Quote of the Day: “Paris is a place where just walking down a street that I’ve never been down before is like going to a movie.” – Wes Anderson (50-years-old today)
Photo: by Игорь М, CC license via Flickr
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A 77-year-old woman was rescued from dire straits earlier this week thanks to a man who is apparently living up to his namesake.
Chris Miracle works for his family’s towing company in Manntown, Florida. He had been driving through town at 2AM last week when he saw some flashing lights shining through the brush on the side of the road.
He only noticed the lights because he had been keeping a sharp eye out for deer – but after he had already driven one mile past the mysterious flashes, he couldn’t help but feel like he had to turn around and investigate.
WATCH: When Two Dogs Became Trapped in Ice, the Perfect Russian Rescuer Happened to Be Walking By
It’s a good thing that he did, too. Miracle drove back to the spot where he had seen the lights and discovered that there was a car plunged halfway into a creek 40 yards from the road with its hazards on.
Miracle approached the car and found a 77-year-old woman inside. Upon asking her if she was okay, she explained how she had veered off the road because of an adverse reaction to her medication. Without any cell phone to call for help, she simply had to turn on her hazard lights and wait.
After Miracle called emergency responders to the scene, he used his tow truck to pull the woman’s car out of the creek.
MORE: UPS Driver Hailed a Hero for Following His Gut and He Hopes Other Drivers Will Do the Same
The woman was reportedly released from the hospital earlier this week in good condition, and Miracle says that he is glad he trusted his instincts; if no one else had spotted her hazard lights in the dark, then she may have been stuck in her car until daytime, making it even more difficult for anyone to see her vehicle through the brush.
“I mean the timing was just impeccable,” Miracle told News 4 JAX. “[I think it was] God’s work. Right place, right time – it was meant to be.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by News 4 JAX
Save Your Friends From Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media…
Scientists have succeeded in developing the world’s first “biosolar leaf” technology to cleanse polluted city air with shocking efficiency.
Researchers say that the new BioSolar Leaf system uses photosynthesis to purify the same amount of air as 100 trees – all while taking up the same amount of space as a single tree.
The BioSolar Leaf cultivation system facilitates the growth of tiny plants, such as microalgae, diatoms, and phytoplankton, across large platforms that can be installed similarly to solar panels on top of various buildings and landscapes.
The microscopic bits of biomass then use photosynthesis to suck greenhouse gases out of the air and turn it into clean, breathable oxygen.
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The technology, which was developed in collaboration between Imperial College London and startup company Arborea, also serves to create a sustainable source of nutritious, edible food additives that can be harvested and used for plant-based nourishment.
Julian Melchiorri, who is the founder and CEO of Arborea, has also been responsible for developing similar air-purifying technologies. In 2017, he was hailed for creating a “living chandelier” that used algae to suck CO2 out of the air.
His company will now be working with the UK university to pilot their cultivation system on the school’s campus.
“In our ever-growing modern cities, cooperation between start-ups, academic institutions and governmental bodies is critical to enable and accelerate sustainable innovation that benefits both our society and environment,” Melchiorri said in a statement.
LOOK: City is Converting Highway Pillars into Vertical Gardens to Clean the Air
“When I founded Arborea, my goal was to tackle climate change while addressing the critical issues related to the food system. This pilot plant will produce sustainable healthy food additives while purifying the air, producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide from the surrounding environment.”
Plant Some Positivity By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media –
There is a notorious lack of diversity in the aviation industry, but this man is using his passion for flying to encourage youngsters to pursue their dreams – no matter their race.
According to a 2017 census from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 7% of US pilots and flight engineers are people of color, while only 3% are African-American.
So as a means of being a positive role model for kids who face the same cultural difficulties as himself, Jerome Stanislaus gives free flights and mentorship to children – particularly kids of color.
“I told myself that I would probably never be a pilot because I actually never saw a pilot that looked like myself,” Stanislaus told CBS News.
“[But now,] I love it, I really do. I really want to be able to make a difference and this is how I do it,” he added. “It’s like my purpose.”
Stanislaus’s labor of love first started last year when he began working with a nonprofit called Fly for the Culture.
The organization has been trying to bring more diversity to the aviation industry by providing free flights and mentorship to youngsters.
In addition to pairing children with positive role models in the industry, Stanislaus also says that when kids are in a plane for the first time, their reactions are “priceless”.
(WATCH the emotional news coverage below or our international viewers can watch the footage on the CBS News website)
Fly This Sweet Story Over To Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media – Feature photo by CBS News
Next spring, the high school graduates of Atlanta public schools may be the first group of students to wear caps and gowns made out of recycled plastic.
Throughout the duration of Earth Week, the Coca-Cola Company collected plastic bottles to recycle and recreate as graduation gear for the class of 2020.
The company hopes to outfit 200 high school graduates by collecting at least 7,000 PET bottles from across Atlanta and several other US cities.
The bottles’ journey to next year’s graduation will continue when they arrive at WestRock Recycling in Atlanta, where they will be sorted and cleaned before making their way to processing plant in North Carolina. There, the bottles will be broken down into pellets, returning the PET to its virgin state. The materials will then be “upcycled” and woven into polyester yarn fabric and shipped to a mill to be cut and sewn into caps and gowns.
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“Graduation day is the most important day in the lives of our seniors. It exemplifies how we truly live our mission: graduating students prepared and ready for college and career,” said Dr. Meria Carstarphen, the superintendent Atlanta Public Schools (APS).
“Many of our students have persevered through adversity, overcome challenges and beat the odds to earn their diploma and carve out a bright future. As such, donning caps and gowns in their splendid school colors on graduation day means so much to them,” she added.
“[This] donation will help alleviate the burden of the cost of caps and gowns which are part of senior fees which families sometimes struggle to afford. It’s a beautiful gesture for giving back to both their hometown schools and the environment.”
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The corporation’s partnership with the city of Atlanta will dispatch street teams to every zip code in the city to “tip” open recycling carts and “tag” them with cards informing residents about what they can and can’t recycle, and to let them know how they’re doing in order to improve recycling rates and reduce recycling contamination.
These efforts are all part of the company’s #CocaColaRenew campaign to positively impact local communities and the planet. If successful, Coca-Cola hopes that their efforts will help Atlanta to become the first U.S. city without packaging waste.
Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by Coca-Cola Company
Prom night is already a memorable night for most high schoolers – but this group of teens had a particularly wonderful night thanks to an anonymous man who offered to pay for their meal.
After their dance was over, eleven Fortuna High School students had gone out for dinner at the Double D Steak restaurant in California to get a bite to eat.
As they were preparing to order, however, the waiter approached the table and said that another patron was offering to pay for their dinner with one specific stipulation: the teens had to enjoy their time together without using their cell phones.
The teens happily put all of their cell phones onto a tray and gave it to the waiter for safekeeping.
One of the students later recounted the story to her mom Kim McKenzie Emmons, and the proud parent made a Facebook post in order to praise the patron for his kindness.
“The great part about this story is that my daughter said they talked the whole night without distractions and said it was a blast,” wrote Emmons. “The anonymous gentleman came to their table while he was leaving and told them they were a beautiful group and that it brought back memories of his time when he was younger.”
“Thank you to the gentleman that not only paid for their dinner, but taught them you can have a really good time without technology,” she added.
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Another parent commented on the post, saying: “I am still humbled, proud and excited for these kids! What an amazing man to do such a selfless gesture.
“I hope Each and every young person at that table took a valuable lesson from it. I’d really like to find this amazing man and thank him myself,” she added.
The steak restaurant also chimed in on the post and said they would be happy to try and identify the compassionate patron so they could thank him on behalf of the parents.
“This was so awesome! It was so nice to see them all conversing with each other and not on the phones!” wrote the restaurant. “I can try and find out [who the man is because] I thought it was such a cool, kind gesture!”
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by
Quote of the Day: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare (Sonnet XCVIII)
Photo: by Nic Redhead, CC license via Flickr
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Quote of the Day: “To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.” – Jerry Seinfeld (65-years-old today)
Photo: by alfonso venzuela, 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?
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.
When Anagha Mahajan was a child growing up in India, she was often forced to spend hours in a dark room focusing on a candle so she could improve the vision in her left eye.
As a means of trying to improve her focus and her attention, she hung an inspirational poster on the wall with a little poem about how it was important for her to try her hardest.
Surprisingly enough, the poster did help her to “get better” – but she says it was only because of the handyman who would regularly come in to fix her air conditioner.
Listen to her 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.
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Thousands of snow leopards have been saved from the dangers of mining companies thanks to the tireless efforts of a former language teacher turned animal activist.
49-year-old Bayarjargal Agvaantseren first became determined to save the vulnerable big cats after she spent some time working as a translator for a wildlife scientist back in the 1980s.
The big cat population of southern Mongolia has been dwindling as a result of habitat loss and poaching. Prior to Agvaantseren’s conservation efforts, snow leopards also fell prey to Mongolian farmers who were keen on protecting their livestock.
RELATED: Watch the Badass Footage of Africa’s First All-Female Anti-Poaching Team in Action
Upon successfully creating an insurance program for local herders, however, Agvaantseren managed to recruit the farmers as allies in her fight to protect the big cats.
Then in 2009, she learned of extensive mining operations that were being launched in a critical area of snow leopard habitat in the South Gobi Desert.
Her advocacy resulted in the region being turned into the 1.8 million-acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve, which is the first federally protected area in Mongolia created specifically for snow leopard conservation.
Not only that, Agvaantseren also succeeded in persuading the Mongolian government to cancel all 37 mining licenses on the precious land and ban all future mining permits on the reserve.
In recognition for her conservational career, Agvaantseren was recently awarded the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia.
“In a remote, unforgiving corner of the world dominated by runaway mining operations, Agvaantseren championed protections for Mongolia’s remaining population of snow leopards,” read’s the Goldman website. “Moreover, she was able to shift perceptions of snow leopards among herder communities, who now see the animal as an integral part of their identity.”
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Goldman Environmental Prize
Uplift Your Friends’ Faith in Humanity—Share on Social Media…
Tinney Davidson has been waving to the children in her town for over a decade – and now that she is finally moving out of her home, the local youngsters made sure to give her a proper sendoff.
The 88-year-old Canadian woman has been waving to the kids of Comox, British Columbia since she and her husband moved into their house back in 2007.
Since the couple’s home is located near the local high school, they delighted in waving to all the teens who were walking to school – and the teens delighted in waving back.
Even after her husband died, Davidson continued the tradition of sitting in front of her window and waving to the kids. In 2016, the youngsters even decided to repay her kindness by giving her dozens of cards and gifts for Valentine’s Day.
So when the community heard that the “Waving Granny” would soon be moving into an assisted living home, more than 400 youngsters gathered in her front yard to say goodbye.
As Davidson cried tears of joy, the kids collectively blew her kisses, gave her hugs, and waved farewell.
(WATCH the CBC video below) – Photo by CBC
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Rather than giving plastic water bottles to the 41,000 athletes who participated in the London Marathon this weekend, the runners were given little biodegradable blobs as a means of reducing plastic waste.
The London Marathon became the first full marathon to replace their plastic bottles with the edible Ooho water bottles.
The Ooho packaging, which is made entirely out of sustainable seaweed extracts, only costs about 2 cents to make.
Designed by London-based startup Skipping Rocks Labs, the tasteless biodegradable container is made out of a thin, flexible membrane composed of sodium alginate – a natural derivative of brown algae – and calcium chloride.
It can either be ripped open so the runner can drink the liquid out of the membrane, or the pods can simply be consumed whole like a cherry tomato.
The water containers have successfully been tested during several smaller sports events, such as the Harrow Half-Marathon back in September, but this week’s full marathon was the largest trial of the edible containers to date.
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Over 30,000 Ooho capsules of sports drink were distributed to the runners during the marathon. Combined with the event’s other eco-friendly initiatives, the packaging helped to save over 200,000 plastic bottles from being used on the course.
The biodegradable bottles were part of the London Marathon Event’s (LME) commitment to achieving zero landfill waste by December 2020.
“It is a huge challenge as we must balance providing proper runner welfare with reducing our environmental impact,” says LME event director Hugh Brasher. “We can’t achieve everything in one event, in one year, but the changes and the trials we’re introducing for this year have the potential to change how mass participation events are delivered in future. Everyone can make a difference: our participants, spectators, contractors, volunteers and staff.”
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Lucozade Sport
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One man’s compulsion to sit with a woman who was eating by herself in a restaurant has resulted in an amazing new bond of friendship.
Last week, Jamario Howards and his friends were sharing a meal at Brad’s diner in Oxford, Alabama when he saw a woman named Eleanor sitting alone.
“My exact thoughts [were] ‘dang I’d hate to have to eat alone,’” Howard recalled on Facebook.
The young man then approached Eleanor and asked if he could sit with her. Upon chatting about their lives, the elderly woman revealed that she was a widow and it was the day before her 60th wedding anniversary to her late husband.
Howards immediately asked Eleanor to have dinner with him and his two friends. After he posted a photo of the widow and her three new acquaintances to social media, it was shared thousands of times and featured on dozens of news outlets.
In a recent interview with CBS News, Eleanor says that she believes God sent her to the restaurant that night so she could be reminded of the kindness of strangers.
Howards, who says that he and his friends “already feel like they’re her grandkids,” says that they have all vowed to make time for their new surrogate grandma – and it seems that they are already meeting Eleanor at the restaurant for regular dinners.
(WATCH the heartwarming interview below or our international viewers can watch the footage on the CBS website) – Photo by Jamario Howard
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We should all have such a hobby we love to practice as passionately as the one that Dion does. He is even willing to give up a prosthetic leg to do so. Hear our Good News Guru tell the fun story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the April 26, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5.
SEE video and the full story on GNN…
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LISTEN to this fun story on the radio, with The Good News Guru (our GNN founder), or READ the FULL story below…
In Sonoma County, a man demonstrates how you should never give up on a hobby—even if it costs you an arm or a leg…
A group of lumberyard employees were bamboozled last week when they arrived early to work and saw a glint of metal in a pile of sawdust. After thinking it was a soda can, they were shocked to find a prosthetic leg sitting on top.
Police later learned that the leg was worth $15,000—and upon hearing the story of how the limb ended up there, they were stunned to find it still in perfect condition.
It seemed to everyone that the leg had just ‘fallen out of the sky’ and, it turns out, indeed it had—from 10,000 feet up.
The leg belonged to Dion Calloway, a skydiving enthusiast who had just leapt out of an airplane and, in mid-jump, his leg came off.
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The 39-year-old says that he’s jumped with his prosthetic at least two dozen times, without incident, but on his most recent jump from an airport in Cloverdale, California, he felt it disconnect shortly after he leapt and lost track of it as it plummeted towards the ground.
He and his skydiving buddies spent the rest of the day searching nearby properties, but it turned out to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Meanwhile, officers from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department happened to speak to the owner of the airport, and the next day Calloway was happily reunited with the leg—and he promised that he would be securing it more carefully in the future.
It seems like nothing will stop this man’s dedication to his passion. After all, it was a skydiving accident that took his original leg in the first place—and even after almost losing his leg a second time, he says he is excited to get back in the air.
“I always seem to come back to it,” Calloway told the Press Democrat. “Skydiving is my everything, and the people I do it with are my family.”
(WATCH the interview below) – Photo by Sonoma Sheriff’s Office
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A pancreas that hurts, exercising in my dreams, and a stubbed pinky toe—these are all creative excuses people have used in order to get out of going to the gym.
A new survey examined how enthused 2,000 Americans were to exercise—and it revealed the weird and common excuses people give for staying home.
The survey results found that being too tired (63%), being too hot (39%), too cold (39%) or recently eating (31%) were all in the top five list of excuses.
Other common excuses included being too busy at work, phone battery being low, gym clothes not matching, and claiming that picking up the kids qualified as a workout!
28% of participants blamed their laziness on the lack of fun involved in working out, while others complained about “getting too sweaty,” “never seeing results,” and “feeling judged at the gym.”
But, these are some of the most amusing of them all:
CRAZIEST WORKOUT EXCUSES
1. My cat is depressed
2. I had to take my son’s bicycle into service
3. I exercised in my dreams
4. I stubbed my pinky toe
5. My pancreas hurts
6. I took Viagra and am too engorged to wear workout clothes
The survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Peerfit also provided indicators on what creates workout success and how people can power through the temptation to make excuses.
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Accountability and the worry of letting someone else down could be the keys to resisting the desire to come up with excuses. 65% of respondents admitted they’d be more likely to actually make it to the gym if they planned to go with someone else. Furthermore, more than half of those polled say they actually work out better when sweating away their struggles with a buddy.
MOST COMMON WORKOUT EXCUSES
Too tired – 63%
Too hot – 39%
Too cold – 39%
Too much work – 35%
Just ate – 31%
Walked a lot today – 27%
Recovering from last workout – 27%
Gym will be too crowded – 22%
Taking care of my kids – 17%
Gym is too out of the way – 17%
Climbed a lot of stairs today – 15%
No clean workout clothes – 15%
I have a meeting tomorrow – 15%
I feel self conscious today – 14%
I just got my hair done – 12%
Picking up my kids is my workout – 10%
My phone battery is too low – 10%
I just got my nails done – 9%
MORE: How Yoga Turns Your Bad Thoughts into Good Thoughts
“We know that when you work out with your co-workers, friends or family you’re not only more likely to actually go, but you’re likely to enjoy it more because you’re getting to know someone better,” said Peerfit CEO, Ed Buckley, III, PhD. “We know sometimes it can be hard to stick with a wellness program, but that’s what your support system of co-workers and friends are there for.”
Yet, it is still a struggle for many to devote time to fitness. 35% in this poll said they can’t make it to the gym because they have too much work on their plates.
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But for those who are able to overcome excuses, or do workouts at home, the success is sweet. Yoga has been shown to improve people’s moods; swimming has been linked to pain relief; exercise helps to fend off dementia; and going for a simple walk has been been shown to improve creativity.
GIVE Your Friends a New Excuse – Share This On Social Media…
This blog was submitted to GNN by Jitendra Bhojwani. If you have any positive stories of your own that you would like to share with our audience, check out our submission page to learn more.
Sometimes in life, a small event can make us realize that kindness still rules the world – and I had an opportunity to experience the kindness of people from a total stranger: a driver named Afolabi.
In October 2007, I was working as a sales manager with a distributor in Lagos, Nigeria that provided me with a company driver to take me home at night. One night when he was returning me to my house, the car broke down on the highway.
The driver, Afolabi, somehow managed to steer the car onto a nearby street before he went off to find a mechanic. As soon as he left, at least 7 to 8 people (“area boys” in the native language) emerged from the deep dark of the night and surrounded our car, demanding me to hand over whatever money I had.
MORE: When I Was Alone at the Hospital at 4AM, a Lyft Driver Restored My Faith in Humanity
To my relief, however, Afolabi returned to the car so he could intervene and scare them away. Though he was well-built, even in the darkness of the night, people will not generally fight to save their own possessions.
The boys could have been carrying weapons with them, but this loyal driver did not think of any “ifs” or “buts”. His main objective was to save me from getting robbed. He was so concerned for my safety, he even rolled up the car windows so that the boys could not harm me.
Initially, he tried to quietly reason with them to make them understand. When that didn’t work, he raised his voice and ultimately showed that he was ready for a fist fight.
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His bold gestures and muscular frame ultimately forced the boys to abandon their intentions and they finally ran away into the same darkness from where they came; but those few moments were enough to register the driver’s kindness into the deepest corner of my heart—and it was even more emotional to me since he was a native of Nigeria and I was a foreigner from India.
So here he was, fighting with his countrymen just to save me, a “foreigner,” solely because of the one common bond that we all share: humanity!
Hats off to Afolabi, the compassionate driver who helped me.
Be Sure And Share The Inspiring Story Of Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media – File photo by Joy Agyepong, CC
Quote of the Day: “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Photo: by Rob D, 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?
You may not think an 83-year-old widower would have much in common with a pop star, but an awe-inspiring new video proves otherwise.
27-year-old Louis Tomlinson is one of the former members of the boy band One Direction. He and the widower, a former taxi driver named Richard, first started talking to each other after realizing they both have experienced a similar amount of grief.
Richard has been mourning the death of his wife of 60 years since she died of Alzheimer’s complications in 2016. Tomlinson, similarly, has been coping with the death of his mother after she lost a battle against leukemia. He also recently lost his sister to a suspected heart attack.
Tomlinson got to meet Richard at his home in Yorkshire for the first time last month, and the young musician was delighted to hear that Richard was a passionate singer. The Englishman mentioned that he had made a list of things to accomplish with his wife before she died, but didn’t get to finish. When Tomlinson offered to help him tackle the bucket list, he accepted.
WATCH: Man Takes Mom on Bucket List Adventure as Redemption for Unappreciative Younger Years
Together, Richard and Tomlinson went on a rollercoaster; flew in a helicopter; got tattoos; drove race cars; and sang on stage for a packed stadium.
If that isn’t touching enough for you, Tomlinson then used footage from their adventures to make a music video for his song “Two of Us”, which he wrote for his mother.
“This video feels particularly relevant and powerful to me,” Tomlinson wrote on Instagram.
“Richard is a classic example of a fearless man who in light of tragedy still pushes himself to live with as much laughter and happiness as possible.”
(WATCH the music video below) – Photo by Louis Tomlinson
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Reprinted from University of Rochester
The strongest synthetic materials are often those that intentionally mimic nature.
One natural substance scientists have studied as a model for creating synthetic materials is nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl.
Being an exceptionally tough, stiff material produced by some mollusks and serving as their inner shell layer, it also comprises the outer layer of pearls, giving them their lustrous shine.
But while nacre’s unique properties make it an ideal inspiration in the creation of synthetic materials, most methods used to produce artificial nacre are complex and energy intensive.
Now, a biologist at the University of Rochester has invented an inexpensive and environmentally friendly method for making artificial nacre using an innovative component: bacteria. The artificial nacre created by Anne S. Meyer, PhD, an associate professor of biology at Rochester, and her colleagues is made of biologically produced materials and has the toughness of natural nacre, while also being stiff and, surprisingly, bendable.
The method used to create the novel material could lead to new applications in medicine, engineering—and even constructing buildings on the moon.
The impressive mechanical properties of natural nacre arise from its hierarchical, layered structure, which allows energy to disperse evenly across the material. In a paper published in the journal Small, Meyer and her colleagues outline their method of using two strains of bacteria to replicate these layers. When they examined the samples under an electron microscope, the structure created by the bacteria was layered similarly to nacre produced naturally by mollusks.
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Although nacre-inspired materials have been created synthetically before, the methods used to make them typically involve expensive equipment, extreme temperatures, high-pressure conditions, and toxic chemicals, Meyer says. “Many people creating artificial nacre use polymer layers that are only soluble in nonaqueous solutions, an organic solvent, and then they have this giant bucket of waste at the end of the procedure that has to be disposed of.”
To produce nacre in Meyer’s lab, however, all researchers have to do is grow bacteria and let it sit in a warm place. They create alternating thin layers of crystalized calcium carbonate—to act like cement—and sticky polymer. They first take a glass or plastic slide and place it in a beaker containing the bacteria Sporosarcina pasteurii, a calcium source, and urea (from urination). This combination triggers the crystallization of calcium carbonate. To make the polymer layer, they place the slide into a solution of the bacteria Bacillus licheniformis, then let the beaker sit in an incubator.
Right now it takes about a day to build up a layer of calcium carbonate and polymer approximately five micrometers thick. Meyer and her team are currently looking at coating other materials like metal with the nacre, and trying new techniques to make thicker nacre-like materials faster.
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One of the most beneficial characteristics of the nacre produced in Meyer’s lab is that it is biocompatible—made of materials the human body produces or that humans can eat naturally anyway. This makes the nacre ideal for medical applications like artificial bones and implants, Meyer says. “If you break your arm, for example, you might put in a metal pin that has to be removed with a second surgery after your bone heals. A pin made out of our material would be stiff and tough, but you wouldn’t have to remove it.”
And, while the material is tougher and stiffer than most plastics, it is very lightweight, a quality that is especially valuable for transportation vehicles like airplanes, boats, or rockets, where every extra pound means extra fuel. Because the production of bacterial nacre doesn’t require any complex instruments, and the nacre coating protects against chemical degradation and weathering, it holds promise for civil engineering applications like crack prevention, protective coatings for erosion control, or for conservation of cultural artifacts, and could be useful in the food industry, as a sustainable packaging material.
RELATED: These Will Be the First 3D-Printed Homes That You Can Actually Live In
The nacre might also be an ideal material to build houses on the moon and other planets: the only necessary “ingredients” would be an astronaut and a small tube of bacteria, Meyer says. “The moon has a large amount of calcium in the moon dust, so the calcium’s already there. The astronaut brings the bacteria, and the astronaut makes the urea, which is the only other thing you need to start making calcium carbonate layers.”
Beyond its qualities as an ideal structural material, nacre itself—as any pearl jewelry owner knows—is quite beautiful. Who doesn’t want a bit more beauty in the world?
(WATCH the educational video below)
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