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Building is Powered by Algae Panels in the Sun

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Jul 18, 2013

algae building by © Arup

As an energy source, algae may be growing up.

A new apartment complex in Hamburg, Germany, intends to generate heat — and shade — as well as revenue, from growing the micro-organism.

The five-story building, expected to become fully operational this week, has a high-tech facade that is actually a vertical algae farm.

Vietnam Fan Chasing Bus of Favorite English Team Gets Surprise When They Stop

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Jul 18, 2013

Vietnamese fan runs for football -Aresenal Team Media

A young fan of a London football team that was in Vietnam for an international match showed such spunk by running after the tour bus that the team wanted to meet him.

Vu Xuan Tien, 20, wore an Arsenal team jersey and smiled and waved as he dodged traffic and obstacles along a 5-mile stretch in Hanoi. The club is one of the most successful in English football history.

Arsenal teammates chanted, “Sign him up,” as they watched him trying to keep up with the moving coach.

55 Customers ‘Pay It Forward’ for Next Car in Donut Line

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Jul 17, 2013

krispy-kreme-donut-glazed

A gesture by a customer at Heav’nly Donuts in Amesbury, Massachusetts triggered a chain reaction on Saturday that led to a lot of smiles.

The staff began counting at around the seventh car as the driver paid for the order of the customer behind them, after getting theirs free.

“It was the best twelve dollars I ever spent,” said the unemployed woman who took the free drinks but then started the chain as the second in line.

It only ended when there were no more people in line whose orders could be paid for.

The phenomenon of paying for the person behind you in line at a drive-thru window goes back at least five years. In 2008, KUSA in Colorado reported on it in this video for CNN.

And, it isn’t happening only in the U.S. One pay-It-forward chain lasted for three hours at a Canadian coffee shop in Winnipeg over the winter holiday last year.

(READ the story at WBZ-Boston)

Thanks to Craig Withers for submitting the link!

Community Bike Shop Where City Kids Gather to Earn a Bicycle

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Jul 17, 2013

biking little girl in NYC

After the attacks of Sept. 11, Kerri Martin decided to change her life, leaving the corporate world to open a bike shop.

Now, through her store Second Life Bikes, she’s giving neighborhood kids the opportunity to learn the value of hard work by helping them to fix and earn their own bikes.

Most kids stay on at the shop even after getting their own. They like the team spirit and sense of accomplishment.

(WATCH the video from TODAY)

File photo: Little girl on a bike NYC

Social Media Delivers on Cancer Patient’s Plea for Pizza Party

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Jul 16, 2013

pizza party for cancer toddlers in hospital-OurLittlHazlenut

When your two year-old is in the hospital battling childhood cancer, you do whatever crazy thing will help keep their spirits up.

Lauren, the particularly creative mother of little Hazel Hammersley, used medical tape on the window to form giant letters: SEND PIZZA RM 4112.

After a couple days passed, the fourth floor pediatric cancer ward was suddenly abuzz with the smell of pizzas. Several deliveries arrived after someone had captured a photo of their message from the sidewalk and posted it to Reddit.com. Hazel and other tiny cancer patients had a grand time chowing down together on the hospital bed. Nurses turned on some music and joined in for a grand pizza party.

“As of yesterday evening, there was more than 20 boxes delivered and more was coming!” wrote Lauren on her family’s blog, Our Little Hazelnut, where she posted more photos. “We had such a great time!”

Dozens more pies were delivered to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles before the facility had to tell the media to say, ‘Please no more,’ to the kind strangers.

“We have been absolutely humbled and surprised by the outpouring of love and support from the online community and can only hope and pray that this brings awareness to neuroblastoma and the childhood cancer community,” wrote Lauren, who started a Facebook page called, Hope for Hazel, which picked up thousands of fans since the pizza party.

(READ more of the story from the CBC)

Thanks to Shannon West for also submitting the link!

Boy With Mental Retardation Improves Life for Homeless Pets

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Jul 15, 2013

puppy helper Bubbas Animal Pride

A young man in Tennessee doesn’t let autism or mental challenges stop him from living a full life — and helping others less fortunate to do the same.

After visiting the animal control office to look for a new pet, 15 year-old Bubba asked his mother why the dogs and cats didn’t have any toys, beds or blankets. They looked cold and lonely in their cages. He asked if the family could buy the beds and toys. His mom had to explain that they couldn’t afford the cost.

“All that day I could see that he had a lot on his mind,” said his mother. “Later that evening he came to me and told me he would raise money to help the animals.”

Algae Powered Street Lamps Suck Up C02

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Jul 15, 2013

algae lamp biochemist Pierre Calleja-ShamengoPhoto

What if underground parking garages were lit by lamps running off the CO2 exhaust from the passing cars?

French Bio-chemist Pierre Calleja invented an algae lamp that needs no electricity for illumination and also gobbles up carbon emissions that cause global warming.

The French start-up he works for, FermentAlg, installed one of the algae-filled tanks in a parking garage in Bordeau. It feeds on the CO2 in the air at the rate of 1 ton per year, the amount that a tree absorbs over its entire lifetime, according to the French project Shamengo.

Lithuanian Capital To Install a Public ‘Happiness Barometer’

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Jul 15, 2013

Smiley face flag

The mayor of Vilnius plans to install a huge screen on the town hall to broadcast a real-time “happiness barometer” that will monitor the mood of the Lithuanian capital.

The giant display will monitor the level of happiness based on tabulated votes sent in by city residents from their mobile phones and computers.

(READ the story from Reuters)

Spain’s Endangered Iberian lynx Brought Back from Brink of Extinction

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Jul 15, 2013

Iberian lynx by lynxexsitu.es - CC

Ten years ago the Iberian lynx was nearing extinction but today, thanks to an imaginative conservation programme that has brought hunters, farmers and the tourist industry under its wing, its numbers have tripled from 94 to 312.

“Now there is hope,” said Miguel Ángel Simón, director of the lynx recovery program in Andalusia, southern Spain.

(READ the story in the Guardian)

Photo by lynxexsitu.es – CC

ESPN Producer Quits Job to Help Disabled Wrestlers Attend College

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Jul 14, 2013

disabled pair with ESPN prodicer

One of the most memorable videos ever appearing on the Good News Network was a 2009 ESPN feature on a pair of athletes wrestling at a Cleveland inner city school. Leroy Sutton had years earlier lost both his legs in a train accident. His teammate, Dartanyon Crockett, carried Leroy on his back during every wrestling match and every practice.

The outstanding young men found a place in the heart of Lisa Fenn, the ESPN features producer who, after the story aired, received hundreds of emails from viewers who wanted to help send the wrestlers to college. Both said they’d like to go but that there was no money. Fenn set up a trust fund and a website, “Carry On”, to accept the donations.

ESPN decided to produce a video update, telling the story of how Lisa quit her job to take on the arduous task of applying to colleges and essentially being a mother to the boys who had lost their moms early on.

Today, Leroy is on track to earn his bachelor’s degree from an Arizona college having studied video game design. Dartanyon visited the U.S. paralympic training center and decided to switch to judo and pursue a medal in London.

“She is the largest support that I’ve ever had,” said Dartanyon in tears.

(WATCH the video or READ the story at ESPN) – Photo credit: ESPN

Students Invent Soap That Saves Lives

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Jul 14, 2013

Africas Faso Soap inventors-BerkelyEDUPhoto

An award-winning innovation by two African students could help reduce the devastating impact of the life-threatening disease malaria — which is spread relentlessly by infected mosquitoes.

The young men, from Burkina Faso and Burundi, have used indigenous herbs to create a soap that repels mosquitoes, thus reducing the disease.

Their “Faso Soap” has earned the pair a $25,000 Grand Prize in the Global Social Venture Competition.

Revolutionary Instrument Delivers a Sharper Universe to Astronomers

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Jul 13, 2013

telescope Gemini ObservatoryAURA-Manuel Paredes

Seven ultrasharp images of space released last week by the Gemini South Observatory in Chile reveal the remarkable potential of a new instrument that removes atmospheric distortions.

Astronomers recently got their hands on Gemini Observatory’s revolutionary new adaptive optics system, called GeMS, “and the data are truly spectacular!” says Robert Blum, Deputy Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory with funding by the U.S. National Science Foundation. “What we have seen so far signals an incredible capability that leaps ahead of anything in space or on the ground – and it will for some time.”

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