Richard and Laura Howard encountered a pod of Killer Whales that began following their speedboat at top speed, playfully jumping in the wake and spraying the couple for almost 30 minutes.
Richard has long been photographing marine life posting his photos at www.oceansofimages.com. But on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary, it was his wife who captured the jovial orca whales — nearly 20 of them — while diving off the coast of in La Paz, Mexico.
(WATCH the videos below)
More than 110 underprivileged students from Africa will get to study at the University of British Columbia thanks to a $25 million donation from MasterCard Foundation.
“This transformative grant will help support a new generation of African leaders and will enhance UBC and Canada’s connections with Africa for the future,” said UBC president Stephen Toope, in a statement.
This extends to Canada the MasterCard Foundation’s worldwide program aimed at educating talented students from economically disadvantaged communities in Africa so they can lead change at home.
Need a power source when you’re camping or during a black-out? Heat up this pot on a fire or burner and it can turn the heat into useful electricity for powering USB devices.
The PowerPot is the invention of two graduates from the University of Utah, who built the original prototype using an old pan and materials bought on EBay.
The Czech Republic plans to donate $200,000 to help the Texas town of West recover from a devastating fertilizer plant explosion.
The government decided to provide the aid in solidarity because a significant number of people in the town of 2,700 have Czech roots.
The UK is becoming a more peaceful place with rates of violent crime and murder falling more rapidly in the past decade any other Western European country, researchers say.
Violent crime overall was down by a quarter in the decade ending in 2012, and murders were cut in half, according to the UK Peace Index, a report compiled by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace.
A mother who is recovering in the hospital after losing both legs below the knee while watching the Boston Marathon went from being devastated to feeling better.
The woman and her daughter — who is also recovering in the hospital — were visited by U.S. Marines, men who understand what it’s like to lose limbs.
They underwent the same injury and now walk with prosthetic devices.
“You will be more independent than you ever were,” he assured her. “This is the start of a new beginning.”
It is already true that this is a new beginning. The mother, Celeste, and daughter Sydney, have described moments since their injuries as “incredibly uplifting.”
In the end of the video you will see why she was joking…
— WATCH the video below
— LEARN more about the women on fundraising page set up to help pay hospital bills
— READ more about the Marines in this story at NPR
The lives of two men, one a young marathon runner who had crossed the finish line two minutes before the bomb exploded, and an older man he rushed to help, have formed a bond neither man will soon forget.
It was 23-year-old Rob Wheeler who took the shirt off his back and wrapped it around the leg of a spectator’s injured leg. He wasn’t even supposed to be running that day. At the last minute a friend gave him the spot.
“We’re part of each other’s life now,” said the 51-year-old victim Ron Brassard, who plans to attend Rob’s graduation in May. Ron’s wife and daughter already went with Rob to a Rod Sox baseball game.
(WATCH the NBC video below or READ the story in the NY Daily News)
The first-ever vaccine for gastrointestinal disorders common in 90 percent of autistic children has the potential to one day alleviate additional autism symptoms.
Cases of autism have increased almost sixfold over the past 20 years, and scientists don’t know why. Although many experts point to environmental factors, others have focused on the human gut.
University of Guelph researchers developed a carbohydrate-based vaccine against the gut bug, Clostridium bolteae, which shows up in higher numbers in the GI tracts of autistic children than in those of healthy kids.
Beginning at noon on Friday, the Irish people will pick up shovels and seedlings to embark on an initiative which aims to plant a million young native trees at many different sites across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 24 hours.
The non-profit charity One Million Trees in One Day will establish individual trees and woodlands in both rural and urban areas to provide valuable resources, beneficial ecosystems and a lasting legacy. The group is committed to low impact and sustainable management and will shun chemical weed-killers in its maintenance plan.
Toyota’s electric hybrid car sales passed the 5 million mark in March, 2013, a milestone for the industry. The company started selling the Prius, the world’s first mass produced gasoline-electric passenger car in 1997.
Four years ago, Janelly Martinez-Amador was confined to a bed, unable to move even an arm or lift her head. At age 3, the fragile toddler had the gross motor skills of a newborn and a ventilator kept her alive.
She was born with thin, fragile bones, and by 3, she had no visible bones on X-rays. Initially, doctors weren’t sure she would survive her first birthday. In May, Janelly will turn 7, and is developing bone with the help of an experimental drug therapy and her care team at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Now she can dance.
“This is why we get into medicine in the first place,” said her physician, Jill Simmons, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at Vanderbilt. “My goodness, to go from no bones to bones. That’s the most impressive thing I have seen as a physician. It’s incredible.”
Janelly has a rare genetic disorder called hypophosphatasia (HPP), a metabolic disease that affects the development of bone and teeth. An enzyme deficiency causes the bones to become soft because they can’t absorb important minerals such as calcium and phosphorus, increasing the risks for pain, broken bones and bone deterioration.
“The treatment has worked very well. If you saw her in 2009 and see her now, it’s not the same Janelly,” said her mother, Janet Amador.
11 children, age 3 years and younger, participated in the clinical trial testing an enzyme-replacement drug therapy, asfotase alfa. Janelly had the worst case of the group.
Michael Whyte, M.D., the lead investigator of the study, visited Janelly and her family at Children’s Hospital last week. It was the first time he had met the family and Dr. Simmons.
“For many years, it seemed there was nothing that was very helpful for this disorder,” said Whyte, medical-science director of the 
Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research at Shriner Hospitals for Children in St. Louis.
Varying degrees of HPP affect about one in 100,000 babies born in the United States. The most severe forms occur before birth and half the babies born with the disease don’t survive beyond their first birthday.
“We were fearful that her bone disease was so terribly severe that it might not work. But by looking at the X-rays and hearing about her visits, we were thrilled to hear about her progress,” he added.
About eight months into the treatment, Janelly’s parents felt her fingers — which had been completely soft and boneless — and they could feel traces of developing bone. Her head also began to develop bone. At 18 months into therapy, X-rays showed, for the first time, the visible development of her rib cage.
Janelly now sits in a wheelchair. Recently, dressed in her Easter best and bright pink bows, she was able to turn her head to gaze at a room of onlookers.
She smiled and waved her hand excitedly, a feat she never would have accomplished before the drug therapy. She is also able to attend school at Harris-Hillman Special Education School, not far from Children’s Hospital.
This spring, doctors hope to be able to remove her tracheostomy tube, which has prevented her from speaking. Her developmental and cognitive abilities will be tested in July. Improvement continues each day, each week for Janelly.
(WATCH her dance in this video below, from the Tennessean)
When two teammates on the Washington Spirit women’s pro soccer team, learned where they would live this summer, they thought someone was playing a prank.
The world-class athletes who won bronze medals at the 2012 Olympics were placed in a retirement community.
But after seeing their new home for the first time last month and receiving a warm welcome from the residents, Robyn Gayle and Diana Matheson are embracing inter-generational living.
“It grew on us quickly. We got here and it surpassed our expectations.”
(READ the story in the Washington Post)
On Monday, the newspaper staff that had been working overtime in Boston to cover the tragic events of their city found a welcome gift from fellow journalists in a thousand miles away.
The Chicago Tribune staff overwhelmed them with pizzas delivered at noontime along with a nice note:
We can only imagine what an exhausting and heartbreaking week it’s been for you and your city. But do know your newsroom colleagues here in Chicago and across the country stand in awe of your tenacious coverage. You make us all proud as journalists.
We can’t buy you lost sleep, so at least let us pick up lunch.
Your friends at the Chicago Tribune.
(SEE a quick story and video at the Boston Globe)
For years, fishermen, farmers and hydroelectric dams were in a tug of war on the Klamath River in California. Finally, the once bitter enemies came together in compromise, even agreeing to the possible destruction of the dams.
The ensuing years of conservation efforts helped to create a chinook salmon population boom last October that saw thousands of them moving up river every day — nearly double the size of any annual run since 1978.
Based on the agreement, the Department of the Interior released the Final Environmental Impact Statement on April 4 and it recommended full removal of four privately owned hydroelectric facilities in the Klamath Basin.
The salmon bonanza in California follows on the successful restoration of once-robust fisheries in Washington state last year following the largest dam removal project in U.S., which gave the migratory chinook and steelhead trout a chance to spawn up river in large numbers once again.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on Congress, which needs to authorize the dam removal as part of the final agreement.
(WATCH the video below from NBC Nightly News)
Like the rest of the University of New Hampshire track and field team, Cameron Lyle, 21, joined the bone marrow registry in his sophomore year. After all, it was a one in 5 million chance of ending up a match for a non-family member.
Then, a few weeks ago, the shot put star learned he was an exact match for a 28-year-old man on his last fight against leukemia.
Canadian doctors say they have found an inventive way to treat lazy eye – playing the Tetris video game.
The McGill University team discovered the popular tile-matching puzzle could train both eyes to work together.
In a small study, it worked better than conventional patching of the good eye to make the weak one work harder.
Ever since his father died two years ago Cole Holzer, 7, has clung to his father’s shirt for comfort. He cuddles it, sprays it with his father’s aftershave, and falls asleep with it.
When the boy left the shirt on a Delta Airlines flight to San Diego, and realized it later, he was devastated. That’s when the caring airline sprung into action to try to locate “the daddy shirt”.
As we reported on Saturday, millions of dollars have already been raised directly for specific bystanders who lost limbs in the Boston Marathon bombing. Some of the victims had no health insurance and their friends set up fundraising web pages to help pay the bills.
Businesses now are showing their spirit for Boston through generous contributions to the One Fund Boston. According to ABC News, the fund, which is collecting donations that will be divided between victims and their families, has already topped $10 million.
If you are looking for something fun and fantastic to do with family and friends, head out to America’s national parks this week where nature and history come together — and it’s all free.
The National Park Service presents National Park Week, a presidentially proclaimed celebration of our national heritage. From Saturday April 20 through Sunday, April 28 every national park will have free admission.
HealthyWage and other websites now offer money in exchange for improving your health and fitness.
The company offers $10,000 when teams of five compete to lose weight in a healthy way. Its 10% Challenge allows users to double their money if they lose 10% of their weight in six months; and the BMI Challenge pays users $100 to go from an obese BMI to a healthy BMI in 12 months.
