If Brenda Van Sickle would have been able to care for a baby at 16 years old, she would have gladly—but she was determined to get him the best care, so gave him up for adoption.
Last month, 45 years later, she got a phone call, and was able to meet the man who benefitted from that difficult decision.
Wes Fenner found his mother through DNA testing, after living a good life with a loving family. He works for a major bank in New Orleans, and started a family of his own.
After talking to Brenda on the phone for a few weeks, he flew to North Texas to meet her alongside a pond.
She told NBC-5 News about hearing a voice behind her: ‘Mom, it’s me.'”
Wes said, “I’m not a huge crier, but it was definitely one of those moments. It was kind of like looking at myself, a slightly older version of myself, in the mirror.”
“You know you wonder about nature versus nurture,” Van Sickle said. “We send each other song lyrics back and forth and he listens to the same music I do. We like the same movies. We have the same snarky sense of humor. I’m going, ‘Yeah, this is my kid.'”
Quote of the Day: “If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.” – Shane Koyczan
Shane Koyczan is a Canadian spoken-word poet and writer known for talking about issues like bullying, cancer, death, and eating disorders. His anti-bullying poem “To This Day” has over 24 million views on YouTube.
Photo by: Kelly Sikkema
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Researchers at Baylor College along with Texas Children’s Hospital’s Center for Vaccine Development have received an $860,000 grant from the Department of Defense to develop a recombinant protein vaccine for Lyme disease—the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S. military and in the general U.S. population.
“We have partnered with the experts that have identified a novel vaccine antigen and plan to accelerate its development as a new prototype vaccine from the bench into the clinic,” said Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, associate dean of Baylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development.
No human Lyme disease vaccine is currently available, she added. And, those candidates that have advanced into clinical trials have not developed a safe and effective or efficient response
Lyme disease, transmitted by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, can infect at the site of the tick bite and then survive in the bloodstream and spread to the heart, joints or brain, resulting in arthritis, neurological abnormalities, and carditis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 300,000 Americans are infected annually, especially in the Midwest and Northeast, including New York state—and with warmer temperatures becoming the norm, the disease cases have been geographically expanding in the past 20 years.
Researchers from Baylor will partner on this work with Lyme disease experts from the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health.
A Baylor College news release reports the team will develop a process to manufacture the vaccine prototype and define host immune responses triggered by the prototypic vaccine under different regimens, including different doses, number of immunizations and type of immune-stimulants, to identify the most efficient way to prevent bacterial colonization and Lyme disease manifestation.
“Contributing to this work and applying our strict quality system practices will be crucial to realize our long-term goal to develop a Lyme disease vaccine, and our vaccine center is well poised to achieve the goals of the project,” said Dr. Wen-Hsiang Chen, assistant professor of tropical medicine at Baylor and director of vaccine quality control and analytical development at Texas Children’s.
“This program builds nicely on our strengths in identifying Lyme disease bacterial proteins as vaccine candidates and investigating how injecting these vaccine candidates blocks tick-to-human transmission of bacteria and/or prevents the disease manifestations,” said Dr. Yi-Pin Lin at Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health.
“This study will significantly benefit the quality of life for U.S. Service members, their families and the general public around the globe.”
Spread The Good News to Your Friends on Social Media…
Just in time for Thanksgiving, a poll of American workers examined the importance of feeling appreciated especially amidst the struggles of 2020.
The survey of 2,000 employed adults working from home revealed that workers haven’t felt much gratitude from their employers since they stopped commuting.
Seven in ten say they’re working more—and harder—than ever before, and three-quarters of respondents said their mental health would likely improve if they received more appreciation and recognition.
Without thanks employees may not be going above and beyond for long, since two-thirds (68%) say they feel unmotivated to work since everything they do seems to go unnoticed.
When asked what they would love to hear more at work a simple “thank you” topped the list. “I appreciate you doing that” and “that was helpful” came in second and third place.
Being told your ‘time is valuable’ and that you exceeded expectations rounded out the top five.
The survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Motivosity found seven in ten said appreciation means the most when it comes from a manager or executive.
“Companies know that the mental health of their teams has become a significant concern,” said Scott Johnson, Founder of Motivosity. “More than 74% of employees indicated that their mental health is tied to how well they feel appreciated at work. Successful employers will have a meaningful plan to address that.”
Work isn’t the only place where a little appreciation goes a long way. Half of Americans feel like nobody around the house appreciates them.
Three in five (63%) confessed to feeling like they’re carrying all the weight with certain chores and that no one cares.
Two of the main pain points for appreciation were not getting any credit or thanks for taking care of the laundry (42%) and regularly cleaning the bathroom (40%).
Four in five (79%) said that knowing they were appreciated would be a big boost for their mental health on a daily basis.
Nearly half of respondents said words were their preferred method of appreciation and 39% think a small gift is in order.
“If you’re trying to improve your company culture, focus on gratitude and appreciation,” Johnson said. “Enable teams and individuals to be appreciative of each other. That’s the kind of culture that keeps customers happy and wins “Best Places to Work” awards!”
ASK For Appreciation By Sharing This on Social Media… (Photo by Ivan Samkov)
To the relief of millions of Americans, the Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday blocked approval for the Pebble Mine project in Alaska, potentially ending a decades-long battle over the health of a major salmon fishery.
The agency concluded that “the proposed project is contrary to the public interest” and blocked the approval of the mine under the Clean Waters Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act.
The debate over Pebble Mine with its massive copper and gold reserves located near Bristol Bay in southern Alaska has been ongoing since feasibility studies were conducted in 2008. The mine has come to almost epitomize environmentalists’ struggle to protect ecosystems against the will of the federal government.
Environmentalists, sportsmen, fishing industry unions and their lobbyists have repeatedly warned that the immensity of the mine would devastate the Bristol Bay and Bristol River salmon run.
Containing the world’s largest salmon run and the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, all five species of Pacific salmon frequent Bristol Bay and its eight tributary rivers. Along with herring, these populations account for 75% of local jobs, over $200 million annually in revenue, and 40% of the nation’s total salmon catch.
The mine would likely have been as deep as the Grand Canyon, providing access to the world’s most valuable undeveloped copper resource, but extracting the metal could have produced enough waste to fill an NFL stadium nearly 3,900 times, according to the Associated Press.
“The Corps’ denial of the permit for the Pebble Mine is a victory for common sense,” said Chris Wood, president of Trout Unlimited. “The opposition to this project from all corners of the political spectrum runs strong and deep. The process has played out, and the science is clear. There is no way this ill-conceived project can coexist with Bristol Bay salmon,” said the group, according to the nonprofit, Save Bristol Bay.
Photo courtesy of Save Bristol Bay
A close call
The Army Corps of Engineers released an environmental report in July that said the mine and the fisheries could coexist, claiming that under normal working conditions the mine “would not be expected to have a measurable effect on fish numbers and result in long-term changes to the health of the commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay.”
Strangely, just a month later the agency found that discharges at the mine would result in “unavoidable adverse impacts to aquatic resources,” and submitted a checklist of required steps to mitigate this process.
Eventually though, the application was denied, even though the mine contains 6.44 billion tons of both precious metals like gold, silver and palladium, and valuable minerals like copper and molybdenum.
Donald Trump Jr. pointed out earlier in the year that he hoped his father would deny the mining application, saying that “as a sportsman who has spent plenty of time in the area, I agree 100%. The headwaters of Bristol Bay and the surrounding fishery are too unique and fragile to take any chances with.”
Other republicans such as Alaska’ two republican senators, Lisa Murkowski, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Dan Sullivan, both agreed that Pebble Mine is better off unbuilt.
“It will help ensure the continued protection of an irreplaceable resource — Bristol Bay’s world-class salmon fishery,” said Murkowski, according to AP.
SHARE The Victory For Wildlife With Your Tribe on Social Media…
2020 was a sad summer to look back on for conservationists in Australia—it was one of the worst seasons for bushfires in history destroyed millions of acres of the country.
But already there are reasons to hope, as WWF, the world’s largest independent conservation organization, looks to build on the remarkable response they received to help save wildlife after the fires and rebuild a resilient ecosystem on the world’s smallest continent.
Copyright WWF-Australia / Leonie Sii
“Right across the country, moves are afoot to rebuild, regrow and regenerate in a better way,” writes WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman in World Wildlife Fund Australia’s (WWF) 2020 annual report.
During the crises they received $40 million in donations to their Nature Recovery Fund which allowed them to launch 40 separate recovery and restoration missions starting in January of 2020 and which included supporting independent veterinary efforts to take care of injured wildlife with the best equipment, organizing large food dispersions to feed wildlife whose homes were destroyed, and mobilize dogs and drones to search for koalas who had survived the blaze.
Now with the fires behind them, the WWF are looking towards their Two-Billion Tree 10-point plan to regenerate as much forest as was lost, and to help kick off their plan they worked with partners to plant 10,000 koala habitat trees in New South Wales (NSW), as well as getting koalas in eastern Australia designated as an “endangered population” under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Additionally, WWF secured commitments from the NSW government to retain protections of old growth forest and national parks, to which was added the Narriearra Station National Park in June.
Plans become a silver lining
The Regenerate Australia plan is the largest wildlife and nature regeneration program in the nation’s history, and involves raising a whopping $300 million to fund the tree planting efforts, and two contests with prizes of $3 million each to help incentivize innovative solutions to “turbo charge nature’s recovery.”
WWF-Australia’s No Plastics in Nature campaign has seen some sterling results in 2020, which include South Australia passing a ban on polystyrene single-use items in food service, as well as plastic cutlery and straws. The government of NSW banned single-use plastic bags, and the governments of Australia Capital Territory and Queensland are to introduce legislation that would, if passed, ban similar single-use plastics in 2021.
The state of Western Australia will also be banning polystyrene food containers and single-use plastic stirrers, forks, knives, etc., in 2023.
Like many other nations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession has been hard in Australia, and WWF are among those who believe that when jobs come back, there should be an emphasis on renewable energy investment.
So in 2020 WWF Australia launched their Renewable Recovery campaign based on research into the Australian renewables market. They outlined six key opportunities for how Australia can move towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in a time frame to keep global temperatures well below 2 °C of warming, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
According to their estimates, a $2 billion stimulus check would be enough to “fast-track our proposed electric bus revolution in major cities, develop Australia’s leadership in
global battery manufacturing, [and] put our nation at the forefront of the emerging global renewable hydrogen market,” all of which serving to create, as they estimate, around 100,000 jobs.
Indeed Australia has remarkable renewable resources. As a flat, sunny country with the 6th-longest coastline in the world, it’s ideal for wind, solar, and tidal energy production.
It’s a sign of the generosity of conservationists and folks who care about wildlife that even facing the bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, operating revenue rose 159% from fiscal year 2019 to 2020, driven overwhelmingly by personal donation; a quiet majority raising their voices in support of their land — a gesture that will drive WWF towards a renewed and hopeful 2021.
WATCH a video…
SHARE the Inspiring Update From Down Under on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw
Photo by: Robert Collins
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
While renewable energy uptake and solutions continue to grow, many can only generate electricity in the right environmental conditions. For example, solar panels can only capture and convert visible light into renewable energy and must be facing the sun to do so. What is more, solar farms are only built horizontally, never vertically and are often placed on prime arable farmland.
The solution? Invented by 27-year-old Carvey Ehren Maigue from Mapua University in the Philippines, AuREUS System Technology is a material that can be attached to a pre-existing structure or surface. Utilizing the natural scientific principles behind the northern and southern lights, it harvests UV light and convert this into visible light to generate electricity.
Using ultraviolet rays, the sun could be shining, or it could be cloudy: Carvey’s material will still generate electricity.
The particles in his material absorb UV light causing them to glow. As the particles “rest” they remove excess energy. This excess energy bleeds out of the material as visible light, which can then be transformed into electricity. Current prototypes successfully achieve this on windows and external building structures.
Not only has Carvey invented an efficient process to generate renewable energy, but the materials he uses to do so create a closed-loop design process, so nothing is wasted. This is because Carvey uses a substrate extracted from waste crops—such as rotting fruits and vegetables—to create a durable, translucent and moldable material as the basis for AuREUS.
“As a farmer, I see great potential in Carvey’s technology to generate clean renewable energy,” said James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson in a statement. “AuREUS… conserves space using pre-existing structures, utilizes current resources and waste streams, and supports local agricultural communities. His bright idea to use upcycled crop waste develops a closed loop system. This element of his invention is particularly clever and shows the close link between farming and technology.”
Carvey said of receiving the first annual sustainability award out of a record 1,800 entries: “Winning the James Dyson Award is both a beginning and an end. It marked the end of years of doubting whether my idea would find global relevance… I want to create a better form of renewable energy that uses the world’s natural resources, is close to people’s lives, forging achievable paths and rallying towards a sustainable and regenerative future.”
The student plans to use his $40,000 prize money to further develop his invention.
Source: James Dyson Awards
SHARE News Of This Energy Invention on Social Media…
A married couple from New Zealand has donated their heritage farming property to the state to ensure the beautiful natural scenery it contains can be enjoyed by the people for all time.
QEII
Owners Dick and Jillian Jardine handed their 2,200-acre (900 hectare) property to the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust (QEII) “for the benefit and enjoyment of all New Zealanders,” practically parroting the words of Teddy Roosevelt when he spoke at the completion of the Yellowstone National Park’s welcome archway.
“This land has been in the family for nearly a century and we have endeavoured to improve and enhance it over this time,” said Dick Jardine. “Having QEII as the caretaker of this property gives us the comfort and assurance to proudly pass over this gift for all New Zealand to enjoy and appreciate.”
Shirking development offers for the protection of the area as working pastureland, Dick and Jillian gave the local government of the Wakatipu, on New Zealand’s South Island, something that is becoming increasingly scarce: a wide-open landscape.
Situated at the base of a mountain range aptly called the Remarkables, the Wakatipu landscape is part of the Central Lakes Region. It boasts extraordinarily expensive real estate and contains the nests of several of the more wealthier people on the planet, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and jewelry juggernaut Michael Hill.
QEII
According to the QEII, Jillian Jardine didn’t want to consign the entire area to become something akin to Malibu on South Island.
“We thought about this idea and it just stuck, so it feels like the right thing to do,” she said. “We want to keep it as it is forever, we don’t want buildings all over it or housing, there’s so much housing going in… we want to be part of saving something.”
The ground will be open to anyone in 2022, which will be the 100th anniversary of the Jardine family acquisition—gorgeously squished between the Remarkables Range and a great big lake.
The plan for the property is to create a multi-functional wild area that can be used for “pastoral farming, conservation, public access, and landscape protection.”
“The gift of this property also comes at a time when protecting biodiversity and promoting a connection to nature is more relevant than ever,” reads a statement on the QEII website, while the trust’s CEO Bruce Wills called it “an extraordinarily generous gift to New Zealand and one that will endure long after we are all gone.”
Wintertime weather, holidays, and a pandemic lockdown can make routines difficult, but practicing mindfulness can offer a solution, and be done in very simple forms.
The year has been a real humdinger for some and a tragedy for others, and using mindfulness—the direct mental effort to make yourself present in each passing moment, can help remind so many of us why the holidays are a favorite time of the year.
If one collects enough psychological information, using mindfulness throughout the week—throughout the season, might make us more resilient to whatever life through in our paths.
Walking
Even though the thermometers are reading low, walking is not only a great way to practice mindfulness, but it gets you out of doors—which every psychologist worth their salt would explain is great for your mental health.
During the holiday season and wintertime, it’s even more important for several reasons.
Reduced daylight hours lead to a reduction in the natural absorption of vitamin D from UV light. Vitamin D is one of the most important biochemicals for the immune system and fighting off viruses.
Exposure to trees, sky, the stars, and nature has been shown time and time again to help improve mental well-being.
Walking this holiday season allows you to capture all of these benefits as well as offering a great opportunity to practice mindfulness. In Europe, it’s quite common for married couples, friends, or dog moms/dads to take a walk after a meal—particularly dinner.
Several studies have looked at the effects of a post-dinner walk on things like nocturnal glycemia, type-2 diabetes, and gastro reflux. All found that these various symptoms were improved with even just a 20-minute moderate-intensity walk after an evening meal.
“Concentrate on the air as it fills your lungs and expels into the atmosphere. Notice the breath of your exhale becoming one with your surroundings,” advises Veronika Tait, Ph.D. writing for Psychology Today.
Veronica adds that studies have shown walking in forests or in close sight of trees has been shown to lower levels of stress and anxiety.
“Picture yourself expanding into the vastness and reflect on the changing seasons. Ponder what it means to be at the mercy of the sky each day, recognizing our powerlessness over Mother Nature,” she adds.
There’s no better time than December and winter to recognize our powerlessness over nature.
If you’re not the kind of person who likes the cold, a new attitude about winter could be only a matter of how you frame it. Kari Leibowitz is an American psychologist studying Norwegians’ attitudes towards their long sunless winter above the Arctic Circle.
“Most people don’t realize that their beliefs about winter are subjective,” Leibowitz tells the Guardian. “They feel like they’re just someone who hates the winter and there’s nothing they can do about it… But once you put it in people’s heads that mindsets exist, and that you have control over your mindset—I think that that’s tremendously powerful.”
After accruing all those benefits, there’re still more waiting for you when you finish your walk.
To drive the cold winter away
Another good time to practice mindfulness is after your walk.
Slow down as you approach your door and say out loud how grateful you are for the shelter that keeps you safe from the cold. Once inside, take a moment to feel the warmth of your home’s air reaching the parts of you that are most cold like the nose, lips, and ears.
You know that throbbing feeling when a very cold body part is rapidly warming? Focus on that while you pour yourself a cup of herbal tea, and try and pay attention to the smell and the steam from the water as it enters your cup.
Sit down and drink your tea without moving until it’s finished. Here’s why:
Many herbal teas have therapeutic effects that can be very beneficial for staving off sickness, bettering sleep quality, and helping de-stress after a long day.
A cup of tea is about as long as it takes to finish a short mindfulness routine. It’s been shown, and the HeadSpace app has made a fortune from it, that just 5-8 minutes of mindfulness or meditation is enough to start experiencing the beneficial effects.
Use your fanciest cups, saucers, and other tea paraphernalia. Social psychologist Dan Ariely demonstrated, according once again to Veronika Tait, that “when the coffee ambience looked upscale…the coffee tasted upscale.” “Participants rated the taste of their coffee higher if the condiments were presented in fancy containers versus paper cups,” added Tait.
Whatever your winter, lockdowns, or holidays look like this year, don’t let stress get in the way of a nice brisk walk and a hot cup of tea, all with 8-10 minutes of focusing on your place in nature, and the things you’re thankful for.
PASS On The Positivity And Share These Holiday Tips Friends On Social Media…
When Mark Dunajtschik escaped Knicanin prison camp near the end of WWII, he was forced to flee his homeland of Yugoslavia. Five years after the war ended, he became an apprentice toolmaker.
The trade he mastered then may have shaped his career, but it was the life lessons he learned that ultimately forged the character of the man he’d someday become.
Supplied, Mark Dunajtschik
With housing in post-war Germany almost nonexistent, Dunajtschick’s only option at that time was living in a housing facility for the mentally and physically disabled. Seeing the daily challenges his housemates faced, he realized how just lucky he was.
“Because I was given the opportunity to live in that home, which was founded by an industrialist in the 1880s, now that I am in a position that I can also do something, naturally I want to do it,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
At the age of 85, as one of the most successful industrialists and real estate developers in New Zealand, Dunajtschik is indeed uniquely poised to deliver on his desire to give back.
Already known for his philanthropic works—having financed the country’s Life Flight Trust helicopter rescue service—Dunajtschik’s latest major humanitarian endeavor is overseeing the construction of a new children’s hospital in Wellington.
In 2017, he committed $50 million dollars of his own money toward building it.
“After a conversation between my business partner and my life partner we decided, why not build it?” he said. (Dunajtschik credits his life partner, 82-year-old New Zealand native, Dorothy Spotswood, with whom he shares a five-decade-long relationship—for much of his success.)
But Dunajtschik had no desire to simply throw money at the new hospital. He takes a hands-on approach to all his projects.
“By utilizing my expertise as a developer we would be able to produce more real estate than if we were to just write out a cheque and leave the bureaucrats to build it,” he explained.
Over the summer, construction passed a major milestone. As Dunajtschik and Spotswood looked on, the industrial support cranes were cleared from the site, signaling the exterior was complete.
Rendering of Wellington Children’s Hospital, Wellington Hospitals Foundation
“It’s exciting to see that in a little over a year the vision will be realized and we will have a magnificent new purpose-built facility that will help generations of sick kids to come,” said Bill Day, Chair of Wellington Hospitals Foundation.
“Those people that are born with a healthy body and mind can look after themselves and those unfortunate to be born with, or suffering ill health, need our help,” said Dunajtschik.
Quote of the Day: “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
Photo by: Thought Catalog
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Comfort food is something everyone can appreciate. More than simply sustenance for our bodies, comfort food nourishes the soul and spirit. Now, one New Hampshire woman is taking the concept to a new level, supplying “comfort” groceries in random acts of kindness to her neighbors.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought stress and food anxiety to tables where it’s never been felt before, but it’s also heightened the opportunity to be able to give back in ways that are immediate and meaningful.
After a generous community turn-out that included gifts and a drive-by parade turned her son Thomas’s 7th birthday celebration from doubtful to “epic,” Brandy Bisson took a notion to pay that goodwill forward.
“On a whim,” the mother of three laid out $600 of her own hard-earned dollars to purchase groceries for eight people she’d never met. “With the pandemic and everything and all the election stuff, I just wanted to bring smiles to people’s faces,” Bisson told WMUR-9.
Having been on the giving and receiving end of the equation, even though she’s not wealthy, Bisson learned from her mom’s positive example that giving back is its own reward. “We’ve been on both ends of the spectrum,” she said. “It’s not a good feeling when you don’t know where you’re going to get food for your kids.”
Bisson’s impromptu acts of kindness would have gone unremarked except perhaps by their recipients had not an observant store employee recorded the good deeds and posted them to social media.
This week, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, Bisson will further spread the love by supplying holiday meals for two families in need in her community but she isn’t stopping there.
She says she also plans to continue her random acts of groceries when she can, and hopes that others who see her story will be inspired to do the same.
(SEE Bisson’s story in the WOKQ 97.5 video below.)
SHARE This Story of Generosity and Kindness With Pals…
One simple way to remind ourselves of this incredible planet we inhabit: By seeing the world from the perspective of artists skilled in noticing the tiny, the magnificent, the sublime.
Seals swirl like dancers around an iceberg. Athletes dive. Tree leaves change color. Thunder slashes through clouds. It’s stunning, and a great reminder that while we may not be able to travel in the way we have might in other years, the birds are still flying. Nature, and people, continue on.
Take a look at some of the winning Siena entries below.
Frozen Mobile Home, by Greg Lecoeur
Vladik, by Sergey Anisimov
El Cordon Caulle II, by Francisco Negron
Synchro Steam, James Rokop
Spanish Moss, Mauro Battistell
Flamingos in Abstract Landscape, Jose Fragozo
I’m a Bragger, Nicolas Reusens Boden
Jump, Xuebiao Yan
When Rays Fly, Emit Aschel
Good Morning, Wookeun Choi
Benediction, Amirmahdi Najafloo Shahpar
HongKongers, Olesia Kim
SHARE These Images From Around the World on Social Media…
Providing a potential solution everybody was looking for, two Canadian food scientists have created a replacement for palm oil.
University of Guelph
Their invention replicates how the body creates triglycerides, and can hold liquid vegetable fats in a solid form at room temperature—the key advantage of palm oil.
The researchers’ oil could be used as a replacement for the problematic palm product in a variety of pre-prepared foods like peanut butters, cookies and pizza crust, as well as in cosmetics and even toothpaste.
If you’ve ever seen the words “no palm oil” displayed proudly on a jar of peanut butter or other foodstuffs, it’s because palm oil is perhaps the largest isolated cause of tropical deforestation in the world.
Nations and companies often try and wash their hands of the oil palm crop due to its tendency to create deforestation. The English city of Chester proudly proclaims itself the first “sustainable palm oil city,” while Norway straight up banned palm oil imports from plantations linked with deforestation.
A combination of previous scientific findings and outstanding natural qualities created a 20-year explosion in the cultivation and use of palm oil in global food production. 34% of the world’s vegetable oil comes from the oil palm tree, of which 84% comes from merely two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, where highly biodiverse tropical rainforest has been cut down to make way for oil palm plantations.
The advantages of palm oil became ascendent during the 1980s and 1990s, after nutritionists began broadly warning about the disastrous health effects of eating partially hydrogenated oils and trans-fats. Producers began substituting those harmful fats with palm oil for several reasons.
Capable of remaining as a solid in room temperature due to its high saturated fat content, palm oil rapidly became the prime choice for manufacturers, not least because production is nearly 500% more per-acre than the next most-productive vegetable oil crop, sunflower oil.
Looking inward
For Alejandro Marangoni, a food scientist at the University of Guelph, the challenge was how to create an oil that would stay solid at room temperature, and one that preferably didn’t contain as much saturated fat content as something like coconut oil.
Saturated fat, while necessary in many processes of our biology including the synthesis of testosterone, is capable of exacerbating risks for coronary heart disease when consumed in large portions by individuals with unhealthy lifestyles such as sedentary days or late-night eating habits.
Marangoni is far from the first scientist to have given it a go. Last year two-former baristas attempted to synthesize a substitute from coffee grounds.
Marangoni on the other hand used a process he called enzymatic glycerolysis, inspired by the way the body naturally produces triglycerides. He combined enzymes with glycerin to produce solid vegetable oil without adding any additional saturated fats.
The process would allow food manufacturers to avoid the destructive oil palm plantations, while still being able to keep prices low, since Marangoni’s process could utilize most vegetable oils such as cottonseed, or peanut oil, which also happen to contain fewer saturated fats, leading to less of a public health burden.
Plant Some Positivity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media…
The pandemic has evidently made 94-year old Queen Elizabeth so bored that she has just launched a specialty dry gin distilled from the botanicals on her 20,000-acre Sandringham country estate.
Sandringham Gin, Sandringham Estate
The gardens on her royal estate in the Norfolk countryside provides all the ingredients for the gin, which costs around $67 per bottle and can take up to two weeks to make; and that regrettably for those outside Britain cannot be shipped overseas.
The gin is made with Sharon fruit, also known as the Chinese persimmon. According to the Sandringham website, the ones used for this gin grow “in the Walled Garden on a sheltered wall at the end of what was a range of glass houses, built on the winnings of the famous racehorse, Persimmon, owned by King Edward VII.”
Every sip therefore is a little taste of history, with the other ingredient, myrtle leaves, coming from plants “also grown on the Estate, [that] originated from a cutting taken from Princess Alexandra’s wedding bouquet on her marriage to Prince Albert Edward, who later became King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.”
A former Buckingham Palace chef reports, according to People Magazine, that the Queen fancies her gin even in her advanced age, treating herself daily to an iced cocktail of gin and Dubonnet with a slice of lemon with lunch.
The Sandringham Gin is actually only one of several liquor outfits run by the British royals. Buckingham Palace gardens also produces a gin that’s made from “lemon, verbena, hawthorn berries, and mulberry leaves” among eight other hand-picked botanicals from the gardens.
Lemon, verbena, hawthorn berries and mulberry leaves are among the 12 botanicals hand-picked for the gin in the Gardens at Buckingham Palace. pic.twitter.com/Kfeo0jyUL1
If you live in the UK and are fortunate to be able to enjoy the royal booze, Sandringham Estate recommends you enjoy it by “pouring a measure into an ice-filled short tumbler before topping up with tonic and garnishing with a slice of lemon.”
SHARE This Royal Story With Friends on Social Media…
American Girl has been busy auctioning off three exclusive holiday collector dolls made with thousands of Swarovski crystals.
Mattel
These gowns and complementary accessories took couturiers over 330 hours to design and hand embellish, with 5,000 Swarovski crystals and crystal beads being added to the dolls.
The auction closed last night, and it’s been a ringing success, with the one-of-a-kind items raising $880,400 for charity.
One hundred percent of the net proceeds from this auction are going to support the First Responders Children’s Foundation Toy Express Program–an initiative designed to spread joy to the kids of people on the frontlines of COVID-19 across America.
Mattel is also donating more than $1 million in retail value of toys to the program this holiday season, so American Girl dolls and other popular Mattel products, from Hot Wheels to Barbie and Mega Bloks.
These toys will be distributed to thousands of first responder families— including nurses, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, paramedics, medical personnel, and 911 dispatchers who risk their health every day in service to their local communities across the country.
“As the holidays approach, we know it’s more important than ever to show our gratitude to our country’s dedicated First Responders who have contributed and sacrificed so much to help our friends, families, and communities this year,” said Jamie Cygielman, General Manager of American Girl, in a statement.
“We’re pleased to donate the proceeds of these three exquisite one-of-a-kind 2020 collector dolls, plus thousands of Mattel toys, to First Responders Children’s Foundation to say thank you to these hard-working frontline heroes and bring some much-needed holiday sparkle to their children and families.”
(WATCH how the glittery gowns were made below.)
SPREAD the Holiday Cheer and Share This Story With Pals on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton (Happy Thanksgiving!)
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English journalist and author best known for his mystery series featuring the priest-detective Father Brown, and for the metaphysical thriller The Man Who Was Thursday. As a lay theologian, he published some of Christianity’s most influential apologetics, including Heretics, Orthodoxy, and The Everlasting Man.
Photo by: Jed Owen
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Meet Frankie, the adventurous goat who has traveled over 60,000 miles across the US with her owners in their colorful Airstream trailer.
SWNS
Cate Battles and her husband Chad moved from their house into a trailer in 2016, and they’ve been traveling to beauty spots with their favorite pet ever since.
“She’s an awesome travel companion,” said Cate, a 34-year-old artist and travel writer from Grants Pass in Oregon.
“She’s visited all kinds of scenery with us; lakes, beaches, mountains, and caves. We’ve covered dozens of states and national parks together.
“At this point she’s probably been about 60,000 miles all around the country, all the way from the east to the west coast. She must have been to over 20 states already.
“Frankie loves being on the road and having adventures, she finds joy in any place she goes, in the desserts she climbs all over the rocks and at the beach she loves to lick the salt off the stones.
“She’s a great hiker, wherever we go she loves run around and explore. She’s even been to the Grand Canyon.”
SWNS
The happy trio have managed to continue to travel during the pandemic, because they stick to places that are way off the beaten track.
“We don’t go to camp grounds, we always go out into the middle of nowhere, so Covid hasn’t really affected us at all. We’ve done multiple trips this year already, including North Eastern Nevada and Idaho,” said Cate.
Frankie, a 6-year-old Nigerian dwarf/pigmy goat, will cover a lot more ground in the coming months.
“Next we’re going to do a whole loop around the south west—Nevada, Arizona, Southern Utah, and New Mexico,” said Cate.
A die hard “goat mom,” Cait said she and Chad couldn’t imagine taking their trips without Frankie by their side.
“She’s so much fun, she looks tiny but she actually weighs about 80 pounds, she’s a stocky girl and she’s very well fed by us. We have a great time with her.”
Ready to see some more of Frankie?
Looks like someone’s found the perfect salt lick…
SWNS
And one colorful home to live in on the road…
SWNS
She’s certainly in her habitat here…
SWNS
Though, truthfully, every rocky place is pretty darn good when you’re a goat…
SWNS
So what do you think, would Frankie make the perfect travel companion for you?
SWNS
BLEAT Your Approval of This Fun Story by Sharing it With Friends…
Along with hand washing and other hygiene measures, mouthwash could become a routine part of people’s daily habits after preliminary lab tests from the University of Cardiff found it can combat coronavirus in 30 seconds.
These results, which are yet to be peer-reviewed, stem from a 12-week study where it’s been found that mouthwashes containing at least 0.07 percent cetypyridinium chloride (CPC) show “promising signs” of killing off the virus.
In the laboratory tests, scientists at the university worked with various mouthwash brands, including Listerine and Dentyl. By mimicking the conditions of a person’s naso/oropharynx passage, they tested how various mouthwash ingredients are at killing the virus.
These early results from Cardiff are not the same as finding a cure: There is no indication that mouthwash has any impact on the virus if it moves from human saliva into lung tissue, for example.
Dr Nick Claydon, a specialist periodontologist, told the Independent he believed the research so far is “very valuable,” adding, “If these positive results are reflected in Cardiff University’s clinical trial, CPC-based mouthwashes… could become an important addition to people’s routine, together with hand washing, physical distancing, and wearing masks—both now and in the future.”
Next up for the scientists, a clinical trial will take place that examines how effective mouthwash is in reducing coronavirus levels in COVID-19 patients at the University Hospital of Wales. Results from that study are expected to be published in early 2021.
