Happy 67th Birthday to popular science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson. Born in the Big Apple without a star in the sky to look up at, Tyson nevertheless became a face for astronomy and astrophysics as Director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of the television special Cosmos: a Spacetime Odyssey. From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the “Universe” column for Natural History magazine, some of which were later published in his books Death by Black Hole (2007) and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017)—the latter a New York Times #1 Best Seller. READ more about Tyson… (1958)
Good News in History, October 5
Stray Dog Saved From ‘Death Row’ Turns into Brilliant Detective, Sniffing out Lost Animals
A stray dog that was saved from being euthanized has become an expert pet detective, displaying an uncanny knack for sniffing out lost animals.
Rico was just days away from being put down when kind-hearted Rachel Rodgers, who runs a dog training school, paid almost $200 to rescue him from the Portuguese dog pound.
“I saw this picture online of this really cute black and tan dog in Portugal and they said he had two days left to live,” the Englishwoman told SWNS news agency. “I paid the fee to get him out of the pound, but they hadn’t found him a home (so) I ended up paying and bringing him over.”
She took him home and was amazed to discover the incredible sniffing and tracking skills of this small domestic Kokoni.
“He was really good at that. It was like hide and seek where they sniff you out.”
Within months, Rico’s nose was being used to track down lost pets and animals which had escaped from their enclosures, including a runaway capybara.
Rico would be given a blanket or chew toy to smell, which he would then use to locate the area where the animals had been most recently.
In some cases, the 10-year-old pup was even given an animal’s poop to learn its smell in order to pick up a trail.
Rico is now a pro at locating lost animals—and over the years, he’s taken part in more than 20 pet rescues. 36-year-old Rachel from Whitchurch, Shropshire, in England, is preparing to mark ten years since she gave Rico a second chance of life in December 2015.
Rico’s first rescue happened while Rachel was doing a course about water voles in Wales.
DOGGIE GENIUSES: Dogs in UK Are First to Be Trained to Sniff Out Bowel Cancer–After Nailing Parkinson’s and COVID
“There was a family in the car park crying because they’d lost their dog and he was missing.
“My friend suggested Rico try and help them, so we let him sniff the boot of the car to get the lost dog’s scent.
“We searched for about three hours and he kept going to the same location with a 7ft high fence—and the dog came out hours later from the exact spot Rico had identified.”
Rachel, the co-founder and instructor at The Canine School of Trailings, said there was “no feeling like it”, after Rico tracked down a missing dog. “I’ve never been so proud.”
Now the twosome is even training other dog trainers across the world so that they can teach pet owners.
One of the strangest rescues Rico took part in was when a capybara called Cinnamon escaped from a zoo last year.
MORE HERO DOGS:
• Tiny Bomb-Sniffing Jack Russell is a National Hero, Sporting a Presidential Medal
• 18 Month-old Bloodhound Wins 2024 Hero Dog Awards for Saving Lives And Solving Crimes
“We got a tortoise request the other week, but the capybara was the weirdest.
“I was in London when Cinnamon went missing and she had been missing a few days before we went out. Obviously makes it harder without a fresh trail of scent to follow.”
They didn’t have any scent article, which Rico could use to track the animal, so the zoo brought in capybara fecal droppings from Cinnamon’s family.
“I was worried he would go to the zoo to their enclosure but he followed a trail quite a while.”
He lead the search team through a field with a horse and kept going to a ditch and found more scat there, which one of the keepers believed was from a capybara.
POOCH GETS SECOND CHANCE: Dog That Flunked Out of Police Academy Becomes a Hero in Earthquake Response
“He was searching for three hours in that same area and the zookeepers put a trap down and she was caught a day or so later.”
Rachel says she hopes her 7-month-old border terrier Pebbles will carry on Rico’s “amazing work” and keep searching for lost pets after he retires in the next year or so.
HELP DOG OWNERS FIND THEIR CALLING – Share This on Social Media…
Gumbo Cook Worried About Regular Customer’s No-Shows Goes to His Home and Saves His Life
Something had to be wrong.
For over a decade, his routine was as reliable as the sunrise: every day around 11 a.m, the door to the Shrimp Basket in Pensacola, Florida would swing open and one loyal customer would walk in.
Donnell Stallworth, a cook at the Shrimp Basket, said the regular visitor is like “everyone’s grandpa”. They liked him so much that, a few months ago, the staff threw him a party to celebrate his 78th birthday.
Every day the old man orders a cup of gumbo before heading home again.
But earlier this month, the man stopped showing up. As the days mounted, concern spread among Donnell and the the staff.
Where was he?
Donnell was determined to find out, because, by this point, the old guy was something more than a customer—he was a friend.
“I just left work, went to his house, and I knocked on the door like two times,” he told WEAR-TV News in the video below. “The third time I knocked on it… I kind of stayed up for a minute, and I knocked again, and I heard him like, ‘Help’ and ‘Who is it?’”
When he heard it was Donell, the man—who wasn’t named for medical privacy reasons—invited him in. He was sprawled on the floor where he had been lying for days after falling.
WATCH THIS HERO: Immigrant Truck Driver Becomes Hero Using Tractor-Trailer to Save Man from Burning 2nd Floor
His body was badly bruised with multiple ribs broken, according to the news report. Who knows how long he would have been lying there had no one else noticed he was missing?
That daily cup of gumbo and a cook who cared likely saved his life.
“He was in tears, like, ‘I don’t even know how long I’ve been here’,” Donell recalled.
Paramedics arrived soon afterward and the senior is now on the mend, working his way back to health with a steady diet of rehab and a cup of gumbo delivered every few days by the kind chef.
HEARTWARMING KINDNESS FOR DYING DOG: Texas Roadhouse Cooks Dog’s Last Meal–Owner Is Blown Away by the Restaurant’s Care
But the staff is hoping that soon, the Shrimp Basket’s door will swing open at 11 a.m., and smiles on both sides of the counter will stretch a little bit wider—with the gumbo tasting sweeter than ever before.
“Not all heroes wear capes,” says the TV report below…
RESTORE PEOPLE’S FAITH IN HUMANITY By Sharing The Compassion on Social Media…
Record-Breaking Night of Bird Migration Caught on Radar During a ‘Perfect Storm’ for Feathered Flight
More than 1.2 billion birds streamed south in one night during their Fall migration in late September—the largest single-night total ever recorded by the American live radar project.
Called BirdCast, a collaboration led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the platform uses the same weather radar technology behind daily forecasts to track migrating birds.
On its live migration map, BirdCast tracked more than 1.2 billion birds streaming toward their wintering grounds after sunset on September 25—the largest single-night total recorded since the project began mapping live migrations in 2018.
“These numbers are almost inconceivable,” said Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and longtime BirdCast researcher. “They’re enormous… even for people that study migration regularly. The scale of how many organisms that this represents, is just mind blowing.”
The surge surpasses the previous milestone of one billion birds, first observed during the migration in October 2023. Both included well over one hundred species flying toward warmer weather, including songbirds and shorebirds.
Farnsworth said this seemingly rare night captured about 10% of the continent’s birds in flight at the same time. On an average fall night during peak migration, about 400 million birds are detected in flight at the same time above the United States, but on this night, the number was three times that.
“It’s really unbelievable,” he said.
While astonishing to both birders and scientists, Farnsworth said this event was not random. It resulted from a combination of ideal migrating conditions coinciding with the peak of fall migration.
The weather that night was perfect for travel, he explained in a media release. It featured calm winds—including tail winds that helped push the birds along their migratory paths across much of the center of the country and the Mississippi River valley.
AIRPORT BIRD LOVE: Snowy Owls Are Kept Safe from Jets at Boston Airport, Thanks to Dedicated Researcher
Farnsworth said this record-breaking migration—documented by radar technology that was never intended to track birds—is a chance to not only to marvel at the immense magnitude of bird migration but also a chance to remind the public that the data is freely available and accessible in real time.
The technology at BirdCast.org allows anyone to view forecast maps that predict the number of birds migrating while live migration maps show migration happening in real time. Both tools let people know when birds are moving nearby, so they can take necessary precautions to protect them.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR BIRDS:
• Giant Mystical Eagle Thought to Be ‘Extinct in Mexico’ Reappears, Marking Landmark Moment for Conservationists
• Record Number of 736,000 Sandhill Cranes Flock to Nebraska in Spring Migration–With No Bird Flu
• Marshall Islands Experience Explosion of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed
“BirdCast gives the ability for more people to engage in and participate in this incredible spectacle,” Farnsworth said, whose Cornell Lab partners with three US universities in the project: Purdue, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Massachusetts Amherst.
It’s also a timely reminder that you can help make birds’ journeys safer. Every year, more than one billion birds die in collisions with windows in the United States.
SWEETEST SOLUTION: After Building Causes 1,000 Bird Deaths, $1.2M Window Makeover Shows Chicago How to Beak Kind
Bright lights can disorient birds migrating at night, drawing them into areas where collisions with glass are common. To assist our feathered friends, turn off nonessential lights at night. You can also add bird friendly film or other markings on the outside of windows. Learn more at stopbirdcollisions.org.
FLY THIS GREAT NEWS to Bird Lovers Around the Country…
Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny
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 October 4, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
In ancient Egyptian myth, the goddess Maat ruled truth, divine law, harmony, and moral order. After death, each person’s heart was weighed against Maat’s feather of truth on a scale in the Hall of Judgment. If the heart, which embodied the essence of a person’s actions in life, was equal in weight to the feather, the deceased was assessed as virtuous and cleared to continue to the glorious afterlife. If it was heavier . . . well, I’ll spare you the details. Maat’s scales were not symbols of punishment, but of fairness and justice. That’s also your special power right now, Libra. You have subtle insight into every choice. You understand that your wisdom is best used to bless, not censure. My hope is that you will foster gentle clarity and offer forgiveness to all, including yourself. Lay down the old guilt! Let grace be the law!
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
The I Ching is an ancient divinatory book compiled in China over 2,500 years ago, Amazingly, it’s still quite useful. In accordance with astrological omens, I call your attention to one of its oracles: “Work on What Has Been Spoiled.” It tenderly counsels us to be brave as we repair what’s broken. But it’s crucial that we make the correction with patient grace, not blame and anger. The good news, Scorpio, is that you now have an uncanny ability to discern what’s out of tune, what’s crooked, what has been wrongfully abandoned. I hope you will offer your genius for re-weaving. A frayed friendship? A neglected dream? A forgotten promise? You can play the role of restorer: not to make things as they were, but to render them better than they’ve ever been.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In ancient Egypt, the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet wielded both intense heat and nourishing warmth. She had the power to destroy and heal. When outbreaks of chaos threatened, she incinerated them. Once order and balance returned, she served as a physician. I dare you to summon your inner Sekhmet, Sagittarius. Give your bold attention to an obstacle that needs to be crushed or an injustice that needs to be erased. If necessary, invoke sacred rage on behalf of sacred order. But remember that the goal is not merely combustion. It’s transmutation. Once the fire has cleared the way, unleash your gorgeous cure.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In Nepal, there’s a tradition among Sherpa mountaineers. Before ascending Mt. Everest, they perform a ceremony led by a Buddhist monk or Lama. It’s a way to honor the sacredness of the mountain, ask for grace during their climb, and return from the journey in good health. As you eye the peak ahead of you, Capricorn, consider making similar preparation. Ritualize your intention. Direct it with clarity and care. Bless your journey before you surge forward.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
When people call something “glamorous,” they usually mean it has an elegant, captivating style. Its beauty is sophisticated and luxurious. But the original meaning of “glamour” was different. It referred to a deceptive magical enchantment designed to disguise the truth, whipped up by a conjurer or supernatural being. That’s the sense I want to invoke now, Aquarius. You have been seeing through the glamour lately—of the media, of consensus reality, of false stories. Now it’s time to go even further: to actively tear down illusions and dismantle pretense, preferably with tact. When you see through the spell, don’t just call it out—transmute it into clarity.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Pisces-born Nina Simone (1933–2003) started playing piano when she was three years old. At age 12, her debut concert was a classical recital. She developed a yearning to become the first Black female classical concert pianist. But her dream collapsed when the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music refused to let her study there. Then came the plot twist. She redirected her disappointment ingeniously, launching a brilliant career as a singer, composer, and pianist that won her global fame. The rebuff from the Curtis Institute was ultimately a stroke of good luck! It became a catalyst for her greatness. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to designate a frustration that you will use to fuel future success.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In Zen Buddhism, satoris are sudden flashes of illumination that are fun and clarifying. I’m happy to tell you that you’re in a phase when these sweet breakthroughs are extra likely to visit you. They may barge in while you’re washing dishes, in the grocery store check-out line, or during your fantasies before sleep. Be on high alert for intimations from the Great Mystery. PS: Some satoris could be gems you already half-knew.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
You are eligible to be named “The Most Brilliant and Effective Complainer” for October. If you want to secure this prestigious award, spend time organizing plans for changing what’s amiss or awry. Decide which irritating off-kilter situations are most worthy of your thoughtful attention. Figure out how to express your critiques in ways that will engage the constructive help of others. And then implement a detailed strategy to compassionately achieve the intriguing transformations.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
On certain medieval maps, an island paradise known as Hy-Brasil had a fuzzy presence west of Ireland. Did it truly exist? If so, it was said to be a blessed land that could restore lost youth and offer extravagant happiness. The place was thought to be rarely visible, and only under certain magical or auspicious conditions. I suspect you Geminis are within range of an experience like this. It won’t appear in a specific location but as a state of mind that settles over you. Don’t chase it. Allow it to find you.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A stalactite is a stony formation that hangs like an icicle from the ceiling of a cave. It forms over long periods as mineral-rich water drips down and incrementally deposits hard calcium carbonate through precipitation. This marvel is an example of earth’s creativity at its most leisurely. A four-inch-long stalactite might take a thousand years to make. With that as your seed thought, Cancerian, I invite you to attune yourself to the slowest, deepest, most ancient parts of your soul. Important developments are unfolding there. A wound that’s ripening into wisdom? A mysterious yearning that’s finally speaking in your native tongue? Be patient and vigilant with it. Don’t demand clarity all at once. Your transformation is tectonic, not flashy. Your assignment is to listen and be receptive.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
When bilingual speakers engage in the behavior known as “code-switching,” they may begin a sentence in one language and finish it in another. Or they may move back and forth between two different languages as they deliver a discourse. Why do they do it? To enrich their meaning, to dazzle their audience, to play and experiment. In a larger sense, we could say that code-switching happens anytime we swivel between different styles of presenting ourselves: from formal to casual, serious to humorous, cheerful to skeptical. I bring this up, Leo, because you are in the heart of the code-switching season. Have fun!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In the Arctic, polar bears move through the world not by sight alone, but through scent trails that stretch miles across the ice. Their sense of direction is olfactory, intuitive, and primal. If I’m reading the omens correctly, Virgo, your navigation system will also be more animal than logical in the coming weeks. I advise you to trust subtle cues—like goosebumps, a sweet or sour taste in your mouth, or an uncanny pull toward or away from things. Your rational mind might not be fully helpful, but your body will know the way. Sniff the trail. Access your instincts.
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)
SHARE The Wisdom With Friends Who Are Stars in Your Life on Social Media…
“The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” – Edward Teller
Quote of the Day: “The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” – Edward Teller
Photo by: National Human Genome Research Institute (CC license)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, October 4
21 years ago today, SpaceShipOne, funded by Microsoft’s Paul Allen, became the first private manned spacecraft to fly into sub-orbital space. That same year, its innovative design won the $10 million Ansari X Prize. Piloted and returned to Earth by Mike Melvill, he became the first-ever licensed US commercial astronaut. WATCH a Smithsonian video about the ship’s innovative hinged wing design that made it perfect for reentry… (2004)
Americans Take Home the Nation’s First Gold Medal in the ‘Cheesemonger Olympics’
In France, where cheese has a museum, and there’s a hospital ward for foreigners who get sick eating French cheese, is it really a surprise that they have a cheesemonger olympics?
A cheesemonger is the person who sources and sells cheese to the community—a respectable profession says Emilia D’Albero, the first US woman, and the first American to boot, to win gold in said olympics.
From Philadelphia, the city where she learned the profession at the Philly Cheese School, D’Albero has been cheesemongering for years under the TikTok handle @punkrockparmigiano, but it was her first time medaling at the olympics, held in Tours, France.
“My teammate, Courtney Johnson, and I are the first all-female team USA,” D’Albero told CBS News. “They had never sent two girls before.”
Beating out cheese stronghold nations like Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and of course, France, D’Albero had to compete in four events: a blind tasting, the “perfect cut,” a cheese sculpture, and a 100-centimeter square plateau centered around a theme.
She hopes that the heavy gold medal will bring the attention which her profession so richly deserves.
CHEESE STORIES:
- After Getting $4.99 Cheese-making Kit for Christmas He Now Runs His Own Creamery And Wins Awards (LOOK)
- Trendy Type of Norwegian Cheese May Stave Off Bone Thinning, Shows New Study
- Famous Wensleydale Cheese Creamery to Turn Whey Waste into Biogas for Heating Homes
“In other parts of the world, like Europe, being a cheesemonger is seen as a really respected career,” D’Albero said. “In America it’s not as respected as it should be. It’s definitely skilled labor. We have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the cheeses in the case.”
While most Americans know only about as many cheeses as what go on pizza and sandwiches, there are some amazing American cheesemakers, which have also won awards for their cheeses.
A great start would be Point Reyes Farmstead in California, who’s Bay Blue is the perfect first-timer blue cheese you could hope to find—and you don’t even have to pay the import duty.
WATCH the story below from CBS News…
SHARE This Great Cheese News With Your Friends…
Camden, NJ Hasn’t Seen a Homicide All Summer–New Police Department Celebrates
For what was one of the most dangerous cities in America, a summer without a homicide is a major achievement.
Major—doubtless; but unexpected? Perhaps not. Camden, New Jersey hasn’t experienced a summer without a homicide in 5 decades, but thanks to a new approach to policing and a new police department in general, sunny summers such as these could become routine forecast.
“We dissolved the police department of Camden City, formed and brought up a new county department that oversees this city,” said Camden County Commissioner Director Lou Cappelli Jr.
The dramatic restructuring was followed by a dispersal of officers into each community, where they would forge relationships with the citizens, and be closer to where crime occurred.
Overseen by the Real Time Tactical Operation Intelligence Center, a new surveillance command center operating over one thousand street cameras, the new outfit rapidly saw success.
The start of this year has been one of the best there’s been in terms of crime statistics for the once troubled city.
“It was bad,” Cappelli told ABC 6 Action News. “Homicides are down 75%. I’m just so happy for the residents of this city. They deserve this kind of safety.”
MORE POLICING STORIES:
- The Baltimore Homicide Rate Has Fallen to Near 50-Year Low
- Once Like a War Zone, El Salvador’s Homicide Rate Is Now Freakishly Low–and Public Celebrates
- Last Year Boston Murder Rate Was Lowest Ever–This Year it was Cut Nearly in Half Again
That community-focused policing has residents teaching their children that police aren’t their enemies, and working with charities and nonprofits that help put on events with them, the officers are eager to play that role—of trusted neighbor and guardian rather than enemy.
Cappelli said that the results are so good that the department has been getting inquiries from not only other American counties and cities, but also other countries as well, to ask and learn about their policing, which has been so successful it’s led the mayor and other officials to focus on growing the community again.
WATCH the story from ABC…
SHARE This “Huge Milestone” For Camden With Your Friends From The Area…
Thousands–Including Many Visitors–Volunteer in Taiwan to Help Flood Victims Following Typhoon
Taiwan society has mobilized in response to flooding after a typhoon made landfill on the East Asian island, including visitors and foreign residents.
With those arriving with rainboots and shovels dubbed “Shovel Supermen” and those arriving to cook meals for those whose homes were destroyed dubbed “Cooking Supermen,” it’s a touching and inspiring example of an all-hands-on-deck response to disaster.
Typhoon Ragasa made landfall last Tuesday, causing heavy rains in Hualien County and causing local water sources to overflow. Flooding and mudslides have displaced hundreds of residents, particularly in Guangfu Township.
In response, thousands of volunteers have streamed south, shovels and rainboots in hand, to help. The Buddhist charity Tzu Chi managed to co-opt 3,000 volunteers by the following Saturday.
Others brought food and portable kitchen supplies to cook food for volunteers and victims alike.
Heading southward in extra trains mobilized by Taiwan Railway Corp., the volunteers included two Ukrainian women who had lived in Taiwan for 9 years, and a Japanese resident Saito Tadataka.
INSPIRING VOLUNTEER EFFORTS: Legions of Amish Come to Help Rebuild NC Town: ‘It’s Fun Making a Difference’
One of the Ukrainians had actually planned on visiting Hualien County, and when seeing it underwater, felt compelled to help. Mr. Saito too felt he had to act when he saw the number of other volunteers using their 3-day weekend time to help their countrymen.
NEWS FROM TAIWAN: Gorgeous Suspension Bridge Set for Completion in 2025 Will Make History Immediately – (LOOK)
The county government turned over the coordination of the relief efforts to Tzu Chi, while enlisting the national government to identify hotel and lodging businesses who would be able and willing to house those displaced to ensure emergency shelters aren’t overwhelmed.
Displaced residents are being given a government stipend to pay for essential supplies while relief efforts are ongoing.
SHARE This Inspiring Societal Response To A Disaster With Your Friends…
Marshall Islands Experience Explosion of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed
Reprinted with Permission from World at Large
Two small islets crucial to the resiliency of the local environment in the Marshall Islands Republic are witnessing a major ecological revival.
Island Conservation, a global nonprofit organization with a mission to restore islands for nature and people, has successfully eradicated invasive black rats, allowing the native forests and seabird population on Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet to recover.
The rats have had a devastating effect on their delicately balanced ecosystems on certain islands in the Marshalls. Bikar Atoll, one of the smallest atolls in the country, is located 360 miles (580 kilometers) north of the capital, Majuro. The reef surrounds a lagoon roughly 14 square miles.
The Jemo Islet is a 16-hectare inhabited coral island that’s known to be one of the major feeding grounds for green sea turtles and a seabird sanctuary. With the arrival of invasive species such as black rats on both these landmasses, the native environment has been heavily disrupted as native plants, seabirds, and other animals fall prey to the rats’ scavenging.
In addition to turtles, Jemo had been used for generations as a place to gather and hunt, but had become something like an ecological graveyard since the rats arrived. Having already eradicated black rats on dozens of islands before, Island Conservation trained local teams with the best practices to remove the rats via poison without harming the native wildlife.
After one year, a trip back to these islands, accompanied by Island Conservation, the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce, and community members from Utrik Atoll, found that the efforts to eradicate the rats had succeeded and that wildlife was bouncing back. The recovery of the native seabird population has positively impacted the link between land and sea. The nutrients from the seabirds’ droppings play a critical role as natural fertilizer for the plant population which anchors the local food web.
“After only one year, the transformation is dramatic. A colony of 2,000 Sooty Terns, where there was previously none, was feeding hundreds of chicks,” said Island Conservation Project Manager Paul Jacques. “We also counted thousands of native Pisonia grandis tree seedlings across just 60 monitored plots on the forest floor—in 2024, we found zero. Native forests are crucial for seabird nesting and are critical to carbon absorption and the island’s ecological health”.
Part of a trend
The restoration of the atolls and islands will have a lasting impact on the communities for the people who, in the past, have used Jemo as a natural hub for resources.
The rat invasion has depleted the useful resources of Jemo for the Likiep people for many years, but with the help of major participating organizations, it not only benefits the natural ecosystems of the Marshall Islands but also the communities that depend on these resources.
“Our Marshallese friends continue to add restored, pest-free islands to their list of achievements,” said David Moverley, Invasive Species Adviser for the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), who partnered with Island Conservation on the project.
“Participating in the first rat removal workshop in Tonga ten years ago allowed them early on to achieve successful eradications on small islands by themselves. Now with modern technology and expert technical support from our partner Island Conservation, they are really pushing the boundaries and people are starting to realize the treasures that abound within the Marshall Islands and the opportunities that they present”.
Previously, WaL had the opportunity to report on Island Conservation projects, one being Loosiep, located in Yap State within the Federated States of Micronesia.
The project focused on the removal of invasive rats—the almost ubiquitous problem on Pacific islands—that threatened the biodiversity of its area. In partnership with the Island Conservation, local groups removed the rats allowed the “turtle islands” to thrive once again.
WaL also reported on the 2022 Island Conservation removal of invasive rats across the Pacific Islands using technological advancements of drones and poisoned bait.
These ambitious efforts by Island Conservation have already benefited 65 Islands worldwide, and their continuous work in restoring ecosystems creates lasting benefits for both nature and communities across the globe. WaL
SHARE This Game Set And Match Conservation Win With Your Friends…
“What do we know of the heart nearest to our own? … What do we know of our own heart?” – Amelia Barr
Quote of the Day: “What do we know of the heart nearest to our own? … What do we know of our own heart?” – Amelia Barr
Photo by: Salomé Guruli
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?
Good News in History, October 3
4,482 years ago today, or so it’s said, the sky above the Korean Peninsula opened and Hwanung, the mythical progenitor of Korean People descended from heaven. Today, it’s marked as National Foundation Day in both the South and the North of the Peninsula and referred to as Gaecheonjeol. READ more about this important day in the Korean calendar… (2,457 BCE)
Britain’s Oldest Working Brick Windmill Still Spinning After 250 Years–Grinding Grain Into Flour
Britain’s oldest brick tower windmill which sits in the middle of a housing development is still operating, more than 250 years after it was first built.
Located in Holgate, a suburb of York, the walled city in northeast England, the Holgate Windmill has been working since 1770 after being built by George Waud, from Selby, after he bought the land in North Yorkshire two years earlier.
The mill, which grinds corn into flour, was built in the open countryside—one of many mills in the Yorkshire region—and overlooked the hamlet of Holgate.
The 90-foot-tall mill now sits on a roundabout in the middle of a housing development built in the 1940s and 50s after World War II.
It went unused for 90 years until 2001 when a preservation society was formed and successfully restored the mill to its former glory 13 years ago.
Steve Potts, a trustee of the group and its head miller, called it an important building.
“Of all of the hundreds of windmills which which were once found around Yorkshire, this is the only working one left.
“We are a group of 35 volunteers and we think it is important to keep the industry of milling going.
“It is a dying art in many ways and if we weren’t doing it, in a couple of years there may be no one left who knows how to,” the 69-year-old told SWNS news agency.
“Our plan is to keep it’s legacy going forever.”
The volunteers at the windmill have been doing a great job of that these days, as locals can buy wholemeal flour produced at the mill in a number of shops in York.
MAYBE CHANGE IS GOOD: Old Reformatory Prison Turned into Sunny New Apartment Complex Called ‘Liberty’ After $64M Injection
A quarter-millennium of history
After the mill was erected in 1770, three generations of the Waud family ran it until it was sold in 1851 to John Musham, a local gentleman who hired a tenant miller John Thackwray to take over.
Mr. Musham then sold the mill in 1855 to Joseph Peart who installed a steam engine which worked the milling gear and employed William Bean Horseman and later Joseph Chapman as millers.
After Peart’s death in 1864 it’s unknown who owned the mill, but in 1877 Eliza Gutch, from the Gutch family, took it over—but Chapman continued operating it until he retired.
The milling duties were then taken over by his son Charles but only until 1901, but he died young after breathing in hazardous flour dust.
Herbert Warters ran the mill from 1901 to 1922 and was followed by Thomas Mollett.
Grain was ground into flour here until the 1930’s using wind power, but it ended in 1933 when the Gutch family sold the building to the York City Council after Eliza died.
FOUND SOME HISTORY: Archaeologists Discover ‘Dazzling’ 3,000-Year-old Egyptian City, Left ‘As if it were yesterday’
A housing neighborhood soon grew up surrounding the mill after WWII.
But now, for over a decade, it’s been fulfilling that wholesome, age-old mission of sustainable, wind-powered food production in the only working 5-sailed, fully double-shuttered windmill in England.
SEND THE GOOD NEWS to History and Local Food Buffs on Social Media…
Families from Opposite Sides of Atlantic Meet by Chance at Grave of Ancestor ‘Absolutely Thrilled’ to Meet 4th Cousins
Cousins from opposite sides of the ocean met by complete chance after turning up at their ancestor’s grave at the exact same time and discovering they were all related.
Ian Brandon and Malcolm Atkins from the UK were visiting the grave of their great, great, great, grandfather Anthony Smith only to find another couple from the US doing the same thing.
Rand Smith and his wife Janeel made the 3,700-mile journey from Kansas City to the town of Raunds in Northamptonshire, England, to see where his forefathers originated from.
The couple was left utterly astounded when strangers Ian and Malcolm showed up from London and Essex at the same time last month searching for the same gravestone, having planned their trip years ago.
“You couldn’t make it up. These other guys planned their trip a while ago, too,” said Malcolm, a grandfather-of-two from Harold Hill, East London.
“We met at that precise moment, and now people are saying it’s divine intervention.
“I don’t have a religious bone, but if we arrived half-an-hour later, we wouldn’t have known they were there.
Malcolm and Ian had spent seven years planning the trip to St Peter’s Church after researching his family tree.
“I’m still in shock. We’d been planning it years and years ago, and we finally got together.”
“We’d actually gone up and got the car stuck while trying to find the car park. These two Americans went past the car and smiled as I was stuck.
“Then these two people were literally standing by the headstone of my third great-grandad.”
12 billion-to-one odds
Rand was looking at the headstone and his wife Janeel asked the strangers, “Do you know that person?” Ian answered, “That’s my third great-grandfather”—and that’s when Rand said, “That’s my third great grandfather”.
The three men, who are fourth cousins, learned that their encounter on the same day, September 22, defied the odds of 12 billion-to-one.
“It was amazing, it was like we all knew each other. Then we went to a nearby pub, where we found we had so much in common,” Malcolm told SWNS news agency.
FREAKY FATE: Childhood Best Friends Who Lost Touch Reunited 60 Years Later–Both Living in a Senior Care Home
“We’d love to see him again. I’d love to go to Kansas.”
Ian said the pair in their 70s chose to visit the grave around 100 miles from both their homes last Monday purely by chance.
“We basically turned up together, it was most strange,” Ian, from Danbury, Essex, told SWNS. “They were there two minutes before we were. It was strange, as we were all looking at the same stones.
“We had so much in common. We exchanged emails, so we’ll keep in contact.”
The cousins were visiting the historic market town after discovering Anthony Smith used to own a shoe factory in the area.
A FATEFUL TATTOO: Mystical Urge To Get Weird Tattoo Pays Off As She’s Presented With The Exact Item Years Later By Strangers
A family tree fanatic, Malcolm discovered Anthony had initially married an American and had eight children before re-marrying, after her death at a ‘quite young’ age, an English lady who he had seven children with.
“My wife Linda always wondered how I could do such a boring hobby. It is just names on a piece of paper, but on one account I’ve got 2,000 names.
“It’s helped us dig into this, which is incredible. You couldn’t have written it. I’m still shocked by it. It’s a day we’ll never forget.”
Rand explained why they traveled to England, “Forty years ago my grandfather travelled from the U.S. and visited the graves of our forefathers at the St. Peter’s Church in Raunds.
“Since that time, I have had the same desire. When my wife, Janeel, and I visited the graveyard and located the headstones, we were stunned to have several others come up and examine the same stones.
TEXT FROM AFTER LIFE: After 4 Years of Sending Messages to Her Late Father’s Phone Number, She Suddenly Gets a Reassuring Text Back
“No one else was in the cemetery. To learn that they are our fourth cousins was absolutely thrilling.
“We went to lunch together and it was like we had known them for years.
“We feel that divine intervention put us together. What a highlight of our lives.”
SHARE THE LUCKY SERENDIPITY With Your Family Tree on Social Media…
Man’s Best Friend Recognized as Dog of the Year For Saving Him from a Bear Attack
A Canadian dog-lover has gotten to learn all over again why they call the animal Man’s best friend after his own brave pooch deterred a bear attack.
On a familiar trail in Cochrane, near Calgary, Craig Campbell was on a walk with his dog, a 10-year-old Doberman named Night. It was a trail he had taken with Night several times, but the routine physical activity suddenly turned into a life or death situation.
There in the bushes, a grizzly sow with her 2 cubs had wandered into the woods sandwiched between farms. Even still, Campbell had his bear spray, but having it is only half the challenge; the other half is using it.
“I managed two thoughts,” Campbell recalled in an interview with CTV News. “First of all, I said to myself, ‘This can’t be happening.’ And then I realized I wasn’t going to get the bear spray out (in time) and I said to myself, ‘I’m about to die.’”
Just then, Night came from beside in a flash and put himself between man and bear. Towering 7 feet on its hind legs above the crouching, barking dog, it gave enough time for Campbell to arm himself, but by then the bear huffed and went back to her cubs.
An avid trainer, Campbell has for years been training Night in the German sport of Schutzhund, often used to train the breed and others like it as police dogs. He believes this is why Night ran at the bear when others might have ran away, tail between their legs as it were.
“He is a very brave dog,” Campbell said. “To have an animal that literally stood between me and death, there’s no better friend than that.”
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Dogs Are Being Trained to Track Elusive Spotted Lanternfly and Save Crops from Devastation
The story won Night an award in Purina’s Animal Hall of Fame for 2025, Canada’s longest-running pet recognition award. Inductees receive a medallion, recognition at a ceremony in Toronto, and one year’s worth of free pet food.
Despite the sports and the bravery, Campbell said Night is a playful dog too, loving few things more than jumping into a stream and watching minnows swim through his paws.
WATCH the story below from CTV News…
Know Anyone With A Doberman? SHARE This Hero Story On Their Social Media…
NASA’s Artemis 2 Astronauts Say They’re Fully Ready for Historic Flight to the Moon
For the crew that’s going to return humanity to the Moon, the Artemis 2 mission astronauts recently said they were fully ready and focused on the task at hand, with everything else being just noise.
Everything else is a lot, since Artemis 2 represents a lot. It will send the first Black Man and the first woman to the Lunar environment. It will set a new record for distance in a human voyage beyond Earth. It is being undertaken in what some are calling a space race with China.
In short, there’s a lot to think about, but Mission Commander Reid Wiseman says they are ready for “every scenario.”
“We might go to the Moon—that’s where we want to go—but it is a test mission, and we are ready for every scenario as we ride this amazing Space Launch System on the Orion spacecraft, 250,000 miles away,” he said on a September 24th media event. “It’s going to be amazing.”
September also saw the naming of the Orion capsule for the Artemis 2 Mission as Integrity.
Joining Wiseman will be NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover, both of whom have spent over 100 days (over 300 in Koch’s case) on board the ISS. From the Canadian Space Agency there’s Jeremy Hansen, a first-timer, who admitted the chance to fly on Artemis II will be “an absolute privilege.”
Following an almost perfect Artemis 1 test flight of the Orion spacecraft back in November 2022, several delays have prevented its follow-up with Artemis II set to be a 10-day flight around the Moon and back to Earth, paving the way for a crewed Lunar landing.
ALSO CHECK OUT: NASA Laser Sends Terabits from Beyond Mars in Huge Success for Deep-Space Communications Test
The flight will also mark the farthest trip by humans into deep space, and will travel as many as 9,000 miles beyond the Moon, even farther than Apollo 13 traveled on its near-disastrous flight.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy mentioned how competitive he and the agency felt in getting to the Moon before China and winning the “second space race,” but Artemis 2 Mission pilot Glover said he wasn’t focusing on that race—nor his own race, but a different race altogether.
MORE SPACEFLIGHT NEWS: SpaceX Capsule Arrives to Finally Relieve Stranded Crew on ISS Space Station
“The race that I think the most about is the relay race that we’re in,” he said. “We are going together, and our mission success is built on handing off, starting off with Artemis 3—that sets up our country and our partners to go back to the surface of the Moon.”
The first astronaut flight of NASA’s Artemis Program, which seeks not only to land humans on the Moon a second time, but also to conduct sustained crewed exploration of the lunar south pole and beyond to prepare for an eventual trip to Mars, is hoping for an early February launch date.
SHARE This Update With Your Friends Eager To See A Return To The Moon…
“Let your mind alone, and see what happens.” – Virgil Thomson
Quote of the Day: “Let your mind alone, and see what happens.” – Virgil Thomson
Photo by: Dingzeyu Li
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?
Good News in History, October 2
68 years ago today, a new island, or Ilha Novo, appeared on the edge of the westernmost island (Faial) in the Azores chain after the eruption of Capelinhos, or “little cape,” one of many submerged cone volcanoes in the area. The eruption caused no deaths, however it did wreck many houses and reduce the population of the island by half—most of whom evacuated and immigrated to the US under the Azorean Refugee Act, passed under John F. Kennedy. It did extend Faial’s land area by 3 square kilometers though, and blanketed the surrounding slopes with volcanic ash that spawned lush forests and a tourism boom. READ more… (1957)
NASA Laser Sends Terabits from Beyond Mars in Huge Success for Deep-Space Communications Test
NASA recently achieved an incredible milestone in an even more incredible quest: providing broadband to the solar system.
But speaking specifically, the organization’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) division just downlinked 15 terabits of data from the Psyche Mission about 300 million miles from Earth via laser beam.
That’s over three times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and it represents a huge breakthrough in outer space communications that will be absolutely necessary in the future, and pretty much necessary now.
“There are kind of bottlenecks now in just how much volume of data we can get down in a given amount of time from the transmitters that we have,” said Sean Meenehan, the DSOC Ground Software Lead, referring to existing technology of using radio waves.
Aside from the brilliant scientists and engineers behind it, DSOC consists of a laser transceiver, which is mounted on the Psyche spacecraft, and two ground stations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Table Mountain Facility sends a laser beam to Psyche, which receives it and uses that signal to accurately beam its own laser to the second station, Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County.
The laser sends back data encoded and communicated basically like morse code but with flickers in its light beam. How difficult is that? Try using a laser pointer to highlight Mars in the sky.
Both Psyche and Earth are moving through space at tremendous speeds, and they are so distant from each other that the laser signal—which travels at the speed of light—can take several minutes to reach its destination. By using the precise pointing required from the ground and flight laser transmitters to close the communication link, teams at NASA proved that optical communications can be done to support future missions throughout the solar system.
In December 2023, it made history when it sent an ultra-high-definition video of Taters the cat chasing a laser pointer to Earth from over 19 million miles away at 267 megabits per second.
In December 2024, DSCO completed its 65th and final pass, when it received a downlinked signal from 307 million miles away—far past Mars.
MORE NASA MISSION UPDATES:
- Trees Can Warn Us When Volcanos Are Ready to Erupt–and NASA Satellites Can Read Their Signals
- NASA’s Lucy Mission Provides Humanity’s First Picture of Peanut-Shaped Giant Asteroid – (LOOK)
- This Stunning Perspective of the Sun and Moon Comes from New NASA Mission Set to Study Solar Wind
“As space exploration continues to evolve, so do our data transfer needs,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program at the agency’s headquarters.
“Future space missions will require astronauts to send high-resolution images and instrument data from the Moon and Mars back to Earth. Bolstering our capabilities of traditional radio frequency communications with the power and benefits of optical communications will allow NASA to meet these new requirements.”
Throughout all 65 passes, the system maintained downlink speeds comparable to household broadband internet.
WATCH a great explainer from NASA below…
SHARE This Incredible Innovation In Interplanetary Coms With Your Friends…