70 years ago today, Elvis Presley released his first double-sided mega-hit record. With Don’t Be Cruel on one side and Hound Dog on the other, the singles went to No.1 and No.2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, where they stayed at the top for 11 weeks—and set a record that would not be broken for 36 years. LISTEN to the hits on the video below… (1956)
Voyager 2 was Running Low on Power Until NASA Engineered a ‘Big Bang’ to Buy Another Year
NASA engineers found a way to free up power aboard Voyager 2, helping the nearly 50-year-old spacecraft continue its scientific work.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory team decided to simultaneously shut down certain powered components and replaced them with options that use less energy—while also making sure Voyager 2 stayed warm enough to function properly.
Decaying plutonium aboard the Voyager 2 produces electricity from radioisotope thermoelectric generators, and as that plutonium supply steadily diminishes, each spacecraft loses about 4 watts of available power each year.
After nearly half a century in space, both Voyagers (1 and 2) now have extremely limited power to spare. To keep them operating, mission controllers have increasingly had to shut down systems and equipment that are no longer essential.
An Extra Year of Science
Voyager Project Manager Suzanne Dodd commented that the choice to toggle these deeply integrated systems was an inherently risky decision with “no do-overs”.
That led the team to adopt the term ‘Big Bang’ for their plan.
Without the power-saving effort, the Voyager team would have needed to turn off yet another instrument aboard Voyager 2 before the end of 2026.
MORE NASA GENIUS: Aging Voyager 1 Restarts a Radio it Hasn’t Used Since 1981–Prompted from 15 Billion Miles Away
Since 2024, the team has been forced to switch off two science instruments on each Voyager spacecraft (from among their 10 instruments).
The newly freed power is expected to keep the spacecraft’s three remaining instruments operating for at least one additional year. (Other instruments had been turned off previously as they were only used for planetary encounters.)
There is a bittersweet nature to managing these aging planetary probes, notes Dodd.
“Every watt saved now is a decision about what data humanity still gets to learn from out there.”
NASA says the team plans to carry out the same power-saving swap on Voyager 1, which is currently farther from Earth than Voyager 2, and the mission team expects to complete that work in the coming months.
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When Zoo Elephants Are Rewilded in Africa, Here’s How Good Their Coping Skills Are
New research shows that elephants develop successful coping mechanisms when returning to the wild from human captivity.
In fact, the team found that “rewilded” elephants can fit quite well within wildlife systems and readapt—even after long-term captivity.
For the new study, a team from the Elephant Reintegration Trust of South Africa examined the behavioral and physiological responses of 11 formerly-captive elephants which had been released onto four different reserves.
For five years each elephant was observed for three weeks at a time at least once annually.
The team looked for indicators that the elephants might be uncomfortable in their wild surroundings and for behaviors that might be “hold-overs” from their time in captivity, such as conflict or confrontation.
The findings showed that, overall, rewilded elephants behaved “very similarly” to their wild neighbors.
Fecal samples collected to test for signs of metabolic stress showed levels within the normal range for wild elephants.
“What I found most fascinating was watching elephants that had spent decades in captivity adapt so successfully to life in the wild,” said co-author Tenisha Roos.
“Seeing them respond to their environment and function much like wild elephants was truly awe-inspiring and a powerful reminder of their remarkable resilience, adaptability, and behavioral flexibility.”
The differences may reflect their previous captive experiences, social circumstances, environmental conditions, and tourism or management pressures, according to the research team.
They say their findings, published in the journal PLOS One, show that rewilded elephants behave “very similarly” to their wild counterparts, despite some consistent differences—suggesting that they have adapted well to their return to wild habitats.
The research team also noted a high degree of variability in behavior between individual rewilded elephants, but that might be related to each animal’s personality.
Each elephant likely found their own unique ways to cope with their relocation.
The 11 animals in the study represent more than 50% of the rewilded elephant population across South Africa so far.
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“While a few elephants showed slightly elevated stress biomarkers, all values remained within the normal range for wild populations, indicating successful adaptation—with no evidence of chronic stress.”
Co-author Tammy Eggeling said: “Although previously-captive elephants may carry the memories of confinement, our research has shown that, when given the opportunity, they can leave that past behind.
“They are able to learn new skills, adapt to unfamiliar environments, and ultimately thrive as wild elephants.”
Co-author Brett Mitchell added: “The data from this project show that when captive elephants are rewilded and given the opportunity, they can regain full autonomy and re-establish natural patterns of movement and behavior.
“Through this research, we are also seeing that rewilded elephants can make a meaningful contribution to the conservation of their species.”
INCREDIBLE. NEWS. DESERVES. SHARING… (You know what to do.)
New Treatment Shows Remarkable Motor Improvements in Boys With Muscular Dystrophy—in Just 12 Weeks
Scientists studying one of the world’s most serious inherited muscle diseases have found encouraging evidence that treating children much earlier—potentially before obvious symptoms develop—could make a significant difference.
Researchers at Binghamton University in New York are studying the drug Vamorolone in very young boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a progressive genetic disorder that causes muscles to weaken and eventually be replaced by scar tissue.
And the early results might have made their jaws drop.
“We were surprised at the rapid improvement of gross motor skills,” said Professor Eric Hoffman, one of the researchers who helped develop the drug.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is caused by mutations that prevent the body from properly producing dystrophin, a protein essential for maintaining healthy muscle.
Because the gene responsible is located on the X chromosome, the disease overwhelmingly affects boys, with damage actually beginning at birth—even though children often aren’t diagnosed until symptoms become noticeable several years later.
That delay is exactly what Hoffman and his colleagues addressed—because restoring muscle after it has already been replaced by scar tissue is extraordinarily difficult.
Instead of trying to slow the deterioration caused by DMD once symptoms become apparent, what if a treatment were given well before much of that damage occurs?
“The destructive processes in muscle start from birth,” Hoffman explained, even though symptoms typically aren’t recognized until the early school years.
Current protocols recommend anti-inflammatory corticosteroids after symptoms become evident—but biologically, that may already be too late.
And the drug is already approved by FDA
The drug that Hoffman and fellow Binghamton researcher Raju Nagaraju developed—Vamorolone, marketed under the brand name Agamree—was already approved in 2023 to treat DMD by the Food and Drug Administration.
It was designed to provide the anti-inflammatory benefits of corticosteroids while reducing some of their most troublesome side effects.
(Traditional corticosteroids can slow children’s growth and cause weight gain, mood disturbances, adrenal suppression and other complications—making doctors and families understandably reluctant to begin giving them to very young children.)
Vamorolone has an improved safety profile, particularly when it comes to growth—and that opened the door to an important question: Could the treatment safely be started even earlier?
Treating children before age 4
The recent Phase II open-label study examined 20 boys with DMD between the ages of 2 and younger than 4 who had never previously received steroids.
They were given either 2 or 6 milligrams of Vamorolone per kilogram of body weight each day for 12 weeks. Most then continued treatment for approximately two years through an expanded-access program. Researchers monitored everything from growth and motor skills to metabolism and how children’s bodies processed the medication.
The results were encouraging: improved motor function without apparent impairment of growth.
And, the improvement in children who received the higher dose was particularly striking.
Healthy children typically have a normalized score of around 10 on the Bayley III gross-motor scale—and the boys with DMD began the study at roughly 5.
After just 12 weeks of treatment, their average score had risen to around 8.
There were also no serious adverse events during the study, although there are more minor side effects.
Some children experienced weight gain and adrenal suppression, particularly at the higher dose, and researchers emphasize that this was a small study with no placebo—not a large randomized clinical trial.
Prevention may be possible
Importantly, DMD was recently added to the U.S. Recommended Uniform Screening Panel for newborns. That means doctors may increasingly be able to identify affected babies long before the muscle weakness that traditionally leads to diagnosis becomes obvious.
“Hopefully, vamorolone may become an option for these babies if these preliminary data are confirmed,” Hoffman said.
Then, instead of waiting for a child’s muscles to deteriorate and later trying to slow the damage, doctors can intervene much earlier—protecting muscle before it is lost.
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Toronto Zoo Celebrates Birth of Endangered Pygmy Hippo – The Pictures and Video are Adorable
When you see these photos from the Toronto Zoo of their newest resident, you’ll know why we had to share.
A pregnant pygmy Hippopotamus gave birth a week ago—tiny feet appearing after 1.5 hours of active labor.
The calf began teetering around in an attempt to stand within 15 minutes of birth—and was seen confidently navigating the space and nursing with mom 4.5 hours after birth. (Watch the video at the bottom…)
Both the calf and its 20-year-old mom named Kindia are doing well and are resting together behind the scenes enjoying a term of privacy.
Calf survival for this species can be challenging, but this is Kindia’s third birth, and she has proven herself to be an attentive mother, carefully protecting the newborn beneath her.
The father is a 31-year-old male pygmy hippo named Harvey, after Kindia was introduced to him for eight days in January which resulted in this pregnancy.
“Welcoming a pygmy hippo calf is far more than a celebration of new life,” said Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong.
“Pygmy hippos are endangered, and their wild populations continue to decline due to habitat loss and human pressures.”
Pygmy hippos are listed as Endangered on the International Red List, with 2,000–3,000 individuals believed to be left in the wild, native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, and surviving in undisturbed habitats.
NEED SOME HIPPO ZEN? Watch a Sleepy Hippo Enjoying a Fish Spa Treatment
Deep in the Ivory Coast rainforest, conservation researchers are working to better protect these elusive animals in their habitat. Researchers from IBREAM are using camera traps and detection dogs to study pygmy hippos, which have long remained hidden from human eyes.
The Toronto Zoo’s Endangered Species Reserve Fund is specifically supporting the Ivory Coast Pygmy Hippo Program.
Kindia and Harvey and their new little one play an important role as ambassadors for their species. Every visit to see them is a chance to learn more about pygmy hippos and conservation efforts that can make a difference—but wait to visit when they are back outside for public viewing.
You can celebrate Kindia’s exciting news by donating to her care through the zoo’s dedicated fundraising partner, the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy.
And, watch the birth video below…
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“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.” – Saint Augustine
Quote of the Day: “Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.” – Saint Augustine
Photo by: Eye for Ebony
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Good News in History, August 10
180 years ago today, the Smithsonian Institution was first chartered, and named after the British scientist, James Smithson, who bequeathed $500,000 to create a great museum in Washington, DC—even though he had never visited the United States. With the aim of advancing science and mankind’s knowledge, the federal government administers and partially funds the 19 museums (and the National Zoo) in the nation’s capital. WATCH a couple videos about the great Institution… (1846)
Cheese Lovers Unite: The Benefits of Full-Fat Dairy Documented in Study Without Cholesterol Rise or Weight Gain
A University of Toronto study is offering new evidence in support of full-fat dairy consumption.
The findings from a 12-week study demonstrate that three daily servings of full-fat dairy can be incorporated into a person’s diet without negatively affecting their body weight (or composition), energy metabolism, or blood lipid levels.
In fact, the results, published recently in The Journal of Nutrition, show that participants who ate more dairy saw improvements in blood pressure and had higher intake of calcium, protein and vitamin D.
You may ask, why the literature keeps changing around the ‘dangers’ of dairy. It turns out, when the scientists reveal more, we all learn more.
Dairy products contain saturated fats, which contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which is why dietary guidelines around the world have traditionally recommended fat-free or low-fat dairy foods.
However, Professor Harvey Anderson, in the nutritional sciences field at the Toronto University’s Faculty of Medicine, says despite these concerns, numerous human studies have found no association between full-fat dairy consumption and negative health outcomes.
Some studies—including recent research led by the University’s Professor Kozeta Milliku—have indeed reported positive, or protective, effects related to dairy intake.
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In the recent small study, 74 overweight or obese adults were randomly assigned to one of three diets: low-dairy /calorie-restriction; or energy-neutral with three daily servings of dairy; or unrestricted with three daily servings of dairy. The participants were also counseled to follow Canada’s food guide and provided with full-fat dairy products for the study.
After 12 weeks, the researchers did not observe meaningful differences in weight gain, body composition or cholesterol levels between the participants who followed a low-dairy diet and those who consumed three daily servings of whole-fat dairy.
“Those that had three servings of dairy didn’t have adverse levels of blood cholesterol or lipids or evidence of insulin resistance,” reported Anderson. (And, they had lower blood pressure.)
He and other researchers believe the disagreement between the harms expected from saturated fats in dairy and the reported neutral or positive effects from human studies could be explained by the dairy matrix hypothesis:
The physical structure of dairy foods affects how the nutrients within are digested and how they impact the body.
“With dairy products, it’s got two proteins—casein and whey—that are bound together with fat and with nutrients mixed in,” says Anderson.
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It’s this unique and complex physical structure that, he says, is responsible for the slow and steady delivery of nutrients from dairy products and that expands their health impacts to more than just the sum of the isolated nutrients.
Anderson notes that the study findings are especially relevant for older people who have lower energy needs overall and may therefore have difficulties getting sufficient protein and nutrients. He says that for many older adults, dairy products are a familiar and energy- and nutrient-dense option to help meet their nutritional needs, without increasing their risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases.
More broadly, the study—which was partly supported by the Canadian government’s Agricultural Partnership AgriScience Program—highlights the importance of approaching nutritional sciences research and dietary guidelines through a whole food lens, instead of focusing on single nutrients.
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Intricate Carvings in Ostrich Eggshells are 60,000 Years Old – and Reveal ‘Remarkable’ Human Thinking
Dating back more than 60,000 years ago, humans in southern Africa were engraving ostrich eggshells with intricate geometric patterns that—the longer we study them—look more organized than we previously realized.
A new analysis of the markings found on hundreds of eggshell fragments has revealed our ancestors’ remarkable ability to organize visual space according to abstract principles.
Hundreds of the highly unusual egg fragments were found at several archaeological sites where, researchers believe, they were engraved by groups of Homo sapiens who lived in that region.
The investigation team from the University of Bologna concluded for the first time that these engravings on ostrich eggshells were not random or improvised, but followed recurring and surprisingly organized geometric rules, according to the study published in the journal PLOS One.
“We are talking about people who did not simply draw lines, but organized them according to recurring principles — parallelisms, grids, rotations and systematic repetitions: a visual grammar in embryo,” says Professor Silvia Ferrara, from the University of Bologna’s Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, who coordinated the study.
“It shows the presence of a genuine cognitive organization of forms, based on parallelism, orthogonality, and the repetition of lines and regular patterns,” says a University press release.
“These signs reveal a surprisingly structured, geometric way of thinking,” continued Ferrara, who says the eggshells were most likely used as water containers.
“The (designs) are organized and consistent, and show mastery of geometric relationships. There is not only a process of repeating signs: there is real visuo-spatial planning, as if the authors already had an overall image of the figure in mind before engraving it.”
The researchers carried out a quantitative and systematic investigation of 112 fragments from two South African archaeological sites—Diepkloof and Klipdrift—and one site in Namibia known as Apollo 11.
By applying methods of geometric and statistical analysis never previously used on these artifacts, the study made it possible to reconstruct in detail the lines, angles and trajectories of the markings.
“Our analysis shows that Homo sapiens 60,000 years ago already possessed a remarkable ability to organize visual space according to abstract principles,” concludes Valentina Decembrini, PhD student at the University’s Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies and first author of the study.
“Transforming simple forms into complex systems by following defined rules is a deeply human trait that has characterized our history over millennia, from the creation of decorations to the development of symbolic systems and, ultimately, writing.”
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The results show that more than 80% of the configurations display coherent spatial regularities, with repeated use of angles close to 90° and groups of parallel lines. The most complex compositions — such as hatched bands, grids and diamond-shaped motifs — reveal cognitive operations of rotation, translation, repetition and “embedding”, i.e. the ability to build hierarchical levels of signs within the same surface.
Beyond the possible meanings of the markings, the authors stress that the implications of the study concern above all the cognitive foundations that made it possible to create these decorations. The ability to construct visual configurations structured according to specific rules can be seen as a key indicator of the emergence of abstract thought — a crucial step in the evolution of human thinking.
AND, GORGEOUS: Carved 40,000 Years Ago and Found in a Cave, These Are the Oldest-Known Animal Sculptures
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Leo DiCaprio Launches $200M Project to Bring 100 Most Threatened Species Back From the Brink
In 2021, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Bezos Earth Fund, and nine other conservation philanthropies launched the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, focused on protecting at least 30% of the most important land, freshwater, and marine area on the planet.
In the years since, the Hollywood actor/director continued discussions about an even more ambitious challenge to protect the most at-risk species—and he and his conservation group, Re:wild (which helps protect hundreds of threatened species in 360 locations worldwide), unveiled that big idea this week.
The Phoenix Species Project.
From rhinos and tigers, to a golden-crowned lemur, nature is full of comeback stories. Species numbered by just a handful of individuals have rebounded, when given the proper resources—and, in the process entire ecosystems have recovered.
The Phoenix Species Project builds on those good news stories.
The effort begins with a $200 million commitment to provide unprecedented support to the recovery of 100 species facing imminent extinction—including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, plants, and invertebrates from 30 countries.
The commitment of new money beyond small, short-term grants—$100M from the Bezos Earth Fund and $100M from Re:wild—will offer the sustained investment endangered species need to rebound.
“When we protect species, we also protect the forests, wetlands, grasslands, and oceans they depend on,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, founder of Re:wild.
“The Phoenix Species Project has the potential to make a lasting impact where it’s needed most.”
The full Phoenix 100 list can be found on the project’s new website, but in addition to the golden-crowned sifaka lemur, a few highlights include these species:
- Ancient shark-like bowmouth guitarfish, a ray found in shallow ocean waters from South Africa to Japan and Australia, whose fins are among the most prized in the fin trade. [Implementing partner: ReShark]
- Honey-scented, daisy-like fuzzy belly button, a tiny desert succulent that is illegally harvested for the ornamental plant trade in western South Africa. [Implementing partner: South African National Biodiversity Institute]
- Tree-dwelling Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, lives only in a small canyon in North Carolina in the United States, and is within the world’s most diverse salamander hotspot, the Appalachian Mountains. [Implementing partner: Amphibian & Reptile Conservancy]
- Small, extinct-in-the-wild freshwater Charco Azul pupfish, whose common appearance belies its dramatic history when the freshwater spring it lived in dried up in Mexico after a drought, and years of water extraction for agriculture. [Implementing partner: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos]
- Lost-and-found night parrot from Australia’s remote deserts and dry grasslands, which remains elusive because of its nocturnal, ground-dwelling habits. [Implementing partner: Bush Heritage Australia]
A 2021 peer-reviewed essay in Conservation Biology argued that even species reduced to tiny populations can recover with sufficient conservation funding, and committed local partners.
“This fund is focused squarely on species recovery—not merely stopping decline,” explained Barney Long, a senior director at Re:wild.
“Recovering species takes time, so the fund is designed to provide sustained, five-years of support for each species, freeing conservationists from disruptive short-term funding cycles and equipping them to do what’s actually required to bring species (fully) back.”
“We have the tools we need to prevent these species from going extinct,” says the Phoenix Species Project senior manager in a media release. “We just need to mobilize the resources.”
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Blind Dressage Horse Wins Competitions By Using ‘Equine Braille’
Despite going blind, a remarkable horse is still on his way to becoming a dressage champion after adopting an extraordinary form of equine “braille”.
The 15-year-old Appaloosa named Milo, has awed spectators since returning to the show ring last year despite losing sight in both eyes due to a devastating eye condition.
The 16-hand gelding relies on a unique combination of rider cues, hearing, and touch, to navigate his surroundings in the ring or barn.
“Milo is just an amazing horse and hasn’t let blindness stop him being a potentially world-class dressage competitor.”
28-year-old Megan Share has owned Milo since the horse was just three and Megan was still growing up. They had spent years competing together from their home base in England when the tragedy struck.
Today they have their ‘sights’ set on returning to the elite dressage ring—competing against the best sighted horses.
Megan, who runs Debdale Riding School in rural Worcestershire, explained how the communication works between this dynamic duo, and how the horse’s senses have become more acute.
“He interprets my pressure on him, but he also uses his own pressure (hooves on the ground surface) for his spatial awareness. He’s using touch… like a braille technique.”
“He’s also a lot more alert, and he reacts quicker, as his sense of hearing is elevated as a result of him losing his sight.”
“I became his eyes. We have a really good brother-sister relationship, and we developed a way to make it work.”
“We talk to him like he’s a human. There’s a lot of core movements coming from me. I do use a lot of leg and hand aids to keep him in line, and he trusts me.
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“I have to be more alert than I am on a sighted horse because he needs constant instructions, like pulling on the reins a bit firmer to let him know where to go. It’s more mentally challenging.
“I’ve got to be on the ball with my surroundings—with instincts on alert—so it’s quite draining.”
The horse went blind at age 13, despite multiple operations on his eyes. Megan recalls her days as a schoolgirl when they first got Milo. “We almost grew up together.”
When it comes to learning dressage, the polka-dotted horse was “a natural.”
“We’ve been competing with him since he was four and he’s always been in the ribbons. He won the Royal Windsor Horse Show for the eighth year in a row—including last year while blind,” she told SWNS news agency. “We’ve got quite a lot of sashes for first place.”
“We were probably doing up to 12 shows a year before he went completely blind. I didn’t ride him for over a year until we decided he was ready.”
Now Megan believes he is ready to take the next step in dressage, often described as “ballet on horseback” because of its precise and controlled movements.
Are there any other blind horses competing at this level in the world? Hard to be certain, but Megan said everyone is always astounded.
“People are shocked that this could even happen. I’m extremely proud of him.”
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Milo is due to compete at an Appaloosa show and the Denbigh and Flint Show in August before high stepping it to the qualifiers for the Horse of the Year Show and the London International.
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“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – Buddhist text
Quote of the Day: “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – Adaptation of ancient Buddhist text (Anguttara Nikaya)
Photo by: © GWC (Santa Barbara, California, coastal moonrise and sunset)
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Good News in History, August 9
90 years ago today, track and field star Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics—a first for any American athlete. Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium—and later, ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw the world-record holder in the streets. READ what Jesse said about Hitler at the games… (1936)
Once Gone From Ireland, Majestic Sea Eagles Continue Their Comeback with Rare New Chick
More than a century after the country’s largest bird of prey disappeared entirely from Ireland, a white-tailed sea eagle has been delivered—and the young fledgling became another success for conservationists to celebrate.
Fota Wildlife Park in County Cork has announced the successful birth and fledging of a white-tailed sea eagle chick—the first chick of the species born at the park in more than a decade.
The eaglet hatched on April 13 to resident parents Áine and Tony, who, according to their caretakers, have taken naturally to the demanding job of raising Europe’s largest eagle.
“The mother and father have done a great job,” said Jess Hodnett, Fota Wildlife Park’s Native Species Conservation Officer.
And there’s quite a lot of chick to raise.
Adult white-tailed sea eagles can have wingspans stretching more than 8 feet—an extraordinary 2.5 meters. During breeding season this puts great demand on the parents requiring them to eat 18-21 ounces of food every day (500-600 grams) to support their young.
The successful fledging carries particular significance in Ireland.
White-tailed sea eagles were once common along the country’s coastline, but human persecution eventually wiped them out. Ireland lost its entire population, and the species remained absent for more than a century.
Then people decided to bring back the only sea eagle native to Europe.
Beginning in 2007, Ireland’s National Parks and Wildlife Service, working with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research as well as farmers and local communities, began releasing white-tailed sea eagles at sites around the country.
More than 200 have now been released—and the recovery effort has reached an extraordinary milestone: Ireland’s population is now considered self-sustaining.
Fota wildlife park, has participated in white-tailed sea eagle conservation since 1991 and has now successfully bred six chicks.
Hodnett said the staff hoped the youngster will eventually participate in a European endangered-species breeding program, meaning this one Cork-born eagle could contribute to conservation efforts far beyond the park where it hatched.
For Fota’s conservation team, however, the eagle is only one piece of a much larger success story—the park is helping some of Ireland’s most vulnerable native animals, from curlews to the endangered white-clawed crayfish.
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Fota’s work with the endangered natterjack toad has produced great success, as the park takes toad spawn from ponds in County Kerry and raises the youngsters during their most fragile stages before returning them to the wild.
Since 2016, more than 13,600 natterjack toadlets have been released back into their native habitat—with another 750 expected to join them this August.
BEAUTIFUL RESCUE: Injured Bald Eagle Plucked From River in Daring Rescue By College Staffers in Maryland (WATCH)
For Fota, the eagle chick demonstrates the positive outcomes that come through cooperation. A species humans once eliminated from Ireland is being nurtured by another generation of birds there—with people now working together to make sure it thrives.
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Loggerhead Sea Turtles Break Nest Record in Georgia – The Most in 37 Years
Loggerhead sea turtle nests along the Atlantic coast in the US have set a new 37-year record, topping every annual count for beaches in the state of Georgia, going back to 1989.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources calls it “a slow but steady rebound” for the animal listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.
According to the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, the nest count passed 4,110 last week—the most since 1989, when that group of volunteers, researchers, and staffers, coordinated by the DNR, began counting nests all along the state’s barrier island beaches.
In the last five summers, the record has been broken twice. The previous high was 4,071 nests in 2022—which is almost double the goal originally set in a recovery plan hatched by humans for these beloved, big-headed reptiles.
Wildlife officials are ‘encouraged’ by the progress of the species’ restoration for a couple reasons. As big as they are—300 pounds—they develop very slowly.
“Loggerheads are a long-lived species and don’t reproduce until they’re 30-35 years old,” explained Mark Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist with DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section and Georgia Sea Turtle Program Coordinator.
Furthermore, the region’s population fluctuates. 22 years ago, for instance, Georgia count totals were estimated at a record low of 358 nests in 2004.
But, overall, the Atlantic nest count in Georgia has increased at about 4% annually since the early 1990s—with Sea Turtle Cooperative members patrolling beaches each day at dawn, marking and protecting new nests.
Their work and the use of “turtle excluder” devices since 1990—to minimize the chances of turtles being scooped up by shrimp trawler nets—have been key to the resurgence of loggerhead populations.
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Loggerheads spend almost their entire life at sea. But from May through mid-August, adult females—which can be more than 3 feet long—drag themselves onto Atlantic beaches at night to dig holes in sand dunes and lay clutches of about 100 ping-pong ball-sized eggs.
If current projections hold true, loggerhead numbers will now plateau. But, if protections remain in place, their numbers will begin to grow again.
Dodd said nesting could then reach levels not seen in the state since the 1950s.
MORE TURTLE LOVE: Sea Turtle Boom Astonished Volunteers in Florida With Best Nesting Season on Record
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Bride Calls for Metal Detector Mid-Wedding After Losing Ring Swatting a Bee on the Beach
A bride and groom were forced to find someone with a metal detector during their own wedding—after the engagement ring flew off her finger mid-ceremony.
Abi and Tony Clark were tying the knot on the beach at St. Brelade’s Bay in the Channel Islands near the coast of France, when she tried to swat away a bee.
Her engagement ring went flying and landed in the sand. The 15 guests immediately jumped from their seats and began searching, to no avail.
“During the ceremony, bees kept getting in the way, getting in her face. They must’ve liked her perfume!” said Tony.
“I didn’t know what to do,” recalled Abi. “I hoped it was in the garden, but I knew from the force I used to swat the bee away (that) the ring would have travelled far.”
Abi told SWNS news agency she was “absolutely gutted” that the ring could not be found, but Tony suggested the pair “carry on” and get married without the ring, which they did.
“Throughout the day I would talk about the missing ring but tried to block it out as I didn’t want it to ruin our wedding day, which we had worked so hard to save for.”
One friend, however, mentioned a local man named Steve Andrews who runs Jersey Lost Ring Metal Detecting.
Steve, a firefighter who recovers rings for people on a volunteer basis, came straight to the beach—and he found the rock within ten minutes.
“Abi was overjoyed,” said Tony.
“When we were about to cut our wedding cake, the toastmaster said that our guests Callum and Jess had an announcement.”
“In that moment I knew they had found the ring.
“I am so grateful to our close friends and to the metal detector for doing this for us.”
AMAZING WEDDING MOMENT: Surprise Audio Played at Wedding Shocks Everyone When Bride Accurately Predicts Husband’s Name as a 4-Year-old
“The way they revealed it had been found made it extra special as everyone was cheering and clapping and it became just an extra celebration on top of what was already a really special day.”
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Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny
Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is 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 August 8, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Within most galaxies are dense clouds of gas and dust that astronomers call “star factories.” Here and there, the magic of gravity gradually gathers together diffuse material into concentrated clusters until nuclear fusion ignites, creating brilliant new suns. I suspect you will be operating a metaphorical star factory in the coming weeks and months, Leo. Small ideas, fragments of plans, or tentative experiments could coalesce in productive ways. Through your patient attention and care, luminous concentrations of useful beauty will emerge.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo biologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that evolution isn’t a ladder of progress but a branching bush of experimentation. Most species that ever existed are extinct, but they weren’t failures. For a very long time, they were successful experiments in being alive, well adapted to their environment. When conditions changed, they ended. That’s how evolution works. Let’s apply this lesson to your life, Virgo. If a part of your world is concluding, celebrate and thank it, then bid it a fond farewell. Feel grateful that it succeeded completely at what it was meant to do and gave you all it had to give.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Your sense of purpose is intensifying. Your people need you more than ever, and your gifts are ripening just as they are most valuable to your community. But I must add that the road ahead will not be frictionless. You will have to outmaneuver diversionary tactics and dispel pockets of confusion. To serve as a shimmering catalyst of beauty and truth for your allies—and a shrewd strategist in the presence of deflections—lean into the paradoxical counsel attributed to Jesus: Be gentle and pure like a dove, yet keenly perceptive and discerning like a serpent.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Concrete continues to cure beyond the time when it’s first poured. After seven days, it has 70 percent of its ultimate strength, and after 14 days, 90 percent. It usually keeps getting sturdier for a few months, even years. I propose that we use this as a metaphor for what you’re working on, Scorpio. The foundations you established a while back are still solidifying. Projects that are working pretty well are still developing potency. This is a good thing! Everything is slowly improving through processes you’re not actively managing.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Here’s your assignment: Find yourself a pair of enchanted pants that will bring you good luck and stir up fun. How will you know that they’re authentically charmed? Because when you put them on, you will instinctively wander toward adventures that expand your understandings about life. They may also lead you to explore places and situations that aren’t truly forbidden or taboo, but which you have oddly avoided as if they were forbidden or taboo. Finally, your enchanted pants are likely to inspire you to dream up a few crazy good ideas that will turn out not to be mostly good and not at all crazy.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In classical music, a “fermata” is a symbol on the sheet music that instructs the instrumentalist to hold a note longer than its written duration. How long? It’s unpredictable. The musician decides. I think your life would benefit from a metaphorical fermata or two, Capricorn—maybe even more. You won’t come to a protracted pause, but you will engage in strategic prolonging, extending certain notes beyond their expected duration. Examples? Lingering longer in a conversation from which you’re inclined to exit early; staying with an ambiguous emotion rather than rushing to resolution; allowing a project to develop more leisurely than you might if you were simply pushing for sheer efficiency. Opt for what’s soulful instead of what’s crisp and neat.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Fate is subtly but insistently pressuring you to stop squandering energy on half-hearted, hand-me-down desires. Why? So your real, holy obsessions can move to the center of your attention. The tepid wishes and lukewarm yearnings are being exposed for what they are: distractions that nibble away at your time and passion without fully feeding your soul. As these mediocre drives fade in importance, you’ll be exultant to see how much more fire, clarity, and juice you have available for the few burning, churning yearnings that truly belong to you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is so deep that if Mount Everest were located at the bottom, its peak would be over a mile underwater. The deepest point in the ocean could swallow the highest point on land with room to spare. The world holds more below than above. Please meditate on this fun fact, Pisces. I hope it inspires you to understand that your most interesting power often lies in the depths, not the peaks. While others are summiting, you’re descending into the mysterious, fathomless interiors. Your explorations may not photograph well because they happen in darkness. But they are the source of your strength.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In the early days of aviation, navigation instruments were rudimentary, and the skies were often a blur of clouds, darkness, or featureless horizons. Pilots sometimes relied on a technique called “dead reckoning”: good instinct bolstered by simple instruments like compasses and stopwatches. I suspect you will benefit from practicing a metaphorical version of dead reckoning in the coming weeks. You may not have all the data you would like, and the path ahead might be less than clear. But you already possess enough hints and inklings to make thoughtful approximations. If you’re alert and flexible, listening to subtle signals within you and around you, your evolving estimates will guide you uncannily close to the right destination.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
19th C. poet Emily Dickinson rarely left her comfortable home in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her favorite activity was to sit in her bedroom and compose her odd, unique, brilliant poems. Eventually, she wrote 1,800 of them, though few were published during her lifetime. Today she is renowned as one of America’s great literary geniuses. Her story reminds us that magnificent growth may emerge from simple and humble circumstances. I suspect you will thrive if you borrow her strategy during the coming weeks. You don’t need a hubbub of flashy events to evoke your beauty. A period of creative stillness could amplify your imagination and inspire your dazzle.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
In Renaissance workshops, apprentice painters learned their craft by assisting masters with small tasks. They mixed pigments, prepared canvases, and cleaned up. There was a valuable trade-off for this humble work. Being in proximity to mature brilliance often spurred the fledgling artists to harness their own creative powers. I suspect this dynamic is relevant for you, Gemini. Now is a favorable time to be alert for unexpected teachers and lessons. Be ready to apprentice yourself to captivating experiences where you might learn what you didn’t even realize you needed to know. Your willingness to be a curious, gracious student is your superpower.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
If you knew you were going to live to 95 in reasonably good health, what additional careers or adventures might you pursue? Visualize your lifespan stretching out before you like a wide winding road, where you will have plenty of time not just to survive, but to experiment, wander, and reinvent yourself. Would you train for a new craft or profession? Would you move to another country for a while and apprentice yourself to a language, landscape, or tradition that has always piqued your curiosity? I invite you to take a concrete step that moves you in the direction of interesting future fun.
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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“Living well is the best revenge.” – George Herbert
Quote of the Day: “Living well is the best revenge.” – George Herbert
Photo by: Daiga Ellaby For Unsplash+
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Good News in History, August 8
450 years ago today, the keystone of Europe’s first modern astronomical observatory—the Uraniborg designed by Tycho Brahe, was laid. It was also the last to be built without a telescope as its primary instrument. It was the first scientific complex to be funded entirely by a state for the purpose of research, and was so expensive it cost roughly 1% of the Danish national income. Brahe made many astronomical breakthroughs and calculations from within the walls of Uraniborg, and hosted a who’s-who of European astronomical alumni. READ more… (1576)
The Tiger Returns to Kazakhstan in First-in-the-World Rewilding Project a Decade in the Making
Kazakhstan has taken a massive step towards its long-held goal of re-establishing the tiger in the country by releasing a female Amur tiger into the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve.
Established in 2018 for this exact purpose, what followed was a truly generational effort of reforestation and replenishing prey species of deer and antelope that the Caspian tiger, now extinct, once relied on.
“Today, we witnessed a truly historic event,” Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev said at the ceremony which saw the female tiger named “hope” in the Kazakh language, leap from the container on the back of a truck into the reserve.
“For the first time since the tiger disappeared from Kazakhstan more than 70 years ago, the first tiger has been released into its historical range. This is the result of many years of work by the state, our Russian colleagues, scientists, and international partners,” he said.
The extinct Caspian tiger, also called the Turanian tiger, was most closely related to the Siberian, or Amur, tiger, and so Russian collaboration was essential to the project.
In 2020, Bukhara deer were re-established in the reserve, before the saiga antelope, and the Asiatic wild ass, or kulan, followed.
Before they could roam as their extinct cousins did, hope and 3 other tigers: a male named Amur and two cubs brought from Russia’s Khabarovsk Reserve were released into large enclosures to adapt to the sights, smells, sounds, and weather.
Hope was examined by veterinarians and determined to be in sterling condition, She was fitted with a GPS tracking collar and, driven out into the reserve, allowed to go her own way.
The male, Amur, remains in captivity as experts monitor his behavior to determine whether he will be capable of hunting in this new environment.
The cubs will grow up semi-wild in the reserve, with the intent to release them when they’re fully mature, or around 18 months of age, provided they pass behavioral assessments for hunting and survival instincts. This slow, gradual approach, Astana Times wrote, reflects the complexity of introducing large predators to new landscapes.
Part of that complexity involves the safety and security of the communities surrounding Ile-Balkhash. Though large, the reserve is not fenced, allowing tigers to spill out back into their ancestral environment as their populations grow.
KAZAKH COLUMN INCHES: Kazakhstan Efforts to Restore Last Wild Equine Species Receive Huge Boost of 150 Horses
“The safety of people living near the reserve is our top priority,” officials from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology said. “We’ve put measures in place to prevent conflicts between people and tigers, including a dedicated team that will respond if an animal approaches a populated area.”
If the program succeeds, Kazakhstan will become the world’s first country to re-establish the tiger into an ecosystem it had disappeared from.
WATCH the dramatic moment below…
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