World’s First Home Hydrogen Battery Powers Your House for 3 Days, is Recyclable, and Not a Fire Risk

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Feb 17, 2021

With Texan power outages hitting the headlines this week, it’s worth looking to a startup that’s developed the world’s first renewable, hydrogen-powered energy storage system. At full charge, it can furnish a house with electricity for about three days.

If you’ve ever said to a friend that you wanted to switch to solar panels, you may have gotten the snarky reply along the lines of, “What happens when it’s cloudy?”

As frustrating as it is to hear, for some time it’s been a legitimate drawback to rooftop PV panels. But just as electric car batteries have improved through the 2010s, the options for storing solar power for nighttime or during cloudy periods have become rapidly more available.

For homes in New South Wales Australia, LAVO is offering a green battery storage system to retain the sun for darker days, using a clever system of electrolysis to generate energy from stored hydrogen. The special material in which the hydrogen is stored is leagues safer than conventional technologies. It has a product life of around 30 years, and it can be recycled.

Innovation at its finest

Hooked up to the water main and any commercially available rooftop PV solar array, the solar energy is used to power an electrolyzer to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the former going into the patented hydride storage material, and the latter simply returning into the air.

MORE: New Electric Car Batteries Can Fully-Charge in 5 Minutes, Like Filling Your Car With Gas, If Better Chargers Are in Place

A fuel cell converts stored hydrogen back into electricity when the battery is switched on, and the fact that the hydrogen is stored in a solid-state, rather than as a liquid or gas, removes the normally considerable fire hazard from the material.

The size of a home refrigerator and costing around $29,500, the LAVO hydrogen battery can store 3x more power than comparable home lithium battery systems.

Within the battery is a bank of detachable units that can also be used to power other hydrogen-electric machines from LAVO—including a bicycle and a barbecue.

Company spokespeople say an eco-lodge has already pre-ordered one, while Gowings Bros, an Australian investment company and clothing business, announced in January it had signed-on as an investor to LAVO, committing to buy 200 batteries for its properties across the country. We’ll be sure to let you know when the technology comes to Texas and beyond.

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Honoring The Black Astrophysicist at NASA Whose Innovative Space Telescope is Still on the Moon (1939-2020)

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 17, 2021

George Carruthers Black scientist-U.S. NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY — George Carruthers standing to the right of the gold-plated ultraviolet camera he invented for the Apollo 16 mission / U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

George Robert Carruthers did big things with his life: One of the first Black astrophysicists at NASA, he’s known for pioneering the first ultraviolet telescope that went to the Moon.

George Carruthers with a colleague, standing to the right of the gold-plated ultraviolet camera he invented for the Apollo 16 mission / U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Midway through Black History Month, it’s worth taking a look at this inspirational man who passed away, aged 81, in December 2020.

Winning a basket-full of prestigious awards for his genius breakthroughs—including an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame from President Barack Obama in 2013—Carruthers is well-known in science circles for proving the existence of molecular hydrogen content within the emptiness of interstellar medium in 1970—a major conundrum at the time.

Growing up in Cincinnati in the 1940s, Carruthers loved science-fiction books such as the Colliers’ series on spaceflight. He was also a big fan of Buck Rogers comics. It was, perhaps, these early interests that led him into the fields of science and engineering despite largely failing the two subjects—as well as math—in school.

Grades may not always have been his strong point, but Carruthers was a bright boy: At the age of ten he was already building his own telescope from cardboard tubing and lenses, items he bought from money he earned as a delivery boy.

When Carruthers’ father died aged 12, the family moved to South Side of Chicago. There, Carruthers flourished: winning three child science fair awards and graduating high school in 1957.

Education and NASA

Despite early difficulties at school, Carruthers did well at the University of Illinois, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1961, a master’s in nuclear engineering in 1962, and his Ph.D. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1964.

After gaining his doctorate, Caruthers joined the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow. One of the first Black astrophysicists, it was here that he would help create a groundbreaking apprenticeship for young scientists and engineers called the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program, which still helps steer young minds towards their dreams today.

Five years later, he perfected an image converter for electromagnetic radiation which NASA sent up in a rocket in 1970. Along with a UV image of Halley’s Comet, it captured the first evidence, and upper limits of, molecular hydrogen in interstellar media—solving a piece of the still-researched “missing mass” problem which today focuses around dark matter.

MORE: Youngest Poet Ever to Recite at Presidential Inauguration Beats Speech Impediment to Take Global Stage in D.C.

In 1972, a similar and more advanced version of the image converter—called a far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph—was brought to the Moon by Apollo 16 astronauts. With this, the first images of Earth in ultraviolet light were taken. The device remains on the Moon’s surface, in the Descartes highland region, today.

A shy man who came to life while discussing his chosen field, when asked to explain highlights of the instrument’s findings for a general audience, Dr. Carruthers put it beautifully, saying, “the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the tropical airglow belt.”

With the spectrograph, astronauts could see how Earth’s atmosphere looked in terms of concentrations of pollutants, and take UV images of more than 550 stars, local nebulae, and far-off galaxies. Carruthers was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his work on the project.

CHECK OUT: Rosa Parks Officially Honored With Memorial Statue in Montgomery 64 Years After Her Iconic Protest

Growing up in an era in which African-Americans faced huge oppression, Dr. George Carruthers nevertheless followed a love of science-fiction into a decorated career in ‘science-fact’, and is fondly remembered by NASA, the Navy, and the world for his pioneering contributions to science.

(WATCH the short biography of Carruthers’ life from Channel E below…)

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More Than 1 in 10 Americans Have Now Been Vaccinated for COVID-19

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Good News Network

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Feb 17, 2021

It’s felt like a long winter for many, but there’s good news coming out of the U.S—as COVID-19 cases continue to fall and more and more people get their jabs.

As of February 14, more than 70 million vaccine doses have been delivered to Americans.

According to the CDC, more than 1 in every 10 Americans have received a vaccine dose. And 14 million people in the country have received two doses—meaning about 4% of the nation has now been fully inoculated. Currently, around 1.67 million doses per day are being administered.

In further hopeful news, according to the Covid Tracking Project run by The Atlantic, COVID cases are down 57% since the country’s all-time peak at the beginning of January. While hospitalizations are still high, they’re falling—and that winter surge of cases is reported as “rapidly easing.”

MORE: 10 Positive COVID Updates From Around the World – 2021 is Looking Brighter

Of course, there’s still a long way to go until life goes back to what will likely be a ‘new normal’.

Still, the winter surge is over. The vaccine rollout is working. And it’s likely that—if the current pace of vaccinations is sustained—by July, around half of Americans will have received their first vaccine dose.

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Hope for Migraine Sufferers: Clinical Trial Shows Benefits of Yoga and Meditation

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Good News Network

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Feb 17, 2021

In a recent clinical trial, researchers showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction could provide real benefits to people with migraine.

Migraine is a neurological disease that can be severely debilitating and is the second leading cause of disability worldwide.

Unfortunately, many patients with migraine discontinue medications due to ineffectiveness or side effects—and many still use opioids despite recommendations against them for headache treatment.

“At a time when opioids are still being used for migraine, finding safe non-drug options with long-term benefit has significant implications,” says Rebecca Erwin Wells, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Mindfulness can also teach new ways to respond to stress, a commonly reported migraine trigger.”

According to an article published by JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers studied whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) could improve migraine outcomes, pain perception, and measures of emotional well-being compared to headache education.

In the study, 89 adults with a history of migraine were randomly assigned to either the MBSR group or headache education group—with training or instruction delivered in eight weekly two-hour sessions.

The MBSR group followed a standardized curriculum of mindfulness meditation and yoga. Participants also received electronic audio files for home practice and were encouraged to practice at home 30 minutes a day. The headache education group received instruction on headaches, pathophysiology, triggers, stress, and treatment approaches.

MORE: Migraine Sufferers Experience Relief From ‘Going Green’ With Light-Exposure Therapy

Participants in both the MBSR and headache education groups reported fewer days with migraine. However, only MBSR also lessened disability and improved quality of life, depression scores, and other measures reflecting emotional well-being—with effects seen out to 36 weeks. Further, experimentally induced pain intensity and unpleasantness decreased in the MBSR group compared to the headache education group, suggesting a shift in pain appraisal.

CHECK OUT: Blue Light Reduces Blood Pressure, Just as Effectively as Medication – UK Study

“Mindfulness may treat the total burden of migraine and could potentially decrease the impact of this debilitating condition,” Wells says, while noting, “A larger, more definitive study is needed to confirm these findings.”

Source: Wake Forest Baptist Health

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“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” – Wayne Dyer

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Feb 17, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.” – Wayne Dyer

Photo: ben o’bro

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?

Startup Cleans Up Laundry Detergent With Powerful Soap That Uses Bio Ingredients

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 16, 2021

A biotech startup is hoping to bring a little eco-friendly product mojo to a relatively untapped corner of the market: laundry detergent.

Dirty Labs’ product is non-toxic and made from bio-based enzymes that rapidly biodegrade once washed down the drain.

Traditional detergent technology has changed little over the last century, according to Dirty Labs. A typical mix of cleaning chemicals—including methy-lisothia-zolinone and benzi-sothia-zolinone—can harm the environment.

Further, 1,4-dioxane, which can be found in many laundry detergents, is a likely carcinogen according to the EPA.

These petroleum-based chemicals are washed straight down the drain, cannot always be removed by water treatment plants or filters, and can permeate all the way into our groundwater sources.

Dirty Labs estimates that Americans manage to do 40 billion loads of laundry every year: the vast, vast majority of which will include at least one of these three ingredients.

“Our team of chemists, biologists, and environmentalists have raised the bar for safety and sustainability by eliminating all California Proposition 65 chemicals of concern and EU listed fragrance allergens for a truly clean ingredient list that’s also readily biodegradable,” reads their website.

MORE: We Can Now Help Keep Plastics Out of the Ocean Simply By Ditching the ‘Delicate’ Washing Machine Cycle

“I think that as a consumer, you put your laundry detergent in the washing machine, it washes your clothes, and then it’s gone, and it’s something that’s not very visible to people,” explains Dirty Labs CEO and co-founder, David Watkins, to Fast Company. “But when you start to address the big picture here, all of these chemicals are going into our wastewater system… there is a big accumulation of these things in the environment.”

While more and more bio laundry detergents are reaching grocery store shelves each year, Dirty Labs defines itself by its “unique, enzyme-driven cleaning technology,” Phytolase, which it says delivers the “exceptional cleaning power” of conventional detergents, without the toxic chemicals.

That Dirty Labs formula is ultra-concentrated, designed to work well in cold water, and is available at a cost of 25 cents per load of laundry—$19.00 for 75 loads.

It’s ironic that we would dirty our planet just to clean our clothes, and that’s why Watkins— who foresees a wave of state legislation on the restriction of harmful cleaning chemicals—wants to get out ahead of the problem.

CHECK OUT: Here’s Why You Should Start Washing Your Clothes in Cold Water

“I think that legislation is one thing that’s going to force companies to look at better alternatives,” Watkins told Fast Company. “We’re trying to get ahead of that and say, ‘Look, we think that we’ve got the technology to do this today. And here’s a smarter solution in general.’”

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Archaeologists in Egypt have Unearthed the World’s Oldest Known Beer Factory, Thought to Date Back 5,000 Years

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 16, 2021

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the remains of a 5,000-year-old megabrewery— thought to have once supplied thousands of gallons of the golden stuff for royal rituals.

Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Unearthed at the ancient site of Abydos, one of the oldest discovered cities of ancient Egypt, it’s being called “the world’s largest beer factory.”

The brewery consisted of eight large rooms each 65 feet (20 meters) long, in which lay 40 clay pots resting in decorative cisterns arranged in two rows, where grains and water would once have been heated to make beer.

According to the Supreme Council for Antiquities, the brewery likely dates back to the reign of King Narmer, a lesser-known name in Egyptian history, who nevertheless made an enormous mark in the land of the Nile as founder of the First Dynasty and then-sole unifier of the country.

The brewery “may have been built in this place specifically to supply the royal rituals that were taking place inside the funeral facilities of the kings of Egypt,” mission co-head Matthew Adams of New York University has stated.

Abydos in its heyday would have been filled with temples and tombs, and even today, the Temple of Osiris, the royal necropolis of the First Dynasty, and the Temple of Seti I are all still intact and able to be visited.

MORE: Egypt Just Discovered 27 Sealed Coffins in An Ancient Cemetery That Were Buried 2,500 Years Ago

The brewery, a new addition to one of Egypt’s most important cultural sites, is thought to have been able to produce 5,000 gallons of beer in a single batch, and unsurprisingly, “evidence for the use of beer in sacrificial rites was found during excavations in these facilities,” a statement from the Egyptian tourism ministry has said.

Featured image: Brewery site—Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities; Beer—Pradnyal Gandhi

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Mardi Gras Becomes ‘Yardi Gras’ When Float-Making Company Gets Orders For Porch Floats After Parade is Canceled

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Good News Network

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Feb 16, 2021

A New Orleans couple who normally spend this time of year building fantastical floats for the Mardi Gras parade has done something a little different for the pandemic—creating porch floats so people can party safely at home.

The NOLA parade may have been canceled this year, but that hasn’t stopped husband-and-wife team Inez and Rene Pierre from creating, for example, a Dolly Parton-themed float to pay tribute to the country singer’s $1 million donation to coronavirus vaccine research.

Adapting their colorful floats to fit around porches, balconies, and even on front lawns—the pair have been inundated with orders: not just from their home city, but as far afield as Alabama, New York, and North Carolina.

Inez, who with her husband owns the float-building business Crescent City Artists, said:
“I was heartbroken when the mayor canceled Mardi Gras, but I also understand that life is more important.”

The talented couple—who usually construct carnival floats made of steel, wood, and muslin for around $45,000 each—worried that the end to the party meant difficulties for their financial future.

CHECK OUT: Dolly Parton Quietly Gives Away 100 Millionth Book for Her Child Reading Program

Then Inez heard someone on a news show suggesting porch floats as a way for the city to still celebrate.

The couple put in their first order just before Christmas. From there, the orders never stopped. Their website ended up crashing, they were getting so many hits. Two weeks ago, they even stopped taking orders because they were so overwhelmed.

“We are up to 52 porch floats,” says Inez, “we have maybe 10 more to complete and we have a waiting list for next year.

MORE: Cardboard Artist Creates Mirror Surrounded By Black Legendary Heroes to Inspire Next Generation of Leaders

It sounds like it’s time to get your float orders in for 2022, stat.

Check out the gallery of the artists’ work below, and let us know your favorite?

Eclectic porch floats have been going up in NOLA this winter…

With an Alice in Wonderland-themed porch float for this home…

And one that brings lions and rich sunsets to life for another…

And… an owl in a police call box for this one? Because why not!

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Paris is Turning Its Dark Underground Parking Lots into Organic Mushrooms Farms

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Andy Corbley

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Feb 16, 2021

theo mushrooms paris cycloponics facebook social media (1) — Cycloponics

What can you do with a dark underground parking lot that isn’t being used anymore? Think fungus.

Unused parking garages around the French capital have been turned into organic mushroom farms, thanks to a company called Cycloponics.

Allowing an extremely nutritious crop to be grown and sold directly in Paris, the initiative is part of a number of renovation projects the City is encouraging and sponsoring.

Along with shitake, oyster, and white button mushrooms, Cycloponics grows chicory—a French delicacy that can grow in the dark—as well as microgreens like mini broccoli. These are delivered via bicycle to local organic grocery stores.

Their location in Paris is called “The Cave,” and it’s one of three such converted garages that have been co-founded since 2017 by the coincidentally named Theo Champagnat.

“70% of people live in towns today, and in this population there is a demand for local and organic products like ours,” says Champagnat.

In a BBC video news report on the operation, Dougal Shaw details how during the 1960s and ’70s, large apartment blocks were almost always built with underground parking garages. Now car ownership is dwindling, and many of the garages are becoming derelict haunts for illicit activity.

in the mid-2010s, Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo launched Reinventing Paris—The Subterranean Secrets of Paris which offered designers, architects, and others a chance to help transform abandoned underground lots into cultural spaces, gastronomic eateries, and other civic-minded projects.

MORE: Stanford Designer is Making Bricks Out of Fast-Growing Mushrooms That Are Stronger than Concrete

One such project turned an old metro stop into a market/food court on one side of the platform, and the other into a cocktail bar, featuring luminous light and trendy designs.

But this offering in Paris wasn’t the first time Cycloponics took to the dark and dank in the heart of a French city. Their first project, built in an old German bunker dating back to 1878, is located in the city of Strasbourg, while their most recent mushroom project is centered in Bordeaux.

These days? Champagnat and the 10 people who work with him are able to harvest around 100-200 kilos of mushrooms from their lots per week. Not bad for a bunch of college-age basement dwellers.

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110-Year-old Has Turned Into a Singing Sensation on Social Media, Fulfilling Life-long Dream Thanks to Great-Grandson

By

Judy Cole

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Feb 16, 2021

amy hawkins and great grandson tiktok supplied hannah freeman (1) — Hannah Freeman

Some dreams take longer to come true than others, but with the help of 21st-century social media and her Gen Z great-grandson, at the age of 110, one British woman is realizing hers at long last.

At the end of World War I, Amy Hawkins was a 7-year-old child who loved nothing more than to sing and dance. As a teen, Hawkins set her sights on becoming an entertainer.

Hawkins was on her way, touring the country with a dance troupe—until her ambition to tread the boards was cut short by her mom who didn’t see it as a respectable occupation for a young lady.

All these years later, the supercentenarian chanteuse lives at home in Monmouth, South Wales, surrounded by her loved ones. The four-generation family unit includes her granddaughter, Hannah Freeman, and Freeman’s 14-year-old son, Sacha. Even though she’s no longer doing it professionally, Hawkins has never stopped singing.

“She’s like a clock, once you wind her up she won’t stop,” Freeman said in an interview with the BBC. “She just keeps asking, ‘Would you like another one?’.”

While others were not so fortunate, Freeman’s family felt blessed to be together throughout the course of the COVID-19 lockdown. Especially, Freeman notes, since the tight-knit arrangement has allowed Sacha and Hawkins to form a deep and loving bond.

On Hawkins’ 110th birthday, Sacha videoed his great-gran singing one of her favorite WWI tunes, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. When Freeman jokingly suggested Sacha post it to TikTok, neither of them could have imagined the overwhelmingly upbeat response it would receive, reaching 100,000 views and a bevy of emotional accolades in just days.

@sachafreeman0
My great grandma enjoying her birthday #fpy #foryoupage #old #supergran #uk #1911 #birthday #song #music #old #oldestontiktok #wales #celebrate #tea
♬ original sound - Sacha Freeman

“Reading the comments, people have been in tears, because they miss their family or [think] about family they have lost,” Freeman told the BBC. “I think that has been a real lesson for Sacha too and has restored my faith in humanity in such a difficult time for everyone.”

MORE: Postman Who Started the Online Craze for Sea Shanties has Now Quit his Job to Pursue a Career in Music

Some journeys take longer than others. Sometimes, we’re detoured along the way. But dreams can and do come true every day. While it’s been a long time coming, Amy Hawkins is entertaining a whole new generation of fans.

Admittedly, “It’s a long way to Tipperary,” but when Amy Hawkins sings, our “heart’s right there.”

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“Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” – Anton Chekhov

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Feb 16, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” – Anton Chekhov

Photo: Jéssica Oliveira

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?

Instead of Responding With Cops, Denver Sends Health Care Teams to Non-Criminal Calls — and It’s Already Saving Lives

By

Andy Corbley

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Feb 15, 2021

star force released denver police department — Denver Police Department

A pilot program where teams of social workers and paramedics respond to certain non-criminal complaints in Denver is showing early success.

The Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program was launched in June to help ensure the vulnerable get the help they need.

Over the course of six months, 748 calls relating to low-level incidents—such as mental health crises—were responded to by mobile teams of STAR health care workers instead of police officers.

Six months after it began, STAR’s first progress report has now been published, and it shows the innovative program is working.

According to Denver Police Department (DPD) chief Paul Pazen, none of these low-level calls ended in arrests or jail-time, and no police officer needed to be called to the scene. “This is good stuff, it’s a great program, and basically, the report tells us what we believed,” Pazen told The Denverite.

Foundation for success

The majority of the STAR-eligible calls were for trespassing/unwanted persons, welfare checks, and from uniformed officers asking for assistance in ongoing matters.

In fact, of all the incidents STAR responded to, 34% were assist calls from officers already engaged in an incident, which program member and strategic initiatives coordinator for the DPD, Dr. Matthew Lunn, says is a good sign: It means police officers believe in the program and want to utilize it.

“I think it shows how much officers are buying into this, realizing that these individuals need a focused level of care,” said Lunn, who authored the report.

Indeed, 61% of individuals encountered by STAR were identified as perhaps having a mental health issue based on initial contact and behavioral assessment, with 33% also having co-occurring conditions, such as homelessness or substance abuse.

MORE: Inmates Are Earning Free College Degrees Behind Bars, And Their Recidivism Rate Plunges to 2%

Lessons learned suggested that the STAR van should be stocked with more supplies, especially blankets, clothing, cleaning supplies, and food, which would allow the team to quickly address immediate issues.

CHECK OUT: Global Nonprofit that Trains African Prisoners to Become Lawyers is Featured on 60 Minutes

The city of Denver has allocated $1.4 million to expand the service, and the Caring for Denver foundation has matched those funds. This will help the program expand to having multiple supplied vans—with enough professionals to work 8-hour shifts covering all hours of the week.

“I want the police department to focus on police issues,” Pazen told The Denverite. “We have more than enough work with regards to violent crime, property crime, and traffic safety, and if something like STAR or any other support system can lighten the load on mental health calls for service, substance abuse calls for service, and low-level issues, that frees up law enforcement to address crime issues.”

Given the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, it seems likely that increasing numbers of police departments around the world will follow in Denver’s footsteps—turning inward to see what can be done to improve the relationship between their officers and their communities—so everyone feels safe.

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Hikers Brave Miles of Icy Mountain Trails After Rescuing Dog That Was Stranded For 2 Weeks

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Judy Cole

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Feb 15, 2021

golden retriever wicklow rescue social media @JEANFRANCOISWILLEM, TIKTOK — @jeanfrancoiswillem/TikTok

There’s almost no agony worse for pet parents than when a beloved fur baby goes missing. While this tale might have had a more tragic ending, fate was certainly looking out for a pooch that went missing in Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains this past January.

Neesha, an 8-year-old Golden Retriever, is one lucky dog. After spending a fortnight on her own without food or real shelter, the plucky pooch was serendipitously spotted by a couple, who in spite of the wintry weather, was hiking the range and happened upon her.

Two weeks earlier, Neesha’s owners had taken her and their other dog, a German Shepherd named Harley, for some outdoor exercise. Startled by a deer, both dogs took off. Harley found his way back to the parking lot the next day, but Neesha did not.

The family made a thorough search. They left a laundry basket of unwashed clothing near the spot they’d last seen Neesha on the chance she’d home in on the familiar scent marker.

They even resorted to drones and took to the Internet to ask for help in finding Neesha—but there was still no sign of her.

“We went on social media and posted it out. Then a weekend later, we were still looking for her, we were starting to give up hope,” pet mom Erina O’Shea Goetelen told The Irish Times.

Eventually, the family began to accept that Neesha might not be coming home. “We just thought she was 8, it’s been two weeks, there was no way she could survive that.”

Doctors Ciara Nolan and Jean Francois Bonnet must truly be dedicated hikers to have braved the elements on the frigid day the pair decided to summit one of Wicklow’s peaks. As they neared the top, Nolan was shocked to see a dog shivering in the snow curled up next to some rocks.

“She was petrified, freezing cold. She didn’t have enough energy to bark or stand,” Bonnet said in an interview with Eastcoast FM. “We tried to get her to walk, she couldn’t stand. So we covered her in our spare clothes, we gave her some food.”

Nolan lifted Neesha onto back Bonnet’s back for the 10-km (6.2-mile) trek back down the mountain. After dog and man fell several times in the icy conditions, Nolan engineered a way to strap Neesha to her partner’s backpack with her scarf.

@jeanfrancoiswillem
#dog #lostdog #rescue #mountain #pet #ireland #lost #dublin @ciaranolan05
♬ Surrender - Natalie Taylor

As soon as they reached level ground, Nolan and Bonnet brought the dog to Ash Animal Rescue. She’d lost a great deal of weight and was dehydrated, but other than a few cuts and scrapes, the resilient pup was in surprisingly good condition.

CHECK OUT: Watch Fishermen Risk Walking on Frozen Lake to Rescue Exhausted Baby Deer

“When Ciara rang us Saturday evening I got very excited when I realized they had found Neesha,” the Ash Animal Rescue’s admin posted to Facebook. “When I saw the video clip I couldn’t help getting emotional. The weather had thrown all sorts at us in the past 2 weeks, for Neesha to have survived it all is a miracle.”

MORE: Man Saves Elk After it Was Buried in an Avalanche – With Only a Nostril And One Eye Peeking Out of the Snow

Neesha’s owners could scarcely believe it when they learned her dog had been found alive.

“We were so, so relieved and happy,” O’Shea Goetelen told Irish Central. “We have no words to thank them both for what they did to bring her back home. They are just absolutely amazing and unbelievable. We just can’t thank them enough.”

They say all dogs go to heaven, but due to a twist of fate and two determined rescuers, that’s a trip Neesha won’t be making for quite some time. The luck of the Irish, it seems, extends to their canine companions—and thankfully for Neesha, somebody up there was listening.

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70-Year-old Grandpa Becomes Oldest Person to Row Across the Atlantic – And He Raised $1.4Mil for Alzheimer’s

By

Andy Corbley

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Feb 15, 2021

Frank Rothwell released Alzheimers Research UK (1) — Alzheimer's Research

A 70-year old grandfather has successfully rowed a boat unassisted across the entire Atlantic Ocean—and he did it for others.

As part of a challenge to raise money for research on Alzheimer’s treatments, Frank Rothwell dedicated the extreme feat to his brother-in-law Roger, who succumbed to the disease during Frank’s crossing.

A little more than £1 million ($1.39 million) was raised by almost 10,000 different donors, including a doubling of the first £500,000 ($695,000) from Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation.

Requiring 18 months of hard training, the entire row took eight grueling weeks for Rothwell to travel from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12 to the finish line 3,000 miles away in Antigua on February 6.

“I like a challenge!” explains Frank on his fundraising site. “In 2017, I spent five weeks on a deserted island for the Channel 4 program, The Island with Bear Grylls. Before that I was only the 10^th person to ever circumnavigate North and South America.”

In a statement, Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “We’re honored to have such amazing support from Frank. His courage and determination helped him to complete his epic challenge and raise £1 million for dementia research.”

“This incredible amount will be a huge benefit to the groundbreaking research we carry out here at Alzheimer’s Research UK, as we continue our mission to bring about life-changing treatments for people affected by dementia.”

MORE: Footage Captures the Moment a Skydiver Leaps From Plane Sitting in an Inflatable Water Raft

Crossing the finish line was a euphoric and emotional moment for Rothwell. He said: “I am on cloud nine! I set out in December wishing to raise £1 million for Alzheimer’s Research UK but I never thought I’d actually achieve it. The challenge was incredibly tough at times, with rough seas, huge waves, and missing my wife, Judith. But as exhausting as it was, it was all totally worth it.”

CHECK OUT: Greek Athlete Carries Disabled Woman Up Mount Olympus, Fulfilling Her Lifelong Dream

“Having received hundreds of messages from people who, like me, have witnessed the heartbreak of dementia, I am proud to have raised such an incredible amount in honor of Roger, and everyone else who has experienced the devastation it causes.”

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400 Years After Being Wiped Out by Hunters Britain’s Wild Cranes Make a  Comeback

By

Andy Corbley

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Feb 15, 2021

Common crane CC license Wikimedia Commons Вых Пыхманн (1) — Вых Пыхманн, CC license

Extinct for more than 400 years, common cranes are finding homes in the UK’s wetlands and waterways once again.

Because of conservation efforts that began in 1979, the common crane (not seen since the 1600s) now numbers almost 200 individuals in the country, with more than 60 breeding pairs.

“It is always great to get the opportunity to celebrate a real conservation success story and UK cranes is one of these,” said Andrew Stanbury, a Conservation Scientist at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Organizations like the RSPB and the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust (WWT) have formed The Great Crane Project, aimed at a massive translocation of birds from Germany into breeding sites in UK wetlands.

Famous for their loud and joyous courtship displays, the common crane, or Eurasian crane, was driven to extinction in the UK through hunting and wetland loss.

There’s a new attitude about wetlands, however, and conservation groups and governments the world over are implementing stringent protections on the special ecosystems that are more biodiverse and hold more carbon than forests.

The Great Crane Success

Between 2010 and 2014, the project saw 93 birds transported into southwest England. The latest survey results recorded 64 breeding pairs across the UK in 2020, inside the nests of which squawked 23 chicks.

MORE: Everyone in England is Planting Wildflower Meadows After Prince Charles Replants 60 of Them to Honor Queen

In 2018, the WWT estimated that the current rate of reproduction would see cranes reach 275 breeding pairs within the next 50 years.

Unidentified cranes, once a rarity in the Somerset Moors breeding site, now regularly arrive, and even mate with the resident birds with tracking rings around their legs. Scientists have no idea if these foreigners are from the Scottish population or the continent, or if they are Somerset cranes that migrated and returned. Since a generation has now been reared without ring tags, it’s impossible to tell.

It’s a sign that genetic diversity is flowing through the new UK cranes, ensuring they remain healthy and resistant to disease and genetic defects—both major challenges in the population restoration of any species.

The next challenge is to ensure there is enough suitable wetland available for them to breed safely. Conservationists are looking to restore whole landscapes, so that areas of habitat are bigger, better, and connected—benefitting cranes and other species.

CHECK OUT: UK Debuts Geothermal Plant Using Heat From the Earth to Power 10,000 Homes

“Thanks to a successful conservation partnership,” boasts Stanbury in a media release, “we are welcoming a charismatic species back in our countryside following a 400-year absence.”

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Company Develops ‘Sound Beaming’ to Enable Digital Listening in Your Own Sound Bubble – A Cone of Near-Silence

By

Andy Corbley

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Feb 15, 2021

headphones soundbeamer released noveto — Noveto

An Israeli tech startup has developed a speaker system that creates a “sound bubble”—essentially meaning you get all the privacy of headphones without the physical requirement of wearing them.

The truly sci-fi tech uses ultrasonic waves beamed into pockets next to your ears. The aptly named “SoundBeaming” technology means you hear the noise coming from behind, below, and around you, while others nothing at all.

If you’re still not clear about what Noveto’s product does, even CEO Christophe Ramstein finds it hard to put the concept into words. “The brain doesn’t understand what it doesn’t know,” he said in a statement.

“I was thinking… is [SoundBeaming] the same with headphones?’ No, because I… have the freedom of doing what I want to do. And I have these sounds playing in my head as there would be something happening here, which is difficult to explain because we have no reference for that,” he said.

The applications of this product are nearly endless, from being able to listen in on conference calls and other work-related audio without disturbing your neighbors, to removing the risk of losing, tripping on the cord of, or damaging, expensive audio headsets or earbuds.

3D facial mapping software continuously keeps track of where your head and ears are, and the speakers actually adjust where they must beam the soundwaves. This means that for those not remaining in a fixed position, for instance on exercise bikes, at L-shaped desks, or in the kitchen—the sound still follows you wherever you go.

MORE: Researchers Are Testing Smart Headphones That Could Warn Pedestrians of Impending Dangers

However, unlike headphones, the sounds of your environment can still be heard. If someone calls your name from another room, it’s clearly audible.

“Most people just say, ‘Wow, I really don’t believe it,’” SoundBeamer Product Manager Ayana Wallwater said from the Noveto offices in Tel Aviv.

“This is what we dream of,” she added “A world where we get the sound you want. You don’t need to disturb others and others don’t get disturbed by your sound. But you can still interact with them.”SHARE: Startup Turns 32 Million Discarded Chopsticks Into Gorgeous Decor And Furniture

Noveto’s speaker system, though already launched, isn’t available now, but the company plans on releasing a smaller version by Christmas 2021.

(WATCH the video showing the technology in action below.)

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“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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Feb 15, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell

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?

From City to Countryside, Study Suggests Wisdom Can Protect Against Loneliness

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Good News Network

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Feb 14, 2021

Senior does hula-hand-Lauri-Qwilt-submitted — Photo submitted by Lauri Qwilt

Over the last few decades, there has been growing concern about loneliness across all ages, particularly in middle-aged and older adults, but a new study suggests one type of intervention that wouldn’t involve relying on other people.

Feeling isolated or not having an adequate number of meaningful personal connections, is consistently associated with major risk factors for overall health, and there are now many efforts worldwide to address it.

In a recent cross-cultural study, researchers in California and Italy teamed up and found that there was a significant correlation between wisdom and not being lonely.

“People with higher scores on a measure of wisdom were less lonely and vice versa,” said Dilip Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Moreover, the study examined middle-aged and older adults in both an urban environment, San Diego, California, and a rural one, in Cilento, Italy.

“Loneliness was consistently associated with poor general health, worse quality of sleep and less happiness, whereas the reverse was generally true for wisdom,” said Dr. Jeste, the lead investigator of the team, which involved the University of Rome La Sapienza.

Using the UCLA Loneliness Scale and San Diego Wisdom Scale, the researchers examined four groups: adults age 50 to 65 and those older than age 90 in each location.

LOOK: ‘Raves’ for Seniors Fight Loneliness With Partying

Wisdom has several components, such as empathy, compassion, self-reflection and emotional regulation. Researchers found that empathy and compassion had the strongest inverse correlation with loneliness. People who were more compassionate were less lonely.

“It is remarkable that the findings related to these two traits were largely similar in two markedly different cultures — a rural region of southern Italy and an urban/suburban county in the United States, both with different native languages and unique historical, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Salvatore Di Somma, MD, PhD, lead Italian investigator and professor of emergency medicine at U. Rome La Sapienza.

The Cilento region in southwestern Italy is a relatively isolated, rural area believed to have a high concentration of individuals older than age 90. The present study was born out of the Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes (CIAO) study launched in 2016.

“Both loneliness and wisdom are personality traits. Most personality traits are partially inherited and partially determined by environment,” said Jeste.

“If we can increase someone’s compassion, wisdom is likely to go up and loneliness is likely to go down,” said David Brenner, MD, vice chancellor of UC San Diego Health Sciences. “At UC San Diego, we have considerable interest in enhancing empathy and compassion to reduce levels of stress and improve happiness and well-being.”

Jeste said studies that examine how to decrease loneliness as people age will be critical for effective interventions and the future of health care.

“Routine assessment of loneliness with evidence-based, compassion-focused interventions for prevention and management of loneliness should become an integral part of clinical practice. So how do you increase compassion? Utilizing approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy or writing in a gratitude diary can help someone become more compassionate,” he said.

The study was published in the October 1, 2020 edition of Aging and Mental Health.

Jeste noted the next step will be to test an intervention to increase compassion for reducing loneliness.

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Wisconsin Chick-fil-A Worker Who Won a Car in Company Raffle Gives it to Co-worker Who Bikes to Work

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Good News Network

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Feb 14, 2021

She had only worked at the restaurant for five months, yet her co-workers had become like a “second family” for this 17-year-old.

And, when Haley Bridges won a new car in the Christmas raffle organized for Appleton, Wisconsin Chick-fil-A employees, she knew just what she would do.

She gave away the car to her new ‘sister,’ who had been cycling to work in frigid Wisconsin weather.

Yup. 19-year-old Hokule’a Taniguchi, from Honolulu, was commuting to the Grand Chute restaurant using only two wheels.

“I was biking here every morning, so it was a little rough,” the 19-year-old told
WLUK News. “Because I’m from Hawaii, I was like, ‘It’s kinda cold!’”

At the Christmas party, when the name of the winner was plucked out of the bag, and Taniguchi heard, ‘Haley Bridges,’ she knew what was going to happen.

Haley had vowed to hand over the car if she won.

“I really just started crying, because I was so happy,” said Taniguchi. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! I can’t believe this is real!’”

“Now I can go grocery shopping,” Taniguchi beamed. She can also leave five minutes before her shift starts, instead of spending two hours pedaling.

This is what happens when you have one, big happy family at work.

WATCH the video below…

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Inspiring Valentine’s Day Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Good News Network

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Feb 14, 2021

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

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning February 12, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
I’ve adopted some lines from poet Walt Whitman for you to use in composing a love note. Send it to a person you know and love, or to a person you want to know and love, or a person you will know and love in the future. Here it is: “We are oaks growing in the openings side by side. We are two fishes swimming together. We are two predatory hawks, soaring above and looking down. We are two clouds driving overhead. We are seas mingling, two cheerful waves rolling over each other. We are snow, rain, cold, darkness. We circle and circle till arriving home again, voiding all but freedom and our own joy.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
“To heal is to touch with love that which was previously touched by fear,” wrote author Stephen Levine. I propose you make this theme a keynote for your best relationships in the coming days. What can you do to alleviate the anxiety and agitation of the people you care for? How might they do the same for you? If you play along with the cosmic rhythms, you will have extraordinary power to chase away fear with love.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Author Anton Chekhov made a radical proposal: ”Perhaps the feelings we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows people who they should be.” In accordance with astrological potentials, my beloved Aries darling, I invite you to act as if Chekhov’s proposal were absolutely true for at least the next two weeks. Be animated by a generous lust for life. Assume that your intelligence will reach a peak as you express excited kindness and affectionate compassion. Be a fount of fond feelings and cheerful empathy and nourishing ardor.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau told the following story about Taurus composer Erik Satie (1866–1925). When Satie died, his old friends, many of whom were highly accomplished people, came to visit his apartment. There they discovered that all the letters they had sent him over the years were unopened. Satie had never read them! How sad that he missed out on all that lively exchange. I beg you not to do anything that even remotely resembles such a lack of receptivity during the coming weeks, Taurus. In fact, please do just the opposite: Make yourself as open as possible to engagement and influence. I understand that the pandemic somewhat limits your social interactions. Just do the best you can.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
On behalf of the cosmic omens, I demand that the important people in your life be reliable and generous toward you in the coming weeks. You can tell them I said so. Tell them that you are doing pretty well, but that in order to transform pretty well into very well, you need them to boost their support and encouragement. Read them the following words from author Alan Cohen: “Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
For a while, poet Alfred de Musset (1810–1857) was the sexual partner of Cancerian novelist George Sand (1804–1876), also known as Aurore Dupin. He said that after intense love-making sessions, he would fall asleep and wake up to find her sitting at her desk, engrossed in working on her next book. Maybe the erotic exchange inspired her creativity? In accordance with current astrological potentials, I recommend Sand’s approach to you. Vigorous pleasure will coordinate well with hard work. As will deep release with strong focus. As will tender intimacy with clear thinking. (PS: I know your options for pleasure and intimacy may be somewhat limited because of the pandemic. Call on your ingenuity and resourcefulness to work the best magic possible.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
Leo poet Warsan Shire suggests, “Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself—what you’re wearing, who you’re around, what you’re doing. Recreate and repeat.” This would be an excellent exercise for you to carry out during this Valentine season. You’re in a phase when you’re likely to enhance your lovability and attract extra support simply by intensifying and refining the affectionate compassion you feel and express toward yourself.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
I wish the pandemic would give us a short break so we could celebrate the Valentine season with maximum sensual revelry and extravagant displays of joyful tenderness. I wish we could rip off our masks and forget about social-distancing and hug and kiss everyone who wants to be hugged and kissed. But that’s not going to happen. If we hope to be free to indulge in a Lush Love and Lust Festival by Valentine Season in 2022, we’ve got to be cautious and controlled now. And we are all counting on you Virgos to show us how to be as wildly, lyrically romantic as possible while still observing the necessary limitations. That’s your special task.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Author Raymond Carver wrote, “It ought to make us feel ashamed when we talk like we know what we’re talking about when we talk about love.” That seems like a harsh oversimplification to me. Personally, I think it’s fun and interesting to pretend we know what we’re talking about when we talk about love. And I think that will be especially true for you in the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, you should be discussing love extensively and boldly and imaginatively. You should redefine what love means to you. You should re-evaluate how you express it and reconfigure the way it works in your life.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I’m turning over this horoscope to psychologist John Welwood. His words are the medicine you need at this juncture in the evolution of intimacy. Study the following quote and interpret it in ways that help illuminate your relationship with togetherness: “A soul connection is a resonance between two people who respond to the essential beauty of each other’s individual natures, behind their facades, and who connect on this deeper level. This kind of mutual recognition provides the catalyst for a potent alchemy. It is a sacred alliance whose purpose is to help both partners discover and realize their deepest potentials.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Transform yourself with the sweetest challenge you can dream up. Give yourself a blessing that will compel you to get smarter and wilder. Dazzle yourself as you dare to graduate from your history. Rile yourself up with a push to become your better self, your best self, your amazingly fulfilled and masterful self. Ask yourself to leap over the threshold of ordinary magic and into the realm of spooky good magic. And if all that works out well, Sagittarius, direct similar energy toward someone you care about. In other words, transform them with the sweetest challenge you can dream up. Dare them to graduate from their history. And so on.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
I invite you to compose a message to a person you’d like to be closer to and whom you’re sure would like to be closer to you. Be inspired by what poet Clementine von Radics wrote to the man she was dating, telling him why she thought they could start living together. Here’s her note: “Because you texted me a haiku about the moon when you were drunk. Because you cried at the end of the movie Die Hard on Christmas eve. Because when I’m sick you bring me fruit, kiss me on the mouth, and hold me even though I’m gross. Because you bring me flowers for no reason but on Valentine’s Day you gave me a bouquet of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Because every time I show you a poem I love you’ve read it already.”

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

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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