Max Kane was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after years of eating the standard American diet high in salt, fat, and sugar. While it’s not clear whether his poor diet brought about this autoimmune disease, what is clear was things changed when he began working with his dietitian.
Kane’s health flourished, he gained 50 lbs. of lean-muscle mass, and the catalyst was a new eating program consisting solely of foods grown and made on farms in his area.
Along with his diet and health, Kane’s attitude changed as well, and he took up the torch as a proud member of the farm-to-table, small farm movement by creating FarmMatch.com—the simplest tool desirable for those looking to support small farmers in their area, and to increase the quality of the contents of their fridge.
FarmMatch.com couldn’t be simpler to use. Just enter your zip code, choose from the list of farms, fill up your basket with their products, and then choose whether you want to pick it up, or receive it at your door.
Best of all, because many of these small farms provide foot to restaurants and other city locations, those living in the hearts of large cities can get farm-fresh produce and meat without needing drive an hour outside of town for the produce.
“There’s just tens of thousands of small farms that are making deliveries into the city already, and they have these drop locations, or pickup location food distribution models where they go to all these different neighborhoods around the city and you meet them at the pickup location and get your food,” explains Kane in a podcast interview.
While FarmMatch is as simple a tool as you like, Kaane hopes to build an application where locals buying from the platform can upload their orders to a community database. If there are people in low-income areas that maybe don’t have means of getting to a pickup location, neighbors driving there will have the opportunity to lend a hand.
This, Kane says, not only builds community relationships—it keeps the cost of products low, since the small farmers don’t have to expedite each and every home delivery.
“In a effective, tangible way it [FarmMatch] really addresses the fragileness of our food system,” says Kane, noting the bare supermarket shelves that typified the early months of COVID-19 lockdowns.
For those who just read a four-page feature article somewhere on “adaptive multi-paddock rotational grazing strategies” for livestock, or on permaculture and agroforestry, but then realized they had no access to any of this superior quality food, there may be a farm waiting for you, and your dollar, closer than you expect.
More than 40,000 small farmers are already coordinating with Kane to make their product available to people in their area, which as of December 2020 had facilitated 600,000 orders.
(WATCH the great FarmMatch explainer video below.)
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After the most destructive cyclone in Fijian history smashed into the island four years ago, it was feared the rich coral reefs surrounding the island would never recover.
Reefs across the Namena Reserve and Vatu-i-Ra Conservation Park were devastated by Cyclone Winston in 2016—which hurtled over ocean and land with 170 mph (280 kph) winds—but a recent dive expedition by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) revealed there’s nothing to fear, and the corals are reproducing at an exceptional rate.
WCS Fiji-chapter expedition leader Dr. Sangeeta Mangubhai said in a statement: “We saw large areas of reef covered by branching corals all roughly the same size and likely to be around four years in age. These new corals are covering surfaces and are providing new habitat for fish.”
Along with brightly colored corals, the area was teeming with tropical fish and other sea life. This is crucial to parts of the Fijian population which depend on the bounty of the sea and the reefs for income and food security.
WCS Melanesia Director, Dr. Stacy Jupiter, said: “At a period in history where every day we are seeing bad news in the papers and on television, this is a good news story. Our Fiji reefs are showing that they are stronger than Winston.”
Together, Namena and Vatu-i-Ra protected areas cover around 120 square miles, (200 square kilometers) spread across varied marine habitats such as small islets, shallow sands, deep water passages, and more.
It is the largest area to be managed by local communities in the country, who have established rotational catch strategies in their traditional fisheries called “Tabu,” where citizens who require seafood to sell and eat do so in a regenerative way that keeps their traditions alive.
The total ecosystem expands past 27,000 square kilometers, and the reefs are a vital part of ensuring marine visitors to the islands—like the humpback whale—will have a warm welcome when they come in the spring to calve.
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Researchers in Japan have developed the first wearable devices to precisely monitor jaundice, a yellowing of the skin caused by elevated bilirubin levels in the blood that can cause severe medical conditions in newborns.
Yokohama National University
Neonatal jaundice is one of the leading causes of death and brain damage in infants in low- and middle-income countries—but it can be easily treated by irradiating the infant with blue light which breaks down bilirubin so it can be excreted through urine.
The treatment itself, however, can disrupt bonding time, cause dehydration and increase the risks of allergic diseases.
To address the tricky balance of administering the precise amount of blue light needed to counteract the exact levels of bilirubin, researchers have developed the first wearable sensor for newborns that is capable of continuously measuring bilirubin. In addition to bilirubin detection, the device can simultaneously detect pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation in real time.
“We have developed the world’s first wearable multi-vital device for newborns that can simultaneously measure neonatal jaundice, blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate,” Hiroki Ota said, noting that jaundice occurs in 60 to 80% of all newborns. “The real-time monitoring of jaundice is critical for neonatal care. Continuous measurements of bilirubin levels may contribute to the improvement of quality of phototherapy and patient outcome.”
Led by Hiroki Ota, associate professor of mechanical engineering in Yokohama National University’s Graduate School of System Integration, and Shuichi Ito, professor of department of Pediatrics in Yokohama City University’s Graduate School of Medicine, the team published their results on March 3 in Science Advances.
Currently, medical professionals use handheld meters to measure bilirubin levels, but there is not a device that can simultaneously measure jaundice and vitals in real time.
“In this study, we succeeded in miniaturizing the device to a size that can be worn on the forehead of a newborn baby,” Ota said. “By adding the function of a pulse oximeter to the device, multiple vitals can easily be detected.”
Held to the baby’s forehead by a silicone interface, the device has a lens capable of efficiently transmitting lights to neonatal skin via battery-powered light-emitting diodes, commonly known as LEDs.
“At the present stage, coin cell batteries are used, and the overall shape is very thick,” Ota said. “In the future, it will be necessary to further reduce the thickness and weight by using thin-film batteries and organic materials.”
The researchers tested the device on 50 babies, and they found that the device is not currently accurate enough to be the sole measurement used.
But Ota’s team will reduce the thickness and increase the flexibility of the device, as well as improve the silicone interface to facilitate better skin contact.
In the future, the researchers plan to develop a combined treatment approach that pairs a wearable bilirubinometer with a phototherapy device to optimize the amount and duration of light therapy based on continuous measurements of bilirubin levels.
Many swimming pools in Germany don’t have enough trained lifeguards—and in many places, this skilled labor shortage is leading to closures. The solution could be a floating underwater rescue robot.
According to one German life-saving association, nearly 420 people drowned in Germany in 2019, with the majority losing their lives in fresh water lakes, but also in swimming pools.
Now, a team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Systems Technology of Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation (IOSB) is aiming to improve the situation with an aquatic robot that uses AI, the only one of its kind worldwide.
The scientists have used their years of expertise in the area of underwater robotics to develop the autonomous device that will assist lifeguards and rescue swimmers in emergencies.
“There are typical postures that you can use to recognize when someone is in danger,” says computer scientist Helge Renkewitz, who led the team in close collaboration with the water rescue service, Wasserrettungsdienstes Halle e.V.
Surveillance cameras mounted on the swimming pool’s ceiling register the movement patterns and position of the drowning person in the pool, and send the coordinates to the robot. It is safely stored away from prying eyes in a docking station on the swimming pool floor, which opens in an emergency.
Once the vehicle has reached its destination, it locates the endangered person and carries them to the surface. A mechanism for fixing the rescuee in place prevents lifeless bodies from sliding down as they surface. This mechanism can also be mounted on other underwater vehicles.
In lakes, drones and zeppelin systems take on the task of the surveillance cameras. “These drones and advertising balloons can easily be fitted with cameras,” says Renkewitz. Because the visibility is restricted, the underwater vehicle must be equipped with acoustic sensors instead of optical ones. Sound wave echoes can be used to determine people’s positions and orientation so precisely that the robot can autonomously head for the target person and pick them up.
This has been proven to work in practice through the very impressive open-water testing that researchers conducted at the Hufeisensee lake in Halle (Saale).
An 80-kilogram dummy was deposited at a depth of three meters. The robot then picked it up, secured it in place, brought it to the surface within a second, and carried it via the shortest route – a distance of 40 meters – to shore, where the rescue team was already waiting.
When the robot is informed of an emergency, a signal alerts the team immediately. “The full rescue operation lasted just over two minutes. Casualties must be resuscitated within five minutes to avoid long-term damages of the brain. We were able to stay within this critical time frame without any problems,” says Renkewitz.
Equipped with batteries, motor, cameras, and optical and navigational sensors, the current system is 90 centimeters long, 50 centimeters high, and 50 centimeters wide. The objective of Renkewitz’s team is to further reduce the size of the rescue system and build different versions for use in swimming pools and lakes. They aim to make it smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective than the current prototype, which is based on a pre-existing underwater vehicle.
Instead, the future robot will have the streamlined design of a manta ray.
Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, a patent has already been filed for the aquatic robot. In modified versions, it can take on further tasks – such as offshore and dam wall inspections or being used to monitor the health of fish in fish farms.
The underwater vehicles have a very broad range of applications, such as detecting and verifying archaeological artifacts at the bottom of lakes—where fewer victims will end up, thanks to the new robot.
A pioneering California oncologist is doubling the success rates for cancer treatment—and one mom was so thrilled with her outcome that she reached out to a stranger recommending the clinic, and now the new friends are forever bonded as stalwart survivors of terminal diagnoses.
When Maria Lewis first felt a lump, her heart sank because she had lost many family members to cancer. She was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer—meaning it did not have any of the receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer—and was given 3-6 months to live with little hope of any treatment working.
After being told to prepare for the worst, the 50-year-old with four children living at home traveled to Los Angeles after searching online for some help.
She went to see Dr. Robert Nagourney, who uses the emerging technique of ‘functional profiling’ to test which drugs will work in any patient using samples of the actual tumors or fluid.
Basically, this involves killing a patient’s tumor in the lab first, based on which FDA-approved drugs and drug combinations work best, then providing those to the patient—using personalized medicine based not on genomics but on cell biology.
Nagourney had become disenchanted with the trial and error approach he witnessed during fellowships at Georgetown and elsewhere, and decided that there must be a better way. Today, his approach is catching on around the world, given his patients’ success.
By the time Maria arrived in his clinic, she was at stage 4—with a large 6 cm tumor on her breast, a tumor on her kidney, and lymph node involvement.
Maria Lewis at the Institute and home
One week after going home to Utah, Dr. Nagourney finished his testing and she returned to receive chemotherapy based on the results in the lab that targeted just the right drugs. Three weeks after that chemo session, she could no longer feel her tumor. Three weeks after that, the tumor was gone.
After Maria recovered, she heard about Shellie Chrum in St. Louis (a friend of her neighbor’s) who was dealing with a similar dire diagnosis: widely metastatic breast cancer that had spread to her lungs and bones, including the spinal column. She immediately called Shellie.
New best friends
“Although we have never met in person, we have spoken on the phone for many hours,” Maria told GNN. “Having had a life threatening cancer diagnosis myself, and having been blessed with the results that I have had, I want to shout it from the rooftops so that everyone can hear and learn from my experience with Dr. Nagourney’s functional profiling test.”
Shellie took the advice of her new friend and went to California last summer so Nagourney could remove fluid from the 43-year-old, which provided ample cells for his EVA/PCD analysis (Ex-Vivo Analysis of Programmed Cell Death).
After he determined she was HER2–positive (for human epidermal growth factor 2) Nagourney knew that she would be a good candidate for the common drug combo Trastuzumab (Herceptin) and Pertuzumab (Perjeta), but how to address the disease involving lung and bone left the doctor puzzling.
He discovered a highly favorable interaction between Vinorelbine and Trastuzumab, and added a low dose Everolimus—which resulted in a four-drug combo that “no other breast cancer patient had ever received.”
After just two cycles of the drugs, given on the first and eighth day of a three-week cycle, the scan results compared with late-June were “stunning… and consistent with a complete or near-complete response to therapy”.
(Click below to continue the story and find out how much it costs…)
In yet another loss for ExxonMobil in a historic and long-running environmental enforcement case, a U.S. District Court judge has imposed a $14.25 million penalty to punish the company for violating the federal laws—the largest yet imposed in a Clean Air Act citizen enforcement suit.
Exxon has been fighting this case for 11 years now, but last July, a three-judge panel had rejected most of the arguments Exxon had made in its appeal of the original $19.95 million penalty in this case.
The appellate court sent the case back to Judge David Hittner to make additional findings as to how many of the thousands of proven Clean Air Act violations were of a type or magnitude that was “capable of causing” the kinds of harms suffered by those who live near the sprawling refinery and chemical plant complex in Baytown, Texas.
Exxon’s 3,400-acre facility sits about 25 miles east of downtown Houston, and tens of thousands of people live within three miles of the complex.
In his new opinion, Judge Hittner found that the environmental groups had proven at trial that over 3,651 days (8 years) thousands of instances of illegal flaring and unauthorized releases of pollutants causing smoke, chemical odors, ground-level ozone, and respiratory problems were “fairly traceable” to the injuries plaintiffs suffered.
“We are extremely pleased that Judge Hittner has, once again, assessed a civil penalty against Exxon that is larger than any penalty ever imposed in a Clean Air Act citizen enforcement suit,” said National Environmental Law Center senior attorney Josh Kratka, who was part of the legal team representing Environment Texas and Sierra Club.
In support of his penalty assessment, Judge Hittner pointed to the fact that Exxon had committed more than one violation every single day for a period of eight years.
This case follows successful cases the same groups brought against Shell Oil Company for violations at its Deer Park refinery, Chevron Phillips for violations at its Cedar Bayou plant, and Pasadena Refining Systems, Inc. for violations at the Pasadena refinery.
“Exxon’s Baytown refinery-chemical complex is the largest polluter on the Houston Ship Channel impacting the air quality of hundreds of thousands of citizens,” stated Neil Carman, clean air program director, Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter. “Exxon Baytown still needs to clean up its act and do more to create cleaner air in the Houston area,” he added.
Quote of the Day: “Loving yourself does not mean being self-absorbed, or disregarding others. It means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, worthy of respect, a lovable companion.” – Margo Anand
Photo by: Aziz Acharki
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?
Fool the novel coronavirus once and it can’t cause infection of cells, new research suggests.
Scientists have developed protein fragments—called peptides—that fit snugly into a groove on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein that it would normally use to access a host cell. These peptides effectively trick the virus into “shaking hands” with a replica rather than with the actual protein on a cell’s surface that lets the virus in.
Previous research had determined that the novel coronavirus binds to a receptor protein on a target cell’s surface called ACE2. This receptor is located on certain types of human cells in the lung and nasal cavity, providing SARS-CoV-2 many access points to infect the body.
For this work, Ohio State University scientists designed and tested peptides that resemble ACE2 enough to convince the coronavirus to bind to them, an action that blocks the virus’s ability to actually get inside the cell.
“Our goal is that any time SARS-CoV-2 comes into contact with the peptides, the virus will be inactivated. This is because the virus Spike protein is already bound to something that it needs to use in order to bind to the cell,” said Amit Sharma, co-lead author of the study and assistant professor of veterinary biosciences at Ohio State. “To do this, we have to get to the virus while it’s still outside the cell.”
The Ohio State team envisions delivering these manufactured peptides in a nasal spray or aerosol surface disinfectant, among other applications, to block circulating SARS-CoV-2 access points with an agent that prevents their entry into target cells.
“With the results we generated with these peptides, we are well-positioned to move into product-development steps,” said Ross Larue, co-lead author and research assistant professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology at Ohio State.
SARS-CoV-2, like all other viruses, requires access to living cells to do its damage – viruses hijack cell functions to make copies of themselves and cause infection. Very rapid virus replication can overwhelm the host system before immune cells can muster an effective defense.
One reason this coronavirus is so infectious is because it binds very tightly to the ACE2 receptor, which is abundant on cells in humans and some other species. The Spike protein on the SARS-CoV-2 surface that has become its most recognizable characteristic is also fundamental to its success in attaching to ACE2.
Recent advances in crystallizing proteins and microscopy have made it possible to create computer images of specific protein structures alone or in combination, like when they bind to each other.
Sharma and his colleagues closely examined images of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and ACE2, zooming in on precisely how their interactions occur and what connections are required for the two proteins to lock into place. They took notice of a spiral ribbon-like tail on ACE2 as the focal point of the attachment, which became the starting point for designing peptides.
“Most of the peptides we designed are based on the ribbon contacting the Spike,” said Sharma, who also holds a faculty appointment in microbial infection and immunity. “We focused on creating the shortest possible peptides with the minimum essential contacts.”
The team tested several peptides as “competitive inhibitors” that could not only securely bind with SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins, but also prevent or lower viral replication in cell cultures. Two peptides, one with the minimum contact points and another larger one, were effective at reducing SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell studies compared to controls.
Sharma described these findings as the beginning of a product-development process that will be continued by the team of virologists and pharmaceutical chemists collaborating on this work.
“We are taking a multi-pronged approach,” Sharma said. “With these peptides, we have identified the minimal contacts needed to inactivate the virus. Going forward we plan to focus on developing aspects of this technology for therapeutic purposes.
“The goal is to neutralize the virus effectively and potently, and now, because of the emergence of variants, we’re interested in assessing our technology against the emerging mutations.”
A passion for photography has always possessed this young engineer from Kerala, India. Now he knows there was a purpose, after a photo he took while walking around his village ended up changing a man’s life and getting a shout-out from India’s prime minister.
Nandu Ks with Rjappan
Carrying around a rented camera searching for stories, Nandu Ks found nothing very interesting until one day he came to a bridge.
I was always keen to capture images which had a story to tell, images which had life.
“I noticed a man rowing a boat and collecting something from the river,” Nandu told GNN.
The old man was N. S. Rajappan, and he’s been plucking plastic bottles from the river for years to earn a meager living. Paralyzed since the age of five when he was struck with polio, his daily routine has kept the waterways of Vembanad Lake clear of plastic—all from the seat of his small boat.
Without crutches, the 69-year-old would drag his legs a short way down the riverbank to the Meenachil River, after which he was free to wander the waters in search of bottles.
From the bridge that day, Nandu witnessed people throwing bottles into the river, while underneath a smiling Rajappan scooped them up.
Filling his boat with plastic only earns him about Rs 12 (17 cents), but it’s enough for a meal—and it’s satisfying to know he is helping the environment.
“Somebody should remove the waste from the water… I am doing what is possible for me,” he told a local news outlet.
Pro Media, Nandu Ks
Nandu uploaded his story and photos to his Pro Media Facebook page, and people began retweeting it, including the UN Environment Program chief Erik Solheim, who suggested, “Let’s make this guy famous.”
The Indian Prime Minister, himself, Narendra Modi, then commended Rajappan’s efforts during his monthly radio address. “I have seen news from Kerala which reminds us of our responsibilities,” he said, telling his listeners the story. “Imagine how highly he thinks! We must also take inspiration from him and contribute towards cleanliness as far as possible.”
Afterward, the story went completely viral, and inspired Indians to send gifts to the elder worker.
He’s been rewarded with a new motorboat, courtesy of a local businessman, and plans are in the works to build him a little home to replace the riverside shack that had been severely damaged in a storm.
Best of all, a Bangalore-based company making wheelchairs has given him a heavy-duty motorized wheelchair.
“With support coming in from thousands of people, both financially and morally, I could see his life changing,” Nandu said.
Invited to dinner with Nandu’s brother and family, he watched himself on TV.
And all of it happened because of one photograph.
“I always wondered what it felt like to follow your passion, but never knew its true feeling till the day I met Rajappan chettan (brother Rajappan),” Nandu says.
“I went to him and showed him the photo I clicked. He smiled at me—and then I knew what it meant to be a photographer.”
The two have become good friends, and Nandu’s family invited him to dinner to show him the TV news segment featuring his good works. (See the video below.)
“It takes a photographer to be at that moment and make that picture happen for the world to know the story.”
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning March 5, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
For you Pisceans, March is Love Yourself Bigger and Better and Bolder Month. To prepare you for this festival, I’m providing two inspirational quotes. 1.) “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” —Barbara De Angelis 2.) “Loving yourself does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.” —Margo Anand
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
In late April of 1969, Cambridgeshire, UK hosted the first-ever Thriplow Daffodil Weekend: a flower show highlighting 80 varieties of narcissus. In the intervening years, climate change has raised the average temperature 3.24 degrees Fahrenheit. So the flowers have been blooming progressively earlier each year, which has necessitated moving the festival back. The last pre-Covid show in 2019 was on March 23-24, a month earlier than the original. Let’s use this as a metaphor for shifting conditions in your world. I invite you to take an inventory of how your environment has been changing, and what you could do to ensure you’re adapting to new conditions.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Author Leo Buscaglia told us that among ancient Egyptians, two specific questions were key in evaluating whether a human life was well-lived. They were “Did you bring joy?” and “Did you find joy?” In accordance with your current astrological potentials, I’m inviting you to meditate on those queries. And if you discover there’s anything lacking in the joy you bring and the joy you find, now is a very favorable time to make corrections.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Are you ready to seize a more proactive role in shaping what happens in the environments you share with cohorts? Do you have any interest in exerting leadership to enhance the well-being of the groups that are important to you? Now is an excellent time to take brave actions that will raise the spirits and boost the fortunes of allies whose fates are intermingled with yours. I hope you’ll be a role model for the art of pleasing oneself while being of service others.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
During World War II, the Japanese island of Ōkunoshima housed a factory that manufactured poison gas for use in chemical warfare against China. These days it is a tourist attraction famous for its thousands of feral but friendly bunnies. I’d love to see you initiate a comparable transmutation in the coming months, dear Cancerian: changing bad news into good news, twisted darkness into interesting light, soullessness into soulfulness. Now is a good time to ramp up your efforts.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
“Scars speak for you,” writes author Gena Showalter. “They say you’re strong, and you’ve survived something that might have killed others.” In that spirit, dear Leo, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to authorize your scars to express interesting truths about you in the coming weeks. Allow them to demonstrate how resilient you’ve been, and how well you’ve mastered the lessons that your past suffering has made available. Give your scars permission to be wildly eloquent about the transformations you’ve been so courageous in achieving.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
According to novelist Doris Lessing, “Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who’d be kind to me.” She implied that hardly anyone ever gets such an experience—or that it’s so rare as to be always tugging on our minds, forever a source of unquenched longing. But I’m more optimistic than Lessing. In my view, the treasured exchange she describes is not so impossible. And I think it will be especially possible for you in the coming weeks. I suspect you’re entering a grace period of being listened to, understood, and treated kindly. Here’s the catch: For best results, you should be forthright in seeking it out.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling?” wrote composer Claude Debussy. In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll regard his words as an incitement to do everything you can to reach the naked flesh of your feelings. Your ideas are fine. Your rational mind is a blessing. But for the foreseeable future, what you need most is to deepen your relationship with your emotions. Study them, please. Encourage them to express themselves. Respect their messages as gifts, even if you don’t necessarily act upon them.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
You may never wander out alone into a dark forest or camp all night on a remote beach or encounter a mountain lion as you climb to a glacier near the peak of a rugged mountain. But there will always be a primeval wilderness within you—uncivilized lands and untamed creatures and elemental forces that are beyond your rational understanding. That’s mostly a good thing! To be healthy and wise, you need to be in regular contact with raw nature, even if it’s just the kind that’s inside you. The only time it may be a hindrance is if you try to deny its existence, whereupon it may turn unruly and inimical. So don’t deny it! Especially now. (PS: To help carry out this assignment, try to remember the dreams you have at night. Keep a recorder or notebook and pen near your bed.)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“What damages a person most,” wrote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “is to work, think, and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure—as a mere automaton of duty.” Once a year, I think every one of us, including me, should meditate on that quote. Once a year, we should evaluate whether we are living according to our soul’s code; whether we’re following the path with heart; whether we’re doing what we came to earth to accomplish. In my astrological opinion, the next two weeks will be your special time to engage in this exploration.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
What are your edges, Capricorn? What aspects of your identity straddle two different categories? Which of your beliefs embrace seemingly opposed positions? In your relations with other people, what are the taboo subjects? Where are the boundaries that you can sometimes cross and other times can’t cross? I hope you’ll meditate on these questions in the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, you’re primed to explore edges, deepen your relationship with your edges, and use your edges for healing and education and cultivating intimacy with your allies. As author Ali Smith says, “Edges are magic; there’s a kind of forbidden magic on the borders of things, always a ceremony of crossing over, even if we ignore it or are unaware of it.”
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
According to intermedia artist Sidney Pink, “The idea of divine inspiration and an aha moment is largely a fantasy.” What the hell is he talking about?! That’s fake news, in my view. In the course of my creative career, I’ve been blessed with thousands of divine inspirations and aha moments. But I do acknowledge that my breakthroughs have been made possible by “hard work and unwavering dedication,” which Sidney Pink extols. Now here’s the climax of your oracle: You Aquarians are in a phase when you should be doing the hard work and unwavering dedication that will pave the way for divine inspirations and aha moments later this year.
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
Many people have an iron deficiency—especially vegetarians. In fact, it’s the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world.
Lucky Iron Fish
To address this problem, especially in low-income populations, two Canadian medical school graduates created a simple and delightful solution—it’s called the Lucky Iron Fish.
Essentially no more than a specially-designed iron ingot in a whimsical shape, their Lucky Iron Fish provides a significant portion of the recommended daily amount of iron for an adult when boiled for 10 minutes.
Iron, which is easily absorbed if you eat meat, but difficult to get from plants, is critical for blood circulation, and a lack of it in your diet can lead to dizziness and fatigue, as well as anemia.
The iron supplied in the Lucky Fish lasts five years if used daily, and quite ingeniously, users will know when it’s time to get a new one as the smile on the fish will slowly wear away. When the fish is no longer happy, it’s time to get a new one.
Dr. Gavin Armstrong was working abroad in Asia—where he learned firsthand the effects of iron deficiency in adults and children. He chose the fish shape based on the cultural significance of the symbol.
In Cambodia, the fish is a lucky symbol, and in a bid to convince people to stick a great lump of iron in their soup pots, he adopted the fish iconography to appeal to their culture.
It worked. And where it didn’t work—namely in India where vegetarianism is common—Armstrong, a graduate student from the University of Guelph, simply changed the shape and created the Lucky Iron Leaf.
Armstrong’s idea has earned him public praise. The innovation won a Flourish Prize for positive business innovation that helps to achieve one of the 17 United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development (Good Health). The announcement from AIM2Flourish cited sales of over a million units in 2016 alone, and an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey.
They also work with charities and NGOs, including CARE and World Central Kitchen, to put get these fish swimming in pots where families can’t afford it.
At $50 per fish, it is one-thirtieth the cost of a five-year supply of iron supplements, and certainly more fun for children. It’s also backed by numerous clinical trials proving its efficacy.
With iron deficiency being a tangible public health concern that also affects economic success, we are indeed ‘lucky’ to have this key ingredient for soups the world over.
Quote of the Day: “Every year should teach you something valuable; whether you get the lesson is up to you. Every year brings you closer to expressing your whole and healed self.” – Oprah Winfrey
Photo by: Marcos Paulo Prado
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The pandemic has created a generation of schoolchildren interested in a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—a new poll on STEM trends has revealed.
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A survey of 1,000 kids aged 11-17 revealed 83% have been learning about the pandemic by watching the news—with 71% asking their parents about the virus because they’re interested.
Two-thirds have also been inspired by the hard work of the nurses and doctors working during the pandemic.
And 48 percent of secondary-age schoolchildren would be interested in a career in STEM after seeing how people working in these industries have helped people.
With children glued to the news, experts are becoming more mainstream, with youngsters more likely to recognize Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Professor Chris Whitty’s name (55%) than celebrities and sports stars including Harry Kane (50%), Selena Gomez (48%), and Zoella (35%).
One in five schoolchildren surveyed said the pandemic had made them interested in a career as a doctor in ICU, while 18% would now consider a career working on vaccines.
The survey commissioned by Medicspot also found 16% would like to be an ICU nurse, 16% would be interested in a career in pharmacy, and 14% would like to be a virologist.
During the pandemic, Medicspot has increased its staff numbers by 183 percent and provided Covid testing, along with ‘fit to fly’ certificates, at 90 locations across the UK.
“It’s heartening to see how many youngsters have been inspired by the medical professionals and scientists who have been working on the frontline to treat people suffering from Covid-19 and behind the scenes on the treatments,” said a Medicspot spokesperson.
The poll also found 68 percent of respondents think science is a cool subject—and 41 percent are now more interested in learning more about it.
Almost three-quarters are looking forward to going back to school, while 61 percent are going to try and work harder in their science lessons.
The survey, carried out by OnePoll, also found 52 percent would like to make a difference by helping people like the nurses, doctors, and scientists on the front line when they are older.
Domestication of animals was an amazing feat that changed human relationships with the natural world.
But while a Pomeranian looks nothing like a wolf, a thoroughbred jump horse looks nothing like a wild pony, and a potbellied pig looks nothing like a black boar, ‘domestic’ house cats look pretty much exactly like wild cats.
That’s because they domesticated themselves—not through form, but through function, and research reveals that wildcat ancestors share essentially the same genetics as house cats today.
The two lineages of cats—the European forest cat (felis silvestris silvestris) and Southwest Asia/North African wildcat (felis silvestris lybica)—are solitary hunters that lack any strong social hierarchy, which would make them poor candidates for domestication by humans, to start with.
It was the cat, itself, who came to prize the territory around the homes of the ancient farmer, or the wharf of the ancient mariner. They were drawn to a plentiful supply of prey in the form of rodents—which brought their species and ours to be inseparably linked.
A study from 2017 looked at the genetics of over 200 cats, from all five wild subspecies, along with cat remains from stone age Romania, and even Egyptian cat mummies, and found that f. lybica in the Near East in 4,400 BCE, and in North Africa around 1,500 BCE, gave rise to the domestic cat, likely because it was here where the earliest agricultural civilizations occurred.
European wildcat -felis silvestris by Cloudtail the Snow Leopard, CC license, Flickr
Still, cats existed unchanged through thousands of years—essentially until the Middle Ages, before selective breeding, the typical activity of domestication, began to give rise to more unique types of cats.
“I think that there was no need to subject cats to such a selection process since it was not necessary to change them,” said evolutionary geneticist and study coauthor Eva-Maria Geigl to National Geographic. “They were perfect as they were.”
Rather than merging social hierarchies and breeding selectively like humans did with wolves—cats simply existed in close proximity to humans, without ever fully entering societal processes.
Rise of the Tabby
The first domestic cat genes the scientists identified were the blotch pattern on the tabby cat—the first truly domesticated, if such a word can be used, house cat.
Striped tabby cats were found in the European gene set of wildcats back before 6,500 BCE, and there they stayed for 3,000 years before emerging in the Near East genetic profile.
Tabby cats evolved their characteristic blotches in the Ottoman Empire in 1,300 CE, and it wasn’t until the 18th century that the tabby pattern began to be associated, societally, with domestication.
Not until the 19th century, thousands of years after dog diversification, did Europeans begin selecting certain characteristics to breed together in cats, resulting in the Russian Blue, perhaps around 1875, and the Maine Coon around the same time.
While not being truly domestic, cats are a celebrated part of our lives, and exist in 74 million homes in the United States alone. Their lack of selective breeding means that for the most part, genetic susceptibility to disease, typical of hyper-specialized dog breeds, is mostly absent in cats, and it’s not uncommon for them to live past 20 years old.
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The Scandinavian countries are famous for their bays, and Copenhagen harbor in Denmark’s capital is a perfect example of that beauty in a metropolitan setting.
Now a new architecture project drifting in the harbor’s waters celebrates this heritage while allowing residents to relax away from the boom of urban development along the shoreline.
Copenhagen Islands
A series of floating islands, crafted using traditional building materials, are being planned as the country’s first “parkipelago.”
Complete with discreet features that will allow residents to enjoy the islands through kayaking, picnicking, and swimming, Danish design company Studio Fokstrot describes them as a celebration of traditional Danish harbor life, and a way to strengthen the cohesion of marine harbor ecosystems.
Each island is built from thin strips of wood, steel, and recycled boat material, and the first one is 215 square feet, featuring a single mature linden tree for shade.
The presentation website dreams big, claiming that once more islands are finished (three new islands are slated to float in spring 2021), the entire parkipelago will be home to floating gardens, floating saunas, floating mussel farms, and a floating sail-in café—all of which can be explored for free.
Underneath the islands’ hulls, special care is made to create a surface from which seaweed and other marine plants can cling, attracting small fish and crustaceans, which thereby attract larger sea life.
“During summer the islands can be distributed to unused parts of the harbor, serving as an adventurous escape for the increasing amount of kayaks, sailors, and general users of the harbor coastline,” reads the website. “During winter and for special events or festivals, the islands can be brought together as a super-continent, creating a cluster more easily accessed from the harbor side.”
If one thinks about the prevalence of seaside megacities that don’t have so much room for green spaces—an especially good example of which are those in Africa—the floating islands instantly seem like a great idea for those looking to increase the number of parks available to their citizens in other countries, too.
Meet the labradoodle who acts like a human thanks to his incredible bond with his best friend, a seven-year-old boy who was adopted into the family at the same time.
Reagan the dog was over the moon when his new family welcomed a foster baby Buddy, also 11-months-old, into their home.
The pair grew up together, and these adorable photos show them posing like a pair of brothers, wearing identical outfits, on holiday, and even sharing joint birthday parties.
SWNS
Pooch Reagan belongs to grandmother Sandi Swiridoff, 60, who adopted him just months before her daughter Kari Lewis, 31, fostered little boy Buddy.
Now Buddy, and his little sister Reagan, have been permanently adopted by the Lewis family, so boy and dog are officially best friends forever.
Snaps show the dog and all the kids acting just like siblings—putting up the Christmas tree together, reading bedtime stories, and eating spaghetti.
SWNS
Whether they are doing yoga or having a nap, the fun pair tend to look more than a little adorable.
SWNS
Sandi, from Portland, Oregon, said: “Reagan gets SO excited whenever Buddy comes over. They are seven years old now, and don’t see each other every day, but that only increases the excitement level when they are reunited.”
SWNS
“Their bond was instant. Reagan seemed to know that Buddy needed a furry friend to help him adjust and make him feel safe and loved. Watching their bond warms my heart, as they have the same energy level and personality.”
SWNS
Retired nurse Sandi and her husband Eric adopted Reagan in 2014. They were preparing for a “child-sized void” in their lives after their first foster grandkids were adopted by their forever families.
SWNS
One one of their last weekends together, Sandi took the children to “have a look” at a litter of Australian Labradoodle puppies, but when they arrived she saw there was only one left— Reagan.
As the 10th most-visited website on Earth, and the largest repository of human knowledge there is, school curriculums and even entire worldviews can be formed simply through reading Wikipedia.
However, when the city of Paris has more information contained in Wikipedia than the entire African continent, there is a significant risk of young Africans beginning to perceive home as a “single story.”
Wikimedia’s Bobby Shabangu at a WikiAfrica AfroCuration edit-a-thon, Johannesburg, 2019/Adama Sanneh
Further, an enormous amount of content on Wikipedia about African culture, languages, geography, and more, is written by Westerners. The inevitable lack of cultural context inherent in the everyday experiences of Africans can lead to stereotyping—again turning one small part of the African story into the whole story.
The WikiAfrica Education Program, founded by the Moleskine Foundation, is an effort to foster creativity and an interest in culture in African school curriculums by teaching students how to prepare and submit, as well as edit, articles on Wikipedia.
Since 2006, the WikiAfrica Program has led students contributing 40,000 submissions, including articles, and also audio clips, edits, photos, and more. Notably, many of the most detailed of these submissions were in African languages like isiXhosa.
Co-founder of the Moleskine Foundation, Adama Sanneh, an Italian-born son of a Gambian/Senegalese father, understands that creativity creates culture, and culture is the force that changes society.
A self-professed nerdy kid drawn to culture, art, and philosophy during his childhood growing up outside of Milan, he started the Moleskine Foundation in an effort to try and galvanize Africans into changing power dynamics on the internet—and in their daily lives.
“We aim to inspire young people from the continent and beyond, and especially African language speakers, to transform themselves from passive knowledge consumers to active knowledge producers,” says Sanneh, who then explained the startling information gap between Paris and Africa.
“When we look at entries in African languages the situation is even more grim. So obviously the idea is to do something about it, and with this cultural and bottom up approach the idea is to really inspire young people to become knowledge producers, to talk about their surroundings, to talk about their knowledge, and especially to do it in their languages,” he told GNN.
Un-erased from history
Adama Sanneh (far left)
Disenchanted by the traditional NGO-approach to development and aid in Africa, which made Sanneh feel he was on the “wrong side of history,” his work with Moleskine embodies the widely-held belief that African problems must be addressed by Africans, and that African history should be written by and for Africans.
“There’s so much misunderstanding around the African continent,” says Sanneh.
In 2019, Moleskine Foundation teamed up with the Constitution Hill Trust in Johannesburg to put on a Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thon’ called “AfroCuration,” where—following a presentation on the history of the constitution of South Africa—Sanneh and his team had 200 computers waiting for the students.
“We had more than 300 young people coming together at Constitution Hill in the museum, so it was really inspiring and full of history,” he said. “They could chose among 100 different entries of heroes, various aspects of the Constitution, and then write those articles in their own languages, meaning isiZulu, isiXhosa, Tshivenda, etc. They wrote more than 200 entries, in one day, on Wikipedia.”
“The great thing was that those entries, whether about Winnie Mandela (Nelson’s second wife), or about specific moments in South African history, that were missing in their own language… in the following month, those entries were seen collectively more than 250,000 times.”
In another AfroCuration event, also at Constitution Hill, but with the AfroPunk Army Initiative, 12 Black, female South African historical figures essentially returned to the broader historical record—with their names and deeds making it onto Wikipedia for everyone to see and read.
“Now you can find an article about Joyce Seroke, who’s a super-important figure in South African history in the fight against apartheid, and who’s never mentioned,” says Sanneh. “Now you can find it on Wiki in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Tshivenda.”
Education = life
The importance of the African languages to the WikiAfrica Education Program cannot be understated, because a culture can’t fully express itself without its language. For example, Chinese Confucian theology would never be complete without Chinese words.
This was never more important than after the pandemic arrived, when virtually no information, guidelines, or policies were being translated into African languages. Sanneh saw a need, as well as an opportunity.
“When we started the situation was very grim, there was only one article in Luba, or something like that,” he told GNN. “We launched a campaign to ask people to translate… ten articles around COVID-19 that would allow the sparking of creative solutions.”
“In a couple of months we passed from one to more than 300 articles in more than 20 different African languages. That gave access to more than 300 million people when we look at the composition of the languages,” he said.
With the WikiAfrica Education Programn now working with schools across the continent to get Wikipedia skills into school curriculums, Sanneh has time to turn his attention to other projects.
Host of the Creativity Pioneers Podcast, which looks at how creativity can spark social change, not just in Africa, but all over the world, Sanneh interviews creatives, social activists, and more—people like Uzodinma Iweala, the Nigerian-American novelist who wrote the bestselling novel Beasts of No Nation.
You can find new episodes every Thursday, and get to know the entrepreneurs, artists, activists, and scientists that make Africa, in Sanneh’s opinion, the most creative continent around.
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Quote of the Day: “Potential is always bigger than the problem” – Rev. Michael Beckwith
Photo by: Greg Rakozy
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?
Tucked into a suburban Chicago train station may appear to be an unassuming coffee shop. But what’s going on behind the scenes is much more than just your average cup of Joe.
For the seventh year in a row the shop’s owner Pilot Pete, a.k.a. Peter Thomas, has been the driving force behind ‘Coffee With a Purpose’, an annual community initiative that collects and distributes coats and other necessities to help the local homeless population brave the harsh Midwest winters.
Thomas says the idea came to him when he was trying to find a way to give back to the community as well as get others involved. He admits he was initially unprepared for the positive avalanche of responses. In the weeks prior to Christmas in the drive’s first year, he and other volunteers took in 3,000 coats.
This year, for drive number seven, Thomas and crew helmed the Coffee With a Purpose command center from the back of a 26-foot moving truck. The humanitarian caravan made a total of six stops throughout greater Chicago.
Pilot Pete’s brewed up 40 gallons of coffee for the occasion. The hot java was supplemented by donations from three other Elmhurst businesses eager to do their part.
Baked goods came courtesy of Rough Edges Confectionery; the truck and a driver were provided Good Move Movers, and custom truck signage was the handiwork of Angel Fancy Design Studio.
At each stop, Thomas invited people up to “shop” for whatever they needed—free of charge. In addition to coats, there was a wide selection of blankets, socks, hats, gloves, scarves, and personal hygiene items to choose from, all collected, sorted, and hung by gung-ho community volunteers.
Thomas notes that with the added impact of COVID, there were more people in need than ever this time around. “[When]we made this effort, all the shelters were on lockdown,” he said in an interview with the Elmhurst Independent. “No one was allowed in or out, that is, once you’re out, you can’t get back in, so there are more and more homeless people… This is a good year to be extra giving.”
But what Thomas and the community members who work alongside him are trying to achieve goes beyond merely handing out warm clothing and coffee. Forging a human connection with people who are so often invisible in society is an integral factor in their giving equation.
Thomas says making donations one-on-one makes it feel more genuine. “You never know where someone has been or what someone’s been through before meeting them,” he told the Independent. “With the homeless, we treat everyone the same or equal.”
According to Thomas’s proud mom, Joni Morgan, her son’s inclusive attitude is just who he is. “Ever since he was a little he always would find the outsiders and pull them in to make them feel welcome,” she told ABC’s Local-ish program.
Thomas sees coffee as the perfect metaphor to inspire positive action. “I love working with coffee as a tool of motivation to fuel and ignite people to soar beyond their expectations and to soar beyond society’s expectations,” he told ABC. “I’m fueling them and caffeinating them to do something better… something that will make them feel good about themselves so we can all grow together as one coffee family and fly beyond greatness.”
As of this writing, with plans for a new Elmhurst Metra station in the works, the future of Pilot Pete’s Coffee & Treats is a bit up in the air. Not surprisingly, the community he’s been rallying for years is now rallying behind him.
“Pilot Pete’s is more than a coffee shop. Peter Thomas gives back to our community in so many ways—from the annual coat drive for the homeless, school fundraisers, motivational quotes tucked into every cup sleeve, and more—his is the shining face every commuter needs to see. His ‘coffee with a purpose’ mentality is part of what makes Elmhurst a beautiful place,” reads the Change.org petition to keep Pete’s in place.
Since a tall, sweet, hot cup of coffee—laced with a heavy dollop of the milk of human kindness—is the kind of brew that belongs on everybody’s menu, here’s hoping Thomas will be able to continue serving up his special brand of hospitality for years to come.
(WATCH the ABC video of this story below.)
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