This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Jun 19, 2021

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

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning June 17, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“I remember wishing I could be boiled like water and made pure again,” writes poet Jeffrey McDaniel. Judging from the current astrological omens, Gemini, I think you could be made reasonably pure again without having to endure an ordeal like being boiled like water. Do you have ideas about how to proceed? Here are mine: 1. Spend 15 minutes alone. With your eyes closed, sitting in a comfortable chair, forgive everyone who has hurt you. Do the best you can. Perfection isn’t necessary. 2. Spend another 15 minutes alone, same deal. Forgive yourself of everything you’ve done that you think of as errors. Perfection isn’t required. 3. Spend another 15 minutes alone. Imagine what it would be like to unconditionally love yourself exactly as you are. 4. Spend another 15 minutes alone. Remember ten amazing moments that you enjoyed between ages five and 13.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
On June 23, 1940, Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely to a family that already had 19 other children. During her childhood, she suffered from pneumonia, scarlet fever, polio, and infant paralysis. The latter two diseases damaged her left leg, and she wore a brace until she was 12 years old. Nevertheless, by the time she was in high school, she had become a very good athlete. Eventually she competed in the Olympics, where she won four medals and earned the title “the fastest woman in history.” I propose that we name her your official role model for the rest of 2021. May she inspire you to overcome and transcend your own personal adversity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo-born P. L. Travers wrote the children’s books about Mary Poppins, a nanny with magical powers. She was thoroughly familiar with folklore, ancient myths, and the occult. The character of Mary Poppins, Travers said, was a version of the Mother Goddess. But in her writing process, she drew inspiration mainly from what she thought of as the vast dark nothingness. She wrote, “I’ve become convinced that the great treasure to possess is the unknown.” To generate her tales, she listened to silence and emptiness. I recommend you emulate her approach as you create the next chapter of your life story.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo poet Melissa Broder writes, “Romantic obsession is my first language. I live in a world of fantasies, infatuations and love poems.” I wouldn’t normally authorize you to share her perspective, but I will now. The astrological omens suggest you have something important to learn from being more enamored and adoring than usual. If you say YES to the deluge of yearning, you’ll gain access to a type of power that will prove very useful to you in the coming months.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran author Oscar Wilde disproved the misconception that Libras are wishy-washy, overly eager to compromise, and inclined to overthink everything. His writing had wit and flair, and his life was vivid and daring. He wrote, “There are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.” I suspect that one of those pivotal moments will soon be coming up for you. Be Wilde-like!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Philosopher Simone Weil wrote, “Only the light that falls continually from the sky gives a tree the energy to push powerful roots into the earth. The tree is actually rooted in the sky.” As you bolster your foundations in the coming months, as you deepen your roots, I hope you keep Weil’s brilliant observation in mind. Like a tree, the nourishment that will help you grow the stamina and strength and structure you need will come as you turn to the brightest, warmest, highest sources of inspiration.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
To be in groovy alignment with cosmic rhythms, you won’t merely walk, and you certainly won’t trudge. Rather you will saunter and ramble and promenade. You will strut and rove and prowl. Likewise, you won’t just talk, and you certainly won’t mutter or grumble. Instead you will banter, rhapsodize, improvise, beguile, and lyricize. Catch my drift? You won’t simply laugh, but will chortle, cackle, and guffaw. In other words, Sagittarius, you are authorized to imbue everything you do with style, panache, and imagination.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Congratulations on being such a duty-bound, no-nonsense adult. May you continue to ply your dogged persistence and beast-of-burden attitude as long as it gets important tasks done, helps you feel useful, and doesn’t make you sick. But if you do get tempted to depart from the sacrificial path anytime soon, please know that you will not offend any gods or demons. Nor will you incur a karmic debt. In fact, I believe you have cosmic clearance to dabble with lightheartedness for a while. You should feel free to experiment with fun and games that appeal to your sense of wonder.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy,” wrote poet Charles Baudelaire. What?! That makes no sense. I’m aware of millions of beautiful things that aren’t tinctured with melancholy. California’s Mount Shasta in the late spring twilight, for example. New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, a gorgeous gleaming building designed by genius architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Marmore waterfalls in central Italy. The gardens of painter Claude Monet in Normandy, France. I mention this, Aquarius, because I expect life to bring you a flood of non-melancholic beauty in the coming days. Take advantage of this grace to replenish your trust in life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Piscean author César Aira praises the value of escaping one’s memories. He writes, “Forgetting is like a great alchemy free of secrets, transforming everything to the present.” I’d love to see you enjoy alchemy like that in the coming weeks, dear Pisces. It’s a favorable time to lose at least some of the inhibitions and limitations you think you have to accept because of what happened in the past. As Aira says, forgetting “makes our lives into a visible and tangible thing we hold in our hands, with no folds left hidden in the past.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Aries playwright Tennessee Williams was honest about the trickery he engaged in as he composed his entertaining masterpieces. “I don’t want realism,” he exclaimed. “I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people.” I fully support you, Aries, if you would like to make that your goal in the next three weeks. In my astrological opinion, you and the people in your life have more than a mild need for magic. Your ability to thrive depends on you all getting big doses of magic.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
On my wall is a poster that says, “Avoid the Tragic Magic Triad: taking things too personally, taking things too seriously, and taking things too literally.” The motto refers to trivial and transitory issues, like the new dent made in my car by a hit-and-run driver in the Whole Foods parking lot, or the bad review of my book on Amazon.com, or the $18 that a certain Etsy seller cheated me out of, or the joke about the size of my nose that some supposed friend made on Twitter. According to my reading of astrological omens, Taurus, you would benefit right now from meditating on things like these that you take too seriously, personally, and literally. Here’s Don Miguel Ruiz: “There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.”

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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Charitable Giving in the U.S. Rose 5.1% Last Year to a Record High of $471 Billion in 2020

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Good News Network

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Jun 19, 2021

Americans responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in extraordinary ways, helping to relieve the suffering of neighbors by donating a record amount to charities in 2020.

Total charitable giving grew 5.1% over 2019, as individuals, bequests, foundations, and corporations funneled an estimated $471.44 billion to U.S. charities, according to the Annual Report on Philanthropy, released this week by Giving USA, the longest-running and most comprehensive report on the sources and uses of charitable giving in America.

“Unprecedented developments in 2020 created widespread need and significantly increased the demand upon nonprofit organizations,” said Laura MacDonald, CFRE, chair of Giving USA Foundation. “Remarkably, generous giving coupled with the stock market turnaround in the final months of the year boosted contributions. As a result, 2020 is the highest year of charitable giving on record.”

“Growth in the S&P 500 in recent years and the market recovery in 2020 positioned foundations to respond to the year’s challenges, with the result that giving by foundations reached its largest-ever share of total giving, at 19 percent,” said Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which conducted the research for the Giving Institute’s report.

By the end of 2020, the S&P 500, which is closely related to giving, grew 16.3%, and personal income, a factor that is significantly linked to individual giving, grew 6.1%. Giving by foundations skyrocketed, and giving by individuals and bequests also showed growth.

“As we have seen in earlier years that included national crises or economic recessions, donors responded to urgent needs, and large-scale gifts as well as giving to COVID-19 relief and the racial justice movement helped drive the growth in individual and total charitable giving in 2020,” said Una Osili, Ph.D., associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

“Nonprofit leaders and fundraising professionals played a role with significant innovation in fundraising methods and donor outreach in order to raise greater financial support under difficult circumstances. In addition, we saw a wide range of more informal philanthropic responses by individuals in 2020, including mutual aid efforts and person-to-person giving.”

Highlights and Numbers for 2020 Charitable Giving by Source:

• Giving by individuals totaled an estimated $324.10 billion, rising 2.2% in 2020 (an increase of 1.0%, adjusted for inflation). Giving by individuals achieved its highest total dollar amount to date, adjusted for inflation.

• Giving by foundations increased 17.0%, to an estimated $88.55 billion (a growth rate of 15.6%, adjusted for inflation), reaching its highest-ever dollar amount. Giving by foundations, which has grown in nine of the last 10 years, represented 19% of total giving in 2020, its largest share on record.

• Giving by bequest was an estimated $41.19 billion in 2020, and grew 10.3% from 2019 (an increase of 9.0%, adjusted for inflation). Giving by bequest often fluctuates substantially from year to year.

“Human services organizations, which include charities that respond to hunger and basic needs, and public-society benefit organizations—which include United Ways and many organizations that focus on community development and civil rights—experienced strong growth,” said Josh Birkholz, vice-chair of Giving USA Foundation. “Those are the types of charities that might come to mind first when thinking about giving to meet the needs that arose in 2020.”

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Highlights and Numbers for 2020 Charitable Giving to Recipients:

• Giving to human services increased by an estimated 9.7% in 2020, totaling $65.14 billion.

• Giving to foundations is estimated to have increased by 2.0% to $58.17 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to foundations was flat at 0.8% growth.

• Giving to public-society benefit organizations increased an estimated 15.7% to $48.00 billion. Adjusted for inflation, giving to public-society benefit organizations grew 14.3%. This category includes a wide range of charitable organizations, including national donor-advised funds, United Ways and civil rights organizations.

• Giving to environmental and animal organizations is estimated to have increased 11.6% to $16.14 billion. Adjusted for inflation, donations to the environment/animals subsector increased 10.3%.

• Giving to individuals is estimated to have grown 12.8% (11.5% in inflation-adjusted dollars) between 2019 and 2020, to $16.22 billion. The bulk of these donations are in-kind gifts of medications to patients in need, made through the patient assistance programs of pharmaceutical companies’ operating foundations.

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“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – George Washington Burnap

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Jun 19, 2021

Quote of the Day: “The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – George Washington Burnap, The Sphere and Duties of Woman

Photo: by Patti Black

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?

Midwestern Dad Breaks 31-Year World Record For 1.5 Million Push Ups – All For Charity

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Judy Cole

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Jun 18, 2021

nate push through challenge tunnel to towers foundation — Tunnel to Towers Foundation

For one Wisconsin father of three, being 45 years old “and not getting any younger” hasn’t stopped him from performing 3,000 pushups while competing in a marathon; dashing off 5,000 more during a 31-mile trail race, and (hopefully) scoring a new world record for completing a whopping 1.5 million-plus pushups over the course of a single year.

When social worker Nate Carroll launched his mission on June 14, 2020—Flag Day—his motivation was two-fold. First, he hoped to teach his children a lesson in the power of perseverance by offering them an example in real-time.

“[I wanted to] demonstrate to my kids what goals that seem impossible look like when they are broken down into daily manageable chunks,” he told FOX News.

But in addition to being a positive role model for his children, Carroll was also committed to raising money for a cause in which he truly believes: the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization dedicated to easing financial burdens for the families of fallen first responders.

With a full-time job and shared parental custody, finding the time during his busy schedule to clock thousands of push-ups per day was one of Carroll’s biggest challenges.

“To set aside time to do 4,000 push-ups is impossible,” he told the Wisconsin State Journal. “You have to really make it a priority and be willing to commit to it and embrace the fact that you have to weave that into your day.”

And weave it in he did—at work, at home, and even while doing chores. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he’d drop and give it his all.

On June 6th, Carroll completed the countdown to his record-breaking goal with a special 50-yard line halftime ceremony during the 48th annual Fun City Bowl at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“It was an honor to set a new world record here in New York in front of members of the [New York Police Department, New York Fire Department and Port Authority Police Department] and other first responders,” Carroll said in a statement issued by the Tunnels to Towers Foundation. “I want this record to pay tribute to the sacrifice made by so many heroes that tragic day.”

Even though he’d already surpassed the previous pushup record, Carroll continued to top off his tally as the final week of the competition year ticked down.

In order to claim a new Guinness World Record—ousting the current titleholder after an almost 32-year run—Carroll has been diligently documenting his accomplishments both in a logbook and with time-lapse video throughout his year-long odyssey.

While he’s waiting for Guinness to verify the win, he hasn’t lost sight of his original inspiration.

MORE: First U.S. Woman to Walk in Space Just Traveled to the Ocean’s Deepest Depth

“Set a goal, and get after it,” he told Fox News. “Make it who you are, not something you do. That way, when it gets hard and life throws obstacles in your way and offers you convenient excuses to stop or says it’s too difficult, you find a way to endure and persevere and keep after it. Winning those mini-battles each day builds strength and shapes one’s perspective of what is possible.”

Symbolizing that with dedication and fortitude, that which falls can rise again, a pushup may well be the perfect metaphor for all this amazing super-dad has achieved.

(WATCH the Tunnels to Towers Foundation video below.)

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That Song Stuck in Your Head is Helping the Brain With Long-Term Memory

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Jun 18, 2021

If you have watched TV since the 1990s, the sitcom theme song I’ll Be There for You has likely been stuck in your head at one point or another.

New research from UC Davis suggests these experiences are more than a passing nuisance—they play an important role in helping memories form, not only for the song, but also related life events like hanging out with friends—or watching other people hang with their friends on the ’90s television show, Friends.

“Scientists have known for some time that music evokes autobiographical memories, and that those are among the emotional experiences with music that people cherish most,” said Petr Janata, UC Davis professor of psychology and co-author on a new study.

“What hasn’t been understood to date is how those memories form in the first place and how they become so durable, such that just hearing a bit of a song can trigger vivid remembering,” said Janata.

The paper, “Spontaneous Mental Replay of Music Improves Memory for Incidentally Associated Event Knowledge,” was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

This new research offers an initial glimpse into these mechanisms and, somewhat surprisingly, finds that the songs that get stuck in your head help that process of strengthening memories as they first form, the authors said.

Thus, this is the first research to link two of the most common phenomena people experience with music—earworms (having a song stuck in your head) and music-evoked remembering.

For their latest study, the researchers worked with 25 to 31 different people in each of three experiments, over three different days, spaced weeks apart.

Subjects first listened to unfamiliar music, and then, a week later, listened to the music again, this time paired with likewise unfamiliar movie clips. In one instance, movies were played without music.

The research subjects, all UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students, were subsequently asked to remember as many details as they could from each movie as the music played. They were also quizzed about their recollection of the associated tunes and how often they experienced each of the tunes as an earworm. None of them had formal music training.

The more the tune played, the more accurate the memory.

MORE: Positive Outlook Predicts Less Memory Decline, Says New Research

The results: the more often a tune played in a person’s head, the more accurate the memory for the tune became and, critically, the more details the person remembered from the specific section of the movie with which the tune was paired.

With only one week between when they saw the movie, and when they were asked to remember as many details from the movie as they could while listening to the movie soundtrack, the effect of repeatedly experiencing a tune from the soundtrack as an earworm resulted in near-perfect retention of the movie details.

These people’s memories, in fact, were as good as when they had first seen the movie. Additionally, most subjects were able to report what they were typically doing when their earworms occurred, and none of them mentioned the associated movies coming to mind at those times.

“Our paper shows that even if you are playing that song in your mind and not pulling up details of memories explicitly, that is still going to help solidify those memories,” Janata said.

“We typically think of earworms as random nuisance beyond our control, but our results show that earworms are a naturally occurring memory process that helps preserve recent experiences in long-term memory,” Kubit said.

Future help for memory loss?

The authors said they hope the research, which is ongoing, could eventually lead to the development of nonpharmaceutical, music-based interventions to help people suffering from dementia and other neurological disorders to better remember events, people and daily tasks.

Source: University of California – Davis

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This Self-Healing Cement Automatically Fills Any Cracks That Form, To Save Energy and Money

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 18, 2021

self-repairing concrete-released-Worcester Polytechnic Institute — Worcester Polytechnic Institute

How much easier would our lives be if, like our bodies, our possessions could regenerate their own material to fix any damages they sustained?

Well, thanks to some very clever folks in England, concrete could be made self-regenerating by the addition of a simple enzyme found in our blood—repairing cracks in the sidewalk, roads, or buildings—saving tons of CO2, as well as millions in dollars, labor hours, and traffic slowdowns.

Recent estimates put the global concrete supply chain at 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than three-times that generated from the airline industry. One of the most prevalent human materials also requires the largest supporting infrastructure, from mining, to mixing, to moving, to laying and repairing, it’s a massive effort.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute led a project into looking at concrete that repairs itself, which has been hypothesized as possible since the mid-’90s, and which was recently confirmed as possible with bacteria in 2015.

MORE: The House That Hemp Built: Moldproof, Fireproof and Eco-Friendly

Like earlier researchers, the team at Worcester, led by Nima Rahbar, used an enzyme found in red blood cells called “carbonic anhydrase,” at the suggestion of a biochemist collaborator of theirs.

The anhydrase is responsible for moving CO2 from our cells to our blood vessels as quick as our breathing, and when added to concrete powder, it actually uses CO2 from the air to create calcium carbonate crystals. A millimeter crack can be filled in after just several hours, preventing larger cracks from forming. Anhydrase was among the reasons the bacteria was able to repair concrete.

Another method is adding carbonic anhydrase to water and calcium together in a spray and applying it to a concrete crack. If CO2 is then blown over the crack, like Wolverine from X-Men it will seal itself in just minutes, while if it simply uses the CO2 in the air it will take longer.

Astute readers will recognize that this technology also sucks some CO2 out of the environment, which along with extending the lifespan of the concrete four-fold, allows it to become a carbon jailer as well.

A peer-reviewed study demonstrated the technology’s effectiveness, which Rahbar hopes will lead a startup somewhere to develop a commercial version to bring to market.

“This is not going to cost much,” Rahbar told Fast Company. “But overall, the system requires some incentive.”

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Eco-Warrior Makes Toys, Mosquito Repellent, and More With Recycled Cigarette Butts – The Most Littered Item

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Good News Network

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Jun 18, 2021

naman gupta social media youtube tn video — YouTube/TN Video

An eco-warrior has made an impressive amount of money by making toys, keyrings, mosquito repellents, and organic compost from old cigarette butts.

26-year-old Naman Gupta was inspired when he saw a huge pile of cigarettes left after a party, and wondered how many were dumped across the world on a daily basis.

So now he runs a company which installs bins in cities to collect butts, which are then recycled and made into anything from cushions to key rings.

Best of all, he says his company has made over one million dollars since 2016, and he has recycled 300,000,000 cigarette butts—the equivalent of 100,000kg.

Naman, from Uttar Pradesh in India, said: “There was a misconception that it must be made out of cotton, so not everybody notices the problem that it is actually plastic.

“There were no laws or companies who were recycling or managing this kind of waste, it was a completely new concept in India.

“I am passionate, it’s not just about the money, we are doing it to service society and tackle the problem society has and provide the solution.”

Naman was in his third year at Delhi University studying commerce when he decided he wanted to start the first cigarette recycling company in India—CODE Effort.

The then 21-year-old found cigarettes are the most littered object in the world, and the plastic in the filter takes up to 12 years to degrade.

It also forms microplastics in the process, which can inhibit plant growth in soil, and are highly toxic to aquatic life.

Company founder Naman receives up to 6,000kgs of cigarettes every month, which are deposited into waste receptacles called VBins outside street vendors and paan shops.

The vendors receive a fee per kilo of butts they collect.

His factory workers split the butts into three parts—the filter, paper, and leftover tobacco.

The filter—made of a plastic called cellulose acetate—is shredded, chemically treated for 24 hours, and then made into stuffing for cushions, soft toys, and squishy keyrings.

The paper and tobacco are turned into compost which is sold to farmers and growers, or domestic mosquito repellents.

The waste water produced in the process is also re-used, and fabrics used to make the plushies are sourced from local suppliers.

CODE Effort, which stands for Conserving Our Depleting Environment, is currently looking into using cigarette filters to create air purifiers to tackle air pollution.

MORE: Nigerian Homes Built From Thousands of Plastic Bottles –12x Stronger Than Brick And Earthquake Strong

Smoking in India is such a taboo that he doesn’t always receive support, even with an environmentally-friendly initiative.

Naman said: “There were a lot of critics—the problem of waste as a whole is an underrated topic, not everyone is very keen in discussing climate change and waste management.

“I believe and have faith in God that if you are serving society he will help us overcome all the hurdles and take us to success.”

The entrepreneur hopes to encourage people to curb their consumption of cigarettes as well as dispose of them wisely.

He said: “Our business model is on a mission to eradicate cigarette waste in our society in an environmentally-friendly manner.

READ: New Shipping Material Made From Popcorn Can Replace Styrofoam ‘Peanuts’

“Personally I don’t mind if somebody is smoking, that is their choice, but if they are disposing of it inappropriately then I am a bit concerned and I want to change their habit slowly.

“I want to encourage people to quit smoking and switch to better habits because then the problem of cigarette butts will automatically solved.”

(WATCH the TN Video story about Naman’s work below.)

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Circus Turns Over Last Four Performing Bears to Animal Sanctuary That Has Holistic Natural Environment

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Andy Corbley

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Jun 18, 2021

The career in the limelight is over for a quartet of performing bears after a Vietnam circus agreed to hand them over to a sanctuary.

Animals Asia had already campaigned for the release of two show bears, Sugar and Spice, named for their fiery personalities, and now the last 4 Asiatic black bears from the same circus—Ginger, Chili, Pepper, and Saffron—have arrived at their sanctuary to reunite the “Spice Girls” in a holistic, wild environment where they can return to their natural state.

It’s being described as a change in attitudes in Vietnam, where animal rights aren’t typically prevalent. The Spice Girls were all voluntarily turned over as the circus admits that it is unethical to continue using bears for performance.

The bears arrived at the organization’s sanctuary in Tam Dao on Tuesday, June 15th. On their arrival, an expert team of vets and bear experts greeted them and did their preliminary health checks.

MORE: Last Performing Circus Elephant of Chile is Rescued and Moved to New Sanctuary to Live Out Her Golden Years

“For the first time in years, these four beautiful bears will have access to wide, open spaces and feel lush, fresh grass beneath their paws,” said Heidi Quine, Bear and Vet Team Director at the Animals Asia’s Vietnam sanctuary. “They will be able to express natural behaviors like climbing, foraging for food, digging in the dirt, and playing with their new friends.”

Animals Asia has been lobbying for the end of performing animals in zoos and circuses in Vietnam since 2014. Their campaign informed a decision from the Ministry of Culture that instructed circuses on ending the use of animals in performances. 15 of which have already done so, while many more are phasing them out, swelling the numbers of bears in the sanctuary to 186.

“This is a direct result of our tenacious yet collaborative approach to working with authorities and communities,” said Tuan Bendixsen, Animals Asia’s Vietnam Director. “As we have seen time and time again, the only cure for so many of the things we want to change in the world, is kindness.”

(WATCH the video of the rescue below…)

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“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” – Maya Angelou

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Jun 18, 2021

heart light love camp under stars night sky-pubdomain Bas Glaap — Credit: Bas Glaap

Quote of the Day: “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” – Maya Angelou

Photo: by Bas Glaap

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Instead of Skipping Graduation to Work at Waffle House, His Boss and Co-Workers Cooked up Miracles to Get Him There

By

Judy Cole

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Jun 17, 2021

waffle house graduation family photo Cedric Hampton — Cedric Hampton

As we all know, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry—and sometimes those of high school seniors do as well.

Timothy Harrison of Center Point, Alabama planned to attend his high school graduation. He’d even cleared it with his boss to take time off. But when the day of the ceremony dawned, Harrison found himself stranded.

The event was being held an hour away from home. With his family members working and no one able to drive him there, much to the surprise of his manager, Cedric Hampton, Harrison showed up for his regular 7 a.m. shift at the local Waffle House.

Once Hampton heard the details of Harrison’s dilemma—not only didn’t he have a way to get to the graduation, but he’d missed out on picking up his ticket, cap, and gown—the quick-thinking manager immediately marshaled his Waffle House troops for action.

“I could see in his eyes that he really wanted to go, and I was going to get him there no matter what,” Hampton told The Washington Post. “No kid should miss their high school graduation.”

After being ferried to school to retrieve his cap and gown, back at the Waffle House, the elated senior was outfitted in a brand-new ensemble picked up and paid for by his coworkers (with a little help from some generous restaurant patrons).

“We decided we were going to step in and take care of everything for him so he could really celebrate this day. A couple customers contributed as well,” Hampton told the Post. “Within a few hours, we were able to get everything taken care of.”

Harrison was now properly attired, but they still had to get him to the three o’clock ceremony on time. It was a close call, but thanks to Hampton, the soon-to-be graduate just made it. While his co-workers weren’t able to accompany the young man inside, they couldn’t have been prouder of him.

“When I sat down in that auditorium it was the best moment of my life,” Harrison told WBRC News. “This is a memory I will cherish forever… I’m going to tell my kids about this.”

MORE: Teacher Swaps Shoes With Student To Save Him From Missing His Graduation Ceremony

Harrison, who’s only been at his job a little over a month, nonetheless now considers his Waffle House posse like kin and credits his “work-family” patriarch Hampton for stepping in, stepping up, and being willing to go the extra mile for him.

“The old saying goes it takes a village to raise a baby,” Hampton told WBRC. “I’m just happy to be a part of that village.”

Once word of the day’s events made the local news, Harrison’s village got a whole lot bigger. Since the WBRC story aired, he was offered a full scholarship at Birmingham’s Lawson State Community College.

It was only fitting that when Harrison recently toured the college campus, Hampton was by his side. “I am his full-time mentor,” Hampton told the Post. “I feel really good about what’s about to happen next for him, and I’ll always be there along the way.”

Life may not offer any guarantees, but at least Timothy Harrison knows that should his best-laid plans ever go awry again, he’s got a village in his corner to help him get things back on track—and it doesn’t get any better than that.

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Giant Rhinoceros Skeleton Found in China – One of the Largest Land Mammals Ever (Look)

By

Andy Corbley

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Jun 17, 2021

rhino large mammal released tao deng — Tao Deng

In the land of endless fossils—aka North China—a new species of giant rhinoceros has been discovered in Gansu Province that ranks among the largest terrestrial mammals to ever walk the Earth.

Belonging to an extinct genus called Paraceratherium, which means “near the hornless beast,” the new species displays some different characteristics and carries with it a potential migratory pattern that may help to explain modern mammalian distribution.

The giant rhino is known to be one of the largest land mammals that ever lived. It has primarily been found in Asia, but its evolutionary relationships remain unclear.

Tao Deng and colleagues recovered skeletal remains of a new species of giant rhino dubbed Paraceratherium linxiaense, named for the Linxia Basin in northwestern China where it was found.

“The fossils were prepared [for study] by three professional technicians under [our] supervision from December 2016 to February 2017,” Dr. Deng told GNN. “When the perfect specimens appeared in our sight, their huge size and good completeness [gave us] a great surprise.”

Deng and his colleagues had been working in the Linxia Basin since the 1980s, but have only found fragments of giant rhino remains.

At the shoulder, paraceratherium would have stood 15.7 feet tall, weighing from 15 up to 20 tons, more than the largest African elephant ever recorded.

It had a long neck, contributing to its 23 feet in length, that would have supported a skull that itself was as long as a large child.

MORE: Ancient Chicken Laid An Egg That Lasted 1,000 Years Without Being Broken

Skulls reveal the creature had a trunk, and two tusk-like incisors, but likely no horn despite the fact that genetics have placed it in the rhinoceros family.

Despite its heft, paraceratherium lasted only about 11 million years, far less than other rhinoceros progenitors like Elasmotherium.

The authors’ analyses place this species in a group with another closely related giant rhino species called paraceratherium lepidum, which together have a close relationship with the giant rhinos of Pakistan.

These findings raise the possibility that the giant rhino could have passed through the Tibetan region before it became the elevated plateau it is today.

From there, it may have reached the Indian-Pakistani subcontinent in the Oligocene epoch (between 28 and 23 million years ago), where other giant rhino specimens have been found, and where modern rhinos until recently still lived.

This overland route could inform paleontologists of other potential mammal discoveries that, like paraceratherium, passed over the Asian continent during the Oligocene.

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‘Miraculous’ Mosquito Hack Cuts Dengue Disease Rate by 77%

By

Andy Corbley

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Jun 17, 2021

mosquito pexels-jimmy-chan-public domain — Jimmy Chan

Just as mosquitoes and the diseases they carry plague tropical societies, the harnessing of the mosquito society’s own plague, Wolbachia bacteria, is helping Indonesia combat Dengue fever.

Scientists creating an epidemic of wolbachia among mosquitoes in Indonesia dropped rates of infection of Dengue by 77%, opening up new doors in the potential control of mosquito-borne epidemics.

Sometimes called “break-bone fever” due to the intense joint and muscle pain resulting from infection, Dengue, principally spread through the West Nile mosquito aedes aegypti, can put a human out of action for a month.

Spread throughout the world along trade routes out of Asia since the 2nd century BCE, there are now between 100 to 400 million infections worldwide every year.

MORE: Breakthrough For Kenyan Scientists Who Discover Natural Microbe That Completely Stops Malaria in Mosquitoes

The city of Yogyakarta in Indonesia was the site of a trial by the World Mosquito Program to see if perhaps Dengue could be controlled by using a species of bacteria often found lodged within a. aegypti. Wolbachia is perhaps the most common reproductive parasite that exists in the biosphere, and between 25% and 70% of all insect species carry it.

The logic is that this “miraculous” bacteria lives in the mosquito exactly where Dengue is trying to go, while also competing for resources like food. The theory is that wolbachia would out-compete and prevent Dengue from replicating.

It wasn’t a long shot as wolbachia was also used to prevent the spread of Zika virus in Brazil in 2016.

Five million mosquito eggs were infected with wolbachia, and were left in buckets of water around the city over the course of 9 months to build up a consistent population of infected mozzies.

The results were vaccine-level successes, with spread of all four varieties of Dengue reduced by 77%, and the hospitalization rate by 86%, in 12 geographical zones of Yogyakarta where they were deployed compared to 12 other zones in which they were not.

Director of Impact Assessment at the World Mosquito Program described the results as “groundbreaking,” adding “we think it can have an even greater impact when it is deployed at scale in large cities around the world, where dengue is a huge public health problem.”

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Ryan Reynolds and ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Star Buy Bad English Football Team to Turn it Around – Now an FX Series

By

Andy Corbley

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Jun 17, 2021

welcome to wrexham ryan reynolds screenshot youtube fx documentary social media — Twitter/@VancityReynolds

What’s better than two likeable, excitable, Hollywood stars handing out perhaps far too much money to get into a business enterprise they know nothing about?

As Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney embark on their new journey as owners of an English football club, someone clearly thought the same, because the venture is now the focus of a new FX documentary.

Josh St. Clair, writing for Men’s Health, documents the exchange that launched this bizarre venture—with DMs being exchanged between the two stars on Instagram for months without them ever meeting.

“The text buddies wondered whether they should buy a European football club. Then, Reynolds and McElhenney went ahead and actually bought a European football club. What do they know about running a football club? Reynolds: “We don’t know anything about running a football club.”

But, truly, this is a win – win – win for the town, the club, and television viewers. But first some backstory.

Despite sitting in the 5th tier of the English Football League, Wrexham A.F.C. in Wales has a proud footballing history. Founded in the mid 1800s, the ‘Red Dragons’ are one of the oldest clubs in the country, and have produced several prodigious players including Hall of Fame striker, Welsh icon, and 5-time title winner with Liverpool, Ian Rush.

For Americans, the 5th tier might be comparable to single-A baseball, but a step below that. With a pyramid of 8 levels, the bottom three tiers are sometimes occupied by official football squads of military units, or community-led clubs that literally train in backyards.

LOOK: Ryan Reynolds Schemes With Dumped Teen After She Posts Hilarious Prom Photos

It would be a big test for the newly formed ‘RR McReynolds Company LLC’ to turn the Wrexham ship around, but far from being led by Deadpool and ‘Mac’ from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Reynolds and McElhenny are taking the project very seriously.

From farce to football

After losing $1.1 million (£740,000) during the 2019/20 season, and after their aging stadium seating was declared unsafe, the club was in a bad way at the start of the COVID season of 2020/21. With fans unable to attend games, the principal methods of income for lower-league football teams was gone.

Reynolds and McElhenney , who will be referred to by their business moniker, “McReynolds,” got straight to work with ambitious plans, starting with the decision not to renew the contract of the first team staff and head coach Dean Keates, after he failed to reach the playoffs this season, a single-elimination that determines which clubs get “promoted” to the next highest tier.

“We are committed to returning the club to the EFL (English Football League, aka the top four divisions) at the earliest opportunity and feel that a change of manager will provide us with the best chance of achieving that objective,” the owners stated, sounding much more like real owners than Yanks unfamiliar with the concept of “points” and “promotions.”

MORE: Leonardo DiCaprio Announces a $43 Million Pledge to Save the Galápagos Islands

In an epoch of the ‘Beautiful Game’ where every season features rumors of a massive Chinese or Saudi takeover of a club somewhere in Europe, the local Wrexham supporters must have been shocked that the Hollywood duo were taking control of their club, but delighted to hear that a reported $2 million would be invested as a means of getting the club back into the EFL.

The $2 million will go towards refurbishing their 5,000-seat main stand in their home field of Racecourse Ground, developing a new 22-acre training facility, and signing new players.

McReynolds also appointed Les Reed, a former technical director of the English Football Association, as an advisor to football strategy and operations.

“We have recruited Les Reed as an adviser to create a football strategy for the club that will deliver the sustainable model we committed to create,” McReynolds said in a statement. “The search for a new manager/head coach is a fundamental part of the strategy and is our immediate priority.”

The pair then hired on a trio of Wrexham Supporter’s Trust members as Vice Presidents, to ensure any decisions made reflect the fans’ preferences, and to create a strong attachment to community.

“The resources, both physical and human, will be provided where possible to help achieve our goal of achieving promotion at the earliest possible opportunity,” they said.

“Our goal is to grow the team, return it to the EFL in front of increased attendances at an improved stadium, while making a positive difference to the wider community in Wrexham.

The new docu-series Welcome to Wrexham has no present release date, but the Hollywood bros made an amusing promotional trailer with powerful ending… [WARNING: May contain language that you find offensive.]

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10 Ornamental Flowers You Can Cook With or Eat in Salads

By

Andy Corbley

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Jun 17, 2021

flower food salad augustine-fou-public domain-unsplash (1) — Marigold, Augustine Fou

Beautiful to look at, flowers are a welcome addition to almost any environment, including the kitchen or restaurant. Avant-garde cuisine often features edible flowers, but you don’t have to have a Michelin star to join in—you only need to know which species are edible.

Some flowers we commonly plant are poisonous, or have poisonous components, while others can act like little multivitamins.

There are hundreds of flower species and varieties that can be added to salads, drinks, desserts, or other dishes, some of which you may already have in your yard. Furthermore their flavor is as varied as their colors and shapes, and no matter what taste you’re looking for, there’s probably a flower that possesses it.

Alliums (chives, leek, and garlic)

For many gardeners, these species are already there and planted for their stalks and roots, but the flowers of this family have a mild taste that compliments other parts of the plant well.

Pickled chive flowers make a great addition to peppery cocktails like a Bloody Mary or Martini.

Marigolds, Calendula

Beautiful in beds, pots, verges, or as a companion plant in a vegetable garden, marigolds (but not African marigolds) also have a zingy, lemony taste to them, and thus make perfect additions to desserts like cheesecake or fruit tarts.

Furthermore their yellow leaves contain a natural dye that’s known as “poor man’s saffron” and can be used to make yellow dishes, or even dye natural fibers.

The flowers from pot marigolds, a species known as calendula, not only add a touch of piquancy to a dish, but are good for wound healing as well.

Honeysuckles

Owing to their name, honeysuckles have a sweet nectary taste. As a kid growing up in Virginia, we would pick the flowers, nibble off the base and suck out the nectar like a straw.

You can also cook with them and their sweet taste compliments sweet dishes, or can be used to freshen up/take the edge off spicy or rich dishes. They can also be used to make jam.

Nasturtiums

The flowers from the watercress family can be eaten and have a very similar taste to watercress itself.

The peppery flowers are a colorful way to introduce flavor to bland salads, or can be used as a pepper substitute if someone is sensitive to peppercorns.

“Weeds” (Mint, Chamomile, Dandelions)

Dandelion field by Vadim Indeikin, CC license

These prolific lawn denizens are very versatile plants, and can be eaten in many different ways. The flowers of all three can be eaten, and since they can often be found in the same meadow, instantly add color, flavor, diversity, and style to any salad.

Mint and chamomile leaves are sold around the world in teas, while dandelion leaves, though often quite bitter, are much healthier even than spinach.

Tulips

Tulip flowers’ curved petals, as one homesteading blogger wrote, are perfect for freezing to use as temporary ice cream or yogurt scoops.

Their sweet lettuce flavor makes them great in spring salads as well.

Perfumeries (Lavender, Roses)

While these flowers are often used to create scented soaps or perfumes, they can also be eaten, or cooked into a broth to flavor different dishes.

MORE: 8 in 10 Youth Think Gardening is Cool, and Half Would Rather Visit a Garden Center Than a Nightclub

Rosewater is common in Middle Eastern cooking, while lavender is sometimes used as an ice-cream flavor agent—only be careful with lavender flowers since their flavor is really intense and can make your food taste like laundry detergent if you over do it.

Pansies

As the quintessential ornamental plant for professional centers and office blocks, most of us have seen pansies in every imaginable color.

This color can be added to a salad no problem, and their mild lettuce taste wont get in the way of key ingredients.

Hostas

Not only do hostas own beautiful waxy leaves, but most parts of this popular ornamental plant are edible, including their bunches of light blue and white flowers.

They are great, says Rural Sprout’s blogger, in a stir fry, and actually the entire hostas plant has the potential to be a productive foodstuff.

Borage

The fuzzy leaves of this plant sit under blue, cucumbery, edible flowers. As such the refresh-factor is high, and can be added to salads, or desserts.

One cool idea is to freeze them inside ice cubes to be added into drinks later.

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“In the end, these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” – Jack Kornfield

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Jun 17, 2021

Quote of the Day: “In the end, these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” – Jack Kornfield, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

Photo: by Robert V. Ruggiero

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?

2 Days After Her Wedding, Bride Donates Kidney to Groom’s Ex-Wife

By

Judy Cole

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Jun 16, 2021

kidney donation family photo Mylaen Merthe — Mylaen Merthe

When a woman marries, she’s generally showered with gifts. But one big-hearted bride recently decided it was better to give than to receive. In fact she gave the biggest gift of all—the gift of life.

Just two days after she’d taken her vows, Debby Neal-Strickland in Florida swapped her wedding dress for a hospital gown in order to donate a desperately needed kidney. The lucky recipient? Her brand-new husband’s former wife.

Debby and Jim Strickland have been a devoted couple for a decade. Throughout their courtship, Jim maintained a cordial relationship with his ex, Mylaen Merthe, raising their two kids amicably, and while Debby and Mylaen weren’t particularly close, they got along fine.

And that’s likely how the relationship would have remained until fate dictated otherwise.

Mylaen, who’d long suffered from kidney disease, took a turn for the worse at just about the same time she’d learned her daughter was pregnant with her first grandchild. Her kidneys were functioning at just 8% of normal capacity. Without a transplant, her odds of survival decreased every day.

MORE: Mother of NHL Hockey Star Donates Kidney to Ice Rink Manager Who Kept Her Kids Out of Trouble

The hunt for a donor match was on. Mylaen’s brother wasn’t a viable candidate—but miraculously, Debby was.

For Debby, the thought of a child growing up not knowing its grandmother—of a daughter dealing with grief when she should be concentrating on the joys of new motherhood—wasn’t something she was willing to let happen if she could do anything to stop it.

Having lost a brother to cystic fibrosis while waiting for a lung transplant, she knew time was of the essence. With a green light on the tissue sample and blood tests, Debby willingly scheduled the life-saving surgery for just 48 hours after her nuptials.

“It was the most amazing day of my life, until two days later. That was also the most amazing day of my life,” Debby told Fox News.

Since the successful procedure, Mylaen and Debby have bonded and now refer to one another as “kidney sisters.” Mylaen is watching her new grandson Jackson grow up from the home she currently shares with her daughter and son-in-law, even as Debby and Jim’s family of six foster children and grandkids has expanded to include Mylaen and her brood in its loving embrace.

And all thanks to a “gesture from the heart.”

“This is what the world is about. Family. We need to stick together,” Mylaen told FOX. “She saved my life.”

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If You Want to Master a New Skill Take Plenty of Breaks While Practicing

By

Good News Network

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Jun 16, 2021

violin music pexels-rodnae-productions public domain — Rodnae Productions

In a study of healthy volunteers, researchers have mapped out the brain activity that flows when we learn a new skill, such as playing a new song on the piano, and discovered why taking short breaks from practice is a key to learning.

The National Institute of Health researchers found that during rest the volunteers’ brains rapidly and repeatedly replayed faster versions of the activity seen while they practiced typing a code. The more a volunteer replayed the activity the better they performed during subsequent practice sessions, suggesting rest strengthened memories.

“Our results support the idea that wakeful rest plays just as important a role as practice in learning a new skill. It appears to be the period when our brains compress and consolidate memories of what we just practiced,” said Leonardo G. Cohen, senior author of the study. “Understanding this role of neural replay may not only help shape how we learn new skills but also how we help patients recover skills lost after neurological injury like stroke.”

The study was conducted at the NIH Clinical Center. Dr. Cohen’s team used a highly sensitive scanning technique, called magnetoencephalography, to record the brain waves of 33 healthy, right-handed volunteers as they learned to type a five-digit test code with their left hands.

The subjects sat in a chair and under the scanner’s long, cone-shaped cap. An experiment began when a subject was shown the code “41234” on a screen and asked to type it out as many times as possible for 10 seconds and then take a 10 second break. Subjects were asked to repeat this cycle of alternating practice and rest sessions a total of 35 times.

During the first few trials, the speed at which subjects correctly typed the code improved dramatically and then leveled off around the 11th cycle. In a previous study, led by former NIH postdoctoral fellow Marlene Bönstrup, Dr. Cohen’s team showed that most of these gains happened during short rests, and not when the subjects were typing.

CHECK OUT: Positive Outlook Predicts Less Memory Decline, Says New Research

Moreover, the gains were greater than those made after a night’s sleep and were correlated with a decrease in the size of brain waves, called beta rhythms. In this new report, the researchers searched for something different in the subjects’ brain waves.

“We wanted to explore the mechanisms behind memory strengthening seen during wakeful rest. Several forms of memory appear to rely on the replaying of neural activity, so we decided to test this idea out for procedural skill learning,” said Ethan R. Buch, a staff scientist on Dr. Cohen’s team and leader of the study.

To do this, Leonardo Claudino, a former postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Cohen’s lab, helped Dr. Buch develop a computer program which allowed the team to decipher the brain wave activity associated with typing each number in the test code.

The program helped them discover that a much faster version—about 20 times faster—of the brain activity seen during typing was replayed during the rest periods. Over the course of the first eleven practice trials, these compressed versions of the activity were replayed many times—about 25 times—per rest period. This was two to three times more often than the activity seen during later rest periods or after the experiments had ended, the study, published in Cell Reports explains.

MORE: Kids Have Been Reading Longer, More Difficult Books in Lockdown, and It’s Boosting Moods

Interestingly, they found that the frequency of replay during rest predicted memory strengthening. In other words, the subjects whose brains replayed the typing activity more often showed greater jumps in performance after each trial than those who replayed it less often.

“During the early part of the learning curve we saw that wakeful rest replay was compressed in time, frequent, and a good predictor of variability in learning a new skill across individuals,” said Dr. Buch. “This suggests that during wakeful rest the brain binds together the memories required to learn a new skill.”

As expected, the team discovered that the replay activity often happened in the sensorimotor regions of the brain, which are responsible for controlling movements. However, they also saw activity in other brain regions, namely the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex.

“We were a bit surprised by these last results. Traditionally, it was thought that the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex may not play such a substantive role in procedural memory.

In contrast, our results suggest that these regions are rapidly chattering with the sensorimotor cortex when learning these types of skills,” said Dr. Cohen. “Overall, our results support the idea that manipulating replay activity during waking rest may be a powerful tool that researchers can use to help individuals learn new skills faster and possibly facilitate rehabilitation from stroke.”

Source: NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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Scientists Design Junk Food Game to Help People Eat Less, Lose Weight – Study Shows it Works

By

Good News Network

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Jun 16, 2021

healthy food junk food donut apple fruit dessert pexels-andres-ayrton public domain — Andres Ayrton

Using a brain-training app helps people eat less junk food and lose weight, new research suggests.

The Food Trainer (FoodT app) trains people to tap on images of healthy foods—but to stop when they see unhealthy snacks, creating an association between these foods and stopping.

The new study, by the universities of Exeter and Helsinki, found that playing the game about once a day for a month led to an average one-point reduction of junk food consumption on an eight-point scale (the scale ranges from four or more items per day, to one or zero items per month).

Overall, people who used the app more also reported larger changes in their food intake.

About half of the study’s 1,234 participants followed the recommendation and played the game at least 10 times.

Across all participants, an average weight loss of half a kilogram (just over a pound) and a small increase in healthy food eaten was seen.

“As an example, someone who ate each junk food two to four times a week reduced this to once a week after using the app regularly for a month,” said Professor Natalia Lawrence, of the University of Exeter.

“Overall, the findings are really encouraging. The app is free and it only takes about four minutes per day—so it’s something people realistically can do—and our results suggest it is effective. “There’s some evidence that the benefits were stronger for people who were more overweight.

“We would expect to see this, because the app targets mechanisms that lead people to become overweight, such as the strong urges to approach and consume tempting junk foods.”

Dr Matthias Aulbach, of the University of Helsinki, added: “For anyone with unhealthy eating habits—perhaps developed during lockdown—FoodT might be helpful.”

The study, published in Appetite Journal, used FoodT usage data, and the app also periodically asks questions about how often users eat certain foods, along with other information such as their age and weight.

The findings suggest that using the app regularly was linked with bigger changes in eating habits.

MORE: Researchers Discover Intermittent Fasting is Effective at Promoting Long-Term Memory in Mice

“If you’re trying to teach the brain something new, it’s a good idea to space out the learning over multiple sessions,” said Dr Aulbach.

“It may be helpful to do the training in different contexts—not just at home but at work and elsewhere, so the associations you learn don’t just relate to one location.

“From our results it seems important that you do the training regularly and don’t just stop. So keep it interesting and relevant for yourself so you won’t get bored with it: personalize the app as far as possible and pick the foods that you find really hard to resist.”

CHECK OUT: Next Time You’re Feeling Particularly Stressed or Anxious, This Study Says You Should Play Tetris

The researchers stress that their findings should be interpreted cautiously, because there was no control (comparison) group and other factors (such as the possibility that people who did more training were also separately more motivated to lose weight) could play a part in the results.

Leaving a review on Google Play, one app user wrote: “Really useful. Seems to work on different levels whether it’s the green/red circle association of stop/go which psychologically makes you more aware, I’m not sure—but my cravings have reduced dramatically and I no longer eat in the evening mindlessly.”

Source: University of Exeter

This Single Tree Could Restore Degraded Land, Create a Biofuel Revolution, Power Cars, and Feed Families

By

Andy Corbley

-

Jun 16, 2021

FORDIA Research Forest in Parungpanjang, Bogor Regency, Indonesia_Yusuf Bahtimi — FORDIA Research Forest in Parungpanjang, Bogor Regency, Indonesia/Yusuf Bahtimi

Growing across much of Asia, it’s known by many names: including Indian Beech, pongamia, Karum tree, kranji, and malapari.

Pongamia pinnata is a member of the pea family that is being considered by Indonesian forestry experts for potential landscape restoration and the future of bioenergy.

A number of big challenges are bearing down on the Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, and the government has to find ways in which it can restore 14 million hectares of degraded land to keep its promise to the UN, while also developing a green energy sector worth 23% of total grid contributions in just 5 years.

The country’s natural gas and oil reserves are projected to dry up by 2030, even while energy demand—currently served by fossil fuels—is increasing.

Enter the pongamia tree: growing well on degraded or marginal land in both wet and dry climates, it can be found from India to the west, right the way across to Fiji in the Pacific. For centuries, its orange/brown seeds have been pressed into oil for leather tanning, soap making, wound healing, and more.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and Environment’s Research is looking into pongamia for mass tree planting as they believe this special oil can be used to power a biomass energy revolution, as well as offering a new crop for local communities to thrive off of economically, and even use as food.

The trick with trying to plant all these trees in rural areas is they have to provide multiple benefits, for multiple parties, across multiple periods of time. Trees that grow fast may not live long enough to affect long term change within the soil, while trees that grow long and strong may be chopped down by citizens because they don’t produce anything.

Trees that produce forest products may not support a functioning ecosystem among them, or may not restore the land at all, but that is vital if 14 million hectares are to be renewed by the time of the Paris Climate Accord targets.

One more Tree of Life

The coconut and the baobab both have the honor of being referred to as the ‘tree of life’ by certain Indigenous groups, and the pongamia could certainly be accorded that honor as well.

One of the fastest growing trees in the Indonesian Archipelago, it can thrive in arid and wet land, from sea level to 1,200 meters above it. Degraded soil, like the kind which can be found on the boundaries of agricultural land, suit the pongamia just fine, and it improves the quality of the soil as it’s a nitrogen fixer.

Modern extraction methods confirmed the oil’s potential as a biofuel crop, with one study finding 44% more oil per seed extracted than traditional methods. When combined with 5% gasoline, it can power diesel engines in vehicles without compromising performance. This is key as many of the more remote Indonesian islands are powered by diesel generators.

MORE: For the First Time in 170 Years, Asia’s Longest-Missing Bird is Seen in Indonesia

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is accompanying the Indonesian Forestry Ministry on their research into pongamia, and one of their scientists, Budi Leksono, recounts that the trees can even be used for food, as when the seeds are pre-treated and dried they can be turned into a nutritious flour.

“I haven’t tried it myself yet,” Leksono told Forest News. “but in the trials, everyone said it was delicious!”

CIFOR is working to see if pongamia plantations are suitable for abandoned mining land and degraded peatlands, the latter being one of the most carbon-rich soils on the planet, and ideal for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. Recently this was done in Central Kalimantan Province on Borneo.

“We planted the trees a year ago, and so far they are growing faster than other similar species,” said Leksono. “This suggests they may be particularly tolerant to harsh conditions, and would then be especially promising for restoration and rehabilitation of degraded land.”

Lastly, another partner organization, the South Korean Forest Service, is seeing if Pongamia can be grown alongside other agri-forestry staples like coffee. The first step is seeing how the roots grow and where, to see if others can co-exist peacefully.

CHECK OUT: The World’s Oldest Known Cave Painting Has Been Discovered in Indonesia

It’s a case study that sometimes a nation has to look to their past to solve the problems of the future.

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

By

Andy Corbley

-

Jun 16, 2021

There’s been a lot of talk about vaccines these days, but not for bees. But a Cornell student has figured that since our most important pollinators are regularly exposed to lethal pesticides, there ought to be talk about a bee vaccine.

James Webb did more than talk though, he invented one—a pollen-sized microparticle containing a compound that neutralized one of the most commonly used and toxic pesticide bees encounter. Once fed to bees, they demonstrated hugely increased survival rates after being exposed to the pesticide compound malathion.

Beemunnity is a marketable supplement/vaccine for beekeepers that was demonstrated in a study—published in Nature journal—to prevent 100% of bee deaths from malathion (whereas the survival rate of bees exposed to malathion in the control group was 0%).

The enzyme it contains enters the digestive system and breaks down the malathion before it reaches the bee’s brain.

MORE: Orchids Make Fake Pollen to Tempt the Bees – But Scientists Discover it’s as Valuable as the Real Thing

The first product was only effective for one major chemical used in agriculture pesticides, but Webb is trying to develop others, as well as have one for wild bee species ready by the end of the year. For example, the same pollen-inspired microparticle technology can be filled with a special oil that soaks up other pesticides like a sponge. The bee leaves the particle behind when it goes to the bathroom, but the pesticides don’t return to the environment.

“So far we have not found one pesticide which cannot be captured by the technology,” Webb writes.

“I always thought there was a lot of research going into seeing if bees were dying, and the extent to which bees were dying, but not really many solutions,” Webb told Adele Peters of Fast Company.

Webb acknowledges this is a last resort, but that until industrial agriculture can get pesticides out of their operations, his products will help beekeepers and enthusiasts alike to protect their bees.

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