Helicopter Successfully Catches Earth-Bound Rocket in a ‘Supersonic Ballet’

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May 9, 2022

A space company has successfully caught an Earth-bound rocket—by helicopter.

The launch, last Monday, saw Rocket Lab deploying 34 satellites to orbit before the ‘Electron booster stage’ was successfully snagged on its return to Earth.

The mission eventually saw the helicopter release the booster into the sea after the “pilot detected different load characteristics than previously experienced,” and is being counted as a success.

The launch originated from Rocket Lab’s complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab reports, “At 6,500 ft, Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter rendezvoused with the returning stage and used a hook on a long line to capture the parachute line.

“The mid-air capture is a major milestone in Rocket Lab’s pursuit to make Electron a reusable rocket to increase launch frequency and reduce launch costs for small satellites.

MORE: Pluto Has Giant Ice Volcanoes that Could Hint at Existence of an Underground Ocean With Life

“After the catch, the helicopter pilot detected different load characteristics… and offloaded the stage for a successful splashdown.

The big launch

The There and Back Again mission was Rocket Lab’s 26th Electron launch and deployed satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit for a variety of customers.

The mid-air capture comes after successful recovery operations from Rocket Lab’s 16th, 20th, and 22nd missions, which saw Electron’s first stage execute a controlled ocean splashdown before being returned to Rocket Lab’s production complex.

Like those missions, a reaction control system re-oriented the first stage to an ideal angle for re-entry during the mission, enabling the stage to survive the incredible heat and pressure during its descent back to Earth.

A drogue parachute was deployed to increase drag and to stabilize the first stage as it descended, before a large main parachute was deployed in the final kilometres of descent.

There and Back Again is the first time a helicopter catch attempt was introduced to recovery operations, and today’s mission will inform future helicopter captures.

“Bringing a rocket back from space and catching it with a helicopter is something of a supersonic ballet,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck.

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“A tremendous number of factors have to align and many systems have to work together flawlessly, so I am incredibly proud of the stellar efforts of our Recovery Team and all of our engineers who made this mission and our first catch a success.

“From here we’ll assess the stage and determine what changes we might want to make to the system and procedures for the next helicopter catch and eventual re-flight.”

Rocket Lab’s next mission is scheduled for this month, with more details to be released very soon.

(WATCH the Al Jazeera video for this story below.)

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Owl Immediately Adopts Two Rescue Chicks the Moment She Meets Them – After Her Own Eggs Failed

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Andy Corbley

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May 9, 2022

A wildlife artist in Britain captured on film the very moment when, seeing a pair of owlets in her nest, a tawny owl whose eggs had failed immediately adopts them with a cuddle and a clean.

Raptors are often some of the animal kingdom’s most devoted parents, spouses, and homemakers—and the video is a touching reminder of that.

Robert Fuller is one of the UK’s premier painters of wild creatures, and a devoted observer of their behavior.

His website contains blog articles written about the wildlife that visit his garden and the area around it, which includes several tawny owls who nest in boxes and hollows which Fuller has rigged with nest cams.

Over the years he has documented the relationship between Luna and Bomber, a tawny owl mating pair that have raised several owlets in his makeshift hollows.

Fuller has seen Bomber and Luna raise six owlets at once before, and rates them as highly devoted parents. Bomber, in particular, will attack anything that comes close to his nest.

MORE: Watch the Moment of Rescue for a Little Dog Trapped Down Hole And Missing For Days

“Not only did her eggs fail to hatch this year, but she also lost her clutch last year,” Fuller explains on his YouTube video. “Luna the tawny owl is finally a mom.”

Luna herself is a rescue owl, and her story therefore completes the circle in many ways.

(WATCH Robert Fuller’s video for this story below.)

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Bronx Housing Complex Comes With Giant Machine Stomach to Turn All Food Waste Into Fertilizer

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Andy Corbley

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May 9, 2022

rendering released Gilbane Development Company — Rendering; Gilbane Development Company

A new community housing development in the Bronx will feature a cool piece of kit: an on-site aerobic digester that can turn 1,100 pounds of food scraps into 220 pounds of high-quality fertilizer every single day.

Built by Harp Renewables, it’s basically a big stomach filled with bacteria that breaks down food scraps and wasted food into their component parts, and in the future could be a standard part of all apartment units as the amount of food waste in American reaches 30% of the total mass of all trash collection.

The Peninsula, organized by Gilbane Development Company, will feature 740 units of affordable housing, 50,000 square-foot light industrial space and equal sized green space, and 15,000 feet of commercial space, all of which will send their castaway comestibles right into the digester.

Fast Company reports that Christina Grace, founder of a zero-waste food management company, helped plan the design and implementation of the digester into The Peninsula, and helped organize a 40% grant from the city to pay the $50,000 upfront cost.

“The goal is for this material to work its way into the community garden network in the Bronx,” Grace told the magazine, adding that she expects it to pay for itself over just a few years. “We see this as highly replicable in both commercial and residential venues. We know there’s a need for fertilizer.”

Producing fertilizer right there in the city reduces the need for it to be trucked in from afar, chipping away, even if just a bit, at NYC traffic.

Big problem solver

Perhaps uniquely beneficial to New York City compared to other spots in the U.S. is that the digester will have a significant impact on the Bronx’s share of the city’s rodent problem.

Those who’ve watched the Morgan Spurlock documentary Rats will understand why that’s significant—while those that haven’t will have to imagine what living in a megacity where rats outnumber people by around 8 or 10 to 1 looks like.

Another big problem the bio-digesters could potentially help is pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer is a big emitter of all three of the most-targeted GHGs. Fertilizer, like quarry dust and ammonia is, like so many commodities, often imported from countries who specialize in its production, such as Norway, but also Russia and Ukraine, whose conflict has recently highlighted the fragility of the supply chain with sharp increases in prices.

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This importation means thousands of tons of CO2 gets emitted during transportation, while producing ammonia is also one of the larger CO2 emitting processes due to the use of fossil fuels to create it. Also produced in huge amounts from natural fertilizer production and landfill decomposition is methane.

Bio-digesters by design keep the CO2 and methane in the fertilizer produced, rather than it entering the atmosphere.

For these reasons and more, the aerobic bio-digester is slowly making its way into residential and industrial spaces around the country.

GNN reported on an enormous bio-digester at the heart of the D.C. advanced resource (sewage) recovery center outside the capital, and on the use of bio-digesters on Australian pig farms which are helping reduce the environmental and psychological impact of the effluent produced from such operations.

Harp Renewables tweeted how happy they were to have installed their bio-digester in the town of Cashel, Ireland.

Another successful installation was completed by @Nuplanetss at Cashel Palace Hotel.

The Harp CX2 Biodigester can digest up to 2000L of waste per week. Our industry-leading technology reduces the waste volume and weight by up to 85% in less than 24h. pic.twitter.com/lZwSYB9h8i
— Harp Renewables (@Harp_Renewables) August 20, 2021

Expect to see more stories like this pop up around the globe.

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“Just because things hadn’t gone the way I planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.” – Ann Patchett

Quote of the Day

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May 9, 2022

Quote of the Day: “Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.” – Ann Patchett

Photo by: Elena Koycheva

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?

Watch the Rescue Moment for Little Dog Trapped Down a Hole And Missing For Days

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May 8, 2022

dog rescue Devon owner Bracken Jelier-SWNS — Bracken Jelier / SWNS

Flossie the pooch suddenly vanished from her home in Devon, England—and several days went by before anyone heard anything.

On Monday, Bracken Jelier posted a plea on Facebook, telling friends and family to keep an eye out.

Finally, on Thursday afternoon, Flossie was located—but she was stuck down a rabbit hole in a neighbor’s garden in Crediton.

The video below shows the little pup being dug out with a spade and reunited with her grateful owner, thanks to the work of a member of the Mid Devon Hunt club.

Bracken posted on social media that her beloved dog had been returned, after being buried underground for two nights.

“We are over the moon,” wrote Bracken on Facebook. “It’s a very long story with some unbelievable coincidences that led to her being discovered after 56 hours buried underground.”

LOOK: Woman Ensures Safety of Passengers By Waving Her Red Sari to Stop a Train After Spotting Broken Track

“We are incredibly pleased to have her home. Other than being a little dehydrated and underweight, she is absolutely fine.”

Watch the moment she was saved…

More Than Half of Americans Think They Handle Their Finances Better Than Their Parents

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May 8, 2022

Sad bankrupt thinking of money problems — SWNS OnePoll

More than half of Americans feel they handle their finances better than their parents, according to a surprising new survey.

The poll of 2,000 adults looked at how different generations perceive money and found that 58% believe they’re better financial managers than their parents.

But 65% admitted being uncomfortable when talking to their parents about money. This may be because nearly 60% believe their parents had previously judged their financial habits.

But that hasn’t hindered people in achieving their financial goals or teaching others about their tips, hits, and misses.

Regardless of age, almost six in 10 respondents said they’re confident enough in their financial habits to pass them down to their children.

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of BOK Financial, the survey revealed that 77% of people are generally confident in their ability to save money—especially millennials (86%).

Meanwhile, a majority of Gen Xers (60%) admitted they lacked the skills when it comes to saving money.

Saving money during the pandemic proved tougher for most everyone, with 58% saying they spent money more casually than in previous years. (Perhaps on interior upgrades and renovations to their home?) But a previous poll showed that 60% are more financially confident than before the pandemic.

Despite inflation, it’s not all bad news: younger workers are more likely to see their wages rise to keep pace with inflation

ALSO: More Americans Now Consider Themselves to be ‘Thriving’ Than at Any Point in 13 Years: Gallop

Seven in every 10 respondents believe that their age group has the most responsibility to make good financial decisions, but 78% of Gen Z reported feeling the most need to be financially responsible to help look out for generations to come.

“The best day to start saving for tomorrow is today,” said Brandy Marion, of BOK Financial. “Most of us wish we had started saving sooner.”

CHECK OUT: These 30 Life Hacks Have Saved People Up to Four Hours Every Week Around the House

Call of Duty Game Hits Milestone of 100,000 Veterans Placed in Meaningful Jobs–And Blizzard Gives $30 Mil More

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May 8, 2022

Veteran in new job-employment-work-by Activision - Call of Duty Endowment — Call of Duty Endowment website

In 2003, video gamers began learning about World War II battles from the realistic launch of Call of Duty. Released to universal acclaim, the ongoing series holds the Guinness World Record as the best-selling games of their kind.

But the charity work done by the game’s publisher Activision Blizzard is also deserving of a Congressional medal.

Last month the Call of Duty Endowment reached its goal of placing 100,000 veterans into meaningful employment two years ahead of schedule.

To mark the occasion—and the start of Military Appreciation Month—Activision Blizzard has committed an additional $30 million in funding to support the program moving forward.

LOOK: The US Army Replaced a Cake it Stole From Italian Girl in 1945

Over the last twelve years, the Call of Duty Endowment says it has partnered with the most effective nonprofit veterans organizations in both the US and UK to deliver high value job placements—which is the service most requested by veterans.

“To put 100,000 placements in perspective, the entire active-duty Marine Corps is made up of more than 178,000 people,” said General James Jones, United States Marine Corps (retired) and Co-Chair of the Endowment. “While reaching 100,000 placements two years earlier than our goal is an accomplishment to be proud of, there is much more we can and should be doing to support our veterans as they transition to civilian employment.”

“To date, we have invested over $60 million in support of veterans employment initiatives,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard and Co-Founder of the Endowment. “With our even more efficient programs we expect to generate another 50,000 job placements through Call of Duty Endowment grants.”

With its first donation of $125,000, presented to the Paralyzed Veterans of America in 2009, the Endowment created thousands of career opportunities for veterans returning from the Middle East.

One of the leading charities supported by the grants is VetJobs. Their mission has received funding that led to more than 48,000 of its 77,000 placements.

“There is no better, more supportive resource for veteran job placement than the Call of Duty Endowment,” said VetJobs CEO Rear Admiral Dan Kloeppel, U.S. Navy (retired).

The Endowment also released a white paper in April detailing veteran employment over the organization’s 12-year history. “Lessons Learned for the Future of Veteran Employment” contains recommendations for veterans, employers, policy makers, and philanthropic donors.

It shows that modest, individualized assistance such as improving interview skills and resume coaching have a dramatic impact, as veterans are nearly three times more likely to find a job if they practice interviewing with a coach or mentor. Veterans are also twice as likely to find a job if an experienced mentor or coach helps them with resume writing.

LOOK: 98-Year-old D-Day Veteran Recreates Photo With Belgian Boy Who Befriended Him During WWII

To help get veterans back to work or learn more, please visit the Call of Duty Endowment.

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Friday Funny: Watch a Dog Help Teach the Baby How to Say ‘Mom’

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May 8, 2022

Today in the USA, we are celebrating Mother’s Day—so there’s no better time for this sweet video.

It’s the perfect day to meet Oswald, the 150-pound Colorado Rottweiler who loves talking to his mom—and anyone else who will listen.

Watch two-year-old ‘Ozzy’ becomes a teacher’s assistant, stepping up to show his baby sister Amy how to say ‘Mama’.

And check out the bonus video, which will melt any baby-lover’s heart… Wallace giving his baby sister some snuggles.

SHARE the Sweet Moment With All the Mamas on Social Media…

“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” – Jill Churchill (Happy Mother’s Day!)

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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May 8, 2022

Quote of the Day: “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” – Jill Churchill (Happy Mother’s Day!)

Photo by: ketan rajput

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?

$35 Thrift Store Purchase Turns Out to be Priceless 2000-Year-old Roman Bust

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May 7, 2022

Roman bust w thrift store price tag-SWNS Laura Young — Laura Young's bargain bust - SWNS

Roman bust purchased at Goodwill shop in Austin, Texas, by Laura Young / SWNS

A chipped marble statue bought for $35 from a thrift store has turned out to be a priceless 2,000 year-old Roman bust.

When Austin, Texas-based art collector Laura Young purchased the marble bust at a local Goodwill store in 2018, she didn’t know that she had accidentally stumbled upon a centuries-old sculpture that once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

At the time, the find was hilariously pictured buckled into the seat of Laura’s car—complete with price sticker on its cheek.

The work, which was initially identified by Sotheby’s consultant Jörg Deterling and further authenticated by the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes, is now on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) through May 2023.

Once installed in the courtyard of the Pompejanum (a replica of a Roman villa in Pompeii built by the King in Aschaffenburg, the Roman bust, which dates from the late 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD, disappeared following World War II.

Young, who actively looks for unexpected or undervalued artworks and antiques, discovered the Roman bust on the floor beneath a table at a Goodwill charity store.

After purchasing it, she noticed how old and worn the sculpture looked and began a multi-year journey to determine its authenticity and origin.

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

She met with experts in the University of Texas-Austin art history department, as well as several auction houses. After Deterling made the identification, he supported the process of connecting Young with the German authorities. As part of the agreement to return the sculpture to its rightful home in Germany, the Bavarian agency agreed that the work could go on view at SAMA to engage the public with its history and story.

“My husband and I were on a road trip when I got an email confirming the head was indeed ancient Roman. Soon after that, Sotheby’s got in touch,” Young said. “There were a few months of intense excitement after that, but it was bittersweet since I knew I couldn’t keep or sell the (bust). Either way, I’m glad I got to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history.”

“He looked great in the house while I had him,” she added.

It’s also a wonderful example of international cooperation.

But, the mystery continues…

How the Roman bust arrived in Texas remains a mystery. In January 1944, during World War II, Allied bombers targeted Aschaffenburg and seriously damaged the Pompejanum, where the work had been installed. Authorities began a restoration of the Pompejanum in 1960 and it opened as a museum in 1994.

The bust, however, disappeared after the war, and its location remained unknown until Young’s discovery. After the end of World War II, the US Army established various military installations in Aschaffenburg, many of which remained until the end of the Cold War, and most likely a returning soldier brought the sculpture to Texas.

“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the San Antonio Museum of Art for their support in returning the ancient portrait,” said Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian administration.

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Inspired by the excavations in Pompeii, King Ludwig I had the Pompejanum built by the architect Friedrich von Gärtner in 1840-1848, to support engagement with ancient cultures. The Roman bust was among many works housed in the replica villa.

The bust may portray a son of Pompey the Great (106–48 BC), who was defeated in civil war by Julius Caesar. Some unusual details of the bust resemble other portraits of the famous general, including the curling lock of hair on his forehead, his furrowed brow, and the creases on his neck, but with the addition of the traditional beard of mourning worn by his sons after Pompey’s death.

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Scientists Discover Genetic Cause of Lupus, a Chronic Autoimmune Disease

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May 7, 2022

An international team of researchers has identified a cause of the autoimmune disease lupus within the DNA mutations of a gene that senses viral RNA—findings that will lead to the development of new treatments.

Currently there is no cure for the chronic autoimmune disease which causes inflammation in organs and joints and affects movement and the skin—sometimes with debilitating symptoms and complications that can be fatal.

Lupus affects around a quarter-million people in the US and UK, and current treatments are predominantly immune-suppressors which work by dialing down the immune system to alleviate symptoms.

But scientists recently reported carrying out whole genome sequencing on the DNA of a Spanish child named Gabriela, who was diagnosed with severe lupus when she was 7 years old. Such a severe case with early onset of symptoms is rare and indicates a single genetic cause.

In their analysis published April 27 in Nature, the researchers report finding a single point mutation in the TLR7 gene. Via referrals from the US and the Shanghai Renji Hospital in China, they identified other cases of severe lupus where this gene was also mutated.

LOOK: Marathoner Runner Stopped By Lupus is Racing Again Thanks to Amazing Treatment for Autoimmune Disorder

To confirm that the mutation causes lupus, the team used CRISPR gene-editing to introduce it into mice. These mice went on to develop the disease and showed similar symptoms, providing evidence that the TLR7 mutation was the cause. The mouse model and the mutation were both named ‘kika’ by Gabriela, the young girl being treated at the Centre for Personalised Immunology at the Australian National University.

“It has been a huge challenge to find effective treatments for lupus, and the immune-suppressors currently being used can have serious side effects and leave patients more susceptible to infection,” said Carola Vinuesa, senior author, principal investigator, and leader of the new Autoimmunity Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute where she will continue the research. “There has only been a single new treatment approved by the FDA in about the last 60 years.”

“This is the first time a TLR7 mutation has been shown to cause lupus, providing clear evidence of one way this disease can arise.”

It might be a small number of people with lupus who have variants in TLR7 itself, but many patients have signs of overactivity in the TLR7 pathway. By confirming a causal link between the gene mutation and the disease, researchers can start to develop more effective treatments.

The mutation the researchers identified causes the TLR7 protein to bind more easily to a nucleic acid component called guanosine and become more active. This increases the sensitivity of the immune cell, making it more likely to incorrectly identify healthy tissue as foreign or damaged and mount an attack against it.

Interestingly, other studies have shown mutations that cause TLR7 to become less active are associated with some cases of severe COVID-19 infection, highlighting “the delicate balance of a healthy immune system”.

10x More Likely in Females

The work may also help explain why lupus is about 10 times more frequent in females than in males.

As TLR7 sits on the X chromosome, females have two copies of the gene while males have one. Usually, one of the X chromosomes is inactive in females, but in this section of the chromosome, silencing of the second copy is often incomplete. This means females with a mutation in this gene can have two functioning copies.

“Identification of TLR7 as the cause of lupus in this unusually severe case ended a diagnostic odyssey and brings hope for more targeted therapies for Gabriela and other lupus patients likely to benefit from this discovery,” says Dr. Carmen de Lucas Collantes, a co-author of the study.

CHECK OUT: We Can Now Use CRISPR Gene Editing on Ticks – to Fight Lyme Disease in Humans

The researchers are now working with pharmaceutical companies to explore the development of, or the repurposing of existing treatments, which target the TLR7 gene. And they hope that targeting this gene could also help patients with related conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and dermatomyositis, which belong to the same broad family as lupus.

Now a teenager who stays in contact with the research team, Gabriela expressed hope that the discovery will make people with lupus feel like they are not alone in fighting their battle. “Hopefully the research can continue and end up in a specific treatment that can benefit so many lupus warriors who suffer from this disease.”

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Hi-Tech Archaeology Reveals Extraordinary Cave Art Carvings Beneath 2000 Years of Sediment in Alabama

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May 7, 2022

Anthropomorph in regalia art 19th Unnamed Cave in Alabama by S. Alvarez-illustration by J. Simek — Anthropomorph in regalia from 19th Unnamed Cave in Alabama by S. Alvarez-illustration by J. Simek

Anthropomorph in regalia from 19th Unnamed Cave in Alabama by S. Alvarez-illustration by J. Simek

New details of our past are coming to light, hidden in the nooks and crannies of the visible world.

Digital analysis of rock surfaces reveals how ghosts of the deep past—this time from almost 2,000 years ago in North America—have been coaxed into the light.

Writing in the journal Antiquity, Professor Jan Simek of the University of Tennessee and colleagues have published images of giant glyphs carved into the mud surface of a low ceiling of a cave in Alabama.

The motifs, which depict human forms and animals, are some of the largest known cave images found in North America and may represent spirits of the underworld.

In the first image below, a drawing of a diamondback rattlesnake, an animal sacred to indigenous people in the south-eastern US, stretches almost 3 meters long.

The next one down shows a human figure just over six feet (1.8m) in length.

Serpent figure with diamond-shaped body markings by S. Alvarez-illustration by J. Simek

In terms of dating the findings, ancient people rejuvenated a light in the cave (a flaming torch of American bamboo) by stubbing it against the cave’s wall. This left a residue that the researchers were able to date with radiocarbon to 133-433 AD. This was also in accord with the age of pottery fragments ancient artists left in the cave.

The problem is seeing the paintings. The cave ceiling is only 60cm high (24 inches), which makes stepping back to view the large images impossible. They were revealed only through a technique called photogrammetry, in which thousands of overlapping photographs of an object or place are taken from different angles and digitally combined in 3D.

Anthropomorph in regalia photographed in Alabama cave by S. Alvarez-illustration by J. Simek

LOOK: Incredible Cave Paintings 8 Miles-Long Revealed Deep in Amazon Forest: The Sistine Chapel of Ancients

Photogrammetry is a cheap technique increasingly used in archaeology to record artifacts, buildings, landscapes, and caves. It allowed Professor Simek’s team to “lower” the cave floor up to 4 meters, enough for the complete motifs to come into view for the first time.

Ancient art in other places

Rock art is found on almost every continent, and the earliest is at least 64,000 years old. It is likely that we know of only a tiny percentage of the rock art created in the past. Pigments can dull and disappear; thin engravings can erode to nothing; and cave walls can crumble or be covered over by crusts of carbonate deposits or mud. Assuming more art does survive, the chances are we may never see it unless we invest in research and new technologies.

Rock art in the dark zone of caves beyond the natural light in cave mouths was only discovered in North America in 1979, more than a century after its discovery in Europe (at Altamira in northern Spain). Some 500 European caves are known to contain rock art from the Pleistocene era between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago.

One example critical to our own research only came to light through digital manipulation of images that we took of it. A hand stencil in the cave of Maltravieso (Estremadura, western Spain) was not immediately apparent when we were searching the cave for suitable samples to date its art.

The stencil had been obscured by the build-up of calcium carbonate deposits. We photographed the area and then used digital image enhancement software which revealed the hand stencil very clearly. Until it re-emerged on our computer screen, the 64,000 year old hand stencil remained undiscovered despite 70 years of intensive study in the cave.

Light engravings – a very common Pleistocene technique – are notoriously difficult to see. Parts of them may come to light using light shone at an oblique angle, which we refer to as raking light. But with a technique known as reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), which is similar to photogrammetry, 3D models can be illuminated from any angle. These can reveal far more complete and complex images. It’s not easy to show this in a couple of stills, but hopefully the two shots below of an engraved bison in a cave in El Castillo in northern Spain give a flavor.

Future archaeological searches for rock art will probably benefit from recent developments in airport security. Full body scanners use far infra-red frequency light that safely penetrates clothing to reveal concealed weapons or contraband, and similar techniques have been used to “see through” layers of prehistoric wall plaster to paintings underneath. When these scanners become small and cheap enough to take into caves, who knows what further ghosts will come to light?

By Paul Pettitt, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University and Alistair Pike, Professor of Archaeological Sciences, University of Southampton. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. (Read the original article and see more photos)

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

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May 7, 2022

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 May 7, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z tells us, “Don’t ever go with the flow. Instead, be the flow.” Here’s what I think he means: If we go with the flow, we adjust and accommodate ourselves to a force that is not necessarily aligned with our personal inclinations and needs. To go with the flow implies we are surrendering our autonomy. To claim our full sovereignty, on the other hand, we are wise to be the flow. We should create our own flow, which is just right for our unique inclinations and needs. I think this is the right approach for you right now, Taurus. Be the flow.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The Italian language used to be a dialect spoken in Tuscany. That area comprises less than eight percent of the country’s territory. How did such a dramatic evolution happen? Why did a local dialect supersede other dialects like Piedmontese, Neapolitan, Sicilian, and others? In part, it was because three potent 14th-century writers wrote in the Tuscan dialect: Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio. Another reason: Because Tuscany is centrally located in Italy, its dialect was less influenced by languages in France and other nearby countries. I offer this as a metaphor for you in the coming months. One of your personal talents, affiliations, or inclinations could become more influential and widespread—and have more authority in your life.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
“Always strive to be more interested than interesting,” said actor and activist Jane Fonda. That may not be easy for you to accomplish in the near future, dear Cancerian. Your curiosity will be at peak levels, but you may also be extra compelling and captivating. So I’ll amend Fonda’s advice: Give yourself permission to be both as interested and as interesting as you can imagine. Entertain the world with your lively personality as you go in quest of new information, fresh perceptions, and unprecedented experiences.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“When in doubt, act like God,” proclaimed Leo singer-songwriter Madonna. I wouldn’t usually endorse that advice. But I’ll make an exception for you Leos during the next three weeks. Due to a divine configuration of astrological omens, you are authorized to ascend to new heights of sovereignty and self-possession—even to the point of doing a vivid God impersonation. For best results, don’t choose an angry, jealous, tyrannical deity to be your role model. Pattern yourself after a sweeter, funnier, more intimate type of celestial being.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
My Virgo friend Amanda told me she felt tight and overwrought. She was overthinking and on the verge of a meltdown. With a rueful sigh, she added, “I adore anything that helps me decompress, unwind, simmer down, stop worrying, lighten up, compose myself, and mellow out.” So I invited her to take deep breaths, close her eyes, and visualize herself immersed in blue-green light. Then I asked her to name influences she loved: people, animals, natural places, music, books, films, art, and physical movements that made her feel happy to be alive. She came up with eight different sources of bliss, and together we meditated on them. Half an hour later, she was as relaxed as she had been in months. I recommend you try a comparable exercise every day for the next 14 days. Be proactive about cultivating tranquil delight.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Author Anne Lamott is renowned for her tender approach to expressing her struggles with addiction, depression, and other tribulations. One of her supreme tests was being a single mother who raised her son Sam. In this effort, she was her usual plucky self. Anytime she hosted playdates with Sam’s young friends at her home, she called on the help of crayons and paint and pens and clay and scissors. “When we did art with the kids, the demons would lie down,” she testified. I recommend a comparable strategy for you in the coming days, Libra. You will have extra power as you tame, calm, or transform your demons. Making art could be effective, as well as any task that spurs your creativity and imagination.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“My heart has developed a kind of amnesia, where it remembers everything but itself,” writes Scorpio poet Sabrina Benaim. If you suffer a condition that resembles hers, it’s about to change. According to my astrological analysis, your heart will soon not only remember everything; it will also remember itself. What a blissful homecoming that will be—although it may also be unruly and confounding, at least in the beginning. But after the initial surprise calms down, you will celebrate a dramatic enhancement of emotionally rich self-knowledge. You will feel united with the source of your longing to love and be loved.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong,” writes Sagittarian author Ann Patchett. Her thought may be helpful for you to meditate on. My guess is that you will ultimately be glad that things didn’t go the way you planned. God or your Higher Self or the Mysterious Forces of Destiny will conspire to lead you away from limited expectations or not-big-enough visions so as to offer you bigger and better blessings.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Novelist Jane Austen (1775–1817) confessed she was a “wild beast.” Really? The author who wrote masterfully about the complex social lives of wealthy British people? Here’s my theory: The wild beast in her made her original, unsentimental, humorous, and brilliant in creating her stories. How is your own inner wild beast, Capricorn? According to my reading of the astrological omens, now is an excellent time to give it fun, rich assignments. What parts of your life would benefit from tapping into raw, primal energy?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Aquarian poet Jack Gilbert wrote, “I lie in the dark wondering if this quiet in me now is a beginning or an end.” I don’t know how Gilbert solved his dilemma. But I suspect you will soon be inclined to pose a similar question. In your case, the answer will be that the quiet in you is a beginning. Ah! But in the early going, it may not resemble a beginning. You might be puzzled by its fuzzy, meandering quality. But sooner or later, the quiet in you will become fertile and inspirational. You will ride it to the next chapter of your life story.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The genre of poetry known as haiku often relies on unexpected juxtapositions. Critic R. H. Blyth observed, “In haiku, the two entirely different things that are joined in sameness are poetry and sensation, spirit and matter.” I suspect your life in the coming weeks will have metaphorical resemblances to haikus. You will be skilled at blending elements that aren’t often combined, or that should be blended but haven’t been. For inspiration, read these haikus by Raymond Roseliep. 1. in the stream / stones making half / the music. 2. horizon / wild swan drifting through / the woman’s body. 3. birthcry! / the stars / are all in place. 4. bathwater / down the drain / some of me. 5. grass / holding the shape / of our night. 6. campfire extinguished, / the woman washing dishes / in a pan of stars.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Poet Jennifer Willoughby writes, “I am so busy. I am practicing my new hobby of watching me become someone else. There is so much violence in reconstruction. Every minute is grisly, but I have to participate. I am building what I cannot break.” I wouldn’t describe your own reconstruction process during recent months as “violent” or “grisly,” Aries, but it has been strenuous and demanding. The good news is that you have mostly completed the most demanding work. Soon the process will become more fun. Congratulations on creating an unbreakable new version of yourself!

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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“Hiding the truth from ourselves until we are ready to come into the light can be a way to get what we need in our own necessary time.” – David Whyte

Quote of the Day

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May 7, 2022

Quote of the Day: “Hiding the truth from ourselves until we are ready to come into the light can be a way to get what we need in our own necessary time.” – David Whyte

Photo by: Alexandru Zdrobău

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A Total Lunar Eclipse is Coming With a Flower Blood Moon – How to See the Night Sky Spectacle

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May 6, 2022

Japanese Lantern Effect; Larry Johnson, CC license

Night sky fans, on May 15-16 look up to see the blood-red spectacle that is a total lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon slips into the Earth’s shadow—and those watching from South America and the eastern side of North America are in for quite the show.

If you’re an eclipse hunter living in North America’s west, or in Africa or Europe – you’ll also get to experience real beauty in the shape of not a total, but a partial lunar eclipse.

Such an eclipse can be a wonder to see, as it gives viewers the chance to witness the Japanese Lantern Effect—according to Farmer’s Almanac, in such moments the surface of the moon appears the color of glowing copper, gradating down to a beautiful “uneclipsed yellow sliver.”

To get precise times for the eclipse spectacular where you are, TimeandDate.com has you covered. Of course, as this is a lunar rather than a solar eclipse, you don’t need to worry about damaging your eyes by looking up.

And if you miss this one? Not to worry. The next will occur on November 7th-8th, 2022. We’ll be sure to remind you of that event in advance.

MORE: Scientists Discover Origin of Splendid Dunes on Jupiter’s Icy Moon

The great conjunction

A day after the upcoming eclipse, on May 18th you’re in for another mid-month treat, as the rare conjunction of Mars and Neptune is made visible in the pre-dawn moments.

Mars is easy to spot, being tangerine-red, and on the 18th, Neptune will be just 0°34′ north of it—with binoculars or a telescope, you’ll easily be able to go planet hopping and get a closer look at that distant Big Blue Planet.

See you in the nearest dark sky location near you.

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Why Our Brains See Faces Everywhere – And Monkeys Do Too

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May 6, 2022

face in car lights-copyright GWC — Car interior by GWC, copyright 2016

It’s so commonplace we barely give it a second thought, but human brains seem hardwired to see human faces where there are none—in objects as varied as the moon, toys, plastic bottles, tree trunks, and vacuum cleaners. Some have even seen an imagined Jesus in cheese on toast.

Until now scientists haven’t understood exactly what the brain is doing when it processes visual signals and interprets them as representations of the human face.

Neuroscientists at the University of Sydney now say how our brains identify and analyze real human faces is conducted by the same cognitive processes that identify illusory faces.

“From an evolutionary perspective, it seems that the benefit of never missing a face far outweighs the errors where inanimate objects are seen as faces,” said Professor David Alais lead author of the study from the School of Psychology.

“There is a great benefit in detecting faces quickly,” he said, “but the system plays ‘fast and loose’ by applying a crude template of two eyes over a nose and mouth. Lots of things can satisfy that template and thus trigger a face detection response.”

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This facial recognition response happens lightning fast in the brain: within a few hundred milliseconds.

“We know these objects are not truly faces, yet the perception of a face lingers,” Professor Alais said. “We end up with something strange: a parallel experience that it is both a compelling face and an object. Two things at once. The first impression of a face does not give way to the second perception of an object.”

This error is known as “face pareidolia.” It is such a common occurrence that we accept the notion of detecting faces in objects as ‘normal’—but humans do not experience this cognitive process as strongly for other phenomena.

The brain has evolved specialized neural mechanisms to rapidly detect faces and it exploits the common facial structure as a short-cut for rapid detection.

MORE: Anxiety Can Be a Habit – Which Means We Can Stop it, If We Know How

“Pareidolia faces are not discarded as false detections but undergo facial expression analysis in the same way as real faces,” Professor Alais said.

Not only do we imagine faces, we analyze them and give them emotional attributes.

The findings are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The researchers say this expression analysis of inanimate objects is because as deeply social beings, simply detecting a face isn’t enough.

“We need to read the identity of the face and discern its expression. Are they a friend or a foe? Are they happy, sad, angry, pained?” Professor Alais said.

What the study examined was whether once a pareidolia face is detected, it is subsequently analyzed for facial expression, or discarded from face processing as a false detection.

The research shows that once a false face is retained by the brain it is analyzed for its facial expression in the same way that a real face is.

LOOK: Optimistic Men Have a Better Shot at Less-Stressful, Healthy Aging, Finds New Study

“We showed this by presenting sequences of faces and having participants rate each face’s expression on a scale ranging from angry to happy,” Professor Alais said.

What was intriguing is that a known bias in judging human faces persisted with analysis of inanimate imagined faces.

A previous study undertaken by Professor Alais showed that in a Tinder-like situation of judging face after face, a bias is observed whereby the assessment of the current face is influenced by our assessment of the previous face.

The scientists tested this by mixing up real faces with pareidolia faces—and the result was the same.

“This ‘cross-over’ condition is important as it shows the same underlying facial expression process is involved regardless of image type,” Professor Alais said.

“This means that seeing faces in clouds is more than a child’s fantasy,” he said.

MORE: The Best Way to Eliminate Procrastination is Easier Than You Think, Says New Research

“When objects look compellingly face-like, it is more than an interpretation: they really are driving your brain’s face detection network. And that scowl, or smile; that’s your brain’s facial expression system at work. For the brain, fake or real, faces are all processed the same way.”

Not just a human trait

Scientists have found out we’re not alone in these face recognition experiences—monkey do it too.

That’s according to Jessica Taubert and her colleagues at the US National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland, who trained five rhesus macaques to stare at pairs of photos—one of an inanimate object that humans see faces in, together with a picture of a monkey’s face, or an inanimate object that does not prompt pareidolia in humans.

They measured the length of time the monkeys went about looking at each image; as it turns out, they spent far longer with the illusory faces than with the non-illusory images—and their eye gaze patterns were found to fixate on the eye and mouth areas of the illusory images too, which is just what humans do when viewing real faces.

Their research has been published in Current Biology.

(WATCH the New Scientist video for this story below.)

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Irish Woman Who Won $145M Lottery Has Given Over Half: ‘I’m Addicted to Helping People’

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Andy Corbley

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May 6, 2022

winner-euromillions-connolly - national lottery released — National Lottery

A self-confessed charity addict won more than $145 million (£115) million in the lottery, allowing her to overdose on her admitted addiction.

Making news headlines around the UK and Ireland, Frances Connelly has already given away ($74 million) £60 million with her husband, “Patty” Patrick, who actually bought the winning lottery ticket.

“Helping people… it just gives you A buzz. I’m addicted to it now,” 55-year-old Connelly said in an interview.

Connelly has been helping people since childhood. She volunteered with St. John’s Ambulance as a child and set up an AIDS helpline while a student in Belfast. She runs several community groups that do a variety of work—from helping refugees to providing seniors with tablets so they can video call their families.

Winning the EuroMillions 2019 jackpot gave her all kinds of ideas on how to help people, and so she used money to immediately set up two professional charities.

MORE: Man Wins 200 Million on the Lottery and Donates Almost All of It to Save the Earth

“So when we first sat down with our cup of tea Patty said, ‘go on then, make your list,'” Connelly said. She said that most of the big money ideas have already been given out, and that she has received a “yearly charity budget” from her husband, who still works at his plastic company, though she’s already spent her way up to 2032’s allocation.

She wasn’t overwhelmed, but rather recalled all those conversations she had had throughout her life about what would you do if you won the lottery; the hierarchy of helping was well established.

“I think I’m at about 10-11 million now directly to charity, as well as the money in the two charities here and in Northern Ireland, but I don’t keep a tally, in fact I don’t keep a tally in case Patty finds it!”

In terms of personal treats, they did buy a new house—a six-bedroom home in Durham with seven acres of land.

“I’ve never actually had to come to terms with all that money because we’ve had it for such a short amount of time,” she says, adding that most of it has already been pieced out to her large family, given to charity, or placed in safe keeping somewhere.

“If I had any advice for a winner… I’d say money liberates you to be the person that you want to be.” she told the BBC, also reporting on her winnings. “If you’re stupid before you get it, you’re going to be stupid afterwards.”

(WATCH the video for this story below.)

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Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms ‘Reversed’ by Mini Implant Bringing Hope

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Andy Corbley

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May 6, 2022

PROFESSOR TIM DENISON, OXFORD UNIVERSITY released parkinsons treatment

Professor Tim Denison, Oxford University

A small implant connected to electrodes inserted into the skull bone is providing huge relief to younger patients living with Parkinson’s disease, such that it could allow sufferers to pick up fine motor skills like playing golf again.

While it isn’t a cure, the implant is a treatment that makes living with Parkinson’s ten times more bearable.

“Before the operation I went for a walk on Boxing Day with my wife and I got 200 yards (182m) from the actual car,” Mr. Tony Howells, who received this implant in 2019, said according to the BBC.

“Then after the operation, which was 12 months later, I went on Boxing Day again and we went for 2.5 miles (4km) and we could’ve went further. It was amazing,” he added.

25 patients like Howells have been selected to participate in the trial at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, England which will conclude next year. Most of the them are older than 50, but those who may be old enough to begin losing memories make them too old for the operation.

MORE: This is the Gene That Could Prevent Parkinson’s Disease

The operation involves inserting the tiny battery within the skull bone and running electrodes down into the center of the brain in the subthalamic nuclei. It then delivers delicate electrical impulses to help stimulate the unaligned neurons to fire correctly, thereby restoring some of the normal muscular function which Parkinson’s disturbs.

Previous implanting operations involved bizarre Tony Stark-like batteries implanted into a patient’s chest. This new method takes just three hours, and could be available for as many as 10% of all Parkinson’s patients.

“You can’t understand how frustrating [Parkinson’s] is until it happens to you. Just doing your shoelaces up is a major operation… it affects your every day life no end,” said Howells, who is even able to play fine-tuned sports—including, yes, golf—again.

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“You’re something between a dream and a miracle.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Quote of the Day

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May 6, 2022

watercolor-happy-couple-love-cc-Kurt-Stocker — Kurt Stocker (CC license)

Quote of the Day: “You’re something between a dream and a miracle.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Photo by: Kurt Stocker

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Scientists Make Breakthrough, Stopping the Spread of Cancer by Repurposing Drugs Used for Other Illnesses

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May 5, 2022

cancer public domain national-cancer-institute-p1zy6izFI0M-unsplash — Nat89

The treatment of cancer could be revolutionized by the discovery that existing drugs, used to treat depression and heart disease, could reverse key changes in cancer cells that are associated with their ability to spread.

Metastasis, the ability of cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body, is notoriously difficult to treat and is the leading cause of death, meaning that early diagnosis and treatment are vital.

Cancer starts when certain changes take place within the genes inside the nucleus of a cell —the cell’s command center which contains its DNA.

Increased Metastasis

When examined under a microscope cancer cells look abnormal, and for over 150 years scientists have used changes in the size of the cell’s nucleus to diagnose cancer and its severity.

In many types of cancer these size changes are linked to increased metastasis, the ability of cancer cells to spread, reducing the chances of survival. Yet, few treatments specifically target metastasis.

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To tackle this, researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh, Montreal, and Eastern Finland screened drugs in the lab that reversed nucleus size changes in cells from three cancers— prostate, colon, and lung.

Existing Drugs

The screen identified many existing cancer drugs, but also uncovered drugs not previously used to treat cancer, including those used for depression, heart disease and killing parasitic worms.

While each drug identified needs to be tested further to check if it is effective in reducing metastasis in cancer patients, the screen identified over a dozen drugs that may prove effective for each of the three cancers.

As the drugs can target specific types of cancer cells and are generally non-toxic, they could be added to existing treatments to reduce metastasis without further adding to the existing toxic side effects of chemotherapy.

Reversing Nucleus Size Changes

The researchers found that in each cancer type, a different set of drugs could change the size of the nucleus in the opposite direction as the changes associated with an increase in metastasis.

Understanding why was confusing because size changes went in both directions – increased metastasis followed size increases in prostate and breast cancer and decreases in lung cancer.

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Research into the causes of metastasis are ongoing, but it occurs when cancer cells break away from the original tumour and travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body.

Tissue Invasion

A smaller nucleus might make it easier for the cell to squeeze through the walls of blood vessels to enter other tissues while a bigger nucleus might be more malleable to enable such squeezing.

In nearly all the drugs tested, changing the size of the nucleus—in the opposite direction that normally occurs with metastasis—reduced the cell’s ability to move and invade tissues.

These size changes are likely to affect the cell’s speed and ability to move as the nucleus is closely connected to a network of filaments, known as the cytoskeleton, that control its movement.

Similar screens for other types of cancer are likely to identify other drugs that have the potential to target specific types of cancer and reduce metastasis whilst limiting toxic side effects.

This study has been published in ACS Chemical Biology.

Source: University of Edinburgh

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