After Losing My Dog, Neighbors on Nextdoor Loaned Me Their Own Pups to Grieve

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Jan 30, 2021

GreatGreenWallDotOrg released — GreatGeenWall.org

Efforts to finish the Great Green Wall in Africa, which has been halting the desertification of villages near the Sahara, received a multi-billion dollar boost this month—and nations are saying, ‘Merci!’

Following the ‘One Planet Summit for Biodiversity’, held virtually in Paris on January 11, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that $14 Billion was pledged for additional funding over the next ten years.

This financial support will “fast track” the Great Green Wall efforts to restore degraded land, create green jobs, and protect biodiversity in the Sahel and Sahara region, according to the United Nations, which helped organize the Summit.

Among the financiers are the Government of France, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank.

Planting a massive wall of trees across the continent, to span 5,000 miles (8000 kilometers), the Great Green Wall is not only holding back the desert, it is holding back poverty, as well.

Launched in 2007, the African-led initiative originally involved 11 countries, planting and caring for trees that provide an eco-barrier along the southern margin of the Sahara Desert running from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea.

The region was once a lush oasis of greenery and foliage back in the 1970s, but the combined forces of population growth, unsustainable land management, and climate change turned the area into a barren and degraded swath of land.

By 2019, the initiative had recruited at least nine additional countries to plant drought-resistant acacia trees across the entire width of the continent. By that time, the wall was only 15% percent complete, but had already dramatically impacted the participating countries: Over 12 million acres (5m-hectares) of degraded land had been restored in Nigeria; 30 million acres of drought-resistant trees had been planted across Senegal; and a whopping 37 million acres of land had been restored in Ethiopia, just to name a few of the states involved.

The new funding provides 30% of the development money needed to complete the project by the year 2030.

CHECK OUT: 14 Years Ago the Amazon Was Being Bulldozed for Soy – Then Everything Changed Here As Corporations Joined Activists

“The Great Green Wall is an inspiring example of ecosystem restoration in action,” said Susan Gardner, Director of UN Environment Programme’s Ecosystems Division. “It is rapidly becoming a green growth corridor that is bringing investment, boosting food security, creating jobs, and sowing the seeds of peace.”

Mohamed Cheikh El-Ghazouani, President of Mauritania and current chair of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, cheered the news.

“The mobilization of this additional funding through an innovative approach will certainly contribute to the achievement of the Great Green Wall goals, which aim by 2030, at the restoration of 100 million hectares [42,400 square-miles] of degraded land and the creation of 10 million green jobs,” said Ghazouani.

LOOK: NASA Uses Supercomputers and AI to Count Earth’s Trees From Space for the First Time

The approach, using a ‘Great Green Wall Accelerator’ to raise the funds, was responding to new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has strained resources in Africa.

“In a post-COVID context where Sahelian countries are struggling with budgets and funding, this accelerator will help meet financial requirements and turbo charge the achievement of its goals,” notes the UN in a statement.

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“Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Quote of the Day

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Jan 30, 2021

Quote of the Day: “Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Photo by: nirmal rajendharkumar

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?

This Sassy Iguana Thinks He’s a Supermodel Posing at the Beach – Video

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Jan 29, 2021

This is the amusing moment a yellow pet iguana sunbathed on a window sill—looking for all the world like a bikini model posing on the beach.

The mango-colored reptile laid on its side, flaunting its stomach while its owner watched in amusement in Thailand’s Chonburi province this January.

It was even resting on one of its webbed-hands. Its position? Well, it looks straight out of the pages of Sports Illustrated: The Swimsuit Issue.

Reptile lover Chaiwat Daenglrachang said, “My iguana Mhontong was relaxing under the warm sunlight just like other pet iguanas I have. However, I’ve never seen any of them lay on its side as this one did.”

We’ve never seen such sassy behavior from a lizard either. Does he remind you of anyone?

(WATCH Mhontong in his glamorous video ‘shoot’ below.)

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

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MORE: Gospel Singer’s Hilarious Song About Quarantine Snacking Goes Viral: ‘The Fridge Again!’

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Jan 29, 2021

tiktok nathan evans instagram sea shanty illustration public domain — Nathan Evans/Instagram

Hot off the presses from the ‘Isn’t It Ironic?’ department comes this story of a seasick postman who’s about to get his 15 minutes of fame (and likely a whole lot more) by singing—what else?—sea shanties.

For those not familiar with the jaunty ditties, sea shanties, dating back some 600 years, are folk songs first sung by fishermen, whalers, pirates, merchants, privateers, and pretty much anyone who earned their keep sailing the seven seas.

The tunes feature a steady beat to keep time, and in the days when maritime trade was the king, were crooned in unison by ships’ crews as they toiled at their labors.

Likely or not, in 2021, sea shanties have become all the rage on TikTok, and the man we have to thank for the trend is a 26-year-old Scottish postman named Nathan Evans.

Evans, who has a powerful and pleasing singing voice, has been posting TikTok music videos for some time. His first sea shanty went up last June at a fan’s request.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NathanEvanss (@nathanevanss.ig)

After hauling in a leviathan’s worth of followers, Evans recorded his second shanty, ‘The Wellerman’, last December—to the tune of 7.5 million views.

@nathanevanss
The Wellerman. #seashanty #sea #shanty #viral #singing #acoustic #pirate #new #original #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #singer #scottishsinger #scottish
♬ original sound - N A T H A N E V A N S S

As in days of yore, he soon had scores of Internet shipmates singing as well as playing along, including none other than legendary music composer and impresario, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Evans’ rendition of ‘The Wellerman’ proved so popular, he decided to quit his day job to pursue a career in music.

“It all started getting hectic,” Evans said in a January 21 interview with I News UK. “I was getting emails about interviews and radio, and it kept rolling on. [Last] Friday I was like, ‘Right, I need to make a change here’, because I was too busy on my phone looking at emails and trying to post letters. I was like, ‘This is not sustainable’.”

While Evans is hopeful the tides of destiny will steer him toward fame and fortune, the mail carrier remains pragmatic about his prospects.

“The future will be quite bright, I hope. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it’s never going to come around again,” Evans said. “Hopefully if nothing comes of it then I can go back and continue being a postman, but I thought at the minute I’ll seize it and see what happens.”

CHECK OUT: Idaho Potato Worker Becomes Internet Sensation and Sends Fleetwood Mac Sales Soaring With ‘Dreamy’ Video

As high as Evans’ star may rise, just don’t look for him to do any of his warbling aboard a cruise ship once the pandemic has ended. Even the motion of the ocean from something as tame as a ferryboat ride is enough to make him ill.

Aye, ’tis never easy,
When the singer is queasy…
When he’s a singing o’ the sea!

Check out the knockout collaborative version below.

The biggest compilation I’ve seen so far of the Wellerman sea shanty. It’s chefs kiss! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/NwEwHsR6SK
— Etel Sverdlov (@etelsverdlov) January 11, 2021

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This Wood Grown in a Lab Could Cut Deforestation, With Furniture Made From Plant Cells

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MORE: This Non-Profit is Hard at Work Designing New Forests to Cure California’s Wildfire Curse

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Jan 29, 2021

wood design modern public domain aaron-burson — Aaron Burson

As if lab-grown meat wasn’t a head turner, a group of scientists at MIT are plotting lab-grown wooden furniture.

The two projects are nearly identical, made by cultivating cells to divide and multiply into forms outside of their parent phylum, and the proof-of-concept study is a powerful first step towards finding alternatives to forestry.

According to Velásquez-García and team, using a leaf from a zinnia, they were able to grow plant like tissues selectively, free from unnecessary organs. The researchers described in their corresponding paper how plant cells respond well to “tunability,” and that the scalable, land-free cultivation of plant material like wood for use in furniture making, for example, is very possible—and even easier than what other scientists are doing with cell-cultured meat, the correct jargon for “lab-grown meat.”

“Despite considerable and early resource investment, (imagine the cost of buying, fueling, and operating logging trucks and roads alone) only a small fraction of the cultivated crop may be economically valuable at harvest,” write the authors in their paper, noting also that for the production of some natural fibers, as little as 2% to 4% of the harvested plant matter will be used.

Freshly-grown furniture

The strategy for cell-cultured trees, grown in the shape of a table or a rectangular board, is easier to scale, and could become cost-effective much faster than cell-cultured meat—as plants are simply easier to grow in this way.

Speaking with Fast Company, Ashley Beckwith, an engineering Ph.D. student and co-author of the paper, explains the inefficiencies of relying on forested trees for lumber production.

“Trees grow in tall cylindrical poles, and we rarely use tall cylindrical poles in industrial applications,” she says. “So you end up shaving off a bunch of material that you spent 20 years growing and that ends up being a waste product.”

What if instead you could spend that 20 years growing only furniture or clothing applicable fibers and shapes? Well the scientists haven’t yet grown a table from a petri dish, but their work is an important proof-of-concept that if widely adopted could lead to huge reductions in CO2 emissions from a number of sources.

CHECK OUT: Formerly Vacant Lot in Milan Wins ‘Reinventing Cities’ Contest With Vineyard Atop Building With Public Sidewalk

These could include fueling and driving heavy, low-range cargo trucks up logging roads at low speeds, as well as fueling and manufacturing the vehicles to construct the logging roads, and the manufacturing plants that make both, as well as the vehicles to transport that equipment there.

Then one must think of deforestation, a major contributor of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, as carbon that would otherwise be released through the Earth’s 1,000-year carbon cycle naturally is ripped from the ground as the trees are felled. Tree plantations could be left to age more naturally, retuning more of the carbon cycle into a natural state while attracting more wildlife in return.

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Billionaire Mark Cuban’s New Drug Company is Producing Low-Cost Generic Drugs Cutting 90% of the Markup

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READ: In World First, AI Develops New Drug, Cuts R&D Costs By 80%, Moving it to Trials For OCD Patients in 1/5 the Time

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Jan 29, 2021

pills public domain mark cuban cc license Gage Skidmore — Mark Cuban by Gage Skidmore, CC license

After Dr. Alex Oshymansky started a public-benefit company to combat the exploding prices of certain prescription drugs, he attracted a new partner—Shark Tank billionaire investor Mark Cuban.

The Dallas, Texas radiologist started in 2015 with Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals and a million dollars in investment capital. Four years later, the new partnership was moving forward under the name Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Co, and donating medicine to those in need.

For years, a mixture of FDA demands for approval, and drug company greed which created soaring prices for drugs had begun making Cuban “bleeping mad.”

Now under Cuban’s brand name, the private-label arrangement allows Oshymansky to buy from third party suppliers, take care of the labeling and branding laws himself, and sell it at a serious discount with just a 15% mark-up for the business expenses.

This method allowed the pair to lower the cost of an anti-parasitic medication called albendazole from its normal U.S. price range of $225-$500, down to just 20 bucks.

This proved especially valuable for Baylor College of Medicine, who needed thousands of doses of albendazole to complete a study they were doing on U.S. hookworm infections in the South.

Curing hookworm across the south

“The Germ of the South,” was a catch-all term that characterized a curious lethargy and haziness of the brain, distended bellies, and emaciated shoulder blades, found across the Deep South during the 20th century. Even today, American hookworm infects large numbers of people, particularly children, due to poor sanitation and poverty.

One study done in Lowndes County, Alabama of 24 homes found that 34% of stool samples contained the parasite, which is killed rather quickly by albendazole.

Cuban and Oshymansky donated the first 10,000 doses of the company’s albendazole supply to Baylor and the author of the study, Dr. Rojelio Mejia, so that volunteers from Alabama to New York who test positive for hookworm could immediately purge the parasite from their bodies.

Other drug companies estimated that the number of doses which the two entrepreneurs donated would have cost $2 million—which would have kept the research from being conducted.

“We found it deeply troubling that albendazole is extremely expensive in the United States, and are happy to be able to manufacture it for free for this research and provide it at significantly decreased prices to the rest of the U.S. market,” said Dr. Oshmyansky.

An affordable free-market future

Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs is aiming for 100 new drug offerings by the end of 2021, all with “no hidden costs, no middlemen, (and) no rebates only available to insurance companies,” the company website says. They want to be “radically transparent” about how much the drug costs to formulate and how much pharmacies will be charged to sell it.

They’re also in the process of constructing their own brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Dallas where they hope to earn a profit on non-pharmaceutical items that can fund the lower cost formulations and offer drugs for rare diseases directly to patients or through outpatient facilities.

As helpful as this will be for American consumers and patients, it could also drive drug companies out of business if they over-charge their customers in the extreme. It’s a dose of free market competition in a nation where millions are crying out for alternatives.

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Miami Team Able to Bring Basketball Fans Back to Arena With the Help of COVID-Sniffing Dogs

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MORE: Teens Launch Hotline for Isolated Seniors to Listen to Pre-Recorded Jokes, Stories, and Messages of Hope

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Jan 29, 2021

Miami Heat Basketball David Fizdale CC license;dog pubilc domain Jamie Street — Miami Heat, David Fizdale, CC license/Dog by Jamie Street

With the help of some truly potent pooches, the Miami Heat will be able to allow some ticket holders in to watch their games provided they get the A-okay from a team of COVID-19 sniffing dogs.

Miami Heat, David Fizdale, CC license/Dog by Jamie Street

Several countries have already trained dogs to sniff out COVID-19, and the combination of masks, socially distanced seating maps, and the canines, mean around 2,000 lucky fans get to cheer on their home team next week.

In April, Good News Network reported on the progress of a British medical charity that had successfully trained dogs to smell the infamous virus, while ESPN reports claim the success rate of the Heat’s sniffers are around 94%

It’s not a perfect detection rate, so the Heat staff are augmenting the COVID-19 prevention measures with temp checks, mask wearing, cashless-only transactions, isolated seating patterns, and reduced food and beverage sales. If people are allergic or afraid of dogs, the Heat are even offering rapid antigen tests which they say will produce results in 45 minutes.

“If you think about it, detection dogs are not new,” Matthew Jafarian, the Heat’s executive vice president for business strategy, told ESPN. “You’ve seen them in airports, they’ve been used in mission-critical situations by the police and the military. We’ve used them at the arena for years to detect explosives.”

Indeed, dogs have been trained to detect everything from bombs and narcotics to cancers, low-blood sugar, and even depression. Viral diseases like malaria and COVID have also been trained.

The first game will be at home against the LA Clippers, while Monday is the first game when season ticket holders will be allowed to claim their seats, when the arena will be at a little less than 10% capacity.

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“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.” – Anne Frank

Quote of the Day

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Jan 29, 2021

Quote of the Day: “What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.” – Anne Frank

Photo by: marco barsotti

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?

Mexico City With 9 Million People, Joins China By Enacting New Ban on Single-use Plastics and Straws in 2021

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Jan 28, 2021

Mexico City street food public domain daniel-lerman — Daniel Lerman

In Mexico City, after more than a year of behind-the-scenes work, a ban on single-use containers, cutlery, straws, cups, stirrers and other popular but disposable items has come into effect.

Mexico City’s environmental secretary explained on Twitter that the capital will now be a place “without single-use plastics,” and urged citizens to think of reusable containers as something they never leave the home without—just like they might do with cell phones.

Lawmakers in the city actually passed the single-use plastics ban in 2019: a year in which the city was producing 13,000 tons of garbage a day, according to Mexico City’s environmental agency.

CHECK OUT: Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Valuable Commodities, to Create a Bigger Market for Waste Materials

The city, which has a population of around 9 million, saw the ban on single-use plastic bags come into effect last year.

Since then, business owners have been preparing for the ban on other day-to-day disposable items.

Coronavirus guidelines notwithstanding, tortillas at street stalls should now be wrapped in the paper that a buyer has—hopefully—remembered to bring with them.

The Mexican capital isn’t the only populous place to enact such a ban in recent months. China is also aiming to reduce plastic pollution by moving towards using biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastic straws and bags.

SHARE This Positive Trend in Plastic Waste With Pals on Social Media…

Community Pulls Together to Restore House so 94-Year-old WWII Vet Can Go Home

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MORE: High School Football Team Swoops in After Derecho Leaves Paralyzed Man’s Yard in Chaos – WATCH

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Jan 28, 2021

vets smiling outside house Military Order of the Purple Heart, San Antonio 1836 facebook — Military Order of the Purple Heart, San Antonio 1836/Facebook

Alfred Guerra never faltered when it came to proudly serving his country in World War II. Now, in his time of need, his community is stepping up to proudly serve the war hero.

Military Order of the Purple Heart, San Antonio 1836/Facebook

His family tried to keep up with the repair and maintenance on the old house, but it became uninhabitable after his son, who had torn out much of the interior during the remodel, suddenly passed away from cancer.

Hoping to harness the power of social media, his daughter, Maria, reached out via Facebook to ask for help. It wasn’t long before a variety of veterans groups heard about the man who had earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for acts of bravery in the Philippines.

First to answer the call was the Military Order of the Purple Heart, followed soon after by Broken Warriors’ Angels, a local nonprofit serving San Antonio veterans and their families, along with the VFW Post 76, and the city’s Department of Human Services and Department of Military Affairs..

“As combat warriors, we leave nobody behind. And as veterans, we leave no veteran behind,” Tony Roman, of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, told KSAT-News.

Mr. Guerra had moved in with Maria and was thrilled that the repairs underway once again—but then the COVID-19 lockdown put the project on hold.

Thankfully, this month, the hammers, saws, and nail guns, were singing once again. Veteran volunteers who had served in three foreign conflicts—Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam—arrived on the scene and worked as a team to gut the home’s interior and prep it for the next phase of the home makeover. (Watch the inspiring video below…)

CHECK OUT: Community Gives New Car to Maui Security Guard Who Rode His Bike to Stranger’s Door to Return Lost Wallet

A new roof had been donated by the SRS Raise the Roof Foundation, and the electrical and plumbing systems are on their way to being updated.

One thing lacking is an HVAC system. The family is hoping for another guardian angel to come through there as well. In the meantime, they’ve set up a GoFundMe page with a modest $5,000 goal to help finance further much-needed fixes.

It may take another month or so to complete the project but more than anything else, Guerra yearns to move back into his home. He longs to tend the roses he named in honor of his wife, Emma, in their garden. He’s so eager in fact, he told his family he’d live there in a tent.

While she appreciates his determination, Maria’s not letting him go anywhere just yet, but that’s all right, too.

“As long as I’m with my family,” Guerra added. “I’m always happy.”

(WATCH the video from KSAT-12 of the veteran crew at work below.)

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Bernie Sanders Memes And Mittens Have Now Raised Over $1.8 Million for Charity

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Jan 28, 2021

Bernie Sanders cut-out by artist Mike Bennett-swns — Life-sized cutout by Portland artist Mike Bennett – SWNS

The weather for President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony was blustery, with snow flurries and a wind chill making the temperature drop to near-freezing. But, never let it be said that a Vermonter like Senator Bernie Sanders doesn’t know how to dress for winter weather.

Along with Amanda Gorman’s stirring poem, Senator Sanders’ now-iconic mittens was one of the highlights of the day. Within 24 hours, the casual look had launched more memes than anyone could count and, like Elf on the Shelf, it was pretty much everywhere.

Bernie’s hunkered-down image—captured by the decorated photographer Brendan Smialowski—was soon Photoshopped into classic paintings like Edward Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks’ and Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’. He’s been inserted into contemporary pop culture with winks and nods to Sex and the City, Twilight, Game of Thrones, and Where’s Waldo? He’s even been swapped into Sharon Stone’s infamous cross-legged hot seat pose from Basic Instinct.

Some of my favorite Bernie Sanders sightings today: pic.twitter.com/Pxta5BO7Uu
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 21, 2021

Apart from injecting some much-needed humor onto our social feeds, Sanders’ sartorial tour-de-force injected some much needed cash into a few charities, thanks to the Senator, himself, who seized the moment.

He quickly added the image to a line of merchandise on his website—with all proceeds benefitting Vermont-based charities, including Meals on Wheels and senior citizen advocacy groups.

The sweatshirts, tees, and stickers sold out in less than 30 minutes. Additional supplies were similarly snapped up faster than you can say ‘Jack Frost.’ In all, Sanders reported raised around $1.8 million in the span of five days.

“We’re glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need,” Sanders said in a statement.

Jen Ellis, the Vermont elementary school teacher responsible for making the world’s most famous mittens from a repurposed sweater reported via social media that Sanders called to let her know “the mitten frenzy” had raised big bucks for a number of worthy causes.

Ellis, who was inundated with requests for the mittens, which she doesn’t have time to make, set up a new philanthropic website called Generosity Brings Joy. She will be collaborating with businesses to design and create “Bernie Mitten Themed” products to benefit charity, hoping the “joyful, high-quality” items make up some of the shortfalls of nonprofits during the pandemic.

CHECK OUT: This Lizard Has His Own Cookbook – and it’s Utterly Adorable

Ellis wasn’t the only Bernie meme fan to use her crafty talents to raise money for charity. Tobey King, a woman from Corpus Christi Texas, put a crocheted Sanders doll she’d conceptualized up for sale on eBay to benefit Meals on Wheels—and raised an amazing amount. Listed at a modest opening price of 99 cents, 167 bids later, the “Bernie Mittens Crochet Doll” sold for a gobsmacking $20,300.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tobey Perales King (@tobeytimecrochet)

Meanwhile, the Portland, Oregon artist Mike Bennett has made a life-size cutout of Bernie in his now iconic pose for a charity auction. Through his creative genius, over $3,000 has been raised in donations for Meals on Wheels.

Life-sized cutout by Portland artist Mike Bennett – SWNS

“This is the lesson life has taught me again and again,” said Jen Ellis, who had gifted the original mittens to Sanders. “If you give of yourself—not just material gifts, but your time, your goodwill, your kindness—you receive joy. It’s that simple. You don’t have to be rich to care; you just have to be human. We all have so many gifts, and the world is a better place when we share them.”

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Porpoises Rebound in a Big Way Following California Ban on Indiscriminate Fishing Nets

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READ: Scientists Finally Manage to Record the Strange Sounds of the ‘Arctic Unicorn’—the Elusive Narwhal

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Jan 28, 2021

Harbor Porpoise CC license Marcus Wernicke Porpoise.org Porpoise Conservation Society (1) — Marcus Wernicke, Porpoise.org, Porpoise-Conservation, Society, CC license

After decades of use, ‘gillnets’ and the fishing strategies that employed them have been banned by California law—and that has provided a boon for seabirds, sharks, and the shy harbor porpoise.

California coastline/ Joseph Plotz, CC license

The years between 1987 and 2002 saw many gillnet bans enacted in counties along the California coast, where dead marine animals would wash up on beaches entangled in nets, causing outrage among locals.

Used literally for thousands of years, the gillnet easily catches fish when the fibers snag on the fishes’ gills, but it is also liable to snare other animals like sharks, otters, and seabirds.

The harbor porpoise, which is actually one of the smallest toothed whales on Earth, is a very secretive animal and difficult for marine biologists to count—but there’s been such a marked increase that the success is obvious.

Karin Forney, a marine biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been studying them for three decades.

“They’re capable of recovering,” Forney told the LA Times. “They have a resilience and they will rebound if we just let them.”

MORE: A Fisherman Has a Decade-Long Friendship With a Blind Seal Who Follows Him Each Day

Rebounding could almost be considered an understatement. Since bans were introduced, harbor porpoise populations have added around 8,200 new members—in Monterrey Bay, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, and the San Francisco and Russian River systems

Marcus Wernicke, Porpoise.org, Porpoise-Conservation, Society, CC license

It’s a significant triumph for the under-the-radar sea mammal, which in Morro Bay alone grew from 570 individuals in 1990 to over 4,000 by 2012.

CHECK OUT: Britain Helps World’s Most Remote Inhabited Islands to Establish Biggest Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic

Another species that will have benefited from the gillnet ban is great white sharks, which used to be caught by all manner of nets. Since the Marine Resources Protection Act of 1990, which was implemented in 1994 and banned drift and set gillnets, very few great white sharks have been incidentally caught.

That’s great news because, with the sharks being relatively unknown to science, the fewer members of the species that perish accidentally the better, since it is difficult to ascertain population levels.

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Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be the Largest Animal That Ever Walked the Earth

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MORE: Map Lets You See How Your Hometown has Moved Across 750 Million Years of Continental Drift

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Jan 28, 2021

Paleontologist excavating in Argentina released CTyS-UNLaM Science Outreach Agency (1) — CTyS-UNLaM Science Outreach Agency

A discovery nine years in the making may have yielded the largest land animal in our planet’s history.

The bones, found in 2012 in Argentina, consisted of 24 humongous tail vertebrae as well as parts of the pectoral girdle and pelvis which indicate they could be a new member of the species titanosauria, a group of sauropod dinosaurs that just wouldn’t stop growing.

60-20 million years before a meteor ended their reign, gigantic dinosaurs were really hitting their stride. In the landmass which formed modern-day South America, titanosauria were reaching heights and lengths never before or since seen on Earth, as members such as Patagontitan, named after Patagonia where it was found, could reach up to 76 tons and grow to 122 feet from nose to tail.

Now a titanosaur from 98 million years ago, unearthed in the Candeleros Formation in Argentina’s Neuquén Province, is threatening to take the crown of biggest sauropod dinosaur ever found.

“It is a huge dinosaur, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so we’ll have the possibility to address with confidence how really big it was,” Alejandro Otero, a paleontologist with Argentina’s Museo de La Plata, told CNN via email.

Load-bearing bones such as the femur or humerus would really help to shed light on just how big this plant-eating monster was, but while scientists are normally reserved in their writings, the corresponding study of the discovery reads that it “probably exceeds Patagotitan in size.”

The other titanosaur from the Candeleros Formation is Andesaurus, which is only a small-fry by comparison with the new discovery, reaching a mere 49-59 feet long. It is helpful though, for the scientists to be able to say for sure that during this particular period 98 million years ago, there was more than one titanosaur walking around.

CHECK OUT: World’s Last Known ‘Dinosaur Trees’ Saved From Australian Bushfires Thanks to Determined Firefighters

As large as this new dino may be, it can’t hold a candle to the largest phyla in Earth’s history, which amazingly is still here today with us—the good ole’ blue whale, which can weigh up to 173 tons.

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“True swagger is owning your inner essence. It’s a mindset.” – Aaron Rodgers

Quote of the Day

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Jan 28, 2021

Quote of the Day: “True swagger is owning your inner essence. It’s a mindset.” – Aaron Rodgers

Photo by: Toa Heftiba

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?

Thursday’s ‘Wolf Moon’ Kicks-Off A Year Of Three Supermoons, Including a ‘Blood Moon’

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Jan 27, 2021

Thursday night, look up at the sky just as the sun begins to set—and you’ll see the Moon glowing orange as it rises above the eastern horizon.

As January’s full Moon continues to rise on Thursday evening, that tangerine glow will fade to yellow, then to a white so bright it’ll hurt to look at with the naked eye.

While in 2020 there were 13 full Moons, this year there’ll be 12 in total: including three supermoons—the Full Pink Moon in April, the Full Flower Moon in May, and the Full Strawberry Moon in June.

The Full Flower Moon will actually be a “Total Super Blood Flower Moon Eclipse.” That means, on May 26, if you’re on the west coast you should see the lunar surface turn a deep crimson for around 15 minutes.

January’s Wolf Moon—a name thought to originate among the Algonquin people—isn’t known as such to all cultures. According to NASA, around the world it’s also known as Candles Moon, Thaipusam festival Moon, the Ananda Pagoda Festival Moon, Duruthu Poya, and the Full Moon of Tu B’Shevat.

To new beginnings

To many, a full Moon can be seen as a chance to start afresh—to look back on our choices and make out on a new path.

SEE: Stunning Winners of the Northern Lights Photographer of the Year Competition

If you miss out on seeing the full Moon on Thursday itself? Not to worry. The Moon will actually appear to be full for about three days, from Wednesday morning through early Saturday morning.

(WATCH the Farmer’s Almanac video below to learn more about the Wolf Moon.)

HOWL the News of January’s Wolf Moon Over to Your Friends…

Former White Supremacist Store and Klan Meeting Space is Being Turned Into a Community Center to Promote Healing

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Jan 27, 2021

reverend david kennedy supplied reverend david kennedy (1) — Reverend David Kennedy outside the Echo Theater

One of the surest ways to keep history from repeating itself is to shine a light in its darkest corners, and that’s exactly what this 67-year-old reverend has set out to do in the town of Laurens, South Carolina.

Reverend David Kennedy outside the Echo Theater

In 2019, Rev. David Kennedy and local historian Regan Freeman established the Echo Foundation. Its mission: transforming a symbol of racial inequality into an opportunity for reconciliation and education. Their target: the Echo Theater which, at one time, was a whites-only hall and later a storefront, museum, and recruitment center dedicated to glorifying white supremacy.

“To be a Black person in America, I have too many stories to share that people wouldn’t believe,” Reverend Kennedy, told CNN.

Kennedy was instrumental in the lengthy legal battle that closed The Redneck Shop. His story may seem familiar to you, because part of his saga, the outreach to a former foe, was chronicled in the 2018 film Burden.

John Howard and Michael Burden were co-owners of the Redneck Shop. When Burden broke from the ranks of the KKK, Rev. Kennedy offered sanctuary and spiritual support to him and his family.

After the store was closed by the courts in 2012, rather than destroy its contents, many of the artifacts were saved, to be used as teaching points to engage in meaningful, transformative conversation about racial history.

So far, the Echo Project has raised close to $375,000 toward its goal of restoration and renaissance for the Echo Theater. In addition to the museum, the space will house community classrooms.

“We don’t want to just have a museum to tell this story… we also want to detail what happened here to make sure it never happens again,” Freeman added, “and it is about to become a place for reconciliation, justice, and healing.”

CHECK OUT: Sister Cities in Maine And Tuskegee, Alabama, Heal the Racial Divide Between Their White And Black Towns

If you’d like to donate to the Echo Project, you can head to the GoFundMe page here.

Watch a video about the project below…

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Most Advanced Artificial Heart Approved For Sale in Europe, Raising Hopes for Those Awaiting Transplants

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MORE: New Harvard Study Says That Men Can Avoid Heart Problems By Doing a Certain Amount of Pushups

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Jan 27, 2021

A French firm that has long been testing and refining an artificial heart is ready to begin sale of the device in the second quarter of 2021.

Called the Aeson, the 900-gram device is powered by batteries and relies on sensors and biological materials to detect exactly which function it must perform at any given time.

The firm Carmat has been working on the Aeson for decades in response to rising rates of heart disease in France and across the world, which it estimates claims 26 million lives every year.

Organ donor rates in Europe are not enough to meet demand, and so the Aeson will really come into its own as another option for those on waiting lists for new hearts: helping a European demographic of about 2,000 people, estimates Carmat.

“The idea behind this heart, which was born nearly 30 years ago, was to create a device which would replace heart transplants, a device that works physiologically like a human heart, one that’s pulsating, self-regulated and compatible with blood,” Stéphane Piat, Carmat’s CEO, told Reuters, according to France24.

A second chance

An Aeson will function for several years in patients. It works by attaching biological bits to its mechanical ones, and using batteries and actuator fluid to power the functions of a normal heart.

A small discreet bag would contain a controller with lithium-ion batteries, as well as the fluid container, all weighting less than five kilograms.

One gentleman who received the Aeson in 2015 told reporters at the time that he “never felt so good.”

“I walk, I get up and I bend over 10 to 15 times a day, without any problem. I keep my balance. I’m not bothered. I don’t even think about it,” the 69-year old father of two told the JDD weekly.

Indeed the surgeon even said that the man had resumed riding bikes, and as a black belt judoka, even asked permission to resume martial arts.

CHECK OUT: Flu Shots Significantly Cut Risk of Heart Attack Or Stroke For People Over 50, Says Study of 7 Million Patients

“As part of his rehabilitation, we made him do a number of physical activities such as riding an exercise bike, and when we last met, he told us ‘of course, I have a bike, a traditional bike and I ride but… don’t worry, I avoid big hills’,” he said.

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Take This Test To See You if You Have a Face-Recognizing Superpower

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Jan 27, 2021

If you find yourself doing double-takes at faces in crowds, you may have a strange and unique ability possessed by one person in three million—that of being a super-recognizer.

Like comic books superheroes, super-recognizers live among us, and a simple online test from the University of Greenwich can reveal whether or now you are one of them.

While admitting there is no single test that determines whether or not you’re a super-recognizer, researcher Dr. Josh P. Davis has at least made one that anyone can do, and that’s free and easy to take.

Trialists will see an image of a man for a few seconds, then they must select that his face from a lineup of people. The angle and the time when the two pictures were taken won’t always be the same, so it relies on a unique kind of memorization developed in the fusiform face area, part of the visual cortex.

If you score 10 of 14 or higher, you may be a super-recognizer, and additional tests are available if you want to pursue them.

Davis hopes to find these people in order to study their ability further, as they can have implications for law-enforcement curriculums.

Indeed, Andy Pope, a West-Midlands police officer is a super-recognizer, and his talents have led to 2,100 arrests for perpetrators of various crimes, including 16 in one day, and of those wearing face masks. He has earned the nickname “Memory Cop” for obvious reasons.

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

The super-recognizer, who says his skill is “impossible to explain” but credits “instinct” for usually being right, spotted 1,000 offenders between 2012 and 2018.

If you’re interested in taking Davis’ five-minute test, you can find it here.

Editor’s note: The author of this story scored 10 out of 14, can you do better?

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Space Station Captures Footage of Blue Lightning Bursting Toward Space

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