Quote of the Day: “There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder the firm resolve of a determined soul.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Photo by: Aidamarie Photography (public domain)
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?
150 years ago today, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed. The older of the two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the US and Canada, it is the oldest professional team sports league still in existence in the world. The American League was founded 25 years later and after much consternation, they agreed to recognize each other as major leagues. They drafted rules and each established a team in New York City, and they decided to compete against each other (beginning in the Fall of 1903) in a championship tournament—the first “World Series”. READ the league charter clubs… (1876)
The ocean dreams took hold of Taryn Smith when she was living in landlocked Nebraska, craving open-water adventures as a young adult in Omaha.
Smith, who’s now 25, read an article about an all-female rowing team that set a world record in the Great Pacific Race in 2022, rowing from Monterrey, California to Hawaii in just 34 days—and something stirred deeply within Smith.
“I just remember thinking it sounded like the most amazing thing in the entire world,” Taryn told PEOPLE, recapturing her thoughts about the rowing team’s record. “I wanted to do something big in my 20s. I wanted to spend the rest of my life knowing that I was capable of something like this.”
Smith started researching opportunities that might present an equally daunting challenge and soon discovered the World’s Toughest Row—a 3,000-mile rowing race from the Canary Islands on the western edge of Africa to Antigua in the Caribbean Sea.
Taryn was going to do it alone.
Her grandparents both had sailing experience, but she had a lot to learn. She quit her job in human resources and trained for three years, spending time in the United Kingdom, and living exclusively on her rowboat for several weeks at a time.
She needed to become one with the water because that would soon be her only company.
“Taryn seems to know no fear,” Shelly Smith, Taryn’s mother, told Nebraska Public Media. “She has always been a kid that thrives on adventure. She just really likes that challenge.”
And so, on December 14, Taryn faced 42 other teams from 20 different countries at the starting line of a race across the Atlantic. The journey was expected to take about two months, with Taryn rowing 10 to 12 hours by herself each day.
Obstacles arose every day—but Day 27 pushed her to the brink. She developed hives from sun exposure and hadn’t slept soundly for two straight nights. She spent the morning sobbing, fighting the fatigue and exhaustion, as her boat bounced up and down on waves that kept growing bigger from an impending storm. (Watch a video at the bottom…)
“Absolutely, huge waves,” she said in an Instagram video from Day 27. “A wave would come just gushing over the deck and would literally knock me out of my shoes. It was scary. It was really, really, scary. I think this is the first day I felt properly terrified since being out here.”
And to make matters worse, a menacing marlin stalked her boat and oars for miles. Nevertheless, she persisted. By day’s end, she had overcome every last challenge the Atlantic could muster, while still making considerable progress.
“It’s been a really hard day, but I am really proud of the effort that I put in today because it’s been a fast day and I’ve covered a lot of ground and I kept rowing and now it’s more comfortable to row than it is to try to sleep,” she said on Instagram at the end of the day.
“I’m listening to Harry Potter (in my headphones). So all in all, life is good…”
She partnered with Girls on the Run throughout her journey, raising money for the nonprofit that empowers girls in grades 3-8 through running, physical activity, and confidence-building programs.
With each row, Taryn was unleashing a powerful example of what those girls can do with a goal in front of them and the grit to chase it.
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She arrived in Antigua on January 29th, becoming the first female to finish the World’s Toughest Row alone. She even beat her own expectations in the process, finishing the race in 46 days, three hours, and 37 minutes, a few days before her own optimistic predictions.
Taryn pulled into the harbor with a flare in her hand as an American flag billowed behind her on the boat. (Watch the video below…)
The girl from the landlocked plains of the midwest had just completed a bold 3,000-mile crossing of the Atlantic—and her ocean dreams that began with a magazine article had become a reality, and a powerful reminder of the untapped potential that lies inside us all.
“Everything is more within reach than we think,” Taryn told PEOPLE. “I hope people understand that you should take on your biggest challenges, even if it means being alone. Even if it’s scary. You can do it—and you probably won’t be alone for very long.”
SEND TARYN’S STORY SAILING ACROSS THE WORLD By Sharing It To Your Social Media Feed…
While millions of Americans hunkered down in their homes after ice storms encrusted the mid-Atlantic, two young teens got busy building community spirit—by building an igloo.
They constructed their igloo in front of a house that was destroyed by a house fire a few months ago.
Adeline Sutich and her friend Maeve Ritchotte carved dozens of ice bricks with a flat shovel, and used a sled to move them to the symbolic spot on Helena Drive.
“We built an igloo to create unity in the community and bring people together,” Adeline told GNN by phone.
“It brought joy to all the neighbors when the snow was frustrating and very difficult to cope with.”
“I feel like this igloo is a good representation of hope—and how things can be rebuilt.”
Her whole family got involved when the sun began to set Thursday in the Sligo Woods neighborhood in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
Her dad, Stefan, outfitted the group with headlamps to work in the dark—and her mom shot videos and photos—until the roof was finally laid.
They built chairs and a table out of ice, so people could hang-out inside the snow cave.
“We even made a guest book for people to write in and their messages were so heartwarming,” said Adeline.
“I did this as a kid, too,” one guest name Melinda wrote.
“My three kids love it!” Jen wrote.
Adeline said it was “so nice” to see people smiling at the girls when they passed by.
“Many neighbors have come up and talked with us about the igloo and how much they’ve enjoyed it.”
“We’ve had more visitors sign the book today!” she added on Friday.
MORE SNOW STORIES:
• Watch Giddy Florida Man Experiencing Snow for the First Time–And Making a Snow Angel
• Woman Defrosts Frozen Kitten Nursing it Back to Health Using a Hairdryer (Watch Video)
One of the neighbors enjoyed watching the construction from her window as the girls spent hours building the cozy community hub, but she finally ventured out on Friday under blue skies to leave a message.
“It brought back so many childhood memories”.
SEND THE INSPIRING PHOTOS to Snow Fort Buddies on Social Media…
A math teacher recently became the top female Scrabble champion in the UK—scoring 1,000 points more than her opponents.
Natalie Zolty outsmarted scrabble grandmaster Gary Oliver to claim the top spot by playing the word ‘zendiks’, which means heretics or unbelievers.
The 61-year-old won the top division during the UK Open competition held January 9th in Reading, England, after she was triumphant in 12 out of 15 games.
Despite admitting she doesn’t know what many of her winning words mean, Natalie spends hours a day learning thousands of words from the dictionary and practicing 500 anagrams while watching TV.
Now she has revealed her top tips for budding players wanting to take the next step towards becoming a master player—and it all starts with simple two letter words.
There are 107 acceptable 2-letter words listed in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 6th Edition. (See the top 10 below…)
“It’s not too difficult to learn all of them,” said the teacher from Solihull, West Midlands.
“Some of them sound weird and wonderful. Things like Xi and Za, so learn those two-letter words and you’ll be surprised at how you can rack up points.”
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Natalie took up the hobby on Facebook around 17 years ago and now she’s hoping more women start competing after noticing a clear male dominance in recent competitions.
“I just really got into it. There’s a lot of word learning and studying,” the mother-of-one told SWNS news agency. “You learn basically the entire dictionary, but you learn it in what is most valuable in a game—what words create the best points.
“Always hold on to some one-point letters because you can go for a bonus, where you use all seven tiles which gives you an extra 50 points.
“Scrabble players who play at a high level are looking to try and do that maybe two or three times a game. I average around two and a half bonuses a game.
“There is also an option every turn where you can exchange letters and forfeit a turn. This frightens a lot of players and they will try to keep going, but don’t be scared to change some tiles if you really are in trouble with your letters.
“Sometimes even if you still play a word you will be left with terrible letters on your rack and you won’t score anything. There’s no point going on with dreadful letters, it will only get worse.”
“Also, keep on your rack one point letters. People think they are not worth much, but they go together to make bonus words. We call them stems.
“Another thing to be aware of is what we call hooks. A hook is a letter that will go on to the end or the beginning of a word to make another word.
“Like an s at the end to make a plural, that’s pretty straightforward. You could put s on the end of princes to make princess or h on the front of airline to make hairline. But sometimes they can be a little less obvious to spot.
“When someone plays a word, have a think about what could go on to the front or end of it and you might be able to take them by surprise.
ZA (11)
QI (11)
AX (9)
XU (9)
XI (9)
JO (9)
EX (9)
OX (9)
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“It’s only men that have won the world championships. I think women are a bit less competitive than men. Maybe they have a lot less free time.
“But I do wish more women would take it up—even just to try and play it. It’s great for your brain and keeping you thinking.”
SHARE THESE TIPS With Scrabble-Playing Friends on Social Media…
The largest wildlife rescue organization in India has started using acupuncture to help elephants recover from chronic pain, nerve damage, and mobility issues after their years of captivity or hard labor.
Their veterinary team sought training in alternative medicine so the techniques could be used alongside conventional veterinary medicine and found they boosted recovery rates when the usual treatments proved inadequate.
Founded 30 years ago, Wildlife SOS now runs 12 rescue and rehabilitation centers across the country, including the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura, where veterinarians were first introduced to the potential of acupuncture while searching for ways to help Bani (pictured above), an orphaned calf who was left paralyzed after a tragic accident.
Determined to restore her ability to walk, the team began exploring alternative healing methods—from ayurvedic oil massages to hydrotherapy. Their search eventually led them to Thailand and the ancient art of acupuncture.
There, they connected Dr. Porrakote Rungsri, a Veterinary Acupuncture Specialist at Chiang Mai University and Dr. Huisheng Xie, Founder of the Chi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the USA.
Under their guidance, Bani’s veterinarians learned the fundamentals of acupuncture and how this ancient practice could be adapted to treat various conditions in our resident elephants.
With roots tracing back 2,000 years, acupuncture tries to unblock the flow of energy through the body’s meridians, or energy channels. While the concept of invisible energy may sound abstract to many, its application of needles inserted along the meridians has shown practical benefits in veterinary—and human—medicine. By stimulating specific points along the body, acupuncture can help improve circulation, reduce pain, restore nerve function, and promote natural healing.
When the body is injured, damaged cells release chemicals such as prostaglandins, bradykinin, and substance P, which alert the nervous system. These chemicals activate nociceptors, special nerve sensors that convert the chemical signal into electrical signals. The pain signal is then carried by nerve fibers, and once the signal reaches the spinal cord, neurotransmitters in the brain interprets the signal, making pain both a physical and emotional experience.
“Many elephants rescued by Wildlife SOS have pain pathways overstimulated by years of abuse, poor nutrition, and untreated injuries, making chronic pain a major challenge to treat,” says the organization’s Natasha Ashok.
“Once our team gained expertise in acupuncture principles, we began applying it at our Elephant Hospital Campus, yielding remarkable improvements in several elephants.”
She says it has proven effective in alleviating pain, improving digestive issues (such as colic and constipation), and reducing inflammation in their elephants.
Many elephants rescued from exploitation, especially those used in the begging trade, suffer from severe joint and foot disorders such as osteoarthritis and stiff joints. These conditions are often the result of forced standing on hard surfaces or walking long distances on unnatural terrain.
Two such pachyderms, Holly and Zara, experience chronic arthritis and severe hindlimb pain that makes walking difficult. To ease their discomfort, our team applied electro-acupuncture (pictured above) and dry needling.
For Holly, whose knee (stifle joint) was injured in a fall, veterinarians also used a method called ‘circle the dragon’, where needles are placed in a circular pattern around the joint. This technique improves blood flow, reduces inflammation, and encourages healing.
Raju and Taj were rescued from captivity, suffering from long-term digestive problems. Poor diets, unnatural feeding practices, and limited movement can result in conditions like colic and constipation that persist even after rehabilitation.
Raju struggled with recurrent colic, while Taj frequently experienced constipation. To support their recovery, veterinarians inserted fine acupuncture needles into acu-points related to digestion for about 20 minutes.
They also used ‘moxibustion’ with burnt mugwort to warm meridian pathways near the skin at specific points. The integrative approach stimulated circulation and promoted bowel movement and gut health, which helped improve their digestive function.
Another arrival at the Wildlife SOS center, Vayu, had ventral edema (an abnormal collection of fluid under the skin) in the perineal and abdominal regions, and the team treated points along his belly and chest with moxibustion acupuncture to improve circulation, helping reduce the edema.
“Acupuncture has become a valuable therapy that works well alongside modern veterinary medicine in ways previously thought impossible,” the group wrote. “Its integration has brought significant improvements.”
MORE GOOD ELEPHANT NEWS:
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• Houston Elephants Do Yoga 7-days a Week to Stay Flexible and Healthy
• Elephant Fitted With a Prosthetic Foot So He’s Able to Walk Again – LOOK
A year ago, Wildlife SOS held an elephant acupuncture workshop in their Mathura Care Center to get more people involved.
From baby Bani’s improving movement after paralysis to Holly, Zara, Raju, Taj, and Vayu gaining relief from debilitating conditions, these success stories affirm the power of combining holistic approaches appropriately with science-based treatments.
If you’d like to donate to care for these rescued elephants, visit their website.
SPREAD THE MOVING NEWS With Acupuncture Fans on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Children are the keys of paradise.” – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher
Photo by: Robert Collins
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?
125 years ago, the African-American writer, poet, and playwright Langston Hughes was born on what would become the first day of Black History Month. Hughes became a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, writing often for The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, as well as a weekly column in a primarily black newspaper called the Chicago Defender. He was also one of the earliest pioneers of what would become jazz poetry. Rather than simply taking an anti-segregation stance in his work he focused often on the divisions and prejudices within the black community itself, as well as many other cultural and societal aspects of America between the 1920s and the 1960s. READ more about Hughes and catch one of his poems… (1901)
Golfers as old as 103 have hit holes-in-one—but have you ever heard of the feat being achieved by someone with only one arm?
But recently, an Irish golfer celebrated sinking his first ever hole-in-one, after learning how to play the game since an accident left him with only one arm.
A physically-challenged golfer is celebrating sinking his first ever hole-in-one, after learning how to play the sport after an accident left him with only one arm.
Patrick Duke beat the odds of 100,000 to 1 when he hit the perfect tee shot on the fourth hole at Overstone Park, in Northamptonshire, England.
The 67-year-old had been playing with friends on the 120-yard par-3 when he slotted his first ace with a seven iron.
The feat was even more remarkable, considering how new he was to the game, having learned how to play following his accident in 2012.
Pat credits golf with “saving his life” over the past 7 years while he has undergone serious physical and mental health challenges.
“I’m not very good at golf, but it’s saved my life,” Pat told SWNS news agency.
“Golf is not my game: I’m 280 pounds and 6-foot-2; my games were always rugby, Gaelic football, soccer and cricket.
“I’ve also worked all my life since I was 15, so I was very active until a workplace accident changed my life. I couldn’t see a way back for me, at times, but then a friend asked me if I had ever played golf.
“I had some lessons with a pro and told him to treat me as a blank canvas and I’ll do what you tell me to.
“He said, what works for me would not work for others—so I sort of developed my own technique.”
He managed to birdie on the hole before, a few weeks earlier, but this one had always been a problem for Pat.
“Eight times out of ten I knock it in the water—and it starts getting into your head. My clubs have very nearly gone in the lake there on a number of occasions.
“So I thought, this time I’m going to aim straight for the flag instead of the green.”
“If anyone else used a seven iron on that hole it would have been about 100 yards past the flag.
“As soon as I hit it, I knew I had caught it sweet. Kevin was telling me, ‘that’s on the button that is’.
“We watched it get nearer and nearer. It actually landed about a foot past the hole and rolled back, I got backspin on it but I’ve no idea how.
“People on the fifth hole walking by were applauding me. Kevin threw his club in the air; I couldn’t quite believe it, I was gobsmacked.”
That’s when he said to his playing partner Kevin, “Fancy getting beaten by a one-armed man?”
“I was told the odds of somebody with a disability getting a hole-in-one was 0.001% or 1 in 100,000.”
Pat had worked in the road surfacing industry for more than 30 years before his jacket became caught in a machine, ultimately leading to the loss of his arm. He later developed post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
“I was in a really bad place. I had suicidal thoughts and lost confidence, self-worth, and relationships.”
Pat first tried golf in 2018 after he was introduced to Overstone Park’s PGA professional Brian Mudge. He quickly found both confidence and community at the club.
GOOD GOLF NEWS:
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“The people I’ve met have been phenomenal. It gave me confidence and a reason to get out of the house.
“If just one person could see this, even if its not golf, I just want people to know that there can be a life after something like this.
“To come from having suicidal thoughts, my self-worth going out the window—no courage, no confidence, no nothing—and then to find golf and friendship, I think everything happens for a reason.
“If I can do it, anybody can.
“Golf gave me confidence, friendship, and the will to live.”
SHARE THE INSPIRATION on Social Media With Folks Trying to Overcome…
Being an involved grandparent is good for the brain, according to a new study which showed that caring for grandchildren may serve as a “buffer” against cognitive decline and dementia in older adults.
“Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren—care that supports families, and society more broadly—but an open question is whether caregiving for grandchildren may also benefit grandparents themselves,” said lead researcher Flavia Chereches.
This researchers wanted to see if providing grandchild care might benefit grandparents’ health, potentially slowing down cognitive decline.
Ms Chereches, a doctoral candidate at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues examined data from 2,887 English grandmas and grandads all older than 50, with an average age of 67.
The participants answered survey questions and completed cognitive tests three times between 2016 and 2022.
The survey asked whether they had provided care for a grandchild at any point in the past year—and how frequently.
Were they watching grandchildren overnight, caring for them when they were sick, playing or engaging in leisure activities, helping with homework, driving them to school and activities, or preparing meals?
Overall, the researchers found that grandparents who provided childcare—regardless of the frequency and type of care they provided—scored higher on tests of both memory and verbal fluency compared with those who didn’t, even after adjusting for age, health and other factors.
The findings, published in the journal Psychology and Aging also found that grandmothers who provided care saw less decline on cognitive tests over the course of the study compared with those who didn’t.
“What stood out most to us was that being a caregiving grandparent seemed to matter more for cognitive functioning than how often grandparents provided care or what exactly they did with their grandchildren,” said Chereches.
“More research is needed, but if there are benefits associated with caregiving by grandparents, they might not depend on how often care is provided, or on the specific activities done with grandchildren, but rather on the broader experience of being involved with caregiving.”
Around five million grandparents in the UK regularly take on childcare responsibilities, with just under 90% of them babysitting at least once a week, according to the nonprofit Age UK.
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One in 10 look after their grandchildren at least once a day, with the majority getting involved to help their own children save money to support their young family.
Age UK says “gran-nannying” has enormous benefits for older couples, keeping them mentally and physically active and combatting loneliness, if that caregiving is not stressful or a burden.
CHECK OUT: 10 Questions You Will Want to Ask Your Grandparents on Grandparents Day
One CBS news host says his mom helps with their kids, and asked her on the air what she thought of the new study showing it benefits grandparents—and she wasn’t surprised.
“They energize me, more than drive me down,” she said in the cute video below…
SHARE THE GOOD NEWS With Seniors and Families On Social Media…
Polar bears are in better physical health than they were 25 years ago, despite the decrease in sea ice, reveals new research.
The well-being of the iconic white mammals living around the Norwegian island of Svalbard has improved in the face of climate change, likely due to better opportunities to hunt.
The scientists were ‘surprised’ that the bears’ fat reserves have increased since the year 2000, even while sea ice levels decreased.
The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, are in contrast to previous observations of polar bear population declining across the Arctic.
Previous research shows temperature increases in the Barents Sea around Svalbard of up to two degrees Celsius per decade since 1980.
The Barents Sea polar bear population numbered around 2,650 individuals in a 2004 census—and the population appears not to have shrunk in size, although the reasons for that have been unclear.
So, Dr. Jon Aars, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute, investigated with his colleagues the potential reasons for the stability of the Svalbard populations.
The team used data from 1,188 body measurement records of 770 adult polar bears taken on Svalbard between 1992 and 2019.
They compared changes in the bears’ body composition index (BCI), an indicator of fat reserves and body condition determined by tape measurement, to the number of ice-free days in the region across the 27-year period.
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The research team found that although the number of ice-free days increased by around 100 over the study period—at a rate of about four days per year—the mean BCI of the adult polar bears sampled actually increased after the year 2000.
“This indicates that fat reserves increased as sea ice levels decreased,” said Dr. Aars.
The researchers suggest that improvements in the body conditions of Svalbard polar bears could be attributed to the recovery of populations of land-based prey sources—such as reindeer and walrus—that were previously over-exploited by humans.
They also believe that sea ice loss may have lead to a food source, like ringed seals, concentrating on smaller areas of sea ice, which may increase the efficiency of polar bear hunting.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR POLAR BEARS:
• Norway Rewilds Arctic Coal Mining Town in Largest Operation of its Kind, Gives New Hunting Ground for Polar Bears
• Orphaned Polar Bear That Loved to Hug Arctic Workers Gets New Life
• ‘Life Finds a Way’: Polar Bears Successfully Adapt Even Without As Much Sea Ice
But Aars speculated that this trend may be shaky.
“Further reductions in sea ice may negatively affect the Svalbard populations by increasing the distances they need to travel to access hunting grounds.”
“More research is needed to understand how different polar bear populations are adapting to a warming Arctic in the future.”
SHARE SOME GOOD NEWS With Polar Bear Lovers On Social Media…
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 January 31, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In ecology, there’s a concept called “keystone species.” This refers to organisms that have a huge effect on their environment relative to their abundance. Remove them, and the whole ecosystem shifts. I bring this up, Aquarius, because I believe you are currently functioning as a keystone species in your social ecosystem. You may not even be fully aware of how much your presence influences others. And here’s the challenge: You shouldn’t let your impact weigh on your conscience. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself as you carry out your service. Instead, ask how you can contribute to the common good while also thriving yourself. Ensuring your well-being isn’t selfish; it’s essential to the gifts you provide and the duties you perform.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I foresee a dose of real magic becoming available to you: equivalent to an enchanted potion, a handful of charmed seeds, or a supernatural spell. But owning the magic and knowing how to use it are two different matters. There’s no promise you will instantly grasp its secrets. To give yourself the best shot, follow a few rules: 1. Keep it quiet. Only share news of your lucky charm with those who truly need to hear about it. 2. Before using it to make wholesale transformations, test it gently in a situation where the stakes are low. 3. Whatever you do, make sure your magic leaves no bruises behind.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to trek to the summit of Mount Everest. They both said later that the climb down was as important and challenging as the ascent. The lesson: Achievement doesn’t end when you reach the peak. Aries, you may be nearing or have just passed a high point of effort or recognition. Soon you will need to manage the descent with aplomb. Don’t rush! Tread carefully as you complete your victory. It’s not as glamorous as the push upward, but it’s equally vital to the legacy of the climb.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Aurora borealis occurs when highly charged particles from the Sun strike molecules high in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing them to glow. The display that looks like gorgeous magic is actually our planet’s invisible magnetic shield and upper atmosphere lighting up under the pressure of an intense solar storm. Dear Taurus, I think your life has a metaphorical resemblance. The strength you’ve been quietly maintaining without much fanfare has become vividly apparent because it’s being activated. The protection you’ve been offering and the boundaries you’ve been holding are more visible than usual. This is good news! Your shields are working.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“Nothing in excess” was the maxim inscribed on the ancient Temple of Apollo at Delphi. “Moderation is a chief moral virtue,” proclaimed the philosopher Aristotle. But I don’t recommend those approaches for you right now, Gemini. A sounder principle is “More is better” or “Almost too much is just the right amount.” You have a holy duty to cultivate lavishness and splendor. I hope you will stir up as many joyous liberations and fun exploits as possible.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
When sea otters sleep, they sometimes hold each other’s paws to keep from drifting apart. This simple, instinctive act ensures they remain safe and connected. I suggest making their bond your power symbol for now, Cancer. You’ll be wise to formulate a strong intention about which people, values, and projects you want to be tethered to. And if sea otters holding hands sounds too sentimental or cutesy to be a power symbol, you need to rethink your understanding of power. For you right now, it’s potency personified.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
To be healthy, we all need to continually be in the process of letting go. It’s always a favorable phase to shed aspects of our old selves to make room for what comes next. The challenge for you Leos is to keep showing up with your special brightness even as parts of you die away to feed new growth. So here are my questions: What old versions of your generosity or courage are ready to compost? What fiercer, wilder, more sustainable expression of your leonine nature wants to emerge? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to stop performing the hero you used to be and become the hero you are destined to become.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
The Haudenosaunee people practice “seventh-generation thinking”: making decisions based on their impact seven generations into the future. You would be wise to incorporate the spirit of their visionary approach, Virgo. Here’s the problem: You’re so skilled at fixing what needs urgent attention that you sometimes neglect what’s even more important in the long run. So I will ask you to contemplate what choices you could you make now that will be blessings to your future self. This might involve ripening an immature skill, shedding a boring obligation that drains you, or delivering honest words that don’t come easily. Rather than obsessing on the crisis of the moment, send a sweet boost to the life you want to be living three years from now.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Are you open to the idea that new wisdom doesn’t always demand struggle and strain? In the days ahead, I invite you to move as if the world is deeply in love with you; as if every element, every coincidence, every kind pair of eyes is cheering you forward. Imagine that generous souls everywhere want to help you be and reveal your best self. Trust that unseen allies are rearranging the flow of fate to help you grow into the beautiful original you were born to be. Do you dare to be so confident that life loves you?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Psychologist James Pennebaker did studies showing that people who write about traumatic experiences for just 15 minutes a day show improved immune function, fewer doctor visits, and better emotional health. But here’s a key detail: The benefits don’t come from the trauma itself or from “processing feelings.” They come from constructing a narrative: making meaning, finding patterns, and creating coherence. The healing isn’t in the wound. It’s in the story you shape from the wound’s raw material. You Scorpios excel at this alchemical work. One of your superpowers is to take what’s dark, buried, or painful and transform it through the piercing attention of your intelligence and imagination. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to do this.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In Jewish mysticism, tikkun olam means “repair of the world.” This is the idea that we’re all responsible for healing what’s broken. But the teaching also says you’re not required to complete the work; you’re only asked to not abandon it. This is your message right now, Sagittarius: You don’t have to save everyone. You don’t have to heal everything, and you don’t even have to finish the projects you’ve started. But you can’t abandon them entirely, either. Keep showing up. Do what you can today. That’s enough. The work will continue whether or not you complete it. Your part is to not walk away from your own brokenness and the world’s. Stay engaged.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The Talmud teaches that “every blade of grass has an angel bending over it, whispering, ‘Grow, grow.’” I sense that you are now receiving the extra intense influence of your own guardian angels, Capricorn. They aren’t demanding or threatening, just encouraging. Please tune into their helpful ministrations. Don’t get distracted by harsher voices, like your internalized critic, the pressure of impossible standards, or the ghost of adversaries who didn’t believe in you. Here’s your assignment: Create time and space to hear and fully register the supportive counsel. It’s saying: Grow. You’re allowed to grow. You don’t have to earn it. Just grow.
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
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56 years ago today, My Sweet Lord by George Harrison reached number 1 on the UK pop charts. It would hold the same position in the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, West Germany, Japan, and others. His first single as a solo artist, the song was the first number-one single by an ex-Beatle. It was also a worldwide call to abandon religious secularism by blending the Hebrew word hallelujah with a Vedic mantra in praise of the Hindu god Krishna. READ more… (1970)
Quote of the Day: “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
Photo by: Getty Images for Unsplash+
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?
In southeast Missouri, the nonprofit Animal Rescue Corps helped save a pregnant female dog along with 17 others from the snow and freezing temperatures that battered so much of the United States.
Safe and warm at their rescue center outside Nashville, the ARC staff helped her welcome a litter of 9 adorable puppies into the world.
According to ARC, following a call in Doniphan, Missouri, their responders found several adult dogs chained up and multiple litters of puppies roaming freely on the property.
This is not a criminal case, says ARC Executive Director and finalist for the CNN 2025 Hero of the Year award, Tim Woodward, as it was the property owners who took the initiative to ask for help when the winter storm was on the horizon.
“The people living on the property recognized that the number of dogs had grown beyond what they could manage and that they could no longer properly care for the animals,” said Woodward.
“These individuals also agreed to have their personal dogs spayed or neutered immediately at ARC’s expense.”
ARC team members traveled to the area on Thursday night, met with local rescuers on Friday morning and transported seven adult dogs and 11 puppies to its rescue shelter near Nashville, Tennessee later that day, KFVS 12 reported.
Described as a “situation of uncontrolled reproduction that got out of hand,” the property owners had only gotten hold of the first few dogs after volunteering to help a family member.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Veteran Inspired Drone Company Finds Lost Dog in Frigid Cold in Just 41 Minutes–Leading to ‘Cinematic’ Reunion
ARC doesn’t specialize in adoptions, but rather large scale rescues of multiple animals. Once mentally and medically recovered from the conditions they’re rescued from, and legal custody has been secured, ARC will work through their network of pre-approved 501(c)3 non-profit shelters and rescues where these animals will continue their journey to a loving home.
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In a story that proves you don’t have to be a star to find a star, astronomers are excited to train the next generation of telescopes at an Earth-like exoplanet discovered by a citizen scientist.
Alexander Venner, currently studying studying at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, picked his way by hand through the data collected by a now-retired NASA space-based telescope called Kepler, which was used to examine the sky for exoplanets during a survey of 500,000 stars that ended 8 years ago.
Datasets like these are huge, and often combed through with search algorithms, but the PhD student managed what others did not by rolling up his sleeves, so to speak.
“It was completely missed,” Mr. Venner told Science Magazine about his discovery, presented at the Rocky Worlds conference in Groningen. “The best way to detect it was to actually just look.”
The reason it was missed was because the exoplanet orbits a K-dwarf star designated HD 137010. At just 146 light years away, it’s close enough for Kepler to have recorded the presence of such a small planet, and for the most powerful telescopes of the day to record it in great detail.
Scientists look for exoplanets by centering a telescope on a distant star and waiting to see a dip in the star’s light, indicating there’s something orbiting the star large enough to reduce the light signal—a planet. This is called the transit method.
The first man to ever identify an exoplanet this way concluded shortly after there must be millions of them. Indeed, the number of known planets beyond our solar system has passed 6,000, yet those which are Earth-like in orbit and mass number merely a few dozen.
Most exoplanets are large and hot, making for easy detection because of the larger dips in light described earlier. Smaller, Earth-sized, rocky worlds orbiting within their star’s habitable zone are not only of the greatest interest to scientists, they’re also much harder to spot, since they’re cooler and smaller.
This is exactly why Venner was able to discover this planet, called HD 137010b. Search algorithms passed over its faint signal in the Kepler data. Venner came across the data through the Planet Hunters project which recruits citizen scientists and volunteer enthusiasts to search through data from Kepler and other planet-hunting telescopes to look for signals left behind by larger surveys.
Venner was thusly recruited during his time at the Planck Institute. Stumbling upon the signal dip from HD 137010, he and his colleagues determined that a planet—rather than a binary star—best explained the dip, and that by looking at the time between dips and the faintness of the signal, an Earth-sized world with about the same orbit as our planet fit the data.
STUDENTS LOOKING WHERE OTHERS HAVEN’T: The First Amateur Astronomer to Ever Discover a New Moon – And it’s Orbiting Jupiter
Venner and his teams’ findings were presented in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, and they propose that HD 137010b sits on the freezing edge of the habitable zone, attributable to HD 137010’s temperature of about 1,800°F lower than our Sun.
It’s doubly exciting because of the few dozen Earth-sized worlds known to science that orbit in what should theoretically be habitable zones—the not-too-hot/not-too-cold space where temperatures could support liquid water—many orbit M-type stars, which have a nasty habit of obliterating planetary atmospheres by spewing out high energy radiation.
MORE HABITABLE ZONE WORLDS: New Temperate Planet That Could Support Human Life Discovered in Pisces Constellation by UK Scientists
HD 137010b now presents as a really appealing target for two upcoming telescope missions: European Space Agency’s orbital PLATO telescope, a successor to Kepler due to launch in about 1 year, and the Isaac Newton Telescope on the Spanish island of Las Palmas, which is slated to begin the Terra Hunting Experiment in February.
“Many of these instruments are essentially proposing to observe particular stars, bright Sun-like stars, for many years,” in the hopes of randomly chancing upon a potentially habitable planet, Venner says. “The advantage of this star is that we already know there’s a planet with Earth-like properties.”
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Not all diseases are caused nutrient deficiencies, but they often do come with one.
A deficiency of vitamin D, for example, is found most cases of illness, from cancer to upper-respiratory tract infections to sepsis and osteoporosis.
Recently, researchers at the renowned Salk institute for Biological Studies have identified that a simple amino acid called methionine, one which we all get from our diets mostly through animal-sourced foods, plays a key role in ameliorating the risk of death from infections.
Ambitiously, the Salk team were investigating what’s known as “disease trajectory” which describes the process from which an infection is contracted, or injury sustained, to the point at which the patient recovers or dies. Salk scientist Janelle Ayres, PhD, has spent decades researching why some patients go down the former track and others the latter.
Inflammation, she presents, is a key decider, and that the kidneys play an underappreciated role in clearing inflammation from the body when it’s important role in the healing process is finished.
“Our study indicates that small biological differences, including dietary factors, can have large effects on disease outcomes,” says senior author Ayres.
“Our discovery of a kidney-driven mechanism that limits inflammation, together with the protective effects of methionine supplementation in mice, points toward the potential of nutrition as a mechanistically informed medical intervention that can direct and optimize the paths people take in response to insults that cause disease.”
Inflammation is the immune system’s response to any invader. Whether that is a pathogen inside you or a splinter in your finger, immune cells rush to the scene to facilitate the healing process. As those immune cells arrive, they amplify the invader alarms using proteins called pro-inflammatory cytokines.
“Pro-inflammatory cytokines are ultimately what leads to sickness and death in a lot of cases,” says first author Katia Troha, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Ayres’s lab. “The immune system has to balance inflammation to attack the invader without harming healthy cells in the body. Our job is to find the mechanisms it uses to do that, so that we can target them to improve patient outcomes.”
To understand how the body regulates its cytokine levels, the researchers used a mouse model of systemic inflammation induced by the pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. The first thing they noticed was that the infected mice were not eating as much—a sign of likely metabolic changes. To asses nutritional status, the researchers looked at the levels of circulating amino acids, which are protein building blocks that support cellular health throughout the body.
Infected mice showed depressed methionine levels—an essential amino acid found in our everyday diets. Curious, Troha decided to feed a new batch of mice with methionine-supplemented chow, and surprisingly, these mice were protected against the infection.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Vitamin K Used in ‘Groundbreaking’ Prospective Treatment for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Further experiments showed that methionine reduced circulating cytokine levels by partnering with a surprising ally: the kidneys. Methionine increased the kidneys’ filtration capacity, improving blood flow and helping the body excrete pro-inflammatory cytokines through the urine. Importantly, this methionine-kidney effect cleared excess cytokines without hindering other key aspects of the immune response.
Curious whether methionine’s effect was present in other conditions, the researchers also looked at sepsis and kidney injury models. They found that methionine was also protective for these mice, supporting that methionine may be a useful tool in other inflammatory disease settings.
By supplementing their diets with methionine, Salk scientists were able to give infected mice entirely different disease trajectories. The amino acid boosted the animals’ kidney function and protected them against wasting, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and death without hindering their bodies’ ability to fight and kill Yersinia pseudotuberculosis.
MORE NUTRITIONAL ANCHORS: Another Study Shows Daily Multivitamin for People Over 60 Slows Memory Decline That Comes With Aging
And the sepsis and kidney injury models show these effects extend to other infections and inflammatory conditions, too, making methionine a potentially useful tool for the treatment of infectious diseases, particularly in cases of kidney disease or failure, or for patients undergoing dialysis.
“Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that common dietary elements can be used as medicine,” says Ayres. “By studying these basic protective mechanisms, we reveal surprising new ways to shift individuals that are fated to develop disease and die onto trajectories of health and survival.”
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As the Critically-Endangered North Atlantic right whale continues its long, slow journey back from the brink of extinction, there have been many joyful milestones worth celebrating.
With the year still so young, there’s already been another: a record-number of sightings taken by a single aerial survey flight when a local marine life organization flew over Cape Cod.
The Center for Coastal Studies (CCS) says observers on a plane spotted 33 North Atlantic right whales on Saturday, the most ever for a single day in January, a statement by the center read.
Saturday’s survey was particularly noteworthy because researchers also observed right whale EgNo 1050, a male that’s at least 45 years old and has only been documented one other time in the last 15 years, as well as the 2025 calf of whale 2460. That calf surprised researchers last season when it was documented for the first time ever during a survey of Cape Cod Bay.
The New England Aquarium, another organization monitoring North Atlantic right whales, said that during 2 of their research flights, 23 whales were spotted.
“All around us, we saw groups of whales rolling, splashing, and bursting out of the water,” scientist Kate Laemmle said. “Seeing these critically endangered right whales on our first surveys of the New Year is a great way to start the season and leaves us hopeful for more whales returning to the area.”
With current estimates of the population standing at 384, these surveys aren’t just interesting opportunities to observe baleen ethnology, but snapshots of more than a tenth of the entire living legacy of these once-numerous giants.
MORE WHALE NEWS:
It’s arguable these whales receive more hands-on conservation work than any other of their race. Tuesday’s sightings by the NE Aquarium triggered the activation of a “slow zone” for boat traffic in the area they were spotted—just south of Nantucket.
Ship strikes and entanglement with derelict fishing gear are the largest of threats to these animals. Last year, GNN reported that 11 calves were born in 2025.
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Quote of the Day: “If you obey all the rules you miss a lot of the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn
Image by: Getty Images for Unsplash+
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?
200 years ago today, a groundbreaking piece of civil engineering debuted– the massive Menai Bridge opened, cutting nine hours from the journey between Wales and London. A triumph for its designer and engineer Thomas Telford, it was the biggest suspension bridge in the world at the time. Sixteen huge chains held up 579 feet of deck, allowing 100 feet of clear space beneath for tall ships navigating the seaway underneath. READ more about its construction… (1826)
