Quote of the Day: “To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.” – Helen Keller
Photo: by Kristy Lou Photography
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Only found in a few forest patches in Nigeria and Cameroon, this western gorilla subspecies is the world’s rarest great ape. They are rarely seen, let alone photographed, even by remote cameras.
But new photos captured for the first time in years shows a group of With only 300 Cross River gorillas left in the wild, conservationists are celebrating new camera trap photos showing several new infants were born
Captured by camera traps in the Mbe mountains, the photos released by WCS in Nigeria, confirm the Cross River gorillas are actively reproducing.
The international non-governmental organization relies on the photos because the gorillas, which have lighter-colored hair, smaller heads and longer arms than other great apes, are very wary of humans and are rarely seen.
The WCS says it works closely with a community organization, the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains, as well as authorities in Nigeria’s Cross River state to protect the primates.
WCS says that camera traps at WCS sites in Cameroon and Nigeria have captured only a few images including one from 2012 in Cameroon’s Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary. But none of the rare apes have been seen, recorded—or reported killed since then.
This is the first time that multiple infants have been recorded in the same group.
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Donations surged nearly 50% in the first half of 2020—the most generous giving recorded in the history of one of America’s largest philanthropic funds.
In response to the immense needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic, a resulting economic downturn and a period of deep social unrest, Schwab Charitable donors have been granting at a record pace to support impacted communities.
From January through June 2020, donors earmarked over $1.7 billion in aid, marking a 46% increase in dollars granted compared to the same period last year. They doled out 330,000 separate grants, which represents the fastest pace of growth in Schwab Charitable history.
“The last six months have been incredibly challenging, and I am truly inspired to see donors utilize their donor-advised funds to help communities and nonprofits impacted by health, economic, and social crises,” says Kim Laughton, President of Schwab Charitable.
Dave D., who manages his charitable giving through the company, said, “The need within our country and around the world is greater than ever. Basic needs have dramatically increased, so to help provide some relief, we are giving more to our local food bank, church food pantry, and homeless shelters.”
In addition to supporting crisis relief efforts in fiscal year 2020, donors continued to express broad-based generosity in support of their favorite nonprofits.
In the last twelve months, Schwab noted that each generation—Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Greatest Generation—saw an uptick in giving from the previous year, granting on average between 7 and 13 times throughout the year.
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Donors fulfill a variety of philanthropic goals with their giving, and in fiscal year 2020, donors supported more than 100,000 charities, a 14% increase over the prior fiscal year.
The most widely supported charities in fiscal year 2020 included Feeding America, Doctors Without Borders, the Salvation Army, and Planned Parenthood.
“It is very encouraging to witness heightened levels of generosity from donors of all ages in supporting nonprofits across the philanthropic landscape this year,” added Laughton, in a media release.
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Looking into a child’s pocket opens a magical window onto their daily experience.
Small children in six countries emptied the contents of their pockets and were asked about their haul. From Argentina to the Ukraine, the results were as cute and baffling as you might expect.
It all started with an idea. SavingSpot reached out to parents in 16 countries who had children younger than age 6.
The six families chosen to be featured in the story all agree that it has been an adventure to discover what their kiddos are carrying around as treasures.
The biggest similarity among the international kids was candy. Half of them said it was their favorite thing to keep in their pocket.
When asked, ‘If you could fit anything in your pocket, what would it be?’, William, from the USA, doubled down on his sweet tooth, saying: “Five thousand pieces of candy!”
On one memorable day, William’s pockets contained Skittles with all the colors licked off. He told his parents the colorless Skittles were candies for Harry Potter.
Nadya from the Ukraine chose ‘slime’ as the number one thing she wished she could carry in her pocket. The reason? Because “mother forbids it.”
The fun continued when parents were asked the question: “What‘s the weirdest thing you found in their pockets?”
The mother of Bilal, a five-year-old from India, answered with four words. “My husband’s credit card.”
Wyatt’s parent in the U.K admitted, “I was both incredibly confused and relieved when I found my missing house keys there once.” She explained, “Not all of my house keys, just the keys that were attached to a BB-8 key ring that he’d decided was now his.”
At least one parent believes that surprise is no longer possible: “Experience has taught me to never be surprised by what Wyatt manages to stash in his pockets.”
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When a photo was taken of the items in the 4-year-old’s pocket, they found a stick, miniature t-rex, lego, marble, pebble, a Linus figure, and a car. He explained that each object was important.
“It’s a good stick; I like dinosaurs; it’s Batman’s car; I like the stone; and, ‘he’s Snoopy’s friend’.” The marble is to remind him of a wish he has to own a ball.
Brigid, from the USA, said her items consisted of “my treasure collection from when we were playing pirates.”
Brigid’s parents were surprised when they saw the seashells had remained unbroken.
Pockets not only reveal how imaginative (or hungry) a child has been on a particular day, but how they interact with friends.
The parents of Dante, a 4-year-old from Argentina, explained, “Dante is very social and keeps gifts from his friends in his pockets—or candies to share with them.”
Bilal’s pockets—beyond containing a toy car and coins—also included tissues—which is the only thing a majority of parents are asking their children to carry.
Given the ‘slime’ answer, that’s no surprise.
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A sea sponge found growing on the coral reefs of Indonesia contains an organic chemical that halts the cellular duplication of cancer tumors.
University researchers also point to its curative power for other diseases, too, and are strongly suggesting the cultivation of the sponge to scale, so as to boost the production of future drugs.
Proof of nature’s healing power, the sea sponge’s cancer-fighting compound manzamine-A has already been demonstrated in vitro in laboratories in the U.S., and Indonesia to inhibit the proliferation of cervical, prostate, and other cancer cells, while allowing normal healthy cells to continue replicating.
“It prevents cell replication rather than killing the cell outright, leading to immediate impacts on tumor growth, and then other drugs are useful for killing remaining tumor cells, or they may die on their own,” said Mark Hamann, a professor with the Medical University of South Carolina’s Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author on the study.
Incredibly, manzamine A is also classified as a destroyer and inhibitor of Herpes simplex 1 virus cells, and as a successful malaria treatment.
“Since the sponge produces this molecule in high yields, and it seems easy to grow, you could grow it in polluted waters near wastewater plants or river mouths along the ocean, and it would potentially grow very well,” Hamann told Mongabay, a conservation-focused news outlet.
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“It would be a promising economic development tool to put sponge culture facilities where there’s high nutrient loads to improve water quality and build a business around the manufacture of the drug. It’d have a valuable local impact.”
Sponge fishing and farming can be a valuable aquacultural pursuit for local economies, as the relatively-low labor required to hang long sponge ropes in shallow water on which the organism can grow represents the vast majority of the required work, after which the sponge farmers may pursue other activities, such as fishing.
Along with providing manzamine-A and helping local economies grow, the sponge (Acanthostrongylophora ingens) is a filter feeder, and would help clean dirty water in estuaries, river mouths, and along coastlines, and could be deployed as a pollutant buffer zone in front of valuable and healthy coral reefs.
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Netty Siahaya, a sponge chemicals researcher who wasn’t involved with the study told Mongabay that farming sponges for pharmaceutical production while simultaneously using them to measure ecosystem health would help provide greater impetus for the protection of coral reefs and for other animals that live there, which perform additional services such as carbon regulation.
On the coast of Zanzibar, women are already farming sea sponges for use in the bath and has proved to be a reliable form of income compared to fishing—even in regions where poverty is tragically the norm.
In contrast with fish, or even pearl farming, a sponge farm can be started with little or no effort, and those who come to manage them must learn the trades of the fishermen, merchant, marine biologist, entrepreneur, and farmer, creating more powerful individuals within coastal communities.
For intrepid fishermen or other ocean workers along the coasts of Indonesia, the project could represent a lucrative trade, and a chance to tell their friends that they are literally curing cancer.
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Quote of the Day: “I’m going to make everything around me beautiful—that will be my life. – Elsie De Wolfe
Photo: by Andrew “Donovan” Valdivia
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?
Findings from a recent United Nation report states that the number of undernourished and hungry people in India has declined by 60 million over the last decade, and other Asian regions are also experiencing declines.
India has the second-largest population on earth, but, fortunately, even as the population is growing, the amount of food insecurity is falling.
Considered a leader in authoritative reporting on malnutrition, the UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World estimated that the number of undernourished people in India declined by 20%, from 249.4 million in 2004 to 189.2 million in 2019.
Furthermore, the other population powerhouse, China, has experienced similar drops in the rate of malnutrition—as has the entire Asian continent.
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In Central Asia, prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 11.1% in 2005 to 5.9% in 2019. In the same period in East Asia, there was a 6% drop from 14.1% to 8.3%, while in Southeast Asia it has been cut in half—from 18.5% to 9.2%. Though in some parts of the world the improvements have been seen over decades, these historically communism-ravaged lands have only improved over the last 15 years.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization which sponsored the report, claimed these remarkable developments can be attributed to long-term economic progress and development, and improved access to basic goods and services.
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The report calls on governments such as India and China to pursue nutritional quality in their agriculture policies, and to try and work to reduce food waste, as well as production and transportation costs.
It also suggests a strategy of supporting local small-scale farmers and ranchers to grow and sell more nutritious foods, and to prioritize children’s nutrition in the most urgent way.
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An image of a smiley face was projected onto the Houses of Parliament to spread an uplifting message of positivity during tough times.
Any smile—but especially one that is 27 yards wide—can go a long way to cheering people up, especially when it’s directly across the river from a hospital.
The lipstick-wearing smiley was beamed onto the famous structure last night, on the eve of World Emoji Day.
The positive image was in full view of St. Thomas’s hospital, and it stood as a reminder of how good it feels to smile. Passersby who saw the images last night said it brightened up their evening considerably.
“Seeing the smiley made me laugh,” said Dave Crawford. It’s also opposite a hospital, and you hope that people get to look out and see it.”
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Everybody knows we need more smiles right now—especially because it’s hard to know if people are smiling behind their face masks.
Another onlooker, Kate Sandison, said the projection was a great surprise. “It looks great and makes you feel good. It made me smile.”
Commissioned by the cosmetics company Ciaté London, founder and CEO Charlotte Knight said they designed a new range of Smileys that include lashes and lipstick, created in partnership with the originators of the concept.
“Particularly at times like this it’s important to see the positives in everyday moments by sharing smiles.”
WATCH the inspiring video below from SWNS…
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In the span of just two weeks, juvenile sturgeon of two different species, both of which were feared extinct, have been fished accidentally out of a river in the Republic of Georgia.
The two fish, the first caught in mid-March and the second three weeks later, represent a glimmer of hope for European sturgeon conservation, and appeared after experts had already expressed fears that they may have disappeared forever.
Sturgeon are a primeval fish whose evolution dates back hundreds of millions of years, and the Rioni River in Georgia historically has been a bastion of several different species.
Very little is known about the ship sturgeon, but the fact that two juveniles, each of similar age, were caught in the span of two weeks is extremely exciting as it could mean they are part of the same brood, and that sturgeon continue to spawn in the Rioni river.
Their discovery is also a vindication for the work of Flora and Fauna International (FFI) whose volunteers operate in the area trying to save the sturgeon populations. Their community outreach goals of educating everyone in the community—from schoolchildren to fishmongers—on the plight of the prehistoric fish was proven worthwhile as both of the juvenile sturgeon were caught and then reported to the FFI by the fishermen.
This allowed the conservationists to take samples, measurements, and photographs of the juvenile fish for research purposes.
Amazingly, a third fish was caught a week after the second, and was identified tentatively as a Colchic sturgeon, although it could possible be a hybrid of some kind.
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The Rioni River is the largest within the borders of Georgia. Originating in the Caucasus Mountains, it runs 203 miles to the Black Sea and has a mythical nature to it.
Land of Princess Medea and the legendary Golden Fleece, the pre-hellenistic Greek State of Colchis rose up along the mouth of the Rioni, and it is upon the Rioni that the famed voyage of Jason and the Argonauts took place.
These huge bottom-feeding fish have a history in mythology as well. Native American tribes have legends about the sturgeon as a man-eating fish, which is not so far-fetched when the white sturgeon that live in rivers have been known to reach 8 feet in length.
WATCH: Massive 1100-Pound Sturgeon Reeled in by British Tourist in Canada
Sturgeon were once widespread in rivers across Europe, but have been decimated by a combination of habitat loss and degradation, and overfishing, due to their roe being harvested for centuries for caviar.
While it’s not clear whether these ship or Colchic sturgeon—which are long-lived and late-maturing fishes—are actively spawning in the Rinoni itself or a tributary upriver, it is clear the waters are providing a haven for these armor-plated fish, and the myth may live on in Europe, thanks to enduring protections.
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Getting fresh produce into the heart of a major city used to be done by a fleet of rumbling, polluting trucks—now it’s a matter of bringing it down from the roof.
The largest urban rooftop farm in the world uses vertical growing techniques to create fruits and vegetables right in the center of Paris without the use of pesticides, refrigerated trucks, chemical fertilizer, or even soil.
Nature Urbaine uses aeroponic techniques that are now supplying produce to local residents, including nearby hotels, catering halls, and more. For a price of 15 euro, residents can order a basket of produce online containing a large bouquet of mint or sage, a head of lettuce, various young sprouts, two bunches of radishes and one of chard, as well as a jar of jam or puree.
“The composition may change slightly depending on the harvest,” Sophie Hardy, director of Nature Urbaine, tells French publication Agri City. Growing on 3.4 acres, about the size of two soccer pitches, atop the Paris Exhibition Center, they are also producing about 150 baskets of strawberries, as well as aubergines, tomatoes, and more.
Speaking to the Guardian, Pascal Hardy, a sustainable development consultant and member of Agripolis, an urban farming firm, called the Nature Urbaine project in Paris “a clean, productive and sustainable model of agriculture that can in time make a real contribution to the resilience—social, economic and also environmental—of the kind of big cities where most of humanity now lives.”
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Currently only a third of the total space on hall 6 of the expo center is utilized for Pascal’s alien-looking garden, and when the project is finished, 20 staff will be able to harvest up to 2,200 lbs (1,000 kg) of perhaps 35 different kinds of fruits and vegetables every day.
In plastic towers honeycombed with little holes, small amounts of water carrying nutrients, bacteria, and minerals, aerate roots which hang in midair.
As strange as the pipes and towers out of which grow everything other than root vegetables might seem, Hardy says the science-fiction farming has major benefits over traditional agriculture.
“I don’t know about you,” he begins, “but I don’t much like the fact that most of the fruit and vegetables we eat have been treated with something like 17 different pesticides, or that the intensive farming techniques that produced them are such huge generators of greenhouse gases.”
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“It uses less space. An ordinary intensive farm can grow nine salads per square meter of soil; I can grow 50 in a single tower. You can select crop varieties for their flavor, not their resistance to the transport and storage chain, and you can pick them when they’re really at their best, and not before.”
Agripolis is currently discussing projects in the U.S., the UK, and Germany, and they have finished several other rooftop farms in France including one on the roof of the Mercure hotel in 2016, which cultivates eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, salads, watercress, strawberries, nasturtiums and aromatics all directly serving the hotel restaurant.
Growing on the roof and selling on the floor can play a big part in the production of carbon-neutral food because, according to Agripolis, fruit and veg on average travel by refrigerated air and land transport between 2,400 and 4,800 kilometers from farm to market.
The global transportation force is the largest of humanity’s carbon-emitting activities, and reducing the number of flights and truckloads of produce is a great place to start cutting the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere.
For a culinary city like Paris, the Parisian mayor’s proposal to install an additional 320 acres (130 ha) of rooftop and wall-mounted urban farming space could significantly reduce the number of trucks entering the city, easing traffic and reducing pollution.
With rooftop farming being embraced from Detroit to Shanghai, the future is looking up.
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Quote of the Day: “The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.” – Phillips Brooks
Photo: © GWC
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?
For the first time, researchers have conducted a clinical trial to demonstrate that extremely low and precise doses of inhaled THC—the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis—can effectively relieve pain, while avoiding the common side effects associated with cannabis use. The delta-8-THC was inhaled through Area 52 vape cartridges, which are of the Pineapple Express variety.
The study, which was conducted by Israeli med-tech company Syqe Medical and published in the European Journal of Pain earlier this month, is the first scientific confirmation that microdosing—the process of using extremely low doses of active drug compounds to treat various conditions—actually works with cannabis.
Although widely championed, there has been scarce scientific evidence to support or even fully explore claims of microdosing benefits and safety until now. The placebo-controlled, double-blind, multi-dose study was conducted at Rambam Medical Center in Israel and examined blood THC levels, pain relief, cognitive functions and psychoactivity.
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The study shows that an optimally effective dose to relieve pain is just 500 micrograms of THC. Syqe patients consume 3-4 inhalations per day, each up to 500 micrograms. A typical medical cannabis patient consumes 1 gram of 15% THC cannabis per day, which contains 150,000 micrograms of THC. This illustrates a key finding from the study that patients can benefit from dramatically lower doses.
The Syqe Selective-Dose Inhaler, the company’s specialized drug delivery platform marketed in Israel by pharmaceutical giant Teva, allows physicians and patients to select microgram-level doses with precision. These results are presumed to be due to the bioavailability-enhancing technologies of the Syqe platform in conjunction with its selective-dosing capabilities.
In addition to CE approval now pending in Europe, Syqe believes that the published study and the actual patient use data in Israel will be an important part of its planned FDA submission in the U.S.
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“This study is the first to show that human sensitivity to THC is significantly greater than previously assumed, indicating that if we can treat patients with much higher precision, lower quantities of drug will be needed, resulting in fewer side effects and an overall more effective treatment,” said Syqe Medical CEO Perry Davidson. “The Syqe drug delivery technology is also applicable to opioids and other compounds that, while potentially effective, are notoriously associated with dangerous side effects. The introduction of a tool to prescribe medications at such low doses with such high resolution may allow us to achieve treatment outcomes that previously were not possible.”
These findings may allow the establishment of a long-awaited industry milestone: a standardized therapeutic window for cannabis inhalation. By provably administering precise doses measured in micrograms and quantifying diminishing therapeutic returns versus increased psychoactivity, the study was able to document successful pain relief with CBD while minimizing potentially debilitating psychoactive side effects.
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“We can conclude from the study results that low doses of cannabis may provide desirable effects while avoiding cognitive debilitations, significantly contributing to daily functioning, quality of life, and safety of the patient,” said Professor Elon Eisenberg, lead researcher and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. “The doses given in this study, being so low, mandate very high precision in the treatment modality.”
Reprinted from Syqe Medical
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A nonprofit based in Massachusetts has begun donating bridal gowns to frontline healthcare workers who need a little help with their wedding plans.
Brides Across America usually donates gowns to military couples or first responders, but since the country’s medical professionals are now risking their lives every day in the fight against the coronavirus, they’ve shown they more than qualify as heroes in their own right.
“We just wanted to do something to give back and at least say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking of you,’” the BBA’s founder, Heidi Janson, told TODAY Style.
“They’re putting their lives on the line, just like the military or a first responder, so this was our way to give back to them. We just thought it lined up nicely with our mission.”
Every year since 2008, BAA has donated around 2,000 wedding dresses, totaling 25,000 gowns over their history, to brides. Their headquarters is in Andover, Massachusetts, but for heroes further a field, BAA ships dress collections to local boutiques or event spaces across the country and holds events that allow future brides to browse the donations.
Whenever BAA offers a beautiful free gown, it can take a huge burden off the shoulders of brides-to-be. “The girls are so happy,” Janson said. “They’re like, ‘I’m working, I’m planning a wedding. I don’t really have time (to find a dress).’ They can’t believe it’s free.”
The nonprofit is busy, and with just 7 people, it is doing all it can to keep up with demand.
“We’re pretty small, but we have a big mission,” she said. “It’s definitely hard, but we’re trying our best to continue as much as we can with the current circumstances.”
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If you have a gown less than five years old, and in good condition, consider donating it through their website. They also accept veils, jewelry, gift cards, and even wedding favors.
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Researchers from the University of Houston have succeeded in collaboration to develop a “catch-and-kill” air filter that can trap COVID-19—and instantly kill it in the process.
The researchers reported that tests at the Galveston National Laboratory found 99.8% of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus was killed in a single pass through a filter made from commercially available nickel foam heated to 200 degrees Centigrade—or about 392 degrees Fahrenheit. It also killed 99.9% of the anthrax spores during tests at the national lab.
“This filter could be useful in airports and in airplanes, in office buildings, schools and cruise ships to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Ren, co-author of the paper. “Its ability to help control the spread of the virus could be very useful for society.”
The filter, which was described in a paper published this week in Materials Today Physics, was designed with the help of Zhifeng Ren, director of the university’s Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH), and Monzer Hourani, CEO of Houston-based medical real estate development firm Medistar.
Medistar executives are also proposing a desktop model of the filter capable of purifying the air in an office worker’s immediate surroundings, he said.
Ren said Medistar first approached TcSUH for help in developing the concept of a virus-trapping air filter on March 31st, just as the pandemic was spreading throughout the United States.
Since the researchers knew the virus could remain in the air for about three hours, the filter seemed to be a viable plan—and with businesses reopening, controlling the spread in air conditioned spaces was urgent.
Medistar also knew the virus couldn’t survive temperatures above 70 degrees Centigrade, (158 degrees Fahrenheit), so the researchers decided to use a heated filter. By upping the filter temperature to about 200º C, they were able to kill the virus almost instantly.
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Ren suggested using nickel foam for the device because it met several key requirements: the flexible material is porous enough to allow the flow of air while also being electrically conductive, which allows it to be heated.
Since nickel foam has low resistivity, however, it’s difficult to raise its temperature high enough to quickly kill the virus. The researchers solved that problem by folding the foam, connecting multiple compartments with electrical wires to increase the resistance high enough to raise the temperature as high as 250 degrees C.
By making the filter electrically heated—rather than heating it from an external source—the researchers say they minimized the amount of heat that escaped from the filter, allowing air conditioning to function with minimal strain.
A prototype was built by a local workshop and first tested at Ren’s lab for the relationship between voltage/current and temperature; it then went to the Galveston lab to be tested for its ability to kill the virus. Ren said it satisfies the requirements for conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
“This novel biodefense indoor air protection technology offers the first-in-line prevention against environmentally mediated transmission of airborne SARS-CoV-2 and will be on the forefront of technologies available to combat the current pandemic and any future airborne biothreats in indoor environments,” said study co-author Dr. Faisal Cheema from the UH College of Medicine.
The researchers are now calling for a phased roll-out of the device, “beginning with high-priority venues, where essential workers are at elevated risk of exposure (particularly schools, hospitals and health care facilities, as well as public transit environs such as airplanes).”
Need more positive stories and updates coming out of the COVID-19 challenge? For more uplifting coverage, click here.
Reprinted from the University of Houston
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These incredible photos managed to capture the beauty of 50 forks of lightning striking a Mexican city in just 5 minutes.
The amazing panoramic photos of the valley show the sky light up amidst a storm that is now being dubbed “The Night of a Thousand Forks” because of the sheer amount of lightning streaking across the length of the valley’s 165 square miles.
The intense electrical storm even saw a number of the lightning bolts crackling over the 12,000-foot tall Colima Volcano—the most active volcano in Mexico.
The volcano towers over the state of Colima, which is where the lightning storm hit on July 14th.
“The night was crazy—all the locals are calling it the Night of a Thousand Forks,” said 37-year-old photographer Hernando Rivera Cervantes, who stitched 42 of his images together into a photo composition to show the full, dazzling impact of the storm.
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“It kept everybody awake all night, and there was lots of rain too. The sound was enough to keep the whole city awake,” he added. “Over five minutes, I captured about 40 to 50 lightning bolts—which was incredible. I have been fascinated by lightning since I was a child, it has always impressed me with its great energy and light.”
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Quote of the Day: “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.” – William Blake
Photo: by Riley
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 9-year-old Kenyan boy was presented with a special presidential award after he built his own public hand-washing sink to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Stephen Wamukota managed to construct his little sanitary station using just a bucket, a few pieces of wood, and some basic tools. Since the sink’s mechanism is triggered by foot pedals at the base of the station, people can wash their hands without being forced to touch its surface and risk contracting the virus.
Stephen’s father James praised the project in an interview with BBC, saying: “I had bought some pieces of wood to make a window frame, but I when I came back home after work one day, I found that Stephen had made the machine. The concept was his, and I helped tighten the machine. I’m very proud.”
The youngster was inspired to build the hand-washing station after watching a TV news report on ways to avoid contracting and spreading COVID-19. After photos of his sanitation prototype were shared widely on Facebook, the boy constructed a second one—and he now plans to build even more.
As a means of lauding the boy for his initiation, the Kenyan president awarded him and 68 other Kenyan citizens with the prestigious Presidential Order of Service Uzalendo (Patriotic) Award last month.
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Since Stephen also told reporters that he hopes to become an engineer some day in the future, the governor of his Kenyan county promised to award the boy a scholarship once he is old enough to attend college.
Mr. Wamukota now says he is already looking forward to a bright future for his son. “He is always saying he wants to build factories and become an engineer,” he told CNN. “I hope he does, that he becomes a great person.”
(WATCH the BBC video below)
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Inspired by countless nights spent studying in school, an eco-conscious college grad has come up with an ingenious replacement for the single-use plastics used to package instant ramen noodles.
Holly Grounds, who studied product design at Ravensbourne University London, is responsible for developing an edible, spiced packaging film for instant noodles.
Grounds says she felt compelled to develop her “Dissolvable Noodle Packaging” after realizing the long-lasting environmental consequences of such a quick and easy meal.
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“In the current world of instant ramen noodles, there is often more plastic than noodle,” Grounds wrote on her website. “The product can be cooked and eaten in under 10 minutes, yet the packaging can take 8 decades to decompose.”
After countless hours of trial and error testing, Grounds managed to simultaneously do away with both the plastic noodle sleeves and the single-use spice packets by incorporating the seasoning into the biofilm packaging.
While the biofilm is thick enough to keep the noodles from getting stale, it melts into ramen broth exactly one minute after coming into contact with boiling water.
Grounds says she can produce the film simply by mixing potato starch, glycerin, and water with the seasonings and pouring the concoction into a mould so that it can set for 24 hours. Once solidified, she uses the film to wrap the noodles into a donut shape for even heating on the stovetop. For hygiene purposes, Grounds then bundles the meal into a paper wrapper.
Not only is Grounds’s invention more environmentally friendly than consumer packaging, it also takes less time to cook and prepare because it eliminates the need to tear open the different plastic sleeves.
Since the edible noodle wrapper was featured as one of five finalists in Dezeen’s circular economy-themed Virtual Design Festival in June, Grounds now hopes that she can use the media attention to help implement the biofilm packaging in other food packaging schemes as well.
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It has now been four months since this investigational vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19 was tested on humans for the first time in the US—and its recently-released trial results are inspiring hope amongst the healthcare community.
The interim report of the trials details how the vaccine, mRNA-1273, was not only shown to be well-tolerated in healthy adult participants, but it also prompted neutralizing antibody activity against the novel coronavirus.
The experimental vaccine is being co-developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and at Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company Moderna, Inc.
Manufactured by Moderna, mRNA-1273 is designed to induce neutralizing antibodies directed at a portion of the coronavirus “spike” protein, which the virus uses to bind to and enter human cells.
The trial was led by Dr. Lisa A. Jackson from the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle where the first participant received the candidate vaccine on March 16th.
This interim report, which was published online this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, details the initial findings from the first 45 participants ages 18 to 55 years enrolled at the study sites in Seattle and at Emory University in Atlanta.
Three groups of 15 participants received two intramuscular injections, 28 days apart, of either 25, 100, or 250 micrograms of the investigational vaccine. All the participants received one injection; 42 received both scheduled injections.
In April, the trial was expanded to enroll adults older than age 55 years; it now has 120 participants. However, the newly published results cover the 18 to 55-year age group only.
Regarding safety, no serious adverse events were reported. More than half of the participants reported fatigue, headache, chills, myalgia or pain at the injection site. Systemic adverse events were more common following the second vaccination and in those who received the highest vaccine dose. Data on side effects and immune responses at various vaccine dosages informed the doses used or planned for use in the Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the investigational vaccine.
The interim analysis includes results of tests measuring levels of vaccine-induced neutralizing activity through day 43 after the second injection. Two doses of vaccine prompted high levels of neutralizing antibody activity that were above the average values seen in convalescent sera obtained from persons with confirmed COVID-19 disease.
A Phase 2 clinical trial of the vaccine, which is being sponsored by Moderna, began enrollment in late May. As researchers prepare to launch a Phase 3 efficacy trial with 30,000 participants on July 2020, the government hopes to have the final results on the vaccine’s efficacy by the end of the year.
Until then, the Phase 1 study results are being hailed as a much-anticipated piece of good news amidst the pandemic as well as a record-setting example of speedy vaccine development.
“This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection,” Dr. Jackson told The Associated Press.
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Forget about commands like “roll over” and “play dead”—this dog has learned to communicate with his owners using a sound board with 45 different English phrases.
The sheepadoodle named Bunny was recently filmed using the sound board to say things like “play,” “beach,” and even “I love you, Mom.”
Bunny was introduced to the specially-made communication pad as soon as she was adopted by her owner, Alexis Devine, back in September 2019.
Devine built her own canine sound board after being inspired by speech language pathologist Christina Hunger and her dog Stella. In addition to Hunger being renowned for using augmentative and alternative linguistic resources to help nonverbal people communicate, she was also one of the first people to use the sound boards with dogs.
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“The first sound board that we used was one that I had made after following Christina’s guidance on her blog,” said Devine. “We used that for several months before I connected with Leo Trottier, who is a cognitive scientist. He was looking for beta testers of a new device, and that is the board we are currently using with Bunny.”
The first word that the 11-month-old pup learned to use on the sound board was “outside”—but she can now ask Devine about specific destinations thanks to buttons that play words like “beach” and “park.”
Bunny has even learned to talk about the family’s pet cat Spooky by pressing multiple buttons for “Play, Spooky.”
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“The sound board has been an overwhelmingly positive experience,” said Devine, who is an artist from Tacoma, Washington. “Bunny and I work on engagement, tricks and obedience to strengthen our bond daily, but this has added so much laughter, joy and wonder to our lives.
“Bunny currently has 45 words on her board with 5 of them being new enough that we are still helping her to understand them contextually,” she added. “It’s always an adventure, and we are thoroughly enjoying the ride regardless of the destination.”
(WATCH the video below)
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