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First Quantum Battery Prototype Marks Big Step for Technology Expected to Change the World

By
Andy Corbley
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The prototype quantum battery - credit, CSIRO
The prototype quantum battery – credit, CSIRO

Australian researchers have developed and tested the world’s first quantum battery.

Their prototype is far from anything that will be a perspective power source in an EV or storage facility, but the experiment revealed some important directions for future research.

A theoretical concept since 2013, the prototype was charged wirelessly with a laser, one of the special properties that quantum mechanics in battery technology promises if it can be properly understood and harnessed.

Lead researcher Dr. James Quach of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency which led the study on the device, said it’s the first quantum battery ever made that performs a full charge-discharge cycle.

Dr. Quach explained that in society today, the larger the battery, the longer the charge time.

“That’s why your mobile phone takes about 30 minutes to charge and your electric car takes overnight to charge,” he said, adding that in contrast, “quantum batteries have this really peculiar property where the larger they are, the less time they take to charge.”

Less time really is an almost worthless descriptor in this case, because the prototype created by CSIRO was fully charged within a few quadrillionths of a second.

The problem is that the discharge rate was a few nanoseconds, which despite being 6 orders of magnitude longer, could be of no use to anyone now. Quach provided some interesting relative comparisons to help mere mortals conceptualize why this could be a world-changing innovation if improved.

THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION: In German Breakthrough Quantum Communications Sent Across the Nation Using Existing Telecom Infrastructure

If it takes 30 minutes to fully charge a mobile phone, and it too had a discharge rate equal to 6 orders of magnitude, that means it wouldn’t need to be recharged even after a decade of use.

“What we need to do next is… to increase the storage time,” Quach said, touching on this point. “You want your battery to hold charge longer than a few nanoseconds if you want to be able to talk to someone on a mobile phone.”

Additionally, the prototype doesn’t hold enough voltage to power anything substantial.

BETTER BATTERIES: Samsung’s 600-Mile-Range Batteries That Charge in 9 Minutes Ready for Production/Sale Next Year

While this might all sound rather pointless, another, non-involved expert in the development of quantum batteries, University of Queensland Professor Andrew White, told the Guardian that the experiment was a huge success in getting the technology off the drawing board and into the real world for the first time.

People would be far more likely to adopt EVs if they could be fully-charged in few seconds, even if their range was severely reduced.

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Teen Lifesaver Awarded One of Scouting’s Highest Honors After Harrowing Whitewater Rescue

By
Andy Corbley
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Devon Champenoy (left) holding the Boy Scouts Honor Medal with the scout leader whose life he saved - credit, supplied to GNN
Devon Champenoy (left) holding the Boy Scouts Honor Medal with the scout leader whose life he saved – credit, supplied to GNN

A teenage Texan has earned a commendation given fewer than 300 times in the history of the Boy Scouts after saving his scout leader from drowning in rapids.

Devon Champenoy was one of several teen scouts from Houston rafting down class 3 rapids at a summer camp in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

Scout leader David Lemley was at the stern, and on a particularly rough patch, lost his balance and fell into the water. Climbing back in, he can be heard in a video from his helmet camera laughing and saying how fun it was in the hot summer day.

When further down the river Lemley fell in again, however, fun was the farthest thing from his mind.

His foot was stuck under the seat of the raft while his head and torso were underwater. Splayed out across the side of the raft, unable to move, his opportunities to breathe came only when the water level happened to be low enough that his head emerged.

Meanwhile, his helmet bought him vital time as his head bounced off rocks as the raft surged down river.

Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, Champenoy, just 13 years old at the time, clambered across and released Lemley’s foot before kayakers helped complete the rescue.

“I have no doubt that if Devon hadn’t released my foot I was going to die,” Lemley told KHOU 11 News.

“It took a while for me to take in the fact that this happened and I saved a life,” Champenoy said in the same interview, admitting he just acted on instinct.

Lemley’s foot had been broken in the ordeal, and Champenoy had to take the role of pilot as there were still 20 minutes of rapids to get through. He kept everyone calm and focused until the job was finished.

The Honor Medal plaque his mother plans to hang in the living room – credit, supplied to GNN

When all was said and done, Devon, having been recommended by his Scout Leader, was awarded the Honor Medal with Crossed Palms for unusual heroism demonstrated in the course of saving a life. Fewer than 300 of these medals have been awarded in the more than 100-year history of the Boy Scouts of America.

MORE TEEN LIFESAVERS:

It came with a special recognition from Texas Governor Greg Abbot as well.

Now 15, Champenoy is attempting to become an Eagle Scout, and KHOU 11 had to remark that they felt it would be a breeze for the young hero.

WATCH the story below from KHOU 11… 

SHARE This Young Man’s Quick-Thinking To Save The Life Of His Scout Leader…

New Hiking Trail Traces the Entire Coastline of England–a 2,689-Mile Route Unlike Any in the World

By
Andy Corbley
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Gristhorpe Cliff Tops - credit, John Fielding CC BY-SA 2.0.
Gristhorpe Cliff Tops – credit, John Fielding CC BY-SA 2.0.

Last week GNN reported on the completion of the Cross-Texas Trail that would allow Americans to enjoy the full breadth of natural beauty in the Lone Star State.

For Brits, or for those who like their hiking a little more moist, there is the just-finished King Charles III England Coast Path, a 2,689-mile-long trail along the entire coast of England.

In the works for 18 years, it’s the first trail anywhere in the world that follows the entire perimeter of a nation’s coastline.

It was recently inaugurated by the King himself, whose smile was impossible to mistake for anything other than giddy excitement as he hiked a stretch of newly-completed trail along the famous chalk sea cliffs known as the Seven Sisters.

He was joined by Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, which oversaw the creation of the trail project going back to the tenure of Gordon Brown.

Juniper said the path “is a testament to how public enjoyment, conservation, heritage, history and community can come together, helping make life better for millions of people.”

A sign for the King Charles III England Coast Path – John A, CC0

An intrepid hiker could very well have done the entire coast of England from Loch Ryan to the Tyne before, but some sections would have required walking along roads, and rambling across others.

Now, 1,000 miles of path have been newly built, intelligently connected, or renovated, which include new boardwalks and bridges as well. Only two sections are broken: one that requires a ferry to cross the Mersey, and another in south Devon where the River Erme must be forded—part of the adventure, argues Neil Constable, who led the project for Natural England.

“It is brilliant—the best thing I’ll do in my working life,” Constable told the BBC. 

Quite the statement, but there’s something incredibly special, fulfilling, perhaps spiritual, and ‘just,’ in there being—at any point in the country—a road that leads to the coast, a path that forks at the sea, where whether you turn left or right, one knows they can walk for as long as they want.

ENGLAND’S COASTS: ‘Give Nature Space and it Will Come Back’: Rewilding Returns Endangered Species to UK Coast

Total completion of the King Charles III England Coast Path is predicted for the end of this year, but it will be undergoing maintenance and attention for years to come, as the 2009 Coastal Access Law that mandated the trail’s creation has inbuilt provisions if parts of the seaside route should become unpassable due to rising seas or torrential rains.

The Sussex coast, credit Tim Broadbent, unsplash

Called a “rollback,” where it was necessary to negotiate the trail across private land, all agreements were made with the clause that a could necessitate the trail being moved further inland under climate and weather conditions.

The law also secured public access to many areas that were off limits, including sand dunes, cliff tops, and across salt marsh.

MORE GREAT TRAILS: New Yorkers Will Love This New 7.5 Mile Trail Along the Hudson River Highlands Inspired by Landscape Painters

The BBC reached out to a nature-use advocacy group known as the Ramblers, which had been fighting for the creation of such a route since the Second World War. Their description of it was “transformational.”

The trail opens the tantalizing possibility for a route along the entire coast of the island of Britain, which would extend the trail to some 9,000 miles. Scotland already enshrined access to walking along its coasts through the Right to Roam legislation in 2012, but any such infrastructure is lacking.

Perspective hikers can plan their trip easily on the trail’s website here.

SHARE This Once-in-a-Lifetime Hike With Your Friends Who Love The Seaside…

Community Rallies Around Local Autistic Barista After His Tip Jar Was Stolen

By
Andy Corbley
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Michael Coyne in his coffee shop - credit, Red White and Brew Coffeehouse
Michael Coyne in his coffee shop – credit, Red White and Brew Coffeehouse

An autistic barista who had a day’s worth of tips stolen from his coffee shop was left “speechless” after his community rallied to his side.

Michael Coyne knows most of the people who get a coffee from his shop, Red White and Brew, and so the theft of his tips felt extremely personal.

Covering the costs of a recent move to a larger location in Warwick, Rhode Island, the shop currently operates at a loss, and the tip jar is Coyne’s only source of free cash flow.

Coyne has autism, ADHD, and bi-polar disorder. He was fostered by Sheila Coyne when he was 10 years old, who later adopted him. Red White and Brew was opened by Sheila with her retirement savings as a way to guarantee her son fulfilling employment, and despite its first year running smack dab into enforced business closures resulting from COVID-19, the shop was a success.

The store employs workers—and sells products made by—people with mental disabilities, and quickly became a part of the community fabric.

“He was really interested in food service, and I thought, what better way to connect him to a community than a coffee shop?” Sheila told The Washington Post’s Sydney Page. “To me, it just made sense.”

When he recently found that the $20 in tips he had accumulated throughout the day had suddenly been snatched, he was deeply upset.

The day after, the chief of the Warwick Police Department came by for a brew, and after hearing about the theft quickly brought over the materials for a new tip jar with a lid. He told the Coynes he would investigate.

Sheila decided to make a Facebook video announcing the theft and warning people to stay alert. Commenters were infuriated to hear someone would do something like it, among whom was the Mayor of Warwick, Frank Picozzi.

“Red White and Brew is a very special place … run by wonderful people,” he wrote in a post sharing Sheila’s video. “I’ve come to know Michael very well and believe me, it’s not the money that’s bothering him, he’s hurt.”

SIMILAR BUSINESS MODELS: Joyous New York City Coffee Shop Hires and Trains People with Autism and Down Syndrome

The following day, people streamed into the coffee shop, each one leaving a tip in the jar—including one woman who left $100 after telling Michael that her own son is autistic, and that the barista inspires her to believe he can have a decent life as a working adult.

The next day was exactly the same. The mayor came too, and soon Michael had been given $900 in tips.

SHOWING UP FOR THE COMMUNITY: Car Wash Hires All-Autistic Staff to Wash Away Barriers: 10 Years Later, There’s Now 4 Florida Locations

“That was the most special part,” Sheila said. “It was truly just one person after another, leading with such kindness and grace that it renewed my love for humans and humanity.”

Michael admitted the gesture left him speechless.

SHARE This Beautiful Story Of A Community Rallying Around A Wounded Member…

“You begin with the possibilities of the material.” – Robert Rauschenberg

By
Good News Network
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Credit: Raj Adhikari (theraazphotojourney)

Quote of the Day: “You begin with the possibilities of the material.” – Robert Rauschenberg

Photo by: Raj Adhikari / theraazphotojourney (cropped)

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

Credit: Raj Adhikari (theraazphotojourney)

Good News in History, March 25

By
Good News Network
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- credit, CC 3.0. Eva Rinaldi

Happy Birthday to Sir Elton John, who turns 79 years old today. Growing up in London, the singer-songwriter learned to play piano at age three. In his 5-decade career, Elton John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling musical artists in the world. WATCH a 70th birthday video tribute… (1947)

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Seniors Who Eat More Meat Are Less Likely to Develop Dementia Study Find

By
Andy Corbley
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By Leonardo Carvalho
By Leonardo Carvalho

Researchers in Sweden recently found that seniors were able to offset a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease by consuming more meat.

The study authors say that their findings suggest that conventional dietary advice may be unfavorable to a subgroup of the population who carry the APOE gene.

Now infamous, APOE is a gene that confers a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In Sweden, around 30% of the population are carriers of the gene combinations APOE 3/4 or APOE 4/4, and among Swedish Alzheimer’s patients, 70% carry one of these two combinations.

When the Swedish Food Agency presented an overview of research on the link between diet and dementia last year, more research was requested to assess a possible link between meat consumption and the development of dementia.

“This study tested the hypothesis that people with APOE 3/4 and 4/4 would have a reduced risk of cognitive decline and dementia with higher meat intake, based on the fact that APOE4 is the evolutionarily oldest variant of the APOE gene and may have arisen during a period when our evolutionary ancestors ate a more animal-based diet,” lead author Dr. Jakob Norgren at the Karolinska Institute in Solna said in a press release about the study.

The research, published in JAMA Network Open, followed more than 2,100 Swedes for up to 15 years, all of whom were aged 60 or older and had no diagnosis of dementia at the start of the study period. The association between self-reported diet and cognitive health measures was analyzed, adjusting for age, sex, education, and lifestyle factors.

Among those who ate less meat, the group with APOE 3/4 and 4/4 had more than twice the risk of dementia than people without the gene variants.

However, the increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia in the risk groups was not seen in the top 20% of participants who consumed the most meat (included red meat).

Their average consumption was estimated at around 870 grams of meat per week, standardized to a daily energy intake of 2,000 calories.

Additionally, the 20% of participants who ate the second most meat per week on average had similar, albeit less robust scores for dementia, cognition, and memory, suggesting that at least at this higher level, there was a dose-dependent response: a strong suggestion that the results were more than just an observational coincidence.

“Those who ate more meat overall had significantly slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia, but only if they had the APOE 3/4 or 4/4 gene variants,” said Dr. Norgren. “For those who are aware that they belong to this genetic risk group, the findings offer hope; the risk may be modifiable through lifestyle changes.”

The study also found that the type of meat consumed is important.

“A lower proportion of processed meat in total meat consumption was associated with a lower risk of dementia regardless of APOE genotype,” said study co-author Dr. Sara Garcia-Ptacek said.

The research team also found a “significant” reduction in the chances of an early death in carriers of APOE 3/4 and 4/4 who ate higher quantities of unprocessed meat.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Simple Amino Acid Identified as Perhaps the Difference Between Life and Death from Illness

The researchers pointed out that the research was observational, and needs to be followed up with intervention studies that can better demonstrate causal relationships.

“Clinical trials are now needed to develop dietary recommendations tailored to APOE genotype,” said Dr. Norgren.

“Since the prevalence of APOE4 is about twice as high in the Nordic countries as in the Mediterranean countries, we are particularly well suited to conduct research on tailored dietary recommendations for this risk group.”

FOR MEAT LOVERS: Cruelty-free Way of Making Duck Foie Gras Devised by Scientist: ‘It was always a dream’

Dietary research is difficult to conduct. It’s difficult for people to remember how much of what they ate day in and day out, but keeping them isolated in a metabolic ward for 15 years would obviously be impossible.

Almost all dietary research ever conducted involved gathering observations—not the “gold standard” of scientific research. That includes almost all research that has shown that higher consumption of meat is linked with increased risk factors for various diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and others.

REDUCING YOUR DEMENTIA RISK: 43-year-long Study Found Coffee Was Associated with 18% Lower Risk of Dementia

Whatever those studies might have shown with these relationships, it’s 100% the case that the process of aging is both characterized by and driven by loss of muscle mass and the resulting increase in morbidity. The maintenance of muscle mass in old age is found to reduce morbidity and slow the aging process. High protein diets, such as 1 gram protein per kilogram of bodyweight, support muscle maintenance in old age.

Dementia is also part of the aging process, and so maintaining lean muscle mass—for which a protein-rich diet is a must—may indeed be more than just a correlative finding, which it currently is. More meat, it might be argued, equals more muscle mass, equals slower aging, equals reduced risk of dementia.

SHARE This Important Dietary Research With Friends At Risk Of Dementia… 

‘Call a Boomer’ Payphone Instantly Connects Youth with Seniors to Tackle Loneliness Across Generations

By
Andy Corbley
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A Boomer uses the phone to call a Zoomer - credit, Volunteers of America
A Boomer uses the phone to call a Zoomer – credit, Volunteers of America

The new payphone outside a coffee shop on a Boston University campus is a strange sight: with its canary yellow box and the sticker pasted across the top reading “Call a Boomer.”

But what passersby can’t see and don’t know is that over 2,000 miles away in Reno, Nevada, another payphone box sits in a common area at a senior housing community.

Its sticker, in contrast, says “Call a Zoomer.”

The experiment, created by Matter Neuroscience, was designed to bridge generational divides and address loneliness in the two groups experiencing the highest levels of social isolation: young adults and seniors.

If a Zoomer picks up the phone outside of Pavement Coffee House, it automatically calls the phone in the recreation area at the Volunteers of America affordable senior housing community.

If a Boomer in the recreation area picks up the phone, it automatically dials the box on the street outside the coffee shop. Two phones, two generations, instant connection.

Matter styles itself as an emotional fitness club, “backed by science and supported by community.” The purchasing of two old payphones on Facebook Marketplace was just the most recent kind of experiment the ‘club’ has undertaken, which also included the same experiment, but with “call a democrat/republican” stickers on them.

In a video that garnered 18 million views on the page’s Instagram, April the Boomer picks up the phone and connects with Charlotte the Zoomer.

She asks if the Zoomer has any life advice to share—a reverse of traditional roles one might think. The generational g-force of that reversal only deepened when Charlotte replied that she thinks people should just get off their phones and spend more time outside to meet people like them.

If stereotyping is a fault in our stars, the example of April and Charlotte perhaps goes to show how much each generation has to learn and share with one another.

It also goes to show what a bloody good idea Matter Neuroscience had.

LISTEN to the conversation, and watch Matter explain their experiment… 

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Volunteers Plant ‘Mega Hedge’ 15 Miles Across England, Connecting Wildlife in Two National Parks

By
Andy Corbley
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Hedgelayers taking part in hedgelaying challenge at the start of Hedgefest - credit, CPRE, released
Hedgelayers taking part in hedgelaying challenge at the start of Hedgefest – credit, CPRE, released

From England’s South Downs National Park, one can trace a series of traditional hedgerows off into the distance farther than it’s possible to see.

This mega hedge runs all the way across the county of Hampshire, to New Forest National Park, some 15 miles in length.

The Hampshire Hedge, as it’s called, has been three years in the making, as volunteers and experts at making traditional hedges have come together to build an unbroken line of hedgerows connecting the two parks and their wildlife.

Far more than just a fence or barrier, it’s been shown that hedgerows are vital habitat corridors, even as slim as they are. From mice to hedgehogs, insects and birds, they offer a narrow sanctuary to 2,000 species over the course of a year, all of which them the hedges like a natural highway.

The Hampshire Hedge project was put together by the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s (CPRE) “Hedgerows Heroes” program, and was supported by various conservation nonprofits and the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund.

“Hedgerows are a defining feature of Test Valley’s landscape and play a vital role in supporting wildlife, tackling climate change and keeping our countryside thriving,” Alison Johnston, a councilwoman responsible for countryside affairs at Test Valley Borough Council, were the hedgerow is located.

Now almost entirely completed, the third-year of hedge laying was celebrated at Broadlands estate at a party called “Hedgefest” that also celebrated CPRE’s 100th anniversary as an organization.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Conservationists Hail Recovery of 150 Struggling Species Thanks to Projects by Natural England

“It was fantastic to see so many people come together at Hedgefest to share skills, celebrate progress and show what partnership working can achieve.”

Like a highway connecting the two national parks, it should go a long way towards promoting habitat connectivity, a challenging goal when considering the population density in southern England.

QUAINT LANDSCAPES: Retired Banker Devotes His Millionaire Fortune to Restoring Protective Sand Dunes on Island Beaches

“The CPRE’s project of joining the two National Parks, the New Forest and the South Downs with these hedgerows is just such an inspiring idea,” said Vanessa Rowlands, Chair of the South Downs National Park Authority.

“We’ve always wanted to have a closer link with the New Forest, and we can do it physically and environmentally for the wildlife. So we’re really excited about it!”

SHARE This Story Of One Hell Of A Hedge With Your Friends… 

Global Terrorism Falls to 15-year Low Driven by Reductions in 81 Countries

By
Andy Corbley
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The annual Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace has reported that global terrorist attacks fell 22% last year, and deaths from said attacks fell 28%.

They both fall to numbers not seen since 2007.

2025 registered the single biggest annual reduction in attacks and incidents since 2020-2021. The trend reflects the stabilization of several key geographical areas, and reductions in attacks and deaths in 81 countries worldwide.

Terrorism, defined more narrowly as stateless, transnational perpetrators of violence for political or religious ends, is now concentrated in Africa’s Sahel, and Sub-Saharan region.

The report follows a year (2025) in which several areas that had previously been affected by terrorism saw significant strides towards peace and stability.

Turkey improved by 4 places, and many places in the last decade; a result of the end of a 40-year conflict between the government in Ankara and the Communist Kurdish guerilla movement, the PKK. The group’s founder and leader Abdullah Öcalan ordered the organization to dissolve, admitting it had come as far as possible by means of violence.

Afghanistan continues its improvement from last year’s report when it dropped out of the top 10 worst-affected countries for the first time since the American occupation began in 2002.

Iraq improved 3 positions, coinciding with an ongoing socio-economic improvement in the country after 4 decades of war which the UN’s chief coordinator in the country described as “unrecognizable and remarkable.”

Tunisia, which has suffered from an ongoing terrorist insurgency in the country’s southwestern mountains, majorly improved, with an incidence rating similar to the Netherlands, Austria, and Canada.

Libya, once a failed state, continues its efforts at stabilization, and improved another 4 positions, level with Italy—an outstanding achievement.

Algeria, Oman, Bangladesh, and Jordan all improved substantially. The Ivory Coast improved 11 positions, and is now safer from a terrorist point of view than almost any Western country.

MORE REDUCTIONS IN VIOLENCE: Croatia Declared Landmine-free After More Than 2 Decades of Demining Efforts

70% of all deaths resulting from terrorist attacks occurred in just 5 countries: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, DR Congo, and Pakistan. Even still, Burkina Faso and Niger experienced 900 fewer deaths from terrorism compared with last year.

Regarding Pakistan, terrorism there is half driven by conflict with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a militant group of ethnic Balochs in the country’s southwestern desert regions.

MORE FROM THE FRONT LINES: Timbuktu’s Medieval Manuscripts Return Home After a Decade Away Safe from Insurgents

The conflict is more reminiscent of the UK’s struggle against the Irish Republican Army than the US’s hunt for al-Qaeda. The BLA have a clear political objective of breaking their region away from Islamabad, and wage terrorist warfare in attempt to achieve it. The BLA have never attacked targets outside Pakistan.

2025 was also notable for only one attack that resulted in more than 100 deaths, a major reduction in what the report labeled “large-scale” terrorist attacks.

SHARE This Positive Trendline Down In Violence With Your Friends… 

“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.” – Thomas Aquinas

By
Good News Network
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Credit: Aaron Burden

Quote of the Day: “Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.” – Thomas Aquinas

Photo by: Aaron Burden

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

Credit: Aaron Burden

Good News in History, March 24

By
Good News Network
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Peyton Manning in 2013 during a Pro Bowl game - credit military photo

Happy 50th Birthday to Peyton Manning, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Nicknamed “the Sheriff” he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and 4 with the Denver Broncos, recording 11 playoff appearances, 8 division titles, 3 AFC Championship Games, 2 Super Bowl appearances, and 1 championship title in Super Bowl XLI with the Colts, and another Super Bowl appearance (and victory) with the Broncos in his final season as a professional. At the time, he became the first starting quarterback to win the Super Bowl for more than one franchise. READ more about Manning… (1976)

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Intrepid Teens Channel Donations of Old School Uniforms to 1,400 Families, Saving Them $140K

By
Andy Corbley
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Ethan and Desmond Hua - credit, Hope Uniforms Program website
Ethan and Desmond Hua – credit, Hope Uniforms Program website

Two San Francisco area teens are providing a valuable service for low-income families in their community by collecting and redistributing donated school uniforms.

The brothers’ work also keeps the clothes out of landfills, where they break down over hundreds of years while releasing methane, a potent, yet short-lived greenhouse gas.

Anyone who’s had to shop for them year-in-year-out will know: children grow like weeds.

A uniform good at the start of school may not even fit them by Spring Break, and for families who live at the hand-to-mouth income level, it’s not always an option to simply continue buying replacements.

Desmond and Ethan Hua got the idea for their nonprofit redistribution service after seeing a boy arrive at Bayside Academy in Sat Mateo wearing shorts on a cold day. Asking their peer why it was he was freezing his knees off, he responded that he didn’t have another pair of pants to last him until laundry day

Understanding as well what a thousand wasted school uniform will do to the country’s emissions footprint, the boys launched HOPE: Help Our Mother Earth, in which they sought to eliminate textile waste by identifying textile want.

“We take in gently used school uniforms from families who no longer need them, and we redistribute them back to families in the community,” Ethan told CBS News San Francisco. 

In the family garage, organized plastic chests cover the ground, each one stacked full of neatly folded uniforms for all sizes. The Hua brothers receive requests from students’ families, fulfill the requests if possible from the items they have in stock, and then leave them in collection bins at school offices.

TEEN DIFFERENCE MAKERS: Inspired by Asthma Attack, New Delhi Teens Recycle 2 Million Pounds of Waste Across 14 Indian Cities

Those collection bins are also where families can leave uniforms that don’t fit their children any more, and can be found across 9 public schools in the San Mateo-Foster City School District that participate in the program.

“It started with our school, and then now the whole program is across our district,” said Bayside Academy principal Maria Demattei. “We are thrilled that we can contribute to that, to our Mother Earth.”

OTHER INITIATIVES LIKE THIS: High School Students Repair Cars and Give Them to Single Moms: ‘You’re Really Making a Change in the World’

The Hua brothers estimate they’ve saved $140,000 in uniform costs for over 1,400 families, and around 30 tons of methane that would have been emitted if those uniforms had been binned.

“HOPE has saved roughly 13,000 articles of school uniforms getting sent to landfill thrown away by families,” said Ethan, who recently collected the Dr. Cora Clemons Emerging Young Samaritan Award from a local foundation.

WATCH the story here from CBS News… 

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Message in a Bottle Discovery on Tasmanian Beach Leads to 25-year Intercontinental Friendship

By
Andy Corbley
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Diane Charles in 2001 (left) and Erika Boyera in 1997 (right) - credit, family photos
Diane Charles in 2001 (left) and Erika Boyera in 1997 (right) – credit, family photos

Not exactly news, but a beautiful story comes now from the sandy shores of Tasmania, where 25 years ago, the waves brought a life-long friend to resident Diane Charles.

Rising early, she tells ABC News AU, was her habit back then—to enjoy the peace of the sea and salute other early risers. One such morning in January, Charles discovered something bobbing up and down in the surf.

It was that most famous of curiosities: a bottle, sealed tightly with a message inside.

We’re talking 25 years ago, so when Charles opened it up to find the note written in Spanish, she couldn’t just type it in to Google Translate; and it wasn’t as if there were a big immigrant community in Tasmania either.

The captivating discovery became all the more captivating—because it was a mystery. With the help of her brother who had a Spanish dictionary, she tried to piece together the gist of the letter by picking out individual words, but it was poetic, and they eventually sought a scholar.

“Life has taught me all is possible, receive love and success second to this,” was the literal translation. In the top left corner, however, there was something far more interesting, a name and a fax number.

In 1997, some years before Charles’ fateful discovery on the beach, Erika Boyero from Colombia was bartending aboard a cruise ship sailing around Scandinavia. Oppressed by boredom, she filled several empty alcohol bottles with letters and threw them overboard.

Four years later, one made it to Tasmania, and when Charles sent a letter via fax, Boyero was back at home in Colombia.

“Hey, you received a fax from Australia,” said her father. “I said, ‘What? I don’t know anyone in Australia.'”

Then she remembered the bottles.

MESSAGES IN BOTTLES: Bahama Boy’s Message in a Bottle Floats 4,000 Miles to Be Read Almost Exactly a Year Later in Portugal

“You don’t really think that can happen,” she told ABC News AU. “There are so many millions of people in the world … and when destiny, in this way, shows a person you have to meet in this life, for this reason … it is beautiful.”

That fax led to a 25-year friendship, with the women calling and writing each other routinely to catch up or celebrate milestones like the birth of children or moving house. It ultimately culminated in a visit for the first time this March, when Boyero was on a trip to Kuala Lumpur, and for the first time in her life, the distance to Tasmania seemed small.

SENDING OUT AN SOS: NASA to Send ‘Message in a Bottle’ Into Space Designed to Communicate With Extraterrestrials

Waiting at the airport, Charles felt a bizarre form of anticipation unlike anything she had experienced, but when Boyero appeared through the exit doors, it was like seeing a “long lost friend.”

The first item on the itinerary was a walk on Tatlows beach, where Charles discovered Boyero’s letter, and then a visit to the local Stanley Discovery Museum, where her message had become part of an exhibition.

SHARE This Beautiful Story Of Coincidence And Friendship With Your Friends…

43-year-long Study Found Coffee Was Associated with 18% Lower Risk of Dementia

By
Andy Corbley
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After documenting the consumption of tea and coffee by healthcare professionals for a staggering 43 years, the resulting data seems to support what many other studies have found: that coffee is associated with better neurological health.

The strongest effects were seen in participants who drank 2-3 cups of caffeinated coffee or 1-2 cups of tea per day. Exceeding this range didn’t seem to extend the benefits any further, but also didn’t register as a detriment to health.

131,821 participants from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) were included in the analysis, which leveraged this world-class data set going back 43 years.

The professional participants were subjected to repeated evaluations of diet, dementia diagnoses, subjective cognitive concerns, and objective cognitive performance, which were tabulated and stored for scientists’ later use. Over the course of the dataset, 11,033 developed dementia.

Individuals who consumed higher amounts of caffeinated coffee had an 18% lower risk of developing dementia compared with those who rarely or never drank it. They also reported lower rates of subjective cognitive decline (7.8% versus 9.5%) and performed better on certain objective cognitive tests, meaning their minds stayed sharper at older ages.

“When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention—and our unique access to high quality data through studies that has been going on for more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea,” said senior author Daniel Wang, MD at Mass General Brigham.

Similar patterns were observed among tea drinkers, while decaffeinated coffee did not show the same associations. This suggests that caffeine may be an important factor behind the observed brain-related benefits, although more research is needed to confirm the underlying mechanisms.

MORE COFFEE NEWS: 

Typically, an 18% association is nothing to write home about. In observational science, effects of 50% or higher are generally needed before scientists will feel comfortable saying they’ve discovered anything definitively.

However, when the sample size and incredible duration of the study are taken into account, such a relatively small association may seem more likely to suggest underlying truth. It helps that many other studies have associated coffee with better health and disease outcomes.

Preventing dementia early is especially important because current treatments are limited and generally provide only modest benefits after symptoms begin.

MORE COFFEE NEWS:

Coffee and tea contain compounds such as polyphenols and caffeine, which are thought to support brain health. These substances may help reduce inflammation and limit cellular damage, both of which are linked to cognitive decline.

“We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results—meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia,” said lead author Yu Zhang, PhD at Harvard Chan Medical School.

TOAST This Brilliant Study Result With Your Friends… 

Nashville Public Library Offers Free Digitization of Photos, VHS Tapes–Book Your Appointment Now

By
Andy Corbley
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Hunter Scott via Unsplash
Hunter Scott via Unsplash

The memory of entire lives, generations even, were recorded on technology that is rapidly becoming difficult to access, difficult to preserve, or just plain inconvenient to have around.

As VHS tapes, Beta Max, slides and audio film, photos, or negatives, and the personal memories they contain risk being lost to history, so the Nashville Public Library system has introduced the “Memory Lab,” where these media can be digitized, stored without risk of physical damage, and easily shared.

“Memory Lab is more than just technology—it’s a creative space where anyone can reconnect with their history and capture moments that otherwise might have been lost forever,” said the public library in a statement.

Anyone can reserve an appointment to turn to digitize their physical media in the lab, which is equipped with a VHS-to-digital convertor and a state-of-the-art, multifunctional scanner.

Reservations, which span from 15 minutes to 4 hours, are available for free at the Donelson Branch Library, located at 2714 Old Lebanon Pike, Nashville, and interested parties will receive a confirmation email with instructions once a reservation has been made.

A statement from the library says that commercial digitization services might charge $30 per tape and $1 per image, which for a whole photo album or home movie collection could really add up.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: ‘World’s Largest’ Time Capsule Opens 50 Years Later –The Vision of One Man in Nebraska

The Nashville Public Library and its Memory Lab are also part of a growing national trend at public libraries (DC, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and others) working to bridge the digital divide, and places them among a handful of libraries in the state offering free media digitization, including in Rutherford and Williamson counties.

“We are pleased about the launch of Memory Lab, but the most rewarding part is yet to come—all of the stories, memories, and history that will be given new life and preserved for the next generation.”

SHARE This Great, Free Opportunity To Preserve Old Home Movies And Such…

“As the twig is bent— the tree inclines.” – Virgil

By
Good News Network
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Credit: Guillaume de Germain

Quote of the Day: “As the twig is bent the tree inclines.” – Virgil

Photo by: Guillaume de Germain

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

Credit: Guillaume de Germain

Good News in History, March 23

By
Good News Network
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251 years ago today, American Founding Father Patrick Henry spoke to Virginia legislators, where he famously proposed that their colony should join the revolution against King George and fight for independence. “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” READ other anecdotes from the moment… (1775)

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19-Year-old Abandoned at Birth Without Legs Leads USA to Sled Hockey Gold at Paralympics

By
Nathan Frederick
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Kayden Beasley (right), courtesy of Beasley Family and Carolina Hurricanes – © USA Hockey
Kayden Beasley (right), courtesy of Beasley Family and Carolina Hurricanes – © USA Hockey

Kayden Beasley’s life began without lower leg bones in a Chinese orphanage—but his journey carried him off to a loving family in a tiny North Carolina town, and eventually to the 2026 Paralympics in Italy.

Along the way, he’s broken every barrier and overpowered the obstacles in front of him to help bring a Gold Medal in sled hockey to the United States.

Kayden was born as a congenital double amputee above the knee, but at age 3, was adopted by Anthony and Amy Beasley on Christmas Day, and brought up in a loving home 30 miles from Raleigh with another son adopted from China three years earlier.

“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Kayden said of his loving North Carolina family in an article by the Raleigh News & Observer. “(My adoption) is a part of the journey, but not all of it.”

When he was 13, someone at his doctor’s office told him about the Carolina Hurricanes sled hockey club—an adaptive version of ice hockey, featuring sled-like mechanisms that allow people with disabilities to partake in the sport.

Kayden’s first experience with it proved to be a resounding success.

“He’s a natural, and he’s never looked back,” said Brian Jacoby, Founder and Co-Director of the Carolina Hurricanes Sled Hockey. “His first international tournament, I think in the second game, he was named player of the game.”

Before long, a new-found purpose and passion overtook Kayden’s life, sending him skating past any perceived limitations. He was invited to a Team USA development camp for sled hockey and eventually made the team.

Then, he competed in the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship, where he had two goals and five assists in five games, helping to lead Team USA to a gold medal.

This month he skated in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy, just weeks after the USA men’s and women’s teams both won gold in the same city’s Winter Olympics.

At 19 years old, Kayden is still the third youngest member of the team, but he played in all five games for Team USA, scoring three goals and adding an assist as the Americans earned yet another gold medal.

(Watch the clutch goal below…)

“Happy, proud, excited; I am not sure what describes my emotions the best,” Hurricanes Director of Youth Hockey and Community Outreach Shane Willis said in an NHL article.

“Hurricanes Sled Hockey is home to a USA Hockey Gold medal, and I can’t wait to see it grow—and have more young players look up to Kayden.”

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The young Beasley’s life began seemingly surrounded by barriers and obstacles. But thanks to a family’s love and the purpose provided by a sport, he’s sped past them all, delivering a gold medal to his country, and some inspiration to anyone who hears his story.

SEND HIS STORY SKATING Across the Internet–Share it To Social Media…

Wag-atha Christie Dog May Have Resolved Victorian Murder Digging Up Poison Bottle From 160 Years Ago

By
Good News Network
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Blue Victorian poison bottle found in English garden in Clyst Honiton – SWNS
Blue Victorian poison bottle found in English garden in Clyst Honiton – SWNS

A family’s dog may have solved a notorious 160-year-old murder, after he dug up a bottle of poison buried in the garden.

The Labrador unearthed a blue vial under his lawn in Devon, England, that his owner, Paul Phillips, thought was a pipe—until he saw the words ‘Not To Be Taken’ embossed on glass.

The 49-year-old did some digging and discovered a woman named Mary Ann Ashford had lived two doors down and killed her husband William in 1865. She put poison into his tea so she could take his money and be with her young lover.

Now, in the modern-day town of Clyst Honiton, he’s pretty sure his dog has uncovered the evidence.

“My dog, Stanley, has been digging in the same spot in our garden,” Paul told SWNS news agency. “We kept patching it up—and even at one point had to put a paving slab over it—but he was insistent there was something there he wanted.

“It was a bright blue bottle in perfect, mint condition and had the words, ‘Not To Be Taken’ on the glass.”

Stanley the Labrador dug up a Victorian poison bottle – SWNS

After doing some research, he learned that such bottles were used in the mid-19th century for poisons, and then he remembered learning something about a murder and hanging in the village over a century ago.

“So I went back online and found the old newspaper article about William and Mary Ann Ashford living in Clyst Honiton. She was having an affair with a guy that worked at the local bakery. I think our property used to be a big cider barn.

“The fact that there was a murder due to poisoning in the next door down from us…you have to put two and two together!”

Paul also learned that his bit of local history became part of a national political question about the death penalty.

After tests showed that Mary Ashford had traces of arsenic and strychnine on her clothes, the local Victorian killer was sentenced to be executed for the “murder by arsenic poisoning of her husband of 20 years”—but the hanging almost went wrong.

Reportedly, with a crowd of 20,000 people watching, it took Mary minutes to die.

Paul said the incident galvanized opinion at the time against public hangings, and was key to ending them across the country.

Antique Victorian blue poison bottle treasure – SWNS

“It is fascinating that we have found a bit of history in my garden from a woman that was instrumental in the end of corporal punishment 160 years ago,” he beamed.

“My family and friends are totally engrossed with the story.”

Since the discovery, Stanley has not been digging in that spot at all anymore.

MORE MYSTERIES SOLVED:
• Woman Finds Message on Toilet Paper Roll Written 35 Years Ago by Little Girl
• Paul McCartney ‘Gets Back!’ His Hofner Bass, 50 Years After Theft from Van

And Paul hopes a local historian steps up to help the family find out more information about the unique story.

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