165 years ago today, Giacomo Puccini was born. Considered as the greatest composer of Italian opera in history alongside or perhaps just behind Verdi, his work includes many of the most-performed spectacles in Italian opera, including La Boheme, Tosca, Turandot, and Madame Butterfly. Often regarded as a romanticist who honored 18th-century Italian tradition, Puccini would go on to incorporate different themes and mechanisms into his music, not least of which was the Chinese motifs in Turandot. READ more… (1858)
Fussy Girl Overcomes Vegetable Phobia and Now Loves Brussels Sprouts Thanks to Eating Disorder Specialist
A fussy five-year-old girl has overcome her phobia of vegetables and now loves Brussels sprouts–just in time for her mother’s Christmas dinner.
Emie Williams would scream and cry if her mom, Hayley, tried to give her anything except crackers, french fries, or other beige-colored foods.
It meant family meals were fraught with conflict—Emie wanting different food and refusing to even taste hot dinners.
“She’d just refuse to eat any vegetable or any meat. We took her for check ups and health visits for advice but they just said give her what she wants because it’s probably a phase.”
But Hayley suspected that she may have ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), believing she had “all the signs”.
Emie’s energy levels dipped, and she would get really tired at the end of the day.
“I explained (to doctors) that if I don’t give her what she wanted then she wouldn’t eat.”
Last month, Emie had a routine health check-up and a blood test revealed she had erratic sugar levels, so Hayley and her husband took their daughter to the hospital where doctors warned them Emie was in danger of developing diabetes unless she changed her diet.
In desperation, Hayley decided to take drastic action and contacted David Kilmurry, who specializes in obsessive eating conditions.
“We were pretty desperate when we contacted David but the results have been amazing,” the mother-of-3 from Coventry, England, told the SWNS news agency.
After a series of two-hour sessions, Emie now counts 30 foods that she willingly eats. Her favorite is Brussel sprouts, which she even enjoys raw.
NOTE TO SELF: Keep Out All the Christmas Spices – They’re Powerful Antioxidants Known as ‘Nutraceuticals’
Due to her age, Emie was not hypnotized, but David, a cognitive behavioral hypnotherapist, sat with the youngster and gradually encouraged her to try different foods.
Hayley attended all the sessions and just watched Kilmurry at work.
“He’d do magic tricks and talk to Emie to gain her trust, and then brought out different foods.
“Slowly, she tried more and more until she was really enjoying apples and oranges.
“She’s really taken with Brussel sprouts, especially eating them raw. I can’t wait to see her enjoying her first ever Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.”
David, who runs practices in Coventry and London, said: “ARFID isn’t taken seriously enough.
“It doesn’t just go away.”
MEDICINAL FOODS:
• Eating Dark Chocolate Is Associated with Lower Risk of Diabetes Type 2 in Large Study
• Carrots May Be Key to Unlocking Microbiome’s Diabetes Defense System
• Type 2 Diabetes Patients Who Stick to Low-Carb Diet May Be Able to Stop Taking Meds
“Food is medicine—and Emie is already making amazing progress.”
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Swearing Can Actually Be Good For You, According to New Research
Dropping an F-bomb can boost your performance by helping you feel stronger, more focused, and disinhibited, say scientists.
Most who curse like a sailor know that letting out a swear word in a moment of frustration can feel good.
Now, new research by psychologists suggests that it really can be good for your well-being.
The study, published in the journal American Psychologist, shows that swearing can boost people’s physical performance by helping them overcome their inhibitions and pushing themselves harder in strength and endurance tests.
“In many situations, people hold themselves back—consciously or unconsciously—from using their full strength,” said study author Dr. Richard Stephens, of Keele University in Staffordshire, England.
“Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”
Previous research by Dr. Stephens and his colleagues found that when people swear, they perform better on many physical challenges—including how long they can keep their hand in ice water and how long they can support their bodyweight during a chair push-up exercise.
“That is now a well-replicated, reliable finding,” said Stephens. “But the question is, how is swearing helping us? What’s the psychological mechanism?”
Dr. Stephens and his colleagues believed that it might be that swearing puts people in a ‘disinhibited’ state of mind.
“By swearing, we throw off social constraint and allow ourselves to push harder in different situations.”
To test the theory, the research team conducted two experiments with 192 total participants.
WATCH THIS GRANDMA CURSING: Spunky Grandma Uses Virtual Goggles to Ride Roller Coaster For First Time (With Hilarious Irish Profanity)
In each, they asked participants to repeat either a swear word of their choice, or a neutral word, every two seconds while doing a chair push-up.
After completing the chair pushup challenge, participants answered questions about their mental state during the task.
The questions included measures of different mental states linked to disinhibition, including how much positive emotion participants felt, how funny they found the situation, how distracted they felt, and how self-confident they felt.
The questions also included a measure of psychological “flow”, a state in which people become immersed in an activity in a pleasant, focused way.
Overall, and confirming earlier research, the team found that participants who swore during the chair push-up task were able to support their bodyweight “significantly” longer than those who repeated a neutral word.
Combining the results of the two experiments as well as a previous experiment in an earlier study, they also found that the difference could be explained by increases in participants’ reports of psychological flow, distraction and self-confidence—all important aspects of disinhibition.
“These findings help explain why swearing is so commonplace.
“Swearing is literally a calorie neutral, drug free, low cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.”
MORE SELF-HELP:
• The Science of How Your Brain Forms Habits (and How to Take Control)
• 10 Tips for Overcoming Self-Doubt – Including Adopting a Power Pose
• Instead of To-Do Lists, Your Wellbeing May Be Crying Out for a ‘To-Don’t’ List
Stephens and his colleagues plan to explore whether the boost from swearing works in any context where success depends on overcoming hesitancy.
Study co-author, Professor Nicholas Washmuth of the University of Alabama, added: “Our labs are now studying how swearing influences public speaking and romantic approach behaviors, two situations where people tend to hesitate or second-guess themselves.”
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Cloning the Original Spruce Safeguards Century-old Legacy of ‘Christmas Tree Lane’
Modern science has mixed with Christmas magic to safeguard the legacy of a 100-year-old holiday tradition in Fresno, California.
The story of Christmas Tree Lane began in 1920 as a way to transform a family tragedy into something much brighter.
According to a historical marker, in June of 1919, 14-year-old William “Billy” Winning died on his family’s half-acre homestead in a tragic machinery accident. In memory of him, Billy’s mother, Mae, decorated a deodar cedar tree in front of the family’s two-story home to honor the boy who always loved Christmas.
The tribute quickly gained considerable attention in an era when few families could afford to decorate with electric lights. As the years passed, other neighbors near the home on Van Ness Boulevard also decorated trees outside their homes in a sign of solidarity and support.
And the movement kept growing. By the 1920s, the number of decorated homes had reached 17 and in the 1930s —with the Great Depression still raging—the abundance of displays had earned the two-mile stretch a nickname: “Christmas Tree Lane.”
Today, it attracts 100,000 visitors each year and continues to receive consistent support from community donations. (See the video below that shows the lights display…)
However, in recent years, concern started growing on Christmas Tree Lane. The original tree, decorated in honor of Billy Winning, looked sickly.
The new homeowners kept nurturing the tree as best they could, but something more drastic had to be done. It wasn’t going to make it on its own.
“Three or four years ago we recognized that one of the original trees on Christmas Tree Lane was dying,” Jon Reelhorn, owner of Belmont Nursery told KMPH-TV News in an interview.
The folks at the nursery were asked, ‘can we clone the tree’.
That’s when modern science and the Christmas spirit came together. Cuttings from the original tree were sent to a drafter in Oregon who offered to make a clone of the memorial cedar for free.
Eighty small genetic clones were created from the original tree’s profile. Those saplings were then carefully grown in pots, cared for over the next 3-4 years by the Belmont Nursery in Fresno.
“We are honored to be part of preserving this beautiful piece of our community’s history,” Belmont Nursery said in a Facebook post this year.
The nursery then delivered the cloned cedar saplings to their new home on Christmas Tree Lane, which is managed by the Fig Garden Homeowners Association.
The roots will all be different but, otherwise, the trees will be genetically identical to the one that started it all, a perfect tribute to the tradition that has brought Christmas cheer to so many for over a century.
MORE HOLIDAY CHEER:
• Stunning Crocheted Christmas Tree Knits Together Community of Extraordinary Women
• Boy Sent to Christmas Nativity Shows up as Elvis Instead of Elf After Family Mix-up
• Man Finds Christmas Gift in Wall with His Name on it 46 Years Later
The Fig Garden Association coordinates the massive light displays and decorations that have made the neighborhood nationally-renowned as one of the first and most impressive such displays in the US. Their video below shows how the Lane comes alive during Christmas every year.
The memorial magic is now in its 103rd year—and will keep growing far into the future.
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Idaho Secret Santa is Giving a Million Dollars to Local Residents Dealing with Chaos
Santa has arrived early in Idaho—in the form of a mystery donor who is giving away a million dollars to families in crisis.
The Secret Santa of The Gem State started making Christmas magic a couple of months ago and will continue spreading joy through the end of the year.
One of the earliest gifts was a 2025 Honda minivan and $1,000 for a family that has conjoined twins, which occurs about once in every 50,000 births.
Twin sisters Callie and Carter Torres were not expected to survive more than 24 hours. Instead, they have grown to be 8 years old, defying the odds on a daily basis.
Their medical condition requires a non-collapsible wheelchair and frequent three-hour trips from their home in Blackfoot, Idaho to Salt Lake City.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t even cry right now, I’m in such shock,” the mother, Chelsea Torres, told the East Idaho News.
Another gift was delivered to a new mom who lost her house in a freak accident.
A month after her baby was born in July, a truck ran a stop sign and crashed into Emma’s house. Her living room was destroyed. A wall collapsed, windows shattered, and water lines were ruptured, flooding the entire first floor and basement.
Thankfully, Emma and her new baby were safe, but the family has been displaced ever since. The Secret Santa gave the family a $1,000 gift card for gas and a $5,000 gift card to a housewares store.
“That means a lot,” Emma said in between a deluge of tears. “It’s been really hard…Hopefully, (we’ll be home) before Christmas.”
Yet another memorable gift was awarded to Megan Mabey, a beloved teacher at Hobbs Middle School in Shelley, Idaho. An attic fire ignited in Mabey’s house earlier this month and her home was rendered uninhabitable. Her family has been rotating through hotel rooms and rentals ever since and will be displaced for about six to eight months.
“It’s been hard,” said Mabey, who is known for her kindness, humor, and dedication to making learning fun. The $5,000 check from Santa should make things easier this holiday.
Christmas spirit has surged throughout Idaho with the Secret Santa also delivering cash and presents to a family that adopted four kids after having five of their own, a man who was paralyzed following a spinal stroke, a woman who was dealing with a brain injury following a car accident, and many, many others.
SANTA DELIVERED TO SOUTH POLE: Antarctic Research Station Receives its Mail in a Shiny New Box–a Christmas Gift from King Charles
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“One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
Quote of the Day: “One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
Image by: Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, 1942 (cropped)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, December 21
Today is the magical Winter Solstice, bringing the longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere, and marking the start of more daylight every day for the rest of the season, until June 20. The ancient cultures knew the Sun’s path across the sky, length of daylight, and location of the sunrise and sunset, which shifted in a regular way throughout the year, so people built monuments, like Stonehenge in England and the Torreon in Machu Picchu, Peru, to follow the Sun’s annual progress and predict its movements. READ more from on this day…
Simply Shining Light on Skin Can Replace Finger Pricks for People With Diabetes
A new method for measuring blood glucose levels, developed at MIT, could save diabetes patients from having to prick their fingers several times a day.
The MIT team used a technique that reveals the chemical composition of tissue by shining near-infrared light on them—and developed a shoebox-sized device that can measure blood glucose levels without any needles.
The researchers found that the measurements from their device were similar to those obtained by commercial continuous glucose monitoring sensors that require a wire to be implanted under the skin. While the device presented in this study is too large to be used as a wearable sensor, the researchers have since developed a wearable version that they are now testing in a small clinical study.
“For a long time, the finger stick has been the standard method for measuring blood sugar, but nobody wants to prick their finger every day, multiple times a day,” says Jeon Woong Kang, an MIT research scientist and the senior author of the study.
“Naturally, many diabetic patients are under-testing their blood glucose levels, which can cause serious complications. If we can make a noninvasive glucose monitor with high accuracy, then almost everyone with diabetes will benefit from this new technology.”
MIT postdoc Arianna Bresci is the lead author of the new study published this month in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
Some patients use wearable monitors, which have a sensor inserted just under the skin to provide glucose measurements from the interstitial fluid—but they can cause skin irritation and they need to be replaced every 10 to 15 days.
BIG DIABETES NEWS: In World First, Stem Cells Reverse Woman’s Type-1 Diabetes
The MIT team bases their noninvasive sensors based on Raman spectroscopy, a type that reveals the chemical composition of tissue or cells by analyzing how near-infrared light is scattered, or deflected, as it encounters different kinds of molecules.
A recent breakthrough allowed them to directly measure glucose Raman signals from the skin. Normally, this glucose signal is too small to pick out from all of the other signals generated by molecules in tissue. The MIT team found a way to filter out much of the unwanted signal by shining near-infrared light onto the skin at a different angle from which they collected the resulting Raman signal.
Typically, a Raman spectrum may contain about 1,000 bands. However, the MIT team found that they could determine blood glucose levels by measuring just three bands—one from the glucose plus two background measurements. This approach allowed the researchers to reduce the amount and cost of equipment needed, allowing them to perform the measurement with a cost-effective device about the size of a shoebox.
“With this new approach, we can change the components commonly used in Raman-based devices, and save space, time, and cost,” Bresci told MIT News.
Toward a watch-sized sensor
In a clinical study performed at the MIT Center for Clinical Translation Research (CCTR), the researchers used the new device to take readings from a healthy volunteer over a four-hour period, as the subject rested their arm on top of the device.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR DIABETICS:
• Carrots May Be Key to Unlocking Microbiome’s Diabetes Defense System
• Diabetes-Reversing Drug Boosts Insulin-Producing Cells by 700%
• Type 2 Diabetes Patients Who Stick to Low-Carb Diet May Be Able to Stop Taking Medication: Study
Each measurement takes a little more than 30 seconds, and the researchers took a new reading every five minutes.
During the study, the subject consumed two 75-gram glucose drinks, allowing the researchers to monitor significant changes in blood glucose concentration. They found that the Raman-based device showed accuracy levels similar to those of two commercially available, invasive glucose monitors worn by the subject.
Since finishing that study, the researchers have developed a smaller prototype, about the size of a cellphone, that they’re currently testing at the MIT CCTR as a wearable monitor in healthy and pre-diabetic volunteers.
The researchers are also working on making the device even smaller, about the size of a watch, and next year they plan to run a larger study working with a local hospital, which will include people with diabetes.
Edited from article by Anne Trafton | MIT News
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Microscopic ‘Christmas Tree’ is Remarkable Highlight of Science Project Comparing the Vast and Small
A microscopic ‘Christmas tree’ is a seasonal highlight of a remarkable science project that found eerie comparisons between the vast and the tiny.
Curated by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the series of pairings reveal stunning connections between the vast universe and the microscopic world that we cannot see with the naked eye.
Dubbed “New Perspectives”, the project takes space-based images and creates side-by-side comparisons with winning images from the Nikon Small World contest, an annual microscopy competition.
Highlights include a cluster of young stars, nicknamed the Christmas Tree Cluster, paired with collagen fibers and fat cells captured under a laser microscope.
Another eye-catching duo (pictured below) compares a section of heart tissue exposed to radiation, with tiny dots and tracks showing the effect of high-energy particles on cells with a bright young star seen in infrared light wrapped in the gas and dust of a stellar nursery.
“Whether we’re studying a galaxy cluster millions of light-years away or a crystal formation at the micro-meter scale, these images remind us of the shared beauty and complexity that define the natural world,” said Dr. Kimberly Arcand, Chandra’s emerging technology scientist who led the project.
Operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Chandra is one of NASA’s “Great Observatories”, which includes the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes that have offered unparalleled X-ray images of the cosmos for over a quarter century.
The “New Perspectives” project takes these space-based images and creates side-by-side comparisons with winning images from the Nikon Small World contest, an annual free microscopy competition that announced its latest winners in October.
Providing a new way to look at images from science, the goal of New Perspectives is to realize the benefits from looking at our world from different points of view.
Astronomy and microscopy are both fields that are built on the challenge of making the invisible visible. Each discipline relies on light and data to reveal hidden structures, whether across the vastness of space or within the intricacies of living cells.
While their goals differ in scale, the equipment of telescopes and microscopes reflects a shared purpose: to greatly extend human vision. Telescopes (“light buckets”) collect faint light across vast distances with mirrors and detectors, often orbiting in space to avoid Earth’s atmosphere.
Microscopes, by contrast, are more of light funnels, focusing on the tiny, using lenses, lasers, or electron beams to magnify the minute worlds around us.
LOOK: Tiny Van Gogh Gallery Created Inside a Watch By an Artist With a Microscope
Despite these differences, the two fields can converge through a common visual language.
MORE OF NATURE’S MAGIC:
• A Star-Shaped Sand Found in Japan With A Huge Secret Hidden Inside
• Otherworldly Scenes Show Plants Breathing in Close-Up Detail: A Long Sought Discovery
• Astro-Photographer Finds a Cosmic Grinch in a Holiday-Themed Star Cluster
Astronomy and microscopy remind us that vision is both a tool and a construction. By transforming the invisible into the visible, these disciplines not only advance science but also reshape how we perceive our place in the cosmos and the complexity of life itself.
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Aging Mother-and-Son Jaguars Arrive at Special ‘Retirement’ Home for Big Cats to Live Out Their Years
A very old jaguar and her senior son are being welcomed to a specially-made retirement home in a UK zoo.
Wild jaguars typically live for around 12 years, but Bonita is already 16 and her son Remi is 11, having already survived cancer.
The two have lived side-by-side in a safari park since Remi’s birth and will remain together after being transported to their new enclosure at Chester Zoo in England.
The move follows months of planning with experts from Europe’s jaguar conservation program.
“Bonita and Remi are truly special animals, and we’re delighted to be able to provide them with a new retirement home here,” said Dave Hall, Chester Zoo’s Team Manager of Carnivores.
“Bonita has been a devoted mother to Remi throughout his life, so ensuring they stayed together was a real priority for everyone involved.
“Remi’s journey has also been a remarkable one. In 2019, a lump was removed from his head following a diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma, a very aggressive malignant cancer, which makes his continued good health today all the more extraordinary.
“Our teams have worked closely with colleagues from across the UK and Europe to make sure every detail of their move and ongoing care has been fully considered —from transport to the set-up of their new habitat.
“It’s fantastic to see them already settling in and exploring their new surroundings side-by-side,” said Hall in a statement from Chester Zoo, which released a video of the cats prowling around their new home.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR JAGS:
• Jaguars in Mexico are Growing in Number, a Promising Sign That Conservation Strategies are Working
• 230,000 Acres of Tropical Rainforest Protected as Hotspot For Jaguars in Belize
Jaguars are the largest cat in Latin America and the species is listed as “Near Threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to habitat loss through farming and illegal hunting.
Watch Bonita and Remi in their new home…
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Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of December 20, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
According to legend, the genius composer Mozart heard entire symphonies in his imagination before he wrote down any notes. That’s a slight exaggeration. The full truth is that he often worked hard and made revisions. His inspiration was enhanced by effort and craft. However, it’s also true that Mozart wrote at least five masterful works in rapid succession, sometimes with remarkably few corrections on the manuscript. They included his last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41). I predict you will have a Mozart-like aptitude in the coming months: the ability to perceive whole patterns before the pieces align. Trust your big visions!
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In Greek mythology, Proteus was a sea god famed for his ability to change his shape endlessly to evade capture. But now and then, a persistent hero was able to hold on to Proteus through all his transformations, whether he became a lion, serpent, tree, or flame. Then the god would bestow the gift of prophecy on the successful daredevil. I suspect that in the coming months, you will have an exceptional power to snag and grasp Proteus-like things, Capricorn. As a result, you could claim help and revelations that seem almost magical.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In Florence, Italy, the Accademia Gallery houses several of Michelangelo’s sculptures that depict human figures partially emerging from rough blocks of marble. They seem to be caught in the process of birth or liberation. These works showcase the technique Michelangelo called *non-finito* (unfinished), in which the forms appear to struggle to escape from the stone. In the coming months, Aquarius, I foresee you undergoing a passage that initially resembles these figures. The good news is that unlike Michelangelo’s eternally trapped characters, you will eventually break free.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
To prepare you for 2026, I’ve gathered three quotes that address your most pressing need and urgent mandate. I recommend you tape this horoscope to your bathroom mirror. 1. “We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a hope. Part of the terror is to take back our listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.” —author Elaine Bellezza. 2. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 3. “The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.” —Rebecca Solnit.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Nine hundred years ago, Sufi philosopher Al-Ghazali provided rigorous advice that’s not very popular these days. “To understand the stars,” he said, “one must polish the mirror of the soul.” Here’s my interpretation: To fathom the truth about reality, you must be a strong character who treasures clarity and integrity. It’s highly unlikely you can gather a profound grasp of how life works if your inner depths are a mess. Conversely, your capacity to comprehend the Great Mystery increases as you work on purifying and strengthening your character. Everything I just said is good advice for all of us all the time, but it will be especially potent and poignant for you in the coming months.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The sound of a whip cracking is a small sonic boom. The tip breaks the sound barrier, creating that distinctive snap. In my astrological reckoning, Taurus, life has provided you with the equivalent of a whip. During the coming months, you will have access to a simple asset that can create breakthrough force when wielded with precision and good timing. I’m not referring to aggression or violence. Your secret superpower will be understanding how to use small treasures that can generate disproportionate impacts. What’s your whip?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Some Japanese potters practice yohen tenmoku. It’s a technique used to create a rare type of tea bowl with shifting, star-like iridescence on deep, dark glaze. The sublime effect results from a process that’s unusually demanding, highly unpredictable, and hard to control. Legend says that only one in a thousand bowls achieves the intended iridescence. The rest, according to the masters, are “lessons in humility.” I believe you can flourish by adopting this experimental mindset in the coming months. Treat your creative experiments as offerings to the unknown, as sources of wonder whether or not your efforts yield stellar results. Be bold in trying new techniques and gentle in self-judgment. Delight in your apprenticeship to mystery. Some apparent “failures” may bring useful novelty.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A fair-weather cumulus cloud typically weighs over a million pounds and yet floats effortlessly. Let’s make that one of your prime power symbols for 2026, Cancerian. It signifies that you will harbor an immense emotional cargo that’s suspended with grace. You will carry complex truths, layered desires, and lyrical ambitions, but you will manage it all with aplomb and even delight. For best results, don’t overdramatize the heaviness; appreciate and marvel at the buoyancy.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Every 11 years, the Sun reverses its magnetic polarity. North becomes south, and south becomes north. The last switch was completed earlier this year. Let’s use this natural phenomenon as your metaphorical omen for the coming months, Leo. Imagine that a kind of magnetic reversal will transpire in your psyche. Your inner poles will flip position. As the intriguing process unfolds, you may be surprised at how many new ideas and feelings come rumbling into your imagination. Rather than resist the cosmic acrobatics, I advise you to welcome and collaborate with them.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The sculptor Louise Bourgeois was asked why she worked so often with the image of the spider. She said it was a tribute to her mother, who was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, helpful, and useful—just like a spider. In the coming months, I invite you to embody her vision of the spider. You will have the wherewithal to weave hardy networks that could support you for years to come. Be creative and thoughtful as you craft your network of care. Your precision will be a form of devotion. Every strand, even fragile ones, will enhance your long-term resilience.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Researchers studying music theory know that dissonance—sounds that feel “wrong” or create tension—is in part culturally determined. Indonesia’s gamelan music and Arabic maqam scales are beautiful to audiences that have learned to appreciate them. But they might seem off-kilter to Westerners accustomed to music filled with major thirds and triads. Let’s use this as our starting point as we contemplate your future in 2026, Libra. Life may disrupt your assumptions about what constitutes balance and harmony. You will be invited to consider the possibility that what seems like discord from one perspective is attractive and valuable from another. My advice: Open your mind to other ways of evaluating what’s meaningful and attractive.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States, Arizona bark scorpions are hard to see at night. Scientists who want to study them can find them only by searching with flashlights that emit ultraviolet light. This causes the scorpions’ exoskeletons to fluoresce and glow a distinct blue-green or turquoise color, making them highly visible. Let’s use this scenario as a metaphor for you. In the coming months, you may reveal your best brilliance under uncommon conditions. Circumstances that seem unusual or challenging will highlight your true beauty and power. What feels extreme may be a good teacher and helper. I urge you to trust that the right people will recognize your unique beauty.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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“There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. As of tomorrow, the days begin to get longer as the light of day grows.” – Dacha Avelin
Quote of the Day: “There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. As of tomorrow, the days begin to get longer as the light of day grows.” – Dacha Avelin (Happy Winter Solstice day!)
Image by: Raimond Klavins (cropped)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, December 20
22 years ago today, Gangs of New York premiered in theaters. Martin Scorsese’s colorful and gritty depiction of gangland violence among the poor immigrant residents of New York City’s Five Points received 10 Academy Award nominations. While winning none, Daniel Day Lewis’ mesmeric portrayal of street gang leader Bill the Butcher won him several other awards. Grossing nearly $200 million worldwide, the project had taken Scorsese nearly 20 years to develop after reading a book called Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. READ more… (2002)
Blind BBQ Master in Dallas Blows Away Guests with Brisket Cooked by Touch and Smell
When clients ask Christopher Jones how he cooks the delicious barbequed meat at his restaurant, he answers, “‘Just like you, except I have to concentrate a little harder.'”
The extra concentration, for a blind man, is a necessity not an option. But as is so often the case, this became the mother of Jones’ invention.
Blindfolded Barbeque is located at 598 E Wheatland Road in Duncanville, a city of 40,000 in southwestern Dallas County, Texas. It features a simple yet delicious menu all prepared by Jones, a former tow-truck driver who 5 years ago was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.
In other words, his diabetes robbed him of his sight, but it couldn’t take his inspiration. No: this father of 7 not only had mouths to feed, but realized he could feed the whole neighborhood.
“It’s a conversation starter, and that’s what I want to do is just bring awareness to it,” Jones said.
Using his grandfather’s recipes, he acquired a simple restaurant space, set up a BBQ menu, and taught himself how to cook without sight: using touch, sound, taste, but particularly smell.
“I have to rely on a lot of smell because I can measure, but if I know it’s too much, then I’ll fix it,” he said.
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You think about how closely guarded are the secrets of BBQ sauce and spice mixtures; of how precise some of them must be to win awards and create one of the most beloved of American cuisines.
And then, when you consider that Jones makes his without being able to see how much of any ingredient he’s adding, the sandwich or pork ribs between your fingers seems suddenly so much more delicious.
WATCH the story below from CBS News…
SHARE This Great BBQ Spot With Your Texan Friends, And Give This Incredible Pitmaster Some Love…
Cheese May Help Stave Off Dementia Suggests Study of 27k People Followed Over 25 Years
Researchers in Sweden found a link between eating more high-fat cream and high-fat cheeses and a lower risk of developing dementia.
People who consumed 20 grams or more of high-fat cream daily had a 16% lower risk of dementia than those who consumed none.
People who ate 50 grams or more of high-fat cheese—containing more than 20% fat—had a 13% lower risk of dementia than those eating less than 15 grams daily, according to the study.
No association was found for low-fat dairy products, butter, milk or fermented milk, which includes yoghurt, kefir and buttermilk.
The researchers emphasized that the study, published in the journal Neurology, does not prove that eating high-fat cheese and high-fat cream lowers the risk of dementia, it only shows an association.
“For decades, the debate over high-fat versus low-fat diets has shaped health advice, sometimes even categorizing cheese as an unhealthy food to limit,” said Professor Emily Sonestedt, of Lund University.
“Our study found that some high-fat dairy products may actually lower the risk of dementia, challenging some long-held assumptions about fat and brain health.”
Researchers analysed data from 27,670 people in Sweden with an average age of 58 at the start of the study. They were followed for an average of 25 years. A total of 3,208 participants developed dementia during the study.
The participants kept track of what they ate for a week and answered questions about how often they ate certain foods during recent years. They also talked with researchers about how they prepared their food.
A typical serving of cheese is one ounce. Of those who ate more high-fat cheese, 10% developed dementia by the end of the study. Of those who ate less, 13% developed dementia.
After adjusting for age, sex, education and overall diet quality, the research team found that people who ate more high-fat cheese had a 13% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who ate less.
When looking at specific types of dementia, they found people who ate more high-fat cheese had a 29% lower risk of vascular dementia.
Researchers also found a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease among those who ate more high-fat cheese, but only among those not carrying the APOE e4 gene variant, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
The team also compared people who consumed 20 grams or more of high-fat cream daily to people who consumed none. After similar adjustments, researchers found that those who consumed high-fat cream daily had a 16% lower risk of dementia compared to those who consumed none.
Typically, observational studies that show links and associations are not considered useful unless the association reaches above 60%. In that sense, the value of the findings is questionable.
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The healthy user bias is a feature of observational studies that can affect the outcome. It describes a phenomenon whereby people who are willing to make one choice regarding their health are more likely to make others, and that as their potential effects become difficult to separate out of the data.
Intuitively, one would guess a study influenced by healthy user bias would find a negative association with cheese and cream, since those who eat no cheese or cream will usually be making that choice in conjunction with several others to try and improve health, such as exercise or a higher quantity of vegetables at meals.
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People who don’t focus on health in their lifestyle and diet choices won’t exclude cheese cream—an inference because they won’t make any other choices. The results, being counter-intuitive, make the study results compelling even if the association with dementia was small
The fermented foods like yogurt and kefir, generally eaten for health reasons, showing no association only adds to the curious direction the data took.
The team says further research is needed to explore whether consuming certain high-fat dairy offers some level of protection for the brain.
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“These findings suggest that when it comes to brain health not all dairy is equal,” said Professor Sonestedt. “More research is needed to confirm our study results and further explore whether consuming certain high-fat dairy truly offers some level of protection for the brain.”
Sonestedt noted that in Sweden, cheese is often eaten uncooked, while in the United States, cheese is often heated or eaten with meat. She says it is important that studies also be conducted in the United States.
SHARE This With Your Cheese Lovers, And Plan A Fondue Night Maybe…
Stunning Crocheted Christmas Tree Helped Knit Together a Community of Extraordinary Women – LOOK
This incredible Christmas tree was designed and manufactured by incredible women in India’s state of Goa who felt another fake plastic Christmas tree was something the world didn’t need.
Made entirely of crocheted yarn, the community tree was designed to help revive a fading craft, feature women’s labor, and offer a sustainable alternative to plastic-heavy festive décor.
Located inside the Museum of Goa, the tree features more than a thousand individually crocheted squares made by 25 talented women of the Crochet Collective, an inter-generational, inter-continental collaboration that wields this introduced form of craft to help knit a community together.
Brilliantly told by Leila Badyari at The Better India, the story of this Collective effort begins in August, at the group’s first meeting over Zoom. Apart from the three organizers, Sheena Pereira, Sharmila Majumdar, and Sophy Sivaraman, none of the 25 crochet artists had met each other before.
The whole reason for their meeting was a dream that Pereira had about making a crocheted Christmas tree. If the surname here sounds distinctly un-Indian, that’s because Goa was a Portuguese colony, and crochet a direct, 15th century Portuguese import. Another of the 25 women is named Jennifer Fernandes, for example.
The crochet group began online during COVID, but Pereira wanted to take it offline with in-person meetups, and it was the connection with Sivaraman that gave her the impetus. At the Zoom meeting, no one could give an estimate on how big the tree would be, how it would be shaped, or how long it would take to finish.
“We decided to begin anyway,” Majumdar told the Better India. “We felt the place would come.”
And so the 50 skilled hands began their needlework, and as the weeks turned to months, the tree began to take shape. The Collective would meet at Majumdar’s home in Goa. There would be tea, coffee, music, and conversations of days gone by; of family, of childhoods.
Things really accelerated when a local civil engineer quickly welded a conical tree frame out of metal and donated it, along with the transportation, to the Collective without charging a rupee.
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Suddenly, there was something on which to tie the 800 hand-crafted squares, and once they had the tree frame, the Museum of Goa opened its doors to feature the tree squarely in its “We Gather” collaboration.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this big,” Sivaraman admitted, laughing. “But then again, none of us knew how big it would become.”
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The question of size, during the monsoon season, quickly became a problem of size: the squares they had been weaving were too small, but they had used up almost all their yarn and couldn’t start over. So they began using their own yarn collections, or unraveling old pieces they didn’t care for anymore. The result was beautiful, unpredictable, originality.
“That’s why you see unexpected shades,” Sivaraman says. “Pink. Orange. Everything. There’s no factory-made decorations. Just what we already had.”
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Lost Dog Found Chained to Pole 2,000 Miles Away Reunited with Family in Time for Christmas
A sweet little lost pooch has come home in time for Christmas—to a bigger family than the one he left.
That’s because little Choco was gone for 5 years. But his hominid mama Patricia never gave up hope of finding him again.
It was 2022 when Choco disappeared from his Antelope, California home, and though the family sought help from neighbors and searched as far afield as felt reasonable, they couldn’t find him.
Then in November, Choco was identified by his microchip after being found chained to a fence in Detroit, more than 2,000 miles away. No one knows how he got there, but Helping Paws and Claws, a volunteer animal rescue charity, took responsibility for getting Choco home after he was taken in by the Lincoln Park Animal Shelter.
There must have been a fair few eyebrows raised at the shelter when the microchip turned up a dog registered to California, but Paws and Claws didn’t hesitate to reach out and even arrange air transit to get Choco back to his owners.
“Shocked,” Patricia described herself as being when she listened to the message on her answering machine. “I called the number, ‘You’re talking about Lincoln, California, right? No, Lincoln, Michigan.'”
Then, if the story needed anymore sweetness, a stranger named Pamela donated her SkyMiles to Penny, a volunteer with Paws and Claws, in order to fly Choco home to California.
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It had been 5 years since Choco was amongst his people, and over the years his family had grown. It hadn’t outgrown him, however, and his place on the couch was restored amid tears and laughter.
“Microchip your dogs,” Patricia said. “With the holidays and the extreme cold, a story like mine can be your story next.”
WATCH the story from CBS News…
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“Courage is found in unlikely places.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
Quote of the Day: “Courage is found in unlikely places.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
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With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, December 19
249 years ago today, Thomas Paine published his first essay under the pseudonym, Common Sense, to inspire American colonists in a language that the common man could understand. Paine knew that the Colonists weren’t going to support the American Revolutionary War without proper reason to do so, so he set out to persuade them. First entitled The American Crisis, it had its intended effect. READ the famous opening lines… (1776)
Cancer-Fighting Cells Engineered Inside Patients’ Bodies Rather Than Laboratory for the First Time
In a pair of groundbreaking studies, scientists replicated a time-consuming, laboratory-based, cancer therapy within myeloma patients’ own bodies.
If standardized, such an advancement would allow for one of the most successful non-chemo cancer treatments to be done both faster and cheaper.
CAR T-cell therapy involves retrieving a patient’s immune system component called a T-cell and using a virus to genetically add the CAR, or chimeric antigen receptor, to it. This process is done in a lab—typically outside the hospital where the patient is being treated—before the cells are shipped back for transplant.
The alteration allows T-cells to home in on cancer cells directly by penetrating the biological stealth capabilities tumors have, but is also expensive and laborious. If, scientists have considered in the last decade, the process could be done inside the body, it would save lives that are sometimes lost waiting out the month-or-so-long process it takes to alter the T-cells in the lab.
That’s exactly what’s been established in a pair of recent trials, the results of which were just presented at the American Society of Hematology’s (ASH) annual meeting.
In the team’s first trial in July, 4 patients with multiple myeloma, a kind of blood cancer, had their T-cells engineered in vivo with the CAR gene. They produced the altered cells, which successfully attacked the tumors in their bone marrow.
2 of the patients seemed to be cured, with the cancer cells no longer detectable in their bone marrow, and a tell-tale circulating blood protein also absent from their bodies. 2 others didn’t benefit to that extent, but appeared to be in remission after 5 months.
“The question is no longer can you really do this,” Yvonne Chen, a cancer immunotherapy researcher at UCLA, told Science News. “The question now is can you reach the level of efficacy that’s expected and will the safety profile meet the target.”
On the question of safety, the patients suffered from significant side effects, likely due to the effects of the deactivated virus used to reprogram their T-cells, which has been known to trigger flu-like symptoms that have even been fatal on occasion with the lab-based CAR T-cell method.
Interestingly, the flu-like inflammation was very mild in all 4 patients, who instead suffered from drops in blood pressure, lack of oxygen, and mental confusion. All recovered following the treatment process.
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In the second trial, another 4 patients with previously untreatable multiple myeloma had no detectable cancer cells in their bone marrow 1 month after treatment, a status maintained in one patient 5-months post-treatment. The side effects were less substantive for unknown reasons.
“I think it gives us a glimpse into the future,” said hematologist Joy Ho of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. “In vivo CAR-T for multiple myeloma is here and hopefully it will stay.”
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CAR T-cell therapy is also being looked at as a treatment for non-cancer diseases like autoimmune disorders. The lab-based process not only takes a month, but costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and requires a particularly aggressive chemotherapy session to wipe out the existing T-cells before receiving the new, altered ones.
If the in vivo process can be rendered safer, it would allow hundreds more patients to access it, and save hundreds of lives.
Cancer Research Gets Better And Better: LET YOUR FRIENDS KNOW…