Home Blog Page 1079

New Potato Can Be Grown With Just Sea Water

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 21, 2014

After years of researching crops that could be grown with the brackish water of the Netherlands, a Dutch team is poised to launch their pioneering potatoes, which are grown with sea water.

Last week the project beat 560 competitors from 90 countries to win the prestigious USAid grand challenge award for its salt-tolerant potato.

“It’s a game changer,” Dr Arjen de Vos said of Marc van Rijsselberghe’s irrigation technique, which has the potential to feed millions who lack access to fresh water.

(READ the story from the Guardian)

Story tip from Michael Slupina – photo credit: Nisha A (CC license)

Paralyzed Man Walks Again After Breakthrough Cell Transplant

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 21, 2014

x-ray-spinal cord-CC-yugenro — Yugenro, CC license

A Polish man who was paralyzed from the chest down following a knife attack can now use a walker after receiving a pioneering transplant treatment using cells from his nose.

Movement and sensation are now slowly returning to Darek Fidyka, who described the ability to walk again as “an incredible feeling”, and added: “when you can’t feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it’s as if you were born again.”

The research, published in the journal Cell Transplantation, shows that nerve fibers can grow back in the spinal cord. They just need a bridge to fill the gap. The nasal cells provided that bridge.

Professor Geoff Raisman, Chair of Neural Regeneration at the University College London’s Institute of Neurology, whose team discovered the technique, told the BBC, “I believe this is the moment when paralysis can be reversed.”

“I believe we have now opened the door to a treatment of spinal cord injury that will get patients out of wheel chairs.”

Dr Pawel Tabakow, consultant neurosurgeon, Wroclaw University Hospital, who led the Polish research team said: “It’s amazing to see how regeneration of the spinal cord, something that was thought impossible for many years, is becoming a reality.”

Mr. Fidyka needed to undergo brain surgery so they could extract an olfactory bulb. Cells were then injected into the spinal cord above and below the injury, and four strips of nerve tissue were taken from the ankle and patched across the 8mm gap. These formed ‘bridges’ for the spinal nerve fibers to grow across using the olfactory cells.

Three months after the surgery, Darek’s left thigh muscle began to grow and after six months he was starting to walk within the rehabilitation center with the help of a physiotherapist and leg braces. Now, two years on, he is able to walk using a frame although it is tiring. His bladder sensation and sexual function have also improved. He said: “I think it’s realistic that one day I will become independent. What I have learned is that you must never give up but keep fighting, because some door will open in life.”

The process has been documented in an exclusive BBC Panorama documentary, ‘To Walk Again’, and will air tonight at 22:30 on BBC One.

(WATCH a video clip and READ more from BBC News)

[Correction: The man was incorrectly identified as a Bulgarian, but is actually Polish]

Image from yugenro (CC license) – Story tip from Craig Withers

42 Years Later, Man’s Missing Gold Ring Found in the Ground

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 21, 2014

“James Murphy never gave up hope believing he’d find the high school class ring he lost in 1972.”

Friday, a Chicago man operating a metal detector found the gold ring in the same yard where it originally slipped off Murphy’s finger, after the new owner allowed a search of the property.

“It drove me crazy for more than 40 years,” Murphy told Justin Breen at DNA info Chicago. “I knew it was in that yard. I’m in shock still.”

(READ the full story, or LISTEN to it at DNAinfo Chicago)

Photo from Windy City Detector Sales and Rental Inc

Nigeria Declared Ebola-Free; ‘Spectacular Success’

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 20, 2014

Nigeria is now free of the Ebola virus, the World Health Organization officially declared on Monday.

The most populous country in Africa reported 20 cases and eight deaths before doctors were able to eradicate the disease, reports ABC News.

WHO called it a “spectacular success story that shows that Ebola can be contained.”

”Such a story can help the many other developing countries that are deeply worried by the prospect of an imported Ebola case and eager to improve their preparedness plans.”

Earlier this year, WHO confirmed that Nigeria had also eradicated guinea-worm disease after it became an epicenter of the disease, with more than 650 000 cases reported each year.

In Senegal, it had been 42 days on Friday since a single confirmed case of Ebola virus was recorded and all known contacts came under a monitoring program and finally tested negative, which led WHO to declare that country to be Ebola-free.

(READ the full story from WHO)

School With Bikes Instead Of Desks Offers Better Way To Learn

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 20, 2014

The Read and Ride program at Ward began five years ago. One classroom is equipped with enough exercise bikes for a full class of students, and teachers bring students throughout the day to use them. As they ride, they read.

“The combination burns calories, but it turns out that it also helps students learn better,” reports Fast Company. “As the elementary school analyzed testing data at the end of school year, they found that students who had spent the most time in the program achieved an 83% proficiency in reading, while those who spent the least time in the program had only scores 41%.”

(READ the story from Fast Coexist)

Story tip from Mike McGinley

India Man Plants Forest Bigger Than Central Park to Save His Island

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 20, 2014

At the age of 17, after witnessing hundreds of snakes dying from drought on his island in India, Jadav Payeng started to grow trees on what was barren land devastated by erosion.

35 years later a jungle of almost 3000 acres (1200 hectares) — larger than Central Park — has grown in the wasteland, thanks to his daily careful cultivation. Diverse animals, including Elephants, now enjoy his lush oasis.

A documentary, Forest Man, shows how one person can change the course of nature.

(WATCH the video below)

North Dakota Runner Carries Injured Competitor Across the Finish Line

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 19, 2014

A cross-country runner in North Dakota carried an injured competitor across the finish line during a high school track meet, a show of compassion that stood out as other teens kept running.

Melanie Bailey, a senior at Devils Lake High School, was running Saturday in the Eastern Dakota Conference’s Cross Country Championship when she spotted Danielle LeNoue lying on the ground sobbing in pain.

(WATCH the video and READ the story from KENS-5 News)

Story tip from Leija Haabe – photos from separate events

Report Shows ‘Cold Fusion’ to Be Breakthrough Source of Energy

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 18, 2014

A new report by university scientists proves the existence of a potential breakthrough energy source new to science, according to detail released last week.

The New Energy Foundation, a non-profit advocacy group in the U.S. believes the implications of the report should revolutionize the production of energy, and herald the beginning of a new era in science.

The comprehensive report (PDF) by scientists from Bologna University in Italy and Uppsala University in Sweden highlights a 32-day test of the energy device known as the E-Cat. Data from the test implies transmutation of one isotope to another of two separated elements, which is radical and cannot be explained by conventional science.

The test confirms that a new process involving nuclear interactions at relatively low temperatures can produce over an extended period of time continuous thermal energy in the form of high temperature heat (1400°C) that is far beyond what can be explained by any known chemical reactions. The process uses simple, low-cost elements like nickel, lithium and hydrogen reacting at high enough levels as to be easily measured and applied in the commercial world.

“I was impressed with the work that was done to insure the measurements were accurate,” said Michael Nelson, Alternate Discipline Leader for SLS Propulsion at NASA’s Propulsion Research and Development Laboratory. “Aside from the fact that this could not have been produced from any known chemical reaction, the most significant finding to me is the evidence of isotopic shifts in lithium and nickel. Understanding this could possibly be the beginning of a whole new era in both material transmutations and energy for the planet and for space exploration. This is an exciting technology to witness come about.”

Possible applications of this breakthrough technology include low-cost desalination of salt water, power production with no emissions, and ultimately applications in home and industry to provide power, heat, and hot water.

“It is challenging to science that these results so far have no convincing theoretical explanation, but the experimental results cannot be dismissed or ignored just because of lack of theoretical understanding,” said William Zebuhr, Chairman of the New Energy Foundation. “This report demands worldwide attention, so that our current understanding of nuclear science can be expanded.”

The non-profit New Energy Foundation provides grants to new energy researchers and publishes the bimonthly magazine Infinite Energy. For more information about the foundation and reporting on the E-Cat possibilities, visit www.infinite-energy.com.

Story tip from Lee Katchen

KC Royals’ Player Awards Random Twitter Fan Postseason Tickets

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 18, 2014

Rookie pitcher Brandon Finnegan of the Kansas City Royals makes a fan’s day by giving him tickets to a postseason game, just because he asked.

The grateful fan offers to take Finnegan to dinner, and Finnegan says “OK, but you don’t need to pay.”

(READ the story on WAPC)

Photo by Conman33 – CC license – Story tip from Tiffany Myers

Athelete’s Generous Gesture to Grieving Family

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 18, 2014

The quarterback for the NFL Minnesota Vikings, Christian Ponder, and his wife were in “the right place at the right time recently to help a family coping with tragedy.”

A widower’s two daughters just lost their mom in a car accident. After approaching the star athlete who was shopping at a mall, Ponder told the store’s manager to bill him for anything the family wanted to buy.

(WATCH the video below from WCCO-TV or READ the story from Yahoo Post Game)

Photo from JoeBielawa – Story tip from Debbie Westbeld

University President Takes Pay Cut to Help Low Wage Employees

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 17, 2014

Kentucky State University’s interim president, businessman Raymond Burse, slashed his salary by $90,000 in order to raise the salary of the school’s 24 lowest paid employees by as much as 40 percent.

By reducing his own annual salary, he was able to give 24 custodial workers and groundskeepers a pay hike that took them from $7.25 an hour to $10.25 an hour.

(WATCH the video below or READ the story from NBC Nightly News – NOTE* audio atuo-plays so adjust your speakers)

Photo from Kentucky State University

Blind Man Regains Some Sight With Bionic Eye

By

Good News Network

-

Oct 16, 2014

After 33 years of blindness, a North Carolina man regained the ability to see light with the help of a bionic eye.

Last month, Larry Hester became the seventh person in the nation to get a “bionic eye,” according to the Duke Medicine blog.

The first thing he saw up close was his wife’s kiss.

(WATCH the video below or READ the story from the Washington Post)

Photo from the Duke University video – Story tip from Brett Weiss

1...1,0781,0791,080...1,714 Page 1,079 of 1,714