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These Floating Trashcans Are Being Deployed Around the World So They Can Suck Up Tons of Ocean Trash

By
McKinley Corbley
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After facilitating a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2016, a floating vacuum for ocean pollution is sucking up hundreds of pounds of litter around the world.

The Seabin is an ocean trashcan that tidies up marinas, bays, and bodies of water by sucking up rubbish from the surrounding area. The device can collect up to 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of trash, including tiny plastic microbeads that are 2 millimeters small.

Collectively, the contraptions are capable of salvaging half a ton of garbage every year – and because fish are discouraged from approaching the Seabin due to the sound of its water pump motor, it causes zero harm to marine life.

RELATED: Undersea Robot Just Delivered 100,000 Heat-Resistant Baby Corals to the Great Barrier Reef

The Seabin Project was launched by two Australian surfers who were sick and tired of finding trash in their beloved oceans. After they developed the eco-friendly contraption, they managed to raise over $250,000 on their Indiegogo page to finance manufacturing – and now, the little rubbish bins are being deployed all over the world.

In addition to a Seabin being set adrift in Sydney Harbor this week, the organization says that they have 35 sponsored Seabins that are being launched in 25 different countries.

The City of Cockburn recently became the first municipality in Western Australia to deploy a Seabin, and they say that the contraption has already proven to be very successful.

MORE: Man Postpones Retirement to Save Reefs After He Accidentally Discovers How to Make Coral Grow 40 Times Faster

“We realize the Seabin is not going to be the answer to all our marine debris problems, but it is a great local solution for this area,” the city’s waste education officer, Nicki Ledger, told ABC News. “We have such a healthy marina — we have bait fish, seahorses, green sea turtles, we get seals and dolphins coming in as well — so it’s just imperative that we keep a healthy environment for these animals so they keep coming in to visit.”

If you would like to pre-order your own Seabin for your local marine life, you can visit The Seabin Project’s website.

(WATCH the 2015 Seabin crowdfunding promo below) – Photo by Seabin

Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media…

When Parents Accidentally Lock Keys in Their Car With Infant Daughter, Group of Inmates Offer Their Skills

By
McKinley Corbley
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Though it may seem counterintuitive, these prison inmates were being cheered on by a crowd of spectators as they were breaking into a couple’s car earlier this week.

However, the inmates weren’t forcing their way into the SUV for any nefarious purposes; they were simply trying to reunite a 1-year-old girl with her parents.

The car had been parked at the West Pasco Judicial Center in New Port Richey, Florida when the father of the infant accidentally locked the keys inside of the vehicle – with the baby still sitting in the back seat.

LOOK: Inmates Write Heartfelt Letter to Police Department Offering Condolences for Slain Officer

Since the parents reportedly could not afford a locksmith, they had no idea how to unlock the door.

Deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office were about to break the window of the vehicle when a nearby group of inmates offered to help.

The five low-risk, non-violent offenders had been repairing local median strips under the supervision of a law enforcement officer when the incident occurred. With permission from their supervisor, the group of trustees got to work.

MORE: Instead of Running, These Inmates Rush to Aid Their Supervisor Who Collapsed From Stroke Along a Roadside

While the infant’s father soothed his daughter from the window, several of the trustees pried open the SUV door so that the opening was just wide enough for another inmate to slip a coat hanger in through the crack. Within just a few brief minutes, the inmates had managed to activate the electronic lock and open the door.

In a cell phone video that was shared by the infant’s mother, the crowd can be heard cheering as the parents are finally reunited with their distressed daughter.

(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by Shadow Lantry

Don’t Lock Your Friends Out Of The Good News Loop; Share This Sweet Story To Social Media Instead…

“The secret to happiness is not doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” – James M. Barrie

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The secret to happiness is not doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” – James M. Barrie

Photo: by Nathan Rupert, CC license via Flickr

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?

MOTH Monday: ‘Something Really Good Will Come From This’

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Good News Network
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Today is MOTH Monday on Good News Network: In partnership with The Moth, a nonprofit dedicated to the art of storytelling, we bring you the most uplifting speakers from live stages across the world.

Denise Scheuermann took the stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to tell the audience about a ritual of hope that she always used throughout her medical career.

Something really good will come from this.

It was a mantra she used in her own life, whenever she wanted to invoke the best intentions for a project or outcome.

She also spoke it aloud whenever she mailed out lab specimens, hoping that the best outcomes would manifest from the test results.

MORE MOTH Mondays: The Gift Returned That Meant the World

She often worked with anxiety-ridden patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization—and the kindness she showed to them every day came back to bless her at a moment when she needed it most.

Listen to her story below…

The Moth gives people an opportunity to tell a true story in front of a live audience, and sometimes their stories are chosen to air on the radio show, now celebrating its tenth year, and broadcasting on 485+ public radio stations—and on The Moth podcast, which is downloaded over 52 million times a year.

The Moth’s third book, Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible will be published in March 2019 and is available for pre-order from your favorite bookseller now.

SHARE the Ritual, and Multiply the Good…

New Harvard Study Says That Men Can Avoid Heart Problems By Doing a Certain Amount of Pushups

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Good News Network
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This intriguing new Harvard study shows that middle-aged men who can complete a certain number of push-ups are far less likely to experience heart-related diseases.

Active, middle-aged men who are able to complete more than 40 push-ups had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes—including diagnoses of coronary artery disease and major events such as heart failure—during 10 years of follow-up compared with those who were able to do less than 10 push-ups during the baseline exam.

“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting,” said first author Justin Yang, occupational medicine resident at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests,” he added.

RELATED: 86-Year-old Has Lost 120 Pounds Simply By Walking Around Her One-Bedroom Apartment

This study was published earlier this week in JAMA Network Open.

Objective assessments of physical fitness are considered strong predictors of health status; however, the majority of current tools such as treadmill tests are too expensive and time-consuming to use during routine exams. This is the first known study to report an association between push-up capacity and subsequent cardiovascular disease outcomes.

The researchers analyzed health data from 1,104 active male firefighters collected from 2000 to 2010. Their mean age was 39.6 and mean body mass index (BMI) was 28.7. Participants’ push-up capacity and submaximal treadmill exercise tolerance were measured at the start of the study, and each man subsequently completed annual physical examinations and health and medical questionnaires.

LOOK: How a Yoga Teacher is Saving First Responders Across America From Depression – With Downward Dog

During the 10-year study period, 37 CVD-related outcomes were reported. All but one occurred in men who completed 40 or fewer pushups during the baseline exam. The researchers calculated that men able to do more than 40 push-ups had a 96% reduced risk of CVD events compared with those who were able to do less than 10 push-ups. Push-up capacity was more strongly associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular disease events than was aerobic capacity as estimated by a submaximal treadmill exercise test.

Because the study population consisted of middle-aged, occupationally active men, the results may not be generalizable to women or to men of other ages or who are less active, note the authors.

“This study emphasizes the importance of physical fitness on health, and why clinicians should assess fitness during clinical encounters,” said senior author Stefanos Kales, professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School.

(Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health)

Cure Your Friends Of Negativity By Sharing The Healthy News To Social Media – Photo by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health

‘Guardian’ Officer Has Saved Over 200 People From Jumping Off the Golden Gate Bridge

By
McKinley Corbley
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It’s a police officer’s job to protect and serve – but Kevin Briggs never thought that his job would lead him to save over 200 people from committing suicide.

Briggs has been dubbed the “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge” because of his awe-inspiring history of talking people down from the edge of the historic landmark.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world’s most notorious spots for suicide attempts. Briggs, who is a California Highway Patrol officer, was first stationed on the bridge in 1994 – but he says that he had never been trained on how to handle suicidal people.

As he encountered more and more distraught individuals, however, he began to pick up more and more strategies on how he could talk to them efficiently. Whenever he successfully managed to coax someone off of the ledge, he would ask them about which parts of his approach were helpful and which ones weren’t.

RELATED: Beer Deliveryman Prevents Suicide on a Bridge By Offering a Cold One—While Channeling Denzel Washington

“I think my approach right from the start was wrong,” Briggs told CBC in an interview. “Just to walk right up to those folks and start talking with them. Now what I do is I stand back and I’ll just introduce myself. I’ll say ‘Hi I’m Kevin’ or ‘I’m Kevin with the Highway Patrol, is it okay, is it alright if I come up and speak with you for a bit?’ I want to get their permission and empower them.”

One his most notable encounters was with a man named Kevin Berthia back in 2005. At the time, Berthia was a 22-year-old who was drowning in medical bills from caring for his prematurely-born infant daughter. In the midst of his depression, Berthia climbed onto the edge of the bridge and prepared to take his own life – and then he was approached by Briggs.

Briggs later said that the man seemed angry with him – but in an interview with NPR, Berthia told him otherwise.

MORE: Police Officer Vaults Over 30-Foot Overpass in Order to Save Suicidal Boy

“I was just mad at myself for being in that situation and I was embarrassed,” Berthia said. “But somehow the compassion in your voice is what allowed me to kinda let my guard down enough for us to have a conversation.

“We talked for 92 minutes about everything that I was dealing with. My daughter, her first birthday was the next month. And you made me see that if nothing else, I need to live for her.”

Out of all of Briggs’s encounters on the bridge, Berthia is one of the only people who he has stayed in contact with over the years. Briggs retired from the CHP in 2013, and he now works in suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Sometimes, Berthia even joins him for speaking events.

CHECK OUT: Homeless Man Becomes a Hero After Saving Woman Who Jumped From Bridge

On top of all of this, Briggs hopes that his legacy on the Golden Gate Bridge will inspire other people to take depression more seriously – whether it’s in themselves or their loved ones.

“It takes a lot of courage to be over that rail,” Briggs told CBC. “It takes a lot of courage. But it also takes a lot of courage to come back and face the reality that is with them right now. But there is a brighter side to this, and it can happen, and it might take a long time and a lot of work. But life is beautiful and, you know, it is worth living.”

If you want to learn more about Briggs’s career, you can buy his autobiography or watch his critically-acclaimed TED talk below.

Build Up Some Positivity With Your Friends By Sharing The Inspirational Story To Social Media – Photo by Kevin Briggs

Australia is Creating Renewable Energy Faster Than Other Countries and They’re Planting 1 Billion Trees to Boot

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Good News Network
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An exciting new piece of research claims that Australia is installing renewable energy faster than any other country – and on top of that, the government recently announced they are taking even more steps to reduce their national carbon footprint by planting one billion trees by 2050.

The research, which was conducted by The Australian National University (ANU), found that Australia is installing renewable power per person each year faster than any other country, which is putting it on track to meet its entire Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets 5 years early.

If the nation continues at its current pace, it is likely to be powered by 100% renewable power sources by 2032.

Lead researcher Professor Andrew Blakers said Australia was installing renewable power per capita several times faster than the European Union, Japan, China and the United States, based on preliminary data available for installations globally last year.

MORE: NASA Happily Reports the Earth is Greener, With More Trees Than 20 Years Ago–and It’s Thanks to China, India

“The installation of renewables in Australia last year really ramped up compared to these other major economies, and we expect that trend to continue this year and beyond,” said Professor Blakers. “The electricity sector is on track to deliver Australia’s entire Paris emissions reduction targets five years early, in 2025 – without the need for any creative accounting.

“Australia is on track to reach 50 per cent renewable electricity in 2024 and 100 per cent by 2032. The Australian renewable energy experience offers real hope for rapid global emissions reductions to preserve a living planet,” he added.

Co-researcher Dr Matthew Stocks said the net cost of achieving the 2030 carbon emission targets set in the Paris Agreement would be zero because expensive fossil fuels were being replaced by cheaper renewables.

WATCH: After Planting a Tree Every Day for 40 Years, Man Has Created Blossoming Forest on Barren Wasteland

“The price of electricity from large-scale solar PV and windfarms in Australia is currently about $50 per Megawatt-hour (MWh), and steadily falling,” Dr Stocks said. “This is below the cost of electricity from existing gas-fired power stations and is also below the cost of new-build gas and coal power stations. Nearly all of the new power stations are either PV or wind. We anticipate that this will continue into the future, provided that energy policy is not actively hindering development.”

Meanwhile, the Australian government just announced the launch of a new Regional Forestry Hubs plan to plant one billion trees by 2050.

RELATED: People Have Passively Planted Over 30 Million Trees Simply by Surfing the Web

The initiative is expected to remove over 18 million tons of greenhouse gas per year and create over 1.25 million new jobs over the course of the next five years alone.

“This plan ambitiously aims to deliver a billion new trees to meet a projected quadrupling of global demand for timber products by 2050, planting the right trees, at the right scale in the right places,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison. “The end result will be better returns to business, more investment, more jobs and greater economic prosperity for Australia.”

Plant Some Positivity By Sharing The Green News With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Australian National University

This 2-Year-Old Deaf Girl Loves People – So Her Whole Neighborhood is Learning Sign Language

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Good News Network
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Hearing impairment can often serve as a social barrier for those who don’t know how to speak sign language – but in this little Massachusetts town, sign language has actually brought the community together.

2-year-old Samantha Savitz is deaf, but that doesn’t stop her from being an outgoing little toddler. Whenever Samantha is out with her parents in their town of Newton, she tries to chat up everyone she meets.

LOOK: 15-Year-old Melts the Hearts of Airline Passengers When She Befriends Blind and Deaf Passenger

As the youngster got older, she continuously tried to befriend her neighbors – and they were all heartbroken when they were unable to respond because they did not know sign language.

Rather than giving up, the entire community started attending sign language classes so they could communicate with Samantha.

(WATCH the emotional video below or our international viewers can watch the video on the CBS News website) – Photo by CBS News

Give Your Friends A Sign Of Positivity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media…

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

Photo: by CLAUDIA DEA, CC license via Flickr

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?

Ireland Will Finally Get Its Own Ice Hockey Rink, Thanks to a VERY Famous Canadian

By
McKinley Corbley
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Want to LISTEN to this story? Hear the segment from The Good News Guru (the GNN Founder) on our Friday radio broadcast with Ellen K on KOST-103.5 — Or, READ the story below…
(Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes – or for Androids, on Podbean)

The Republic of Ireland surprisingly has no year-round ice-skating rinks, so the nation’s youth hockey teams have struggled to find suitable practice space—but that’s about to change, thanks to a world famous hockey fan in Canada.

Ever since the Dundalk Ice Dome closed in 2010, the hockey clubs have been practicing on inline roller skates, until the winter holidays when the seasonal rinks open for about seven weeks.

Despite this, more Irish kids are developing a passion for the sport.

LOOK: These Tales of Kindness From the World Cup Are the Best Examples of Humanity at its Finest

“I suppose ice hockey is perfectly suited to Irish people,” Flying Penguins club president Aisling Daly told CBC. “We’ve got a lot of contact sports here.”

Then, in 2016, everything was about to change. The club received an unexpected message from Kevin Murphy, a Canadian man from the Irish Societies of Montreal who is passionate about his Irish heritage.

When he heard there were Irish hockey teams that shared Canada’s love for the sport, he reached out to Daly and asked if the team would like to march in Montreal’s St Patrick’s Day parade.

MORE: Norway Wants to Give Finland a Mountain For Its Birthday

When players on the Flying Penguins team flew over, they were stunned by how Canadian kids had the freedom to hit the ice whenever they wanted.

And while in Canada the kids got to voice those frustrations to none other than the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“He really took it on, he really understood what they wanted to do. I won’t say he promised, but he did tell them he would do what he could,” said Murphy, recalling how Trudeau listened attentively.

CHECK OUT: Watch Stand-in Goalie Who Has Never Played Pro Steal the Show With Perfect Winning Streak

Four months later, the handsome young leader traveled to Ireland to negotiate trade agreements with the EU and, true to his word, talked up the plight of local hockey players to Irish lawmakers.

Because of Trudeau’s promise to the Flying Penguins, local Irish lawmakers secured funding for a new ice rink – and it will be opening at the same spot as the previous ice dome by the end of the summer, just before the start of the new season.

And, the Canadian Murphy is excitedly planning to attend the rink’s grand opening with his new friends on the other side of the pond.

Don’t Give This Sweet Story The Cold Shoulder: Share It With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Aisling Daly

Ireland Will Finally Get Its Own Ice Hockey Rink –Thanks to a Very Famous Canadian (GNN podcast)

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Good News Network
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Devoted Irish hockey teams will soon have a place to skate thanks to a very famous Canadian — a hockey fan on the other side of the pond. Hear our Good News Guru tell the inspiring story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the February 15, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5.

READ the full story here.

Subscribe to our Good News podcast on iTunes, or for Android devices on Podbean.

Also, Check Out Our Little Paperback Book of Good News—Buy on Amazon or White Cloud Pre

In Historic Announcement, the World Health Organization (WHO) Proposes Removing Cannabis From Most Dangerous Drug Category

By
McKinley Corbley
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Following a lengthy review process, international opponents of the ‘war on drugs’ are applauding the World Health Organization (WHO) move toward removing cannabis from its placement in the drug category reserved for the most dangerous substances.

Currently, whole-plant marijuana and cannabis resin are considered a schedule IV substance, indicating that any medical uses for the substance are outweighed by their potential for abuse. The scheduling was originally created in 1961 by a United Nations treaty on ‘Narcotic Drugs,’ as a means of setting an international framework for medical research, trade, and legislation.

If removed from schedule IV, which is shared by substances such as heroin and cocaine, it would signify that world health experts are acknowledging cannabis’s medical applications, allowing United Nations member states to move forward more freely with cannabis reform and give health professionals much more free reign to conduct research on the medical benefits and applications of marijuana.

It would also clear up the confusion behind the international trade of cannabidiol and CBD products. If the WHO reclassification is approved, it would legalize the trade of CBD products containing less than 0.2% THC (the psychoactive compound found in marijuana).

MORE: Cannabis Oil ‘Significantly’ Improves the Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease in Small, First-of-its-Kind Study

“The placement of cannabis in the 1961 treaty, in the absence of scientific evidence, was a terrible injustice,” Michael Krawitz, a U.S. Air Force veteran and an advocate for marijuana reform, told Forbes. “Today the World Health Organization has gone a long way towards setting the record straight. It is time for us all to support the World Health Organization’s recommendations and ensure politics don’t trump science.”

Once the proposal is passed to the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 53 countries will have the opportunity to vote on the reclassification as soon as March.

Go Green With Your Friends: Share The Good News To Social Media – Photo by Kat_geb, CC

New ‘Trojan Horse’ Cancer Drug Successfully Treats Patients With 6 Different Kinds of Lethal Tumors

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Good News Network
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National Cancer Institute, CC license

A brand new type of cancer drug that acts as a “Trojan horse” to get inside tumor cells has shown promise in patients with advanced, drug-resistant cancers.

Patients with six different cancer types, including those with cervical, bladder, ovarian and lung tumors, have responded positively to the new treatment.

Since these patients had already exhausted their other treatment options, the drug could be ready to extend their lifespans within the next five years.

The innovative new drug, called tisotumab vedotin (or TV for short), releases a toxic substance to kill cancer cells from within. The results have been so positive, the drug has now moved forward to phase II trials in cervical cancer and will be tested in a range of additional solid tumor cancers.

MORE: Boy is Cured of Aggressive Cancer Thanks to Stem Cell Treatment Using Donated Umbilical Cord

A team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust led a phase I/II global clinical trial of nearly 150 European patients with a variety of cancer types who had stopped responding to standard treatments.

The study was published in The Lancet Oncology and funded by Genmab and Seattle Genetics.

Researchers saw responses in 27% of patients with bladder cancer, 26.5% of those with cervical cancer, 14% for ovarian cancer, 13% with esophageal, 13% with non-small cell lung, and 7% with endometrial cancer (although not in any men with prostate cancer).

RELATED: Metal Brought to Earth by Asteroid That Wiped Out Dinosaurs Could Be Harmless Cure for Cancer

Responses lasted an average of 5.7 months, and up to 9.5 months in some patients. The main side effects reported from the study were nose bleeds, fatigue, nausea and eye problems – but halfway through the trial the researchers adjusted the protocol to reduce these eye-related effects.

TV is made up of a toxic drug attached to the tail end of an antibody. The antibody is designed to seek out a receptor called “tissue factor” – present at high levels on the surface of many cancers cells and linked with worse survival rates. Binding to the tissue factor draws the drug inside cancer cells, where it can kill them from within.

The trial initially recruited 27 patients to assess safety and establish the right dose, before expanding to a further 120 patients primarily to look at whether the drug was hitting the right target but also to examine its effects on tumors.

CHECK OUT: UCLA Surgeons Develop Simple Spray Gel to Super-Charge Immunity and Prevent Cancer From Returning

The majority of patients in the early trial had advanced-stage cancer (spread locally or around the body) that had already been treated with, and became resistant to, an average of three different types of treatment.

“What is so exciting about this treatment is that its mechanism of action is completely novel – it acts like a Trojan horse to sneak into cancer cells and kill them from the inside,” said Professor Johann de Bono from The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

“Our early study shows that it has the potential to treat a large number of different types of cancer, and particularly some of those with very poor survival rates.

MORE: Researchers Develop Cheap, 10-Minute Test That Can Detect Cancer Anywhere in the Body

“TV has manageable side effects, and we saw some good responses in the patients in our trial, all of whom had late-stage cancer that had been heavily pre-treated with other drugs and who had run out of other options.

“We have already begun additional trials of this new drug in different tumor types and as a second-line treatment for cervical cancer, where response rates were particularly high. We are also developing a test to pick out the patients most likely to respond.”

TV is now being trialled in other cancer types including bowel, pancreatic, squamous cell lung and head and neck, as well as in a phase II trial as a second-line treatment for cervical cancer.

RELATED: A Woman Given Months to Live From Advanced Breast Cancer is ‘Cured’ in World First

Biopsy samples taken at the start of the trial are currently being analyzed for expression of tissue factor on tumor cells to see if it could be used as a marker to select patients most likely to respond to the drug.

Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: “We’ve seen major advances against cancer in recent decades, but many tumor types remain very difficult to treat once the cancer has begun to spread. We desperately need innovative treatments like this one that can attack cancers in brand new ways, and remain effective even against tumors that have become resistant to standard therapies.

“It’s exciting to see the potential shown by TV across a range of hard-to-treat cancers. I look forward to seeing it progress in the clinic and hope it can benefit patients who currently have run out of treatment options.”

(Source: The Institute of Cancer Research, London)

Cure Your Friends’ Negativity By Sharing The Good News On Social Media – Photo by National Cancer Institute, CC

When Man With Autism Has Violent Reaction to Medication, Mom is Stunned by Officers’ Compassionate Response

By
McKinley Corbley
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When Ellen Hughes and her husband brought their autistic son to the hospital during a violent adverse behavioral reaction to his medication, they were prepared for a possible backlash; instead, they were heartened by the response of the hospital’s security officers.

Due to his autism, Ellen’s 34-year-old son Walker has spent his entire life in and out of hospitals. Though he is ordinarily a very gentle man, he began reacting violently in a “paradoxical” response to a new medication that was supposed to calm him down.

When Walker uncharacteristically began attacking his parents at home, they spoke to a doctor at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois and they were told to bring their son to the hospital immediately.

Despite their son’s aggression, they managed to get him into the back seat of the car and bring him to Loyola. As they were walking through the facility’s doors, however, Ellen let out a yell in response to Walker biting her hand. They were immediately surrounded by hospital security officers and Ellen feared they would mistreat her son.

LOOK: Police Officer Praised for Spending Hours Looking After Children While Mom Filed Domestic Violence Report

In the past, Walker’s aversion to hospital environments has led to him being handcuffed to gurneys and wrestled into submission by hospital staffers – and since the security guards were armed with stun guns and thick, bulletproof vests, she was afraid of how they would handle the situation.

On the contrary, the officers handled the entire situation with encouragement and patience.

Walker spent two and a half hours being treated and medicated on a hospital examination table. For the duration of his hospital stay, the officers comforted Walker by singing songs, dancing, playing games, and cheering him on through his discomfort.

MORE: Police Officer Vaults Over 30-Foot Overpass in Order to Save Suicidal Boy

“Walker loved it,” Ellen told The Chicago Tribune. “He was kind of mystified and charmed and started smiling. They were men his size who considered him a real person… It’s scary to be treated like a lion from the zoo. We’ve been to the doctor and the hospitals a million times, and I’ve never seen anything like these guys.”

The compassionate response is largely thanks to Sgt. Keith Miller, who also has a 14-year-old son with autism. His parenting experience compelled him to train his fellow security officers on how they should properly respond to autistic patients in a humane way—and that training was perfectly on displayed during Walker’s hospital visit.

Miller hopes that such training will be implemented in more hospitals around the world – although Ellen later praised the kind-hearted officers by saying that “you can’t train that kind of spirit.”

Be Sure And Share This Inspiring Story With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by the Hughes family

Near-Death Experience Inspires Inventor to Create Wetsuit That Allows the Disabled to Swim Once More

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Good News Network
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The story of how a surfer-turned-inventor ended up helping people be safer and feel more confident in the water starts one day at a local surfing area near Ventura, California.

On that day, Santa Barbara resident Mark Okrusko was surfing Rincon, one of his favorite breaks, when he wiped out and was held beneath the water by the waves.

“While I was waiting for the white water to release me,” Okrusko said, “I came up with the idea of a suit designed with an extra breath of air.” His inspiration led to his first invention: the Breathvest, a wetsuit with an air bladder in the chest that would provide swimmers with a small air supply.

While the goal was to help surfers have an extra breath of air, Okrusko soon realized: “The air bladder made it easier for people to float and swim in water. People who wore the suit loved how they could swim so easily. So I came up with the idea for the Floater.”

Instead of an inflatable air bladder, Okrusko developed a patented foam pad so people could float, and founded a company Airtime Watertime.

RELATED: Minutes After Saying ‘I Do’, Hero Groom Jumps Into the Ocean to Save Drowning Teen

While the first suit was aimed at surfers and water sports enthusiasts, the second suit found an unexpected audience. “We started getting orders from people with disabilities, people who had suffered mobility injuries, and people who were afraid to swim but wanted to get back in the water,” said Okrusko. “They were searching on the Internet for some kind of suit that would keep them afloat.”

One of its new fans was a recovering quadriplegic and Santa Barbara resident, Gustavo Ritterstein. In 2013, Ritterstein suffered an ATV accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. With physical therapy and the use of the Floater wetsuit, Ritterstein said, “I was able to swim in the ocean again for the first time in years. With the suit on in the water, I was just like everyone else. You couldn’t tell I was disabled.”

“Feeling, at least for a moment, normal—it does make a big difference in your life.”

Gustavo Ritterstein with The Floater

People who fear the water also discovered the suit’s benefits. Sandra Brodeur from New Hampshire had been a non-swimmer because of her life-long fear of not being able to touch the bottom. But that changed with the suit. “I felt so safe and confident at all times from the buoyancy of the suit that I could relax in the water for the first time in my life and enjoy it. At times, I was in 30 to 40 feet of water without fear!”

LOOK: Dad Designs a Floating Drone That Could Prevent Dozens of Potential Drownings

Another surprise application was its use by water rescue personnel, Gabriel Swan, a 2016 lifeguard champion for Puerto Rico. He heard about the suit and brought one back with him to Condado Beach where he served as a volunteer lifeguard. Using the suit, Swan said, “I feel more confident grabbing someone. If I’m doing a rescue and I need to swim out to a victim, I can reach them twice as fast.”

In addition to water rescue teams, Airtime Watertime also formed relationships with swimming and safety groups, such as Waterman in Chile, whose mission is to provide safety, training, and security so everyone can enjoy the water.

“We didn’t start out to change lives,” said Okrusko. “We just wanted to make swimming a little safer and fun. But every week, someone writes us to say how we’ve helped get them back in the water. It’s amazing.”

Contact Airtime Watertime, Inc. at 805-280-8375 [email protected] –(Story by Kyle Crocco)

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“You are more, infinitely more, than you presently imagine.” – Harold W. Becker

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “You are more, infinitely more, than you presently imagine.” – Harold W. Becker

Photo: copyright 2019 GWC

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Origami-Inspired Solar Panel Could Start Generating Renewable Electricity From Your Window

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Ryan Morris
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Photo by Solgami

This unique origami-inspired solar panel has the potential to turn windows into a source of electricity for any apartment dweller.

For urban residences and buildings, implementing renewable sources of energy can be difficult. Researchers have tried building solar panels out of various materials so they can be placed in front of windows, but this generally leads to a large decrease in natural lighting in exchange for limited energy generation.

Soligami, on the other hand, is a solar panel system that works similarly to shutter blinds so that light can still be allowed to pass through a window.

Furthermore, the folded design of the system has an increased surface area, which results in greater energy production.

LOOK: Tiny Wind Turbine That Generates Power From Your Apartment Balcony Wins Dyson Award

“We’re looking at repositioning the city as a place of production, not just a place of consumption,” Ben Berwick, an architect for the Soligami panel, told Fast Company.

“It’s making your apartment a better place to be,” he added.

Although the cost of each Soligami system is yet to be determined, the simplicity of manufacturing the panels and their inexpensive materials is likely to be fairly cheap for consumers.

MORE: Book-Sized Solar Panels Could Power a Whole Home in New Breakthrough

The Soligami project, which was created by Australian architectural startup Prevalents, is one of the finalists for the 2019 Lexus Design Award. In addition to receiving mentorship and a $25,000 prize to develop their production, the design team currently has a patent pending for the Soligami system.

Courtesy of Prevalents

“It’s clear that the fusion of classical design and computational design is now happening especially in the minds of designers looking to solve our world’s biggest problems,” said 2019 LDA judge John Maeda. “I’m optimistic that as we continue to nurture and embrace this new generation of designers, we’ll see a better tomorrow.”

Shine A Light On Positivity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by Soligami / Prevalent

New Chemical Process Converts Plastic Waste into Fuel, University Researchers Looking for Investors

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Good News Network
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Photo by Purdue Research Foundation/Vincent Walter
Photo by Purdue Research Foundation/Vincent Walter

The United Nations estimates that more than 8 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans each year – but researchers have now discovered a new chemical conversion process that could transform the world’s waste into a whole new source of useful products and clean fuels.

The technology, which was developed at Purdue University, can convert more than 90% of polypropylene waste – a type of plastic that is commonly used for packaging and toys – into high-quality gasoline and diesel fuels in a matter of hours.

The conversion process uses selective extraction and hydrothermal liquefaction to turn the plastic into naphtha, a kind of flammable oil that can then be used as a feedstock for other chemicals or further separated into specialty solvents or other products.

The clean fuels derived from the plastic waste generated each year could satisfy 4% of the annual demand for gasoline or diesel fuels.

LOOK: Scientists Are Replacing Plastic With Algae, a Revolutionary Idea That Can Suck Carbon Out of the Air

“Our strategy is to create a driving force for recycling by converting polyolefin waste into a wide range of valuable products, including polymers, naphtha, or clean fuels,” said Linda Wang, a professor for chemical engineering at Purdue University and leader of the research team developing the technology. “Our conversion technology has the potential to boost the profits of the recycling industry and shrink the world’s plastic waste stock.”

Some results of Wang’s study were published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering last month.

Wang became inspired to create this technology after reading about the plastic waste pollution of the oceans, ground water, and the environment. Of all the plastics produced over the past 65 years (8.3 billion tons), about 12% have been incinerated and only 9% have been recycled. The remaining 79% have gone into landfills or the oceans. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2050, the oceans will hold more plastic waste than fish if the waste continues to be dumped into bodies of water.

MORE: LEGO Bricks on Sale Now Are Plant-based Instead of Plastic

“Plastic waste disposal, whether recycled or thrown away, does not mean the end of the story,” Wang said. “These plastics degrade slowly and release toxic microplastics and chemicals into the land and the water. This is a catastrophe, because once these pollutants are in the oceans, they are impossible to retrieve completely.”

Wang hopes that the financial benefits of using her patented technology will stimulate the recycling industry to reduce the rapidly rising amount of plastic waste. She and her team are now looking for investors or partners to assist with demonstrating this technology at a commercial scale.

Reprinted from Pursue University

(WATCH the explanatory video below)

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Church Raises $100K Through Month-Long Fast So They Can Pay Off Student Debt for 34 Grads

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McKinley Corbley
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Thanks to the efforts of a Virginia church, dozens of graduating students are finishing their  college education with zero debt or outstanding tuition.

For the last few years, the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria has asked their congregation to participate in a fast for the duration of January by giving up certain luxuries, such as social media, junk food, or alcohol.

They also asked the church-goers to abstain from spending money on any non-essential items so they could donate the money instead to an important cause.

The financial fasting ended up raising over $100,000 – and the church used the money to pay off the outstanding debt of graduating college students at Howard University in Washington D.C.

RELATED: Instead of Paying for Advertising, Church Abolishes $10M in Medical Debt For Local Families

“This year, as our fasting ended, we asked members to make a sacrificial offering that we promised would go out the door of our church,” said church pastor Dr. Howard-John Wesley. “We decided to come to Howard University to find some students who are about to change the world but have some financial concerns, and let them know we’re going to take care of it for them.”

34 graduating students, each with varying amounts of debt ranging from hundreds to thousands, benefited from the donation.

“The gift of $100,000 from Alfred Street Baptist Church to help our students pay off their financial obligations and make ends meet just before they graduate is truly a blessing,” said university president Wayne A. I. Frederick. “Their generosity is a reminder of how one person’s selfless act of kindness can be multiplied and have a profound impact on the lives of others.”

(WATCH the announcement video below)

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“Share your smile with the world. It’s a symbol of friendship and peace.” – Christie Brinkley

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Good News Network
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Women in Nepal.

Quote of the Day: “Share your smile with the world. It’s a symbol of friendship and peace.” – Christie Brinkley

Photo: by World Bank Photo Collection, CC license

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