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Striking Photo of a Panther is Now Part of a Huge Project to Better Protect Amazon Diversity

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Camera trap image of panther - iDiv via SWNS
Camera trap image of panther – iDiv via SWNS

Staring into the camera, this shot of a panther in the Amazon rainforest is part of a huge project to better protect the massive diversity of wildlife found there.

Conservationists have collated more than 120,000 pictures from camera traps from the forest to improve research on the abundance, diversity, and habitat conditions of endangered rainforest species.

The wildlife cameras in the Amazon Basin, which are equipped with sensors that trigger when animals approach, have captured photos of jaguars, toucans, harpy eagles, ocelots, tapirs, peccaries, and many more.

A total of 120,849 records on 289 species from 2001 to 2020 have been collected and standardized.

Building this new database involved 147 scientists from 122 research institutions and conservation groups under the leadership of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.

RELATED: Precious Rainforests Are Being Preserved at Highest Rate in 30 Years, After Palm Oil Moratorium in Indonesia

Until now, knowledge about the number, diversity, distribution patterns and behavior of species in this territory has been patchy and therefore scarce. The information was scattered among many individual publications, grey literature and unpublished raw data.

The data, published in the journal Ecology, provides information from 143 study sites across the Basin, an area of nearly 3.2 million square miles (8.5 million sq km) covering states in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

Camera trapping is a non-invasive and cost-effective survey method that allows the detection of low-density and elusive species that might otherwise be underestimated.

Ocelot image from camera trap-released- iDiv via SWNS

“Our database significantly improves the information situation on vertebrates in the Amazon region,” said Ana Carolina Antunes, doctoral researcher at the University of Jena and member of the iDiv research group.

This immense mosaic of habitats shelters more than 5520 vertebrate species and together, provides the world with essential ecosystem services.

“It’s not just that the cameras allow you to take beautiful photos of the animals. They also provide further important data from which it is possible to deduce how climate change and human-induced landscape changes affect animals and their habitats on a large scale.”

CHECK OUT: 14 Years Ago the Amazon Was Being Bulldozed for Soy – Then Everything Changed As Corporations Joined Activists

This database now allows larger scale analyses of changes in population densities and the residence patterns of the animals. For example, the database can help keep the jaguar protected in the Amazon Forest by providing more precise habitat analyses; statements about where habitats best meet the jaguars’ requirements and where they do not.

2 jaguars – iDiv via SWNS

The results of the analyses can be used for mapping and designating protected areas. They also confirm the importance of already designated protected areas for the jaguar and its prey.

The previously fragmented data, which covered only smaller areas, allowed very sparse statements to be made about the large-scale habitats that jaguars—and other species—require.

The Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest on Earth, with 34
million people and half of the stored terrestrial carbon from tropical forests on the planet, a total of 100 billion tons of carbon in biomass.

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This hyper-diverse region has more than 15,000 tree species distributed in a variety of habitats, such as savannas, white sand forests, and flooded or unflooded forests. Intersecting these habitats, the Amazon river is the world’s largest river basin in length and volume, holding 12 to 20% of global freshwater.

“Altogether, these data allow us to advance our potential of addressing important questions related to conservation and public policy development,” said one of the study’s authors, Milton Ribeiro, a professor at the São Paulo State University.

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Paleontologists Discover Fossil Shows That Dinosaurs Had ‘Belly Buttons’

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3D reconstruction of Psittacosaurus shows umbilical. Image credit: Jagged Fang Designs / CUHK
3D reconstruction of Psittacosaurus shows umbilical. Image credit: Jagged Fang Designs / via CUHK

Thanks to an ‘incredible’ fossil, paleontologists have confirmed that dinosaurs indeed had belly buttons—and at the same time set a new record for the oldest one ever found in reptiles and mammals.

Scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and international colleagues in Argentina and the U.S. used a high-tech laser imaging technology to make the discovery.

The technology revealed the finest details of a 125-million-year old dinosaur fossil found 20 years ago in China, which included a scar among the scales.

Dr. Michael Pittman, Assistant Professor of CUHK’s School of Life Sciences applied the Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) technique to a fossilized skin specimen of a Psittacosaurus, a two-legged plant eater that was two-meter-long (6.5 foot) and lived during the Cretaceous period.

“We identified distinctive scales that surrounded a long umbilical scar in the Psittacosaurus specimen, similar to certain living lizards and crocodiles,” said Pittman, the joint-corresponding author of the study.

“This specimen is the first dinosaur fossil to preserve a belly button, which is due to its exceptional state of preservation”.

RELATED: ‘Impossible Fossil’ Preserves the Exact Moment the Dinosaurs Died: ‘It’s Absolutely Bonkers’

Unlike humans, dinosaurs did not have an umbilical cord because they laid eggs. Instead, the yolk sac of dinosaurs was directly attached to the body via a slit-like opening—also found in other egg-laying land animals.

It is this opening that sealed up at about the time the animal hatches, leaving a distinctive long umbilical scar that scientists still call a belly button.

Laser-stimulated fluorescence image shows umbilical scar. Image credit: Bell et al 2022 / via CUHK

While the egg-laying nature of dinosaurs predicts a long belly button scar, this study is the first to support this hypothesis with fossil evidence.

LOOK: Exquisitely Preserved Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Dinosaur Egg 

“Whilst this beautiful specimen has been a sensation since it was described in 2002, we have been able to study it in a whole new light using novel laser fluorescence imaging, which reveals the scales in incredible detail,” said Dr. Pittman.

Dr. Phil R. Bell from the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, the study’s lead and joint-corresponding author, commented, “This Psittacosaurus specimen is probably the most important fossil we have for studying dinosaur skin. But it continues to yield surprises that we can bring to life with new technology like laser imaging.”

The specimen is on display at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.

CHECK OUT: Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be the Largest Animal That Ever Walked the Earth

The findings were published in the international journal of biology BMC Biology.

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School Closures During Lockdowns Slashed Rates of Mysterious Fever That Causes Heart Disease in Kids

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Dr Jane Burns, Director Kawasaki Disease Research Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine

School closures due to Covid lockdowns resulted in much lower rates of the mysterious fever that causes heart disease in kids, according to new research.

Cases of Kawasaki disease fell by 28 percent in 2020, and remained low during the peak pandemic period.

Masking mandates, less air pollution, and reduced circulation of respiratory viruses were thought to be the causes behind the phenomenon.

The numbers shed fresh light on the causes of the most commonly acquired heart disease in children.

Kawasaki disease (KD) affects hundreds of youngsters in the UK each year—about eight in every 100,000—and almost 6,000 children annually in the United States.

Senior author Dr. Jane Burns, director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California-San Diego Medical School (UCSD), said the pandemic provided “an incredible natural experiment” that researchers could take advantage of.

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KD continues to puzzle pediatricians, with its triggers and mode of entry into the body yet to be identified.

Unlike Covid-19, it is not contagious. But the discovery that precautions against coronavirus were an effective tool suggests it is inhaled into the upper respiratory tract.

The findings in JAMA Network Open Pediatrics could have a major impact on research and prevention.

When the pandemic began, UCSD was leading a multi-site clinical trial monitoring national KD cases between 2018 and 2020.

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Dr. Burns and colleagues combined this effort with additional data from San Diego to track KD incidence as the crisis progressed.

Dr Jane Burns, Director Kawasaki Disease Research Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine

First author and UCSD Professor Jennifer Burney called it a “really interesting story”.

“We saw a huge decline in numbers, but unlike other respiratory illnesses during the shelter-in-place period, it didn’t disappear entirely, and the dynamics were not the same for all subsets of patients.”

Rates of KD are typically higher in male and Asian children, and these groups saw especially large drops in cases during the pandemic.

Another group that saw a disproportionate decrease was children ages one through five. This was notable when compared to infants, who saw no significant change in KD rates during this time period.

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The reason is likely because infant behavior was not as significantly impacted by the pandemic. Typical activities and exposures for older children changed more dramatically in 2020.

The patterns suggest social behavior affects exposure to the agents that trigger KD, and are consistent with a respiratory portal of entry.

“Kawasaki disease may be caused by a virus, a pollutant, a microbial aerosol, or all of the above,” said Dr. Burns. “The fact the pandemic affected each age group differently supports the idea that there are multiple triggers of KD, and different children develop the disease after exposure to different ones.”

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KD causes inflammation in the walls of the blood vessels and affects mostly children under five. It can weaken arteries which supply the heart with blood. Symptoms include fever, rash, bloodshot eyes, and redness of the mouth, throat, hands and feet. When untreated, a quarter of patients develop coronary artery aneurysms that can lead to heart attacks, congestive heart failure, or—in three percent of untreated cases—sudden death.

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40 year-old Mom of 3 Becomes First Female Olympian to Finish a Triathlon in Under 8 Hours – New Film Shows How

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Nicola at Pho3nix Sub8 Photo credit: MANA
Nicola at Pho3nix Sub8 Photo credit: MANA

A 40 year-old mom has entered the history books by becoming the first female Olympian ever to complete a full triathlon in under 8 hours—smashing the world record by over 40 minutes.

Two-time Olympic Nicola Spirig crossed the finish line in Germany in an astonishing 7 hours, 34 minutes and 19 seconds.

She accomplished the feat despite earlier this year breaking three ribs, fracturing her collarbone and puncturing a lung in a cycling accident that almost ended her career. She recovered and went on to fulfill this lifelong triathlon ambition on the cusp of ending her 20+ years of international competition and retiring from the sport this year.

Her iconic legacy as a trailblazer in women’s sport and her climactic journey towards realizing an ultimate career goal is captured in a new film entitled Nicola’s Spirit released last week.

The unique Pho3nix Sub8 Project race in Germany on June 5 was organized specifically to pit two of the world’s greatest female triathletes against each other, in a challenge to break the 8-hour barrier. Both athletes broke the decade-long world record for women of 8:18:13. Not only did Nicola smash her personal record of 9 hours, 14 minutes and 7 seconds, the seven-time European Champion crossed the line in an epic 7:34:19— three minutes after Ironman champion (and non-Olympian) Kat Matthews, a British army captain.

Filmed on-location in her native Switzerland by Swiss sportswear company, On, the new documentary offers unprecedented insight in to the psyche and competitive spirit of a true champion.

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“Nicola has defied the impossible and is the perfect embodiment of how the power of determination can overcome every obstacle towards fulfilling your dreams and ultimate ambition,” says Feliciano Robayna, Executive Producer and Head of Sports Marketing at On. “Realizing your career-long dream as a 40 year-old mother of three shows there is no barrier that cannot be broken.”

Photo credit: Devin Toselli

The five-minute film captures Nicola training against the stunning backdrop of the mountains of Gran Canaria, as she describes what Spirit means to her, and easily balances growing a family with her career ambitions and achievements.

The film features footage of her post injury treatment beginning just three months prior to competing at the Pho3nix Sub8 and culminates with Nicola making her long-awaited attempt to break the 8-hour barrier.

Beyond winning seven 70.3 Ironman titles—and being on the podium at each half Ironman race she has ever entered—she has also managed to study to become a lawyer.

CHECK OUT: 83-Year-old Sets World Record Sailing Alone Across the Pacific Without Stopping

Nicola also organizes the Kids Cup races for children throughout Switzerland, raising money to deliver to other kids more access to sports.

Watch a delightful video below – And don’t miss the new short film and trailer, here.

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“You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a closely-­knit group of nearly omnipotent people—and think of those people as yourself and your friends.” – Robert Anton Wilson

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Credit: Chang Duong

Quote of the Day: “You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a closely-­knit group of nearly omnipotent people—and think of those people as yourself and your friends.” – Robert Anton Wilson 

Photo by: Chang Duong – @iamchang

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?

‘Life Finds a Way’: Polar Bears Successfully Adapt Even Without As Much Sea Ice

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Andy Corbley
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By Scheherazade Al-Arab, CC license
By Scheherazade Al-Arab, CC license

The furry-faced poster-animal of the climate crisis is still surviving smartly, even in a habitat without as much sea ice, according to a new survey.

Along Greenland’s southeast coast, the usual 100-days of frozen sea water is being replaced by a floating landscape of ice coming off the fronts of glaciers, providing the bears with enough solid ground to hunt on year-round.

It has allowed this genetically-distinct subpopulation to continue to live, despite conditions that were being described 30 years ago as a doomsday situation that would mark the species’ end.

“Our findings are hopeful,” said one researcher. “I think they show us how some polar bears might persist under climate change.”

Southeastern Greenland is an extremely difficult place to survey, and for Kristian Laidre, lead author of the study that identified these bears, it was a 7-year process of tracking the illusive population of several hundred as they moved across the landscape. The team did so from stormy-weather helicopters, while needing to rely on survival techniques like burying fuel containers in the snow in the few places the helicopter could land.

They tracked 27 bears’ movements to compare them with 30 years of previous data, while also relying on DNA samples and anecdotal reports from subsistence hunters who would occasionally see them, or come across their carcasses.

LOOK: Orphaned Polar Bear That Loved to Hug Arctic Workers Gets New Life

“They’re an important group because they can help us look into the future,” Laidre told Science Magazine.

The female bears appeared smaller and produced fewer cubs, which could be a sign of adaptation or simply of sparser hunting conditions on their “slushy mélange” of sea ice and glacial runoff.

Hunting from these freshwater ice chunks, it’s the first time polar bears have been seen displaying this behavior, and offers proof that even during under-prevented global warming conditions, bears in parts of the world like Greenland and Svalbard, which contain many glacier fronts, could still adapt to new hunting conditions.

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These few hundred polar bears are reportedly the most susceptible to climate change of any of the white wanderers, because they live further south. So it’s good news, indeed, that the bears are ‘finding a way’.

Watch the video from Reuters…

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World’s First CO2 Battery to Offer Long-Duration Energy Storage at Half the Cost

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Energy Dome plant in Sardinia
Image credit: Energy Dome

An Italian startup this month announced the successful launch of a CO2 battery that uses carbon dioxide to store renewable energy at utility-scale on the grid—a technology that is now ready to be deployed worldwide.

Energy Dome began its operations in February 2020 and has progressed from a concept to full testing of a multi-megawatt plant in just over two years.

At its first facility in Sardinia, Italy, operators completed trouble-shooting for the CO2 Battery technology and are now entering the commercial scaling phase, becoming the first commercial long-duration energy storage technology on the market offering “a reliable alternative to fossil fuels for dispatchable baseload power globally”.

The initial phase of operations has confirmed the performance of the CO2 Battery and its capability of storing energy for a long duration, all while maintaining highly competitive round-trip efficiency, without degradation or site dependency.

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The key to this Sardinia demonstration project has been the use of off-the-shelf equipment available from a globally established supply chain, demonstrating that the rapid global deployment of the CO2 Battery is now possible with no bottlenecks.

“I am proud of our dedicated team and of our results. We can now provide an answer to the most pressing issue of our time: climate change,” said Energy Dome Founder and CEO Claudio Spadacini.

“Our breakthrough technology, the CO2 Battery, is now commercially available to make cost-effective renewable energy dispatchable on a global scale.”

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Energy Dome’s CO2 Batteries can be quickly deployed anywhere in the world at less than half the cost of similar-sized lithium-ion battery storage facilities, and use readily available materials, such as carbon dioxide, steel, and water. They are now preparing for their first full-scale 20MW-200MWh plant, expected to be deployed by the end of 2023.

Spadacini has tapped a team of experts in turbomachinery, process engineering, and energy, with a proven track record of designing novel turbines. The unique nature of the Energy Dome process, which was named a winner in the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneers 2022 technology competition, integrates known components in a novel industrial process based on a thermodynamic transformation of CO2.

The company has already secured multiple commercial agreements, including with an Italian utility A2A for the construction of a 20MW-5h facility. Earlier this year, Energy Dome also signed a non-exclusive license agreement with Ansaldo Energia, a major provider of power generation plants and components, to build long-duration energy storage projects in Italy, Germany, the Middle East and Africa.

ALSO: Solar Panels Built From Waste Crops Can Make Energy Without Direct Light

To fund a rapid commercial scale-up, the company, which also has an office in the UK, plans to launch its Series B fundraising round.

See an animation about how it works:

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70% Say They Always Trust Their Instinct, With Physical ‘Gut Feeling’ Used to Make Decisions, Says New Poll

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Jonathan Cosens Photography
Jonathan Cosens Photography

Forget head over heart. People in Britain firmly believe in gut-first when making decisions, according to a new poll.

A survey of 2,000 adults found that 70 percent say they always trust their instincts with 35 percent experiencing a physical ‘gut feeling’ about situations.

Nearly one in five (17 percent) turn to the feeling in their gut to tell them if something’s wrong when it comes to their health, while 20 percent rely on their intuition to guide them when it comes to trusting a partner.

And 21 percent think their gut will influence their dreams if it’s trying to tell them something.

But when it comes to this part of their actual anatomy, 36 percent are unaware of the gut’s importance to overall wellbeing.

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While 40 percent don’t know the role diet plays in gut health, and despite fiber supporting good gut health, only seven percent know how much they should be eating.

“While there’s a lot we don’t know about the gut, we do know there are trillions of bacteria (our gut microbiota) living in it,” said NHS doctor and registered nutritionist, Dr. Joshua Wolrich, who is working with California Almonds, which commissioned the survey carried out by OnePoll.

We also know that eating a healthy diet that includes fiber, drinking enough water, and quality sleep are among the ways you can improve your gut health, which can stave off a variety of disease.

But the benefits of ‘gut feelings’ can reward your life only when you listen to that inner wisdom, rather than ignoring it.

LOOK: Young Woman is Proof That Trusting Your Heart Can Save Your Life

How often do you follow your gut? Let us know in the comments…

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

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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of June 18, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Here’s a message I hope you will deliver to the Universe sometime soon: “Dear Life: I declare myself open and ready to receive miracles, uplifting news, fun breakthroughs, smart love, and unexpected blessings. I hope to be able to give my special gifts in new and imaginative ways. I am also eager for useful tips on how to express my dark side with beauty and grace. One more perk I hope you will provide, dear Life: Teach me how to be buoyantly creative and sensitively aggressive in asking for exactly what I need.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In August 2021, a Canadian man named Jerry Knott bought a ticket for a lottery. He stuffed it in his wallet and lost track of it. Two months later, he found it again and checked to see its status. Surprise! It was a winner. His prize was $20 million. I propose we make him your role model for now, my fellow Crabs. Let’s all be alert for assets we may have forgotten and neglected. Let’s be on the lookout for potentially valuable resources that are ripe for our attention.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Hundreds of years ago, people in parts of Old Europe felt anxiety about the Summer Solstice. The sun reached its highest point in the sky at that time, and from then on would descend, bringing shorter and shorter days with less and less light. Apprehensive souls staged an antidote: the festival of Midsummer. They burned great bonfires all through the night. They stayed awake till morning, partying, and dancing. Author Jeanette Winterson expresses appreciation for this holiday. “Call it a wild perversity or a wild optimism, but our ancestors were right to celebrate what they feared.” Winterson fantasizes about creating a comparable ceremony for her fears: “a ritual burning of what is coward in me, what is lost in me. Let the light in before it is too late.” I invite you to do something like this yourself, Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo author Elizabeth McCracken says, “I don’t dream of someone who understands me immediately, who seems to have known me my entire life.” What’s more meaningful to her is an ally who is curious, who has “a willingness for research.” She continues, “I want someone keen to learn my own strange organization, amazed at what’s revealed; someone who asks, ‘and then what, and then what?'” I hope you will enjoy at least one connection like that in the coming months, Virgo. I expect and predict it. Make it your specialty!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran author Stig Dagerman said that when he was sad as a child, his mother kissed him until his mood lightened. When he was older and sad, his mama said, “Sit down at your desk and write a letter to yourself. A long and beautiful letter.” This would be a good task for you right now, Libra. Whatever mood you are in, I invite you to write a long and beautiful letter to yourself. I further recommend that you carry out the same ritual once every six weeks for the next nine months. This will be a phase of your life when it’s extra crucial that you express soulful tenderness toward your deep self on a regular basis. You may be amazed at how inspirational and transformative these communications will be.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Sometimes, the arrival of a peculiar event in your life is a good sign. It may mean that Fate has sent an intervention to disrupt a boring phase of inertia or a habit-bound grind. An unexpected twist in the plot may signal a divine refreshment. It could be a favorable omen announcing a helpful prod that’s different from what you imagined you needed. I suspect that an experience or two fitting this description will soon materialize in your life story. Be alert for them. Promise yourself you’ll be receptive to their unexpected directives.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Sagittarius author Edna O’Brien long ago shed the strict Catholic faith in which she was raised. But she still harbors spiritual feelings colored by her tradition. She says, “Ideally, I’d like to spend two evenings a week talking to [novelist] Marcel Proust and another conversing with the Holy Ghost.” I suspect a similar balance of influences will be healthy for you in the days ahead, Sagittarius. My advice is to connect with an inspiration you drew sustenance from while growing up. Spend time equal time consorting with deep-feeling smart people who will stimulate you to rearrange the contents of your rational mind.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I’ve composed a message for you to deliver to your best allies. It will help you be clear about the nature of your energy exchanges. Say something like this: “I promise to act primarily out of love in my dealings with you, and I ask you to do the same with me. Please don’t help me or give me things unless they are offered with deep affection. Let’s phase out favors that are bestowed out of obligation or with the expectation of a favor in return. Let’s purge manipulativeness from our dynamic. Let’s agree to provide each other with unconditional support.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Author Lauren Collins tells us, “Bilinguals overwhelmingly report that they feel like different people in different languages. It is often assumed that the mother tongue is the language of the true self. But if first languages are reservoirs of emotion, second languages can be rivers undammed, freeing their speakers to ride different currents.” I bring these thoughts to your attention, Aquarius, because the next 12 months will be an excellent time for you to begin becoming bilingual or else to deepen your fluency in a second language. And if you’re not ready to do that, I encourage you to enhance your language skills in other ways. Build your vocabulary, for instance. Practice speaking more precisely. Say what you mean and mean what you say 95 percent of the time. Life will bring you good fortune if you boost your respect for the way you use language.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Piscean-born Robert Evans has been an amateur astronomer since he was 18. Though he has never been paid for his work and has mostly used modest telescopes, he holds the world record for discovering supernovas—42. These days, at age 85, he’s still scanning the skies with a 12-inch telescope on his back porch. Let’s make him your role model for the coming months. I have faith you can achieve meaningful success even if you are a layperson without massive funding. PS: Keep in mind that “amateur” comes from the Latin word for “lover.” Here’s the dictionary’s main definition: “a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“The whole point for me is to change as much as possible,” says Aries actor Keira Knightley. What?! Is she serious? Her number one aspiration is to keep transforming and transforming and transforming? I guess I believe her. It’s not an entirely unexpected manifesto coming from an Aries person. But I must say: Her extra bold approach to life requires maximum resilience and resourcefulness. If you think that such an attitude might be fun to try, the coming weeks will be one of the best times ever to experiment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Taurus poet May Sarton relished “the sacramentalization of the ordinary.” What a wonderfully Taurean attitude! There is no sign of the zodiac better able than you Bulls to find holiness in mundane events and to evoke divine joy from simple pleasures. I predict this specialty of yours will bloom in its full magnificence during the coming weeks. You will be even more skillful than usual in expressing it, and the people you encounter will derive exceptional benefits from your superpower.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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“You can achieve optimal physical health if you’re devoted to shedding outworn self-images.” – Arnold Mindell

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Quote of the Day: “You can achieve optimal physical health if you’re devoted to shedding outworn self-images.” – Arnold Mindell

Photo by: Marvin Cors

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 Transformed Her Entire Kitchen for $235 After Learning DIY Tips From YouTube

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SWNS
After; SWNS

A mom transformed her entire kitchen for ($234) £200 after getting stuff for free off Facebook and learning DIY tips from YouTube.

37-year-old Nikki Coles started the project in lockdown and has been chipping away, job by job, in-between studying law and looking after her two children.

She has retiled the floor, re-covered the work tops, repainted the cupboards, painted the walls, and fitted new wall tiles.

The soon-to-be graduate, who is also a self-employed babysitter, completed all the work herself after watching countless DIY YouTube videos.

Not only did Niki not employ any help, she also completed her entire kitchen makeover for less than $300.

Before; SWNS

She got stuff for free off Facebook, shopped in furniture thrift stores, and bought from cheap retailers like Poundland—which is the British equivalent of a U.S. dollar store.

RELATED: This Cabin’s Flexible Design Can Open To Nature or Enclose into Cozy Space Again (Watch)

“The tiles themselves were actually a bargain find from Poundland,” Nikki, who is from Colchester in Essex, England said.

Before; SWNS

“The worktops are done in an oak finish which I purchased online and all the little pretty bits are just bits I brought in that reflect my style.

After; SWNS

“It kind of started with a little bit of tweaking here and there, and then I really got the bug —I’ve managed to transform my whole home on a tight budget.

Nikki says she has just one more bathroom to redecorate before she has transformed her entire home.

MORE: Ohio Family Converts a 1903 Church Into Their Home – and it’s Pretty Amazing (Look)

“My son was like ‘oh my God Mom you need to start a TikTok’ but I’m not to sure about that just yet!,” she said.

“It just goes to show what you can do even as a busy mom on a budget—and If I can inspire other mums in any way, shape or form then I’m happy.”

SHARE the Design Inspiration With Your Pals…

Spending Quality Time With Dad ‘Helps Young Children Do Better at School’

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Spending quality time with dad helps young children do better at school, according to new research.

The chance of a youngster reaching a good level of intellectual and emotional development by the age of five were reduced by 18 percent if their father felt he spent “nowhere near enough time” with his child.

But while the time fathers spent drawing, painting, playing games with or reading to his young one affected the child’s progress at school, no similar effect was found for mothers.

Just over 1 in 6 dads (18 percent) felt they did not spend enough quality time with their kid, but only one in 20 moms (five percent) felt the same way.

A further 41 percent of fathers felt they did not spend quite enough time with their child.

Researchers at the University of Leeds analyzed data from the Millennium Cohort Study of more than 4,000 children born in two parent households in 2000 and 2001, and survey data.

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The findings held up even when variables that could have explained the discrepancy—such as a child’s gender, ethnicity, household income, and their parents’ employment status— were all taken into account.

Moms were more likely than dads to say they spent enough time with their little one already, but their feelings about whether they spent enough time playing with them had little effect on the child’s progress.

Overall, the study found that 62 percent of girls reached a good level of achievement at school, and 47 percent of boys did so, while 39 percent of children from poorer households reached a good level of achievement, compared with 58 percent of children from more affluent households.

“We found that a higher proportion of children reached a good level of overall achievement in the early years foundation stage profile when fathers engaged regularly in childcare activities such as drawing and painting, playing games and reading with their children,” researcher Dr. Helen Norman said.

“Mothers are more likely to say that the time they spend with their children is enough or more than enough, which reflects the fact that mothers tend to be the ones spending the most time doing childcare so not having enough time with children is less likely to be an issue.

“This is reflected in our sample where only five per cent of mothers said they had ‘nowhere near enough time’ with their five-year old compared to 18 percent of fathers.

RELATED: Top Skills American Teens Want to Learn and Do After School

“Early parental childcare involvement is critical for supporting children’s development, but this is a conclusion drawn largely from research conducted with mothers or parents more generally.

“Fathers’ childcare involvement should have a positive effect on children’s development, yet there has been little empirical evidence to support this before our study.”

REMIND Others of the Importance of Bonding; Share This For Father’s Day…

Caught on Camera: Teen Hero Dives Into Bay to Save Drowning Woman From Sinking Car

By
Andy Corbley
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When a young woman accidentally drove into the Atlantic Ocean, a teen followed her in and saved her.

18-year-old Mia Samolinski stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake when she was pulling her Subaru Outback out of a parking spot along the docks of Long Island’s Patchogue Bay.

Anthony Zhongor, who turned out to be a 17-year-old classmate of Samolinski—though neither one of them were aware of that at the time—got out of his car and immediately dove in after her as a crowed coalesced behind him.

“She went pretty deep in there,” Zhongor recounted. “She was banging on the door, banging on the window, trying to break the window, of course, and that kind of got me nervous, scared for her, so I just took my clothes off and went into the water.”

It’s vital for any motorist to know that neither the door, nor the seatbelt in a car will open if their latching mechanisms are submerged in water. Fortunately for Mia, the latter wasn’t an issue—unfortunately, the former was.

MORE: Off-duty Firefighter Rescues a Toddler From Burning Building After Smoke Became Too Much

The door wouldn’t open from the outside either, but Zhongor noticed that the weight of his body tilted the nose of the car down, bringing the back of the car above water level, allowing Samolinski to escape through the back.

Together they swam to shore.

“She just came up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, thank you’ and was crying,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who it was, they were suffering. I couldn’t watch anybody suffer in front of me.”

RELATED: Bartender Immediately Drops Beer to Save Family Swept By Rogue Wave Into Rip Current

Zhongor, set to graduate this year, will be heading off to South Carolina for Marines boot camp with the good graces of the Samolinskis, who spoke to ABC-7 news about their gratitude for Zhongor’s bravery.

“He jumped out of his car and jumped in, and because of that, my daughter is alive and and not really harmed,” said Mia’s father Charles. “It’s a miracle.”

(WATCH the ABC7 video for this story below.)

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Houston Has Housed 25,000 Homeless People With Apartments of Their Own

By
Andy Corbley
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By Katie Haugland, CC license
By Katie Haugland, CC license

Houston, the fourth-most populated city in the country, has reduced its rate of homelessness over the last decade by 63%, far and away the best performing major city during that time.

It has achieved these fantastic and sustained results with a “housing first” approach that focuses on getting homeless people into one-bedroom apartments as fast as possible, and worrying about things like jobs, drug addiction, mental health issues, and more, later.

The logic, as elaborated by Michael Kimmelman writing for the New York Times, is that if someone’s already drowning, it doesn’t help to teach them how to swim first.

This method has critics, but it’s paying off. Local news reporting on the turnaround claim  that the vast majority of homeless Houstonites housed this way have remained in their house for longer than 2 years. From 2007 to 2020, a national survey recorded a 31.6% drop in homelessness Statewide, largely driven by Houston’s successes, especially considering the rise in homelessness in Austin.

“The goal that I have set is to get us down, in a sense, to zero homelessness in the city by the end of next year,” Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has been the mayor since 2016, told KHou11. “The challenge right now is getting the units.”

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Part of Turner’s team’s strategy is to unite homeless service and low-income housing providers into acting in concert with one another. This was no mean feat; well over 100 different organizations, big and small, private and public, joined in. This included landlords, homeowners associations, food banks, churches, the Houston Housing Authority, the Department for Health and Human Services, and more, all of which joined to form the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County.

Kimmelman followed the steps of Terri Harris, a homeless woman discovered living at an encampment under an overpass, as she went from drowning, as he put it, to “rising excitedly onto her tiptoes and turning the key,” of a small apartment which the Coalition immediately coordinated to fill with basic necessities.

RELATED: Tiny Home Village in Albuquerque Helps Homeless Transition With Social Services and Opportunities

Some criticize Houston’s supportive housing assistance, which follows placing the most vulnerable, chronically homeless people into their new apartments by providing taxpayer-funded monetary support for everything from rent to bus fare, but of the several cities former-President Barack Obama targeted for coordinated and thorough homeless reduction strategies, only Houston has made significant progress.

(WATCH the KHOU video for this story below.)

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“The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Photo by: Robert Collins

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Malaysia Abolishes Mandatory Capital Punishment for 11 Crimes Including a Non-Violent Drug Offense

By
Andy Corbley
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Pete unseth

Introducing concepts of “proportionality” as part of efforts to “improve the criminal justice system,” Malaysia has abolished the mandatory sentencing of the death penalty for 11 different offenses.

Hailed as a victory for death penalty abolitionists, the ruling, rather than repealing the death penalty altogether, places sentencing decisions into the hands of the judge to arbitrate whether capital punishment is warranted.

It seems difficult to believe, but Southeast Asia, with its rich Buddhist heritage, is one of the leading regions in the world for the use of capital punishment in stable countries.

While the ruling doesn’t abolish the death penalty altogether, the Cabinet made its decision based on the recommendations of a committee of legal scholars and experts who offered a variety of substitute sentences for 11 offenses that carry a mandatory death penalty, including 1 offense under the Dangerous Drugs Act, and another 22 offenses that carry death penalty at the discretion of the court.

“This action is very significant to ensure that the amendments to the relevant Acts take into account the principles of ‘proportionality,'” Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said in a statement, adding that the decision was in line with the government’s priority to “protect and guarantee the rights of all parties, which reflected transparency in leadership (towards) improving the country’s dynamic criminal justice system.”

High Thaime

In another softening of authoritarian measures, Thailand recently became the first country in Southeast Asia to decriminalize the cultivation and sale of cannabis, including cannabis containing normal levels of THC.

RELATED: U.S. DEA is Finally Allowing Companies to Grow Their Own Cannabis for Scientific Research

So far, AP reports that there has been no effort to crackdown those growing or distributing the plant, either at home or at a café, provided that the growers register their harvesting with the law, and declare its use is for medical purposes.

The Health Ministry has announced a plan to distribute a million cannabis seedlings to ‘bud up’ a plant medicine industry in the country, and some of the statements are very encouraging to the average Thai user of cannabis.

“We should know how to use cannabis,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the country’s biggest advocate, said recently. “If we have the right awareness, cannabis is like gold, something valuable, and should be promoted.”

MORE: U.S. DEA is Finally Allowing Companies to Grow Their Own Cannabis for Scientific Research

“From our perspective, a major positive outcome of the legal changes is that at least 4,000 people imprisoned for offenses relating to cannabis will be released,” Gloria Lai, Asia regional director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, told AP in an email interview.

Tourists and nationals alike are warned that even though cannabis is no longer considered a narcotic, and many of the old laws are no longer applicable, you can still pick up a three-month sentence and $800 from smoking it in public, as that is still considered nuisance activity.

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A Beer A Day–Even Non-Alcoholic–Seems to Keep the Doctor Away

By
Good News Network
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Like wine, beer can have health benefits when consumed in moderation. Non-alcoholic beers have become wildly popular recently, but are these drinks also healthful?

In a pilot study, researchers report that compared to their pre-trial microbiome, men who drank either one alcoholic or non-alcoholic lager daily had a more diverse set of gut microbes, which can reduce the risk for some diseases.

Trillions of microorganisms line human gastrointestinal tracts, directly impacting their host’s well-being.

Studies have shown that when more types of bacteria are present, people tend to have a lower chance of developing chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. And beer contains compounds, such as polyphenols, as well as microorganisms from its fermentation, that could impact the variety of microbes in the human gut.

A previously published “cross-over” study showed that when both men and women consumed non-alcoholic lager beer for 30 days, their gut microbiome diversity increased. Many of those same people were also in a second group that drank an alcoholic version of the beer, and it didn’t have the same effect.

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Few other clinical trials have tested this issue, so Ana Faria and colleagues wanted to see if they would find similar results with men in a different type of study—a parallel, randomized trial design—with two separate groups of participants.

In this double-blind study, 19 healthy men were randomly divided into two groups who drank 11 fluid ounces of either alcoholic or non-alcoholic lager with dinner for 4 weeks. The researchers found that the participants’ weight, body mass index and serum markers for heart health and metabolism didn’t change during the study.

But at the end of the 4-week period, both groups had greater bacterial diversity in their gut microbiome and higher levels of fecal alkaline phosphatase, indicating an improvement in intestinal health.

The researchers suggest that these results could differ from those of the prior study because of the different designs of the trials, and because the participants were living in different communities.

RELATED: Even in Your 80s, Adopting a Healthier Lifestyle Can Add Years to Your Life

But based on this pilot study, the researchers say that consuming one bottle of beer, regardless of its alcohol content, may be beneficial to the gut microbiome and intestinal health of men. However, they add that because the safest level of alcohol consumption is none, non-alcoholic beer may be the more healthful choice.

This study has been reported in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Source: American Chemical Society

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101-Year-old Woman Is Amazed After Being Reunited with Her Lost Painting Looted by Nazis

By
Andy Corbley
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Photo courtesy of Family of Mrs. Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck
Photo courtesy of Family of Mrs. Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck

The story of returning art stolen by the Nazis is a never-ending one, and the latest chapter involves a 101-year-old woman who was recently reunited with a painting taken almost 80 years ago.

The woman treasured the beautiful work for around six months, but has decided to auction it in order to help her now-considerable flock of grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck was just a teenager when the SS came to her door; they were looking for her father. She had to let them in, she said, she was so scared.

Her father, Joan Hendrik Smidt van Gelder, was the director of the children’s hospital in the city of Arnhem, and he was hunted by the SS for refusing to collaborate with the invading Germans. Going into hiding, he took a painting off the family wall—Portrait of Steven Wolters by Dutch master Caspar Netscher, and stored it in Arnhem branch of the Bank of Amsterdam in 1940.

There he thought the painting dated to 1683 would be safe, but Nazis eventually broke in and looted the vaults. Then war proper broke out on the continent, and the painting was lost to history.

Detective work by the London-based Commission for Looted Art in Europe established it had made a temporary appearance at an art gallery in Düsseldorf in the mid 1950s. Its next surfacing was in Amsterdam in 1969, and in Germany once again in 1971, where it was bought by a private collector.

MORE: The Painting Paid for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 50 Years Ago – Now Earns the Restaurant Thousands

Negotiators reached out to the last buyer, and secured its return to van Heemskerck, who declared, “I am amazed,” upon seeing it.

“I had five brothers and sisters,” van Heemskerck told The Guardian, “there are 20 offspring and they are very sweet, so I never had the feeling that it was mine. It’s from the family.”

Placed now at Sotheby’s auction house in London, it’s listed at $37,000 – $62,000 (£30,000 – £50,000), and will go up for auction on July 6th.

Bischoff van Heemskerck admitted to being a little bit emotional, as she inevitably connected the painting with wartime memories. She joined the Dutch resistance as a courier.

LOOK: A Chair Bought for $5 in a Junk Shop Sells at Auction for over $16,000

“You would have done too, I’m sure,” she told the reporter covering the story. “We were hoping that we would win the war and we did everything to help.”

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Sikh Gas Station Owner Sells Gas 50 Cents a Gallon Cheaper than What it Costs to Help Customers

By
Andy Corbley
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Jaswinder Singh
Jaswinder Singh

“If you have something, you have to share it with other people,” said Jaswiendre Singh, owner of a Phoenix gas station.

Imagine the times we’re living through that seeing $5.19 per gallon at the gas station is a bargain.

Nevertheless there’s at least one person bucking the trend of rising prices—a Sikh man in Phoenix who loses hundreds of dollars a day by selling gasoline at 50 cents cheaper than what he buys it for.

Back in March, Singh was peddling 10 cents under market price, but as inflation, lack of long-term investment in oil drilling, and the decision to close off trade with Russia have all risen the AAA national average of gas to a level before seen in the States, Singh, who praises God for his ability to help his neighbors, would not be deterred.

“God gave me help. It doesn’t matter. We are not here to make money right now. I’m very happy to help the other people,” he told AZ Family. Despite losing $500 per day, he and his wife are working longer hours in their store next to the pumps in order to make up the difference.

This isn’t the first difficult period during which he decided to lend a hand: Ut was actually in 2007 when Singh bought the gas station, which he did in order to lower prices during that recession.

He’s become a well-shared address on social media over the last week, with one commenter remarking, “some heroes wear turbans.”

Where to head for cheaper gas if you’re in the area? That’d be 1949 Osborn Rd and 20th Phoenix, AZ.

(WATCH the video for this story below.)

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“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, it will be by ordinary people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.” – Joanna R. Macy

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “If the world is to be healed through human efforts, it will be by ordinary people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.” – Joanna R. Macy

Photo by: Ben White

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?

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