Quote of the Day: “As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain and more precious, I feel less afraid that someone else will erase me by denying me love.” – Jenny Slate
Photo by: Andres Molina
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?
It’s been a long time coming, but this June stargazers are finally getting the chance to see five planets align in the night skies.
For the rest of the month—look east towards the pre-dawn sky with the naked eye, or even better, with a telescope or binoculars—to see a five-long string of planets. We haven’t seen this such an alignment in the northern hemisphere for eighteen years, since December 2004.
So which planets are you gazing up at? That’d be Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn lining up in order of their distance from the Sun. Mercury will look brighter and brighter as the days of the month pass, so if you’re not up for pre-dawn risings just yet—maybe work your way up to getting out of bed while the Sun is still below the horizon?
So precisely when, before dawn, should you be peering skyward? 30 minutes before sunrise is best. Check TimeandDate.com for the specific time in your area.
The phenomenon can be seen just about across the globe. However, if you’re living at a latitude further north than New York, it will be difficult to spot Mercury before the sun rises. Still, you have four other beautiful planets to check out.
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Stargazers around the world who’ve been keeping an eye on the alignment are in for a extra special sight on June 24: On that morning, the waning crescent moon will be in alignment between Venus and Mars.
Oh, and Mercury will look brighter than it has all month. What a show.
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Higher levels of optimism were associated with longer lifespan and living beyond age 90 in women across racial and ethnic groups in a study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“Although optimism itself may be affected by social structural factors, such as race and ethnicity, our research suggests that the benefits of optimism may hold across diverse groups,” said Hayami Koga, a PhD candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School and lead author of the study. “A lot of previous work has focused on deficits or risk factors that increase the risks for diseases and premature death. Our findings suggest that there’s value to focusing on positive psychological factors, like optimism, as possible new ways of promoting longevity and healthy aging across diverse groups.”
In a previous study, the research group determined that optimism was linked to a longer lifespan and exceptional longevity, which was defined as living beyond 85 years of age.
Because they had looked at mostly white populations in that previous study, Koga and her colleagues broadened the participant pool in the current study to include women from across racial and ethnic groups.
According to Koga, including diverse populations in research is important to public health because these groups have higher mortality rates than white populations, and there is limited research about them to help inform health policy decisions.
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For this study, the researchers analyzed data and survey responses from 159,255 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative, which included postmenopausal women in the U.S. The women enrolled at ages 50-79 from 1993 to 1998 and were followed for up to 26 years.
Of the participants, the 25% who were the most optimistic were likely to have a 5.4% longer lifespan and a 10% greater likelihood of living beyond 90 years than the 25% who were the least optimistic.
The researchers also found no interaction between optimism and any categories of race and ethnicity, and these trends held true after taking into account demographics, chronic conditions, and depression.
Lifestyle factors, such as regular exercise and healthy eating, accounted for less than a quarter of the optimism-lifespan association, indicating that other factors may be at play.
Koga said that the study’s results could reframe how people view the decisions that affect their health.
“We tend to focus on the negative risk factors that affect our health,” said Koga. “It is also important to think about the positive resources such as optimism that may be beneficial to our health, especially if we see that these benefits are seen across racial and ethnic groups.”
The study has been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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It’s typical for luxury hotels to boast about their amenities—a pool, the gym, a terrace with 360° views, but it’s a rare thing indeed to boast about the 9,000-square-foot Alexandrian mosaic from 2,300 years ago.
Appropriately, the Museum Hotel Antakya worked closely with archeologists to build a luxury hotel around the world’s largest intact mosaic floor, found after a cooperative had purchased a property for development in 2009.
Necmi Asfuroglu and his family, who together operate the Asfuroglu Group, decided to build a 5-star hotel in the city of Antakya in a 3rd-degree protected area—which essentially meant that while it wasn’t clear there was anything of scientific importance underneath, an archeological survey was required due to the property’s age.
In another language, in another era, Antakya was the Classical Antioch, located in one of the successor kingdoms that rose in the wake of Alexander the Great’s death. Founded by Seleucus, who would lend his name to the Seleucid Dynasty, Antioch was a trade center that passed to the hands of Byzantium, and on down the complicated hand-changing that has characterized the lands known as Turkey today.
The survey that followed was one of the most-systematic ever carried out in Antakya, according to Sabinha Asfuroglu, and involved 120 workers, 35 archeologists, and 5 restoration architects,working over the course of a year under the collaboration of multiple universities.
“Now our site is a kind of archeological park, showing traces of 13 different civilizations in five different layers over the course of a period beginning in the 3rd century BC on to present day,” said Arkeolog Can Okkali, restoration architect and project lead.
Multiple floating causeways link the various rooms and floors, under which stretches out a vast mosaic of tiny stones depicting animals, astrological symbols, classical scenes, and multiple geometric and swirling designs.
A perfectly intact marble sculpture of Eros was found, near to what the museum calls the Pegasus Mosaic. Made up of 162 different tones of colored pebbles, this completely-undamaged work depicts Hesiod receiving his poetic inspiration from the Queen of Muses, Calliope.
As Okkali said in a hotel publicity video, many different civilizations have left their mark on the site, which is theorized as being a large public building—including the Romans who built a series of baths.
(WATCH the video for this story below.)
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The Lesson: People who don’t know how will tell you you need to conform, or let go of indivisible parts of yourself in order to succeed. For Brett Claywell, it was his homely, North Carolina attitude of goodwill and neighborliness towards others which Hollywood men told him had to be left on the cutting room floor. From pursuing basketball, to acting, to gaming and live-streaming, there was never a shortage of people telling him he was making the wrong choice.
Notable Excerpt: “The word immature has been thrown at me a lot through my life, and now at 44 years of age I’m happy to be immature because it allows me to interact with my children, but that was always kind of like an arrow that was slung at me… Early on in my career, one of my producers said I had to lose the North Carolina in me. I fought really hard to do the opposite—to be successful, but to maintain who I was. I would rather inject NC into Hollywood than lose NC to be successful.”
The Guest: Brett Claywell has had a two-decade career as a fan favorite on popular television shows like One Tree Hill and One Life to Live. Throughout it, he has been involved in hundreds of film and television, as well as digital content productions, producing and directing major live broadcast events starring some of the biggest names in entertainment.
Brett was an early visionary of the competitive or televised gaming industry, co-founding Tiltify, now the world’s premiere charitable crowdfunding platform for live-streaming. He launched HMBL (pronounced humble) House in 2019 to capitalize on a void in premium livestream content, leading HMBL House to be a major creative force in developing and producing new remote content models throughout the pandemic. In 2021, he co-founded SOLIS to utilize emerging technologies to further amplify his team’s ability to build organic communities and generate authentic dialogue between talent and a global audience of content consumers.
The Podcast: Livin’ Good Currency explores the relationship of time to our lives. It gives a simple, straight-forward formula that anyone can use to be present in the moment—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.
An eight-story high-rise office building in Melbourne is going to be covered in over a thousand solar panels with the aim of providing all its own electricity.
Australia, which is already the world’s great renewables powerhouse, and has powered entire states with solar and wind energy for as long as a week, is likely to feature more of these kinds of projects in the future, since solar panel designs are becoming more sophisticated and aesthetically flexible.
Clunky rooftop solar panels are still what most people will imagine when they hear that a building is generating solar energy. However one look at the West Melbourne Workplace gives no indication whatsoever that the building is solar powered.
That’s because the designers from Studio Kennon have used panels designed by German-solar firm Avancis, which designs panels to look as much like an ordinary glass building façade as possible. Avancis façade panels have been used across Germany to fit different conditions, with darker or lighter colored panels tailored to fit the needs of clients and weather conditions. Recently, their panels graced the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper in Sweden.
“The building is designed to be self-sustainable,” architect Pete Kennon, who led the design, told Fast Company. “We can harness electricity on-site and use it immediately. This is very different to buildings that are offsetting their on-site power with remote solar or wind farms.”
One advantage is the lack of infrastructure needed to bring the energy from the energy farm to the building, saving carbon from construction. Kennon feels solar paneling is the logical next standard-issue step for tower construction. To that end, they’ve ordered 1,182 panels for the façade and roof of the Melbourne tower.
At the moment they are in the final stages of approval from regulators, but if the all-clear is given to proceed with the build, it will be the first building Down Under to use the technology.
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Other pioneers have made colored solar panels built from vegetable waste that harvest energy without need of direct sunlight. The panels can be bent—in almost any way, to fit any building façade.
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Quote of the Day: “Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or wife standing behind him—or so they say… Many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them.” – Dorothy L. Sayers (born 129 years ago)
Photo by: Nathan Dumlao
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?
Going to a festival can leave you more connected to humanity and more willing to help strangers for at least six months afterwards, a new Yale study reveals.
In fact, more than 63 percent said they had undergone a ‘transformative experience.’
There have been many studies on the positive psychological effects of religious gatherings and pilgrimages, which have been found to create intense social bonds and feelings of unity in human societies—but little research on secular festivals.
So a team of psychologists from Yale University wondered if modern day secular gatherings that emphasize creativity and community serve an even broader purpose.
The researchers studied people’s subjective experiences and social behavior at mass gatherings like the annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.
They also looked at the UK’s Burning Nest and Latitude festivals as well as California’s Lightning in a Bottle and Dirty Bird gatherings.
They found that people who reported transformative experiences felt more connected with all of humanity and were more willing to help distant strangers.
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“We’ve long known that festivals, pilgrimages, and ceremonies make people feel more bonded with their own group,” said Dr. Daniel Yudkin, first author of the research paper. “Here we show that experiences at secular mass gatherings also have the potential to expand the boundaries of moral concern beyond one’s own group.”
First, the research team conducted in-person field studies of more than 1,200 people who attended large multi-day gatherings in the US and UK.
The researchers set up booths at the events, inviting passers-by to “Play Games for Science.”
Those who agreed to participate were asked about their experiences at the events along with their willingness to share resources with friends and strangers.
Overall, 63.2% of participants reported having transformative experiences so profound that they left the events feeling radically changed, including a substantial number of people who did not expect or desire to be transformed.
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But the transformative experiences were more intense among the 28% of subjects who reported taking psychedelic substances.
People who reported transformative experiences also reported feeling more socially connected with all human beings—and with every passing day they spent at these events, participants expanded their circle of generosity beyond family and friends towards others including distant strangers.
Then, the team recontacted some of the original attendees and also interviewed 2,000 people who had attended the event but were not originally interviewed.
The researchers found that transformative experiences and their prosocial feelings persisted for at least six months.
“The findings are an important reminder of what we’ve missed in years of pandemic isolation,” said Dr. Yudkin. “Powerful social experiences, or what the sociologist Emile Durkheim called ‘collective effervescence.’”
Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Psychology at Yale added, “Transformative experiences help people transcend the borders of the self and connect with all of humanity,” which are crucial qualities to cultivate as we move forward.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, University of Denver, and University of Bath in England contributed to the study, which was published May 27 in the journal Nature Communications.
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Beyond the sad start to this story is an avalanche of love and kindness by high school teens who swooped in to lift up a much younger stranger, who was feeling down.
A sixth grader at a charter school in Westminster, Colorado, was depressed and disgusted with himself because almost no one would sign his class yearbook—a glossy book of photos sold to commemorate the school year.
Since he didn’t collect any notes from classmates beyond two teachers, the pre-teen wrote a note to himself in the pages: “Hope you make some more friends. — Brody Ridder.”
It broke his mother’s heart, so she posted a photo of his autograph to a Facebook group for parents at the school.
She was “overwhelmed with how much love and encouragement” she received from the parents—and some of them showed their kids, which hatched a plan in the minds of three grade 11 teens at the local high school.
Simone Lightfoot called the post “soul crushing,” after fellow student Logan South told him about it.
“We all just started planning that the next day we were going to go sign this kid’s yearbook,” South told a KDVR-TV Denver news team.
They rounded up a huge posse of friends, including Joanna Cooper—even though none of them had ever met the middle schooler or his family—and headed to The Academy of Charter Schools.
“We walked in and we were like where’s Brody at? Is Brody Ridder in here? And they’re like yeah he’s in the back,” recalls Lightfoot. “And we’re like Brody! We’re here to sign your yearbook bud.”
They took turns writing in the book and when it was all done the pages had 100 entries, including long paragraphs with words of encouragement, advice—and even phone numbers.
Cooper wrote, “I know we don’t know you, but I know you are the coolest kid! If you ever need anything, call your senior friends!”
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And then, seeing Brody’s newfound popularity, everyone in his own class started signing the yearbook.
He may be skeptical that classmates who initially withheld their signature would become his friends next year, but now it doesn’t feel impossible.
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“It just made me feel better as a person… It just makes me feel better on the inside,” he said.
His mom is glad she tossed the first snowball that began the avalanche: “It made me feel like there’s hope for the school, there’s hope for humanity and there’s a lot of good kids in this world.”
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PET plastic bottles, food containers, and lightweight wrap for packaging have become a problem if they’re not recycled—but scientists searching through compost piles have discovered an enzyme that degrades the plastic in record time.
The enzyme PHL7, which the German researchers found in a compost heap in Leipzig, could make bio-PET recycling possible much faster than previously thought—and their compelling photos appearing in a scientific journal are an eye-opener.
One way in which enzymes are used in nature is when bacteria decompose plant parts. It has been known for some time that some enzymes, so-called polyester-cleaving hydrolases, can also degrade PET. For example, the enzyme LCC, which was discovered in Japan in 2012, is considered to be a particularly effective “plastic eater”.
The team led by Leipzig University researcher Dr. Christian Sonnendecker, has been searching for previously undiscovered examples of these biological helpers as part of the EU-funded projects MIPLACE and ENZYCLE. They found what they were looking for in the Südfriedhof cemetery hidden inside their compost sample.
Out of seven different enzymes, PHL7 achieved results in the lab that were significantly above average—twice as active as the previous leader in PET decomposition, LCC.
They added PET, which is the most widely produced plastic, to containers full of an aqueous solution containing either PHL7 or LCC, then measured the amount of plastic that was degraded in a given period of time and compared the values with each other.
The results, published in ChemSusChem, showed that within 16 hours, PHL7 caused the PET to decompose by a whopping 90 percent; in that same time, LCC managed a degradation of just 45 percent. “So our enzyme is twice as active as the gold standard among polyester-cleaving hydrolases,” Sonnendecker said.
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For example, PHL7 broke down a plastic clam-shell container (punnet)—the kind used for selling ready-to-eat food in supermarkets—in less than 24 hours. The researchers found that a single building block in the enzyme is responsible for this above-average activity.
At the site where other previously known polyester-cleaving hydrolases contain a phenylalanine residue, PHL7 carries a leucine.
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Biological PET recycling has some advantages compared to conventional recycling methods, which rely primarily on thermal processes where the plastic waste is melted down at high temperatures. These processes take a lot of energy and the quality of the plastic decreases with each recycling cycle.
Enzymes, on the other hand, only require an aqueous environment and a temperature of 65 to 70 degrees Celsius (140-160 F.) for their work. Another plus is the fact that they break down the PET into its components—terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol— which can then be reused to produce new PET, resulting in a closed cycle. So far, however, biological PET recycling has only been tested by a pilot plant in France by Carbios.
Professor Wolfgang Zimmermann, who played a key role in establishing research activity into enzyme-based technologies at Leipzig University, believes the enzyme can make an important contribution. “The biocatalyst now developed in Leipzig has been shown to be highly effective in the rapid decomposition of used PET food packaging and is suitable for use in an environmentally-friendly recycling process in which new plastic can be produced from the decomposition products,” he said in a statement.
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The researchers from Leipzig are looking for industrial partners for using PHL7 to advance biological recycling, convinced that the higher speed will significantly reduce recycling costs. Over the next two to three years, they aim to create a prototype that will make it possible to quantify the economic benefits of their rapid biological recycling process more precisely.
The scientists on Professor Jörg Matysik’s team at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry also want to elucidate the structure and function of the enzymes using NMR spectroscopy.
They are also working on a new pretreatment method to solve a problem in biological recycling: PET decomposition by enzymes has so far only worked for so-called amorphous PET, which is used in things like fruit packaging, but not for plastic bottles made of PET with higher crystallinity.
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A study of 2,000 UK adults revealed that, although 63 percent suffer from allergies, nearly 9 out of 10 are happy to put up with symptoms such as itchy eyes, runny noses, and watery eyes, to support nature.
54 percent are also inclined to let their gardens become more overgrown to help bees play their part, despite the chances of being stung.
88 percent of respondents have added bug hotels, bird feeders, and bee pollinators to homes and gardens to do their part.
“We know how important pollinators are for nature, given that around a third of the food we eat relies on pollinators such as bees,” said Graham Wilkinson, vice president of agriculture from Arla Foods, which commissioned the survey ahead of World Bee Day and World Biodiversity Day last month.
“That’s why last year we launched The Arla Bee Road. The initiative aims to help everyone to grow and improve pollinator habitats however big or small, by joining our farmers and planting pollinator pit stops to help bees and bugs travel around the country.”
An incredible 120,000 households joined them last year, planting pollen-rich wildflowers.
Thousands also took part in ‘No Mow May,’ to help encourage the growth of these creatures’ natural habitats in the U.S. and UK.
Many are also leaving logs near the home to encourage small insects and creatures. Some 22 percent would like to do more, but don’t know where to start.
63 percent of those surveyed by OnePoll also believe it’s important that businesses encourage biodiversity.
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If you are one of the 32 percent who wouldn’t know what to do for a struggling bee, Arla suggests that if you see a bee in peril you should offer it a bit of sugary water and move it out of harm’s way while it recovers.
You can also purchase a bee revival kit containing a small vial of special nutritional syrup created by beekeepers. If you’re in the UK, you can order Bee Savior kits from a British not-for-profit.
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Other top tips to encourage biodiversity:
• Plant more species, particularly those that attract bees—like bee balm, cosmos, echinacea, snapdragons, foxglove, and hosta. You don’t need to have a garden for this. You can recycle yogurt or milk containers and set them anywhere outside.
• Create a small area and let it ‘grow wild’ or leave a patch of fallen leaves, logs, or branches, because insects, birds, and small mammals can benefit from the decomposition and native seedlings.
• Put up a bird feeder or nest box. This doesn’t need to be in a garden, some birds will come to a feeder on a balcony, or front porch or large windowsill
• Create a bug hotel for insects to use over winter, or put a bat box or hedgehog house out for creatures
• Stop using pesticides or herbicides and swap them for organic products.
• Get children involved in the activities. Inspiring future generations to love and respect wildlife is so important for the long-term
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Quote of the Day: “I have never, ever, EVER met anyone who has regretted following their heart.” – Marie Forleo
Photo by: Sheila in Moonducks, CC license
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?
Lenie Ford was in the worst pain of her life when she arrived at her local pharmacy, but was unable to purchase her prescribed medication. Luckily, a kind-hearted employee was working at the cash register.
“I was in literally thee worst pain. I could not form a thought,” Lenie from Santa Barbara told GNN. “Even having a baby hurt less.”
It was June 4 when she reached the CVS pharmacy at 3939 State Street and discovered she didn’t have the “piece of paper from the emergency room” telling her she was temporarily covered for the medication to treat her tooth infection.
“I only had about 4 bucks on me. I simply broke down, and cried.”
“This incredibly warm pharmacist saw my agony just engulfing me. That’s when I heard her say, softly, with much kindness, ‘l’ll cover it.’”
Pharmacy technician Verena Harris then reached over the counter and swiped her own personal credit card, and paid in full for the antibiotics.
Lenie was beyond grateful: “I can say with great humble thanks how much I truly appreciated the kind, very generous offer from this perfect stranger.”
We asked Ms. Harris, who’s worked at the pharmacy for 12 years, whether she had done this sort of thing before. She looked around the room with a wise, knowing look, and nodded her head. “Yea.”
“Some people just need help,” she said. “I can’t watch someone in pain like that.”
We wanted to reimburse Verena for Lenie’s prescription—which she said was about $15 or $20—yet she adamantly refused. “Absolutely not.” She repeated it twice.
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German and Kurdish archaeologists have uncovered an ancient metropolis of the Mittani Empire once submerged below the Tigris River. The settlement was revealed when the levels of the Mosul reservoir plunged earlier this year due to extreme drought in Iraq.
The extensive city with a palace and several large buildings could be Zakhiku—believed to have been an important center in the Mittani Empire between 1550-1350 BC.
To prevent crops from drying out, large amounts of water have been drawn down from the reservoir, which is Iraq’s most important water storage.
This led to the reappearance of a Bronze Age city that had been submerged decades ago without any prior archaeological investigations. It is located at Kemune in the Kurdistan Region of the country.
The unforeseen event sent archaeologists scrambling to excavate and document at least parts of this large, important city as quickly as possible before it was resubmerged.
The Kurdish archaeologist Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim, chairman of the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization, and the German archaeologists Prof. Dr. Ivana Puljiz (University of Freiburg) and Prof. Dr. Peter Pfälzner (University of Tübingen) spontaneously decided to undertake joint rescue excavations at Kemune in January and February, in collaboration with the Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage in Duhok (Kurdistan Region of Iraq).
A team for the rescue excavations was put together within days. Funding for the work was obtained at short notice from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. They were under immense time pressure because it was not clear when the water in the reservoir would rise again—and the exposed walls of large buildings in the old city complex would vanish.
Fortunately, the researchers succeeded in largely mapping the city. In addition to a palace, several other large buildings were uncovered—a massive fortification with wall and towers, a monumental, multi-story storage building and an industrial complex. The extensive urban complex was described as an “important center” of the Empire of Mittani, which controlled large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria.
“The huge magazine building is of particular importance because enormous quantities of goods must have been stored in it, probably brought from all over the region,” says Prof. Ivana Puljiz.
The research team was stunned by the well-preserved state of the walls—sometimes to a height of several meters—despite the fact that the walls are made of sun-dried mud bricks and were under water for more than 40 years.
This good preservation is due to the fact that the city was destroyed in an earthquake around 1350 BC, during which the collapsing upper parts of the walls buried the buildings.
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Of particular interest is the discovery of five ceramic vessels that contained an archive of over 100 cuneiform tablets. They date to the Middle Assyrian period, shortly after the earthquake disaster struck the city. Some clay tablets, which may be letters, are even still in their clay envelopes.
The researchers hope this discovery will provide important information about the end of the Mittani-period city and the beginning of Assyrian rule in the region. “It is close to a miracle that cuneiform tablets made of unfired clay survived so many decades under water,” Peter Pfälzner says.
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To avert further damage to the important site by the rising water, the excavated buildings were completely covered with tight-fitting plastic sheeting and covered with gravel fill as part of an extensive conservation project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
This is intended to protect the walls of unbaked clay and any other finds still hidden in the ruins during times of flooding. The site is now once again completely submerged.
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Dogs became ‘man’s best friend’ because of a gene that lowered their stress and made them more relaxed around people, according to new research from Japan.
Descended from wolves, the domestication of dogs which enabled their special relationship with humans has baffled evolutionary experts for decades.
Now, a team at Azabu University reckon they have solved the riddle. Dogs carry two mutations of a gene known as MC2R (melanocortin 2 receptor), which produces the hormone cortisol—nature’s built in alarm system released during fear or anxiety.
Dogs’ emergence has been tracked back to wolves scavenging leftovers discarded by early humans on the edges of settlements. Over generations, their offspring became bolder and moved ever closer to the people they relied on.
In time, humans saw the animals as natural allies and began training them to be better hunters and herders.
“It may have become necessary through the process of domestication for dogs to gaze at humans for instruction and initiate communication to build a more successful relationship,” said corresponding author Dr. Miho Nagasawa. “Because stray dogs that are not brought up in human households show this characteristic, it has been previously suggested there is a genetic component involved. Our results support this hypothesis.”
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To investigate the phenomenon Dr. Nagasawa and colleagues ran experiments in which 624 domestic dogs were split into ancient and modern (general) breeds.
The ancient group consisted of those considered genetically closer to wolves such as the Akita and Siberian Husky. Others, such as gun dogs, mastiffs and Jack Russell terriers, are more distantly related. All participants were recruited voluntarily from their owners.
They found the ancient group felt less attached to the testers than the latter, and it was due to the MC2R variants.
“We focused on ancient dog breeds to investigate breed related differences in social cognitive abilities,” explained Nagasawa.
“In a problem solving task, ancient breeds showed a lower tendency to look back at humans than other European breeds.”
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Blood samples showed changes to the MC2R gene were associated with correctly interpreting gestures and gazing at the experimenters more often.
There were no differences in other genes—including those for the ‘bonding’ hormone oxytocin and another linked to hyperactivity.
Their research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“The results show both groups have capabilities in understanding human gestures and adjusting their responses accordingly, (but) in contrast, the general group showed higher eye-contact behavior in the problem solving test.”
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“This suggests the capability of dogs to understand human commands and adjust their
own behavior accordingly evolved early in the domestication of dogs. The stronger tendency of gazing at humans, as tested by the problem solving test, was a desirable characteristic that was intentionally chosen for, through human-selected breeding, after dogs had evolved.”
Man’s first best friend was a grey wolf that made contact with its first human companions about 33,000 years ago, somewhere in south east Asia. About 15,000 years ago, a small pack of domesticated dogs began trotting towards the Middle East and Africa.
The species, known as Canis lupus familiaris, made it to Europe about 10,000 years ago, when humans began to build farmsteads and villages and erect walls.
CHECK OUT: Dogs Catch Actual Chemical Cues From Humans That Transmit Excitement, Fear, or Angst to the Pups
Dogs were already there to help keep guard and herd the first flocks—and the outlines of the great adventure are written in DNA.
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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 11, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
It’s an excellent time to correct and uplift your self-image. I invite you to speak the following affirmations aloud: “I am not damaged. I am not on the wrong path. I am not inept or ignorant or off-kilter. The truth is, I am learning how to live. I am learning how to be a soulful human and I am doing a reasonably good job at that task. I do a lot of things really well. I’m getting to know myself better every day. I constantly surprise myself with how skilled I am at adjusting to life’s constant changes. I AM AMAZED AT HOW MUCH PROGRESS I HAVE MADE IN LEARNING HOW TO LIVE.”
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In the Tibetan language, the term nyingdu-la means “most honored poison of my heart.” Many of us know at least one person who fits that description: an enemy we love to hate or a loved one who keeps tweaking our destiny or a paradoxical ally who is both hurtful and helpful. According to my analysis, it’s time for you to transform your relationship with a certain nyingdu-la in your life. The bond between you might have generated vital lessons for you. But now it’s time for a re-evaluation and redefinition.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“Don’t pray for the rain to stop,” advises Leo poet Wendell Berry. “Pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.” That’s useful advice for you, my dear. The situation you’re in could turn out to be a case of either weird luck or good luck. And how you interpret the situation may have a big impact on which kind of luck it brings. I urge you to define the potential opportunities that are brewing and concentrate on feeding them.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo writer Julio Cortázar (1914–1984) once remarked, “How tiring it gets being the same person all the time.” That’s surprising. In fact, Cortázar was an innovative and influential author who wrote over 30 books in four genres and lived for extended periods in five countries. It’s hard to imagine him ever being bored by his multifaceted self. Even if you’re not a superstar like Cortázar, Virgo, I expect you will be highly entertained and amused by your life in the coming weeks. I bet you will be even more interesting than usual. Best of all, you will learn many fresh secrets about your mysterious soul.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The blogger Frogbestfriend says, “One of the biggest problems with society nowadays is that I am so, so sleepy.” Frogbestfriend is humorously suggesting that his inability to maintain good sleep habits is rooted in civilization’s dysfunctions. He’s right, of course! Many of our seemingly personal problems are at least partially rooted in the pathological ways the whole world operates. Our culture influences us to do things that aren’t always healthy and wise. I bring this to your attention, Libra, because now is a favorable time to meditate on society’s crazy-making effects on you. Now is also a pivotal moment to heal yourself of those crazy-making effects.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Poet Maggie Smith writes, “We talk so much of light. Please let me speak on behalf of the good dark. Let us talk more of how dark the beginning of a day is.” I offer her proposal as a fertile theme for your meditations. Of all the signs in the zodiac, you Scorpios are most skilled at teasing out the good stuff from shadows and secrets and twilight. And your potency in these matters is even higher than usual right now. Do us all a favor and find the hidden redemptions and potential regenerations.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
When actors and other creative people in film win Oscars at the Academy Awards ceremony, they come on stage and deliver short talks, acknowledging their honor. These speeches often include expressions of gratitude. An analysis revealed that over the years, Sagittarian director Steven Spielberg has been thanked by winners more often than anyone else—even more than God. Based on my reading of astrological omens, I believe you deserve that level of appreciation in the coming weeks. Please show this horoscope to everyone you know who may be willing to carry out my mandate. Be proactive in collecting tribute, credit, and favors.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In the ancient Greek story of Odysseus, the hero leaves his home in Ithaka to fight in the Trojan War. When the conflict is over, he yearns to return to the beloved life he left behind. But his journey takes 10 years. His tests and travails are many. The 20th-century Greek poet C. P. Cavafy offered advice to Odysseus at the beginning of his quest: “As you set out for Ithaka, hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery . . . Keep Ithaca always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re destined for. But don’t hurry the journey. Better if it lasts for years, so you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way.” As you begin your new phase of returning home, Capricorn, I invite you to keep Cavafy’s thoughts in mind.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“I have never, ever, EVER met anyone who has regretted following their heart,” writes life coach Marie Forleo. But what exactly does she mean by “following their heart”? Does that mean ignoring cautions offered by your mind? Not necessarily. Does it require you to ignore everyone’s opinions about what you should do? Possibly. When you follow your heart, must you sacrifice money and status and security? In some cases, yes. But in other cases, following your heart may ultimately enhance your relationship with money and status and security. Anyway, Aquarius. I hope I’ve inspired you to meditate on what it means to follow your heart—and how you can do that intensely during the coming months.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Actor and author Jenny Slate testifies, “As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain and more precious, I feel less afraid that someone else will erase me by denying me love.” That is the single best inspirational message I can offer you right now. In the coming months, you will earn the right and the capacity to make the same declaration. Your self-definition will become progressively clearer and stronger. And this waxing superpower will enable you to conquer at least some of your fear about not getting enough love.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
“It takes a spasm of love to write a poem,” wrote Aries author Erica Jong. I will add that it takes a spasm of love to fix a problem with someone you care about. It also takes a spasm of love to act with kindness when you don’t feel kind. A spasm of love is helpful when you need to act with integrity in a confusing situation and when you want to heal the past so it doesn’t plague the future. All the above advice should be useful for you in the coming weeks, Aries. Are there any other variations you can think of? Fill in the blank in the next sentence: It takes a spasm of love to…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
“The great epochs of our life come when we gain the courage to rechristen our badness as what is best in us,” wrote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. When I read that ambitious epigram, I didn’t know what he was referring to. By “badness,” did he mean the ugly, pathological parts of us? That couldn’t be right. So I read scholars who had studied the great philosopher. Their interpretation: Nietzsche believed the urges that some religions seek to inhibit are actually healthy for us. We should celebrate, not suppress, our inclinations to enjoy sensual delights and lusty living. In fact, we should define them as being the best in us. I encourage you Bulls to do just that in the coming weeks. It’s a favorable time to intensify your devotion to joy, pleasure, and revelry.
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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Quote of the Day: “Don’t pray for the rain to stop. Pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.” – Wendell Berry
Photo by: Craig Cameron
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Ketamine is the speedster of antidepressants, working within hours compared to more common antidepressants that can take several weeks. But ketamine can only be given for a limited amount of time because of its many side effects.
Now, a new Northwestern Medicine study identifies for the first time exactly how ketamine works so quickly, and how it might be adapted for use as a drug without the side effects.
The study in mice shows ketamine works as a rapid antidepressant by increasing the activity of the very small number of newborn neurons, which are part of an ongoing neurogenesis in the brain.
New neurons are always being made at a slow rate. It’s been known that increasing the number of neurons leads to behavioral changes. Other antidepressants work by increasing the rate of neurogenesis, in other words, increasing the number of neurons. But this takes weeks to happen.
By contrast, ketamine produces behavioral changes simply by increasing the activity of the existing new neurons. This can happen immediately when the cells are activated by ketamine.
“We narrowed down the population of cells to a small window that is involved,” said lead study author Dr. John Kessler, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Ken and Ruth Davee Professor of Stem Cell Biology. “That’s important because when you give ketamine to patients now, it affects multiple regions of the brain and causes a lot of adverse side effects. But since we now know exactly which cells we want to target, we can design drugs to focus only on those cells.”
The side effects of ketamine include blurred or double vision, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, drowsiness and addiction.
“The goal is to develop an antidepressant that doesn’t take three to four weeks to work because people don’t do well during that period of time,” Kessler said. “If you are badly depressed and start taking your drug and nothing is happening, that is depressing in itself. To have something that works right away would make a huge difference.”
“We prove neurogenesis is responsible for the behavioral effects of ketamine,” Kessler said. “The reason is these newborn neurons form synapses (connections) that activate the other cells in the hippocampus. This small population of cells acts like a match, starting a fire that ignites a bunch of activity in a lot of other cells that produce the behavioral effects.”
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“However, it has not been understood that the same behavioral changes can be accomplished by increasing the activity of the new neurons without increasing the rate at which they are born,” Kessler said. “This obviously is a much more rapid effect.”
For the study, Northwestern scientists created a mouse in which only the very small population of newborn neurons had a receptor that allowed these cells to be silenced or activated by a drug that did not affect any other cells in the brain. Scientists showed if they silenced the activity of these cells, ketamine didn’t work anymore. But if they used the drug to activate this population of cells, the results mirrored those of ketamine. This showed conclusively that it is the activity of these cells that is responsible for the effects of ketamine, Kessler said.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
Source: Northwestern University
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A ‘superworm’ with an appetite for polystyrene could be the key to plastic recycling on a mass scale, according to a new study.
The species is capable of munching through plastic waste thanks to a bacterial enzyme in their gut, say Australian scientists.
Dr Chris Rinke, and his team at the University of Queensland’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, fed superworms different diets over a three-week period, with some given polystyrene foam, some bran, and others put on a fasting diet.
They discovered that the common Zophobas morio ‘superworm’ can eat through polystyrene.
“We found the superworms fed a diet of just polystyrene not only survived, but even had marginal weight gains,” Dr Riske said. “This suggests the worms can derive energy from the polystyrene, most likely with the help of their gut microbes.”
The research team used a technique called metagenomics to find several encoded enzymes with the ability to degrade polystyrene and styrene.
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Dr Riske says the long-term goal is to engineer enzymes to degrade plastic waste in recycling plants through mechanical shredding, followed by enzymatic biodegradation.
“Superworms are like mini recycling plants, shredding the polystyrene with their mouths and then feeding it to the bacteria in their gut,” he said.
“The breakdown products from this reaction can then be used by other microbes to create high-value compounds such as bioplastics.”
The team hope that the ‘bio-upcycling’ will incentivize plastic waste recycling and reduce landfill.
Study co-author Jiarui Sun says they aim to grow the gut bacteria in the lab and further test its ability to degrade polystyrene.
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“We can then look into how we can upscale this process to a level required for an entire recycling plant,” PhD candidate Ms Sun said.
Dr Rinke said there are many opportunities for the biodegradation of plastic waste.
“Our team is very excited to push the science to make it happen,” he added.
The findings were published in the journal Microbial Genomics.
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Losing a dog is distressing, losing a 15-year-old dog is worse—and losing a 15-year-old dachshund is a grim situation indeed.
Luckily for distraught owner Chelsea Blackwell, her dog had made its way into the arms of a person who could help.
Blackwell lost Blue the dachshund in her home town of Albany last Monday, prompting her to drive around looking and asking passersby if they had seen the dog. Then, nearing the Greyhound bus stop, she noticed something out of the ordinary.
“I noticed there were like eight police cars and people with cameras—I thought maybe somebody got shot,” Blackwell told an Albany paper. “I asked them if anyone saw a little brown dog.”
What happened next is that a member of the crowd replied, “yes, we’ll call her,” sparking curiosity in Blackwell. Inquiring as to the “her,” the person said that a celebrity had found her dog, and the next thing she knew, a car had pulled up and out came Million Dollar Baby star Hillary Swank, with Blue cradled in her arms.
“I was like, ‘No way,'” Blackwell said. “As soon as she got out of the car, I kissed Blue and said, ‘Thank you so much.'”
The two-time Oscar winner offered to take a photograph with Blackwell, who said that Swank was not going to “blow her own horn” about the good deed.
Swank has a history of animal advocacy, including co-founding the Hilaroo Foundation, which helps connect at-risk teens with shelter dogs in order to foster a healing connection.
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