Quote of the Day: “The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.” – Daniel Defoe
Photo: by Alice Popkorn, CC license via Flickr
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This group of amateur metal detectives has been accustomed to digging up shotgun shells and thimbles – so imagine their surprise when they realized that they had stumbled upon a literal treasure chest of gold and silver coins.
The four men, some of whom have only been doing the hobby for less than a year, were initially delighted to find 12 ornately decorated silver coins as they were using their detectors to scan a field in Buckinghamshire, England.
As they continued to unearth coin after coin, they were shocked to find that they belonged to a hidden 14th century treasure hoard.
Over the following four days, they excavated 557 coins – including 12 ultra-rare full gold nobles from the time of the Black Death.
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The hoard is now being kept safe in a museum and will be independently evaluated before being sold, with the value split between the treasure hunters and the landowner in Hambleden, Buckinghamshire.
Experts estimate that the treasure – nicknamed the Hambleden Hoard – could be worth £150,000 ($193,000). It is suspected the hoard was stashed there for safekeeping by a wealthy person more than 600 years ago.
The find is believed to be the biggest gold hoard found in Britain in nearly a decade, and the largest silver coin collection found in one place for 12 years.
One of the men, 33-year-old Mateusz Nowak, says that compared to his job as a hospital cleaner in Newcastle, the discovery “felt unreal.”
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“After finding the hoard, and then clearing the area, we had to extend the search twice more because we were finding so much,” says Now. “It was a miracle moment after moment for everyone.”
Nowak’s brother 30-year-old Tobiasz, who works as a baker, said: “I can’t even imagine how we got so lucky. It was the best weekend of my life. I’ll remember it my whole life.”
The brothers had spent an hour scanning the field alongside their friend Andrew Winter without finding anything. They were then on their way to another location when one of their detectors signaled that they had struck gold.
Winter said his machine was emitting a code which suggested they had detected a hammered silver coin – so he started digging.
“I swung around my machine and all the silver coins were coming in at number 16 on the screen. This indicates a hammered silver coin,” said Winter, who works as a forklift driver. “The other signal I got was a 21. It went ting, ting, ting and sounds completely different to anything else. I shouted ‘gold, gold gold!’”
The trio then turned over a clod of earth which contained two coins – and they could see more in the hole.
It happened around at the same time as then-stranger Dariusz Fijalkowski found two silver coins.
Under the rules of detecting and treasure finding, anything over three coins is considered a “hoard,” meaning it has to be declared to organizers so the area can be cleared.
The hoard was claimed jointly by the foursome, who were then left to work alone.
“The lads just looked at me and I knew then we had something special. We knew there and then this was going to be one of the ones you never, ever forget. And to do it with my two best friends was really special.
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“We just kept finding, finding, finding and digging and digging and digging. My machine was like a hoover.”
They said they had to fight off competition and admit it got “absolutely hectic” when news of the find got round the festival. The men even had to sleep in a tent to ensure that no thieves would try to steal their treasure.
Detectorists from all over the world who were at the festival came to take a look as the four dug out coin after coin.
Fijalkowski, a dad-of-three and machine operator from Bristol, came across the hoard after he had been “delighted” with a thimble he’d found.
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He then found two silver coins before teaming up with the other men and added: “Special for me was two silver coins. Before that – apart from the thimble – it had been shotgun shells.
“When I found the coins I was shouting so much because I was so excited. Maybe I should have stayed quiet, but I was so happy. For me, those coins alone were special. They are small pieces of silver and also a piece of history.
“But to see what we found in the end. I still can’t believe it,” he added. “I came away to the rally for a rest because I have three young children. It’s safe to say it was not rest. I can still feel the pressure now. It’s incredible.”
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Andrew said the find was “very, very rare” and added: “The coins look like they’ve come straight off the shelf.
“They look brand spanking new. Some of the silver ones are really rare and have things on them – like little birds or churches – I have never seen before.”
He said the the 545 silver coins are still being analyzed but most are likely to be worth between £20 and £50 each – with the rarer ones worth around £500 ($646) each.
But the full gold nobles are worth around £10,000 ($13,000) each.
“It feels unreal. I can’t believe it. It couldn’t have happened to three more common guys you know,” says Winter.
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LEGO is now piloting a new project that will use the bumps on their iconic bricks to help teach the Braille alphabet to blind and visually impaired children.
LEGO “Braille Bricks” will be moulded with the same number of studs used for individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet, while remaining fully compatible with the LEGO System in Play.
To ensure the tool is inclusive allowing sighted teachers, students and family members to interact on equal terms, each brick will also feature a printed letter or character.
This ingenious combination brings a whole new approach to getting blind and visually impaired children interested in learning Braille, enabling them to develop a breadth of skills needed to thrive and succeed.
“With thousands of audiobooks and computer programs now available, fewer kids are learning to read Braille,” said Philippe Chazal, Treasurer of the European Blind Union. “This is particularly critical when we know that Braille users often are more independent, have a higher level of education and better employment opportunities.
“We strongly believe LEGO Braille Bricks can help boost the level of interest in learning Braille, so we’re thrilled that the LEGO Foundation is making it possible to further this concept and bring it to children around the world,” added Chazal.
The LEGO Foundation and LEGO Group unveiled the pioneering project today at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris, France.
The concept behind LEGO Braille Bricks was first proposed to the LEGO Foundation in 2011 by the Danish Association of the Blind and again in 2017 by the Brazilian-based Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind.
It has since been further shaped in close collaboration among blind associations from Denmark, Brazil, UK, and Norway – and the first prototypes are now in those same countries for concept testing.
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LEGO Group Senior Art Director, Morten Bonde, who suffers from a genetic eye disorder that is gradually turning him blind, worked as an internal consultant on the project. Morten currently has 4-degree sight left but is determined not to let his loss of sight limit him.
“Experiencing reactions from both students and teachers to LEGO Braille Bricks has been hugely inspirational and reminded me that the only limitations I will meet in life are those I create in my mind,” says Morten. “The children’s level of engagement and their interest in being independent and included on equal terms in society is so evident. I am moved to see the impact this product has on developing blind and visually impaired children’s academic confidence and curiosity already in its infant days.”
The product is currently being tested in Danish, Norwegian, English and Portuguese, while German, Spanish and French will be tested later this year. The final LEGO Braille Bricks kit is expected to launch in 2020 and will be distributed free of charge to select institutions through participating partner networks in the markets where testing is being carried out with partners. It will contain approximately 250 LEGO Braille Bricks covering the full alphabet, numbers 0 to 9, select math symbols, and inspiration for teaching and interactive games.
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“Blind and visually impaired children have dreams and aspirations for their future just as sighted children” said John Goodwin, CEO of the LEGO Foundation. “They have the same desire and need to explore the world and socialize through play, but often face involuntary isolation as a consequence of exclusion from activities. In the LEGO Foundation, we believe children learn best through play and in turn develop the breadth of skills, such as creativity, collaboration and communication, that they need in the post 4th Industrial Revolution.
“With this project, we are bringing a playful and inclusive approach to learning Braille to children. I hope children, parents, caregivers, teachers and practitioners worldwide will be as excited as we are, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact.”
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Over two tons of trash have been removed from Mount Everest thanks to the efforts of the Nepal Army.
The soldiers worked with government and non-government organizations over the course of 5 days to collect all of the rubbish and debris left behind by climbers.
The crew flew in over 2.5 tons of tools and resources to facilitate the cleanup. All of the biodegradable debris that was collected from the mountain – which amounted to roughly one ton of refuse – is being transported to Kathmandu for disposal by the Blue Waste to Value group. The other ton of non-biodegradable trash is now being disinfected for treatment.
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The initiative was part of the 24th annual Wildlife Week, which is organized by the regional Sagarmatha National Park Office.
The cleanup will continue throughout the Himalayan mountain range until May 19th, according to a Nepali Army press release.
“We take pride in Mount Everest but we are often accused of not being able to clean it… We have now come together to clean the mountain,” said Dandu Raj Ghimire, chief of Nepal’s tourism department, according to CTV News.
Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Nepal Army
In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers “printed” the world’s first 3D vascularized engineered heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials.
Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology — have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels.
“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” says Professor Tal Dvir of TAU’s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, who led the research for the study.
Their findings were published earlier this month in a study in Advanced Science.
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Heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States. Heart transplantation is currently the only treatment available to patients with end-stage heart failure. Given the dire shortage of heart donors, the need to develop new approaches to regenerate the diseased heart is urgent.
“This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process these materials serve as the bioinks, substances made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models,” Dvir says. “People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels. Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.”
“At this stage, our 3D heart is small, the size of a rabbit’s heart,” explains Dvir. “But larger human hearts require the same technology.”
For the research, a biopsy of fatty tissue was taken from patients. The cellular and a-cellular materials of the tissue were then separated. While the cells were reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules such as collagen and glycoproteins, were processed into a personalized hydrogel that served as the printing “ink.”
After being mixed with the hydrogel, the cells were efficiently differentiated to cardiac or endothelial cells to create patient-specific, immune-compatible cardiac patches with blood vessels and, subsequently, an entire heart.
According to Dvir, the use of “native” patient-specific materials is crucial to successfully engineering tissues and organs.
“The biocompatibility of engineered materials is crucial to eliminating the risk of implant rejection, which jeopardizes the success of such treatments,” Dvir says. “Ideally, the biomaterial should possess the same biochemical, mechanical and topographical properties of the patient’s own tissues. Here, we can report a simple approach to 3D-printed thick, vascularized and perfusable cardiac tissues that completely match the immunological, cellular, biochemical and anatomical properties of the patient.”
The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “teaching them to behave” like hearts, Dvir says. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models.
“We need to develop the printed heart further,” he concludes. “The cells need to form a pumping ability; they can currently contract, but we need them to work together. Our hope is that we will succeed and prove our method’s efficacy and usefulness.
“Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely.”
Reprinted from Tel Aviv University
(WATCH the video below)
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Some people might say that dogs are man’s best friend, but this jersey cow might be the exception.
Australian dairy farmer Phillip Hughes has developed a surprisingly strong bond with a doting heifer named Vera in his herd.
Hughes, who lives on a farm in Edith Creek, North West Tasmania, says that he can always recognize her because she is constantly running in the opposite direction of the herd so she can stay by his side during his rounds.
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Every morning when she trots up to Hughes, he says “Allo, Vera” – and she has answered to the nickname ever since.
“Some lady said [Vera] loves me, and I said no, I think she thinks I’m her calf,” chuckled Hughes in the ABC News interview. “And the way she talks is just like a cow with her own calf. I can’t understand cow language, but it’s the noises she makes, you know?”
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by ABC Northern Tasmania
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Quote of the Day: “I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I’ve written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.” – Shirley MacLaine (85-years-old today)
Photo: by ZZ Bottom, CC license via Flickr
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Despite having a rough history with his former teacher, this NFL linebacker is being praised for coming to her rescue when she was in trouble.
Martha Isbell had been all dressed up and on her way to Easter mass on Sunday when she got a flat tire on a highway in Lake View, South Carolina.
Luckily for her, 23-year-old Darius Leonard of the Indianapolis Colts was driving by just as her tire popped.
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As fate would have it, Isbell had been Leonard’s high school biology teacher. She admitted to the Indianapolis Star that she had been harsh on Leonard’s back in the day – but regardless of his antics as the class clown, she has always been fond of her former student.
“I was glad to see him because I knew I was safe with him there,” Isbell told The Star. “He knew it was me. If I had been a complete stranger, he still would have done it anyway. He cares enough to help anyone.”
Despite the “pitiful” state of her car jack, Isbell says that Leonard was quick to change the tire and careful to make sure that the tool had done its job.
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The high school teacher says she is particularly grateful for Leonard’s actions because she has been taking care of her father, who is currently battle stage 4 cancer, according to WXIN.
If the compassionate linebacker had not shown up when he did, her father may have been forced to make his way to Isbell’s car.
So not only did Leonard save Isbell’s father the trip, he also made sure that she was in time for Easter mass.
(WATCH the video footage below)
@Colts Darius Leonard continues to be an outstanding player on and off the field. So thankful to God that he stopped and helped me. Much love! pic.twitter.com/EKdmpCdYbH
— Martha Isbell (@mottjones) April 21, 2019
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One of Ireland’s most famous brewing companies is joining the fight against ocean pollution by swapping out their plastic packaging in favor of biodegradable materials.
Diageo, which is the parent company of Guinness beer and Smithwick’s and Harp, announced last week that they would be investing £16 million ($21 million) in ditching their plastic multi-pack rings and shrink wrap packaging.
Instead, the company plans on using 100% recyclable and biodegradable cardboard.
The cardboard packaging is set to appear on Irish store shelves starting in August. The initiative will then be launched in Britain and other world markets in the summer of 2020.
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Diageo says that their shift towards sustainable materials will collectively result in about 529 tons of plastic waste being diverted from landfills. As of right now, less than 5% of the company’s packaging used around the world is plastic.
The initiative means that Guinness will now be joining the likes of Corona and Carlsberg as some of the first major beer brands to ditch plastic packaging.
“For 260 years Guinness has played a vital role in the communities around us. We already have one of the most sustainable breweries in the world at St. James’s Gate and we are now leading the way in sustainable packaging,” said Global Head of Beer Mark Sandys in a statement. “This is good news for the brand, for our wider beer portfolio and for the environment.”
Toast The Good News With Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media – Photo by Diageo
A man’s act of kindness towards an elderly woman eating by herself in a restaurant is touching hearts across social media.
Last week, Jamario Howards and his friends were sharing a meal at Brad’s diner in Oxford, Alabama when he saw the senior sitting alone.
“My exact thoughts [were] ‘dang I’d hate to have to eat alone,’” Howard recalled on Facebook.
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So rather than allow the woman to continue dining by herself, he crossed over to her table and asked if he could sit with her for a while
Howard and the woman, who was later identified as Eleanor, began chatting and swapping life stories – and as they continued to chat, she mentioned that her husband had recently passed away and it would have been their 60th wedding anniversary the following day.
“I instantly gave my condolences and asked her to come eat with us, which she was excited to do,” writes Howard.
Eleanor and the three young men shared the rest of their meal together, laughing and chatting all the while, and Howard says that it taught him a valuable lesson about humanity.
“The point in this is always be kind and be nice to people,” writes Howard. “You never know what they are going through. This woman changed my outlook on life and how O look at other people. Everyone has a story, so do not judge!”
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Artificial intelligence has just surpassed yet another impressive milestone by inventing a new team sport – and it’s apparently pretty fun.
The new game, which is being called Speedgate, is being hailed as the first sport ever designed by artificial intelligence.
It was developed as a side project by Portland-based innovation agency AKQA. The designers started their labor of love by feeding hundreds of various sports-related rules and phrases into an AI program. Then, they uploaded the rules of 400 different world sports into the program for analysis.
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Upon asking the AI to interpret the data, it regurgitated more than a few interesting concepts.
The AKQA designers interpreted 1,000 different ideas and outlines that were drawn out by the program – and while many of them were amusing to imagine, the team says that they wanted the AI to help develop a game that was not only fun and easy to understand, but also active and accessible.
The team eventually narrowed it down to ten possible sports ideas before field-testing three of them – and Speedgate was the winner.
AKQA says that the AI-developed game combines elements of croquet, rugby, and soccer. Though the designers had to fill in some of the gaps in the program’s language, the AI is responsible for most of Speedgate’s rulebook.
“Using AI as a member of a creative team takes us to a new place that we never could have gotten to without it,” says Whitney Jenkins, creative director of AKQA.
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For starters, the game is played with two teams of six players. The objective of the game is for the teams to try and score points by getting the ball through their own goal posts on the playing field; however, a team can only score if they are first able to get the ball through the posts in the center of the field. Players in possession of the ball are not allowed to move, but they are able to pass the ball to other players so long as the ball is passed from below the waist.
The sport has since been recognized by the Oregon Sports Authority, and AKQA says that leagues are already being formed around the world, from Malta to Mozambique.
If you want to get a gang of friends together to start playing in your own backyard, you can check out the full rulebook on the Speedgate website.
(WATCH Speedgate in action below) – Photos by AKQA
This is Speedgate from AKQA on Vimeo.
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Despite being forced to wear a stoma bag for her Crohn’s disease, this 41-year-old woman is training to be a top MMA fighter.
Kharina Kharran first became fascinated with martial arts after she was introduced to Bruce Lee’s movies at 9 years old. Unfortunately, she was later diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager.
The condition caused holes to form in her bowel and rectum, and she was left needing dozens of operations. One of Kharran’s operations was so serious, it resulted in her inability to sit down for more than a year.
“For a year and a half, I just had to stand up while I was working. I could not sit down,” says Kharran.
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Regardless, she started training at 16 years old – and even though she has undergone 38 bowel surgeries over the years, she has picked up a variety of martial arts.
She says she is now an expert in kung fu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do and boxing – and she has trained for all of them while wearing her colostomy bag.
The bag has forced Kharran to adapt her technique and constantly assess whether her health is at risk. The pouch is positioned on the right side of her body, 2 centimeters across and 1 centimeter down from her belly button, which she tucks into her belt during bouts.
“If I draw attention to it, there may be people out there who want to be aggressive so I choose not to,” says Kharran.
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“I position myself so that my weakness isn’t obvious and it takes a lot of practice. If I am on the floor in the ab crunch position, it’s a dangerous and vulnerable position for my tummy so I always move and re-position myself.
“When you are fighting, it’s your tummy and your head that are the easiest targets so it is a matter of re-positioning myself and trying to strengthen my other moves because I cannot do the crunches.
“For example, when I do anything standing up, I make sure I am in their face as quickly as possible so they are not on the attack first,” she added. “My elbows drop over my stoma so I am quite lucky that I am protected by them – I don’t have to drop my arms down because they naturally cover the bag. Then if I move my arm down to my thighs, I can protect my whole side.”
Kharran now trains at a martial arts gym six times per week. Since she became strong enough to step into the ring three years ago, the woman from Brighton, England has faced three opponents – and she was delighted to emerge victorious from her third fight earlier this month after she successfully choked out her opponent.
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“My biggest achievement was stepping into the cage. I was 100 percent vulnerable,” says Kharran. “I was training six days per week but five days before the event, I couldn’t train because I was unwell.
“I needed to make sure I had done everything I could – and just stepping into the cage, I felt I was a winner already. It felt pretty phenomenal.
“It was just this overwhelming achievement and it made all the suffering I went through worthwhile.”
Kharran says that she also competes in charity events, but she prefers not to disclose her illness to her opponents.
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So far, she has taken part in more than 30 full-contact bouts during training and thousands of hours in the cage – but she says she has never been hit in her stoma bag during a match.
“I have never had it hit in a fight but I was hit at the side of the stoma before during a practice and it really really hurt,” recalls the fighter. “For me, safety comes first and I had to stop and recover – but me and my coach worked on strategy after that and it has never happened again since.”
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Quote of the Day: “Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” – Napoleon Hill
Photo: by EL Gringo, CC license via Flickr
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Here’s a fun origin story about the all-night party that preceded the first modern bungee jump using a device invented by Oxford students… Hear our Good News Guru tell the fun story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the April 19, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5.
SEE more pics and read full story on GNN…
Subscribe to our Good News podcast on iTunes, or for Android devices on Podbean.
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Thousands of people have come together in order to support a 20-year-old woman who has been supporting her five younger siblings since their parents died.
Sam Rodriguez is the oldest of her brothers and sisters, ranging in age from 5 to 17. Since both of their parents died from cancer within the last five years, she has taken charge of their family.
Last week, the siblings made national headlines after their local police department published a video of themselves presenting Sam with a new car. The kids’ story was shared thousands of times – and it has resulted in thousands of readers donating to a GoFundMe campaign for the family.
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In just a week, the page has raised over $29,000 and counting.
“I’m at a loss for words, but the kids and I will be forever grateful to all of you,” says Sam. “This help has changed my life and took so much off my plate.”
“It amazes me to see how much people have came together to help me and my family and to see how many good-hearted people are out there!” she added.
(WATCH the officers surprise Sam with her new car in the video below)
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For the first time ever, scientists have used gene therapy to cure several young patients of “bubble boy” disease, a rare genetic defect that leaves children with an ineffective or nonexistent immune system.
The “bubble boy” name is a reference to how the patients, who usually die early in life if left untreated, are often forced to live in sterile environments.
Now, however, gene therapy developed at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has cured 10 infants born with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), the most common type of the rare, life-threatening genetic condition.
The children are currently producing functional immune cells, including T cells, B cells and natural killer (NK) cells, for the first time.
The results appeared in last week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
“This is a first for patients with SCID-X1,” said first and corresponding author Ewelina Mamcarz of the St. Jude Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
“These patients are toddlers now, who are responding to vaccinations and have immune systems to make all immune cells they need for protection from infections as they explore the world and live normal lives.”
Ten infants have received the experimental therapy. It was developed in research led by the late Brian Sorrentino of the St. Jude Department of Hematology. He is the senior author and died after the manuscript was submitted for publication.
The patients, who were treated at St. Jude and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, were enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial of infants newly diagnosed with SCID-X1.
UCSF played an instrumental role in the St. Jude protocol by including targeted dosing of busulfan, a chemotherapy agent commonly used in bone marrow transplantation to make space in the marrow for donor stem cells to grow.
“We found that the addition of very low doses of busulfan based on a model developed at UCSF increased engraftment of gene-corrected stem cells in the bone marrow without causing the side effects associated with standard doses,” said co-author Mort Cowan, a UCSF professor of pediatrics and principal investigator of the trial at UCSF, where four of the infants were treated.
SCID is caused by a mutation in the interleukin-2 receptor subunit gamma (IL2RG) gene that produces a protein essential for normal immune function.
Currently, the best treatment for SCID-X1 is bone marrow transplantation with a tissue-matched sibling donor. But more than 80% of SCID-X1 patients lack such donors. They must rely on blood stem cells from other donors. This process is less likely to cure the SCID-X1 and more likely to lead to serious treatment-related side effects.
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The gene therapy involved collecting patients’ bone marrow, then using a virus as a vector to insert a correct copy of the IL2RG gene into the genome (DNA) of patients’ blood stem cells. The cells were then frozen and underwent quality testing. Prior to the gene-corrected blood stem cells being infused back into patients, the infants received two days of low-dose busulfan with the doses individually determined based on each patient’s specific ability to process the drug.
Most patients were discharged from the hospital within one month.
Within three months of treatment, gene-corrected immune cells were present in the blood of all but one patient, who required a second dose of gene therapy. The immune cells included T cells and NK cells, which help to fight infections. Antibody-producing B cells were also present, a first for SCID-X1 infants treated with gene therapy.
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Patients with infections prior to gene therapy have recovered. All are developing and growing normally. None have developed a life-threatening infection since receiving gene therapy, an indication of treatment effectiveness. No patients have developed leukemia, a side effect of previous gene therapy for SCID-X1.
“While longer follow-up is needed to assess any late effects of treatment, these results suggest most patients treated with this gene therapy will develop a complete durable immune response without side effects,” Cowan said.
St. Jude gene therapy is modeled on the human immunodeficiency virus, a lentivirus that can infect cells that are not dividing. Researchers have re-engineered the lentivirus to ferry a normal copy of IL2RG into patients’ blood stem cells and to be self-inactivating.
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In addition to targeted dosing of busulfan, St. Jude gene therapy differs from those earlier gene replacement efforts in several key ways. The vector includes insulators to block activation of genes adjacent to where IL2RG is inserted into patients’ DNA. The goal is to prevent gene therapy from inadvertently causing leukemia by switching on an oncogene in the patient’s blood stem cells.
Vector production and gene therapy treatment were streamlined using a stable producer cell line and cryopreservation. Both are important steps for expanding access to treatment and commercializing production.
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“This study marks the first time a lentivirus vector and targeted low-dose busulfan have been used as a primary treatment for newly-diagnosed infants with SCID-X1,” Mamcarz said.
“We hope this therapy, which includes several novel features, will serve as a template for developing gene therapy to treat other devastating blood disorders,” said co-author Stephen Gottschalk, chair of the St. Jude Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
Reprinted from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Cure Your Friends Of Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Most people are not particularly thrilled to be pulled over by a police officer – especially not when they are illegally driving to an important job interview.
But rather than being issued a ticket, Ka’Shawn Baldwin was offered a ride.
The 22-year-old man from Cahokia, Illinois had been pulled over by Officer Roger Gemoules for driving a car with expired license plates last week. Not only that, Baldwin says that he did not have a valid driver’s license.
Baldwin explained how he had borrowed his friend’s car and opted to drive illegally because he was on his way to a job interview and he had no other means of transportation.
“He was very respectful when I pulled him over and you could just tell – I could feel that he really was wanting to get to this job interview,” Gemoules told CNN.
Upon hearing his story, Gemoules simply offered to give Baldwin a ride to the interview.
Baldwin was only a few minutes late, but he ended up landing the job – and he says that he is extremely grateful to Gemoules for his part in helping him get to the interview.
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Francella Jackson, who is assistant to Cahokia Mayor Curtis McCall Jr., later posted a photo of Gemoules to Facebook so she could thank him for his kindness and share his story with the community.
“On behalf of [the mayor], I would like to thank Officer Gemoules for showing compassion and being a great example of how community-oriented policing actually works,” wrote Jackson.
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A Finnish university has published a comprehensive global road map on how the world can reduce its carbon emissions before the 2050 deadline – and the research says that it is quite feasible.
The report breaks down exactly how the world’s different regions can transition to 100% renewable energy as a means of preventing the more catastrophic outcomes of irreversible climate change.
The study is the first of its kind to outline a cost-effective international strategy to keep the planet’s carbon emissions at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Not only that, it is the first study of its kind to suggest a global strategy that does not involve carbon-capture technology.
The report, which is being called the “Global Energy System based on 100% Renewable Energy – Power, Heat, Transport and Desalination Sectors”, was conducted by the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the Energy Watch Group (EWG) from Germany.
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Over the course of the last four years, the 14-person research team have developed a global simulation of consumption and energy production based on an hourly scale in 5-year phases from 2015 to 2050.
As of right now, one-third of the world’s energy is renewable. With population growth and energy demand in mind, the researchers say that we could meet the Paris Agreement’s carbon mitigation goals by generating 69% of the world’s energy from solar panels, 18% from wind power, 3% from hydropower and 6% from bioenergy.
Additionally, all the energy transitions could be paid for simply by giving up on fossil fuels entirely.
“A full energy transition to 100% renewable energy is not only feasible, but also cheaper than the current global energy system,” says Hans-Josef Fell, one of the researchers involved with the report
“The outlined global transition pathway stands out as the first to present a 1.5°C scenario that is technology-rich, multi-sectoral, multi-regional and cost-optimal,” he added. “Notably, it achieves a cost decline without the reliance on high-risk technologies such as nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).”
The researchers dedicated the report to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for her youth-led Fridays for Future environmental protests.
“Existing renewable energy potential and technologies, including storage, is capable of generating a secure energy supply at every hour throughout the year,” says the researchers. “The sustainable energy system is more efficient and cost-effective than the existing system, which is based primarily on fossil fuels and nuclear.
“A global renewable transition is the only sustainable option for the energy sector, and is compatible with the internationally adopted Paris Agreement,” they added. “The energy transition is not a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but one of political will.”
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After historians breathed a sigh of relief over the preservation of the many artifacts inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral, bee enthusiasts are now rejoicing over the miraculous survival of the building’s 180,000 pollinators.
For the last six years, there have been a trio of beehives nestled on top of the cathedral’s roof. The hives were just a few honeybee colonies that were installed across the city as a means of of boosting dwindling pollinator populations in Europe.
The hives have been managed by Notre Dame beekeeper Nicolas Geant since 2013; so when the Parisian cathedral caught fire last week, he anxiously awaited news of their condition.
It took a team of 400 firefighters almost nine hours to finally extinguish the blaze – and though city officials were wary of the hives’ survival, satellite photos showed that the three hives had made it through the fire.
Once specialists were finally able to check up on the honeybees, Geant was elated to hear that they were alive and well.
“It’s a big day. I am so relieved. I saw satellite photos that showed the three hives didn’t burn,” Geant told The Associated Press. “Instead of killing them, the CO2 (from smoke) makes them drunk, puts them to sleep.”
That being said, the bees are particularly lucky because the hives reside only 100 feet under where the roof was burning. If their hives had been heated to 63 degrees Celsius (145.4 Fahrenheit), the hive wax would have melted and the bees would have perished.
“I wouldn’t call it a miracle, but I’m very, very happy,” Geant added.
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Quote of the Day: “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.” – Jimmy Carter (Happy Earth Day)
Photo: by Alan Grinberg, CC license via Flickr
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