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Eating Avocados Twice a Week is Linked With lowering Heart Disease by 16-22%

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Eating two or more servings of avocado weekly was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and substituting avocado for certain fat-containing foods like butter, cheese, or processed meats was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease events, according to new research.

Avocados contain dietary fiber, unsaturated fats especially monounsaturated fat (healthy fats), and other favorable components that have been associated with good cardiovascular health. Clinical trials have previously found avocados have a positive impact on cardiovascular risk factors including high cholesterol.

Researchers believe this is the first, large, prospective study to support the positive association between higher avocado consumption and lower cardiovascular events, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.

“Our study provides further evidence that the intake of plant-sourced unsaturated fats can improve diet quality and is an important component in cardiovascular disease prevention,” said Lorena S. Pacheco, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D.N., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow in the nutrition department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“These are particularly notable findings since the consumption of avocados has risen steeply in the U.S. in the last 20 years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

For 30 years, researchers followed more than 68,780 women (ages 30 to 55 years) from the Nurses’ Health Study and more than 41,700 men (ages 40 to 75 years) from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

All study participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the study and living in the United States. Researchers documented 9,185 coronary heart disease events and 5,290 strokes during more than 30 years of follow-up. Researchers assessed participants’ diet using food frequency questionnaires given at the beginning of the study and then every four years.

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They calculated avocado intake from a questionnaire item that asked about the amount consumed and frequency. One serving equaled half of an avocado or a half cup of avocado.

Heart health

The analysis found:

  • After considering a wide range of cardiovascular risk factors and overall diet, study participants who ate at least two servings of avocado each week had a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease, compared to those who never or rarely ate avocados.
  • Based on statistical modeling, replacing half a serving daily of margarine, butter, egg, yogurt, cheese or processed meats such as bacon with the same amount of avocado was associated with a 16% to 22% lower risk of cardiovascular disease events.
  • Substituting half a serving a day of avocado for the equivalent amount of olive oil, nuts and other plant oils showed no additional benefit.
  • No significant associations were noted in relation to stroke risk and how much avocado was eaten.

The study’s results provide additional guidance for health care professionals to share. Offering the suggestion to “replace certain spreads and saturated fat-containing foods, such as cheese and processed meats, with avocado is something physicians and other health care practitioners such as registered dietitians can do when they meet with patients, especially since avocado is a well-accepted food,” Pacheco said.

The study aligns with the American Heart Association’s guidance to follow the Mediterranean diet—a dietary pattern focused on fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, fish and other healthy foods and plant-based fats such as olive, canola, sesame and other non-tropical oils.

MORE: Good News for Coffee Lovers: Daily Coffee May Benefit the Heart

“These findings are significant because a healthy dietary pattern is the cornerstone for cardiovascular health, however, it can be difficult for many Americans to achieve and adhere to healthy eating patterns,” said Cheryl Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., FAHA, chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention.

“We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets—such as the Mediterranean diet— that are rich in vegetables and fruits,” said Anderson, who is professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.

“Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits. This is promising because it is a food item that is popular, accessible, desirable and easy to include in meals eaten by many Americans at home and in restaurants.”

This study has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Source: American Heart Association

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An Airbus Jumbo Jet Just Completed Two Flights Powered by Cooking Oil

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Andy Corbley
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Dmitry A. Mottl, CC license
Dmitry A. Mottl, CC license

Having recently had time called on its 15 years of service, an Airbus A380 just completed some trial flights powered by cooking oil.

The largest passenger jet in the world, a double-decker behemoth just flew a three-hour intra-French test flight on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF for short.

Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA)—SAF’s key ingredient—are definitely not what your doctor would label as a healthy cooking oil, but for powering the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine on board, it proved successful on March 25th on a French flight from Toulouse to Toulouse, and in a second on March 29th from Toulouse to Nice.

Far from being an introductory step, Airbus craft are already certified under both the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to fly commercially with a blend of 50-50 SAF and kerosene. Nevertheless, the company hopes to achieve 100% SAF authorization by the end of the decade.

“Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of netzero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Airbus in a statement.

First getting paint jobs in 2006, the A380 wasn’t as successful as the company had imagined, and the €25 billion total investment was never recouped over the 251 unit sales Airbus managed. However the 853-seater aircraft completed 800,000 flights over 7.3 million block hours with no fatalities and no hull losses.

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They’re also using the discontinued craft to test out three new experimental green hydrogen propulsion systems. SAF is more or less finished as a technology, and requires little adaptation aboard existing passenger jets. Hydrogen, however, would provide a much greater reduction in flight emissions, something the Airbus brass are very interested in investigating.

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“I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen—both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft—has the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact,” Guillaume Faury, chief executive for Airbus, said in February.

(WATCH the sustainable aviation video presentation from the company below.)

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“Every part of your body is adorable and incredible… a thousand tiny deities the size of molecules worshipping and protecting each tiny particle of your body.” – Jason Hine

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Quote of the Day: “Every part of your body is adorable and incredible… a thousand tiny deities the size of molecules worshipping and protecting each tiny particle of your body.” – Jason Hine

Photo by: Aiony Haust (croppped)

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?

 

Gardening Dad Just Broke World Record For Growing 1,269 Tomatoes on a Single Stem in his Tiny Greenhouse

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SWNS
SWNS

A gardening dad has been named a champion for the second time, after claiming another title for harvesting 1,269 tomatoes from a single stem.

Douglas Smith previously hit headlines in 2020 when he grew the UK’s tallest sunflower of 2020—at 20-foot, it towered over his family home.

This time, the 43-year-old grew almost 14 lbs of red tomatoes weighing (6.2 kilos) which earned him official recognition by Guinness World Records last week.

Commenting on his latest world record, Douglas said he was “really pleased” with the “amazing” tomato harvest.

According to SWNS news service, the previous record for the most tomatoes on a single truss was 488, achieved by a Shropshire man in 2010.

Douglas, of Stanstead Abbotts, Herts, has explained how he spent hours poring over scientific research papers to perfect his cherry tomato growing techniques.

“You have to make sure the environment is well set up,” he said.

He sent samples of soil to labs to make sure the plants had exactly what they needed.

“I spent three or four hours a week tending to the tomatoes in an 8×8 foot greenhouse in my back garden.”

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Douglas, who lives with wife Piper, 45, and son Stellan, six, culled a number of plants down to two.

After counting the fruit on the first plant he tallied 839, but then the second vine had an even higher number – 1,269 little red gems.

LOOK: Man Hasn’t Been to the Grocery Store in 8 Months Thanks to Tiny Pandemic Garden Inspired By Grandfather

SWNS

The IT manager says this summer he plans to tackle two more world records, starting with the one for the most tomatoes on a single plant—a record currently at 1,355 claimed by a Coventry man in 2013.

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Douglas he also wants to set a new garden pea record but refused to give further details in fear of other veg growers trying to beat him to it.

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MIT Researchers Reverse Hearing Loss By Regenerating Inner Ear Hair Growth

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MIT

A spinoff from MIT, Frequency Therapeutics, has a new drug candidate that stimulates the growth of hair cells in the inner ear.

Zach Winn | MIT News

Most of us know someone affected by hearing loss, but we may not fully appreciate the hardships that lack of hearing can bring. Hearing loss can lead to isolation, frustration, and a debilitating ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. It is also closely correlated with dementia.

The biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics is seeking to reverse hearing loss—not with hearing aids or implants, but with a new kind of regenerative therapy that uses small molecules to program progenitor cells, a descendant of stem cells in the inner ear, to create the tiny hair cells that allow us to hear.

Hair cells die off when exposed to loud noises or drugs including certain chemotherapies and antibiotics. Frequency’s drug candidate is designed to be injected into the ear to regenerate these cells within the cochlea. In clinical trials, the company has already improved people’s hearing as measured by tests of speech perception — the ability to understand speech and recognize words.

“Speech perception is the No. 1 goal for improving hearing and the No. 1 need we hear from patients,” says Frequency co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Chris Loose PhD.

In Frequency’s first clinical study, the company saw statistically significant improvements in speech perception in some participants after a single injection, with some responses lasting nearly two years.

The company has dosed more than 200 patients to date and has seen clinically meaningful improvements in speech perception in three separate clinical studies.

MIT

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Now, Frequency is recruiting for a 124-person trial from which preliminary results should be available early next year.

They believe they’re making important contributions toward solving a problem that impacts more than 40 million people in the U.S. and hundreds of millions more around the world.

“Hearing is such an important sense; it connects people to their community and cultivates a sense of identity,” says Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology affiliate faculty member Jeff Karp, who is also a professor of anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I think the potential to restore hearing will have enormous impact on society.”

From the lab to patients

At MIT in 2005, Lucchino was an MBA student and Loose a PhD candidate in chemical engineering when MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer introduced the two aspiring entrepreneurs, and they started working on what would become Semprus BioSciences, a medical device company that they later sold for $80 million.

Eight years after playing matchmaker for Lucchino and Loose, Langer began working with Karp to study the lining of the human gut, which regenerates itself almost every day.

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With MIT postdoc Xiaolei Yin, who is now a scientific advisor to Frequency, the researchers discovered that the same molecules that control the gut’s stem cells are also used by a close descendant of stem cells called progenitor cells. Like stem cells, progenitor cells can turn into more specialized cells in the body.

Progenitor cells reside in the inner ear and generate hair cells when humans are in utero, but they become dormant before birth and never again turn into more specialized cells such as the hair cells of the cochlea. Humans are born with about 15,000 hair cells in each cochlea. Such cells die over time and never regenerate.

In 2012, the research team was able to use small molecules to turn progenitor cells into thousands of hair cells in the lab. Karp says no one had ever produced such a large number of hair cells before. He still remembers looking at the results while visiting his family, including his father, who wears a hearing aid.

“I looked at them and said, ‘I think we have a breakthrough,’” Karp says. “That’s the first and only time I’ve used that phrase.”

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The advance was enough for Langer to play matchmaker again and bring Loose and Lucchino into the fold to start Frequency Therapeutics.

The founders believe their approach—injecting small molecules into the inner ear to turn progenitor cells into more specialized cells—offers advantages over gene therapies, which may rely on extracting a patient’s cells, programming them in a lab, and then delivering them to the right area.

“Tissues throughout your body contain progenitor cells, so we see a huge range of applications,” Loose says. “We believe this is the future of regenerative medicine.”

Advancing regenerative medicine

Frequency’s founders have been thrilled to watch their lab work mature into an impactful drug candidate in clinical trials.

RELATED: Sound Waves Convert Stem Cells Into Bone in Regenerative Breakthrough

“Some of these people [in the trials] couldn’t hear for 30 years, and for the first time they said they could go into a crowded restaurant and hear what their children were saying,” Langer says. “It’s so meaningful to them. Obviously more needs to be done, but just the fact that you can help a small group of people is really impressive to me.”

Karp believes Frequency’s work will advance researchers’ ability to manipulate progenitor cells and lead to new treatments down the line.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 or 15 years, because of the resources being put into this space and the incredible science being done, we can get to the point where [reversing hearing loss] would be similar to Lasik surgery, where you’re in and out in an hour or two and you can completely restore your vision,” Karp says. “I think we’ll see the same thing for hearing loss.”

“You always hope your work will have an impact, but it can take a long time for that to happen,” Karp says. “It’s been an incredible experience working with the team to bring this forward. There are already people in the trials whose hearing has been dramatically improved and their lives have been changed. That impacts interactions with family and friends. It’s wonderful to be a part of.”

(Reprinted with permission of MIT News; Edited for length)

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Texas Researchers Use Okra to Remove Microplastics from Wastewater

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Sonika Agarwal
Sonika Agarwal

Tarleton State University researchers have demonstrated that food-grade plant extracts, especially those from okra, have the power to remove microplastics from wastewater.

The health effects of ingesting microplastics are unclear, but studies suggest that people unintentionally consume thousands of particles every year.

They can be released from your clothing in the washing machine and end up in the city water treatment facility

In the typical wastewater treatment process, microplastics are removed from water by adding flocculants, or sticky chemicals that attract microplastics and form large clumps. The clumps then sink to the bottom of the water and can be separated from it.

Dr. Srinivasan, the Endowed Munson Research Professor of Chemistry at the Texas university, and her team have been investigating more healthy alternatives to the commonly used flocculant, polyacrylamide.

“We think that microplastics by themselves may not be much of a health hazard, but anything they get into or any type of toxic substance that gets attached to them could go inside our bodies and cause problems,” said Associate Professor Dr. Rajani Srinivasan, the principal investigator for the project.

She has studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater. “I was working with the removal of microorganisms and things like that, and I thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’”

So she and a team of undergraduate and environmental science master’s students tested polysaccharide extracts from 7 plants: fenugreek, cactus, aloe vera, okra, tamarind, and psyllium. They tested compounds from the individual plants as well as in different combinations.

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They found that polysaccharides from okra worked the best. Paired with fenugreek extract, microplastics could be removed from ocean water, and the okra paired with those from tamarind worked best for freshwater samples.

Overall, the plant-based polysaccharides worked better than, or as well as, the traditional flocculant polyacrylamide.

Importantly, the plant-based flocculants can be implemented in existing water treatment processes.

“The whole treatment method with the non-toxic materials uses the same infrastructure,” said Dr. Srinivasan. “We don’t have to build something new to incorporate these materials for water treatment purposes.”

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She and her team will continue tailoring the ratios and combinations to optimize removal of different microplastic types from a variety of water sources. They also plan to scale up the removal process in field studies outside the lab.

Ultimately, they hope to commercialize the method and remove microplastics from water on an industrial scale.

The study and its results, funded by the National Science Foundation and a water development district in Lubbock, were presented at the March 20-24 spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, according to the University.

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

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SWNS

A brave woman may have saved hundreds of lives in India by waving her red sari to stop a train—after spotting broken tracks further down the line.

Omvati Devi waved the flowing red garment in front of an approaching train after noticing part of the line was faulty.

Spotting the woman, the driver was able to stop the train just in the nick of time, avoiding potential disaster.

Omvati’s quick-thinking benefitted between 150 to 200 passengers aboard the train in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The woman, who’s been praised for her heroic actions, was quoted in a SWNS report as saying, “I was on my way to the land for routine work and it was then when I stumbled to found a broken track.

“I was quick to realize that this could result in a massive tragedy. Well, I had heard a lot that red stands for danger.

SWNS

“I used my sari to tie it around the track to thwart any untoward incident which luckily did work when the driver applied brakes.

SWNS

The driver offered her 100 rupees, but she turned it down.

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“Then, he insisted that I keep the money, which I did.”

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“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Dalai Lama

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Quote of the Day: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Dalai Lama

Photo by: Josh Appel

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?

 

EV Charging Answer: Quantum Technology Will Cut Time it Takes to Charge Electric Cars to Just 9 Seconds

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Good News Network
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Institute for Basic Science
Institute for Basic Science

Scientists in South Korea have proven that a new technology will cut the time it takes to charge electric cars to just nine seconds, allowing EV owners to ‘fill up’ faster than their gasoline counterparts.

And even those plugging-in at home will have the time slashed from 10 hours to three minutes.

The new device uses the laws of quantum physics to power all of a battery’s cells at once—instead of one at a time—so recharging takes no longer than filling up at the pump.

Electric cars were rarely seen on the roads 10 years ago, but millions are now being sold every year and it has become one of the fastest growing industries, but even the fastest superchargers need around 20 to 40 minutes to power their car.

Scientists at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have come up with a solution. Co-author Dr. Dario Rosa said the consequences could be far-reaching.

“Quantum charging could go well beyond electric cars and consumer electronics. For example, it may find key uses in future fusion power plants, which require large amounts of energy to be charged and discharged in an instant.”

The concept of a “quantum battery” was first proposed in a seminal paper published by Alicki and Fannes in 2012. It was theorized that quantum resources, such as entanglement, can be used to vastly speed up battery charging.

RELATED: This Portable EV Charger is a Game-Changer For Drivers Who Need to Plug-in

The researchers used quantum mechanics to model their super fast charging station with calculations of the charging speed showing that a typical electric vehicle with a battery containing around 200 cells would recharge 200 times faster.

Current collective charging is not possible in classical batteries, where the cells are charged in parallel, independently of one another.

“This is particularly exciting as modern large-capacity batteries can contain numerous cells.”

The group went further to provide an explicit way of designing such batteries.

This means charging times could be cut from 10 hours to three minutes at home and from around 30 minutes to just a few seconds at stations.

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Co-author Dr Dominik Šafránek said, “Of course, quantum technologies are still in their infancy and there is a long way to go before these methods can be implemented in practice.”

“Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to further invest in these technologies.

“If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to our sustainable future.”

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The findings were published in the February 8 edition of the journal Physical Review Letters. [GNN updated the earlier broken link.]

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

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

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of April 1, 2022
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In 1904, it wasn’t illegal to use performance-enhancing drugs during Olympic competitions. Runner Thomas Hicks took advantage of this in the marathon race. The poison strychnine, which in small doses serves as a stimulant, was one of his boosters. Another was brandy. By the time he approached the finish line, he was hallucinating and stumbling. His trainers carried him the rest of the way, and he was declared the winner. I recommend you make him your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. How might you cheat to gain a great victory? APRIL FOOL! I Lied. While it’s true that a meaningful triumph is within your reach, you’re most likely to achieve it by acting with total integrity, following the rules, and imbibing no stimulating poisons.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Science fiction aficionado Wil Wheaton suggests that all of us should have the following: 1. a nemesis; 2. an evil twin; 3. a secret headquarters; 4. an escape hatch; 5. a partner in crime; 6. a secret identity. Dear Taurus, I have doubts that you possess any of these necessities. Please embark on intensive efforts to acquire all of them. Your deadline is April 21. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. There’s no way you could add all those things to your repertoire in such a short time. See if you can at least get a secret identity and a partner in crime. It’s time to have wicked fun as you add to your potency and effectiveness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“I hate being on my best behavior,” wrote Gemini author Colleen McCullough. “It brings out the absolute worst in me.” In the coming weeks, I hope you avoid the danger she describes. Don’t be on your best behavior! Emulate Gemini filmmaker Clint Eastwood, who said, “I tried being reasonable, but I didn’t like it.” APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s the real truth: Being kind and generous and reasonable will be your secret weapon in the next three weeks. Doing so will empower you to make interesting and unforeseen progress.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A Tumblr blogger named Alyssa complains, “I’m still peeved that I can’t fly or set things on fire with my mind.” You might share that feeling, Cancerian. But here’s the good news: I predict that you could soon acquire, at least temporarily, the power to fly and set things on fire with your mind. Use these talents wisely, please! APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, you probably won’t be able to fly or set things on fire with your mind anytime soon. However, you may acquire other superpowers that are only slightly less fantastic. For example, you could change the mind of an ally who has been ridiculously stubborn. You could uncover a big secret that has been hidden. You could mend a wound you thought would never heal. Any other superpowers you need right now?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
I suspect that only a Leo would say what Leo filmmaker Stanley Kubrick once asserted: “You know, it’s not absolutely true in every case that nobody likes a smart ass.” In accordance with astrological omens, I authorize you to prove his assertion. Be the kind of smart ass that people like. APRIL FOOL! I’m half-joking. The truth is, I hope you will be the kind of smart ass that people absolutely adore and get inspired by.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In honor of your arrival in the most lyrical and soulful phase of your cycle, I offer you advice from poet Richard Jackson: “The secret is to paint your own numbers on the clock, to brush away those webs that cover the wild country of the soul, to let your star hover between the flowers of the moon and the flowers of the sun, like words you have never spoken yet always hear.” APRIL FOOL! I partially lied. I don’t think you should paint your own numbers on the clock. But the rest of what Jackson said is totally applicable and useful for you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“I want excitement,” declared Libra novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, “and I don’t care what form it takes or what I pay for it, so long as it makes my heart beat.” In the coming weeks, I hope you will make that statement your motto. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. While I do foresee you being able to gather a wealth of excitement, I hope you won’t be as extreme as Fitzgerald in your pursuit of it. There will be plenty of opportunities for excitement that won’t require you to risk loss or pay an unwelcome price.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
“If you can’t make fun of yourself, you don’t have a right to make fun of others,” said comedian Joan Rivers. I agree! So if you are feeling an irresistible urge to mock people and fling sarcasm in all directions, please prepare by first mocking yourself and being sarcastic toward yourself. APRIL FOOL! I lied. I will never authorize you to make fun of others. Never! In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll do the opposite: Dole out massive doses of praise and appreciation toward everyone. To prepare, dole out massive doses of praise and appreciation toward yourself.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In the traditional opera performed in China’s Sichuan province, magical effects were popular. One trick involved characters making rapid changes of their masks. The art was to remove an existing mask and don a new one with such speed that the audience could not detect it. An old master, Peng Denghuai, once wore 14 different masks in 24 seconds. This is an antic I think you should imitate in the coming days. The more frequently you alter your persona and appearance, the more successful and popular you’ll be. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. I recommend that you gleefully experiment with your image and exuberantly vary your self-presentation. But don’t overdo it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
A nutritionist named Mark Haub decided to try losing weight by eating only sugary treats. For 10 weeks, he snacked on junk food cakes, cookies, and sweet cereals. By the end, he had lost 27 pounds. In accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you try the metaphorical equivalents of this project. For instance, work on deepening your relationships by engaging your allies in shallow conversations about trivial subjects. Or see if you can enhance your physical fitness by confining your exercise to crossing and uncrossing your legs as you sit on the couch watching TV. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s your real horoscope: For the next four weeks, take better care of your body and your relationships than you ever have before in your life. Make it a point to educate yourself about what that would entail, and be devoted in providing the most profound nurturing you can imagine.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
Aquarius-born Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) was bravely heretical in his work as a philosopher, poet, mathematician, and friar. He angered the Catholic Church with his unorthodox views about Jesus and Mary, as well as his belief in reincarnation, his practice of occult magic, and his views that there are other stars besides our sun. Eventually, the authorities burned him at the stake for his transgressive ideas. Beware of a similar outcome for expressing your unusual qualities! APRIL FOOL! Luckily, no punishment will result if you express the rich fullness of your idiosyncrasies in the coming weeks. I’m happy about that, since I’m encouraging you to be as eccentrically yourself as you want to be.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Life is too complicated to accurately comprehend. There’s too much to know! It’s impossible to make truly savvy and rational decisions. Maybe the best strategy is to flip a coin or throw the dice or draw a Tarot card before doing anything. APRIL FOOL! While it’s a fact that life is too complex for our conscious minds to fully master, we have massive resources available on subconscious and superconscious levels: our deep soul and our higher self. Now is an excellent time to enhance your access to these mother lodes of intelligence.

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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The Newest Cadbury Bunny is… a Therapy Dog Named Annie Rose!

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Cadbury
Lori R.

Drumroll please…the votes are in, and America has chosen an adorable dog as the winner of the fourth-annual Cadbury Bunny Tryouts.

Annie Rose will star in this year’s Cadbury Clucking Bunny commercial and will take home a $5,000 cash prize, along with plenty of bragging rights for when she visits local nursing homes in her home state of Ohio.

An English Doodle, Annie Rose is used to being in the spotlight. She loves bringing smiles to the faces of seniors—so much so that not even a global pandemic can stop her. When COVID-19 restrictions meant no visitors at nursing homes, Annie Rose didn’t give up. Instead, she dressed up, strutting her stuff outside the nursing home windows.

“We can’t thank everyone enough for voting, especially her doodle families and friends who went over and beyond,” said Lori R., Annie Rose’s owner. “Our community rallied behind and supported her just as she has for them for years as a therapy dog.”

“All of us are still shocked by the news but can’t wait to get Annie Rose those iconic Cadbury Bunny ears.”

Together, the Cadbury team and this year’s judges, made up of all three previous winners, including Betty the Frog, narrowed down the top 10 finalists before turning it over to America to ultimately decide the winner.

LOOK: Photographer Takes Hilarious Pictures of Dogs Catching Cheese to Raise Money for Charity

Cadbury

Cadbury also donated $20,000 to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the ASPCA).

After receiving thousands of votes from fans across the country, Annie Rose is putting her bunny ears back on and joining the Cadbury Hall of Fame.

WATCH: Sneaky German Shepherd Steals a Baby’s Pacifier And Gets Caught on Camera

“From cats and dogs to sugar gliders and hedgehogs, cuteness and creativity was not in short supply when it came to this year’s finalists,” said Cadbury.

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Company’s Innovative Smart Beehive Gets $80 Million in Funding to Save Bees From Any Hazard

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Good News Network
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Beewise
Beewise

Across the world, people and governments are banning pesticides and planting more pollinator-friendly flowers to boost bee populations naturally.

Now farmers and beekeeers also have a way to protect bee colonies that are crucial for growing crops, by using robotic hives that protect pollinators from any hazard.

The traditional hive most commonly used in the world today (the Langstroth box) was designed by humans about 150 years ago. Most people are so used to them they mistakenly confuse them with bees’ natural habitat.

By completely redesigning the beehive, a company called Beewise was able to address many of the inefficiencies of the box and significantly improve bees’ well-being and life longevity.

Their mission to save bees recently received an $80 million funding boost for their autonomous hive.

Utilizing 24/7 monitoring and smart technology that significantly increases pollination capacity and honey production, Beewise’s proprietary robotic beehive, the Beehome, seamlessly detects threats to a honeybee colony such as pesticides and the presence of pests and immediately defends against them.

Its automatic robotic system responds to threats in real time and requires no human intervention. To reverse the trend of colony collapse, Beehomes are thermally regulated, and can provide protection from fires, flooding, and Asian Wasps (murder hornets). The hive even feeds the honeybees when local food supply is not available.

In a statement, the company says, “Beehome reduces bee mortality by 80%, resulting in increased yields of at least 50%, while eliminating approximately 90% of manual labor when compared to traditional beehives.”

Beewise currently manages more than seven billion bees, which equates to 25,000 acres of pollinated crops. Through the Beehome device, the Israeli startup says it has saved over 160 million bees over the course of the last 12 months.

RELATED: Bees Have a New, Lifesaving ‘Vaccine’ to Make Them Immune to Pesti-Side Effects

“We are deploying precision robotics in tandem with the world’s most innovative technologies including AI and computer vision in order to save the bees,” stated Saar Safra, CEO of Beewise.

He says that with thousands of orders placed in the U.S. in just the last few months, their new funding will allow Beewise to meet the market demand through increased manufacturing.

Beewise also unveiled a new lighter-weight Beehome—32% smaller and 23% more cost-effective to transport—which increases hive mobility, enabling farmers to effortlessly care for millions of bees and ensure seasonal crop pollination.

CHECK OUT: Bee Expert Finds 800,000 Wild Honeybees Thriving in Ancient English Forest, Now Naturalists are Buzzing With Hope

While the rest of the market treats threats from Varroa mites with chemicals, Beewise’s revolutionary solution uses a chemical-free, heat, and robotics approach to achieve 99.7% success rate. The robot heats frames to a point where it harms the pests (Varroa) but does not harm the bees’ brood. Watch the video below to see how it works.

The Beehome’s automated feeding system “significantly increases bee colonies’ survival rate over winter when food sources are scarce—and the monitoring is powered by solar panels and small batteries, all run by an app.

Every Beehome can house 24 full-fledged colonies in an 8-foot x 6-foot box and costs $400 per month, on top of a delivery fee. The boxes are GPS-protected, so the owner always knows where it is. There is also an automatic alert to the beekeeper if Beehome is being moved.

WATCH: Woman Saves Bees By Rescuing Hives From Old Buildings With Her Bare Hands

“Beewise impressed us as the only solution addressing every complex issue that is contributing to the collapse,” stated Daniel Aronovitz, Principal at Insight Partners, one of the funders. “Not only have we funded a company with a fantastic business model; it also addresses one of the biggest challenges our planet is facing. We at Insight couldn’t be more excited.”

The company is currently serving the North American market but hopes to provide, eventually, the same protection for commercial beekeepers worldwide.

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“I’m just moving clouds today; tomorrow I’ll try mountains.” – Ashleigh Brilliant

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “I’m just moving clouds today; tomorrow I’ll try mountains.” – Ashleigh Brilliant

Photo by: 30daysreplay Social Media Marketing

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

 

Scientists Discover a Quantum Imprint Within Black Hole’s Gravity That Finally Resolves Hawking’s Paradox

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Good News Network
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Black hole illustration by Alain r (CC license on Wikipedia)
Black hole illustration; Alain r, CC license

An international team of physicists from the US, UK, and Italy, have co-authored two papers that finally resolve a problem confounding scientists for nearly half a century.

With new calculations they have demonstrated that black holes have a gravitational field at the quantum level which encodes information about how they were formed. It is the missing key to Stephen Hawking’s paradox when he suggested there was no remnant of their past.

“It turns out that black holes are in fact good children, holding onto the memory of the stars that gave birth to them,” said Xavier Calmet, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Sussex.

Paradox solved

In the 1960s, eminent physicist John Archibald Wheeler expressed the fact that black holes are lacking any observable features beyond their total mass, spin, and charge with the phrase “black holes have no hair.” This is known as the no-hair theorem.

Having demonstrated that black holes do in fact have this additional characteristic, in their first collaborative paper Professor Stephen Hsu, Calmet, Folkert Kuipers, also of the University of Sussex, and Roberto Casadio of the University of Bologna have labelled their discovery as ‘quantum hair from gravity,’ in a nod to Wheeler’s phrase.

“Black holes have long been considered the perfect laboratory to study how to merge Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics,” Calmet explained. “It was generally assumed within the scientific community that resolving this paradox would require a huge paradigm shift in physics, forcing the potential reformulation of either quantum mechanics or general relativity.

“What we found—and I think is particularly exciting—is that this isn’t necessary,” Calmet continued. “Our solution doesn’t require any speculative idea, instead our research demonstrates that the two theories can be used to make consistent calculations for black holes and explain how information is stored without the need for radical new physics.”

Using mathematical methods developed over the past 10 years to perform calculations in quantum gravity, the scientists have shown explicitly that matter that collapses into a black hole leaves an imprint in the gravitational field of the black hole when quantum gravitational corrections are taken into account. This imprint is what the scientists refer to as ‘quantum hair.’

CHECK OUT: Astronomers Discover a New Type of Star Covered in Helium Burning Ashes

Specifically, they compared gravitational fields of two stars with the same total mass and radii but different compositions. At the classical level, the two stars have the same gravitational potential, but at the quantum level, the potential depends on the star composition. When the stars collapse into black holes, their gravitational fields preserve the memory of what the stars were made of and lead to the conclusion that black holes do have hair, after all.

“The concept of a causal or event horizon is central to the notion of a black hole,” Hsu explained. “What is behind the horizon cannot, in classical physics, influence the exterior. We showed that there are intricate entanglements between the quantum state of the matter behind the horizon (inside the hole) and the state of gravitons outside. This entanglement makes it possible to encode quantum information about the black hole interior in Hawking radiation that escapes to infinity.”

RELATED: Artist’s Painting is the First to Be Curated on the Moon: ‘It Will Last Forever’

It’s in their follow-up paper, published in a separate journal, Physics Letters B, that Calmet and Hsu show that their ‘quantum hair’ resolves Hawking’s Black Hole Information Paradox, which arose from Professor Stephen Hawking’s suggestion in 1976 that, as they evaporate and emit thermal radiation, black holes destroy information about what had formed them. This appeared to violate a fundamental law of quantum mechanics which states that any process in physics can be mathematically reversed.

MORE: Key Building Block For Life Discovered on a Planet 444 Light-Years Away

The scientists’ ‘quantum hair’, however, provides the mechanism by which information is preserved during the collapse of a black hole and as such resolves one of modern science’s most famous quandaries.

“As we know from Einstein, gravitational forces arise from the very geometry of spacetime itself,” Hsu said. “Hence, when we quantize gravity, we expect to discover new things about quantum spacetime. In this case, we learn that the Hawking radiation from a black hole is entangled with the quantum state of spacetime itself!”

This work appears in the journal Physical Review Letters, and in Physics Letters B.

Source: Michigan State University

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Robotic Dog Designed in Boston Patrols the Ruins of Pompeii to Help Preserve Relics

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Andy Corbley
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Pompeii Archaeological Park
Pompeii Archaeological Park

The archeological site of Pompeii is employing a pair of robots to help monitor the state of preservation of ancient structures, and to gather information underground where it’s too dangerous or precarious for humans to go.

A robotic pooch built by Boston Dynamics to help archeologists in many ways, SPOT will spend most of the days wandering around Pompeii identifying structural and safety issues.

Pompeii is a delicate site, and in 2013 UNESCO almost placed it under the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Not only are the ruins in need of constant monitoring for various forms of degradation, but over the years it’s also been lousy with graverobbers, or tombaroli who skip the line to visit the site and opt for digging long tunnels underneath Pompeii to unearth artifacts to sell to the global antiquities market.

“Today, thanks to collaboration with high-tech companies and in the wake of these successful experiments, we wish to test the use of these robots in the underground tunnels that were made by illegal excavators and which we are uncovering in the area around Pompeii,” said Pompeii Director General Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

MORE: ‘Roomba of the Sea’ is Vacuum Company’s New Robotic Weapon to Combat Lionfish Invasion

“Often the safety conditions within the tunnels dug by graverobbers are extremely precarious, as a consequence of which the use of a robot could signify a breakthrough that would allow us to proceed with greater speed and in total safety.”

Pompeii Archaeological Park

SPOT’s eyes in the sky are provided by Leica BLK2FLY, a laser-scanning drone that hovers around producing detailed 3D images of the entire 163-acre site, allowing restoration experts an unparalleled view of all the buildings and strata.

RELATED: Hollywood Drones Are Being Repurposed to Study the Amazon Rainforest Like Never Before

These images can be used to find new tunnels, potential new excavation sites, and areas of danger where existing structures or ground layers may be at risk.

(WATCH the video for this story below.)

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Friendship Between Species: First-Time Report of Wild Dolphin Changing its Language for Harbor Porpoises

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Andy Corbley
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common dolphin wikimedia commons cc license Ed Dunens
Common dolphin; Ed Dunens, CC license

A dolphin that lives alone among harbor porpoises has been found to change its vocalization in an attempt to pick up the langue of its neighbors.

This has never been confirmed in the wild before, but must be taking place since the dolphin has completely abandoned its normal sounds for the porpoises’ clicks—even when she’s completely alone.

It may be that Kylie, a common dolphin in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, isn’t trying to talk to the porpoises, but that she identifies as one. After all, she often lives alone in the Firth, and biologists believe she may have been separated from her natal pod during a storm.

One such biologist is David Nairn, working at the research, education, and advocacy program Clyde Porpoises. Nairn towed a hydroacoustic microphone behind his sailing yacht to capture multiple audio recordings between Kylie the dolphin and her porpoise neighbors.

“While harbor porpoises basically produce one type of sound: highly stereotyped high-frequency clicks, common dolphins have a wide repertoire, emitting clicks as well as whistles,” writes Mel Constentino, a bioacoustics expert at the Center for Ultrasonic Engineering at the Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

RELATED: Climate-Resilient Coral Offers Hope to World’s Reefs, Able to Cope With 2ºC of Global Warming

Constentino was able to study Nairn’s recordings and publish a paper on them last year.

Harbor porpoises exclusively talk in narrow-band high frequency clicks at a pitch six-times higher than the highest pitch humans can hear: around 130 kilohertz. Dolphins have a variety of lower frequency sounds, and also whistles. Only the thing is Kylie never whistles, even when alone.

Harbor porpoise; Ecomare:Salko de Wolf – Ecomare, CC license

“The results are tantalizing,” dolphin expert Denise Herzing told National Geographic. “What’s really telling is that Kylie doesn’t make any whistles, because dolphins always make whistles and porpoises never do.”

Not all of Kylie’s clicks reach 130 kilohertz: some are much higher and others lower, suggesting that perhaps she’s attempting to communicate. Herzing offers the insight that she is making an attempt to communicate which the porpoises probably recognize.

Almost more striking than the communication is the position Kylie enjoys in the porpoise circles. Some of the females bring their calves to interact and meet Kylie, and the young ones even swim with her “in echelon,” a marine mammal term for the position just behind the pectoral fin, and the equivalent of being carried.

MORE: Dolphins Have a Musical Social Media: Whistling Helps Them Bond With Friends at a Distance – and Increases Offspring

Furthermore, Nairn says some of the males have tried to mount her, adding in the most Scottish of dialogue “I would even say she courts, aye.” GNN reported earlier this year on an orphan narwhal that has been adopted by a pod of beluga whales that swim regularly down the St. Lawrence River in Canada.

In the same way, it’s been proven a narwhal-whale hybrid has existed before. The anatomical structure of a porpoise and dolphin make a “dorpoise” theoretically plausible, but it’s never been confirmed.

From all this we can deduce that cetaceans, the family which include all these marine mega-mammals, is a very loving one.

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As the Pandemic Got Worse, Americans Donated More Generously Than Ever – to Record Levels

By
Andy Corbley
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Individuals in the USA showed greater financial generosity when under threat from COVID-19, according to new research.

The researchers used the world’s largest tracker of financial charity from the years leading up to and then proceeding into the pandemic, while also conducting controlled experimental games. Both inquiries found that the pandemic made Americans more generous with their capital.

Lead author Ariel Fridman and colleagues examined the relationship between the presence of threat from COVID-19 and generosity, first using a dataset, provided by Charity Navigator, the world’s largest independent charity evaluator. This first dataset consisted of actual charitable-giving data spanning July 2016 through December 2020, and contained various information on 696,942 individual donations.

This dataset found that 78% of U.S. counties with a COVID-19 threat increased the total amount donated in March 2020 compared to March 2019. Even more encouraging, the charitable amounts increased the most when the degree of danger from the virus was highest: 32.9% under high threat vs 28.5% under medium threat compared to no threat.

The second data set of 1,000 people came from a controlled experiment using the “dictator game” in which one player (the dictator) receives $10 and makes a unilateral decision on how to divide it between themselves and a stranger.

Normally, across the many uses of this game in social science research, the dictator almost always gives a portion of it to the stranger, but evaluated over the same timespan as the Charity Navigator dataset, Fridman et al. found that dictators were almost 10% more generous with their $10 stake after COVID-19 arrived in the individual’s country.

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

Like in the first finding, the participants who got to be the dictator gave away the most money if they lived in an area with a high threat level compared to when the threat level was low.

Perhaps even more encouraging, amounts given had nothing statistically to do with the age, or political affiliation of the people involved. Furthermore, the authors note it was the first-ever extended duration use of the dictator game to monitor charitable habits.

The findings are consistent with those of the recently-made Most Thoughtful Societies Index. GNN reported that this index found that the USA ranked highest in the world for compassion in society, and internationally-bound private charitable contributions.

“The increased generosity observed across both datasets is particularly intriguing in light of
expert predictions, based on historical data, that the economic downturn caused by the pandemic would lead to reduced giving, and the fact that a record-high majority of Americans reported a worsening financial situation during the same period,” the authors say.

MORE: MacKenzie Scott Donates $436 Million to Habitat for Humanity, Continuing Her Giving Spree Since Divorce

“Prior work suggests that when people experience such financial scarcity, they may
engage in extreme, even immoral, behaviors to acquire financial wealth. Yet analyses of both our datasets clearly shows that in this particular circumstance, individuals were, on average, more willing to part with their financial resources.”

“Amidst the uncertainty, fear, and tragedy of the pandemic, we find a silver lining: people became more financially generous toward others.”

This research has been published in Nature.

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“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.” – Luther Burbank

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Quote of the Day: “Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.” – Luther Burbank

Photo by: Bonnie Kittle

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?

 

Methane-Eating Bacteria Converts Greenhouse Gas to Fuel (And Could Clean-up Fracking Sites)

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Good News Network
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Northwestern University
Northwestern University

Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. Yet we know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting our ability to use the double benefit to our advantage.

By studying the enzyme the bacteria use to catalyze the reaction, a team at Northwestern University now has discovered key structures that may drive the process.

Their findings ultimately could lead to the development of human-made biological catalysts that convert methane gas into methanol.

“Methane has a very strong bond, so it’s pretty remarkable there’s an enzyme that can do this,” said Northwestern’s Amy Rosenzweig, senior author of the paper. “If we don’t understand exactly how the enzyme performs this difficult chemistry, we’re not going to be able to engineer and optimize it for biotechnological applications.”

The enzyme, called particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), is a particularly difficult protein to study because it’s embedded in the cell membrane of the bacteria.

Typically, when researchers study these methanotrophic bacteria, they use a harsh process in which the proteins are ripped out of the cell membranes using a detergent solution. While this procedure effectively isolates the enzyme, it also kills all enzyme activity and limits how much information researchers can gather—like monitoring a heart without the heartbeat.

MORE: This Vending Machine Refills Cleaning Products—Reining in Plastic And Saving You Money

In this study, the team used a new technique entirely. Christopher Koo, the first author and a Ph.D. candidate in Rosenzweig’s lab, wondered if by putting the enzyme back into a membrane that resembles its native environment, they could learn something new. Koo used lipids from the bacteria to form a membrane within a protective particle called a nanodisc, and then embedded the enzyme into that membrane.

“By recreating the enzyme’s native environment within the nanodisc, we were able to restore activity to the enzyme,” Koo said. “Then, we were able to use structural techniques to determine at the atomic level how the lipid bilayer restored activity. In doing so, we discovered the full arrangement of the copper site in the enzyme where methane oxidation likely occurs.”

The researchers used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a technique well-suited to membrane proteins because the lipid membrane environment is undisturbed throughout the experiment. This allowed them to visualize the atomic structure of the active enzyme at high resolution for the first time.

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“As a consequence of the recent ‘resolution revolution’ in cryo-EM, we were able to see the structure in atomic detail,” Rosenzweig said. “What we saw completely changed the way we were thinking about the active site of this enzyme.”

Rosenzweig said that the cryo-EM structures provide a new starting point to answer the questions that continue to pile on. How does methane travel to the enzyme active site? Or methanol travel out of the enzyme? How does the copper in the active site do the chemical reaction? Next, the team plans to study the enzyme directly within the bacterial cell using a forefront imaging technique called cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).

RELATED: These Scientists Are Fighting Ocean Plastic With Biodegradable Flip Flops Made From Algae

If successful, the researchers will be able to see exactly how the enzyme is arranged in the cell membrane, determine how it operates in its truly native environment and learn whether other proteins around the enzyme interact with it. These discoveries would provide a key missing link to engineers.

Potential to clean up oil spills

“If you want to optimize the enzyme to plug it into biomanufacturing pathways or to consume pollutants other than methane, then we need to know what it looks like in its native environment and where the methane binds,” Rosenzweig said. “You could use bacteria with an engineered enzyme to harvest methane from fracking sites or to clean up oil spills.”

This research has been published in the in the journal Science. 

Source: Northwestern University

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British Man Can Fill Up His Gas Tank For Less Than $10

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Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

Meet the man with Britain’s lowest fuel bill as he drives the world’s smallest car, which costs just £7 ($9) to fill up.

Alex Orchin is seen buzzing round his village on his daily chores in his quirky blue Peel P50.

The 5ft 11ins (180 meter) car enthusiast drives around in the tiny motor, posting letters and filling up with fuel.

The car is just 134cm (53 inch) long, 98cm (39 inch) wide, and 100cm (39 inch) high and has a five-litre (1.3 gallon) gas tank.

Eccentric Alex, who’s 31 years old, is an avid motoring collector who loves driving around in the tiny three-wheeler.

He says he became obsessed with the cars since watching Jeremy Clarkson drive one on Top Gear.

Last year he drove the length of the UK in the car, which has a top speed of just 23mph (37/kmh). Latest pictures show him running errands in the tiny motor.

RELATED: A Flying Car Just Got Certified as Airworthy to Fly

Alex said, “I have always had an interest in old, vintage, and unusual cars since I was a kid. No-one in my family was into it. It was a bit of a random obsession I used to be a chauffer for vintage cars and have had a 1914 Model T and a 1968 Morris Minor too.

“I got fixated on this idea of having a P50 just because it was so tiny, but when I saw an original was £100,000 ($131,000) it kind of killed it off.

“But about four years ago I bought one of the newer ones from the Isle of Man, so I’m only the second owner. The car always gets attention—it is quite staggering because to me it’s just a tiny car.’

“It’s much smaller than you think it is—everyone says that when they see the car in person. I can fit a shopping bag down the left of the car by the handbrake, but nothing else”.

His car, a P50, was first made on the Isle of Man in the 1960s and in 2010 the model was named the smallest production car ever built in the book of Guinness World Records.

The vehicle was built in 2017, but is based on the original design from the first production models in the 1960s.

SWNS

The mini-motor allows Alex comfortable journeys to and from his home in Wivelsfield in  Sussex.

Alex started his 1,488-mile (2,395-km) journey from John O’Groats on November 13 and arrived in Land’s End on December 4.

MORE: Volkswagen Gets A Lot of Buzz Premiering Their New Electric Throwback Bus – the ID. Buzz (LOOK) 

He was just in time for his three-week goal, and raised over £11,000 ($14,464) for Children in Need.

Alex said, “I’ve owned a lot of cars and none of them get as much attention as this one. Normally if I pull up in a Morris Minor it is car people and enthusiasts that want to come and talk with me. But my Peel P50 attracts absolutely everyone, including people who aren’t interested in cars.

SWNS

“They think it’s so hilarious and children love it! The under-ten-year-olds especially go mad for it.”

You can visit Alex’s Youtube channel Forward to The Past here to see more on his tiny car obsession.

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