Quote of the Day: “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.” – Rafiki, The Lion King
Photo: by Zac Ong
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 is one of 50 finalists in the Reader’s Digest “50 Nicest Places in America” contest for 2020. A crowd-sourced effort to uncover places in all 50 states where kindness and generosity are reigning supreme amidst a climate of coronavirus and cultural upheaval, you can now vote for your favorite ‘Nicest Place’ by visiting the Reader’s Digest website.
A cancelled internship turned into a big opportunity for one young woman to help her whole state.
Just a few months ago, the Emory University student, like the rest of us, was gearing up for the summer when COVID-19 ruined her plans.
“After receiving countless emails about canceled internships, I had just about concluded that I would be spending my summer twiddling my thumbs,” said Lia Rubel from her home in Barre, Vermont, a blue-collar town of about 10,000.
That’s when she got a call from a friend about a new initiative organized by some Yale University students who saw a great need—a need that escalated to urgent in the era of coronavirus. People were still in need of medical care but couldn’t leave their homes for fear of spreading or contracting the virus, especially seniors, who are more vulnerable.
That’s why, in March, Telehealth Access for Seniors was born: to get communications technology, such as a smartphone or tablet computer, to elderly patients who lack and very much need it.
“It’s more than just a device. It’s a vital connectivity tool and it could save someone’s life,” says Rubel, 18, who joined the initiative in March as the lead for Vermont. “It just hurt my heart that they don’t have that privilege and they can’t connect to friends and families. They can’t even connect to their doctors.”
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Born in the 1960s as part of NASA’s mission to put men on the moon (they might need medical care up there too), telehealth options have experienced a renaissance in the era of high-speed connectivity and ubiquitous devices with screens. In 2002, a former NASA surgeon and engineer founded Teledoc, which became the first nationwide telehealth company in 2005; in 2015, the first medical facility totally dedicated to telehealth opened in Chesterfield, Missouri, Mercy Virtual.
But many people don’t have access to these services for lack of technology, and the problem is worse in Vermont, where about 19 percent of the population is over 65 (versus 15 percent for the rest of the US) and where 10 percent of residents don’t have access to broadband but they do have access to cellular service.
Since March, Telehealth Access for Seniors has expanded to over 50 volunteers in 26 states and they’ve raised an estimated $38,000 and donated 825 devices, Rubel says. In Vermont alone, Rubel has helped collect about 50 devices and $800.
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“If they’re still self-quarantining, it’s really important for mental health,” says Rubel. “We include with the devices some suggestions to download wellness apps. And they [patients] use the devices to FaceTime family to stay connected.”
Just providing a way for an elderly person to have a “face-to-face” conversation with a loved one in an era of social distancing can be lifesaving. Feeling lonely leads to a 26 percent increase in mortality rate, according to a recent meta-study of 3.4 million people.
Telehealth Access for Seniors offers a free remote phone and email tech support team so that help is always available. The organization also provides instructions on how to set up devices.
“The pandemic has opened our eyes to how important it is to have digital tools and the importance of equipping our seniors with these devices,” says Rubel.
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A ten-year-old ‘mini Monet’ in England paints stunning floral landscape paintings that can sell for up to £10,000.
Daisy Watt only started painting four years ago when two of her grandparents were diagnosed with cancer and she painted a picture to cheer them up.
Her mom, Karen, spotted the youngster’s talent, and asked if she’d like to paint a canvas to be displayed at a local gallery and auctioned for cancer charities.
Bidders from all over the world fought to buy the work featuring forget-me-nots for those who had died and bright flowers for those who survived. The large painting varied in color tone, going from dark to light, to represent the battle with cancer.
It sold for £9,500 and was so popular 100 special edition prints were commissioned and snapped up by buyers from the likes of Canada and Hong Kong.
Beginning with that moment in 2017, she has earned £50,000 through her artwork—and donated it all to charity.
Daisy’s paintings always feature flowers and she loves nothing more than heading out of her studio and into the garden with her paints, which in the beginning were tester pots from the local DIY shop.
“I’m just so proud of her,” said Karen, the mother-of-three from Misson, South Yorkshire. “Although she’s always been really creative, ever since she could hold a paintbrush, it wasn’t until she created that painting for her grandparents that we realized she had something special.”
“I’ve always let her paint and be messy ever since she was small.
Karen is a primary school teacher with a degree in art but says, “She is better than me.”
“One time we were sitting down painting tulips and I turned to her and said ‘right how are we going to figure out the shape here?’ I was trying to work it out and in that time she was dipping her paintbrush in different paints.
“Then with three different colors on the brush she started to paint. It was just the perfect tulip!”
“She doesn’t have to draw an outline and will splat the paint in just the right place. It just comes so naturally to her.”
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Daisy now spends most days painting. She’s auctioned dozens of works—around 25—for charity, and has sold one-off originals, and prints which go for £100 a piece.
Cancer Research feature one of her works on their ‘thank you’ cards to families whose loves ones make legacy donations.
Last November Daisy won the Yorkshire Young Achiever for Arts award and has won The Don Valley Festival for the past four years.
During lockdown she painted a rainbow of miniature daisies, as a tribute to frontline workers, and raised £1,700 for the NHS with magnets and cards of the design.
Karen, 50, and Daisy’s project-manager dad Charlie, said their humble daughter gets embarrassed by praise, and doesn’t realize her own talent.
“The thing is she is really shy and humble about her work. She cringes at the attention and doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.”
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“I hope when she’s older she realizes just what a special thing she has been doing.
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In several articles this year, Good News Network has reported on the precipitous decline of coal production—and rise in renewables, as market forces along with the decisions of individuals and investors create a pandemic of pressure.
Now in the twilight of the European COVID-19 wave, early signs suggest there is not going to be much in the way of a recovery for coal—or natural gas—which are becoming COVID-casualties, as they lose ground to renewable energy as each fiscal quarter passes.
“What’s front and center has been the extreme volatility and carnage that’s occurred in the energy sector. These companies are now in survivor mode,” said Jennifer Rowland, Senior Analyst, at Edward Jones, according to Future Crunch.
With a summer that was one of the warmest on record in many parts of the world, an oversupply of natural gas has caused the sharpest ever fall in demand for the commodity. The fall is expected to reach double that of the 2008 financial crisis, around a 5% drop.
“Natural gas has so far experienced a less severe impact than oil and coal, but it is far from immune from the current crisis,” said executive director of the International Energy Agency, Dr. Fatih Birol. “The record decline this year represents a dramatic change of circumstances for an industry that had become used to strong increases in demand.”
The energy watchdog speculates that demand will continue to contract until 2025, eliminating the last few years of growth in the gas sector. Furthermore, those last few years have seen $65 billion of investments in liquified natural gas assets, which are now coming online in this unstable economy. The result is a serious risk of global oversupply, compromising the structure of the gas market, and reducing the chance that any investors will find sense in backing this expansion any further.
The strong increases in demand which Dr. Birol is referring to is often a result of gas as a natural replacement to coal. Without perfect solutions for the storage of energy generated by renewables, gas has often taken the place of coal, which has fallen significantly even as governments continue to invest hundreds of billions in coal projects, many of which are now at risk of being so expensive to operate they may become stranded assets—projects incapable of providing a return on investment.
The United Kingdom didn’t even power up a coal-fired plant for a period of two months. From April 10th to June 17th, with wind energy alone supplying almost as much electricity as natural gas did in the first quarter.
After 52-days of zero coal-generated power in Portugal, the utilities company EDP announced the closure of the last plant two years ahead of schedule. They are the fourth European country to completely phase-out coal behind Austria, Sweden, and Belgium.
In the USA, renewables will account for over a fifth of electricity generation this year, having at one point surpassed coal usage every day for a month, which hasn’t happened for 150 years (since the Statue of Liberty first arrived in New York and Karl Benz patented the world’s first automobile).
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, wrote a letter earlier this year to the executives that rely on Fink for money management services, in which he stated that his number-one prerogative for investing would be how companies are planning to combat climate change.
“We will be increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress on sustainability-related disclosures and the business practices and plans underlying them,” wrote Fink.
Many other brokerage firms rely on BlackRock for advice and guidance, and Fink’s decision could move mountains in the financial sectors.
With all these triumphs, it’s important to point out that many governments are reluctant to put down coal. It’s still easier to store than renewables, in many cases because the infrastructure is already there. Furthermore, existing plants and companies that rely on coal spend a lot of money lobbying governments to keep their industry alive.
But despite countries still clinging to coal, like Germany—which just opened a new coal plant—and others nations across Asia, market forces are far more powerful than the actions of government. Energy firms require billions in investment capital from people like Larry Fink in order to fund coal projects, and people like Larry Fink aren’t interested in coal and natural gas any longer.
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Single-use plastic bag sales in England have fallen dramatically since a 5 pence charge on each bag was instituted in October of 2015 in supermarkets and department stores.
Overall, plastic shopping bag use has fallen by 95% in England’s main supermarkets.
Statistics from the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) determined that plastic bag use shot up in 2014, as consumers used an average of 140 per year, accounting for 61,000 thousand metric tons of plastic. After taking action to curb the rise by charging 5 cents, widespread use has plummeted—just 4 bags per consumer in the recent fiscal year.
Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, the Co-operative Group, and Waitrose, who together distributed 40% of all plastic bags in the country, have collectively sold 325 million fewer bags than over a period of 2018-19, and remarkably, 1.17 billion fewer than the same period of 2016-17.
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“It is encouraging to see in such a short space of time the huge difference our plastic carrier bag charge has had in reducing the amount of plastic we use in our everyday lives,” said the DEFRA secretary, MP George Eustice.
“We have all seen first hand the devastating impact that plastic bags have on the environment, littering our beautiful countryside and threatening the world’s marine life. I am committed to driving this progress further and I hope this continues to inspire similar action across the globe.”
Consumers throwing bags away isn’t the only part of the plastic-bag problem that requires addressing to stop them ending up in landfills or the oceans. Manufacturing, i.e. supply-side forces, play just as large a role as consumers, i.e. demand-side forces.
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The 5 pence tax applies to unused and unsold plastic bags as well, making retailers pay closer attention to how many they order, which in turn leads to less manufacturing and less waste in the supply side in addition to the demand side.
Meanwhile, an innovative project to offer consumers a ‘bag for life’ (pictured below) promises to be the last one you ever purchase—and sales have skyrocketed to 1.5 billion in 2018.
Produced by smartbag.uk, the Bag for Life is not only a durable bag made from recycled plastic that’s perfect for bulky groceries, it can also be mailed back to receive a replacement if it tears or becomes too damaged, where it will be recycled again and made into a new bag.
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Quote of the Day: “Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Photo: by Steven Lelham
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?
Three in five Americans are boosting their moods after so much time at home with indoor dance parties and karaoke sessions, according to a new poll.
The study of 2,000 Americans examined the important role music has played in light of current events, and found that 38% have thrown a dance party with friends via video chat.
When asked what songs respondents have put on their social-distancing dance playlist, current hits fared well, but were often mixed in with classics like “September” from Earth Wind and Fire and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars.
And when asked to name the best dance songs of all time, Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” came out on top.
“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson and “Stayin’ Alive” from The Bee Gees also made it into the top three.
Four in five (79%) cited music as a way to help them stay connected with others while social distancing.
The survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Ultimate Ears found that when it comes to their taste in music, many think of themselves as tastemakers.
Three in five Americans think “good taste” in music is a talent they’re born with. Music preferences can even have an impact on the dating game with two-thirds saying bad taste in music is a romantic buzzkill.
One in two have even been embarrassed by their own music taste. With some respondents even hiding their guilty pleasure preferences from a date: Three in ten confessed to lying to a partner about their love for a song or artist.
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Half of the respondents like “everything” when it comes to music while 15% classify their tastes as “eclectic.”
Of those who create their own playlists, seven in ten have separate playlists for private listening versus parties, with 50% overall admitting they would feel embarrassed if a song from their personal collection found its way onto a party mix by mistake.
A third of respondents have had that exact cringe-worthy scenario happen to them. One hilariously recalled a time in which the “Batman” theme song, leftover from a child’s party, played during a get-together of adults.
Music definitely plays a vital role in the success of a party since four in five think it can “make or break” the event. Music came only second to drinks on a list of elements for a successful event, with food rounding out the top three.
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78% of respondents said there are certain songs guaranteed to make people move and groove during a party—and here are their top 40 favorites:
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Rhino poaching in South Africa has decreased by almost 53% in the first six months of 2020, which continued a dramatic downward trend over the last five years.
“After a decade of implementing various strategies… efforts are paying off,” said the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy this week. “We have been able to arrest the escalation of rhino losses.”
The Minister said the nationwide Covid-19 associated law enforcement measures to restrict movement has powered the ongoing decline in rhino poaching compared to the same period last year, calling it ‘striking’.
An astonishing reprieve was celebrated in the Kruger National Park where, during April, no rhinos were killed in the Intensive Protection Zone for the first time in almost ten years.
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Between January and June, 38 suspected rhino poachers have been arrested in the KNP and 23 firearms confiscated, while 57 suspects have been arrested during joint SANParks ECI /SAPS operations outside of the KNP.
The Ministry also reported that, from January to June 2020, the National Prosecuting Authority managed to not only obtain convictions in 15 cases but maintain a remarkable conviction rate of 100%. In addition to these high conviction rates, lengthy sentences were also imposed by the courts.
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In February, the Ministry reported a 23% decline in the number of rhinos lost to poaching in 2019, as well as a 43% decline in elephant poaching.
“A decline in poaching for five consecutive years is a reflection of the diligent work of the men and women who put their lives on the line daily to combat rhino poaching, often coming into direct contact with ruthless poachers,” said the Minister last year.
In celebration of World Ranger Day today, the Minister paid tribute to the men and women whose commitment to protecting the country’s natural heritage, sometimes at the expense of their own safety.
“Our rangers have remained at the forefront of the battle against poaching, despite the National Lockdown, contributing to the decrease in poaching. In this time, rangers have had to face not only the threats posed by poachers, but they, and their families, have also had to deal with the danger of contracting Covid-19,” said the Minister.
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Their work further strengthens the essential collaboration with the South African Police Service, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS), the Department of Justice, and other sectors of the security forces to gather, analyze and share intelligence on wildlife trafficking so that the international syndicate-related crimes can be effectively dealt with.
GNN has been featuring many success stories about rhinos that you browse here.
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Visitors to the treasured American National Park that features the geyser ‘Old Faithful’ may never see the kind of extinction-level volcanic eruptions that were depicted in the disaster film 2012.
A recent geological analysis conducted surrounding the super-volcano’s past eruptions demonstrate a slowing down and a weakening of the volcanic force that draws millions of tourists to Yellowstone National Park every year.
The analysis was described as “exhaustive,” by Dr. Trevor Nace who holds a Ph.D. in geology and climate from Duke University, who traveled thousands of miles conducting isotope dating and collecting magnetic data and chemical sampling on the states surrounding this Yellowstone hotspot.
The data showed that the two most significant eruption events occurred around 9 million and 8.7 million years ago—a short amount of time between each other geologically-speaking. The earliest is considered one of the 5 largest volcanic eruptions in earth’s history, and “sterilized” much of Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana with white-hot volcanic glass before spreading to affect more than 9,000 square miles (23,000 square kilometers) of the United States.
300,000 years later, another eruption — albeit smaller, battered the midwest once again, after which the giant boiler room of the North American continent began to fall to a simmer, erupting only twice in the last 3 million years, and increasing by three-fold, the time span between regular eruption events.
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Thomas Knott, lead author of the paper described it as “a very significant decline,” in the volcano’s ability to produce volcanic events.
Since Yellowstone’s events were first recorded by science, volcanologists have been keen on studying it, reasoning that it might pay to be aware ahead of time, should the giant volcano begin to stir again.
Past eruptions have been 100-times more dramatic than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia, which was so loud it could be heard from 3,000 miles away.
It spewed so much ash into the atmosphere that it took years for the sky to return to normal, and everywhere on earth was treated with brilliant red and orange sunsets of such luminescence that fire departments were called to extinguish apparently-raging but non-existent fires.
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With effects like these from an explosion 100-times smaller than what has been feared from a Yellowstone blast, it’s enough to make someone’s day to know that we are unlikely to see an eruption as powerful as those blasts which scientists have an opportunity to study today.
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Reducing carbon emissions while increasing gross domestic product is not only possible, but is already happening in almost every state in America, according to a new report.
Things like market investment in renewable energy companies or projects, and the development of storage technology, have helped propel this transition in 41 U.S. states and DC.
All major regions in the U.S. from 2005 to 2017 were found to have increased real GDP, a common marker for economic productivity, while simultaneously cutting the growth of, or reversing, greenhouse gas emissions.
The nonprofit World Resources Institute (WRI) also credits “improvements in vehicle emissions standards, increases in lighting and appliance efficiency, a shift from coal to natural gas in the power sector, [and] the rapid deployment of wind and solar power.”
The five that cut their local carbon emissions the most, despite federal policy, while still growing their economies were Maryland (38%), New Hampshire (37%), the District of Columbia (33%), Maine (33%), and Alaska (29%).
Massachusetts and New York businesses and homes cut their emissions by 25% while simultaneously growing their GDP by 26% and 21% respectively, proving that being green doesn’t always cost you green.
The nine states that did not reduce emissions while growing GDP were Louisiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, and Nebraska.
The renewable energy industry in America generated, according to WRI “$238 billion in revenues in 2018, and the sector’s 11% growth in 2018 was almost four times the growth of the U.S. economy overall.”
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Furthermore, the United States “is second only to China in total clean energy investments.” Investors across the world have been breaking records, but particularly in the United States, where a green domestic record of $78.3 billion was tallied last year.
Even though Americans’ wallets are squeezed this year and the nation is a consumer driven economy, the long-term drivers for financial sector investment in clean energy remain strong, and could likely persevere through the COVID-19 economic downturn. It’s simply too expensive in most countries to try and finance, produce, or run a coal plant, due to the rapid increase in renewables technology and replacement of coal plants by natural gas plants.
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“It is encouraging that 41 U.S. states and the District of Colombia reduced their energy-related CO2 emissions while increasing real GDP in recent years. The decoupling trend shows that a huge swath of the nation is creeping in the right direction.”
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Quote of the Day: “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Photo: by Taylor Wright
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?
A rare blue lobster will live out its life at an aquarium rather than ending up on a dinner plate, thanks to restaurant workers in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
While getting ready for their shift, Red Lobster employees recognized the rarity of the blue shell on one of the lobsters.
Only one in every 2 million animals has the blue coloration, which is the result of a genetic anomaly.
After discovering the rare crustacean, they named it Clawde, after the restaurant chain’s mascot, and contacted the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who then reached out to the Akron Zoo.
Both the Akron Zoo and Red Lobster belong to a conservation partnership called Seafood Watch. The program, run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, strives to help consumers and businesses choose seafood that is farmed sustainably and fished in ways to support a healthy ocean.
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Upon receiving the news, staff at the Ohio zoo sprang into action to prepare a new home for him.
“Clawde is acclimating to his new home at the Akron Zoo, in a special tank that has been dubbed ‘Clawde’s Man Cave’ by his care team,” reported the animal care staff on the zoo’s Facebook page.
“Blue lobsters are very rare,” they added.
Two days later, on July 28, they posted an amusing update, after the lobster was examined by a vet: “It’s a girl! Clawde is now Clawdia, and the proclaimed ‘man cave’ is now a ‘she-shed!’”
The next few months are critical for Clawdia as she prepares for her annual molt—a time that is very vulnerable for lobsters of any color.
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A five-month-old pup wasn’t savvy enough to find its way back way home, but the dog is certainly clever because it found the vet’s office.
It showed up wanting some help.
The Putahracsa Veterinary Clinic in Bang Pu, Thailand posted surveillance video of the little dog showing up at their doorstep, where it waited until someone let it inside.
The black puppy was barking at the very door of the office where it had been receiving monthly vaccinations since it was one-month-old, according to the Bangkok area vet who shared the video on Facebook.
Luckily, the vet office recognized their patient and reunited the pet with its owner.
Separated for 15 hours, the owner and dog were “very happy to see each other,” read the post.
“Cute and very smart,” was their clinical assessment of the pooch.
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Wind energy is now so cheap in the United Kingdom that offshore wind farms could start bringing down household electricity bills, according to a new study.
Renewable energy projects, including onshore and offshore wind and solar farms, have so far been subsidized by government support schemes, which has raised some complaints about clean energy pushing up electricity bills.
However, the most recently approved offshore wind projects will most likely operate with “negative subsidies”—paying money back to the government. The money will go towards reducing household energy bills as the offshore wind farms start producing power in the mid-2020s.
This is the conclusion of an analysis by an international team led by Imperial College London researchers published last week in Nature Energy.
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“Offshore wind power will soon be so cheap to produce that it will undercut fossil-fuelled power stations and may be the cheapest form of energy for the UK,” said lead researcher Dr. Malte Jansen, from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial. “Energy subsidies used to push up energy bills, but within a few years cheap renewable energy will see them brought down for the first time. This is an astonishing development.”
The analysis for five countries in Europe, including the UK, focused on a series of government auctions for offshore wind farms between February 2015 and September 2019. Companies that want to build wind farms bid in the auctions by stating the price at which they will sell the energy they produce to the government.
These are known as “contracts for difference”—or CfDs. If a company’s bid is higher than the wholesale electricity price on the UK market once the wind farm is up and running, then the company will receive a subsidy from the government to top up the price.
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However, if the stated price is less than the wholesale price, then the company will pay the government back the difference. This payback is then passed through to consumer’s energy bills, reducing the amount that homes and businesses will pay for electricity.
The UK’s September 2019 auction made the headlines as winning companies said they could build new offshore wind farms for around £40 per megawatt hour (MWh) of power. This was a new record set by these wind farms with bids 30% lower than just two years earlier.
While this was an impressive reduction, researchers could only speculate whether this meant offshore wind had become subsidy free or even subsidy negative, because that depends on how future wholesale electricity prices evolve.
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The team analyzed likely future electricity price trends and found that contracted price is very likely to be below the UK wholesale price over the lifetime that these wind farms would produce electricity, from the mid-2020s onwards.
The team say that these wind farms are likely to be built and run with these costs, since financing is now accessible at lower costs for such projects, owing to trust in the now mature technology.
The researchers analyzed similar offshore wind auctions held by governments of five European countries. They found that Germany and the Netherlands have seen some zero-subsidy offshore wind farms winning auctions, but that the UK projects are likely to be the world’s first negative-subsidy offshore wind farms.
“The price of offshore wind power has plummeted in only a matter of a decade, surprising many in the field,” said Dr. Iain Staffell, from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial. “The UK auctions in September 2019 gave prices that were around one-third lower than those of the last round in 2017, and two-thirds lower than we saw in 2015.
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“This amazing progress has been made possible by new technology, economies of scale and efficient supply chains around the North Sea, but also by a decade of concerted policymaking designed to reduce the risk for investing in offshore wind, which has made financing these huge billion-pound projects much cheaper.
“These new wind farms set the stage for the rapid expansion needed to meet the government’s target of producing 30% of the UK’s energy needs from offshore wind by 2030. Offshore wind will be pivotal in helping the UK, and more broadly the world, to reach net-zero carbon emissions with the added bonus of reducing consumers’ energy bills.”
One reason the price of offshore wind has fallen so rapidly is technology development, in particular the ability to build larger wind turbines further out at sea. Larger turbines can harness more wind energy and have access to more consistent wind speeds at higher altitudes.
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The biggest wind turbines under construction have rotor diameters of 220 meters—twice the diameter of the London Eye. At the same time, wind farms are getting larger; the newest wind farm at Dogger Bank has the same installed capacity as Hinkley Point C and is expected to produce about two-thirds of its annual electricity.
The success of UK offshore wind farms, which are now primarily built in the Dogger Bank region of the North Sea, also means the UK has considerable skills and expertise than can be exported around the world.
The researchers also say this success means even more ambitious projects may now be attempted at offshore wind farms, such as producing hydrogen fuels using the wind power on site, out at sea. Hydrogen fuels could be another key technology in helping decarbonize the UK, by replacing petrol used in transportation and natural gas used for heating homes.
Reprinted from Imperial College London
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Miniature pigs became popularized as pets when the public began seeing them living in homes with celebrities, such as Miley Cyrus, David Beckham, Paris Hilton, and George Clooney—whose pet pig Max lived for 18 years.
According to Hungarian researchers from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, pigs are as trainable as dogs, and—unless they have a problem to solve—turn to us for support in the same way that canine companions do.
“The similarities we found between the two species point to their similar capacities for engaging in communicative interactions with humans,” said animal behavior expert Paula Perez Fraga who worked on the studies.
The Family Pig Project was launched in 2017 at the Department of Ethology in Budapest. The animals were raised in a similar environment as family dogs from as early as 6-8 weeks of age, which provides the basis for unique comparative investigations between these two species.
“Dogs, already as puppies, are known to be uniquely skillful in communicating with us, even without any specific training,” added the study’s lead author Dr. Linda Gerencser. “We were curious whether family pigs also exhibit similar communicative signals as dogs, and whether they spontaneously rely on human cues.”
The animals were observed behaving with an experimenter without the presence of food and also after they had been fed. Perez Fraga, a PhD student, explained: “In the presence of food, both pigs and dogs oriented more towards the experimenter—they touched her more often and looked at her face more frequently.
“As an interesting difference, though, only dogs looked up at the human face when they did not expect to receive any food.”
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In a second test, the animals were allowed to choose between two hiding locations several different times. The experimenter always pointed at the one that contained the hidden piece of food.
“Without having been trained for this, only dogs followed the pointing, pigs did not,” said Perez Fraga. “Pigs did not choose randomly either, but they rather followed a side-preference strategy, going to the same hiding location over and over again.”
She said dogs are known to look at humans in a problem-solving context to establish joint attention and initiate communicative interactions from an early age.
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Perez Fraga and colleagues wanted to find out if this is their speciality or whether other companion animals do the same.
“Similarly socialized wolves and cats communicate less with humans than dogs in the same problem-solving context, but maybe it is because wolves are not domesticated, and cats are not a social species,” said Perez Fraga. “So we designed a study to compare dogs’ behavior with that of another domestic and social species: the pig.”
Pigs, which are renowned for their intelligence and cleanliness, can live up to 20 years. They can also quickly become loving companions and get along with cats. Some fans of these porcine friends have even claimed they are more suited to being kept as domestic animals than dogs.
Perez Fraga said “species-specific predispositions” might be responsible for the found differences. “Dogs are naturally more dependent on and co-operative with humans. This explains their unique success in interacting with us,” she added.
The study, which was published in Animal Cognition earlier this month, is the first to analyze similarities and differences in family dogs’ and pigs’ interactions with humans.
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“We used the so called ‘Unsolvable task paradigm’ where the animal first faces a problem that he can solve, in our case an easy-to-open box with food inside,” said Perez Fraga. “After some trials, the problem becomes unsolvable because the box is securely closed.”
“When the box was first in the room without food in it, pigs and dogs performed similar human-oriented behaviors,” said Dr. Gerencser. “The differences appeared when we put food in the box and opening it became an exciting challenge.
“Pigs were faster than dogs already in solving the task and getting the reward, perhaps due to their better manipulative capacities. Then, when the task became unsolvable, dogs turned to the humans more than before.
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“In contrast, pigs performed less human-oriented behaviors, but they were more persistent than dogs in trying to solve the task, which may reflect their predisposition to solving problems independently.”
Dr. Gerencser said the extent of the behavioral similarities—which are the result of environmental effects such as learning by experience—still needs further investigations.
“We think the primary difference between pigs and dogs lies in the fact the natural salience of the human as a social stimulus for dogs can facilitate learning about communicative cues even without specific training.
“Furthermore, our results are also informative with regard to the potentials of involving miniature pigs in comparative ethological research.”
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Quote of the Day: “Their attitude of doubt made me more determined than ever to succeed.” – Harriet Quimby (became first woman pilot in U.S. 109 years ago)
Photo: by George Grantham Bain
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?
Although this artist is based in Los Angeles, he wanted to send hundreds of his paintings 3,000 miles away to New York City to remind hospital staffers that he—and the whole country—is grateful for their hard work in the fight against COVID-19.
As a means of commemorating their heroics, Michael Gittes gifted a unique floral painting to every doctor, receptionist, janitor, inventory manager, cook, administrator, and nurse at the Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn.
At the height of the pandemic, the nonprofit healthcare facility was chock-a-block full of patients, sometimes treating over 100 people per day.
Gittes wanted to say a special ‘thank you’, and used syringes to create the expressionist paintings.
“When they actually got to touch and see the paintings, it was like Christmas,” Interfaith chief financial officer Tracy Green told CNN. “They just felt like … they’ve been working tirelessly the last couple of months and for someone to see that, and just give them a gift, they were just so happy.”
“We love you, everybody loves you. You’re loved by millions of people you’ll never meet. You’re not a stranger to anyone. These flowers are from everyone,” Gittes relayed to the Interfaith staff.
Gittes’ work has been exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery in London, the Park Avenue Armory in New York, and even in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. The framing and shipping of the paintings was facilitated by money amassed by Gittes from private collectors purchasing his paintings.
Every unique flower represents each employee’s contribution to tending a garden of life in the Big Apple, while the use of the syringe, he feels, represents the healing power of both the hospital workers and his gifted pieces.
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“I think a lot of people don’t realize how mental and physical and emotional this pandemic has been, not only to our medical workers and hospital workers, but to their families,” Eli Bronner, Gittes’ manager and dealer, told CNN.
Gittes’ hoped that seeing the painting in the staffers’ houses or offices might help to offer “a moment of peace from the madness,” Bronner said.
Watch a video and follow the unique artist on Instagram…
Need more positive stories and updates coming out of the COVID-19 challenge? For more uplifting coverage, click here.
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A smile can go a long way toward cheering people up—especially these days when it’s more important than ever to find solace.
A new survey of 2,000 Americans found that half of respondents believe it has been important during the pandemic to find things to smile about in order to ‘stay positive’. And, they say that they can easily get that lift from others.
56 percent said seeing someone else look happy improves their mood—and in recent months 31 percent have made more of an effort to smile at others.
The survey by OnePoll for Ciaté London found U.S. adults believe they are smiling about 11 times every day, amounting to almost a quarter million times over the course of an average lifetime.
52 percent cite ‘hearing good news ’ as being something that most easily triggers them to beam—which makes us, here at Good News Network, respond with a big grin. 40 percent said a top smile-generator is hearing a joke, and 41 percent pointed to being with family.
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Further smile-inducing moments included getting a compliment from a stranger (36 percent), getting a check on payday (30 percent), and eating a nice meal (32 percent).
More than three in five of those polled have had their smile complimented on.
After being in quarantine and exposed to possibly more negativity than on average, 37 percent of those polled want to actively find more things to beam about following lockdown—and a third vowed to have more of a positive outlook in the future.
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Ciaté London elevated the simple smile to another level this week, when they project a huge smiley face on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.
Earlier this month, the same image—a traditional smiley face with whimsical lashes and lipstick added—was projected on the Parliament building in London, England, to uplift patients in a hospital across the river.
Charlotte Knight, Founder and CEO, said, “The research proved how often people enjoy smiling and the difference it can make to both self-confidence and overall moods—especially one that is 25 meters wide!”
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“Particularly at times like this it’s important to stay self-confident, emotionally aware, and see the positives in everyday moments by sharing smiles.”
More than a third of American polled believe that they have smiled more with age—so maybe we all have something to look forward to.
Need more positive stories and updates coming out of the COVID-19 challenge? For more uplifting coverage, click here.
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A new blood test for prostate cancer is producing a 99% accuracy rating—precision that has never before been achieved for a blood test of this particular kind of cancer.
Furthermore, the test can determine the exact stage and progression of the cancer, which also reduces the need for invasive biopsies and scans.
The team behind the breakthrough, involving researchers from Nottingham Trent University and University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust, determined that changes in the patient’s immune system could be examined through blood markers—specifically white blood cells.
By developing a series of sophisticated computational tools for analyzing the samples, the team can now determine the presence and stage of the cancer at unparalleled rates of accuracy.
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“Our approach not only identifies presence of the disease, but also—crucially—its clinical significance. We can also do this with higher accuracy than current approaches,” said Professor Graham Pockley, Director of Nottingham Trent University’s John van Geest Cancer Research Center
“This will spare men from having unnecessary invasive procedures and help clinicians to decide whether to ‘watch’ or ‘actively manage’ patients, even when they are asymptomatic.”
With an estimated 1.8 million new cases in 2018 alone, prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the world and the second most common form among men in the United States—a country that sees almost 200,000 diagnoses every year. It is the most common form of cancer for men in the UK with roughly 47,000 diagnoses annually.
The cancer can be treated successfully in its early stages, but is difficult to detect. The standard blood marker, unusual levels of a protein called PSA, will appear normal in 15% of people who have the disease, and so is not a reliable indicator.
This new test will not only save lives, but save millions of dollars in treatment and patient care, stemming from catching the cancer in early stages and reductions in the numbers of more expensive, invasive procedures.
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For the last 24 years, this musical group has been showing that vegetables aren’t just good for your health—they’re good for your ears as well.
Prior to each of their performances, the members of the Vienna-based Vegetable Orchestra purchase fresh produce from a farmer’s market—all of which is later carved into instruments on stage for a live audience.
The Austrian musicians use everything from onion peels and carrots to pumpkins and bell peppers to perform their original songs.
And do you want to know the best part of the orchestra’s shows? After each of their performances, the musicians cook up all the spare parts from their carved veggie instruments into a healthy meal served to their audience.
Although the orchestra has been in quarantine since the start of the COVID-19 outbreaks, they recently reunited over Zoom to perform a new original song called “Green Days.”
(Want to see more of the Vegetable Orchestra? Check out their live 2016 performance in the video below—or if you want to check out the video performance of “Green Days,” press play on the video at the top of this article.)
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