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Daredevil 94-Year-old is Oldest Ever to Take on World’s Fastest Zip Line–Going 100mph

By
Andy Corbley
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David rides the zipline - SWNS
David rides the zipline – SWNS

A 94-year-old Englishman decided to have a go on the world’s fastest zip line to raise money for his local hospice care.

Great-grandfather-of-four David Aris lost his beloved wife, June, to cancer five years ago.

For the last few months of her life, she had been cared for by St John’s Hospice, which also provided end-of-life care for one of David’s friends, Mr. Kilby.

Together, 94-year-old David and Mr Kilby’s 70-year-old widow Narelle, took a trip to Zip World in Penrhyn Quarry, Wales, for a ride on the fastest zip line in the world that can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour).

The pair both looked to raise money for the hospice care that helped them at such an unhappy moment in their lives.

“I had heard of the zip line but I didn’t think to do it until Narelle mentioned it to me,” David told the English news media SWNS. “When we rang up to book in, and I said I was 94, and they said I am ‘probably the oldest person’ to do it. They checked and that turned out to be true!”

“On the day, the zip line was all over and done in less than a minute because it was so fast!” he added. “I was nervous but also excited. And I really enjoyed it.”

June had been supported by St John’s in the final six months of her life after her cancer became terminal.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: ‘I Celebrated My 90th Birthday by Jumping Out of a Plane at 12,000 Feet’

She and David had lived in the hospice for a few months before moving home and having hospice carers come to them for the last few weeks of June’s life.

Using the crowdfunding page JustGiving, the two elders have generated more than £9,500.

SHARE These Two Daredevils And Their Breakneck Fundraiser On Social Media…

2,000-Year-old Roman Mosaic Floor Decorated with Sea Creatures Discovered in England

By
Andy Corbley
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The mosaic discovered at Wroxeter – credit English Heritage.

A remarkable 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic was uncovered during excavations at Wroxeter Roman city, which also uncovered an ancient building and shrine.

The Roman presence in Britain is often referred to as the high water mark of the Roman Empire, while the decline and eventual abandonment as something like the receding of a tide.

As the tides of empire receded from England’s Shropshire, near Wales, they left behind a stunning mosaic of fish and other sea life made from green, blue, yellow, and red tiles that’s just been seen for the first time in centuries.

Recent excavations on the largely unexcavated Roman city of Wroxeter turned up the foundations of the settlement’s main building.

“One of the best-preserved examples of a Roman city in Britain, Wroxeter (or Viriconium as it was known) established in the 90s AD, was a thriving city of the Roman Empire, once as large as Pompeii,” a statement from English Heritage reads.

“At its height, the city would have contained over two hundred houses, a civic bath house, marketplace, county hall and judicial center.”

The trenches were dug near the city’s forum, in search of a building called the Civic Temple. Located along the main road, the trenches yielded this “particularly rare” mosaic depicting sea life, and a painted plaster wall, the bottom of which, remarkably, survives to this day.

The mosaic discovered at Wroxeter – credit English Heritage.

Also discovered was a mausoleum and shrine that may have housed the remains of an early civic leader such as a mayor.

Wroexeter contains the largest free-standing Roman wall remaining in Great Britain, and remnants of the public baths have also survived through the ages. The whole site, which saw 20 aspiring archaeologists join in the project, was reburied to protect it from oxidative damage and weathering.

MORE MUST-SEE MOSAICS: This 2,300-year-old Mosaic Made of Shells and Coral Has Just Been Found Buried Under Rome

AND: Stunning Ancient Roman Mosaic Found Submerged in the Sea off Naples

Fish and sea life were common motifs in mosaics made by the Romans and several of their contemporaries, for example, Carthage. The museum in Monastir, Tunisia, contains one of the most impressive collections of classical mosaics outside the Roman world, and sea life is depicted on many of them.

SHARE This Awesome Find From Roman Times With Your Friends… 

Charles Barkley Turns Down $100 Million Contracts to Ensure TNT Sports Staff Keep Their Jobs Another Year

By
Andy Corbley
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Charles Barkley - released from Turner Sports.
Charles Barkley – released from Turner Sports.

In one of the largest shake-ups in sports broadcasting this century, Turner Sports (TNT) lost out on an 11-year rights deal to broadcast the NBA.

But while they may have lost their apex product, they didn’t lose their apex presenter, who turned down a total of $100 million in contract offers from other networks so that the team that supports him could maintain their jobs for their final year together.

Last Wednesday, Charles Barkley revealed on the Dan Le Batard Show podcast that as TNT enters the final year of its contract to broadcast the NBA, he could have ended his participation with the network and gone to sign with one of the other networks included in the new 11-year broadcasting deal.

Barkley, who signed a 10-year agreement with TNT Sports in 2022, will be entering his 25th year with the company and chose to stay onboard until the 2025-2026 season to make sure his team maintained their livelihoods.

According to People Magazine, an exit by Barkley would have been contractually sound, as the network had lost the broadcasting rights.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley said in a statement released by Turner. “My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible.”

“We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future.”

TO MAKE YOU SMILE: Baseball Star Bryce Harper Helps a Random Guy Ask a Girl on a Prom Date

In late July, the NBA chose to sign a $1.8 billion per year offer from ESPN’s parent company Walt Disney, NBC, and Amazon for the next 11 years of NBA coverage, while TNT’s equivalent offer was rebuffed.

The league stated it looked forward to another season on TNT, but Turner Sports announced it would examine legal options.

MORE CONSIDERATE CELEBRITIES: Coldplay Singer Gives Fan with Arthritis a Lift to Show: ‘Such a nice man!’

“I want to thank all of those networks for reaching out to me,” the two-time NBA Hall of Famer said on the Dan Le Batard show. “It was really humbling and cool, to be honest with you. Even though they were throwing crazy numbers, like damn, but as long as I got my people safe at TNT man, I feel really good.”

SHARE This Story Of Integrity From A Considerate American Millionaire… 

Startup Replaces 6 Million Plastic Bags with Prototype Made from Corn Waste That Decomposes in 180 Days

By
Andy Corbley
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Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin with eco-friendly plastic bags – BioReform
Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin with eco-friendly plastic bags – BioReform

An Indian entrepreneur is using sugar, cellulose, and corn fibers to make a plastic-like carrier bag for small Indian businesses.

His company Bio Reform has already replaced 6 million plastic bags in the checkout counters of stores all over India.

Based in Hyderabad, Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin first got the idea during the general mayhem that arose during the pandemic. Mohiuddin was looking at global environmental issues with the hope of finding one his entrepreneurial spirit had the capacity to tackle.

He would eventually settle on plastic use, the overreliance on it in society, and the dangers of plastic contamination in the form of microplastic particles. Specifically, he wanted to find an alternative to one of the most common plastic products used today: the plastic shopping bag.

Mohiuddin saw the largest brands substituting plastic ones for those made of paper or even jute, but for medium and small businesses that power the majority of the Indian economy, the small increase in costs from using biodegradable bags was too prohibitive.

According to The Better India, he started studying a biodegradable polymer that was first formed and researched in the 1980s called PBAT (Polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate). At the time, it was made with corn and potatoes.

After dodging scams and government-mandated quarantines to identify a suitable class of machinery to manufacture the PBAT bags in Gujurat, his presentation on PBAT landed nearly $100,000 (RS1 crore) in seed funding that allowed him to launch the project.

REPLACING POLLUTING PLASTICS: 

“I tried to balance both my studies and the operations of the company—from collecting raw material, assisting workers to manufacture bags, delivering the products in the market,” Mohiuddin told The Better India. “I used to sleep in a corner in the factory.”

Overcoming bankruptcy, university studies, and a long backlog of unfulfilled orders, Bio Reform finally started to turn a profit, and today manufactures almost 500,000 bags per year at a gross revenue of $180,000.

“Issues related to plastic pollution are not limited to affecting aquatic life and animals anymore. Today, microplastic has reached our bloodstream. Bottled water contains microplastics. Addressing this is an important and urgent problem,” he told TBI. 

“I am glad I am able to contribute my part. It is sometimes taxing to not lead a regular college life but in the end, it is all worth it. I feel content when I go back to sleep. But much more needs to be done to make India plastic-free, and I will continue to strive for it,” he adds.

SHARE This Inspiring Entrepreneurial Story From India With Your Friends… 

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

Photo by: Giulia Bertelli

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?

Woman With Fear of Rejection Cures Herself With Self-Esteem by Asking Odd Requests of Strangers

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Good News Network
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Sophie Jones selfie SWNS
Sophie Jones selfie SWNS

A young woman who was ‘crippled by a fear of rejection’ says she has cured herself by doing a series outrageous challenges in public.

Sophie Jones compiled a list of of dozens of challenges to undertake as therapy for the phobia which she has struggled with all her life.

So far, the 22-year-old managed to tick 45 things off her list—including walking into a lake fully clothed while people were swimming around her and asking shoppers to give her items from their cart.

Her favorites include challenging strangers to games of rock, paper, scissors and asking to make pizza in a pizzeria kitchen.

“Doing things that terrified me changed my life, and my confidence has skyrocketed,” she said.

Sophie, who lives in Warrington, England, said she experienced a lot of rejection throughout her teenage years. By the time she was 15, she was being bullying in school, which she says made her feel awful.

She said she became terrified of experiencing rejection and started shying away from friendships and opportunities. She didn’t want to put herself forward for things like new jobs or friendships due to low self-esteem.

“I was scared to make more friends. I felt I had no confidence within myself, I saw others with opportunities and thought, ‘why did I not have them?’”

“I felt like it was holding me back. I felt like I’d lost control of my life. I struggled with my mindset and outlook on life.”

In February, she became aware of a treatment called “rejection therapy,” that can treat a fear of rejection—from which she realized she was suffering.

This model is a form of exposure therapy that urges people to actively try to get rejected as much as possible.

After seeing another woman online asking for a free coffee in a shop, she decided to start her own “fear list”, which made the social media manager feel inspired, but also very nervous. (See her video below showing a few of her challenging moments…)

“The fact that someone could put themselves out of their comfort zone, I aspired to have that confidence. I knew it was possible.

DEPRESSED? TRY THIS: Improving Her Depression, Woman Tries Something New Every Day for a Year–And Vows to Keep it Up

“When I first started, it was awful. The anxiety of asking someone a question would eat me up all day. I was scared of being judged. But now, I’m thriving and living my life to the fullest with less fear.

“I have always seen people dance and sing in the street and I thought they must have a strong mindset. I knew it was my next step; I’ve motivated myself and grown my confidence.”

Sophie Jones on TikTok / SWNS

Since discovering the method, Sophie has been able to make her own ice cream in an ice cream van, and even climbed up stairs in public on all fours.

She has challenged herself to ask a mattress store manager if she could sleep in one of the beds, and even asked to slide down a fireman’s pole.

“When I asked if I could have my fuel for free the woman gave me a dirty look and asked why I would want it for free. It can be so nerve-racking at first.”

As the challenges progressed Sophie found herself receiving fewer rejections—which she says is due to her being more confident.

Now, she feels free from rejection anxiety, and recommends other people do this too.

“I want everyone to realize they can do anything they want. The greatest opportunities are just around the corner.”

HOW TO STOP ANXIETY: Anxiety Can Be a Habit – Which Means We Can Stop it, If We Know How

“Anyone can do rejection therapy. It doesn’t have to be anything big, it can sometimes just be just asking for the bill at a restaurant, you can start small.”

But, Sophie’s upcoming challenges are getting bolder. She wants to go on a walk wearing a shower cap and to sing on a train. (Check out her video clips below…)

SHARE THE GREAT ADVICE With Friends and Family On Social Media…

How Parents Plan to Make Back-to-School ‘Magical’ For Their Kids

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Good News Network
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By note thanun
By note thanun

Four out of five parents are working to make the back-to-school season “magical” for their elementary school kids, according to a new poll.

A survey of 2,000 parents with children aged 12 and under found 86% are trying to bring the “magic” back to school and, for many, their goal is getting their child excited about returning to the classroom.

In order to do so, parents are allowing their child to choose their clothing and outfits (62%), purchase school supplies they liked best (62%), and help support their child’s passions and interests (56%).

19% of parents admitted they disliked school when they were their child’s age, and 96% are hoping to create more positive memories for their little ones.

Results found that 40% of kids are typically “very excited” to return to school after their summer break, which means parents are working overtime to make it match expectations.

How do parents get their kids excited about learning? 63% use hands-on learning (like teaching fractions through baking a cake). 43% said they use food or snack activities, and 25% exercise their imagination and learning with experiences, such as fantasy costume play.

Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Keebler snacks, the survey looked into more ways parents are making the school year “magic” for their kids.

Over four in ten like to surprise their kids with their favorite snacks, three in ten slip notes into their lunchbox, and 19% have given their child a “lucky charm” to take to school for good luck. And, 70% of parents believe an after-school snack is a “magic” fix when their child has had a rough day.

According to the results, parents generally ‘keep magic alive’ by encouraging their child to use their imagination (70%), encourage a belief in the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus (53%), teach them to always see the best in people and their experiences (50%) and encourage them to look for the unexpected (46%).

“There’s plenty of small ways to make a new routine ‘magical’ and help instill that love of learning and school in your child,” said Alicia Mosley, Vice President of Marketing for the Keebler Brand. “Whether you’re putting notes in your child’s lunch box or surprising them with their favorite snack.”

“It’s encouraging to see parents working so hard to keep magic alive for their children and it’s those little moments of magic that their children are going to remember and cherish for the rest of their lives.”

Newly Discovered Protein Stops DNA Damage and Even Repairs it – Pointing to a Cancer Vaccine

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Good News Network
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DdrC-DNA complex protein formation – Western University / Canadian Light Source
DdrC-DNA complex protein formation – Western University / Canadian Light Source

Researchers from Western University have discovered a protein that has the never-before-seen ability to stop DNA damage in its tracks. The finding could provide the foundation for developing everything from vaccines against cancer, to crops that can withstand increasing drought.

The researchers in Ontario, Canada, found the protein—called DdrC (for DNA Damage Repair Protein C)—in a fairly common bacterium called Deinococcus radiodurans, which has the decidedly uncommon ability to survive conditions that damage DNA; it can withstand 5,000 to 10,000 times the radiation that would kill a regular human cell.

Lead researcher Robert Szabla says Deinococcus also excels in repairing DNA that has already been damaged.

“It’s as if you had a player in the NFL who plays every game without a helmet or pads,” says Szabla, a grad student in Western’s Department of Biochemistry.

“He’d end up with a concussion and multiple broken bones every single game, but then miraculously make a full recovery overnight in time for practice the next day.” He and his colleagues discovered that DdrC is a key player in this repair process.

Every cell has a DNA repair mechanism to fix damage. “With a human cell, if there are any more than two breaks in the entire billion base pair genome, it can’t fix itself and it dies,” he said in a news release.

“But in the case of DdrC, this unique protein helps the cell to repair hundreds of broken DNA fragments into a coherent genome.”

MEDICAL MAGIC: Nanofiber Molecules Help Repair Cartilage Damage in Joints by ‘Regenerating Tissue’

Szabla and his team used the most powerful X-ray source in the country, the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan to determine the 3D shape of the protein, from which they then worked backwards to better understand its “superpower” to neutralize DNA damage.

They discovered that DdrC scans for breaks along the DNA and when it detects one it snaps shut – like a mousetrap. This trapping action has two key functions.

“It neutralizes the DNA damage, and prevents the break from getting damaged further. And it acts like a little molecular beacon. It tells the cell ‘Hey, over here. There’s damage. Come fix it.’”

Typically, says Szabla, proteins form complicated networks that enable them to carry out a function. DdrC appears to be something of an outlier, in that it performs its function all on its own, without the need for other proteins.

REVERSING DEADLY DISEASE: 59-year-old Man Who Had Type 2 Diabetes for 25 Years is Cured by Stem Cells

The team was also curious whether the protein might function as a “plug-in” for other DNA repair systems. They tested this by adding it to a different bacterium: E. coli.

“To our huge surprise, it actually made the bacterium over 40 times more resistant to UV radiation damage,” he reported in findings published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. “This seems to be a rare example where you have one protein and it really is like a standalone machine.”

He says that, in theory, this gene could be introduced into any organism – plants, animals, humans – and it should increase the DNA repair efficiency of that organism’s cells.

“The ability to rearrange and edit and manipulate DNA in specific ways is the holy grail in biotechnology,” said Szabla. “What if you had a scanning system such as DdrC which patrolled your cells and neutralized damage when it happened? This might form the basis of a potential cancer vaccine.”

The Western team is just getting started studying Deinococcus.

“DdrC is just one out of hundreds of potentially useful proteins in this bacterium. The next step is to prod further, look at what else this cell uses to fix its own genome – because we’re sure to find many more tools where we have no idea how they work or how they’re going to be useful until we look.”

CANCER BREAKTHROUGH: Cervical Cancer Trial Hailed as ‘Remarkable’ After 35% Reduced Death Rate Using Simple Intervention

“Currently, when we think of cancer treatments, we always think of treating it once it’s already happened. What if we can prevent the cancer from happening in the first place?”

Watch his video explaining it in easy-to-understand terms…

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Landscapers Spot Unexploded WWII Bomb While Digging in Garden–Saving Themselves and Homes Before Evacuation

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Good News Network
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Lucky landscapers James Dobson and Paul Probert – SWNS
Lucky landscapers James Dobson and Paul Probert – SWNS

A pair of landscape gardeners were left shell-shocked after digging up an unexploded bomb from World War II, while working on a back garden.

Residents were evacuated from their homes in Worcester, England, while police and bomb squads rushed to the scene following the discovery by Paul Probert and James Dobson.

The pair had been working in the backyard of a residential home on Stephenson Road in Barbourne, when they unearthed the device with heavy machinery on Thursday.

Paul said he thought he had found a Coca-Cola bottle at first until they saw the shape and James did a Google image search to reveal it was a WW2 bomb.

West Mercia Police erected a 100m cordon and told people to leave their homes while a specialist Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team examined the device.

The EOD team was on the street for over three hours before they transported the device away from the area to carry out a controlled explosion.

“I dug it up with the digger and thought it was a coke bottle due to the shape,” said Paul, a 34-year-old father of two. “It wasn’t until I saw the tip that we realized it was a bomb.”

James used Google Lens to try to identify it, and learned it was a World War II bomb.

SWNS

“We didn’t touch it and stayed well clear of it.”

SAVVY FIND: 7th C. Sword With Gold Handle Found by Elderly Lady in Field That Metal Detector Pros Said was Empty

“They think it was French and fired from a cannon. It could’ve been during training.

“We’ve found water pipes and electricity lines, but never a bomb. It wasn’t your average day.”

A West Mercia Police cordoned a 100-meter area and evacuated the neighborhood while they waited for experts to retrieve it.

Five hours later, residents were allowed back, after the discovery was made at around 9am.

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“We’d like to reassure the public that the area has now been made safe by Explosive Ordnance Disposal, who have removed the item and will carry out a controlled explosion in a safe location,” reported Detective Chief Inspector James Bamber.

SHARE THE LUCK WITH GARDENING BUDDIES On Social Media…

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” – William Shakespeare

Photo by: SameerVasta, CC license

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?

Historic Negotiations With Big Pharma to Lower Drug Prices Will Save $1.5 Billion for US Consumers–and More

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Good News Network
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– National Cancer Institute
– National Cancer Institute

It is well-documented that Americans have been paying a lot more for prescription drugs than people in any other developed nation, but this week the White House completed “negotiations” with ‘Big Pharma’ that will finally lower those prices for millions of seniors on Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which passed in the Senate after a tie-breaking vote by the vice president, will not only save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for seniors, it will also save the nation’s Medicare system $6 billion—in the first year alone.

Millions of seniors and those with disabilities on Medicare will see their drug costs go down on some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs that treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.

The Department of Health and Human Services reached agreements with the pharmaceutical manufacturers of 10 different drugs which have surged in price since they went on the market. Some of the new prices, like two for diabetes, are being slashed by up to 79 percent, for those with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.

The ten drugs are among the prescriptions with highest total spending in Medicare Part D. If the negotiated prices had been in effect during 2023, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion. When the negotiated prices go into effect in 2026, people enrolled in Medicare Part D are estimated to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.

For example, a Medicare enrollee who takes Stelara for their arthritis and pays $3,459 for a 30-day supply today would pay only $1,174 in 2026. However, many of these patients on Medicare will also benefit from the new $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending (as detailed in the Inflation Reduction Act)—on top of these new savings from negotiated drug prices.

Credit: HHS

Of the ten drugs, the most commonly prescribed is Eliquis, which is currently treating blood clots for nearly four million Americans on Medicare. The monthly price will plummet by 56%, an overall savings for the nation of many billions of dollars.

As detailed in the legislation, more drugs will be selected each year—up to 15 drugs for negotiation in 2025, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.

MORE DRUG PRICES DROPPING: Crazy Insulin Prices Now a Thing of the Past in U.S. After Government Initiates Monthly Cost of $35

“Americans pay too much for their prescription drugs. That makes today’s announcement historic. For the first time ever, Medicare negotiated directly with drug companies and the American people are better off for it,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.

“Empowering Medicare to negotiate prices not only strengthens the program for generations to come, but also puts a check on skyrocketing drug prices.”

SHARE The Future Cost Savings With Friends and Family on Social Media…  

She Doesn’t Want Kids But Donated 41 Eggs to Help Strangers–And Celebrates Donor Baby’s Birthday Every Year

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Good News Network
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Egg donor Yasmin Sharman – SWNS
Egg donor Yasmin Sharman (cropped) – SWNS

A person who doesn’t want kids has donated 41 eggs to help strangers become parents—and celebrates the birthday of her ‘donor baby’ every year.

Yasmin Sharman was concerned by the lack of black donors, so signed up with TFP Fertility in London to be a donor when she 18.

Since then, the 26-year-old has donated 41 eggs, which eventually resulted in the birth of a baby boy to a loving family.

“When I found out that my donation had resulted in the birth of a baby boy I was ecstatic,” Yasmin recalls. “I celebrate the baby’s birthday every year with my friends.”

“It makes me so happy and grateful to be part of somebody’s life, being able to contribute to a family that may have been going through so much emotional turmoil.

“Knowing they have a family now makes me so happy.”

When the teen decided she didn’t want children of her own, she wondered about helping other couples who were struggling with their remaining choices.

Yasmin searched the web for ‘egg donation in London’ and came across TPF Boston Place Fertility—and booked an appointment.

“When I walked through the door, I was nervous, but then it hit me. It was exciting to realize that what I was about to do would impact people.” She described the staff as extremely helpful and lovely: “I felt so supported by them.”

OTHER WAYS PEOPLE DONATE: Woman Welcomes Baby After Strangers Donate $13,000 for Her to Undergo IVF

After giving her a health check-up and reviewing her medical history, they accepted her application. Yasmin has donated a total of three times, most recently in April, despite having to inject herself with hormones multiple times per day.

Egg donor Yasmin Sharman with hormone treatment-SWNS

Egg donors need to inject themselves for 14 days to suppress their natural hormone production, before a second set of injections to stimulate production. A day or two before the eggs are collected, donors receive a hormone injection to help the eggs mature and then the eggs are collected during a procedure.

“I find the process quite easy, I self-inject two or three times a day, for eleven or twelve days, with medicines which stimulate my hormones and encourage my eggs to grow.

“(With) the pregnancy hormones, if I look out of the window and see a cute couple on a bus, I’m likely to burst into tears.”

“I was asked about my reasons for donating, and they checked if I would potentially be happy to be contacted in 18 years,” she said. “I am already happy for that to happen.”

FAMILY FIRST POLICY: Babies Don’t Come with Manuals–But in Oregon, They Now Come With a Nurse

Even though she describes 18 years as a long way away, she’s hopeful that children born with the help of her eggs will reach out to her, when they get to the age.

“It would be interesting and lovely to meet them.”

Celebrating their birthdays annually serves as a great reminder that she’s created real happiness.

“I have contributed to something good. So many people want children but don’t have a choice. I’m young and I have so many eggs.”

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FDA Approves Drug That Targets Brain Cancer Gene Mutation That Could Delay Need for Radiation and Chemotherapy

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Good News Network
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Image by Elizabeth Cook / Johns Hopkins
Image by Elizabeth Cook / Johns Hopkins

A new drug for a type of brain cancer, called IDH-mutant low-grade glioma, was approved this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—a promising treatment that stemmed from a genetic discovery made at the Johns Hopkins Cancer Center 16 years ago.

The drug, called vorasidenib, is a targeted cancer therapy that works by inhibiting the activity of a mutated gene called IDH, slowing the growth of the cancer.

The gene was identified by Dr. Bert Vogelstein in 2008 when his team at Hopkins became the first to map the genetic blueprint for brain cancer. The blueprint was considered the most comprehensive genetic analysis for any tumor type, evaluating all known protein-encoding genes in brain cancer.

The researchers found that the IDH gene—which had never been suspected to be involved in any tumor type—was frequently mutated in one subset of brain cancers.

Normal treatments usually include surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation and chemotherapy to attack remaining cancer cells. But, in some patients, the addition of the IDH inhibitor could delay the need for radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

“The possibility of delaying radiation therapy and chemotherapy with this drug could be beneficial to select patients with slow growing IDH-mutant gliomas,” says Matthias Holdhoff, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center brain tumor program and a co-investigator on the 2023 clinical trial.

“I believe we are looking at a new standard of care option for these types of tumors.”

VOGELSTEIN ALSO INVENTED: New Cancer Drug is So Effective Against Tumors, the FDA Approved It Immediately

Findings published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine from a phase 3 clinical trial of vorasidenib concluded that the 331 patients with grade 2 IDH-mutant glioma who received the drug had significantly improved progression-free survival and that the therapy delayed the time to the next intervention (compared to patients who received a placebo).

Precision medicine for cancer

Vogelstein and his team’s genetic discoveries ushered in what is known as precision cancer medicine in which therapies are targeted to the unique genetic makeup of each patient’s cancer.

Not only did this research lead to this newly FDA-approved drug, the IDH gene discovery led to a new classification of gliomas—differentiating cancers with an IDH mutation that have overall better outcome and response to treatment from the very aggressive gliomas without an IDH mutation, including glioblastoma, the most common primary brain cancer in adults.

Approximately 80% of low-grade gliomas contain an IDH mutation, according to the National Cancer Institute. They include IDH-mutant astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma, and they occur most commonly in younger adults. Low grade gliomas tend to be slower growing and are associated with longer survival than aggressive, high-grade gliomas.

ANOTHER BRAIN BREAKTHROUGH: Cancer Vaccine Triggers Fierce Immune Response to Fight Malignant Brain Tumors in Human Patients

“IDH is the poster child for cancer genome sequencing, and it illustrates the importance of basic research,” says Vogelstein, the Clayton Professor of Oncology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and co-director of the Ludwig Center.

“The history of medicine shows that when a disease is understood, it eventually becomes manageable. It may not be immediately evident, but in time, as in this case, such discoveries result in better treatment for patients.”

It has also paved the way for additional studies in other types of brain cancer.

MORE HOPEFUL NEWS: CAR-T Cell Therapy Achieves Near-Complete Tumor Regression in Brain Cancer After Five Days

The Johns Hopkins University holds patents related to the IDH discovery, which have been licensed by Servier Laboratories, which also funded the phase 3 trial. As a result of this licensing agreement, the University and its inventors, including Dr. Bert Vogelstein, will be entitled to royalties related to the IDH discovery.

SHARE THE DISCOVERY WITH BRAINIAC Science Lovers On Social Media…

 

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

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Good News Network
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Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of August 17, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The coming weeks will be a wonderful time to waste time on the internet. If you are properly aligned with cosmic rhythms, you will spend long hours watching silly videos, interacting with friends and strangers on social media, and shopping for products you don’t really need. JUST KIDDING!! Everything I just said was a dirty lie. It was designed to test your power to resist distracting influences and mediocre advice. Here’s my authentic counsel, Leo. The coming weeks will be a fantastic phase to waste as little time as possible as you intensify your focus on the few things that matter to you most.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Scientific research suggests that brushing and flossing your teeth not only boosts the health of your gums, but also protects your heart’s health. Other studies show that if you maintain robust microbiota in your gut, you’re more likely to avoid anxiety and depression as you nurture your mental health. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to focus on big-picture thoughts like these, Virgo. You will be wise to meditate on how each part of your life affects every other part. You will generate good fortune as you become more vividly aware and appreciative of the intimate interconnectedness that underlies all you do.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The official term for the shape of a single piece of M&M candy is “oblate spheroid.” It’s rounded but not perfectly round. It looks like a partially squashed sphere. An Iraqi man named Ibrahim Sadeq decided to try the difficult task of arranging as many M&M’s as possible in a vertical stack. He is now the world’s record holder in that art, with seven M&M’s. I am imagining that sometime soon, Libra, you could achieve a comparable feat in your own domain. What’s challenging but not impossible?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I’ve heard many people brag about their hangovers. The stories they tell are often entertaining and humorous. One of my best laughs emerged in response to two friends describing the time they jumped on the roof a parked Mercedes Benz at 3 am and sang songs from Verdi’s opera Falstaff until the cops came and threw them in a jail cell with nothing to eat or drink for ten hours. In accordance with astrological omens, Scorpio, I ask you to *not* get a hangover in the coming weeks, even an amusing one. Instead, I encourage you to studiously pursue extreme amounts of pleasurable experiences that have only good side effects.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Most famous musicians demand that their dressing rooms be furnished with specific amenities. Beyoncé needs rose-scented candles. Rihanna expects her preparatory sanctuary to have dark blue or black drapes topped with icy blue chiffon. Eminem insists on a set of 25-pound dumbbells, and the hip-hop band Rae Sremmurd wants Super Soaker water guns. Since the coming weeks may be as close to a rock star phase of your cycle as you’ve ever had, I recommend you create a list of your required luxuries. This imaginative exercise will hopefully get you in the mood to ask for exactly what you need everywhere you go.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Sleep deprivation is widespread. I see it as a pandemic. According to some studies, over half the people in the world suffer from insomnia, don’t get enough sleep, or have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Most research on this subject doesn’t mention an equally important problem: that many people aren’t dreaming enough. And the fact is that dreaming is key to our psychological well-being. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your relationship with sleep and dreams. I encourage you to learn all you can and do all you can to make your time in bed deeply rejuvenating.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Only 47 people live on the volcanic Pitcairn Islands, which are located in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific Ocean. Pollution is virtually non-existent, which is why the honey made by local bees is the purest on the planet. In accordance with astrological omens, I’d love for you to get honey like that in the coming weeks. I hope you will also seek the best and purest of everything. More than ever, you need to associate with influences that are potent, clear, genuine, raw, vibrant, natural, and full-strength.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Many Indigenous people in North America picked and ate wild cranberries. But farm-grown cranberries available for commercial use didn’t appear until 1816. Here’s how it happened. In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a farmer discovered a secret about the wild cranberry bog on his land. Whenever big storms dumped sand on the bog, the fruit grew with more lush vigor. He tinkered with this revelation from nature and figured out how to cultivate cranberries. I recommend this as a teaching story, Pisces. Your assignment is to harness the power and wisdom provided by a metaphorical storm or disturbance. Use it to generate a practical innovation in your life.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Years ago, when I worked as a postal delivery person in Santa Cruz, California, I mastered my route quickly. The time allotted to complete it was six hours, but I could easily finish in four. Soon I began to goof off two hours a day, six days a week. Many great works of literature and music entertained me during that time. I joined a softball team and was able to play an entire game each Saturday while officially on the job. Was what I did unethical? I don’t think so, since I always did my work thoroughly and precisely. Is there any comparable possibility in your life, Aries? An ethical loophole? A workaround that has full integrity? An escape clause that causes no harm?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
From an astronomer’s perspective, Uranus is huge. 63 Earths could fit inside of it. It’s also weirdly unique because it rotates sideways compared to the other planets. From an astrologer’s point of view, Uranus symbolizes the talents and gifts we possess that can be beneficial to others. If we fully develop these potentials, they will express our unique genius and be useful to our fellow humans. It so happens that Uranus has been cruising through Taurus since 2018 and will mostly continue there until 2026. I regard these years as your best chance in this lifetime to fulfill the opportunities I described. The coming weeks will be especially pregnant with possibilities.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Mountaineer Edmund Hillary is renowned as the first person to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. It happened in 1953. Less famous was his companion in the ascent, Gemini mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. Why did Hillary get more acclaim than Norgay, even though they were equal partners in the monumental accomplishment? Was it because one was a white New Zealander and the other was Nepalese? In any case, I’m happy to speculate that if there’s a situation in your life that resembles Norgay’s, you will get remediation in the coming months. You will receive more of the credit you deserve. You will garner the acknowledgment and recognition that had previously been unavailable. And it all starts soon.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I earn my living as a writer now, but for many years I had to work at odd jobs to keep from starving. One of the most challenging was tapping the sap of Vermont maple trees during the frigid weather of February. Few trees produce more than three gallons of sap per day, and it takes 40 to 50 gallons to create a single gallon of maple syrup. It was hard work that required a great deal of patience. According to my analysis, you Cancerians are in a metaphorically comparable situation these days. To get the good results you want, you may have to generate a lot of raw material—and that could take a while. Still, I believe that in the end, you will think the strenuous effort has been well worth it.

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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“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James

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Good News Network
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Credit: Joseph Pearson

Quote of the Day: “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James 

Photo by: Joseph Pearson

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?

18-Year-old Uses Her Tracking Skills to Guide Hikers on Wildfire Evacuation Route

By
Andy Corbley
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An image of the fire seen from the Valley of the Five Lakes, Jasper National Park. Parks.canada.ca
An image of the fire seen from the Valley of the Five Lakes, Jasper National Park. Parks.canada.ca

Out from the ash and flames of the wildfires that scorched Canada’s Jasper National Park comes the story of a heroic 18-year-old who saved over a dozen people.

Working as a volunteer firefighter and kitchen aide at a lodge, Colleen Knull received an evacuation order on a Monday in late July. Stepping outside she saw smoke rising up the mountainsides, and knew that there were people still camping in the area.

Alerting everyone at the lodge, she went out to gather the campers until 16 people were ready to evacuate. Darkness was falling, and getting out of the area meant a 4-hour hike across treacherous terrain.

Knull used her knowledge of the area and tracking skills to help navigate the 16 people down the trail. The group used head torches and phone flashlights to see in the darkness.

“I had previously rode up a horse up to that lodge on that same trail and throughout the way me and my employer, we had cut logs on the way up,” Knull told CTV News. “There were 67 logs, so there would be be 67 cut logs on the way down … So I used my tracking skills – following horse tracks, horse manure.”

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Sikh Men Created a Lifeline Using Turbans to Rescue Hikers at a Canadian Park

“There was more intense smoke, my eyes were burning, there was ash falling constantly,” said Rebecca Tocher, a hiker who was in Knull’s group. “She was an amazing leader and was just making sure that everyone was working together.”

Incredibly, all 16 hikers made it out ahead of the fires and successfully evacuated in the back of Knull’s pickup truck.

OTHER YOUNG HEROES: 12-year-old Uses Boy Scout Know-How to Rescue Lost Couple and Injured Dog on a Hike

The experience, Knull recounted, just reinforced her desire to become a full-time professional firefighter.

WATCH the story below from CTV News… 

SHARE This Young Woman’s Incredible Leadership In A Treacherous Situation…

Hobbyist Hedgetrimmer Transforms His Street into Green Sculpture Gallery in Memory of Beloved Wife

By
Andy Corbley
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credit - Time Bushe @hedgetrimmerman
credit – Time Bushe @hedgetrimmerman

“We’re a tourist attraction on Google Maps now,” local Londener Polly Barker told CBS News, gesturing to her garden hedge—trimmed immaculately so as to depict Henry Moore’s famous sculpture Reclining Nude. 

CBS was in Barker’s neighborhood to talk to the sculptor himself: a man named Bushe.

Tim Bushe has been trimming hedges for 15 years. It’s his hobby, his artistic expression, a way to raise funds for his sister who has Down Syndrome, but most of all, whether it’s the locomotive-shaped hedge outside his house, or the cats across the street, it’s a way of memorializing his dearly departed.

“It is her legacy,” Bushe told CBS. Down a dead-end road in London’s Islington district, Bushe had been living for years with his wife Philippa. Meeting as teenagers in art school, they were together 47 years.

One day with her view from the sofa, Philippa asked Tim to cut a cat into the hedge of their home. She got a train instead, but it seemed that the electric hedge trimmer was an artist’s brush, and soon, Philippa suggested he do the neighbor’s hedge too.

The neighbor had physical limitations and couldn’t cut their own hedge, and it was they who eventually got the cat, so in the end Philippa had an even better view.

Bushe, who works as an architect when he’s not busy with a hedge, lost his wife 7 years ago to breast cancer, and continued to sculpt his neighbors’ hedges until the road was filled with elephants, hippos, fish, and other things.

GLORIOUS GREEN ART: Monumental Animal Sculptures Made From 35 Tons of Plastic Collected on Oregon Coast by Volunteers–LOOK

The hedges aren’t just for sightseers, however. With each commission, Bushe raises money for a trust that looks after his sister, and another that donates to environmental causes.

He currently has a GoFundMe called “Hedging Against Climate Change” and is raising money for the WWF, Greenpeace, Fridays for Future, and The Good Law Project.

MORE INSPIRING STREET ARTISTS: Giant Halloween Sculptures in Architect’s Front Yard Get Better Every Year, From King Kong to an Egyptian Tomb—LOOK

“If she was alive now, she would be fascinated, I think, by the way it’s taken off,” he told CBS News, adding that he intends to keep going, “until I fall off my ladder.”

You can keep up with Bushe on his Instagram—Hedgecutterman.

WATCH the CBS interview below… Note: Viewers Outside the US Watch on the CBS Website… 

SHARE This Inspired Artist And His Hedges With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk Unearthed in Mississippi Creek Belonged to Largest Species in North America

By
Andy Corbley
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MDEQ – via Facebook
MDEQ – via Facebook

A fossil hunter in Mississippi recently unearthed an intact mammoth ivory 7 feet long.

Believing it was the tusk of a mastodon, a far more common proboscidean in the area, Eddie Templeton was nevertheless ecstatic to find one that wasn’t fragmented.

But it was only after scientists arrived from the Mississippi Museum of Natural History and were able to examine it that the real former owner of the tusk became clear. It was the ivory of a Colombian mammoth—the largest mammoth in North America, and rarely documented this far south.

He has found mastodon teeth, jaws, saber-tooth cat gnashers, and other Ice Age treasures, but the size, majestic curl, and rarity of the ivory surely places it not only among the most remarkable finds of Templeton’s career, but among the most remarkable in the state’s history, as it’s the first time an intact tusk from this species has been found in the Magnolia State.

“Mississippi was home to three Proboscideans during the last ice age: Mastodon, Gomphothere, and the Columbian mammoth. All three possessed ivory tusks,” the Mississippi Museum of Natural History wrote in a statement regarding the discovery.

“Mastodons are by far the most common Proboscidean finds in Mississippi as they were browsers, like modern deer, and inhabited a variety of different environments. Mammoths which were related to modern elephants are far less common finds in Mississippi as they were open grassland grazers and would have been at home in only a select few environments, particularly the prairie regions of Mississippi.”

The Columbian mammoth could grow 10 feet tall and weigh 15 tons, but despite this size advantage, the smaller wooly mammoth outlived them by about 6,000 years.

OTHER MAMMOTH BITS: Amateur Fossil Hunter Calls Her Shot, Finding a Giant Mammoth Tooth After Declaring She Would on Her Birthday

The ivory was transported to the Museum of Natural History after being covered in tin foil, slathered with plaster, and wrapped in burlap—the technical procedure for exhuming a fossil from the ground.

Once the plaster jacket containing the fossil tusk dried, it was carefully lifted onto a makeshift gurney fashioned from an ATV ramp. The fossil specimen in the jacket weighed about 600 pounds.

ICE AGE REMAINS IN MISSISSIPPI: Man Finding an American Lion Tooth Fossil in Shallow Mississippi is ‘the Biggest of Deals‘ to Scientists

Stuck in the mud for over 10,000 years, the tusk is well preserved, but contact with oxygen can cause rapid deterioration, so once the covering is removed, a glaze rather like the kind used to laminate safety glass in car windows will be applied in order to put the ivory on display, slated for spring 2025.

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The World’s Largest 3D Printer Is Building Cozy Homes from Wood

By
Andy Corbley
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University of Maine, Advanced Structures and Composites Center
University of Maine, Advanced Structures and Composites Center

At the University of Maine, one of the world’s largest 3D printers is using sawdust from the state’s lumber industry to 3D-print cozy 600-square-foot wooden cabins.

It’s part of a move towards making 3D printing faster and more sustainable in a state where the housing shortage that has metastasized in most states around the country is dire.

It’s thought that 80,000 new homes will be needed over the next 5 years to keep pace with demand, and though it takes years for building codes to be changed, the technicians at the Advanced Structures & Composites Center (ASCC) at the Univ. of Maine hope their new toy can help address this need.

Guinness World Records certified the machine at ASCC as the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, capable of creating an object that is 96 feet in length, 36 feet in width, and 18 feet tall—entirely out of bio-based material at a rate of 500 pounds per hour.

In 2022, it could print the walls, floors, and roof of the house in just 96 hours, but the ACSS has been refining the design with the hope of doubling the printing speed and getting it down to a 48-hour timeline.

“When they’re doing concrete, they’re only printing the walls,” Habib Dagher, the executive director of ACSS told CNN. “The approach we’ve taken is quite different from what you’ve seen, and you’ve been reading about for years.”

Indeed, GNN has reported on a fair number of 3D printing projects, but most if not all involve printing only the walls. One fantastical exception is an Italian firm that is 3D-printing domed, beehive-like, modular concept homes inspired by the Great Enclosure in Zimbabwe.

STAND-OUT 3D-PRINTING PROJECTS: 

The ASCC is calling the house design the BioHome3D, and says it’s rare people who tour the concept version don’t ask when they “can have one up?”

The interior gives the feel of a modern Scandinavian wooden cabin, making it fit well with the Maine aesthetic. The ASCC is now doing work on how to incorporate conduits for wiring and plumbing “exactly where an architect would want them,” says Dagher.

WATCH a time-lapse video of the printer doing the job…

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“When one must, one can.” – Charlotte Whitton

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “When one must, one can.” – Charlotte Whitton

Photo by: Alexei Maridashvili

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?

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