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Dramatic Moment Skier Rescued a Snowboarder Who Was Buried Head First in Snow and Running Out of Air (Watch)

By
Andy Corbley
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Francis Zuber - SWNS
Francis Zuber – SWNS

A hero skier saved the life of a snowboarder completely buried head-first in a massive snow drift.

Francis Zuber was maneuvering around the tops of trees in deep powder on Mt. Baker, in northwestern Washington state, probably without any indication he might end up in the right place at the right time to be a hero.

It was a one-in-a-million chance that Zuber spotted him at all. He had only just fallen off his own skis in the bumpy ‘tree well’ just a few feet away from a trapped snowboarder.

When he spotted the man’s snowboard wriggling around, just above a large drift, he realized it was still attached to someone below.

From the downhill perspective, a tree was blocking the snowboard from the view of oncoming skiers, and only because Zuber fell into an adjacent drift did he happen to see it.

Francis’s head cam shows him approaching the scene and asking “you alright?”.

But after receiving no response, he hurries over as best he can in the deep snow before removing his skis, pulling himself up the snow mound, and frantically digging with his hands.

MORE RESCUE STORIES: Off-Duty EMT Rescuer Spends Day Keeping Skier Alive After Avalanche

Zuber can be heard reassuring the snowboarder until the man’s reflective visor pokes out of the snow and then his mouth, at which point he takes a big gulp of air.

“Thank you,” the snowboarder says. “Yeah, no problem,” Zuber replied, adding that they were both going to catch their breath.

“All I’ll say for now is the mountains don’t care how much skill or experience you have,” Zuber wrote alongside his own uploaded video. “They don’t even care if you and your ski partners are doing everything right.”

MORE SKIING STORIES: All 10 People Feared Missing in Alpine Avalanche Found Alive After Scary Viral Video—WATCH

Zuber recommends every backcountry skier and snowboarder take the ‘Avy 1’ which is an avalanche safety and rescue course.

“Take an Avy 1 course, and get trained on what to do if you find yourself in this situation, and always look out for each other out there,” Zuber said.

WATCH the rescue, but beware of panic-induced swear words and high tension!

SHARE This Incredible Rescue Caught On Video With Your Friends… 

Critically-Endangered Amur Leopard Twins Born at San Diego Zoo: ‘A Glimmer of Hope’

By
Andy Corbley
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KEN BOHN, SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE
KEN BOHN, SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE

San Diego zookeepers welcomed the birth of 2 Amur leopard cubs into the world in what is a huge success for the captive breeding of one of the rarest cats in the world.

Born on March 28th, the cubs were monitored by remote cameras while they became acquainted with their new world, and their mom Sitka.

“We are absolutely thrilled with the progress made by the cubs,” said Gaylene Thomas, a wildlife care manager at the San Diego Zoo. “They have grown so much, and have already started showcasing their unique personalities. The cubs will get their first full veterinary exam soon, and we will know more, including their sex.”

There are fewer than 200 Amur leopards in the world. The Siberian natives have, however, been either increasing in number since 2007, or hovering around the same small number that conservationists have become simply better at locating them.

In any case, a 2021 camera-trap survey recorded 110 individuals in a large transboundary area of Siberia between Russia and China, nicknamed Land of the Leopard, near the Amur River from which they derive their name. This is 60 more than a similar survey done around 8 years earlier.

KEN BOHN, SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE

The San Diego newborns have no names yet, but they represent the third litter born in captivity. The San Diego Zoo’s membership within the global Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Amur Leopard Species Survival Plan has allowed them to do a lot of conservation work out in Siberia, which the zoo claims has increased the numbers of Amur leopards by 50% over the past decade as mentioned before.

“This is a monumental achievement, proving that conservation works and our vision to build a world where all life thrives can be realized. We only need to maintain the course, and ultimately, we will succeed,” they added.

MORE BIG CAT NEWS: Two Cheetah Cubs Born to Surrogate Mother in World’s First Successful IVF Operation to Save the Big Cats

It’s unlikely these little ones will ever see their homeland in Siberia—the logistics and risks would be daunting. Furthermore, growing up in San Diego, one of the finest year-round climates in the US with food available every day, is a far cry from the frozen mountains of Eastern Russia where a leopard might go four days without eating.

Their job is to hold down the genetic fort, so to speak, and inspire visitors to the zoo who might be inclined to take action on behalf of a beautiful cat they will likely never see in the wild, native to a nation thousands of miles away.

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“Forgiveness is for the forgiver.” – William P. Young

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Forgiveness is for the forgiver.” – William P. Young 

Photo by: Gus Moretta

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?

Chef Breaks Open Sinking Car’s Window With His Elbow to Save Trapped Motorist

By
Andy Corbley
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credit WJZ 13
credit WJZ 13

Down in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the sous chef of a beloved restaurant, Philips Seafood, replaced his apron for a cape as he cooked up a heroic rescue of a drowning motorist.

An unidentified man drove straight into the frigid and filthy mid-March harbor water after suffering what reports say was a mental health crisis. Seeing this, sous chef Tom Walsh jumped in to rescue him.

“I hope he’s OK,” said witness Cher Briscoe. “But the man that saved him—I hope he gets a reward and some money.”

Once in the water, Walsh proved himself to be immensely strong, because he was able to break open the glass of the car with his elbow, an effort that saw him spend a short while in the hospital recovering.

According to the restaurant’s spokesperson who identified Walsh to news media, Walsh is “humble, private, and does not want attention.”


Nevertheless, witnesses have no doubt in their minds—the man is a hero. Walsh has since been discharged from the hospital.

WATCH the story below from WJZ News…

CELEBRATE The Rescue With Your Friends, And Plan A Trip To Phillips…

Researchers Capture Video of Deepest Fish Ever Recorded–Almost 5 Miles Below Surface Near Japan

By
Andy Corbley
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Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep Sea Research Centre / Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep Sea Research Centre / Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology

An as-of-yet undescribed species of snailfish was recently recorded swimming about—a mind-boggling 5 miles (8 kilometers) under the surface of the ocean.

An unmanned submersible called a lander used a baited trap to record several Pseudoliparis individuals swimming about at a depth of 8,336 meters in the Izu-Ogasawara trench, southeast of Japan.

The expedition was organized by the Minderoo-University of Western Australia’s Deep Sea Research Center in partnership with the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. The Izu-Ogasawara Trench is one of three the team will explore, the deepest being more than 9 kilometers down.

This clueless-looking fish has several adaptations to living in an area where the pressure is 800 times greater than at sea level. Rather than scales, it has a gelatinous outer mass, which is theorized to be less susceptible to pressure, and evolutionarily speaking, a cheap adaptation.

They also don’t have swim bladders, which is a small pocket of gas typical of most fish. Trying to maintain gas in those kinds of pressure zones is simply untenable.

However, the expedition’s chief scientist, who is also the founder of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre, Professor Alan Jamieson, told the Guardian that this snailfish is not a deep sea fish.

MORE DEEP SEA NEWS: Man Who Found World’s Deepest-Dwelling Octopus and Jellyfish Scores 3-of-a-Kind, With Deepest-Dwelling Squid

“They’re the deepest fish in the world, but they’re not a deep sea fish,” said Prof. Jamieson. “But they’ve speciated into every corner of the globe, and they’ve overtaken all the deep sea fish. These are 1,000 meters deeper than what you might think of as being a deep sea fish.”

Indeed snailfish have been recorded living in shallow water as well, and most other pelagic zones down to the bottom of the trenches Jamieson is exploring.

MORE DEEP SEA NEWS: Weird and Wonderful Discoveries of New Deep Sea Fish Below Australia’s Ancient Underwater Volcanoes

“Fish all have osmolyte, a fluid in their cells that they use to counteract pressure—it’s the thing that makes that fishy smell,” Jamieson said. “One of the only things, when you look at fish from a biochemical point of view, that is linear with depth is the concentration of that fluid.”

He goes further to say that below 5 miles, slight changes in temperature prevent fish from increasing the concentration of osmolyte in their cells, predicting that fish simply can’t handle the pressure once depths retreat a further 1,200 feet (400 meters) down.

WATCH the fish in action from The Guardian… 

SHARE This Record-Setting Fish With Your Friends… 

This Iridescent Coating Could Cool Your House Without Air-Conditioning

By
Andy Corbley
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Iridescent roof coating - Cambride Univ. Released
Iridescent roof coating – Cambridge Univ. Released

How can we cool houses without using A/C? Scientists have now discovered that one way would be to turn the roof and walls into a beetle’s shell.

That’s because tiny nanostructures on the beetle’s exoskeleton made of cellulose capture light and send it bouncing around whilst separating it into different wavelengths. This is why they appear to shimmer in greens and purples.

More importantly however, when the same nanostructures are pasted to the outside of a house, they can keep it 7.2°F cooler during the day and 20°F cooler during the night.

Some scientists are worried that too much energy will be used for air-conditioning in a climate that is warmed by 1.5°C, and so are devoting their time to coming up with energy-less ways to cooling homes.

GNN has already reported on ultra-white paint that can keep things cooler, and now scientists at the University of Cambridge are turning to cellulose nanomaterials inspired by nature that would create iridescent houses that are self-cooling.

OTHER INNOVATION NEWS: Innovation in Organic Solar Cells Promise Low-Cost, Bendable, and Efficient Panels

“The usual way to generate a color is dye, but dye will absorb light and heat up, and that counteracts the cooling effect,” Qingchen Shen, a postdoctoral researcher at Cambridge told Fast Company. 

Expecting people to use ultra-white paint is unrealistic because it would damage the eyes of your neighbors, and if everyone in the neighborhood used it, it would be an intolerable place to live.

Iridescent roof coating – Cambridge Univ. Released

As Shen explains though, color generally absorbs heat, rather than reflects it, but their invention of a thin nanostructure film made of cellulose under a thin film of white was able to generate over 120 watts of cooling power, as much as some air conditioners.

“We wanted to make it cheap,” Shen added. “That’s why we used cellulose-based materials. Cellulose nanocrystals can be extracted from wood or cotton. Cellulose is the most abundant polymer in nature.”

When pasted over walls or rooftops, the material could meaningfully assist in cooling the interior of the house and reduce electricity usage by a fair amount.

The colors could make a house look pretty psychedelic in the sunshine though, so the team is probably better off leaving the marketing for the major coastal cities.

SHARE This Cool Bit Of Natural Inspiration With Your Friends… 

All Dogs Have Completely Unique Nose Prints–like Fingerprints–And There’s an App to ID Each Pet

By
Andy Corbley
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Alvan Nee
Alvan Nee

A South Korean startup has developed an AI-based app that scans your dog’s nose print and places it into a crowdsourced database that anyone can access to identify the owner of a lost dog.

It turns out a dog’s noseprints are just as individual as a human’s thumbprint, and the advantage of using it to identify a lost dog over a microchip is that no one has a microchip scanner in their house.

Anyone who has lost track of their cat or dog knows the fear experienced by the thought of never seeing them again. Collar tags and microchips can be ways for good samaritans to help reunite lost animals with their owners, but tags and collars can fall off, while microchips are not accessible for anyone who doesn’t want to drive to the vet office.

The team at Yonsei University has honed their AI to a 99% accuracy, which they’ve now released for free through the Petnow app on marketplaces in South Korea, Spain, and the US.

Pet owners register their dog’s nose print by taking a picture with their smartphone. Cat owners are in luck too, because the algorithm can ID cats by their whole face rather than just a nose.

MORE CLEVER APPS: Study Shows Duolingo Learning Outcomes Are Comparable to University Classes

Once the image is captured, it’s stored in Petnow’s database. Anyone, including those who may come across a lost animal, can take a picture of its nose or face and see if it matches with one on the app—providing an instant set of contact info for the owner.

Because it’s not always easy to for a lost dog to sit still, the app deploys three kinds of AI to identify a noseprint even if the nose is moving about.

With a crowdsourced database as the foundation of the idea, Petnow’s team needs as many people as possible to use the app, and for shelters, vet clinics, and other pet businesses to get the word out.

WATCH the story below from Petnow… 

SHARE This Story With Anyone You know Who’s Lost A Pet… 

“Each condition I flee from pursues me. Each condition I welcome transforms me and becomes itself transformed.” – Jennifer Welwood

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Each condition I flee from pursues me. Each condition I welcome transforms me and becomes itself transformed.” – Jennifer Welwood

Photo by: Yannes Kiefer

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Scientists Say Exposure to Microplastics in Human Bodies is Not Inflammatory

By
Andy Corbley
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Microplastic detritus and macrophage seen under microscope - CC 4.0.Oregon State University CC 2.0. - Noah Smith CC 4.0.
Microplastic detritus and a macrophage seen under a microscope – CC 4.0.Oregon State University CC 2.0. – Noah Smith CC 4.0.

Japanese scientists have made a breakthrough discovery on the effects of ingesting microplastics, namely that our immune system is capable of protecting us from them.

Microplastics have been recorded everywhere we’ve looked for them: in the jetstream, at the deepest depths of the ocean, and at the summits of remote mountains.

Trying to figure out the potentially toxic effects of microplastic exposure in our bodies, the scientists discovered that one of the same cellular signals that guide macrophages to remove dead cells from the body, also guides them to remove microplastics.

Before explaining the finding further, it’s worth understanding the process of apoptosis and efferocytosis.

Apoptosis is the process by which dead cells are cleared in the body. When a cell is dead or dying, it signals to the body it must be removed—the job for a macrophage or dendric cell. Macrophages are the heaviest weapon in the immune system’s arsenal because they can completely swallow pathogens targeted for removal.

A macrophage receptor called Tim4 is designed to identify apoptotic cells and devour them—a process called efferocytosis, or “phagocytosis” if done by macrophages. Once devoured, the dead cell is encased in a liquid pocket to prevent its contents from seeping out into the cell or the macrophage.

Impaired efferocytosis has been identified in a dozen or more common autoimmune disorders like lupus, cystic fibrosis, and asthma.

“We were keen to see if Tim4 bound to polystyrene which is composed of aromatic styrene units, and if this interaction perturbed an immune response,” said Professor Masafumi Nakayama of Ritsumeikan University, Japan.

What they found was critical to understanding how best to control one’s exposure to pollutants, especially if they live in a city or suburban area.

When microplastics enter the body, they are engulfed preferentially by macrophages, and Professor Nakayama found that the act of doing so doesn’t cause acute inflammation by monitoring a suite of the most common inflammatory compounds like nitric oxide, IL-1, TNF-alpha, and reactive oxygen species, which are all typically released in small amounts during efferocytosis.

MORE HEALTH NEWS: Magnesium May Prime the Immune System to Fight Cancer and Infections

Furthermore, this was not shown to be harmful to the macrophages themselves; they were able to engulf the polystyrene and carry on with their important work.

What the scientists did discover however was a novel aromatic interaction between the Tim4 receptors with polystyrene particulars and another nanomaterial they were testing. The nanomaterials impaired the efferocytosis of the dead cells in the area.

MORE TOXIN NEWS: This Pollution-Gobbling City Bench Can Absorb as Many Toxins as 275 Trees

In other words, the microplastics distracted the macrophages from clearing out dead cells that would normally be targeted for destruction.

The scientists concluded that low levels of microplastic ingestion in the body do not cause inflammation and that microplastics can be removed by macrophages. Contrastingly, too much microplastic pollution would impair the removal of dead cells.

If an individual is worried they may be exposed to too much microplastic pollution, other therapeutic measures could be used to try and offset this impairment such as the consumption of a senolytic compound like grape seed extract, exercise, or heat stress therapy in a sauna.

Another method for reducing microplastic infection would be to get microplastic-rated water filters on your taps and your shower head.

SHARE This Important Health And Safety Discovery With Your Friends…

Unprecedented Gamma-Ray Burst is ‘The BOAT’ – Brightest of All Time in Human History

By
Andy Corbley
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NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center via SWNS
NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center via SWNS

On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, a pulse of intense radiation swept through the solar system so exceptional that astronomers quickly dubbed it the BOAT—the brightest of all time.

The source was a gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful class of explosions in the universe, and astronomers studying it believe it was the strongest to have happened since the dawn of human civilization.

Astronomers believe that GRBs happen following the death rattles of massive stars which run out of nuclear fuel and collapse into black holes. The newly-created singularity begins to ingest surrounding matter and blast out jets in opposite directions which emit X-rays and gamma rays as they travel through space.

This one had been traveling for 1.9 billion light-years before it reached us—relatively short for huge GRBs. It was detected by suites of gamma-ray instruments operated by all major spacefaring nations. Eric Burns, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, led an analysis of 7,000 record GRBs and determined that this one was the BOAT.

The GRB was so bright, it effectively blinded the various instruments built to record them, including NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The reality of Burns’ work was that the BOAT may have been brighter, or possessed other characteristics, but because humanity was literally blinded by the light, we won’t ever know for sure.

MORE ASTROPHYSICS: Scientists Simulate a Small Universe as a Preview of What This New Space Telescope Will Discover – LOOK

Usually, GRBs are followed by supernovae, which originate from the same spot in space, but the BOAT has so far failed to follow up. This could be because it collapsed into a black hole rather than exploding.

GRB illustration progression – Goddard Spaceflight Center

“We cannot say conclusively that there is a supernova, which is surprising given the burst’s brightness,” said Andrew Levan, a professor of astrophysics at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

“If it’s there, it’s very faint. We plan to keep looking,” he added, “but it’s possible the entire star collapsed straight into the black hole instead of exploding.”

MORE ASTRONOMY: On Distant Planets that Don’t Rotate, Life May Exist Under Skies of Permanent Dawn and Dusk

Additional Webb and Hubble observations are planned over the next few months to be extra sure no supernova is there, because if one were to appear, it would be equally ginormous.

The brightest GRB previously recorded was around this time of year in April of 2013, and registered at 35 billion times the energy of visible light. By comparison, the BOAT is nearly 700 times brighter.

SHARE This Once In A Civilizational Discovery With Your Friends… 

A Dog and Goat Are So Close The Shelter Decides to Only Place Them as a Team

By
Andy Corbley
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Friends of Wake County Animal Center
Friends of Wake County Animal Center

The workers at Wake County Animal Hospital were left scratching their heads when a dog named Felix arrived at their doorstep with a goat named Cinnamon.

Dropped off by animal control who had taken them from a house whose owner had been hospitalized and had no one else who could look after them, they recognized pretty early these two were a special situation when they first tried to separate them.

“Cinnamon was very upset—she was bleating and calling out to the dog,” Jennifer Federico, director of animal services, told the Washington Post. “She was so stressed and frantic that we realized this pair had to be kept together.”

Generally, the shelter doesn’t take in farm animals, and after 10 days they served notice to the previous owner that it was time to come take his animals back. He never did.

At that point, the shelter assumed ownership and needed to print up a very strange adoption notice.

Felix and Cinnamon spent every hour together at the shelter except for when they ate. Cinnamon hates being apart from Felix, but if they ate side by side, the big American bulldog mix would eat all her food.

Cinnamon likes nothing more, says Federico, than cuddling with Felix or romping around in the dog yard even though it’s just astroturf. Felix is capable of spending time away from his goat pal, but when he returns always begins to give Cinnamon a bath with his giant bulldog tongue.


“It’s a weird duo, but it works for them,” Federico said. “Who are we to judge? They obviously love each other.”

The shelter wrote up a Facebook post in an attempt to find a home for the pair, which attracted so much attention they had to pause the comments while they worked with several rescue offers who had farm and facility to provide a good home to what the shelter billed as a “bonded pair.”

MORE ADOPTION STORIES: This Hero Dog-Lover Keeps Seniors and Their Pets Together With ‘Peace of Mind’

The Facebook thread was updated on March 25th to inform that a home had been found for Cinnamon and Felix.

The shelter knew they had to stay together, and fortunately, they found someone who agreed. Federico and her team wished them many happy years of friendship.

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London Lonely Girls Club Gains Thousands of New Members for Picnics, Drinks, and Game Nights

By
Andy Corbley
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The London Lonely Girls Club - Courtesy of Holly Cooke
The London Lonely Girls Club – Courtesy of Holly Cooke

A newcomer to big city life started a Facebook group to make new friends and it grew to 20,000 people in just a few years.

The London Lonely Girls Club was founded by 26-year-old Holly Cooke, who arrived from Stoke-on-Trent, a big city in itself, but provincial compared to London.

From 2018 to 2022, it attracted 10,000 young women who, like Cooke, found it hard to make new friends. Just in 2022, it grew to 31,000, and now there are 5 or 6 members organizing fun events like brunches, game nights, cocktail parties, and picnics.

“London is so big, it leaves a lot of space for loneliness, I Googled how to make friends in London,” Cooke told the BBC. “People feel it in so many different ways. London is so transient. Some just moved here; others have been here their whole life.”

She had originally tried platonic meet-up apps like Bumble BFF but found the process a bit dodgy. She wished she could get three or four of the people she would meet on it together at once, which gave her the idea of starting a group.

The London Lonely Girls Club – Courtesy of Holly Cooke

She now says the group events are getting fully booked in minutes.

Groups like these are becoming semi-common in English news media. In 2022 GNN reported on the “Proper Blokes Club,” a mental health walking club where men of all ages can go on a walk through the city and share their struggles.

MORE LONDONERS: Towering Statue Unveiled in London to Honor a National Hero You’ve Probably Never Heard of

Founder Scott Oughton-Johnson wasn’t lonely, rather he had gone through a long custody battle and painful separation and started the group after a video invitation to go for a walk-and-talk produced a really great evening with a friend of his.

Through the club, walk leaders organize walks to share in each other’s difficulties through talking and walking from Monday to Thursday all around England, not just in London.

The Men’s Shed movement isn’t found only in Britain, though a chapter was recently founded in Barnsley, but in the whole of the English-speaking world. The Barnsley chapter was launched by 67-year-old Phillip Jackson when moved back to England from Australia and immediately felt like a stranger.

MORE MENTAL HEALTH NEWS: Gary Sinise Launches Mental Health Network For Veterans and First Responders

The original concept was to get together and make things out of wood, but in reality, it’s about plugging into the social fabric of a community, whether that’s through meeting up for a coffee, building a park bench, or listening to the problems someone is going through in their marriage.

“It’s like the shed at the bottom of your garden,” Jackson told The Guardian. “but all your friends are there. It’s a break from people’s weekly routines. It gets them out and talking to similar people.”

The Australian Men’s Shed movement has 1,200 chapters across that country, and they’re springing up in the US (17), Britain, and Canada.

SHARE These Groups To Anyone You Know In Need Of Friendship… 

College Kids Prepare to Send the First Private Lunar Rover to the Moon

By
Andy Corbley
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Madhav Gajula, left, a first-year student in the Mellon College of Science, and Nikolai Stefanov, the mission operations lead for Iris and a senior in physics, work during a mission simulation - Released, Carnegie Mellon University
Madhav Gajula, left, a first-year student in the Mellon College of Science, and Nikolai Stefanov, the mission operations lead for Iris, work during a mission simulation – Released, Carnegie Mellon University

A crack team of university students is just a month away from launching the first privately-made lunar rover onto the Moon’s surface.

Slated for May the Fourth, the unofficial holiday of the Star Wars franchise, the rover weighs just 2 kilograms, and the mission objectives include demonstrating its technology and snapping scientifically-relevant images.

Called Iris, the rover designed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Pittsburgh campus will be carried to the moon aboard a United Launch Alliance “Vulcan Centaur” rocket, alongside a multi-purpose payload.

Back at control center, students on the project will work in teams and in shifts to send action commands, and monitor the rover’s health and progress as it carries out a 60-hour mission.

“Hundreds of students have poured thousands of hours into Iris. We’ve worked for years toward this mission, and to have a launch date on the calendar is an exciting step,” said Raewyn Duvall commander of the Iris mission.

Iris Lunar rover – CMU

“Iris will open up lunar and space exploration by proving that a tiny, lightweight rover built by students can succeed on the moon.”

It will set a number of firsts. Only the US, Japan, and Russia have put rovers on the Moon, so Duvall’s team will be the first civilian team to do so. Secondly, it will be the smallest and the lightest rover ever deployed.

MORE PRIVATE SPACE TRAVEL: Japanese Startup to Launch Public Space-Viewing Balloon Flights to Rival SpaceX

Onboard the rocket, another privately-made space machine, The Peregrine lander, will bring Iris down onto the Lunar surface. Peregrine was made by private space company Astrobiotic, and will serve as a delivery platform for astronauts working on the Lunar surface in the next 20 years.

In preparation for the May 4th launch, the team at CMU has conducted dozens of training simulations to ensure they can handle potential issues that may arise across its primary mission and accompanied extended mission phase.

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“There is no ‘wrong’ way of doing a meditation, except not doing it.” – Christopher Bamford

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “There is no ‘wrong’ way of doing a meditation, except not doing it.” – Christopher Bamford

Photo by: Daniel Jiménez

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?

Mom Alters Her Old Prom Dress for 5-Year-old to Wear to Daddy-Daughter Dance (Look)

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Good News Network
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Lexi Donelson prom dress conversion – SWNS
Lexi Donelson prom dress conversion – SWNS

An Oklahoma mom took a scissors to her old prom dress so that her little girl could wear it to her ‘daddy-daughter’ dance—and the results were fantastic.

Lexi Donelson was struggling to find the perfect, yet affordable, dress for 5-year-old daughter Sterling when she suddenly remembered she still had her own prom dress.

The 26-year-old mother-of-three had donned the dress eleven years ago when she joined her high school sweetheart, Dewey, for their prom. The couple had begun dating a couple of months before, after being schoolmates since they were 10—and four years later they were married.

Lexi “adored” the turquoise dress and often put it on for fun and was praised by little Sterling who called it ‘mommy’s Elsa dress’.

Lexi called her own mom to help with the alterations, and the pair set about to shorten and slim down the dress.

The two seamstresses played around with the dress trying to rearrange it before cutting the tulle at the bottom and tightening the chest to make it smaller—and they only needed around two hours on the sewing machine.

“When I first told Sterling, before it was altered, ‘This is going to be your dress now,’ she was really confused.

“But she was so excited once we started cutting and sewing.

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“When she tried it on, she didn’t want to take it off. It looked adorable on her.”

Dewey with daughter Sterling – SWNS

Now she tells others, ‘It’s my Elsa dress’.

“I get very emotional thinking about that moment.”

Lexi had to tell her that she couldn’t wear the gown before the special dance—but afterward she can “wear it every day.”

Dewey woke up early and went to buy his daughter flowers and Lexi got emotional snapping pictures of them wearing their outfits before the dance.

“Remembering our prom, I couldn’t have imagined he would be such an amazing dad.

Lexi is so happy that her mom, Karena Logan, is sentimental and held on to some of the old clothes.

LOOK: Old Friends in Their 80s Go On the Adventure of a Lifetime: Around the World in 80 Days (PICS)

Now, Sterling wears the dress so much the straps have ripped off–but Lexi has another going dress, worn to another prom, that Sterling might wear to her own formal dance in the future.

INSPIRE Young Parents By Sharing the Idea on Social Media…

They Fell in Love on ‘Nextdoor’ After Living in Same Neighborhood for 40 Years But Never Meeting

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Good News Network
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Nextdoor lovers Chris Place and Michelle Tooby – SWNS
Nextdoor lovers Chris Place and Michelle Tooby – SWNS

This couple fell in love messaging on ‘Nextdoor’—after 40 years of living in the same neighborhood but never meeting.

Chris Place logged onto the hyperlocal online bulletin board to look for bargains when he spotted Michelle Tooby.

The 44-year old loved her pic so sent a ‘wave’ notification, and was delighted when she popped one back.

After two weeks of chatting online they went on a date and realized that, while they had never met, they had so much in common.

They hung out in the same park as kids, had children at the same schools, visited the same pubs, and had never lived more than a few minutes walk from each other in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England.

Seven months after their first message, the pair are quite the item—spending half of their time together. They found they shared loads of hobbies like going out, driving, and gardening.

Michelle even recognized Chris’s car.

“We’ve crossed paths no end of times since we were very young,” said Chris. “It’s like it just wasn’t meant to happen until now.

Nextdoor conversation – Michelle Tooby / SWNS

“It was the last thing I expected.”

“It’s great because if we get married our surname will be Place-Tooby, like ‘place-to-be’.

Michelle recalled, “Neither of us were looking for love. We’d completely given up. I’m so glad we’ve found each other.”

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“It’s just meant to be, and it’s the right time now. It’s like our relationship waited for the right moment.”

Chris’s 22-year-old daughter and Michelle’s son, 20, had shared schools over the years.

Chris said, “I was looking for something out of the ordinary and that’s exactly what I found.

“She’s a very kind person and you can see that in her face. I mean don’t get me wrong, she can be very sassy too.

“As soon as we started chatting we got on like a house on fire: there was something extraordinarily special about it.

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“We feel so comfortable together, and it keeps getting better and better, even now.”

Nextdoor is an app where neighbors can messages other members from the community, plan meet-ups, and share local information.

Smitten Chris reveals he’s planning for the future but hasn’t popped the question yet.

INTRODUCE Your Single Friends to Nextdoor – By Sharing on Social Media…

Microphones Reveal Plants Make Many Sounds Especially When Stressed–And Each Species Sounded Different (Listen)

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Good News Network
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Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University

Researchers have recorded sounds emitted by plants that no human can hear—and their click-like sounds are unique to each species, and varied depending on what exactly is stressing their growth.

Similar to the popping of popcorn, they are emitted at a volume similar to human speech, but at high frequencies, beyond the hearing range of the human ear, according to the team from Tel Aviv University.

“We found that plants usually emit sounds when they are under stress, and that each plant and each type of stress is associated with a specific identifiable sound,” said Professor Lilach Hadany from the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security who lead the research team. “While imperceptible to the human ear, the sounds emitted by plants can probably be heard by various animals, such as bats, mice, and insects.”

“From previous studies we know that vibrometers attached to plants record vibrations. But do these vibrations also become airborne soundwaves—namely sounds that can be recorded from a distance?” asked Prof. Hadany. “Our study addressed this question, which researchers have been debating for many years.”

For the first stage of the study, published in the journal Cell, the researchers placed plants in an acoustic box in a quiet, isolated basement with no background noise. Ultrasonic microphones record sounds at higher frequencies than the maximum detectable by a human adult, which is about 16 kilohertz. Mics were set up at a distance of about 4 inches (10cm) from each plant, including tomatoes, grape vines, tobacco, wheat, corn, cactus, and henbit.

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Before recording the plants, the team subjected them to various treatments: some plants had not been watered for five days, some had their stems cut, and some were untouched.

Tel Aviv University

“Our intention was to test whether the plants emit sounds, and whether these sounds are affected in any way by the plant’s condition. Our recordings indicated that the plants in our experiment emitted sounds at frequencies of 40-80 kilohertz.”

“Unstressed plants emitted less than one sound per hour, on average, while the stressed plants—both dehydrated and injured—emitted dozens of sounds every hour.”

The recordings collected in this way were analyzed by specially developed machine learning (AI) algorithms. The algorithms learned how to distinguish between different plants and different types of sounds, and were ultimately able to identify the plant and determine the type and level of stress from the recordings.

Moreover, the algorithms identified and classified plant sounds even when the plants were placed in a greenhouse with a great deal of background noise. In the greenhouse, the researchers monitored plants subjected to a process of dehydration over time and found that the quantity of sounds they emitted increased up to a certain peak, and then diminished.

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“In this study we resolved a very old scientific controversy: we proved that plants do emit sounds!” said Hadany. “Apparently, an idyllic field of flowers can be a rather noisy place. It’s just that we can’t hear the sounds!”

“Our findings suggest that the world around us is full of plant sounds, and that these sounds contain information about water scarcity or injury.

“We assume that in nature the sounds are detected by creatures nearby, such as bats, rodents, various insects, and possibly also other plants, that can hear the high frequencies and derive relevant information. We believe that humans can also utilize this information, given the right tools—such as sensors that tell growers when plants need watering.”

RELATED: Getting Plants ‘Drunk’ Insulates them Against Drought, According to New Research

Future studies will explore a range of intriguing questions: What is the mechanism behind plant sounds? How do moths detect and react to sounds emitted by plants? Do other plants also hear these sounds? And more…

Listen to tomatoes talking—and grape vines gabbing—in the video below…

MAKE SOME NOISE and Share This Cool News With Plant-Lovers on Social Media…

Check Out This ‘Cat Heaven’ – Built on the Ceiling to Save Space (LOOK)

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@MerlinandNerina / Rumble
@MerlinandNerina / Rumble

In a great use of vertical space, a woman’s mom built hanging cat beds and walkways for their five beloved felines.

“We had 5 Cats but only 2 sleeping places,” explained their owner. “This seriously had to change.”

“The only normal thing anyone would do in this kind of situation is building a Cat Ceiling Heaven!” wrote the French speaking Rumble user, MerlinandNerina who posted the video.

They love building stuff for their cats—four Ragdolls named Merlin, Nerina, Pistache, Piccolo—and Lady, an American Curl. They each have their own wooden cubbies hand-crafted in the garden.

The first two cats were way too leery to use the beautifully constructed rope bridges, until Merlin, the pack leader, led the way without an issue.

The Ragdoll is a breed of large cat with a distinct colorpoint coat and blue eyes with a silky soft coat known for their docile temperament and affectionate nature.

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SHARE This Purr-fect Idea With Kitty-Lovers on Social Media…

“Turning to face my fear, I meet the warrior who lives within.” – Jennifer Welwood

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Turning to face my fear, I meet the warrior who lives within.” – Jennifer Welwood

Photo by: Aaron Thomas

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?

Twin Paramedics Whose Dad Died of Cardiac Arrest Saved Stricken Man With Same Condition the First Time Working Together

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Good News Network
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Steve and Angie Mills Paramedic twins - SWNS
Steve and Angie Mills Paramedic twins – SWNS

Paramedic twins whose dad died of a cardiac arrest 21 years ago saved a man suffering the same condition—in a tag-team effort, only a day after the anniversary of his death.

Angie Mills and her brother Steve Mills were only working together by chance during a rare joint shift as part of the same ambulance crew when they resuscitated the patient, whose heart had stopped beating for five minutes.

Steve works for the London Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Technician, but Angie is a 999 call handler, so the pair are not part of the same team.

But they were out in the same ambulance earlier this month when Angie decided to shadow a frontline crew for the day.

The twins, from south east London, were initially called to a man who had fallen, but soon after arriving both had to jump into action to save his life.

Angie—who had previously only instructed callers to do chest compressions over the phone—started CPR, while Steve and his crewmate, Paul, focused on giving the patient oxygen.

Thanks to their quick-thinking, the man was revived and began talking again, despite having no heart beat for five minutes.

“I had never needed to resuscitate someone myself,” said Angie. “It wasn’t until we were driving to hospital that I reflected on what I’d just done.

“I started thinking about how things can change so quickly, and in a matter of minutes you can switch between life, death—and again, life.”

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Angie and Steve Mills in 1975 – SWNS

The incident felt particularly close to home for the twins, who lost their dad Hugh Mills to a cardiac arrest when he was just 61, a similar age to the man they brought back to life together.

“Because he was of similar age to our dad when he passed away, it brought back some powerful memories,” Angie added. “I thought about the fact that my dad didn’t get to enjoy retirement.”

Hugh Mills passed away in 2002, before Angie and Steve had both joined the Ambulance Service. At the time, Angie was working in a bank and Steve was a builder.

The 51-year-old brother recalls, “When the paramedics were with my dad, I was there the whole time and I couldn’t help him.

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“He received by-stander CPR from a police officer who lived nearby, but unfortunately, he still didn’t make it.

“When I first started my job I always dreaded getting sent to a cardiac arrest. I didn’t know how I would cope with that type of job because of the way my dad had died.

Angie and Steve both said that saving a life together was an extraordinary achievement which would make their dad proud.

“It feels even more special because I was doing it with Steve. My CPR was effective also because I felt so comfortable doing it next to my brother, and we are so close.

“Steve kept saying to me ‘you’re doing a great job, the timing is perfect, the depth of the compressions is great’.”

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All call handlers like Angie get training in how to do CPR and use a defibrillator and regularly instruct members of the public in these life-saving skills.

Mark Faulkner, who works with them as a consultant paramedic, said of the team’s achievement: “Less than ten percent of people who go into cardiac arrest outside of hospital survive.

“The fact that this patient woke up and started talking after five minutes is all down to the quick intervention of the team.

“As chest compression were provided immediately, the patient could keep his brain supplied with blood and that proved vital in him recovering so quickly once his heart had started to beat again.”

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Angie pondered her own future after the meaningful event. “It made me think about how precious life is and how I should enjoy it more. Take every opportunity that you’ve got, don’t put things off.”

WARM Beating Hearts With This Family Triumph By Sharing on Social Media… 

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