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Vaccine that Could Cure and Even Prevent Brain Cancer Developed by Scientists

By
Andy Corbley
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MRI of a glioblastoma - CC 2.5. Christaras A
MRI of a glioblastoma – CC 2.5. Christaras A

In Boston, a potentially-revolutionary treatment for deadly brain cancer is showing promising early signs in mice both for the eradication and prevention of tumors and individual cancer cells.

A vaccine in the true sense of the word, the method involves repurposing living cancer cells to destroy the tumors which spawned them.

Cancer cells have very particular characteristics, one of which potentially makes them even better cancer-killers than immune molecules. That characteristic is their ability to travel long distances through the body returning to the tumor they came from.

By using a similar technique to CRISPR called CRISP-CAS9, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston were able to change proteins within the living cancer cells to prime tumors and other cells for destruction. The priming got the immune system involved, which then resulted in the mice in immunological memory just like vaccines for viruses.

In experiments, it worked on mice carrying cells derived from humans, mimicking what will happen in patients, which had the deadliest form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.

MORE LIKE THIS: Achilles Heel for Glioblastoma Discovered—a Rogue Protein that Turns Natural Defenses Off

“Our team has pursued a simple idea: to take cancer cells and transform them into cancer killers and vaccines,” said corresponding author Dr Khalid Shah.

“Using gene engineering, we are repurposing cancer cells to develop a therapeutic that kills tumor cells and stimulates the immune system to both destroy primary tumors and prevent cancer.”

– Shah et al

Glioblastomas have one of the lowest survival rates of any cancers, with fewer than 10% of patients living past 3 years.

MORE MEDICINE NEWS: Light Therapy is Harnessed to Target and Kill Cancer Cells in This World First

CRISPR has almost the ultimate potential to eliminate cancer through gene-editing, but targeting exactly which genes to edit in cancerous or non-cancerous cells is a matter of serious research.

“Throughout all of the work we do, even when it is highly technical, we never lose sight of the patient,” said Dr. Shah. “Our goal is to take an innovative but translatable approach so that we can develop a therapeutic, cancer-killing vaccine that ultimately will have a lasting impact in medicine.”

DOo You Believe In A Cancer Cure In Your Lifetime? ASK Your Friends… 

“When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

Photo by: Daniel Schaffer

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?

Livin’ Good Currency Ep. 27: Alex Amouyel on Starting a Life Impact Audit

By
Andy Corbley
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The Lesson: Everyone can make an impact if they give 10%—effort, time, money, etc. to ensuring that across all dimensions of life they are making a positive impact rather than a negative one. Sometimes it takes a hard look in the mirror, but it’s always worth it in the end.

Notable Excerpt: “[Do] an audit of your life across all the different categories. So career and job is one of them, but also your money, volunteering, your side-hustles, your family or the institutions you’re part of, look at all your life and first start rating it by how much time are you spending on these categories and then whether you’re having a positive-neutral-negative effect.”

The Guest: Alex has spent over 15 years working in the social impact space for one of the largest children’s nonprofits. Save the Children and the Clinton Foundation. She now leads MIT Solve.

As a founding Executive Director of Solve. Alex has built and now oversees a fast-growing team whose mission is to drive innovation, to solve global challenges. Their team finds funds and supports the most promising social innovators in entrepreneurs all around the world.

To date solve has brokered funding commitments of over 60 million to their “solver” teams and entrepreneurs worldwide.

The Podcast: Livin’ Good Currency explores the relationship of time to our lives. It focuses on learning how super-successful people align their purpose with their passions to do good for themselves and others daily, and features a co-host who knows better than anyone the value of time (see below). How do you want to spend your life? This hour can inspire you, along with upcoming guests, to be sure you are ‘Livin’ Good Currency’ and never get caught running out of time.

The Hosts: Good News Network fans will know Tony (Anthony) Samadani as the co-owner of GNN and its Chief of Strategic Partnerships. Co-host Tobias Tubbs was handed a double life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime he didn’t commit. Behind bars, he used his own version of the Livin’ Good Currency formula to inspire young men in prison to turn their hours into honors. An expert in conflict resolution, spirituality, and philosophy, Tobias is a master gardener who employs ex-felons to grow their Good Currency by planting crops and feeding neighborhoods.

Episode Resources:
 
Alex Amouyel | instagram
Alex Amouyel | Twitter
Your Impact Life | Website
SolveMIT | Twitter

Are you ready to start your health journey today? Go to viome.com/goodcurrency to get $50 off Viome’s Full Body Intelligence test or bundle, the most advanced at-home health test currently available to consumers. Use Promo Code: CURRENCY50

Hero or Nuts, He Ran a Marathon Every Day in 2022–And Then Went to Work at His Job–Raising a Million for Charity

By
Andy Corbley
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sporlab

For many, running a marathon is an accolade of life, a culturally-fixed way of proving athletic ability and determination—but for Gary McKee, it’s literally just another day in the office.

McKee ran a marathon every day of 2022 to raise money for cancer treatment, and a simple multiplication problem of 26.2 x 365 will reveal he ran 9,500 miles (15,300km) during the year, equivalent to crossing the United States three times.

He ran through 20 pairs of running shoes, and what’s more, his marathon was only a prelude to going to work in the morning at the Sellafield nuclear site.

On New Year’s Eve he finished his final marathon to cheering crowds and fireworks near his Cumbrian home. News came in that he had raised £1 million in donations for Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice at Home.

“It’s not the distance, it’s because it’s the last one. It’ll be a special day. Cancer affects everybody so it isn’t just a west Cumbrian thing, it’s a national thing,” McKee told the BBC at breakfast ahead of his final run.

“I just hope that people do get behind us and we do raise that million pounds. If we don’t, it won’t be because I haven’t run 365 marathons.”

MORE ATHLETIC NEWS: NBA Basketball Star Donates Full Salary This Season to Build Hospital in DR Congo to Honor Father

“It’s difficult to put into words how grateful we are to Gary for taking on this unbelievable challenge,” said Hayley McKay, director of funding and communications for Hospice At Home West Cumbria. “The physical and mental strength he has shown is incomprehensible.”

After McKee was finished, he expressed his contentment in laconic terms, telling the BBC “we’ve done the job.”

SIMILAR: Nebraska Teen Runner Helps Competitor Finish Race After He Collapsed, Giving Up His Own Qualifying Hopes

He celebrated with his supporters; a “Marathon Man IPA” in his hands on what was a cold and rainy, yet intensely satisfying December day.

WATCH the start and finish of his final marathon… 

SHARE This Unbelievable Feat Of Athletics For A Good Cause On Social Media…

Life Might Be Found on One of Saturn’s Moons Without a Spacecraft Even Needing to Land

By
Andy Corbley
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Artists rendition of Enceladus Credit: NASAJPL-Caltech
Artists rendition of Enceladus Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Evidence of life on the icy Saturnine moon of Enceladus could be uncovered by a robot spacecraft sampling plumes of methane jetting out of its liquid interior, scientists suggest.

All NASA needs would be a robot that can either sample these plumes, or punch through the planet’s icy exterior to what we now know is a warm, salty ocean below.

When it was first surveyed by NASA in 1980 it looked like a not-too-exciting snowball in the sky.

A second NASA mission between 2005 and 2017 found its thick layer of ice hides a vast, warm saltwater ocean outgassing methane, a gas that typically comes from microbes on Earth.

The methane was discovered when the mission’s Cassini spacecraft flew through giant water plumes erupting from the surface of Enceladus.

Last year, scientists from the University of Arizona in the US and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres in France worked out that if life has emerged on Enceladus, this could explain why methane is found there.

While the number of bacteria in its ocean would be small, all it would need to uncover them would be a visit from a robot spacecraft.

Professor Régis Ferrière from the University of Arizona recently lead a study that showed how a well-equipped robot wouldn’t even need to land on Enceladus, but only fly through one of its plumes to “confidently” determine whether life has evolved there.

Why Enceladus?

One of Saturn’s 83 moons, the surface is like a frozen pond glinting in the sun, and it reflects light like nothing else in the solar system.

Along the moon’s south pole, at least 100 giant water plumes erupt through cracks in the icy landscape created by Saturn’s gravity. The excess methane expunged in the plumes resembles Earth’s hydrothermal vents found under the sea where two tectonic plates meet each other.

Where they meet, hot magma below the sea floor heats the ocean water in the porous bedrock creating “white smokers” which release scorching hot, mineral-rich sea water.

RELATED: NASA Measures Interior of Mars for the First time, Revealing Huge Liquid Core

Tiny organisms under the sea have no access to sunlight so they need the energy from chemicals released by white smokers to stay alive.

“On our planet, hydrothermal vents teem with life, big and small, in spite of darkness and insane pressure,” Ferrière recently explained. “The simplest living creatures there are microbes called methanogens that power themselves even in the absence of sunlight.”

Methanogens convert dihydrogen and carbon dioxide to gain energy and release methane as a byproduct.

The researchers’ calculations were based on the theory that Enceladus has methanogens that inhabit oceanic hydrothermal vents resembling the ones found on Earth.

MORE LIKE THIS: NASA Detects Carbon Dioxide–the Building Block of Life–in Exoplanet’s Atmosphere for First Time

The team worked out what exactly the total mass of methanogens on Enceladus would likely be, as well as the likelihood that their cells and other organic molecules could be ejected through the plumes.

The team say any regions of Enceladus that contain life would feed the plumes with just enough cells or organic materials to be picked up by instruments on a future space ship.

The team say a future mission may struggle to find direct evidence of life but the presence or absence of certain organic molecules, such as particular amino acids, would serve as indirect evidence for or against an environment abounding with life.

CHECK OUT: NASA Probe Enters the Sun’s Atmosphere for the First Time, Immediately Teaching Us New Things About Our Star

“The definitive evidence of living cells caught on an alien world may remain elusive for generations,” said the study’s first author Dr. Antonin Affholder. “Until then, the fact that we can’t rule out life’s existence on Enceladus is probably the best we can do.”

Scientists now want to go back to Enceladus and one mission proposes to land there in the 2050s to collect “extensive” data about it.

Hundreds of Mayan Cities and Towns with Ball Courts and Roads Discovered in LiDAR Survey in Guatemala

By
Andy Corbley
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La Danta Pyramid at El Mirador - CC 2.0. Dennis Jarvis
La Danta Pyramid at El Mirador – CC 2.0. Dennis Jarvis

Researchers studying the Mayan Empire have discovered that hidden under the rainforests of Guatemala were more than 900 habitations including at least 4 large cities and thousands of yards of raised causeways connecting them.

Together the research reveals the true scope of territorial reach and technological sophistication of the Maya like never before.

The revolutionary method that led to this discovery was a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) survey, which uses lasers to give centimeter-accuracy of the terrain features below a forest canopy, effectively allowing archaeologists to do what used to take decades of expensive excavations with a few fly overs in a plane.

650 square miles across northern Guatemala’s Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB) revealed 30 of the famous ball courts of the Ancient Mesoamerican team sport, 195 cement reservoirs which literally drained nearby lakes dry, and 110 miles of elevated walkways connecting 417 villages.

All of this dates to the middle and late Preclassical period of Mayan History, contemporary with such famous events in the Near East as the sack of the ancient Elamite capital of Susa by Assyria, the destruction of the Temple of Solomon by the Babylonians, and the Greco-Persian Wars including the Battle of Thermopylae.

The past 40 years of traditional excavations in the MCKB revealed around 56 sites, including the city of El Mirador, which contains the largest stone pyramid in the history of the Mayan world, La Danta. 205,508 limestone blocks comprise La Danta, and since it’s even larger than the great pyramid of Giza, would likely have required 6 to 10 million days of labor to build.

A great power of organization

“The skeleton of the ancient political and economic structure as a kingdom-state in the middle and late Preclassic periods has a tantalizing presence in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin,” the research team, led by Idaho State University archaeologist Richard D. Hansen, concluded in its recent study on the LiDAR survey in Ancient Mesoamerica.

As seen in this Twitter post, having only a topographical visualization of the MCKB, the challenge of trying to make sense of each individual site’s level of sophistication was a big one, and the researchers utilized a tiered system with 6 levels. El Mirador with its enormous pyramid is the highest tier, and the other areas march backwards from it.

The authors set definitions for city, town, and village, but admit that their data is limited to visible features on the surface.

MORE LIDAR NEWS: Almost 500 New Mesoamerican Structures Discovered By Using Lasers

“To further complicate issues, the Mirador Basin Project has identified an astonishing presence of “invisible” house mounds, with packed earthen floors, postholes, and Preclassic pottery in situ, but with no surface indications of architecture,” the authors write, explaining that some settlements could be larger than the surface architecture suggests.

“The consistency of architectural forms and patterns, ceramics, sculptural art, and unifying causeway constructions within a specified geographical territory suggests a centralized political, social, and economic organic solidarity among the occupants,” they continue.

“The magnitude of the labor in the construction of massive platforms, palaces, dams, causeways, and pyramids dating to the Middle and Late Preclassic periods throughout the MCKB suggests a power to organize thousands of workers and specialists, ranging from lime producers, mortar and quarry specialists, lithic technicians, architects, logistics and agricultural procurement specialists, and legal enforcement and religious officials, all operating under a political and ideological homogeneity.”

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Incredible Discovery Beneath the Southern Amazon Reveals Urban-Agrarian Society Never Seen Before

Poor soil conditions in tropical rainforest has long been cited as a limiting factor of Mesoamerican civilization, but not only was it not a problem for the leaders ruling in El Mirador to organize thousands of people for the occasional, Stonehenge-like effort, but for regular construction projects on a vast scale over hundreds of years.

SHARE This Transformative Discovery With Your Friends On Social Media…

Family Rescued After Lucky Tesla Survives Plunge Over Cliff in California

By
Andy Corbley
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The state of California remains 4 citizens richer after an incredible stroke of luck saw four people including two children rescued after the Tesla they were traveling in plunged 250 feet off a cliff on the coast.

Witnesses called 911 after the vehicle went over the cliff on State Route 1, at Devil’s Slide, between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, California shortly after 11AM, on Monday.

Despite rescue officials describing the car as flipping over several times before landing on its wheels, all four people not only survived the impact but are in stable condition.

The California Highway Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and multiple fire agencies responded to the scene, where the first responders then spotted movement in the front seat and called helicopters in to rescue the survivors.

Firefighters rappelled down to the crash site and hoisted the two children, believed to be a four-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy, into the helicopter.

READ MORE: Watch Migrant’s Incredible ‘Spider-Man’ Rescue That Earned Him Citizenship and a Job

“We were actually very shocked when we found survivable victims in the vehicle,” said CA Fire and Rescue commander Brian Pottenger. “So that actually was a hopeful moment for us.”

The adults were then flown to Stanford Medical Center, while the children were transported by ambulance.

All four were in stable condition after arriving, according to fire officials.

WATCH local news report on the lucky escape…

SHARE This Harrowing Escape With Your Friends… 

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley

Photo by: Meduana (cropped)

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?

NFL Fans Shocked by Sudden Collapse of Athlete Donate $5 Million in 24-hrs to His Humble Toy Drive–Including Tom Brady

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Good News Network
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Chasing M's Foundation / Gofundme

NFL fans and players are sending thoughts and prayers to the family of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field during the Monday Night Football game yesterday.

Reports say the player is currently in critical condition after his heart suffered cardiac arrest during game play. Eventually, he was taken away in an ambulance that had driven onto the field.

The shocking news generated an avalanche of compassion that has already raised nearly $5 million for Damar’s charity in less than a day.

The 24-year-old, who now plays safety in Western New York, created the charity to provide toy drives and back-to-school supplies for children in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

‘Tom Brady’ just donated $10,000 in the past hour—being one one of 160,000 people who opened their hearts by contributing.

The Chasing M’s Foundation first posted the humble fundraiser on GoFundMe in December of 2020, with Damar writing:

“As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me.”

“I created The Chasing M’s Foundation as a vehicle that will allow me to deliver that impact, and the first program is the 2020 Community Toy Drive.”

The Hamlin Family posted a recent update saying, “We can’t thank all of you enough. Your generosity and compassion mean the world to us.”

SHARE the Fundraiser With Football (and Bills) Fans on Social Media…

Improving Her Depression, Woman Tries Something New Every Day for a Year–And Vows to Keep it Up

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Good News Network
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Jess Mell Instagram / SWNS
Jess Mell Instagram / SWNS

A woman who struggled with depression found a way—actually, more than 300 ways—to improve her mental health by doing something new every day for a year.

Jess Mell says she’s now the happiest she’s been in a decade after trying new things for 365 days, including a try at hot yoga and beekeeping.

During the pandemic, the 34-year-old suffered from anxiety and depression—but the lockdown made her realize that she was depending upon her routine as insurance to keep her going.

So, last year on December 27th—as the pandemic was fading—she decided to try something new every day for 100 days. When that period ended in April, she found herself eager to do more.

One full year later, the Englishwoman has completed her challenge—yet still has no plans to stop.

Jess completed a wide range of ‘firsts’, including bleeding a radiator, using a sewing machine, and joining a gardening group.

From her home in Surrey, she was able to visit European cities like Vienna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, and Krakow—and, back on home soil, she tried speed dating and line dancing.

“I feel pretty emotional about it to be honest,” said the resident of Redhill. “I can’t believe it.

Jess Mell tried beekeeping for a day – Instagram / SWNS

“I wanted to finish it off with something exciting, so in the end I finished up by convincing my dad to let me sit on the roof of his car as he drove down the road,” she told SWNS news service. “My final one was making my first ever Instagram reel of some of the things I’d done in the year.”

PRO TIP: She adjusted her goal midway through the year, after finding it difficult to do ‘one thing every day’. She settled on simply doing 365 new things throughout the year.

“That way, I could do ten things in one day if I was free.”

Joined sometimes by friends, Jess says the best part about the whole experience has been putting herself out of her comfort zone.

“I feel like I should constantly be doing something.”

RELATED: 14 Unique Ways People Are Generating More Physical Activity in Daily Routines

From entertaining ‘firsts’—like watching an ice hockey match to playing with miniature pigs—to educational quests—like learning the DIY tasks of hanging a picture and sewing a button—her list is a unique hodgepodge of items.

“It’s now just part of what I do,” said Jess, who’s been keeping track of it all on her Instagram page.

“There’s still a lot more I want to try… What has been so nice about the whole experience has been that whenever I’ve thought ‘I could try that’, rather than putting it off I just ask myself ‘why don’t I’.”

CHECK OUT: 18 Science-backed Tips For Unblocking Your Creativity

Her Partial List: (Maybe it will inspire you to try something similar)

Got Instagram
Watched ET
Made a lampshade
Grew a plant from seed
Bled a radiator
Tried origami
Went to hot yoga
Dyed my hair pink
Did 1000 piece jigsaw by myself
Made muffins
Visited an aircraft hangar
Used the “scary” gym equipment
Got a henna tattoo
Watched the Great Escape
Learned how to tie various types of knots
Learned to shuffle cards
Went to a life drawing class
Completed a paint by numbers
Learned to pick a lock
Made/ate a vegan meal
Hung a picture on the wall
Learned to sew a button
Learned some British Sign Language
Went to a board game club
Learned to change indicator light bulbs in my car
Tried a Guinness
Joined a community volunteer group
Ate using chopsticks
Attended a first aid course
Went to the British Library
Had an Espresso Martini
Used a sewing machine
Poached an egg
Played chess for the first time
Successfully completed some monkey bars
Went to the Tate Modern museum
Changed a car wheel (or helped to!)
Played golf
Made a pizza from scratch
Did a French braid
Whittled some wood
Learned a simple tap routine
Tried to whistle with my fingers – couldn’t do it loudly!
Made a rainbow cake
Tried embroidery
Bowled without bumpers
Visited a Mormon Temple
Tried to start a fire without matches – failed!
Tried soldering
Went on my first solo trip
Went to Belfast/Northern Ireland for the first time
Made butternut squash soup
Tried knitting
Drove a van
Upcycled an old stool
Went paddle boarding
Tried papier mache
Visited St Paul’s Cathedral
Fixed my bathroom plug
Attempted to learn to play the ukulele (gave up!)
Watched a foreign film without subtitles
Went on my first solo trip outside of the UK
Made jam from scratch
Fed a tortoise
Made tapas from scratch including a Spanish tortilla
Tried sherry
Joined an outdoor fitness class
Went on an organized walk
Made banana bread
Tried Geocaching
Went to a butterfly house
Visited Krakow, Poland
Tried local dish, pierogi
Went on an e-scooter
Went to a poetry reading session
Tried bubble tea
Tried Zumba
Did a proper tequila shot
Tried reflexology
Did a solo escape room
Went to a local town’s museum
Learned a magic trick
Ate fish eggs
Used a bidet
Tried teeth whitening strips
Saw the changing of the guard
Sat on someone’s shoulders
Watched Tower Bridge going up
Tried a gooseberry
Made my own protein bars
Went to an outdoor cinema screening
.. And watched Casablanca for the first time
Went to a hot air balloon show
Had a beekeeping experience afternoon
Watched a jousting tournament
Tried plantain
Gave blood
Made a scarecrow
Swam in the sea during a storm
Had a birds of prey experience afternoon
Went on a tractor ride
Tried pumpkin spiced latte
Went to a casino
Went to an Oktoberfest
Finally worked out how to screen cast from my phone to the TV
Watched and painted along to a Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
Made ice cream
Saw the Little Mermaid statue
Went pumpkin picking
Went to puppy yoga
Watched Hocus Pocus for the first time
Went on a Murder Mystery Train experience
Ran up a downwards escalator
Drove a Tesla
Went to a sketch comedy show
Went to an ice hockey match
Made a key lime pie
Tried mulled cider
Toasted a marshmallow on a fire
Pulled a pint in a pub
Snapped a wish bone
Attended an online cookery class
Tried curling
Caught a grape in my mouth
Streaked!
Went line dancing
Went speed dating

SHARE the Inspiring Ideas With Friends on Social Media…

South American Songbird Hailed as Most Expert Musician of the Animal Kingdom (LISTEN)

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Good News Network
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Illustration by Gonzalo Nazati / SWNS
Illustration by Gonzalo Nazati / SWNS

When it comes to keeping time, an unassuming species of songbird is on a par with professional musicians, according to an audio analysis.

The study is the first to investigate natural time-keeping ability of an animal in the wild, rather than under observation in the lab—and scientists have hailed the song abilities of the scaly-breasted wren for its perfectly-timed whistle-like chirps.

The small brown bird from Central and South America demonstrated better time-keeping skills than those of mammals and birds trained in captivity, according to Carlos Antonio Rodriguez-Saltos, who conducted the research and led the study at the University of Texas at Austin.

Birds don’t have songbooks. But some species sing the same tune, chirping notes in an identifiable pattern. For the scaly-breasted wren, the pattern goes like this: an opening blast of chirps followed by alternating intervals of chirps and pauses, with the pauses between each chirp getting progressively longer.

Rodriguez-Saltos became familiar with the song of the wren as an undergraduate student in Ecuador when his ecology professor taught him how to identify the distinct pattern among the din of rainforest sounds. Years later, he realized that a unique feature of the wren’s song — the steadily growing pauses between the chirps — presented a unique opportunity to delve into the bird’s time-tracking abilities.

LOOK: Rare Singing Hummingbird Unexpectedly Rediscovered in Colombia Cloaked in Iridescent Blue and Green

The pauses between each chirp grow in a predictable way — lengthening by about a half second each time. After the pause reaches about 10 seconds long, the birds then repeat their song from the top.

“It is a really remarkable change from short intervals to long intervals in the same song,” Rodriguez-Saltos said.

In laboratory experiments, most animals — including humans — have difficulty determining how much time has passed after just a second or two. In general, the longer an interval of time, the worse animals are at estimating its passage.

Carlos Antonio Rodriguez-Saltos / University of Texas at Austin

But for the wild wrens, 43% of the songs (10 out of the 23 songs that met the requirements for evaluation) consistently kept time for the duration of the song, with the intervals holding the established pattern even as the pauses increased in length.

For two of those songs, the accuracy of the wren was higher than that of the average professional musician, said Saltos, the study’s lead author who published the results in Animal Behaviour.

Susan Healy, a professor who studies bird behavior at the University of St. Andrews and who was not part of the study, said that the paper raises questions about how timing might play into the mating displays of wrens.

“If females are especially interested in a male’s ability not just to produce the right notes but also the timing of their production, then the pressure is on,” she said.

RELATED: Birds Have Self Control, Just Like Humans–And Some Have a Lot of It

The birdsong analyzed in the study came from field recordings. (See videos below…) Some were made by Rodriguez-Saltos and co-author Fernanda Duque in Ecuador. Others came from bird aficionados who uploaded recordings of the wren’s song online.

Co-authored the study, Professor Julia Clarke, an expert on evolution of bird vocalization in both living and extinct species, said the research demonstrates the importance of turning to nature to study birds in their natural environments.

“We take wild birds for granted… This case shows how studying birds can provide huge new insights into cognition.”

 

Listen to more below—and CHECK OUT: Biologists Identify First Animal That Uses the Complexity of Human Language: the Song Sparrow – LISTEN

CHIRP the Fascinating News to Musicians and Birders on Social Media…

13 Panda Cubs Frolic Together for the First Time on a Playground Built Just for Them – LOOK

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Good News Network
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China Central Television
China Central Television

A group of more than a dozen panda cubs made a collective appearance in China to wish fans a happy New Year.

Video footage shows the moment the panda cubs, carried by staff members, were brought out to a colorfully decorated playground for their first romp in public.

The cubs explored their custom enclosure, while keepers had bottles at the ready to feed them milk.

All the giant panda cubs, including four pairs of twins, were born around six months ago in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, in China’s Sichuan Province.

The playful cubs are among the 15 giant pandas—all in good health—born at the base in 2022.

POPULAR: Rare Baby Red Panda That ‘Gave Hope’ for Endangered Species Effort Gets its First Exam

China Central Television / SWNS

The Chinese government has created multiple giant panda reserves, and conservation efforts like these have contributed to a rise in the panda population over recent decades.

Watch the cuteness outbreak in the video below…

SHARE the Adorable Panda News on Social Media to Say Happy New Year…

“Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.” – Patti Smith

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.” – Patti Smith

Photo by: Erika Giraud

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?

Incredible Time-Lapse Shows 12,000-Ton Bridge Being Slid into Place Above Highway in Record-Setting Feat

By
Andy Corbley
-

Incredible time-lapse footage shows a 12,600-ton bridge being slid into place across a highway in a world-record-setting engineering feat.

Around 450 people spent 40 hours over the Christmas week slowly positioning the gigantic structure over the M42 in Warwickshire, England, at a speed of around 15 feet per hour.

The method involved building the entire 282 feet (86 meter) bridge on land next to the motorway over a six month period. During the planning period, civil and structural engineers then designed a sliding mechanism that allowed it to be pushed into place—like a 21st century version of the wooden rollers of the ancients.

The operation took place during a 10-day closure of the roadway (between Junctions J9 and J10) which is on-schedule to reopen tomorrow, January 3rd. The new Marston Box Bridge will carry a high-speed railway towards Birmingham and London.

“This is the first box slide of its kind over a motorway in the UK, and we believe it’s also the world’s longest slide, so it’s a great achievement for HS2 as we quickly approach peak construction,” said Mike Lyons, the civil delivery director of the firm behind this genius feat, HS2 Ltd.

SIMILAR: The World’s First Boat Elevator Helped Turn Scottish Canals Into Green Veins of Joy

“It’s fantastic to celebrate another big milestone for a project that is already providing work for almost 30,000 people today, and in the future, it will encourage people to use zero carbon public transport.”

HS2 claims the construction method, which allowed it to be moved into place in one movement, dramatically reduced disruption for drivers, compared with building the bridge in place.

MORE ENGINEERING NEWS: Two Swiss Reservoirs Turned into World’s Largest ‘Water Battery’ to Power Europe–Time-Lapse Video Will Blow Your Mind

“We’re extremely proud to have successfully delivered the world’s longest box slide,” said Sasan Ghavami, one of the construction directors with Balfour Beatty VINCI, the contracting firm that, along with HS2, worked with National Highways to deliver the ‘intricate’ operation to the West Midlands region.

WATCH the time-lapse below… 

SHARE This Incredible Feat Of Engineering With Your Friends… 

Hilarious Viral Video: Snoop Dog Narrating Planet Earth Lizard-Escape is ‘Better Than Original’

By
Andy Corbley
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Plizzanet Earth - YouTube

Snoop Dogg narrating animal videos is bound to be a hit on the internet.

From the documentary Planet Earth II, the sequel more than a decade in the making, a lizard’s mad escape from an island full of snakes became the perfect scene to get an enthusiastic dash of the Long Beach rapper’s humorous commentary.

Certainly not least among the points of humor is his colorful language (which might be only appropriate for adult listeners), so be forewarned.

Back in 2016, on Doggy Dogg’s YouTube channel, he began to release narrated animal footage under the title Plizzanet Earth, which enjoyed endless viral shares across the internet.

That same year, Planet Earth II came out and effectively doubled the content he could draw from—and Jimmy Kimmel began producing them for his Late Night show.

In this video, you can’t help but laugh as Snoop cheers on the iguana that heroically avoids dozens of speedy predator snakes by climbing a rock.

“Because snakes ain’t got hands, and they don’t got feet.”

Definitely worth sharing here — and on GNN’s Good Laughs page….

YOUR Friends Will Thank You For Sharing the Funny Video on Social Media…

Fascinating Images Show ‘Winter Wonderland’ on Mars Captured by Reconnaissance Orbiter

By
Andy Corbley
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Fascinating images have been released that show a winter wonderland on Mars of cube-shaped snow, icy landscapes, and frost.

It’s not any winter wonderland in which you’d like to be walking, as the snapshots of the landscape reveal temperatures of -123°C.

The photos of Mars’ coldest season were taken by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

NASA explains that the most “fabulous” discovery comes at the end of winter, when all the ice that built up begins to “thaw” and sublimate into the atmosphere. As it does so, this ice takes on bizarre and beautiful shapes.

“When winter comes to Mars, the surface is transformed into a truly otherworldly holiday scene. Snow, ice, and frost accompany the season’s sub-zero temperatures. Some of the coldest of these occur at the planet’s poles,” NASA wrote in an image release.

“Cold as it is, don’t expect snow drifts worthy of the Rocky Mountains. No region of Mars gets more than a few feet of snow, most of which falls over extremely flat areas. And the Red Planet’s elliptical orbit means it takes many more months for winter to come around: a single Mars year is around two Earth years.”

RELATED: Huge Supply of Water Discovered on Mars, Frozen at the Bottom of its Grand Canyon

The Mars “thawing” causes geysers to erupt where translucent ice allows sunlight to heat up gas underneath it, and that gas eventually bursts out, sending fans of dust onto the surface.

Scientists have begun to study these fans as a way to learn more about which way Martian winds are blowing.

SIMILAR: Incredible 3D Rendering from Jupiter Spacecraft Reveals “Frosted Cupcake” Clouds

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006.

The spacecraft is designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth.

WATCH NASA Explain it Below… 

SHARE This Beautiful Martian Snowscape With Your Space-Loving Friends… 

Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough: Cellular ‘Glue’ Heals Wounds, Potentially Regrows Nerves and Tissue

By
Andy Corbley
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Wendell Lim Ph.D. - Released UCSF
Wendell Lim Ph.D. – Released UCSF

Typical of science fiction is the scene wherein a space warrior sustains an injury and some kind of medical spray instantly repairs the damage. This could soon be science fact, thanks to a medical science breakthrough.

Researchers at the Univ. of California San Francisco have engineered molecules that act like a “cellular glue” for direct bonding of tissues—a long sought goal of regenerative medicine.

In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, the UCSF team produced customized adhesion molecules which bound select cells in a predictable manner, giving them de-facto control of the regenerative potential of the body.

“We were able to engineer cells in a manner that allows us to control which cells they interact with, and also to control the nature of that interaction,“ said senior author Wendell Lim, PhD, director of UCSF’s Cell Design Institute. “This opens the door to building novel structures like tissues and organs.”

Adhesive molecules can be found all throughout the human body creating communicative-bonds and immune pathways between tens of trillions of cells, but manipulating them has been beyond the reach of scientists so far.

Cellular bonding creates the characteristics of the structure they create. Tighter bonds form complex, solid organs like the liver or lungs, while looser bonds permit structures like immune molecules to do their disease fighting work with flexibility.

MORE BREAKTHROUGHS: Lab-Grown Blood Given to People in World-First Clinical Trial

The artificial adhesion molecules designed by Lim et al. come in two parts: one which sits on the outside of the cell and determines which other cells it binds to, and another which sits inside and determines the strength of the bond.

“It’s very exciting that we now understand much more about how evolution may have started building bodies,” Lim said.

SIMILAR: ‘Transformational’ Therapy Seems to Be a Cure For Hemophilia

“Our work reveals a flexible molecular adhesion code that determines which cells will interact, and in what way. Now that we are starting to understand it, we can harness this code to direct how cells assemble into tissues and organs.”

“These tools could be really transformative.”

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“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

Photo by: Zoltan Tasi

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?

Local Hero Broke into School to Save 24 People During a New York Blizzard

By
Good News Network
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Cheektowaga Police Department
Cheektowaga Police Department

A remarkable story from the Christmas blizzard blanketing the Northeastern United States featured the kind of ‘smash and grab’ we all need to hear about.

The school’s alarm went off at Edge Academy on Christmas Eve, but due to the ‘worst snow storm in a generation‘ the local police near Buffalo, New York, were unable to quickly respond.

When the Cheektowaga Police did arrive, they found one of the windows had been broken out—but checking the school building, they found nothing out of place.

They thought maybe the damage was caused from the hurricane-force winds—untill they saw a handwritten note left on a table.

The note started with an apology for causing damage to the window—and having to borrow the snow blower to rescue others who had run out of gas while trapped in their cars.

“Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers. Just trying not to die.”

“There were 7 elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom.”

Cheektowaga Police Department

The note was signed, Merry Christmas, Jay.

When officers watched the video surveillance from the school, they were astonished. “We witnessed people taking care of people,” said a report on the Department’s Facebook Page.

After breaking in, Jay went back out into the storm and found others who were freezing in their cars, and brought them inside—24 in total, and 2 dogs.

In the school, he found granola bars, water, and blankets in the nurses office, and gathered apples, juice, and cereal from the kitchen.

Kids played in the gym and adults watched football games and storm updates on television, while the hours on Saturday turned into a Christmas Day Sunday, spent sheltering at the school.

Cheektowaga Police Department

“When they were finally able to leave safely, you never would have known anyone was there,” said the police on Facebook. “This group of amazing people cleaned up all the tables… and the building they found shelter in.”

Cheektowaga Police Department

“There was a freezer full of food but no one touched it. They only ate what was necessary to stay alive.

Soon, police wanted to identify the mysterious ‘Jay,’ so they could commend him for “actions that one-hundred-percent saved lives”.

Cheektowaga Police released this photo to find ‘Merry Christmas Jay’

After they did find the 27-year-old, they announced on Facebook: ‘Because of Jay Withey, people are still alive.’

Sandy Black was one of those people. She said, “It was an ordeal but thanks to Jay we all had a place to stay warm.” (See the video below…)

Jay even used the school’s snowblower to dig out other stuck cars, to help clear the streets for plows.

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“I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity, and I had the will to do it,” Jay told ABC News.

Cheektowaga Police Department

The group is “like family” now—and is already planning a reunion in Spring.

Mario Johnson vowed to return to the school after Christmas to replace the snacks they ate and the water they drank. He also inquired about the cost of the window.

Not only did the school declined to press charges, they told Mario not to worry about it, when he offered several times to pay for the broken window. “They’re just happy that we were safe and warm.”

RELATED: Couple Stuck on Highway for 21 Hours in Snowstorm Asks Bakery Truck to Give Away Their Supply to Hungry Drivers

“My mom and I are so appreciative to our guardian Angel,” Johnson wrote on Facebook. “Jay is now my little brother for life.”

“The selflessness that people showed to help others during the storm is what Western NY is really made of,” concluded the Police spokesperson.

Watch the amazing video from ABC below…

SHARE The Awesome Hero Story On Social Media—to Start Your NEW YEAR Right…

U.S. to Eliminate Exorbitant Cost of Prison Phone Calls With New Law

By
Andy Corbley
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A new U.S. law that will allow the Federal Communications Commission to regulate prison phone calls needs only President Biden’s signature to put an end to a largely unknown, yet famously predatory, prison practice.

Telecom companies that specialize in providing phone service for inmates have long made the process of signing up for their service and placing calls as expensive as possible, with a nationwide average of about $3 per call.

The telecom fees are often too great for inmates to be able to afford regular calls to loved ones or lawyers—and too costly for families to keep in touch with those behind bars.

Private prisons have profited by granting monopoly telephone contracts to the company that will charge families the most.

The Martha Wright-Reed Act, as the legislation will be called, gives the FCC the authority to “ensure just and reasonable charges for telephone and advanced communications services in correctional and detention facilities.”

RELATED ‘World’s Most Dangerous Malware’ Gang Taken Down in International Cyber Crime Effort

“The FCC has for years moved aggressively to address this terrible problem, but we have been limited in the extent to which we can address rates for calls made within a state’s borders,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says in a statement.

President Biden is expected to sign the Democrat-sponsored legislation, which passed both the House and Senate, and will include both video and phone calls.

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