and a good water supply—the same type of land that is in demand for agriculture.

GREAT NEWS: Biologists Clone Wild Yaks to Save Golden Subspecies Numbering Fewer Than 300 in First of its Kind Effort

“Their presence makes the forest more magical,” added Dr. Sandri, “and the world would be poorer for their loss.”

Celebrate World Bongo Day by donating to the Mountain Bongo Project, here.

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“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass

Quote of the Day

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May 31, 2026

Quote of the Day: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass

Photo by: Michela Serventi

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, May 31

This Day In History

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May 31, 2026

Kruger national park - pixabay — Elephants at Kruger National Park.

100 years ago today, Kruger National Park was established in Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa. One of the largest game reserves on the continent, it is more than twice the size of Yellowstone, at 7,576 square miles (19,623 square kilometers). Part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, it crosses over the border with Mozambique and Zimbabwe, forming a protected area bigger than Belgium where animals have room to roam to their heart’s content. READ more about South Africa’s wildest corner… (1926)

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Batteries That Use Sodium Instead of Lithium Could Be Low-Cost Rival to Tesla’s

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May 30, 2026

Sodium-ion batteries providing large-scale energy storage in China – CREDIT: Datang power company / HiNa Battery

A new study shows that a low-cost sodium-ion battery currently used in cars and large-scale energy storage systems in China matches most performance parameters and production quality found in Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries.

Since sodium is much more abundant and widely available than lithium, using it for batteries could cut raw material costs for manufacturers and reduce supply chain risks that surround critical minerals.

Conducted by a German university, the research published on May 28 in the Cell Press journal Physical Science, looked at the battery designed by Hina, a spin-off company of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that has partnered with automakers like JAC to provide EV batteries.

It shows that “once the sodium-ion (or Na-ion) battery is tweaked to charge more effectively at low temperatures and function better at high energy densities, it could provide a cost-effective alternative for future electric vehicle batteries”.

“The combination of good uniformity, high power capability, and strong low‑temperature performance makes these cells attractive for stationary storage, grid services, and shorter‑range or commercial vehicles where potential lower cost and resource availability matter more than maximum driving range,” said Moritz Schütte, a battery researcher at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

MORE GREEN ENERGY NEWS:
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following unedited text is taken from the Cell Press media release:

To assess how HiNa batteries compare to more advanced Tesla batteries, Schütte’s team used a non-destructive technique called impedance spectroscopy to measure the uniformity of 120 sodium-ion battery cells. Next, to map out the power and energy performances of individual cells under real-life conditions, the team tested the batteries at varying currents and at temperatures from −20 °C to 45 °C. They also used X-rays to see the battery’s internal structure, then opened up the cells to measure their electrode dimensions, compositions, and microstructures.

They found that the battery uses a tabless (design), a double-aluminum current collector design that reduces resistance and ensures a uniform temperature distribution—and also mirrors the current design of Tesla batteries.

“We were positively surprised by how uniform the cells are,” says Schütte.

However, the sodium-ion battery has some limitations when it comes to energy density and charging at low temperatures. “The high‑power performance was better than one might expect from an early commercial sodium‑ion product,” says Schütte.

“For applications that require frequent charging at low ambient temperatures, appropriate thermal management or operating strategies will be important because low-temperature charging remains a clear weakness.”

The researchers also found unexpectedly high, unevenly distributed levels of copper in certain cathode regions of the battery, which “raises interesting questions about its role in performance and aging,” said Schütte.

“It will be exciting to see future sodium-ion technologies that are free of nickel and copper, as well, while achieving competitive energy density.”

Sodium-ion batteries also perform well under load at low temperatures, making them an appealing option for both stationary power storage and mobile applications in cold climates.

“However, today’s commercial sodium-ion cells generally have lower energy density than the best lithium-ion cells, and the technology is less mature overall,” said Schütte.

Next, the authors plan to better understand and improve upon the battery’s charging capabilities at low temperatures so that they can charge more safely and efficiently below 0°C. Further research should also focus on optimizing the materials used to make sodium-ion batteries, added Schütte.

“Advances in hard‑carbon anodes and electrolyte formulations may be especially promising,” he said.

This work was supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

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

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May 30, 2026

A purpose-driven restaurant located outside Louisville, Kentucky, just surpassed $100,000 in donations to local and national organizations since the owner pledged to give all his profits to charity.

Established one year ago to serve something greater, Noah’s Kitchen donates 100% of its profits to support community initiatives, nonprofits, and ministries.

Since opening in Brownsboro Crossing, every meal served has directly contributed to meaningful impact, transforming everyday dining into an opportunity to give back.

“This milestone isn’t just ours—it belongs to our community,” said Adam Ursprung, the founder of Noah’s Kitchen.

“Every guest who walks through our doors is part of something bigger,” said Adam, who for years has owned a Steak and Shake restaurant down the road.

In church one Sunday he “felt God calling him to serve more than just meals”.

Today, the satisfaction of doing things for others is what is most fulfilling.

“It’s bringing me more happiness and peace than I ever dreamed of.”

Proceeds from preparing plates of their ‘elevated comfort food’ have supported groups like Hope Rescued (which received $44,907), Camberwell Grief Sanctuary ($12,620), The Prisoner’s Hope ($9,340), and Sunrise Children’s Services ($8,044)—as well as numerous nonprofits that each got between $1,000-4,000.

As Noah’s Kitchen approaches its one-year anniversary on June 18, the team looks forward to celebrating their milestone with the community they’ve impacted through their 501c-3 charitable restaurant located at 9850 Von Allmen Ct. on the city’s East End.

“When I stopped clinging to my money and I started giving it away, my heart grew exponentially,” said Adam in an interview with WDRB-News.

“We have to pay our rent, and pay our employees, but once we get that covered—and all of our expenses—any profit goes to the organizations we support.”

MORE RESTAURANT HEROS:
• Restaurant Owner Shelves Easter Plans to Fulfill Dying Man’s Last Wish to Feed His Hospice Nurses
• Gumbo Cook Worried About Regular Customer’s No-Shows Goes to His Home and Saves His Life

One year ago, he called his goals ‘God-sized’. Now that he’s proven the restaurant’s concept can work financially, he believes Noah’s Kitchen will become a household word.

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Owls Found Thriving in Abandoned Coal Mine as Wildlife Reclaims Industrial Heritage Site

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May 30, 2026

Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire England reclaimed by roses and owls- by Andrew Mason via SWNS — Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire, England reclaimed by roses and owls – Photos by Andrew Mason via SWNS

Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire, England reclaimed by roses and owls – Photos by Andrew Mason via SWNS

New photos show owls and wildlife reclaiming an abandoned coal mine 50 years after it closed.

The Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire, England, last produced coal in 1976.

Now, a half-century later, the son of a coal miner who worked there has returned to document nature’s return.

The buildings and towers, including the iconic pit head wheels used to lower miners into the ground, remain standing.

But a closer look reveals wildflowers and several species of owls making the site their home.

Photographer Andrew Mason, whose father John worked there in the 1960s, captured stunning images of barn owls and short-eared owls living in the derelict buildings.

“The colliery is a living example of rewilding. You can literally see nature taking it back from the industrialized world.

Short-eared owl – by Andrew Mason / SWNS

“There are barn owls living in the high buildings which are great as look-out posts to spot prey.”

With the permission of Stoke-on-Trent’s City Council, which is responsible for the property, Andrew set up a blind in the former colliery from which to observe unnoticed.

The site has 15 listed buildings and was included on Historic England’s ‘heritage register’.

Andrew hopes to soon set up trail cameras to pick up badgers and foxes which are also known to be living in the abandoned mine.

“One of the strangest things I saw was wild strawberries growing on old bits of coal slag heap.

“It was quite fascinating to see how nature was taking over.”

One panoramic image shows a single barn owl flying past headgear with the mine’s rusting towers in the background.

THEY GAVE A HOOT: Owl Found in Concrete Gets Feather Transplant So it Can Fly Silently Again into the Wild

“There really is a strange beauty in the juxtaposition of the ghostly white owl of the night flying amongst these old industrial buildings that are still standing,” he mused about the photo you saw near the top.

Chatterley Whitfield was the biggest coal mine in the area and the first in the UK to produce a million tons of coal in a year.

After officially closing on March 25, 1977, it re-opened two years later as a mining museum.

BIRD HERO: Brazil’s Blue-and-Yellow Macaws Return to Rio After 200 Years: ‘A dream come true’

The site attracted tens of thousands of visitors a year but it eventually closed for good in 1993.

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