Abel Zumaya with Community High School Lady Braves volleyball team -submitted
Abel Rodriguez with Community High School Lady Braves volleyball team -submitted
After learning that their beloved high school custodian did not have a car of his own, a girls volleyball team started fundraising so they could provide one—and the surprise moment captured on video couldn’t have been more wholesome.
For years, Abel Rodriguez has been a huge supporter of the athletic programs at Community High School where he works in Collin County, near Dallas, Texas—and the Community ‘Lady Braves’ volleyball team has become his biggest supporter.
“He’s just really helpful, honestly,” said Addee Kuenstler. “He supports us through everything. He’s our biggest cheerleader.”
Recently, the team realized his transportation situation was making Rodriguez’s life a lot tougher after he stayed at the school until 1 a.m. waiting for somebody to pick him up.
So, they set up a GoFundMe campaign for him and raised more than $3000 the first day. Soon they had $9,000 to put him in a new ride—and a local dealership, Group 1 Ford of Rockwall, heard about their efforts and stepped on the gas pedal to turn the students’ good deed into reality.
The teens also showed wisdom by involving another local business—the J.R. Arey State Farm Agency—who added auto insurance coverage and gas money.
It all culminated in an amazing scene outside the school Wednesday afternoon, as Abel was “called outside for an emergency” and instead of cleaning up a mess he saw over 100 people cheering for him and chanting his name, unveiling his new car. (See the video below…)
Abel Rodriguez surprised by Community High School Lady Braves volleyball team-submitted
“I’m so happy with the community,” he told NBC’s KXAS News, holding back tears. “I love you. I love you forever, guys.”
“Seeing the actual car here is just such a miracle,” said Jorryn Collins, who told NBC they wanted to repay him for all that he’s done for them.
When the big surprise came, Rodriguez and everyone involved realized that Community High School is really living up to its name.
And, it was the happiest drive home of Abel’s life…
Quote of the Day: “The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.” – Chief Joseph
Photo by: Ricardo Gomez Angel
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?
5 years ago today, the high-profile sale of a Ming Dynasty artwork brought the world not only into contact with the most remarkable painting of a stone ever made, but also the depth of the Chinese relationship with the natural world. Called Ten Views of Lingbi Rock, the painting sold for $77 million at auction, the highest ever for a Chinese classical painting. READ all about the painting… (2020)
Once upon a time this dog had been injured and helpless, but a Florida rescue shelter never gave up on him. Now, it was his turn to return the favor.
Back in 2019, Eeyore the dog had been hit by a car and taken to L&R Rescue near Pensacola with a badly broken femur. Euthanasia was discussed, but the organization opted to pay for an expensive surgery to repair the bone, instead.
Veterinarians performed a difficult procedure that repaired Eeyore’s fracture using bone plates to improve his stability. He stayed in the shelter until his pain subsided and he was able to walk again on his own. In all, the rescue spent thousands on Eeyore’s recovery.
And last month, the investment in Eeyore paid dividends.
At around 10:30 p.m. on September 25, a distraught elderly man called into the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office because his wife was missing.
She had been out walking Eeyore, a “granddog” that belonged to their son. Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour, and she still hadn’t returned. Deputy Devon Miller soon arrived on the scene to take his statement.
“She never takes more than 10 or 15 minutes. It’s almost an hour now!” the man told Miller in body camera footage that was released by the department. (See the video below…)
Miller got a brief description of the woman and Eeyore and went back into the dark to search. Eeyore showed up within minutes, trotting out toward her patrol car.
“Hi baby, where’s your mama?” Deputy Miller cooed.
Eeyore seemed to understand the command and quickly turned to lead Miller across a yard, past a house, and onto a golf course in back. Just a few feet away, the woman was lying on the sidewalk.
The 86-year-old was in the midst of a medical emergency, though alert and conscious.
Paramedics arrived soon afterward and transported the woman to the hospital where she was on track to a complete recovery.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office eventually shared the footage on social media where Eeyore tallied up many “Good boys,” likes, and positive comments.
Media requests about Eeyore’s story poured in from across the world as people wanted to learn more about the heartwarming story and the animal shelter’s compassion.
The rescued dog became the rescuer… What a good boy, indeed.
PEOPLE NEED A HERO –So Share This Pawsome Story on Social Media…
Cancer researcher Professor Luke Selth of Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute / Flinders University – SWNS
Cancer researcher Professor Luke Selth of Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute / Flinders University – SWNS
Prostate cancer treatment could be “supercharged” by a new way of weakening malignant cells, say scientists.
A new “vulnerability” in prostate cancer cells that could improve treatment for the second most common cancer in men worldwide (second only to skin cancer) was discovered by an international team of researchers.
They found that two enzymes – PDIA1 and PDIA5 – play a crucial role in helping prostate cancer cells to grow, survive, and resist treatment. They act as “molecular bodyguards” for the androgen receptor (AR), which is a protein that fuels the cancer.
When PDIA1 and PDIA5 are blocked, the AR becomes unstable and breaks down, leading to the death of the cancer cells and tumor shrinkage in both lab-grown cells and animal models.
The researchers also found that combining drugs that block PDIA1 and PDIA5 with enzalutamide – a widely used prostate cancer medication – significantly boosted the treatment’s effectiveness.
“This is an exciting step forward,” said Professor Jianling Xie, the lead author of the study.
Although treatments such as hormone therapy and AR-targeting drugs have helped many prostate cancer patients, resistance to the therapies is a major challenge. The new discovery could help overcome that hurdle and improve the survival chances of men with advanced prostate cancer, say scientists.
“We’ve discovered a previously unknown mechanism that prostate cancer cells use to protect the androgen receptor, which is a key driver of the disease,” said study senior author Professor Luke Selth, of Flinders University in Australia.
“By targeting these enzymes, we can destabilize the AR and make tumors more vulnerable to existing therapies like enzalutamide.”
Dr. Xie, who started the research whilst at Flinders University, says that the combination therapy worked well in patient-derived tumor samples, and in mice, suggesting “strong potential” for future clinical trials.
“Our findings show that PDIA1 and PDIA5 are not just helpers of cancer growth but they’re also promising targets for new treatments that could work alongside existing drugs.”
The study, published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also found that PDIA1 and PDIA5 also help cancer cells manage stress and maintain energy production—and blocking them causes damage to the cells’ mitochondria – the parts of the cell that generate energy – and leads to oxidative stress, which further weakens the cancer.
“It’s like cutting off both the fuel and the engine at the same time,” said Xie.
“This dual impact of hitting both the AR and the cancer’s energy supply makes these enzymes especially attractive targets.”
Scaffolding-free view of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece - SWNS, 2025
Scaffolding-free view of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece – SWNS, 2025
Stunning images show the ancient Parthenon temple scaffolding-free for the first time in 200 years.
Visitors to the marble wonder found in Athens, Greece, can finally enjoy a clear view without scaffolding for the first time in two centuries.
The removal of the latest iron cage – erected about 20 years ago on the temple’s western façade – happened earlier this month revealing a clear view of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
“At least two generations have not seen the Parthenon visually free,” said Greece’s culture minister Lina Mendoni.
“To see the Parthenon completely free, as it stands today, is something that has not happened for at least 200 years.”
The monument was built in the 5th century BC on top of the Acropolis to honor Athena, the patron goddess of the city, following a victory over the Persians.
However, those wanting to see the pristine view need to be quick because work is scheduled to continue on the historic structure in November with another set of scaffolds being constructed for further conservation.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of October 18, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
I’m pleased to inform you that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to make a big wish upon a bright star. But I must also tell you how important it is to be clear and exact. Even a slight error in formulating your wish could result in only a partial fulfillment. And aiming your plea at the wrong star could cause a long delay. Sorry I have to be so complicated, dear Libra. The fact is, though, it’s not always easy to know precisely what you yearn for and to ask the correct source to help you get it. But here’s the good news: You are currently in a phase when you’re far more likely than usual to make all the right moves.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
During World War II, Scorpio actor and inventor Hedy Lamarr developed frequency-hopping technology to prevent enemies from jamming torpedo guidance systems. Her solution rapidly switched radio frequencies in hard-to-intercept patterns. The technology was so advanced that no one could figure out how to fully adopt it until years later. Engineers eventually realized that Lamarr’s invention was essential for WiFi, GPS, and cell phone networks. In the coming weeks, Scorpio, you, too, have the potential to generate ideas that might not be ready for prime time but could ultimately prove valuable. Trust your instincts about future needs. Your visionary solutions are laying the groundwork for contributions that won’t fully ripen for a while.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I guarantee you won’t experience a meltdown, crack-up, or nervous collapse in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. What unfolds may bring a similar intensity, but in the opposite direction: a personal breakthrough, a cavalcade of illumination, or a surge of awakening. I urge you to be alert and receptive for relaxing flurries of sweet clarity; or streams of insights that rouse a liberating integration; or a confluence of welcome transformations that lead you to unexpected healing. Can you handle so many blessings? I think you can. But you may have to expand your expectations to welcome them all.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In 1959, a Swedish engineer named Nils Bohlin designed the three-point seatbelt, revolutionizing car safety. Working for Volvo, he insisted the design must be made freely available to all car manufacturers. Bohlin understood that saving lives was more important than hoarding credit or profit. Capricorn, your assignment now is to give generously without fussing about who gets the applause. A solution, insight, or creation of yours could benefit many if you share it without reservation. Your best reward will be observing the beneficial ripple effects, not holding the patent.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Your exploratory adventures out on the frontiers have been interesting and mostly successful, Aquarius. Congrats! I love how you have avoided tormenting yourself with self-doubt and roused more boldness than you’ve summoned in a long time. You have managed to ignore useless and superstitious fears even as you have wisely heeded the clues offered by one particular fear that was worth considering. Please continue this good work! You can keep riding this productive groove for a while longer.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In Korean tradition, mudangs are shamans who endure a personal crisis or illness and emerge with supernatural powers. They perform rituals to seek the favor of spirits. They heal the ancestral causes of misfortune and ensure good fortune, prosperity, and well-being for the people they serve. I don’t mean to imply you’re following a similar path, Pisces. But I do think your recent discomforts have been like an apprenticeship that has given you enhanced capacity to help others. How will you wield your power to bless and heal?
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Life is tempting you to tiptoe to the brink of the threshold of the rawest truth, the wildest beauty, and the most precious love. Your ancestors are conspiring with your guardian angels to lure you into the secret heart of the inner sanctum of spiritual truth. I am totally sincere and serious. You now have a momentous opportunity—a thrilling opening to commune with subtle powers that could provide you with profound guidance.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In the forests of America’s Pacific Northwest, “nurse logs” lie fallen but fertile. These dead trees host seedlings, mosses, and new saplings that rise from their decaying trunks. I regard this as a powerful metaphor for you, Taurus. Something old in you is crumbling, like outdated beliefs, outmoded duties, or obsolete loyalties. Part of you may want to either grieve or ignore the shift. And yet I assure you that fresh green vitality is sprouting from that seemingly defunct thing. What new possibility is emerging from what was supposed to end? Resurrection is at hand.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
A deeper, wilder, smarter version of love is beckoning you from the horizon. Are you ready to head in its direction? I’m not sure you are. You may semi-consciously believe you already know what love is all about, and are therefore closed to learning more. It’s also possible that your past romantic wounds have made you timid about exploring unfamiliar terrain. Here’s my assessment: If you hope to get exposed to the sweeter, less predictable kinds of intimacy, you will have to drop some (not all) of your excessive protections and defenses. PS: At least one of your fears may be rooted in faulty logic.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Princess Diana transformed the British monarchy because she insisted that royal duty should include genuine emotional connection. Her generosity wasn’t merely ceremonial but was expressed through hands-on charity work. She had close contact with youth who had nowhere to live. She walked through minefields as part of her efforts to rid the planet of that scourge. She hugged people with AIDS at a time when many others feared such contact. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward,” she said. Her ability to maintain grace while remaining emotionally authentic reflected a genius for blending strength with sensitivity. Can you guess her astrological sign? Cancerian, of course. Now is a perfect time for you to draw inspiration from her example. Express your wisely nurturing energy to the max!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Certain African lions in Kenya have no manes. Scientists theorize it’s an adaptation to heat or a reflection of extra aggressive hunting strategies. But symbolically, it challenges expectations: Is royalty still royalty without the crown? I bring this to your attention, Leo, because I suspect you will soon be asked to explore your power without its usual accouterments. Can you properly wield your influence if you don’t unleash your signature roar and dazzle? Will quiet confidence or understated presence be sufficiently magnetic? Might you radiate even more potency by refining your fire? I think so. You can summon strength in subtlety and majesty in minimalism.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
During the next nine months, you will face a poignant and potentially inspiring choice: whether to wrangle with an endless tangle of mundane struggles, or else to expand your vision to the bigger picture and devote your energy intensely to serving your interesting, long-term dreams. I hope you choose the latter option! For best results, get clear about your personal definition of success, in contrast to the superficial definitions that have been foisted on you by your culture. Can you visualize yourself years from now, looking back on your life’s greatest victories? You’re primed to enter a new phase of that glorious work, rededicating yourself with precise intentions and vigorous vows.
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
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?
895 years ago today, Zhu Xi, a revolutionary Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty, was born. His shifting of the emphasis from the I Ching to the Four Books reshaped the Chinese view of the world, which is not an easy thing to do. His commentaries and perspectives formed the basis for the Chinese civil service exam from his day to 1905. READ more about the great thinker… (1130)
The Dixiebeats on stage in the barn - credit, Smithills Open Farm, SWNS
The Dixiebeats on stage in the barn – credit, Smithills Open Farm, SWNS
A farmer has treated her herd of dairy cows to a live jazz band in the hope the music will boost milk production.
The Dixiebeats performed to both the Jersey and Holstein cows at Smithills Open Farm in Bolton, the UK, last Sunday.
The Dixiebeats on stage in the barn – credit, Smithills Open Farm, SWNS
The six-piece combo was invited to play after owners had read that jazz music can increase milk production by up to 4% and wanted to experiment.
Their 30-minute set consisted of fast and slower compositions which staff said was “moosic to their ears.”
“The cows took a little warming up to but they seemed to really enjoy it,” said 25-year-old farmer Caitlyn Horrocks. “They all took turns coming to the front to see what was going on.”
“One of them called Peggy loved it, she stayed right at the fence for the entire performance.”
At first the farm simply played jazz music to their cows on a speaker. A video of the cows’ reactions posted to their TikTok account smithillsopenfarm went viral with over 266,000 views. The farmers then figured the real thing could only be more popular, and, if the claim about milk production true, more efficacious.
Single-celled green algae discovered in the soil - credit, Hana Cho Supplied
Single-celled green algae discovered in the soil – credit, Hana Cho Supplied
Worms, plankton, water fleas, sedges, algae, and cattails—the foundations of the food web in Toronto’s Don River ecosystem, simply woke up again after 130 years of entombment, stunning scientists.
The Don River was tamed and turned into a canalized, industrial waterfront at the turn of the century, and was recently the focus of one of the largest wetland rewilding efforts in North America.
As the bulldozers removed layer after layer of weeds, dirt, gravel, and industrial debris, they suddenly started digging up native reeds and cattails. Scientists combing through soil samples began seeing life—and lots of it—munching or lounging around as if nothing had ever happened.
Seeds and pollen from centuries past—from extinct trees—were turned up, and the whole restoration suddenly took on a very different countenance: one of assurity and celebration.
The Don River Restoration program was first launched in 2007 after it was determined that the concrete embankments that narrowed the river’s flow through one of the biggest cities in North America was at the root of the area’s flooding problems.
It was after the returning of the river’s flow to a meandering track that a new island was created, and the century-old life started to be found.
“When the project started, it was like being on the Moon. The space was so just barren, so awful, dusty. It was bereft of any life,” said Melanie Sifton, a horticultural expert who was on site at the time the cattails and sedges were spotted. “To find what we did—it was like finding buried treasure.”
Sifton was part of a team that selected 50 individual clods of dirt for microscopic analysis in the labs of Toronto, and it was in these clods that scientists began to witness something that seemed impossible.
Life had either just carried on all the same after being buried, or it had entered some state of suspended animation, like a form of hibernation, where all it took was a little sun or water to wake it all up again.
And that’s exactly what happened: water fleas from a soil strata dating to the 1800s just picked up where they left off once water flooded the soil samples. More recent soil layers contained tiny worms munching away on algae.
“The soil was ready to turn on. And that’s what I love so much about it,” said Shelby Riskin, a soil expert at the University of Toronto. “The microbes, the nutrients, all of those pieces that are so small and outside of the human scope of vision, that we don’t totally understand as well, were ready to make the soil into a thriving ecosystem.”
And that’s exactly what happened. The Don River and the fateful island with its cattails and water fleas are now a 24-acre wildlife refuge where snowy owls, eagles, muskrat, and beaver can be spotted. During heavy rains, the meandering course does its job and slows the flow of the water on towards the Great Lakes while dispersing the extra in marshy areas along the banks. No flooding, no millions in damages.
SHARE This Perfect Example Of How Life Finds A Way…
A creative solution from up north for how to stop crows and geese from leaving droppings all over a school playground has left several residents in a dreadful fright.
The story comes from the city of Menlo Park in California, where a pair of “coyotes” are scarring these birds and the neighbors too. Local news outlet InMenlo reached out to a school district spokesman, who explained what all the fuss was about.
“There are coyote statues at Encinal and Laurel Lower Campus,” said spokesperson Parke Treadway.
“They were an idea that came from Encinal Principal Sharon Burns’ father, who lives in Canada. She was talking to him about Encinal’s population of Canadian geese on the field and the droppings they leave behind. He mentioned that in Canada they use fake coyotes in parks to deter geese (and relieve the goose poo issue).”
“Principal Burns thought it might work for crows, too, and it does! The coyotes have been a brilliant solution as other crow deterrents haven’t worked and [the school’s] custodial teams were constantly washing crow droppings off the lunch tables and surrounding ground. Now with the coyote statues our play areas are cleaner and water use is down.”
“Laurel School was facing a similar dilemma with its geese, so they also purchased two coyote statues which have been named Oak and Sequoia. The fact that the coyote statues deter both geese and crows is wonderful.”
“Principal Linda Creighton of Laurel Lower Campus also reports that ‘We have had over a dozen worried passersby call to warn us about the ‘coyotes’ on campus and they all get a good chuckle and breathe a sigh of relief when they learn that they are just Oak and Sequoia, our coyote statues.’”
Coyotes have historically worked so well for this purpose, GNN reported that airports in Alaska have even employed robotic dogs “dressed” as coyotes to keep loitering birds off runways.
Illustration by Dane Johnson, Museum of the Rockies - released to the press
Illustration by Dane Johnson, Museum of the Rockies – released to the press
Measuring no more than 2 feet long from nose to tail, a newly-described crocodilian nicknamed “Elton” likely lived its entire life on land where it lounged in the Cretaceous Montana sunshine, eating plants and insects.
Elton was about the size of a big lizard, according to Montana State University professor of paleontology David Varricchio, whose former Ph.D. student Harrison Allen managed to spot the 1.9-inch-long skull of the animal on an excavation trip in 2021.
Had it lived to be fully grown, Elton would have measured no longer than 3 feet, far smaller than most members of the crocodilian family known today or to have ever lived. Adapted to live on land, it probably ate both plants and insects or small animals with its assortment of differently shaped and specialized teeth.
Its unique anatomy singles it out as belonging to a new, previously unrecognized family of crocodyliforms endemic to the Cretaceous of North America.
During a dig in the summer of 2021 in the Blackleaf geological formation on US Forest Service land near Dillon, Montana, Allen noticed a fossil the size of the tip of his pinkie with a “weird texture on it.”
“I brought it to Dr. Varricchio and knew it must be something good, because he said, ‘Take me to where you found this,’” said Allen, who is now studying croc paleontology as a doctoral student at Stony Brook University in New York.
Four years and hundreds of hours of study later, he is the lead author of a paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that describes the morphology and scientific significance of the creature whose remains he found in the Blackleaf Formation.
“We have found dinosaurs (in the Blackleaf) before, but this was the second known vertebrate animal we’d ever found in this formation,” he told his university press.
The extinct animal, which Allen and his co-authors later named Thikarisuchus xenodentes for its strange, sheathed teeth, has provided new information about the patterns of evolution in the croc family tree.
It also provided the ultimate undergraduate research project for Allen, who delved into the painstaking process of excavating, sifting and reconstructing the Thikarisuchus remains with the help of some fellow students.
“As an undergraduate student new to research, I nervously went up to Dr. Varricchio and asked if I could study this specimen,” Allen said. “It led me down the rabbit hole into this amazing world of prehistoric, extinct crocs and their evolutionary niches.”
The day after Allen recovered the first piece of skeleton, he and his classmates scooped up several bags of sediment from the mound where it was found. Back in Bozeman, Allen and his friend Dane Johnson spent between nearly 20 hours sifting out fine particulate matter and dirt, eventually recovering dozens of tiny pieces of the Thikarisuchus skeleton that collectively fit into the palm of Allen’s hand.
As they worked, they listened to music, including Elton John’s 1970s hit “Crocodile Rock.” The nickname “Elton” stuck, long before the specimen was assigned the scientific name that reflects its physical traits.
Allen and Johnson recovered bits of bone from almost all areas of the animal’s body, including its limbs, vertebrae, jaw, and skull. Because the fragments were tiny and exceptionally fragile, the students didn’t attempt to physically reassemble them. Instead, they took them for a series of CT scans before coloring the digital, 2D segment slices that the scans produced, a process necessary to visually distinguish the bones from the rocks they were embedded in.
“Harrison worked super hard to digitally reconstruct the animal, and it came out beautifully,” said Varricchio of his former student.
During the process, Allen discovered that the bones of Thikarisuchus were densely concentrated and organized in a manner consistent with fossils of organisms found in burrows in the Blackleaf Formation and the nearby Wayan Formation in Idaho. He said this suggests that Thikarisuchus was likewise preserved within a burrow.
The specimen also presented clues about Thikarisuchus’ newly named family group Wannchampsidae and a similar group found in Eurasia known as Atopasauridae. Both groups were tiny and terrestrially adapted, and they shared certain cranial and dental features found in another more distantly related group from the Cretaceous of Africa and South America.
“It suggests that during the same time period, we’re seeing convergent evolution between two distantly related groups due to similar environmental conditions, prey availability and who-knows-what that prompted crocs on opposite sides of the planet to develop similar features,” Allen said.
“The majority of diversity of crocodyliforms is in the past. There were fully marine crocs, fully terrestrial crocs, herbivorous crocs, omnivores, and some that cracked shells,” he said. “That amazed me and made me want to get into this more specific realm of paleontology.”
SHARE This Prehistoric Croc And Its Unlikely Lifestyle With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Zeal will do more than knowledge.” – William Hazlitt
Photo by: Greyson Joralemon
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?
165 years ago today, the Open Championship, also known as the British Open, was first played in Scotland, at the Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire. The oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the four prestigious majors, it rotates between a select group of coastal UK golf courses. READ more about its history… (1860)
What if there were a way that didn’t involve CRISPR to give your offspring a natural talent for athletics?
Well that’s totally possible as it turns out, because scientists just demonstrated it in mice, and it didn’t even involve so-called “good genes”.
It involved a modern and exciting field of genetic biology called epigenetics: a term that refers to adaptations to genetic expression in response to life stressors. Here, the actual nature of the DNA doesn’t change, but adaptations packaged in the similarly important RNA made their way into sperm cells, the embryo, and the offspring.
The story of this fascinating innovation begins in Nanjing University, where lead investigator on the study Xin Yin used to notice during his time as an undergraduate that the children of athletes seemed to possess a natural talent for sports. The reproductive biologist didn’t really see the sense in it; certainly, genes coding for larger lung volume would increase a child’s ability to run, but what could explain having a ‘knack’ for what takes months and years of training to master? There’s no gene that codes for having a knack.
This curiosity led Yin to launch a research project with a fellow reproductive biologist at Nanjing to see whether a male mouse’s mastery of treadmill running could somehow imprint onto his offspring. Together with his co-authors, Yin subjected male mice to treadmill work everyday for 2 weeks before breeding them with female mice who did not exercise.
What they found was remarkable. The mice thusly born possessed more oxidative muscle fibers, could run for longer on treadmills, and were more resistant to weight gain from a high-fat diet, than the offspring of sedentary male and female mice. During the study period, Yin and his team sequenced the microRNA snippets in the sperm cells and the fertilized egg, and after observing the significant athletic adaptations, went back to see what might be causing it.
Exercise boosts the levels of a protein called PGC-1 alpha in muscle cells, where it activates genes that build more mitochondria, the organelles responsible for cellular energy and metabolism. PGC-1A is suppressed by another protein called NCoR1. In the exercised mice, sperm-bound microRNAs which proliferate under conditions of exercise target, once inside the mouse embryo, NCoR1. In effect, these RNAs released a natural, cellular brake on the development of metabolic power and muscle function.
A true breakthrough
To triple check whether or not classic genetic transfer was behind this adaptation for countering NCoR1, the researchers looked through 10 of the microRNAs that seemed most likely confer the exercise benefits, selected one in particular, and injected it into embryos fertilized by untrained fathers. Just that action alone, a single, non-DNA molecule, was enough to reproduce the endurance benefits seen in trained fathers.
Biologists commenting on the study to Science Magazine said they were “surprised” that a single RNA could have such an impact.
With that in mind, and to investigate whether similar effects were at work in humans, the team collected sperm from 8 men who trained regularly and 24 others who didn’t. An examination revealed that the equivalents of 7 of the 10 miRNAs seen in the mouse model were elevated in the sperm of trained men.
It’s the first study to show that RNA can pass down the benefits of exercise, commented Colin Conine, an epigeneticist at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the work but who called it “really a novel paradigm”. It probably suggests that the lifestyle choices of fathers need to be looked at with more scrutiny than in the past, he said.
Caveats included that the endurance/exercise benefit was only seen in male offspring, suggesting the sperm microRNAs only make it through the paternal germline. Grandchildren never received the benefit their parents did.
Yin’s study couldn’t go so far as to investigate the mechanism behind the transfer: why and how did exercise affect sperm? How did the microRNAs pass through the blood-testes barrier? How did they reach the epididymis, the tubes where sperm cells mature? They had time and data to present two hypotheses: that exercise codes for the creation of small-extracellular vesicles which themselves have the capacity to bring microRNA through the testes-blood barrier, or that within the blanket hormonal response of exercise, steroids and thyroid hormones may alter microRNA expression in sperm directly, without relying on the blood stream.
The authors are now extremely curious to know what other effects microRNAs packaged in sperm cells are having on the father’s offspring. WaL
SHARE This Great Reason For The Fellas To Get Moving…
From the restaurant scene in Miami to the fan-powered boats of the Everglades, people are really excited about oysters.
Can you imagine—the bivalve so associated with cold waters in places like Brittany, Sydney, Galway, or California, being grown in the muddy, tropical Everglades?
If your first instinct was to swear never to eat one, maybe you should listen to what Josh Wilkie and Fabio Galarce are saying, as they harvest dozen after dozen for Michelin-starred Miami restaurants.
“We have to focus on educating and combating this stigma or as we like to call it, prejudice,” Galarce told the Miami Herald. “We’re finding that the oysters love it here. People think of the Everglades as just a muddy swamp, but it’s actually a beautiful tropical paradise.”
Galarce and Wilkie are the co-founders of Everglades Oysters, a company that provides artisanal oyster supplies to restaurants around Florida from a 74-acre nursery sandwiched between 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge and one of the Gulf of Mexico’s most productive bull shark nurseries.
In this “tropical paradise,” lined with mangroves and teeming with wildlife, 200,000 oysters are raised in baskets connected to a floating flip-farm system. Strung out in a long black line that appears almost like a gangplank, the swaying of the baskets below help cultivate the prized cup-like shape of a good restaurant oyster.
The animals are filter feeders, and rather than filtering the sea, as is the case with so many oysters one will eat at restaurants, these bivalves get their flavor from the drainage of Lake Okeechobee running through the glades.
Why, you might ask, would anyone want to eat a filter feeder who filters a swampy freshwater lake? Easy answer, as it turns out: they’re delicious.
Just ask five-time Michelin-starred chef Michael White, whose restaurant Mirabella in Miami Beach said that Everglades Oysters harvest at the moment of order, and ship them in a jiffy—fresher than any oyster they could ever hope to get from colder waters.
Jeremy Ford, another Michelin-starred chef, this time at Miami’s Stubborn Seed restaurant, used to import oysters from as far away as the Pacific Northwest. But always on the lookout for Florida produce, Ford said Galarce and Wilkie’s oysters “ticked all the boxes.”
The Herald did outline that eating oysters from warm climates comes with a risk of vibrio, a nasty bacterial pathogen that can cause severe illness and even death. Restaurants that serve oysters in Florida have to alert their customers as to this very risk, and Everglades Oysters will harvest in response to orders, not in anticipation of them, in order to reduce this as much as possible.
Galarce and Wilkie are looking to do so much more than run a profitable business, or even create a culture of southern oysters. Florida’s historic oyster reef coverage has been decimated by oil spills, storms, coastal development, water pollution, and erosion.
Oyster reefs provide significant benefits to people and wildlife. When large enough, they help to dampen storm surges, and each little oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day, making them ideal for keeping water quality along the coast in top condition. To help build these reefs back up, Everglades Oysters and other small oyster farmers collect spent shells from restaurants and pile them back into the water to give oyster larvae something to glom onto.
Ancient Native Americans actually built islands from oyster shells, and it’s that kind of tradition and harmony with nature that Everglades Oysters is all about.
“If we grow more oysters, we clean more water. If you sell more local oysters, you help the local farmers. You consume more oysters, people are getting sustainable protein,” Galarce told Miami Herald. “You return it to the water, we build more reefs.”
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Stretches of land, now hidden beneath the sea, may have given early humans a way to move between what is today Turkey and Europe, according to groundbreaking new research in this little-studied region.
The recently published study reveals the first evidence of Paleolithic activity in Ayvalık, and may reshape how scientists understand our species’ journey into Europe.
The prehistoric peopling of Europe has long been documented as occurring in waves from the western edge of Eurasia. For decades, experts believed that Homo sapiens reached Europe mainly by traveling through the Balkans and the Levant, moving from Africa into the Middle East.
However, the discovery of 138 stone tools spread across 10 sites within a 200 km² area suggests a different possibility.
According to a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, long before Ayvalık became known for its olive groves and seaside scenery, this part of the northeastern Aegean coast (now in Turkey) may have served as another key passageway for ancient humans exploring a shifting prehistoric world.
“It was a truly unforgettable moment for us, holding the first tools in our hands was both emotional and inspiring,” explains Dr. Göknur Karahan, from the Department of Archaeology-Prehistory, at Hacettepe University, in Turkey, who was part of a fully female team of expert archaeologists from the country.
“And each find from there on was a moment of excitement for the whole team. Our archaeological discovery has unveiled that this now-idyllic region once potentially offered a vital land bridge for human movement during the Pleistocene era—when sea levels dropped and the now-submerged landscape was briefly exposed.”
Ayvalık’s bay area and the Ayvalık Islands archipelago – Omer404 CC 4.0 via Wikimedia
“We are very excited and delighted with this discovery. These findings mark Ayvalık as a potential new frontier in the story of human evolution, placing it firmly on the map of human prehistory—opening up a new possibility for how early humans may have entered Europe,” Karahan added. “It feels like we are adding an entirely new page to the story of human dispersal.”
During the Ice Age, sea levels dropped more than 300 feet, revealing vast coastal plains that are now underwater. At that time, the modern islands and peninsulas of Ayvalık would have formed a single stretch of land, creating a natural bridge that linked Anatolia to Europe.
The artifacts found in the new study were discovered along the present-day coastline, providing evidence that people once lived and traveled across these now-submerged landscapes.
Until now, environmental conditions and deep sediment layers had made it difficult to detect or preserve traces of early human activity in the region.
“In all these periods, the present-day islands and peninsulas of Ayvalık would have formed interior zones within an expansive terrestrial environment,” explains co-author Professor Kadriye Özçelik, from Ankara University.
The region’s shifting geology and active coastlines in the North Aegean made preservation difficult and the number of items uncovered “limited,” however this research team managed to uncover Levallois-style stone cutting technologies from various Paleolithic periods, as well as handaxes and cleavers.
Among the most significant finds include Levallois-style flake tools, sophisticated implements often associated with Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.
“These large cutting tools are among the most iconic artifacts of the Paleolithic and are instantly recognizable even today, so are a very important find,” explains Dr. Karahan.
“The presence of these objects in Ayvalık is particularly significant, as they provide direct evidence that the region was part of wider technological traditions shared across Africa, Asia, and Europe.”
“Holding these objects—after walking across landscapes where no one had ever documented Paleolithic remains before—was unforgettable.”
The authors collectively recommended further research in the area that would integrate absolute dating, stratigraphic excavation, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction to better clarify the the time periods when the tools were used.
“Multidisciplinary approaches will help illuminate the region’s role not as a peripheral landscape, but as an active corridor of Paleolithic interaction and innovation.”
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Cambridge University archivists are leading an important project to extract and conserve valuable information from floppy disks before they become unusable.
The initiative began when the archive received a box of 5.25-inch floppy disks from a DOS-formatted computer that belonged to none other than physicist Steven Hawking, who was able to use early computers despite his disability from ALS.
The challenges a group of archivists encountered when they attempted to read the disks helped them realize how vulnerable this funny, briefly adopted technology which predate compact disks is to the ravages of time, and how a clock was ticking to get important information off them before they became unusable.
It spawned a project, aptly named in our current pop-culture environment: “Future Nostalgia.”
Before the term was chased from the historical lexicon with torches and pitchforks, “the Dark Ages” were used to describe the period in European history when primary source writings are particularly scant—between the fall of Rome and the Middle Ages.
The Future Nostalgia project presents the case that the late 20th century may form a sort of dark ages when historians in the future look back on our time and see a big hole in early computer writings. Certainly books and magazines and newspapers are available a-plenty, but if floppy disks and other early technologies aren’t kept in good order, early computer writings may seem sparce to future historians.
Floppy disks present numerous challenges to archivists, among which were the multiple formats they were built and coded for.
“There wasn’t one system that dominated the market,” explains Leontien Talboom, a member of the Cambridge University Library’s digital preservation team who is leading the project.
That means that as many as a dozen different early computing systems are needed to read the full spectrum of floppy disk formats, and it’s not always straight forward finding these machines.
Nor is it straightforward that the disks themselves are readable. They may be moldy, if stowed away in an attic for example. Iron oxide on the surface of the plastic may corrode material away. It can also lose its magnetism, preventing it being from read entirely.
That is why Talboom and her team are urgently trying to acquire collections of noteworthy writers or authors—like Hawking—and further digitize them from their early floppy disk format. So far, in addition to Hawking, they’ve uncovered abstract lists by the poet Nicholas Moore, articles from a society of the paranormal, and more.
“Most of the donations we get are from people who are either retiring or passing away,” Talboom told the BBC. “That means we’re seeing more and more things from the era of personal computing.”
Not only are donations coming from those retired or passed, but so is a lot of information on how to use different formats. An example comes from the archivists’ work with a set of floppy disks that contained speeches and letters with constituents of Neil Kinnock, a UK labor party leader in the 1980s.
“They were written on the Diamond Word processor,” explained Chris Knowles, a participant in the Future Nostalgia project.” There’s not much information about that system out there. There are lots of fan communities around any system that had games, and archivists often borrow their tools. But where that doesn’t exist, it’s more awkward.”
Work continues, and Talboom is more and more eager to have the public’s involvement with the project. She sees it as a win-win partnership: owners of floppy disks get to see what kind of materials their old colleagues or family members wrote onto them, and Future Nostalgia gets more material, but also more knowledge and practice about how to access and preserve floppy disk formats and the material they contain.
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Quote of the Day: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.” – Rainer Maria Rilke, poet
Photo by: Darius Bashar (cropped)
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