Meet a talented boy who is creating impressionistic paintings of natural scenes from memory.
Now three-and-a-half years-old, Andria mixes his paints by himself and applies them to canvases, but his natural talent became clear when he recreated a seaside scene after a family holiday.
Despite never taking any art classes, the pint-sized prodigy instinctively blends colors and shapes, painting everything from landscapes to animals.
Andria’s mom Mariam Jakhaia, a clinical psychologist from Tbilisi, Georgia, says his artistic development has been all-natural.
“His creativity and attention to detail seem to come instinctively,” she told SWNS news.
She recognized his talent when he was just a baby.
“At seven months old, I introduced him to paints in a playful way so he could mix the colors with his hands. By the time he was one, he was already holding crayons and brushes.
“One day he drew an owl from The Gruffalo (children’s book) and I realized he wasn’t just playing, he was intentionally recreating images.”
“He especially loves the sea, summer, and lush green landscapes—they frequently appear in his paintings, reflecting his fascination with the natural world and his joyful connection to it.”
Andria painting flowers on canvas (via SWNS)
One of Mariam’s proudest moments was when Andria painted an entire ocean scene from memory.
“He had seen the sea, the sand, and palm trees and when we got home he painted it all perfectly from memory.
SWNS
“That’s when I knew I had to invest in better materials for him.”
So far, Andria has created 14 paintings on canvases, which were purchased by his parents.
There’s already an Amber Alert for children—now, one entrepreneur has asked the question, why isn’t there an Amber Alert for pets?
That’s how FidoAlert was born. Using technology, a QR code, and SMS texting, it’s an alert for animals. And the best part is… it’s free.
The pet alert network currently has over a million members across 50 states, with 1.5 million pets registered.
40,000 pets have been reunited with owners using a unique FidoID and QR tag system. When a pet goes missing, an owner can trigger an alert to anyone within a few miles of the pet’s last known location.
If a lost pet is found, the animal’s QR code tag can be scanned which triggers a notification delivered to the owner and up to 10 emergency contacts. The SMS-based alert system—which the company says uses “privacy-protected contact information”—means no app is required to download.
Every owner who registers at the website gets a free pet tag with a QR code and unique pet ID that comes with the ability to be notified when your pet is found, even if you’re unaware of their absence.
“I wanted to create a product as a part of a social mission, where we would make it free to every pet owner,” says Founder John Bradford. “My hope is that every pet owner in America signs up for FidoAlert, so if the unthinkable happens there will be another layer of protection so pets and owners can be reunited.”
FidoAlert.com
“I got the free tags and set up my account almost a year ago…completely free,” said Brenda B. Smith. “A few weeks back our dog snuck out of our yard, and before I even knew he was missing, I got a text from www.fidoalert.com that my dog had been found—and gave a phone number to call to pick him up.”
“I got my tag a long time ago and my large dog broke off his steel chain and thanks to FidoAlert he was found,” said Elizabeth Heeman. “This service is literally a life saver and it really is actually free 100%.”
How it Works:
Pet owners create a profile on FidoAlert.com and register their pet(s), establishing a user profile where pets’ information is managed. After signing up, pet owners can:
Add emergency contacts that will also be notified if a stranger finds the pet
Add multiple photos for each pet to aid in proper identification
Profile info exists in the background, until it is needed to send an alert for a missing pet
When an alert is triggered, an SMS text is sent to any network members within close proximity to the pet’s last-known location
Pet owners will occasionally receive alerts from nearby neighbors when member pets go missing.
TabbyAlert is also their cat service that works the same way–with the website providing connections to reunite lost felines and their peeps.
A research team at Nagoya University School of Medicine in Japan has discovered that “a unique sound stimulation technology” can reduce motion sickness and may become a simple and effective way to treat this common disorder.
Even a single minute using a device that stimulates the inner ear with a specific wavelength of sound was able to reduce the discomfort felt by test subjects who were asked to do tasks like reading in a moving vehicle.
Takumi Kagawa co-led the study that was published in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, which demonstrated the effects of their so-called ‘sound spice’.
“It alleviates symptoms of motion sickness, such as nausea and dizziness,” he said. “The effective sound level falls within the range of everyday environmental noise exposure, suggesting that the sound technology is both effective and safe.”
The discovery is an expansion of recent findings about sound and its effect on the inner ear. Increasing evidence has suggested that stimulating the part of the inner ear associated with balance can potentially improve any spatial imbalance.
Using a mouse model and humans, the researchers identified a unique sound at 100 Hz as being the optimal frequency.
“Vibrations at the unique sound stimulate the otolithic organs in the inner ear, which detect linear acceleration and gravity,” explained co-leader of the study Masashi Kato in a press release. “This suggests that a unique sound stimulation can broadly activate the vestibular system, which is responsible for maintaining balance and spatial orientation.”
To test the effectiveness, the researchers recruited voluntary participants and provided the sound stimulation. Motion sickness was induced by a swing, a driving simulator, or riding in a car.
By Takumi Kagawa and Masashi Kato at Nagoya University, CC license
The researchers then used postural control, ECG readings, and Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire results to assess the effectiveness of the stimulation.
Exposure to the 100 Hz sound before being exposed to the driving simulator enhanced sympathetic nerve activation. The researchers found symptoms such as “lightheadedness” and “nausea,” which are often seen with motion sickness, were alleviated.
“These results suggest that activation of sympathetic nerves, which are often disregulated in motion sickness, was objectively improved by the unique sound exposure,” Kato said.
Their results suggest a safe and effective way to improve motion sickness, potentially offering help to millions of sufferers. The researchers plan to further develop the technology with the aim of practical application for a variety of travel situations including air and sea travel.
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Noah Carrigan says goodbye to his favorite Garbage man – SWNS
Noah Carrigan says goodbye to his favorite Garbage man – SWNS
This is the moment a nine-year-old boy said goodbye to his local trash collector after greeting him every week on the road outside his driveway for years.
Noah Carrigan had waited for the same garbage man every Tuesday since he was five – forming a sweet friendship.
But when the Florida county government switched to a new waste management company, Noah had to say his final goodbye on March 25.
His mother Catherine Carrigan said the tradition began after Noah became fascinated with the big green truck that arrived every week.
“It started out as something so simple—he was just fascinated by the garbage truck.
“For years, every Tuesday, he would run outside to wave and the garbage man always waved back, honked the horn, and acknowledged him.”
The 41-year-old says Noah’s father is a firefighter, so there’s “a lot of truck-love” in their home.
Noah’s farewell letter to his favorite Trash man – SWNS
But, even as he grew older and busier with school, he’d still make time to say hello.
In a heartfelt final meeting, Noah handed the sanitary worker a handwritten note and some gifts, along with a bottle of water to thank him for years of kindness.
Noah Carrigan gives his toy garbage truck to trash man – SWNS
“When we told him it was the last time he’d see the garbage man, he immediately ran inside to write a note and grab some of his old garbage truck toys to give him.
“He wanted to say thank you. It was so sweet.
Noah’s gifts included a letter in a mini bin and a mini garbage truck – SWNS
“This man had been part of Noah’s life for years. It was a friendship built on smiles and waves.”
Quote of the Day: “I learned to conserve my anger. Once controlled it can be transmuted into a power that can move the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Photo by: Gabriel Lamza
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Sikhs parading on Vaisakhi in Birmingham - CC 2.0. Michael Clark.
Today is Vaisakhi, the second most important day of the year on the Punjabi calendar, on which Sikhs from around the world celebrate a triad of events. The first, dating back to before the consolidation of Sikhism, is the first harvest of crops for the year, and as such many Sikh communities hold harvest festivals either in India or in the diaspora nations. Second, it is the day that the 10th Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, created the Khalsa, an order of warrior-poet-holy men to defend to lands of Punjab, and which still marks out men as Sikh devotees today. READ about the third and more about the second below… (1699)
Chimpanzee reaches for baby - Sedgwick County Zoo / SWNS
Chimpanzee reaches for baby – Sedgwick County Zoo / SWNS
A heartwarming union was captured at a Kansas zoo this week when a chimpanzee mother met her baby for the first time 14 hours after she gave birth via C-section.
Named Mahale, the 30-year-old primate at The Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita gave birth to her first offspring since her last baby died accidentally two years ago when he was just five weeks old.
The new baby, a female called Kyansa, was named after a mountain in the Mahale National Park in Tanzania, and was featured in a video.
Watching how Mahale immediately pulled her new infant into her arms, cuddling her close, is proof of the strong “positive signs of bonding”, according to caretakers.
“The pair will remain behind the scenes to allow time for Mahale to heal from surgery and for mom and baby to further develop their bond.”
“Another surgical delivery was prescribed in order to reduce the risks sometimes associated with natural births after C-sections.”
Dr. Laura Whisler and Dr. Janna Chibry of College Hill OB-GYN in Wichita, Kansas, performed the cesarean section alongside the Zoo’s veterinary and animal care teams.
Chimpanzee reaches for baby – Sedgwick County Zoo
Mahale spent the night recovering from anesthesia before being reunited with baby the following morning. (WATCH the sweet moments below…)
The 30-year-old chimpanzee has remained a key figure at the zoo, forming bonds with younger troop members, and being a loving “auntie” to a 1-year-old chimp resident.
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The University of Maryland announced that the beloved Muppet, Kermit the Frog, will deliver the university’s 2025 commencement address to graduates and their families on May 21.
After a sold-out visit to campus last year as part of the Arts and Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series, the legendary frog returns from The Muppets Studio to share an inspiring message with this year’s graduates.
Kermit’s appearance honors the long history between UMD and Muppets creator Jim Henson, who graduated from the school in 1960.
Henson, a home economics major, invented Kermit by building the original frog puppet out of one of his mother’s coats and a ping-pong ball cut in half.
“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” said UMD President Darryll Pines.
“Our pride in Jim Henson knows no bounds, and it is an honor to welcome Kermit the Frog to our campus, 65 years after Mr. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland.”
Kermit sent back a message in response:
“Nothing could make these feet happier than to speak at the University of Maryland. I just know the class of 2025 is going to leap into the world and make it a better place, so if a few encouraging words from a frog can help, then I’ll be there!”
Henson always said he wanted the Muppets to live on without him—and what better way than to speak to “the lovers, the dreamers” who are setting off on their adventures as adults.
The college released this cute video to unveil this year’s chosen speaker…
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An English university has developed an AI-detection system that can identify a picture of an invasive Asian hornet in yet another innovative and positive application of the emerging technology.
Not quite the “murder hornets” that invaded America a half-decade ago, the Asian hornet is nevertheless an extremely bothersome pest for all the same reasons, including the bug’s ability to wipe out honey bee colonies and cause anaphylactic shock in humans from their stings.
VespAI, could identify the species with “almost perfect accuracy”, said University of Exeter, whose scientists developed the device.
Looking like an upturned punch bowl with a small device mounted on top, it also attracts the insects, which gives a camera the opportunity to take an image and determine what species it is.
Since one single hornet can kill and eat 50 honeybees in a single day, the record-number of Asian hornet sightings in the UK in 2023 spurred the university into finding a way to combat them.
Nests have been found in East Sussex, Kent, Devon, and Dorset, and Dr. Peter Kennedy, who envisioned how AI might be used to defend English shores from the invader, told the BBC that the country’s first line of defense—citizen identification—was highly flawed, with many sightings being misidentified.
The VespAI module – credit, Peter Kennedy, supplied
“Our system thus aims to provide a vigilant, accurate and automated surveillance capability to remediate this,” he said.
“VespAI does not kill non-target insects, and thus eliminates the environmental impact of trapping, while ensuring that live hornets can be caught and tracked back to the nest, which is the only effective way to destroy them.”
Designed to be inexpensive and highly-versatile, the VespAI could be used by scientists and game wardens, but also beekeepers, who would receive an alert if the system detected a creature it believed to be an Asian hornet.
Though only a prototype, it has preformed very well in field tests.
Asian hornets have invaded countries across the European continent, and their stings have hospitalized and even killed residents in agricultural areas.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of April 12, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Life is asking you to be a source of generosity and strength for the people and animals in your sphere. I hope you will exude maximum amounts of your natural charisma as you bestow maximum blessings. Soak up the admiration and affection you deserve, too, as you convey admiration and affection to others. Here’s a secret: The more you share your resources, help, and intelligence, the more of that good stuff will flow back your way.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Ceramicist Jun Hamada says that trying to force harmony into her art leads to sterile work. “The most beautiful pieces come from the moments I stop trying to make them beautiful,” she notes. “They emerge from embracing the clay’s natural tendencies, even when they seem to fight against my intentions.” I recommend her approach to you in the coming weeks. Your best results may emerge as you allow supposed flaws and glitches to play an unexpected part in the process. Alliances might benefit, even deepen, through honest friction rather than imposed peace. What will happen when you loosen your attachment to enforced harmony and let life’s natural tensions gyrate?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini-born Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was a prolific architect who orchestrated many daring designs. Among his most audacious experiments was a project to build a house over a waterfall in Pennsylvania. “It can’t be done!” experts said. But he did it. Before he was ready to accomplish the impossible, though, he had to spend months studying the site’s natural patterns. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because I believe you are ready to consider your own equivalent of constructing a house over a waterfall. Prepare well! Do your homework!
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In the early phase of his illustrious career as a photographer, Edward Weston (1886–1958) cultivated a soft-focus, romantic style. But he ultimately converted to stark, uncompromising realism. “The camera,” he said, “should be used for recording life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself.” If there is anything about you that prefers warm, fuzzy illusions over objective, detailed truth, I suggest you switch emphasis for a while. If you like, you can return to the soft-focus approach in June. But for now, a gritty, unsentimental attitude will be essential to your well-being.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Here’s my mini-manifesto about change, just in time for a phase when change is most necessary and possible for you. 1. Real change is often a slow and subtle process. There may be rare dramatic shifts, but mostly the process is gradual and incremental. 2. Instead of pushing hard for a short time, you’re more likely to change things by persistently pushing with modest strength for a sustained time. 3. Rather than trying to confront and wrestle with a big problem exactly as it is, it’s often more effective to break the seemingly insurmountable challenge into small, manageable pieces that can be solved one at a time through simple efforts.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Textile artist Mei Zhang wondered if the synthetic dyes she used on her fabrics were limited. Might there be a wider variety of colors she could use in her creations? She discovered that her grandmother, using age-old techniques, had produced hues that modern dyes couldn’t replicate. “The most sustainable path forward,” Zhang concluded, “often involves rediscovering what we’ve forgotten rather than inventing something entirely new.” I recommend that counsel to you, Virgo. The solution to a current challenge might come from looking back instead of pushing forward. Consider what old approaches or traditional wisdom you might call on to generate novelty. Weave together fresh applications with timeless principles.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The moon rises about 50 minutes later every day, and always at a slightly different place on the horizon. The amount of light it shows us is also constantly in flux. And yet where and how it will appear tomorrow or ten years from today is completely predictable. Its ever-changing nature follows a rhythmic pattern. I believe the same is true about our emotions and feelings, which in astrology are ruled by the moon. They are forever shifting, and yet if we survey the big picture of how they arise, we will see their overall flow has distinct patterns. Now would be a good time for you to get to know your flow better. See if you can detect recurring motifs. Try to develop more objectivity about how your precious emotions and feelings really work. If you do this correctly, you will deepen and enhance the guiding power of your precious emotions and feelings.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Research reveals that interludes of productive uncertainty may strengthen our brain’s neural pathways—even more so than if we consistently leap to immediate comprehension. The key modifier to this fortifying uncertainty is “productive.” We must be willing to dwell with poise in our puzzlement, even welcome and enjoy the fertile mystery it invokes in us. Neurobiologist Aiden Chen says, “Confusion, when properly supported, isn’t an obstacle to learning but a catalyst for understanding.” These ideas will be good medicine in the coming weeks, dear Scorpio.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Persian American author Haleh Liza Gafori translates the poetry of 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi. One of their joint books is titled Gold. She writes, “Rumi’s gold is not the precious metal, but a feeling-state arrived at through the alchemical process of burning through layers of self, greed, pettiness, calculation, doctrine—all of it. The prayer of Sufism is ‘teach me to love more deeply.’ Gold is the deepest love.” That’s the gold I hope you aspire to embody in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You are in a resplendently golden phase when you have more power than usual to create, find, and commune with Rumi’s type of gold.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The coming weeks will be an excellent time to reframe the meaning of “emptiness” in your life. To launch your quest, I will remind you that quiet interludes and gaps in your schedule can be rejuvenating. Sitting still and doing nothing in particular may be a good way to recharge your spiritual batteries. Relieving yourself of the pressure to be endlessly active could be just what you need to open up space for fresh possibilities.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
There was a time, many years ago, when I consulted a divinatory oracle every day of my life. Sometimes it was the Tarot or the I Ching. I threw the Norse runes, did automatic writing, used a pendulum, or tried bibliomancy. Astrology was always in the mix, too, of course. Looking back on those days, I am amused at my obsession with scrying the future and uncovering subconscious currents. But employing these aids had a wonderful result: It helped me develop and fine-tune my intuition and psychic powers—which, after all, are the ultimate divination strategy. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because I believe you now have an enhanced power to cultivate and strengthen your intuition and psychic powers.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The fovea is the part of the eye that enables sharp vision. Humans have just one kind of fovea, which gives them the ability to see clearly straight ahead. Eagles have both a central and peripheral fovea. The latter gives them an amazing visual acuity for things at a distance. This extra asset also attunes them to accurately detect very slow movements. I suspect you will have a metaphorical semblance of the eagle’s perceptual capacity in the coming weeks, Pisces. You will be able to see things you wouldn’t normally see and things that other people can’t see. Take full advantage of this superpower! Find what you didn’t even know you were looking for.
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
Quote of the Day: “Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, hope, and forgiveness.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Photo by: Gabriel Lamza
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Prehistoric stone tool cores on display from the cave - credit, Sara Watson SWNS
Prehistoric stone tool cores on display from the cave – credit, Sara Watson SWNS
In a cave overlooking the ocean on the southern coast of Africa, thousands of stone tools made by early humans are revealing connections between prehistoric peoples of the continent.
Archaeologists that made the discovery called it an “important” find that hints at the ways in which prehistoric people traveled, interacted, and shared their craft.
The caves, part of what archaeologists call the Robberg technocomplex in South Africa, no longer overlook a plain, but are instead in a towering cliff face over a rocky beach, a result of sea level rise following the end of the last Ice Age.
Study lead author Dr. Sara Watson of the Field Museum in Chicago explained that during the period when the blades were made, between 24,000 and 12,000 years ago, the area would have been filled with antelope much like other inland regions of South Africa today.
“Instead of being right on the water like they are today, these caves would have been near vast, open plains with large game animals like antelope,” said Dr. Watson. “People hunted those animals, and to do that, they developed new tools and weapons.”
Dr. Watson and her team published their findings in the Journal of Palaeolithic Archaeology, and show they were able to tell how the tools were made by examining tiny details in the chipped edges of the blades and stones.
The team made the daily climb with all their excavation and photography equipment, weighing up to 50 pounds per person, up a very steep escarpment aided by ropes.
Inside, beneath ancient dust and dirt, they found thousands of stone tools—mostly small, sharp blades, as well as the larger pieces of rock from which the blades were broken off—called a “core.”
Archaeologists inside the cave in South Africa – credit, Sara Watson SWNS
“When your average person thinks about stone tools, they probably focus on the detached pieces, the blades and flakes,” Watson explained. “But the thing that is the most interesting to me is the core, because it shows us the particular methods and order of operations that people went through in order to make their tools.”
“Since these are extremely, extremely old sites, from before the end of the last Ice Age, we had to be very careful with our excavation. We used little tiny dental tools and mini trowels so that we could remove each little individual layer of sediment.”
She and her colleagues observed several “distinct” patterns in how the smaller blades had been separated from the cores, and that these patterns had been found throughout southern Africa.
“If we see specific methods of core reduction at multiple sites across the landscape, as an archaeologist, it tells me that these people were sharing ideas with one another.”
For example, one particular method of breaking tiny bladelets off of a core that Dr. Watson found in the Robberg caves is a style also found hundreds of miles away in locations including Namibia and Lesotho.
“The pattern is repeated over and over and over again, which indicates that it is intentional and shared, rather than just a chance similarity,” she said. “We have a very long and rich history as a species… People living around the last Ice Age were very similar to people today.”
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In the Belgian town of Leuven, squads of “urban miners” pick through condemned buildings to ensure that any loads of lumber, bricks, tiles, or stones that may have a second life elsewhere are given that chance.
Trucked off to the “Materialenbank,” they await a buyer willing to give these salvaged materials a new home.
Leuven isn’t the frontier though, and a combination of strict building codes and energy efficiency standards mean the materials have to be up to the standards of a modern European economy that wants to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
In some cases, that’s fine—and little more than a coat of paint or lacquer is needed to prepare the material for resale. In other cases though, the urban miners at the Materialenbank will downgrade a material’s importance. A steel girder will lose its role holding up second floors to merely holding up the roof, while tiles that may have lined the roof will make their way to the basement flooring.
It’s all part of Materialenbank’s commitment to recycling. At the moment the firm is picking through a pair of homes that make up a group of 30 prewar houses and garages near the city’s train station it believes it will be “mining” in the next few years.
These 30 buildings were condemned for demolition in order to open up an additional traffic route to ease congestion and find room for a green space. Materialenbank will arrive with their tools, an expert will give the house a once-over, and then workers will commence picking out the best of what can be reused before carting it off to an airplane hanger-like space it owns on the outskirts of town.
There, all the materials are sorted, restored to whatever state is needed, and sold. A workshop also welcomes entrepreneurs and artisans who want to use the materials to make new products.
The Guardian reports that a group of housing flats close to the city’s De Bruul Park come with beds, kitchen cupboards, and flooring all made from recycled wood; just one example of how businesses and builders in the city are taking up the challenge set down by the local government of keeping whatever comes into the city, in the city.
GNN reported on the work of a Georgia nonprofit doing a very similar thing, and how their sales of salvaged wood thrived during the pandemic when government-enforced business closures meant that new lumber from Canada couldn’t be imported into the US for builders.
Re:purpose Savannah is a 501(c)3 that takes old, condemned buildings apart for their bricks, timber, door frames, metalwork, and other components and sells them to construction firms building new homes for discerning clients. They’ve taken apart beach houses, dairies, bungalows, cottages, and traditional homes in town.
Furthermore, much of the wood that Re:purpose pulls down comes from trees no longer used for lumber because they are endangered, or because there are better options for mass timber planting.
These include white and red oak, longleaf pine, sweetgum, walnut, and hickory. Longleaf pine in particular is a very high-quality wood with a tensile strength that’s higher than steel.
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Later this month, an exhibition will open at the Archaeological Museum of Pompeii where a brand-new discovery will play a starring role in communicating the lives of women in the Roman world’s famous buried city.
Found mounted against a wall inside a necropolis near Porta Sarno, one of Pompeii’s city gates, the statues of a man and a priestly woman have emerged from the ash in remarkable condition.
The laurels in the figure’s hand suggests she might have been a priestess – credit, Pompeii Archaeological Park
Flanking a carved niche where a funerary urn once sat, the male statue is wearing a toga and is rather simple, while the woman is bedecked in accessories around her cloak and tunic.
The area they were found in had been excavated for the archaeological park railway in 1998, when the presence of 50 cremation burials in the necropolis was recorded. However, these statues remained hidden until July of last year.
The man and woman could be a married couple, but without an inscription it’s impossible to know for sure. They were carved during the 1st or 2nd century BCE, known as the Late Republican period.
The woman sports amphorae-shaped earings, a wedding ring, a bracelet, and an amulet carved in the shape of a crescent moon, a Roman maiden’s traditional decoration before marriage, called a lunula.
In her right hand, the female figure holds laurel leaves, which Roman priestesses and priests once used to purify spaces, and has led the researchers to believe the figure was in fact a priestess—of Ceres, perhaps, since this goddess of fertility, harvests, and motherhood was connected with the Moon.
Being that a lunula was typically worn before marriage, but the figure also wears a wedding band, the Moon-shaped amulet very well could be connected to Ceres’ role in guiding farmers through planting and harvests.
“There is also this idea that she could have been a priestess of Ceres, holding these plants and what appears to be a papyrus roll,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park’s director, told the Guardian referring to a cylinder-shaped object in the statue’s left hand.
Smithsonian’s Sonja Anderson writes that the funerary reliefs’ age and quality alone make them rare finds. However, the fact that the female figure may represent a priestess holding religious objects makes the discovery exceptional.
She is set to star alongside other discoveries in an April 16th exhibit “Being a Woman in Ancient Pompeii” which explores the social fabric of maidenhood, motherhood, and the priestess class in the famous city.
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A simple blood test costing less than $10 could prevent hundreds of heart attacks and other adverse cardiac events per year.
Troponin is a protein found in heart muscle cells that if detected in the blood stream means the heart has been damaged in some way: a key indicator of cardiovascular disease risk with greater predictive power than cholesterol levels.
A troponin detection test that can be administered along with other simple blood tests could alert hundreds of patients to their higher risk of heart attack and stroke, allowing them to alter their lifestyle or even start taking statins, in advance of an adverse cardiac event.
The concept was demonstrated in a paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The authors showed that adding cardiac troponin levels to existing risk factors such as smoking status, cholesterol, diabetes presence, and blood pressure increased the predictive powers of these screenings—done after CVD events or in advance of a statin prescription.
In fact, in their study of 62,000 Britons with a 15-year follow-up, one additional CVD event would be prevented for every 408 and 473 individuals screened when troponin was added, a result of troponin being a good indicator of so-called “silent” heart damage that could lead to a CVD event in the future.
The study also found adding troponin tests meant that up to 8% of people classified as intermediate risk were changed to high-risk.
“Troponin, even in the normal range, is a powerful indicator of silent heart muscle damage,” said Anoop Shah, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and lead author on the study.
“As such, the test provides an extra layer of information that we can use to boost our accuracy when predicting people’s risk. We want to identify as many high-risk people as possible, so that no one misses out on the opportunity to get preventative treatment.”
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Quote of the Day: “Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.” – Albert Einstein
Photo by: Daniel Intodawoj
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An Indian ambulance in UP - Photo by Aman Chaturvedi on Unsplash
An Indian ambulance in UP – Photo by Aman Chaturvedi on Unsplash
In a gesture of goodwill and neighborliness, Indian officials transferred 88 ambulances to Sri Lanka counterparts back in 2016.
Now, ten years on, this gift has turned out to be a lifesaving one for 1.5 million Sri Lankans who have ridden and received urgent care in the back of those ambulances and the ones added to the fleet in the following years.
At the time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the ambulances and Sri Lanka was able to launch the nation’s first national emergency service—equivalent to our 911 or Britain’s 999.
“Today, the fleet size of ambulances has grown to 322. It is used to provide free emergency transportation services to the whole country day and night,” Sri Lankan Minister of Health and Media Nalinda Jayatissa told Modi in a communication last Saturday.
Jayatissa said that national statistics report that 2.44 million people have received care in these ambulances for things like cardiac arrest, stroke, and road accidents. 65% of these were in the “golden hour” where medical care within a few minutes can make the difference between life and death immediately.
“That is nearly 1.5 million lives saved up to now due to your generosity, and continues to save lives in Sri Lanka,” Jayatissa said.
Sri Lanka ranks well above other South Asian countries in the Human Development Index with an index score of 0.750, and out of 142 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum, Sri Lanka cracked the top-third in terms of health industry. That was in 2011, before the ambulance donations arrived.
More modern estimates keep Sri Lanka ahead of other South Asian economies for health industry development, and the island has eradicated several infectious diseases ahead of established targets. Its life expectancy of 75.5 years at birth is 10% higher than the world average, and the country is ranked number 5 on the World Giving Index which ranks charitable behavior and gestures among the population.
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On a beach in Northern Poland, buried treasure has been found.
A beautiful intricately inlaid dagger from the Bronze Age, perhaps once used in a ceremony by a “solar cult”, was dug up by a pair of metal detectorists from the area.
Jacek Ulkowski and Katarzyna Herdzik immediately notified authorities at the Museum of the History of Kamien Land, whose director, archaeologist Grzegorz Kurka, met the duo at the beach to examine the artifact.
Jacek Ukowski and Katarzyna Herdzik, the metal detectives who discovered the dagger – credit, Museum of the History of Kamień Land
“A true work of art,” Kurka tells the Polish Press Agency. “I have not seen such a dagger in my experience with findings in Polish territories.”
In a statement released by the museum, the find was called “a true masterpiece of metallurgy,” with a blade approximately 10 inches long covered in “linear crescent moons and crosses resembling stars.”
Ulkowski and Herdzik went to the beach following a storm, knowing that artifacts can be disturbed from their sandy tombs under the rough seas. As it happened, they actually found it embedded in a layer of clay that had become dislodged from a nearby cliff face.
Perhaps dating to around 500 BCE, the dagger is likely connected to the Hallstatt Culture, arguably the most significant central European society during the Bronze Age. The Hallstatt heartland spanned an area between Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic, but Hallstatt “type” settlements have also been identified as far east as Serbia and Bulgaria, and as far north as Poland.
A catalogue of Hallstatt Culture discoveries – credit Bibliographic Institute of Leipzig
Surface decorations may indicate connections to a solar cult and suggest that the dagger had a ritual significance, a statement from the museum read.
“It could also have equipped a rich warrior. This dagger is undoubtedly a true work of art and an example of a high level of metallurgy.”
The museum also hypothesized that the dagger could have been cast in the way daggers were made in Greece for example, and imported from southern Europe.
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While many Americans have received valuable inspiration and information from motivational speaker Tony Robbins, millions more have received something more valuable—their next meal.
Admittedly always interested in solving food scarcity and hunger in America, Robbins recently celebrated providing his one-billionth meal to America through his Feeding America initiative by deciding to do it 100 times more.
The 100 Billion Meals Challenge aims to stem the global hunger pangs around the world, rather than just in America, and is working to unite nonprofits, philanthropists, and influential businesses to provide 100 billion meals to people in countries around the world suffering from hunger.
Incredibly, Robbins and the team behind the initiative have already secured commitments that will see the first 30 billion meals out to those that need them, according to a release from the organization.
For Robbins, hunger is a deeply personal cause. Having experienced food insecurity as a child, he understands the profound impact of a simple act of kindness—like the Thanksgiving meal his family received when he was 11. This pivotal moment inspired his lifelong dedication to combating hunger and expanding global access to food.
Having succeeded in providing 1 billion meals to Americans, Robbins has secured the assistance and expertise of David Beasley, the former Governor of the WFP, who helped win the organization the Nobel Peace Prize.
The technical goals of the challenge, beyond the romanticism of putting a plate of food in front of every hungry child, is to engage new partnerships with public and private sector entities by coordinating large-scale food donations, supporting innovative and sustainable agricultural efforts, and responding to emergencies in areas experiencing severe food shortages.
The current state of hunger is worse than ever before. In 2017, when Beasley was appointed executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, 80 million people were experiencing acute hunger. That number has now risen to more than 350 million.
In response, Robbins and Beasley have already secured commitments by a wide and diverse cohort of difference makers, from the American National Pasta Association to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktou, the Ruler of Dubai, who has set up a state-funded endowment for feeding 2 billion people in this year alone.
Without zeroing in on charity, Robbins is also enlisting the help of agricultural industries that can ensure banner crops inside countries where calories are in short supply. For example, Uralchem, a Russian fertilizer company, has committed to work with Robbins in shipping out 55,000 metric tons of fertilizer to Sri Lanka ahead of the upcoming growing season.
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100k brain cells mapped by MICrONS Project – Allen Institute
100k brain cells mapped by MICrONS Project – Allen Institute
During the last seven years, a global team of more than 150 scientists collaborated on the most complicated neuroscience experiment ever attempted—and they’ve released their findings this week.
From a tiny sample of tissue no larger than a grain of sand, the MICrONS Project completed the first step toward the goal once thought unattainable: building a functional wiring diagram of a portion of the brain.
Now, they’ve published their findings in Nature with a collection of ten studies. The 3D wiring diagram and its data are massive—1.6 petabytes in size (equivalent to 22 years of non-stop HD video). They offer a never-before-seen insight into brain function and organization of the visual system.
The research started at Baylor College of Medicine where scientists used specialized microscopes to record the brain activity from a one cubic millimeter portion of a mouse’s visual cortex while the animal watched various movies and YouTube clips.
Afterwards, Allen Institute researchers took that same cubic millimeter of the brain and shaved it into more than 25,000 layers, each 1/400th the width of a human hair, and used an array of electron microscopes to take high-resolution pictures of each slice.
By the end, the MICrONS Project—Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks—built the most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date—and it’s freely available online.
“A watershed moment for neuroscience, comparable to the Human Genome Project” is the description from David Markowitz, Ph.D., who coordinated this work after leaving the IARPA, the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, which partially funded it.
Another team at Princeton University used artificial intelligence and machine learning to reconstruct the cells and connections into a 3D volume. Combined with the recordings of brain activity, it contains 523 million synapses (the connection points between 200,000 cells) and a length of four kilometers of axons (the branches that reach out to other cells).
Subset of more than 1000 of the 120,000 brain cells reconstructed in the MICRONS project – Allen Institute
“Inside that tiny speck is an entire architecture like an exquisite forest,” said Clay Reid, Ph.D., senior investigator and one of the early founders of electron microscopy connectomics who brought this area of science to the Allen Institute 13 years ago.
“It has all sorts of rules of connections that we knew from various parts of neuroscience—and within the reconstruction itself, we can test the old theories and hope to find new things that no one has ever seen before.”
(WATCH the incredible 6 minute video below, by Tyler Sloan of Quorumetrix Studio…)
The findings from the studies reveal new cell types, characteristics, organizational and functional principles, and a new way to classify cells. Among the most surprising findings was the discovery of a new principle of inhibition within the brain.
Scientists previously thought of inhibitory cells—those that suppress neural activity—as a simple force that dampens the action of other cells. However, researchers discovered a far more sophisticated level of communication: Inhibitory cells are not random in their actions; instead, they are highly selective about which excitatory cells they target, creating a network-wide system of coordination and cooperation. Some inhibitory cells work together, suppressing multiple excitatory cells, while others are more precise, targeting only specific types.
“MICrONS will stand as a landmark where we build brain foundation models that span many levels of analysis, beginning from the behavioral level to the representational level of neural activity and even to the molecular level,” explained Andreas Tolias, Ph.D., one of the lead scientists who worked on this project at both Baylor College of Medicine and Stanford University.
Implications for brain diseases like dementia
Understanding the brain’s form and function and the ability to analyze the detailed connections between neurons at an unprecedented scale opens new possibilities for studying the brain and intelligence. It also has implications for disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, and schizophrenia involving disruptions in neural communication.
“If you have a broken radio and you have the circuit diagram, you’ll be in a better position to fix it.” said Nuno da Costa, Ph.D., associate investigator at the Allen Institute. “We are describing a kind of Google map or blueprint of this grain of sand. In the future, we can use this to compare the brain wiring in a healthy mouse to the brain wiring in a model of disease.”
The multi-institution collaboration, which included Harvard scientists, was made possible by support from the IARPA and US National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative.
“Basic science building blocks—like how the brain is wired—are the foundation we need to better understand brain injury and disease, to bring treatments and cures closer to clinical use.”
“IARPA’s moonshot investment in the MICrONS program has shattered previous technological limitations, creating the first platform to study the relationship between neural structure and function at scales necessary to understand intelligence… and sets the stage for future scaling to the whole brain level,” adds IARPA’s Markowitz.
In 1979, famed molecular biologist Francis Crick stated that it would be “impossible to create an exact wiring diagram for a cubic millimeter of brain tissue and the way all its neurons are firing,” which inspired Allen Institute’s Senior Investigator Clay Reid to pursue the subject as his life’s work.
This map of neuronal connectivity, form, and function from a grain of sand-sized portion of the brain is not just a scientific marvel, but a step toward understanding the elusive origins of thought, emotion, and consciousness—and the “impossible” task first envisioned by Crick is now one step closer to reality.
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