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Young Woman Has ‘Fairytale’ Experience After Spotting Rare White Deer

By
Andy Corbley
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A leucistic deer in Britain - SWNS
A leucistic deer in Britain – SWNS

A university student was out on a fishing trip with her dad when they saw three deer emerge from the woods. Not the most uncommon occurrence, but there was something unique about this encounter.

19-year-old Esha Patel said two were brown and one was “dazzling white,” and described the experience as “breathtaking.”

“The white one came so close—less than ten feet away! It was beautiful and so cute,” said the University of Cardiff student.

According to wildlife sources, the chances of seeing this white morph in the UK are extremely rare.

“After I saw the deer I read that the chances of spotting them are around one in 30,000. Apparently it’s really good luck to see them so I was going to buy a lottery ticket,” she added.

“We have never seen one before and my dad was like, ‘Are you sure it was a deer and not a goat?'”

A leucistic deer in Britain – SWNS

Looking at the images you can understand her dad’s sentiments. The deer had what is known as “leucism,” which is a recessive genetic trait that differs from albino animals, but that is also present in theoretically all animal species. Leucism is the lack of pigment cells across most of the body, in contrast to albinos which are totally white and have pink eyes.

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White animals tend not to survive long in the wild since the coloration ruins their camouflage, but because white-tail, roe, fallow, and mule deer are hunted in many parts of the UK and US almost exclusively by humans, there are likely more leucistic deer around than ever before, since not many humans hunt, and those that do commonly will let a white white-tail go on its way, according to the Nature Conservancy.

The exact location of the deer will not be identified in order to ensure the safety of the rare creature.

SEE If Any Of Your Friends Have Seen A White Deer By Showing Them This Story…

Your New Horoscope From Rob Brezsny: A ‘Free Will Astrology’

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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 October 14, 2023
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran philosopher and writer Michel Foucault aspired to open up his readers’ minds with novel ideas. He said his task was to make windows where there had been walls. I’d like to borrow his approach for your use in the coming weeks. It might be the most fun to demolish the walls that are subdividing your world and preventing free and easy interchange. But I suspect that’s unrealistic. What’s more likely is partial success: creating windows in the walls.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I invite you to re-evaluate your personal meanings of gender. Please note I’m not implying you should change your designation. Astrological omens simply suggest that you will benefit from expanding your ideas. The Scorpio singer and mother, Sophie B. Hawkins, says, “My sexuality stems from an emotional connection to someone’s soul. You don’t have to make a gender choice and stick with it.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarian author Mark Twain said that in urgent or trying circumstances, uttering profanities “furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” I will add that these magic words can be downright catalytic and healing—especially for you right now. Here are situations in which swearing could be therapeutic in the coming weeks: 1. when people take themselves too seriously; 2. when you need to escape feelings of powerlessness; 3. when know-it-alls are trying to limit the range of what can be said; 4. when people seem frozen or stunned and don’t know what to do next. In all these cases, well-placed expletives could provide necessary jolts to shift the stuck energy. (PS: Have fun using other surprises, ploys, and twists to shake things up for a good cause.)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In Roman mythology, Venus was goddess of love, desire, and beauty. Yet modern science tells us the planet Venus is blanketed with sulfuric acid clouds, has a surface temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit, and is covered with 85,000 volcanoes. Why are the two Venuses out of sync? Here’s a clue, courtesy of occultist Dion Fortune. She said the goddess Venus is often a disturbing influence in the world, diverting us from life’s serious business. I can personally attest to the ways that my affinity for love, desire, and beauty have distracted me from becoming a hard-driving billionaire tech entrepreneur. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. How about you, Capricorn? I predict that the goddess version of Venus will be extra active in your life during the coming months.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Thousands of heirloom food species are privately owned and hoarded. They once belonged to Indigenous people but haven’t been grown for decades. Descendants of their original owners are trying to get them back and grow them again—a process they call rematriation. There has been some progress, too. The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin has recovered some of its ancestral corn, beans, and squash. Now would be a good time for you Aquarians to launch your own version of rematriation: reclaiming what was originally yours and that truly belongs to you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
I like Piscean poet Jane Hirshfield’s understanding of what “lies at the core of ritual.” She says it’s “the entrance into a mystery that can be touched but not possessed.” My wish for you right now, Pisces, is that you will experience mysteries that can be touched but not possessed. To do so will give you direct access to prime riddles at the heart of your destiny. You will commune with sublime conundrums that rouse deep feelings and rich insights, none of which are fully explicable by your logical mind. Please consider performing a homemade sacred ritual or two.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia have an unusual taboo. They try hard not to cause unhappiness in others. This makes them reluctant to impose their wishes on anyone. Even parents hesitate to force their children to do things. I recommend you experiment with this practice. Now is an excellent time to refine your effect on people to be as benevolent and welcoming as possible. Don’t worry—you won’t have to be this kind and sweet forever. But doing so temporarily could generate timely enhancements in your relationship life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus author Shakespeare reshaped the English language. He coined hundreds of words and revised the meanings of hundreds more. Idioms like “green-eyed monster” and “milk of human kindness” originated with him. But the Bard also created some innovations that didn’t last. “Recover the wind” appeared in *Hamlet* but never came into wide use. Other failures include, “Would you take eggs for money?” and “from smoke to smother.” Still, Shakespeare’s final tally of enduring neologisms is impressive. With this vignette, I’m inviting you to celebrate how many more successes than flops you have had. The time is right for realistic self-praise.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
I hope beauty will be your priority in the coming weeks. I hope you will seek out beauty, celebrate it, and commune with it adoringly. To assist your efforts, I offer five gems: 1. Whatever you love is beautiful; love comes first, beauty follows. The greater your capacity for love, the more beauty you find in the world. —Jane Smiley 2. The world is incomprehensibly beautiful—an endless prospect of magic and wonder. —Ansel Adams 3. A beautiful thing is never perfect. (Egyptian proverb) 4. You can make the world beautiful just by refusing to lie about it. —Iain S. Thomas 5. Beauty isn’t a special inserted sort of thing. It is just life, pure life, life nascent, running clear and strong. –H. G. Wells

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I read a review that described a certain movie as having “a soft, tenuous incandescence—like fog lit by the glow of fireflies.” That sounds like who you are these days, Cancerian. You’re mysterious yet luminous; hard to decipher but overflowing with life energy; fuzzy around the edges but radiating warmth and well-being. I encourage you to remain faithful to this assignment for now. It’s not a state you will inhabit forever, but it’s what’s needed and true for the foreseeable future.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The published work of Leo author Thomas de Quincey fills 14 volumes. He inspired superstar writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, Nikolai Gogol, and Jorge Luis Borges. Yet he also ingested opium for 54 years and was often addicted. Cultural historian Mike Jay says de Quincey was not self-medicating or escaping reality, but rather keen on “exploring the hidden recesses of his mind.” He used it to dwell in states of awareness that were otherwise unattainable. I don’t encourage you to take drugs or follow de Quincey’s path, Leo. But I believe the time is right to explore the hidden recesses of your mind via other means. Like what? Working with your nightly dreams? Meditating your ass off? Any others?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo journalist H. L. Mencken said, “The average person doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe.” There’s some truth in that, but I believe it will be irrelevant for you in the coming months. According to my analysis, you can be both safer *and* freer than you’ve been in a long time. I hope you take full advantage! Brainstorm about unexpected feats you might be able to accomplish during this state of grace.

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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“The world is incomprehensibly beautiful—an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” – Ansel Adams

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Quote of the Day: “The world is incomprehensibly beautiful—an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” – Ansel Adams 

Photo by: Saad Chaudhry

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?

Domino’s Unveils New Emergency Pizza Program, Sending One Free Medium Pizza When You Need it Most

By
Andy Corbley
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Dominos
Dominos

Any readers in business school should take note of this perfect example of a company understanding their customer base: Domino’s has a new free pizza program for personal emergencies.

What kind of emergencies? Domino’s isn’t referring to unintended hospital visits. Instead, try to imagine the last thing that made you decide to order pizza when you hadn’t planned on doing so an hour before!

Let’s listen to what Kate Trumbull, senior vice president and chief brand officer has to say.

“Perhaps you burned dinner, the power went out, or maybe your in-laws just dropped in without notice—whatever your emergency situation, Domino’s believes a free pizza can make anything better,” she Trumbull in a press release.

“Why did we launch Domino’s Emergency Pizza? With so much uncertainty in everyday life, we believe everyone needs a pizza pick-me-up at some point.”

The way it works is that customers enroll in the Domino’s loyalty program and then spend $7.99 on a pizza. At this point, you will earn an emergency pizza credit.

At the moment the Emergency Pizza Program is slated to run until February 11th.

OTHER GREAT CUSTOMER TREATMENT: Bank Decides it Should have Prevented Dementia Depositor from Getting Scammed–So Restores Entire Life Savings

After a twenty-teens reputation for skeezy food, Domino’s launched a brand revolution that has since catapulted it to the top of the food chain in American pizza brands.

They recently launched a new delivery program that allows people to get deliveries essentially anywhere within range of a store.

SHARE This Way To Get Free Pizza With A Friend… 

‘Mating Glaciers’ High up in Pakistan’s Mountains Could Yield Climate Change Gamechanger

By
Andy Corbley
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Bifao Glacier in Gilgit-Baltistan - CC License
Bifao Glacier in Gilgit-Baltistan – CC License

Recently, National Public Radio investigated a peculiar practice high in the Himalayas where locals are making “glacier babies” by introducing “male” glaciers to “female” glaciers.

They do this in a secluded place far from voyeuristic eyes where a little magic might happen and create the next generation of glaciers to replace the ones that the locals say have shrunk considerably over the years.

The United Nations has backed the program with several multi-hundred dollar grants which go into the hands of locals in Baltistan Province who must undertake an arduous journey to retrieve chunks of ice from pure white glaciers which local custom holds are female, and brown glaciers which are held to be male (they’re brown because of accumulated soil and rock matter.)

Local history records that a religious figure Ameer Kabir Syed Ali Hamdani visited Gilgit-Baltistan in the early 14th century and conducted the first glacier “grafting” which he accompanied with a prayer to god that the glacier would grow and block the pass from enemy attacks.

“They put it into caves, where [the ice is] shaded from solar radiation,” mountain hydrologist Jakob Steiner told NPR. “It’s much colder. It’s going to rain on top as well. So it’s going to freeze — so that ice actually grows. You can do this over seasons, because at that elevation it doesn’t melt.”

For the piece in NPR’s Goats and Soda column, that’s exactly what the team of men from the village of Chunda, led by village leader Saeed Baltistani, did.

2 years ago, they struck out on a four-day voyage to recover the female ice, which the villagers bashed with hammers until some came off. For the male ice, Saeed’s partner Malik took other men up K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth.

A village cleric conducted the ceremony high up in a secluded nook on the closest mountain to Chunda, read some verses of the koran while coal and straw swaddled the two young glacier chunks, and sacrificed a goat. The straw and coal is to create a slurry out of any water that melts during the mating process, preventing it from running away.

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When Diaa Hadid for NPR visited the glacier 2 years later, the villages were dismayed at first because the glacier baby had not grown at all, but they realized that the ground around the glacier baby had frozen, and that the ice had begun to overtake some large rocks nearby. Saeed, however, said that they probably needed to pump some water up into the glacier baby manger, so to speak.

A banner for the project by a joint venture of the Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan and the United Nations Development Project (UNDP).

Indigenous methods of glacier preservation are being investigated by the UN as a kind of sticking plaster in the face of broader climate change. This method of breeding glaciers can be done with little effort beyond the few days needed to gather the ice. It can also be done in several places.

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Hadid was told that it takes 24 years for the ice to become an actual glacier, and another 24 before it begins to move, making them a bit of an insurance policy in case other measures to prevent glacier recession fail.

The method has a high success rate—with the Aga Khan Rural Support Program including a glacier grafting project with an 80% longevity out of 19 glacier babies.

SHARE This Climate Change Mitigation Strategy I’ll Bet You’ve Never Heard Of…

Look at The Trouble Taken to Return Rehabbed Manatees into Home Waters

By
Andy Corbley
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DHL prepare to load a specialized crate containing a manatee. credit SeaWorld
DHL prepares to load a specialized crate containing a manatee. credit SeaWorld

Eight manatees are por-poised to be released back into the waters of Florida where they were rescued years ago.

The graceful sea cows, weighing as much as two Honda civics, were driven to the airport in specialized crates that monitored their conditions.

The crates were then loaded into a cargo plane at Cincinnati airport, and a pair of marine veterinarians accompanied them to ZooTampa and SeaWorld in Orlando.

Once there, they will complete the final stages of their rehabilitation before a release into the wild, the ultimate destiny of some 50 manatees that have left both the Columbus Zoo and Cincinnati Zoos’ rehab stage program.

“Moving manatees is an extremely complex process that involves significant planning and logistics to ensure that each specific need is met throughout the journey,” said Cain Moodie, SVP Network Operations, DHL Express Americas.

The Manatee crates. credit: SeaWorld

“Manatees are a critical part of our aquatic ecosystems, and we’ve been honored to be involved in their rescue, rehabilitation, and return for 47 years, working alongside our partners… to help preserve these beloved Florida icons,” said Dr. Joseph Gaspard, vice president of zoological operations at SeaWorld Orlando.

MORE NEWS LIKE THIS: 

Five young manatees started their own rehabilitation journey by catching the return flight back to Ohio, where they will hopefully attract plenty of visitors who will be able to see these gorgeous creatures, and learn what they can do to protect them.

To date, SeaWorld Orlando and ZooTampa have rehabilitated more than 1,400 manatees for release back into the wild.

SHARE This Laudable Effort For These Gentle Giants On Social Media… 

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.” – Bertrand Russell

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.” – Bertrand Russell

Photo by: Joao Cruz

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?

Wiener Dog Gives Birth to So Many Puppies it Might Be a World Record: ‘She’s Such a Great Mum’

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Good News Network
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Winnie the dachshund and her 11 puppies – By Emma Trimble / SWNS
Winnie’s pups at 4 weeks old – Rayma Jones / SWNS

A dachshund has given birth to what could be a world record litter for her species—11 puppies at one time.

Three-year-old Winnie bore the huge brood at home near Leicester, England in September.

Also known as a wiener dog or sausage dog, the short-legged but long-bodied hound normally gives birth to a litter of between one and six babies, due to its small size.

Another dachshund, Cheesecake, gave birth to 10 puppies in September 2021, which made headline news. But Winnie has beaten that number and her owner thinks it may be a world record, although Guinness World Records does not keep records for individual dog breeds.

“I was amazed by the litter,” said stay-at-home dog mom Rayma Jones. “I just kept counting them over and over.”

“I was so surprised that I kept expecting her to pop out another one when I wasn’t looking.

“She’s such a great mum. I’m overwhelmed that she could have had a world record number of puppies. I looked online and I couldn’t believe it.”

A scan at 35 days of the nine-week pregnancy showed six puppies in Winnie’s belly.

The super dog birthed her first pup at 11:30pm, so Rayma sat up with her. The second came at 1:30am followed by four more, 20 minutes apart. Numbers seven, eight and nine then came around seven minutes apart, followed by a 40-minute gap until number 10.

Rayma went to bed at 6:30am believing Winnie had all her pups. But when she checked in on her four hours later, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

She said: “I thought 10 was amazing. She’d stopped panting and lay down feeding them. I really thought she’d finished, but when I came back I counted them and there were 11.

Rayma Jones with 3-year-old Winnie and her her 11 pups – SWNS

LOOK: Man Cajoles His 17 Dachshunds into Christmas Sweaters So They Can Pose for Best Family Photo in History

“There was no mess, she’d just washed it and lined it up with the others. She’s so clever.”

“Winnie’s a natural. She even has ten nipples so she can nearly feed them all at the same time. It’s very sweet to watch.

WATCH: Family’s Dachshund and Speedy Tortoise Play Football Together

“She never wants to leave them, and if she hears a dog she’s right there next to them. She’s the best mum ever.”

Winnie has been with Rayma’s family since she was seven-months-old, when her original owners were moving abroad.

MORE: Determined Dachshund Tries to Pull His Teddy Bear Into a Small Carrier (WATCH)

Winnie’s color is reportedly rare for a wire-haired dachshund.

“She’s silver dapple and five of her puppies are completely silver with black spots. Another three are chocolate, and three are black and tan.”

Rayma admitted she will have to sell them. “I can’t live with eleven puppies or I’ll become the crazy dog lady!”

SHARE This Hot Dog of a Story on Social Media With Dog-Loving Friends Everywhere…

Wash. D.C’s ‘Weed Warrior’ Volunteers Tackle ‘Mile-a-Minute’ Invasives to Save the Capital’s Trees

By
Andy Corbley
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Weed Warriors in Action - credit, Montgomery County Parks.
Weed Warriors in Action – credit, Montgomery County Parks.

Around the capital beltway or Washington’s famous Rock Creek Park, you may see a group of people ripping up vines along the treeline beside the roads.

If you have then you’ve glimpsed superheroes who traded in their capes for gardening gloves and their time for the satisfaction of terminating an invasive species and saving a native tree.

Washington D.C’s “Weed Warriors” are a group of volunteers going back to 1999 that work for free to keep hundreds of species of invasive shrubs, vines, and climbers from taking over native ecosystems.

Among the 600 or so non-native invasive plant species found in and around our nation’s capital, some like Polygonum perfoliatum, also known as “mile-a-minute” vine, can be devastating. Suffocating trees by overgrowing the leaves in their canopy branches, mile-a-minute can kill thousands of trees every year.

Since 1999, Weed Warrior volunteers have logged over 135,000 hours of time weed whacking in Montgomery County alone. Anyone can become a Weed Warrior; the group works in units for two-hour spaces removing weeds or planting native species in their place.

These invasive species management events are led by specially-trained volunteer Weed Warrior Supervisors and/or staff from the Montgomery Parks Dept. Warriors can get certified to de-weed in their spare time, or lead events on their own. They can even have their own unique patch of ground in the D.C.-Metro area to control.

Why would anyone want to trade their free time or laboring hours away for free doing something our tax dollars are supposed to do for us? The answer is simple: it’s addicting.

“If I have any good mental health, it’s due to Weed Warrioring,” said 74-year-old area resident Barbara Francisco. “You have a sense of accomplishment.”

OTHER GREAT VOLUNTEER FORCES: Volunteers ‘De-seaweeding’ Results in Dramatic 600% Improvement of Coral Regrowth

Francisco spoke to Justin Moyer of the Washington Post, who found the volunteer groups were filled with people who were happy to get out into nature and make a meaningful impact on biodiversity.

Weed Warriors planting native species – retrieved from Montgomery County Parks

The Weed Warriors website states that non-native, invasive plant species (NNIs) can alter the complex webs of plant-animal associations that have evolved over thousands of years to such a degree that plants and animals once familiar to us are eliminated.

In meadows, for example, NNI monocultures can threaten butterfly populations because they can no longer find the native host plants they depend on for survival. In forests, NNI vines can strangle and smother trees. NNI shrubs can displace and shade out native plants that provide birds and other wildlife with food and shelter.

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Recent research has even shown that NNIs can alter soil chemistry and disrupt the growth of the mycorrhizal fungi on which healthy forests depend.

Anyone who feels this is something they want to contribute their time to can go to the Montgomery County Parks website here and look at the upcoming Weed Warrior events—the next one is October 21st.

SHARE This Awesome Opportunity To Get Out In Nature With Neighbors… 

“There is more pleasure in loving than even being beloved.” – Thomas Fuller

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Quote of the Day: “There is more pleasure in loving than even being beloved.” – Thomas Fuller

Photo by: Copyright ABC

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?

Swedish Firm Will be Mailing Flat-Packed Car with Top Speed of 55 for Urban Commuting

By
Andy Corbley
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Luvly O
Luvly O

It isn’t likely to be your next home DIY project, but there is a company that’s looking to turn IKEA’s flat-packed furniture design into cars.

The Swedish vehicle start-up Luvly is finishing up its inaugural model, the O, which is designed to be so light and modular that it can be flat-packed to save thousands of tons of emissions from vehicle shipping.

Designed for urban commuting, the Luvly O will have two 35-pound battery packs that can be switched out to extend its small range of just 62 miles. With a top speed of 55 miles per hour, the car is 37 inches shorter than the already-small Fiat 500.

It has also been designed with a key safety feature to fortify the drivers of these small cars against crashes.

“For light vehicles to compete with cars, and hopefully out-compete cars, they must be safe. People will not accept that you switch from driving an SUV to driving what is essentially a scooter with a shell,” Håkan Lutz, CEO and co-founder of the car firm, told CNN. 

Taking inspiration from Formula-1 cars’ light yet rigid aluminum chassis, Luvly has created a dual layer of foam on the outside and inside of the vehicle’s skeleton to help absorb kinetic force.

Priced at €10,000 ($10,500), the car isn’t flat-packed and shipped to you, but to an authorized dealer for assembly, but Lutz told CNN that it isn’t just the car they’ll be sending to other firms.

They will be licensing their patented flat-packed technology to big automobile manufacturers in the hope that the design will catch on and that they might even continue to innovate the concept and drive it forward towards a more sustainable future.

OTHER SUSTAINABLE INVENTIONS: How a Tiny Injured Kitten Kickstarted an Entire Sustainability Initiative to Eliminate Plastic

“We don’t envision that we will be major producers of vehicles, but we anticipate we will be minor producers of vehicles, to advocate for and develop the technology,” says Lutz. “Despite wanting to license this to others, we also wish to stay on top of the game and be the best at our platform.”

The company claims that the Luvly O is 80% more environmentally friendly to manufacture even than other EVs, and that most of the components are recyclable, and can be manufactured from already existing sustainable materials.

SHARE This Billy Bookshelf On Wheels With Your Friends… 

Mom and Daughter Reunite With Nurse Who Saved Their Lives 30 Years Ago–Now as Co-Workers

By
Andy Corbley
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Catherine and Aly meet after 30 years - SWNS
Catherine and Aly meet after 30 years – SWNS

30 years and a continent separated Catherine Conteh, her daughter Regina, and a nurse named Aly who was visiting their home in Sierra Leone and saved her life by funding an emergency surgery.

Regina wasn’t born on the day of that fateful meeting, technically, because Catherine was dying after four days in labor. Unable to afford a Caesarean section, that might have been the end if not for Aly Hogarth-Hall, then in her 20s, who was visiting the hospital from a nearby charity.

She managed to acquire the £70 cost for the surgery in 1993 and formed a close bond with Catherine and her new baby Regina, but lost touch.

Then 18 months ago, as Catherine and Regina prepared to go to work aboard a charity called Mercy Ships, which operates a hospital ship on the coast of Sierra Leone, they got to see Aly—now 52—as she climbed aboard for a stint of volunteer work.

“To see Catherine again, it’s very surreal really,” said Aly, who is working in the dining room with her while Regina is on nursing duties. “It’s not something I ever expected until we made contact again, 18 months ago or so, so it was overwhelming.”

“We just sobbed. We cried and cried,” Catherine quickly added.

Daughter Regina – SWNS
The Mercy Ships boat like the one where Catherine and Aly Met – SWNS

Mercy Ships operates hospital ships that deliver free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to safe medical care, and it’s where she had originally met Catherine all those years before.

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“The nurse told me that she would die, and the baby would die,” Aly recalls.

Aly informed a colleague, a British anaesthetist Dr. Keith Thomson who was part of her tour group, who paid for the surgery.

“Then the nurses came up to me and explained, ‘Look, these strangers who came in are going to pay for your Caesarean section,'” recalls Catherine.

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Whilst visiting Catherine in the hospital was easy enough, they lost touch when Aly returned home to New Zealand and Regina gained asylum in Australia.

Catherine followed Regina there and they both became nurses, inspired by Aly.

They stayed in Perth, Australia, but Catherine regularly returns to Sierra Leone to serve her local community—even fundraising to found her own school.

The pair will spend the next month volunteering aboard the Mercy Ship while the ship’s crew carry out surgeries and train more than 200 Sierra Leonean healthcare professionals. Their bond remains as strong as ever, and this time they have no plans to lose touch ever again.

WATCH them reunited below from SWNS… 

SHARE This Heartwarming Meeting And Tear-Jerking Reunion… 

Europe’s First-Ever Private Rocket Blasts Off to Space Thanks to Spanish Company PLD

By
Andy Corbley
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PLD team going nuts after their rocket test succeeded - credit PLA, retrieved from YouTube
PLD team going nuts after their rocket test succeeded – credit PLA, retrieved from YouTube

When was the last time American headlines read positive about the Spanish economy? Well now, thanks to the successful test flight of a Spanish reusable space rocket, let the presses ring out that Spanish innovation is alive and well.

Private astronautics company PLD has successfully proved the Miura-1 reusable rocket is capable of space flight, and that Spain is now the 10th country on Earth with direct access to space.

The rocket, named after a type of fighting bull from which an old Lamborghini model also took its name, flew 28.6 miles (46 kilometers) into suborbital space on a flight lasting 306 seconds.

Designed as a lighter, cheaper way for governments and companies to put satellites into orbit, the Miura has a payload of 220 pounds (100 kg).

“This launch is the result of more than 12 years of hard work, but it is only the beginning of what is to come,” PLD founder and Launch Director Raul Torres said in a statement.

“Thanks to this experimental flight, we will be able to extract a large volume of information that will allow us to validate a large part of the design and technology that will serve as the basis for developing our orbital launcher, MIURA 5.”

The mission ended with a splash in the Atlantic Ocean, with the company saying they were ready to retrieve it hours after the test launch concluded.

FROM THE SPACE ECONOMY: This Asteroid is a $10,000-Quadrillion Lump of Iron and a Potential Opportunity to Study an Exposed Planetary Core

Even though the hopes for the test flight were for an 80-kilometer journey and 12 minutes in microgravity, the success in other fields for the Miura-1 comes at an interesting time when the premier launching vehicle for European space entrepreneurs and agencies, the Ariane 5, is now unavailable as the Ariane 6 comes into the final stages of development.

GOOD SPANISH NEWS: Spain Generates 50% of its Power From Renewables in 2023, With Portugal Set to Hit 100%

However the Ariane 6 has faced delays, and the Russian Soyuz vehicle used occasionally by Europe is also unavailable due to the sanctions from the Ukraine invasion. These factors, coupled with a failed test from the UK’s Virgin Orbit, and a delay in perfecting Italy’s Vega-C rocket, have convinced PLD that Spain, seemingly out of nowhere, is now the leader in economic space flight in Europe.

The company will use the launch data to push toward a 2025 test date for the Miura-5, PLD’s finished product, with several launches in between to test various systems.

WATCH the launch below… 

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Scientists Have Created Natural Sponges That Soak Up Nano-Plastics

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Andy Corbley
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By Sören Funk
By Sören Funk

Chinese scientists have created some experimental sponges out of starch and gelatin that can soak up microplastics which could be adopted in various places to reduce plastic pollution from entering the oceans.

The sponges are literally as light as a feather, and inside their pores, not only microplastics, but nanoplastic particles of less than one micron in size—or 1 millionth of a meter—can become trapped.

Sponges already serve a dozen purposes in society, but researchers at the College of Food Science and Engineering in the city of Qingdao, wanted to see if they could be applied to cleaning up microplastic pollution, which these days is a topic eternally close to the headlines for good reason.

Having been found in mass quantities at the deepest depths of the ocean, swirling around in the jetstream, raining down on national parks, and blowing over remote mountain peaks, microplastic pollution is everywhere on Earth. Scientists are still trying to study the adverse health effects of ingesting and inhaling as much as 50 credit cards worth of plastic per year.

The key, scientists speaking with Hakai Magazine say, is to cut out the microplastic pollution at its source. That’s where these sponges come in.

In testing their simple invention made from gelatin and corn starch, it was able to remove around 90% of micro and nano plastic particles from environmental and food matrices, including seawater, tap water, soil surfactant, and even take-out lunch soup.

MORE MICROPLASTIC SOLUTIONS: 

Christian Adlhart, a chemist at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, told Hakai that one of the best ways to use these sponges would be to throw a couple into your washing machine loads of synthetic clothing since it has been proven that tiny fibers shed during the rinse cycle enter the water supply.

“I think it would absorb a large fraction of the fibers,” said Adlhart, who published a similar paper in 2021 with sponges made of chitosan from crustacean shells.

OTHER GREAT IDEAS: Revolutionary Filter Uses Moss to Capture Pollutants And Microplastics Before You Drink Them

A big advantage to the sponges made by the team from Qingdao is that they are biodegradable, and so can be used liberally. They are also extremely light—weighing less than a flower petal, meaning they should be extremely cheap to produce. However, the chemical process they used to make them included formaldehyde, which the authors admit is a serious environmental drawback.

They believe that if their continued research to turn up an alternative to formaldehyde succeeds, then their plastic-absorbing sponges could be an effective means of reducing microplastic pollution in manufacturing and laundry applications.

SOAK Up This Good News And Expunge It On Social Media…

“The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Photo by: NASA

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?

Scientists Prove Gingers Are Totally Normal–Having Been Around for Millions of Years in Other Species

By
Andy Corbley
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By Timothy Meinberg
Prof. Maria McNamara (left) and Dr Tiffany Slater pictured at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork. credit Daragh McSweeney/UCC

A pair of scientists have found fragments of ginger pigment molecules in fossilized frogs which they take to mean that most famous of genetic mutations has been around a long time.

University College Cork (UCC) paleontologists discovered molecular evidence of pheomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger coloration, in the amphibians dating back 10 million years.

On a more serious note, the findings of their study published in Nature Communications will enable scientists to better reconstruct the original colors of extinct organisms.

The research was led by UCC’s Dr. Tiffany Slater and Professor Maria McNamara who collaborated with Swedish, Japanese, and Chinese scientists.

“This finding is so exciting because it puts paleontologists in a better place to detect different melanin pigments in many more fossils,” said Dr. Slater. “This will paint a more accurate picture of ancient animal color and will answer important questions about the evolution of colors in animals.”

“Scientists still don’t know how or why pheomelanin evolved because it is toxic to animals, but the fossil record might just unlock the mystery.”

The team performed a series of lab experiments on black, ginger, and white feathers to track how pheomelanin pigments degrade during the fossilization process, which backs up their interpretations of the fossil chemistry.

MORE NEWS FROM IRELAND: The ‘Luck of the Irish’ is Real: Residents of Ireland Report More Good Fortune and Lucky Charms

“There is huge potential to explore the biochemical evolution of animals using the fossil record,” said. Dr. MacNamara.

In humans, red hair is specifically mentioned in peoples as far back as Ancient Greece. Over time, red hair has always been pointed out as a defining feature, particularly in Northern Europe and Central Asia.

By Timothy Meinberg

MORE VIEWS INTO OUR PAST: Some Generous Apes May Help Explain The Evolution Of Human Kindness

While thought to be typically Celtic, red hair was not uncommonly found in Kipchaks, Azeris, Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, and even Mongolians—in fact, some accounts put red hair and green eyes on the head of Genghis Khan himself.

However it’s Ireland where the concentration of pheomelanin is highest in humans, where roughly 10% of the population are gingers or red-headed.

SHARE This Fun Bit Of Science With Any Redheads You Know… 

Oldest Fossilized Human Footprints in North America Over 20,000 Years Old: New Study

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Andy Corbley
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White Sands footprints - SWNS
White Sands footprints – SWNS

It has long been hypothesized that humans arrived in North America while the last Ice Age was beginning to wane perhaps between 13,000 and 16,000 years ago, but after rigorous study and debate a new dating method for a set of fossilized human footprints found in White Sands, New Mexico shows humans were already here at least 21,000 years ago.

This was a time when the geographic extent of the ice sheet and glacier coverage on Earth’s surface peaked, known as the Last Glacial Maximum.

When the first set of results was published in 2021, it kicked off a global conversation among the science community as to the accuracy of the ages. Using radiocarbon dating of seeds from the common aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa found among the fossilized impressions, the team came up with 21,000 years ago.

However aquatic plants can acquire carbon from dissolved carbon atoms in the water rather than ambient air, which can potentially cause the measured ages to be too old.

Co-lead author of the new study on the same footprints, Dr. Jeff Pigati at the US Geological Survey, says the latest findings back up what they found originally.

“The immediate reaction in some circles of the archaeological community was that the accuracy of our dating was insufficient to make the extraordinary claim that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum,” said Dr. Pigati.

MORE FOOTPRINTS: Prehistoric Human Footprints Unearthed in Spain are Nearly 300,000 Years Old and Unique in All of Europe

“But our targeted methodology in this current research really paid off.”

For the follow-up study the research team focused on radiocarbon dating of conifer pollen, because it comes from terrestrial plants and therefore avoids potential issues that arise when dating aquatic plants such as Ruppia.

The team used painstaking procedures to isolate around 75,000 pollen grains for each sample they dated. The pollen samples were collected from the exact same layers as the original seeds, so a direct comparison could be made.

In each case, the pollen age was statistically identical to the corresponding seed age.

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“Even as the original work was being published, we were forging ahead to test our results with multiple lines of evidence,” said Pigati’s co-author, Kathleen Springer, also at the USGS. “We were confident in our original ages, as well as the strong geologic, hydrologic, and stratigraphic evidence, but we knew that independent chronologic control was critical.”

The USGS team also used a different type of dating called optically stimulated luminescence, which dates the last time quartz grains were exposed to sunlight.

OTHER PALEOLITHIC FINDS: Early Man Was Building Lincoln Log-like Structures 500,000 Years Ago, New Preserved Wood Shows

Using that method, they found that quartz samples collected within the footprint-bearing layers had a minimum age of around 21,500 years, providing further support to the radiocarbon results.

White Sands National Park writes the following about the footprints found in the park thus far, which along with human imprints include those of the dire wolf and giant ground sloth.

In 2018, researchers discovered what they believe to be footprints of a female. They tell a story that may seem familiar today; her footprints show her walking for almost a mile, with a toddler’s footprints occasionally showing up beside hers. Evidence suggests that she carried the child, shifting them from side to side and occasionally setting the child down as they walked. The footprints broadened and slipped in the mud as a result of the additional weight she was carrying.

Based on stature and walking speed, it appears that most of the footprints in [the 2021 papre] come from teenagers and children. As reported in the journal Science,

“One hypothesis for this is the division of labor, in which adults are involved in skilled tasks whereas ‘fetching and carrying’ are delegated to teenagers. Children accompany the teenagers, and collectively they leave a higher number of footprints that are preferentially recorded in the fossil record. This pattern is common to all excavated surfaces.”

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Painting of Jesus’ Birth Valued at $15K Turns Out to Be Monumental Rembrandt Worth $18 Million

By
Andy Corbley
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Rembrandt painting detail-The Adoration of the Kings-released Sotheby's
Rembrandt painting detail – The Adoration of the Kings. Released from Sotheby’s

A new Rembrandt has been discovered—disguised as another artist’s work, potentially making the owners millionaires as it goes up for auction at Sotheby’s.

While unknown or lost works from the Dutch master painter have been found occasionally over the last three decades, they are mostly head portraits or character studies. This large Adoration of the Magi marks the first opportunity to learn more about the famous artist in a long time.

It is believed to date from Rembrandt’s very early professional days as a painter in Leiden.

Bought in 1985 and auctioned at Christie’s in Amsterdam in 2021, the auction house’s experts identified the painting as coming from the “Rembrandt circle,” and it was presumed to be from an apprentice or artist from the same time and place.

The buyer shelled out $860,000 even though the opening price was around $15,000. Set up for auction again—this time at Sotheby’s, a long and complex verification process that included multiple forms of scientific imaging has placed the painting not at the feet of an apprentice, but of the master himself, jacking the price up to around $18 million.

“I would say that it’s particularly significant because it adds to our understanding of Rembrandt at this crucial date in his development and career, when he was clearly very ambitious and developing very quickly as an artist,” George Gordon, co-chairman of Old Master Paintings Worldwide at Sotheby’s, said in a phone call with CNN.

The monochrome painting measures less than 10 inches tall.

A bit strangely, the historical research done on the painting showed it turned up in the 18th and 19th centuries when it was referenced as a painting by Rembrandt van Rijk.

The Adoration of the Kings by Rembrandt – Sotheby’s

Reappearing in the 1950s, it was still recognized by scholars as a Rembrandt work—and it even hung in museum collections, until a German art scholar who knew the painting only from a black and white photograph, referred to it as one of the “Rembrandt school” and omitted it from the critical art review catalog he was compiling—and it vanished from memory after.

MORE NEWS LIKE THIS: Painting Assumed to Be a Copy is Real–After Note is Found Hidden in Frame Making it Worth Thousands

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“Very few narrative paintings by Rembrandt remain in private hands, making this an opportunity for a private collector or an institution that is as rare as it is exciting,” Gordon said in a news release.

“This sophisticated painting is in equal measure a product of Rembrandt’s brush and his intellect. All the hallmarks of his style in the late 1620s are evident both in the visible painted surface and in the underlying layers revealed by science, showing multiple changes in the course of its creation, and casting fresh light on how he thought,” he added.

SHARE This Exciting Addition To The Story Of The Great Man On Social Media…

“Our lives are not moving straight ahead; instead, hovering, wavering, returning, renewing, repeating.” – James Hillman

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Our lives are not moving straight ahead; instead, hovering, wavering, returning, renewing, repeating.” – James Hillman (We highly recommend his book, The Soul’s Code…)

Photo by: Tom Dils

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?

Snowy Husky Pups Get Adopted Together After Being Thrown Over Shelter Fence

By
Andy Corbley
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credit Jackson County Animal Shelter
credit Jackson County Animal Shelter

A couple of beautiful puppies have found a new home after a difficult start to life.

Workers at an animal shelter in Jackson, Michigan were shocked when in early September they found a pair of snow-white husky puppies in their facilities.

Security footage showed a pickup truck arriving at the Jackson County Animal Shelter fence and dropping the two animals, one male and one female, over the top.

At 6 months old, Ryder and Rayne should have been around 25 to 30 pounds, but weighed in at just 8 and 11 respectively.

However, things soon began to look up for the siblings, who managed to move up to a healthy weight and recover their puppy energy before entering foster care last Monday.

“From suffering from neglect, malnutrition and parasites then being thrown over a fence… these two survivors are now ready to live their best life in a loving home!” the shelter shared on social media.

According to the shelter, the team ultimately found the person responsible for abandoning the dogs with an investigation continuing.

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