Quote of the Day: “Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
Photo by: Barbara Burgess
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?
75 years ago today, Althea Gibson became the first black competitor in international tennis, after US officials, bowing to pressure, invited the 23-year-old to play in the National Championships (now the US Open). Born in South Carolina to sharecropper parents who moved to Harlem when Althea was six, their neighbors took up a collection to pay for her tennis lessons. SEE her accomplishments in a short video… (1950)
An advance in prosthetics 7 years in the making has jumped into life with a lower-leg device that feels more like a part of the body than any other commercially-available product.
Considered something like a prosthesis in three layers, tests have shown it to grant greater agility, comfort, and sense of “embodiment,” a sensation of oneness that’s usually reserved for upper body prosthetics.
“We actually are pushing the definition of what a prosthesis can be, and that’s why we say it’s a tissue-integrated prosthesis,” said Tony Shu, lead author of the study from MIT’s Yang Center for Bionics. “There’s a part that you will never be able to take off without another surgery.”
The three layers begin with a restoration of the push-pull function of muscles—in this case, with above the knee amputees—which was done by connecting the severed tissue directly to the prosthetic.
Along with being vital for using muscles with force, the push-pull function also gives a sense of “proprioception” or the natural awareness of where limbs are in space at any given moment.
The next layer is that of the bone—a titanium rod drilled directly into the severed femur. Almost all lower-leg prosthetics are a socket or a cup that’s placed over the patient’s stump, placing load on the soft muscle tissue that covers the end of the amputation, opening up the chance for nerve pain and chafing.
By reestablishing the natural load-bearing functions of bone, patients achieved lower fatigue rates and greater mobility.
The third layer is the robotic limb that’s attached to the skeletomuscular implants, which can be replaced as better technology becomes available over the next few decades.
In a series of tests performed at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Shu was able to compare the fruits his 7 years of work with currently-available prosthetic options.
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In tests of walking up and down stairs, as well as avoiding obstacles while walking, the three-layer prosthetic performed substantially better. It also scored higher in patients’ perceptions of whether the object was part of their body or just a tool, known as embodiment.
“Embodiment is actually hugely critical for patient well-being,” Shu says, according to Smithsonian Magazine. “This is one of the first studies that really actually asks a lower limb amputee, ‘How do you feel about your prosthesis?’”
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Scientists not involved with the development or the study said the enhanced capabilities on top of a greater sense of agency was a very exciting development, as agency is directly tied to how much amputees trust their prosthetic.
In a way similar to an athlete learning to trust their body again after a bad injury, fully trusting the capabilities of one’s prosthetic may actually go farther than better neuro-muscular integration in allowing patients to unlock more of their missing performance.
WATCH the leg in action below…
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A woman who was blessed with a loving father as her pen pal while growing up has decided to share her gift—her father—with the world.
Starting the Dad Letter Project, she’s now connecting the love of letter writing among a group of fathers with a world of lonely, discouraged, or simply curious people.
The story centers around the heartwarming 30 year-relationship of Buz Ecker and his daughter Rosie Paulik. Whatever the event was—a weekend, the week before summer camp, the first day of university, the day she moved into her first apartment, Paulik would receive a letter from her dad in the mail.
Throughout her young life, she received a letter from dad virtually every 10 days, until a box in her house contained 3,500. With so many letters they often began to feel like journal entries, with dad Ecker actively narrating what was happening around him, or even small curiosities like the sandwich he was eating at the time.
Paulik’s 2-year-old son Andrew is now the recipient of the prolific paternal figure, but she began to wonder if Ecker’s gift could be used to spruce up both the world, and her dad’s retirement.
“Sometimes, you just need a dad to remind you that you’re doing great, to offer unsolicited life advice, or to tell you a joke so bad you have no choice but to laugh. It’s like a hug, but on paper,” the project’s website said.
“People wanted to hear from a dad. They wanted to hear from a father figure,” Paulik told ABC News about the Dad Letter Project. “So many people don’t receive anything in the mailbox besides maybe coupons and bills. [The dads] are coming up with words to say for you, they’re putting the address on the envelope, putting a stamp on it and sending it out. It’s so authentic and special.”
THE POWER OF A GOOD DAD: Son Surprises Dad with Dream Car He Gave up for Diaper Money 41 Years Ago
Ecker is currently spending his summer in Michigan, and he’s writing sometimes 3 or 4 letters to people a day. Such was the demand that Ecker and Paulik had to find other pen-happy dads to join the program.
Each participant requests a letter based around a topic or event in their lives, which may be somber or celebratory, or something else entirely.
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“I address the problems that they have as best as I can. I’m honored that they write me, and I’m happy to write them back,” Ecker told ABC News.
WATCH the story below from ABC…
SHARE This Touching Story About A Dad With Love (And Ink) To Spare…
Under cover of darkness in the north Italian city of Brescia, a masked man has become famous for performing “acts of urban love.”
Armed with a paint roller and the moniker “Ghost Painter,” this unknown citizen stalks the city streets, painting over graffiti left by vandals.
Like all Italian cities, going back to the days of the Roman republic and likely earlier, Brescia has seen its fair share of graffiti.
It can seem ludicrous that anyone would get the urge to vandalize the stately facades of buildings between 100 and 400 years old.
Nevertheless, it happens, and Ghost Painter ensures it “unhappens.”
Little is known about Ghost Painter, but he has revealed to passersby that he is in fact a painter by trade, who works during the day and emerges at night, hooded and masked.
“Not all heroes wear capes,” one commenter wrote in Italian while sharing the painter’s Tiktok video that had already racked up 4.7 million views.
Once his work is done, he pastes a flyer on the wall—a calling card—reading “This is an act of urban love.”
WATCH the masked man in action below…
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Two years ago, the UK government gave roughly $15 million to its own conservation organ called Natural England for the purpose of preventing species decline.
Now, its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species.
Natural England used the money to fund 63 projects involving 78 different partners across the country.
For the nature lover, the list of wild beneficiaries of the work will gladden the heart. Standout achievements include a breakthrough for the iconic lady’s slipper orchid, with the first known case of natural propagation in the wild after over 30 years of dedicated work to collect seeds.
686 acres of vital nesting islands were created or enhanced for seabirds such as common tern, little tern and Sandwich tern. 56,000 plugs of food plants were laid for butterflies, such as marsh violet for the small pearl-bordered fritillary, and devil’s bit scabious for marsh fritillary, at the new sites.
A grant-funded breeding and supervised release program saw the first wild hatching of a red-billed chough in Kent for the first time in over 200 years. 633 new breeding areas (nest boxes and similar structures) were created through the program for otter, dormouse, bats, willow tits, and other birds.
A huge focus as well fell on habitat creation or restoration, including over 642 acres of flower-rich grassland meadows, 1,000 acres of floodplain grasslands, 874 acres of broadleaf woodland, and 240 acres of marsh.
215 ponds and streams were dug or restored which became the new haunts of water voles and the rare Eurasian bittern.
Volunteers were a huge part of these various grant-funded projects. 100,000 hours of volunteer work were donated by members of the public during the 2 years of operations, a component which Natural England said would form a vital backbone if these achievements are to be sustained and built upon.
“This and a feeling of real engagement with an amazing natural environment has been a huge psychological boost for me,” said Steve, a volunteer with the ‘White Cliffs and White Chalk’ National Trust project.
“This has been, and continues to be, a great way to gain a better understanding of local ecology and to improve my understanding of the protected areas and species at risk.”
Natural England will shortly be making an announcement about future plans.
SHARE This Brilliant Arrest Of Species Decline In England On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river.” – Zhuangzi
Photo by: Ivan Stepanov @evil_bumblebee
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?
86 years ago today, civil rights protestors quietly entered the library in Alexandria, VA to stage a sit-in. One young black man, well-dressed and polite, entered and requested a library card. When he was declined, he picked up a book, sat down, and began to read just 2 minutes before another young African American repeated the same act. This continued until five young men were silently reading at tables, and the flustered library staff called the police. READ all the other details of this lesser-known moment in the Civil Rights Movement… (1939)
In a provincial English city, a man has taken it upon himself to address what he referred to as a “fun deficit” in town.
By placing humorous signs in the style of public notices and road signs around town, he hopes they will disarm people into seeing issues in a new perspective, whether that’s the fun he focuses on, or poorly managed roads.
Chichester is located in West Sussex, and was actually found in one study to be ranked as the best place to live in the historic county. However, the “Chichester Anti-Recreation Partnership” or CARP, as he refers to himself, says there are significant shortfalls in the amount of things that could be construed by any reasonable person as “fun.”
“I absolutely adore Chichester,” CARP told the BBC, explaining his modus operandai. “But it does have some notable gaps—particularly when it comes to fun and things for younger people to do.”
Attempting to brighten up the place, he has for some months been placing trick signs, noting for example that one was entering a “formal attire only zone” or a “coffee control area” monitored between 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
“Humor has this unique ability to disarm people—it lowers their defenses and allows them to consider issues from a fresh perspective,” he said. “It reframes problems in a way that’s more approachable and less confrontational, which makes it easier to get your message across and spark discussions.”
BBC spoke with the Chichester City Council, which “doth protest too much,” one might say.
Working hard, they noted, to put on more exciting events for all ages including light shows and concerts after dark, the council said they had been met with appreciation from the citizenry.
SIMILAR ENGLISH PRANKSTERS: Pothole Prank: Man Erects Fake Legs in the Road and the Neglected Hole Was Promptly Filled Within 4 Days
They currently run an “after dark” working group to collect views on what young people would like to see in the future. Young people are a very important part of the community, they state, again noting a sum of $1.3 million currently earmarked for play area refurbishment.
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CARP, however, isn’t waiting around. His handiwork gains traction on social media, and even though the council takes his signs down very quickly, they can’t stop him from sharing images of them online.
He says he isn’t concerned about what becomes of the signs, so long as they spark a smile, a laugh, a conversation, or, in the best case scenario, action to make Chichester a more fun-focused borough.
SEND Your Friends A Laugh On Social Media With This Funny Story…
Staggering results have been reported from a clinical trial of a new delivery method for chemotherapy drugs used to treat bladder cancer.
Keck Medicine of USC reports that in the majority of cases the cancer disappeared after only three months of treatment, and almost half the patients were cancer-free a year later.
The system is called TAR-200, and is composed of a pretzel-shaped delivery device that’s inserted into the bladder. Its slow release of the drug gemcitabine allows this chemotherapy medicine to stay in the organ for days, compared to mere hours as is the case with the current standard-of-care.
TAR-200 is designed for treating high-risk and treatment-resistant non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the most common form.
“Traditionally, these patients have had very limited treatment options. This new therapy is the most effective one reported to date for the most common form of bladder cancer,” said Sia Daneshmand, MD, director of urologic oncology with Keck Medicine of USC and lead author of a study detailing the clinical trial results published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
“The findings of the clinical trial are a breakthrough in how certain types of bladder cancer might be treated, leading to improved outcomes and saved lives.”
The trial was a major undertaking—involving 144 locations worldwide and 85 patients who had this kind of bladder cancer, were treated with another immunotherapy drug called Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, and whose cancer returned.
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Keck Medicine reports that the TAR-200 was administered every 3 weeks for 6 months, and then 4 times a year for the next 2 years.
In 70 out of 85 patients, the cancer disappeared and for almost half the patients, was still gone a year later. The treatment was well-tolerated, with minimal side effects, the institute concluded.
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Daneshmand, who has been researching this method of drug delivery since 2016, said that the trials mark “an exciting moment in history.”
“Our mission is to deliver cancer-fighting medications into the bladder that will offer lasting remission from cancer, and it looks like we are well on our way toward that goal.”
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When a precocious 4-year-old called 911 to talk about his favorite sports, the officers ensured he learned a valuable lesson.
From Farmington Hills, Michigan, comes the story of Micah, who dialed emergency services and began chatting about how much he loves soccer and swimming.
The call developed into a friendly chat, but that didn’t stop the station’s dispatchers from sending out Officer Michael El-Hage, to be certain all was well.
It’s actually standard issue to deploy officers in the case of accidental child 911 calls, just in case the child became too shy—or too pressured—to speak about what they had originally called for.
Arriving though, El-Hage found all was well, and was soon chatting away yet again with Micah and his brother Mitch about sports. El-Hage showed the pair the inside of his police cruiser.
“During the visit, we learned Mitch was celebrating his birthday on Sunday—so our day shift team came together to make his special day even more memorable,” the Farmington Hills Police Department wrote in an Instagram post.
Speaking with WDIV, Officer El-Hage explained that he told the boys that he hoped he’d be able to come back Sunday, but truly didn’t know whether it would be possible.
As it happened, he was free, and returned with birthday presents—a new soccer goal and a police cap and badge.
OTHER CUTE 911 PRANKSTERS: Little Boy Calls 911 After Mom Ate His Ice Cream: ‘Mommy Is Being Bad’–But Cops Solve the Case
“I just did it for the kids, honestly,” El-Hage said, noting he had a son himself. ”I just see my son there, so being a dad I think every day I can understand that that’s what it’s about for me.”
“While accidental 911 calls do happen, we always want kids to feel safe and comfortable reaching out to us,” the post concluded. “Turning a small mistake into a moment of connection is what community policing is all about.”
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On the island of Borneo, forest-dwelling communities have become key to ensuring that orangutans have enough intact forest to survive and thrive down the centuries.
Documented by the Nature Conservancy, which is assisting in establishing and equipping these forest communities for conservation, these communities maintain millions of acres of forests for sustainable economic use and conservation.
This includes logging, but research has shown that when legitimate, transparent logging operations cease, their former land concessions become akin to a no man’s land, and are taken over by illegal logging circuits, poaching, and agriculture.
Instead, by logging small numbers of mature trees one small area at a time over a 30-year time horizon, the forest doesn’t shrink, and the communities can use profits from the hardwoods to sustain their families, and ensure that areas of intact forest remain poacher free.
Areas like the vast Kutai National Park suffer from similar problems as the logging concessions, the Nature Conservancy writes. Their remoteness acts as a curtain to hide illegal activities.
But 80% of orangutans live beyond the borders of protected areas, often very near forest villages. Because of this, an estimated 1.3 million acres of forest habitat is now protected by local forest guardians for the benefit of ecotourism, honey production, scientific research and of course, conservation.
Support from the Indonesian government, which controls the majority of Borneo, the world’s third-largest island, helps the guardians manage their land concessions, while interest from the international community has also led to large-scale donations from companies like Arhaus, a furniture maker.
MORE STORIES ABOUT THESE AMAZING ANIMALS:
Matt Miller, the Nature Conservancy’s director of science communications, visited these community concessions, and saw first hand how they view their future as guardians of the forests.
“The communities are the leaders here. They are the key to the conservation of Borneo’s forests and biodiversity,” a local program director told Miller. “We are here to support them. We can provide science and help them shape what they want their future to be. But this is the reflection of their dream.”
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Quote of the Day: “The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better.” – Thomas Carlyle
Photo by: Gabriel Lamza
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?
Happy 90th birthday to the former Congressman from Texas, Dr. Ron Paul. Before serving three terms as representative of the 22nd and 14th Congressional districts, the country doctor delivered an average of 1 baby per day, amounting to over 4,000 little ones because he was the only OB/GYN in Brazoria County. READ more about America’s most famous Libertarian… (1935)
Beneath the waves of Key Largo, staghorn coral have spawned in mass since a 2023 bleaching event that left marine biologists worried over the reefs’ future.
The once-a-year phenomenon can happen only on a select few days, and lasts only a few minutes. It’s difficult to predict, and relies on a delicate, aphrodisiacal mixture of temperature, tide, and Lunar phase.
But to the relief of the members of the Coral Restoration Foundation working on their staghorn coral nursery, the coral came through, with female members filling the water with eggs, and males with sperm, until the whole of the nursery appeared like a snow globe.
“If we see viable eggs, then it means that all of the other basic life needs of the coral must be being met, Alex Neufeld, Science Program Manager at the Coral Restoration Foundation, told the Miami Herald. “It means our colonies are healthy and that we’re doing something right.”
However, much like the most endangered animal species, the foundation considers the spawning too precious a moment to leave to the mercy of the waves. Recent coral bleaching events have created spaces between reefs, reducing potential for genetic diversity, while a strong gust of wind could send a large cloud of the eggs or sperm veering off course, and the opportunity to reproduce would be lost.
So descending into the water at night, the Miami Herald team watched as marine biologists carefully examined the coral until they were ready to spawn. Kept under nets, they captured the sperm and eggs for cultivation onboard a research vessel operated by Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, which was involved in the project.
“We have to keep it really even, to give everybody a chance. We’re really just trying to increase our chance of settlers that will be able to actually contribute to this new genetic diversity, which builds more resilience,” said Shayle Matsuda, an ecologist on Shedd’s boat.
By last Tuesday, when the Herald joined the project, the spawning had increased in fecundity. Wednesday was even more prosperous, with dozens of samples taken, and the scientists were even more hopeful about Thursday.
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Reef researchers across the world are now experimenting with cross breeding of corals in captivity to try and create more heat-tolerant genotypes. Some reefs, for example one in Honduras, demonstrate remarkable resilience to warming seas.
Some of the staghorn samples collected over Key Largo will be sent to these breeding initiatives, while others will be used to expand the reefs where they were collected.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: 10,000 Young Corals Grown in Just Weeks by New Portable Spawning Lab in the Maldives
In even better news, the Coral Restoration Foundation’s staghorn nursery wasn’t the only one that spawned. Another, managed just 200 meters north, also spawned and was also collected by another marine nonprofit, called Renewal USA.
America has long been the global standard for protecting its most beautiful wild places, and while Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks are indeed the envy of the world, the nation and its scientists don’t skimp on our reefs either.
SHARE This Positive Work Going On To Save Florida Corals…
From Ethiopia comes an incredible discovery—early humans seem to have potentially lived alongside the very apes they evolved from.
The discovery centers around teeth: that of a member of the genus Homo, of which we are a part, found next to the tooth of Australopithecus, the last in a line of apes that became humans.
The team of paleontologists who found the teeth are following protocol and not inferring anything about how the two species interacted, but the fact is that the Homo tooth was the older of the two, showing that human evolution wasn’t linear.
“This new research shows that the image many of us have in our minds of an ape to a Neanderthal to a modern human is not correct—evolution doesn’t work like that,” Kaye Reed, a research scientist and president’s professor emerita from Arizona State University, told CNN via email. “Here we have two hominin species that are together. And human evolution is not linear, it’s a bushy tree…”
Reed has been working in the Afar region of Ethiopia since 2002. 10 of the teeth were found between 2018 and 2020 and belonged to Australopithecus, while 3 previously found in 2015 belonged to an early Homo species.
Afar is where the famous remains of “Lucy” were found. Belonging to Australopithecus afarensis, she was about 3.3 feet tall, had an ape-like face, but walked upright 3.2 million years ago.
The teeth found by Reed and colleagues came from a later period, and do not correspond to A. afarensis or that of another related species A. aghai. Either there’s something scientists don’t know about these two species, or it’s a third, entirely different species, but the team isn’t claiming either for certain.
In either case, the oldest Homo teeth were hundreds of thousands of years older than the Australopithecus teeth, showing how as many as four Hominid lineages may have coexisted in East Africa at the same time.
“Once we found Homo, I thought that was all we would find, and then one day on survey, we found the Australopithecus teeth,” Reed said, again to CNN. “What is most important, is that it shows again, that human evolution is not linear. There were species that went extinct; some were better adapted than others, and others interbred with us — we know this for Neanderthals for sure.”
MORE HOMO SAPIENS HISTORY: Early Man Was Building Lincoln Log-like Structures 500,000 Years Ago, New Preserved Wood Shows
How would our ancestors have treated our even earlier ancestors? Did they compete for food? Paleoecology studies show that the Afar region was a relatively wetter area than it is today, suggesting at least intuitively a greater abundance of food. Would we have interbred with our ape cousins, or treated them as hostile competition? How did they treat us?
Reed has been researching our earliest histories in the Afar region since 2002, and hopefully another 20 years may resolve these fascinating questions.
SHARE This Incredible Discovery From Our Early Past With Your Friends…
Their motto reads “Always ready, always there,” and when four national guardsmen from Alabama walked into a Burger King, that’s exactly what they were.
The story comes from Skwierzyna, a town about 80 miles west of the headquarters of the US Army in Poland.
Sgt. 1st Class Alicia Haggins, Staff Sgt. Jacob Roberts, 2nd Lt. Indiana Rhodes, and Sgt. Justin Fagan stopped for lunch on their way to a Polish army training center when they saw that a man outside the restaurant had collapsed.
It was Haggins that first saw the emergency, and alerted her colleagues to come and help. Arriving, they found the man’s breathing was sparse and his pulse faint.
The four soldiers from the 214th Military Police Company initiated lifesaving measures, including CPR. First responders from the Polish ambulance service arrived within minutes, but asked Haggins and her company to continue to perform rotational chest compressions.
“When we started, I would say his pulse was very weak and very shortened,” Sgt. Fagan said told Stars and Stripes. “Once the (first responders) got there, it still continued to be a team-oriented event.”
Before the first responders arrived, Haggins used a translation app to talk with the victim’s wife, gathering medical history in which she confirmed the man had a history of heart problems.
US SOLDIERS IN EUROPE: The US Army Replaced a Cake it Stole From Italian Girl in 1945
30 minutes of compressions passed before his pulse was somewhat stabilized, at which point a medical helicopter arrived to transport the man to a hospital. Afterwards, hugs were widely shared, especially from the man’s wife who thanked the Alabama guardsmen profusely for their help.
“Because they were there and at that time, (the victim) and his family have hope,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Cain Claxton said Friday. “It is an example for all of us to emulate in helping people out, especially here being representatives for our country in Poland.”
All four will receive a non-combat commendation for their actions in service of an allied country and its citizens.
CELEBRATE These American Heroes Being Heroes In Poland…
With civil wars in Myanmar and Sudan, climate change manifestations the world over, instability across the Middle East, and geopolitical tensions abounding in East Asia, Europe, and North America, one would imagine the global population to have a pessimistic outlook on things.
But the annual Gallup Life Evaluation Index found that “men and women, young and old,” consider themselves to be thriving in larger numbers than any other time in the past.
Asked to rank their lives on a scale of 0 to 10, with 4 and below classified as suffering, 5 to 6 as struggling, and 7-10 as thriving, a third of the surveyed population spread across 142 nations described themselves as currently thriving.
Additionally, the outlook on the next 5 years is as high as it’s ever been, with an average score of 7.9.
Unlike metrics of GPD, which predominantly measure economic output and, as a result, capture somewhat the standard of living in a country, self-reported metrics of thriving or suffering can give greater clarity as to exactly whether that wealth is leading to a more prosperous society or not.
“Rates of thriving have risen consistently across demographics. Men and women, young and old, all now rate their lives better than they did in the past,” Gallup wrote in their executive summary.
“As thriving has increased, rates of suffering have inched downward. In 2024, a median of 7% globally were classed as suffering in life, matching the lowest point on record going back to 2007, and significantly lower than a decade ago (12% in 2014).”
MORE ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE FUTURE: Countries Are Breathing the Cleanest Air in Centuries and Offer Lessons to the Rest of Us
A population-weighted average showed 28% of respondents thriving, down from 33%, affected by more respondents in countries with larger populations.
Declines in thriving seen in some wealthy countries were offset and overrun by increases in Latin America and the Caribbean (45%), East and South Europe (37%), East (34%) and Southeast Asia (32%) and Post-Soviet Eurasia (33%)—all of which have seen steady increases in thriving over time.
12 countries experienced particularly enormous rises in self-reported thriving of 20% or more over the last decade, including 3 in Asia (Mongolia, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan,) 8 in Europe (Lithuania, Estonia, Kosovo, Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia), and Paraguay.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Incredible 60% of Europe’s Electricity Was Powered by Clean Energy in the First Two Months of 2024
Many of the increases in self-reported thriving correlate with the increases in Human Development Index metrics such as average years of child schooling and perceived freedoms. The HDI also happened to rise on average around the world since 2008.
“The world is not short of significant challenges, from climate change to conflicts and technological upheaval,” the Gallup authors wrote. “Yet even against this backdrop, more people across more countries say they are living better lives today and are hopeful for tomorrow, and fewer are suffering.”
BRIGHTEN UP Social Media With These Encouraging Global Trends…
Quote of the Day: “Religion and art spring from the same root and are close kin.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Photo: The Theotokos of Tikhvin, a Russian icon, ca. 1300 – Public Domain / Wikipedia
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?
61 years ago today, Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, was launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It was the third satellite in the Syncom project, which also included the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, Syncom 2. All three are still in orbit. READ more from on this day… (1964)
