A cat performed the most head-scratching stunt in Wales recently on class picture day, leaving a group of proud moms “in floods of laughter.”
10 and 7-year-olds Meghan and Chloe Roberts were all dressed up and excited to have their picture taken at Drury Primary School, but their excitement couldn’t compare with that of Ziggy, their orange and white cat who regularly visits the school.
When Ziggy the “honorary student,” felt it was his turn, the 4-year-old effortlessly jumped up on the photo chair, looked straight at the camera, got his snap, and promptly left.
“Chloe handed the letter to me and I expected it to be her photos,” Chloe’s mom Emma Roberts told local Welsh news, The Leader. “But then when I looked I was just in floods of laughter and so were the other mums standing by me.”
“I asked her what had gone on and she said he just jumped on the chair. He didn’t need any encouragement, he just got up there for a photo. The school has just accepted him and he goes there at any opportunity. He’s there every day.”
Indeed the headmaster has described the cat’s attendance record as “an excellent example for other pupils.”
Emma has called him a “complete menace,” because when Ziggy makes it onto school grounds, there’s no removing him. He saunters around, sleeping on books, on the headmaster’s desk, and walking in and out of classrooms while they’re in session.
However the school at this point has just accepted him.
Emma shared the incident on Facebook with an opener that read “If a cat could be the village idiot, then that cat belongs to me. He is ridiculously embarrassing.”
No doubt Ziggy will be incredibly proud of his photo, and Emma admits she bought a copy of it from Tempest Photography to place on the mantelpiece next to Chloe’s and Meghan’s.
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Quote of the Day: “Never underestimate the power you have that can take your life in a new direction.” – Germany Kent
Photo by: Bit Cloud
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Across the English speaking world, men are learning that the easiest way to cure a bout of social isolation is not by talking face to face, but shoulder to shoulder.
When Phillip Jackson moved back to England from Australia, he was 67, and immediately felt like a stray dog in his native town of Barnsley.
Realizing many of those in town at his age had their own problems with social isolation, he launched a Barnsley UK chapter of an Australian community building movement called “Men’s Shed,” which has expanded across the anglophone world, and included more than 50,000 men.
Capitalizing on most men’s (and women’s) appreciation of woodworking, a Men’s Shed is essentially a collective support group for men with not enough friends or too much time on their hands. The original concept was to get together and make things out of wood, but in reality its about plugging into the social fabric of a community, whether that’s through meeting up for a coffee, building a park bench, or listening the problems someone is going through in their marriage.
“It’s like the shed at the bottom of your garden,” Jackson told The Guardian. “but all your friends are there. It’s a break from people’s weekly routines. It gets them out and talking to similar people.”
In 2005, there were an estimated 200 Men’s Sheds operating in Australia. Today the Australian Men’s Shed Association has a membership base of over 1,200 Men’s Sheds.
It’s become a big part of Australia’s mental health outpatient options, with the recent round of fundraising managing to secure 153 Men’s Shed chapters AUD$10,000 from the Ministry for Health and Aged Care.
“We have this kind of male pride thing,” said Mike Jenn, 70, and a member of a United States Men’s Shed. “‘I can look after myself. I don’t need to talk to anyone,’ and it’s a complete fallacy. Not communicating helps to kill us.”
There are 17 U.S. Men’s Sheds, including one in Hawai’i. They are springing up in Canada as well, and surging in number around the UK.
“It’s not really a woodworking shop. It’s a community enterprise where people with problems can come and discuss them with friends,” said Jackson.
The age range of “Shedders” as Jackson calls them, tends to vary from 22 through to 87, which makes sense because anyone can feel lonely at times. He adds that the members come from all walks of life—ex-coalminers to shopkeepers.
Not only can Men’s and Women’s Sheds be a great place for learning and laughing, they can literally save lives, as loneliness has been shown to shave years off of one’s life, elderly or young.
For Americans who feel a woodworking/support group would be welcomed in their own community, the U.S. Men’s Shed Association has plenty of resources for those looking to start their own shed, including step by step process for getting 501(c)3 non-profit status, applying for grants from healthcare and other funding sources to launch a program, and even ideas for how to plan your first meeting.
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Golden retriever plays with a cheetah at the Columbus Zoo, 2016.
It’s been more than 70 years since Cheetahs sprinted across the hot plains of India, and now that they’re back, the Indian government is taking no chances on their safety.
That’s why they’re hiring specialists—six German shepherds to patrol the grounds of the 80,000 acre Kuno National Park for signs of poachers.
Asian News International reported that the dogs are undergoing a 7-month training program at the Tibetan Border Police Force’s National Training Center for Dogs, where they will hone their tracking skills and obedience.
Released on the 17th of September, five male cheetahs and three females were flown to India from a game reserve north of Windhoek, Namibia, in the first-ever international translocation of the animal. Declared extinct in India in 1952 mainly due to overhunting, the cheetah’s great stronghold lies in Namibia thanks to its open flat ground, sparse populations, and rich game numbers.
“Today the cheetah has returned to the soil of India,” said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video address. “The nature loving consciousness of India has also awakened with full force,” he added. “We must not allow our efforts to fail.”
South China Morning Post reports that Ilu the German shepherd and her teammates will also be taught to sniff out tiger bones, elephant tusks, and other highly-trafficked wildlife parts.
“Dogs trained at the ITBP dog training center have a high rate of wildlife crime detection,” Ishwar Singh Duhan, inspector general of basic training at the Tibetan facility, told ASI. “There are scores of success stories where dogs have helped in the arrest of poachers and recoveries of wildlife species and their remains.”
7,000 cheetahs exist across Africa, but the other major sub-species, the Asiatic cheetah is hanging on by a thread. It used to roam from Arabia through the Fertile Crescent and Zagros Mountains, all the way to India and Pakistan.
The hope is that they will recover in India and create a growing, diverse population that will protect the species from localized catastrophe such as disease, drought, reduced genetic diversity, or civil war.
Markings like green, blue, and red, cover the buildings in Khatib Central – credit IMMORTAL
In keeping with the Singapore government’s initiative to enable ‘aging in place’, a dementia-friendly wayfinding solution was devised for Khatib Central and Chong Pang City, which were identified as residential estates with aging populations.
The project’s objective was to create a system that assists seniors and those afflicted with dementia in navigating around their neighborhoods safely and independently.
This was achieved by formulating wayfinding strategies that support easy navigation between residential blocks and key amenities around the estates, especially within high-traffic zones.
The estate was co-designed in 2019 by community stakeholders, healthcare partners and design consultants. 22% of Singapore’s population is already over 60, and health authorities worry that there could be as many as 158,000 people with dementia by 2050.
Building upon research to ascertain the needs of the elderly and dementia patients, the resulting wayfinding solution involves zoning areas by color and symbol, as well as developing a signage system that allows easy spatial recognition.
The residential blocks were sectioned into zones and each was assigned a bold colors, either red, green or blue. The zone colors were painted on the façade of the blocks, along with block numbers prominently displayed in large fonts, making them easily legible from a distance.
The vertical pillar signs double as benches – credit IMMORTALSigns in Khatib central – credit IMMORTALPhoto credit: IMMORTAL
Other features of the wayfinding project include super-sized graphic walls and pillar signage that incorporate directional elements, universal icons, as well as stenciled symbols of pineapples, tropical fish and rubber trees, chosen for their close association with the area’s heritage.
These simple yet distinctive visual cues serve as visual anchors for clear identification by color zone and are positioned at common areas such as lift lobbies and stairwells. In addition, directional signage on aluminum panels were integrated with concrete seats that double as resting spots for senior residents.
On the streets, barriers dissuade confused elderly residents from wandering into the main roads, while they also double as barriers to cyclists who are instructed to dismount and push their bikes along.
The signage system was applied seamlessly to the existing infrastructure, making for a community-friendly approach that prioritizes the well-being of the elderly demographic.
Locals caring for elderly relatives in the area note that there is room for improvements, for example the pillar signs are covered with perhaps too much information.
Beyond the large fonts and clear instructions, some signs or building facades are covered in large murals of everyday things and places. These depict things like the ang ku kueh, a tortoise-shell shaped traditional pastry that can help guide someone to the bakery.
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An expedition team in northern Haiti has rediscovered a magnolia tree that has been lost to science for 97 years.
The team used the tree’s telltale features to find it: beautiful alabaster flowers and uniquely shaped glossy emerald leaves. In a country stricken with widespread habitat destruction, this rediscovery has given conservationists hope that Haiti’s montane forests can be rewilded.
The northern Haiti magnolia (Magnolia emarginata) has been missing since scientists first discovered it in 1925, and is considered critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
“The chances of finding this tree were one in a million considering that so few of Haiti’s forests remain,” said Eladio Fernandez, who led the expedition and is the communications director for Haiti National Trust.
“This rediscovery serves as a beacon of hope for the biodiversity of Haiti. Despite the bleak state of the country’s degraded forests, it still harbors species like this that are found nowhere else in the world, giving us the opportunity to save them.”
Hispaniola is home to five known endemic magnolia species, all of which are considered critically endangered and restricted to the wet mountainous forests over 2,200 feet (700 meters) above sea level.
After consulting herbarium records, the team from Re:wild decided to search for the northern Haiti magnolia in mid-June when the flowers are in bloom, making the tree easier to identify against the canopy, and increasing the chances of rediscovery. The five-person team finally set out on its multi-day expedition on June 15.
For three days the team focused its search on the mountains of Massif du Nord, where they thought there would be suitable elevated habitat for the magnolia, close to the destroyed forest where the species was discovered. They also suspected that this lost magnolia species may have been growing in dense mountainside forests, making it especially challenging to document and study.
Local Haitian guide Macsillon L’Homme and Eladio Fernandez expedition leader – credit Eladio Fernandez.
The mountainous terrain limited the search and exhausted the team, but by the end they were able to identify 16 adult northern Haiti magnolia trees with flowers in various stages of growth in an isolated forested ravine and are confident that more remain in the area.
The team also found juvenile magnolias, standing less than one meter tall, giving them hope for a viable population of this once-lost species, and locals assisted in collecting herbarium samples.
Haiti National Trust is now planning a seed collection trip in the late fall to begin a conservation program for the tree. They plan to draw on knowledge from the successful cultivation of the other four magnolia species from elsewhere across Hispaniola to start a nursery and begin restoration efforts with local communities.
“This rediscovery energizes our efforts to rewild Haiti,” says Anne-Isabelle Bonifassi, executive director of Haiti National Trust. “We’ve been working hard in Haiti’s Grand Bois to rewild the forests there, including Haiti’s other endemic magnolia species, and we are excited to apply that work to help us preserve another beautiful and iconic magnolia.”
Quote of the Day: “Worrying is the brain’s default position. We have to learn how to keep negative emotion in check by amplifying positive emotions.” – Ray Williams
Photo by: Irudayam, CC license
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When most people think of penguins, they usually think of icy Antarctica, yet only 7 of the 17 known penguin species live there. This small Galapagos penguin actually lives and thrives near the hot equator—and these swimmers were delighted when they came to play.
With their scuba fins, the humans were diving in the waters off Fernandina, where the flightless birds find an abundance of food, due to the convergence of powerful ocean currents—including the cold Humboldt waters bringing yummy anchovies, sardines, and mullet.
The penguins are amazingly agile in water, able to reach speeds of 20mph (35km/h) using their powerful flippers.
As the pair of divers were snorkeling with the curious penguins in the blue waters near the rocky shores of the Galapagos Island, playful sea lions swept in as well, and all was captured on video.
The sea lions rolled and cavorted, inviting the clumsy humans to play and follow them as they dashed back and forth and all around them.
Truly the clowns of the ocean, they seemingly were eager to have fun with anyone who enters their domain.
One sea lion even tried to catch one of the penguins in what seemed to be a game, but the penguin was not amused. Wisely, penguins avoid sea lions as they are also known to prey on penguins when the opportunity arises—but it is not uncommon to find the animals here curiously approaching humans.
The swimmers in this group enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience as they played with sea lions and penguins in their own habitat and on their own terms.
WATCH the video from WildCreatures below… (NOTE: GNN is not affiliated nor benefitting from any ads that might play.)
What began in 2008 as a single life jacket loaner booth for boaters to borrow any size preserver before going on the water, has now turned into the world’s largest life jacket loaner program.
And, they crossed a huge milestone last month, setting up location number 1,000 at the beach in Clearwater, Florida.
The program now operates loaner stations in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands—all thanks to a Long Island, New York captain.
Capt. Joe Frohnhoefer kept seeing boating accidents and tragedies that could have been prevented, so he decided to start the nonprofit Sea Tow Foundation in 2007 to provide the education and resources to eliminate them.
He started the Life Jacket Loaner program the following year to prevent drowning by providing free life jackets that boaters of any size can borrow and return at the end of their outing.
The lifelong seafaring New Yorker passed away in 2015, but his legacy lives on through the efforts of the foundation and his daughter Kristen, who is now president of the board.
“Since 2008, we’ve distributed over 90,000 life jackets,” said Gail Kulp, the group’s Executive Director.
Sea Tow Foundation
“We believe that financial struggles or lack of access to resources should never be an obstacle to safety.”
“It’s truly game-changing when someone puts on a life jacket,” according to Capt. Kahle, the Commander of US Coast Guard in St. Petersburg. “The statistics don’t lie—life jackets save lives.”
“This means an awful lot from an outreach and education standpoint,” said Brian Rehwinkel, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. “If you don’t have a life jacket, you can’t wear one. With this program there’s no reason for someone to go out on the water without one.
American biotech company Biogen announced the results of a phase 3 clinical trial that showed a new Alzheimer’s drug slowed the rate of cognitive decline for early onset patients by 27%.
The Alzheimer’s Association (AA) called the robust study of lecanemab, which is a monoclonal antibody designed to clear clumps of amyloid protein from the brain, “the most encouraging results in clinical trials treating the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s to date.”
The CEO at Eisai—the Japanese pharmaceutical company partnering with Biogen—claims the results of the lecanemab study, named Clarity AD, “proves the amyloid hypothesis, in which the abnormal accumulation of Aβ in the brain is one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Eisai believes these findings will create new horizons in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as well as further activate innovation for new treatment options.
The study enrolled 1,800 patients with early stage Alzheimer’s, with half receiving placebo and half receiving twice-weekly infusions of the lecanemab. Results showed the drug did reduce toxic amyloid plaque in the brain and slow patients’ memory decline, while improving their ability to perform day-to-day tasks.
The full analysis of the trial has yet to be released.
Alzheimer’s advocates and researchers look forward to learning more about the data at a meeting in November, including participant safety and the percentage of patients who experienced any brain swelling.
“If those data are consistent with what we saw today regarding efficacy and safety, we strongly support FDA approval and full [Medicare] coverage,” added the AA in a statement.
“Today’s announcement gives patients and their families hope that lecanemab, if approved, can potentially slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and provide a clinically meaningful impact on cognition and function,” said Michel Vounatsos, Chief Executive Officer at Biogen.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed that the results of the 18-month trial can serve as the confirmatory study to verify the clinical benefit of lecanemab, setting a date of January 6 to announce its decision.
However, researchers say that amyloid is only one component of Alzheimer’s disease—and some are calling the benefits measured in this trial “small”.
Amyloid is “associated with the problem, but it isn’t ‘the’ problem”, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas and a sceptic of the amyloid hypothesis told NATURE. “If you modulate it, of course you can have some small benefit.”
But others are chiming a much more hopeful note.
“This is a historic moment for dementia research, as this is the first phase 3 trial of an Alzheimer’s drug in a generation to successfully slow cognitive decline,” said Dr Susan Kohlhaas, the director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
“Many people feel Alzheimer’s is an inevitable part of aging. This spells it out: if you intervene early you can make an impact on how people progress.”
HOPEFUL? Then, Share the Results on Social Media to Spread the Optimism
Quote of the Day: “Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind.” – Gwendolyn Brooks
Photo by: Daniel Weiss
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Being given an illicit drug called ketamine and then looking at smiling faces could help end depression, according to a new study.
Researchers found that reading happy words and looking at happy faces, including one’s own, can prolong ketamine’s antidepressant effects for months.
Besides its use as an illicit party drug, ketamine was approved by the US FDA in 1970 for use as an anesthetic to kill pain, and was used in treating injured soldiers on the battlefields in the Vietnam War.
Doctors began to realize that the drug had powerful effects against depression and suicidal thoughts: Called ‘the speedster of antidepressants’ because it works within hours, emergency responders sometimes give it to agitated people rescued from suicide attempts.
In a new therapy developed at the University of Pittsburgh for those suffering with treatment-resistant depression, just one ketamine injection was followed by automated computer-based training that used positive words and imagery to improve how a person sees themselves.
Words such as “sweet”, “lovable” and “worthy” will flash on a screen alongside the patient’s photo and pictures of smiling people.
The scientists behind the plan have found depression can be kept at bay for at least a month if the digital techniques are used when ketamine has prepared the brain’s plasticity.
“Using simple conditioning during the period after ketamine treatment, when the brain is receptive to soaking in new information, allows us to go after key features of depression,” reports Dr. Rebecca Price, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the school.
“Training the brain to link perceptions of yourself with positive ideas during this ketamine-primed plasticity window exceeded my expectations.
“I was surprised and amazed to get such clear findings from an intervention that was so minimal.”
The results of the double-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted locally in Pennsylvania were published last month in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
According to a National Institute of Mental Health analysis, nearly 21 million American adults experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2020–and nearly 3 million of those diagnosed do not respond to traditional antidepressant medication. For people with such treatment-resistant depression, psychoactive drugs, such as ketamine, offer an alternative chance at long-term remission.
Though symptom relief can be felt just two hours after a ketamine infusion, the drug’s effects often wear off after a couple of weeks meaning patients go back for more. It’s not an easily accessible treatment either: In the US, ketamine infusions often come with high out-of-pocket costs and long waiting lists.
As a result, Dr Price and her team are reorienting their goals to improve access to intravenous ketamine treatment and boost its effect by pairing the drug with digital therapies.
“We are interested in creating an automated intervention that any computer or device can run, making it as accessible as possible.
“Our goal is to leverage digital technologies and develop a strategy that will efficiently extend time between appointments, save patients money and get more patients effective depression care.”
The clinical trial enrolled more than 150 adults with treatment-resistant depression. Following a ketamine infusion, one group of patients completed eight 20-minute trainings over four days, and another group received a non-therapeutic version of the computer tasks. A third group received a saline infusion followed by the active training. In the following month, people in the ketamine-plus-training group reported feeling fewer depression symptoms for longer than those who did not receive training or who did not receive ketamine, suggesting that the neuro-cognitive training extended ketamine’s antidepressant effects.
Based on the findings, Pittsburgh’s Innovation Institute filed a provisional patent for the treatment method, to benefit those who have exhausted all other options.
Currently the team are figuring out how they could get the content on an iPad or smartphone and bring patients the same benefits that they receive on a computer in a clinic.
Ongoing research is also exploring how similar techniques could help ease suicidality, and future research may expand to anxiety, disordered eating, and more.
“This automated intervention is so simple that it could be repurposed to address a variety of mental health conditions and easily tweaked to match the needs of an individual patient,” said Price, who was among the first to show that intravenous ketamine can reduce suicidal thoughts
“If playing little digital games is what it takes to maintain a response and reliably get one month of depression relief, that’s already an improvement over the status quo.”
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Complimenting a stranger in the street is the top thing adults would most like to do in public, but don’t have the guts, according to a poll from the UK.
The poll of 2,000 adults found 40 percent ‘consciously limit’ themselves in life because they fear being criticized when doing things more freely.
Well over half of respondents feel more alive when they push themselves out of their comfort zone, but they are often too scared to take the leap.
One in three (34 percent) worry what other people would think if they were to be so adventurous—and 43 percent hold so much of themselves back that they believe others would be shocked to learn their true personality.
Pavan Chandra from Peperami, which commissioned the poll as part of a new campaign to encourage spontaneity, said, “We as a nation are traditionally known as being a bit stiff and reserved.
“However, if everyone went outside of their comfort zone once in a while, they’ll start seeing the fun and exciting side of life.”
The survey, carried out by OnePoll, revealed that going to the cinema alone, singing aloud, and walking barefoot are other unconventional activities we are too embarrassed to indulge in.
However, while 62 percent believe everyone should be able to feel like their most expressive self without judgement, 24 percent feel judged on a daily basis.
Many reckon those closest to them would be shocked to see them doing something they wouldn’t normally do.
Trying something new, visiting a new place, or something fun that makes you laugh, were the things that encouraged people to break out of the ordinary in everyday life—and most people reported being happy, free, or excited as a result of stepping out.
“We want to encourage people to let go of their shyness and do what they want more freely without embarrassment,” added Chandra.
How many things from this top 10 list have you done in public? (Sans No.6, we would encourage you to transfer these to your bucket list—and, try doing five and ten at the same time!)
TOP 10 THINGS ADULTS WISH THEY COULD DO FREELY IN PUBLIC
1. Compliment a stranger
2. Go to the cinema alone
3. Walk down the street singing loudly
4. Tell someone they love them
5. Listen to something without headphones
6. Fart or burp openly
7. Walk barefoot
8. Do yoga stretches in the park
9. Adjust your underwear
10. Dance in the street
To encourage the nation to break boundaries and have a moment of spontaneous joy, YouTuber Yung Filly, the new brand ambassador for the snack creators, is encouraging his close friends to let go of their inhibitions in a three-part video series, at @peperamitv via social channels.
Inflated vocal sacs produce mating call
- by Juan Abarca
Juan Abarca
A nature-lover’s well-trained ears led to the discovery of a new species of frog, after the Costa Rican man searched for six months to find the source of a mysterious sound.
The tiny green frog was discovered by Donald Valera Soto, a naturalist and co-owner of Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, a cattle ranch that he turned into a wildlife reserve.
“We as country boys, we know sounds,” said Soto. “I grew up in the forests walking around learning to identify species of trees, birds and frogs. I listened to this little frog and it was almost impossible to find it, it was so well camouflaged.”
“I was really happy when I found it,” said Soto, who chose the frog’s common name—tapir valley tree frog—to honor its 20-acre wetland home.
The biggest clue that it was a new species was a yellow line, which runs about halfway down the frog’s flanks then abruptly stops. The Canal Zone Tree Frog (Boana rufitela) also has a yellow line, but the line continues the entire length of the frog’s body. The team looked through books and scientific literature, but the characteristics didn’t match any other known species of frog.
Soto first heard the tapir valley tree frog’s shrill call among the sounds of more than 10 other frog species, while he was working around a wetland pond after the first heavy rains of the year in late March 2018. He had been planning to expand the wetland area to make it more hospitable to migratory species of birds during their journeys between North America and Central and South America. The unfamiliar frog call stopped him in his tracks as he was walking through the wetland and prompted him to investigate which frog was making it.
Inflated vocal sacs produce the mating call – by Juan Abarca
After months of nighttime walks and surveys when the frog is most active, Soto and a small team that included his two young daughters, Kira and Ellie, herpetologist Juan Abarca, and biologist Valeria Aspinall, finally spotted one of the frogs. It measured only 2 centimeters (8/10 of an inch) and was camouflaged in the tall grasses around the pond, making it difficult to spot—even from a few feet away.
The frog, which also features a blue armpit and red spots, was described for the first time in a paper published two months ago, in the journal Zootaxa, with Soto as the paper’s lead author.
The frog’s scientific name (Tlalocohyla celeste) honors Río Celeste, a tourism favorite in Costa Rica with blue lagoons and waterfalls, and is only the fifth species to be discovered within the genus Tlalocohyla.
“We needed to determine how morphologically, or physically, similar or different this species is to other more common species,” said Abarca. “The adult morphology is very important, but one of the things that is very hard is to find the tadpoles. The tadpoles can help identify the genus.”
Eventually, the team was able to find two of the adult frogs in a mating embrace.
“That’s when we also finally were able to identify or pinpoint which eggs or which egg masses belong to the species,” said Aspinall. “Before that, we couldn’t just assume it, because there’s 15 other species laying eggs within the same environment, so we couldn’t actually tell them apart until after we found the eggs attached to the leaf.”
Juan Abarca
The team monitored the eggs the female laid on the underside of a leaf until they hatched and the tadpoles dropped into a container with water, allowing them to describe the morphology of the tadpoles. In addition to the physical description of both adults and tadpoles, the team analyzed the frog’s DNA. It didn’t match any other known species of amphibian and had to be a new species.
Love of tapirs started it all
Tapir Valley Nature Reserve was originally a cattle ranch that Soto and Melvin Rodriguez have been rewilding for 18 years, returning it to lush forest habitat. After moving cattle and other domesticated livestock out of the reserve, they let native plant species and trees grow unchecked. The forest has since attracted endangered peccaries, jaguars and Baird’s tapirs.
Baird’s tapirs are known as “gardeners of the forest” because they disperse the seeds of plants widely and are the only animals that are capable of dispersing the seeds of one tree species that sequesters large amounts of carbon.
Donald Valera Soto
“I love this frog, because it tells a larger story,” said Esteban Brenes Mora of Re:wild. “When Donald started Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, it was to protect tapirs and help them move between forests. He didn’t know that there were completely new species to science living on the reserve, but if he hadn’t protected this place for tapirs we might not have ever discovered this little frog.”
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of October 1, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh was born under the sign of Libra. He said, “The root-word ‘Buddha’ means to wake up, to know, to understand; and he or she who wakes up and understands is called a Buddha.” So according to him, the spiritual teacher Siddhartha Gautama who lived in ancient India was just one of many Buddhas. And by my astrological reckoning, you will have a much higher chance than usual to be like one of these Buddhas yourself in the coming weeks. Waking up will be your specialty. You will have an extraordinary capacity to burst free of dreamy illusions and murky misapprehensions. I hope you take full advantage. Deeper understandings are nigh.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I invite you to be the sexiest, most intriguing, most mysterious Scorpio you can be in the coming weeks. Here are ideas to get you started. 1. Sprinkle the phrase “in accordance with prophecy” into your conversations. 2. Find an image that symbolizes rebirth and revitalization arising out of disruption. Meditate on it daily until you actually experience rebirth and revitalization arising out of disruption. 3. Be kind and merciful to the young souls you know who are living their first lifetimes. 4. Collect deep, dark secrets from the interesting people you know. Employ this information to plan how you will avoid the trouble they endured. 5. Buy two deluxe squirt guns and two knives made of foam rubber. Use them to wage playful fights with those you love.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
There’s an ancient Greek saying, “I seek the truth, by which no one ever was truly harmed.” I regard that as a fine motto for you Sagittarians. When you are at your best and brightest, you are in quest of the truth. And while your quests may sometimes disturb the status quo, they often bring healthy transformations. The truths you discover may rattle routines and disturb habits, but they ultimately lead to greater clarity and authenticity. Now is an excellent time to emphasize this aspect of your nature.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Let’s imagine you are in your office or on the job or sitting at your kitchen table. With focused diligence, you’re working on solving a problem or improving a situation that involves a number of people. You think to yourself, “No one seems to be aware that I am quietly toiling here behind the scenes to make the magic happen.” A few days or a few weeks later, your efforts have been successful. The problem is resolved or the situation has improved. But then you hear the people involved say, “Wow, I wonder what happened? It’s like things got fixed all by themselves.” If a scenario like this happens, Capricorn, I urge you to speak up and tell everyone what actually transpired.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
To honor your entrance into the most expansive phase of your astrological cycle, I’m calling on the counsel of an intuitive guide to offer the following advice. 1. Cultivate a mindset where you expect something unexpected to happen. 2. Fantasize about the possibility of a surprising blessing or unplanned-for miracle. 3. Imagine that a beguiling breakthrough will erupt into your rhythm. 4. Shed a few preconceptions about how your life story will unfold in the next two years. 5. Boost your trust in your deep self’s innate wisdom. 6. Open yourself more to receiving help and gifts.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
It was said, “Every time partners slake their thirst in the strange waters of the other’s identity, they glimpse the immensity of their freedom.” I love this way of understanding, and recommend you try it out for a while. You’re entering a phase when you will have extra power to refine and expand the way you experience blending and merging. If you’re fuzzy about the meaning of the words “synergy” and “symbiosis,” I suggest you look them up in the dictionary. They should be featured themes for you in the coming weeks.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Poet Susan Howe describes poetry as an “amorous search under the sign of love for a remembered time at the pitch-dark fringes of evening when we gathered together to bless and believe.” I’d like to use that lyrical assessment to describe your life in the coming days—or at least what I hope will be your life. In my astrological opinion, it’s a favorable time to intensify your quest for interesting adventures in intimacy; to seek out new ways to imagine and create togetherness; to collaborate with allies in creating brave excursions into synergy.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Social reformer Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) had a growlery. It was a one-room stone cabin where he escaped to think deep thoughts, work on his books, and literally growl. As a genius who escaped enslavement and spent the rest of his life fighting for the rights of his fellow Black people, he had lots of reasons to snarl, howl, and bellow as well as growl. The coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to find or create your own growlery, Taurus. The anger you feel will be especially likely to lead to constructive changes. The same is true about the deep thoughts you summon in your growlery: They will be extra potent in helping you reach wise practical decisions.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind,” wrote Gemini poet Gwendolyn Brooks. I love that advice! The whirlwind is her metaphor for the chaos of everyday life. She was telling us that we shouldn’t wait to ripen ourselves until the daily rhythm is calm and smooth. Live wild and free right now! That’s always good advice, in my opinion, but it will be especially apropos for you in the coming weeks. Now is your time to “endorse the splendor splashes” and “sway in wicked grace,” as Brooks would say.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
“Don’t look away,” advised novelist Henry Miller in a letter to his lover. “Look straight at everything. Look it all in the eye, good and bad.” While that advice is appealing, I don’t endorse it unconditionally. I’m a Cancerian, and I sometimes find value in gazing at things sideways, or catching reflections in mirrors, or even turning my attention away for a while. In my view, we Crabs have a special need to be self-protective and self-nurturing. And to accomplish that, we may need to be evasive and elusive. In my astrological opinion, the next two weeks will be one of these times. I urge you to gaze directly and engage point-blank only with what’s good for you.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Tips to get the most out of the next three weeks: 1. Play at least as hard as you work. 2. Give yourself permission to do anything that has integrity and is fueled by compassion. 3. Assume there is no limit to how much generous joie de vivre you can summon and express. 4. Fondle and nuzzle with an eager partner as much as possible. 5. Be magnanimous in every gesture, no matter how large or small. 6. Even if you don’t regard yourself as a skillful singer, use singing to transform yourself out of any mood you don’t want to stay in.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In the coming weeks, you should refrain from wrestling with problems that resist your solutions. Be discerning about how you use your superior analytical abilities. Devote yourself solely to manageable dilemmas that are truly responsive to your intelligent probing. PS: I feel sorry for people who aren’t receptive to your input, but you can’t force them to give up their ignorance or suffering. Go where you’re wanted. Take power where it’s offered. Meditate on the wisdom of Anaïs Nin: “You cannot save people. You can only love them.”
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
Quote of the Day: “If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Photo by: Ifrah Akhter
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A mother dolphin was seen carrying her deceased calf on her back in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
The tragic and rare moment was captured by 29-year-old Margarita Samsonova, an environmental content creator.
Margarita, who lives in Lisbon, believes this is the only time this behavior has been witnessed in Europe, and represented an incredible insight into animals experiencing grief.
She had been out on the water for approximately five hours and was on her way back with her team to port when they saw the dolphin pod.
“It was very mixed emotions,” Margarita said. “Instantly, I cried, it was really heartbreaking and really painful to watch this.”
“At the same time it was really exciting, because this was something new, we realized that this was something that had never been documented before.”
Margarita studied Zoology at Oxford Brookes University and captured the moment while accompanying a research team.
The group, lead by the researchers from AIMM, a marine research association from Portugal, was on an expedition off the coast of Albufeira.
Margarita explained that they were drawn to the pod of approximately 25 dolphins due originally to the strange behaviors that they were demonstrating.
“The dolphins were behaving very unusually, they were jumping higher than normal and making very strange vocalizations,” she remembered. “Then we noticed a mother with a calf, and the calf was dead, and it was clear that she was trying to bring the baby to the surface.”
“It really seemed like a moment of grief that was expressed both by the mother and other dolphins.”
Margarita explained that it is uncertain what exactly this behavior might mean.
However, she said that the head of the research team speculated that it shows a true expression of grief from the part of the mother. That might be knee-jerk reaction, and humanization of the animal on the part of the scientist. Occam’s Razor would suggest the mom simply didn’t realize the calf was dead, but that the pod was on the move and so she had to move the calf.
This behavior has been documented before in dolphins in the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Joan Gonzalvo of the Ionian Project, funded by the Tethys Research Institute, has seen bottlenose dolphins attending to a dead calf on three occasions.
“So my hypothesis is that when the mothers carried their calves for several days, it was because the calves were newborn, so the death was unexpected and sudden,” Dr. Gonzalvo told the BBC. “The mothers needed more time to grieve.”
“But when the pod had to care for an animal that had been struggling for some time already, in some ways it was a relief when it died, so they could move away that day rather than carrying the body for a week.”
WATCH the behavior and decide for yourself…
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Welcome back to Good Gardening! In our Week 9 discussion, we wanted to know how many of our Good Gardeners had a big fall harvest coming up. As always we took the conversation to social media to see what the response was like…
This week’s discussion represented my own autumn experience: barren. Evidently the droughts spoiled many opportunities for a rich harvest time, though not all of them.
Joanie Elbourn has frost-tolerant greens to look forward to like kale, chard, and collards. She will also continue to enjoy a wide variety of herbs, and some carrots and pole beans. Thomas signed off on our Facebook discussion with a single green tomato. Maybe next year Tom!
Professional permaculturalist Monica Richards wrote into the email address to tell us that her garden is just now coming to life after a weather phenomenon called a “heat dome.”
Green tomatoes from Monica Richards’ garden
Many of our plants literally hung in there through August, and I’m now seeing new tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers begin to come in since the cooler weather started. So on many plants, not much happened since June, but now we can begin a whole new harvest! Attached are photos of new tomatoes that started last week, and our tortoise, Gil, with a golden cucumber.
The aforementioned Gil
For Fall, my plan has been “It’s cooler now, let’s get a bunch more baby trees and shrubs into the ground before Winter!” Fall has become my perennial planting time, as I find many of them do well to establish roots before frost and begin their true growth starting the following year!
Monica writes in every week from California, so her advice should be considered per zone.
“Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable…the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese,” — Hal Borland
Topic Week 10: Fall To-Do List
Question 1: What’s on your garden to-do list every fall
Question 2: Do you tend to clear your garden of annuals at the end of the year?
Question 3: What kind of preparations do you make for next year starting in fall?
Tell Us Here in The Comments… or, send your questions, tips, and photos to [email protected]. Join our Facebook Good Gardens thread every Friday on the GNN Facebook Page…
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Down in southwest Texas, a unique-in-the-world style of ancient rock art is bringing to life a culture of hunter-gatherers with a penchant for incredible art, spiritual journeys, and wild imaginations.
Archeologists studying the site for more than 30 years have discovered much about this strange culture dating from 2,500 BC to 600 AD—and digital renderings of their rock art reveal their Animistic belief systems as never before.
Down where the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande, an archeological site called the White Shaman rock shelter includes a 26-foot-long rock wall facing west. It’s long been known that this wall has been the site of pictographic art, but it wasn’t until Carolyn Boyd arrived in 1989 that the true extent of the White Shaman wall would be revealed.
At that time, Boyd was, of all things, a professional muralist who painted for commission. Once thought to be unconnected scribbles made by hunter-gatherers in the Pecos River area over long periods of time, Boyd needed only a short look to figure out all the drawings were connected.
“I could tell at once that it had been planned and conceived as a single composition,” Boyd told Archaeology Magazine, reporting on her discoveries at the site. “And because I was a muralist, I knew the skill it took to produce something like this, and to do it so beautifully. I was awed.”
For one thing, the height of the rock wall would require scaffolding to reach the upper sections of the drawings. Secondly, it would have required time to gather all the minerals, plants, and animal fats to create the pigments. For these reasons she was sure all the images were linked.
White Shaman Mural Depicting Birth of Time – courtesy of Shumla Center
A mysterious culture
White Shaman rock shelter is only one site in the area. Rattlesnake Canyon has a rock wall 100 feet long with depictions in the same style, now called the Pecos River Style, and other archeologists working in the area have documented 300 such murals containing this kind of art, which Boyd and her teams at the Shumla Archeological Research and Education Center describe as the “oldest books in North America.”
Boyd noticed that three vertical levels covered the White Shaman wall, which she interpreted as the underworld, middle-world, and upper world, a foundational belief across many Mesoamerican cultures. She also noticed that the deer had black-colored antlers, a motif found in the art of the Huichol, who still live in the mountains of western Mexico today.
A series of clues were connected. Studying the Huichol, Boyd learned that their shamans go on a 600-mile pilgrimage to gather the hallucinogenic cacti peyote, and that they do this by following deer, believed to be an animal-manifestation of the plant, with a bow and arrow. At the end of the pilgrimage, the shaman shoot the cactus with their bow, metaphorically sacrificing the deer and the plant, before gathering the peyote “buttons.”
Black-antlered deer depicted with arrows coming out of them surrounded by small button-shaped dots have been recorded on White Shaman’s walls, nearby to which arrowheads and peyote residue have been recovered from digs.
Boyd later concluded that not only was the entire painting a visual guide on how to carry out the peyote pilgrimage, but that it displays the creation myth of several ancient cultures including the Pecos River people, the Huichol, and the nearby Nahua, simultaneously. (See the video below.)
The Master Narrative
In painting the depictions of the the creation of the sun and the dawn of time, through the creation of mankind and other events on the wall at White Shaman, Boyd noted that all the pigments were laid down in precise strata; in the sense that all the black pigment was applied first across the whole mural.
Black was the primordial color of shadow and femininity. Next, all the red pigments were put down, symbolizing not only masculinity, but also the color of the sky at dawn. Then came all the yellows—the color of the sun, and then white, the shadow-less world and perhaps also the world of gods.
Moon Goddess Composite – Courtesy of Shumla Center
The Dawn Arch, a fundamental symbol of other Mesoamerican beliefs, is seen on the left, after which the peyote pilgrims from the ritual story become the five godlike ancestors in the Huichol and Nahua traditions—walking towards the arch with torches to stoke the flames of the first sunrise.
The largest pictograph is the Mother Goddess of the Huichol belief system: a half-serpent half-catfish being rising up to the meet the sun at noon.
Her colleagues consider her work ground-breaking.
“This style is the oldest large group of pictographs in the New World and it’s been overlooked by Mesoamericanists,” Texas Tech art historian Carolyn Tate, who is an authority on Olmec art, told Archaeology Magazine. She’s making us pay attention to the idea that this could be the northern frontier of Mesoamerica.”
“Some of the motifs she’s identified—such as the crenellated arch—these are visual patterns you see in Nahua manuscripts.”
Protecting them for all time
In January, Sect. of the Interior Deb Haaland designated the Lower Pecos Canyonlands a National Historic Site, to fall under the protection of the National Parks Service as recognition for the incredible value of the rock art at places like White Shaman.
Work on the sites continued. 6-months later, Boyd outlined the presence of the Pecos River style’s “Speech-Breath” motif in a scientific paper.
“Artists used this graphic device to denote speech, breath, and the soul. They communicated meaning through the image-making process, alternating brushstroke direction to indicate inhalation versus exhalation or using different paint application techniques to reflect measured versus forceful speech,” she explains in the journal Latin American Antiquity.
“The choices made by artists in the production of the imagery reflect their cosmology and the framework of ideas and beliefs through which they interpreted and interacted with the world.”
Boyd founded the aforementioned Shumla Center in Comstock TX, who are trying to protect and make this information known to the world. They run guided tours through the canyon lands, and have used digital renderings to database, and to bring the rock art to life in a way that hasn’t been seen since the age they were painted.
WATCH their own creation story below…
BE a SHAMAN for Your Friends By Sharing The Magic On Social Media…
Anna Shackleton, on her very own Shackleton Boat Cafe, with bit of Shackleton whisky.
The great-great niece of legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton has been granted permission to name her café boat Endurance, after the ship Ernest sailed and lost during an expedition to Antarctica.
Be it salty or fresh, no English water has moored a boat by the name Endurance for more than a 100 years, but when the registration office heard who was making the request, they thought they’d make an exception.
Anna Shackleton is a singer/café owner in the small town of Sutton Courtenay. She refurbished her own narrow boat after purchasing it six years ago from her neighbor.
“I naively took on the project, it wasn’t something I had planned my whole life for,” Shackleton said. “But our family motto is, ‘by endurance we conquer,’ so I thought if Sir Ernest can take his crews on expeditions I can do up this boat.”
She thought she would name her own boat ‘Endurance II.’
“I thought I would call it ‘Endurance‘ as a joke, but when I called the registration office they said it was already taken by a police vehicle,” she recounts. “They offered me ‘Endurance 14‘ but that wasn’t as funny. I said I was a Shackleton and the phone line went silent.”
“After an age, they said I could have ‘Endurance‘ without any numbers—so it was meant to be.”
Between 1914 and 1917, Sir Shackleton led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition when disaster struck and his ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and sunk.
The crews escaped by camping on the sea ice in one of the greatest rescue operations in the history of world exploration.
Check out Anna’s video below…
SHARE This Quaint Story Of Family History With Your Friends..
American biotech company Biogen announced the results of a phase 3 clinical trial that showed a new Alzheimer’s drug slowed the rate of cognitive decline for early onset patients by 27%.
Being given an illicit drug called ketamine and then looking at smiling faces could help end depression, according to a new study.
