85 years ago today, Bugs Bunny, the wisecracking Warner Bros cartoon character, first debuted in an animated short entitled A Wild Hare. Supervised by Fred ‘Tex’ Avery, it featured a hunter named Elmer Fudd pursuing a wily rabbit voiced by Mel Blanc. The pair became beloved, and their debut received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short. WATCH the opening scene and learn more… (1940)
Walmart Heiress Opens Medical School with a Focus on Preventative Medicine
In Arkansas, a new medical school has just opened that aims to train a new generation of doctors on preventative medicine and whole-health principles.
It was dreamed of and financed by arguably the world’s wealthiest woman—a Walmart heiress whose personal struggles with illness and the incentive-based system of American ‘sick-care’ kindled a desire for change, especially in her own rural community.
The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine received 2,000 applications from hopeful young future doctors around the country, accepting only 48 to come and study at the Bentonville campus.
Anyone who raises an eyebrow at alternative approaches to medicine can close the article now, because the curriculum includes art and cooking classes, gardening and horticulture—all tailored to engender a perspective of cultivating health, not managing sickness.
And that is the great challenge faced by the American medical system. It has improved the survival and care of life-threatening diseases and pioneered dozens of mind-boggling surgical procedures, yet the system can be given nothing greater than a failing grade for the state of general human health.
For a nation that styles itself as the greatest to ever exist, its citizens suffer from more non-communicable chronic diseases borne of poor diet and lifestyle choices than any other in the developed world, and nearly half of all American adults are obese.
Profiled in TIME Magazine, Alice Walton would like to see what the American health service sector would look like if doctors spent time focusing on preventing sickness from occurring rather than treating it once it arrives.
It’s not a novel idea: the functional medicine movement is working on gestating a similar revolution among healthcare practitioners. It’s so un-novel that it was expounded by none other than Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, who said so famously that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
To lead her school in embodying that message, Walton picked Dr. Sharmila Makhija, a gynecologic cancer surgeon from Alabama, who like Walton, has seen the dire shortcomings of rural health in her home state.
“The foundation [of the curriculum] is traditional medicine but enhanced with the humanities and the arts to improve the delivery of care—so we improve on how we [act] with patients and how we partner with patients,” Dr. Makhija told TIME.
The average American medical school includes around 20 hours of coursework on nutrition: the backbone of health and the major spawning pool of so many chronic diseases. Along with being not very much, many of those hours of coursework are elective. At the Alice Walton School of Medicine, acronym “AWSOM,” there are 50 hours, at those include culinary classes.
A rooftop vegetable garden mounted on the dramatic glass facades of the main campus building serves as a different sort of classroom, while a nearby learning farm helps further educate on the nature and origin of the food eaten by the patients of these future doctors.
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If you hope to be able to keep a 40-year-old human healthy, you should be able to keep a tomato plant healthy—just one concept in a series that aims to cultivate empathy and the ability to predict where illness will spring from.
As part of their training, students will be able to design a section based on community service and research projects; yet another way that AWSOM methods hope to generate an empathetic eye through the belief that doctors should serve the needs of their community.
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According to TIME, how a prospective student planned to address healthcare shortcomings in their area was a chief determinant of eligibility for attendance.
Both Dr. Makhija and Ms. Walton acknowledge that they can design whatever curriculum they want, but if their graduates just jump into the existing health system, it will be all for naught. For that reason, AWSOM is conducting extensive clinical outreach to build a network of potential establishments willing and eager to test the novel strategies brought forward by the school’s eventual graduates.
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“It’s all about rethinking and re-envisioning what the education of the next generation of health care workers will be like,” says Makhija. “Alice and I are very keen on creating a sustainable model of education, both in how we deliver the curriculum that can be replicated, as well as fiscally, so that other schools can use a similar model.”
The first five years of enrollments will be bankrolled by Ms. Walton’s sizeable fortune.
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Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of July 26, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I predict that your imminent future will be a ticklish and tricky but ultimately uplifting masterpiece. It will feature guest appearances by members of your private hall of fame, including one future luminary you have not yet fully appreciated. This epic series of adventures may begin when you are nudged to transform your bond with a key resource. Soon, you will be encouraged to explore frontier territory that offers unexpected help. Next, you will demonstrate your understanding that freedom is never permanent but must constantly be reinvented.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Sci-fi author Octavia Butler wrote, “All that you touch, you change. All that you change changes you.” The coming weeks will be prime time for you to honor and celebrate that prayer, Virgo. You won’t be a passive dreamer, gentle traveler, or contemplative wanderer. Rather, I predict you will be a tidal force of metamorphosis. Parts of your world are pliable and ready for reshaping, and you will undertake that reshaping. But it’s important to know that the shift will go both ways. As you sculpt, you will be sculpted. As you bless, you will be blessed. Don’t be shy about riding along on this feedback loop. Do it with reverence and glee. Let the art you make remake you. Let the magic you give become the magic you are.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In certain Hindu traditions, the deity Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half-male, half-female—a divine fusion of opposites. They are not torn, but whole in their duality. I invite you to be inspired by their symbolism in the coming weeks, Libra. For you, balance will not be about making compromises or pushing to find middle ground. It will be about embracing the full range of possibilities. Energies that some people may imagine are contradictory may in fact be complementary and mutual. Benevolence will coordinate well with fierceness and vice versa. Your craving for beauty will not just coexist with but synergize an affinity for messy fertility. This is a time for sacred synthesis. Don’t dilute. Integrate.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
The medieval mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction.” Subtracting what? He wasn’t referring to losing something valuable, but rather to letting go of obstacles that obscure our direct experience of the divine. I invite you to make abundant use of this principle, Scorpio. Slough off layers of illusion, outmoded fantasies, and self-images soaked in others’ longings. As you let go, do so not in bitterness but in a joyous quest for freedom.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I’m hoping that the Season of a Thousand Feelings hasn’t confused you. I’m praying that you have maintained a measure of composure and aplomb while navigating through the richest emotional flow you’ve experienced in many moons. It’s true that in some ways this barrage has been draining. But I’m certain you will ultimately regard it as being highly educational and entertaining. You will look back at this bustling interlude as a gift that will take a while to harvest completely.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Greek myth tells us that Persephone didn’t just return from the underworld each spring; she ruled there half the year. Yes, she was taken there against her will, but she adapted, transformed, and ultimately wielded great power in the depths. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, you will have the chance to navigate realms that other souls may not be brave enough to enter: taboos, unusual yearnings, ancestral memories. My advice is to go gently but with intense resolve. Don’t act like a tourist. Be a sovereign explorer, even a maestro of mystery. Claim your throne in the underworld. Use it to create healing maps for others. When your work is done and the right moment comes, you will rise again into the light.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In my astrological opinion, you are ready to graduate from the University of Senseless Suffering. It’s time to get your diploma and treat yourself to a vacation. I’m not saying you will never again experience pain, of course. Rather, I’m telling you the good news that your dilemmas in the coming months will be more fully useful and redemptive. They will feel more like satisfying work than unpleasant ordeals. Congrats on the upgrade, Aquarius! You are forever finished with at least one of your arduous lessons.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said you can’t step in the same river twice. Like everything else in nature, the river is in constant flux. It may appear to be the same, but the water is always flowing. What Heraclitus didn’t say is that *you* are never the same, either. Eternal change is your destiny. I invite you to ruminate eagerly on this truth, Pisces. Hopefully, it will help you let go of any hyper-perfectionist urges you might have. It will inspire you to see that the plan you made a while ago may need revision—not because you were wrong, but because you have grown. So yes: It’s time to reassess and recalculate. The goal isn’t to stick to the blueprint, but to build something that breathes with your becoming. Let the ever-new version of you draw a fresh map. It will be wiser than the last.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In Hindu cosmology, the Sanskrit term “Lila” refers to divine play. It’s the idea that all of creation is a sacred and artful amusement that’s performed by the gods with joy, sorrow, artfulness, and flair. I hereby proclaim Lila to be your theme of power, Aries. You have been so deep lately, so honest, so drenched in feeling. Now, life is giving you a big wink and saying, “It’s playtime!” You can start this fresh phase by making a list of all the experiences that bring you fun, recreation, and entertainment. I hope you emphasize these pursuits in the coming weeks.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In the high desert of Chile, astronomers work at observatories on mountaintops where the air is dry, and the sky is clear. There, away from light pollution, the universe reveals itself with astonishing intimacy. But even the most powerful telescopes can’t function during the day. I suspect you will be like those observatories in the coming weeks, Taurus: capable of seeing vast truths, but only if you pause, quiet the ambient noise, and look during the dark. This approach should embolden you to use your intelligence in new ways. Stillness and silence will be conducive to your deep explorations. Night will be your ally.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Are you courageous enough to let go of sparkly clean but unfruitful fantasies so as to clear space for reality’s disorderly richness? Are you wild enough to relinquish naïve fears and hopes so you can see the raw truths blooming right in front of you? Are you cagey enough to discard the part of your innocence that’s rooted in delusion even as you bolster the part of your innocence that’s fueled by your love of life? Here’s my response to those questions, Gemini: Maybe you weren’t mature or bold or crafty enough to accomplish these heroic feats before, but you are now.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Coral polyps are tiny, soft-bodied creatures. Over centuries, they assemble massive reef systems, turning their fragile exoskeletons into monumental architecture. These creatures can be a symbolic reminder that your sensitivity is not a weakness; it’s your building material. Keep that in mind during the coming weeks, when tender care and your nurturing ability can be primal sources of power. I invite you to start creating an enduring sanctuary. Generate a quiet miracle. Construct an elegant masterpiece. For best results, allow your emotional intelligence to guide you. You have the precise blend of aptitudes necessary to coax beauty to grow from vulnerability.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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‘Doing God’s Work’: This Korean Restaurant Hits 15,000 Free Meals
In the July heat, it may have seemed strange to see a line out of the door of Korea House Restaurant on a Wednesday afternoon.
The Austin Asian eatery was preparing to do “God’s work” feeding their community for free.
On the first Wednesday of every month, the first authentic Korean BBQ restaurant in Austin opens its doors to feed whoever walks in. The kitchen staff volunteer their time, as do the front of house who take orders from strangers crammed together at communal tables.
The charity feeding has recently surpassed its 15,000th meal, and the owners, who recently had to start dipping into their savings to continue the tradition, say they have no plans to stop.
“We’re not rich, but when we share with others, always God provide us better things somehow,” said Vivian Newton, who opened the restaurant in 1988 with her friend Pok-Cha Kim. “If we have to close down, we’ll close down. But until then, we’re just going to keep on going.”
Tips and donations are accepted but not expected, and often pooled for donation to the homeless, who often are among those who come in and eat for free.
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“That first taste brought [me] back to Korea,” Moses Yoo, an unhoused Korean American told KUT News after his meal. “The smells of the streets, of all the different foods and just hearing Korean at a Korean restaurant here in Austin… It was nice to have someone speak back Korean.”
It’s not just the needy who take advantage of the free meals, but students at local universities who can always use a bit of financial relief. In the case of two who also spoke with KUT, it was probably the first restaurant they ever remember going to as kids, and now as adults the attachment is even stronger.
MORE RESTAURANTS HELPING OTHERS: How a Gift from Pope Francis Inspired a Restaurant Owner to Feed the Hungry for Years
The charity is driven strongly by Newton and Kim’s Christian faith, and from the decor to the music, the word of God is central in their lives. They hope those who eat are not only filled up physically, but also spiritually.
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Engineer Revives the Pay Phone for Vermont Community to Make Free Calls in Their Cellular Dead Zone
Humanity is enjoying a bit of a devolution back to analog, and a perfect example of this comes from Vermont, where refurbished pay phones are connecting a community with poor cell signal.
When was the last time you used a pay phone? For many working Americans the answer may be never. But for one rural Vermonter, he saw them as a potential public service project.
“I realized, wow, there’s no cell service for 10 miles in either direction,” Patrick Schlott, an airplane engineer told AP’s Amanda Swinhart. “The community could really benefit from something like this.”
Taking an entrepreneurial idea and turning it into a charitable one, Schlott bought an old pay phone, which sell for between $100 and $500, and installed it outside the North Turnbridge General Store using a device that converts an internet connection to an analog telecom line the phones can use.
He then removed the coin-operation mechanism, and suddenly, a free phone service was available for all, though it did take some convincing on the part of the general store owners.
“Everyone’s pretty surprised, and they’re like, ‘Is that a real pay phone? Does that really work?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but it doesn’t cost any money now,’” said store owner Mike Gross. “We’ve had people use it that broke down. It’s a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.”
A SIMILAR INITIATIVE FROM THE UK: Village Saves its Phone Booth with Campaign to Make More Calls – and Preserve a ‘Lifeline’
The phone proved pretty useful to the community, and suddenly he received requests for more: from the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, Swinhart reports.
Schlott’s charitable participation doesn’t end there, since it costs $2 to $3 per phone for the phone line and another $5 for calls. Then, Schlott has to act as the operator, fielding or transferring calls and helping users when needed if they but dial 0. The operator calls arrive on his personal cell phone, which uses an app to keep his number private.
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370 calls were made from the Lantham phone last month, many of them students without cell phones who needed a pickup from a parent.
Schlott would like to expand the project if he can figure out financing possibilities.
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“We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.” – Sigmund Freud
Quote of the Day: “We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.” – Sigmund Freud
Photo by: Ryan Hutton
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?
Good News in History, July 26
133 years ago today, Dadabhai Naoroji was elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain. A merchant, scholar, writer, and political leader who served as a founding member of the Indian National Congress, Naoroji is particularly known for formulating the “drain theory,” which argued that economic exploitation under British rule led to the transfer of wealth from India to Britain. His work was influential among early nationalists and reformers, and he remained a key figure in shaping early Indian political thought. READ more about this pioneering freedom-fighter and some of his work as an MP… (1892)
Temporary Tattoo Could Prevent ‘Spiking’ by Detecting Roofie Drugs in Drinks Within Seconds
A temporary tattoo that detects drugs in drinks could prevent spiking with roofies.
The new sticker responds within one second to even low concentrations of the drug γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), according to scientists.
When drinking in a social setting, downing a drink spiked with drugs including GHB or Rohypnol (known as “roofies’) is an ever-present danger.
The drugs are colorless and tasteless, and induce a stupor in the victim that’s similar to severe alcohol intoxication, which leaves people vulnerable to being overpowered.
But people can protect themselves by testing their drinks with specialized strips or cards that change color if exposed to the drugs.
However, current tests are often conspicuous or take minutes to report their results.
Now researchers in South Korea have developed a rapid-acting test for GHB that’s worn on the skin using a tattoo-like sticker.
To create the stickers, the researchers placed a mould overtop a thin plastic film decorated with tattoo-like designs. The team poured a gel mixture Into the mould, containing a chemical receptor that turns red when it detects GHB. They then coated the back of the sticker with a diluted glue solution, so it could stick to skin.
The researchers tested the sticker’s ability to detect small amounts of GHB in a range of drinks, including whiskey, vodka, beer, and coffee.
The findings, published in the journal ACS Sensors, showed that, within a single second, it detected the drug across a range of concentrations and below a level that would induce serious physiological symptoms: 0.01 micrograms of GHB in one milliliter of beverage.
“In practice, a wearer could dip a finger into a beverage, touch the drop to the sticker and see the result almost immediately,” said study co-author Dr. Kyong-Cheol Ko, of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology in a media release.
“And the sticker displays the positive result for up to 30 days after detection, which could be important if it’s needed as a form of evidence of tampering.”
The researchers say that their sticker technology, funded in part by funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, is cheap and easy to manufacture, and it could be commercially available soon.
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‘I Married the Hitchhiker we Picked Up on the Road’ – If Uber Would have Been Cheaper They’d Never Meet
A woman is counting her blessings that she was on the right road at the right time, after falling in love with a guy that she and her friend picked up hitchhiking.
27-year-old Maddy met Travis Becker while driving back from a night out with her friend in Byron Bay, Australia, a beach vacation destination. They spotted Travis and his pal walking on the side of the road, trying to hail a lift. The four ended up spending the rest of the evening hanging out—with Maddy and Travis hitting it off.
But the pair forgot to get each others’ phone number and they had to track each other down on Facebook.
Two weeks later, the American woman who was studying abroad in Byron Bay, joined Travis, a Sydney resident, on their first official date—and they got engaged 18 months later.
The couple said they couldn’t be more grateful for their decisions back then.
“If he’d have gotten one more drink or I’d have taken a different route we might not have met,” said Maddy, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who knew right away he was the one.
“I knew I was going to build a life with him. It makes you very grateful.”
Maddy said she didn’t tell her dad how she met Travis initially, but now her family couldn’t be happier for her. And people are always shocked when they hear their story for the first time.
“I feel like my life would be completely different if I blinked and looked the other way that night,” Travis Becker told SWNS news agency.
“One more beer or talking to someone for just enough time for me to be leaving and standing on the corner trying to get an Uber at 3x surcharge, so I thought ‘let’s try to hitchhike.’”
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“Within about one minute someone shouts out of a car and is pulling over. It was two girls. My mate and I were like, ‘let’s get in!’… Little did I know that it was my future wife driving.
“We hung out that night and it just felt like we had known each other for years, our souls were in sync and we just chatted all night.
“I think nothing in this world is a coincidence. I pinch myself every day.”
They realized their Airbnbs were in the same place, and the four ended up playing cards and hanging out.
“We were talking about all the things we had in common,” says Maddy. “We were so engaged in conversation I didn’t get his phone number or socials.
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“I couldn’t even remember his last name. All I could remember was he was an electrician from Sydney. I went on Facebook trying to find him.”
Maddy ended up finding Travis’ friend on Facebook and messaged him to pass on her number. They ended up meeting up the next day.
“We haven’t stopped talking after that.
“We’re so lucky.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Hitchhiking can be quite dangerous—especially when alone—so always be cautious, aware, and smart.)
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Family’s Escaped Parakeet Found More Than a Hundred Miles Away from Home: ‘That’s Unheard of!’
A much-loved parakeet has been found in Dorset, England after going missing from its London home more than 100 miles away.
After having never left home before, the large green 7-year-old Alexandrine parakeet named Rambi took off on a Sunday when his cage was left open during a family barbecue.
They launched an extensive search for him in their neighborhood, leading to half of Islington on the lookout for the parakeet.
“Because he’s never really flown before—other than around the house—we thought he’d be nearby,” said owner Yianoulla Evangelou. “We all went to bed that night devastated.
“We searched every street, knocked on every neighbor’s door, put posters up, contacted every vet and pet shop, everything you can think of,” the 50-year-old explained.
They had no luck until weeks later when they received a call from animal charity Wildlife in Need on the south coast of England, near Bournemouth, saying they’d found a parakeet that looked similar to theirs.
The charity was quite doubtful that it was the right bird—even after the number on Rambi’s ankle tag was matched—because they’d never heard anything like it happening before. They were so incredulous that Evangelou had to keep sending photos and videos of Rambi, in order to convince them it was hers.
“It’s a miracle,” Evangelou told SWNS news agency. “We’re so happy now that Rambi’s back. It’s just so amazing.
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“But we’re baffled as to how he got to Bournemouth and his journey. We just can’t wrap our brains around it. He’s a domestic bird.”
It’s believed that the bird, which is native to Southeast Asia, may have hitched a ride in, or on, someone’s vehicle to get from the capital to the sunny south coast.
Ms. Evangelou explained that during a family backyard barbecue they brought out their birds to join them, and while giving Rambi some food, she must have inadvertently left his door ajar—and, possibly scared by loud construction going on next door, he fled his cage.
“It was hot so we thought he would be bound to come down into someone’s garden.”
The family later learned that the lost bird was brought into a charity, Wildlife in Need, in Dorset, after landing on a random woman’s shoulder in a Sainsbury’s car park.
“We don’t understand how he got to where he did. He travelled over a hundred miles in the space of six days. That’s unheard of.”
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“The only way we will find out exactly what happened is if he tells us at some point—because he does talk,” she joked.
“The woman who took him in said she would’ve loved to have kept Rambi, but she knew he had an owner.”
“We drove for more than two-and-a-half hours the day after we got the call to pick him up,” Ms Evangelou continued.
“It was the best feeling in the world. We thought he was gone forever.
“The community were amazing. There were people out in parks at night, walking their dogs and looking for Rambi.
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Ms. Evangelou says her sister, Sheniz, is now even thinking of writing a children’s book about his adventure, called #BringRambiHome.
“He’s such a loving bird, and he loves to dance,” said Sheniz.
“We were worried that a cat or a bird of prey would get to him, because he’s obviously not very streetwise.”
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Guinness Record Holder for Most Premature Baby is Thriving at 1-Year Old–and All Giggles After ‘Zero Odds’ to Live
The Iowa boy who was named by Guinness World Records as the world’s most premature baby has beat “impossible” odds to reach his first birthday.
Born at just 21 weeks gestation – a staggering 133 days early – Nash Keen is now all giggles, said his parents Randall and Mollie Keen.
In early 2024, just six months after suffering a miscarriage, the childless couple happily discovered Mollie was pregnant again.
“When we went to our doctor’s office for the 20-week scan, I had some concerns about how I was feeling so I asked them to look at me closer—which they normally don’t do at that appointment—and they found I was already two centimeters dilated.”
It was an expectant parent’s nightmare: Waiting in a hospital room for days surrounded by doctors and nurses, hoping their baby wouldn’t be born too early.
The couple learned that the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at University of Iowa Health Care’s Children’s Hospital had recently started performing lifesaving measures on babies born at 21 weeks gestation. If the baby could hold off until midnight on July 5, it had a chance.
Luckily, Mollie’s contractions subsided for two days. Then, on July 5, just hours after she surpassed the 21-week mark, Nash was delivered.
It was a moment described by Dr. Malinda Schaefer, a high-risk obstetrician, as being part of a new frontier in maternal fetal medicine.
“We want what is best for patients, so we really try to convey that we do not know what the outcomes will be for these extremely premature births. And it is important for parents to understand most survival rates are low, and if babies do survive, they have a very high risk of long-term complications, even at 22 weeks,” she says.
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The stars really aligned for Nash as the team was able to quickly provide medicine to support organ development and lower the risk of certain complications. He was also head down, which is better because it was similar to a full-term birth.
Thankfully, Dr. Schaefer recalled, “Nash just came out very easily.”
As Schaefer and others tended to Mollie, they handed off Nash to the NICU team. Although he weighed just 10 ounces—less than a can of soda (285 grams)—Nash was big enough for a breathing tube and the smallest equipment.
Still, Nash’s chance at surviving was technically nonexistent, because at the time no baby had ever been born so early and survived.
“We never want the parents to lose hope, but we have to be very honest with them,” says Patrick McNamara, MD, division director of neonatology. “I would have told his parents, ‘The chance is zero, but I hope I’m wrong and we will do everything we can to help him.’”
Stanford and McNamara both describe Nash as incredibly resilient and, as Stanford says, “he let us do what we needed to do to help him.”
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“Around the one-month mark, we all began to breathe a little easier,” Stanford says. “While we knew Nash still had a long journey ahead, that was the point when we started to feel more confident that he had a real chance of going home.”
As he began to grow, Nash underwent numerous echocardiograms for his heart and endless monitoring and medication—all with lots of love from his parents.
Nash’s resilience carried him through months of recovery—and after 189 days in the hospital, his parents finally got the all-clear to take him home in January 2025.
The care team recently resolved one of his ongoing health issues, chronic pulmonary hypertension. He also has a minor heart defect, but it should resolve itself as he gets older.
Now, his parents say Nash is growing and changing every day, just like any other baby.
Stanford’s goal for the boy is, by the time he’s 5 years old and goes to kindergarten, that no one will know that he was born so early.
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“I never lost hope for Nash,” Mollie says. “I want him to see his story as a source of strength.”
The family celebrated Nash’s first birthday on July 5, something that seemed nearly impossible a year ago. But, for the boy in Ankeny, Iowa, beating the odds is what he’s good at.
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“If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and stare.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Quote of the Day: “If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and stare.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Photo by: Ryan Hutton
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?
Good News in History, July 25
60 years ago today, the 60s folk singer Bob Dylan walked onstage at the Newport Folk Festival, plugged in his Fender Stratocaster and “went electric,” tearing into the song “Maggie’s Farm.”
Although many folkie-loving ticket-holders in the audience booed, nothing would stop the leather-clad Dylan from becoming one of rock’s rebel geniuses. WATCH the moment below… (1965)
Man Wracks Up 250,000 EV Miles Driving Neighbors in Need–and the Battery Still Has a Capacity of 92%
In the course of being a wonderful, kind-hearted neighbor, a California man inadvertently demonstrated the incredible reliability and longevity of his electric vehicle.
And being that it’s a Ford Mustang Mach-E, which many derided as an abomination of the badge, it’s a head-turning, heart-tugging piece of publicity.
David Blenkle has spent the last few years using his all-electric Mach-E to run a small private car service in Santa Cruz, California, and has driven more than 250,000 miles in the last three years.
Even more impressive, the car still has 92% of the battery capacity he had when he bought it.
Inspired by the care his grandfather received as a WWII veteran, Blenkle started off by offering complimentary rides for veterans and their families to Veteran’s Affairs (VA) appointments and national cemeteries.
He also began to offer free rides to job-seekers, both veterans and others, to help them get to any job interviews they might have lined up.
Years passed, and Blenkle has become a lifeline for hundreds of people in his community who would otherwise not have had access to reliable transportation.
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Through the growth of his business, David was able to expand to continue providing reliable rides to those in need, including university students needing a ride to the airport, or locals navigating the highway over the Santa Cruz mountains.
There are many good arguments on both sides of the debate on the reliability of EVs versus conventional combustion vehicles, especially in a state as large as California. Perhaps the best on the EV side is that an electric motor has one moving part.
Resulting not a little from that fact, the course of Blenkle’s charitable work has seen him pass a quarter-million miles—equivalent to a trip to the moon—without enduring any major under-the-hood work.
SHARE This Feel-Good Story With Your Friends Thinking Of Buying An EV…
Two-Legged Chihuahua Saves Owner’s Life by Detecting Heart Attack
A two-legged Chihuahua named Champ detected a potentially fatal heart attack before his owner even felt symptoms, saving his life in the process.
63-year-old Andrew Kuzyk says Champ’s unusual behavior—hugging his chest and whining —prompted lifesaving medical attention.
It made Kuzyk take the “chest tightening” feeling seriously, and his wife called for help.
He had emergency surgery during which his heart stopped beating twice, but survived to make a steady recovery.
“I was just watching TV when Champ came up to me,” Kuzyk, from Locust Grove, Georgia, recounted to the English news outlet SWNS. “He hugged my chest right about where my heart is and made a whine I’ve never heard him utter before. Shortly after that, I started having chest pains.”
Champ, who was born missing two legs, is one of six rescue Chihuahuas that share Kuzyk’s mobile home with him and his wife, Pamela.
He had had a minor heart attack once before, which caused him to take symptoms like the chest pain more seriously.
Moved by Champ’s persistent whimpering, Kuzyk’s wife dialed 911 for an ambulance and he was rushed about 30 miles to a hospital in Atlanta, where doctors performed emergency surgery.
“The doctor showed me this giant thing blocking my heart right after surgery,” he said. “He said in his career, he’s never seen anything like it.”
“I know for sure that without Champ I wouldn’t be here,” he added, saying the dog did the same thing shortly before he was diagnosed with brain cancer, just one of several forms of cancer he’s currently battling.
HER DOGS OF EVERY SIZE:
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“I have a soft spot in my heart for dogs who have been abandoned, especially Chihuahuas, even though they get a bad rap because of their barking,” Kuzyk said. “Most of my dogs have special needs, too. One is blind, and they’ve become a complete blessing to me.”
Kuzyk, a self-described born-again Christian, sees profound meaning in his survival through Champ’s remarkable abilities.
“I think for some strange reason, during all my cancers, the Lord wants me to be on this earth,” he said, pointing out Champ as a third pillar of his strength, alongside Pamela and his faith.
“I love him with all my heart. He’s just incredible. Whenever people see him, they immediately fall in love with him.”
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New Triassic Reptile Has Enormous Crest Unknown to Science That Upends Feather Evolution Theories
A newly-declared species of 247 million-year-old Triassic reptile and its ridiculously large crest has left scientists scratching their heads.
The crest is unlike anything seen before, and was neither made out of skin, as in the case of pterosaur crests, nor feathers, as in the case of raptors and eventually birds.
It wasn’t a kind of hair either, and in fact, the animal is now being used as a study case for the origin of protrusions of all kinds.
At the most fundamental level, feathers and hair are complex appendages that have important functions such as forming insulation, aiding sensation, providing displays, and contributing to flight.
Both feathers and hair have their origins in stem lineages of birds and mammals, respectively. However, the genetic toolkit for the development of these appendages is likely to have deeper roots among amniotes—the branch of animals that encompasses reptiles, birds and mammals.
In a paper published yesterday in Nature, Stephan Spiekman and colleagues describe a small animal with a distinctive crest of appendages up to 6 inches tall along its back. Although the reptile has a superficially bird-like skull, it was been assigned to a clade of Triassic reptiles called Drepanosauromorpha and named Mirasaura (meaning wonderous reptile).
The Triassic Period was the ‘good ‘ole days’ of reptilian domination and evolution on the planet, and many reptiles still alive today such as the lizard, crocodilian, and turtle first appeared during this age of the Earth which predated the dinosaurs.
Two well-preserved skeletons with plumes of Mirasaura, along with 80 specimens with isolated appendages and preserved soft tissues were examined after arriving in the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany.
All fossils are dated to be around 247 million years old and the first were found in northeastern France in the 1930s but remained unidentified until further preparation was undertaken in recent years. This allowed the crests and skeletal remains to be associated with each other.
“The material has been variously described over the years as including parts of a reptile skeleton, a fish fin, an insect wing or plant parts, or was called unidentifiable,” reports Dr. Richard Prum, a paleoecologist from Yale University in a commentary piece on the discovery.
It’s very rare to have soft tissues preserved from so long ago, and it allowed Spiekman et al. to get a closer look at exactly what the appendages were made of when the animal was alive.
MORE WONDROUS ANIMALS: Scientists Discover Oldest Bird Fossils, Rewrite History of Avian Evolution
They contain melanosomes (pigment-producing cells found in skin, hair, and feathers) that are more similar to those seen in feathers than in reptilian skin or mammalian hair, although they lack the typical branching patterns seen in feathers.
It suggests that such complex appendages already evolved among reptiles before the origin of birds and their closest relatives, which may offer new insights into the origin of feathers and hair.
MORE REPTILIAN HISTORY: Two Halves of the Same Fossil Stored at Different Museums Reunited to Form New Species
“[T]hese appendages must have been a striking and unusual feature of the animal’s appearance. They also must have been awkward to carry around, given that the longest is more than one-third of the length of the entire creature,” Dr. Prum adds.
Considering the function of the appendages seen in Mirasaura, Spiekman and colleagues rule out roles in flight or camouflage and instead suggest a possible role in visual signaling, perhaps for mating purposes, or even to deter predators like the spots on a butterfly’s wings.
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Waste from Copper Plant Is Heating a German Waterfront Without Emitting CO2
A Hamburg copper smelter is showing that with a little innovation, it’s possible to heat the city’s water without heating up the climate.
Aurubis produces 400,000 tons of pure copper every year, every ounce of which generates molecular heat that is channeled into a nearby heating system.
This provides hot water for around 28,000 homes and buildings, and saves 120,000 tons of CO2 per year.
The story begins in 2018 when the Hafencity industrial waterfront area was the focus of a major urban redevelopment project. Enercity Contracting got together with Aurubis to channel the reactive heat of their chemical smelting process through a pipeline network several kilometers long to the Hafencity district heating system.
Once there, pumps divide the hot water between its customers on demand, with a backup natural gas boiler on hand for peak demand during the winter months.
At Aurubis, their smelting process is chemical, not thermal. Using a catalyst to cause sulfur in the copper ore to react with oxygen generates the heat needed to transform the ore into metal.
“This is an exothermal reaction producing heat. So it is totally CO2-free, no gas is burnt, it’s just there,” Dr. Holger Klaassen, Director of corporate energy and climate affairs at Aurubis, told Euronews.
The total cost of the project was around €70 million, ($78 million) a pretty small investment compared to other district heating projects, like this $220 million project in Vantaa, Finland that will use underground caverns as storage basins for water heated through waste heat.
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Utilities consume fossil fuels in various ways. Some use them directly, such as electricity which is delivered after fossil fuels are burned. Others require intermediaries. In the case of home heating, one of the most common is heated water pumped into radiators or through pipes in the case of underfloor heating. Heat pumps go one step further and use heated water to heat air that’s blown out into the building.
MORE UTILITIES NEWS: Microsoft Campus Set to Use Geothermal Energy to Heat/Cool Millions of Sq Ft. of Office Space
Given that intermediary, there are more possibilities for decarbonization of heating compared to electricity. Traditionally, water boilers are heated using natural gas, but any source of heat, provided it’s strong enough, could be used to heat the water and therefore the home.
Industrial processes create all kinds of elemental forces, and smelting is probably just one of many that could utilize waste heat for district heating. GNN reported on a UK swimming center that heats its pool using waste heat from a nearby internet data center.
SHARE How Hamburg Put 2 And 2 Together To Get Heating 4 The City…
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” – Saint Augustine
Quote of the Day: “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” – Saint Augustine
Photo by: Mor Shani
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?
Good News in History, July 24
50 years ago today, Giorgio Armani and Sergio Galeotti founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A (joint stock company) in Milan, Italy. Armani had no education in design, and instead studied medicine in advance of a two-year stint in the army. He got into fashion simply by working at department stores. By 2001, Armani was acclaimed as the most successful designer of Italian origin, and is credited with pioneering red-carpet fashion. READ more… (1975)
Lost Mother and Son ‘Did Everything Right’ to Lead Rescuers to Their Broken Car
Despite a 2-day ordeal lost in deep woods, a mother and her son “did everything right,” stayed safe, and used a clever trick to help rescuers find them.
The story began when Tami Laird and her son Stirling left their home in Calaveras County, California on July 11th to attend a Boy Scout camp.
The camp director warned parents the road would be rough, so Ms. Laird had no objection about pulling off CA highway 4 onto a dirt road with the camp’s location plugged into the GPS app on her smartphone.
That was the first and roughly only mistake she made that day. As the thick woods and remote country blocked the GPS from tracking them accurately, and despite following its directions for 30 minutes, it was clear from the deteriorating condition of the track and the camp still being 8 miles away that they had run dangerously awry of their route.
Retracing their steps was no use, as the spider’s web of rights and lefts was impossible to make sense of in reverse. The sedan she was driving was beached several times on the uneven road, and the pair had to dig it out repeatedly until one time when they couldn’t.
They were stuck.
From the mistake that left them stranded on the road, Tami Laird, with a little help from her little scout, made the correct calls: first by remaining calm and taking time to consider their options as night fell; next by opting to stay in the car.
While history shows that this was the right decision, it was a long, sleepless, and anxious night for both of them. The next morning, having tried and failed to call 911 the day before, they needed to consider how to be found.
They hatched a plan to leave notes along the various roads they had crisscrossed in the hopes that someone with knowledge of the terrain would find them. Again, Laird made a good call. The forest was dense, and hills surrounded them. She feared that walking too far afield would leave them unable to find their way back, so she used scissors to cut strips of fabric off a bedsheet and tie them around trees to blaze their trails.
“Me and my son are stranded with no service and can’t call 911,” one of the notes said. “We are ahead, up the road to the right.” Another note left a phone number to call.
In the summer heat the constant hiking was exhausting, and the pair decided to call it quits for the day, having determined where next to leave other notes should no one find them that night. As Stirling began to despair, Laird suggested they play cards to settle down, but no sooner had the deck been shuffled then they heard a wonderful, wonderful sound.
The honk-honk of a truck, coming to rescue them, which was when “the tears started,” as Laird told CNN.
MORE SURVIVAL STORIES: 20-yo Hiker Survives to See Family Again After Incredible 50 Days Lost in the Rockies
“We were definitely a good team out there,” Laird added, crediting Stirling for keeping her calm. “He kept trying to keep me positive because I kept saying things like, ‘I don’t think we’re going to get rescued,’ or ‘Our only hope is a helicopter, and I don’t think a helicopter is going to come.’”
Little did they know it at the time, but someone tried to call Laird after it was clear they were overdue in arriving at the camp. They communicated this to the search and rescue division of the Calaveras Co. Sheriff’s Office, which established a base at a nearby recreation area to conduct a search of the “complex network of interconnecting, labyrinth-like roads,” a statement from the Sheriff’s Office read.
“At approximately 5:40 PM, a Search and Rescue team located a handwritten note posted at an intersection of a remote Forest Service Road. The note indicated that the author and her son were stranded and in need of assistance. The team followed the road and found another note, which provided additional information, including a telephone number and the names of the missing individuals. About a mile later, the searchers located the missing persons and their vehicle.”
MORE SURVIVAL STORIES: Rescuers Relieved to Find Pilot, 2 Children Survived Crash Landing on Frozen Alaskan Lake
The statement went on to say that the teams had to communicate on HAM radio frequencies, such was the remoteness and density of the forest area; neither cell service nor conventional radio waves worked.
CNN meanwhile reported that the rescue team applauded Laird for her instincts, telling her she’d done everything right. Her fiancé also shared her last known location with the rescuers.
If traveling by car in remote areas, the first and often best thing you can do to protect yourself isn’t to stock your trunk with survival gear, food, or water, but rather to leave a detailed plan with someone you love, and give them a clear deadline for calling search and rescue.
MORE SURVIVAL STORIES: Man Gets Stuck in Lake Michigan Quicksand and Comes Out with New Girlfriend
If you get lost like Laird and Stirling, and believe there’s no reason anyone knows you’re missing, the best thing you can do is follow Laird’s instincts and stay with your car.
A German backpacker lost for 12 days in the Australian outback became so when she abandoned her broken-down vehicle after hitting her head in the crash, walking away in a daze. If the terrain can block radio signals, it’s dense enough to allow one to get lost even just a few dozen yards from their vehicle, so marking trails like Laird did is a must.
Only after securing protection from the elements and animals, and maximizing the chance of rescue by signaling or leaving evidence of their presence should one consider water, and eventually food.
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