This smart mom is saving parents money by showing them how to make intricate kids’ toys—from cardboard boxes.
Engineer and mother-of-two Nazdar Tayib builds everything from kitchen sets to pirate ships—and she shares tutorial videos online for others to enjoy.
Nazdar also creates toy school buses, barbecue grills, cars, washing machines, and anything else her five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter desire.
“I know some parents can’t buy things for their kids, like a playhouse or play kitchens because they’re expensive, so why not make it from cardboard?,” said Nazdar, who lives in Tennessee.
SWNS
“I think it’s more fun to make it with your hands and your kid will love it. My son asked if I could make a pirate ship for him, so I made a pirate ship.
“They said, ‘can you make a food truck for me?’ So I make a food truck.”
Nazdar began making her no-budget creations two years ago and last year she started a YouTube channel, Boxy world, to help other parents save money and get creative.
Quote of the Day: “Your mind is not a cage. It’s a garden. And it requires cultivating.” – Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
Photo: by Victor Malyushev
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In the words of William Shakespeare, “Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. And some have greatness thrust upon them.” The same might be said for Internet fame.
Just ask John Butler, an 84-year-old former farmer from Derbyshire, England.
Riding a grownup tricycle, sporting a neatly coiffed beard, and often wearing a jaunty Oxford-blue beret with matching gloves, the unlikely senior citizen social media sensation has almost unwittingly become a peaceable guru to a devoted and growing legion of adoring fans.
Butler, an early advocate of organic farming, is a longtime practitioner of meditation. As part of his spiritual journey, he began recording inspirational messages in hopes of imparting the lessons he’d learned to others.
The tranquil tone, calming presence—and per one listener, “a voice like a warm glass of milk”—with which Butler delivered his home-spun advice online soon struck a soothing chord with the rising tide of viewers struggling to decompress from the day-to-day anxiety brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spiritual Unfolding
To date, his YouTube channel Spiritual Unfoldment with John Butler currently boasts 182,000 subscribers whose far-flung global locales definitely put the “world wide” in the world wide web.
Butler’s rise to fame began with a 2016 BBC interview showcasing his mindful take on life.
After the episode aired, he was singled out by members of the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) community as someone worthy of note not just for what he said, but the manner in which he said it. (Devotees of ASMR take pleasure in the calming influence and accompanying tingling sensations triggered by whispering or other soft-spoken forms of expression.)
From there, almost like a new-age Bob Ross minus a paintbrush, the octogenarian’s popularity spiraled—but no one was more surprised by his newfound notoriety than Butler himself.
Having always considered himself something of a “misfit,” prior to his ongoing video project, Butler says he’d never heard of YouTube and had little working knowledge of the Internet.
But no matter how his karma unfolded, Butler feels blessed to be able to provide a steadying influence for folks just doing their best to cope with modern-day life.
“So many people have this problem with an agitated mind, a restless mind, and because one instinctively seeks for some sort of balance, people look for rest or peace don’t they?” Butler told the BBC.
“If something in my voice conveys that restfulness then thank God for that. I don’t know quite how it happens… but I’m just quietly glad to be able to share what I love.”
(WATCH one of John’s videos below.)
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Walmart will be investing nearly $1 billion over the next five years in career-driven training and development for its workers.
The largest U.S. private employer, the company announced last week that it will pay 100% of college tuition and books for its associates through its Live Better U (LBU) education program.
As of August 16, the $1 a day fee will be removed for associates—making all education programs paid for by Walmart.
This means approximately 1.5 million part-time and full-time Walmart and Sam’s Club associates in the U.S. can earn college degrees or learn trade skills without the burden of education debt.
“We are creating a path of opportunity for our associates to grow their careers at Walmart, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and their families,” said Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart, in a statement. “This investment is another way we can support our associates to pursue their passion and purpose while removing the barriers that too often keep adult working learners from obtaining degrees.”
The LBU program was initially designed after consulting with experts, reviewing other employer-provided education programs, and studying the research around what helps drive completion rates among adult working learners.
This helped guide the initial $1 a day approach, but the economy and job market have changed, and Walmart is always looking for new ways to encourage more associates to pursue further education.
“We’re also excited to add in-demand college degree and certificate options in business administration, supply chain, and cybersecurity. These additional offerings join a robust catalog of programs to set associates up for new career opportunities,” Stomski said. “Our education offerings tie directly to our growth areas at Walmart, and what better way to fill the pipeline of future talent than with our own associates.”
In addition, Walmart will add four academic partners, including Johnson & Wales University, the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, and Pathstream.
These complement the existing partners: Brandman University, Penn Foster, Purdue University Global, Southern New Hampshire University, Wilmington University, and Voxy EnGen.
Our Live Better U program just got better. We’re proud to announce we’ll now pay 100% of college tuition and books for our associates seeking additional education, a planned investment of nearly $1 billion over the next five years. https://t.co/a4GTT9dTmupic.twitter.com/wxx3xCmWg0
Each of these institutions were chosen for their history of success with adult and working learner programs as well as their focus on degree completion.
Currently, cost is a leading barrier for earning a degree—with student loan debt in the U.S. topping $1.7 trillion.
Since launching LBU in 2018, more than 52,000 associates have participated in the program to date, and 8,000 have already graduated. Nearly 28,000 associates have been active in a LBU program this summer.
“As the company making one of the nation’s largest investments in education for America’s workforce, Walmart is setting a new standard for what it looks like to prepare workers for the jobs of the future,” said Rachel Carlson, CEO & co-founder of Guild Education. “Walmart is creating growth opportunities for their workforce and preparing them for the future of work.”
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New research comparing the anatomy and behavior of dogs and wolves suggests dogs’ facial anatomy has changed over thousands of years specifically to allow them to better communicate with humans.
Priscilla Du Preez
In the first detailed analysis comparing the anatomy and behavior of dogs and wolves, researchers found that the facial musculature of both species was similar, except above the eyes. Dogs have a small muscle, which allows them to intensely raise their inner eyebrow, which wolves do not.
The authors at University of Portsmouth suggest that the inner eyebrow raising movement triggers a nurturing response in humans because it makes the dogs’ eyes appear larger, more infant like, and also resembles a movement humans produce when they are sad.
The research team, led by comparative psychologist Dr Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth, included a team of behavioural and anatomical experts in the UK and USA.
Dr Kaminski said: “The evidence is compelling that dogs developed a muscle to raise the inner eyebrow after they were domesticated from wolves.
“We also studied dogs’ and wolves’ behavior, and when exposed to a human for two minutes, dogs raised their inner eyebrows more and at higher intensities than wolves.
“The findings suggest that expressive eyebrows in dogs may be a result of humans unconscious preferences that influenced selection during domestication. When dogs make the movement, it seems to elicit a strong desire in humans to look after them. This would give dogs that move their eyebrows more a selection advantage over others and reinforce the ‘puppy dog eyes’ trait for future generations.”
Dr Kaminski’s previous research showed dogs moved their eyebrows significantly more when humans were looking at them compared to when they were not looking at them.
She said: “The AU101 movement is significant in the human-dog bond because it might elicit a caring response from humans but also might create the illusion of human-like communication.”
Lead anatomist Professor Anne Burrows, at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, co-author of the paper, said: “To determine whether this eyebrow movement is a result of evolution, we compared the facial anatomy and behaviour of these two species and found the muscle that allows for the eyebrow raise in dogs was, in wolves, a scant, irregular cluster of fibers.
“The raised inner eyebrow movement in dogs is driven by a muscle which doesn’t consistently exist in their closest living relative, the wolf.
“This is a striking difference for species separated only 33,000 years ago and we think that the remarkably fast facial muscular changes can be directly linked to dogs’ enhanced social interaction with humans.”
The findings show how important faces can be in capturing our attention, and how powerful facial expression can be in social interaction.
Co-author and anatomist Adam Hartstone-Rose, at North Carolina State University, said: “These muscles are so thin that you can literally see through them—and yet the movement that they allow seems to have such a powerful effect that it appears to have been under substantial evolutionary pressure.
“It is really remarkable that these simple differences in facial expression may have helped define the relationship between early dogs and humans.”
The only dog species in the study—published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)—that did not have the muscle was the Siberian husky, which is among more ancient dog breeds.
An alternative reason for the human-dog bond could be that humans have a preference for other individuals which have whites in the eye and that intense AU 101 movements exposes the white part of the dogs eyes.
It is not known why or precisely when humans first brought wolves in from the cold and the evolution from wolf to dog began, but this research helps us understand some of the likely mechanisms underlying dog domestication.
Oh, who lives in a pineapple under the sea… around the Retriever Seamount 200 miles off the New England coast in the Atlantic Ocean?
Well according to one marine biologist, it’s SpongeBob SquarePants and his mate, Patrick Star.
The yellow and pink duo from the iconic children’s cartoon were spotted next to each other by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) remote-controlled submersible launched from the Okeanos Explorer, just as they share the same block in their fictional home of Bikini Bottom.
A starfish expert quickly saw the image taken by the submersible and shared it on Twitter, commenting on the striking resemblance the two lifeforms shared to their cartoon counterparts.
*laugh* I normally avoid these refs..but WOW. REAL LIFE Sponge bob and Patrick! #Okeanos Retreiver seamount 1885 m pic.twitter.com/fffKNKMFjP
“I thought it would be funny to make the comparison, which for once was actually kind of comparable to the iconic images/colors of the cartoon characters,” Mah told Insider.
While discovering the actual location of SpongeBob’s home, the NOAA team were mapping the seamounts and canyons of the Mid-Atlantic, down to the lightless depths were such creatures prefer to live.
About as square a sponge as anyone will ever see (the animals are normally round, oblong, or in no shape whatsoever), Mah identified the sponge as the genus Hertwigia, which normally appears white or orange to camouflage with their environment.
He also identified the starfish seen idly by his fictional neighbor as Chondraster, which are known to be pink, and which use suction cups on the underside of their limbs to scoot around the ocean floor.
Those blessed with memories of the show will remember the few episodes that take place in “Rock Bottom,” a scary town filled with bottom-dwelling fish, representing the Benthic Zone.
That’s more like it as far as real sponges and stars are concerned, and where the submersible was going when it spotted the real-life versions.
Additionally, while Patrick and SpongeBob were inseparable companions in the show, the real relationship between these organisms is rather more like that of a lion and a wildebeest. Starfish are predators, and eat sponges if they can find them.
Along with this delightful discovery, the Okeanos Explorer hopes to uncover many more secrets of the North Atlantic depths through the ASPIRE program of scientific pursuit and discovery.
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Quote of the Day: “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.” – Muhammad Ali
Photo: by Nicolas Hoizey
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The Tokyo Summer Olympics is bringing out the best in all of us.
We’ve been looking for inspiring stories and have found some great shows of humility, humanity, and smarts. Here’s a roundup of our favorite moments from the games, so far.
1. Swimmer Wins Gold And Tosses it to Teammate in the Bleachers
When the schedule for a swimming relay race was radically altered, it left one American athlete sitting out of the qualifying heats to stay fresh for final.
Then, in a display of sportsmanship after winning gold, Caeleb Dressel found his teammate in the stands and tossed him the medal.
After the team’s first-place finish, as a show of thanks, Dressel located Brooks Curry in the stands and tossed him his gold medal, diverting the gaze of the world toward the man whose fast swimming got them to the finals.
While Curry would later receive a medal of his own, only the finalists got to stand on the podium—and Dressel took the opportunity to show what teamwork is all about.
2. Runners Crash, But Then Join Forces to Cross Finish Line Together
Team USA’s Isaiah Jewett had a good shot at the men’s 800m, but a Botswana runner in front of him fell and they both crashed to the track in a tangle. However, the heartwarming scene that followed proved a real winner.
Jewett could see that Nijel Amos was also devastated, so he offered his competitor a hand up, and the pair supported one another, determined to complete the race and cross the finish line together.
“He apologized, and I was like, ‘Let’s just finish the race,’” he told the Los Angles Times.
In a real nail-biter, two athletes in the men’s high jump had perfect scores—each had cleared jumps of 2.37 meters (7 feet, 9.25 inches).
Gianmarco Tamberi from Italy and Mutaz Barshim from Qatar had similarly tied in 2010, and had formed a unique bond between champions—especially after each faced career-ending ankle injuries, but recovered. Tamberi was even on hand for Barshim’s 2018 wedding in Sweden.
Normally, an Olympic winner would be determined by a jump-off, in case of a tie. But, Barshim spontaneously asked officials if the two men, who were now longtime friends, could share the gold—and they were given the green light.
“I look at him, he looks at me, and we know it,” Barshim told the CBC. “This is a dream come true. It is the true spirit, the sportsman spirit.”
When Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi finished the men's high jump competition tied, they could have gone to a jump-off to decide the winner.
4. Brother and Sister Score First-Ever Same-Day Gold Medal Wins
In a heartwarming moment for their family—and the host nation of Japan—a brother and sister, after a prolonged overtime battle, won gold on the same day.
21-yer-old Abe Uta took the top prize in the women’s judo finals and, hours later, her brother Hifumi threw down for top honors in the men’s division—making them the first brother and sister pair ever to win Olympic gold on the same day.
“This was a dream for us,” Uta told the media, “It makes me believe dream comes true as long as I try to achieve it.”
Her brother didn’t feel any pressure, rather: “It made me crave for it… Today is the best day of my life.”
Peak family goals! Japanese siblings, Hifumi Abe & Uta Abe, made #Olympic history this past weekend after they both brought home the gold on the same day! #Tokyo2020 🇯🇵https://t.co/To9y3ztgdW
— Japan Consulate NY 総領事館 (@JapanCons_NY) July 26, 2021
5. Mathematics Professor Wins Cycling Gold
Without a coach or any endorsement support, a 30-year-old with a Ph.D. in mathematics won the gold medal for Austria.
After 91 miles of pedaling (147km), Anna Kiesenhofer crossed the finish line ahead of both the defending champion and the world titleholder, by solving the equation for training all on her own.
Considered a novice in the sport, Kiesenhofer credits her gold-medal performance to the ‘beautiful mind’ she’s cultivated in her chosen field. “As a mathematician, you’re used to solving problems on your own, so that’s the way I approach cycling,” she told CNN.
“Many cyclists…have a trainer, they have a nutritionist, they have the guy that plans the race for them. I just do all these jobs myself.”
Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer 🇦🇹 stunned the world with her incredible victory in the Women's Road Race Final 🚴🏻♀️🥇 #OlympicMoments
Flames from the Bobcat Fire - credit: Eddiem360, CC license, via Wikimedia.
To help prevent sparking California wildfires, Pacific Gas and Electric Company has announced a major new initiative to bury 10,000 miles of power lines underground.
In addition to significantly reducing wildfire risk, undergrounding also benefits customers by lessening the need for Public Safety Power Shutoffs—which are called as a last resort during dry, windy conditions to reduce the risk of vegetation contacting live power lines and setting off a wildfire.
This effort will also help ease the need for vegetation management efforts, leaving more of California’s trees untouched.
“We have taken a stand that catastrophic wildfires shall stop,” said CEO Patti Poppe in a statement. “We will gladly partner with policymakers and state and local leaders to map a path we can all believe in.”
Making the shift happen
Pacific Gas and Electric Company is the nation’s largest natural gas and electric utility— serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California.
In the past, undergrounding has been done on a select, case-by-case basis, and largely for reasons other than wildfire risk reduction.
Following the devastating October 2017 Northern California wildfires and the 2018 Camp Fire, PG&E began to evaluate placing overhead power lines underground as a wildfire safety measure, and to better understand the construction and cost requirements associated with undergrounding for system hardening purposes.
In 2019, PG&E announced it would rebuild all its power lines underground in the Town of Paradise as it helps the community recover from the Camp Fire.
The company is also rebuilding power lines underground within the 2020 North Complex Fire footprint in Butte County.
Through these and other demonstration projects and rebuild efforts, PG&E has been able to refine the construction and cost requirements associated with targeted undergrounding, enabling the acceleration and expansion of undergrounding projects.
“Ten thousand miles of [buried] line is a trip halfway around the planet, 10,000 miles of line is a trip from Chico to L.A. 11 times and back,” Poppe said. “We will partner with the best and the brightest to find the best solutions to make this audacious goal come to life.”
Featured image: Eddiem360, CC license
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When armed conflict is a way of life, a lasting resolution may seem beyond reach. And yet, while small acts of personal courage may not ultimately shape the larger outcome, there are some people on both sides who continue reaching for peace nevertheless.
Israeli kindergarten teacher and mother-of-three Idit Harel Segal wanted to do something meaningful for her 50th birthday. Rather than receiving a present, she chose to give one.
In memory of her late grandfather, Segal decided to donate a kidney. The life-saving gift Segal offered not only aligns with her Jewish faith—but was her way of extending an olive branch as well, because the kidney recipient was a 3-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip.
Although there are strict restrictions in place limiting the number of entry permits, the Jerusalem-based, nongovernmental organization Matnat Chaim was able to arrange for the surgical procedure on humanitarian grounds. (To move the little boy to the head of the donor list in Gaza, his father also agreed to donate a kidney to an Israeli patient, a 25-year-old mother of two.)
With all the pieces in place, the surgery was scheduled for June 16, 2021, but before it took place, Segal wanted to make sure the little boy would know just how much giving this particular gift meant to her when he grew older, so she sent him a letter.
“You don’t know me… You don’t understand my language and I don’t understand yours, but soon we’ll be very close because my kidney will be in your body,” she wrote. “I hope with all my heart that this surgery will succeed and you will live a long and healthy and meaningful life.”
In the hospital, Segal met with the little boy and his mother.* She sat next to them on his hospital bed, and as the mother comforted her son, Segal sang to him until he nodded off.
“He fell asleep, then I left. I cried,” she recalled in an interview with the Associated Press (AP). “It was really moving. Deep inside I knew I did something good.”
Segal admits her course of action wasn’t received without conflict within her own family. Her husband, eldest son, and father initially opposed the plan.
But Segal—considering the gesture as the way to best honor the values of the beloved grandfather she’d lost five years earlier—held firm to a decision she says came on the heels of an 11-day outbreak of renewed hostilities.
“I threw away the anger and frustration and see only one thing. I see hope for peace and love,” she told AP. “And if there will be more like us, there won’t be anything to fight over.”
Eventually, her family came to appreciate and embrace the choice she’d made.
Segal believes that compared to the grander scheme of things, what she’s done is only “a small thing”—but even so, any step closer to peace taken in good faith is a step in the right direction.
(WATCH the AP video for this story below.)
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Jupiter and its largest moon Ganymede (NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona))
Jupiter and its largest moon Ganymede (NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona))
One might think that since we can take detailed images of galaxies millions of light years away, there’s no way something as significant a moon could exist within our solar system without our knowledge, but not only are there moons we don’t know of yet, but they are being found by amateur astronomers.
In the equivalent of putting the 80th star on a flag of Jupiter, hobbyist Kai Ly officially submitted evidence of an 80th moon of Jupiter, a hitherto unlocated heavenly body of red rock.
Currently awaiting a common name, the moon is believed to be a piece of a very large comet absorbed by Jupiter’s gargantuan gravitational field, rather than a shard of the planet itself.
This isn’t the only moon, believe it or not, which Ly has discovered. Indeed, using data from a detailed survey of the Jupiter space in 2003 from the Canada-France-Hawai’i Observatory, Ly found four moons just last year, and parsed the fifth from the same data as a “summer hobby before… school”.
“I’m proud to say that this is the first planetary moon discovered by an amateur astronomer,” wrote Ly in a message to the astronomy community. “Other than that, there really isn’t anything remarkable about this Jovian moon—it’s just a typical member of the retrograde Carme group.”
Discovered in 1938, the Carme group is a group of “Jovian moons” (Moons of Jupiter) that all came from a single large comet or other kind of debris. The largest moon in the group, carrying 99% of its total mass, is named Carme, but is just 14 miles in diameter. The clip below demonstrates the “miniscularity” of the new moon.
The Carme group is notable for its dramatic elliptical orbit, but also because they orbit in the opposite direction to the planet itself, known as a retrograde. While the recently-discovered “EJc0061 = S/2003 J 24,” is the last of the known Jovian moons to be found, there could be more, even hundreds of yet undiscovered ones.
The Jovian moons are fascinating objects, which include entities like Io, which is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, while Ganymede, the largest of the Jovian moons, is the only moon in our solar system with a magnetic field, which gives it an aurora by the way.
The best periods for looking are when the Earth and Jupiter are skewered by the sun, allowing us to view it in full light.
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A hotel in Iceland is calling all photographers for a three-week paid vacation to capture images of this year’s northern lights, as if such work needed a reward.
Seeking a professional “Lights-catcher,” the luxurious Hotel Rangá is hosting open applications to any capable and established photographers to stay at their location on the south coast of Iceland, and at their sister hotel in the extremely remote central region for three weeks between late September early October.
To apply, photographers must fill out an application (that at the time of writing still works and is receiving submissions). Applicants must describe social media and online presence, vaccination status, ability to travel, and other optional questions.
“In exchange for providing content of the Northern Lights at the hotel, this seasonal employee will receive free room and board, along with access to the hotel’s stargazing observatory and hot tubs, not to mention the opportunity to explore the photogenic land of fire and ice on their days off,” the website writes.
An established portfolio will do any perspective lights-catchers good, as in an email correspondence with GNN, the hotel revealed they had already received 2,000 applicants from 40 countries. But that’s no reason to despair, as they won’t be selecting the right candidate until the end of August.
Hotel Rangá has retractable roofs, professional telescopes, high wind-proof walls for stargazers, and visiting astronomers to go over the star-facts and aurora with any guests.
Quote of the Day: “To me, life is a gift, and it’s a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.” – Tony Bennett (turns 95 today)
Top Photo: by Moody Fotografi, CC license
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“We are thrilled that Health Canada has issued its No Objection Letter allowing this important study to proceed and, in doing so, potentially advance Canada toward a legal, regulated system for MDMA-assisted therapy,” said Payton Nyquvest, CEO of Numinus.
“We are gratified that our study will provide safety and outcome data to regulators to support integration of this treatment into mainstream mental health care.”
This study has advanced through the pre-implementation stage at Numinus‘ Vancouver clinic and has now received the required federal regulatory approval.
Study preparations are now transitioning into the final stages of training staff, importing medication, and obtaining ethical approval to allow the recruitment of participants according to COVID-19 public health protocols.
During the study, research, medical, and therapist staff at Numinus will collect data on the safety and effectiveness of MDMA-assisted therapy to inform Health Canada and support making MDMA-assisted therapy available to individuals living with PTSD in Canada.
Through the collaboration and study activities, Numinus seeks to create access for patients with no other treatment options and establish the physical, human resource and other infrastructure required to scale up access to MDMA-assisted therapy if federal approvals are ultimately in place.
Dr. Devon Christie, Numinus Medical and Therapeutic Services Director, will serve as the study’s Qualified Investigator and as a study therapist. Dr. Christie is a family physician with a focus in multidisciplinary pain management and a certified Relational Somatic Therapist.
“Health Canada should be recognized for its ongoing leadership through its support of this study,” said Dr. Christie in a statement. “At our Vancouver clinic, we have spent months establishing the physical, technical, clinical, and human resource infrastructure needed to move the study forward and ultimately foster greater access to MDMA-assisted therapy.”
New trial builds on strong MAPS Phase 3 results
In May 2021, MAPS announced results from its Phase 3 randomized clinical trial that confirmed the substantial efficacy and safety of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD under the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC) protocol.
The trial demonstrated that 88% of participants who received three controlled and supervised MDMA-assisted therapy sessions experienced a clinically significant reduction in symptoms, with 67% no longer qualifying for PTSD diagnosis in comparison to 32% of participants randomized to placebo.
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Creativity is hard to define, and even more difficult to measure, but a new four-minute test is creating an easy and elegant way to at least measure one of the most common characteristics of this very human trait.
The test is simple, and consists of one question with ten answers: Can you think of two words that have nothing in common? What about five, what about ten?
By measuring the semantic difference between the ten submitted words, a deep learning algorithm can “score” one of the most detectable aspects of creativity—the ability to mentally bridge the conceptual gap between things, called “Divergent Thinking.”
Called the Divergent Association Task (DAT), it was formulated by a research team from McGill, Harvard, and the University of Melbourne. Jay Olson, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard came up with the idea from a childhood game.
In a study of 9,000 people,Olson showed that his childhood game was wise beyond its years, as the scores followed similar patterns observed in two other common creativity tests.
The first was the Alternative Uses Task, which asks participants to think of novel uses of an object and judges the distance between the established use and the answers given.
The second was the Bridge-the-Associative Gap Test, which provides testers with two words, for example ‘book’ and ‘wood’, and asks them to provide a third which links the two—for example ‘bookshelf’.
From people aged 7-70, in 98 countries, it was found in the study, published in PNAS, that demographics mattered very little, with a slight statistical advantage given to younger people and women, but overall the results suggested that anyone can be creative. T
he algorithm meant that since no humans were judging the scores, the ultimate example of bias—creative preference, could be surpassed.
“Creativity is fundamental to human life,” Olson told his university press. “The more we understand its complexity, the better we can foster creativity in all its forms.”
Breaking barriers
Most of us would think of creativity as the end products we all enjoy, such as a painting, a symphony, or a poem, but far below and often months before a composer gets to direct the orchestra, it often starts with bending the rules.
Music fans will know that the sound of Mississippi Delta Blues in America came about when guitar players started using the diminished fifth note when playing minor scales or minor chords, which was a sound considered for over a century to be so unpleasant it became taboo. It took their minor scales and chords from sounding sad the way a Disney movie sounds sad, to something totally different, but it started with disassociating correlated patterns of thought and behavior.
Another easy example for those more fond of the canvas involves Van Gogh, whose act of painting ordinary things in colors that they don’t exist in changed the art scene he was popularized. Again it started with a person who was simply able to disassociate the things his mind had stuck together.
“Our task measures only a sliver of one type of creativity,” says Olson. “But these findings enable creativity assessments across larger and more diverse samples with less bias, which will ultimately help us better understand this fundamental human ability.”
Curious to see how creative you are? Take the test here.
Artist's illustration of a black hole; NASA/JPL-Caltech
Artist’s illustration of a black hole; NASA/JPL-Caltech
When doing astronomy, you can’t blink, because the difference between a never-before-seen phenomenon, and just a regular day at the telescope can be as small as seeing faint X-rays turn into fainter X-rays for a short moment.
That’s what happened when astrophysicist Dan Wilkins noticed, upon fixing his telescopes on the supermassive blackhole at the center of the galaxy I Zwicky, that following a normal series of powerful X-rays being flung out from the center, came unexpected additional flashes of X-rays that were smaller, later, and of different “colors.”
The fainter, different colored lights came from behind the black hole when the powerful burst of X-rays reflected off gasses orbiting it, and which are drawn around by the magnetic and gravitational forces that blend space and time, allowing us to see them faintly.
“Any light that goes into that black hole doesn’t come out, so we shouldn’t be able to see anything that’s behind the black hole,” said Wilkins, a research scientist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford, in a statement. “The reason we can see that is because that black hole is warping space, bending light, and twisting magnetic fields around itself.”
The discovery was made by the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR space telescopes, which captured the phenomenon in stages displayed for easy comprehension on the ESA website.
Einstein: dead and loving it
European Space Agency
At 10 million times the mass of our sun, the supermassive black hole at the center of I Zwicky, 1,800 light-years from our solar system, is surrounded by a swirling cloud of gas and dust that is continuously being pulled into the black hole, like water going down a drain, called a corona.
The corona becomes heated to millions of degrees Kelvin as it spins around, creating disjointed magnetic fields that become “twisted into knots,” which eventually snap, according to ESA.
This snapping creates a massive explosion of heat and energy, which generates bursts of X-rays called “flares” which can last for two and a half hours sometimes.
During this particular discharge of X-rays, Wilkins observed the light reflecting off the gas on the opposite side of the black hole from where the telescopes were viewing it, which due to the bending of space and time around it, changed the properties and colors of the X-rays.
The revelation that we can see light in different colors from the opposite ends of the black hole led Wilkins and his team to believe they could use them to create a color-coded 3D map of a black hole and its surroundings.
CBS reminds us that Einstein predicted black holes’ ability to bend light back in 1916, which along with the 2019 “Gates of Hell” image, the gravitational waves discovery using LIGO in 2014, and the discovery that new-born black holes “ring,” means that Einstein, more than 50 years after his death, is still making correct predictions at a faster rate than most living astrophysicists.
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What could be better on a hot summer’s day than root beer topped with a swirl of vanilla soft serve ice-cream? A root beer float that’s free.
On Friday August 6 you can enjoy just that—as between 2-8 p.m participating A&W restaurants across the U.S. will give away free, small floats and collect donations for Disabled American Veterans.
A&W’s National Root Beer Float Day celebration partners with Disabled American Veterans, and since 2013 the franchise has raised more than $800,000 for veterans groups during these float days.
“A&W has a long history of supporting veterans,” said A&W CEO Kevin Bazner in a statement—and on Friday, they hope to raise $200,000 for the organization serving more than one million veterans annually.
A&W
America’s first and oldest restaurant chain, A&W still makes Root Beer fresh in each restaurant from real cane sugar, water, and a proprietary blend of herbs, bark, spices, and berries that are served in a frosty mug alongside burgers, fries, chicken tenders, and other favorites.
Quote of the Day: “I… keep reminding myself that heaven on earth is a choice that I must make, not a place I must find.” – Wayne Dyer, Manifest Your Destiny
Photo: by Denys Nevozhai (Shanghai, China)
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?
I have often had a yearning spirit. I’m ambitious, I tell myself. But if I’m honest, my “ambition” is often a vicious sniper, promising happiness while spraying me with self-attack: you should be further along, weigh less, have more self-worth, started a movement, married money. This kind of “ambition”—a regret-fest or siren song of someday success—takes me down.
By Leif-E, CC license
Happiness comes from being in the moment, this moment. Every therapist or guru says the same thing.
‘You’re not doing it right, you have to learn how to go with the flow,’ squawks Zen Girl, my Self Improvement Alter Ego. And believe me, I want to tell her where she can go.
I am in this secret race to be somewhere else. Better yet, to be someone else, someone better than me. I’ve called this ambition. But, really, it’s self-abandonment.
My healing comes from loving myself where I am—and as I am. Everything else is a frenetic and impoverished way of being in my one and only sacred life.
Peace is here, not over there in some fantasy I have. If there wasn’t something here for me, I wouldn’t be here. Magic is here. I may not see it yet, but I know I’ll never see it until I start looking for it where I am. My life reflects an intelligent design, and my True Self always has my highest interests encoded into the program.
The media drums it into us: a better life is “over there” just around the corner or one purchase away. But, I am daring to welcome love into my life right now. I am calling my life holy, and arriving wholly in this moment, just as it is. It’s not always pretty—but it is always sacred.
I’m not giving up on my dreams. I’m giving up on my criticism. I’m taking in what I already have. This is empowerment.
This is where the journey begins: “I do not want to be anywhere else.”
I wrote these words for myself, sort of as an incantation, a recipe for freedom. My ego, the part of me that hurtles to the finish line, even if it means missing or dismissing my entire life, recoils when I say these words.
I do not want to be anywhere else. These are words of luxury. These are words of mystery. These are words of quantum healing. I sit down on the silk blue pillow of my own true life. If even for just this moment, I stop searching, demanding, aching, and casting about.
To a part of me this feels as awkward as running backward. But really all I am doing is not rejecting my own life.
I do not want to be anywhere else. This is what it means to stop and receive. I am like a hungry bird—and the only source of nutrition is my present life. It’s not over there or under that. It doesn’t come later, and it doesn’t get better. I get better. I get better by discovering the uncanny instruction of my own life.
I do not want to be anywhere else. I am letting go of fierce striving. It’s beautiful to reach for further expression out of joy or devotion. But I want to let go of any self-hatred that propels me forward.
“The cracks are where the light gets in,” says word magician Leonard Cohen. I will behold the cracks in my life. They, too, are part of my treasure. They, too, have soul nutrition. That’s why they’re here. Everything has something to give me. When I see my life with loving eyes, I understand what is here.
I do not want to be anywhere else. Everything has always awaited me like a white bowl of handpicked blueberries. Only I wanted to sit at someone else’s table. I wanted another fruit. I wanted another life. That desire cost me more than I know. I’m not going to pay that price anymore. I am going to seize the only existence I have. I am seizing my blueberries, my exhausting day or confusion, frustration, or elation.
These are the words that came to me in my journal:
This is your life. It’s not broken. It’s unloved. And it’s unloved by you.
This does not mean I won’t walk out of the rain into a dry place. It means I will not belittle the rain. I will not condemn the rain. I will move forward. I will go where I am called and where I belong.
Yes, I will certainly dream of what I wish my life to be, and I will invest in and create those dreams. I will rise. But not with irritation or deprivation in my heart. I don’t want to shun my own day, my own breath, my own efforts or even lack of efforts. As of this moment, I refuse to sully and bully my own existence in the name of “realizing my potential.” I do not want to be anywhere else. This is my mantra. This is my saber. This is my ticket.
For me, this is a practice, the practice of a lifetime. I am learning that acceptance is something I want and it’s not a form of resignation. Acceptance is fierce. When I truly accept myself where I am, it’s a rush of compassion and a jolt of awakening.
Acceptance is the willingness to embrace your life, your one true, beautiful, challenging, disappointing, shocking, devastating and intriguing life.
It’s the decision to stay present and not slip into the destructive undertow of resistance and rejection. Acceptance is a form of self-blessing, the secret catalyst that galvanizes the whole darn ride right now.
Tama Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice to write and help others create their most extraordinary lives. She is the bestselling author of 4 books including A Year Without Fear: 365 Days of Magnificence and her latest Thriving Through Uncertainty. A sought-after speaker and career/success coach, she has helped thousands to thrive in their life, calling, and businesses. Sign up for your FREE digital fortune cookies and a free copy of her popular webinar Dare to Decide at www.tamakieves.com/dare.
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A formerly homeless man with a severely deformed hands has been able to rebuild his life after discovering a new way to communicate, thanks to a novel hexagonal smartphone keyboard made in Switzerland.
Russ Miller, 36, from Ohio, was first diagnosed with the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis when he was just 26. The condition attacks the body’s joints, making it progressively more difficult for him to do everyday tasks.
“My hands are deformed. They’re not shaped properly and I can’t bend them like everyone else can. Recently my thumb has stopped working, so I can’t bend it,” said Miller in a letter to the company. “I can no longer use normal computer keyboards and it’s hard for me to even hold a pen anymore.”
Russ’ condition led to a downward spiral which resulted in him living on the streets in Florida for 4 years—but in 2018, he started trying to turn his life around.
“I was trying to get help and get myself out of my situation. I had a phone, but I struggled typing on keyboards… So I started looking for alternative smartphone keyboards that might enable me to type again. I found Typewise by accident.”
Russ attributes Typewise smartphone keyboard with enabling him to “get his life back” by empowering him to communicate with people, and therefore get help, get an apartment and even get a job:
“I was able to communicate a lot better than talking, because my voice is kind of monotone so people don’t understand me very well. And because I was able to start typing on my phone again, I was able to use social media to reach out to an organization that helps people with disabilities.”
It’s the hexagonal layout of the keyboard that Russ finds a whole lot easier. “I can move my fingers around and not mess up as often.”
Typewise
“Now I have a part-time job where I take care of dogs and cats; Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can’t work full time, because of my physical issues but at least I have something to do and something to look forward to.”
The company making the smartphone app, which has a popularity rating of 4.5 stars, had been unaware that their unique keyboard design could help people with reduced dexterity, until they received Russ’s letter.
“We’re just a small start-up from Switzerland so we were really quite surprised when Russ contacted us to say how much Typewise had helped turn his life around,” said Typewise co-founder, Janis Bernecker. We never thought we could have such a profound impact on someone’s life, especially someone on another continent.”
The free app for Android and iPhones has over a million users and boasts on its website about its privacy features (‘your keystrokes don’t leave your phone’), along with superior accuracy (4x fewer typos) and a ‘supercharged AI autocorrect’.
But, the positive review from Russ might be the thing they are most proud of now.
“It’s incredibly fulfilling for us to hear Russ’ inspirational story and we wanted to share it because there could be other people like Russ who Typewise could also help.”
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Tama Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice to write and help others create their most extraordinary lives. She is the bestselling author of 4 books including 
