Quote of the Day: “To hope is to give yourself to the future—and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” – Rebecca Solnit
Photo by: Jorge Salvador
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Las Vegas Animal Foundation was delighted to learn that Frontier Airlines is offering free travel vouchers to anyone who adopts one of three newborn kittens the hospital just received.
The three kittens are just two weeks old, and their eyes aren’t fully open yet. They were found in the north of Las Vegas and were given the names Spirit, Delta, and Frontier, for unknown reasons.
Per pet parent, Frontier Airlines, who got word their name was being given to a tiny kitten, is offering two $250 vouchers totaling $500, which are redeemable until the end of the year. For those looking to adopt Frontier, Frontier Airlines is doubling that.
“We were delighted the rescue organization decided to name these three adorable kitties after airlines, including ours,” said Frontier in a statement emailed to CNN. “Underscoring the plight of animals is near and dear to us.”
“We were more than happy to provide a little extra incentive to encourage the adoption of these three precious kittens.”
The foundation said it’s rare to get a litter of kitties in December. At the moment they are living in a foster home until they are 6-weeks old or 1.5 pounds in weight, at which time they will be available for adoption.
FROM 2020: Chiefs Player Celebrates Super Bowl Win By Covering the Adoption Fees for 109 Shelter Animals
It’s been one of the worst years for passenger aviation in history, but not always for four-legged, finned, or fluffy passengers.
GNN reported back in September that when a passenger’s beta fish was denied boarding in Orlando, two Southwest Airlines employees offered to take care of it for 4 months until the guest came back to Florida.
Also in December, United Airlines employees applied by the dozen to adopt a black shepherd dog abandoned at SFO.
MORE ADOPTION NEWS: Students Write Adorable Letters on Behalf of Shelter Animals to Boost Adoptions – And it Worked
“Sometimes we deal with the craziest of situations,” United Director of Customer Service Vincent Passafiume said at the time. “This was probably one of the oddest we’ve ever dealt with and also one of the most challenging.”
“To be able to get the outcome that we did as a team and see that Polaris will go home to a family that will give him a good life is really a special moment for me.”
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A recently-completed scientific survey found that plastic on Australian beaches has fallen by 29% since the last survey in 2013.
The authors state it is a result of well-executed and locally focused waste control strategies, as well as an example of what Australians can do when they band together.
Organized by the Australian national science agency, this year’s survey included 562 new survey plots across 32 local government entities, with an emphasis on gathering data on which methods implemented by the local officials were the most successful.
“Our research set out to identify the local government approaches that have been most effective in reducing coastal plastics and identify the underlying behaviors that can lead to the greatest reduction in plastic pollution,” said lead researcher Dr. Kathryn Willis.
“We were really surprised and excited to also find that there was on average 29 per cent less plastic on our beaches than in 2013 when similar surveys were conducted.
The strategies were divided into planned behavior such as educational programs and recycling guides, economic strategies, crime prevention such as closer monitoring of illegal dumping and other such activities.
Economic strategies were found to have the biggest impact. More economic waste management strategies led to comparatively cleaner coastlines.
MORE AUSTRALIA NEWS: Australia Sets Aside 30% of Land Mass to Protect its Unique Species
“For example, household collection services, where there are multiple waste and recycling streams, makes it easier for community members to separate and discard their waste appropriately,” said CSIRO researcher and paper co-author, Dr. Denise Hardesty.
“Our research showed that increases in waste levies had the second largest effect on decreases in coastal plastic pollution. Local governments are moving away from a collect and dump mindset to a sort and improve approach.”
The research also found that municipalities that didn’t update their waste control measures over long periods tended to have dirtier coasts.
RELATED: Retired Banker Devotes His Millionaire Fortune to Restoring Protective Sand Dunes on Island Beaches
CSIRO has a mission to reduce plastic waste by 80%, towards which they are clearly on their way to achieving.
Europe isn’t the only place that’s experiencing unusual winter weather. California’s snowfall in the mountains this year is nearly double the seasonal average, giving the drought-stricken state hope for a moist 2023.
Last Tuesday, the state performed its first formal snow survey up in the Sierra Nevadas. Currently it’s 174% of the historical average for this time of year. That’s the third-largest snowpack in the past 40 years, trailing only 1983 and 2011.
California has had 3 years of drought, and many reservoirs and lakes are showing it.
Heavy storms which dumped all the snow on the mountains also deposited floodwaters around the north of the state, which the LA Times reports is actually normal. Officials say that while the storm damage is of course unfortunate, several more storms will be needed to refill reservoirs.
“It could be a drought-buster of a year if things continue on a wet track,” Dan McEvoy, regional climatologist at Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, told the Times.
The Times continued with the good news. Southern CA is dependent on water flows from the north, but also from the Colorado River which flows partly into a seriously-depleted Lake Mead.
RELATED: California Begins Covering Canals with Solar Panels to Fight Drought
Colorado snows are also hitting high records, with the Upper Colorado River Basin snowpack now standing at 142% of the the last three decade median.
Experts say that if the wet season continues as is, there’s a chance it could reverse the last three years of drought. The next ‘major’ storm is due to arrive either tomorrow or Thursday.
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High in the Atacama Desert where the skies are clear, a 67-million-pixel camera imaged a far away star nursery in infrared light, revealing a level of detail that the James Webb Space Telescope would be proud of.
Astronomers working at the VISTA telescope in Chile zoomed in on the Sh2-54 Nebula, around 6,000 light years from Earth, and a region where clouds of dust and gas obscure normal camera imaging.
However like the aforementioned Webb telescope, VISTA sees into the infrared, meaning that it can effectively image the nebula as if that gas and dust weren’t even there.
MORE ASTRONOMY NEWS: Webb Telescope Captures Images That Move a NASA Scientist ‘to Tears’ – LOOK
The resulting picture twinkles with thousands of stars, most of which were obscured when imaged using the light from the stars themselves.
Located at the tail-end of the Serpens constellation, Sh2-54 was named after Stewart Sharpless, who cataloged over 300 nebulae during his lifetime.
SEE MORE: Stunning Image of Lobster Nebula Captured by Chilean Telescope
CNN compares the two images side by side to give readers a key understanding of the difference which infrared makes when shooting pictures of stars.
The images were gathered as part of a Milky Way nebulae survey called VISTA Variables.
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Quote of the Day: “My greatest beauty secret is being happy with myself.” – Tina Turner
Photo by: Surface
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?
A never-ending treasure hunt in a small New South Wales town has given new lives to thousands of books, and new smiles to as many children.
In the town of Braidwood, a tradition of hiding children’s books in plastic bags in unlikely places has grown out a pandemic tradition of hiding painted rocks.
Hidden in shop windows, among shrubs, in parks, or around town, a child who finds the book can choose either to take it home, or add their name to the list of past owners and re-hide the book for another kid to find.
Mom of 5 Samantha Dixon believed that it might be “more useful thing [than rocks] for children,” after seeing some similar community movements in other countries.
“It’s lovely to watch the little kids’ faces when they find the books, and it’s just a little bit more magical,” Dixon told ABC News Australia. “I enjoy the fact these books are being read and are not just being left on the shelves and that kids are outside finding them not on screens.”
SIMILAR BUT FROM CANADA: One Man’s Treasure Hunt Thrilled a Canadian Town, Turning Strangers into Friends
Inside a plastic bag is the book and a sheet that says: “You are the lucky finder of this book. Read it, enjoy it, and then rehide it for someone else to enjoy. Please reuse this bag.
“Add your name inside the cover and let’s see how many can find it!”
“We are passing through from Campbelltown and found this while we were waiting for our lunch,” wrote a member off the Braidwood Hidden Books Facebook Group. “Matilda had a flick through and rehid it on our way back to the car. Thanks for providing such a great and fun idea!”
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When it comes to explaining Roman engineering, people looking to demonstrate their genius have a variety of use cases, but the secret to why their concrete has remained when even modern buildings crumble after just a few years of disuse has eluded scientists.
However at MIT, scientists have cracked their concrete code to show that Roman concrete was self-repairing—it could naturally close cracks in as little as 2 weeks.
If one were to go to the small city of Pozzuoli today, what the classical Romans called Peotoli, one would find two remarkable structures—an amphitheater, and a covered marketplace called Rione Terra. However another mark which Pozzuoli left on the Roman world is called “pozzolanic material” referring to a hotspot underneath a nearby hill that created a mineral mosaic over thousands of years.
It created a kind of volcanic ash rich in lime and calcium, which form chunks of white material called lime clasts. Ancient recipes dictate this ash was an important ingredient, but modern analysis looking at the presence of the lime clasts in the ash has essentially written it off as “low-quality control.”
“The idea that the presence of these lime clasts was simply attributed to low quality control always bothered me,” said MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering, Admir Masic.
“If the Romans put so much effort into making an outstanding construction material, following all of the detailed recipes that had been optimized over the course of many centuries, why would they put so little effort into ensuring the production of a well-mixed final product? There has to be more to this story.”
Indeed, the Romans did things with concrete that modern societies haven’t—just look at the Pantheon in Rome which still has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. Aqueducts built to water the city literally still do, 2,000 years and sometimes more after they were built.
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As if anyone who’s witnessed the timeless glory of Roman architecture today would be surprised, it turns out that the lime clasts were there on purpose, because they provide a self-healing capacity to Roman concrete, allowing their structures to last for thousands of years.
It was once assumed that lime was added to concrete with water to create a paste in a process called slaking, but by using spectroscopic imaging, Masic and his colleagues at MIT, and elsewhere in Switzerland and Italy, have determined that the Romans heated the lime ash to high temperatures to create what is known today as “quicklime.”
“The benefits of hot mixing are twofold,” Masic says. “First, when the overall concrete is heated to high temperatures, it allows chemistries that are not possible if you only used slaked lime, producing high-temperature-associated compounds that would not otherwise form. Second, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing and setting times since all the reactions are accelerated, allowing for much faster construction.”
MORE ROMAN NEWS: Making Wine the Way the Romans Did: These Wineries are Cutting The Additives
In such concrete as this, cracks that form allow the easy travel of the lime clasts into open space which, when coming in contact with water, seal and close the cracks. The team mixed their own Roman concrete and it took only 2 weeks for a deliberately inflicted crack to close.
By contrast a contemporary concrete block was made without quicklime and it never repaired itself.
As a result, the team are working to commercialize this as self-healing Roman concrete in order to reduce the 8% of global emissions attributed to the manufacture and laying of concrete in cities.
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Queen Victoria’s miniature mailbox which she used to send letters and cards during her reign 140 years ago has been unearthed.
The 30 inch tall box, which was carved into the style of a Royal Mail’s ‘pillar box,’ was recently discovered in a cottage in Surrey, intriguingly with an undelivered Christmas card inside.
The beautiful wooden table letterbox, engraved with the royal cypher ‘VR’ (Victoria Regina), dates back to the 1880s.
“We can only imagine the tone and content of the notes the queen must have placed inside but one thing we can be certain of is that she enjoyed sending letters and cards,” said Charles Hanson of Hansons Auctioneers, who is handling the sale.
“Her profile featured on the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp issued in 1840.
Queen Victoria ruled Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901.
LOOK: Sand Artist Creates Moving Portrait of The Queen on English Beach in Fond Farewell
She used the box to mail her letters and cards while she stayed at Osborne House, her favourite holiday destination on the north coast of the Isle of Wight built for her and her husband Prince Albert as a rural retreat.
The card inside was not sent or received by the former monarch and is believed to have been given to the seller’s family in the 1970s.
“I discovered it during a routine home visit at a cottage in Surrey,” said Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons London. “I was called in to assess items gathered by a keen antiques collector over a lifetime. It was purchased decades ago by the seller’s grandfather.”
“We understand he acquired it at a Carisbrooke [Castle Museum] sale which offered items relating to Osborne House in 1944 or 1945.
SIMILAR: Dog Owner Shocked to Discover Her Pet is the Brother of One of The Queen’s Corgis
The seller, from London, believes the card inside is a clue that the letterbox was given as a festive present
“It’s hard to part with family heirlooms but this royal item deserves to be seen and enjoyed,” he said.
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They’ve sold a hundred million records, performed over 2,500 shows in 67 countries, but Iron Maiden’s recent commemorative stamp collection issued by the Royal Mail had the truly legendary heavy metal band “astounded.”
Eight of the stamps are images of the band members playing different shows, while a variety of album covers and thematic images of the band’s mascot “Eddie” expand the collection.
Iron Maiden are the fifth music group to be honored with a stamp collection, behind The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, and The Rolling Stones.
“We were all absolutely astounded—in a good way—when we first heard about the commemorative project, and equally pretty much speechless when we saw the stamps for the first time,” stated bassist Steve Harris. “They look superb and really capture the essence and energy of Maiden.”
Harris founded the band in 1975 in London, but it wasn’t until their 1982 album Number of the Beast, with a single of the same name and Bruce Dickenson’s skyscraping tenor voice that the band achieved global notoriety.
“As a band who have never played by anyone else’s rules for over 40 years, it’s very gratifying to see them honored in their home country in this way,” said Iron Maiden’s manager, Rod Smallwood.
MORE HEAVY METAL NEWS: Anonymous Shopper Buys Iconic Pantera Guitar For Young Rocker Who Always Came in the Shop to Play it
“It’s also fantastic that Eddie has been honored too. It’s incredible to think that Her Majesty, may she rest in peace, saw these and lent her iconic silhouette to them too.”
Maybe Elizabeth had a heavier side in contrast to the relatively gentle outer appearance, or perhaps she appreciated how several of the band’s most iconic songs like Aces High and The Trooper memorialize famous battles in Britain’s history.
The stamps go on sale January 12th.
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Quote of the Day: “The ship is always off-course. Sailing is being off course and correcting.” (It’s life.) – Michael Meade
Photo by: John Bell (johnbellphoto)
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A group of whale watchers off the coast of Southern California had the rare privilege of witnessing the moment a grey whale gave birth.
Passengers aboard Capt. Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari enjoyed the extraordinary event off the coast of Dana Point, between Los Angeles and San Diego.
A company spokesperson said the crew had noticed the whale behaving sporadically, as they steered the boat slowly toward the animal.
“Passengers and crew saw something orange- and red-colored in the water they thought might have been kelp.”
Instead, a newborn calf rose to the surface.
The mother brought her baby right up to a small boat—as if to show it off.
“For a minute, many of us thought it may be a shark or predatory event. But, instead of the end of life, it was the beginning of a new one!”
The calf can be seen learning how to swim with the help of its mother. Several small boats were floating in the area, while a woman can be heard gasping with awe and delight at the rare sight.
LOOK: Curious Whale Nudges Paddle Boarder in Argentina in Stunning Video!
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, grey whales are often curious toward boats, making them ideal subjects for whale-watching tours.
Eastern North Pacific grey whales migrate 10,000 to 14,000 miles along the western US Coast, and often give birth in the warm waters nearby in Baja California, Mexico—with newborns measuring 15 feet long and weighing about 2,000 pounds.
WATCH the touching video below…
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A biotech company announced this week that the USDA (Department of Agriculture) granted them a conditional license for their honeybee vaccine.
The vaccine boosts the bee’s immune system to fight against American Foulbrood disease, a bacteria-based condition known to attack colonies that is caused by Paenibacillus larvae.
Critical to our food supplies, honeybees have been plagued by American Foulbrood, which until now had no safe or sustainable antidote. Previously, the only treatment method for the highly contagious disease was incinerating the bees, infected hives, and all the equipment.
Developed by Dalan Animal Health, the solution contains an inactive version of Paenibacillus larvae bacteria that is non-GMO and usable in organic agriculture.
After it is consumed by worker bees, the vaccine is then incorporated into the royal jelly, which is fed to the queen. When she ingests it, fragments of the vaccine are deposited in her ovaries.
Having been exposed to the vaccine, the developing larvae have immunity as they hatch.
“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honeybees, impacting food production on a global scale,” said Dr. Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan Animal Health, in a statement.
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“This is an exciting step forward for beekeepers, as we rely on antibiotic treatment that has limited effectiveness and requires lots of time and energy to apply to our hives,” explained Trevor Tauzer, owner of Tauzer Apiaries and board member of the California Beekeepers Association.
“If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy.”
Following research that showed the efficacy of the drug, the USDA issued its conditional license for two years. Dalan, which is headquartered in Athens, Georgia—at the University of Georgia’s Innovation Hub—will distribute the vaccine on a limited basis to commercial beekeepers.
RELATED: Bees Have a New, Lifesaving ‘Vaccine’ to Make Them Immune to Pesti-Side Effects
It anticipates having the vaccine, which will be manufactured in Iowa, available for purchase later this year in the U.S.
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Lost fish find their way home thanks to how their brains are wired, according to new research.
The neuronal circuit evolved up to half a billion years ago—and could have been passed onto humans.
It enables our slippery ancestors to get back on course, even after being swept away by fast flowing currents.
The discovery sheds fresh light on the workings of the ancient brain and may apply to other vertebrate, including us.
Co-author Dr. Misha Ahrens, of Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland, said this navigational circuit is quite unknown.
“We think it might underlie higher order hippocampal circuits for exploration and landmark-based navigation.”
The study published in Cell is based on the humble zebrafish—long used in medical research as a model for humans—and found the key chemical pathways crossing different regions at the back of the brain that help the animals regain their bearings.
In experiments the tiny translucent fish traversed a 2D virtual reality environment in the presence of a simulated flow. As they swam toward a target, strong water unexpectedly pushed them off course. They still swam back to where they started, determined to finish the journey.
First author Dr. En Yang and colleagues used a ‘whole imaging’ technique developed at their lab to measure what is happening. It allowed scientists to search the fish’s entire brain to see which circuits are activated during course-correcting—and disentangle the individual components involved.
RELATED: Myth Busted: Goldfish Have Great Memories and Are Even Used as a Model Species of Fish Cognition
Scans showed the hindbrain—a conserved area at the rear—computes their spot. They use the information to figure out where to go next.
Researchers expected to see cells triggered in the forebrain where the hippocampus is, which contains a ‘cognitive map’ of an animal’s environment.
To their surprise, they saw activation in several regions of the medulla. Information was being transmitted from a newly identified circuit. It passed through a hindbrain structure called the inferior olive to the motor circuits in the cerebellum that enable the fish to move.
When these pathways were blocked, fish were unable to navigate back to their original location.
The findings suggest areas of the brainstem remember a zebrafish’s original location and generate an error signal based on its current and past locations.
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This is relayed to the cerebellum, allowing the fish to swim back to its starting point. It reveals a new function for the inferior olive and the cerebellum, which was previously known to be involved in actions like reaching and locomotion, but not this type of navigation.
“We found the fish is trying to calculate the difference between its current location and its preferred location and uses this difference to generate an error signal,” said Dr. Yang.
“The brain sends that error signal to its motor control centers so the fish can correct after being moved by flow unintentionally, even many seconds later.”
It is still unclear whether these same networks are involved in similar behavior in other animals.
RELATED: Predators Have a Soft Side: Grey Reef Sharks Found To Form Long-Lasting ‘Friendships’ Says Study
But the researchers hope labs studying mammals will now start looking at the hindbrain for comparable circuits used for navigation.
This hindbrain network could also be the basis of other navigational skills, such as when a fish swims to a specific place for shelter, added Ahrens, who believes the research could lead to better understanding of dementia.
Proving that our vast planet still harbors unexplored places with never-before-recorded plants and animals, 146 new species were added in 2022 to the scientific database of biodiversity.
The new species reported by researchers at the California Academy of Sciences include fish, rays, lizards, spiders, scorpions, and plants.
The new branches added to our tree of life include 44 lizards, 30 ants, 14 sea slugs, 14 flowering plants, 13 sea stars, seven fishes, four sharks, four beetles, three moths, three worms, two scorpions, two spiders, two lichens, one toad, one clam, one aphid, and one sea biscuit.
Scientists made their finds across six continents and three oceans, from isolated mountain peaks to hundreds of feet beneath the ocean’s surface.
For instance, New Caledonia in the Pacific is now known to be the home of 28 new species of Bavayia gecko—which more than doubles the number discovered.
“Though all species within the genus physically look quite similar, we discovered they are in fact genetically distinct,” reports Academy researcher Dr. Aaron Bauer.
“Nearly every mountain in New Caledonia hosts a unique Bavayia species.”
One plant, the Minnesota Mountain onion, was discovered during a helicopter trip through California’s Klamath Mountains.
Academy Research Associate Julie Kierstead recalls, “The pilot decided to put us down on Minnesota Mountain for a half hour or so. It was really in the middle of nowhere.”
As Julie walked around the loose rocks she noticed an unfamiliar species of allium, the group of flowering plants including onions, garlic, and shallot, in bloom.
After searching the mountain range further another small patch was found on the summit of nearby Salt Creek Mountain. Both peaks are located within a microclimate receiving higher rainfall than that of the surrounding region, allowing certain species such as this onion to thrive.
“As far as we know, the Minnesota Mountain onion can only be found on these two neighboring peaks.”
Academy Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Dr Terry Gosliner, discovered 14 new-to-science sea slugs from the Indo-Pacific region.
But it wasn’t just academics discovering new species. San Francisco-area high school students Harper Forbes and Prakrit Jain discovered two new-to-science scorpions—small, desert-dwellers from the dry, salty lake beds of Central and Southern California.
Also new is the beautiful Rose-veiled Fairy Wrasse, the first fish discovered by a local scientist in the Maldives—a mesmerizing find reported by GNN in March that was named after the country’s national flower, a rose.
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“Biodiversity science is at the forefront of global conservation action and is key in unifying nations and equipping them with the tools and information necessary to reverse species extinction rates,” said Academy Chief of Science Dr. Shannon Bennett.
In 2021, the California Academy reported 70 new species were discovered—including 2 guitarfish and a pink pygmy pipehorse
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Quote of the Day: “To live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” – Howard Zinn
Photo by: Juliette F
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Younger millennials are the most likely to be careful with their cash—and the most likely to take action in their households to reduce monthly expenditures.
A poll of 2,000 UK adults found that those who were between 25-34 were almost twice as keen to make these changes as Gen Z adults, aged 18-24.
12 percent of those in the millennial group have worked from the office, even when they didn’t have to, in order to save cash.
They are also most willing to try new ways to save money in 2023, with 78 percent compared to just 49 percent of adults younger than them.
Showering at the gym and batch-cooking meals to make the most of the oven and hot water heater being on are other ways 25-34-year-olds are cutting back, which is not surprising, due to the higher cost of gas.
It also emerged that, overall, saving money was the top New Year’s resolution—a reversal of 2022’s goals, when dealing with health and diet was the top focus.
Saving money by cutting energy used at home is now the third most-selected resolution, up from sixth place a year ago.
Victoria Bacon, for Smart Energy GB, which commissioned the survey to encourage people to upgrade their traditional meter to a smart meter, said, “It’s not surprising to see young adults, and people across all age ranges, feeling the pinch money-wise.”
The random double-opt-in survey conducted by OnePoll also found 35-44-year-olds are most likely to have started taking in a packed lunch to work, and purchased clothing from a thrift store.
Adults between the ages of 55-64 are most likely to grow their own produce and make sure their roofs are properly insulated.
RELATED: Six in 10 Americans Believe They Can Build Generational Wealth in Several Ways, Says New Poll
Other common ways Brits have saved money include signing up for a loyalty card (26 percent), bleeding radiators to make them more efficient (24 percent) and taking shorter showers (24 percent).
Hayley Holdsworth, a full-time student and mom from West Yorkshire, uses cashback sites for everything purchased to maximize benefits, and is a true believer in generic supermarket-brand products.
“Don’t knock them until you’ve tried them,” advises the 27-year-old.
GOOD TREND: More Than 40% of Millennials Have Changed Their Diets Because It’s Better for the Environment
Scientists have just debuted a new way to see how cells organize themselves, shedding modern light on the building blocks of life.
In a new database of 200,000 images, scientists captured details about the rich variation in their shapes—even among genetically identical cells grown under the same conditions.
Published in the journal Nature this week, the research is the culmination of all the work the Allen Institute for Cell Science has been doing since it was launched 8 years ago.
This milestone in cell biology—akin to discovering “design principles” of the cell—unlocks the potential to find new treatments for diseases where cells malfunction—and the methods and findings are generalizable to virtually any cell.
For the study, researchers created a new method of analyzing human cells that produces a new type of information beyond genomics: computationally derived, 3D spatial organization and morphology—essentially, a cell’s shape and how its internal components are organized inside in three dimensions.
After they applied numbers and mathematical principles to cell organization, they uncovered the endless variation in cell shapes.
Using computational analyses, researchers developed what they call a “shape space” that describes external shape. This includes things like volume, elongation, and the “pear-ness” or “bean-ness” of its shape.
ANOTHER DISCOVERY: Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough: Cellular ‘Glue’ Heals Wounds, Potentially Regrows Nerves and Tissue
The new data type will allow researchers to uncover the foundational principles of shape and internal organization. Understanding how cells organize their parts under healthy conditions—and the range of variability within “normal”—is key to understanding what goes wrong in disease.
Some early organizing principles we’ve discovered include:
“Part of what makes cell biology seem intractable is the fact that every cell looks different, even when they are the same type of cell,” said Wallace Marshall, a Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California in San Francisco, and member of the Allen Institute’s Advisory Board.
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“This same variability that has long plagued the field is, in fact, an opportunity to study the rules by which a cell is put together (and) I expect that many others will adopt the same methodology.”
This paper also lays the groundwork for understanding a cell’s operating system, especially how three important factors relate—organization, behavior, molecular identity.
“We built all of this from scratch, including the metrics to measure and compare different aspects of how cells are organized,” said Ru Gunawardane, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science.
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“What I’m truly excited about is how we and others in the community can now build on this and ask questions about cell biology that we could never ask before.”
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Engineering might be boring to over half the country, but this government agency got creative in imagining the purr-fect way to engage everyone.
The new 2023 calendar highlighting the achievements of the US Army Corps of Engineers features giant cats superimposed in photos of their engineering successes.
The Portland District of the Corps needed an eye-catching way of showing off their civil works programs across Oregon and southwestern Washington.
The result is a collection of hilarious scenes.
The pages showcase cats lying on dams, stretching on steel beams, and dominating huge construction vehicles.
Because the Corps is a federal government agency, their calendar is in the public domain—and you can download their PDF file and print it yourself for free.
Further feline fun shows cats using cranes as dangle toys.
Monthly humorous captions include “Detroit Dam is not only fun to chew on but also a pretty important flood risk management project.”
The District engineers operate locks and dams along the Columbia River, and provides flood risk management using dams in the Willamette Valley. It maintains Oregon’s coastal rivers for navigation and leads the Nation in hydropower generation.
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Because their work ensures “equal attention” to environmental protection, along with fish and wildlife, we’re glad they added a picture of a giant litter box to keep their sites tidy.
You can download the FREE file for printing here.
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Our partner Rob Brezsny 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 January 7, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“I’m homesick all the time,” writes author Sarah Addison Allen. “I just don’t know where home is. There’s this promise of happiness out there. I know it. I even feel it sometimes. But it’s like chasing the moon. Just when I think I have it, it disappears into the horizon.” If you have ever felt pangs like hers, Capricorn, I predict they will fade in 2023. That’s because I expect you will clearly identify the feeling of home you want—and thereby make it possible to find and create the place, the land, and the community where you will experience a resounding peace and stability.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Storyteller Michael Meade tells us, “The ship is always off course. Anybody who sails knows that. Sailing is being off-course and correcting. That gives a sense of what life is about.” I interpret Meade’s words to mean that we are never in a perfect groove heading directly towards our goal. We are constantly deviating from the path we might wish we could follow with unfailing accuracy. That’s not a bug in the system; it’s a feature. And as long as we obsess on the idea that we’re not where we should be, we are distracted from doing our real work. And the real work? The ceaseless corrections. I hope you will regard what I’m saying here as one of your core meditations in 2023, Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
A Chinese proverb tells us, “Great souls have wills. Feeble souls have wishes.” I guess that’s true in an abstract way. But in practical terms, most of us are a mix of both great and feeble. We have a modicum of willpower and a bundle of wishes. In 2023, though, you Pisceans could make dramatic moves to strengthen your willpower as you shed wimpy wishes. In my psychic vision of your destiny, I see you feeding metaphorical iron supplements to your resolve and determination.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“My life was the best omelet you could make with a chainsaw,” observed flamboyant author Thomas McGuane. That’s a witty way to encapsulate his tumultuous destiny. There have been a few moments in 2022 when you might have been tempted to invoke a similar metaphor about your own evolving story. But the good news is that your most recent chainsaw-made omelet is finished and ready to eat. I think you’ll find its taste is savory. And I believe it will nourish you for a long time. (Soon it will be time to start your next omelet, maybe without using the chainsaw this time!)
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
After meticulous research of 2023’s astrological omens, I have come to a radical conclusion: You should tell the people who care for you that you’d like to be called by new pet names. I think you need to intensify their ability and willingness to view you as a sublime creature worthy of adoration. I don’t necessarily recommend you use old standbys like “cutie,” “honey,” “darling,” or “angel.” I’m more in favor of unique and charismatic versions, something like “Jubilee” or “Zestie” or “Fantasmo” or “Yowie-Wowie.” Have fun coming up with pet names that you are very fond of. The more, the better.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
If I could choose some fun and useful projects for you to master in 2023, they would include the following: 1. Be in constant competition with yourself to outdo past accomplishments. But at the same time, be extra compassionate toward yourself. 2. Borrow and steal other people’s good ideas and use them with even better results than they would use them. 3. Acquire an emerald or two, or wear jewelry that features emeralds. 4. Increase your awareness of and appreciation for birds. 5. Don’t be attracted to folks who aren’t good for you just because they are unusual or interesting. 6. Upgrade your flirting so it’s even more nuanced and amusing, while at the same time you make sure it never violates anyone’s boundaries.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
When she was young, Carolyn Forché was a conventional poet focused on family and childhood. But she transformed. Relocating to El Salvador during its civil war, she began to write about political trauma. Next, she lived in Lebanon during its civil war. She witnessed firsthand the tribulations of military violence and imprisonment of activists. Her creative work increasingly illuminated questions of social justice. At age 72, she is now a renowned human rights advocate. In bringing her to your attention, I don’t mean to suggest that you engage in an equally dramatic self-reinvention. But in 2023, I do recommend drawing on her as an inspirational role model. You will have great potential to discover deeper aspects of your life’s purpose—and enhance your understanding of how to offer your best gifts.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Are the characters in Carlos Castañeda‘s books fictional or real? It doesn’t matter to me. I love the wisdom of his alleged shaman teacher, Don Juan Matus. He said, “Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use.” Don Juan’s advice is perfect for you in the coming nine months, Leo. I hope you will tape a copy of his words on your bathroom mirror and read it at least once a week.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Teacher and author Byron Katie claims, “The voice within is what I’m married to. My lover is the place inside me where an honest yes and no come from.” I happen to know that she has also been married for many years to a writer named Stephen Mitchell. So she has no problem being wed to both Mitchell and her inner voice. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to propose marriage to your own inner voice. The coming year will be a fabulous time to deepen your relationship with this crucial source of useful and sacred revelation.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche offered advice that is perfect for you in 2023. It’s strenuous. It’s demanding and daunting. If you take it to heart, you will have to perform little miracles you may not yet have the confidence to try. But I have faith in you, Libra. That’s why I don’t hesitate to provide you with Nietzsche’s rant: “No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!”
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
How might you transform the effects of the limitations you’ve been dealing with? What could you do to make it work in your favor as 2023 unfolds? I encourage you to think about these question with daring and audacity. The more moxie you summon, the greater your luck will be in making the magic happen. Here’s another riddle to wrestle with: What surrender or sacrifice could you initiate that might lead in unforeseen ways to a plucky breakthrough? I have a sense that’s what will transpire as you weave your way through the coming months in quest of surprising opportunities.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian singer Tina Turner confided, “My greatest beauty secret is being happy with myself.” I hope you will experiment with that formula in 2023. I believe the coming months will potentially be a time when you will be happier with yourself than you have ever been before—more at peace with your unique destiny, more accepting of your unripe qualities, more in love with your depths, and more committed to treating yourself with utmost care and respect. Therefore, if Tina Turner is accurate, 2023 will also be a year when your beauty will be ascendant.
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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