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

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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 March 30, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the coming days, your hunger will be so inexhaustible that you may feel driven to devour extravagant amounts of food and drink. It’s possible you will gain ten pounds in a very short time. Who Knows? You might even enter an extreme eating contest and devour 46 dozen oysters in ten minutes!… APRIL FOOL! Although what I just said is remotely plausible, I foresee that you will sublimate your exorbitant hunger. You will realize it is spiritual in nature and can’t be gratified by eating food. As you explore your voracious longings, you will hopefully discover a half-hidden psychological need you have been suppressing. And then you will liberate that need and feed it what it craves!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus novelist Lionel Shriver writes, “There’s a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk.” In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you experiment with Shriver’s strategy in the coming weeks… APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, Lionel Shriver’s comment is one of the dumbest thoughts I have ever heard. Why would anyone want the cheap, damaged liberation that comes from feeling indifferent, numb, and passionless? Please do all you can to disrupt and dissolve any attraction you may have to that state, Taurus. In my opinion, you now have a sacred duty to cultivate extra helpings of enthusiasm, zeal, liveliness, and ambition.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
At enormous cost and after years of study, I have finally figured out the meaning of life, at least as it applies to you Geminis. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reveal it to you unless you send me $1,000 and a case of Veuve Clicquot champagne. I’ve got to recoup my investment, right?! … APRIL FOOL! Most of what I just said was a dirty lie. It’s true that I have worked hard to uncover the meaning of life for you Geminis. But I haven’t found it yet. And even if I did, I would of course provide it to you free. Luckily, you are now in a prime position to make dramatic progress in deciphering the meaning of life for yourself.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
For a limited time only, you have permission from the cosmos to be a wildly charismatic egomaniac who brags incessantly and insists on getting your selfish needs met at all times and in all places. Please feel free to have maximum amounts of narcissistic fun, Cancerian! … APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit, hoping to offer you medicinal encouragement so you will stop being so damn humble and self-effacing all the time. But the truth is, now is indeed an excellent time to assert your authority, expand your clout, and flaunt your potency and sovereignty.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Michael Scott was a character in the TV sitcom The Office. He was the boss of a paper company. Played by Leo actor Steve Carell, he was notoriously self-centered and obnoxious. However, there was one famous scene I will urge you to emulate. He was asked if he would rather be feared or loved. He replied, “Um, easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” Be like Michael Scott, Leo! … APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. It’s true I’m quite excited by the likelihood that you will receive floods of love in the coming weeks. It’s also true that I think you should do everything possible to boost this likelihood. But I would rather that people be amazed and pleased at how much they love you, not afraid.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Now would be an excellent time for you to snag a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Momma or Sugar Nurturer. The astrological omens are telling me that life is expanding its willingness and capacity to provide you with help, support, and maybe even extra cash. I dare you to dangle yourself as bait and sell your soul to the highest bidder… APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. While I do believe it’s prime time to ask for and receive more help, support, and extra cash, I don’t believe you will have to sell your soul to get any of it. Just be yourself!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Happy Unbirthday, Libra! It’s that time halfway between your last birthday and your next. Here are the presents I plan to give you: a boost in your receptivity to be loved and needed; a constructive relationship with obsession; more power to accomplish the half-right thing when it’s hard to do the totally right thing; the disposal of 85 percent of the psychic trash left over from the time between 2018 and 2023; and a provocative new invitation to transcend an outworn old taboo… APRIL FOOL! The truth is, I can’t possibly supply every one of you with these fine offerings, so please bestow them on yourself. Luckily, the cosmic currents will conspire with you to make these things happen.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Now would be an excellent time to seek liposuction, a facelift, Botox, buttocks augmentation, or hair transplants. Cosmic rhythms will be on your side if you change how you look… APRIL FOOL! Everything I just said was a lie. I’ve got nothing against cosmetic surgery, but now is not the right time to alter your appearance. Here’s the correct oracle: Shed your disguises, stop hiding anything about who you really are, and show how proud you are of your idiosyncrasies.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I command you to love Jesus and Buddha! If you don’t, you will burn in Hell! … APRIL FOOL! I was just kidding. I was being sensationalistic to grab your attention. Here’s my real, true oracle for you: Love everybody, including Jesus and Buddha. And I mean love them all twice as strong and wild and tender. The cosmic powers ask it of you! The health of your immortal soul depends on it! Yes, Sagittarius, for your own selfish sake, you need to pour out more adoration and care and compassion than you ever have before. I’m not exaggerating! Be a lavish Fountain of Love!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
If you gave me permission, I would cast a spell to arouse in you a case of ergophobia, i.e., an aversion to work. I think you need to take a sweet sabbatical from doing business as usual… APRIL FOOL! I was just joking about casting a spell on you. But I do wish you would indulge in a lazy, do-nothing retreat. If you want your ambitions to thrive later, you will be wise to enjoy a brief period of delightful emptiness and relaxing dormancy. As Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein recommends, “Don’t just do something! Sit there!”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you get the book Brain Surgery for Beginners by Steven Parker and David West. You now have the power to learn and even master complex new skills, and this would be a excellent place to start… APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. I don’t really think you should take a scalpel to the gray matter of your friends and family members—or yourself, for that matter. But I am quite certain that you currently have an enhanced power to learn and even master new skills. It’s time to raise your educational ambitions to a higher octave. Find out what lessons and training you need most, then make plans to get them.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In the religious beliefs of Louisiana Voodoo, one God presides over the universe but never meddles in the details of life. But there are also many spirits who are intervening and tinkering, intimately involved in the daily rhythm. They might do nice things for people or play tricks on them—and everything in between. In alignment with current astrological omens, I urge you to convert to the Louisiana Voodoo religion and try ingenious strategies to get the spirits to do your bidding… APRIL FOOL! I don’t really think you should convert. However, I believe it would be fun and righteous for you to proceed as if spirits are everywhere—and assume that you have the power to harness them to work on your behalf.

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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“Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Quote of the Day: “Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Photo by: Derrick Treadwell

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

Swedish Maidens’ Choir Sings in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish Language to the Delight of LotR Fans

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Andy Corbley
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Courtesy of @EldandiliFantasy Instagram / FB
Courtesy of @EldandiliFantasy Instagram / FB

A choir of cosplaying elves in Sweden sings and performs lyrical works written in Elvish by J.R.R. Tolkien in the ultimate expression of Lord of the Rings fandom.

Called “Eldandili Fantasy” they actually sing choir pieces from all kinds of fantasy staples, such as World of Warcraft, and The Witcher, but these cannot boast the depth and scope of material which Tolkien infused with his own made-up language.

To wit, Tolkien’s Middle Earth as we read about it in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, is born through song—as the first deity, Eru Illuvatar, sings companion deities—The Ainur—into existence, and who in turn sing the world of Middle Earth into form.

In another historiographical fiction of Middle Earth written by Tolkien, The Legendarium, the elves, we are told, learned to sing before they could speak.

Tolkien wrote hundreds of words in Elvish, and it gave groups like Eldandili Fantasy, based in Sweden, the lyrical flexibility to try and write pieces that replicate how the author described Elvish music to be.

A British composer once whipped up a piece of music to pair with an elvish poem, Namárië, meaning “Be Well” but after he had played it, Tolkien replied that he had heard it differently in his head, and began to hum something like Gregorian chant.

In The Lord of the Rings, the elves sing in choir-like harmony, in which short sections are sung loudest by a single voice which afterward withdraws and allows another voice to highlight another short section.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Dozens of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Paintings and Maps Are Now Online to Inspire Adventure

These are the kinds of clues that Eldandili Fantasy combines with the written language of Elvish and Howard Shore’s Academy Award-winning score for The Lord of the Rings films to make their Elvish songs.

A member of the choir and cosplay group, Jennie Tiderman-Österberg, profiled their work in a long blog post in Smithsonian Magazine, and spoke with one of the sopranos.

“A language is a very intense identity marker,” said soprano Kerstin Koij. “It’s of no wonder that the elven languages in [Middle Earth] are formulated to be both political and historical, with certain aesthetical qualities dependent on cultural context. They enhance the sense of being genuine and legitimate even though everything is fictional.”

MORE FUN STORIES OF CREATIVITY: Fantasy Wonderland of 500,000 Balloons Gives Sick Kids Most Uplifting Fundraising Event Ever – LOOK

It’s interesting, Koij notes, for a Swede, whose language is fairly guttural, to sing in Elvish in which many of the consonants occur forward in the mouth, and are sung in a voiceless manner. She also notes the challenge of singing the emotional content.

“The Passing of the Elves for example, sounds like both longing and sorrow all at once—longing [for] Aman, but a sadness to leave the shores of Middle-earth,” she notes.

It’s clear that a lot of thought and work goes into the choir, which boasts dozens of singers and over 13 instruments, and their effort is worthy of the fantasy world Tolkien left to us.

Information on Eldandili Fantasy choir performances can be found on their website.

LISTEN to that piece and others below…

SHARE This Extraordinary Musical Coplay With Your Friends Who Love Tolkien…

Kombucha Can Mimic the Effects of Fasting in the Body, According to a Study

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Andy Corbley
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Tyler Nix - Unsplash
Tyler Nix – Unsplash

The microbes in the fizzy, fermented drink called kombucha, make several changes to the way fat is metabolized in the gut and intestines that are remarkably similar to those seen in fasting periods.

An antique saying in medicine goes “fasting is the cure for all ailments” and while this is certainly hyperbole, like all wisdom of the ancestors, there are grains of truth contained within it.

Most people will probably think of fasting as a religious penance or a political act of protest, but when the body enters a state of fasting, several a-priori biological processes responsible for the cleanup and repair of our cells and tissues are able to work without interference from the massive influences of the metabolic systems.

Researchers at the Univ. of North Carolina looked at how the microbes in kombucha affected the overall microbiome of the GI tract, and what they found highlights why millions of people, including many celebrities, are forthcoming for their love of the fizzy drink.

As the yeast and bacteria colonized the gut in the scientists’ animal model, expression in the genes responsible for fatty acid metabolism changed. Specifically, the changes coded for more proteins that break fat down, and coded for fewer proteins that agglomerate fats into triglycerides.

Interestingly, this change in genetic expression is similar to what is seen in the bodies of people undergoing fasting.

Dr. Robert Dowen who co-led the study described his team as being “surprised” to see that the microbes in kombucha had the ability to induce a fasting-like state even during periods of eating.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Time-Restricted Eating Could Prevent Work-Related Health Issues, Says New Study

Our ancestors didn’t live in a calorie-rich environment like we do today. The ideas of “three square meals” and “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” are purely modern conceptions reflected in the abundance of food available, and have no basis in biology.

In reality, Homo sapiens was able to grow a strong athletic body in conditions when meals came in increments of days rather than hours. As such, the fasted state had to have advantages.

MORE DIETARY ADDITIONS: Holy Mackerel! Fish Really Is Brain Food – Even if You Only Eat a Small Amount

Along with increasing the speed at which damaged cells were repaired and dead cells were removed, a process called apoptosis, metabolism changed to the utilization of energy stores in the muscle tissue; a process called glycolysis.

By cleaving apart and using fats for energy rather than for storage, the microbes in the kombucha replicate fasting.

SHARE This Intriguing Benefit Of A Strange And Healthy Beverage… 

8-year-old Boy Becomes Youngest Player to Beat a Chess Grandmaster: ‘I felt amazing’

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Andy Corbley
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credit Carleton Lim/Singapore Chess Federation
credit Carleton Lim/Singapore Chess Federation

At the tender age of eight years, six months, and 11 days, Singaporean Ashwath Kaushik became the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster in classical tournament chess.

He beat out the previous record holder by 4 months after defeating Poland’s Jacek Stopa, 37, in round four of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.

CNN describes his parents seeing the “inevitability” of their son spending more time than they did growing up looking at screens, and explained they tried to get out ahead of the habit by introducing the boy to the ancient board game through ChessKid.com.

Then as the pandemic arrived and Singaporean authorities instituted strict lockdowns, Kaushik had all the time in the world to practice.

“I feel proud of my game and how I played. I felt amazing, just unbelievable,” Ashwath told CNN Sport in the wake of his victory.

“I practice a lot each day,” Ashwath says. “A lot of children have a natural talent, so I think I’ve got a natural talent at chess.”

Born in India, Ashwath has been living with his family in Singapore for 6 years. In the Bergdorfer Open, he finished in 12th place after beating Stopa, and losing to International Master Harry Grieve. He is set to pick up 84 rating points, settling him at 1894—extremely close to the highest rating of any player under 8.

OTHER CHILD PRODIGIES: Teen Awarded $50,000 Science Fair Prize for His Method of Removing Microplastics From Water

His parents aren’t pushing him, they merely allow him the time and space to pursue chess as far as he wishes. He currently enjoys the personal coaching of Chess GM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, CEO of the Singapore Chess Foundation, and recently completed GM Jacob Aagaard’s entire Grandmaster series without using a board, something which Ashwath’s father attributes to his “photographic memory.”

CHESS STORIES: Homeless Nigerian Boy Becomes U.S. Chess Champion at 10-Years-old After Immigrating to US

The coaches say his tactical nouse is very developed, but that he needs to work on his strategy.

His next stop? A 2,000 rating, and then world champion, the youth says.

SHARE This Boy’s Incredible Triumph With Your Friends… 

Scientists Reveal Incredible Image of Magnetic Fields Spiraling from Supermassive Black Hole

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Andy Corbley
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The new image of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of Sagittarius A. - SWNS
The new image of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of Sagittarius A. and M87 – SWNS

As part of humanity’s continued attempts to image a black hole, a telescope array recently captured the swirling magnetic fields around two of the closest supermassive black holes to Earth.

Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the black hole Sagittarius A. at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes.

This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*. The results were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Scientists unveiled the first image of Sgr A*—which is approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth—in 2022, revealing that while the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87’s, it looks remarkably similar. This made scientists wonder whether the two shared common traits outside of their looks.

To find out, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of light around M87* revealed that the magnetic fields around the black hole giant allowed it to launch powerful jets of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, the new images have revealed that the same may be true for Sgr A*.

“What we’re seeing now is that there are strong, twisted, and organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy,” said Sara Issaoun, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program from Harvard and the Smithsonian who co-led the project.

“Along with Sgr A* having a strikingly similar polarization structure to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, we’ve learned that strong and ordered magnetic fields are critical to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them.”

Light is an oscillating, or moving, electromagnetic wave that allows us to see objects. Sometimes, light oscillates in a preferred orientation, and we call it “polarized.” Although polarized light surrounds us, to human eyes it is indistinguishable from “normal” light. In the plasma around these black holes, particles whirling around magnetic field lines impart a polarization pattern perpendicular to the field.

This allows astronomers to see in increasingly vivid detail what’s happening in black hole regions and map their magnetic field lines.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Astronomers Detect Oldest Black Hole Ever Observed Dating ‘From the Dawn of the Universe’

“By imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that thread the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds on and ejects,” said Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow and project co-lead Angelo Ricarte. “Polarized light teaches us a lot more about the astrophysics, the properties of the gas, and mechanisms that take place as a black hole feeds.”

The new image of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of Sagittarius A. – SWNS

Imaging the supermassive black hole requires sophisticated tools above and beyond those previously used for capturing M87*, a much steadier target.

“Making a polarized image is like opening the book after you have only seen the cover. Because Sgr A* moves around while we try to take its picture, it was difficult to construct even the unpolarized image,” said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower. “We were relieved that polarized imaging was even possible. Some models were far too scrambled and turbulent to construct a polarized image, but nature was not so cruel.”

BLACK HOLE IMAGES: Black Hole at the Heart of Our Own Galaxy is Pictured For First Time

The result is that the images of Sgr A* is a composite of multiple images.

The EHT has conducted several observations since 2017 and is scheduled to observe Sgr A* again in April 2024. Each year, the images improve as the EHT incorporates new telescopes, larger bandwidth, and new observing frequencies.

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“The pleasures of love are always in proportion to our fears.” – Stendhal

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Quote of the Day: “The pleasures of love are always in proportion to our fears.” – Stendhal

Photo by: chester wade

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

Thousands in Donations Pour into Animal Shelter Where Jon Stewart Adopted His Beloved Dog That Just Passed Away

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Andy Corbley
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Jon Stewart with his children and dog, Dipper, outside Animal Haven in New York City about 12 years ago - credit Animal Haven
Jon Stewart with his children and dog, Dipper, outside Animal Haven in New York City about 12 years ago – credit
Animal Haven

The return of American political comedian/commentator Jon Stewart to The Daily Show enriched many lives across the country, but even more so for a special NYC animal shelter.

On an episode of his show, Stewart stole a bit of air time to eulogize “the best” dog, his three-legged Dipper, after he died at the age of 12. Calling out the no-kill Manhattan-based Animal Haven shelter by name, donations began to flood in after the show aired.

“We are at $60,000 now and they are still dripping in,” Tiffany Lacey, Animal Haven’s executive director, told CBS News last Friday.

Stewart implored his audience to adopt—not specifically from Animal Haven—although he did mention he and his family had found several lovable beasties there.

“It’s good news for the cats, as kitten and cat adoptions are way up,” Lacey said, echoing Stewart’s urging for people to “donate, adopt, volunteer—always adopt, don’t shop.”

On the segment, Stewart recalled the day he went into Animal Haven, and was introduced to a “one-ish year-old brindle pit bull hit by a car in Brooklyn and lost his right leg,” which both Lacey and the award-winning TV host describing it as love at first sight.

WATCH the segment below but keep the tissues handy…

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Woman Given New 3D-Printed Windpipe in World First

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Andy Corbley
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T&R Biofab's special 3D printer. Provided to GNN by T&R Biofab
T&R Biofab’s special 3D printer. Provided to GNN by T&R Biofab

A biotech company has established a stunning milestone for prosthetics as their firm became the first and only one in the world to produce a bio-3D-printed windpipe that was successfully transplanted into a human body.

Nasal stem cells and cartilage cells were obtained from other patients who underwent other procedures, and these were replicated and combined with polycaprolactone (PCL) for structural support as well as a special ink made from living cells to make the windpipe, or trachea.

The transplant procedure was performed at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul on a woman in her 50s who lost part of her own trachea during thyroid removal surgery. The one-of-a-kind 3D printer, designed with over a decade of research and testing, was provided by the company T&R Biofab.

The hospital and T&R both hope that the artificial trachea will allow her to live a relatively normal life until its expiration date five years from now, at which point the hypothesis is that her body will have regenerated her own.

According to the BBC, the patient did not require any immunosuppressants, a medicine used to prevent the body from rejecting the new organ. Additionally, six months after the operation, the windpipe is not only healing well but new blood vessels are starting to form.

OTHER MEDICAL TECH BREAKTHROUGHS: A Paralyzed Man Walks Again Using Device that Connects His Thoughts to His Spinal Cord

The dimensions for the trachea had to be exact, as you might imagine. MRIs and CT scans were undertaken to ensure there would be no problems with the ‘fit’.

T&R Biofab designed the printer to specialize in printing hollow tubular structures with high-precision technology, and the BBC said that the earliest work was done in 2004 to devise this miracle machine which the company says had to work in perfect harmony with the servers of St. Mary’s Hospital, and as such can’t be taken to other hospitals.

MORE 3D BIOPRINTING: This Portable 3D Printer Could Print Skin Over Wounds in Under 2 Minutes

“While it’s too soon to say that 3D-bioprinting could be the solution for the current shortage of organs for transplantation, it definitely increases the hopes to partially solve the issue for some organs or some specific indications, or at least fill the gap between classic medical devices and organ transplants,” Dr. Paulo Marinho, head of scientific strategy at T&R Biofab, told BBC Science Focus.

Tracheotoemies are typically performed in the causes of trauma to the windpipe, thyroid cancer, or congenital anomalies.

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She Wanted Her Son with Autism to Explore Nature So She Created a Whimsical Fairy Forest Trail

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Andy Corbley
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Creator of the Fairy Trail Therese Ojibway and her son
Creator of the Fairy Trail Therese Ojibway and her son

They say the best thing an artist can aspire to be is a child. For one New Jersey mom, it took the inspiration of her own to find that magical spark. As for what she did with it, the only word is magical.

Therese Ojibway, a mother from Milburn, originally began to leave tiny houses and traces of fairies in the forests around the Rahway Trail in the South Mountain Conservancy as a way to enrich her autistic son’s experience in nature.

Over time, the fairy homes, fairy footprints, and fairy dust began to accumulate, and once the park authorities caught wind of the project, they let her continue on for 10 whole years.

Today ‘The Fairy Trail’ is a volunteer-led organization that provides a fantastical space for children to let their imaginations swirl like dry leaves in an autumn wind.

“She thought this was a dynamic way of getting little children into nature, getting them to use their imaginations, getting them to tap into their creativity and stimulate both early childhood and special needs children,” said Beth Kelly, a trail keeper.

“This is really about a magical feeling when you come here … it touches your heart, it gives you a sense of wonder, imagination, creativity, it all blends and bonds with nature,” Kelly told CBS News. 

ARTISTIC PROJECTS IN NATURE: Artist Decorates Underwater Sculpture Park With 25 Figures of Local Island People in the Caribbean

Ojibwe and her son actually moved out of the area some years back, but the local attraction had become so beloved that Kelly and her colleague Julie Gould continue to maintain the Fairy Trail standards in her absence.

Kelly found the trail and its magic during the pandemic when she needed a place where her two little boys could go out and explore and breathe fresh air, while Gould came upon it through her work in Pre through K schooling.

MORE STORIES OF PRICELESS CREATIVITY: Man Transforms an Old Farmhouse into a Barbie Dreamhouse Fulfilling a Childhood Dream-LOOK

Over 100 tiny homes have been built in the area and tucked into the nooks and crannies of the forest—the perfect place for fairies to dwell in peace away from prying eyes. Made of natural elements, some scavenged from the forest itself, and always with subdued colors, the homes will eventually biodegrade without a trace.

According to Kelly, the children who visit firmly believe she gets to talk and meet the fairies, while they, as just visitors, report only catching glimpses of them through the trees—perhaps bounding up a tree on the saddle of a chipmunk, or disappearing down into the pollen of a forest flower.

WATCH the story below from CBS News…

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‘A Beautiful Idea’: This French Town Is Making its Cemetery a Source of Solar Energy

By
Andy Corbley
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Copyright Ville de Saint-Joachim
Copyright Ville de Saint-Joachim

A community on the Loire in France has come up with a solar-powered idea that will clear two hurdles in a single leap.

The town of Saint-Joachim is located near the Brière marsh, a peat bog that becomes easily inundated with water. The local graveyard rests at 0 feet above sea level and standing water has become a major problem.

The mayor eventually proposed covering the graveyard to divert the rainwater into catch tanks to water the grass around the cemetery and nearby sporting complex in the dry summer months.

Solar panels—clear, see-through ones, were also proposed for the otherwise basic overhead covering, with each resident receiving a letter explaining the proposal and asking for their opinion on the idea.

97% of Saint-Joachim’s residents liked the concept and a power-sharing scheme was quickly determined whereby each resident would pay €5.00 for a share of the power generated there, which might be enough to supply around 1,000 people with enough solar power to save a couple hundred euro every year on their electric bills.

The power company in charge of the project designed an algorithm that gathers data on energy usage and determines how much each home needs to meet a fixed percentile of their overall consumption. That way everyone, from a supermarket to the hairdresser to a single-family home, receives the same energy savings from the cemetery solar power.

MORE INNOVATIVE SOLAR IDEAS: Switzerland Set to Roll Out Solar Panels Between Railway Tracks–A World First

The municipality will fully finance the €3.35 million ($3.6 million), 1.2-acre installation, using a 7% property tax increase.

MORE INNOVATIVE SOLAR IDEAS: These ‘Invisible’ Solar Panels Appear Just Like Historic Italian Terracotta Roofs and Can Help Green Historic Buildings

“I think it is a beautiful idea,” Éric Broquaire, local resident and president of Brier’energie, told Euronews. “The purpose was to make it simple, to avoid someone saying ‘why don’t I have electricity for free’. Everybody, even companies, will have the same level.”

SHARE This Innovative Use Of See-Through Solar In France…

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – John Boyle O’Reilly

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – John Boyle O’Reilly

Photo by: Karl Magnuson

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

Need a Moment of Zen? Watch a Sleepy Hippo Enjoying a Fish Spa Treatment

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Good News Network
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SWNS video
SWNS video

A sleepy hippo taking an underwater nap while being groomed by a school of fish is just the ‘moment of zen’ we needed on Hump Day.

The video shows a Nile Hippopotamus waking up and bobbing to the surface for air while enjoying the fish spa treatment.

The African Cichlid fish can be seen picking bits of dead skin off of the large mammal’s body as he settles back down and goes to sleep.

The fish sometimes swim into hippos’ mouths to clean bits of food from their teeth.

Hippos can sleep for up to 16 hours a day, despite only being able to hold their breath for about five minutes.

ALSO WATCH: Crow Is Boy’s Best Friend, Waiting for Him to Get Home from School Every Day: ‘We’re his flock’

They have a reflex that will bob their head up for air without waking them.

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Scientists Locate the Broken Rotor Blade of Stricken Mars Helicopter Using Remote Imaging

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Good News Network
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and one of its rotor blades spotted by Remote Microscopic Imager aboard its Perseverance rover (NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS via SWNS)
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and one of its rotor blades spotted by Remote Microscopic Imager aboard its Perseverance rover (NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS via SWNS)

In the continuing saga of NASA’s presence on the Red Planet, they just reported locating the broken rotor blade lost by the stricken Mars helicopter.

They say a large portion of the blade has been spotted lying on the dune-like surface, about 50 feet to the west of the small aircraft.

Ingenuity performed 72 flights, but the rotor mishap left it stranded in the Jezero Crater location.

The Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI) camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took zoomed-in images of the scene on February 24—the 1,072nd Martian day of the mission.

A mosaic of these pictures shows the helicopter to the right of the blade, standing at an angle near the apex of a sand ripple.

The Ingenuity team is considering a theory that the blade detached after the rotorcraft impacted the Martian surface at the conclusion of the helicopter’s 72nd and final flight on 18 January.

RECENT MARS DISCOVERY: Ancient Lake Sediment on Mars Builds Excitement for Evidence of Life in the Perseverance Rover Samples

“Able to spot a softball from nearly a mile away, the RMI allows scientists to take images of details from a long distance. It also provides fine details of nearby targets zapped by SuperCam’s laser,” reported NASA.

The space agency announced the end of the mission for Ingenuity on January 25, stating the “history-making Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has ended its mission at the Red Planet after surpassing expectations and making dozens more flights than planned.”

LOOK: ‘Unusual’ Circles Spotted on Mars by the Reconnaissance Orbiter

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years.

Ingenuity flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache the Martian rock and dust.

DISCOVERED: Incredible New Image Captures Evidence of Once-Flowing River on Mars

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (the European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Aussie Man Invents Weapon in War Against Invasive Asparagus Fern–The ‘Asparagus Assassin’

By
Andy Corbley
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The invasive basket asparagus fern was grown as an ornamental - Queensland Government, released
The invasive basket asparagus fern was grown as an ornamental – Queensland Government, released

While most Americans will think of asparagus as a tasty compliment to a fish dinner, or alternatively as an inedibly, mushy, misery stick to be substituted for potatoes in every occasion, Down Under it is an entirely different situation.

The asparagus fern is one of the most serially invasive plants on the continent, and one Australian man has gone as far as to declare war on them, armed with a clever weapon of mass de-weeding he invented himself.

In the northern state of Queensland, Ron Gooch took his battery electric drill and modified the hole saw attachment with a section of sewer piping to create “The Asparagus Assassin” which he has used for years to clear the invasive basket asparagus fern.

“There’s a lot of bush between us and the beach and it was full of weeds,” Mr. Gooch, a resident of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, told ABC News Australia. “It became a passion to get rid of the weeds and asparagus was one of the major ones.”

Australia has spent half a century trying to eliminate invasive species, as the isolated continent was overwhelmed by species that quickly filled unoccupied niches in the landscape. Some of the most famous culprits are foxes, feral cats, and cane toads, but prickly pear cactus had become the tyrant pest of the vegetable kingdom.

It was eventually eradicated from Australia with the help of a tiny insect, but the basket asparagus fern has only human enemies like Gooch at the moment. The plant was brought as an ornamental that eventually spread out of control.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: The Perfect Answer for Berlin’s Invasive Species Problem – Make Them Into Delicious Cuisine

But there are reasons to be sunny about the situation on the Sunshine Coast, as a local group of “bushcare” volunteers found that Gooch’s Asparagus Assassin was so effective that they needed more, and secured a grant for five more.

With extensive underground root systems, pulling the basket asparagus fern out of the ground isn’t enough. The assassin is used to tunnel down to the crown of the roots, encircle it, and then saw away all the connecting roots, ensuring it can’t grow back.

MORE GOOD AUSTRALIA NEWS: Farmers Were Organized to Collect Eggs of Endangered Wildfowl, Which is Saving a Species in Australia

Gooch isn’t planning on monetizing the tool because he doesn’t want to manage the production, but hopes others will use his design to combat weeds in their environs.

In a video on ABC, Gooch demonstrates the difference between using a folding hand saw to remove the crown and using his assassin, and the job is done in about a quarter of the time.

SHARE This Man’s Weapon Of War And His Efforts To Restore Queensland… 

Moscow Teens ‘Saved Over 100’ From Attack on Crocus City Hall

By
Andy Corbley
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File photo by Issy Bailey
File photo by Issy Bailey

Two Russian schoolboys, working as cloakroom attendants when the recent terrorist attack occurred at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, have been hailed as heroes for assisting in the rescue of hundreds of fleeing concertgoers.

Islam Khalilov, 15, and Artyom Donskoy, 14 were awarded medals for bravery in a ceremony by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.

On March 22nd, gunmen stormed the Crocus and began firing on those attending a rock concert and setting fire to the theater.

Khalilov—an immigrant from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, told reporters he thought that some workers were doing “noisy” repair work in the hall, but realized something was wrong when people came running.

He and Donskoy helped lead the fleeing attendees away from dead-end hallways and locked maintenance doors and out through the exits.

“I understood that if I didn’t react, many people including me would lose their lives,” Islam said, according to the BBC. He added that he was the last to exit the venue, “so that I didn’t leave anyone behind”.

The attack is believed to have been perpetrated by four men from the majority-Muslim country of Tajikistan.

The Grand Mufti of Russia, an important Islamic religious leader named Ravil Gaynutdin, said young Khalilov, who is also a Muslim, would be presented with the Medal of Muslims of Russia during Friday prayers this week.

MORE TEENAGE HEROES: Run Over by A Car, Mob of High Schoolers Hoist the Machine Off Mother and 2 Kids

A reward was also forthcoming to the young man from the popular Russian Rapper Morgenshtern, who said he would send the boy 1 million roubles ($10,900) to say thank you.

SHARE The Heroic Actions Of These Boys Who Left No One Behind… 

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without.” – James Baldwin

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without.” – James Baldwin

Photo by: Polina Kovaleva

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

Oregon Outback Named World’s Largest Dark Sky Sanctuary – a Stargazer’s Paradise

By
Andy Corbley
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A dark sky above the Oregon Outback, credit DarkSky International
A dark sky above the Oregon Outback, credit DarkSky International

Oregon is now the new home of the world’s 19th dark sky sanctuary, offering pristine views of the night sky across over 3,800 square miles, making it the largest of its kind.

The certification, issued by DarkSky International, involved a years-long effort by federal, state, and local officials, community members, and several legal jurisdictions.

The first zone of the total amount of area submitted for certification comprises 2.5 million acres in Lake County, southeastern Oregon. The certified area is about one-half the size of New Jersey in a region frequently referred to as the “Oregon Outback,” considered a paradise for stargazers.

If completed, the full Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary (OOIDSS) will encompass over 11.4 million acres of voluntarily protected night skies.

“As the population of Oregon and the trend of light pollution continue to rise, the unparalleled scale and quality of the Outback’s dark skies will long serve as a starry refuge for people and wildlife alike,” said DarkSky Delegate Dawn Nilson, who organized Oregon’s application.

Founded in 2001, the International Dark Sky Places Program is a non-regulatory and voluntary program to encourage communities, parks, and protected areas around the world to preserve and protect dark sites through effective lighting policies, environmentally responsible outdoor lighting, and public education. Their work has created a network of Dark Sky places, sanctuaries, and parks encompassing over 160,000 square kilometers in 22 countries worldwide.

DARK SKYS ACROSS THE US: Lights Turned Off at the Gateway Arch Every Night to Assist in Bird Migration for 325 Species

The Oregon Outback is situated in the northern extent of the Basin and Range Province of the Western United States. It’s sparsely populated, very remote, and primarily comprises public lands. It’s a high desert area characterized by sage scrub and abrupt changes in topography that’s home to a variety of iconic American wildlife such as the bighorn sheep and greater sage grouse.

Public officials and a variety of other stakeholders participated in night sky monitoring, lighting inventories, lighting improvements (i.e. decommissioned 14 lights and retrofitted 60 lights on public and private land), and public outreach to bring the nomination together.

MORE REASONS TO GET OUT AND EXPLORE: Little Known Ancient Site in Ohio Crowned by UNESCO–for Incredible Alignment with Moon and Sun

Phase 2 of the OOIDSS application includes portions of Harney and Malheur counties to the east of Lake County. Only a few lighting retrofits, and local approvals are outstanding in the Phase 2 area which would need to be addressed for the full application to go through.

Other famous Dark Sky Parks in the US include all the National Parks in Utah, Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, and Big Bend National Park in Texas.

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MacKenzie Scott Has Now Given Away $16.5 Billion with New Grants Announced, Since Divorcing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

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Andy Corbley
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Amazon.com's Charity List Box Items
Amazon Smile (released)

Here’s a hypothetical: You want to give away $640 million, but you want to give it away to many different groups. How do you find the groups? How do you process value judgments between charities and non-profit organizations and decide who to uplift and who to ignore?

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has figured it out, as part of her commitment to relinquish all the money she received in her divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

She had already given away billions, but wanted to hone the process in time for her next distribution.

An organization set up to help her navigate this problem, Yield Giving, recently completed an open call process for a grant money giveaway wherein Scott donated double the millions she originally earmarked—in the end, helping 361 charities and nonprofits with grants of one to two million dollars each.

Yield Giving conducted investigations into the processes, transparency, and effectiveness of all the orgs that applied for a grant through the open call process alongside an organizer called Levers for Change.

The evaluation was done through “careful analysis of criteria specific to their size, geography, and mission for indicators of high potential for sustained positive impact, including stable finances, multi-year track records, measurement and evidence of outcomes, and experienced leadership representative of the community served,” Yield wrote on their website.

“The 279 nonprofits that received top scores from an external review panel were awarded $2 million, while 82 organizations in a second tier received $1 million each,” AP News reported.

In a blog post on Yield Giving, Ms. Scott explained the process that saw Levers for Change whittle through a pool of over 6,000 applicants.

“Each of these 361 community-led non-profits was elevated… for their outstanding work advancing the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles,” she wrote.

A scroll through the total list of recipients shows that many of the donations went to human-centered work: improving opportunities for disadvantaged youth, aiding those unfairly battered by the criminal justice system, connecting victims of trauma and violence with people and groups who can help them, or securing stability for the homeless or immigrants, just to name a few.

Many of the organizations released statements upon receiving the gift, which came along with a letter from Scott explaining her appreciation for their work.

Able SC is a disability-led organization seeking transformational changes in systems and communities to better support disabled people.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Christian Bale Breaks Ground on 12 Foster Homes to House Hundreds of Transitioning Teens in California

“Able South Carolina is thrilled and overjoyed to be selected not only to receive this gift from Yield Giving but also as one of the top-rated organizations in the nation,” said Able SC President and CEO Kimberly Tissot.

“This gift brings our vision closer to reality. With $2 million, we will invest this towards our big goals of developing a nationally recognized disability-led initiative.”

BILLIONAIRES GIVING BACK: The Billionaire and Founder of Cirque du Soleil is Donating a $5 Million Piece of Land to His City

Avenues for Justice has diverted thousands of NYC youth from incarceration since 1979.

“By providing the youth of New York City a second chance to fulfill their potential and reach for their dreams, Avenues for Justice attempts to meet those goals every day,” said AFJ Board Chair, Alanna Rutherford. “We thank Yield Giving Open Call for the opportunity to expand our education, mentorship, job training, and other services that we provide our clients.”

MORE INSPIRING PHILANTHROPY: New York Medical School Surprises Students with Free Tuition in Perpetuity After $1Billion Gift–WATCH

The Colorado Fiscal Institute uses research, advocacy, strategic communications, and statewide education to promote responsible, people-centered, fiscal, and economic policies that advance equity and widespread prosperity in Colorado.

“We’re deeply grateful to receive this generous gift from MacKenzie Scott. It’s a testament to the efforts of our incredible staff, current and former board of directors, amazing local funders and supporters who’ve been with us all this time… with whom we’ve been working toward our shared vision of a state where our fiscal and economic policies support equity and widespread prosperity,” said CFI Executive Director Kathy White.

SHARE This Great Giving Spree And The Ripples Of GOOD It Will Create… 

‘The Largest Environmental Restoration in History’ Continues to Restart the Heart of the Everglades

By
Andy Corbley
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Everglades National Park, Marjory Stoneman Douglas/NPS
Everglades National Park, Marjory Stoneman Douglas/NPS

24 years ago, a fledging Good News Network reported on a vote in Congress to restore the Florida Everglades.

Rep. Clay Shaw, (R – FL) who left office in 2007, and who passed away a decade ago, called the plan “the biggest environmental restoration project in the history of the world” at the time, which aimed to undo the Army Corps of Engineers “Drain the Everglades” project which started in 1949.

Today, that plan is now in full effect, with over 60 infrastructure projects earmarked for $20 billion that will perform ecosystem-wide “heart bypass surgery.” The Florida fiscal year 2024 budget alone included $740 million for this kind of work, which the Everglades Foundation applauded.

As featured in CBS Mornings, the Drain the Everglades project disconnected Lake Okeechobee from feeding the Everglades ecosystem. This large lake gradually fed the 300-mile-wide river of grass that is the Everglades, and when it was removed, the water quality and quantity declined precipitously.

As wet as it is, South Florida has experienced a catalogue of environmental problems stemming from the loss of water from Lake Okeechobee, including seagrass die-offs, exacerbation of red tide, wildfires in the Everglades ecosystem, and blue-green algae blooms.

Reconnecting the “beating heart,” or the lake, to the millions of acres its water helps refresh is the aim of the modern-day restoration effort.

The first step was to build a large reservoir south of the lake, which has been partially completed already. The next will be to raise up the Tamiami Road, an east-west byway that cuts significant water flow off to the southern Everglades.

OTHER ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION: World’s Largest Oyster Restoration Is Big Success – Fulfilling Virginia’s Promise to Chesapeake Bay Rivers

Florida sugar plantations are also an impediment to the restoration work. Runoff from the agricultural fields would otherwise contaminate the Everglades, and the state has responded by building the largest man-made wetland on Earth (63,000 acres) to capture the runoff.

The construction was paid for upfront by the state, with polluters footing the financing in the form of a pollution tax, levied particularly hard on the large sugar plantations, CBS reports.

It’s estimated the reservoir will be finished by 2036, and restoration participants believe it won’t be for another 15 years that the landscape and the people of South Florida really begin to experience the benefits of these projects.

MORE AMERICAN SWAMPS: Unprecedented Gift Preserves 8,000 Acres of ‘The Land Between the Rivers’ in Alabama: ‘America’s Amazon’

But these are all small incremental steps in a project that might not intend to move heaven, but certainly the earth, to give South Florida’s wildlife, wetlands, and people back the healthy river of grass that has no equal in size and complexity anywhere in the world.

WATCH the story below with CBS Morning’s Jeff Glor…

SHARE This Inspiring Work With Your Floridian Friends… 

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