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Canadian Startup to Build $400M UK Plant to Harness Nuclear Fusion in Entirely New Cost-Effective Way

By
Andy Corbley
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General Fusion
General Fusion

A Canadian nuclear fusion power company has garnered a $400 million investment to build a demonstration energy plant in the UK.

They will showcase their proprietary method for generating electricity through the fusion of hydrogen atoms in the hopes of attracting additional private investors that can kickstart the last great revolution in energy technology.

The fusion plant, illustrated as a glittering cylindrical building of glass and curved hanger-bay doors, will be constructed in Culham, and construction is set to begin next summer in collaboration with the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority.

The Fusion Demonstration Plant will verify that General Fusion’s MTF technology can create fusion conditions in a practical and cost-effective manner at power plant relevant scales, as well as refine the economics of fusion energy production that would lead to a commercial fusion plant.

The Culham demonstration plant would be about 70% the size of a commercial facility.

GNN has reported extensively on nuclear fusion, a process that generates unlimited, clean, on-demand electricity that uses the same process that powers our Sun.

A field that twenty years ago was exclusively the domain of government-funded research has blossomed into a budding private industry rapidly growing in size, variation, and opportunity.

While the Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems uses enormous superconducting magnets and the inter-governmental fusion program called ITER uses magnets as heavy as passenger aircraft and cooled by the world’s largest cryogenic freezer, Canada’s General Fusion company uses much more modest and cheaper existing technology in the form of steam-powered pneumatic pistons.

RELATED: China’s ‘Artificial Sun’ Brings Nuclear Fusion One Step Closer, Breaking World Record

The pistons power the fusion process—creating a magnetic field that causes hydrogen atoms inside a superheated gas known as a plasma to overcome their electromagnetic resistance and fuse together.

General Fusion reactor

The fusion requires temperatures of at least 100 million Celsius, and existing fusion technologies are struggling to find a way to keep the plasma at that temperature for long periods.

For other methods and companies, it’s not a question of “can we generate electricity from fusion,” or even even “can we keep the plasma heated to generate electricity continuously,” but “how can we generate more electricity than we use?”

Ringing out hydrogen

General Fusion has focused on commercializing the technology which, for example, cost ITER over $20 billion for a prototype.

Instead of using magnets to heat and contain the plasma, General Fusion uses a plasma injector—a separate machine—to create a plasma under more economical conditions, and inject it into the fusion reactor’s main chamber.

MORE: Amazing Tech Developed by Private Firms Are on the Verge of Creating Nuclear Fusion Reactors to Power Humanity

Inside the chamber is a spinning wall of liquid lithium, which is compressed into a tiny sphere by the pistons. The compression heats the plasma to fusion temperatures, releasing huge amounts of heat, which the liquid metal absorbs easily. It is that heat that is exacted to create steam, which is used to power a turbine, which creates electricity with only helium as the waste product.

“This is incredibly exciting news for not only General Fusion, but also the global effort to develop practical fusion energy,” stated Christofer Mowry, CEO of General Fusion, who predicts the fusion market to be worth $1 trillion in the next decade.

One of the best parts of fusion is it’s completely safe, as there’s no radioactive anything, and helium is the only byproduct. While 100 million Celsius seems dangerous, “if you were to blow on this thing, it just turns itself off,” Dennis Whyte, a Canadian scientist who is director of plasma science fusion center at MIT, explained to the Financial Post.

SEE: How Scientists are Managing to Trap the World’s Coldest Plasma in a Magnetic Bottle

Furthermore, it uses a tiny amount of fuel, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems estimate a cup of something as simple as seawater would generate enough electricity to take care of the power usage of one human for their entire lifetime. Just 70 grams of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, which are captured during the fusion reaction is enough to power a small city.

“It’s probably the last energy source we’ll ever tame,” said Whyte. “I think of the trajectory from taming fire and it finally completes in fusion, because we’ll have tamed the energy source of the stars.”

(WATCH the videos for this story below.)

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CRISPR Gene-Editing Experiment Partly Restores Vision In Legally Blind Patients

By
Andy Corbley
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Franny White, OSHU
Carlene Knight/Franny White, OSHU

A lot of work is being done in the fields of CRISPR gene-editing, and recently the revolutionary therapy was used to partially restore the vision in patients with a rare genetic disorder.

55-year-old Carlene Knight is now able to move around her call center office without the aid of her walking stick, easily locate objects, and can see colors much more vividly now.

43-year-old Michael Kalberer also learned he could see colors again while on the dancefloor of his cousin’s wedding, and he has gradually regained some of the peripheral field of vision.

They were two of seven patients who received CRISPR injected directly into their eye, a procedural method never before done with CRISPIR, which normally involves removing cells, editing them in vitro, and injecting them back where they were found.

Both patients are far from cured of their Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, a rare mutation in the retina, but they’re no longer legally blind, and while the treatment failed to work for some patients during the three- and nine-month followups, no side effects were reported.

“I’ve always loved colors,” said Knight, who lives near Portland. “Since I was a kid it’s one of those things I could enjoy with just a small amount of vision. But now I realize how much brighter they were as a kid because I can see them a lot more brilliantly now; it’s just amazing.”

Mark Pennesi, a professor of ophthalmology holding an MD and a Ph.D. from the Baylor College of Medicine, presented the results at a recent symposium, calling it “a really amazing technology and very powerful,” according to NPR.

MORE: Honda is Designing an Ingenious In-Shoe Navigation System For The Visually Impaired

Like all scientists, Pennesi urges caution, as a lot more follow-up research needs to be conducted before the true value of the CRISPR trial can be measured.

However, the early success was so significant and clear for people like Knight and Kalberer, the researchers are already moving on to the next group of patients.

CRISPR works by injecting harmless viruses taught to carry edited genes into the retina, where cells cannot be removed, thus facilitating the in vivo approach. To ensure the highly-experimental treatment wouldn’t ruin what limited vision the patients did have, only one eye received the injection, and doses were varied.

The fact that some patients didn’t regain any vision could have been the dose size, or the limit to the single retina. Pennesi believes some may continue to improve even after nine months as a matter of course, while the brain begins to gradually figure out what to do with all these extra images.

CHECK OUT: Scientists Partially Restore Vision in Blind Man Using Emerging Technique and Genes from Light-Sensitive Algae

CRISPR has been used to treat sickle-cell disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and even to create an antidote to the Australian box jellyfish sting, and the number of potential uses for CRISPR could be huge if it’s shown safe to apply in vivo, as genetic disorders inherent to organs that are difficult to draw samples from, such as the brain, could be approached.

“We’re thrilled to see early signs of efficacy because that means gene editing is working. This is the first time we’re having evidence that gene editing is functioning inside somebody and it’s improving—in this case—their visual function,” said Dr. Eric Pierce, another professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School who’s assisting with the trials.

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“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?” – Rumi (born 814 years ago today)

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?” – Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Persian poet and Sufi mystic born 814 years ago today)

Photo: by Lilya Alis

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?

 

This is What it Looks Like When a Black Hole Snacks on a Star

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Good News Network
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NASA/JPL-Caltech
Illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star, torn to shreds as it was being devoured by a supermassive black hole. The feeding black hole is surrounded by a ring of dust NASA/JPL-Caltech

While black holes and toddlers don’t seem to have much in common, they are remarkably similar in one aspect: Both are messy eaters, generating ample evidence that a meal has taken place.

But whereas one might leave behind droppings of pasta or splatters of yogurt, the other creates an aftermath of mind-boggling proportions. When a black hole gobbles up a star, it produces what astronomers call a “tidal disruption event.” The shredding of the hapless star is accompanied by an outburst of radiation that can outshine the combined light of every star in the black hole’s host galaxy for months, even years.

A team of astronomers led by Sixiang Wen, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, use the X-rays emitted by a tidal disruption event known as J2150 to make the first measurements of both the black hole’s mass and spin. This black hole is of a particular type—an intermediate-mass black hole—which has long eluded observation.

“The fact that we were able to catch this black hole while it was devouring a star offers a remarkable opportunity to observe what otherwise would be invisible,” said Ann Zabludoff, UArizona professor of astronomy and co-author on the paper. “Not only that, by analyzing the flare we were able to better understand this elusive category of black holes, which may well account for the majority of black holes in the centers of galaxies.”

By re-analyzing the X-ray data used to observe the J2150 flare, and comparing it with sophisticated theoretical models, the authors showed that this flare did indeed originate from an encounter between an unlucky star and an intermediate-mass black hole. The intermediate black hole in question is of particularly low mass—for a black hole, that is—weighing in at roughly 10,000 times the mass of the sun.

“The X-ray emissions from the inner disk formed by the debris of the dead star made it possible for us to infer the mass and spin of this black hole and classify it as an intermediate black hole,” Wen said.

Dozens of tidal disruption events have been seen in the centers of large galaxies hosting supermassive black holes, and a handful have also been observed in the centers of small galaxies that might contain intermediate black holes. However, past data has never been detailed enough to prove that an individual tidal disruption flare was powered by an intermediate black hole.

“Thanks to modern astronomical observations, we know that the centers of almost all galaxies that are similar to or larger in size than our Milky Way host central supermassive black holes,” said study co-author Nicholas Stone, a senior lecturer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “These behemoths range in size from 1 million to 10 billion times the mass of our sun, and they become powerful sources of electromagnetic radiation when too much interstellar gas falls into their vicinity.”

The mass of these black holes correlates closely with the total mass of their host galaxies; the largest galaxies host the largest supermassive black holes.

“We still know very little about the existence of black holes in the centers of galaxies smaller than the Milky Way,” said co-author Peter Jonker of Radboud University and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, both in the Netherlands. “Due to observational limitations, it is challenging to discover central black holes much smaller than 1 million solar masses.”

Despite their presumed abundance, the origins of supermassive black holes remain unknown, and many different theories currently vie to explain them, according to Jonker. Intermediate-mass black holes could be the seeds from which supermassive black holes grow.

“Therefore, if we get a better handle of how many bona fide intermediate black holes are out there, it can help determine which theories of supermassive black hole formation are correct,” he said.

RELATED: Have We Detected Dark Energy? Cambridge Scientists Say It’s a Possibility

Even more exciting, according to Zabludoff, is the measurement of J2150’s spin that the group was able to obtain. The spin measurement holds clues as to how black holes grow, and possibly to particle physics.

This black hole has a fast spin, but not the fastest possible spin, Zabludoff explained, begging the question of how the black hole ends up with a spin in this range.

“It’s possible that the black hole formed that way and hasn’t changed much since, or that two intermediate-mass black holes merged recently to form this one,” she said. “We do know that the spin we measured excludes scenarios where the black hole grows over a long time from steadily eating gas or from many quick gas snacks that arrive from random directions.”

In addition, the spin measurement allows astrophysicists to test hypotheses about the nature of dark matter, which is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe. Dark matter may consist of unknown elementary particles not yet seen in laboratory experiments. Among the candidates are hypothetical particles known as ultralight bosons, Stone explained.

“If those particles exist and have masses in a certain range, they will prevent an intermediate-mass black hole from having a fast spin,” he said. “Yet J2150’s black hole is spinning fast. So, our spin measurement rules out a broad class of ultralight boson theories, showcasing the value of black holes as extraterrestrial laboratories for particle physics.”

In the future, new observations of tidal disruption flares might let astronomers fill in the gaps in the black hole mass distribution, the authors—whose paper is published in The Astrophysical Journal—hope.

MORE: 900-Year-old Mystery That Puzzled Stargazers is Now Solved – It’s A ‘Zombie’ Star

“If it turns out that most dwarf galaxies contain intermediate-mass black holes, then they will dominate the rate of stellar tidal disruption,” Stone said. “By fitting the X-ray emission from these flares to theoretical models, we can conduct a census of the intermediate-mass black hole population in the universe,” Wen added.

To do that, however, more tidal disruption events have to be observed. That’s why astronomers hold high hopes for new telescopes coming online soon, both on Earth and in space, including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, also known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, or LSST, which is expected to discover thousands of tidal disruption events per year.

Source: University of Arizona

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They Brought Scouting to 10,000 Afghan Kids – And Just Got Permission to Continue By the Taliban

By
Andy Corbley
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Parsa

In times of war and crisis, it’s important to remember that for every story of loss and tragedy, there is a story of courage and generosity—such is the case with Afghanistan’s Youth Scout program.

PARSA

The country has been embroiled in conflict for more than 40 years, and growing up in that turmoil, Mohammad Hamkar decided to revive Afghanistan’s fledgling scout program in the 2010s from a compound of almond and peach trees on the outskirts of Kabul.

He and his NGO-partner Marnie Gustavson, an American who remembers living in Kabul during earlier peaceful days, have been working to uplift the lives of rural boys and girls through worldwide scouting mandates—especially encouraging a sense of responsibility and service to the community, particularly during the last two months.

As members of the nonprofit PARSA—(Physiotherapy And Rehabilitation Services for Afghanistan) which focuses on rebuilding Afghan communities—Hamkar and Gustavson realized the power of the Merit Badge in giving young people a worthwhile path to follow in life.

Hamkar has trained 600 volunteers to be scoutmasters, and was proud to regain membership in the World Organization of Scout Movements, restoring scouting as a national pursuit that dated back to 1931.

“We have about 10,000 scouts around the country,” PARSA director Marnie Gustavson, who left the country during the Taliban’s recent victory in Kabul, told KUOW.

“What the scouts accomplish across the country—particularly their focus on community service—is just remarkable.”

PARSA

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Assisting refugees – the Scouting way

After the Taliban resumed power, refugees poured into parks around Kabul. It was a situation Hamkar and his scouts were born to solve.

Gathering up tents, sleeping bags, and other emergency supplies, they created a safe, functioning campsite where 45 displaced families could get shelter, and receive food and water.

When the Taliban heard about what was going on, they accused Hamkar of teaching Christianity, an allegation that was easy enough for him to disprove.

Soon after, the Taliban government issued the all-clear for PARSA to continue its work, which included the scouts returning to the streets and outskirts of Kabul to lend a helping hand, and presumably, to continue stacking up their merit badges.

MORE: Afghan Translator Who Saved U.S. Soldiers Finally Celebrates 4th of July as an American Citizen

A great way to show support for your fellow scouts is by making a donations to help PARSA continue the program that offers role models for Afghan youth.

SHARE the Hope; Share This Story From Afghanistan…

A Grocery Line Where Slower is Better: Supermarkets Open ‘Chat Checkouts’ to Combat Loneliness Among Elderly

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Good News Network
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Jumbo
Jumbo

1.3 million people in the Netherlands are older than 75 years—and one large supermarket chain is making sure they’re not getting too lonely in their elder years.

The Dutch government with its campaign, ‘One Against Loneliness’, has galvanized organizations, towns, companies, and individuals to find solutions. The grocer giant, Jumbo, is doing their part with its innovative chatty check outs.

The idea for the ‘Kletskassa’, which translates to ‘chat checkout’, originated more than two years ago—and in the summer of 2019 the first Kletskassa was opened in Vlijmen in Brabant.

This resulted in many positive reactions from customers—and now Jumbo is expanding the initiative further: By this time next year, there will be chat checkouts in 200 stores across the country where people can go for a conversation. When choosing the stores, areas where loneliness is a major factor are carefully considered.

Colette Cloosterman-van Eerd, CCO of Jumbo and the driving force behind the National Coalition against Loneliness, is closely involved in the initiative. She says, “Many people, especially the elderly, sometimes feel lonely. As a family business and supermarket chain, we are at the heart of society.”

“Our stores are an important meeting place for many people and we want to play a role in identifying and reducing loneliness. We do this in various ways, including our Kletskassas. We are proud that many of our cashiers like to take a seat behind a Kletskassa. They support the initiative and want to help people to make real contact with them out of genuine interest.”

RELATED: Seniors Play Dress Up With Nature to Personify the Magic Around Us– LOOK

“It is a small gesture, but very valuable, especially in a world that is digitizing and getting faster and faster.”

Jumbo

Local approach to loneliness

In addition to the Kletskassas, Jumbo has various other initiatives to establish personal contact between people.

Cloosterman-van Eerd explained that, “At Jumbo we want to be more than just a place where you do your shopping. For example, we help our stores by means of a manual to signal loneliness among customers and to set up local initiatives… Several stores also have a chat corner where customers can grab a nice cup of coffee and chat with neighbors.”

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has supported the establishment of local coalitions against loneliness in each of the 355 municipalities across the country for organizing programs such as home visits, telephone hotlines, and creating maps of activities for nearby seniors.

MORE: 100-Year-old Grandma Sets Guinness World Record as a Powerlifter, and Continues Winning Trophies (WATCH)

The Dutch national movement towards supporting older people will hopefully catch on in many more countries around the world.

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First EV Trucks Roll off Rivian Assembly Line in Illinois, Watch Giddy Test Drives: ‘Quickest Thing I‘ve Ever Driven’

By
Andy Corbley
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Rivian EV truck test drives-YouTube
Rivian EV truck test drives/YouTube

Rivian Automobiles has just launched a pair of all-electric outdoor adventure vehicles following years of subjecting them to the harshest testing and explorers’ feedback.

On September 14th, their first models were driven off the assembly line in their Illinois production plant.

The R1T and the R1S are super-loaded with features specialized for road-tripping to off-road adventure, and they have a range 80 miles greater than Ford’s electric pickup.

“A trail to the middle of nowhere. A great mountain road. A long weekend with the family. We are focused on building products that inspire and enable you to see the world, on-road and way off,” the website reads, and that’s no understatement.

The robustness and capability of these vehicles is dramatic, as were the rigors Rivian put their SUV and pickup through on the way to the dealership.

The battery system was built and tested in environments as varied as 130ºF to -25ºF to ensure the car starts no matter where you left it. The four-wheel drive system will do 0-60 in 3 seconds, can crawl up rocks at inclines as steep as you care to attempt, and the models can wade through three feet of water.

To get some early durability testing, two pickups were sent on a 13,000-mile trip from the tip of Argentina up to Los Angeles, which spanned 100 days and every type of terrain and weather imaginable.

Rivian

With a price tag starting at $67,500 the vehicles are not exactly cheap, but for the most capable nature-lover who is interested in enjoying the great outdoors as much as they are in saving it, there’s just no other choice out there.

A world of experiences

Automatic driving, LTE-WiFI, a booming stereo system with full tablet connectibility and 120V power outlets turns any trip a little more like an RV-one rather than an on-the-rough camping expedition.

MORE: German Company Makes Concrete to Charge Electric Vehicles From Roads With 95% Efficiency and Low Cost

The lack of engine block gives the R1T an extraordinary amount of storage space—68 cubic feet in total, which also allows the them to fit a full-size spare tire as standard, and the innovative “Gear Tunnel.”

Located between the cab and the backseat, the gear tunnel is a third standard storage option idea for skis, wetsuits, muddy or dirty cloths and equipment, or anything else that doesn’t have a home, as well as being the compartment for some unique add-ons.

RELATED: One of the Biggest Myths About EVs is Busted in New Study

Rivian will sell you an electric slide-out camp kitchen—complete with crockery that folds in and out of the Gear Tunnel. On top of the all-glass panoramic star-gazing roof is an equipment rack fitted with attachments suitable for most third-party products.

It’s an awful lot to fit into a car, but this month the company announced it had received more than 24,000 preorders for the R1T, which they say will be available with an extended range of 400 miles on a charge by next year.

(WATCH the test drives below.)

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The ‘World’s Longest’ 3D-Printed Concrete Bridge Erected in The Netherlands

By
Andy Corbley
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Municipality of Nijmegen, Michiel van der Kley
Municipality of Nijmegen, Michiel van der Kley

In the Netherlands, a country famous for all manner of methods for surmounting aquatic obstacles, an engineering company recently completed the world’s largest 3D-printed bridge.

Built in Nijmegen, the bridge spans 95 feet (29 meters) across a canal, and was completed through a collaboration from the Eindhoven Institute of Technology, a pair of engineering firms, and planning aid from the government.

It surpasses by 10 feet the previous record-holding 3D-printed bridge in China, and helps demonstrate the scope of 3D printing advantages for both designers and policy makers. Among these are the facts that 3D printers use far less material than traditional construction techniques, and offer greater creative possibilities for designers.

“The city of Nijmegen is very honored to receive this innovative 3D printed bridge,” said Alderman Bert Velthuis of Nijmegen City Council. “We are a city of bridges, and this special, innovative bridge is a wonderful addition. The bridge leads to connection: in the design and construction phase it connected the different partners, and from now on the bridge connects our residents.”

The bridge is striking to look at, with sculpted conical feet that gives it a shape a little like that of a caterpillar.

MORE: World’s First 3-D Printed School Poised to Be Built in Madagascar For Half the Price of Traditional

The CEO of the 3D-printing firm Weber Benelux stated the bridge, that was designed on a computer and printed piece by piece before being assembled on site, required 50% less material to create as the printer only deposits concrete where it’s absolutely needed for structural integrity.

Furthermore, the mold and design will be there in the Weber Benelux Nijmegen site for years to come, meaning the bridge can be quickly commissioned and printed again with only minor tweaks, a reproducibility rare in large civic projects, and which could save tens of thousands in design, surveying, and consulting costs.

RELATED: Stylish Tiny Homes Are Now Being 3D-Printed In 24 Hours And Shipped to Your Site

“Nijmegen has had a fantastic year as [it was named] European Green Capital,” said Alderman of the municipality of Nijmegen Harriët Tiemens, in a 2019 statement on the bridge’s announcement. “A new innovative sustainable 3D-printed bridge is a nice addition to this.”

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“Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes.” – Miguel de Cervantes (born 474 years ago)

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness, its opposite, never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes.” – Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote (born 474 years ago)

Photo: by Hu Chen

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?

Rent Winnie the Pooh’s Tree House in the Original Hundred Acre Wood at This ‘Bearbnb’

By
Judy Cole
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Henry Woide, Airbnb
Henry Woide, Airbnb

“Sometimes,” said Winnie the Pooh, “the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

And nowhere is that more true than the aptly named ‘Bearbnb’ that bears his name.

Tucked away in a lush corner of the Sussex countryside that inspired A. A. Milne’s original Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh’s trademark treehouse has been lovingly replicated and is set to host its inaugural guests as part of a Disney celebration marking the beloved Bear’s 95th anniversary.

The custom-built tiny home, based on E.H. Shepard’s classic drawings from Milne’s original books, is overseen by Kim Raymond.

He’s a Disney illustrator who’s been creating images of the iconic bear for three decades.

“I have been illustrating Winnie the Pooh for 30 years and I continue to be inspired by the classic decorations of E.H. Shepard and the more recent Disney stories,” Raymond said in a statement.

“The ‘Bearbnb’ is a unique experience that brings the charm of Pooh to life for fans, whilst honoring the original adventures that have been so important to many people for 95 years.”

Henry Woide, Airbnb

Per the Airbnb listing, during their visits, Pooh lovers will get “a guided tour of the original Hundred Acre Wood (a.k.a. Ashdown Forest), play Poohsticks on the iconic Poohsticks Bridge, and enjoy locally sourced hunny-inspired meals.”

MORE: Millennials Are Eating More Adventurously, Trying More Foreign Food—And Even Catching Their Own Dinner

As with its literary prototype, the Bearbnb’s whimsical décor includes a ‘Mr. Sanders plaque’ above the arched tree branches surrounding the front door, plenty of comfy spots for napping, and a plethora of “hunny” pots lining the kitchen shelves.

Henry Woide, Airbnb

Apart from the “bear necessities,” the new House at Pooh Corner also boasts modern amenities including yoga and wellness products designed to aid travelers in communing with the true Tao of Pooh.

RELATED: Because His AirBnb Guest Had a Heart Attack, Man’s Ingenuity is Now Saving Thousands of Lives

This magical domicile dedicated to Piglet’s BBFF (best bear friend forever) is the perfect spot to bring a family for a once-in-a-lifetime, immersive Winnie the Pooh experience.

Henry Woide, Airbnb

But as you can imagine, guests of even an enchanted destination must observe proper house etiquette, so…

• Strictly no heffalumps inside the house
• Hands are to be kept out of the honey pots
• A snack of “a little something” encouraged at 11 o’clock in the morning
• Poohsticks is mandatory
• Multiple naps are permitted
• No pets (other than Roos, Tiggers, Eeyores, Piglets and Pooh Bears)
• No smoking, you’ll upset the bees

Even for a “silly old bear,” that seems fair enough.

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New Treatment For Eczema Could Emerge After Possible Cause Was Identified by ‘Surprised’ Scientists

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Good News Network
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HSD3B1-red-within-a-human-sebaceous-gland-cell-nuclei-blue-and-lipid-droplets-black-circular-areas.-harris-tyron-UT-Southwestern-Medical-Center-released
HSD3B1, red, within a human sebaceous gland cell neclei (blue) and lipid droplets (black circular areas)/Harris Tyron/UT Southwestern Medical Center

A study led by UT Southwestern dermatologists suggests that a common inflammatory skin condition may stem from poorly regulated hormones. The finding could offer an unexpected new target to fight this condition.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a form of eczema. AD affects up to 13% of children and 10% of adults, with an annual treatment cost of $5.3 billion in the U.S. alone.

“We often think of eczema as a dry-skin condition and treat mild cases with moisturizers,” said corresponding author Tamia Harris-Tryon at UTSW. “Here, we’re showing that a gene that’s important for making hormones seems to play a role in the skin making its own moisturizers.

“If we could alter this gene’s activity, we could potentially provide relief to eczema patients by helping the skin make more oils and lipids to moisturize itself.”

Dr. Harris-Tryon explained that previous research has linked AD to overactivity in genes responsible for the production of two inflammatory immune molecules, interleukins 4 and 13 (IL-4 and IL-13).

A relatively new drug called dupilumab—a monoclonal antibody that reduces the amount of the inflammatory molecules—has been extremely effective in many patients with moderate to severe AD. However, the molecular mechanisms behind how IL-4 and IL-13 contribute to this form of eczema was unknown.

To investigate this question, Dr. Harris-Tryon and her colleagues focused on sebocytes, the cells that make up sebaceous glands. These glands produce an oily, waxy barrier that coats the skin, helping it retain moisture.

The researchers dosed human sebocytes growing in petri dishes with IL-4 and IL-13, then used a technique called RNA sequencing to get a readout on gene activity for the entire genome and compared it with gene activity in sebocytes that weren’t treated with these immune molecules.

They found that a gene called HSD3B1, which makes an enzyme called 3b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1, became up to 60 times more active when exposed to the two interleukins.

RELATED: Hydrolyzed Collagen Supplements Are Good for Health: Benefitting Hair, Skin, Joints, and Muscles

The finding was a surprise, Dr. Harris-Tryon said, because this enzyme is well known for playing a key role in the production of hormones such as testosterone and progesterone, but it had never been linked to atopic dermatitis and skin lipid production.

Databases of human gene activity showed that HSD3B1 tends to be overactive in patients with eczema; a single study of patients on dupilumab showed that this drug appears to lower HSD3B1‘s activity. Both pieces of evidence suggest that IL-4 and IL-13 drive up the activity of this gene.

To determine how this gene affects sebum output, the researchers manipulated HSD3B1‘s activity in sebocytes growing in petri dishes. They found that when they made this gene less active, the levels of hormones decreased, and skin sebum production increased.

The reverse was also true, with more gene activity leading to higher amounts of hormones and less sebum. The researchers made similar findings in a mouse model of AD, with hormone production decreasing the production of skin lipids.

MORE: This Woman Couldn’t Find Soap For Her Son’s Fragile Skin, So She Turned To YouTube And Made Her Own

Together, Dr. Harris-Tryon said, these findings—published in TNAS, suggest that HSD3B1 could be a new target for fighting AD and potentially other forms of eczema.

“Changing the output of this gene could eventually offer a way to treat AD that’s completely different from any treatment that currently exists,” she added. That’s an exciting breakthrough indeed.

Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center

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Incredible Video Shows a Husband and Wife’s Amazing Encounter With a Group of Humpback Whales

By
Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

This incredible video shows a husband and wife’s amazing encounter with a group of humpback whales.

32-year-old David Edgar and his wife Alice, were diving in the beautiful crystal-clear waters off the islands of Tonga in the South Pacific.

The couple were following a group of three humpback whales—a mother, her calf, and a male escort.

Amazingly, the curious calf came right up to Alice.

Professional underwater photographer David was able to capture these gorgeous images and video that showed the ‘little’ humpback seemingly ‘dancing’ with his wife.

David, who’s from Sydney, Australia, said,  “It was one of those amazing days in the South Pacific where the water was perfectly flat and there was hardly a breath of wind.”

“We followed a group of three humpback whales who were swimming slowly around a shallow reef for about an hour.

SWNS

“The video captures the moment where a young humpback calf swims toward Alice in a moment of mutual curiosity.

MORE: Friendly Humpback Whale Gives Woman the Experience of a Lifetime – WATCH

“The whales are often as curious as us as we are of them, which can make for some really amazing moments underwater.”

(WATCH the viral video below.)

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First Artificial Kidney That Would Free People From Dialysis and Transplants Runs on Blood Pressure

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Good News Network
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The Kidney Project, UCSF
The Kidney Project, UCSF

The Kidney Project’s implantable bioartificial kidney, one that promises to free kidney disease patients from dialysis machines and transplant waiting lists, took another big step toward becoming reality—earning a $650,000 prize from KidneyX for its first-ever demonstration of a functional prototype of its implantable artificial kidney.

KidneyX is a public–private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology, founded to “accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases.”

The Kidney Project, a nationwide collaboration, combined the two essential parts of its artificial kidney, the hemofilter and the bioreactor, and successfully implanted the smartphone-sized device for preclinical evaluation.

For this advance, the team was awarded KidneyX’s Phase 1 Artificial Kidney Prize and was one of six winning teams selected out of an international field.

In the last few years, The Kidney Project successfully tested the hemofilter, which removes waste products and toxins from blood, and the bioreactor, which replicates other kidney functions, like the balance of electrolytes in blood, in separate experiments.

For the Artificial Kidney Prize, the team married the two units into a scaled-down version of the artificial kidney and evaluated its performance in a preclinical model. The units worked in tandem, powered by blood pressure alone, and without the need for blood thinning or immunosuppressant drugs.

CHECK OUT: Arkansas Researchers Find Potential Cause of ‘Long Haul’ COVID-19 Symptoms

“The vision for the artificial kidney is to provide patients with complete mobility and better physiological outcomes than dialysis,” said Roy, who is a faculty member of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. “It promises a much higher quality of life for millions worldwide with kidney failure.”

Chronic kidney failure, also known as end-stage renal disease, leads to the progressive and dangerous loss of kidney function. Most patients with kidney failure must visit dialysis clinics multiple times every week to have their blood filtered, a process that is time-consuming, uncomfortable, and risky.

A minority of patients live with transplanted kidneys, thanks to a pool of donated kidneys that are constantly in high demand. But even these patients must contend with a lifetime on immunosuppressant drugs that can have severe side effects.

The Kidney Project’s artificial kidney will not only replicate the high quality of life seen in kidney transplant recipients—the “gold standard” of kidney disease treatment, according to Roy—but also spare them from needing to take immunosuppressants.

“Our team engineered the artificial kidney to sustainably support a culture of human kidney cells without provoking an immune response,” said Roy. “Now that we have demonstrated the feasibility of combining the hemofilter and bioreactor, we can focus on upscaling the technology for more rigorous preclinical testing, and ultimately, clinical trials.”

MORE: Co-Workers Donate Their Kidneys to Save Each Other’s Husbands

The KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize called on scientists and engineers to submit “continuous kidney replacement therapies that provide transformational treatment options beyond current dialysis methods,” a high bar that UCSF’s artificial kidney is poised to clear in the coming years.

“This award is a testament to The Kidney Project’s bold vision and execution of a viable solution for millions of patients with kidney failure,” said UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD.

Source: UCSF School of Pharmacy

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Human Footprints Found in New Mexico Are 23,000 Years Old – Long Before the Ice Age Glaciers Melted

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Good News Network
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David Bustos, NPS

New scientific research conducted at White Sands National Park in New Mexico has uncovered the oldest known human footprints in North America.

David Bustos, NPS

The discovery reveals evidence of human occupation in the Tularosa Basin beginning at least 23,000 years ago, thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

“These incredible discoveries illustrate that White Sands National Park is not only a world-class destination for recreation but is also a wonderful scientific laboratory that has yielded groundbreaking, fundamental research,” said Superintendent Marie Sauter.

The fossilized human footprints were buried in multiple layers of gypsum soil on a large playa in White Sands National Park.

Seeds embedded in the footprints were radiocarbon dated and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey to establish their age.

The research dramatically extends the range for the coexistence of humans and Pleistocene (ice age) megafauna and confirms that humans were present in North America before the major glacial advances at the height of the last ice age closed migration routes from Asia.

“This study illustrates the process of science—new evidence can shift long held paradigms,” said USGS Acting Rocky Mountain Regional Director Allison Shipp.

White Sands National Park contains the world’s largest-known collection of Pleistocene age (ice age) fossilized footprints in the world and has been recognized as a megatracksite since 2014.

MORE: A Sorceress’ Toolkit Has Been Discovered in the Ashes of Pompeii

Those footprints havebeen given the intriguing nickname “ghost tracks.” Each footprint marks the spot where an ancient ancestor once stood many thousands of years ago.

New stories from the past

Karen Carr, NPS

The newly discovered “ghost tracks” tell an interesting tale of what life was like at this time.

“The footprints left at White Sands give a picture of what was taking place, teenagers interacting with younger children and adults,” said lead study author, Matthew Bennett from Bournemouth University, in a statement. “We can think of our ancestors as quite functional, hunting and surviving, but what we see here is also activity of play, and of different ages coming together. A true insight into these early people.”

In addition to human footprints, tracks from the Columbian mammoth, saber-toothed cat, dire wolf, and other ice age animals have been discovered at White Sands.

RELATED: Archaeologists in Egypt Discover Mummy With Gold Tongue

Scientists from White Sands National Park, the National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bournemouth University, University of Arizona, and Cornell University, in connection with the park’s Native American partners, have collaborated and consulted on this research. The findings are detailed in an article published in the journal Science.

White Sands National Park protects and preserves the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, at least 23,000 years of archaeology, adaptive flora and fauna, as well as Works Progress Administration-era historic pueblo buildings.

Source: NPS

(WATCH the Bournemouth University video for this story below.)

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“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock personal excellence.” – Confucius (born 2,571 years ago)

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock personal excellence.” – Confucius (born 2,571 years ago)

Photo: by Bobby Johnson

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?

Man Delivers Donated RVs to Wildfire Victims and Now 95 Families Have a Place to Stay

By
Judy Cole
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EmergencyRV/Facebook
EmergencyRV/Facebook

Recreational vehicles are a great way to tour the country and see the sights, but thanks to the efforts of one dedicated father-daughter team, they’ve also become a lifeline for people who’ve lost their homes to California’s latest spate of devastating wildfires.

The brainchild of Woody Faircloth, the nonprofit EmergencyRV.org pairs folks who are willing to donate their campers to a worthy cause with those in need.

To date, Faircloth—often with his 9-year-old daughter Luna along for the ride—has delivered 95 motorhomes to California area wildfire victims who otherwise might wait months for emergency housing. (The organization currently has 100 families on its waiting list.)

Faircloth first got the idea for the charity in 2018. Like many that year, the Colorado-based father was tuned to news coverage of California’s deadly Camp Fire that incinerated 153,336 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes during Thanksgiving week.

The story of a man who’d lost pretty much everything but managed to escape the inferno in his mobile home resonated with Faircloth.

Inspired by how blessed that man felt just to have a place to spend the holiday, he asked Luna what she thought about finding an RV and delivering it to a family so they could have a place to call home for Christmas.

“We were watching some of what’s going on out there and talking about what if that was us and what would we do,” Faircloth told Denver 7 at the time. “And I told (my daughter) what the idea was and she was 100 percent on board. She said, ‘God and Santa Claus would be really proud of us for this.’”

Faircloth launched a GoFundMe campaign to finance the first RV that he and Luna delivered dropped off in California.

As word of their journey spread, people started reaching out to him via social media, offering to donate their motorhomes—and from there, EmergencyRV soon took shape.

A father of four who works in the telecom industry, Faircloth says even though juggling the many facets of his life has its challenges, he plans to expand EmergencyRV’s outreach to include more fire and other natural disaster sites and hopes to beef up response times as well.

MORE: The Only Way for 4-Year-old to Get Surgery 3,000 Miles Away Was Fully-Equipped RV—And Strangers Sprung for It

Over the last two months, Faircloth and Luna have made the 40-hour-roundtrip from Denver to California and back on three separate weekends.

Many of the mobile home recipients are firefighters and other first responders whose tireless efforts battling the blazes did not prevent their own homes from going up in flames.

One such man is George Wolley, who lost his own home to the Dixie Fire on August 4th.

“We fought the fire until we couldn’t fight it no more. We couldn’t stop it. We did our best,” Wolley told the Associated Press. “Before I got that RV, I felt like I was a burden on everybody that helped me… I slept a lot in tents and in my car. It gave me a place to go.”

While his organization continues to grow and evolve, the original sentiments behind Faircloth’s humanitarian efforts remain constant. He’s grateful for the many blessings he has—and blessed to be in a position to help others.

RELATED: Instead of Putting Him in Nursing Home, Grandson Brings 95-Year-old WWII Vet on Epic Bucket List RV Trip

“Presently collapsed in the back of an old RV beside this little kid with no front teeth who gets me up and moving every day determined to do something better than yesterday,” Faircloth wrote in a 2018 post when Luna was 6.

“We are so lucky to be exhausted. We are so lucky to be able to go home soon. There are so many thanks yous to say that have not yet been said so to all of you—thank you.”

And we’re lucky to have a world with people like Woody and Luna Faircloth in it.

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Charity Rescues So Much Food From Landfill, It Opens a ‘Pay What You Feel’ Grocery Store To Share Tons of Produce

By
Andy Corbley
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Food Stash

In Vancouver, a new supermarket is opening specifically to get unwanted food and produce into the hands of people who need or want it, thereby sparing it from being dumped into the landfill.

The Food Stash Foundation’s “Rescued Food Market” is opening its doors on October 1st. Located on 340 West 2nd Avenue, for three hours every Friday, their surplus produce and food is available to anyone, whether they’re food insecure, looking to reduce their environmental impact, or simply need to cut down on grocery costs, on a “pay what you feel” rather than “what you can” basis, ensuring there’s as little moral impediment to getting the food out the door and onto dinner tables around Vancouver.

Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags, but if it slips one’s mind, they offer reusable totes at a limit of one per person.

And getting it out the door is both the major challenge and goal, as Food Stash Foundation’s executive Carla Pellegrini would explain to GNN, 58% of all food produced in Canada becomes waste. The UN reports household food waste in the Great White North is 20 kilograms more per capita than the United States, and rivals poorer nations that have limited access to refrigeration and have to deal with tropical heat and humidity.

“There’s food waste at every level [of the supply-chain], whether it’s over-ordering, cancelled orders, the shape of the produce isn’t meeting the customer expectations, or approaching best-before dates,” says Pellegrini, who took over the position of director last July.

MORE: New Plant-based Biodegradable Masks Close the Recycling Loop with Free Return of Used Ones

“I was really, really surprised by how much food waste there is, how much food insecurity there is in Vancouver.”

By any means necessary

The Food Stash Foundation collects food from wholesalers, grocers, and farms, and delivers it to other organizations that combat food waste and food insecurity. There was a time when all the unwanted food that was left would be put into boxes and delivered to food insecure families for a small price.

But hauling in 70,000 pounds of food per month meant they needed more ways to get rid of it, hence the Rescued Food Market.

“85% of that 70,000 pounds of food doesn’t even make it back to our warehouse, it goes right back out the same day with our drivers to other organizations,” says Pellegrini.

RELATED: Football Fans Can Now Eat Their Coffee Cups After They’re Done Sipping

“We even end up with surplus at the end of our weekly operations; after the organizations and the boxes, we still sometimes have surplus, so we’re interested in offloading that.”

Furthermore, a piece of B.C. legislation releases donators of the liability of risk posed by donating food that’s past a best-by date, and has encouraged more donations also of packaged food and not only produce.

Enormous amounts of CO2 are generated every year around the world from food decaying in landfills, and by rescuing it we’re not only saving money, we’re saving the planet.

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Story of Unsung Dutch Hero Who Saved Thousands From Nazi Holocaust is Finally Told 45 Years After His Death

By
Andy Corbley
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Zwartendijik
Zwartendijik

Among what must have been hundreds of thousands of stories of sacrifice, heroism, and courage that played out among the Jewish communities across Europe during World War Two, the story of ‘Mr. Radio Philips’, aka ‘The Angel of Curaçao’, has never been well told.

But 45 years after his death, Jan Zwartendijk, an ordinary Dutch company man-turned-real hero, is now the subject of a new biography called The Just: How Six Unlikely Heroes Saved Thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, which details his life-saving bravery that saved perhaps 10,000 Jews from annihilation during the Holocaust by helping them flee Europe.

In 1939, Zwartendijk took over duties as consulate in the then-capital of Lithuania, Kaunas, on behalf of the Dutch government-in-exile after the Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany.

A loyal company man for the home goods brand Philips, he sold gramophones, lightbulbs, and other goods out of the Kaunas branch before his reliability earned him the unpaid position as consul.

Soon after taking over, Jewish refugees from Poland—who fled following the Red Army’s invasion in 1940—began to arrive at his door seeking help.

Confronted with a dangerous choice, Zwartendijk did what “everyone would have done… if they had been in this position,” according to his son, recounting his father’s words to the Guardian.

He ended up issuing 2,139 passport visas to Jewish families for entry into the Dutch Caribbean colony of Curaçao, knowing that his signature of fountain pen script and green stamp could get them as far as the island—after which he could only hope the local authorities, whose approval was also needed for the Jews to enter the country, would allow them in.

CHECK OUT: Medals Found in Dumpster Reveal Her Dad Was a WWII Hero But Never Told Anyone—WATCH

Zwartendijk’s gamble would end up saving more people than Oskar Schindler—subject of the Academy-Award winning Schindler’s List—says journalist Jennifer Rankin in the Guardian.

While it was the Dutchman whose visas allowed those fleeing the war to find a new home, he was not the only brave soul working as a consul in the Lithuanian capital at the time.

Japan’s Chiune Sugihara helped ensure, through the long arm of the Trans-Siberian Railway, that the refugees had a reliable way of escaping Europe.

RELATED: Travel Agent Helps Aging Veteran Pilot Pals Go On Dream Boys’ Trip – Without Costing Them a Dime

Sugihara and Zwartendijk were both denounced by their governments, but would later be honored as heroes—though it took quite a bit longer for Zwartendijk to be recognized.

Sugihara was named ‘Righteous Among the Nations’, the highest honor accorded to non-Jews by the state of Israel, two years before he died in 1986. Furthermore, he has a section in Japanese school curriculums, a decent Wikipedia page, memorials, and more.

Zwartendijk, on the other hand, was largely forgotten and did not receive the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ honor until 1997. Yet a week after his death in 1976, writes Jan Brokken, author of The Just, research was published which estimated that 95% of all the people leaving Europe on a Zwartendijk visa escaped to freedom.

MORE: US Honors 98-yo Irish Woman Whose Storm Forecast Fortuitously Delayed D-Day Landings, Changing Course of WWII

Since then, the Kaunas municipality has raised a memorial for Mr. Radio Philips in front of the corporate office he used to occupy. It’s a worthy recognition of a man the history books will not forget again. On reading the biography of his life, Stephen Spielberg wrote, “If I had known Jan Zwartendijk’s story before, I would have had filmed that.”

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One Man Set Out to Make the Perfect Pasta Shape, And it’s So Popular That Orders are Backed Up for Months

By
Andy Corbley
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Filibustre, CC license
Filibustre, CC license

When one man just couldn’t find the perfect pasta shape, he did what so many great Americans have done before him: he made his own.

The story of this fun adventure raises many important food-isophical questions, such as “What is the best pasta shape?” and “What attributes do the best pasta shapes have?” and “Who decides what represents an official pasta shape: is there even such a thing?”

Dan Pashman, James Beard Award winner, food personality, and podcast host, decided that whether it was penne, rigatoni, tagliatelle, or tortellini, there was no pasta form which he thought satisfied his desire for “sauceability,” “forkability” and “tooth-sinkability.”

Along the way towards his ultimate goal of the perfect pasta, Pasta.com reports that Pashman traveled to something called the Pasta Lab in North Dakota State University, where he learned at the knees of pasta elders about the science behind the worldwide staple.

Afterwards he went to the factories of Sfoglini, a Brooklyn pasta brand that uses more refined drying and packaging techniques, as well as the finest organic durum wheat to make their shapes. Pasta.com also details that they use bronze plates to roll and cut their pasta on, giving it an imperfect texture that allows sauce to stick more readily.

MORE: Pasta, Please! In Moderation it Can Help Keep Weight Down Says Large Study

In a five-part podcast series called Mission ImPASTABLE, Pashman documented the birth of his scientifically and culturally-informed attempt at the perfect pasta. Called Cascatelli, which translates to something like ‘Little Pasta Waterfalls’, they combine Pashman’s favorite aspects of various different pasta forms.

Ruffled edges create a “sauce trough” into which sauce can accumulate, while the use of Sfoglini’s bronze plates give cascatelli that special rustic texture. Forkability, or the ease at which someone can press a fork and lift a pasta without it falling apart, is high, as there are overlapping elements that created more area for deeper penetration.

RELATED: How to Break Spaghetti Noodles Without Making a Mess

Lastly, tooth-sinkability has been enhanced by right angles on the formations both above and below the noodle, giving it that lovely al dente nature which Italians need in their pasta.

Altogether, cascatelli gave Pashman his perfect dream pasta, it gave the Sfoglini company a new hit to sell—but they’re so popular they are already backed up by 6-8 weeks, but can be ordered here.

The new form of wheat-born noodle seems to be so good it likely deserves its own Michelin star.

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World’s First 5-Nation Reserve Spans 4,000 Sq-Miles in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia: ‘The Amazon of Europe’

By
Andy Corbley
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IDL TIFF file
Peter Valic, CC license

The ‘Amazon of Europe’—a victory for nature 12 years in the making, has finally come to pass as a transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve covering five nations.

Protecting the valuable and vulnerable riverine and estuarine ecosystems of the Rivers Danube, Mura, and Drava, the reserve spans Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and Slovenia.

Similar to its famous “World Heritage Sites,” UNESCO Biosphere Reserves represent a high level of international protection and recognition for the finest ecosystems in the world, and ones which are critical to maintaining the biosphere—the global web of life.

The Mura-Drava-Danube Transboundary Reserve (MDD) covers 1,150 square-miles (300k ha) of core wilderness, and 2,700 square-miles of transitionary and buffer zones (700k ha).

The buffer zones contain relatively pristine and related microsystems like wetlands, fish ponds, and oxbow lakes, while the transitionary zones maintain modest human habitation such as villages, ecotourism businesses, and agriculture.

“This is the most valuable connected river landscape in Central Europe and does not need to shy away from being compared with the Amazon,” stated WWF project coordinator Arno Mohl, who advocated for the MDD for over a decade.

RELATED: One Year Since Bipartisan Bill Funds Repairs at National Parks: See What Projects are Underway in 40 States

The seed for the project was sown in 2009 when Croatia and Hungary signed a joint declaration stating their shared desire to see such a reserve come into being, which was followed just two years later by Serbia, Slovenia, and Austria.

In 2011, UNESCO began reviewing borders and habitat in each country before designating a biosphere in each one, always with the idea of combining them.

Even in a continent as crowded as Europe, the reserve is a sign that nature can maintain bastions around us, and the MDD is the first Biosphere Reserve to cross the borders of so many nations.

“The five countries involved prove that nature conservation can overcome country borders for the benefit of everyone. In the context of the current climate crisis and massive species extinction, protecting the last natural areas has become a matter of our survival,” Mohl continued.

MORE: Couple Gives $100 Million to Conservation of 57,000 Square Miles of African Protected Areas

Representing such an important body of water, it’s unsurprising perhaps that it’s a refuge for imperiled species like the black stork, otter, beavers, little tern, sturgeon, and the highest density of European white eagles, along with 36 species of native Slovenian fish on the IUCN Red List.

In Slovenia, the River Mura is the only stretch of water not separated by dams, meaning fish can migrate from its headwaters all the way to the Danube Delta where it flows into the Black Sea.

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