Quote of the Day: “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow
Photo by: Free Walking Tour Salzburg
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?
105 years ago today, the Smithsonian Museums in the nation’s capital held the first of its “Great Debate” series, with the topic being whether spiral galaxies and nebulae were relatively small and part of the Milky Way. Arguing in the affirmative was Harlow Shapely, head of the Harvard College Observatory. Arguing in the negative was astronomer Heber Curtis. A year later the two sides of the debate were presented and expanded on in independent technical papers under the title “The Scale of the Universe.” READ more about the Great Debate… (1920)
In an unprecedented success for conservation efforts, a tiny population of Guam kingfishers given a new home has laid its first eggs—after 40 years of the species being extinct in the wild.
Exterminated from its Guam island home by invasive brown tree snakes, the kingfisher, known by Guam locals as a ‘sihek’, has survived entirely in captivity, managed by a global collaboration of conservationists called the Sihek Recovery Program.
The program introduced the birds to the Palmyra Atoll thousands of miles from Guam in order to create a wild-born population that can regain natural skills until their native island has been cleared of the invasive reptile—and the sihek can return to its ancestral home.
GNN reported in September of 2022 that 20 sihek eggs were set to be transferred to Hawaii to be born in an aviary with conditions and flora similar to that of Palmyra Atoll.
The journey to recovery would be long, complex, and in some ways unprecedented. In order to reduce the risk of foreign germs or parasites spreading to atoll, the resulting sihek chicks were going to be hand-reared until 9 of them could be transferred in cages to Palmyra.
After getting their “ticket to ride” by the vet traveling with them, they would finally be able to return to the wilderness. But the program teams didn’t know which of the available prey species the sihek will favor, didn’t know what time of year, considering the 365-day perfect temperatures, the birds will breed, or how far they would disperse.
But despite the miles and the unknowns, their remarkable release last autumn was a success by any reasonable metric. Four female and five male birds quickly explored their new home, learning how to forage and hunt new prey within the tropical forest.
Four pairs have since established territories, built nests, and laid eggs, marking the first time the species has bred in the wild since its extinction from Guam in the 1980s.
“Many of us spent this Easter weekend out searching high and low for eggs of a different variety—and while they might not be as shiny or brightly colored, these tiny, unassuming-looking eggs are far more exciting and precious than any of their chocolate counterparts,” said Professor John Ewen, from the Zoological Society of London and Team Chair of the Sihek Recovery Program.
“They are a remarkable milestone for the decades-long mission to rescue the sihek from the edge of extinction, and this moment for celebration is a real testament to all the dedicated work from everyone working around the clock to protect and recover this incredible bird.”
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With the mated pairs less than a year old, this is their first time incubating and caring for eggs, meaning it’s likely it will take a few rounds of egg laying for the birds to hone their skills and hatch chicks, a statement from ZSL read. Nonetheless, these eggs demonstrate both the tremendous resilience of these remarkable birds and the power of conservation to create a second chance for species on the brink of extinction.
“After many long days last year looking after these birds when they were just tiny eggs and chicks, it’s so rewarding to see them beginning their journey towards raising their own chicks in the forests of Palmyra Atoll,” said Charlotte James, one of the London Zoo bird keepers who hand-reared the birds.
“It’s hard not to feel like a proud parent seeing them out there thriving and making history—and an honor to be part of the ongoing mission to bring sihek back from the brink of extinction.”
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Plans are underway for more young sihek to be released at Palmyra Atoll this summer. Egg laying season is underway at participating (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) AZA-accredited institutions across the US. As they grow to maturity, these chicks will also journey to Palmyra, with the ultimate goal of establishing ten breeding pairs there. The wild sihek at Palmyra Atoll will pave the way for a growing, wild sihek population for the first time in decades.
Then maybe, just maybe, at some point in the distant future, the descendants of these birds who’ve regained their wild skills will be able to practice them on the island of their origin once again.
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The Japanese have an unjustly-bestowed-upon reputation for being cold and distant, and one new American mother who’s gone viral on TikTok discovered just how wrong that stereotype can be.
While out at a restaurant with her husband, Maggie Boynton was approached by a matronly Japanese waitress who offered to hold their fussy newborn daughter so that a couple could eat in peace.
“I was pretty shocked,” Boynton shared with People Magazine. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a stranger offer to hold my baby before. At first, I hesitated—like, should I let her? But she seemed so genuine and sweet. You just have that intuition when someone truly wants to help.”
While nothing in general was going wrong per se, Boynton, who shared the video of the waitress cradling their daughter on TikTok to the tune of 2 million views, said that flying across so many time zones is already quite the drain—as is looking after a newborn, and the two together had worn her out.
“Even just 10 minutes for us to enjoy our meal was all I needed,” to recover, she wrote in a caption on the TikTok video.
On a practical note, chopsticks are not ideal eating utensils if there’s an infant squirming around in your arms.
@maggieeboynton Can’t explain how much this truly meant to me.
♬ What Was I Made For? (Epilogue) [Instrumental Version] - Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt
“It’s crazy how much you take for granted—just being able to eat without worrying about spilling on your baby or juggling everything at once. That small gesture felt like such a weight off my shoulders,” Boynton felt.
Japan in general was very baby-friendly, and from nursing areas in various public places to bassinets on board the flight, the whole trip was very accommodating to the couple and their little sprout.
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Boynton suggests going to Japan at any possible opportunity, and said the fact that they were traveling with a newborn was no problem.
“Keep calm and know that no one else is thinking about your baby being fussy as much as you are. Your baby feeds off your energy, so staying grounded can make such a difference,” she said.
SHARE This Young Mother’s Charming Experience With Japan’s Best On Social Media…
A Pittsburgh-area contractor picked up the flag for his profession after a local senior couple were scammed out of some new landscaping work they paid for.
Losing out on $6,750 for a new retaining wall for the garden-side of their driveway, the couple was shocked when someone else offered to do it for free.
The story demonstrates the power of reporting to do good, as local CBS affiliate KDKA spoke with the Ruffings of West Mifflin outside of Pittsburgh about this construction job they paid for two years ago.
For a segment called KDKA Investigates, the Ruffings explained that in exchange for an advance of $4,000, they received a pile of bricks, a pile of mud, and then a pile of excuses.
“He said his truck broke down and then he had a fire in his trailer and then… just didn’t see him,” said Pam Ruffing. “I’m just afraid it’s all going to come down with the rain.”
The Ruffings had hired Shiloh Landscaping (remember the name) out of Bedford two years ago, and contacted KDKA to see if getting their plight on the news could be the genesis of some positive change, and while Shiloh Landscaping’s contractors are still at large, the news report did bring about some good.
“[W]e actually just did a job for a lady who got scammed out of money,” said local contractor Ray Benvenuti, who told KDKA that a friend of his saw the Ruffing’s situation on TV, and told him “‘some people in West Mifflin got scammed out of money.'”
“I’m sick of seeing this stuff going on.”
Benvenuti Landscaping and Reconstruction arrived with help from a local hardware store, and together with the few materials already brought over by the previous contractors, proceeded to build the whole retaining wall with donated labor.
“It’s a little tedious because we had to start from scratch a little bit and match somebody else’s work. I mean, we’ll get it done, we’re professionals,” Benvenuti said at the time.
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And that they did—even constructing an additional corner wall to match by the steps up to the house—all in time for Easter lunch, which offered the Ruffings the added joy of dodging the need to explain to their family and friends what the giant eyesore under the blue tarp was all about.
KDKA spoke with a representative of the Better Business Bureau for advice on how to be wiser when selecting contractors, as these small businesses were the fifth-largest purveyors of scams in the state.
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The BBB spokeswoman said don’t pick the first contractor who bids on your project, but wait to hear from two or three. Request proof of insurance, and pay no more than one-third of the total cost as an advance—a right guaranteed to Pennsylvanians by law.
Additionally, in the state, if a contractor does $5,000 or more of work in a year, they are required to register with the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Attorney General’s office. If they lack this registration, that’s a clear red flag.
WATCH the story below from CBS… For International Viewers Watch HERE…
For the towns along Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction through North Carolina, rebuilding homes and stores takes time.
But thanks to an army of volunteers, rebuilding the sense of community in towns like Chimney Rock and Bat Cave has been done at light speed.
Chimney Rock Village was destroyed by Helene’s flooding, but every day the town’s residents see supplies, people, and building materials coming in from all over the country, and know that the future is bright.
A special report by WCNC writes that every store on Chimney Rock’s once-historic main street that’s being rebuilt is being done with donated materials, and the people putting it all together, more often than not, come from a legion of Pennsylvania Amish volunteers from the Great Needs Trust.
“We come out here every morning, working mostly in Chimney Rock and in Bat Cave,” Amos Stoltzfus, one such volunteer, told WCNC. “We have been cleaning the campground, also insulating a new building and organizing donated products, paper supplies and dry walling.”
In their frocks and bonnets, the women screw panels of drywall onto skeletal timbers as deftly and surely as the men in their straw hats. The famous carpentry expertise of the Amish will do the old town well, and maybe even help to add back a bit of the rustic charm lost in the floods.
“It just fills my heart with joy, watching people get their life back again,” Stoltzfus said. “Somebody that was completely devastated through the storm … somebody who didn’t have anything … it is just so encouraging to see them get back on their feet.”
MORE HELENE RECOVERY: Community Praises Contractor for Free Construction Work Since Hurricane Helene Hit
WCNC reports that between Great Needs Trust and local contemporary volunteers, 2,000 pairs of willing hands have circulated in and out of Chimney Rock.
“It was really great being here … and working,” another volunteer Susan Miller said. “It is definitely something I would love to come back [for], like how it is in a couple of years … it is fun making a difference.”
WATCH the story below from WCNC…
SHARE This Incredible Demonstration Of Recovery With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “I would hope you support who we are, not who we are not. This is your team.” – Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers film (Happy NFL Draft Day!)
Photo by: GWC ©2024 (Lambeau Field in Green Bay, site of the 2025 Draft)
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?
71 years ago today, Bell Labs finished the first functional solar cell, allowing for a panel of metal and glass to refract light and heat from the sun into it and generate a current of electricity. The inventors were Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin, and Gerald Pearson, and their intention was to power a satellite in space where it could not have its batteries changed. Today, the photovoltaic cell is revolutionizing energy provision for humanity, with a large chunk of scientists and industrialists believing they are a key part of trying to maintain the Earth’s climate as we experience it today. READ more… (1954)
Everyone in a relationship will know how love often works in mysterious ways, but quicksand isn’t typically involved, right?
Typically, no; but never? Also no. Just ask Mitchell O’Brien and Breanne Sika, a new couple, for whom falling in love first meant falling in quicksand.
O’Brien, 37, and Sika, 36, were both single and interested in the other, but under impressions the feeling wasn’t reciprocal. This carried on until a mutual friend asked them why they didn’t go out on a date together?
Deciding to visit Van’s Beach, located in Leelanau County north of Traverse City, the perspective couple were hoping to find Leland blue stones—a bizarre and seemingly natural beach treasure and relic of Michigan’s industrial past made up of blue glass and various chemicals.
“At one point, Bre points to a spot on the beach which was right next to the water, and she goes, ‘That looks really dangerous,'” O’Brien told The Detroit News. “I didn’t realize she was referring to a singular spot; I thought she meant the whole area. I ended up turning around and walking straight to that spot to see if there were any stones in the water.”
Sinking immediately up to his waist, it was the second time O’Brien had been caught in quicksand in his life. He was fortunately able to remain calm enough to think of a plan.
After trying to dig the sand out from under his waist only for it to be replenished with every cold wave that splashed onto his back, Sika tried to help pull the man out. This also failed, and the two were left trying to call 911 with spotty cell service.
At one point, Detroit News reports that the operator thought they were telemarketers and hung up on them, but eventually they received connection enough to explain the situation.
“At the end of me telling them what’s going on and where we are, I said ‘I think my girlfriend is calling as well,'” O’Brien said. “She’s like 20 feet away, and she was saying ‘My boyfriend is here, stuck in the sand.’ It was the first time we had called each other that.”
With rope, pushing, digging, and pulling, three rescuers eventually got O’Brien free from the soup that appeared to be a mixture of sand and Jello.
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Quicksand or quickmud occurs in sandy or muddy areas where the understory—whether of rock, seabed, leaflitter, or something else—has eroded away, usually due to water running beneath it. The hole creates a vacuum that quickly fills with material, and any disturbance, for example from a footfall, creates further vacuums that suck the material and the disturbing object down into it.
This is why the number 1 rule if stuck in mud or quicksand is not to fight it or try to struggle free, since every jerking movement will pull you down further, faster.
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To survive this ordeal, always seek to escape in the same direction you entered from. You won’t be able to take a step, jump, or generate any forward motion, so the best option is usually to simply allow yourself to fall flat onto your stomach. If you have a backpack or a walking stick, hold it in your hands and reach them towards the ground where you want to move to, then began to wriggle your waist and torso until you can free your legs.
When O’Brien got trapped, the weather had been in the 40s, and in mid-April, the water temperature was below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Though shivering in the cold, O’Brien retained his sense of humor, and asked Sika to take a picture of him since “nobody’s gonna believe us.”
SHARE This Incredible Love Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Throughout 2024, the city of Athens focused on expanding urban greenery in key areas in response to several sweltering summers in a row.
Featuring the planting of the city’s first micro-forest, greening has occurred in six neighborhoods as well as on the famous Acropolis.
The goal was to plant 5,000 trees and shrubs in the city by the end of 2024, and was launched by the recently-elected mayor Haris Doukas. Summer temperatures and overcrowding causes the city to bake under one of the most extreme urban heat island effects in Europe.
To wit, Athens was for many years the holder of the World Meteorological Organization record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe with 48.0°C (118.4°F). It was the first city in Europe to appoint a “chief heat officer” to deal with severe heat waves.
Athens is home to double the population of the next 9 largest Greek cities combined, and greenery, as well as space to put it, are severely lacking.
But things are looking up in the old city these days now that the first greening project has been completed, the results of which can be found in Athens Trees mobile app.
The efforts, which included the planting of a micro-forest on Alepotrypa Hill and the creation of the new Kalvos and Degleri Park, culminated in the relocation of a 700-year-old olive tree from the Aigio region to grace the Old Parliament building on Stadiou Street.
Moving forward, Mr. Doukas’ efforts will continue with the hopes that 5,000 trees can become 25,000 trees by the time he leaves office. Work has already begun on future additions—targeting the Western Hills of the Acropolis.
€2 million from the country’s Green Fund was secured to support the restoration and enhancement of the iconic Filopappos Hill and elsewhere.
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“This funding will enable critical studies, infrastructure improvements, and the revitalization of Filopappos Hill, while enhancing its urban amenities,” Mayor Doukas announced. “We’re addressing a long-standing issue, creating a greener, safer space for Athenians and visitors alike.”
The project is spearheaded by GREEN ATHENS, a municipal company collaborating with the Municipality’s Green Department. Work has already been completed on the Acropolis, including the clearing of slopes and unclogging of storm drains, as well as the planting of 100 new shrubs and trees at the Acropolis-side entrance and the removal of 400 dead ones.
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Doukas believes that by the time the work is finished, the birthplace of democracy will have shed 3 degrees off of annual temperatures, as well as providing shade to thousands of people, streets, and homes.
SHARE The News Of How This Ancient City Is Rising To Meet Modern Challenges…
The US National Institute of Health has announced it will work with food industry giants to eliminate 6 synthetic food dyes from their products as fast as possible.
To be led by the FDA, the work will target Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Blue 2, Citrus Red 2, and Orange B, which have been linked in children to hyperactivity and mood disruption, diabetes and obesity, and even cancer.
FDA has set a deadline for the end of 2026, and the agency has added that it will also ask the industry to eliminate Red 3 by the same date, a year earlier than an order passed under the Biden Administration.
Under a new White House mandate to address the root causes of America’s obesity and chronic disease epidemic, the NIH is starting with synthetic food dyes, which for years have been targeted by consumer safety organizations and advocates as one of the best and simplest things the US could do to improve the health of the nation’s children.
In Europe, natural dyes like turmeric (yellow) spirulina (blue/green) and carotenoids (orange/red) are used to provide the color for food products. Turmeric is a veritable superfood, while spirulina is rich in iron and one of the most-studied dietary chelators.
By contrast, synthetic dyes add no nutritional value and are simply there to make ultra-processed food products like Kellogg’s Froot Loops (which contains 4 of the 6 synthetic dyes) more visually bright and appealing.
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The FDA said it would be quick to authorize the use of these natural dyes, including a strong blue and purple coloring from butterfly pea flower—contained in herbal teas in China for millennia.
Though commonly called synthetic ‘food’ dyes, these compounds are also found in certain children’s medicine, such as multi-vitamins, toothpaste, and cough syrup.
SHARE This Great Step Toward Protecting Our Children From Harmful Chemicals…
For 25 years, a local nonprofit has been refurbishing bikes for resale or donation to communities in need in Chicago and the world.
Over the years, its horizons have continued to expand beyond the Windy City and out to the farthest corners of the world.
Working Bikes, located at 2434 S. Western Ave in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, has seen an awful lot of bikes pass through its doors; pulling them from landfills, picking them up off the curbside, or accepting them from community members. Over 150,000 have been repaired since the registered 501(c)3 got its wheels turning in 1999.
12% of all the bikes they restored are sold in the Working Bikes storefront. 15% meanwhile are donated right back to the people of Chicago through local program partners that will ensure they arrive in the hands of people in need of transportation.
The whole operation is volunteer-supported: anyone can come in and fix a bike or learn how. A few dedicated employees ensure that salable models are in excellent condition, or boast unique designs and features.
“I think there’s, there’s always a need in Chicago,” said Trevor Clarke, current director of Working Bikes, in an interview with CBS Chicago.
“There are disinvested communities here who really lack access to transportation, and we saw that spike in with the new arrival population, so we had an acute need for people who were just coming to Chicago.”
Thousands more bikes—the majority, in fact—await delivery to Working Bikes’ overseas partners, in Mexico, Venezuela, Albania, Uganda, Angola, Egypt, Cuba, and many, many more countries besides.
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Working Bikes provides not only the bicycles and spare parts, but also the training, to the Bwindi Bicycle Program in rural Uganda that trains women to repair and maintain bikes, just one of many local organizations supported by Working Bikes.
“The focus is really on employment for the ladies,” Clarke said. “They set up the shops, we help provide the training, we continue to provide the bikes—and the ladies who were trained eight years ago train this new group for a new shop.”
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100,000 of the 150,000 bikes refurbished by the Working Bikes team have gone to these overseas difference-makers. They arrive unridable, but with the training and tools to repair them. Each bike is then sold for prices relevant to the local economy, and many of these partners provide microloans to perspective buyers.
WATCH the story from CBS below… or for viewers outside the US, WATCH HERE…
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Quote of the Day: “One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” – William Feather
Photo by: Justin Jensen, CC License
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?
On this day 35 years ago, the famed Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery. Built by NASA with help from the European Space Agency, Hubble is still in operation today, as one of the largest and most versatile of its kind. WATCH a 30th anniversary video… (1990)
For the millions of American women and girls who will get a UTI at some point in the next few years, they may be able to treat it with the first new medication approved for the purpose in 3 decades.
The new class of targeted, oral antibiotic for urinary tract infections is designed to bypass developing antibiotic resistance in UTIs and eliminate recurrence of UTIs in women who experience them frequently.
According to CNN, the drug, gepotidacin, will be sold under the brand name Blujepa and is expected to be available in the second half of 2025.
Blujepa is the first new oral antibiotic to treat UTIs to gain approval in more than 20 years, but it’s been almost 30 since the critical bacteria-fighting function of such a treatment has been redesigned.
“We are proud to have developed Blujepa, the first in a new class of oral antibiotics for [uncomplicated UTIs] in nearly three decades, and to bring another option to patients given recurrent infections and rising rates of resistance to existing treatments,” read a statement from GSK, which developed the drug.
Gepotidacin works by targeting two enzymes that bacteria need to copy themselves.
Women contract these infections at a much higher rate than men. About half of all women will experience a UTI at some point in their lives. One third of these women will have a UTI that returns multiple times.
UTIs are the cause of roughly 8 million emergency room visits and 100,000 hospitalizations in the US each year, GSK said.
It was funded in part by grants from the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
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3,000 women and girls took part in the clinical trials which led to the drug’s approval, with the results demonstrating increased efficacy compared to nitrofurantoin, the most commonly-prescribed antibiotic for UTIs.
Side effects including diarrhea and nausea were reported in 16% and 9% of the females respectively, much of which was described as “mild.”
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While many Americans prefer to treat such infections homeopathically, there are times when infections are more aggressive, or when homeopathic options are not available—for example, if one is traveling. In these cases, a more effective backup is a welcomed option.
SHARE This Positive Drug Development Story With Your Friends…
From Northern India comes the story of an entrepreneur’s efforts to clean up a historically-beautiful lakefront by turning an infestation of weeds into rich natural fertilizer.
Being something along the lines of the Lake Como of India, Dal Lake in the nation’s northerly city of Srinagar is surrounded by palaces, temples, fog-cloaked forested hills, and is iconic in the country for its houseboat culture.
Yet for all its natural and historic beauty, Dal Lake was sick—sick with lake weeds.
“These aquatic plants had accumulated near Dal Lake over the years, creating an unsightly mess and posing a threat to the local ecosystem,” Maninder Singh tells The Better India.
Singh is the founder of Clean ‘Effen’ Tech (CET), a local-government partner company that harvests thousands of tons of those lake weeds every year, dries and enriches them, then grinds them into fertilizer to sell to local farmers.
Maninder was first inspired to find a solution for clearing the lake weed when visiting Indian-administered Kashmir for his first wedding anniversary. Having already launched an IT startup in his native Uttar Pradesh, Singh would eventually change his focus to creating a social enterprise to tackle the challenges of our age.
The sight of the lake weed marring Dal Lake’s beauty immediately came into his head, and he began an 8-year process to construct a value chain that would see the lake, the local ecology, the global ecology, the local economy, and his own economy, all flourish together.
“Our project is designed to process up to 70,000 [metric] tonnes of lake weed each year, which yields between 20,000 to 22,000 tonnes of organic manure. This large-scale effort is expected to lead to an annual reduction of around 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions,” Singh tells The Better India.
“We have made an impact by enriching over 4,400 acres of land, improving soil health, and supporting sustainable agriculture practices.”
Local workers harvest the lake weed using large machines and transport it to CET’s production plant. There the lake water is drained and treated for heavy metals and other pollutants before it’s released.
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The lake weed is dried, shredded, enriched, and pulverized before being sold for 25% less than chemical fertilizers imported from other states like UP and Haryana, saving more emissions from transportation.
Local farmers have benefited from the cost savings and from the lack of soil amending. Harvests are up, as are soil nutrient concentrations. Also in an economic sense, the local tourism industry will no doubt benefit from the 14,800 metric tons of lake weed pulled in by Singh’s partners last year, not least because during the hotter summer months the mounds of weeds decay and putrefy the air.
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Looking to the future, Singh aims to replicate this success in other Indian lakes—starting in the states of Odisha and Rajasthan. Anywhere there’s a beautiful fresh water body overrun with aquatic plants, Singh hopes to see some Clean ‘Effen’ Tech brought in to clean it the eff up.
SHARE This Great Social Enterprise With Your Friends On Social Media…
An experiment in human photoreceptors allowed scientists to recently define a new color, imperceptible by the human eye, that lies along the blue-green spectrum but is different from the two.
The team, who experimented on themselves and others, hope their findings could one day help improve tools for studying color blindness or lead to new technologies for creating colors in digital imagery.
“Theoretically, novel colors are possible through bypassing the constraints set by the cone spectral sensitivities…” the authors write in their abstract. “In practice, we confirm a partial expansion of colorspace toward that theoretical ideal.”
The team from University of California, Berkeley and the University of Washington used pioneering laser technology which they called “Oz” to “directly control the human eye’s photoreceptor activity via cell-by-cell light delivery.”
Color is generated in our vision through the transmission of light in cells called photoreceptors. Eye tissue contain a series of cones for this task, and the cones are labeled as L, S, or M cones.
In normal color vision, the authors explain, any light that stimulates an M cone cell must also stimulate its neighboring L and/or S cones because the M cone spectral response function lies between that of the L and S cones.
“However, Oz stimulation can by definition target light to only M cones and not L or S, which in principle would send a color signal to the brain that never occurs in natural vision,” they add.
Described as a kind of blue-green with “unprecedented saturation” the new color, which the researchers named “olo” was confirmed as being beyond the normal blue-green spectrum by each participant who saw it, as they needed to add substantial amounts of white for olo to fit somewhere within that spectrum.
“The Oz system represents a new experimental platform in vision science, aiming to control photo receptor activation with great precision,” the study says.
Although the authors are confidant that olo has never been seen before by humans, the spectrum of blue-green has received international attention before as a field of vision discovery.
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A groundbreaking study of the Himba people in Namibia conducted in 2005 and published in journal of the American Psychological Association demonstrated that these traditional landowners seemed to perceive various colors as the same because they used the same word for them. A grouping of colors we in the West would separate into pink, red, and orange, is all serandu to them.
That was only half of the cause for fascination with the study. The other half came from the Himba people’s unbelievable sensitivity to the blue-green spectrum, such that they could reliably pick out the fainest differences in green that Western viewers by comparison missed.
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This also corresponded with more words for shades of green which Westerners would never bother specifying, and in fact, the Himba had a harder time pointing out that a blue square was different from green squares when shown a chart, but could reliably select the square of a slightly different shade of green to the rest.
But then it got even stranger. Further studies in the following years included genetic testing on the Himba, and it showed they possess an increased number of cone cells in their eyes. This higher density of cones enables them to perceive more shades and nuances of color than the average person, according to the lead author of the genetic research.
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Passing away Monday at the age of 88 to the shock of Easter revelers, Pope Francis left behind a simple last will in testament that outlined how the pontiff hoped his earthly remains would be interred.
The news of the Pope’s death broke first around Europe given the time difference with the US. It happened while citizens in many countries were preparing the spreads for the Easter Monday BBQ that’s become tradition around the continent.
Francis hoped, in a will dating to June of 2022, that he would be interred in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, rather than in the Papal Tombs, the interior of Saint Peter’s, or Vatican City in general.
Instead, the fifth-century church Francis selected is located in Rome, and is one of four Papal Basilicas of the city. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and a place where the Pope often came for quiet prayer upon his return to Rome from any of the more than 100 trips he made beyond the Eternal City’s confines.
The Pope wrote:
I have always entrusted my life and my priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest awaiting the day of resurrection in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
I wish that my last earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary where I went for prayer at the beginning and end of each Apostolic Journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and thank Her for her docile and maternal care.
I ask that my tomb be prepared in the niche of the side nave between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica.
The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus.
The suffering that has become present in the last part of my life I have offered to the Lord for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.
Having grown up in poverty in South America, is there much of a surprise then that Francis desired as simple a burial as the leader of the Catholic Church could possibly be expected to afford himself?
For those to whom Francis was a positive force in the world, and a beloved and inspirational figure, the last will presents as a final parting gift of his benevolence and unique papal character—to be celebrated for having witnessed, and to be remembered warmly.
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Quote of the Day: “Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” – Khalil Gibran
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111 years ago today, the first-ever baseball game was played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Then known as Weeghman Park, its original occupants were the Chicago Whales, then known as the “Chi-Feds.” Wrigley Field is known for its ivy-covered brick outfield wall, the unusual wind patterns off Lake Michigan, the iconic red marquee over the main entrance, the hand-turned scoreboard, its location in a primarily residential neighborhood with no parking lots and views from the rooftops behind the outfield, and for being the last Major League park to have lights installed for night games. READ a bit more… (1914)
