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99-yo Woman Snags ‘World’s Oldest Wing-Walker’ Title – 3 Months After Another Gran Did It (LOOK)

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Helga Duffy breaks world record for wing walking - AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers via SWNS
Helga Duffy breaks world record for wing walking – AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers via SWNS

A 99-year-old has become the world’s oldest wing-walker—just three months after her niece saw another elderly woman do it, and the staff at her assisted-living facility urged her to try.

This week, Guinness World Records officially bestowed the title on Helga Duffy, who was strapped to the top of a small plane at Rendcomb Airfield in Gloucestershire, England.

She broke their world record for wing-walking just three months after the title was nabbed by a 97-year-old woman named Betty Bromage.

“I had no idea what it was,” Helga said, of the aviation stunt.

At 99, she had been saying that it was “the last time” she could “do something different”—and when she saw what wing-walking entailed, she was determined to try it.

Despite initial concerns about getting on the plane itself, due to her arthritis and a bad right knee, Helga spent over five minutes in the air—wearing special clothing. (Watch the video below…)

“It was a very different sensation than I’ve ever had,” said the woman who spent most of her life working as a nurse.

Helga Duffy is world’s oldest wing walker – AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers via SWNS

“Once we did the round and we were up a thousand meters, I took three deep breaths; the air up there is so pure you wouldn’t believe it.

“I thought to myself, ‘come on now!’”

“I felt so good, I thought, ‘is this like if you take drugs?’ I’m sure it is.

Strapped in tightly, she felt “very safe”, and upon landing Helga met an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records.

Will Munford presented her with an official certificate when she touched down after the flight.

AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers / SWNS

“It was a wonderful atmosphere,” said Helga’s niece, Jackie Rose, who saw news reports this year of Betty Bromage winning the title, and realized it was possible for Helga.

“Everybody was clapping. I had so much admiration for her because I knew how painful it was on her knee.”

“It was so nice just to see, age is irrelevant. It’s just lovely to see somebody doing something they enjoy.”

The certificate is being displayed in the senior care facility as a reminder that age is just a number.

“Try anything,” said Helga, who also raised over £1,600 ($2,000) for the regional Air Ambulance charity with her stunt.

“Don’t ever say, ‘I can’t do it’. You can’t ‘see’ until you’ve tried… It’s my motto.”

When asked about the new record-holder, Betty congratulated Helga on her success, “joking that she was excited to turn 100 and beat the new record”.

Jackie told the BBC that she’s wanted to prove that “even though she’s 99, she’s still that lady she was years and years ago.”

SEND THIS HIGH-FLYING ROLE MODEL To Seniors on Social Media…

Coral Bleaching Reversed at Record Speed Using New Stanford Method: ‘Not a Lost Cause, at All’

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Coral bleaching restoration at Stanford – by Dan Griffin / GG Films (via SWNS(
Coral bleaching restoration at Stanford – by Dan Griffin / GG Films (via SWNS, cropped)

Coral bleaching has been reversed at record speed using a new method developed at Stanford University.

Corals that were ghostly white returned to full health in their lab in a mere seven weeks—the fastest documented recovery to date.

It is the first time scientists have observed bleached corals on the brink of death fully recover through brief contact with healthy clones.

They say the breakthrough, published in the journal Science Advances, opens new possibilities for restoring coral reefs damaged by the intense heat of climate change.

Coral reefs, which protect coastlines and communities from storms and flooding, expel beneficial algae living within their tissues when ocean waters warm.

The loss of their algae partners leaves corals pale, starving, and vulnerable to the invasion of harmful algae.

But, the lead study author Danny Collins says that while bleached corals may be dying, “they are not dead yet”.

In a lab setting, corals fully recovered from bleaching within weeks through brief contact with healthy corals. By fusing tissues, healthy corals sent enough life-giving algae and nutrients to their bleached counterparts to kickstart the recovery process in three days.

Coral research at Stanford – Credit: Dan Griffin / GG Films via SWNS

Collins, a PhD student at the University’s Doerr School of Sustainability, explained that all corals are animals that can multiply by producing clones that grow together to form vast, reef-building colonies of the same genetic make-up.

In 2025, study coauthor Professor Steve Palumbi observed something curious about coral biology in his research lab. Two coral fragments—one bleached, one healthy—sampled from the same colony had tipped over in a tank and were now touching.

Where they made contact, color returned to the bleached fragment, signaling the return of beneficial algae.

Around the time of the observation, Collins was considering the origins of coral disease—the possibility that bacteria lurking on plastic debris is settling onto the coral.

“Harmful bacteria enter corals through physical contact, (so) we were curious about what would happen if we used contact to reintroduce something good—the beneficial algae from healthy corals,” explained Collins.

Collins arranged five pairs, close enough to touch, and left gaps of just a few millimeters between the remaining pairs—and the bleached fragments in touching pairs fully recovered within seven weeks, while those without contact died.

“Genetically identical corals recognize one another when they come into contact, and their tissues fuse,” said Stanford Prof. Palumbi.

“We see something similar in humans. Organ transplants are often successful if the donor is your identical twin.”

Microscopic channels in coral tissues align shortly after contact, creating a pathway for transport between corals, allowing beneficial algae and the nutrients they produce to flow through those channels.

Making contact – Stanford / Dan Griffin / GG Films via SWNS

They also tested how different contact durations influenced recovery rates and found that after one week of contact, and in some cases after just five days, bleached fragments received enough beneficial algae to complete recovery on their own.

After separation, recovery took just seven weeks, matching the recovery time of coral pairs left in continuous contact.

That led the team to realize that algae replicating within the bleached fragment—rather than traveling from the healthy fragment—primarily drove continued recovery.

“Once beneficial algae enter bleached corals, they don’t just spread out,” said Prof Palumbi. “They flood in and start dividing at the fastest rates seen in corals.”

During the second week of contact with healthy corals, algae within bleached fragments doubled every four days, around ten times quicker than the rate observed in wild corals.

Researchers have been trying for years to develop tools and approaches that can protect corals from bleaching, disease outbreaks, and increasingly acidic waters, despite bleached corals often being considered ‘a lost cause’.

CORAL, CORAL, EVERYWHERE:
• Red Sea Coral Dying From Heat Stress is Being Revived With Probiotics
• Coral Reef Long Presumed Dead Is Rediscovered ‘Teeming with Life’ Off Coast of Africa
• Scientists Have Found Climate-Resistant Coral Reefs Around the World Totaling the Size of Wisconsin

Solutions being explored include selectively breeding heat-tolerant corals, cultivating coral nurseries to restore degraded reefs, and even transplanting coral microbiomes.

In the coming months, the researchers plan to explore alternative ways of delivering beneficial algae to bleached corals that don’t require continuous contact.

“These new insights into how corals can naturally recover give us hope for the future,” said Stanford Prof. Fiorenza Micheli. “They open the door to what’s possible and may lead to the breakthrough we need to accelerate reef restoration.”

SHARE THE BREAKTHROUGH With Scuba Divers on Social Media…

Massive 70lb Dog the Size of Baby Hippo Sheds Pounds and Gets New Home

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RSPCA / SWNS
RSPCA / SWNS

A massive shelter dog that weighed the same as a baby hippo has shed the pounds—and found a new home.

The huge bulldog named Peggy Sue swelled to 70 pounds (32.5kg) before she was taken to the RSPCA’s West Hatch Animal Centre in England.

She was so large she struggled with walking, infections, and overheating, and couldn’t take a few steps without collapsing.

When she arrived in July, the shelter in Somerset had to carry her in a crate from the van to her kennel and physically move her around.

“It was awful to see her struggle with every day movement,” said RSPCA Deputy Centre Manager, Anita Clark. “She really needed some care and attention.”

Peggy Sue’s exercise regime was increased gradually over time by a dedicated foster caretaker, which led to slow improvements every day.

She now continues to enjoy exercise and a strict diet plan.

Recently, SWNS reported the happy news that she was re-homed during the charity’s ‘Adoptober’ drive.

Peggy Sue – Credit: RSPCA / SWNS

Peggy’s new weight sits at a much healthier 23.5kg—down twenty pounds from when she first arrived at the charity.

Her new owners, Emmie and Andy from Taunton, say she is quite a water-baby and enjoys rock pools and streams.

He also gained a best buddy in the Taunton household, a Jack Russel-mix that just lost its 16-year-old brother, Mr Woo.

“Peggy-Sue is our sixth rescue and they have all turned out to be the most amazing dogs ever,” said Emmie.

“The RSPCA and her foster home had already done a great job getting her weight down by five kilograms (11 pounds), so we just had to keep the progress going.”

MORE DOG ANGELS:
• Chris Evans Puts His Limelight on Bonded Dog Pair with a Cute Video, Immediately Sees Them Adopted
• Couple Fosters 59 Dogs in Retirement: ‘We love to get them out of the kennels’

“When she first came home she only showed small bursts of energy, but little by little she has built up her strength and now she is utterly amazing and loves her walks and trips in the car.”

“Rehoming a rescue dog is the best thing you could ever do!”

SHARE THE COMPASSION With a Message About Adoption on Social Media…

Your Positive Weekly Horoscope: ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny

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Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Enlightenment for Rebels: Celebrating Our Wild and Sacred Earthly Selves, 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 October 17, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
One morning soon, I predict you will open your inner eyes as well as your outer eyes and discover that you feel freer than you have in ages. Old specters that once pestered you will seem strangely powerless. Worn-out customs will have loosened their hold, and an ancient obligation will finally be settled. By some grace that neither you nor I can quite explain, at least some of the chains you fashioned in your own mind will have fallen away. What then? Celebrate! Host a personal “Out of Captivity” party, and give yourself a day or two to revel in your newfound liberty. Once you’re ready to make purposeful use of that delightful independence, ask yourself: “Where in my life do I most need a clean beginning?”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Not so long ago, you got hints and clues that you were on the verge of getting a taste of tantalizing and off-limits treats. Weren’t you ready to accept when the invitation suddenly dissolved? And by now, haven’t you nearly stopped expecting to enjoy another chance? Then imagine your surprise if that temptation winds its way back to you soon. When you finally take a bite, it may taste and feel nothing like you anticipated. The wisest move will be to let go of your old assumptions and welcome the experience as it is. My prediction: You’ll be delightedly surprised by how deeply and sweetly it alters the way you understand reality—even if at first it feels disorienting.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Your upcoming challenges call to mind a feat once accomplished by conservationist and entertainer Steve Irwin. No, you won’t, as he did, feed a huge crocodile by hand while holding an infant in your other arm. But you may need to bring together qualities that seem at odds: fierceness and tenderness, a wild spirit and a protective instinct, boldness and love. Luckily, I am very sure you will summon the power and flair to do that.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Ecologists have found that transition zones, like where forests meet meadows or where land meets water, can support high biodiversity. They may include species from both neighboring habitats as well as species adapted to the distinctive conditions in the boundary zone. I propose we make these places your power metaphor for the coming weeks, Capricorn. You, too, can flourish in edge habitats. Instead of feeling compelled to choose one identity, community, philosophy, or style, appreciate your role as a translator between worlds. Your greatest gifts may emerge because you refuse to belong exclusively to any single camp. Revel in your fertile in-between-ness.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
After pondering what might bring fresh vigor to your love life, I’ve arrived at an audacious suggestion: Offer a smoldering prayer while making love to a saintly soul in a place you regard as sacred. If that combination proves impractical, try just one or two parts of it: Pray wildly during an intimate encounter; flirt with or even seduce a person of uncommon goodness; kiss and hug and cuddle in a setting that feels holy to you; or speak to the divine in a titillating language you wouldn’t use in a formal religious service. The point is to let sensual delight and spiritual longing meet rather than keeping them apart.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
You sometimes regard pleasure like a reward you have to earn through suffering, as if joy were a luxury item requiring payment in pain. But I have an alternate theory: Relaxed glee and earthy enjoyments are essential nutrients that are key to your health. So in my view, denying yourself beauty and comfort depletes you. I hope you will heed my guidance in the coming weeks, which is to treat yourself to almost more fun, happiness, bliss, and amusement than is allowed by law. See if you can break all previous records for rejuvenating delectation. New law of your universe, at least for the next four weeks: The quest for jovial gusto and zesty zeal are mandatory aspirations.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Before Aries-born Maya Angelou became a celebrated author, she was San Francisco’s first Black female streetcar conductor, a calypso dancer, a cook, a journalist in Ghana, and an actress. She didn’t publish her first memoir until she was 41. She spoke six languages and refused to believe that any single identity could contain her. I offer her as your role model in the coming weeks, Aries. It’s time to celebrate the wondrous truth that you don’t have to be just one thing. In fact, the astrological omens suggest you’ll thrive by rejoicing in the many disparate selves you are and have been and imagining new ones you might like to add. How kaleidoscopic do you dare to be?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Here’s a hypothesis worth entertaining: You don’t fully know everything you want. Not yet. Not at the core, where desire isn’t well-behaved but turns wild and intense. Your fluency with surface desire can sometimes keep you from excavating the mysteries that live below it. The familiar longings override the stranger, stronger ones that haven’t found their bearings. So there are aspects of your primal yearnings that remain unexamined, simply because they require a particular stillness and courage to unearth completely. The good news: Now is an unusually favorable time to go looking.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Is your mental agility a gift or curse? It depends on whether you use it to avoid taking a stand or else deepen your understanding. In the coming weeks, Gemini, I hope you will practice the cagey skill of holding multiple truths simultaneously without letting that multiplicity become an excuse for never choosing or never committing. The goal is to encourage your magnificent mind to serve your heart rather than to override its tender wisdom. I love it when you unleash your clever analysis and it doesn’t devolve into sophisticated evasion.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Astronomers searching for planets around distant stars rarely see the planets directly. Instead, they notice tiny wobbles in the stars or faint dips in their brightness as the planets pass in front of them. You can and should practice a similar art now. Dramatic evidence may be unavailable, so watch for subtle shifts in mood, timing, synchronicity, and atmosphere. Small disturbances may reveal important hidden influences. Your most useful discoveries won’t come from looking harder but from noticing more gently.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Glassblowers repeatedly place molten glass into blazing furnaces as they shape it. They don’t heat it once and expect it to stay pliable forever. Again and again, they return it to the fire so new possibilities become available. This reminds me of the current chapter of your life story, Leo. Emotional intensity keeps recurring, repeatedly returning you to the heart of the heat and pressure. This may sometimes feel like a test or ordeal, but I think it’s the best way for you to master the crucial lessons and ensure the healing transformations. Be patient as you forge your masterpiece.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Master storytellers know that memorable heroes are admired because they continue moving despite uncertainty. Courage entails a resilient and affectionate partnership with doubt. I hope you’ll remember this if your confidence temporarily flickers in the coming weeks. There’s no need to waste precious energy trying to eliminate every hesitation before taking your next meaningful step. Let your questions accompany your convictions. They may sharpen your judgment. The coming weeks favor brave, thoughtful action, not flawless self-assurance.

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)

SHARE The Wisdom With Friends Who Are Stars in Your Life on Social Media…

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

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Credit: Andrea Leopardi

Quote of the Day: “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

Photo by: Andrea Leopardi

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?

Credit: Andrea Leopardi

Good News in History, October 17

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166 years ago today, the Open Championship, also known as the British Open, was first played in Scotland, at the Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire. The oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the four prestigious majors, it rotates between a select group of coastal UK golf courses. READ more about its history… (1860)

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North America’s Largest Wildlife Overpass Is Working: Animal Collisions on I-25 Down 91%

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, Colorado Department of Transportation
– credit, Colorado Department of Transportation

In March, GNN reported that North America’s largest wildlife overpass had opened in December over Interstate 25 near Larkspur, in Colorado.

Now, 10 months on from its opening, data has demonstrated that the 6-lane lifeline for bears, elk, moose, and other animals is working, with 91% fewer collisions between wildlife and vehicles.

Measuring 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, the overpass covers 41,800 square feet (3,900 sq. meters), making it the single largest bridge structure for wildlife in North America—and one of the largest in the world.

It includes not only the bridge deck, but 5 wildlife underpass tunnels for smaller or more timid animals to cross as well. Thousands of yards of fencing funnel creatures to the bridge, completing the infrastructure.

Estimates from Colorado DoT officials expected collisions to be reduced by 90%—and indeed the figures after 10 months have been 1% better.

“We are thrilled,” said Bridget O’Rourke, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, to the Colorado Sun. “Wildlife overpasses and underpasses and funneling animals to have a safe path across the roads, it’s been statistically proven that it’s successful.”

It’s not just the bear or elk that are crossing safely, but smaller animals like pronghorn antelope, the northern leopard frogs, and rabbits as well—a “huge plus,” said O’Rourke.

Pronghorn are by nature migratory, and I-25 has proved an impediment to their biological compasses for decades. A pronghorn videotaped crossing the wildlife overpass is the first recorded doing so in 30 years.

For the hominin species driving below in their cars, the overpass has represented fewer lethal, traumatic, or costly accidents—which used to average 1 per day along the Larkspur-Monument corridor. Traffic delays have fallen by 9% as a result of fewer instances of highway safety personnel closing lanes around shattered cars covered in blood and fur.

ANOTHER BIG OVERPASS: World’s Biggest Wildlife Crossing Will Protect Animals From Drivers on the 101 in Los Angeles

The success seems to be spurring a wildlife overpass construction boom, with an additional 6 locations now being scouted for such installations, including the first wildlife overpass specifically designed for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

The Sun reported the following plans: the westbound lanes of I-70 at East Vail Pass between Vail and Copper Mountain, I-25 just north of the New Mexico state border, on US 160 east of Cortez in southwestern Colorado, over Colorado 40 west of Craig, and near US 287 south of the Wyoming border.

SHARE This Great News And Celebrate Brighter Days For Motorists And Wildlife…

Drape Some ‘Plant Armor’ Fabric Over a Strawberry Patch to Triple Yields with Less Pesticides

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Andy Corbley
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(Left) uncovered strawberry yield (right) yield from strawberries grown with Plant Armor - credit Gabriel Olawuyi, released by NCSU
(Left) uncovered strawberry yield (right) yield from strawberries grown with Plant Armor – credit Gabriel Olawuyi, released by NCSU

A new textile used to cover strawberry plants more than tripled fruit yields in field tests, without negatively impacting plant health.

Importantly, the technology could also significantly reduce water and pesticide usage in strawberry production.

Known as Plant Armor, the carefully designed fabric is simply draped over a strawberry patch and the material’s 3-dimensional structure prevents insects from reaching the plants beneath. Its multiple layers, however, allow for the penetration of sunlight, rain, and airflow.

Tunnel field tests found that Plant Armor increased strawberry yields by as much as 3.56 times, without negatively impacting relative humidity or light access.

“We expected that Plant Armor’s seemingly opaque fabric would lead to an increase in vegetative biomass at the expense of fruiting—because reduced sunlight would trigger a ‘shade-avoidance’ response, making the plant divert energy toward stem and leaf growth rather than fruit production,” said said Gabriel Olawuyi, a graduate research assistant at North Carolina State University and lead author of a paper on Plant Armor.

“However, we found the fabric did not impede access to light at all, and fruit production increased significantly.”

Plant Armor also provided a consistent warming effect over the 3 seasons that the plant grows, which Olawuyi said helped the bushes reach the fruiting stage earlier than those without the cover.

“Plants require a certain amount of accumulated heat, calculated as ‘growing degree-days,’ to progress through developmental stages including fruiting. Our plant cover has proven to enhance these,” Olawuyi said.

“The plants were in a condition whereby the warmth they need to go through each phenological stage to their production was given to them optimally, and they produced far more than the uncovered plants.”

– credit Loganathan Ponnusamy, released by NCSU

By deterring insects, Plant Armor could also reduce the need for traditional pesticides in agriculture.

Plant Armor was created as a spinoff of efforts to make military uniforms resistant to mosquito bites. This “2.0” version was adopted for growing in what one study author said was down to a good example of the value of researchers staying abreast of interdisciplinary developments.

INNOVATION ON THE FARM:

“The path to Plant Armor started with trying to make a cloth to go on a soldier’s chest to make body armor more comfortable,” said co-author R. Michael Roe, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at NC State.

“Then, through trial and error, we arrive at a product which could triple the output of strawberry farms here in North Carolina. We couldn’t have predicted that when we started. Without all these people here doing research and following the science, we wouldn’t have arrived at this product.”

SHARE This Simple And Brilliant Way To Grow More Food With Fewer Pesticides…

Teen’s Disaster Messaging App Can ‘Hop’ Across Bluetooth When Cellular Networks Collapse

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, supplied to GNN by Emirhan Dumam
– credit, supplied to GNN by Emirhan Dumam

It’s not just homes that collapse during an earthquake, but cell towers and the networks they maintain.

On February 6th, 2023, earthquakes devastated southern Türkiye and northern Syria. When they were needed most, the miracles of modern instantaneous communications were absent as cellular and internet infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.

Seeing that, a high school student hundreds of miles away in Istanbul began to work on a crisis-specific messaging app, one that would work when others wouldn’t.

Emirhan Duman took a unique approach. He abandoned cellular signal, satellite connection, or mobile data in favor of shortwave frequencies—perfect for getting a message out of a smashed car or collapsed building. Yet rather than try to sell walkie talkies, he leveraged the most well-known shortrange frequency used today: Bluetooth.

“I’ve been building Crisis Connect, an open-source project addressing communication outages during disasters, on my own since April 2025,” Duman, still only 17, told GNN.

“The idea grew out of the communication outages during the February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye. The app is designed to help nearby phones exchange messages over Bluetooth when internet access or mobile networks are unavailable.”

Writing for a United Nations blog, Durham described Bluetooth as “an untapped communication network sitting in millions of pockets.”

Crisis Connect, his ultimate creation, allows users to send messages and calls over Bluetooth when 4G and cellular communications are interrupted by disasters.

The real party trick of the messaging platform is that it can use all shortrange connections in a given area to send a message “hopping” from phone to phone until it reaches the receiver. The phones act as relays, allowing each Crisis Connect-enabled device to pass messages closer and closer to the ultimate address. In this way, a neighborhood or community can help keep everyone in contact with everyone else.

By default, this feature is disabled to save battery life, but in an emergency, it can be switched on not only to help the user connect with family, friends, authorities or rescuers, but also everyone else to connect with whomever they need to reach.

Duman admits freely that by nature this requires forward planning. Crisis Connect can do no good to anyone if they wait for their house to collapse before trying to download the app.

“The design starts before an emergency. Users connect with family members, neighbors or teammates by scanning a QR code or establishing a nearby Bluetooth connection,” Duman wrote at Prevention Web, a disaster management platform maintained by the UN Disaster Risk Response program. “Those connections are then designed to keep working when internet and cellular services are unavailable.”

DISASTER TOOLS: Woman Who Lost Her Sister Invents a Child’s Car Seat Sticker That Doubles as Hospital Bracelet

It supports vital rescue and emergency features like SOS beacons, a compass, an ultra-high frequency digital whistle, live location broadcast, an offline mode that continues to work without a central server, and even a metal detector.

As excited and proud as Duman no doubt should be over developing such an innovative disaster contingency, he remains sanguine on what it can and cannot do, and wrote that overpromising its capabilities, or underestimating the challenges of disaster zones, will undermine confidence in the product, and inhibit potential improvements.

EMERGENCY APPS: Elon Musk’s Starlink Offers Free Emergency Phone Coverage in Wilderness Areas Worldwide

“Smartphone mesh communication will not replace satellite links, emergency radio or official early warning systems—nor should it try to,” he wrote. “It can help fill a gap during the first hours after impact, when survivors need to reach nearby people and communication infrastructure is damaged, overloaded, or unavailable.”

Crisis Connect is available for free on the App Store and Google Play store, while the open-source code is available for any developer in any country to tweak or improve.

SHARE This Intrepid Teen’s Brilliant Invention With Your Friends…

Largest Private Conservation Project in the US Hits Major Milestone as Free-Roaming Bison Pass 1,000

By
Andy Corbley
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An aerial image of some of the bison herd - credit, American Prairie
An aerial image of some of the bison herd – credit, American Prairie

As autumn descends upon the Great Plains of North America, the largest private land conservation project in the country is ringing in an inspirational milestone.

The resident herd of relatively free-roaming bison now numbers 4 digits for the first time since the organization’s founding more than 20 years ago.

American Prairie is a conservation nonprofit that GNN readers may be familiar with. The group is quite simply attempting to stitch together the largest contiguously-wild stretch of North American Prairie in the country for the purpose of conservation and recreation.

Stitching together grasslands, water features, ranchland, rolling hills, and woodland, the reserve has accumulated 603,657 acres, which comprises 167,070 deeded acres and 436,587 leased public acres. The goal is ultimately to protect and some cases rewild 3.2 million acres—far harder to achieve for citizens than government lawmakers.

Yet in the over 20 years that American Prairie has been working, they’ve expanded their reserve to such an extent that if it were declared a National Park, it would rank among the nation’s 10 largest across the Lower 48.

Americans know that tens of millions of bison used to roam the prairie, and that those herds were almost wiped out long ago. What most Americans won’t know is why they haven’t returned yet.

Today, bison may number as little as 1 to 3.5% of their pre-industrial numbers. Of that total, less than 10% are managed for conservation or as a wild species. American Prairie details that most conservation herds are very small and are mostly confined to small, fenced-in areas. These conditions threaten the genetic health of bison and greatly hinder their ability to roam widely, display natural behaviors, and impart their ecological impact—so necessary to the flourishing of the prairie—onto the landscape.

Some of the chief hurdles to bison restoration are legal ones. Montana, where most of American Prairie’s acres area located, classify bison as livestock, not wildlife. As such, their movements and grazing are regulated the way cattle are—through a system meant to prevent cross-breeding, disease spreading, and encroachment.

MORE FROM THE PRAIRIE: Land Was Owned by Billionaires Who Didn’t Allow Access to National Monument – Now it’s Open

American Prairie recently had to take to the courts to defend its bison herd. On September 4th, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from enforcing its order requiring American Prairie to remove its bison from 3 federal grazing allotments in northeastern Montana.

An aerial image of some of the bison herd passing a water source- credit, American Prairie

BLM revoked American Prairie’s bison grazing permits in May 2026, and ordered the nonprofit organization to remove its bison from federal public lands, which make up the majority of the reserve. The order was made under an interpretation of a federal grazing rights law which the BLM saw as providing land solely for the commercial production of food and fiber.

American Prairie’s interpretation, which the judge said seemed highly likely to be correct, was that the Taylor Grazing Act includes no such distinction between commercial purposes and other purposes, such as conservation or recreation.

MORE FROM THIS NONPROFIT: 100 Miles of Derelict Fencing Removed by Rewilders Across the Great Plains in Montana

Fresh off of this intermittent legal victory, American Prairie’s annual calf count coming at the end of the breeding season put the size of the nonprofit’s herd at 1,016, the first time it’s ever held a thousand-handle.

Organizers believe a herd of 5,000 is a very achievable aim, but 5,000 square miles—the ultimate size they hope their land package reaches—would in theory provide suitable space for tens of thousands of bison.

SHARE These Beautiful Images To Ring In A Major Milestone For This Nonprofit…

“Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” – Isaac Asimov

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Good News Network
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© GWC

Quote of the Day: “Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.” – Isaac Asimov

Photo by: © GWC

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?

© GWC

Good News in History, October 16

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Good News Network
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57 years ago today, New York’s underdog baseball crew ‘The Miracle Mets’ won the World Series in just 5 games, a romantic triumph over a heavily-favored Orioles team. In the seven previous seasons, the Mets had never finished higher than ninth place and consistently lost one hundred games. Yet, starting in May, the Mets delivered an astonishing record of 82–39. They won 38 of their last 49 games, finishing eight games ahead of the Cubs—one of the largest turnarounds in MLB history. WATCH a tribute… (1969)

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An Extinct Crocodilian’s Skull Was Found in the Rocks That Built the Sphinx, and it’s Also Missing its Nose

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, depiction by Karim Zanaty
– credit, depiction by Karim Zanaty

A new crocodilian species has been identified from fossils recovered from a rock layer harvested by ancient Egyptians to build the Sphinx

And funnily enough, just like the iconic Egyptian landmark, this fossilized reptile is missing the tip of its snout.

In the 1920s, several fossils were recovered from the 45-million-year-old Mokattam Formation in Egypt. Those fossils, including a nearly complete skull, were described as belonging to Tomistoma, a genus of gavial crocodile, a cousin of alligators and crocodiles with long thin snouts.

But recent analytical advances in paleontology, including the use of CT scanning to look inside the skull, allowed an international team of researchers to identify several differences between the skull from the Mokattam Formation fossils, and the Tomistoma of their original classification more than 100 years ago.

According to a study published October 7th in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the original, erroneous classification was made despite the fact that T. schlegelii lives today in Indonesia and Malaysia a far cry from the Nile Delta. Later, it was classed into a new Tomistoma species named after Cairo, but this wasn’t to stand either.

The CT scans showed substantial differences between the skull found in Cairo, and anything from Tomistoma, so the researchers now re-describe the creature as Herugavialis cairensis, translated as something like “Heru’s gavial of Cairo.”

There are just two living species of gavial today: Gavialis gangeticus, named for the Ganges and found in Nepal and northern India, and T. schlegelii.

However, the fossil record of gavials documents a near-global distribution, spanning more than 100 million years, with many species living in shallow marine environments.

Scientists from the UK, Sweden, Germany, and Egypt, led by Dr. Paul Burke from the Swedish Museum of Natural History, found that one feature in particular caught their attention: the tip of its snout was missing.

“Given this coincidence with the famously missing nose of the Great Sphinx, we decided to name the new crocodile after the Egyptian god Heru, who was possibly the inspiration for this iconic monument,” said study co-leader Professor Philip Mannion from University College London.

REPTILES THROUGH THE YEARS: A Plant-Eating Croc? Newly Identified Species Demonstrates Crocodilian Versatility

“Crocodiles were part of the Nile ecosystem, which was central to Egyptian life, and they held an important place in ancient Egyptian belief and culture,” study co-author Hesham Sallam, a paleontologist at Mansoura University in Egypt, told the Washington Post.

The shallow marine environments that covered much of the region were also home to at least two other species of gavials.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Fossil Remains of ‘Weird’ Creature with Twisted jaw and Sideways Teeth Discovered

“Throughout much of the last 50 million years, the Mediterranean region hosted a high diversity of crocodiles, including gavials,” said Dr. Burke.

“However, this diversity fluctuated over time, seemingly corresponding to changes in global temperature and sea level, before the loss of all crocodiles in this region as a result of the drying of the Mediterranean approximately 6 million years ago.”

GIVE Your Friends This Good Bite Of News From Cairo…

Tribe Just a Signature Away from Recovering 1,100 Ancestral Acres Along Undammed Elwha River

By
Andy Corbley
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(Left) the Elwha Dam in 2005 (right) and the dam in 2013, several years after its removal - credit, (left) Ben Cody CC 3.0. BY-SA (right) Zandcee, CC 3.0. BY-SA
(Left) the Elwha Dam in 2005 (right) and the dam in 2013, several years after its removal – credit, (left) Ben Cody CC 3.0. BY-SA (right) Zandcee, CC 3.0. BY-SA

20 years after a Washington state dam was slated for demolition, 1,100 acres of ecosystem along the Lower Elwha River is recovering, having lain muddy and dormant under the dam’s engorged reservoir for more than a century.

And now, 171 years after the land left their hands, and 114 years after it was flooded, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe is just a signature away from having it all returned to them.

Located along the Elwha between its bridges over state highway 101 and route 112, the large land parcel was drawn up in a federal bill which has passed through both houses of Congress and now awaits executive signature. National Parks Service personnel have already done fieldwork in the area in collaboration with the Lower Klallam tribe, as the parcel would touch the nearby Olympia National Park.

The transfer would in effect reverse the Point No Point Treaty which ceded most of the tribe’s historically-inhabited territory in 1855 for access to education, healthcare, and a guarantee of hunting and fishing rights. The dam, which ruined their fishing livelihoods and flooded their lands, was not part of the agreement.

The flooded acreage includes sites sacred to the Klallam’s memory, among which include historic villages and the spot where elders say their tribe was blessed into existence by the Creator. It also plays home to kingfishers, mountain lions, dippers, bear, possums, and most importantly, salmon.

When the Elwha Dam was built in 1910, it cut the Klallams off from their ancestral way of life as people who lived off the bounty of the river.

“Our land isn’t just land. The river isn’t just the river. The salmon aren’t just salmon,” said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Chair Melissa Gilman. “This is part of who we are as people.”

WASHINGTON NEWS: Washington State Protects the Old-Growth Forests of Tomorrow, Creates 77,000 Acres of ‘Legacy Forests’

Like the Klamath River and its eponymous tribe nearby, salmon had lost access to spawning grounds up the Elwha for over a century. The river, whose headwaters form as glacial meltwater among the Olympic Cascades, is vital spawning habitat for chinook salmon and trout.

2026, reports the Seattle Times, which spoke with Klallam tribal members about the potential upcoming land transfer, is the fourth year in a row that tribal members have enjoyed their fishing rights along the river.

TRIBES RECOVERING THEIR LAND: 900 Acres Bordering Yosemite Returned to Tribe That Was Expelled 175 Years Ago

Salmon already appeared within the upper reaches of the nearby Klamath River within a year of the removal of the 4 dams along its course, and with any luck, the Elwha salmon will continue to reclaim their territory, just as the Klallam do the same.

“That last missing piece was the Klallams, the people of the land,” tribe member Vanessa Castle said. “And now that can happen in a way that feels fulfilling and respectful, and that we have a space that we can call home again.”

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ESA’s New Sentinel 3C Satellite Makes its Debut with Sumptuous Images of Italy and the Arctic

By
Andy Corbley
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Italy from Copernicus Sentinel 3C – ©ESA (released)
Italy from Copernicus Sentinel 3C – ©ESA (released)

Two weeks after launching, the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel 3C satellite has returned its first images of our world in sumptuous color.

This first set of images includes stunning views of Italy, the Canadian Arctic, and the Caribbean from the satellite’s ocean and land color instrument, as well as measurements of the height of the Greenland ice sheet and sea surface from its synthetic aperture radar altimeter.

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 series and will continue the mission’s long-term task of delivering environmental data that are essential for a wide range of applications.

The Sentinel-3 satellites carry the same suite of instruments to systematically measure Earth’s oceans, land, cryosphere, and atmosphere.

Over oceans, Sentinel-3 measures the temperature, color and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice to support, for example, the monitoring of marine pollution and marine heatwaves.

Over land, this innovative mission monitors drought and wildfires, maps the way land is used, checks vegetation health, and measures the height of rivers, lakes, and polar ice sheets.

ESA is still in the process of commissioning Sentinel-3C for service, an important and intricate task that will take another 5 months, but after only two weeks in orbit, the satellite’s initial images already showcase that it is on the road to excellence.

the Canadian Arctic from Copernicus Sentinel 3C – ©ESA (released)

The first image, captured by the ocean and land color instrument is a striking natural-color view that reveals Italy in beautiful detail, stretching from southern Germany in the north to Sicily and the southern Mediterranean.

MORE SHOTS OF OUR BLUE MARBLE: Humanity’s Long-Awaited Return to Lunar Space Captured with Brilliant Photographs Aboard Artemis II

The second image, also captured by the ocean and land color instrument on September 30th, features part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the west of Greenland. Snow and ice-covered islands dominate the scene, with rugged coastlines, deep fjords and exposed rock creating intricate patterns.

At this time of the year sea ice is at a minimum but some fractured floes are visible on the dark open water.

SHARE These Incredible Photographs With Your Friends On Social Media…

Woman Who Lost Her Sister Invents a Child’s Car Seat Sticker That Doubles as Hospital Bracelet

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, Roth ID Tag
– credit, Roth ID Tag

A sister turned her personal tragedy into a brilliant emergency safety product.

Simple yet vital, the Roth ID Tag is an adhesive designed to stick forever on the fabric of a child’s car seat.

If that child needs to be rushed to the hospital, the tear-off tab sees the sticker become a hospital bracelet, with vital medical and contact information.

The Roth ID Tag was created by the sister of the deceased Julie Roth, who was killed in a 47-car pile up on the Ohio Turnpike on December 23rd, 2022. In the midst of the worst winter storm that year, Julie didn’t survive, but Ayla and Rory, her two children strapped into their car seats, did.

As first responders combed through the wreckage, pulling the injured from their cars, they came across Julie’s little ones. But with their mother unresponsive, and triage decisions being made at scale, it was never determined who the two surviving children were.

Instead they were rushed with other survivors to the hospital where the problem compounded. Who were those two traumatized children, what were their names, what were their blood types, did they have a latex allergy?

Hours would pass before they were finally examined and their identity could be ascertained, before their father was finally called with the news and the two young ones could see a familiar face amid the confusion and grief.

Julie’s sister created the Roth ID Tag to help parents and guardians ensure such a situation would never happen again.

The reverse side – credit, Roth ID Tag

The Roth ID TAG includes an area on the back for parents to write emergency information before affixing it to the child’s car seat. In the event of an emergency, the Roth ID Tag quickly removes from the seat and is immediately used as an emergency ID wristband by first responders additional adhesive tabs.

This reduces the risk of misinformation or loss of information in chaotic emergency situations, as happened to Rory and Ayla, while a QR code will allow anyone to gather more information if the child is registered through the Roth ID Tag website.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: New Spray-on Powder Instantly Seals Life-Threatening Wounds in Battle or During Disasters

“I can recall countless situations where the Roth ID Tag would have made the scenario more manageable,” Captain Wilhelm of the Bellevue Fire Department, Ohio, said in praise of the invention.

The design is approved by registered Child Passenger Safety Technicians under Safe Kids Worldwide, and has picked up awards for its design and the brilliance with which it has filled a niche in the market for safety products.

Sheriff, fire, and police departments, as well as highway safety boards and DoTs from a swath of states officially endorse the product, which can be found through a variety of large retailers like Target, Walmart, and Amazon.

SHARE This Woman’s Tragedy Transformed Into A Brilliant Safety Innovation… 

“A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts.” – Henry David Thoreau

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Good News Network
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© GWC

Quote of the Day: “A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts.” – Henry David Thoreau

Photo by: © GWC (Big Bend National Park in Texas, from which bulldozers were removed recently, after nature lovers sued)

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?

© GWC

Good News in History, October 15

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Good News Network
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Official project image - NASA

29 years ago today, NASA and ESA’s Cassini Mission, meant to gather data on Saturn and its moons, was launched from Cape Canaveral. The Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA’s Cassini space probe and ESA’s Huygens lander, which landed on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Cassini was active in space for nearly 20 years, with 13 years spent orbiting Saturn and studying the planet and its system after entering orbit on July 1st, 2004. READ about what it found… (1997)

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Teen Triathlete Raises More Than $30,000 to Donate Bikes and Riding Lessons to Low-Income Families

By
Andy Corbley
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Jonathan Thai - credit, screengrab via Pedal Forward
Jonathan Thai – credit, screengrab via Pedal Forward

Continuing GNN’s coverage of youth nonprofit leaders, the Pedal Forward Foundation in Georgia has distributed hundreds of bicycles to low income families, and taught hundreds of children how to ride them.

It’s founder, Jonathan Thai, was inspired to step up and serve his community after the local REI closed down a community bike-riding workshop.

At just 17 years old, the Alpharetta resident has already raised $30,000, securing 400 donated bicycles, and distributed 500 helmets, while hosting over a dozen free community bike clinics for children of all ages.

Thai says that in part, inspiration for the Pedal Forward Foundation came from his parents’ upbringing in rural, post-war Vietnam.

“Something like biking might just look recreational at first glance,” Thai told Points of Light, an international nonprofit which honored him with an award. “But it can have such a big impact for a family that doesn’t have access to transportation – getting to school, getting groceries, getting to a job.”

Thai is a high school triathlete, a body of experience he leaned on, together with his family heritage, to organize and drive the initiative forward to what it is today.

Along the way, the Pedal Forward Foundation received assistance from the National Charity League, the Young Men’s Service League, the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Georgia DoT, the City of Roswell, Thai’s triathlon team, and various Georgia cycling charities.

The free bike clinics teach between 30 and 45 children, starting with balance biking and training wheels, before moving on to more advanced courses on braking, maneuvering, and dealing with traffic.

What Thai started in Georgia has now spread to chapters in New York and Tennessee, while next year, the Foundation will go international—to where it all started—on a humanitarian charity and cycling trip to Vietnam.

Youth nonprofit leaders are more common than you might imagine. In Arizona, a 12-year-old named Sloan recently wrapped up her 5th annual Diaper Drive, which channeled donations in excess of 30,000 diapers to a Phoenix food bank.

From the Upper West Side of Manhattan, GNN spoke with Max Owobu, who founded the Yenko Foundation at just 15 years of age. It sponsors children through private school in Ghana’s chaotic capital city of Accra. Owobu has already secured funding to send 10 children through the current school year, paying for their tuition, meals, transportation, uniforms, and supplies.

On Monday, GNN featured the work of 14-year-old Payton Obert and her lemonade stand, that has to date channeled $5 million worth of gifts and necessities to children facing economic hardship, or prolonged stays in the hospital battling illness.

The quartet of compassionate youth leaders is proof positive that one is never too young to make a difference.

WATCH the story below… 

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Pittsburgh Water Launches Debt Forgiveness Program to Help Families with Rising Costs

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, Images of Money, CC 4.0. BY-SA
– credit, Images of Money, CC 4.0. BY-SA

Residents of Pittsburgh with outstanding debt on their water utilities can see it forgiven over a 24-month period.

Instituted by Pittsburgh’s water authority, certain customers have already been enrolled as of September, and need only keep up with monthly payments to see pre-September outstanding debt gradually forgiven.

Called the Arrearage Forgiveness Program, Pittsburgh Water recently updated and improved the program, while some 4,300 city households living below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line were automatically enrolled.

If such a household had, by September 1st, outstanding debt—$1,000, for example—they can see that total entirely erased if they begin meeting payment obligations. For every month the obligation is met, one twenty-fourth ($41.60, using the example) of their outstanding debt will be forgiven.

In two years’ time, the balance in arrears will thus be zeroed out.

Pittsburgh Water director of customer service Julie Mechling told the CBS News affiliate in the city that over the 24-month period, customers can miss up to 2 monthly payments and still stay on track for debt forgiveness. More than 2, however, and they are removed from the program.

“There’s help out there for people who are struggling. There are multiple opportunities for you to come to us and see what protections are available to you,” Mechling said.

Pittsburgh Water said the program is possible because a reasonably low number of total customers have outstanding debt or miss payments. Greater than 95% in fact have neither, and Pittsburgh Water sees it as a kind of mutual aid opportunity for the fewer than 5% who are struggling.

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