It was the easiest payday that master carpenter Jerry Hicks ever made—and the biggest too.
He must have thought it was his lucky day when he stopped outside a convenience store and noticed $20 dollars on the ground. He didn’t know the half of it.
Hicks, from Banner Elk, North Carolina, took the $20 and walked into the Speedway on state Highway 105 in Boone on Tuesday evening and bought an Extreme Cash scratch-off, officials said.
Hicks said that the Speedway didn’t have the lottery game he preferred to play, so bought a different one he was unfamiliar with.
It’s interesting how all these little choices can seem so consequential when the result was that Mr. Hicks won a million dollars with the ticket he bought.
Hicks said he plans to use his winnings to retire after working as a carpenter for 56 years, and using what’s left after that (and Golden Corral) to even better support his children.
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For many young people, teachers play the role of mentors, counselors, and friends, but for one isolated New Jersey student, his teacher became a guardian.
Outnumbered 5 to 1, a student at William Shemin Midtown Community School in Bayonne, was set upon by his peers, only for his teacher to intervene, shielding his prone body with her own.
Recorded by nearby security cameras, the scene saw 56-year-old Cathy Hurley try and prevent violence from starting between a group of teens while she was walking to her parked car.
Hurley’s daughter, speaking with ABC 7 News, said her mother must have known that something was wrong, and because she was “raised to stick up for the underdog,” tried to talk the teens out of fighting. They ignored her.
Throwing one boy to the ground, repeatedly punching and kicking him, Hurley tried to push them away before eventually lowering herself over the defenseless student, dissuading the assailants from throwing further blows.
ABC 7 reports that all five teens were charged with assault, endangering an injured victim, and rioting, while the young boy was taken to the hospital.
Bayonne School District Superintendent John Niesz in a statement said in part, “I can tell you this, that teacher embodies what each and everyone who works and lives in Bayonne is all about.”
“She was raised that way,” said Hurley’s daughter Frankie Sielski. “I was raised that way to stick up for the underdog and I know that her responding was an instinct.”
Sielski added that her mom is living proof that society is full of good, selfless people.
WATCH the story below from ABC 7…
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Quote of the Day: “Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” – John W. Gardner
Photo by: Benoît Deschasaux / Unsplash+
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Undergrad researcher Benjamin Sabir helps H. Jeremy Cho examine the atmospheric water harvesting device. (Jeff Scheid/UNLV)
Undergrad researcher Benjamin Sabir helps H. Jeremy Cho examine the atmospheric water harvesting device. (Jeff Scheid/UNLV)
With government funding, a team of engineers at Univ. of Las Vegas are poised to revolutionize how water is supplied in desert climes.
Their new system pulls gallons of water a day out of the air around us, and far from sitting on a bench in a laboratory, this incredible innovation is already moving to market.
Dubbed a ‘watershed moment,’ UNLV mechanical engineering professor H. Jeremy Cho. took a look at all the ways that modern societies use technology to pull water from the air and believed he could make it substantially better.
Desert-dwelling cultures have been creating and sharing innovations for tackling this challenge of nature for millennia, and Professor Cho used nature itself as an inspiration.
Existing mechanical systems of atmospheric water capture typically yield less-than a gallon a day and suffer from diminishing returns at under 30% humidity. Cho’s design relies on a hydrogel membrane inspired by frog’s skin as well as certain plants.
“We took that biological idea and tried to do it in our own way,” Cho told UNLV press. “There are so many cool things happening in nature—you just have to look around, learn, and be inspired.”
Undergrad researcher Emilie Luong holds a hydrogel membrane, an integral part of WAVR’s atmospheric water harvesting process. (Jeff Scheid/UNLV)
But just how much water could realistically be harvested from the air in a place as dry as Las Vegas? Actually, Cho says that of the hundreds of millions of gallons of water that Clark County consumes every day, there is about the same moisturizing the 30 feet of air closest to the ground.
Cho encourages people to view the atmosphere as a big invisible river.
To the end of tapping that river, Cho teamed up with UNLV undergrad researchers Emilie Luong and Benjamin Sabir and others
A device capable of atmospheric water harvesting in H. Jeremy Cho’s lab. (Jeff Scheid/UNLV)
to launch WAVR, a UNLV-startup and the first effort of its kind spun off from the National Science Foundation’s Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine (SWSIE), which gave Cho a generous grant for his research.
WAVR’s patented technology can capture 5-times more water than any other atmospheric water harvesting system, and with so much water available, stands to be a life-changing invention for the Southwest.
The first paper published on the WAVR devices established that certain conditions allowed for between 0.75 to 1.5 gallons of water per square meter of membrane, per day, could be generated in Las Vegas’s arid air.
“This paper really establishes that you can capture water at a very fast rate,” said Cho. “We can start to forecast how big of a system we would need to produce a set amount of water. If I have one square meter, which is around three feet by three feet, we can generate about a gallon of water per day in Las Vegas, and up to three times more in humid environments.”
The water is collected via the aqua-conductive powers of salt, and can be then turned either into drinking water or via simple electrolysis into green hydrogen fuel to power fuel cell vehicles like planes, trains, cars, or heavy equipment.
“Identifying technologies and innovations that can transform lives for the better, create jobs, and diversify the local economy is a critical function of what we’re doing at UNLV and throughout the region,” said Zach Miles, senior associate vice president for UNLV’s Office of Economic Development and SWSIE workforce development lead. “In the case of WAVR, you can see all of this in action, which I believe has helped move this startup forward.”
WATCH the story below from UNLV…
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Another amazing building, preserved under the ash of Vesuvius, has been excavated at Pompeii.
This one demonstrates changes in the taste and design of Roman homes at the time of the eruption but also exhibits a variety of mythical scenes depicted in frescoes on the walls.
Found in the central district of the city, the first thing archaeologists and excavators noted was the lack of an open-air courtyard called an atrium that’s so typical of Roman domiciles large and small.
The volcanic ash and pumice that buried the large city have preserved artifacts in incredible detail, including the last ritual materials burned at the family shrine to the gods, called a lararium.
“We have archaeologists, restorers, archaeobotanists here to understand exactly how the ritual of the last sacrifice was carried out before the eruption,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the park’s director, in a statement. “There are still the burnt remains of this ritual, there is the knife that was used.”
This excavation, Zuchtriegel added, “takes place under the eyes of the public” who can access the site on suspended walkways and watch archaeologists working.
Apart from these details, the most thrilling discoveries are the ornate frescoes that cover the walls, depicting various motifs of flowers and animals, but also scenes from mythology such as Venus with her mortal lover Adonis, a satyr engaged in intercourse with a nymph, and the judgment of Paris.
Another shows Theseus’ son Hippolytus and his stepmother Phaedra who fell in love with him. In the painting, Hippolytus is turning away, capturing the part of the story where Phaedra’s love is rejected, and she kills herself in anguish.
The preservation of frescoes at Pompeii is one of the many reasons why it stands among the most important historical/archaeological sites in all the world; not only for its significance in the story of humanity like that of Babylon or the Pyramids, but also the way it captures so many details—both big and small—about humanity and our story.
A great example of this is a wholesaler’s shop found in 2022 that amongst the wall decorations included a fresco with something that looks quite like a pizza.
Regarding the “pizza,” historians on staff were quick to remind the public that tomatoes are native to South America and mozzarella cheese hadn’t been invented yet, but the fresco could very well depict focaccia bread.
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Some of the biggest stars in country music teamed up on a Saturday night to see how much money they could raise for hurricane relief.
Headlined by Luke Combs and Eric Church, the Concert for Carolina generated $24 million to help North and South Carolina communities recover from the double whammy of hurricanes Helene and Milton, with names like Sheryl Crowe, James Taylor, and Keith Urban making guest appearances.
More than 80,000 people packed the Bank of America Arena in Charlotte—the use of which was offered pro bono by Carolina Panther’s owner David Tepper, whose foundation donated $3 million to relief efforts immediately following the effects of Milton—smashing as it did towns hundreds of miles from the coast.
“This will undoubtedly go down as the night I am most proud of in my career,” Combs wrote on Instagram. “Being able to give back to the place that gave me so much.”
Other guest performers included Billy Strings, Bailey Zimmerman, The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice, and Parmalee.
Born in Huntersville, NC, Combs told 104.3 KCY Country that he vividly remembered watching the devastation at his home in Nashville, unable to hear from friends and family who had lost cell reception.
Wondering “how I can be of service,” Combs called his fellow country star, friend, and North Carolina native Eric Church to pitch the idea of a benefit. The answer was never in doubt.
“North Carolina is both of our homes. The small communities that specifically make up western North Carolina are these strong, independent, proud communities,” Church said during a press conference in advance of the Saturday show.
“[T]hey’re the exact community that when the community next door is in trouble, out can count on that community to come help you. And in this situation, there is no community next door. It’s all been destroyed. So, what you’re seeing tonight, is we are the community next door. The people that are in this stadium are the community next door.”
Combs, who was also at the press conference, added that “a show like this usually takes a year, or a year and a half, to plan, and we were able to get it done in three weeks.”
WATCH James Taylor singing about Carolina from the show…
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, from left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, are seen inside the Dragon spacecraft shortly after having landed off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 25, 2024.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, from left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, are seen inside the Dragon spacecraft shortly after having landed off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 25, 2024. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky.
The astronauts who were stranded aboard the International Space Station have splashed down on Earth following their unexpected 8-month stay.
It wasn’t quite Lost in Space—they weren’t lost, for example—but in August when Boeing’s Starliner space capsule scheduled to pick them up had to return to the Earth empty for malfunctions and safety concerns, there must have been a small measure of concern.
NASA’s Crew 8 Mission consisting of Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos’ Alexander Grebenkin, arrived via SpaceX’s Dragon capsule back in March.
Barratt is the only one of the team to have entered space previously, and all four were deemed “fashionably late” by Danish space station commander Andreas Mogensen, after a small crack in the capsule’s hatch prompted a late flurry of diagnostics reports and associated delays.
The ISS was at over-capacity for inhabitants during the two months when the Starliner mission failed, and Barratt told the AP that the ground crews and support staff of NASA had to “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”
They’ve now parachuted back down into the Gulf of Mexico after a SpaceX capsule retrieved them last week. One, unnamed astronaut was taken to the hospital to be treated for an undisclosed injury, the other three are recuperating at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
It can take several weeks for the body to adjust to Earth’s gravity after a prolonged stay in microgravity.
They conducted new scientific research including stem cell research to develop organoid models for studying degenerative diseases, exploring how fuel temperature affects material flammability, and studying how spaceflight affects immune function in astronauts. Their work aims to improve astronaut health during long-duration spaceflights, contributing to critical advancements in space medicine and benefitting humanity.
The crew of four were replaced by two pairs of ISS visitors: the two astronauts sent up in the capsule that eventually brought the stranded astronauts back home, and two Starliner test pilots.
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Quote of the Day: “With renunciation life begins.” – Amelia Barr
Photo by: Valeria Nikitina / Unsplash+
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A team of MIT graduates has invented a commercial device that will give an alternative to sleeping pills for those who struggle to sleep.
It’s a minimally disruptive headband that looks like something that would be sold at an Apple Store. Technically speaking it’s an electroencephalogram (EEG) that sends audio waves into the brain to better align the brain regions to help the onset of sleep.
In a small study of the effects of the EEG headband, called Elemind, individuals with sleep-onset insomnia were able to fall asleep 10 to 15 minutes faster when wearing the Elemind.
Elemind was founded by David Wang and Ed Boyden—both graduates of MIT, and along with helping people who have trouble sleeping, the method may also be effective for slowing or preventing cognitive decline.
“We wanted to create a nonchemical option for people who wanted to get great sleep without side effects, so you could get all the benefits of natural sleep without the risks,” says Meredith Perry, Elemind’s CEO.
“There’s a number of people that we think would benefit from this device, whether you’re a breastfeeding mom that might not want to take a sleep drug, somebody traveling across time zones that wants to fight jet lag, or someone that simply wants to improve your next-day performance and feel like you have more control over your sleep.”
The founding scientists got their start using transcranial electric stimulation to try and moderate essential tremor syndrome but later moved to a less-regulated, less-explored field: sleep.
“We have a theory that the sound that we play triggers an auditory-evoked response in the brain,” Wang told MIT press. “That means we get your auditory cortex to basically release this voltage burst that sweeps across your brain and interferes with other regions. Some people who have worn Elemind call it a brain jammer. For folks that ruminate a lot before they go to sleep, their brains are actively running. This encourages their brain to quiet down.”
Indeed, one of the marketing angles is “put your brain on Do Not Disturb” which is a pretty convincing pitch.
The state of New York recently met its goal of installing 6 gigawatts of solar power one year ahead of schedule.
Outlined in a 2019 clean energy and climate change law, a state agency said that the accomplishment in advance of the 2025 deadline underscores the state’s position as one of the strongest ‘distributed’ solar markets in the nation.
The term refers to the quantity of solar power contributions to energy demand that come from panels owned by both individual homes and businesses, and larger solar farms.
The announcement was made by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) at the opening of a recent solar array in New Scotland, managed by, New Leaf Energy, that will power 1,000 nearby homes.
“Today we celebrate the early achievement of New York’s 6-GW milepost, which brings us one step closer to a reliable and resilient zero-emission grid,” Governor Kathy Hochul said.
“Distributed solar is at the heart of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the availability of renewable energy, and delivering substantial benefits for our health, our environment, and our economy.”
NYSERDA claims that solar projects in New York have created more than 14,000 solar jobs statewide in a variety of roles.
It also stated that in 2023 alone, 885 megawatts worth of solar projects were installed, raising the total amount of private equity invested into the state’s solar energy market to $9.2 billion.
In anticipation of the success, three years ago Governor Hochul directed NYSERDA and the Department of Public Service to expand the goal to 10 GW by 2030. 3.4 GW of new installations are already in development.
The State’s far neighbor Maine also recently accomplished an energy transition goal ahead of schedule, with 100,000 heat pumps installed 2 years in advance of their original 2025 target.
Maine Governor Janet Mills, like Hochul now, also unveiled a new target after achieving the first: installing another 175,000 additional heat pumps in Maine by 2027.
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Screenshots from video by U.S. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu
Screenshots from video by U.S. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu
A teenager was rescued recently off the coast of Honolulu following a 12-hour ordeal drifting through choppy waters filled with zigzagging currents.
Through the long darkness of a night near the equator, Kahiau Kawai bobbed up and down clinging to a kayak while seeing the lights of the search parties looking for him in vain far away back near the shore.
The response had been organized around 6:30 p.m. when Kawai’s high school kayaking team found that he hadn’t made it back to Diamond Head during a kayaking practice meet that evening.
911 organized on-shore lifeguards, US Coast Guard, and other assets to try and find the young man. Kawai’s surf ski kayak had been capsized, and in the struggle he had lost his paddle. With nothing to propel the craft through the currents he knew were dragging him out to sea, he tried to stay calm.
One of those rescuers, Noland Keaulana, an experienced native Hawai’ian waterman and lifeguard with the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department, had been alerted to 17-year-old Kawai’s plight by his wife, who called Keaulana while he was fixing his truck and said the son of their friends had gone missing in the ocean.
Speaking with CNN, Keaulana said that he treats every Islander like his own family.
“I treat everyone like as [sic] they’re my own family member. Pretty much that whole night, I’m out there searching for my own son,” he said. “Being able to find him was very emotional.”
Kawai said he tried to keep his faith in god while he swam gently and constantly towards the shore, but admitted he was afraid of the dark, churning water beneath. Seeing the searchlights of the helicopter and vessels in the distance was particularly dismaying.
“I saw them go to a certain point a bunch of times but they weren’t going as far out as I was and that scared me a little bit,” Kahiau said.
At around 4 a.m. Thursday, after searching for over eight hours, a US Coast Guard airplane crew spotted the kayak and the teenager clinging onto it. They marked his location with a flare, where Keaulana came to find him on what was his day off.
The lifeguard remembered that the first thing Kawai said when climbing onto the boat was that he was scared his family was worried about him. Luckily, Keaulana had his family’s number, and, calling them to share the good news, he said the celebrations sounded like a bunch of monkeys and hyenas through the phone.
At 5:25 a.m., Keaulana transported Kawai to the Ala Wai Harbor emergency room, where he was treated for injuries and hypothermia. He was in serious but stable condition.
“To ensure this does not happen again, we have initiated a thorough review of the incident and will hold ourselves accountable to take all necessary actions,” Kamehameha Schools, whose kayaking team Kawai is a member of, told CNN in a statement. “We can and will do better.”
WATCH the moments leading up to the rescue below…
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The first salmon to enter the upper Klamath River - credit Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, released
credit – Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, released
This little fellow carried the flag for his species’ triumphant return into the Klamath River Basin following a massive recent dam removal.
On October 16th, a fall-run Chinook salmon was identified by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in a tributary to the Klamath River above the now-demolished J.C. Boyle Dam, becoming the first fish to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon since 1912 when the first of four hydroelectric dams was constructed, blocking migration.
Fish biologists have been surveying the Klamath River and its tributaries since the dam removal as part of the agency’s responsibility to monitor the repopulation of various fish species to the basin in collaboration with the Klamath Tribes.
“This is an exciting and historic development in the Klamath Basin that demonstrates the resiliency of salmon and steelhead,” said ODFW Director Debbie Colbert. “It also inspires us to continue restoration work in the upper basin. I want to thank everyone that has contributed to this effort over the last two decades.”
“The return of our relatives the c’iyaal’s is overwhelming for our tribe. This is what our members worked for and believed in for so many decades,” said Roberta Frost, Klamath Tribes Secretary, using their word for salmon.
“I want to honor that work and thank them for their persistence in the face of what felt like an unmovable obstacle. The salmon are just like our tribal people, and they know where home is and returned as soon as they were able.”
Mark Hereford, ODFW’s Klamath Fisheries Reintroduction Project Leader, was part of the survey team that identified the fall-run Chinook. His team was ecstatic when they saw the first salmon.
“We saw a large fish the day before rise to surface in the Klamath River, but we only saw a dorsal fin,” said Hereford. “I thought, was that a salmon or maybe it was a very large rainbow trout?” Once the team returned on the 16th and 17th, they were able to confirm that salmon were in the tributary.
It took 20 years of advocacy and legal challenges from the Yurok Tribe and other tribal, local, and federal groups and agencies to see the four dams on the river demolished.
It began in 2004 when the water flow volume into one of the reservoirs downstream led to overly warm, overly stagnant water and an outbreak of disease. Tens of thousands of salmon died, and an investigation into the causes discovered that it had been negligent monitoring of water flow from Irongate Dam.
This raised the inquiry as to whether the dams, which had ceased to be a significant electricity source to the community, were still necessary.
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Quote of the Day: “They’re only truly great who are truly good.” – George Chapman
Photo by: Abdulla Faiz, CC license
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?
Mastiff Dog named Mist dressed as a human for owner Calumn Barber on TikTok – SWNS
Mastiff Dog named Mist dressed as a human for owner Calumn Barber on TikTok – SWNS
A human-sized dog is earning its keep—and more—by posing for TikTok dressed as a human.
Calumn Barber dresses his two-year-old Cane Corso (a type of Mastiff), and stuffs the arms and legs with padding to make her look like a buff dude.
Fans are won over by the pet’s deadpan expression and huge patience, despite being posed as if she were doing pull-ups, driving a four-wheeler, or chilling in a deck chair.
Her footage has become so popular, the pooch named Mist is pulling in an average of nearly $1,000 per month from TikTok views and sponsorship from the likes of Universal and Expedia.
Calumn, a landscape gardener in Coventry, England, says he banks all the money in a separate account for Mist in case she ever needs it—for vet bills, for example.
Every time she does a social media appearance Calumn buys her an $18 steak, which she loves.
“She’s very spoiled but she absolutely deserves it,” said her 25-year-old owner. “It’s amazing that she’s making money from it. I’m always impressed by her and I’m very proud of her.”
It all started because Calumn went out one day and “found her sitting on the 4-wheeler,” he said.
“She was just sitting, looking like one of us and I thought it would be fun to put it on TikTok. I thought, ‘let’s just go for it’.
“She often sits on the sofa like a human, with her arms just drooping down, looking at the telly or out the window, so we started it as a bit of a laugh.”
“All the money is hers. I use it for treats and toys, and bank the rest for her.
“Touch wood she won’t need it but the money is there if she does, and if there’s ever a situation where it’s leftover then I’ll donate it to a pet rescue charity.
“I’m not sure she knows that she’s a huge success; I show her the videos and sometimes I think they get a smile.” (Watch all the fun scenes in the video below…)
Calumn always positions Mist so she’s comfortable.
“Sometimes I put my arms in the jacket and sit her on top of me then use my arms so, for example, it looks like she’s eating the food. It sounds crazy but nine-out-of-ten times she does these things herself.”
Mist’s first video went live on his TikTok channel in February, and since then she’s done promotions for brands such as Unidays, EMI, Universal, MG Media, and Expedia—and she already has thousands in her account and 68,000 followers.
At 97 lbs (44 kg), Mist is described as a gentle giant, who shares his bed at night and spends her days cuddling up on the sofa.
“She looks terrifying because she’s so big, but she’s basically a lap dog,” mused Calumn. “As soon as you sit down she’s sitting on you: it’s very loving—but hard on the legs.
“She’s very caring. She can lift the quilt to get under the covers and if it’s cold she’s careful to pull the quilt over me as well. We’re very close.”
Watch the amazing scenes below… (Note the Funky music is the only audio.)
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Jessica and Jaxom Weston-Brown wedding photos in supermarket aisle (via SWNS)
Jessica and Jaxom Weston-Brown wedding photos in supermarket aisle (via SWNS)
An English couple came up with the romantic idea of returning to the spot they first met—taking wedding photos in the snack aisle of their local supermarket
20-year-old Jessica met Jaxom Weston-Brown in 2017 at a Waitrose store in East Sussex. She had just started her job there as a store assistant and was asked to train Jaxom on how to put bags of chips on the shelf.
Loved blossomed, and seven years later the lovebirds returned to the Waitrose to take photos—and buy an extra special bag of chips.
“It started as a joke a few years ago,” recalled Jessica. “One of our friends posted in our group chat an Instagram reel of someone who had gone back to the place they met on their wedding day.
“All my friends are in couples that met on a dating app and said they would never be able to do this kind of thing. Then me and Jax were like ‘oh my gosh’ we could go back to the crisp aisle of Waitrose.
“It just became a bit of a joke that we were going to do it on our wedding day—and then, as the day approached, we were like, ‘let’s actually do it’.”
After the photos, the newlyweds suddenly realized they should buy a bag. They chose black peppercorn Kettle chips, saying “it had to be something classy” for their wedding day.
“We haven’t eaten them yet. We’re saving them for our first anniversary, said the 27-year-old bride.
Their former colleagues in the Eastbourne store also presented the couple with a bouquet of red roses.
Jessica recalled, “We were walking down in our wedding attire, and there were just random people shopping and taking stuff off the shelves, which was quite funny.”
Jessica and Jaxom Weston-Brown in the chips aisle (via SWNS)
Jessica revealed that, when they first met, she didn’t want to get involved with a work colleague, but then a group from work went to a Halloween party.
“Me and Jack got talking there and chatted the whole night and then we exchanged numbers and it went from there.
They got married at St. Andrews church in Jevington and on the way to the reception they stopped at the Waitrose where shoppers were delighted and snapped photos of the bride and groom.
“It was really nice to go back there where we met. It was really sweet.”
In a post on Facebook after their visit, Waitrose passed along ‘huge congratulations to the happy couple’.
People with type 2 diabetes who stick to a low-carb diet may be able to stop taking medication, suggests a new study.
American researchers found low-carbohydrate diets may improve the beta-cell function in patients being treated for the condition, which affects around 34 million Americans and one in 15 people worldwide.
Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people aged 45 or older, but more and more children, teens and young adults are also developing the disease.
The researchers explained that beta-cells are endocrine cells in the pancreas that produce and release insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels.
People with the disease have a compromised beta-cell response to blood sugar, possibly due in part to eating too many carbs. ‘Empty carbs’ are full of sugar and white flour, which have a high glycemic index, which means they cause blood sugar and insulin levels to spike rapidly after eating.
They include refined grains that have been stripped of bran, fiber, and nutrients, such as white bread or bagels, pizza dough, chips, pasta, pastries, white rice, sweet desserts, and many breakfast cereals.
“This study shows people with type 2 diabetes on a low-carbohydrate diet can recover their beta-cells, an outcome that cannot be achieved with medication,” said study lead author Professor Barbara Gower, of the University of Alabama.
“People with mild type 2 diabetes who reduce their carbohydrate intake may be able to discontinue medication and enjoy eating meals and snacks that are higher in protein and meet their energy needs.”
For the study published online by The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the research team gathered data from 57 adults with type 2 diabetes, half on a low-carb diet and the other half on a high-carb diet, and examined their beta-cell function and insulin secretion at the outset and after 12 weeks. All of the participants’ meals were provided.
People on the carb-restricted diet ate 9% carbohydrates and 65% fat, while those on the high-carb diet ate 55% carbohydrates and 20% fat.
The team found that those on a low-carb, compared to a high-carb, diet saw improvements in the acute and maximal beta-cell responses that were two-fold and 22% greater, respectively.
Black participants on a low-carb diet saw 110% greater improvements in the acute beta-cell response, while white adults had improvements in the maximal beta-cell response that were 48% greater than their respective counterparts on the high-carb diet.
Prof. Gower says further research is needed to confirm that a low-carbohydrate diet can restore beta-cell function and lead to remission in people with type 2 diabetes.
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Sirish Subash presentation on PestiSCAND – 3M / Grace Maliska
Sirish Subash presentation on PestiSCAND – 3M / Grace Maliska
A 9th grader from Snellville, Georgia, has won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, after inventing a handheld device designed to detect pesticide residues on produce.
Sirish Subash set himself apart with his AI-based sensor to win the grand prize of $25,000 cash and the prestigious title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.”
Like most inventors, Sirish was intrigued with curiosity and a simple question. His mother always insisted that he wash the fruit before eating it, and the boy wondered if the preventative action actually did any good.
He learned that 70% of produce items contain pesticide residues that are linked to possible health problems like cancer and Alzheimer’s—and washing only removes part of the contamination.
“If we could detect them, we could avoid consuming them, and reduce the risk of those health issues.”
His device, called PestiSCAND, employs spectrophotometry, which involves measuring the light that is reflected off the surface of fruits and vegetables. In his experiments he tested over 12,000 samples of apples, spinach, strawberries, and tomatoes. Different materials reflect and absorb different wavelengths of light, and PestiSCAND can look for the specific wavelengths related to the pesticide residues.
After scanning the food, PestiSCAND uses an AI machine learning model to analyze the lightwaves to determine the presence of pesticides. With its sensor and processor, the prototype achieved a detection accuracy rate of greater than 85%, meeting the project’s objectives for effectiveness and speed.
3M / Grace Maliska
Sirish plans to continue working on the prototype with a price-point goal of just $20 per device, and hopes to get it to market by the time he starts college.
As one of nine finalists in the competition, the boy, who attends middle school at the Gwinnett School of Math, Science, and Technology, spent the last four months working with one of the 3M scientists who mentor the kids one-on-one to help perfect their prototype.
During the final Challenge events at 3M global headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, this month, Sirish secured the coveted title.
“I am beyond impressed and inspired by this year’s Young Scientist Challenge finalists who have demonstrated an incredible ability to develop creative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Torie Clarke, 3M’s chief public affairs officer.
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Wildlife rehabilitator Geoff Grewcock with Sweep, the rescued fox – SWNS
Wildlife rehabilitator Geoff Grewcock with Sweep, the rescued fox – SWNS
A 74-year-old man has built an incredibly friendly relationship with a fox he rescued—now she wants to cuddle with him every day.
The cub was brought into the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary seven years ago in a very ill state.
Geoff Grewcock believes she was poisoned and spent the next year nursing her back to health, after naming her Sweep.
Unfortunately, as a result, she imprinted on him and was unable to be returned to the wild. So now Sweep spends her life with a variety of wildlife that are being rehabilitated at the sanctuary.
“Sweep is such a lovely, friendly fox,” said Geoff, the owner of the center in Nuneaton, England.
“Most people can give her a stroke, but she is definitely closest with me and insists on us having a hug every day. (Watch the video below…)
“I think it’s her way of saying thank you for all the looking-after we do for her.”
Wildlife rehabilitator Geoff Grewcock holding rescued fox – SWNS
Although she’s healthy now, when the pair first met, Sweep was in rough shape—and Geoff had doubts about whether she’d survive.
“When we first got her, we didn’t think there was much hope. She was so lethargic and ill that I had to bottle-feed her for months, and was up at night injecting Sweep with saline.
“Luckily, after medication and some good TLC, she pulled through and here she is seven years later.”
Geoff Grewcock holding rescued fox – SWNS
A wildlife content creator based in London, James Cook, visited the sanctuary in June and captured the odd couple’s amazing relationship.
“Sweep is just totally in love with Geoff,” said the 30-year-old. “The pair were hugging for about 10 minutes when I was there.
