All News - Page 111 of 1703 - Good News Network
Home Blog Page 111

Your Valentine’s Week Horoscope from ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

By
Good News Network
-

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 February 14, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Borrowing the words of Aquarian author Virginia Woolf, I’ve prepared a love note for you to use as your own. Feel free to give these words to the person whose destiny needs to be woven more closely together with yours. “You are the tide that sweeps through the corridors of my mind, a wild rhythm that fills my empty spaces with the echo of eternity. You are the unspoken sentence in my every thought, the shadow and the light interwoven in the fabric of my being. You are the pulse of the universe pressing against my skin, the quiet chaos of love that refuses to be named. You are my uncharted shore.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Love and intimacy and togetherness are fun, yes. But they’re also hard work—especially if you want to make the fun last. This will be your specialty in the coming months. I’ve assembled four quotes to inspire you. 1. “The essence of marriage is not that it provides a happy ending, but that it provides a promising beginning—and then you keep beginning again, day after day.” —Gabriel García Márquez. 2. “The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret. But those who follow the art of creating it day after day come closest to discovering it.” —Pearl Buck. 3. “Love is a continuous act of forgiveness.” —Maya Angelou. 4. “In the best of relationships, daily rebuilding is a mutual process. Each partner helps the other grow.” —Virginia Satir.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Love requires stability and steadiness to thrive. But it also needs unpredictability and imaginativeness. The same with friendship. Without creative touches and departures from routine, even strong alliances can atrophy into mere sentiment and boring dutifulness. With this in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I offer quotes to inspire your quest to keep togetherness fertile and flourishing. 1. “Love has no rules except those we invent, moment by moment.” —Anaïs Nin. 2. “The essence of love is invention. Lovers should always dream and create their own world.” —Jorge Luis Borges. 3. “A successful relationship requires falling in love many times, always with the same person, but never in quite the same way.” —Mignon McLaughlin. 4. “Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. But it must also be an act of endless reinvention, lest that tender look grow dull.” —Peter Ustinov

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In celebration of the Valentine season, I suggest you get blithely unshackled in your approach to love. Be loose, limber, and playful. To stimulate the romantic and intimate qualities I think you should emphasize, I offer you these quotes: 1. “Love is the endless apprenticeship of two souls daring to be both sanctuary and storm for one another.” —Rainer Maria Rilke 2. “Love is the revolution in which we dismantle the prisons of our fear, building a world where our truths can stand naked and unashamed.” —Audre Lorde. 3. “Love is the rebellion that tears down walls within and between us, making room for the unruly beauty of our shared becoming.” —Adrienne Rich.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
To honor the rowdy Valentine spirit, I invite you to either use the following passage or compose one like it, then offer it to a willing recipient who would love to go deeper with you: “Be my thunderclap, my cascade of shooting stars. Be my echo across the valley, my rebel hymn, my riddle with no answer. Be my just-before-you-wake-up-dream. Be my tectonic shift. Be my black pearl, my vacation from gloom and doom, my forbidden dance. Be my river-song in F major, my wild-eyed prophet, my moonlit debate, my infinite possibility. Be my trembling, blooming, spiraling, and soaring.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, “The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all.” One of those strange jewels in you is emerging from its hiding place. Any day now, it will reveal at least some of its spectacular beauty—to be followed by more in the subsequent weeks. Are you ready to be surprised by your secret self? Are your beloved allies ready? A bloom this magnificent could require adjustments. You and yours may have to expand your horizons together.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In 2025, the role that togetherness plays in your life will inspire you to achieve unexpected personal accomplishments. Companionship and alliances may even stir up destiny-changing developments. To get you primed, I offer these quotes: 1. “Love is a trick that nature plays on us to achieve the impossible.” —William Somerset Maugham. 2. “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as its accomplice.” —Tom Robbins. 3. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Yet each day reveals new constellations in our shared sky.” —Emily Brontë.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Psychotherapist Robin Norwood wrote that some people, mostly women, give too much love and kindness. They neglect their own self-care as they attend generously to the needs of others. They may even provide nurturing and support to those who don’t appreciate it or return the favor. Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh expressed a different perspective. She wrote, “No one has ever loved anyone too much. We just haven’t learned yet how to love enough.” What’s your position on this issue, Virgo? It’s time for you to come to a new understanding of exactly how much giving is correct for you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Are you ready to express your affection with lush and lavish exuberance? I hope so. Now would be an excellent time, astrologically speaking. I dare you to give the following words, composed by poet Pablo Neruda, to a person who will be receptive to them. “You are the keeper of my wildest storms, the green shoot splitting the stone of my silence. Your love wraps me in galaxies, crowns me with the salt of the sea, and fills my lungs with the language of the earth. You are the voice of the rivers, the crest of the waves, the pulse of the stars. With every word you speak, you unweave my solitude and knit me into eternity.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Among its potential gifts, astrology can raise our awareness of the cyclical nature of life. When used well, it helps us know when there are favorable times to enhance and upgrade specific areas of our lives. For example, in the coming weeks, you Scorpios could make progress on building a strong foundation for the future of love. You will rouse sweet fortune for yourself and those you care for if you infuse your best relationships with extra steadiness and stability.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I want you to be moved by intimacy and friendships that buoy your soul, inspire your expansive mind, and pique your sense of adventure. To boost the likelihood they will flow your way in abundance during the coming weeks, I offer you these quotes. 1. “Love is a madness so discreet that we carry its delicious wounds for a lifetime as if they were precious gems.” —Federico García Lorca. 2. “Love is not a vacation from life. It’s a parallel universe where everything ordinary becomes extraordinary.” —Anne Morrow Lindbergh. 3. “Where there is love there is life. And where there is life, there is mischief in the making.” —my Sagittarius friend Artemisia. 4. “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” —Nicholas Sparks

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Every intimate alliance is unique, has its own rules, and shouldn’t be compared to any standard. This is a key theme for you to embrace right now. Below are helpful quotes. 1. “Each couple’s love story is a language only they can speak, with words only they can define.” —Federico Fellini. 2. “In every true marriage, each serves as guide and companion to the other toward a shared enlightenment that no one else could possibly share.” —Joseph Campbell. 3. “The beauty of marriage is not in its uniformity but in how each couple writes their own story, following no map but the one they draw together.” —Isabel Allende. 4. “Marriages are like fingerprints; each one is different, and each one is beautiful.” —Maggie Reyes.

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)

SHARE The Wisdom With Friends Who Are Stars in Your Life on Social Media…

“Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.” – Edward Gibbon

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.” – Edward Gibbon

Photo by: JSB Co. for Unsplash+ (cropped)

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?

Scientists Discover Oldest Bird Fossils, Rewrite History of Avian Evolution

By
Andy Corbley
-
A photograph and interpretive line drawing show the Baminornis zhenghensis fossil - credit: Min Wang
A photograph and interpretive line drawing show the Baminornis zhenghensis fossil – credit: Min Wang

According to a truly field-altering fossilized bird found in China, birds already existed in the Late Jurassic period, approximately 160 million years ago.

The new discovery suggests that rather than a linear evolutionary path from dinosaur to bird, these two orders evolved somewhat simultaneously.

An artistic representation of the newly discovered species, Baminornis zhenghensis, with the preserved bones highlighted – credit: Zhao Chuang.

Baminornis zhenghensis is the world’s oldest species of avid. A holotype fossil was recently found in East China’s Fujian Province and described in the journal Nature. The pelvis, trunk, forelimbs, and part of the hindlimb are all intact.

“Baminornis is a landmark discovery and ranks among the most important bird fossils unearthed since the discovery of Archaeopteryx in the early 1860s,” Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist from the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study but wrote a commentary accompanying it, tells Xinhua.

“This is a groundbreaking discovery. It overturns the previous situation that Archaeopteryx was the only bird found in the Jurassic Period,” Zhonghe Zhou, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, tells the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

China’s wealth of cultural and historical treasures is almost matched in importance by its role as one of the world’s great crucibles of paleontological discoveries. Dinosaurs and prehistoric animals from every age, of every size, and of every description have been found there.

Archaeopteryx, the missing link that connected dinosaurs to birds, was first discovered in Germany, but several other iterations of paleo-avids, including a “Cretaceous cormorant,” a prehistoric wader, and the gliding Microraptor have been found in China.

Baminornis displays a number of characteristic bird features, the most important among them being a short tail—a critical innovation in bird flight.

CHECK THIS OUT: Complete Stegosaurus Fossil Found With Skin Still On in Northern China

“Previously, the oldest record of short-tailed birds is from the Early Cretaceous,” Wang Min, a paleontologist author of the study from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains in a statement. Baminornis is now the “oldest short-tailed bird yet discovered, pushing back the appearance of this derived bird feature by nearly 20 million years.”

The short tail shifted the center of gravity forward, allowing for greater aerodynamism. This stands in direct contrast to Archaeopteryx which had a long feathered tail.

MORE BIG FOSSIL DISCOVERIES: Paleontologists Hunted for This Giant Bird Skull for Over a Century–Finally, a Complete ‘Thunderbird’

Pelvic and pectoral girdles strengthen Baminornis’s bird-like biology, but a pair of clearly dinosaur-shaped hands betray its origin.

Wang believes that to have two different animals that were developing avian features, living in a relatively close period, but with such different physical shapes, suggests that millions of years of avid evolution had already taken place before Baminornis walked the Earth.

SHARE This Groundbreaking Discovery With Your Friends Who Love Dinos… 

Girl With Cleft Lip Adopts Dog Born With the Same Feature

By
Andy Corbley
-
Kynlee Rogers, 10, with her dog - credit: Kimberly Rogers
Kynlee Rogers, 10, with her dog – credit: Kimberly Rogers

This is Kynlee Rogers, born with a cleft lip; and her dog, Tennee, born with a cleft lip.

Rogers used to ask her mom Kimberly why she was different from other kids, a challenging thing for any parent to have to answer. She doesn’t ask anymore though, because she’s not different; just look at her dog!

From the Washington Post comes the story of a nonprofit that works to connect dogs born with craniofacial defects with the ‘craniofacial’ community, to strengthen both through common cause and love.

“Our mission is to combine the two different cleft communities: the human community and the canine community,” Lindsay Weisman, who started Cleft Rescue Unit in May 2023, told the Post. “We get puppies from across the country.”

She added that many humans with clefts adopt dogs with clefts, delighting in their shared difference.

“They love that the puppies look like them. It’s really special.”

In humans, cleft palates and lips develop in utero from a variety of environmental and genetic factors. Difficulties lay ahead for these children, without a doubt, but puppies born with the same conditions might have it even harder as they tend very strongly towards dying in infancy.

DOGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT: Bulldog Puppy Spontaneously Regrows Part of its Jaw After it Was Removed During Cancer Surgery

Cleft lip or palate, says Weisman, prevents a puppy from nursing properly, leading to malnutrition and death if they are not recognized and taken into veterinary care for tube feeding.

Mandy, another dog with cleft lip (right) Kynlee hugs Tennee in the airport – credit Cleft Rescue Unit

Cleft Rescue Unit works to raise awareness of the dangers to these pups and take them off the hands of breeders or owners who aren’t capable of taking care of them. Once they can eat solid food, the unit seeks to pair dogs with a human owner with the same craniofacial feature.

As it happened for Kynlee, she asked her mother one night if dogs also have cleft lips—to which her mom, feeling the lightbulb moment above her head, replied “of course they do.”

ON THIS THEME: Half of Dad’s Face Rebuilt After Dog Sniffs Out Cancer to Save His Life: ‘Do Not Ignore the Symptoms’

The Rogers adopted Tennee in September, and the dog has had a profound impact on Kynlee’s life.

SHARE This Match Made In Heaven With Your Friends On Social Media… 

California’s Fascinating ‘Glory Hole Spillway’ Is Flowing for First Time in Years

By
Andy Corbley
-
Glory Hole spillway in Lake Berryessa – by timelessmoon (Public Domain via GetArchive )
Glory Hole spillway in Lake Berryessa – by timelessmoon (Public Domain via GetArchive )

After a series of significant rains in Napa, a man-made lake’s unique drainage system was activated to the delight of onlookers.

Known as the Morning Glory spillway in Napa County’s Lake Berryessa behind the Monticello Dam, a 72-foot-long hole empties the water of the lake down into a creek 200 feet below.

Forming a perfect flow of water in a ring, the spillway looks like a whirlpool at sea, and has visitors flocking to see it in action before the lake falls below 440 feet—the threshold at which the spillway activates.

Installed nearly 70 years ago, the unique “passive spillway” located near the middle of the lake has only been needed 25 times during its existence. A series of atmospheric rivers have passed over Napa recently, and with more forecasted, there’s still the chance to go see it up close from a section of the small road that passes around the lake.

Activated in 2017, and again in 2019, its long dormancy captures well the effects of the droughts California has suffered from over the last few years.

Local residents draw water from the reservoir, meaning that it takes an awful lot of rain for the spillway to become active, as its levels are constantly being depleted.

A SIMILAR, BUT NATURAL PHENOMENON: Hiker Captures Video of Rare Ice Disk Vortex Spinning in Scottish Winter Weather Phenomenon–WATCH

LA Times reports that other man-made lakes in California utilize these passive spillways, including Trinity Lake in Trinity County and Whiskeytown Lake in Shasta County.

SHARE This Charming Local Tourist Feature With Your Friends… 

Entrepreneur Is Tackling 120 Million Tons of Plastic Waste–One Deodorant Stick at a Time

By
Andy Corbley
-
File photo by Ana Essentiels
File photo by Ana Essentiels

The restaurant and fashion industries are often and rightly critiqued for the mountains of landfill waste they produce, but the same can—and really should—be said about cosmetics and hygiene products.

In response, an Ivorian immigrant to Arizona has created a fully compostable, plant-based refillable skincare dispenser made of sugarcane and bamboo pulp.

Inventor Mory Diané from the Ivory Coast hopes it can become the new industry standard.

“When I discovered that the beauty industry alone produces over 120 billion plastic containers annually, with less than 10% being recycled, I knew we needed a radical change,” Diané told Good News Network.

“As an engineer, I couldn’t simply accept this massive waste as the status quo. That’s why I developed Rover™.”

“My background in civil engineering taught me that the most effective solutions are often the simplest ones. We’re not just creating another refillable container—we’re revolutionizing the entire approach to skincare packaging.”

Basically, the Rover dispenser is compatible with any kind of liquid deodorant, gel, powder, balm, oils, or sticks, thereby offering brands and consumers a practical way to eliminate single-use plastics; one can literally turn a cabinet of cosmetics into four or five little pods.

FROM THE CARIBBEAN: Visionary Fuels First Car Powered By Seaweed Piling Up on Beaches That Reduces Tourism

“What we’re trying to achieve goes beyond just creating an eco-friendly product. We’re aiming to transform how the entire beauty industry thinks about packaging. By making our sustainable solution accessible and cost-effective, we’re showing that it’s possible to maintain premium quality while eliminating plastic waste. This isn’t just about selling a product—it’s about creating a new standard that benefits both consumers and our planet,” Diané says.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Entrepreneur Transforms Old Cement Bags into Solar-Charging Backpacks to Help Children Read at Night

Researchers cited by Vouge suggested that not only are 120 billion containers of cosmetics produced annually, but 20-40% of these end up as waste when they expire, are discontinued, or because the purchaser simply isn’t satisfied or interested in them.

Alternatives are needed, and Rover is a great place to start.

SHARE This Sustainable Solution For Skincare With Your Friends… 

“Love is when they give you a piece of your soul, that you never knew was missing.” – Torquato Tasso (Happy Valentine’s Day!)

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “Love is when they give you a piece of your soul, that you never knew was missing.” – Torquato Tasso (Happy Valentine’s Day!)

Photo by: Ilya Shishikhin (cropped)

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?

Two Minutes Earlier, She Got a Friendship Bouquet…

Archaeologists Unearth ‘Exceptionally Rare’ Roman Helmet at the Site of ‘Weapon Sacrifice’

By
Andy Corbley
-
(left) The helmet discovered in Denmark (right) a Weisenau-type Roman helmet found in Germany - credit: Velje Museums / Carnuntum Museum CC 2.5.
(left) The helmet discovered in Denmark (right) a Weisenau-type Roman helmet found in Germany – credit: Velje Museums / Carnuntum Museum CC 2.5.

When it comes to archaeological discoveries, few things excite as much as a soldier’s helmet. The epitome of looking into the face of the past, they’ve helped historians infer so much about ancient and medieval warfare.

Recently in Denmark, archaeologists became elated when looking through an Iron Age excavation they identified the first Roman Imperial helmet ever found in the country, and just the second in all of Scandinavia.

It was found at Løsning Søndermark, a Danish Iron Age settlement that yielded dozens of artifact weapons which GNN reported on in December 2024. Archaeologists described the find as a “weapons sacrifice,” a strange yet well-documented custom that’s believed to have taken place after battles or the death of an important individual.

The haul included 119 lance and spearheads, 8 swords, 5 knives, 3 arrowheads, an axe head, and a chainmail cuirass—an object of immense value at the time, which would have taken months to craft. Non-military equipment included two oath rings, a bugle of sorts, a horse bridle, and hundreds of flint and pottery fragments.

Also found at the time were “numerous not yet identified iron and bronze objects” some of which must have been the component parts of this ‘Imperial Italic’ class Roman helmet, dating to the twilight of the empire when helmet construction reached an artistic and functional highpoint.

Euro News, reporting on the additional finds, noted that X-ray images on plates of iron revealed them to be parts of the helmet that would have folded down over the cheeks and neck—one of the only points where an enemy could strike to significantly wound a legionary stationed within his battle formation.

Denmark was beyond the borders of the Roman Empire even at its highest point of influence. Rather than belonging to a legionary, the helmet may have been taken as plunder or through trading by Germanic peoples.

released by Velje Museums

The Romans maintained a sort of ‘trade and invade’ policy with the Germans, but never ventured beyond into regions like Scandinavia, the Baltics, or Poland. The Germans however would have been in contact with the inhabitants of these lands, which perhaps is how the helmet ended up so far from the workshops of the Empire.

MORE ROMAN-AGE FINDS: Dozens of Strange 12-Sided Objects from Roman Times Have Been Found—No One Knows What They’re For

The weapons were found in the remains of two separate buildings in Løsning Søndermark, in the municipality of Hedensted, and were often bent in dramatic angles.

In one, the deposits were made during the dismantling of the house. The large, roof-bearing posts were removed, and the weapons were buried in the empty hole. In the second, the offerings were made during the construction of the house, with the weapons and other equipment being tightly packed around the roof-bearing posts prior to backfilling.

WARTIME ARCHAEOLOGY: Finding Any Sword is a Treasure But Four is ‘A Dream’ – We Rubbed Our Eyes

This gave the archaeologists the assurance that the building wasn’t a barracks or smithy, where one may expect to find piles of weapons, and that they were all set together for ceremonial purposes.

Efforts are underway to display parts of the massive find at the Vejle Cultural Museum in early 2025.

SHARE This Continually Unfolding Discovery Of Iron War Gear In Denmark… 

New Technology Lights Up Coral Beds to Speed Reef Restoration By Attracting Food

By
Andy Corbley
-
UZELA lights installed in a nursery - credit Phanor Montoya-Maya, via Coral Restoration
UZELA lights installed in a nursery – Credit: Phanor Montoya-Maya, via Coral Restoration Foundation

What would a bird feeder look like if you adapted it to feed coral reefs? The answer is something like a searchlight.

Scientists at Ohio State have designed one that uses a special kind of light that attracts the microscopic organisms that coral feed on.

The device, dubbed the Underwater Zooplankton Enhancement Light Array (UZELA), is an autonomous, programmable underwater light that underwent early trials with the help of the Coral Restoration Foundation in Tavernier, Florida.

After testing the submersible on two species of coral native to Hawaii over six months, researchers found that UZELA could greatly enhance local zooplankton density and increase the feeding rates of both healthy and bleached coral.

When coral feed on larger quantities of zooplankton, it makes them stronger and more likely to be resilient against certain environmental threats, like heat stress or ocean acidification.

“Coral reefs house one-third of all marine species, yet occupy less than 1% of the ocean,” said Andrea Grottoli, lead author of the published study and a professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University.

The foundation writes that if UZELA proves effective, it could revolutionize coral nursery operations.

“By improving coral health and survival rates, UZELA could help reduce the time it takes for corals to grow to a size suitable for outplanting onto reefs. This would not only enhance the success of coral restoration projects but also reduce the operating costs associated with growing and maintaining nursery corals.”

OCEAN ADVANCEMENT: ‘Huge Environmental Win’: Australia to Protect 52% of its Oceans, More Than Any Other Country

Understandably, artificial lights can disrupt the behavior of other marine animals, so researchers could choose not to use the device year-round. That said, the study emphasizes that corralling zooplankton with this human-made tool doesn’t seem to harm the environment or interrupt the flow of other zooplankton in the surrounding area.

“If you imagine zooplankton in a column floating above coral, instead of being naturally dispersed, UZELA is just pulling them down, but it’s not taking away from the coral beside it,” said Grottoli. “We show that if you put the coral close to the light, they benefit from that concentrated zooplankton, and feeding rates go up 10 to 50-fold.”

MORE CORAL NEWS: Full Recovery for Coral Reef Within 4 Years – The Speed of Restoration They Saw was ‘Incredible’

“The real intent of this project is to inject new technology and energy into coral restoration success. It’s something that can be deployed strategically for high-value reefs, or projects that have already had a lot of investment in them.”

SHARE This Positive News Of An Invention To Fortify Our Reefs… 

Bison Ranchers Return Thousands of Animals to Native Lands and Witness Total Rejuvenation of Ecosystem

By
Andy Corbley
-
- credit: Tanka Fund, via Facebook
– credit: Tanka Fund, via Facebook

A tribal-led nonprofit is creating a network of native bison ranchers that are restoring ecosystems on the Great Plains, restoring native ranchers’ connections with their ancestral land, and restoring the native diet that their ancestors relied on.

Called the Tanka Fund, they coordinate donors and partners to help ranchers secure grazing land access, funds needed to install and repair fencing, increase their herd sizes, and access markets for bison meat across the country.

That’s the human part of the story. But as Dawn Sherman, executive director of the Tanka Fund, told Native Sun News, they’re “buffalo people” and these four-legged, 2,000 lbs. “cousins” are equal-part-protagonists.

The return of the bison means the return of the prairie, one of the three great grassland ecosystems on the planet, of which just 1% remains as it was when the Mayflower arrived.

“Bringing buffalo back to their ancestral homelands is essential to restoring the ecosystem. We know that the buffalo is a keystone species,” said Dawn Sherman, a member of the Lakota, Delaware, Shawnee, and Cree.

“Bringing the buffalo back to the land and to our people, helps restore the ecosystem and everything it supports from the animals to the plants to the people. It’s come full circle. That’s how we see it.”

As Sherman and the Tanka Fund help native ranchers grow their operations, everyone is well aware of the power of the bison to transform the environment: just as nations across Europe are, who are reintroducing wood bison to various ecosystems, for all the same reasons.

YOU’LL SURELY LIKE: Absolutely Epic: Watch the Release of a Wild Bison Herd onto Blackfeet Tribal Land

Sherman points out the variety of ways in which buffalo anchor the prairie ecosystem. The almost-extinct black-footed ferret, she points out, lived symbiotically with the bison, and with the latter gone, the former followed—nearly.

The long-billed curlew uses bison dung as a disguise to hide nests from predators. Deer, pronghorn antelope, and elk all rely on bison to plow through deep snows and uncover the grasses that these smaller animals can’t reach.

TRIBES REGAINING THEIR RIGHTS: After 9 Years of Work, Chumash Tribe Finally Seals Protection of CA Marine Reserve Bigger Than Yosemite

Everywhere the bison hurls its massive body, life springs in the beast’s wake. When bison roll about on the plains, it creates depressions known as wallows. These fill with rainwater and create enormous puddles where amphibians and insects thrive and reproduce. Certain plants evolved to grow in the wet conditions of the wallows which Native Americans harvested for food and medicine.

Native plants evolved under the trampling hooves of millions of bison, and that constant tamping down of the Earth is a key necessity in the spreading of native wildflower seed.

GOOD NATIVE STORIES: Bison Herd New to Park Uncover Ancient Petroglyphs With Their Hooves Fulfilling Indigenous Prophecy

Indeed, Sherman says some of these native ranchers are bringing bison onto lands still visibly affected by the Dust Bowl, and already the animals are acting like a giant wooly cure-all for the land’s ills.

Since 2020, the Tanka Fund, in partnership with the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council and the Nature Conservancy, has overseen the transfer of 2,300 bison from Nature Conservancy reserves to lands managed by ranchers within the Tanka Fund network.

“[T]he more animals that we can get the more of that prairie we can restore,” said Sherman. “We can help restore the land that has been plowed and has been leased out to cattle ranchers.”

WATCH a video explaining what the Tanka Fund does… 

SHARE This Native Project Of Renewal And Enrichment With Your Friends…

Big Oil Shares Data Maps to Unlock Fresh Drinking Water for Millions of Africans

By
Andy Corbley
-
Ruden AS workers in front of the Kimbiji aquifer site - credit Ruden AS
Ruden AS workers in front of the Kimbiji aquifer site – credit Ruden AS

Firms that conduct exploratory surveys for oil drilling have been sitting on mountains of geologic data that are now used to locate hidden aquifers of water for African communities.

Two-thirds of the African population is affected by water scarcity, but while this basic human necessity costs so little, the costs of finding underground sources are prohibitive for all but large development agencies or governments.

However, a drilling company founded by former petroleum industry men realized that in many regions of Africa where oil is believed to be present, extensive seismic surveys have pinpointed dozens of hidden water wells that the exploration companies weren’t interested in, and that water projects couldn’t afford to search for.

That company, Ruden AS, has spent years collecting this industry data in order to unlock freshwater sources for millions of Africans.

One in particular, now known as the Kimbiji aquifer, will provide 2 million Tanzanians with water for a century.

“Everyone got excited because this was the discovery of an aquifer that no one knew existed,” Elizabeth Quiroga Jordan, a petroleum engineer at Ruden AS, told Euro News.

Fritjov Ruden, from Norway, founded Ruden AS alongside his daughter Helene Ree in 2009. Having worked as an oil explorer turned water driller in Tanzania, Ruden learned that if an oil company fails to find oil after a certain number of feet, they will declare it dry even if it’s filled with water.

Working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ruden and his daughter were able to convince it to launch a charm offensive on the Petroleum Ministry, where decades of seismic survey data were held by the nationalized oil company. They hoped to use the data to find aquifers, something scientists recently determined were more numerous across Africa than previously thought.

GOOD NEWS FOR AFRICA: Egypt Has Finally Been Declared Malaria-Free After 4,000 Years of Infections—Even the Pharaohs

After 3 years, they received it, and sure enough, it revealed to Ruden that he and his team weren’t drilling deep enough in Tanzania’s Kimbiji Ward, and that a massive aquifer lay 1,800 feet down.

In 2005 they reached it, and water gushed forth. The extensive Kimbiji is estimated to contain a whopping 5,000 cubic kilometers of water, and its annual recharge rate is 2,000 cubic kilometers per year. This holds the power to furnish millions with clean drinking water for generations.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Kazakhstan Sees Incredible Progress Scaling Back World’s Worst Environmental Disaster

In Somalia, different oil and gas exploration campaigns have to date drilled for 80 oil and gas wells and more than 30,000 miles of seismic lines have been mapped. Ruden AS is currently exploring this massive dataset to hopefully provide Somalia with what has been provided already to Tanzania.

SHARE The News Of These Hidden Resources Unlocked For Africa… 

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” – Richard Wright

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” – Richard Wright

Photo by: yulia pantiukhina

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?

Almost Extinct Caribbean Lizard Makes a Comeback After Island Restoration

By
Andy Corbley
-
Sombrero ground lizard - credit: Richard Brown / Fauna & Flora ©
Sombrero ground lizard – credit: Richard Brown / Fauna & Flora ©

Originally published on Mongabay by Shreya Dasgupta

A tiny lizard found only on one tiny Caribbean island has seen a dramatic 1,500% increase in its population, after just a few years of island restoration efforts.

In 2018, researchers estimated there were fewer than 100 individuals of the critically endangered Sombrero ground lizard (Pholidoscelis corvinus) on the small hat-shaped Sombrero Island, part of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Just six years later, there are more than 1,600 of them, a recent survey has found.

MORE CONSERVATION NEWS: Native Wildlife Flourishing Again After Another Caribbean Island Banishes Invading Rodents

“I am beyond thrilled to see the ground lizards on the road to recovery, and this is a fantastic reward for everyone who has worked hard to restore Sombrero,” Jenny Daltry, Caribbean alliance director at conservation NGOs Fauna & Flora and Re:wild, told Mongabay. “Too many island species have been lost already, and we really need to prevent extinctions whenever we can.”

Today, Sombrero Island hosts large seabird colonies and several unique and rare species. But invading mice, likely brought to the island on ships or other means by people, as well as climate change impacts, have wreaked havoc on the island’s inhabitants.

When mice take over islands, they devour almost everything, from seeds to seabirds, Daltry said.

“By preventing plants from regenerating, the mice deprived the lizards of vital shelter and food, including fruits and insects. No doubt they also preyed on the lizards’ eggs and young.”

With native vegetation in a precarious state, storm surges and hurricanes striking the island further devasted the island’s lizard populations.

To turn things around, Fauna & Flora, Anguilla National Trust, and Re:wild began restoration efforts in 2018. They trapped and removed all the mice by placing bait from June to August 2021. They also developed a “biosecurity plan” in which researchers regularly check the island to ensure it’s still mouse-free.

MORE GOOD ISLAND NEWS: Islanders Remain Dedicated to Conservation Above All, Living on the ‘World’s Best Beach’

Given Sombrero’s remote location, the likelihood of reinvasion by mice is considered low, Daltry said. She added that the teams are also developing “remote surveillance cameras with AI capability” to automatically detect and alert them of invasive species.

While the mice may be gone, the threat from hurricanes fueled by climate change still looms close. While the researchers have been working to restore the island’s native vegetation, the island has lost much of its original soil cover, which will take time to rebuild, Daltry said. With no tree cover yet, any severe hurricane or storm surge in the future “could set back the speed of recovery of the soil layer and vegetation,” she added.

READ NEXT: Rats Finally Eradicated from Caribbean Island as Huge Nature Reserve Rises in Their Place

However, Daltry said she’s hopeful that even the current sparse vegetation provides the Sombrero ground lizards “with vital food and shelter, giving them a much better chance of survival when the next storm strikes.”

“This could make the difference between survival and extinction,” she said. “The big question is whether the recovery of Sombrero Island and its wildlife will be able to keep pace with the speed of climate breakdown.”

SHARE The Impressive Recovery Of This Tiny But Important Lizard… 

Reprinted under a CC 4.0. license from Mongabay 

The Emotional Moment Dog was Returned to Owners 7 Years After Being Stolen

By
Andy Corbley
-
RSPCA inspector Kim Walters (left), pictured with colleague Andy Cook - credit: RSPCA, supplied
RSPCA inspector Kim Walters (left), pictured with colleague Andy Cook – credit: RSPCA, supplied

An English family has been reunited with their beloved Labrador Daisy who was stolen from their front lawn 7 years ago.

Their tireless search and advocacy for their lost family member attracted the attention of British celebrity and even helped steer a law through Parliament, but the ultimate reward for the devotion to their lost dog was the chance to see her again, elderly and slightly battered, but alive and loving.

In 2017, a truck arrived in front of Rita and Philip Potter’s Norfolk house. Two men hurriedly lept out, grabbed Daisy, and stuffed her into the back—a despicable act seen by neighbors.

Ruling out the possibility that Daisy got lost in the woods somewhere, the Potters contacted the police and urged a response. An RSPCA search in Somerset—200 miles and 7 years later—has recovered a 13-year-old Daisy, who was likely the victim of an illegal pet breeding operation.

A quick microchip scan, and Daisy was on her way home.

“We kept a photograph on the mantlepiece and would look at it every day thinking of her, and where she might be,” Mrs. Potter told the BBC. “It is an absolute dream come true that the RSPCA found her and returned her to us—where she belongs—we are so, so grateful,” said Mrs Potter.

Following Daisy’s abduction, the Potters were active in the press and social media trying to ensure anyone who might have seen the dog understood where she had come from. Tom Hardy, the A-list action star from Dark Knight Rises and Inception, shared their post on his X account.

EMOTIONAL REUNIONS: Arizona Man Who Never Stopped Trying is Reunited with Dog Lost 8 Years Ago in Another State

The Potters then collected 100,000 signatures on a petition for greater government action to fight pet crime. The Pet Abduction Act changed the UK sentencing guidelines, making it a criminal offense with a prison sentence of up to 5 years. Previously, pets were considered property, and abducting them was punished under the UK’s 1986 Theft Act.

During the RSPCA’s investigation, the owner agreed to turn Daisy over to the organization, explaining they had only had her for a few years and didn’t know she could have been stolen. At their facility, a microchip scan revealed Daisy’s provenance and the call to the Potters was an emotional one.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Special Police Unit Tracks Down $27 Million in Stolen Cars Including Crates Full of Snagged Luxury Vehicles

“They were obviously shocked—but elated at the same time,” said RSPCA inspector Kim Walters. “I was a bit choked from listening to them, and clearly how much they loved her, so it was great telling them that we could get her back home soon.”

Now in her golden years, and with several health issues from a half-decade of maltreatment, the Potters look forward to loving, spoiling, and caring for her.

SHARE This Inspiring Story Of Hope And Advocacy With A Happy Ending… 

Rate of Deforestation in Colombia Last Year Was Among the Lowest in 23 Years

By
Andy Corbley
-
Deforestation in Colombia's Amazonas Department - credit: Lowfill Tarmak, via Flickr.
Deforestation in Colombia’s Amazonas Department – credit: Lowfill Tarmak, via Flickr.

Looking at the number of deforested acres in Colombia, the outgoing environment minister says 2024 will be one of the least damaging years in recent decades.

Considering the level of paramilitary presence in rural Colombia over the past 50 years, it’s an incredible achievement to have seen it fall so low in one of the world’s most biodiverse countries.

Colombia has had problems with deforestation for years owing to the occupation of rural highland forest areas by the revolutionary Marxist guerilla force FARC, and a similar group called the ELN, with which Colombia remains in conflict.

Deforestation is in part driven, it’s believed, by dissident rebels from these and other groups, including drug traffickers, including through building roads, camps, ranching animals, and perhaps supplying the illegal hardwood trade.

In 2023, deforestation rates fell by more than one-third, to 305 square miles, and though there has been a slight uptick since then, Minister Susana Muhamed told reporters that 2024 will be the third-lowest in the 21st century, showing the state can maintain the progress it’s already made.

A STORY ALONG THESE LINES: Deforestation Fell 26% in Colombian Amazon Last Year Since Peace and Reconciliation with Rebels in FARC

Deforestation is not measured by the number of trees felled by men with chainsaws, but also includes weather events and disasters such as landslides or fires. 2024 was originally predicted to see a sharp rise in forest loss amid a strong El Nino weather phenomenon that brought about dryer and hotter conditions, droughts, and fires throughout Colombia by April.

Deforestation had increased 40% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period the prior year, but these trends must have petered out significantly over the following months.

SHARE This Positive Phenomenon In A Troubled, Yet Beautiful Country… 

Discovery of Stunning Einstein Ring by European Space Agency’s Euclid – the Dark Universe Detective

By
Andy Corbley
-
European Space Agency’s Euclid captures Einstein Ring – Credit: ESA
European Space Agency’s Euclid captures Einstein Ring – Credit: ESA

When parsing through images meant to test the camera on a new space telescope, scientists recently recognized a striking and rare phenomenon that had been perfectly captured by the craft.

A galaxy, shining in the distance, was tightly encircled by a halo of white light—also known as an Einstein Ring, and the result of gravitational lensing.

Close up of the Einstein ring around galaxy NGC 6505 – credit: ESA, released

Euclid, named after the Ancient Greek mathematician, was launched into space by the European Space Agency in July 2023, and it began to test its camera systems in September.

In February 2024, Euclid began a survey that will map more than a third of the sky, observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years in order to create the most detailed 3D map of the universe ever assembled.

NASA has two spacecraft en route to launch for similar purposes, the SPHEREx broad surveyor, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a middle-ground surveyor between SPHEREx and the flagship observatories Hubble and James Webb.

These surveyor telescopes represent the astronomical science community’s desire to understand more about dark matter and dark energy—unseen forces that shape the positions of galaxies throughout the universe, and it only took a few months for Euclid to produce this amazing observation of their effects through space.

“I look at the data from Euclid as it comes in,” explains Euclid Archive Scientist Bruno Altieri. “Even from that first observation, I could see it, but after Euclid made more observations of the area, we could see a perfect Einstein ring. For me, with a lifelong interest in gravitational lensing, that was amazing.”

OTHER COOL SPACE DISCOVERIES: Tiny Planet Makes Big Splash as Surprise Study Shows it May Be Producing its Own Organic Compounds

Gravitational lensing was predicted by Einstein who stated that light would bend around large objects. In this image from Euclid, a galaxy called NGC 6505 shines with clear light from the center of space. Located 590 million light-years away, it is surrounded by the light from a second, very bright galaxy more than 4 billion light-years away.

As the light from the unnamed, older galaxy arrives at NGC 6505, it bends around and coalesces on the other side (as we see it) distorted. NGC 6505 actually behaves in this scenario like a magnifying glass, providing a much greater amount of light from the distant, unnamed galaxy, than we would be able to see imaging it directly.

MORE EXAMPLES OF GRAVITATIONAL LENSING: Beyond the ‘Dragon Arc’ Astronomers Unveil a Treasure Trove of Hidden Stars

“All strong lenses are special, because they’re so rare, and they’re incredibly useful scientifically,” said Conor O’Riordan, of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany, and lead author of the first scientific paper analyzing the ring. “This one is particularly special, because it’s so close to Earth and the alignment makes it very beautiful.”

The ESA press team writes that Einstein Rings are a rich laboratory for scientists. Studying their gravitational effects can help us learn about the expansion of the Universe, detect the effects of invisible dark matter and dark energy, and investigate the background source whose light is bent by dark matter in between us and the source.

SHARE This Cool Phenomenon And Research Field With Your Friends… 

“The head never rules the heart, but just becomes its partner.” – Mignon McLaughlin

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “The head never rules the heart, but just becomes its partner.” – Mignon McLaughlin

Photo by: Tim Winkler

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?

Fighting Cancer Without Fighting: Scientists Switch Tumor Cells Back to Healthy Ones at ‘Critical’ Moment

By
Andy Corbley
-
Cancer growth (top left) was reverted back to a health state (bottom right) - credit Dongkwan Shin et al.
Cancer growth (top left) was reverted back to a health state (bottom right) – credit Dongkwan Shin et al.

What if the best course of action in the fight against cancer isn’t to fight at all?

Rather than killing these mutated cells, a new study from Korea presents a treatment wherein they can be changed back to healthy cells at a key moment.

The authors liken the method to the moment just before water reaches 212°F (100°C), when it’s neither truly liquid nor truly gas. There is such a moment when a cell is both cancerous and normal, when it’s possible to turn it back down the path of health with a gentle nudge.

The experiment was performed on a lab-grown tumor in a petri dish, and so has a long way to go before it’s visible in any hospital.

“This study has revealed in detail, at the genetic network level, what changes occur within cells behind the process of cancer development, which has been considered a mystery until now,” Kwang-Hyun Cho, a professor of biology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and co-author of the new research, said in a statement.

“This is the first study to reveal that an important clue that can revert the fate of [tumor development] is hidden at this very moment of change,” he added.

The authors write in their paper that recent advances in gene regulatory network modeling have offered insights into controlling cell fates, especially interesting for the ‘critical transitions’ referred to earlier; but modeling the tipping point from cell to tumor remains challenging due to genetic alterations that dynamically reshape networks throughout the tumorigenic process.

Nevertheless, Professor Cho and their partners identified an enzyme hindering the breakdown of certain cancer-related proteins, allowing them to fuel tumor growth. By blocking the enzyme, the lab-grown tumors stopped growing and reverted to a healthy state of normal functioning.

MORE CANCER BREAKTHROUGHS: Youngest Cancer Patient Treated with ‘Nano-knife’ Is Now Cancer-Free

What other functions does the enzyme have in tumors; what about in healthy cells? Could it be blocked with a pharmaceutical application? These questions will certainly be much on the minds of the study team as they expand on this potentially revolutionary idea of treating cancer.

SHARE This Story With Your Friends On Social Media… 

Mechanic Learns to Read at 58 and Finally Gets to Enjoy a Magazine He Bought 40 Years Ago

By
Andy Corbley
-
Ted Midgely - credit supplied
Ted Midgely – photo supplied

A dyslexic Englishman who was never properly taught how to read in school has finally been able to enjoy a copy of a magazine he bought in 1985.

Ted Midgely has learned how to read at 58 years old thanks to the help of a tutor, who told the BBC that adults without the ability to read are actually more common in the UK than one might think.

Midgely was born in Bradford, England, where he struggled in school and was dubbed “lazy” by the teaching staff. It was only when he arrived in middle school that someone reached out to his parents and suggested Ted might be dyslexic.

Leaving middle school, he was moved to another institute for those with learning impairments but struggled, and eventually drifted out of the education system altogether to work in a textile mill.

No one reading needs to feel sorry for Midgely, as despite his inability to read, he had a rewarding career as a mechanic for the specialist motorcycles used in a unique British motorsport called ‘speedway’ in which the riders compete on a dirt oval track with single-gear dirtbikes that have no brakes.

He’s gotten to travel around the world for races, and it acted as the genesis for his desire to learn how to read.

“I got involved with a young chap from Australia called Brayden Elliot and it’s gone really well and I want to become his manager—that’s what I’d like to do,” Midgley told the BBC. “But to do that I need to read emails.”

READ MORE STORIES: CNN Hero: Man Helps Barbers Fill Their Shops with Books to Help Kids Find Excitement in Reading

He has been taking two 30-minute lessons a week from Duncan Livsey, a tutor with Read Easy Derby.

“He’s been brilliant,” Livsey said. “Because Ted’s so positive he’s been so easy to teach—it’s been so rewarding and I get a buzz each time I sit down with him.”

LATE GRADUATES: 72-Year-old Graduates from College with His 99-yo Mom Cheering Him On

As well as reading Elliot’s emails, Midgely was able to read something a lot more special: a copy of Speedway Star magazine he bought 40 years ago.

“I had this for so long and I’ve never been able to read it… it was amazing to do it,” he said.

SHARE This Never-Too-Late Story With Your Friends On Social Media… 

90% of All Power Grid Additions in American During 2024 Were Renewable–Solar Alone Made up 80%

By
Andy Corbley
-
- credit, energy.gov, released.
– credit, energy.gov, released.

In a staggering statistic, where it took a whole year to add one gigawatt of solar power in 2004, it now takes one single day.

A gigawatt can power around 200,000 homes in the US, and in another staggering statistic, American businesses and governments funded the installation of 30 in 2024 alone.

Indeed, 90% of all grid additions in 2024 were renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal.

Solar accounted for 80% of all these additions alone, providing 30 gigawatts of electricity, or around 75% of the total renewable energy supply California has installed in the state’s history.

New solar capacity added in 2024 is almost nine times that added by natural gas and nuclear power combined.

There was also a respectable amount of capacity added by new wind power installations, which added 3 gigawatts to state grids. Additionally, 213 megawatts of hydropower, 51 MW of biomass, and 29 MW of geothermal steam were added, taking the total renewable energy footprint in 2024 to 90.5% of all new power sources.

RENEWABLE NEWS FOR 2024: 

Part of this can be explained by the long-term nature of fossil fuel plants, the builders, financiers, and operators of which have been disincentivized for years to initiate the construction of one of these power plants.

By contrast, solar power, even in large amounts, can be installed incredibly quickly.

Solar’s share of US generating capacity is now 10x greater than a decade ago, and renewables have inched up beyond 30% of the total grid mix.

SHARE This Sunny Energy Forecast With Your Friends On Social Media… 

1...110111112...1,703Page 111 of 1,703
© Copyright 1997–2026 GNN, LLC