300 years ago today, Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant was born in Prussia. This revolutionary thinker saw rationality as inseparable from morality, and Kant’s formulation of humanity, in his famous “categorical imperative,” states that as an end in itself, humans are required never to treat others merely as a means to an end, but always as ends in themselves. READ more… (1724)
Mesmerizing Photo Shows Gardeners Perfecting a Maze at 625-Year-old British Castle
Beautiful aerial photos captured gardeners perfecting a maze of garden hedges at a Six-Century-old British castle.
Pruners were hard at work trimming the box hedging around the medieval maze following wet weather at Bolton Castle, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
The impressive stone labrynth was commissioned by Sir Richard le Scrope, Lord Chancellor of England to Richard II, and finished in 1399, reportedly at a cost of 18,000 marks.
Today it remains in the private ownership of one of Sir Richard’s descendants, Thomas Peter Algar Orde-Powlett, the ninth Baron of Bolton.
And the impressive gardens are now open to the public, with thousands flocking to the well-preserved estate each year, including its bowling green and rose arbor.
The castle is also occasionally used as a filming location, with Channel 5’s ‘Anne Boleyn’ shot on its grounds back in 2021.
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Cancer Breakthrough Found to Boost Immune Cells Without Harmful Side-Effects By Directing Protein Cytokines
A new way to safely boost immune cells to fight cancer—avoiding harmful side-effects such as hair loss—has been developed.
Scientists at Virginia Tech devised the ground-breaking immunotherapy to localize cancer-killing cytokines in tumors, improving the effectiveness of current treatments.
Immunotherapy involves harnessing the power of the body’s immune system to fight potentially deadly cancer cells. The researchers at the school’s College of Engineering have found a way to revamp a treatment procedure into an innovative practice.
Their approach involves activating the immune cells in the body and “reprogramming” them to attack and destroy the cancer cells.
The method is frequently implemented with the protein cytokine. Cytokines are small protein molecules that act as “intercellular biochemical messengers” and are released by the body’s immune cells to coordinate their response.
“Cytokines are potent and highly effective at stimulating the immune cells to eliminate cancer cells,” explained chemical engineering Professor Rong Tong (pictured above, left).
“The problem is they’re so potent that if they roam freely throughout the body, they’ll activate every immune cell they encounter, which can cause an overactive immune response and potentially fatal side effects.”
Unlike previous methods, the new technique ensures that the immune cell-stimulating cytokines effectively localize within the tumors for weeks while preserving the cytokine’s structure and reactivity levels.
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Stimulating the body’s immune system to attack tumors has been for years a promising alternative to traditional cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, which can’t distinguish between healthy cells and cancer cells
Prof. Tong says the delivery of cytokines can “jump-start” immune cells in the tumor, but overstimulating healthy cells can also cause severe side effects.
“Scientists determined a while ago that cytokines can be used to activate and fight against tumors, but they didn’t know how to localize them inside the tumor while not exposing toxicity to the rest of the body.
“Chemical engineers can look at this from an engineering approach and use their knowledge to help refine and elevate the effectiveness of the cytokines so they can work inside the body effectively.”
The team’s goal was to strike a balance between killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, by creating specialized particles with distinctive sizes that help determine where the drug is going.
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The micro-particles are designed to stay within the tumor environment after being injected into the body.
Materials science and engineering Professor Wenjun ‘Rebecca’ Cai and her students worked on measuring the particles’ surface properties.
“Surface engineering and characterization, along with particle size, play important roles in controlled drug delivery, ensuring prolonged drug presence and sustained therapeutic effectiveness,” explained Prof. Tong.
“Our strategy not only minimizes cytokine-induced harm to healthy cells, but also prolongs cytokine retention within the tumor. This helps facilitate the recruitment of immune cells for targeted tumor attack.”
She says the next step involves combining the new, localized cytokine therapy method with commercially available, FDA-approved checkpoint blockade antibodies, which reactivate the tumor immune cells that have been silenced—so they can fight back the cancer cells.
“When there is a tumor inside the body, the body’s immune cells are being deactivated by the cancer cells.
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“The FDA-approved checkpoint blocking antibody helps ‘take off the brakes’ that tumors put on immune cells, while the cytokine molecules ‘step on the gas’ to jump-start the immune system and get an immune cell army to fight cancer cells. These two approaches work together to activate immune cells.”
Engineering a target to take down cancer cells
Combining the checkpoint antibodies with the particle-anchored cytokine proved to successfully eliminate many tumors in the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances.
The team believes the new approach of attaching cytokines to particles also could be used to deliver other types of immuno-stimulatory drugs.
“The whole class of drugs that are employed to jump-start the immune system to fight cancer cells has largely not yet succeeded. Our goal is to create novel solutions that allow researchers to test these drugs with existing FDA-approved therapeutics, ensuring both safety and enhanced efficacy.”
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Prof. Cai views their project as “a perfect marriage between chemical engineering and materials science”.
“This collaboration not only accelerates immunotherapy research, but also has the ability to transform cancer treatment.”
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Stunned Couple Finds 14th-Century Medieval Gargoyle Hidden Behind Their Toilet
A British couple was left stunned when they found a medieval gargoyle hidden inside their bathroom.
Tracy and Rory Vorster were cleaning their bathroom when they made the “grotesque” discovery—a stone-carved sprite concealed under a wooden panel.
The couple searched for answers after removing the shelf in their Grade-I listed rental home (a building or site listed as having exceptional national, architectural, or historical importance).
Experts at Lincoln Cathedral believe the ghoulish figure forms part of a historical drainage system dating back to the 14th century.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said the father of three. “I shouted up to my wife and said ‘I’ve found a thing’.
“The whole of the house has kind of a hollow walling, so we immediately thought there could be more. In fact we’re almost certain now.
“The previous occupant had been here for over 20 years, so surely they knew, but we had absolutely no clue it was there.”
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The couple just moved in on March 1 and Tracy just thought it was a shelf, and wasn’t sure why people decided to cover it up.
Their home on Vicars Court is owned by Lincoln Cathedral and is believed to be the home of a former vicar.
“It was well documented (back) to the 14th century but not that many people around here know it. It would have been for a vicar (and) I think it was like a kitchen sink.”
A Survey of Ancient Houses in Lincoln Vol. II says: Houses to the South and West of the Minster in 1887 first recorded the carving as a “grotesque mask which forms the drain.”
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“Because we don’t own the house we can’t just pull down the wall.
“My plans for it are to just enjoy it, because of how interesting it is. I have a desire to upkeep it.
“It makes it even more special. The house is so interesting.”
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New Way to Heal Broken Bones Faster May Also Make Them 3x Stronger
A new high-tech way of healing broken bones could take less time, and also make them over three times stronger.
The new treatment method uses plasma irradiation to promote faster bone healing in complex fractures, say Japanese scientists.
They have already successfully tested the technique on lab rats.
The team found that bones not only healed quicker but the strength of the healed areas after irradiation was also around 3.5 times stronger than that of non-irradiated ones.
Currently, fractures that are displaced or complex require surgery and possibly lengthy recovery times while the patient remains immobilized.
The research team led by scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan aimed to shorten recovery times and speed up bone healing by using non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma, which is attracting widespread interest for use in medical applications due to its tissue repair capacity.
One group of 24 animals had normal fractures which are generally easy to heal while the other group of 20 had fractures known as “non-union”, where healing is usually prolonged or does not complete.
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The irradiation didn’t offer the normal fracture group any significant advantages, but boosted the healing and recovery time of the bones with non-union fractures.
The strength of the healed areas of the irradiated non-union group was also about 3.5 times stronger than that of the non-irradiated group, according to findings published in the journal PLoS One.
In vitro study of cells irradiated with the plasma for five to 15 seconds also showed that the activity of a protein that is an indicator of osteoblast differentiation increased, indicating that maturation of the bone-forming cells was progressing.
“Collaboration between the medical and engineering fields creates new medical technologies that have never before existed,” said Associate Professor Hiromitsu Toyoda.
“In the future, combining this treatment method with current fracture treatments is expected to contribute to more reliable bone fusion and shorter recovery times.”
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“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” – Sitting Bull
Quote of the Day: “Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” – Sitting Bull
Photo by: Lorie Shaull, CC license
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Good News in History, April 21
April 21st marks Groundation Day, when hundreds of thousands of Rastafari celebrate the arrival of Emperor Haile Selassie in Jamaica in 1966. The great significance of this event in the development of the Rastafari religion is that, having been outcasts in society, its adherents gained a measure of respectability for the first time. With Rasta having become acceptable, reggae music became commercially viable, leading in turn to the further global spread of Rastafarianism. READ what the Marley’s thought… (1966)
Good Samaritans Band Together to Overturn Flipped Car and Rescue Trapped Woman – WATCH
A group of strangers in Tennessee jumped into action, banding together to overturn a flipped car and rescue a woman trapped inside.
A video filmed near exit 221 of Interstate 40 in Hermitage, shows people running towards the silver vehicle that had flipped over in a field alongside the highway.
The group of 8 men and women successfully turned the car upright, and helped the woman whose airbags had engaged.
Carolina Carlos, who filmed the video, said that the woman inside the vehicle was unharmed and that the group waited for officials to arrive.
She said that she filmed the moment to highlight the kindness shown by the group of strangers.
“I feel hope in the community because I see all the bad news around the world,” Carlos told WKRN. “I saw some help from the people and good intentions.”
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Watch the video…
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Exercise Cuts Heart Disease Risk by 23% With Benefits Doubling for Those With Depression
Regular exercise can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as a quarter, in part by lowering stress, according to a new study.
The research revealed that exercising helped to reduce stress-related brain activity, which is associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases.
The study of more than 50,000 people found that those who met workout recommendations of 150 minutes a week had a 23 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those not meeting these recommendations.
And those with stress-related conditions such as depression exhibited the most benefits from exercising.
Experts say the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, demonstrates how physical activity can lead to beneficial effects in the brain.
To assess the mechanisms underlying the psychological and cardiovascular disease benefits of physical activity, the researchers analyzed the medical records and other information of 50,359 participants from the Mass General Brigham Biobank who completed a physical activity survey.
FASCINATING: Women Get the Same Exercise Benefits As Men, But With Less Effort, Huge Study Shows
A subset of 774 participants underwent brain imaging tests and had measurements of stress-related brain activity taken.
The study, led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, found that over an average follow-up of ten years, 12.9 percent of participants developed cardiovascular disease.
Those who met physical activity recommendations had a risk of developing cardiovascular disease nearly a quarter lower (23 percent) than those not meeting the same recommendations—and they also tended to have lower stress-related brain activity.
The researchers found that reductions in stress-associated brain activity were notably driven by gains in function in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in executive functions such as decision-making and impulse control.
CHECK OUT: Even Exercising Just Once a Week Can Help You Lose Weight, Says New Study
They found the cardiovascular benefit of exercise was also twice as strong in participants who have depression (and higher stress-related brain activity).
Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, a cardiologist at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at the hospital, and senior author of the study, hopes clinicians will use the research to persuade more patients to get moving as a way to reduce stress or depression.
URGE Those You Love to Get Off the Couch–By Sharing on Social Media…
Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ From Rob Brezsny
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of April 20, 2024
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
I suspect two notable phenomena will coalesce in your sphere sometime soon. The first is a surplus supply of luck. I’m not sure why, but the fates will be sending surges of good karma your way. The second phenomenon is this: You might not be entirely alert for the potential luck flowing in your direction, and it may not leap out and grab you. That could be a problem. Fortunately, you are reading this oracle, which means you are getting a heads-up about the looming opportunity. Now that you realize you must be vigilant for the serendipitous blessings, I’m confident you will spot them and claim them
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
You will be wise to summon extra love and rapport as you ruminate on your vivid upcoming decisions. Wouldn’t you like to bask in the helpful influences of smart allies who respect you? How nurturing would it feel to receive healing encouragement and warm appreciation? I suggest you convene a conference of trusted advisors, good listeners, sunny mentors, wisdom keepers, and spirit guides. Maybe even convene a series of such gatherings. Now is an excellent time to call in all your favors and get the most inspirational support possible as you navigate your way to the next chapter of your life story.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
If you drink alcohol, don’t operate a forklift or backhoe. If you gamble, protect yourself with safeguards and have a backup plan. If you feel called to explore altered states of consciousness, consider doing meditation, dancing, or chanting holy songs instead of ingesting drugs. If you have an itch to go hang-gliding or sky-jumping, triple-check your equipment. And if you have the urge to try to walk on the water, don a lifejacket first. But please note, dear Gemini: I am not advising you to timidly huddle in your comfort zone. On the contrary. I highly recommend you stretch your limits. Just be secure and smart as you do.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
I plotted out my usual astrological reckonings for your current destiny. Then I slipped into a meditative trance and asked the spirits to show me future scenes that correspond to my assessments. In one prominent vision, I beheld you partying heartily, navigating your avid and inquisitive way through convivial gatherings. In other scenes, I saw you engaged in lively discussions with interesting people who expanded your understanding of the meaning of life in general and the meaning of your life in particular. I conclude that intelligent revelry will be a main theme for you. Productive excitement. Pleasurable intrigue. Connections that enliven and tonify your imagination
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The theory of synchronicity proposes that hidden patterns are woven into our lives. Though they may ordinarily be hard to detect, they can become vividly visible under certain circumstances. But we have to adjust the way we interpret reality. Here’s a clue: Be alert for three meaningful coincidences that happen within a short time and seem related to each other. I predict the emergence of at least one set of these coincidences in the coming weeks—maybe as many as four. Synchronicities are coming! You have entered the More-Than-Mere-Coincidence Zone.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Psychologists J. Clayton Lafferty and Lorraine F. Lafferty wrote a book called Perfectionism: A Sure Cure for Happiness. It’s based on their work with clients who damaged their lives “in the illusory pursuit of the unrealistic and unattainable standard of perfection.” In my observation, many of us are susceptible to this bad habit, but you Virgos tend to be the most susceptible of all. The good news is that you now have an excellent chance to loosen the grip of perfectionism. You are more receptive than usual to intuitions about how to relax your aspirations without compromising your competence. As inspiration, consider these words from author Henry James: “Excellence does not require perfection.” Leadership expert Randall Stutman adds, “If perfection is an obstacle course, excellence is a masterful dance.”
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“Everyone is a moon and has a dark side which they never show to anybody,” wrote author Mark Twain. I agree that everyone is a moon and has a dark side. But it’s important to note that our dark sides are not inherently ugly or bad. Psychologist Carl Jung proved to me that our dark sides may contain latent, wounded, or unappreciated beauty. To be healthy, in fact, we should cultivate a vigorous relationship with our dark side. In doing so, we can draw out hidden and undeveloped assets. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you Libras to do this.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Your current state has metaphorical resemblances to idling in your car, waiting and waiting and waiting for the red light to change. But here’s the good news: I expect the signal will turn green very soon—maybe even within minutes after you read this horoscope. Here’s more good news: Your unlucky number will stop popping up so often, and your lucky number will be a frequent visitor. I’m also happy to report that the “Please don’t touch” signs will disappear. This means you will have expanded permission to consort intimately with influences you need to consort with.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
I think it’s time to graduate from your lessons in toxic kinds of enchantment and launch a new experiment with healthy kinds of enchantment. If you agree, spend the next few days checking to see if any part of you is numb, apathetic, or unreceptive. Non-feelings like these suggest you may be under the enchantment of influences that are cramping your imagination. The next step is to go in quest of experiences, people, and situations that excite your imagination, rouse your reverence, and raise your appreciation for holy mysteries. Life will conspire benevolently on your behalf if you connect yourself with magic, marvels, and miracles.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Luther Burbank (1849–1926) was a practical artist. Using crossbreeding, he developed over 800 novel varieties of vegetables, fruits, grains, and flowers. Among his handiwork was the russet Burbank potato, a blight-resistant food designed to help Ireland recover from its Great Famine. My personal favorite was his Flaming Gold nectarine, one of the 217 fruits he devised. I propose that Burbank serve as your role model in the coming weeks. I believe you have the power to summon highly pragmatic creativity.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
L. R. McBride wrote the book The Kahuna: Versatile Mystics of Old Hawaii. He describes the role of the kahuna, who is a blend of sorcerer, scholar, and healer. At one point, a kahuna gives advice to an American tourist, saying, “You have moved too fast for too long. You have left part of yourself behind. Now you should slow down so that part of you can catch up.” I’m offering you the same advice right now, Aquarius. Here’s your homework: Dream up three fun things you can do to invite and welcome back the left-behind parts of you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In the course of my life, I have heard the following three statements from various people: 1. “Everything would be better between us if you would just be different from who you are.” 2. “I would like you more if you were somebody else.” 3. “Why won’t you change to be more like the person I wish you would be?” I’m sure you have heard similar pronouncements yourself, Pisces. But now here’s the good news: I don’t think you will have to endure much, if any, of such phenomena in the coming months. Why? First, because you will be more purely your authentic self than you have ever been. Second, because your allies, colleagues, and loved ones—the only people who matter, really—are likely to be extra welcoming to your genuine self.
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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Good News in History, April 20
60 years ago today, Andy Serkis, a very special actor, was born. Lord of the Rings fans will tell you that Gollum is of the three most important characters, and Serkis’ portrayal and vocalization of the crawling, mutated schizophrenic obsessed with recovering the ring of power, will be remembered for all time as one of cinema’s great castings. Serkis, who has a fondness for motion capture suits, also played King Kong, Caesar the Chimp in Planet of the Apes, and Baloo the Bear in the Jungle Book, and is perhaps the only actor in history more famous for playing animals than humans. WATCH him explain the hilarious inspiration for the Gollum noise… (1964)
Serkis is also a talented director, and along with shooting a number of films by himself, contributed as the director of the second unit shooting of The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit when director Peter Jackson was working on location elsewhere. Serkis made his directorial debut with Breathe. He also directed and starred in the film, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and the sequel to Venom, titled, Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
MORE Good News on this Day in History:
- The Secchi disk, created by Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi, was first demonstrated as an inexpensive and straightforward method of measuring water clarity, using a white frisbee-sized disk–sometimes with black and white quadrants–which is still widely used to measure a lake’s transparency (1865)
- Lionel Hampton, the American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader, was born (1908)
- Fenway Park opened as the home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team (1912)
- The Chicago Cubs played their first game at Wrigley Field, known then as Weeghman Park before William Wrigley Jr., a chewing gum manufacturer, bought the Cubs baseball team and renamed the stadium after himself (1916)
- Billie Holiday recorded what is thought to be the first Civil Rights song, Strange Fruit (1939)
- Apollo 16‘s lunar module landed on the moon (1972)
- Annie Hall, the film that won Diane Keaton her first Oscar and also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director for her co-star, and the screenwriter, Woody Allen, was released (1977)
- Professional basketball player Michael Jordan set an all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics (1986)
- China removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses (2001)
Happy 52nd birthday to Stephen Marley, the second-oldest and Grammy Award-winniest son of reggae legend Bob Marley and his wife Rita. Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, three times as a solo artist, twice as a producer of younger brother Damian Marley’s Halfway Tree and Welcome to Jamrock albums, and a further three times as a member of his older brother Ziggy Marley’s group Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.
He played all the instruments on several of his solo albums, including Mind Control (2007), Mind Control Acoustic (2008), Revelation Part I: The Root of Life (2011), and Revelation Part II: The Fruit of Life (2016).
The New York Times wrote on the release of Revelation Part II: “Being Bob Marley’s son has given Stephen Marley a voice with archetypal familiarity, some instant brand recognition and a cultural responsibility. On “Revelation Pt. I,” Mr. Marley stayed close to the roots reggae sound Bob Marley perfected in the 1970s with the Wailers, though his album added a few guest rappers. “Revelation Pt. II” is far less purist; it strives for both innovation and radio-friendly crossover. Mr. Marley’s aching voice suits love songs just as well as protests… and more often than not, Mr. Marley lives up to the ambition that his last name demands of him.” (1972)
153 years ago today, the ‘Ku Klux Klan Act’ became U.S. law, protecting Blacks from the abuses being committed in the Deep South.
After the Civil War, President Ulysses S. Grant conducted an aggressive—and ultimately successful—campaign against White supremacist hate groups. Thanks to the officially named Civil Rights Act of 1871—championed by two White Republican Congressmen, Benjamin Butler and Samuel Shellbarger (pictured)—Grant deployed federal soldiers to arrest Klan members, enlisted U.S. attorneys to try their cases, and organized federal judges to oversee Klan trials that convicted hundreds of the group’s members.
Under the Klan Act, federal troops, rather than state militias, were used to enforce laws, and Klansmen were prosecuted in federal court. Habeas corpus was suspended in nine counties in South Carolina, which gave the president the power to imprison people without a trial in order to enforce the constitutional rights of freed African Americans… (1871)
These efforts were so successful that the Klan was destroyed in South Carolina and decimated throughout the rest of the former Confederacy. The Klan was not to exist again until its recreation 44 years later.
And, 38 years ago today, Vladimir Horowitz, one of the world’s greatest pianists, returned to his Russian homeland, after 61 years away, to perform for an emotional audience in his hometown of Moscow. At the age of 82, Horowitz gave one of the most emotionally astonishing and riveting performances of his life. (Audio CD)
Charles Kuralt featured the historic recital on his Sunday Morning TV show, along with footage of Horowitz’s return to his native Soviet Union. To say that this concert was an emotional experience is an understatement, and a lesser pianist might have wilted under the pressure, but he seemed ecstatically inspired to be playing once again for his fellow Moscovites. (1986)
Also, on this day 16 years ago, Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver ever to win an IndyCar Series race. Considered to be a pioneer for women in motorsports, Patrick’s achievements allowed her to break the gender barrier in a predominately male industry and become influential for many women who have taken up a career in auto racing since then. (2008)
Happy 75th Birthday to Jessica Lange, the 13th actress in history to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award (2), Primetime Emmy (3), and a Tony Award (for Long Day’s Journey into Night) all in one career. She is tied as the sixth most Oscar-nominated actress in history and has won 5 Golden Globes for productions like Tootsie, Frances, Blue Sky, Grey Gardens—as well as television accolades for American Horror Story.
She made her professional film debut in Dino De Laurentiis’ 1976 remake of King Kong, for which she also won her first Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. Also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Lange received three more Oscar nominations for Country, Sweet Dreams, and Music Box, before winning her third Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive housewife in Blue Sky. (1949)
And, 44 years ago today, 84-year-old George Burns, the comic entertainer who starred in the movie Oh God and won a supporting actor Oscar for his performance in The Sunshine Boys, became the oldest person to have a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when ‘I Wish I Was 18 Again’ peaked at No.49 on the chart.
According to This Day in Music, when Burns was asked if he wished he were 18 again, he replied “I wish I was 80 again.” WATCH his interview on 60 Minutes… (1980)
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“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.” – Zelda Fitzgerald
Quote of the Day: “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.” – Zelda Fitzgerald
Photo by: Merch HÜSEY
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California Battery Plant Is One of World’s Largest and Will Store Solar Energy for LA’s High-Use Evenings
In California, a renewable energy storage system will be one of the largest in the world when it comes online this summer.
The Nova Battery Bank, designed and built by Calpine, will be able to power 680,000 homes for 4 hours.
Why only 4 hours? The Nova Power Bank is envisioned as helping cope with peak demand, when Emily Precht, Calpine strategic origination manager, says millions of Californians are coming home from work, plugging in their EVs, turning on their A/C units, washing dishes, etc.
Unlike natural gas or petroleum, renewable energy cannot be used beyond the very moment it’s generated. To improve on this technology, large banks of batteries can be filled with the charge from excess solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, or whatever, and then discharged when the need is greatest, ideally protecting California from blackouts, several of which it experienced in 2020.
The 680-megawatt lithium-ion battery bank will boost California’s renewable storage, which already equals about 55% of the nation’s total capacity, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
620 megawatts will be brought online this summer, with a further 60 in the summer of 2025.
MORE SIMILAR PROJECTS: Largest US Solar Storage Project Goes Online – Enough for a Quarter Million Homes
Reuters reports that such large battery projects in the hundreds of megawatts are underway in “California, Florida, Australia, the United Kingdom, and China.”
“This plant will help stabilize the grid, especially for reliability purposes,” said Precht in a press conference. “Having something that saves the power from the middle of the day (and) moves it to a higher demand period will help make the grid more resilient.”
WATCH the story below from Reuters…
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Researchers Create Nanogenerator Capable of Using Greenhouse Gas to Produce Electricity
University of Queensland scientists had a remarkable eureka moment when they accidentally turned the most common greenhouse gas into electricity.
By using positive and negative ions of different sizes, the team created electricity from CO2, and now believes that their ‘nanogenerators’ could help improve the reputation of the simple molecule.
Now thoroughly demonized, it pays to remember that carbon dioxide contains two oxygen molecules and one carbon molecule, which rank among the most fundamental building blocks of the universe and are used in human society for thousands of processes and purposes.
Univ. of Queensland research officer Dr. Zhuyuan Wang, from the Dow Center for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, was working on a nanogenerator that ran on a process called ion transport for three years when one day, according to Brisbane Times, he saw it was consuming CO2 in the laboratory air to make electricity.
“I double-checked everything and it was working correctly so I started dreaming about changing the world using this technology,” he told the Times.
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“We could make a slightly bigger device that is portable to generate electricity to power a mobile phone or a laptop computer using CO2 from the atmosphere,” he said.
In the research project, Wang and his team needed to double check it was the CO2 that was powering the nanogenerator, so they sealed it in a box and pumped CO2 into it.
OTHER SUCH INVENTIONS: Dubai Company Buys Used Cooking Oil to Turn Into Biofuel for Cars Citywide to Reduce CO2 Emissions
The devices were just 4×6 centimeters, but the team theorized that a larger one could provide meaningful powerful supplies to office electronics.
Dr. Wang’s colleague, Xiwang Zhang, said they would continue to refine the technology through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide.
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Archaeologists Uncover Ancient City in Kingdom of Tonga That Rewrites History: ‘First City of the Pacific’
A monumental discovery has been made on the island nation of Tonga, where the footprint of a large urban civilization from centuries past was uncovered using cutting-edge laser technology.
Consisting of almost 10,000 earthen mounds that today are hardly noticeable, it could be one of the first cities ever constructed in the Pacific.
With the introduction of aerial laser surveying, we’ve discovered that South and Central America could support urban centers with millions of inhabitants—more than anything archaeologists and historians thought possible 15 to 20 years ago.
That sort of urbanization seems even less likely on tropical archipelagos like Tonga, but there they are, just 12 kilometres from the current capital Nuku’alofa, in the eastern district of Tongatapu.
“Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought,” study author and Ph.D. scholar Phillip Parton at the Australian National University, told ABC News Down Under.
“As settlements grew, they had to come up with new ways of supporting that growing population. This kind of setup—what we call low-density urbanization—sets in motion huge social and economic change,” he added.
Insights into population centers in the Southern Hemisphere during the European Middle Ages are changing archaeologists’ understanding of the concept of urbanism. One tends, Mr. Parton argues, to imagine compact European cities from this time period—with windy cobblestone alleys and multi-tiered housing.
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This is different kind of urbanism, one which may have been a template that spread across Oceania, and which may not be the only one of its kind out there.
“I’m sure that should my colleagues choose to pursue that, this won’t be the only example of a city to be found in the Pacific. I’m sure there’s plenty waiting for us,” Mr. Parton told Pacific Beat.
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Mound building is typical of traditional urbanism across the Americas, and in areas where quarryable stone is lacking, soil tends to be the prefered building material.
Whether each of the mounds represents a dwelling, or whether a dwelling was built on top of a series of mounds to elevate the floor off the ground, Parton’s work didn’t extend so far as to inform us.
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Study Links Recreational Cannabis Use to Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline and Dementia-Related Diseases
Cannabis and its derivatives have already been shown to relieve short-term chronic pain, reduce inflammation 30x more robustly than aspirin, improve symptoms of Crohn’s disease, and show some efficacy in killing lung and pancreatic cancer cells, but a recent epidemiological look at cannabis use has linked it to dramatically lower rates of cognitive decline and dementia.
A new study published in the journal Current Alzheimer Research that looked at 4,744 American adults over 45 using self-reporting methods of calculating cognitive decline found those who used cannabis recreationally had a 96% lower chance of developing what they called ‘subjective cognitive decline.’
The researchers looked at all common methods of cannabis use, including smoking, vaping, dabbing, and consuming, as well as the frequency of use, which the scientists behind the study say has never been done before.
“The reason I think this study is so great is we looked at all the different dimensions of cannabis use. The fact that we included all three is a huge contribution to the research because I do not believe such a study has been done before,” Professor Wong told Neuroscience News.
“The main takeaway is that cannabis might be protective for our cognition,” Wong added. “We do not know if non-medical cannabis leads to better cognition or the other way around if those with better cognition are more likely to use non-medical cannabis.”
The study was interesting in that it looked at symptoms or degree of cognitive decline as determined by the patient. This is a common confounding factor in later diagnoses of clinical cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, but also non-neurodegenerative disorders, including depression, anxiety, failing physical health, and, in some cases, certain personality traits.
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Another interesting aspect of the study was that it controlled for the use of medical-use cannabis and recreational-use cannabis. Much of the drive in America to decriminalize cannabis has been around medical-use cannabis, which is richer in CBD, or cannabidiol, a powerful plant therapeutic.
However, it was recreational-use cannabis, that is to say, cannabis cultivated not to maximize the plant’s production of CBD, but to maximize THC—the psychoactive compound in cannabis—which showed the protective effect on cognition, indicating that the psychoactive part of cannabis may be more therapeutic than previously thought.
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Wong admits however that many users of recreational cannabis engage in it specifically to improve things like sleep or stress, both of which are linked to cognitive decline later in life.
As with all things scientific, more research is needed, but the study should be a fascinating drive to explore further.
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Good News in History, April 19
Happy 37th birthday to the Tennis ace Maria Sharapova, the only Russian, and one of only 10 women to have won the Career Grand Slam. She managed to earn a No. 1 world ranking at age 18 and spend time as the highest-paid female athlete in the world due to her considerable winnings. She’s also an Olympic silver medalist. READ a little about her story… (1987)
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Quote of the Day: “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Photo by: Abreil Studio
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?
Canada Agrees 200 Islands Belong to the Indigenous Haida Nation
In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.
The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.
BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.
Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.
“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”
Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.
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“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.
In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck.
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PE Coach Pairs Unmotivated Students to Run with Shelter Dogs–Adoptions Soar
A California gym coach who was looking for ways to drum up motivation for the students on his cross-country running team as they went away for the summer break came up with a brilliant idea: pair them with shelter dogs.
It was eight years ago when GNN first reported on it, and ever since it has become a mainstay of the training program at St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California.
It became so much more, however, after a simple video of the kids running with the dogs went viral, causing athletic directors around the country to phone St. Joseph and ask how they organized the program.
Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, Florida, was the second school that picked up on the shelter dog runs, and others followed suit like Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois; all because of the viral video that occasionally resurfaces on social media to the delight of thousands.
“It was 60 seconds of genuine, organic kindness,” St. Joseph cross country coach Luis Escobar, who filmed the video, told the Washington Post. “The world needs kindness.”
“The dogs want to go out and run; the kids love dogs, and they love running. It was a perfect marriage,” said Escobar.
For the original program, Escobar contacted a Santa Barbara animal shelter, which was totally on board. They ended up pairing athletes with dogs that needed to go running and giving them instructions on what to do. Most of the dogs weren’t in great shape, and so the running was capped at a mile.
In the video, this led to an iconic moment when a high schooler comes walking by the camera with a small dog named Fred, and remarks “Fred’s had it.”
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As it turned out, the young man and his family decided to adopt Fred; the first of many such unions since the program’s launch, something which Escobar says is what he is most proud of.
On the other end of the country, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has been working with Steinbrenner High for 7 years on their shelter dog run.
“Our three pillars of our cross-country team [are] gentleman, scholar, and athlete, and this really satisfies that gentleman area of caring for something that cannot care for itself,” Allison Szponar, the head coach of the team, told Fox 13 Tampa.
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For the dogs, says staff member Glen Hatchel at the Society, the runs allow them to burn off loads of nervous energy, leaving them calmer and more adoptable when they get back to the shelter.
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