The ultimate dream job for millennials is up for grabs: being paid to travel the world and post your extraordinary experiences on social media.
The position of apprentice “Shore Explorer” will include visits to destinations including Alaska, Japan, Norway and Dubai—and the icing on the cake is a once-in-a-lifetime trip to a private island in the Caribbean.
On landing the job, the chosen candidate will also be paid a salary equivalent to $135,000 (£104,000) per year for their troubles as they shadow expert photographer, Russ Francis.
The “Shore Explorer” candidate is expected to perform the daily task of posting their experiences on Instagram, Instagram Stories and IGTV. Additionally, they will be selected for the position by an independent panel of judges including James McVey—The Vamps’ guitarist and “I’m A Celebrity” star—and travel writer Nadia El Ferdaoussi.
“I’m so excited to be working with Royal Caribbean to find the perfect person for this new apprenticeship; someone who has a passion for travel, exploration and seeking out new and extraordinary experiences around the world,” said McVey. “And, of course, they have to be brilliant at sharing their adventure online too.”
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The once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity was thought up by Royal Caribbean International, whose spokesman said: “We’re looking for an adrenaline junkie who is not only hungry for adventure, but also has a unique ability to capture a moment and tell a story in a simple social media post.
“We already offer a huge amount of incredible, once-in-a-lifetime, on-land experiences as part of our cruise holidays – from zip wires and white-water rafting, to walking on glaciers and hot air balloon rides.
“By launching this position, we’re hoping that the winning candidate will take our shore excursion program to the next level,” he added.
According to a new survey by OnePoll, British youth, aged 18 to 37, claim to be a “do it” rather than “buy it” generation—focused on spending their money on memorable things to do, rather than possessions. 56% believe they simply get more out of experiences than they would from a physical asset—and for a quarter, the “instant gratification” gained through a fun experience is enhanced by posting on social media.
A 63-year-old was diagnosed with cancer just days after the disease killed his dad—yet he has now been crowned a bodybuilding world champion after beating the illness, and thanks his estranged father for the epic timing that saved him.
Only after he was raised by his grandmother, did Denton Wilson meet his estranged birth father Benjamin Wilson for the first time. Just two weeks after getting to know each other, however, Benjamin died of prostate cancer, which prompted Denton, in his early 40s, to get himself checked out as a precaution.
To his horror, Denton was also diagnosed with the condition and warned he could only have a matter of weeks to live.
He underwent surgery to remove his diseased prostate and then took up bodybuilding to regain his strength. Now, 20 years on and a grandfather himself, he has been crowned the over-60s bodybuilding champion at the world finals in Miami, Florida.
Denton, a former youth and community worker from Sheffield, said: “I was given a second chance at life. His death gave me life. At the time, I knew nothing at all about the disease and I was healthy.
“If I never met my dad then I would have been dead a long time ago,” he added. “It was a dream for me to meet him and his death saved my life.
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“I set myself goals and set out on a dream to achieve. It was overwhelming to be the best in Britain so to become the best in the world is incredible.”
Denton was born in Jamaica and brought up by his grandmother, then moved to England to live with his mother when he was 9 years old. Upon discovering his father’s name, Denton “vowed” to one day return to Jamaica to track his dad down.
When Denton returned to his home country in 1997 and found his dad, he spent the next two weeks getting to know the 79-year-old before he learned that the man had prostate cancer. The day after he arrived back in the UK from the trip, he found out his dad had died.
“I saved up for a long time to go to Jamaica. It felt like a miracle to finally meet him. It was like finding the final piece in a jigsaw puzzle,” said Denton.
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Denton said it was “devastating”, but it prompted him to get a check-up after his father’s funeral. Blood tests then revealed that Denton – who was only 42 years old – had an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer and required urgent life-saving treatment,.
“I felt angry. I was angry at God for letting me watch my father die,” he added. Then, when he found out about his own diagnosis, Denton added: “I was devastated. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was going to die.
“I said I wanted time to think about my options but the doctor said ‘you don’t have time’. He said I was going to die.”
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After surgery to remove his cancerous prostate in 1998, he took up bodybuilding in a bid to “come back stronger” and transformed his physique with a strict healthy eating regime and committed to three gym sessions a week.
He has since been crowned the British bodybuilding champion over 40s, over 50s and over 60s. His crowning glory came in November last year, when he was named the over 60s bodybuilding champion at the DFAC world finals in Miami, Florida.
“I worked hard to achieve my status and want to help other people to achieve,” said Denton. “I am so happy and so proud of myself. A lot of people die from cancer but I was given a second chance.”
Denton now wants to inspire others by sharing his experience and giving motivational talks on battling prostate cancer.
Quote of the Day: “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” – Victor Hugo
Photo: by Damian Verley, CC license via Flickr
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?
This black Labrador mix is being hailed a hero after she came to the rescue of an 87-year-old woman in distress earlier this week.
Tim Curfman was taking out the garbage from his home in Minnesota during the record-breaking winter storm last week when his 4-year-old pup Midnight started acting strangely.
“She had her ears perked up looking at me,” Curfman told CBS Minnesota. “She doesn’t normally do that. Sometimes you get that feeling something’s up.”
Curfman decided to follow Midnight out into the snow – and she immediately dashed over to the other side of their house. There, he found his elderly neighbor Noreen lying in the snow.
She had fallen to the ground while trying to refill her bird feeder, and there was nothing to grab that could help her get back up again. She had been lying in the snow for at least half an hour when Curfman found her.
He then brought Noreen into his house so he and his wife could get the chilled senior into warm, dry clothes.
She has apparently made a full recovery without sustaining any frostbite – and it is all thanks to Midnight; or as she is now being affectionately nicknamed, Lassie.
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by CBS Minnesota
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Australian scientists have come up with an ingeniously “crappy” way to recycle treated sewage sludge and turn it into bricks.
Biosolids are leftovers from the wastewater treatment process that can be used as fertilizer, in land rehabilitation, or as a construction material.
Around 30% of the world’s biosolids are stockpiled or sent to landfill, using up valuable land and potentially emitting greenhouse gases that would damage the environment.
Now a team at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, has demonstrated that fired-clay bricks incorporating biosolids could be a sustainable solution for two industries at once.
Published this month in the journal Buildings, the research showed how making biosolid bricks only required around half the energy of conventional bricks. As well as being cheaper to produce, the biosolid bricks also had a lower thermal conductivity, transferring less heat to potentially make buildings cooler in the summer.
About 5 million tons of the biosolids produced in Australia, the EU, US, and Canada currently go to landfills or stockpiles each year. The study determined that using a minimum 15% biosolids in 15% of bricks produced today could totally use up this 5 million tons.
Lead investigator Associate Professor Abbas Mohajerani said the research also tackled the excavation of soil required for brick production.
“More than 3 billion cubic meters of clay soil is dug up each year for the global brickmaking industry, to produce about 1.5 trillion bricks,” said Mohajerani, a civil engineer in RMIT’s School of Engineering. “Using biosolids in bricks could be the solution to these big environmental challenges.”
The research examined the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of fired-clay bricks incorporating different proportions of biosolids, from 10 to 25%.
The biosolid-enhanced bricks passed compressive strength tests and analysis showed that heavy metals stayed largely trapped within the brick. Additionally, bricks that only contained 25% biosolids required about half as much energy as their ordinary counterparts due to the organic content of the biosolids, implying that they could considerably reduce the carbon footprint of brick manufacturing companies.
“It’s a practical and sustainable proposal for recycling the biosolids currently stockpiled or going to landfill around the globe,” said Mohajerani.
This groundbreaking new school campus—which has been designed for homeless kids, by homeless kids—will soon serve as a refuge for roughly 200 underprivileged kids in Oklahoma City.
Positive Tomorrows, the nonprofit organization behind the school’s creation, recently began construction on the facility with a focus on the growth and wellbeing of the students.
The new facility will host a fully stocked and furnished “living room” area for both the students and their parents. Here they can prepare meals, eat dinner, and share in each other’s company, with the additional comfort of knowing they have a place where they are welcome.
“Our families are in … survivor mode,” Amy Brewer, Director of Education at Positive Tomorrows, told Citylab. “Schooling is an afterthought at best. For many of our kids, if they were not at Positive Tomorrows, they would not be at school. Positive Tomorrows is able to provide a family with an array of support services that a traditional public school cannot.”
Additionally, the students were able to help design the building with their own needs in mind. In an exercise Positive Tomorrows titled “Dream Big,” students were asked to submit drawings of what they wanted their new school to look like. Out of all of their requests, there were two common underlying desires amongst the homeless students: a place to spend quality time with other kids, and additional rooms to serve as their own personalized spaces.
Although these requests may seem relatively simple, they indicate the students’ need for both community and consistency – two things that they rarely experience when they are having to constantly move from one shelter, couch, garage, or basement to the next.
“Our kiddos have nothing that’s their own,” said Brewer. “‘If I want to do a Lego project, I can’t leave it out because where I stay tonight may not be where I stay tomorrow.’”
The nonprofit that just celebrated its 26th birthday has experienced great success in their work educating and supporting homeless Oklahoma families. According to an independent impact study summarized on the Positive Tomorrows website, about half of the families who received assistance from the organization have shown improvements in housing, employment, and income.
Positive Tomorrows has also provided tens of thousands of free school meals, as well as health and dental checkups. With the construction of a new school building, the charity staffers are excited to help more families than ever before, knowing that they’ve been turning away 100 kids every year.
“We feel a responsibility to serve more students,” said Susan Agel, Positive Tomorrows President and Principal. “We are thrilled to take this step forward today, and to move toward serving more of our community’s most vulnerable children.”
YOU can also improve the tomorrows of homeless kids today with a donation –or by sharing on social media so others might donate.
After a heart-stopping rescue from an icy Montana snow bank, animal lovers are rejoicing over this cat’s miraculous recovery.
Earlier this week, Fluffy the cat’s owners were horrified to discover their beloved feline buried in a snow bank amidst temperatures that had fallen to 8ºF (-13ºC).
With 16 inches of powder already on the ground, Fluffy’s fur had become a matted coat of ice and snow. By the time her owners brought her into the Animal Clinic of Kalispell, her temperature had fallen dangerously low and she had become unresponsive.
Clinic staffers spent the following two hours surrounding their feline patient in warm water and blankets. When her condition failed to improve, she was taken to the emergency room and given further treatment.
After a few more hours, she finally began to show signs of improvement.
The clinic later posted a shocking before-and-after photoset to Facebook in which they showed off Fluffy’s stunning recovery.
Though the cat has been returned to good health, Fluffy’s owners told ABC News that she is apparently now strictly an indoor car.
Be Sure And Share This Pawesome Recovery Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.” – Leymah Gbowee
Photo: by Jeff Kubina, CC license via Flickr
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Todd Holland is being hailed as a hero for listening to his instincts earlier this week – and he hopes his rescue story will inspire other delivery workers to do the same.
Holland works as a UPS delivery driver in Ashe County, North Carolina. As he was dropping off a package for one of his customers, he noticed that another package which he had delivered a few days previously was still outside the front door.
That’s when Holland said that he knew in his gut that something was wrong. He then began pounding on the door and yelling for an answer. When he tried to open the door and found that it was unlocked, he entered the house and found the homeowner lying on the floor.
Holland dialed 911 and waited with the man until paramedics arrived. Though he has not been able to speak with the homeowner since he was taken to the hospital, the compassionate delivery driver has been helping to look after the man’s dog and house while he is treated.
Holland now hopes that his story will inspire other delivery drivers to show the same amount of care and attention to their customers.
“I made it a point to tell the guys at work this morning, if you deliver to people – and a lot of people that we deliver to, especially in these rural areas, us, the FedEx man and the mail man might be the only people they see during the week,” Hollad told WXII. “I told them, if you realize and get a gut feeling that something is wrong, check it out. It probably is.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by WXII
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It’s rare to find thousands of dollars in cash laying around on the ground, let alone flying through the air on the highway – but that’s exactly what Terry Brubaker saw last month.
Brubaker had been driving through Gloversville, New York when she suddenly saw $20, $50, and $100 bills fluttering in the wind in front of her windshield.
She quickly pulled over to the side of the road and started grabbing the cash out of the air. In total, she collected roughly $6,600.
She went to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to turn in the money just as the owner of the cash was filing a report.
Kim Steenburg had been on her way to the bank when she accidentally left the cash in an envelope on top of her car as she was busy fastening her niece’s seatbelt. Upon hearing that Brubaker had turned in the money at the police station, she was overwhelmed with relief.
As it turns out, Steenburg’s husband was killed in a New York limo crash last year and she had been planning on using the money to go on their honeymoon cruise so she could scatter her husband’s ashes at sea.
Illustration by Federica Bordoni via The Rockefeller University
Illustration by Federica Bordoni via The Rockefeller University
She weighs less than one ten-thousandth of an ounce and her top speed is less than two miles per hour. Nonetheless, the female mosquito is one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. For as she flies from person to person, this tiny creature transmits microbes that can sicken and kill millions of people every year.
Recently, however, scientists from The Rockefeller University have shown that female mosquitoes can be persuaded not to bite at all.
Their work, which appears in the journal Cell, illuminates the biology underlying the host-seeking and blood-feeding behaviors that make these insects such a menace – and could lead to new ways of shutting those behaviors down.
The researchers conducted their experiments on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the species responsible for spreading dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
Female Aedes are fiercely attracted to human beings, whose blood contains the protein they need to produce their eggs. Yet once they have fed, that attraction declines precipitously, and the bloated mosquitoes show little interest in seeking another blood meal for several days.
“It’s like the ultimate Thanksgiving dinner,” says Laura Duvall, the postdoctoral fellow who led the project.
Scientists can reproduce that long-term postprandial effect by injecting female mosquitoes with large doses of small protein-like molecules called neuropeptides, which activate specialized receptors. But the list of possible neuropeptide-receptor combinations is long, and better tools were needed to develop compounds that could more efficiently suppress a female’s feeding behaviors without having other, unwanted effects.
Fortunately, similar receptors regulate feeding behavior in many species, including our own. And that shared evolutionary inheritance provided Duvall and her colleagues with the clue they needed to solve the mystery of the mosquito’s missing appetite.
In humans, so-called Neuropeptide Y or NPY receptors regulate food intake, and the pharmaceutical industry has developed anti-obesity drugs that both activate and inhibit them.
Duvall and her colleagues reckoned the same drugs might affect the mosquitoes’ NPY-like receptors, as well. And they were right.
When the researchers fed female mosquitoes saline solution doped with drugs that activate human NPY receptors, the insects’ attraction to a human host – as measured by their willingness to fly towards a bit of nylon stocking that Duvall had worn long enough to absorb the bodily odors that scream “mealtime” to mosquitoes – plummeted just as if they had had a blood meal. Alternately, when the researchers fed the mosquitoes blood doped with a drug that inhibits the same receptors, they behaved as if they had not eaten at all.
To pinpoint the particular receptor that the human drugs were acting upon, the team used their knowledge of the mosquito genome to clone all 49 of the species’ possible neuropeptide receptors and exposed them to the same compounds. Only one, an NPY-like receptor known as NPYLR7, responded to all the human drugs that had affected the mosquitoes.
“We were impressed and amazed that drugs designed to affect human appetite worked perfectly to suppress mosquito appetite,” said Vosshall, Robin Chemers Neustein Professor.
What’s more, when the team fed blood to mutant Ae. Aegypti that had been genetically engineered to lack proper NPYLR7 receptors, those mosquitoes remained as interested as ever in their next meal – confirming that NPYLR7 was indeed the receptor they had been looking for.
At that point, the researchers knew that NPYLR7 might be what they have long sought: a means of preventing mosquitoes from biting people. But the human drugs they used to manipulate the receptor in the lab wouldn’t be suitable for use in the wild, where they might affect people as well as mosquitoes.
Instead, they began searching for molecules that would selectively activate NPYLR7 without triggering human NPY receptors. Starting with an initial list of more than 250,000 candidates, the team ultimately settled on “compound 18” – a molecule that suppressed Aedes‘ host-seeking behavior with no off-target effects.
Demonstrating that a drug will cause female mosquitoes to turn up their noses at a piece of tasty-smelling nylon is one thing, however. Proving that it will prevent them from biting a living, breathing host when it is laid out in front of them like a Thanksgiving turkey is another.
So for their final test, the researchers let some mosquitoes loose on a live mouse. (While Aedes prefer humans, they will make do with other mammals when necessary.) Much to their satisfaction, mosquitoes that were fed compound 18 were as disinterested in feeding on the rodent as mosquitoes that had enjoyed a full-blown blood meal.
The team’s findings have far-reaching implications, both for future research and for vector control.
Now that the researchers know which receptor is responsible for switching off Ae. Aegypti’s host-seeking and biting behaviors, they can begin to identify where it is produced in the insect’s body, and when it might be naturally activated by chemicals that the mosquitoes produce themselves. (Although they still do not know exactly which naturally occurring neuropeptides activate NPYLR7, Duvall and her colleagues now have a list of nine possible candidates.) That, in turn, will help them trace the larger neural circuits that govern the mosquito’s feeding behavior.
At the same time, their results suggest a new strategy for reducing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases – and perhaps ailments spread by other insects, as well.
With a bit of luck, medicinal chemists could refine compound 18 to produce an even more potent molecule that could be delivered to female mosquitoes in the wild through baited traps, or through the semen of male mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to produce it themselves.
Muzzling Ae. Aegypti would be a boon in and of itself. But other blood-feeding, disease-carrying arthropods, including the mosquitoes that spread malaria and the ticks that transmit Lyme disease, also possess NPY-like receptors. It seems likely that a compound that suppresses Ae. Aegypti’s feeding behaviors would suppress theirs, too. And that would take a significant bite out of the global disease burden imposed by these pernicious blood-suckers.
This woman has unwittingly sparked a social media craze of “paintception” after her son affectionately posted a picture of her work to the internet.
Following her second night of evening art classes, 55-year-old Cindi Decker sent her son a picture of herself proudly posing with her oil painting of an egret.
“This is only the second painting I have done,” said Decker. “I have gone to two art classes in my area designed to walk us through a painting and teach us while having fun.”
Decker’s son was so tickled by the photo, he posted it onto Reddit. Shortly after he published the picture, another user, Kristoffer Zetterstrand from Sweden, decided to paint his own picture depicting Decker holding the artwork as a joke.
Another Reddit user then painted a picture of Zetterstrand holding his image of Decker holding her image – and the craze kind of snowballed from there.
It has since proliferated into a global challenge, with an estimated 50 paintings of paintings within paintings that all originated from Decker’s egret.
Reddit users have even created diagrams and “family tree” of all the associated images and how they are related.
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Decker, who is from Jacksonville, Florida, said she had no idea her son had even shared the picture online – let alone that her painting had become a viral sensation.
“I really had no idea what Reddit was. In fact, I am still learning. I thought my son was just showing his friends on Snapchat and later learned he posted it to Reddit.
“I’m not a big social media person, so I did not know what to expect – but it exceeded my expectations, in a good way.”
Decker says that people have been contacting her daily to say they’ve loved watching the paintings develop. Some people have even said that she has inspired them to start painting again.
Laila Amer / SWNS
“I have had a lot of thank-yous to all those that took the time to paint and draw themselves,” said Decker, who recently created a Reddit account in order to properly send her thank-you messages. “I am glad a little old bird from Florida brought some fun to others for a few days.
“I do have to give all the craziness to the first artist, Kristoffer Zetterstrand, for creating the movement. I do not know him, but boy did he start something fun!”
45-year-old Zetterstrand says that he only decided to paint Decker as practice doodle after he saw her photo on Reddit.
“I usually do a small ‘warmup’ painting when I get to the studio – and the motif usually isn’t that important,” says Zetterstrand. “I pick some photo off the internet or the paper. So this day I decided to do that photo just for fun [because] I thought it was cute.”
His post took off shortly afterwards, getting hundreds of upvotes per minute – and he now estimates his picture has been seen by over a million people.
“When the first paintings of me dropped in, I realized I might have started something. I had no idea how big it would be,” he explained. “It’s a bit absurd to see a quick oil sketch that I did for fun completely blow all my serious work out of the water in terms of views – [but] I’m not complaining, it’s funny. Many have contacted me and told me that it made them genuinely happy.
“It’s touching, really,” he added. “I never intended this, but it’s really fun.”
Seamus Wray / SWNS
19-year-old Canadian artist Laila Amer was the first to paint Zetterstrand holding his painting of Decker and her egret.
“Kristoffer’s painting was amazing, and the gesture was super cute, and I thought I could just join in on the fun and take it further,” she said. “It took about a whole day. I knew it was going to get attention cause it’s kinda funny, but I was surprised at the amount of paintings that came out of it!”
Didi, a 20-year-old graphic designer and animator from Sydney, then painted Amer holding her painting of Zetterstrand holding Decker’s – and her painting earned her much more than a few upvotes.
“I meant to spend my day applying for commission work but I felt like painting and I’m a bit of a procrastinator, so I spent my time caught up in this Reddit thread,” said Didi. “I was feeling like I kind of wasted my day, until I got a direct message on Reddit from someone who saw my post and needed graphic design work done.”
As a final cherry on top to the sweet story, Zetterstrand says that he has since spoken to Decker, and she loved his painting – which is why he says he will be sending it to her in Florida the second that the paint is dry.
Paint Some Positivity: Be Sure And Share This Amusing Story With Your Friends On Social Media
Quote of the Day: “Happiness comes more from loving than being loved.” – J.E. Buckrose
Photo: by Fernando Jiménez, CC license via Flickr
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?
New pill can deliver insulin Capsule that releases insulin in the stomach could replace injections for patients with type 2 diabetes.
Written by Anne Trafton MIT News
Daily needle injections may soon be a thing of the past for diabetes patients thanks to this latest breakthrough.
An MIT-led research team has developed a drug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin as a means of potentially replacing the injections that people with type 2 diabetes have to give themselves every day.
About the size of a blueberry, the capsule contains a small needle made of compressed insulin, which is injected after the capsule reaches the stomach. In initial tests, the researchers showed that they could deliver enough insulin to lower blood sugar levels that are comparable to those produced by skin injections. They also demonstrated that the device can be adapted to deliver other protein drugs.
“We are really hopeful that this new type of capsule could someday help diabetic patients and perhaps anyone who requires therapies that can now only be given by injection or infusion,” says Robert Langer, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the senior authors of the study, which was published in Science earlier this week.
Several years ago, a group of MIT colleagues developed a pill that was coated with tiny needles that could be used to inject drugs into the lining of the stomach or the small intestine. For the new capsule, the researchers changed the design to have just one needle, allowing them to avoid injecting drugs into the interior of the stomach, where they would be broken down by stomach acids before having any effect.
The tip of the needle is made of nearly 100 percent compressed, freeze-dried insulin, using the same process used to form tablets of medicine. The shaft of the needle, which does not enter the stomach wall, is made from another biodegradable material.
Within the capsule, the needle is attached to a compressed spring that is held in place by a disk made of sugar. When the capsule is swallowed, water in the stomach dissolves the sugar disk, releasing the spring and injecting the needle into the stomach wall.
The stomach wall has no pain receptors, so the researchers believe that patients would not be able to feel the injection. To ensure that the drug is injected into the stomach wall, the researchers designed their system so that no matter how the capsule lands in the stomach, it can orient itself so the needle is in contact with the lining of the stomach.
“As soon as you take it, you want the system to self-right so that you can ensure contact with the tissue,” says Giovanni Traverso, a visiting scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a senior author of the study.
The researchers drew their inspiration for the technology from the leopard tortoise. This tortoise, which is found in Africa, has a shell with a high, steep dome, allowing it to right itself if it rolls onto its back. The researchers used computer modeling to come up with a variant of this shape for their capsule, which allows it to reorient itself even in the dynamic environment of the stomach.
“What’s important is that we have the needle in contact with the tissue when it is injected,” says Alex Abramson, MIT grad student and first author of the paper. “Also, if a person were to move around or the stomach were to growl, the device would not move from its preferred orientation.”
Once the tip of the needle is injected into the stomach wall, the insulin dissolves at a rate that can be controlled by the researchers as the capsule is prepared. In this study, it took about an hour for all of the insulin to be fully released into the bloodstream.
In tests in pigs, the researchers showed that they could successfully deliver up to 300 micrograms of insulin. More recently, they have been able to increase the dose to 5 milligrams, which is comparable to the amount that a patient with type 2 diabetes would need to inject.
After the capsule releases its contents, it can pass harmlessly through the digestive system. The researchers found no adverse effects from the capsule, which is made from biodegradable polymer and stainless steel components.
Maria José Alonso, a professor of biopharmaceutics and pharmaceutical technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, describes the new capsule as a “radically new technology” that could benefit many patients.
“We are not talking about incremental improvements in insulin absorption, which is what most researchers in the field have done so far. This is by far the most realistic and impactful breakthrough technology disclosed until now for oral peptide delivery,” says Alonso, who was not involved in the research.
The MIT team is now continuing to work on developing the technology and optimizing the manufacturing process for the capsules. They believe this type of drug delivery could be useful for any protein drug that normally has to be injected, such as immunosuppressants used to treat rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease. It may also work for nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA.
“Our motivation is to make it easier for patients to take medication, particularly medications that require an injection,” Traverso says. “The classic one is insulin, but there are many others.”
Instead of importing expensive new plastic materials from another country, this architecture studio has started making chairs out of old and discarded local fishing gear.
Earlier this week, Nordic architecture studio Snøhetta unveiled their new S-1500 chair – a fixture that is made entirely out of recycled materials.
Though the chair’s plastic texture looks similarly to marble, it is actually mass-produced using old fishing nets and ropes that were contributed by various fishing companies all located within a 12-mile radius of the studio.
“One of our goals was to do a project to inspire and show the industry that you can actually make businesses out of what they today consider as trash,” Snøhetta architect Stian Ekkernes Rossi told Fast Company. “Through design and architecture, plastic becomes a resource.”
The chair was designed for furniture company Nordic Comfort Products and showcased at this year’s Stockholm Design Week. It is expected to go on sale for the general public before the end of the year.
By abstaining from using raw materials to manufacture the chairs, the furniture fixture currently has “one of the lowest carbon footprints in the market” – and the studio hopes that the chair’s design will inspire other companies to think more critically about how they use and source their plastic.
“When you use plastic for certain things that are meant to last, it’s a wonderful material,” says Rossi. “When you misuse it in products with a short life-span, it’s a misunderstanding of the material’s capability.”
(WATCH the company video below) – Photos by Bjørnar Øvrebø / Snøhetta
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“I remember Sadie coming in and I said … ‘Mommy needs help,’” Hatcher told First Coast News. “And then, they were gone.”
Hatcher’s doorbell camera captured footage of the Labs running out of her front door and into the street. Minutes later, they can be seen returning with Hatcher’s neighbor, Alexandra Naspolini.
Though Naspolini was anxious about entering Hatcher’s home, she knew something was wrong. She then found Hatcher on the ground and called 911.
Paramedics arrived on the scene just in time. They wheeled Hatcher into the ambulance and gave her medical treatment before the stroke could do any serious damage.
Since strokes need to be treated as quickly as possible, the emergency rescuers say that Hatcher’s dogs undoubtably saved her life.
“By rights, I shouldn’t be in the shape that I’m in,” Hatcher said. “I am blessed… very blessed.”
(WATCH the video below)
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What do I do if I’m fighting with a friend? How do I apologize? What if I want to end the friendship? Young people can learn more about arguing with a friend here: https://t.co/PC1zGRx0pXpic.twitter.com/Zb11VBqnpr
Whether kids are simply having trouble with their homework or they’re suffering from something a little more serious, there is a team of adults who are ready to help at a moment’s notice.
The Kids Help Phone is a nationwide hotline service that offers free counseling, support, guidance, and response to Canadian youth. Teens and children who need help can either text, call, or instant message the hotline for immediate assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For almost 30 years, kids have been using the hotline service for advice on things like how to deal with a breakup; LGBTQ issues; coping with toxic friendships; failing grades; dealing with grief; feeling depressed; body image issues; and even child abuse.
Unless the young caller is in immediate danger of being harmed or harming someone else, the hotline can also be used anonymously. However, the adult responders have an online database at the ready with more than 30,000 resources on how to deal with various support issues.
The organization only rolled out their texting services back in November following a successful pilot program that resulted in more than 13,000 text conversations between adult helpers and troubled youngsters, and they have already experienced impressive results.
86% of participants reported a meaningful reduction in stress after finishing a texting conversation with a Crisis Responder, while 87% of respondents reported feeling less alone, less distressed, less upset, more hopeful, more confident and more in-control.
Furthermore, 52% of respondents said that they felt confident that they could cope with their situations after a texting conversation. Almost 100% of respondents said they were satisfied with the service and were likely to recommend the texting service to a friend. On a more serious note, 7% of users said they would have gone to the emergency room if they had not used the service.
“This service fills an important gap in mental health support for youth in Canada – in crisis, in between health care appointments, and for those who are dealing with significant mental health issues,” said Professor Wendy Craig, Head of Psychology at Queen’s University.
The hotline has been hailed as one of the world’s best support systems for troubled youngsters – and based on its continuing success in 2019, mental health advocates are hoping it will inspire similar services outside of Canada in the near future.
It won’t be long (yeah!) till Fab Four fans will have the chance to revel in a brand new documentary about the Beatles courtesy of a cinematic mastermind.
Sir Peter Jackson, the director of the critically-acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy, has been gifted with the task of creating the latest Beatles documentary nearly 50 years after the release of their last studio album.
It seems that the Fab Four still have a great deal to offer their fans, too; with 55 hours of never-before-seen, unreleased footage, and a narrative untold to the public, the documentary seems destined to further cement the Beatles as the greatest, most influential, and persistently relevant music group in modern history.
“The 55 hours of never-before-seen footage and 140 hours of audio made available to us ensures this movie will be the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience that Beatles fans have long dreamt about – it’s like a time machine transports us back to 1969, and we get to sit in the studio watching these four friends make great music together,” said Jackson.
What was originally designed to be a television documentary, naturally developed into a feature-length film, as Peter Jackson gave into his Beatlemania and decided that 60 minutes of airtime was simply not enough.
At the premiere of Ron Howard’s Eight Days a Week, Jackson said: “I’m not a musical expert – and The Beatles are just about the only music I like.”
“I’m thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with this remarkable footage – making the movie will be a sheer joy.”
What is even more exciting than Jackson’s zeal for the project is the promise of an untold narrative; one that negates claims of discord amongst the Beatles during their last months of being a band – and the classic Beatle banter that we’ve grown to love and miss is apparently evermore present in the soon-to-be-released footage.
“I was relieved to discover the reality is very different to the myth,” said Jackson. “Sure, there’s moments of drama – but none of the discord this project has long been associated with.
“Watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo work together, creating now-classic songs from scratch, is not only fascinating – it’s funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate,” says Jackson.
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Though Canadian Starbucks stores have always donated unsold pastries and baked goods to charity, the company is now going one step further.
Earlier this week, Starbucks Canada announced the launch of Starbucks FoodShare: a national effort to provide nourishing, ready-to-eat meals to people in need by ensuring that all of their edible, non-expired products will be rescued from the trash can as well.
The FoodShare project is part of the company’s commitment to eventually rescuing 100% of their food available for donation from its more than 1,100 company-owned stores, amounting to a whopping total of 1.5 million meals for the hungry every year.
The initiative, which builds on a successful pilot program with Second Harvest, the largest food rescue organization in Canada, will launch in Ontario starting with more than 250 stores in the Greater Toronto Area by February 22nd. Starbucks is now working to expand the program to even more cities and provinces, with a goal to have a national solution in place by 2021.
“Wasted food is a wide-scale problem for everyone in the food business, while more than 4 million Canadians are impacted by hunger,” says Luisa Girotto, the vice president of public affairs at Starbucks Canada. “This is unacceptable, and we will help solve this now that we have a way to safely donate chilled, perishable food, while preserving its quality.”
Starbucks previously invested in research and quality assurance-testing to develop a sector-leading program ensuring that chilled and perishable food can be safely donated to those in need. This means that nourishing company products, such as breakfast sandwiches, paninis, protein boxes, salads, yogurt, milk and dairy alternatives like soy and coconut, can be safely donated and enjoyed by those in need.
The FoodShare program has identified guidelines and developed a training framework on maintaining food temperature, texture, flavor so that it is guaranteed to maintain its quality and safety. In turn, Second Harvest will work with local community groups across the province to collect the food and enforce the new food safety standards.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Starbucks to support food recovery in local neighborhoods to ensure people have the food they need to be healthy while also making a positive impact on the environment,” says Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “We all have a part to play in reducing the social and environmental costs of food waste and it’s great to see Starbucks taking a leadership role.”
In addition to combatting hunger, the Starbucks FoodShare program will divert food surplus from landfills, which will help to minimize the company’s environmental footprint. In Canada, it is estimated that nearly 60% of all food produced is lost and wasted annually, according to a recent study titled The Avoidable Crisis Of Food Waste. To limit the effects of climate change, the United Nations has set a target of halving food loss and waste by 2030.
The movement to donate unsold food has been gaining momentum globally, with consumers showing increased concern for the greater issue of waste – and this initiative is just one way that Starbucks is joining in on the conservational mission.
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