Quote of the Day: “What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.” – Carl Jung
Photo: by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / Steve Hillebrand, CC license
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
“Intermittent fasting” seems to be all the latest graze.
The basic concept is simple: refrain from eating foods during a prolonged period typically 12 to 24 hours. Some of these intermittent fasts are recommended to do twice a week, some for 5 days a week and some for 30 days straight. The irony, is that people have been intermittent fasting for thousands of years, but science is just now uncovering the incredible benefits of timed eating. It can help prevent health problems such as high cholesterol, heart disease and obesity, as well as improve mental health and wellbeing. However, one incredible bonus benefit that most articles forget to mention is the nourishment of the soul.
I just completed a 29-day fast. For 29 straight days, I fasted from 4:30am until around 8pm. I woke up around 4am to have a light meal, water and coffee. Throughout the day, I didn’t eat or drink anything. I wanted to immerse myself into the fast. I wanted to see if I could stick with it and feel the health benefits and mental wellbeing as a result.
I must admit, it was mentally hard the first few days. I got caught up in counting the hours, let alone how many days have passed by. I remember looking around and, for the first time, really seeing how much people are consumed with eating and drinking. You can’t help but see it. In the beginning, I was so jealous. I wanted to just have my cup of coffee during a meeting and grab a bite to eat for lunch.
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But then around the 10-day mark, something truly magical happened—my thoughts went from jealousy to gratitude.
Instead of seeing all the people eating and drinking around me, I saw the people who were not eating and drinking around me. I became so conscience of the less fortunate. The idea of me being able to eat and drink at 8pm and them still wondering where their next meal will come, affected me.
My soul really became connected to others. I started talking about it more to my family, friends, and co-workers. I started giving more to charity and devoting more of my time to helping others. I started to have more patience and simply slow down a bit. I started to feel connected to everyone and everything around me. Instead of counting the days I had left in my fast, I started wondering if I would lose this soulful connection when I ended it. I decided that this fast is really a mind, body and soul boot camp—and I was being prepared for the days and months ahead. I pushed myself so that when I eventually reached the end, I could still hold on to the values that I gained during the fast.
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Some of you may want to know the name of this fast. It’s the same fast that billions of people around the world all did with me at the same time. It is called Ramadan.
It is the fast prescribed to all healthy and able Muslims: once a year, for one month, devotees of Islam fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food, drink and sexual relations. It may seem to be relegated to the fringes of Western society, but Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims have participated in many interfaith fasts with Muslims for years. It doesn’t matter if you are Muslim or not, the benefits listed above and many more work on everyone.
I hope you all get the opportunity to experience fasting – of any kind. Do the research and try it out. Don’t be afraid, or if you are, it’s ok. Getting yourself out of your comfort zone is a good thing. May the fast be with you!
Be Sure And Share This Inspiring Concept With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Antoine K, CC
Research has shown that viewing images of peace, kindness, and compassion has a dramatic impact on a person’s happiness and wellbeing – and that’s why photographers from all over the world are now being asked to share their kindest photos.
Envision Kindness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading media positivity, is holding their third annual photography contest for images that embody kindness.
“Every day, people are exposed to negative images, stories, and experiences,” says David Fryburg, founder of Envision Kindness. “We know that this exposure is stressful to the viewer—it causes anger, anxiety, depression, and can affect behavior, disconnecting people from one another.”
“To help counterbalance the negative, we want to share diverse, positive images like those submitted to the contest on a regular basis. We know that these images have great power to bring out joy, gratitude, optimism, love, and compassion.”
Last year’s contest received more than 2,000 images from photographers in over 100 countries – and the results were breathtaking.
Currently, there is just a few more weeks left to submit to the 2019 Our World is Kind Photography Contest, and the Envision Kindness team is hoping that this year will garner another stunning set of images.
The contest is open to anyone 18 years or older until it closes on June 30th. There is no fee to enter and all submissions are eligible to win up to $500 in cash prizes.
Be Sure And Share The Good News With Your Photography Friends On Social Media…
The world’s largest offshore wind farm has officially commenced operations and started generating electricity for more than 287,000 UK homes.
The record-breaking Hornsea One wind farm is located 75 miles (120 kilometers) off the coast of Grimsby, England.
The huge scale of the project means that operations are beginning before construction is complete. As of right now, only 50 of the 174 turbines are operational, and turbine installation is expected to continue until the end of summer.
Once the farm is fully operational next year in 2020, the wind farm will be able to power well over a million UK homes with clean electricity, which is more than twice the energy capacity of the previous wind farm to hold the world record.
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“The start of operations at the world’s largest wind farm at Hornsea One is an important milestone and yet another example of British innovation and the UK’s leadership in offshore wind,” said Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore in a statement.
“We already have the largest installed offshore wind capacity in the world, and once fully up and running this wind farm will provide enough power for one million more homes, putting us well on the way to our target of a third of the UK’s electricity coming from offshore wind by 2030.”
Earlier this week, Scandinavian energy company Ørsted ferried out the project’s first of two operational teams to begin operating and maintaining the wind farm 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout its 25-year life-span.
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The teams will each spend two weeks at a time offshore, staying on a state-of-the-art Service Operations Vessel (SOV), equipped with 40 cabins, a game room and even a gym.
“There is even 4G internet connection already out there – a huge feat given the distance from shore,” added David Coussens, the Deputy Operations Manager for Hornsea One who is currently leading the first operational team shift. “I am really looking forward to our first two-week shift.”
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Morten Holm, Hornsea One’s Head of Operations, said: “Hornsea One changes the game in the way we produce clean electricity around the globe. It’s the first of a new generation of offshore wind farms, that are much bigger than anyone has ever attempted to build before.
“The speed of construction has been phenomenal, and it’s thanks to the hundreds of dedicated people working on the project, that the project is on schedule to eventually generate enough clean electricity for over a million homes across the UK. It’s an exciting moment for me personally, but also for the UK as the world watches the progress with this record-breaking wind farm.”
Power Up With Positivity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Ørsted
72-year-old Linda Nall had done everything to try and find herself a kidney donor. She had created a Facebook page, printed tee-shirts, and even put up a sign in her yard with an appeal for an O-blood type donor.
Ever since Nall’s kidneys started to fail as a result of lupus, she had kept the sign up in her yard in hopes of attracting a donor – and for 18 months, she did not have any luck until Frank Dewhurst drove by in April.
Since Dewhurst is a notorious member of the homeowners association in their town of Wimberly, Texas, Nall feared that he had showed up on her doorstep to tell her to take the sign down. Instead, he told her that the sign had inspired him to donate his own kidney.
“The sign read ‘I am type O and I need a kidney transplant. Please help me.’ So after talking it over with my wife, I told her she could have mine,” Dewhurst said in a statement. “After undergoing a number of tests I was cleared to donate and very happy to do so.”
Upon undergoing a successful surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, Dewhurst became the oldest living kidney donor in the country at 84 years old.
Not only that, the spry octogenarian was discharged from the hospital 48 hours after the surgery and quickly returned to his regular exercise routine.
Hassan Ibrahim, who is the chief of kidney diseases at the Hospital, says that he hopes Dewhurst’s story will inspire other people to become organ donors regardless of their age.
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“Besides Mr. Dewhurst, we have taken kidneys from an 80-year old, a 79-year old and other donors in their late 60s and early 70s,” Ibrahim said. “They receive a full workup to make sure they are physically strong enough to donate. If everything checks out, there is no reason to keep them from saving someone’s life. In 2018, 5 percent of kidney donors nationally were older than 65. If more older adults donated, fewer people would remain on the list.”
The best use of these older kidneys is to transplant them into older patients. Ibrahim says that if you transplanted an 80-year-old kidney into a 20-year-old and that person lived to age 60, the kidney would be 140 years old; but for someone like Linda Nall, who could have spent years on the waiting list, Dewhurst’s donation was perfect.
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“I can’t wait to spend more time with family and friends and just socialize more,” Nall said. “I have lived a long time not being able to eat what I want to eat and do what I want to do. I am going to make the most of Frank’s generous gift and live life to the fullest. I cannot wait.”
Dewhurst, on the other hand, was very blasé about his life-saving decision.
“No big deal,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m healthy and had what she needed, a functioning kidney. She wasn’t getting any better without one.”
Pass On The Positive Story To Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media…
A Texas elementary school teacher is being hailed as a hero after she raced barefoot ahead of a tornado last week in order to warn students and their parents to take cover.
Megan Parson is a fourth grade teacher at Celia Hays Elementary School in Rockwall. Classes had just dismissed for the day when the principal’s voice came over the loud speaker and told students that there were tornados in the area and they should get into the necessary safety position against the walls of the hallway.
As students were crouching down with their hands over their heads, Parson knew that there were already students outside who were waiting to be picked up by their parents.
The 25-year-old teacher, who is also an avid Instagram fashion blogger, says that when she saw the line of cars that were already waiting in the school’s carpool lane, she slipped off her shoes (“because they were new and cute”) and took off running to warn the parents.
WATCH: When Sick Teen Needed Stable Housing to Get a Kidney, His Math Teacher Welcomed Him Home
Parson was later amused to realize that she had also forgotten to remove the fake black mustache that she had been wearing for a class party before warning the parents.
“So, all parents see is this crazy girl running barefoot in the rain with a tornado in the background wearing a fake black mustache,” Parson recalled in a Facebook post. “No wonder they made me run all the way to their window before rolling it down.
“Needless to say, I ripped the mustache off, kept running, and finished telling every parent in the rest of the cars down the block to seek shelter, minus the mustache.”
Parson did not realize that the tornado was so close to the school until she saw the now-viral picture that one of the parents had captured of her impromptu safety mission.
“That is such a crazy photo, and thank you to whoever took it because I don’t think anyone would have ever believed me that I was running down the street and that I looked ridiculous doing it,” Parson said, according to Fox 4 Dallas. “I’m just really grateful that everybody ended up being safe and we got a good laugh out of it.”
Be Sure And Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Marni Cohen
Quote of the Day: “The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl
Photo: by Cloudtail the Snow Leopard, CC license
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Today is MOTH Monday on Good News Network: In partnership with The Moth, a nonprofit dedicated to the art of storytelling, we bring you the most uplifting speakers from live stages across the world.
Christal Brown had always had a complex relationship with her father. Since he had been an avid sports fanatic prior to losing his legs in Vietnam, he did not know how to encourage his daughter during her dance recitals.
After Christal endured more than enough embarrassing interruptions from her dad as a spectator, however, she finally convinced him to join her for a dance at a community event – and it resulted in an unlikely connection with the gruff man who had always failed to attend her performances.
Listen to her inspiring story below…
The Moth gives people an opportunity to tell a true story in front of a live audience, and sometimes their stories are chosen to air on the radio show, now celebrating its tenth year, and broadcasting on 485+ public radio stations—and on The Moth podcast, which is downloaded over 52 million times a year.
The Moth’s third book, Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible is now available for purchase through your favorite booksellers.
Dance This Sweet Story Of Family Fondness Over To Your Friends On Social Media…
As a means of boosting honeybee populations, Minnesota lawmakers have just approved a new program that will compensate homeowners for planting pollinator-friendly greenery on their properties.
According to the proposal, the state will allocate roughly $900,000 in state funding for the creation of honeybee habitat over the course of one year.
The funding will then be distributed to Minnesota homeowners who are seeking to transform their gardens and outdoor spaces into bee-friendly spaces. The program is particularly eager for homeowners to plant specific grasses, wildflowers, clover, and food sources to nourish the rusty patched bumblebee, a Midwestern pollinator that has reportedly been nearing the brink of extinction.
The state’s funding is expected to cover up to 75% of homeowners’ expenses for planting pollinator habitat. For regions that have been identified as “high potential” areas for honeybee habitat, the state could cover up to 90% of landscaping expenses.
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Once the program is signed into effect by Gov. Tim Walz, the funding will be distributed by the state’s Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR).
Legislators are still determining the criteria for which a homeowner will qualify for compensation, but the program is expected to start distributing funding by next spring.
State Rep. Kelly Morrison, who introduced the bill in the House, told the Star Tribune that she is feeling optimistic about how state residents have reacted to the program.
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“I have gotten a ton of e-mails and so much feedback from people who are interested in this,” said Morrison. “People are really thinking about how they can help.”
Thankfully, Minnesota is not the first state to take action against dwindling honeybee populations. Virginia has been working to protect pollinators since their agricultural department started giving away free hives and beekeeping equipment to state residents last year year. On a smaller legislative level, a city in Iowa has been campaigning to convert over 1,000 acres of unused public land into pollinator habitat.
If you would like to contribute to the bee-saving buzz, you can also join this international network of one million gardeners who have planted clover and wildflowers on their properties for hungry pollinators.
Plant Some Positivity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media…
Kyle Rohrig and his dog Katana used to complete thousand-mile hikes without breaking a sweat – but when the adventurous pup lost her vision, she also lost her confidence.
The dynamic duo had been halfway through completing the 2,650-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail when Katana’s left eye started to cloud over from glaucoma.
Rohrig and Katana took a break from the trail so she could undergo surgery for her vision loss, but they quickly returned to the west coast so they could finish the hike.
Two years later, Katana was blind in both eyes – and Rohrig was heartbroken to see his once-intrepid hiking companion anxiously attempting to maneuver their living room.
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Instead of resigning his dog to retirement, however, Rohrig started formulating a plan to help Katana regain her confidence.
After doing some initial training with Katana, Rohrig eventually resolved to take her on the Florida Trail: a grueling 1,100-mile hike through the swamps and rivers of the Everglades.
The two began their journey in early January. Despite her disability, Katana would walk a few miles of the trail on her own every day. Whenever the companions encountered marshes or floodwaters, Rohrig would strap the 21-pound pup onto his backpack and carry her through the treacherous terrain.
After 72 days of hiking, they finished the trail in late March. Collectively, Rohrig had carried Katana for 800 miles – but since Katana had also walked 200 miles of the trail all on her own, she had undergone a noticeable transformation.
“I don’t know exactly how she did it, but she could lead me down the trail perfectly, without hitting a single obstacle while accounting for every twist and turn in the trail,” Rohrig told The Dodo. “Katana went from cautious and timid to confident and curious.”
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“She’s not just dealing with her new circumstances — she’s thriving, and she’s thriving wherever she goes,” Rohrig added. “We have many more adventures planned, and I’m going to keep taking her until she ceases to enjoy them. We’re both living the dream.”
If you would like to keep up with their travels, you can follow Rohrig and Katana on their blog or their Instagram page.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Story Of Pawesome Perseverance With Your Friends On Social Media…
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) April 27, 2019
Mohamed Salah has been quite an athletic asset to the Liverpool football club since he joined its ranks in 2017 – but new research says that the beloved player may have also inspired a dramatic decrease in Islamophobia and hate crimes as well.
The 26-year-old Egyptian striker, who is also Muslim, has made various displays of his faith on the field and his social media feed.
In addition to currently being considered one of the most talented players in the English Premier League, a newly-published report from Stanford University’s Immigration Policy Lab suggests that Salah’s influence on the club has also inspired its fans to be more tolerant of Islam.
The report examined three sets of data to measure Salah’s impact on the club: the rates of hate crimes from 25 different police departments over the course of three years; 15 million tweets from U.K. soccer fans; and an original survey experiment of 8,060 Liverpool FC fans.
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The results reveal that there was an 18.9% drop in hate crimes in Liverpool’s home of Merseyside County after Salah was appointed to the team. The decrease in hate crimes was not recorded in any other county and the drop was not related to a decrease in overall crime.
The study goes on to show that anti-Muslim tweets from Liverpool fans were 53.2% lower than expected after Salah was appointed to the team compared to the fans of major English football clubs.
Finally, the Liverpool fan survey that was conducted by the lab showed that Salah’s place on the team has helped to familiarize the fanbase with Islam and encourage people to see the religion in a more positive light that is “compatible with British values”.
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Since the authors of the report state the Muslims are one of the most discriminated minority groups in Britain, the findings highlight the benefit of having minority groups represented on larger world stages.
Upon Salah being named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in April of this year, Liverpool FC Manager Jürgen Klopp said: “[Salah is] Muslim and lives in a world where these things are very often discussed in a dangerous manner where people thing ‘they are all like this’ or ‘they are all like that’.
“It’s nice to have somebody around full of joy, full of love, and to do what he is doing around his religion. He is very influential for us. And if somebody thinks he is influential for the rest of the world as well, then good, show it …. It’s an important statement for the world.”
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) June 2, 2019
Score Big With Your Friends By Sharing The Inspiring Report To Social Media…
The students at this elementary school in Maine are going above and beyond to welcome a very special new student to their classrooms.
6-year-old Morie Belanger is the first deaf student to attend Dayton Consolidated School.
When the staffers heard that Morie could only communicate in ASL, they started hanging posters throughout the school to teach the other students sign language. Reporters say that the students now know about 20 different vocabulary words.
Additionally, the school installed a hearing assistive system and began making their classes more deaf-friendly. The teachers have even been learning ASL in their spare time so they can better communicate with Morie.
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“Morey – without even knowing it – has taught us so much,” school Principal Kimberly Sampietro told CNN. “She has brought a culture to our building that we didn’t have before.”
“Morey helped all of them to learn the alphabet,” she added. “The kids have just really embraced her. They look up to her, they want her around, and they want to partner with her.”
The students were rewarded for their hard work earlier this week after they were visited by a Disney princess to sing songs to them in sign language – with a little help from Morie, of course.
(WATCH the news coverage below)
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Inclusion With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Liberate yourself from that idea that people are watching you.” – Russell Brand
Image: Copyright GWC, 2018
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
An 18-year-old boy is being praised for going the extra mile for a customer who was having trouble consoling her daughter with autism.
Jacob Tayler is an employee at the Clarks shoe store in Bicester, England. His encounter with the troubled customer recently came to light after the shop mailed his family a “celebration alert” for “outstanding customer service”.
The store sent the letter as a result of the customer, Dawn Brown, emailing the store to praise Jacob for his kindness during their shopping trip back in March.
“My daughter is autistic. She wanted to come in and try shoes, but once in your store had a sensory overload,” Brown wrote in the email. “Jacob came over and really kindly asked if he could help, to which I answered ‘yes please’.
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“He didn’t mention or acknowledge the situation but just sat on the floor and started talking to my daughter. He gently tried shoes on her and explained to her why they would feel different and in time, they would soon feel okay.
“He sat patiently while she cried and I had to rock her, and [he] carried on when she was ready without any fuss and he didn’t once make us feel like we were taking too long or being a nuisance.”
Jacob’s father, James Tayler, later posted a photo of the letter to social media, saying that he was “choked up” over his son’s good deed – and it has already been shared thousands of times.
I'm ridiculously proud of both of my children, but my 18 year old son was presented with this at his Saturday job yesterday and I might be a little choked up. pic.twitter.com/BpNUY6098b
— james flibble (@JamesFlibble) May 26, 2019
Since James’s social media post went viral, Brown was able to contact the family and express her personal gratitude for Jacob’s kindness.
“Everyone loves a little bit of kindness,” she said in a Twitter conversation with Jacob’s father. “Teens today are given bad press, not enough praise. I am so so happy that Jacob got his recognition. He totally deserves this.”
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According to BBC, however, this is not the first time that Jacob has volunteered his time to help other people – the youngster has been working with a special needs charity since he was 16 years old. Not only that, he will be spending his summer working with disabled children overseas, and he plans to take up a firefighting apprenticeship when he returns.
The little girl’s mother has also offered to help Jacob get a job at a “hub for young people with disabilities in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.”
Be Sure And Share The Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media…
A 6-year-old’s concern for the people of Nebraska has led to a charming chain of good deeds to benefit the flood-affected state.
Little Kai Baldwin had been watching the news with his mother back in March when he first learned about how floodwaters had damaged some of the state’s infrastructure.
Despite the fact that the boy lives in Vernal, Utah, he could barely keep himself from crying over the reports. “How will they get home and save their animals without a bridge?” he asked his mom. “We have to send them our money!”
At the time, Kai believed that a new bridge would cost about $60 – but unfortunately, he only had $3.21 in his bank account.
RELATED: Woman Buys Out Entire Shoe Store So She Can Donate 204 Pairs to Nebraska Flood Victims
Nevertheless, the boy’s mother encouraged him to follow his passion and ask his neighbors for additional donations. Kai then went door-to-door, asking people for money. Thanks to an additional Facebook fundraiser that was set up by his mom, the determined youngster raised $285.28.
Kai then wrote a check to the Nebraska Farm Bureau Disaster Relief Fund and tucked it inside of a card that read “Dear Nebraska, I’m sorry you got flooded…”
Meanwhile in Virginia, Jesse Wise heard about Kai’s act of kindness and felt inspired to help.
In addition to working as a farmer in Culpepper, he also runs a scrap metal recycling business – and as fate would have it, he had just taken down a perfectly good 43-foot bridge for a client that would be perfect for Nebraska.
“I knew people were hauling hay to Nebraska; I didn’t have enough hay to share, but I wanted to help. So, I wondered if Nebraska could use the bridge we scrapped,” said Wise.
“Believe me, I had a lot of dead silence on the phone as I tried to find the bridge a home,” Wise laughed. “It’s not every day you get a call saying; ‘I have a bridge for you, can you use it?’”
Wise eventually managed to get in contact with Cedar County Commissioner Craig Bartels, who lives near Belden, Nebraska.
“About 10 days after the flooding, I got this call from a Farm Bureau rep who said a bridge had been donated and did we want it?” Bartels told Omaha.com. “I thought about it for about 10 seconds and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll take it.’”
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Though it was not an easy effort to move the bridge halfway across the country, the Virginia farmer split the expenses with Read Transportation – and after traveling 1,000 miles, the bridge arrived in Cedar County earlier this week.
Bartels says that he is not yet sure how the bridge will be put to use, but he says his construction team will “make it work”. The bridge’s components may be used to repair several county fixtures or it may be divided into two separate new bridges.
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by KCAU
Don’t Let This Sweet Story Be Water Under The Bridge: Share It With Your Friends On Social Media…
Two determined university students have successfully bicycled across Africa in order to give away free solar-powered devices that could help save thousands of people from preventable hearing and vision impairment.
Alex McMaster and Merlin Hetherington only recently finished their intrepid journey after they successfully managed to pedal 6,300 miles (10,450 kilometers) across Africa.
The two friends, who met each other during their time at the University of St Andrews, spent eight months pedaling from Cairo to Cape Town in order to dole out Arclights to medical works in remote rural communities.
The Arclight, which was developed by the university’s School of Medicine, is a low-cost, solar-powered that works simultaneously as an ophthalmoscope and an otoscope.
CHECK OUT: First Smartphone App to Detect Ear Infections in Children Could Save Unnecessary Doctor’s Visits
Around 285 million people in the world are estimated to be visually impaired, with an additional 360 million suffering from hearing impairment. Though the causes for these impairments are often preventable with early diagnosis, the medical equipment is either too expensive or it depends on batteries and lightbulbs.
The Arclight, on the other hand, enables users in low-income countries to make instant on-the-spot decisions that speed up access to treatment – all without having to worry about electricity.
“Given the statistics on preventable blindness, we felt moved to action. No one should live any part of their life needlessly blind,” said Hetherington, who graduated in June 2018 with a degree in medicine
“The Arclight is an incredible tool that if given to the right people will help improve the lives of thousands.”
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Despite battling 13 tire punctures and various encounters with police, bandits and tribal conflict, the young students managed to distribute 1,050 Arclights and train 843 people across the continent.
McMaster, who is studying biology and geography, said: “It’s been a learning experience for both of us.
“Initially, we were a bit apprehensive, but now, we are quite happy going in and training 80 to 100 students at a time so it’s been a great experience for us too.”
Dr. Andrew Blaikie, Senior Lecturer in the Global Health Team and Consultant Ophthalmologist to Britain’s National Health Service, has been assisting with evaluation and implementation of Arclight over the past four years – and he was quick to praise the young students for their medical mission.
“What Alex and Merlin have done is a wonderful achievement both for themselves and the many hundreds of health care workers who now own an Arclight device,” said Blaikie.
“Early diagnosis using the Arclight is the key to good outcomes for both eye and ear disease – especially in the young,” he added.
“Their expedition, I am sure, will now go on to benefit many thousands of people over the coming years, preventing needless disability. This is a legacy for which they should be immensely proud.”
(WATCH the video below)
Shine A Light On These Good Guys By Sharing It To Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – Al Bernstein
Image: Copyright GWC, 2018
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
More than 200 wild and exotic animals have been given a taste of freedom after they were rescued from a roadside zoo in Canada earlier this month.
Among the animals rescued were lions, tigers, zebras, bears, camels, monkeys, goats, and kangaroos – many of which were found to be endangered species, according to Humane Society International rescuers.
Since the Montreal SPCA had already been monitoring the Quebec zoo for several years, the zoo staffers had already received a number of citations for animal neglect. Upon refusing to bring the facility up to code, the Quebec government ruled that all of the animals must be seized from the unaccredited zoo.
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According to the Montreal SPCA, the owner was charged with two counts of criminal animal neglect and cruelty in the 2016 to 2018 timeframe. More notably, this is the first time in Quebec that animal welfare charges have been made by way of indictment – a type of prosecution reserved for the most serious offenses and which opens the door to more serious penalties.
Roadside zoos, also known as backyard zoos, usually operate as unaccredited tourist attractions and generally fall short of animal welfare regulations, making them notorious for animal exploitation and neglect.
Many of the rescued animals suffering from medical conditions and showed signs of distress from confinement.
Since animals at roadside zoos are typically born in captivity, they cannot be returned to the wild. Thankfully, HSI is providing on-site care for all the animals before they are transported to their respective new homes throughout the organization’s network of sanctuaries in Canada and the United States.
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The animals will be matched with species-appropriate facilities that are as close to their natural environments as possible. After that, the animals will have the opportunity to live happy and healthy lives in reputable sanctuaries.
HSI also urges travelers to be responsible and conduct proper research before visiting a zoo in order make sure that it in accredited in North America.
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Roses may be the inspiration for love and romance, but they are also now the inspiration behind a gadget that could provide clean drinking water for people around the world.
Researchers from the University of Texas in Austin have developed a new device for collecting and purifying water that was inspired by a rose—and it’s a dramatic improvement on current methods.
At their Cockrell School of Engineering’s Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering the team developed a new approach that uses energy from sunlight to separate salt and other impurities from water through evaporation.
In a paper published in the most recent issue of the journal Advanced Materials, the authors outline how an origami rose provided the inspiration for developing a new kind of solar-steaming system made from layered, black paper sheets shaped into petals. Attached to a stem-like tube that collects untreated water from any water source, the 3D rose shape makes it easier for the structure to collect and retain more liquid.
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Current solar-steaming technologies are usually expensive, bulky, and produce limited results. The team’s method, on the other hand, uses inexpensive materials that are portable and lightweight so that each flower-like structure costs less than 2 cents and can produce more than half a gallon of water per hour per square meter.
Its resemblance to a flower is no coincidence.
Associate professor Donglei Emma Fan and her team were searching for more efficient ways to use solar-steaming for water production by using black filtered paper coated with a special type of polymer, known as polypyrrole, which is particularly good at converting solar light into thermal heat.
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They experimented with a number of different ways to shape the paper to see what was best for achieving optimal water retention levels. Placing the paper flat on the ground in the sun was not efficient enough. After toying with a few other shapes, Fan was inspired by a book she read in high school. “The Black Tulip” by Alexandre Dumas gave her the idea to try using a flower-like shape – and she discovered that the rose proved to be particularly ideal. Its structure allowed more direct sunlight to hit the photothermic material—with more internal reflections – than other floral shapes and also provided enlarged surface area for water vapor to dissipate from the material.
The device collects water through its stem-like tube—feeding it to the flower-shaped structure on top. The polypyrrole coating the flower turns the water into steam. Impurities naturally separate from water when condensed in this way.
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“We designed the purification-collection solar-steaming unisystem to include a connection point for a low-pressure pump to help condense the water more effectively,” said Weigu Li, a Ph.D. candidate in Fan’s lab and lead author on the paper. “Once it is condensed, the glass jar is designed to be compact, sturdy and secure for storing clean water.”
The device removes any contamination from heavy metals and bacteria, and it removes salt from seawater, producing clean water that meets drinking standard requirements set by the World Health Organization.
“Our rational design and low-cost fabrication of 3D origami photothermal materials represents a first-of-its-kind portable low-pressure solar-steaming-collection system,” Li said. “This could inspire new paradigms of solar-steaming technologies in clean water production for individuals and homes.”
Reprinted from the University of Texas at Austin
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