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Heartwarming ‘Sock-er’ News: Arsenal Donates Old Football Socks to Sick Horses and Donkeys

By
Andy Corbley
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Donkeys with their donated Arsenal socks - credit, Redwings via SWNS
Donkeys with their donated Arsenal socks – credit, Redwings via SWNS

Socks are the pinnacle of lousy gifts—used socks so much the worse—but for these horses and donkeys they’re every child’s dream.

That’s because these fancy red socks were donated by the players of the recently-crowned-title-winners, Arsenal FC.

The footless socks have been used as dressings for horses and donkeys recovering from surgery and to keep insects off any sore legs at their Horse Hospital in Norfolk.

Nicola Knight, from Redwings, said the donation was “one of the more unusual” the organization had received, but would nevertheless be a “game changer.”

“The socks are being used for anything from protecting our rescued residents’ sensitive legs from flies to holding their vet bandages in place,” Knight told Faye Martin of the Southwest News Service.

A donkey wearing donated Arsenal socks – credit, Redwings via SWNS

“They’re also protecting them from headcollar rubs and even holding back the hair on their legs while they get their feet trimmed. They are a fantastic bit of kit and we’re so pleased that Arsenal reached out to us.”

Contrary to American preconceptions, English football can be a brutal old game, and while a jersey or pair of shorts might survive to be washed and worn again, socks rarely survive the flurry of cleats, kicks, and sliding challenges endured over 90 minutes of the beautiful game.

Michael Lloyd, Arsenal FC’s Operational Sustainability Manager, came up with the idea of donating the players’ unwanted or too-used-to-use socks and contacted Redwings.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Soccer Team from George Clooney’s Holiday Town Donates Tournament Winnings to Flood Relief

“We’re always looking for ways to reduce waste and make a positive impact through the actions we take as a club, and it’s great we can work together to repurpose our old kit towards the care and wellbeing of animals,” said Lloyd.

Arsenal field 11 players every game, and can bring on as many as 5 substitutions. Having just played 63 games across all competitions during a season that saw them lift the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years and reach the UEFA Champions League final, the team may have worn and tossed as many as 1,000 pairs of socks.

HORSING AROUND: After His Beloved Yoga Ball Deflates, Downhearted Donkey Now Has Dozens of Donated Balls from Canadians

But Redwings is responsible for more than 1,500 horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules, with over 1,000 in their daily care.

Additionally, these animals need 2 pairs, not one. Undoubtedly many more bales of socks will be showing up at Horse Hospital, as the team—now back among Europe’s elite—seek to defend their title when football resumes in August.

SHARE These Equine Gooners With Your Friends Who Watch Soccer… 

“Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.” – Paul Klee

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Good News Network
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Gustav Klimt painting rotated / cropped

Quote of the Day: “Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.” – Paul Klee

Photo by: Andrej Lišakov for Unsplash+

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

Good News in History, June 4

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Good News Network
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BEF and Allied forces que on the beaches of Dunkirk for evacuation

86 years ago today, the British Army completed the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 Allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800, mostly civilian vessels, including merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and lifeboats escorted by Royal Navy destroyers. READ a quick summary of how it happened… (1940)

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US Nonprofit Again Wipes Out Millions in Hospital Bills–This Time for 97,000 Residents of Connecticut

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, Undue Medical Debt
– credit, Undue Medical Debt

The nation’s largest buyer of overdue medical debts has yet again relieved the burden of past hospital expenses for thousands of Americans.

Having worked with state governments in Arizona and Maine, Undue Medical Debt (UMD) has now eliminated some $6.5 million in unpaid medical bills for 97,000 residents of Connecticut.

It’s thanks to a program set up by the state that paired leftover money from a COVID-19 relief package with money raised by Undue Medical Debt through donations, and is the fourth-such round of this debt relief.

To qualify, Connecticuters must either owe medical debt worth 5% or more of their annual income, or their income must be or below at the federal poverty level.

This is exactly the program that Arizona already ran for its residents with the help of UMD, one which saw 352,000 Arizonans received a letter in the mail explaining how their debts had been paid off for pennies on the dollar—one can only imagine the relief.

No one need apply—or take any action for that matter. As GNN has reported before, UMD has a thoroughly random and indiscriminate way of choosing which debts to erase, ensuring no favoritism.

It’s all down to how the concept of wiping out medical debt came about.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC: Mom Channeled Her Terminal Cancer into Debt Relief Fundraiser–Wiping Out $65 Million in Medical Debt

A hospital may have a claim on someone’s money for care already provided, and even if it’s worth $100,000, if the patient can’t pay it back in anything other than tiny installments it suddenly begins to look quite worthless to a hospital administrator.

The hospital could take legal action, but there’s no guarantee they would collect, and it’s expensive to pay the legal fees resulting. So Undue Medical Debt comes into the picture and offers $5,000 in immediate cash payments to take that claim off their hands—essentially buying the debt for pennies on the dollar.

GETTING THE DOLLARS WHERE THEY’RE NEEDED: Ozzy Osbourne’s Final Concert with Black Sabbath Raised $190 Million for Charity

The hospital gets to balance its books, and everyone gets to feel better about themselves.

The program is expected to continue through the end of the year.

“I was happy to have supported the legislation a few years ago,” Rep. Kevin Brown (D), Vernon, told NBC News local affiliate. “I’m glad that the governor is continuing to commit to this. I want to make sure that folks are able to feel comfortable that they can go to the doctor and not have to worry about that medical debt as much as they might have before.”

WATCH the story below… 

SHARE This Inspiring Upcoming Relief With Your Friends In CT…

See Our Two Brightest Planets Form a Triple Alignment with the Moon After Sunset

By
Andy Corbley
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Venus viewed in ultraviolet light - credit JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Kevin M. Gill CC 2.0. retrieved from Flickr
Venus viewed in ultraviolet light – credit JAXA/ISAS/DARTS/Kevin M. Gill CC 2.0. retrieved from Flickr

Three bright planets will conjoin in the June sky early this month before the Moon jumps in on the 16th.

The conjunction will feature the two brightest planets from our point of view: Venus, blazing hot and near at hand, and Jupiter, far away but orders of magnitude larger.

Arrayed in a line drawn from northwest to southeast across the western sky after sunset, Mercury sits near the horizon to complete the skewer.

The event will begin on the 7th, when for a person looking west-northwest, it will appear that Venus and Jupiter sit beside one another. As the nights go on, Venus will gradually move in a northwesterly direction, and by the 10th will practically touch the light of Jupiter.

She will continually move past the gas giant until the 16th when she will sit along an almost perfect line with Jupiter and Mercury—the same night that a waxing crescent Moon will position herself between the latter two around 35 minutes after sunset.

The following night—the 17th—at around the same time, the Moon will appear just above and to the left of Venus, creating a new arrangement of Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury in an even closer-to-perfect line.

One cool thing about this conjunction is that in the Southern Hemisphere, almost all the details and timing are the same—only in reverse, with the line being drawn northeast to southwest.

It’s a superb introduction to these solar system neighbors, and a perfect opportunity to get out in the lovely late-spring night air when frogs and crickets are peeping with renewal.

SHARE This Great Stargazing Opportunity With Your Friends… 

Critically-Endangered Red Ruffed Lemur Triplets Born at Wild Georgia Theme Park

By
Andy Corbley
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Red Ruffed Lemur Triplets - credit, Wild Adventure Theme Park
Red Ruffed Lemur Triplets – credit, Wild Adventure Theme Park

A Critically-Endangered lemur couple has welcomed triplets into their lives at a zoo and theme park in Valdosta, Georgia.

It’s the third year in a row the resident female has given birth at Wild Adventures Theme Park, showing how productive captive breeding programs can be, and how much hope one should have about the future of this beautiful species.

The red-ruffed lemur is many things, all of them interesting or beautiful. At 9.5 pounds, it’s one of the largest extant lemurs, while this heft also makes it the world’s largest pollinator.

It’s fuzzy nose is just perfect for snagging a flower’s pollen and sharing it with another as the animal feeds on fruit and nectar. They’re also one of the most fecund of lemurs, capable of giving birth to litters of 6 at a time, and are the world’s only diurnal primate to stow their infants in nests while going out to forage.

Most cling to their mama as she clambers about.

On April 25th, Taylor, Red, and Marjorie came into the world at Wild Adventures Theme Park, lending their spirits to the 590 or so red ruffed lemurs that live in captivity worldwide.

Their parents, Val and Doug, have welcomed a litter of babies every year since 2023. Taylor, Red, and Marjorie are getting along very well with their siblings Swiper, Raven, Beans, and Dennis.

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The species is listed by the IUCN as Critically-Endangered, with some 10,000 remaining in the very northern tip of Madagascar in forests that are rapidly disappearing. Successful breeding between pairs like Val and Doug at Wild Adventures help ensure that if those forests can be saved, there will likely always be lemurs around to inhabit them.

“Very soon guests will be able to see Taylor, Red, and Marjorie, alongside their parents in their habitat located near the Giraffe Overlook,” said Asher Raymond, a spokesman for the park.

SHARE These Adorable Red Gems Waiting For You At This Georgia Zoo… 

Iconic Kruger National Park Celebrates 100th Year of Protecting African Wildlife, Including the Big 5

By
Andy Corbley
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Collage photos retrieved from Unsplash
Collage photos retrieved from Unsplash

On Sunday, South African authorities and nature lovers alike celebrated the centenary of  Kruger National Park—a 7,500-square-mile paradise of African wildlife, and a cornerstone of the nation’s conservation efforts.

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment Willie Aucamp rang in the celebrations at Skukuza Rest Camp inside the massive protected area, saying how “proud” he was to be associated “with those who’ve maintained and managed it so magnificently,” over the last 100 years.

One of the largest and oldest of all national parks in Africa, Kruger was named after the Republic’s first president Paul Kruger, who, inspired by a law organizing the area into private game camps before his term in office, eventually sought to create a large game reserve in the area that is now northern Kruger National Park to protect species of large animal that needed plenty of space to thrive.

Kruger was no longer in office by the time the park was created, but his interest and effort in creating its predecessor, the Sabi Game Reserve, were noted when selecting a name.

Today, Kruger National Park receives 2 million visitors every year, and has become a bastion of biodiversity that spills over into three nations. It is home to more species of large mammal than any other place in Africa, as well as hundreds of bird, reptile, and plant species.

It’s been the testing ground for cutting-edge methods of protecting endangered species and for pioneering wildlife research and animal biology, as well as a role model for balancing wilderness needs, conservation aims, and tourist accessibility, for the continent at large.

“As a united people, we are celebrating this success story, realizing we have the responsibility to take this forward to another 100 years so that our grandchildren and great grandchildren can see what it is like to see when a herd of elephant is walking and hear lions roar in the most pristine natural area in the world,” said Minister Aucamp.

MORE AFRICAN PARKS: Virunga National Park Sees Hundreds of Elephants Return and Rare Gorilla Twins Born During Hopeful Year

 

The centenary was not just focused on celebrating the past, but securing the future, as two days before the anniversary, South African National Parks and Aucamp’s Ministry signed the Beneficiation Scheme Framework Agreement with seven communities that live and have lived historically in and around the area of the park.

“This beneficiation agreement represents… shared commitment to transforming natural resources into lasting opportunities for you, the beneficiaries, and your future generations,” said Aucamp at the camp.

SHARE The Celebrations Of This Iconic Patch Of The Colorful Continent With Your Friends… 

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” – Abraham Lincoln 

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Good News Network
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Credit: Andrej Lišakov for Unsplash+

Quote of the Day: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” – Abraham Lincoln

Photo by: Andrej Lišakov for Unsplash+

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

Credit: Andrej Lišakov for Unsplash+

Good News in History, June 3

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Good News Network
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245 years ago today, farmer and politician Jack Jouett began his successful midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson, the Governor of Virginia of an impending British cavalry raid intended to capture him and his legislature toward the end of the American Revolutionary War. The Virginia patriot—later called the ‘Paul Revere of the South’—rode 40 miles to Charlottesville to warn Jefferson at Monticello, and the others further away, giving them time to head south where they set up a temporary capital in Staunton so they could continue the business of the state. READ more about this little known revolutionary hero… (1781)

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Conductor Blown Away After Guy in Audience Steps in for Pianist During La La Land Concert Mishap–WATCH

By
Andy Corbley
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Mashup from audience video from concert via YouTube
Mashup from audience video from concert via YouTube

From a beam of limelight in Sydney comes the story of a young man fulfilling something of a dream as he stepped in to perform on stage after a professional pianist felt ill.

La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, is an homage to Hollywood and the dream of making it on the Silver Screen, and a live performance of the lauded score was in full swing at the Darling Harbor Theatre in the Australian city.

Among the onlookers were Sterling Nasa and his friend Scarlet, admiring the score played by an orchestra beneath the projection of the film on a large screen. By the interval, it had proven a real treat.

But 20 minutes became 30, which quickly became 40, and the audience was restless. Something wasn’t right, and everybody knew it. Among the panic and cold sweat back stage, calls were going out to colleagues and institutes looking for replacements as the concert pianist felt too sick to go on.

But since the show must, the film’s Oscar-winning composer and conductor, Justin Hurwitz, walked out alone to address the audience.

“I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are…” Hurwitz told the country’s ABC Radio “so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here.”

Hurwitz asked if there were a trained pianist in the audience who was a master sight reader, and with the admitted help of Scarlet, Mr. Nasa eventually raised his hand. Hurwitz realized he had to be deadly serious about the proposal, knowing the score as he did, and asked several follow-up questions.

But to the sound of a applause, Nasa walked down and took his place at an electronic piano in the orchestra, understandably nervous. The bagpipes tutor at his school of Scots College had studied piano and organ, but he had no preparation. The score—featuring John Legend compositions—was intense, and he had never played it despite being a longtime admirer of Hurwitz’s work.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Watch Incredible Moment Young Opera Fan Stands Up During Soprano’s Verdi Performance to Sing Tenor Part

The show restarted with Nasa filling in, until the ultimate test came in the form of a synth solo composed by Legend for a particular part in the film where the notes try to keep pace with Gosling’s frantic on-screen movements.

“I saw it on the score and I thought, oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sight-read that in one go,” Nasa told ABC. Hurwitz had dreaded the moment too, and both men—like the characters in the movie—had to just close their eyes and take a leap of faith.

HIDDEN TALENT: 55-Year-old Janitor Cleans Up on America’s Got Talent Winning $1M for Heart-Wrenching ‘Don’t Stop Believing’

“I took a little bit of a creative liberty and just decided to improvise, which I think ended up being a good choice,” Nasa admitted. Hurwitz agreed, saying it was an entirely different kind of skill, and an entirely unexpected turn of events that left the 2,500-seat hall enraptured by the hidden talent that had not long earlier sat among them.

Shaking hands backstage after the final bow was full of mutual disbelief, with Hurwitz admitting his head was “spinning.”

“Yes, it was a gamble,” he said, but one which paid off.

WATCH the moment below…

SHARE This Crazy Turn Of Events And A Moment For A Star To Shine… 

Wisconsin Trooper Has a New Pawtner–a Kitten He Saved After it Was Hurled Out of a Moving Car

By
Andy Corbley
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Credit: Wisconsin State Patrol via FB
Credit: Wisconsin State Patrol via FB

When a Wisconsin state trooper arrived to help a motorist who had stopped on a ramp up to I-90, he never could have imagined how his life was about to change.

Trooper Brody Schmitz arrived at the driver’s side window, and heard a disturbing story.

“The motorist informed him that she had witnessed someone throw kittens out of a moving vehicle,” the Wisconsin State Patrol wrote in a Facebook post.

“Unfortunately, the offending vehicle was not located, but a kitten was found. Trooper Schmitz took the kitten to a nearby animal shelter to have it cared for while he was at work, but told them he wanted to adopt him.”

Schmitz named the tuxedo kitten Toby, and took him home in his arms and/or hat.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that Wisconsin State Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for details.

“The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways,” one person commented on the Facebook post.

Indeed, the comment section was filled with interesting stories of the same sort.

A SIMILAR SORT OF STORY: Abandoned Las Vegas Airport Dog Finds a Forever Home with the Officer Who Saved Him

“I rescued a cat out of a car engine down in Detroit last summer. Called the police and told them why I was breaking into the vehicle. They showed up to help me,” wrote one.

“I found my furbuddy on duty. Dispatched 911 to an aggressive animal. Caller was afraid of cats so i took the young kitten to patrol with me. After climbing on my shoulder i knew he was going home with me,” wrote another.

SHARE This Good-Hearted Trooper And His New Pawtner…

Rescuing London’s Precious Building Materials Diverting Them from Dumps for Reuse

By
Andy Corbley
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- credit, retrieved from Yes Make
– credit, retrieved from Yes Make

A salvage and reuse operation in London is ensuring that every charming bit of wood, brick, glass, porcelain, and steel that has made the city beautiful can continue to do so with a second life in the circular economy.

Started through an epiphany of “street logic” by a man frustrated by red tape, Yes Make is making things all over London out of what the city might otherwise throw out.

“We’re creating a regenerative supply chain for the city we love,” says Joel De Mowbray, founder of Yes Make, to the Guardian. “Turning things that would otherwise go to waste into objects that have cultural potential.”

Yes Make operates in tandem with Material Cultures, which played an equal part in the endeavor of finding somewhere in the expensive London real estate market to run a salvage yard.

That place is a 5-acre industrial site in the city’s Newham borough called Tipping Point East which promotes circular construction. As well as being the largest site of its kind in London, it’s also the biggest in the whole of the United Kingdom.

The Guardian reports that more than half of the UK’s waste is generated by the construction industry. It recycles some of it, but not nearly enough for De Mowbray’s liking—especially when he looked at what was going to waste: like a 105-year-old sequoia tree from the Linford Arboretum.

Instead, it was brought to Tipping Point East where Yes Make organized an educational workshop run by the National Saw Mills organization on how to use a portable saw mill to turn an old-growth tree into lumber.

There are huge quantities of high-quality, imported, or exotic lumber that have gone into making London, and as the city constantly balances modernization and preservation, some of that wood gets squeezed through the cracks. De Mowbray has ensured he and his outfit are there to pick up all the mahogany, teak, and afromasia that does.

Yes Make’s most recent project was the new HEJ Coffee Roastery on Old Kent Road. De Mowbray’s team arrived with a custom structure made from reclaimed Douglas fir and oak salvaged from the London Docklands.

“Designed to frame the roasting space and invite the public in, this piece holds stories of the tides and the city alike,” they wrote on Instagram.


Beyond lumber, Tipping Point East also refurbishes and certifies construction materials for bulk sale to contractors at sometimes one-tenth the price of new stock.

GNN has previously reported on similar operations: in Savannah, Georgia.

Re:purpose Savannah is a 501(c)3 that takes old, condemned buildings apart for their bricks, timber, door frames, metalwork, and other components and sells them to construction firms building new homes for discerning clients. They’ve taken apart beach houses, dairies, bungalows, cottages, and traditional homes in town.

The non-profit sells all of the salvaged material at its own lumber yard, where old boards, beams, joints, and flooring undergo a light touch of restoration to remove decay or split ends.

SHARE This Admirable Operation In East London Working To Reuse The City’s Heritage…

2026 Sees the Most Right Whale Calves Born in One Season Since 2009

By
Andy Corbley
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A mother right whale and her first calf - credit, Florida FWS
A mother right whale and her first calf – credit, Florida FWS

This year’s calving season along the southeast coastline of America has documented the most North Atlantic right whale calves since 2009.

Additionally, trends in calf births seem to indicate a normalization of breeding and birthing among the animals that could accelerate population recovery.

GNN has lately devoted many column inches to the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered whales in the world, as well as one of the largest.

Decades of diligent conservation seem to have allowed the whales to really turn a corner in the last 36 months, with milestones like record numbers of sightings, strange vagrancies, and an increasing population being celebrated.

Now, 23 calves were born during the 2026 right whale calving season—the highest number since 2009. Of the 23 mom-calf pairs identified this season, 20 of these were returning moms.

Since that year, the average has been around 15 animals, but some years there have been 7 or fewer.

13 of these returning moms last had calves in the 2021 or 2022 seasons, marking a shorter interval between births than the recent average of 7 to 10 years. This is closer to the normal or healthy interval of 3 to 4 years.

A WHALE OF A STORY: Increased Sightings of the Two Largest Whale Species Decimated By Hunting Provides New Hope for Survival

There were 500 sightings of 129 whales migrating southward, a 29% increase compared to last year’s calving season. Many of these sightings were made by citizens aboard civilian boats, which the NOAA encourages us collecting in a safe manner.

“These public reports add to data researchers collect during aerial and vessel surveys which contribute to updated right whale population and calving season numbers,” the NOAA wrote in a report.

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“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one learned in school.” – Albert Einstein

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Good News Network
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Credit: Vitaly Gariev (cropped)

Quote of the Day: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one learned in school.” – Albert Einstein

Photo by: Vitaly Gariev (cropped)

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

Credit: Vitaly Gariev (cropped)

Good News in History, June 2

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Good News Network
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On this day 80 years ago, the Italian Republic was born out of the monarchy of King Umberto II. The day is celebrated as “Festa della Repubblica” and is one of the biggest holidays on the Italian calendar. It’s celebrated under the late spring sunshine with parades, concerts, and merrymaking of all sorts, with one of several iconic dishes being a spit-roasted maialino or young pig. READ more… (1946)

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How Japanese Fish Printing Grew from Documenting Day’s Catch to Acclaimed Artform

By
Andy Corbley
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Gyotaku, or fish prints, drying on a line - credit, Science History Institute, photograph by Conrad Erb CC 3.0. via Wikimedia
Gyotaku, or fish prints, drying on a line – credit, Science History Institute, photograph by Conrad Erb CC 3.0. via Wikimedia

From its humble origins as a method of documenting noteworthy catches, for sale or for record setting, the art of fish printing, or “gyotaku” has rapidly become an international fine art phenomenon.

As Japanese as a Geisha cutting a sushi roll with a samurai sword, gyotaku is infused with all the lovely idiosyncrasies of the country—from its famous appreciation for fish, to its extreme demands of discipline and attention.

Gyotaku can be traced back to the 19th century when fishermen would smear a fish with sumi ink and press it onto washi paper to create a print of the fish. Unable to do anything half-heartedly, the Japanese fishermen gradually learned the tricks of how to make the best prints, and eventually switched from monochrome to color paints.

Since then the practice has developed into a true artform, with methods, schools, and techniques for drying and preparing the fish.

Preparation is key since a fish comes with all kinds of slime and liquid that could ruin the delicate rice paper typical of gyotaku prints. The slime has to be removed and various openings plugged to prevent water from leaking out.

Two chief methods exist: the first is known as direct gyotaku and involves only straightforward steps of drying the fish, layering on the ink or paint, and rubbing it with washi paper. The image appears in reverse.

– credit, courtesy of Elena Di Capita

The indirect method sees either paper or cloth placed over the fish and secured with rice paste to a board. This allows the artist to create a work that isn’t in reverse.

Both methods permit the fish to be eaten, and in both too the eye must be painted after, since no pigment will stick to fish’s eye. Additional innovations have seen a variety of different coloring techniques that reflect the iridescence of a fish’s scales or the density of the animal’s skin pigments during various life stages.

Japan Times spoke with the grandson of a renowned gyotaku master, Keisuke Matsunaga, who said that pigment application is a race against time and must be completed in about 30 minutes before renewed moisture from the fish begins to degrade it.

One consistent theme is that there can be nothing but the eye added afterwards. Any touch ups push the artform from printing towards painting.

Gyotaku has spread far beyond the shores of the home islands, developing in Australia, Italy, America, Hawaii, Brazil, and elsewhere.

Elena Di Capita in her studio – credit, supplied courtesy of the artist

In Italy’s seaward region of Liguria, Elena Di Capita, has expanded the horizons of gyotaku in Europe, and in fact “is the artist that brought it to Italy,” she tells GNN.

Her work is focused mainly on schools of anchovies, the most important fish in her home region. She deviates from the traditional gyotaku by mixing different biological environments and by creating huge compositions with a highly dynamic look.

A bycatch composition – credit, courtesy of Elena Di Capita

Additionally, she explains she works with bycatch, a term to describe fish caught incidentally in the pursuit of gamefish. In effect, these animals “died for nothing” and so by creating metaphorical geographies through gyotaku, she gives the fish a new meaning and a tribute to their accidental loss.

“My work with them is about giving them dignity. It’s a way to celebrate life,” she told the Times.

In the US, gyotaku is not uncommon to find in aquariums or in elementary school classrooms. Gyotaku in its most rudimentary form is something children can do and do fairly well.

SHARE This Beautiful, Simple, And Dynamic Japanese Artform With Your Friends…

Ecosystem of Pansies Thrives on Soil Contaminated by Lead Mining–Turning it into Clean Organic Compounds

By
Andy Corbley
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Spring Sandwort, a metallophyte - credit, Douglal, CC 4.0. via Wikimedia
Spring Sandwort, a metallophyte – credit, Douglal, CC 4.0. via Wikimedia

For areas contaminated by lead and zinc mining across Europe, a class of plants known as “metallophytes” are helping enrich nature while diminishing pollution.

The Guardian reported on this kind of ecological double speak, where wildflowers seemingly grow in healthy abundance on semi-mountainous landscapes in the north of the UK, a place that has seen lead and zinc mining since Roman times.

Calaminarian grassland is a rare biome that exists where topsoil has been eroded away by water and wind enough for plants to touch the tips of zinc, lead, or cadmium deposits; calamine being an old European name for zinc.

Chief among the plants that thrive on the continent is the Viola calaminaria, or the zinc violet, a rare yellow flower that blooms in metal-rich soils. In the UK, it’s the mountain pansy, and its almost never a natural phenomenon.

Covering just 450 hectares (1,100 acres) these grasslands are especially found in areas like Durham, the North Pennines, and Cumbira. Here, most of the UK’s lead and zinc mines were closed over 100 years ago, but their presence on the landscape is clear thanks to the pansies, spring sandwort, and Alpine penny-cress, a group collectively known as metallophytes.

Next to them can be found sea thrift, bladder campion, and kidney vetch, writes the Guardian’s Mark Hillsdon, hardy species that are tolerant in a variety of intolerable landscapes.

Today, mining companies in the West undergo rigorous environmental reviews and permiting processes, and their land reclamation and environmental remediation work is budgeted in from the earliest feasibility studies.

In the 19th century, nothing of the sort was required, and often miners would dam and then unleash rivers onto mining areas to strip away soil and reveal the metal deposits. That contaminated dirt would accumulate in big “spoil piles” which have overtime been covered by a layer of humus and turned into the calaminarian grasslands.

English county authorities are at pains to decide what to do with these curious places: their existence is predicated on one or many neurotoxic pollutants, but the plants’ ability to take up the toxic heavy metal, and weave it into complex organic molecules in their roots which renders them nontoxic is not only saving millions of dollars in remediation work, but going on while the area is enriched from the food web diversity they help anchor.

ALSO CHECK OUT: New Bamboo Plantations Are Healing Villages Choked by Toxic Ash from Coal Plants in India

On the other hand, Durham and Cumbria are keen to reduce levels of zinc, cadmium, and lead in wild rivers and streams, and environmental authorities are aware that this will diminish these unique and almost precious microhabitats.

Even still, there may be a calaminarian boom before the habitat goes bust. In county Durham, the government’s Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) program is establishing calaminarian grasslands by hands on identified mine spoil piles along the River Tees.

DECONAMINATING SOILS: Cotton and Squid-Bone Sponge Can Soak Up 99.9% of Microplastics, Scientists Say

Planted by the thousand around the spoil piles’ perimeters, they stop heavy metals from leaching out into the river and surrounding soils.

GNN has reported before on fungal solutions to cleaning up pollution from mining and industry, but never vegetation.

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No Vaccine No Problem: Papua New Guinea Malaria Deaths Fall by 92%

By
Andy Corbley
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Malaria hospital in Tanzania - credit Olympia Wereko-Brobby, SMS for Life
Malaria hospital in Tanzania – credit Olympia Wereko-Brobby, SMS for Life

Using only current methods of prevention, testing, and treatment, Papua New Guinea has reduced the rate of malaria deaths from 13 per 100,000 inhabitants to just 1.

PNG is responsible for some 90% of all malaria cases in the Western Pacific region.

Lucy Dally, the country’s malaria coordinator, presented this incredible drop in the fatality rate at the Morobe Health Authority 2025 Review Meeting last week.

By 2023, the country’s total case count reached its highest since 2012 at 913,701, but has since begun to fall in line with a new expanded rapid diagnostics test and Artemesinin Combination Therapies program.

It’s been a long road for PNG and the authority. In 2000, 700 people a year died of malaria. Last year, that number fell to 148, with only 66 malaria deaths being recorded in Morobe, the most-populous province.

“The decrease in malaria-related deaths is due to different parties working together,” said Dally. “The surveillance team picks up information and informs the malaria team, who then takes action.”

The country’s national strategy aims to reduce malaria cases by 63% and deaths by 95% while seeing 95% of residents sleeping under insecticide-treated nets. This year, provincial health teams distributed nets, medicines, and test kits to 60 different health centers around the country.

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3 Teens Win Global Earth Prize for Inventing Tamarind Powder That Easily Removes Microplastics

By
Andy Corbley
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The winners with their Plas-Stick invention, Avyana Mehta, Ariana Agarwal, Vivaan Chhawchharia, and their teacher Minal Jain - credit, the Earth Prize, released
The winners with their Plas-Stick invention, Avyana Mehta, Ariana Agarwal, Vivaan Chhawchharia, and their teacher Minal Jain – credit, the Earth Prize, released

In mid-May, GNN reported that 3 teens from India had won a major continental science prize for their brilliant use of an ingredient in Indian cuisine as the basis for a microplastic filter.

Now, from Geneva comes the announcement that 16-year-olds Vivaan Chhawchharia, Ariana Agarwal, and Avyana Mehta, have claimed the Global Earth Prize in addition to the Asian one, as voted by 23,000 experts from dozens of countries around the world.

“Being named the Global Winners of The Earth Prize is incredibly special for all of us, especially as the first team from India to receive this recognition,” the trio said in a statement.

“What started as an idea between students has now been recognised among thousands of projects from around the world, which feels both surreal and deeply motivating.

Their grand prize-winning invention is called Plas-Stick, and used powdered tamarind seed as the base for an all-natural microplastic clumping agent. After a short agitation period, the clumped microplastic-tamarind mass can be removed with nothing more than a magnet.

Notably, Plas-Stick is the first-ever Global Winner of The Earth Prize from India.

Designed for use in shared water containers, the biodegradable powder binds invisible plastic particles into visible clumps that can then be easily removed with a handheld magnet, offering a simple and low-cost alternative to complex filtration systems.

The idea was sparked by the team’s studies in environmental science and a visit to a rural community, where they observed how drinking water is often stored in shared containers without access to advanced filtration systems.

Globally, over 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water infrastructure, increasing reliance on stored water that may contain microplastics. Microplastics may be the most significant environmental and human health contaminant on Earth. Particles ranging in size from the 1/1 to 1/1,000th the width of human hair have been found virtually everywhere anyone has thought to look for them, including on the summit of Everest and the bottom of the Marianna Trench.

MORE INSPIRING PERFORMANCES: Teacher Wins $1M Prize for Turning India’s Slums Into Hundreds of Open-Air Classrooms

They have been recorded in worryingly high quantities in every human organ and tissue, including the brain and even placenta. Though the full gamut of toxic damage related to microplastic exposure isn’t fully known, what’s certain is that they act as strong endocrine disrupters.

Determined to create a solution that is both effective and accessible, Chhawchharia, Agarwal, and Mehta developed a system that requires no electricity or complex infrastructure. It in fact requires only a crop that’s already used widely in South Asian cuisine, which is both cultivated and thrives in the wild.

COMBATTING MICROPLASTICS: Seeds from ‘Miracle Tree’ Can Filter More Than 98% of Microplastics from Tap Water

“Plas-Stick was designed to be simple, affordable and accessible, and this support allows us to take it beyond pilot schools and scale it to many more communities that need it most!”

Now following their Global Winner recognition, the team plans to scale the solution through decentralised production hubs and expand to rural communities across India, making safer drinking water more accessible across rural Indian communities and beyond.

The Earth Prize is run by The Earth Foundation, a non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded during the School Strike for Climate in 2019. At a time when climate anxiety affects a majority of young people—59% reporting they are very or extremely worried about the environment—the Prize provides a pathway from concern to action, equipping students with the tools to develop tangible, real-world solutions.

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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop

Photo by: Henry Burrows

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

Credit: Henry Burrows
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