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Teen Finds 6-Inch Megalodon Tooth Millions of Years Old While Diving for Fossils on Florida Coast

Teen Aiden Andrews finds megalodon shark tooth while diving in Florida - Courtesy of Fossil Junkies
Teen Aiden Andrews finds megalodon shark tooth while diving in Florida – Courtesy of Fossil Junkies

A Florida teen will have quite the story for his friends to chew on when they all meet back in class after spring break.

16-year-old Aiden Andrews found the 6-inch-long tooth of an ancient shark known as a megalodon while diving near Sarasota.

This was the largest shark species in history, and is believed to have had a stronger bite than any other creature to ever live. The largest megalodon known weighed an estimated 50 tons in life, and stretched 60 feet nose to tail.

Aiden was on a shallow-water dive expedition with his dad Brian through a fossil-hunting tour group in Venice, Florida, called Fossil Junkies when he pulled the giant gnasher from the silt off Manasota Key, near Sarasota.

Though experts call it a rare find, Fossil Junkies seem to be experts in knowing where to look, as their homepage is covered in smiling, ecstatic divers holding their megalodon teeth.

Though the megalodon shark was enormous, its teeth do seem to have a habit of ending up in small hands.

In 2022, GNN reported that a 6-year-old walking on Bawdsey Beach in the UK turned up a 4-inch-long tooth of a megalodon, buried for at least 3 million years.

Semi-professional fossil hunters with trowels and knee pads for kneeling in the mud told the father and son at the time that it’s nearly unheard of to find megalodon teeth in Great Britain, despite the fact they have been found nearly everywhere on Earth.

It’s not that unheard of, as it turns out, because in 2023 another young man, 13-year-old Ben Evans, found a 10-million-year-old megalodon tooth at Walton-on-the-Naze Beach in  Essex.

On Christmas Day, 2022, Molly Sampson from the Chesapeake Bay area went fossil hunting with her dad after receiving a pair of insulated waders and a sifting basket from Santa Claus. She too pulled up a ‘meg’ tooth that was roughly 15 million years old.

Molly told local news that when it comes to megalodons, every inch in the teeth was 10 in the body, so Molly’s would have been 50 feet long.

WATCH Aiden pull up the tooth from the shallows below…  

SHARE This Great Spring Break Surprise With Your Friends Who Can Dive… 

“We are not only our brother’s keeper; in countless large and small ways we are our brother’s maker.” – Bonaro Overstreet

Credit: Andriyko Podilnyk

Quote of the Day: “We are not only our brother’s keeper; in countless large and small ways we are our brother’s maker.” – Bonaro Overstreet

Photo by: Andriyko Podilnyk

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?

Credit: Andriyko Podilnyk

Good News in History, April 3

Goodall in 2018 by Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GFDL; and chimpanzee by NH53, CC license

92 years ago today, Dame Jane Goodall was born. The beloved British primatologist first observed chimpanzees creating tools in 1960 (and 2 years earlier had been a secretary). It was the first time that an animal was observed to modify an object to create a tool for a specific purpose. She studied at Cambridge, became Dr. Jane Goodall, and put forth another unconventional idea for the time: “It isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow.” READ more about her work… (1934)

Endangered Cockatoos Finally Hatch Chick in Artificial Nest, a Promise of Conservation Success

- credit Benjamin Muller, supplied to ABC Au
– credit Benjamin Muller, supplied to ABC Au

The future looks substantially brighter for a beautiful and totally unique Australian cockatoo species that requires very specific nesting habitat.

Scientists say it takes 250 years, some termites, no wildfires, and a cyclone to make the ideal home for the palm cockatoo, a difficult combination at the best of times. But deforestation is making this natural coincidence harder and harder to take place.

Now, however, conservationists at the NGO People for Wildlife have “cracked the code” on how to get these birds to nest in artificial tree hollows, opening up a whole new chapter in their protection.

“This is huge news,” People for Wildlife associate researcher Christina Zdenek told ABC News AU. “We have a highly endangered species in severe decline, and we’ve been working for years to crack the code of how to help them. And we finally have.”

Located in the northernmost state of Queensland, the palm cockatoo is a large bird well-over one foot in length from tip to tail. It sports a beautiful black crest and red cheek, huge black beak, and like other cockatoos, can use tools—specifically it uses a stick to drum out rhythms on hollow trees during mating season.

It’s earned the nickname the Ringo bird, after Ringo Star, the drummer for the Beatles.

There are less than 2,000 of these birds remaining, however, as the habitat they evolved to nest in is extremely specific. They look for hollows made in mature trees by termites or fungi which have been exposed by the strong winds of Southern Pacific cyclones. These conditions can sometimes take 250 years to manifest, and the combination of logging and more intense wildfires severely interrupts this process.

Teaming up with a specialist woodcarver, People for Wildlife designed the “Palm Cockatube,” a section of old-growth tree trunk hollowed out in such a way as to mimic the natural feel of these hollows.

An adult palm cockatoo and its fledgling chick – credit Benjamin Muller supplied to ACB Au

Three different designs divided across 29 artificial nests were hung from trees in prime habitat where it was known the cockatoos lived but weren’t currently nesting. Last September, Dr. Zdenek and her colleague Benjamin Muller noticed one specific hollow being visited by adult birds. Later they discovered an egg was inside, and just recently, it hatched to their delight, and to the delight of the Apudthama Traditional Owners.

MORE AUSTRALIAN BIRDS: 

Tree hollows are used by more than just cockatoos in Australia; a whole gamut of animals exploit these natural lignan caves as shelter. Dr. Zdenek believes that if the fussy cockatoos enjoy the artificial nests, than other animals like the glider, a tree-dwelling marsupial with wings like a flying squirrel, will also benefit.

“Palm cockatoos here are the umbrella species — if you save them, you save dozens of others,” she said.

SHARE This Cockatoo And Its Cockatube With Your Friends Down Under…

Remains of ‘Three Musketeers’ Hero May Have Been Found Under Church Altar – DNA Testing Underway

The d'Artagnan statue on the monument of Alexandre Dumas, in Paris - credit, Marimarina CC BY-SA 4.0.
The d’Artagnan statue on the monument of Alexandre Dumas, in Paris – credit, Marimarina CC BY-SA 4.0.

It had long been suspected that somewhere in or under the Church of Peter and Paul in Wolder, the Netherlands, lay the remains of the man who inspired the character of d’Artagnan, immortalized in Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers.

Real name Charles de Batz de Castelmore, this wartime participant was a close aid of the Sun King Louis XIV, who was killed during the siege of Maastricht in the 17th century.

De Batz was also called Count d’Artagnan, hence why it’s believed he was the model of Dumas’ character, who helps the entirely-fictional Musketeers in the timeless classic.

It happened that recently, the Deacon of the church in Wolder, in the southwest corner of Maastricht, decided to perform a bit of digging to see if someone had been buried there after a few floor tiles had come loose.

“We prized up some loose flagstones to carry out repairs and we saw there was a skeleton in sacred ground near where the altar used to be,” Deacon Jos Valke told the London Times.

Using delicate excavation methods, they found a bone, and eventually an entire skeleton, just as the old rumors had suggested.

“Only royals or other people of rank would have been buried there. We thought it could be d’Artagnan so we called in an archaeologist.”

Archaeologist Wim Dijkman, who’s previously stated that there is neither historic nor physical evidence for the belief that the Count was buried in Wolder, took some samples that contain DNA and sent them off to Germany, while a few of the bones were personally moved to the Dutch city of Deventer where they will be assessed for their age and sex.

FICTION MEETS FACT: Myth Collides With History in Greece Where Tiles Found Marked ‘Odysseus’ Confirm Hero Worship of Homer’s Trojan War King

These scientific protocols are what might be called “due diligence,” since found along with the skeleton were artifacts which left Valke 99% certain they’d found their man.

“He was buried on sacred ground below where the altar was; we found the [musket ball] that put an end to his life and we found a coin from 1660 in his grave, and it was from the bishop who attended Mass for the Roi Soleil,” he told the BBC. 

LONG DEAD CELEBRITIES: Lost Bach Pieces Performed for First Time in 320 Years: ‘Great moment for the world of music’

Dijkman admitted he needed to leverage his scientist reserve to remain calm, since he’s been researching d’Artagnan’s ultimate fate for over 20 years, and believes the deacon may have helped him solve the biggest mystery of his career.

That Count d’Artagnan was involved in the fighting at Maastricht has given some historians the notion that the Three Musketeers, while themselves being entirely fictional, could have embodied certain elite fighting men the Count was somehow associated with.

SHARE This Fictional Hero Made Real Bone In Holland With Your Friends… 

Windows Broken Into Become Earrings in One Woman’s Quest to Keep Glass Out of Landfills

Sydney Jones in front of her Odd Commodity stall - credit, oddcommodityshop.com
Sydney Jones in front of her Odd Commodity stall – credit, oddcommodityshop.com

Car break-ins in the Bay Area are down, but not out. From each one of these ugly surprises, local artisan Sydney Jones creates a surprising amount of beauty.

Using a kitchen-top kiln, she takes advantage of safety glass’ crystalline structure to quickly turn the broken pieces into floral-themed earrings of jade green.

It not only helps divert long-lived glass from piling up in landfills, but diverts a little bit of the anger over the break-in too.

“I was actually overwhelmed by the community response to the reuse of glass. I never would have thought it would be reclaimed glass that people would get excited about,” Jones told CBS News Bay Area.

She recycles glass in several ways through her small shop in Oakland called Odd Commodities (missed the opportunity to call it ‘Oddity’ Commodities there Sydney) but the most popular is her “Street Revival collection,” a simple selection of four patterns of molten safety class from car windows.

“I was actually overwhelmed by the community response to the reuse of glass. I never would have thought it would be reclaimed glass that people would get excited about.”

AMERICAN ARTISANS:

She typically collects the glass herself with a broom and dustpan. Neighbors or fans of hers reach out when there’s been a break-in somewhere in the neighborhood, and she quickly arrives to sweep up.

The most common glass recycling in the US involves extreme heat, and is therefore more likely to be carbon intensive and expensive—prohibitively so. It’s not uncommon for trash collection companies to simply resort to landfills rather than investing in the expensive recycling method.

Jones’ customers are pleased they can reduce this impact, even in their own small way.

WATCH the story below from CBS News… 

SHARE This Woman’s Efforts To Make Beauty Out Of Ugliness… 

8-year-old’s ‘Sweet Monsters’ Drawing Chosen as Winning Design to Decorate Real Train

Phileine next to her Sweet Monster Train - credit, NS released
Phileine next to her Sweet Monster Train – credit, NS released

Now from the Netherlands comes the delightful story of an 8-year-old’s dream design made reality on the carriages of a very special train.

Hosted by the national train operator NS, the NS Drawing Competition invites children all over the country to submit drawings to be used as an exterior design for one of the operator’s trains.

8-year-old Phileine from Zutphen, near Utrecht, won the competition’s 2025 edition which experienced a record number of entries: over 1,200 children took place.

“From jungle trains full of animals to flying locomotives and fantasy creatures that move along the track, all drawings combined humor, fantasy and adventure,” NS wrote in a statement. 

Phileine’s concept was the “Sweet Monster Train,” which she got to see first hand at the competition’s conclusion in Utrecht’s Maliebaan station.

Phileine worked with a professional illustrator Jip Piet to cover the train cars in friendly monsters, deliberately designed to be impossible to scare anyone as they crawl and slither along the exterior.

Phileine’s original design – credit, NS released

Her entry was presented as an ingenious design that would allow the operator to print the design out at scale on large decal stickers, no paint needed.

GOOD RAIL STORIES: Officer Converts Old Train Car into ‘Hospital on Wheels’ to Bring Healthcare to Remote India

Then, Phileine arrived with her family to cut the ribbon at the opening of the intercity train next to competition judge Daan Schutt, a board member of NS.

“With the drawing competition, NS wants to inspire children in a playful way for train travel,” the translated statement from NS said.

MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Dutch Bringing Back Risky Play–in Parks Where Kids Climb, Sword-fight with Sticks and Build with Hammers

“Children often experience a train journey as an adventure, much more than we sometimes realize as adults. By focusing on their imagination and really bringing one dream train to life, we show how special travel can be through children’s eyes.”

WATCH young Phileine see the train for the first time… 

SHARE This Child’s Imagination Made Reality On A Special Train… 

“Nothing others do is because of you. What others say is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

Credit: Thomas Bennie

Quote of the Day: “Nothing others do is because of you. What others say is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

Photo by: Thomas Bennie

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?

Credit: Thomas Bennie

Good News in History, April 2

87 years ago today, the soul singer-songwriter and musician Marvin Gaye was born in Washington, DC. ‘The Prince of Motown’ helped to shape the sound of the 1960s with a string of hits, like I Heard It Through the Grapevine (the best-selling Motown hit ever). The pianist’s 1970 composition What’s Going On, written about an act of police brutality at an anti-war rally, was called “too political” for radio by Motown founder Berry Gordy who refused to release it. Gaye responded by going on strike from recording until the label released the song. READ what happened next… (1939)

The Sunniest, Windiest Country Announces Renewables Project to Power 6 Million Homes

Wind turbines at Zaafarana, Egypt - credit, Hatem Moushir CC BY-SA 3.0.
Wind turbines at Zaafarana, Egypt – credit, Hatem Moushir CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Land of the Nile has quickly joined the number of countries responding to the current oil shock by announcing new wind and solar projects.

For a country that’s over 90% sand desert, where the Sun was deified in ancient times as a scarab beetle and its dung ball, and where the Sahara wind is so desiccating it’s known as samoomor “poison,” installing gigawatts of solar and wind energy seems a no-brainer.

On March 18, the Egyptian electricity and renewables ministry announced than agreement for nearly 6 gigawatts of solar, wind, and battery storage facilities along the Red Sea coastline to be developed in a partnership between the Egyptian firm Orascom Construction, French utility Engie, and Japanese conglomerate Toyota Tsusho.

The photovoltaic panel is currently, and by a substantial margin, the cheapest form of scalable renewable energy technology, and so while 900 megawatts will come from wind energy, 5-times that amount will be generated from solar and battery storage.

Egyptian electricity minister Mahmoud Essmat said that expanding renewable energy projects and adopting battery storage will help to “reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels, cut carbon emissions, enhance grid stability and security, and ensure uninterrupted electricity supply.”

Home to 107 million people, Egypt is the most-populous state in the Arab world, and enjoys one of the highest GDP per capita therein.

EGYPTIAN NEWS:

Egypt’s electricity demand has more than doubled over the past two decades, driven by rapid population growth and industrial expansion. This surge has primarily been met by natural gas, which made up 84% of Egypt’s electricity mix in 2023. To reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, Egypt has set a target of 42% renewable electricity by 2030.

If it wasn’t ironic enough that the country blessed with more wind and sunshine than almost any other country on Earth has almost no outstanding renewable capacity for sun and wind power, most of the renewable power it does have comes from water—a resource absent from roughly 98% of the whole country’s land area. The River Nile is a heck of a thing.

In 2019, Egypt completed one of the biggest solar installations in the world, Benban Solar Park, which generates 1.8 GW to power 1 million homes. In April 2025, Africa’s largest wind farm began operating in the town of Ras Ghareb, with 500 MW, and plans for a 650-MW expansion.

SHARE Egypt’s Big Step Towards Energy Independence On Social Media… 

Once Dried up and Full of Plastic, Canal in India Is Now Clear and Lined with Mangroves

Canal in Tamil Nadu India (After and Before cleanup) by Supriya Sahu IAS via X @supriyasahuias
Canal in Tamil Nadu India (After and Before cleanup) by Supriya Sahu IAS via X @supriyasahuias

A canal in India has been transformed from a plastic-choked fetid mess into a growing mangrove forest.

The clean-up has restored the waterflow, and the 20,000 mangrove seedlings will help clean the water and reestablish fish stocks.

Along a 1.8-mile stretch of Buckingham Canal in India’s Tamil Nadu state, manual clean-up efforts began in Cuddalore district by some 600 paid volunteers.

This 494-mile-long fresh water canal was constructed during British rule, and ran from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu bringing water and navigation to millions.

Fewer countries are as thirsty as India can be during the dry season, but waterways in the country suffer heavily from pollution and buildup of plastic waste and invasive weeds, Buckingham Canal being a chief example of this trend.

Near the town of Pichavaram, Tamil Nadu’s Climate Resilient Village initiative organized the restoration of several stretches of the canal where pollution and waterflow were the worst. Local government agencies led the clean-up program.

750 kilograms—almost 2,000 pounds—of trash were pulled from the canal along with heaps of invasive prosopis plantsThe embankments were strengthened to prevent erosion, before 3,000 mangrove trees were planted to improve the ability of the canal to keep the water clean and biodiverse, as well as slow storm waters that might flood the town and canal.

CLEANING INDIA’S WATER: 

Other stretches further down the canal have seen similar rejuvenation. Near Chennai, the state capital, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department led the planting of another 20,000 mangrove seedlings along the canal banks, as well as in an island amid its flow.

This effort was supported with a grant from ICICI Bank’s sustainability initiatives, and involved carving a herring-bone pattern into the island. This allows for maximum mangrove anchorages across the small amount of available space, and for rising water levels to irrigate all equally.


Red, Indian, and tall-stilt mangroves were planted, and additional feeder canals and flow channels—over 180—were created to help keep the water circulating and the mangroves healthy.

“Step by step, TN Forest Department is building Chennai’s living coastal bioshield restoring mangroves that protect the city, nurture biodiversity and strengthen climate resilience,” said Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister for Environment Supriya Sahu.

Water has been a chief focus of Indian environmentalism this century. One of the sub-continent’s holiest places is a river, which makes it easy, said one NGO founder, to convince locals to help clean up water sources.

SHARE This Indian Endeavor To Clean Up Its Canals With Your Friends… 

New Views of Saturn Produced by Space Telescopes Help Researchers Understand the Planet’s Clouds

Saturn (left) in 2024 imaged by Webb, and Hubble (right)
Saturn (left) in 2024 imaged by Webb, and Hubble (right) – credit, NASA/ESA

Storms, ribbons, and its iconic rings in screaming electric blue, Saturn appears like you’ve never seen it before in a new set of images released by our flagship space telescopes James Webb and Hubble.

Whether you want to call it peeling an onion or cutting through a 7 layer cake, the combination of these two observatories, the former imaging in infrared light and the latter in visible light, help deepen the story of Saturn’s atmosphere and weather.

The Hubble image seen here was captured as part of a more than a decade long monitoring program called OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) in August 2024, while the Webb image was captured a few months later using Director’s Discretionary Time.

Hubble helps see more subtle variations in color across the world, while Webb’s infrared view allows operators to image the deep clouds below the stormy atmosphere.

In the Webb image, a long-lived jet stream known as the ‘ribbon wave’ meanders across the northern mid-latitudes, influenced by otherwise undetectable atmospheric waves. Just below that, a small spot represents a lingering remnant from the ‘Great Springtime Storm’ of 2011 to 2012.

Several other storms dotting the southern hemisphere of Saturn are visible in Webb’s image, as well.

All these features are shaped by powerful winds and waves beneath the visible cloud deck, making Saturn a natural laboratory for studying fluid dynamics under extreme conditions.

Several of the pointed edges of Saturn’s iconic hexagon-shaped jet stream at its north pole, discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in 1981, are also faintly visible in both images. It remains one of the Solar System’s most intriguing weather patterns.

Its persistence over decades highlights the stability of certain large-scale atmospheric processes on giant planets. These are likely the last high-resolution looks we’ll see of the famous hexagon until the 2040’s, as the northern pole enters winter and will shift into darkness for 15 years.

In Webb’s infrared observations, Saturn’s poles appear distinctly grey-green, indicating light emitting at wavelengths around 4.3 microns. This distinct feature could come from a layer of high-altitude aerosols in Saturn’s atmosphere that scatters light differently at those latitudes. Another possible explanation is auroral activity, as charged molecules interacting with the planet’s magnetic field can produce glowing emissions near the poles.

Also in Webb’s infrared image, the rings are extremely bright because they are made of highly reflective water ice. In both images, we’re seeing the sunlit face of the rings, a little less so in the Hubble image, hence the shadows visible underneath on the planet.

RINGS AND AURORAE: New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune’s Rings, Revealing the Ice Giant in Whole New Light

Saturn’s orbit around the Sun, combined with the position of Earth in its annual orbit, determines our changing viewing angle of Saturn’s face and ring. The planet is tilted on its axis to a greater degree than Earth, which allows for occasionally exceptional views of the rings, and occasionally poor views.

The images also contain subtle ring features such as spokes and structure in the B ring (the thick central region of the rings) that appear differently between the two observatories. The F ring, the outermost ring, looks thin and crisp in the Webb image, while it only slightly glows in the Hubble image.

MORE PLANETARY SCIENCE: Citizen Scientist Spots Earth-like Planet: Now Astrophysicists Will Focus Most Powerful Telescopes on it

These 2024 observations, taken 14 weeks apart, show the planet moving from northern summer toward the 2025 equinox. As Saturn transitions into southern spring, and later southern summer in the 2030’s, Hubble and Webb will have progressively better views of that hemisphere.

Hubble’s observations of Saturn for decades have built a record of its evolving atmosphere. Programs like OPAL, with its annual monitoring, have allowed scientists to track storms, banding patterns, and seasonal shifts over time. Webb now adds powerful infrared capabilities to this ongoing record, extending what researchers can measure about Saturn’s atmospheric structure and dynamic processes.

SHARE These Beautiful Images Of Our Ringed Neighbor With Your Friends… 

Vancouver’s ‘Teddy Bear Doctor’ Stitches Together More Than Just Plushies, but Memories Too

Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash +
Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash +

Ruth Hasman has repaired hundreds of stuffed animals over the years since she retired.

Whether it was an overzealous child, a close encounter with a dog, or just too much loving, there’s no damage she can’t fix.

From a mass-produced Spongebob Squarepants to a 115-year-old, hand-sewn bear cuddled through 5 generations, Hasman says her favorite part of her work is the stories behind each toy.

She’s made every kind of repair on a stuffed animal you can think of, from reattaching eyes, limbs, and heads, to ‘fur grafts,’ to stitch-ups, stuffing transplants, and even voice box repair.

If she doesn’t have the material on hand—because it’s the wrong texture or color, she will scour local thrift shops until she finds a “donor.”

“I learn something new almost every time I fix one,” she told CBC News’ Michelle Gomez. “It’s a pleasure talking to the people, finding out the history of the bears. There’s a lot of poignant stories.”

TEDDIES ARE PEOPLE TOO: 

It’s not uncommon for Hasman to repair a bear and receive a thank-you card from its owner, a gesture that makes all the needlework worth it.

CBC says she’s currently training an orderly to take over the work when her fingers have lost their dexterity, but for now she’s going to keep the operating theater open, since the stories behind each and every bear, dog, monkey, and elephant just “pulls her heart.”

WATCH the story below from CBC…

“A wise girl knows her limits. A smart girl know that she has none.” – attributed to Marilyn Monroe

Credit: Nicodemus Roger (Public domain)

Quote of the Day: “A wise girl knows her limits. A smart girl know that she has none.” – attributed to Marilyn Monroe

Photo by: Nicodemus Roger

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?

Credit: Nicodemus Roger (Public domain)

 

Good News in History, April 1

50 years ago today, the Apple Computer Company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to sell their ground-breaking Apple I personal computer kits. Their startup is now the most valuable company in the world, becoming the first publicly-traded company to be valued at $1 trillion in 2018—a figure that has nearly quadrupled since then. READ some interesting historical bites of Apple… (1976)

Roofers Repair 78-year-old Widower’s Roof for Free After Scammers Left Him with a Big Hole

Mike gets free roof from Aiden Murphy of Jigsaw roofing - SWNS
Aiden, shirtless, working on Mike’s roof – SWNS

Roofers repaired a 78-year-old widower’s roof for free after he was scammed out of thousands by another tradesman.

Mike Watkinson needed a few of his roof tiles replaced just weeks after his wife of 57 years died following a long battle with liver cancer.

When the first set of roofers arrived, they aggressively quoted him £250, or about $310 for the work.

He said he felt “pressured” into accepting, and before he knew it, the bill rose to 8-times that amount.

Watkinson paid the workers who pocketed the cash and left his home in Oldham unfinished and with a huge hole in the roof.

When Denny Melia, another tradesman, found out last week he rushed over with his team and offered to do the work for free, not too dissimilar to a story that GNN reported on last spring in Pittsburgh, where deceitful contractors left a retired couple with a collapsing pile of dirt instead of a new garden wall.

“I was outraged hearing Mike’s story,” said Melia, the owner of Jigsaw Roofing in Merseyside.

Mike gets free roof from Aiden Murphy of Jigsaw roofing – SWNS

“I couldn’t believe people would take advantage of a man in that stage of life.”

“The job was only about 25% done when we got to his house,” he told the Southwest News Service.

“And the other workers had said they’d finish it for another £1,200, but I told Mike that if they showed up again, he should call the police.”

MORE HONESTY IN THE TRADES: Contractor’s ‘Roof Goof’ Becomes Unexpected Blessing for Oklahoma Couple

Aiden’s truck in front of Mike’s house – SWNS

£250 would have been a fair price for what the first roofer was asking, Melia said, but they just kept raising the quote and pressuring him, saying there were other issues.

Making up for his dismal industry colleagues, Melia took care of the project for free.

SHARE The Story Of Mr. Melia’s Generosity With Your Friends On Social Media… 

UN Summit Sees Giant Otter and 39 Other Migratory Species Gain Cross-Border Protections

Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) - Credit, Omar Torrico supplied by WCS ©
Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) – Credit, Omar Torrico supplied by WCS ©

132 representatives from world governments recently adopted a sweeping set of conservation measures aimed at protecting migratory species and their habitats worldwide.

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) took place in Brazil this March, where 40 animals were granted special protections under one of the UN’s premier wildlife conservation treaties.

Protections were provided for animals of the seas, skies, and lands, from as small as a godwit bird to as large as the hammerhead shark.

Among the animals that were listed in the treaty’s appendices include two species of hammerheads, the thresher shark, two species of migratory Amazonian fish, the jaguar, striped hyena, giant river otter, snowy owl, manta rays, and Hudsonian godwit.

“These listings send a clear signal that the global community recognizes the urgent need to act for species that depend on connected landscapes and waters that span borders,” said Susan Lieberman, Vice President for International Policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who gave a speech at the event’s Plenary session.

The CMS lists animals under Appendix I for migratory species threatened with extinction that require protections wherever they roam. Appendix II are those species that quality for protections under Appendix I, but which require specialized international collaboration to help facilitate or guarantee their movement across borders.

Beyond simply listing the animals, multiple courses of action were agreed on, including the need to develop plans to help better ensure cross-border movement of freshwater fish, jaguars, and protections for migratory sharks from bycatch.

The great hammerhead shark – credit, Masayuki Agawa, supplied by WCS

“Expanded protections for striped hyena, snowy owls, giant otters, great hammerhead sharks, and many more, demonstrate that nations can act when the science is clear,” said CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel. “Our duty now is to close the distance between what we’ve agreed and what happens on the ground for these animals.”

GLOBAL CONSERVATION: Kazakhstan Plants 37,000 Seedlings to Prepare for Imminent Return of Tigers

These plans, known under CMS jargon as “Concerted Actions,” have worked well in the past. At the conference, 5-year results on the Concerted Action for 4 species of giraffe showed that the animals had grown in number over that period to 140,000, up from 113,000 before the action was taken.

A variety of sharks, dolphins, and rays, along with the Eurasian lynx and chimpanzee had new Concerted Actions approved on their behalf.

UN TREATIES SEEING SUCCESS: 30,000 Animals Rescued from Illegal Captivity in the Largest Wildlife Trafficking Raid in History

The conference was hosted by Brazil in the city of Campo Grande, where the Executive Secretary of the country’s Ministry of the Environment, João Paulo Capobianco, spoke on the responsibility to protect species wherever they’re found

“We protect species that may never remain within our borders. We invest in a natural heritage we do not own, but are all responsible for. In doing so, we give concrete meaning to global solidarity, recognizing that migratory species transcend nations, jurisdictions, and generations.”

SHARE This Great Outcome For Species Conservation Around The World…

Aging Delivery Driver Gets Huge Tip After Conscientious Effort Goes Viral With Ring Video

Dan the delivery driver with the Diet Coke he bought himself - credit, Brian Wilson via GoFundMe
Dan the delivery driver with the Diet Coke he bought himself – credit, Brian Wilson via GoFundMe

GNN recently reported on a crowdfunding campaign gone viral on behalf of an elderly DoorDash driver working far beyond his retirement to afford his wife’s expensive medication.

Now along a similar vein, an Idaho man was left “blown away” when he learned that a nearly 70-year-old Dominoes driver had gone to the grocery store to pick up his soda after the restaurant had run out.

Brian Wilson had ordered a Diet Coke to go with his family’s meal, but later got a voicemail saying the Dominos he ordered from had none left, and the delivery driver had already left.

A little while later, when the driver arrived Wilson’s door, he was surprised to see two liters of Diet Coke along with the pizza. In the viral video you can hear Dan the driver say he stopped at the store on his own to pick up the soda.

“We were honestly blown away. That level of care and kindness is rare these days,” Wilson wrote on GoFundMe.

“That’s when Dan shared something that made this moment even more meaningful: He’s been working at Domino’s as a second job for 14 years… and he’s retiring in just a few weeks.”

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Wilson wanted to tip more at the time, but had no cash on him. So as GNN has so often seen, he started a GoFundMe, and the whole nation responded.

@katey_93 When Domino’s is out of Diet Coke, but your delivery driver stops at the store to get it for you. Dan, you went above and beyond tonight, thank you!The world needs more Dans. Happy almost retirement! #dominos #fyp ♬ original sound - Katey Ann

Wilson shared the Ring Camera video interaction on TikTok to see if anyone else would like to give Dan a tip, and just a few days later that GoFundMe has received more than 1,600 donations totaling over $23,000.

“Let’s show Dan that his kindness didn’t go unnoticed,” said Dan. “Let’s help him step into retirement feeling appreciated, supported, and celebrated.”

SHARE This Fantastic Story Of Service, Just Rewards, And Generosity… 

Small S. Korea Town Welcomes First Newborn in 17 Years as Nation’s Fertility Rate Continues to Rise

A banner welcoming the newborn in town -courtesy of Hongseong County
A banner welcoming the newborn in town -courtesy of Hongseong County

A small, rural town in South Korea is celebrating the first child birth in 17 years as the country continues to enjoy a rise in its fertility rate.

In addition, 4 students enrolled at the town’s only the school, taking its attendance to 17, another demographic milestone the residents had reason to celebrate.

Earlier, GNN reported that 2025 saw a sharp rise in the fertility rate in South Korea, the world’s least-fertile country.

Rising 6.2% year-over-year, and paired with a 9.8% fall in the divorce rate, it signaled that demographic collapse may not be the country’s ultimate destiny.

On March 19th, Sreydani, an immigrant from Cambodia, and her husband Jeong Hae-deok, welcomed their son Yong-jun into the world. The town of Eunha-myeon in Hongseong County hung a banner down main street in his honor.

“A special gift that came to Eunha-myeon in 2026. We celebrate the birth of baby boy Jeong Yong-jun,” it read.

The population of Eunha-myeon has fallen from 2,600 to below 2,000 over the last 6 years. It’s one of the smallest in the country, and a typical example of the effects of demographic collapse threatening countries of all cultures all over the world.

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The town mayor, Shim Seon-ja heartily welcomed the new birth.

“We will make every effort in administrative support so that Eunha-myeon can become a place good for raising children and where everyone wants to live,” Shim told an affiliate of the Korea Times, Hankook Ilbo.

CELEBRATE The Birth Of Young Yong-jun With Your Friends… 

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

Credit: Jr Korpa

Quote of the Day: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

Photo by: Jr Korpa

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?

Credit: Jr Korpa