A cute video captured by visitors to the Switzerland zoo in Zurich shows a 2-month-old baby elephant falling into a ditch.
She can’t get up, but within seconds, the adult herd rushes to her aid, turning her upright again like a toy.
(WATCH the adorable video that has almost four million views so far)
“As oil production swells, demand falters and prices slide, the global oil market appears on the verge of a pivotal shift from an era of scarcity to one of abundance,” Reuters reports.
“Oil prices have fallen as much as 20 percent since June, despite a host of rising supply risks.”
“The implications of such a shift would likely accelerate shifts in the global balance of power, with consumer nations such as the United States becoming less dependent on producers like Russia or Iran.”
[Editor’s note: Renewable energy sources are still the wave of the future and increased investment needs to continue, but lower gas prices will help low-income families in their quest for a better life, which is another reason to see this as a positive development.]
(READ the Reuters story via Yahoo News)
Andrew Wallace vividly recalls the email he received one afternoon in 2013 telling him that a sketchbook of famed Iowa artist Grant Wood was for sale at a Chicago fine arts auction house.
As the manager of collections for Davenport’s Figge Art Museum, he also serendipitously received a request from a Wood scholar that resulted in discovering a ledger listing items in the Figge’s extensive collection from Wood’s sister that included “a small sketchbook of ideas for a memorial window.”
So Wallace, a humble yet persistent man, set about to retrieve the stolen art.
(READ the story in the Quad City Times)
EU’s Erasmus Study Exchange Programme has become a catalyst for creating a common cultural identity among young Europeans and future generations.
A study released by the European Commission that measured the program’s impact on a sample of over 80,000 students showed Erasmus has an extremely positive effect on both the job prospects and the cultural tolerance of its participants.
What is even more encouraging, though, is that a third of the participants end up in transnational relationships, setting up cross-cultural families. A minimum of one million trans-European babies are estimated to have been born from these unions so far. What we may be witnessing here is the creation of a new generation of Europeans who do not define themselves by nationality and difference, but who, rather, renegotiate their identities within various cultural contexts, worldviews and sets of values. Set up in 1987, the student exchange program has since helped more than three million students study overseas and lay the foundation for a more tolerant future within a culturally united Europe.
Named after the well-travelled Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, it covers the 28 EU countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
In time when good news about European integration is scarce, this comes as an important message that the European project has much further-reaching integrative potential. While politicians and technocrats in Brussels busy themselves with economic indicators and new directives, love can prove to be an equally efficient tool for constructing a common Europe.
College students in a business class saw a need and organized a service, which now earns the school hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships and other programs.
The state college near an airport in the New York City suburbs is using a big parking lot to operate a shuttle service for passengers.
“Purchase College runs a 24-hour valet parking and shuttle service for travelers headed to the Westchester County Airport, where finding a parking spot can be a pricey problem.”
(READ the story in the Press-Telegram)
One of the best wide receivers in American college football met Kathy Rackley by chance at a bookstore.
She had no idea who he was and began telling him about her book club. Malcolm Mitchell, who was trying to improve his reading skills, insisted on joining, even though the club members were all older women.
Reading novels is a feat Mitchell is more proud of, than any of his acrobatics on the University of Georgia football field. “That came natural,” Mitchell told Steve Hartman. “That’s a gift.”
“I had to work to read.”
(WATCH the video above or READ the story at CBS, but NOTE* Beware the auto-play audio and adjust your volume)
First envisioned in 1997, and funded by $80 million in private donations, a new memorial was dedicated yesterday in Washington, DC, to honor past and present disabled veterans of America.
The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, located 1,000 feet south and west of the United States Capitol, was the brainchild of Lois Pope, 81, a philanthropist with a keen desire to help veterans. She met with Veterans Affairs leaders under the Clinton Administration in 1997 and spurred legislation that would create the memorial. Having no personal ties to any disabled veterans, she donated $10 million of her own money and helped raise the rest over the next 16 years.
Three walls of laminated glass panels display embedded text and photographs of wounded veterans, like New Yorker Joe Bacani and former Kansas Senator Bob Dole. Four bronze sculptures evoke the universal story of disabled veterans’ pride of service, trauma of injury, and challenge of healing and renewal of purpose. A grove of trees stands sentry beside the reflecting pool, signifying the persistence of hope.
President Obama spoke at the dedication saying, “To every wounded warrior, to every disabled veteran — thank you.”
“With this memorial we commemorate, for the first time, the two battles our disabled veterans have fought — the battle over there, and the battle here at home — your battle to recover, which at times can be even harder, and certainly longer. You walk these quiet grounds — pause by the pictures of these men and women, you look into their eyes, read their words — and we’re somehow able to join them on a journey that speaks to the endurance of the American spirit.”
(SEE more photos at their website)
Russ Evans is a 25-year-old who is proof that the impossible may be possible.
He says he was a quadriplegic 10 weeks ago. Now the former athlete can move his feet, fingers and arms. He received a drug that may be a breakthrough for treating spinal injuries.
The amazing thing for the doctors is how quickly he improved while participating in a medical trial.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from WQAD-TV)
Story tip from Tonya Brown Wright -Unrelated Photo by Giampaolo Macorig – CC license
When a Brandon, Mississippi high school football team lost their quarterback to injury during a game, the opponents’ coach offered up one of his own quarterbacks, demonstrating sportsmanship to all.
At the start of the second half, with the score of 21-0, Mason Matheiu became the only red jersey in the huddle on the opposing team, But he led them for two touchdowns and really enjoyed the opportunity.
“They are a great bunch of guys,” he told WLBT-TV.
(WATCH the video from TODAY or READ the story (w/ video) from WLBT)
Photo of unknown football player uploaded to Wikimedia by Shea Smith (public domain)
“Pulling itself up even further from the brink of failure it once faced, Lowell Community Charter Public School has reached the highest achievement level on Massachusetts state tests for the third year in a row,” according to the Lowell Sun newspaper.
The school, which the state nearly shut down four years ago because of low test scores, met targeted goals that only 26 percent of all state schools reached this year — and did it while serving mostly low-income, minority students whose first language is not English.
(READ the full story from the Lowell Sun)
Story tip from Vandy Duffy
Photo courtesy of Lowell Community Charter Public School
Just nine months ago, Andrea Kringstein and Annaleigh Sage Bergman were perfect strangers.
With no treatment and no cure and her serious kidney disease, Andrea went on a desperate search to find a match, turning to a non-profit website called MatchingDonors.com.
“I was reading her profile from top to bottom and feeling like it could’ve been me,” Sage said. “It was a deep personal connection right away. Talking about her children in her profile really hit me hard because children need their mother.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from TODAY) – Photo courtesy of TODAY
I have been taking Cayenne pepper for over 20 years, along with Ginkgo Biloba. I am 76 yrs and I am still working 7 days a week. I take both every day and I never break the cycle, ever.
I do not know if this has helped me to get to this age or not, but I have never been in hospital. I just see my Doc once a year for a check up.
I eat almost everything, but in moderation.
I smoked from the age of 17, but stopped almost 4 years now. Stopped drinking at the same time.
I did put on a few pounds, but I feel as though I’m 60.
[Editor’s Note: Here’s what the University of Maryland Medical Center said in 2010 about the benefits of cayenne on pain relief and methods of use. Dr. Andrew Weil published this article about the spice in 2013]
“Scientists have found that a chemical component in the spice turmeric—commonly used in Indian cuisine and curries—increases the regeneration of new neurons in cell cultures and in lab rats,” reports Newsweek.
As with other organs, the brain has an impressive ability to repair itself (within reason), and in a study published last week in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy, turmeric extract offered a possible avenue to healing, according to the new article here.
Preliminary findings from numerous animal and other laboratory studies suggest that a chemical found in turmeric—called curcumin—may have anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antioxidant properties.
Previous studies suggested that curcumin, the active phenolic compound in turmeric, may be an effective treatment for other neurodegenerative diseases. Specifically, a couple of studies showed that curcumin inhibited the formation of amyloid ß plaques, which is thought to destroy neurons in Alzheimer’s disease, but all these findings have not yet been confirmed in actual patients.
Recently, a group of National Eye Institute-funded researchers found that curcumin may also be effective in treating retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an untreatable disease that leads to severe vision loss and blindness that affects more than 1 in 4,000 people worldwide.
The amounts used in her study of lab rats are more than one would get in a normal diet. “We need to test the effective dose of curcumin in patients,” Dr. Radha Ayyagari Ph.D., associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of California San Diego, who grew up in India with a great appreciation for the therapeutic potential in curries.
Some Indians credit turmeric for that country’s low incidence of Alzheimer’s. The flavor is not very strong, so it’s easy to incorporate in various dishes. Try adding it to cooked rice.
On the birthday of Mahatma Ghandi this week, the new prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched the Clean India movement by picking up a broom and dust pan, and leading thousands of citizens into the streets.
Modi has made cleanliness and hygiene a major plank in recent speeches since taking office
With sanitation a big public health problem, millions of schoolchildren, officials and ordinary people followed Modi’s lead, cleaning up garbage heaps, toilets and ditches.
(READ the story from the AP News)
The average risk of developing cancer as a result of pollution found in the Los Angeles area has dropped by more than 50 percent, according to a new report from the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Officials said the reduction is part of a decades-long improvement of the region’s air quality.
(READ or LISTEN to the story from KPCC)
In a historic first, a baby was born to a woman after she received a womb transplant from a post-menopausal donor, the successful outcome of a fertility project at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
The goal of the Gothenburg project started in 1999 is to enable women who were born without a womb or who have lost their wombs in cancer surgery to give birth to their own children. Seven more Swedish women having received uterus transplants from living donors, hope to become pregnant soon.
The first pregnancy was confirmed in the spring for a woman in her mid-30s, a little over a year after her transplantation. Last month, the woman successfully delivered a son, making her the first woman in the world to deliver a child from a transplanted uterus, in this case donated by a 61-year-old unrelated woman.
According to Professor Mats Brännström, the perfectly healthy newborn boy is developing normally.
‘The baby screamed right away and has not required any other care than normal clinical observation at the neonatal unit. The mother and child are both doing well and have returned home. The new parents are of course very happy and thankful,’ says Brännström, who is leading the research project.
(WATCH the video below)
Helsinki, Finland is pioneering a huge cooling system that will use cold water from its lakes instead of of electricity-powered air conditioning, reports Fast Company.
“Hundreds of feet beneath an ordinary-looking downtown park, a local energy company built a huge reservoir filled with nearly 9 million gallons of lake water. When the system is fully operational next summer, the water will be pumped to local buildings in the area to keep them cool. At night, the water will flow back underground, where waste energy will be used to cool it down again.”
(READ the full story from Fast CoExist)
Some of London’s iconic red telephone boxes are being transformed into free solar-powered mobile phone charging stations painted green.
The first “Solar-box” was unveiled Wednesday on Tottenham Court Road, with support and funding from the Mayor of London, as a pilot before turning more traditional phone boxes green early next year.
The solar paneled phone boxes provide a clean, carbon-neutral source of energy for phones, tablets, cameras and other devices. Costs are covered through in-booth advertising space enabling the public to power-up free of charge.
“It’s fantastic to see our young entrepreneurs already up and running with this brilliant idea,” said Mayor Boris Johnson. “In our modern world, where hardly any Londoner is complete without a raft of personal electronic gizmos in hand, it’s about time our iconic phone boxes were updated for the 21st Century, to be more useful, more sustainable, and just as striking with a marvelous new green makeover.”
Co-founder of ‘solarbox’ Kirsty Kenney said, “Our idea was born out of our interest in the use of public space and renewable energy and is all about providing a service that people really need… Phone battery life just can’t keep up with the pace of our modern lives.”
“It’s been an amazing journey, from winning in the competition, to now be bringing our first ‘solarbox’ to the streets of London, and we can’t wait to expand with more green boxes across the capital in the new year.”
London’s rapidly growing low carbon goods and services sector is worth around £25 billion a year to the UK economy, and employs over 160,000 people. The Mayor’s Low Carbon Entrepreneur competition invites student entrepreneurs to generate and pitch their carbon-busting business ideas to a panel of expert judges.
The 2015 competition, once again sponsored by Siemens, will take entries from 20th October this year, closing in mid-February next year ahead of the grand final at the end of March 2015.
The bright yellow smiley face is one of the most recognizable, iconic symbols across the globe. What many people don’t know is that the original smiley face – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – was actually created, not in the way depicted in the humorous 1994 Forest Gump scene, but in Massachusetts by local artist, Harvey Ball.
“Smiley” was born in the early 1960’s when a Worcester insurance company launched a campaign to boost employee morale and hired Ball to create smile posters, stickers and buttons. The pins were designed to help employees remember to smile while using the phone, but the buttons became popular with their families and friends too, and orders being flowing in.
Others began creating products with the sunny logo and by 1971, more than 50 million smiley face buttons had been sold, along with coffee mugs, tee shirts and the posters.
“I couldn’t be more proud to have my dad create the smiley face icon 50 years ago,” Ball’s son Charlie told the Good News Network. “It’s truly a unique event in that he didn’t create happiness or good will itself, but he created the symbol for it. Everyone knows the smiley face and it crosses all boundaries, religions, races, and beliefs.”
To ensure the original meaning and intent behind the smiley were preserved despite its commercialization, artist Harvey Ball launched World Smile Day® in 1999 – one day each year, on the first Friday in October, dedicated to spreading smiles and acts of kindness across the globe.
After Ball died in 2001 at the age of 79, Charlie began licensing Smileys to raise money for the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust that supports children’s causes. Charlie also dedicates himself to organizing World Smile Day, which is honored every year by the Worcester Historical Museum.
He recalls a moment when the historical aspect of his father’s design really hit home.
“15 years ago in Worcester, when he was still alive, the US Postal Service unveiled a Smiley face postage stamp, and I think that was a moment where he really realized what his legacy was and what it had meant to so many people.”
(WATCH the video below from the History Channel, featuring Dick Clark telling the story of Smiley)
Bulky oxygen tanks and face masks may no longer be needed to breathe underwater, thanks to the creation of the “Aquaman Crystal.”
Professor Christine McKenzie of the University of Southern Denmark said that because the crystalline material is able to store oxygen at super high concentrations, it could be valuable for lung cancer patients who must carry heavy tanks and for cars using fuel cells that need a regulated oxygen supply.
Just one spoon of the substance is enough to absorb all the oxygen in a room. The stored oxygen can be released again when and where it is needed.
“The material is both a sensor, and a container for oxygen — we can use it to bind, store and transport oxygen — like a solid artificial hemoglobin,” says McKenzie.
“It is also interesting that the material can absorb and release oxygen many times without losing the ability. It is like dipping a sponge in water, squeezing the water out of it and repeating the process over and over again,” Christine McKenzie explains.
Once the oxygen has been absorbed you can keep it stored in the material until you want to release it. The oxygen can be released by gently heating the material or subjecting it to low oxygen pressures.
The key component of the new material is the element cobalt, which is bound in a specially designed organic molecule.
(READ more in the news release at Science Daily)
Story tip from Sarah – Photo by the US Navy
