Quote of the Day: “Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” – Oliver Sacks
Photo by: Jr Korpa
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Every year, the frozen lakes of the North pose challenges for emergency teams called in to rescue people or animals on thin ice.
But this is the first time we’ve heard about innovative firefighters using a technique from an Olympic sport.
Worried locals in Minnesota called the Prior Lake Fire Department after they spied a large deer stuck on Pike Lake.
The animal could not stand up on the slippery surface of the ice and its legs were poking holes into the frigid lake.
The firefighters arrived and devised a plan to use a curling technique to push the deer to shore using a Y-shaped pole.
First, they had to reach the animal by crawling on their hands and knees.
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The city of Prior Lake described the heroic incident on Instagram.
“It was struggling to get off of the thin ice. Firefighters put on their protective gear and carefully crawled across the ice. They were successfully able to push the deer to shore.”
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Watch the heartwarming report from Inside Edition…
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Reprinted with permission from World at Large, an independent news outlet covering conflict, travel, science, conservation, and health and fitness.
Scientists have discovered 6 exoplanets orbiting in perfect resonance around a star, meaning their orbits are synchronized. Such a phenomenon is only known to occur during the initial phases of star-and-planet system formation, indicating that little if anything has disturbed their eons-long ‘waltz’.
The bright star, HD 110067, was identified in the Coma Berenices constellation about 100 lightyears from Earth. The observations were first made by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2020 and 2022, and they revealed several dips in the star’s brightness at routine times. With additional observations from the the European Space Agency’s ‘CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite’ (CHEOPS), the signals were interpreted as six planets passing in front of the star.
Brilliant—6 more exoplanets to study—a fantastic find at most times, but these were special since follow-up research by a team of European astronomers has revealed the 6 planets are engaged in a dance, where for every 3 complete orbits one planet makes, the next one out from the star completes 2.
The way in which this happens is typified by the theory of star-system formation, whereby the evolving planets in an early system exchange torque with the protoplanetary disks and migrate towards their star. As they begin to move they pull on each other until they reach an equilibrium whereby the gravity of each one affects the others on top of the existing gravitational pull of the star.
“Here we have 3 to 2, 3 to 2, 3 to 2, and 4 to 3, 4 to 3 I think, if I remember correctly, and this is all connecting all the planets in a resonance configuration, and by chance it happened that the inner planet made 6 orbits while the outer planet makes 1,” says co-author on the paper describing the sextuplets, Adrien Leleu at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
“Once the disks are no more, you can break the resonance by some star passing by, or another massive planet, or any kind of instability that can arise. So you can break resonance during the years of evolution but you cannot easily form them, I mean we don’t know of any mechanism that would form them after the disk dissipates,” he adds. “So it means they are formed billions of years ago and they remain in this very precise very ordered orbital dance”.
As a result of the delicate nature of resonance configurations, many of the multiplanet systems known to astronomers are not in resonance, but look close enough that they could have been resonant once. However, multi-planet systems preserving their resonance are rare, with senior author Raphael Luque estimating that around 1% of multi-planet systems retain resonance.
The planets themselves are relatively normal. They are termed “sub-Neptunes’ which describe non-rocky worlds about 1 to 2 times the mass of the Earth, and while the team identified 6, they admit there could be more.
The rarity of their dance was noted by Dr. Hugh Osborn, author on the paper and of a video matching the orbital dance to musical chimes to help explain it.
“These transiting systems are worth their weight in gold because these are the systems where because they pass in front of their star you get all this information,” he told the press in a video conference. “You get a very precise radius, you get the starlight filtering through the atmosphere which enables you to measure the atmospheric constituents, so that’s why this is such an important system”.
One of the most fascinating and immediate questions that arose was what can science glean from the HD 110067 system that might help discover what happened to the resonance in our own solar system, if there ever was such a configuration. Research has shown that the early solar system was populated with dozens more planetary bodies than now, and that collisions and the gravitational force of Jupiter reduced their number significantly.
The inclination between each planet in the orbital plane is very consistent, varying by less than 1 degree, further suggesting the system has been a very peaceful place for its 4.3 billion-year history.
“Even in our solar system, those resonances appear to have not survived, so having a system in which they have for billions of years—it’s going to tell us what are the requirements that at least for a star, that forms with its planets, must have in order to preserve these conditions,” said Dr. Luque at the University of Chicago.
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“Maybe learning about this one will tell us about why our solar system doesn’t have one; is it because of Jupiter and Saturn, because they took all of the material available and didn’t let the smaller planets to form? So all these questions we aim to answer by studying this system in detail.”
VIBRATE Your Science Pals on Social Media By Sharing This Fascinating Planetary Dance…
A young girl’s idea for a ‘postbox to heaven’ so she could write to her grandparents has been realized at cemeteries across the UK.
10-year-old Matilda Handy came up with the suggestion after both her grandparents died, five years apart.
Her mother, Leanne, approached the Gedling Crematorium in Nottingham last year with the idea—and they heartily responded by erecting an old post box painted white and gold just in time for Christmas.
The emotional endeavor proved so popular that they now have been rolled out across 40 sites in England, Scotland, and Wales.
“Matilda was the first person to put a message in our first memorial post box at Gedling last December,” said her mom, who works for the company.
“We had no idea then that, one year later, there would be a memorial post box at every one of Westerleigh Group’s sites—bringing comfort to people all over the country.”
Matilda’s grandmother worked for the post office, which made the first ‘Letters to Heaven’ box even more moving.
Soon after installation, more than 100 letters were dropped in the first box, which aimed to be a comfort to relatives longing for loved ones on anniversaries and holidays.
The idea has since been adopted by UK funeral directors, too, and Leanne said other countries are doing the same.
Matilda told SWNS news, “I am so thankful that our post boxes are able to help not just me and my friends and family but people all over the UK and as far away as Australia.”
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“It’s just a very nice way to express my feelings and send a letter to them and to say how much I love them.”
Her mom confirmed that Matilda was always saying she wished she could send birthday and Christmas cards to her grandparents to read in heaven.
“Matilda was so used to being around postboxes and letters and always wanted to send mama one.
“A lot of people miss sending cards at Christmas time and they find real comfort in sending something, whether it’s a child drawing a picture or an older person sending something to their loved ones… It helps with the process.” (Check out GNN’s grieving news page to see more ideas that comfort.)
Westerleigh Group, one of the UK’s largest independent owners and operators of crematoria and cemeteries, said the positive feedback from the first box prompted them to commit to installing memorial post boxes at all its sites by the end of this year.
The group estimates that around 3,000 letters, cards, and messages have been slipped into the memorial post boxes so far.
Debbie Smith, CEO of Westerleigh Group, said the legacy of Matilda’s idea is “helping to bring comfort to thousands of bereaved people around the country, and beyond.”
“We’ve received so much incredibly positive feedback from people who tell us they have gained therapeutic benefit and comfort.
“Initially, people thought the post box at Gedling was there just for Christmas, but all our boxes are available all year round for people to post cards whenever they wish.”
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The schoolgirl has also written to King Charles to see if he might want to install one outside Buckingham Palace, to remember loved ones such as the late Queen, Prince Phillip, and Princess Diana.”
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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 December 2, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian poet Nina Cassian said, “I promise to make you so alive that the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you.” I think she meant she would fully awaken the senses of her readers. She would boost our capacity for enchantment and entice us to feel interesting emotions we had never experienced. As we communed with her beautiful self-expression, we might even reconfigure our understanding of who we are and what life is about. I am pleased to tell you, Sagittarius, that even if you’re not a writer, you now have an enhanced ability to perform these same services—both for yourself and for others.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
“Sometimes I get lonesome for a storm,” says Capricorn singer-songwriter Joan Baez. “A full-blown storm where everything changes.” That approach has worked well for her. At age 82, she has released 30 albums and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has recorded songs in eight languages and has been honored by Amnesty International for her work on behalf of human rights. If you’re feeling resilient—which I think you are—I recommend that you, too, get lonesome for a storm. Your life could use some rearrangement. If you’re not feeling wildly bold and strong, maybe ask the gods for a mild squall.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson tells us that water molecules we drink have “passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc.” The same prodigious truth applies to the air we breathe: It has “passed through the lungs of Napoleon, Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln.” Tyson would have also been accurate if he said we have shared water and air that has been inside the bodies of virtually every creature who has ever lived. I bring these facts to your attention, Aquarius, in the hope of inspiring you to deepen your sense of connectedness to other beings. Now is an excellent time to intensify your feelings of kinship with the web of life. Here’s the practical value of doing that: You will attract more help and support into your life.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I am saying a prayer for you. I pray to the Fates that you will not accept lazy or careless efforts from others. You won’t allow their politeness to be a cover-up for manipulativeness. I also pray that you will cultivate high expectations for yourself. You won’t be an obsessive perfectionist, but will be devoted to excellence. All your actions will be infused with high integrity. You will conscientiously attend to every detail with the faith that you are planting seeds that will bloom beautifully in the future.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
As a child, I loved to go to a meadow and whirl around in spirals until I got so dizzy, I fell. As I lay on the ground, the earth, sky, and sun reeled madly, and I was no longer just a pinpoint of awareness lodged inside my body, but was an ecstatically undulating swirl in the kaleidoscopic web of life. Now, years later, I’ve discovered many of us love spinning. Scientists postulate humans have a desire for the intoxicating vertigo it brings. I would never recommend you do what I did as a kid; it could be dangerous for some of you. But if it’s safe and the spirit moves you, do it! Or at least imagine yourself doing it—like the Sufi Whirling Dervishes who use spinning as a meditation.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Your power creature in the coming weeks will not be an eagle, wolf, bear, or salmon. I don’t advise you to dream of being a wild horse, tiger, or crocodile. Instead, I invite you to cultivate a deep bond with the mushroom family. Why? Now is a favorable time to be like the mushrooms that keep the earth fresh. In wooded areas, they eat away dead trees and leaves, preventing larger and larger heaps of compost from piling up. They keep the soil healthy and make nutrients available for growing things. Be like those mushrooms, Taurus. Steadily and relentlessly rid your world of the defunct and decaying parts—thereby stimulating fertility.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Gemini novelist Geraldine McCaughrean wrote, “Maybe courage is like memory—a muscle that needs exercise to get strong. So I decided that maybe if I started in a small way, I could gradually work my way up to being brave.” That is an excellent prescription for you: the slow, incremental approach to becoming bolder and pluckier. For best results, begin practicing on mild risks and mellow adventures. Week by week, month by month, increase the audacious beauty of your schemes and the intensity of your spunk and fortitude. By mid-2024, you will be ready to launch a daring project.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Cancerian neurologist and author Oliver Sacks worked with people who had unusual neurological issues. His surprising conclusion: “Defects, disorders, and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments, and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” In not all cases, but more often than seemed reasonable, he found that disorders could be regarded as creative—”for if they destroy particular paths, particular ways of doing things, they may force unexpected growth.” Your assignment is to meditate on how the events of your life might exemplify the principle Sacks marvels at: apparent limitations leading to breakthroughs and bonanzas.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I am falling in love with how deeply you are falling in love with new ways of seeing and understanding yourself. My heart sings as I listen to your heart singing in response to new attractions. Keep it up, Leo! You are having an excellent influence on me. My dormant potentials and drowsy passions are stirring as I behold you waking up and coaxing out your dormant potentials and drowsy passions. Thank you, dear!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo journalist Sydney Harris offered advice I suggest you meditate on. He wrote, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” I bring this to your attention because now is a favorable time to take action on things you have not yet done—and should do. If you put definitive plans in motion soon, you will ensure that regret won’t come calling in five years. (PS: Amazingly, it’s also an excellent time to dissolve regret you feel for an iffy move you made in the past.)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In contrast to false stereotypes, Medieval Europeans were not dirty and unhygienic. They made soap and loved to bathe. Another bogus myth says the people of the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. But the truth was that most educated folks knew it was round. And it’s questionable to refer to this historical period as backward, since it brought innovations like mechanical timekeepers, moveable type, accurate maps, the heavy plow, and illuminated manuscripts. In this spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to strip away misconceptions and celebrate actual facts in your own sphere. Be a scrupulous revealer, a conscientious and meticulous truth-teller.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Scorpio poet John Berryman said, “To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” Yikes! I personally wouldn’t want to do that kind of growth all the time. I prefer traveling cheerfully in the direction of my hopes and dreams. But then I’m not a Scorpio. Maybe Berryman’s strategy for fulfilling one’s best destiny is a Scorpio superpower. What do you think? One thing I know for sure is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate and reinvent your relationship with your fears. I suggest you approach the subject with a beginner’s mind. Empty yourself of all your previous ideas and be open to healing new revelations.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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Quote of the Day: “Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.” – Sir Arthur Helps
Photo by: Thomas Bennie
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
An advanced geothermal project funded and developed by Google has begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power the company’s data centers there.
Geothermal energy was once confined in theory to areas of geothermal activity, but if one drills deep enough, there’s extreme heat from the planet’s core essentially everywhere to be harnessed to make steam and drive turbines to create carbon-free electricity 24 hours a day when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
For this reason, Google made an early bet on this enhanced geothermal technology, and partnered with the Utah-based Fervo Energy, which uses drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry to create a first-of-its-kind power plant in Nevada.
GNN reported that initial tests in July showed that the technology was working, in which the hypothesized 3.5 megawatts were indeed being delivered.
A borehole was made 8,000 feet into the desert plains before being extended horizontally 3,000 feet. A second, shallower tunnel was drilled above it. As cold water is pumped into the lower shaft, heat causes it to rise through cracks in the rock created by fracking into the upper shaft, a process which heats it well above supercritical temperatures of 200°F.
Once topside, the superheated fluid boils another well of water to create steam to drive a turbine and power Google’s Henderson City data center with a combination of storage and solar power.
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“We’re really hoping that this could be a springboard to much, much more advanced geothermal power available to us and others around the world,” Michael Terrell, who leads decarbonization efforts at Google, told AP.
The backing has spurred on Fervo Energy to greater heights, and the company recently completed the drilling phase for a 400-megawatt energy project in Southern Utah.
While Google has only started with this project in Nevada, there’s potential for geothermal to grow. The company recently announced a partnership with Project InnerSpace, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to the global development of geothermal energy, to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy.
WATCH the story below from Google…
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A collaboration between NASA and musicians has seen a photograph of the Milky Way from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory turned into a musical piece after they matched the wavelengths of light to wavelengths of sound in order to show our home galaxy in a whole different light—namely a musical one.
While astronomers working with Chandra weren’t chilling out to the lo-fi beats of the Milky Way (feat. Supermassive Black Hole) when they took the photograph of the galactic center, it did dawn on them that they were producing a pretty false image, since they were imaging X-rays that can’t be seen by the human eye.
It’s been standard practice to color code various wavelengths of light, even if those don’t correspond to light our eyes would actually perceive, in order to disseminate X-ray space photographs to the public.
This time, Kimberly Arcand, an expert in astronomy visualization at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, collaborated with several musicians to create a musical guide to interpreting the contents of the photograph.
The galactic center is just the most recent and expressive musical track, but many other features and regions of space have been “sonified” with the help of astrophysicist and musician Matt Russo, and sound engineer Andrew Santaguida who together run a project called System-Sounds that sonifies astronomical data.
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These include famous sights like the Crab Nebula, the Carina Nebula, Messier 104, and the WD2 star cluster.
In each one of these beautiful images, optical, infrared, and X-ray light has its own track, some represented by strings, others by bells and chimes, and others by synths.
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In the galactic center piece, a piano is used for infrared, and with eyes closed a layman might consider it a more avant-garde contemporary piece, or Claude Debussy fiddling with a new idea.
It’s important to remember that if you turned on your monitors and stuck a microphone in the middle of the galactic center, there wouldn’t be any music. These sounds are auditory matches of the visual wavelengths picked up by the telescope. It’s important to remember because the sounds seem unmistakably right a home within the image.
LISTEN to the ensemble piece below, and follow the link to hear more…
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With December being the most popular month for engagements and gift-giving, a cat-loving company is holding a contest to see which happy couples can come up with the most inventive and heartwarming way to include their cat in a marriage proposal.
To the winner goes the cost of the engagement ring up to $4,750, and Felix Cat Insurance has several ideas to get prospective proposers thinking.
They suggest having your kitty walk into the room toting a ring on its collar, or some variation on the theme.
Starting today, anyone planning to propose this December can privately share their engagement plans at FelixPurrfectProposal.com, including how their kitty will be involved in the memorable milestone moment.
The cat insurance brand will then select one lucky winner and their furry friend to receive the cost of an engagement ring, and a celebratory package of cat treats, a plush champagne toy, and festive feline accessories should the kitty want to dress up for the special occasion.
“Our felines are family members and just like your closest friends and family, we want to include them in celebrating meaningful moments like this,” said Jamie Maxfield, Marketing Director and Brand Expert at Felix Cat Insurance.
“Planning for the future can also bring challenges, which is why we’re spreading holiday cheer by easing the expense of this life milestone as you, your partner, and your furry friend embark on your new life together. Not only is Felix here to ease the expense of this core life event, we can also be there every step of the way afterwards.”
The contest is not available in Washington or Puerto Rico, and the drawing will take place on December 22nd.
KNOW Someone Looking To Pop The Question? Send Them This Story ASAP…
Charlie Jeffers has been playing with LEGO since he was 4 or 5 and credits one of the most famous of all toys for helping him learn math and engineering concepts, and how to be focused, flexible, and creative.
It occurred to him that many kids don’t have access to play tools like LEGO, and their emotional and cognitive development suffers as a result.
The senior at Redwood High School in Marin County, California, realized that by getting LEGO into the hands of kids who can’t afford the name-brand toys, he can also avoid them ending up in landfills.
He launched Pass the Bricks in 2020 to address both of these issues. He and his volunteer-based team repurpose used LEGO bricks into new original sets for kids in marginalized communities who don’t know about them or can’t afford them.
Pass the Bricks has an open model program template with four key steps: collect used LEGO bricks, sanitize and sort them, create new sets with the used bricks, and deliver the sets to kids in marginalized communities.
The team distributes the sets to kids in need directly or through partnerships with 11 various nonprofit organizations.
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One in particular that’s flourishing is Jeffers’ ongoing relationship with multiple chapters of the Boys and Girls Club of America. As part of these ongoing relationships, Pass the Bricks delivers a specific number of sets every month (i.e., 50 sets per month to Boys and Girls Club in San Francisco), which the nonprofit can include in its larger deliveries to kids and families in need.
To date, the organization has delivered over 3,055 sets to kids in need, and people immediately see the value in it.
“We sent our Lego bricks to Ecuador with my son’s middle school some years back. I love to think of kids there playing with them,” said Paola, a neighbor of Jeffers who contributed to the project.
Some of his new sets are quite innovative, like the “Superman Would Like Just One Day Off” set, featuring a grumpy Clark Kent in bed with his suit hanging in the closet, or the “Droid Escape Pod,” which is a faithful representation of the spacecraft used by R2-D2 in the opening scenes of the first Star Wars Film.
With over 20 volunteers, Jeffers’ has expanded the program in their communities in San Francisco, Marin County, Portland, Austin, DC, Richmond, and Los Angeles, and is now looking to scale the program further to create as much impact as possible.
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He’s created an easy-to-use program template with clear instructions on how to facilitate the program out of one’s home. His ultimate goal is widespread behavior change so that every LEGO brick has a second life and that as many kids as possible get access to this incredible play tool.
Anyone looking to donate their old LEGO should contact Charlie on his website.
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Quote of the Day: “Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
Photo by: Ben White (cropped)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
The U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center run by NOAA has just predicted a visible aurora borealis may appear in the northern US tonight, after observing several solar flares kicking up over the last few days.
These flares, known as coronal mass ejections, are what cause the geomagnetic storms which we see as green lights in the sky from the surface.
At the moment, the NOAA Aurora Forecast can’t say for sure if they will appear south of Northern Canada, but if this were to change, it would likely appear in the northernmost states east of the Rockies.
The magnetic field redirects incoming solar wind, which is made up of charged particles, towards the north and south magnetic poles.
The colors are dependent on the particles being ejected by the sun. Nitrogen shows up as red, while the classic green color is because of oxygen.
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The year was 1999, and on a late November day the volunteers at the Ningbo Charity Federation in Eastern China found a strange letter addressed to them from an individual referred to only as shun qi zi ran, translated roughly to “let nature take its course.”
Inside was 50,000 Chinese RMB, or around $7,000 in remittances—payments typically sent from a person back home to their family from a foreign country.
Next year, the same letter came from ‘let nature take its course,” and the year after that, and the year after that; each one filled with money.
Three weeks ago, another letter came totaling 1.08 million RMB ($150,000) across 100 different remittance certificates. It marks the fifteenth million sent to the charity—more than $2 million—across 25 years of anonymous giving.
“He sent us a letter. I remember he said in it, ‘I will not do bad things and will also not speak about the good things I did. Just let nature take its course,’” Gao Peng, secretary-general of the Ningbo Charity, was quoted as saying.
“So we respected his wish and did not try to find him. We also followed his request of using his donations for education.”
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Mainland China banking regulations stipulate that cash transfers of over $1,500 require identification, and so the donor used remittances to circumvent the rule and maintain his anonymity.
The donations stretch back to a time when China was far poorer than it is today, with a GDP one-third that of Japan and one-ninth that of America.
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Ningbo Charity has said they used the money over the years to build several schools for underprivileged children in the Province of Zhejiang.
Chinese culture is nothing if not particular, and stories of anonymous donors are not uncommon. They often trend online, in fact, and South China Morning Post referred to a story from central China’s Hebei Province where a senior care home received several donations totaling around $875,000 from an “old friend.”
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A study of the ‘big five’ personality traits has found that positive, extroverted, and conscientious people are less likely to get a dementia diagnosis than those with neurotic or negative personality traits.
Scientists from Northwestern University and the University of California, Davis said that the difference wasn’t due to pathological changes, but rather how traits allow some people to better navigate dementia-related impairments.
Although there have been studies trying to link personality to dementia, these have been small and only in specific populations.
Leveraging as much of this existing literature as possible, the team analyzed data from eight published studies involving more than 44,000 people, of whom 1,703 developed dementia.
They looked at the ‘big five’ personality traits of conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, neuroticism, and agreeableness along with subjective well-being, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction.
They then compared these traits to clinical symptoms of dementia such as performance on cognitive tests and brain pathology at autopsy.
“We wanted to leverage new technology to synthesize these studies and test the strength and consistency of these associations,” said first author on the study Emorie Beck, assistant professor of psychology at UC Davis.
“If those links hold up, then targeting personality traits for change in interventions earlier in life could be a way to reduce dementia risk in the long term.”
This is important science, as the sciences in general, from medicine to history, are in a well-documented “reproducibility crisis” where between 50 to 90% of all scientific studies are non-reproduceable, and therefore of low or questionable value.
Using different methods to analyze existing literature is a good way to test its veracity.
Writing in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, Professor Beck said that people who score high on conscientiousness may be more likely to eat well and take care of their health, which results in better health in the long term.
She and her team found that high scores on negative traits and low scores on positive traits were associated with a higher risk of a dementia diagnosis. High scores on openness to experience, agreeableness, and life satisfaction had a protective effect in a smaller subset of studies.
However, no link was found between these personality traits and actual neuropathology in the brains of people after death.
“This was the most surprising finding to us,” said Beck. “If personality is predictive of performance on cognitive tests but not pathology, what might be happening?”
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“A possible explanation is that some personality traits could make people more resilient to the damage caused by diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”
People with high levels of some traits may find ways, even subconsciously, to cope with and work around impairments; for example, conscientiousness is associated with a strong work ethic, orderliness, and sense of responsibility that could in theory allow some people to work through the early stages of dementia.
The team also showed that some people with quite extensive physical symptoms in the brain can show little impairment on cognitive tests. So they looked at other factors between personality and dementia risk and neuropathology, including age, gender, and educational attainment.
“We found almost no evidence for effects, except that conscientiousness’s protective effect increased with age,” said Beck.
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It is hoped the study might provide the first steps into finding out what causes the condition to manifest itself and what could prevent this from happening.
Could you be resistant to dementia through your personality? There are a number of big 5 personality trait tests on the internet for free that can give you a sense.
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In 2001, the legendary photojournalist Sebastião Salgado had a dream of restoring the forest near his home in the state of Minas Gerais. Now 20 years later, his family property is a biodiverse paradise.
His work over long years saw him, his wife Lélia, and volunteers plant 20 million trees from 290 different species across over 1,500 acres of desiccated hillsides, recreating a natural forest ecosystem into which rare animals have now come to live.
Salgado’s story is a famous one. The photojournalist documented some of the most dramatic events of human misery of the 20th century. He authored half a dozen books, exhibited his photos around the world, and was the subject of a documentary Salt of the Earth.
When he came home in 1998 after reporting on the exodus of the Rwandans into the Congo, the land around his family home had been completely destroyed.
“The land was as sick as I was—everything was destroyed,” Salgado told the Guardian back in 2015.
“Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees. Then my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest. And when we began to do that, then all the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment.”
That same year, he and Lélia founded Instituto Terra, which focuses on environmental restoration and sustainable rural development in the Rio Doce Valley. Located in Southeast Brazil, it makes up a part of the other other great landscape of the country—the Atlantic Forest biome, which is far more temperate than the Amazon or the Pantanal, and far more threatened.
OTHER BRAZIL NEWS: Brazil’s President Makes Good on Campaign Promise to Evict Miners from Indigenous Reserves in the Amazon
Today, the property is officially titled Private Reserve of Natural Heritage Bulcão Farm, and hundreds of animal species have returned to the Rio Doce, including ocelots, purple-breasted parrot, and the Atlantic titi.
173 bird species alone have been identified; you can listen to some of their squawking here. Interested conservationists can donate to Salgado’s project on his website or even schedule a visit to the reserve.
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One of the great dinosaur centers on Earth has produced another marvel, as a complete Stegosaurus skeleton with fossilized skin imprints has been unearthed in China.
The animal was discovered in 2017 in the Fengning Manchu Autonomous County in Northern China’s Hebei Province along with a primitive ancestor of Triceratops. Years of painstaking excavations revealed their nearly complete skeletons.
The Stegosaur measures 5 meters in length, or around 15 feet, and is so well preserved that a mineralization of its skin was created alongside its bones.
“The hard parts, such as bones and teeth of dinosaurs, are relatively easy to form fossils, but the soft parts, such as skin and muscle, are easy to rot, and the conditions for forming fossils are extremely harsh,” explained Zhang Fucheng, a professor at the Institute of Geology and Paleontology of Linyi University who also leads the research team.
Gou Ying, an associate professor at the institute, said that their paper on the discovery details that the skin of the Stegosaur was scaley, and that this helped lock moisture in its body allowing it to adapt and survive in dry climates much the same as today’s squamates like lizards and snakes.
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The climate of Hebei at the time of the mid-Cretaceous was favorable to life, and rich forests with riverine ecosystems dominated the area which today is mostly grassland.
As is often the case with well-fossilized dinosaurs, remarkably serendipitous events marked its demise. It was probably drinking at the side of a lake or a river when it died. Then some force shifted its body from the exposed land into the deeper water, after which a nearby volcano seems to have erupted and buried the dino and the body of water in layer after layer of ash.
MORE DINOS FROM CHINA: A Kind of Cretaceous Crane Enters Fossil Record as Long-Legged Wading Dinosaur Found in China
Dating back to the Cretaceous period to around 130 million years ago, it’s the first Stegosaurus discovered in Northern China, while the primitive triceratops ancestor will help fill gaps in the fossil record of China’s ceratopsids.
“The well-preserved bones of this specimen will provide important evidence for further study of the evolution of the primitive ceratopsid dinosaurs,” Zhang further noted.
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A 30-seat hydrofoil ferryboat is set to enter mass production ahead of its introduction into the Stockholm transportation network next year.
It’s the world’s first electric flying passenger ship, and it recently completed all tests with flying colors, delighting the manufacturer, Candela Technology.
During its first flights, Candela P-12 confirmed its top speed of 30 knots, (35 mph) a record for electric passenger vessels. With a range of up to 50 nautical miles, it is also the first electric ship with the practical endurance to cover most coastal transport needs.
Tests also confirmed the minimal wake, which opens up for exemptions from speed limits, as the P-12 will neither erode coastlines nor damage docks and moored ships, even at full speed.
“The P-12 will let you use these waterways as green highways, enabling fast intra-city connections,” states company president Gustav Hasselskog. “Whether it’s public transport fleets, VIP services, or private customers, it will revolutionize how we travel on water.”
The P-12 employs computer-guided hydrofoils to elevate its hull above water friction. When on its foils at speeds over 18 knots, the Candela P-12 consumes 80% less energy than traditional high-speed vessels.
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This innovation addresses the primary challenges that have hindered the widespread adoption of electric, fast vessels to date: limited range and slow speeds due to the excessive energy consumption of conventional hulls.
Priced at €1.7 million, the 30-seat Shuttle variant of the P-12 matches the cost of similar-sized ICE vessels and is priced significantly lower than other electric options.
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Once in service, operators can expect reduced ‘fuel’ costs by up to 90% compared to diesel vessels. The C-POD motors require minimal servicing, and the vessel is designed for single-crew operation, which further slashes costs.
In total, the P-12 is expected to cut costs per passenger kilometer by up to 50%, achieving a similar operational per-passenger economy as a hybrid electric bus.
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A California high-schooler is being hailed as a hero after administering CPR to save a little girl.
Surrounded by adults, it was the 15-year-old Madison Atkinson who stepped forward to save her cousin, a 3-year-old who had seemingly drowned in the pool.
It was Thanksgiving when the Atkinson family was together with their relatives for the day. Losing sight of 3-year-old Maxine, they thought she was playing with the other kids, when she had actually wandered outside to the pool.
Surveillance camera footage captured the moment when Maxine falls in the pool, and later when Uncle Damien sees her floating face down and rushes in to pull her out, calling for help while he does it.
“I saw that he was trying the Heimlich,” Madison told ABC 7 news. “But I knew in that case you needed CPR because she didn’t seem like she was breathing. I told everyone I knew CPR and it calmed everyone down.”
It didn’t take long for the girl to be revived, and for the two families to thank their lucky stars Madison had learned CPR in class.
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“I’m literally watching a 15-year-old girl basically bring back our niece, a 3-year-old, to life,” Damien Gilbert said. “It was something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
CPR can take less than an afternoon to learn, and it can save the life of anyone, even an elephant, and even after it has been performed for hours on a person with no pulse.
WATCH the story below from ABC 7…
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All 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel under construction in the Uttarakhand State of India have been rescued.
Cameras, politicians, and flower garlands were awaiting them when they finally emerged to the cheers of an awaiting crowd.
Like the Chilean miners, or the Thai cavers, there’s something about workmen trapped underground that captures the world’s attention, and it happened again when a November 12th landslide caused a portion of the 2.2-mile tunnel to collapse, blocking a section of the path as long as 2 football fields to the exit.
They survived on food and oxygen sent in through narrow steel pipes, while more than a dozen physicians were monitoring their health through various sensors.
“This was a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies, marking one of the most significant rescue operations in recent years,” said Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways, on X.
The workers escaped the tunnel via narrow steel pipes that had been pushed into the debris through hand-drilled tunnels.
Last Friday, the drilling machine used to create the path for the pipes broke, and from then until Tuesday, teams worked on through the night in shifts using hand drills. By Tuesday they had drilled through over 100 feet of rubble.
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One rescuer told the New Delhi Television that the workers rushed over and hugged him when he came through the pipes, and after they all got out, a small tent community of the workers’ families and loved ones were there to greet them.
The tunnel was being built to connect various Hindu pilgrimage sites across the Himalayas.
Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the government will provide financial assistance of one lakh rupees, (about $1,200) to all the workers trapped in the tunnel. They have been admitted to a hospital, the bills for which will also be taken on by the local government.
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