Quote of the Day: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large—I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman
Photo by: Rostyslav Savchyn
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?
Who says video games are a waste of time?
Game developers are raising money for Ukrainians both inside and outside of the besieged company, with donations rivaling the grants from the U.S. government.
Ahead of the release of their new gaming season, Fortnite developers Epic Games announced that all the proceeds would go to a variety of organizations providing aid and relief to Ukraine—and in the first day they raised $36 million, growing to $144 million in two weeks.
Epic has said that the money will go to Direct Relief, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Program.
Gamers and the video game industry are renowned for being extraordinarily generous, and other game companies are also pitching in millions.
Microsoft (the creators of the Xbox); League of Legends developer Riot Games; and the Humble Bundle, a company that organizes themed collections of various games at a discount price to help charities, have all announced donations. Net proceeds of those recent sales—totaling more than $26 million—will also go toward Ukrainian relief.
RELATED: Study During Lockdown Shows Video Gaming –Even For Hours– Can Help Your Mental Health
Our deepest thanks to everyone who joined us in supporting humanitarian relief efforts for people affected by the war in Ukraine.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 4, 2022
Together with the Fortnite community and @Xbox, we raised $144 million USD for @DirectRelief @UNICEF, @WFP, @Refugees and @WCKitchen. pic.twitter.com/lPAa8lmfJn
Humble Bundle’s pay-what-you-want model for their game, book, and course bundles have raised more than $200 million through 12 million purchases—benefitting charities such as Make a Wish, One Tree Planted, the ACLU, Girls Who Code, and Charity: Water.
Notably, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s record donation belongs to Blizzard Entertainment, makers of World of Warcraft. Sales generated within their Overwatch game, where a premium in-game cosmetic item was available for purchase, reached $12.7 million and was dedicated to the Foundation, becoming the largest single donation the charity had ever seen.
SEE ALL the Great Things Done By Gamers For Many Years on the GOOD NEWS Gamers Page.
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In September, a Virginia nonprofit made a $500 million commitment to preserve biodiversity and, six months later, the Rainforest Trust and its partners have already protected more than one million acres of habitat so far in 2022.
Since 1988, Rainforest Trust has safeguarded more than 38 million acres of vital habitat by establishing protected areas in partnership with local communities—all through public donations.
Studies show that protected areas are one of the most cost-effective ways to safeguard nature and vulnerable Indigenous populations.
Acres protected this year include projects in Belize, Ecuador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
Dozens of endangered species live in these protected areas, including:
• In Belize, they worked with partner Re:Wild to protect the Maya Forest Corridor, where the critically-endangered Central American river turtle is the last species in its scientific family.
• In Ecuador, they helped protect acres in the Bigal Biological and Rio Canandé Reserves, which contain more than 350 different bird species, the critical Mache Cochran frog, and the largest surviving population of Brown-headed Spider Monkeys—listed as one of the 25 most endangered primate species on earth.
LOOK: A Pod of Whales Adopted a Young Stray Narwhal – and They May Have Little ‘Narwhales’
• In Guatemala, they’ve protected important habitat for the Guatemala spikethumb frog, and endangered Yucatán black howler monkey and Geoffroy’s spider monkey.
• In Bangladesh, they helped establish marine protection areas along the Teknaf Coast and St. Martin Island—a total of nearly 430,000 acres, home to sea turtles, the critically endangered Ganges shark and Staghorn coral, as well as the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin.
• In Myanmar, Rainforest Trust worked with Friends of Wildlife to establish Zalontaung National Park and Maharmyaing Wildlife Sanctuary, for a combined total of over 350,000 acres protected.
RELATED: Woman Races to Save World’s Largest–and Stinkiest—Flower, the 3-ft Wide ‘Corpse Flower‘
Most importantly, 99 percent of the forests protected by Rainforest Trust remain standing today—and the nonprofit is well on its way to protecting 125 million more acres by 2025.
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The persuasive words of an 8-year old written in crayon cracked open the hearts of potential dog adopters to empty the kennel crates of a local shelter.
Their hand-written personalized notes resulted in skyrocketing adoption rates for the pooches least likely to get adopted in the Virginia capital.
No human could resist a plea like, “If you do adopt me, I hope I will brighten up your Sundays like the sun. You’ll be my Sunday Special, and I hope I’ll be yours!”
Kensey Jones, a second-grade teacher at St. Michael’s Episcopal church in Richmond, is also a volunteer at Richmond Animal Care and Control. She needed to come up with an idea for a writing assignment, and had the idea to try and boost adoption rates by giving the dogs their own advocacy voice.
“The idea just came to me to connect persuasive writing with these adoptable pets that need a forever home,” Jones told the Washington Post, adding that it was “a way that I could make their writing real for [the students], and actually make an impact on the world and our Richmond community.”
She pitched the idea to the shelter’s manager Christie Peters, who thought it was wonderful. This particular shelter sees a high adoption rate of about 3 weeks. Animals with medical problems can take much longer, and face being euthanized if the problem is serious enough.
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According to Jones, the kids nearly cheered at the news that their new assignment would be focused on helping 23 dogs and 1 cat get adopted.
“Hi, my name is Cody. I would love to be adopted,” one student wrote. “I would like a loving, caring family with a big fenced-in yard. Please be my owner!”
This kind of representation, pinned in colorful drawings and letters to the animals’ crates, was a huge success, and 21 of the 24 hard-to-adopt animals found new homes before long.
LOOK: Dog is Given Her Own Billboard So She Might Finally Get Adopted and Leave the Shelter After 2 Years
“All dogs deserve a loving home,” a St. Michael’s second-grader Danielle Petrosk, told the Post. “I am so very happy to be able to help neglected animals find great forever families.”
Watch the sweet video below from ABC News…
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The Lesson: No demographic factor can get in the way of a life improved by doing good for yourself and others, and GNN’s friend Emmanuel Kelly is a perfect example of that. As an orphan abandoned in a cardboard box on an Iraq battlefield, half dead, and with no identification of any kind, it’s a miracle that this child of Ugandan-Korean ancestry should be not only alive today, but thriving.
Notable Excerpt: “As a human I’ve made a lot of mistakes and there’ll be a lot of mistakes I’ll have to rectify in the next years and forever in my life, but only probably in the last year, I’ve been able to really define the person I want to be and the person that I can become, and to find my purpose in my own life. Now others define me as the way I want to define myself.”
The Guest: Artist and singer Emmanuel Kelly was a teenage contestant on Season 3 of the X Factor Australia. For 10 years he has toured with Coldplay as a special guest, opened for Snoop Dogg, performed with David Foster, and legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold. Under the tutelage and label of Coldplay’s Chris Martin, his first album will be released later this year. Along with his musical pursuits he is the founder of The Outlier Group, which aims to enable the world differently.
The Podcast: Livin’ Good Currency explores the relationship of time to our lives. It gives a simple, straight-forward formula that anyone can use to be present in the moment—and features a co-host who knows better than anyone the value of time (see below). How do you want to spend your life? This hour can inspire you, along with upcoming guests, to be sure you are ‘Livin’ Good Currency’ and never get caught running out of time.
The Hosts: Good News Network fans will know Tony (Anthony) Samadani as the co-owner of GNN and its Chief of Strategic Partnerships. Co-host Tobias Tubbs was handed a double life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Behind bars, he used his own version of the Livin’ Good Currency formula to inspire young men in prison to turn their hours into honors. An expert in conflict resolution, spirituality, and philosophy, Tobias is a master gardener who employs ex-felons to grow their Good Currency by planting crops and feeding neighborhoods.
Subscribe to the Pod: On iTunes… On Spotify… On Amazon Music… Or Google Play.
Quote of the Day: “I want excitement, and I don‘t care what form it takes or what I pay for it, so long as it makes my heart beat.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Photo by: Dylan Alcock
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 350-year-old ring belonging to the Sheriff of Nottingham is set to fetch thousands at auction after being unearthed by a metal detectorist in a find ‘worthy of Robin Hood’.
The ancient, high-carat gold signet ring was uncovered by chance by a lucky detectorist on farmland in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, last summer.
The treasure once belonged to Sir Matthew Jenison, who served as High Sheriff of Nottingham between 1683 and 1684 and looked after trees in Sherwood Forest.
His family were known for gleaning wealth from a hoard of valuables left in their safekeeping during the English Civil War which were never reclaimed.
The ring, which displays the coat of arms of the Jenison family, was sent to be examined by experts from the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Once it was verified as authentic, it was sent back to the finder, who is now set to make a good amount from his incredible discovery.
The historic ring is expected to fetch between £6,000-£8,000 ($7,800-$10,500) when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers.
The find has been described as one the ‘legendary outlaw Robin Hood would have loved’ by auctioneers ahead of its sale.
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Hansons’ consultant valuer Adam Staples said, “The ring has survived in near perfect condition and the front face bears a detailed engraving of the Jenison family arms, two swans separated by a diagonal bend.
“This would have been pressed into melted wax in order to seal the family crest on important letters and documents.
“As a boy I wandered through Sherwood Forest, daydreaming of Robin Hood and his legendary adversary—the Sheriff of Nottingham.
“The ring we are selling is related to a later Sheriff, as tales of Robin Hood emerged in English folklore as early as the 13th and 14th centuries.
“Nevertheless, this find still evokes those memories and gives us a glimpse back into Nottinghamshire life during the turbulent times of the 17th century.”
Born in 1654, Sir Matthew was knighted in 1683 and acted as a commissioner to examine decaying trees in Sherwood Forest while serving as High Sheriff of Nottingham.
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Sir Matthew was elected to parliament as MP for Newark in 1701, but eventually fell foul of the law. He died in Fleet Prison in 1734.
Originally from county Durham, the Nottinghamshire branch of the Jenison family first appeared as aldermen of Newark in 1580.
MORE: British Museum Unveils Ancient Artifacts Illuminating the World of Stonehenge in New Exhibit
Thereafter, each generation served as aldermen, and, after the 1626 charter, as mayors.
Adam added, “Though the family business had been in apothecaries, local legend has it that the Jenisons gleaned great wealth from valuables left in their safekeeping during the Civil War which were never reclaimed.
“This theory was seemingly corroborated when a buried hoard of Civil War silver coins was unearthed from the very same field where the ring was found.
“It’s such a pleasure to be involved with the sale of this ring.”
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We’re often told to follow our dreams, well one person in Nova Scotia has done just that after building a wetland paradise for animals in the spirit of his lost love.
In his own backyard no less, the eight water features which Robert Perkins dug into the ground are now a sanctuary for herons, frogs, snapping turtles, and beavers, in the middle of suburban development.
In 1974, Perkins met a woman whom he calls Rhonda on the sidewalk, and the two of them hit it off. They both loved animals, and she always dreamed of having a place where they could live in harmony with the land. Rhonda, whom Perkins stayed with all his life, had had a difficult life, and a traumatizing childhood.
She committed suicide in 2006, after which Perkins resolved to forge an earthly paradise where her spirit could dwell in peace.
Renting an excavator, and ignoring planning departments and neighbors alike, Perkins began digging large holes and trenches for water to flow. Over the course of nine years his property went from being a neighborly headache to a haven for wildlife.
“I just seen a better way to do it,” Perkins told CBC news. “When we build our subdivisions we clear all the trees, we dry the hills, drive all the water down to the lakes, all the pollution… The beavers hold it back, filter it.”
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Wetland habitats of all sorts are not only magnets for wildlife, but probably offer the most complete package of ecosystem services, including preventing erosion, sequestering carbon, enriching the soil, and supporting game populations.
Flooding in straightened canals or waterways can often occur in mere minutes, and be incredibly damaging. Natural water features slowly overflow, dumping water in more even and random distributions around them. This serves to greatly increase the amount of rainwater an area can take before flood problems arrive, and also to irrigate large sections of forest and meadow that might dry up without the ponds, rivers, and marshes.
MORE: Genetic Lineage of Thousand-Year-Old Oak Trees Seed an Experimental ‘Super Forest’
Perkins bought the land and did it himself, but when building backyard water features it’s important to consider the soil characteristics. Rocky soil drains fast, while soil rich in clay will act as a natural sealant, aggregating soil particles together and preventing drainage.
He said he doesn’t need to wonder what Rhonda might think of the place, he feels her presence whenever he walks alone among the trees, the reeds, and the ponds, looking at birds, beavers, or reptiles, and listening to the songbirds and frogs.
“Is it painful? Sometimes,” said Perkins. “But I couldn’t walk away from her… If I’m here, she’s here.”
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Eating two or more servings of avocado weekly was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and substituting avocado for certain fat-containing foods like butter, cheese, or processed meats was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease events, according to new research.
Avocados contain dietary fiber, unsaturated fats especially monounsaturated fat (healthy fats), and other favorable components that have been associated with good cardiovascular health. Clinical trials have previously found avocados have a positive impact on cardiovascular risk factors including high cholesterol.
Researchers believe this is the first, large, prospective study to support the positive association between higher avocado consumption and lower cardiovascular events, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.
“Our study provides further evidence that the intake of plant-sourced unsaturated fats can improve diet quality and is an important component in cardiovascular disease prevention,” said Lorena S. Pacheco, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D.N., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow in the nutrition department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“These are particularly notable findings since the consumption of avocados has risen steeply in the U.S. in the last 20 years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
For 30 years, researchers followed more than 68,780 women (ages 30 to 55 years) from the Nurses’ Health Study and more than 41,700 men (ages 40 to 75 years) from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
All study participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the study and living in the United States. Researchers documented 9,185 coronary heart disease events and 5,290 strokes during more than 30 years of follow-up. Researchers assessed participants’ diet using food frequency questionnaires given at the beginning of the study and then every four years.
They calculated avocado intake from a questionnaire item that asked about the amount consumed and frequency. One serving equaled half of an avocado or a half cup of avocado.
The analysis found:
The study’s results provide additional guidance for health care professionals to share. Offering the suggestion to “replace certain spreads and saturated fat-containing foods, such as cheese and processed meats, with avocado is something physicians and other health care practitioners such as registered dietitians can do when they meet with patients, especially since avocado is a well-accepted food,” Pacheco said.
The study aligns with the American Heart Association’s guidance to follow the Mediterranean diet—a dietary pattern focused on fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, fish and other healthy foods and plant-based fats such as olive, canola, sesame and other non-tropical oils.
MORE: Good News for Coffee Lovers: Daily Coffee May Benefit the Heart
“These findings are significant because a healthy dietary pattern is the cornerstone for cardiovascular health, however, it can be difficult for many Americans to achieve and adhere to healthy eating patterns,” said Cheryl Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., FAHA, chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention.
“We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets—such as the Mediterranean diet— that are rich in vegetables and fruits,” said Anderson, who is professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.
“Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits. This is promising because it is a food item that is popular, accessible, desirable and easy to include in meals eaten by many Americans at home and in restaurants.”
This study has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Source: American Heart Association
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Having recently had time called on its 15 years of service, an Airbus A380 just completed some trial flights powered by cooking oil.
The largest passenger jet in the world, a double-decker behemoth just flew a three-hour intra-French test flight on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF for short.
Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA)—SAF’s key ingredient—are definitely not what your doctor would label as a healthy cooking oil, but for powering the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine on board, it proved successful on March 25th on a French flight from Toulouse to Toulouse, and in a second on March 29th from Toulouse to Nice.
Far from being an introductory step, Airbus craft are already certified under both the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to fly commercially with a blend of 50-50 SAF and kerosene. Nevertheless, the company hopes to achieve 100% SAF authorization by the end of the decade.
“Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of netzero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Airbus in a statement.
First getting paint jobs in 2006, the A380 wasn’t as successful as the company had imagined, and the €25 billion total investment was never recouped over the 251 unit sales Airbus managed. However the 853-seater aircraft completed 800,000 flights over 7.3 million block hours with no fatalities and no hull losses.
They’re also using the discontinued craft to test out three new experimental green hydrogen propulsion systems. SAF is more or less finished as a technology, and requires little adaptation aboard existing passenger jets. Hydrogen, however, would provide a much greater reduction in flight emissions, something the Airbus brass are very interested in investigating.
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“I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen—both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft—has the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact,” Guillaume Faury, chief executive for Airbus, said in February.
(WATCH the sustainable aviation video presentation from the company below.)
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Quote of the Day: “Every part of your body is adorable and incredible… a thousand tiny deities the size of molecules worshipping and protecting each tiny particle of your body.” – Jason Hine
Photo by: Aiony Haust (croppped)
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 gardening dad has been named a champion for the second time, after claiming another title for harvesting 1,269 tomatoes from a single stem.
Douglas Smith previously hit headlines in 2020 when he grew the UK’s tallest sunflower of 2020—at 20-foot, it towered over his family home.
This time, the 43-year-old grew almost 14 lbs of red tomatoes weighing (6.2 kilos) which earned him official recognition by Guinness World Records last week.
Commenting on his latest world record, Douglas said he was “really pleased” with the “amazing” tomato harvest.
According to SWNS news service, the previous record for the most tomatoes on a single truss was 488, achieved by a Shropshire man in 2010.
Douglas, of Stanstead Abbotts, Herts, has explained how he spent hours poring over scientific research papers to perfect his cherry tomato growing techniques.
“You have to make sure the environment is well set up,” he said.
He sent samples of soil to labs to make sure the plants had exactly what they needed.
“I spent three or four hours a week tending to the tomatoes in an 8×8 foot greenhouse in my back garden.”
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Douglas, who lives with wife Piper, 45, and son Stellan, six, culled a number of plants down to two.
After counting the fruit on the first plant he tallied 839, but then the second vine had an even higher number – 1,269 little red gems.
The IT manager says this summer he plans to tackle two more world records, starting with the one for the most tomatoes on a single plant—a record currently at 1,355 claimed by a Coventry man in 2013.
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Douglas he also wants to set a new garden pea record but refused to give further details in fear of other veg growers trying to beat him to it.
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A spinoff from MIT, Frequency Therapeutics, has a new drug candidate that stimulates the growth of hair cells in the inner ear.
Zach Winn | MIT News
Most of us know someone affected by hearing loss, but we may not fully appreciate the hardships that lack of hearing can bring. Hearing loss can lead to isolation, frustration, and a debilitating ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. It is also closely correlated with dementia.
The biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics is seeking to reverse hearing loss—not with hearing aids or implants, but with a new kind of regenerative therapy that uses small molecules to program progenitor cells, a descendant of stem cells in the inner ear, to create the tiny hair cells that allow us to hear.
Hair cells die off when exposed to loud noises or drugs including certain chemotherapies and antibiotics. Frequency’s drug candidate is designed to be injected into the ear to regenerate these cells within the cochlea. In clinical trials, the company has already improved people’s hearing as measured by tests of speech perception — the ability to understand speech and recognize words.
“Speech perception is the No. 1 goal for improving hearing and the No. 1 need we hear from patients,” says Frequency co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Chris Loose PhD.
In Frequency’s first clinical study, the company saw statistically significant improvements in speech perception in some participants after a single injection, with some responses lasting nearly two years.
The company has dosed more than 200 patients to date and has seen clinically meaningful improvements in speech perception in three separate clinical studies.
Now, Frequency is recruiting for a 124-person trial from which preliminary results should be available early next year.
They believe they’re making important contributions toward solving a problem that impacts more than 40 million people in the U.S. and hundreds of millions more around the world.
“Hearing is such an important sense; it connects people to their community and cultivates a sense of identity,” says Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology affiliate faculty member Jeff Karp, who is also a professor of anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I think the potential to restore hearing will have enormous impact on society.”
At MIT in 2005, Lucchino was an MBA student and Loose a PhD candidate in chemical engineering when MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer introduced the two aspiring entrepreneurs, and they started working on what would become Semprus BioSciences, a medical device company that they later sold for $80 million.
Eight years after playing matchmaker for Lucchino and Loose, Langer began working with Karp to study the lining of the human gut, which regenerates itself almost every day.
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With MIT postdoc Xiaolei Yin, who is now a scientific advisor to Frequency, the researchers discovered that the same molecules that control the gut’s stem cells are also used by a close descendant of stem cells called progenitor cells. Like stem cells, progenitor cells can turn into more specialized cells in the body.
Progenitor cells reside in the inner ear and generate hair cells when humans are in utero, but they become dormant before birth and never again turn into more specialized cells such as the hair cells of the cochlea. Humans are born with about 15,000 hair cells in each cochlea. Such cells die over time and never regenerate.
In 2012, the research team was able to use small molecules to turn progenitor cells into thousands of hair cells in the lab. Karp says no one had ever produced such a large number of hair cells before. He still remembers looking at the results while visiting his family, including his father, who wears a hearing aid.
“I looked at them and said, ‘I think we have a breakthrough,’” Karp says. “That’s the first and only time I’ve used that phrase.”
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The advance was enough for Langer to play matchmaker again and bring Loose and Lucchino into the fold to start Frequency Therapeutics.
The founders believe their approach—injecting small molecules into the inner ear to turn progenitor cells into more specialized cells—offers advantages over gene therapies, which may rely on extracting a patient’s cells, programming them in a lab, and then delivering them to the right area.
“Tissues throughout your body contain progenitor cells, so we see a huge range of applications,” Loose says. “We believe this is the future of regenerative medicine.”
Frequency’s founders have been thrilled to watch their lab work mature into an impactful drug candidate in clinical trials.
RELATED: Sound Waves Convert Stem Cells Into Bone in Regenerative Breakthrough
“Some of these people [in the trials] couldn’t hear for 30 years, and for the first time they said they could go into a crowded restaurant and hear what their children were saying,” Langer says. “It’s so meaningful to them. Obviously more needs to be done, but just the fact that you can help a small group of people is really impressive to me.”
Karp believes Frequency’s work will advance researchers’ ability to manipulate progenitor cells and lead to new treatments down the line.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 or 15 years, because of the resources being put into this space and the incredible science being done, we can get to the point where [reversing hearing loss] would be similar to Lasik surgery, where you’re in and out in an hour or two and you can completely restore your vision,” Karp says. “I think we’ll see the same thing for hearing loss.”
“You always hope your work will have an impact, but it can take a long time for that to happen,” Karp says. “It’s been an incredible experience working with the team to bring this forward. There are already people in the trials whose hearing has been dramatically improved and their lives have been changed. That impacts interactions with family and friends. It’s wonderful to be a part of.”
(Reprinted with permission of MIT News; Edited for length)
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Tarleton State University researchers have demonstrated that food-grade plant extracts, especially those from okra, have the power to remove microplastics from wastewater.
The health effects of ingesting microplastics are unclear, but studies suggest that people unintentionally consume thousands of particles every year.
They can be released from your clothing in the washing machine and end up in the city water treatment facility
In the typical wastewater treatment process, microplastics are removed from water by adding flocculants, or sticky chemicals that attract microplastics and form large clumps. The clumps then sink to the bottom of the water and can be separated from it.
Dr. Srinivasan, the Endowed Munson Research Professor of Chemistry at the Texas university, and her team have been investigating more healthy alternatives to the commonly used flocculant, polyacrylamide.
“We think that microplastics by themselves may not be much of a health hazard, but anything they get into or any type of toxic substance that gets attached to them could go inside our bodies and cause problems,” said Associate Professor Dr. Rajani Srinivasan, the principal investigator for the project.
She has studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater. “I was working with the removal of microorganisms and things like that, and I thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’”
So she and a team of undergraduate and environmental science master’s students tested polysaccharide extracts from 7 plants: fenugreek, cactus, aloe vera, okra, tamarind, and psyllium. They tested compounds from the individual plants as well as in different combinations.
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They found that polysaccharides from okra worked the best. Paired with fenugreek extract, microplastics could be removed from ocean water, and the okra paired with those from tamarind worked best for freshwater samples.
Overall, the plant-based polysaccharides worked better than, or as well as, the traditional flocculant polyacrylamide.
Importantly, the plant-based flocculants can be implemented in existing water treatment processes.
“The whole treatment method with the non-toxic materials uses the same infrastructure,” said Dr. Srinivasan. “We don’t have to build something new to incorporate these materials for water treatment purposes.”
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She and her team will continue tailoring the ratios and combinations to optimize removal of different microplastic types from a variety of water sources. They also plan to scale up the removal process in field studies outside the lab.
Ultimately, they hope to commercialize the method and remove microplastics from water on an industrial scale.
The study and its results, funded by the National Science Foundation and a water development district in Lubbock, were presented at the March 20-24 spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, according to the University.
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A brave woman may have saved hundreds of lives in India by waving her red sari to stop a train—after spotting broken tracks further down the line.
Omvati Devi waved the flowing red garment in front of an approaching train after noticing part of the line was faulty.
Spotting the woman, the driver was able to stop the train just in the nick of time, avoiding potential disaster.
Omvati’s quick-thinking benefitted between 150 to 200 passengers aboard the train in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The woman, who’s been praised for her heroic actions, was quoted in a SWNS report as saying, “I was on my way to the land for routine work and it was then when I stumbled to found a broken track.
“I was quick to realize that this could result in a massive tragedy. Well, I had heard a lot that red stands for danger.
“I used my sari to tie it around the track to thwart any untoward incident which luckily did work when the driver applied brakes.
The driver offered her 100 rupees, but she turned it down.
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“Then, he insisted that I keep the money, which I did.”
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Quote of the Day: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Dalai Lama
Photo by: Josh Appel
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?
Scientists in South Korea have proven that a new technology will cut the time it takes to charge electric cars to just nine seconds, allowing EV owners to ‘fill up’ faster than their gasoline counterparts.
And even those plugging-in at home will have the time slashed from 10 hours to three minutes.
The new device uses the laws of quantum physics to power all of a battery’s cells at once—instead of one at a time—so recharging takes no longer than filling up at the pump.
Electric cars were rarely seen on the roads 10 years ago, but millions are now being sold every year and it has become one of the fastest growing industries, but even the fastest superchargers need around 20 to 40 minutes to power their car.
Scientists at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have come up with a solution. Co-author Dr. Dario Rosa said the consequences could be far-reaching.
“Quantum charging could go well beyond electric cars and consumer electronics. For example, it may find key uses in future fusion power plants, which require large amounts of energy to be charged and discharged in an instant.”
The concept of a “quantum battery” was first proposed in a seminal paper published by Alicki and Fannes in 2012. It was theorized that quantum resources, such as entanglement, can be used to vastly speed up battery charging.
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The researchers used quantum mechanics to model their super fast charging station with calculations of the charging speed showing that a typical electric vehicle with a battery containing around 200 cells would recharge 200 times faster.
Current collective charging is not possible in classical batteries, where the cells are charged in parallel, independently of one another.
“This is particularly exciting as modern large-capacity batteries can contain numerous cells.”
The group went further to provide an explicit way of designing such batteries.
This means charging times could be cut from 10 hours to three minutes at home and from around 30 minutes to just a few seconds at stations.
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Co-author Dr Dominik Šafránek said, “Of course, quantum technologies are still in their infancy and there is a long way to go before these methods can be implemented in practice.”
“Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to further invest in these technologies.
“If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to our sustainable future.”
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The findings were published in the February 8 edition of the journal Physical Review Letters. [GNN updated the earlier broken link.]
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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 April 1, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In 1904, it wasn’t illegal to use performance-enhancing drugs during Olympic competitions. Runner Thomas Hicks took advantage of this in the marathon race. The poison strychnine, which in small doses serves as a stimulant, was one of his boosters. Another was brandy. By the time he approached the finish line, he was hallucinating and stumbling. His trainers carried him the rest of the way, and he was declared the winner. I recommend you make him your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. How might you cheat to gain a great victory? APRIL FOOL! I Lied. While it’s true that a meaningful triumph is within your reach, you’re most likely to achieve it by acting with total integrity, following the rules, and imbibing no stimulating poisons.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Science fiction aficionado Wil Wheaton suggests that all of us should have the following: 1. a nemesis; 2. an evil twin; 3. a secret headquarters; 4. an escape hatch; 5. a partner in crime; 6. a secret identity. Dear Taurus, I have doubts that you possess any of these necessities. Please embark on intensive efforts to acquire all of them. Your deadline is April 21. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. There’s no way you could add all those things to your repertoire in such a short time. See if you can at least get a secret identity and a partner in crime. It’s time to have wicked fun as you add to your potency and effectiveness.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“I hate being on my best behavior,” wrote Gemini author Colleen McCullough. “It brings out the absolute worst in me.” In the coming weeks, I hope you avoid the danger she describes. Don’t be on your best behavior! Emulate Gemini filmmaker Clint Eastwood, who said, “I tried being reasonable, but I didn’t like it.” APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s the real truth: Being kind and generous and reasonable will be your secret weapon in the next three weeks. Doing so will empower you to make interesting and unforeseen progress.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A Tumblr blogger named Alyssa complains, “I’m still peeved that I can’t fly or set things on fire with my mind.” You might share that feeling, Cancerian. But here’s the good news: I predict that you could soon acquire, at least temporarily, the power to fly and set things on fire with your mind. Use these talents wisely, please! APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, you probably won’t be able to fly or set things on fire with your mind anytime soon. However, you may acquire other superpowers that are only slightly less fantastic. For example, you could change the mind of an ally who has been ridiculously stubborn. You could uncover a big secret that has been hidden. You could mend a wound you thought would never heal. Any other superpowers you need right now?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I suspect that only a Leo would say what Leo filmmaker Stanley Kubrick once asserted: “You know, it’s not absolutely true in every case that nobody likes a smart ass.” In accordance with astrological omens, I authorize you to prove his assertion. Be the kind of smart ass that people like. APRIL FOOL! I’m half-joking. The truth is, I hope you will be the kind of smart ass that people absolutely adore and get inspired by.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In honor of your arrival in the most lyrical and soulful phase of your cycle, I offer you advice from poet Richard Jackson: “The secret is to paint your own numbers on the clock, to brush away those webs that cover the wild country of the soul, to let your star hover between the flowers of the moon and the flowers of the sun, like words you have never spoken yet always hear.” APRIL FOOL! I partially lied. I don’t think you should paint your own numbers on the clock. But the rest of what Jackson said is totally applicable and useful for you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“I want excitement,” declared Libra novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, “and I don’t care what form it takes or what I pay for it, so long as it makes my heart beat.” In the coming weeks, I hope you will make that statement your motto. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. While I do foresee you being able to gather a wealth of excitement, I hope you won’t be as extreme as Fitzgerald in your pursuit of it. There will be plenty of opportunities for excitement that won’t require you to risk loss or pay an unwelcome price.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“If you can’t make fun of yourself, you don’t have a right to make fun of others,” said comedian Joan Rivers. I agree! So if you are feeling an irresistible urge to mock people and fling sarcasm in all directions, please prepare by first mocking yourself and being sarcastic toward yourself. APRIL FOOL! I lied. I will never authorize you to make fun of others. Never! In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll do the opposite: Dole out massive doses of praise and appreciation toward everyone. To prepare, dole out massive doses of praise and appreciation toward yourself.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In the traditional opera performed in China’s Sichuan province, magical effects were popular. One trick involved characters making rapid changes of their masks. The art was to remove an existing mask and don a new one with such speed that the audience could not detect it. An old master, Peng Denghuai, once wore 14 different masks in 24 seconds. This is an antic I think you should imitate in the coming days. The more frequently you alter your persona and appearance, the more successful and popular you’ll be. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. I recommend that you gleefully experiment with your image and exuberantly vary your self-presentation. But don’t overdo it.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
A nutritionist named Mark Haub decided to try losing weight by eating only sugary treats. For 10 weeks, he snacked on junk food cakes, cookies, and sweet cereals. By the end, he had lost 27 pounds. In accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you try the metaphorical equivalents of this project. For instance, work on deepening your relationships by engaging your allies in shallow conversations about trivial subjects. Or see if you can enhance your physical fitness by confining your exercise to crossing and uncrossing your legs as you sit on the couch watching TV. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s your real horoscope: For the next four weeks, take better care of your body and your relationships than you ever have before in your life. Make it a point to educate yourself about what that would entail, and be devoted in providing the most profound nurturing you can imagine.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Aquarius-born Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) was bravely heretical in his work as a philosopher, poet, mathematician, and friar. He angered the Catholic Church with his unorthodox views about Jesus and Mary, as well as his belief in reincarnation, his practice of occult magic, and his views that there are other stars besides our sun. Eventually, the authorities burned him at the stake for his transgressive ideas. Beware of a similar outcome for expressing your unusual qualities! APRIL FOOL! Luckily, no punishment will result if you express the rich fullness of your idiosyncrasies in the coming weeks. I’m happy about that, since I’m encouraging you to be as eccentrically yourself as you want to be.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Life is too complicated to accurately comprehend. There’s too much to know! It’s impossible to make truly savvy and rational decisions. Maybe the best strategy is to flip a coin or throw the dice or draw a Tarot card before doing anything. APRIL FOOL! While it’s a fact that life is too complex for our conscious minds to fully master, we have massive resources available on subconscious and superconscious levels: our deep soul and our higher self. Now is an excellent time to enhance your access to these mother lodes of intelligence.
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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Drumroll please…the votes are in, and America has chosen an adorable dog as the winner of the fourth-annual Cadbury Bunny Tryouts.
Annie Rose will star in this year’s Cadbury Clucking Bunny commercial and will take home a $5,000 cash prize, along with plenty of bragging rights for when she visits local nursing homes in her home state of Ohio.
An English Doodle, Annie Rose is used to being in the spotlight. She loves bringing smiles to the faces of seniors—so much so that not even a global pandemic can stop her. When COVID-19 restrictions meant no visitors at nursing homes, Annie Rose didn’t give up. Instead, she dressed up, strutting her stuff outside the nursing home windows.
“We can’t thank everyone enough for voting, especially her doodle families and friends who went over and beyond,” said Lori R., Annie Rose’s owner. “Our community rallied behind and supported her just as she has for them for years as a therapy dog.”
“All of us are still shocked by the news but can’t wait to get Annie Rose those iconic Cadbury Bunny ears.”
Together, the Cadbury team and this year’s judges, made up of all three previous winners, including Betty the Frog, narrowed down the top 10 finalists before turning it over to America to ultimately decide the winner.
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Cadbury also donated $20,000 to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the ASPCA).
After receiving thousands of votes from fans across the country, Annie Rose is putting her bunny ears back on and joining the Cadbury Hall of Fame.
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“From cats and dogs to sugar gliders and hedgehogs, cuteness and creativity was not in short supply when it came to this year’s finalists,” said Cadbury.
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Across the world, people and governments are banning pesticides and planting more pollinator-friendly flowers to boost bee populations naturally.
Now farmers and beekeeers also have a way to protect bee colonies that are crucial for growing crops, by using robotic hives that protect pollinators from any hazard.
The traditional hive most commonly used in the world today (the Langstroth box) was designed by humans about 150 years ago. Most people are so used to them they mistakenly confuse them with bees’ natural habitat.
By completely redesigning the beehive, a company called Beewise was able to address many of the inefficiencies of the box and significantly improve bees’ well-being and life longevity.
Their mission to save bees recently received an $80 million funding boost for their autonomous hive.
Utilizing 24/7 monitoring and smart technology that significantly increases pollination capacity and honey production, Beewise’s proprietary robotic beehive, the Beehome, seamlessly detects threats to a honeybee colony such as pesticides and the presence of pests and immediately defends against them.
Its automatic robotic system responds to threats in real time and requires no human intervention. To reverse the trend of colony collapse, Beehomes are thermally regulated, and can provide protection from fires, flooding, and Asian Wasps (murder hornets). The hive even feeds the honeybees when local food supply is not available.
In a statement, the company says, “Beehome reduces bee mortality by 80%, resulting in increased yields of at least 50%, while eliminating approximately 90% of manual labor when compared to traditional beehives.”
Beewise currently manages more than seven billion bees, which equates to 25,000 acres of pollinated crops. Through the Beehome device, the Israeli startup says it has saved over 160 million bees over the course of the last 12 months.
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“We are deploying precision robotics in tandem with the world’s most innovative technologies including AI and computer vision in order to save the bees,” stated Saar Safra, CEO of Beewise.
He says that with thousands of orders placed in the U.S. in just the last few months, their new funding will allow Beewise to meet the market demand through increased manufacturing.
Beewise also unveiled a new lighter-weight Beehome—32% smaller and 23% more cost-effective to transport—which increases hive mobility, enabling farmers to effortlessly care for millions of bees and ensure seasonal crop pollination.
While the rest of the market treats threats from Varroa mites with chemicals, Beewise’s revolutionary solution uses a chemical-free, heat, and robotics approach to achieve 99.7% success rate. The robot heats frames to a point where it harms the pests (Varroa) but does not harm the bees’ brood. Watch the video below to see how it works.
The Beehome’s automated feeding system “significantly increases bee colonies’ survival rate over winter when food sources are scarce—and the monitoring is powered by solar panels and small batteries, all run by an app.
Every Beehome can house 24 full-fledged colonies in an 8-foot x 6-foot box and costs $400 per month, on top of a delivery fee. The boxes are GPS-protected, so the owner always knows where it is. There is also an automatic alert to the beekeeper if Beehome is being moved.
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“Beewise impressed us as the only solution addressing every complex issue that is contributing to the collapse,” stated Daniel Aronovitz, Principal at Insight Partners, one of the funders. “Not only have we funded a company with a fantastic business model; it also addresses one of the biggest challenges our planet is facing. We at Insight couldn’t be more excited.”
The company is currently serving the North American market but hopes to provide, eventually, the same protection for commercial beekeepers worldwide.
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