38 years ago today, the Seikan Undersea Tunnel was opened in Japan, leading to a dramatic increase in freight traffic between the northern island of Hokkaido and the central island of Honshu. The Seikan holds a variety of records, including being the longest undersea tunnel by total length (33.46 miles), as well as having the second-longest segment under the seafloor, being the second-longest main-line tunnel of any kind, and the second-deepest undersea tunnel at 740 feet below sea level, and 250 feet below the sea bed. The tunnel was built mainly on expectations of traffic between the two islands, but the government couldn’t predict the rise in air travel making the Seikan virtually redundant for passengers even before it was finished. READ more… (1987)
Lost Page from Archimedes Manuscript Found in Museum with Hidden Text Beneath Illustration
A page of writing from legendary Greek scientist Archimedes, which was lost for several decades, has been rediscovered by a French national researcher working at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Blois, France.
The leaf, from what is considered one of the most important surviving manuscripts of antiquity, contains a passage from the treatise On the Sphere and the Cylinder, Book I (Propositions 39 to 41)—and much of it remains largely legible on the 10th Century parchment.
It was identified in the museum’s collection by Victor Gysembergh, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), as being the missing page known from century-old photographs taken of the text in 1910, which are now preserved at the Royal Danish Library.
On one of its two sides, a text of Greek prayers partially covers geometric diagrams, while the other side is covered by an illustration added in the twentieth century depicting the Prophet Daniel surrounded by two lions, beneath which the ancient text remains to this day, but inaccessible while using conventional methods of examination.
Gysembergh and his colleagues at the CNRS’ Léon Robin Center for Research on Ancient Thought plan to conduct the first X-ray imaging studies within a year, after obtaining the necessary authorizations, to document what was written beneath the illustration.
To understand both the value of the discovery, as well as why a single page was missing and stuffed in a French museum, and why there are passages hidden beneath an illustration, one must understand the incredible story of the text’s provenance.
Some believe the manuscript was copied from an earlier compilation made by the legendary Isidore of Miletus (475 CE–mid-550s CE), the mathematician and architect who designed the original building that became the Hagia Sophia church in then-Constantinople (Istanbul).
It contained works of the Classical Greek mathematician Archimedes and others. Archimedes was known in his day (C. 287–212 BC) as the best mind in Greece. He approximated pi, and formulated multiple theorems for determining the areas of various geometrical shapes.
Placed onto parchment in 950 CE, the codex was later evacuated to a Greek Orthodox monastery in Palestine as crusaders were getting ready to sack Constantinople in 1204. There it existed for centuries, during which the paper was washed and reused for Greek religious scripture—a process known as palimpsesting. In 1899 it was still in the hands of the Greek church, and was photographed by Johan Heiburg in Istanbul in 1906.
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Around 1922, a page from the manuscript went missing in the midst of the evacuation of the Greek Orthodox library during a tumultuous period following World War I, during which it entered a private French collection.
Within the Archimedes Palimpsest, on the reused paper with washed-out text, the original writing is still visible, running left-to-right across the parchment, and contains two works of Archimedes that were thought to have been lost—the Ostomachion and the Method of Mechanical Theorems—as well as the only surviving original Greek edition of his work On Floating Bodies.
CNRS stated that the Ministry of Culture eventually approved the manuscript’s export to Christie’s Auction House in New York City in 1998, where it was put up for sale by the daughter of the Frenchman who owned the work. It was contested by the Greek church, but a US court ruled in favor of the auction, and the incomplete manuscript was purchased by an anonymous buyer, “Mr. B,” to be deposited for conservation and study at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. (The German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that the buyer was most likely Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.)
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Regarding the newly found missing page, the scientists plan to use a multispectral approach combined with a series of synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence analyses to generate the text beneath the illustration of Prophet Daniel.
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Hawaii University Hauls 84 Tons of Derelict Fishing Gear from Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
In just over 3 years, Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s “Bounty Project” has removed over 185,000 pounds (84 metric tons) of derelict fishing gear from the North Pacific Ocean by turning commercial fishing trips into opportunities for ocean cleanup.
By pulling nets, lines, and floats out of the water before they can drift into reefs, shorelines, or threaten endangered marine wildlife, the Bounty Project is one of only 3 known efforts to remove debris in the distant North Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Bounty Project was organized by the University’s Center for Marine Debris Research (HPU CMDR) and launched in November, 2022, according to a novel, straightforward idea: position the fishermen already working on the ocean at the center of the solution.
It may be that certain irresponsible fishermen are responsible for the “ghost gear” that can do so much harm to marine life, but in economics, incentives matter.
Through partnerships with the Hawaiʻi Longline Association and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, eligible commercial fishermen are compensated to recover derelict gear during routine fishing activity, so removal occurs at sea, not after debris had already reached the shore.
“It is incredible that we are now approaching 200,000 pounds of gear removed from the ocean through this project,” says HPU CMDR Project Manager Katie Stevens in a statement, “and it has been great to see the enthusiasm and engagement of the commercial fishers as stewards of the ocean environment.”
Supported through a 2022 award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program, with Ocean Conservancy providing matching funds, the Bounty Project has helped scale up removals and strengthen the Project’s recovery system and partnerships.
“This project stands out for its innovative approach, partnering with commercial fishers toward a solution. Compensating those already on the water to remove derelict fishing gear, maximizes both efficiency and environmental benefit,” shared Mark Manuel, NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Islands Region Coordinator.
77 commercial fishermen conducted more than 690 ghost gear seizures, with the objects taken ashore either for reuse, recycling, energy recovery, or responsible disposal.
Participating non-longline fishermen removed gear within 12 hours of first detection 88% of the time, helping prevent debris from repeatedly snagging and dragging across sensitive habitat.
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The Project included monthly surveillance of sensitive reef habitats, including Kāneʻohe Bay, supporting rapid-response recovery where derelict gear poses immediate risk.
“The financial reward has created friendly competition and results in a very rapid response to get the nets off of reefs to give the corals a fighting chance of survival,” commented Hank Lynch, a fisherman who participated in the project.
“When the nets are too large, we call on the other bounty fishers for help and split the reward. The payment helps to diversify the income of commercial fishers and supports maintenance of our vessels so we have the capacity to continue this work.”
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While most of the equipment is shredded and incinerated, 2,323 pounds of recovered gear were shredded and recycled into a Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation experimental pavement project in ʻEwa Beach called “Nets-to-Roads.” Some recovered material has also been stored for additional recycling research.
To sustain and expand this work, HPU CMDR is seeking support in multiple ways to keep removal efforts moving, strengthen rapid-response recovery in sensitive reef areas, and advance solutions that prevent ghost gear from entering the ocean in the first place. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Director of the HPU CMDR, Jennifer Lynch, Ph.D.
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Chimps’ Love for Crystals Could Help Us Understand Our Own Ancestors’ Fascination with These Stones
Scientists have found that chimpanzees are attracted to crystals, seem to value them, want to keep them where they sleep, and can easily distinguish any stone that shines or glitters from others that don’t.
The researchers were hoping to understand whether our own species’ long documented appreciation (bordering on obsession) with crystals, gems, and precious metals, extends even further back down our evolutionary timeline.
The findings must be taken with several grains of sodium chloride crystal, but may open up a fascinating field of study into the origins of value.
Maybe you’ve experienced this: news comes out about a large diamond or ruby selling at auction for the same price as a house, and you or a friend have a brief moment of wondering, “why?”
Similarly, maybe you subscribe, or at least sympathize, with Warren Buffet’s long-held views on gold—namely that it’s nothing but a shiny rock—”a barbarous relic,” as the Oracle of Omaha famously said.
But even so, there’s something about the appeal of shiny rocks that clearly transcends logic, and that’s been true not only for the 5,500 year history of gold’s use as money, but for likely our entire existence.
Crystals have repeatedly been found at archaeological sites alongside Homo remains. Evidence shows hominins have been collecting these stones for as long as 780,000 years. Yet, we know that our ancestors did not use them as weapons, tools, or even jewelry. So why did they collect them at all?
Something about these stones made them desirable, even when they weren’t used for anything, and hoping to understand why, Spanish scientists conducted an experiment with 9 encultured chimps at a primate rescue center.
Encultured means that the animals have had extensive contact with humans, and is the first reason to hold one’s horses regarding scientific conclusions, but the results of the experiment nevertheless left the scientists “amazed.”
“We were pleasantly surprised by how strong and seemingly natural the chimpanzees’ attraction to crystals was,” said lead author Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, a professor in San Sebastian in crystallography. “This suggests that sensitivity to such objects may have deep evolutionary roots.”
Modern humans diverged from chimps between 6 and 7 million years ago, so we share substantial genetic and behavioral similarities. To find out if fascination with crystals is one of them, the researchers provided two groups of chimpanzees (Manuela, Guillermo, Yvan, Yaki, and Toti in group one and Gombe, Lulú, Pascual, and Sandy in group two) with access to crystals.
In the first experiment, a large quartz crystal—called the monolith—was placed on a platform, along with a normal rock of similar size. While initially both objects caught the chimps’ attention, soon the crystal was preferred and the rock disregarded. Once they had removed it from the platform, all chimps inspected the crystal, rotating and tilting it so they could view it from specific angles. Yvan then picked up the crystal and decisively carried it to their hay-lined sleeping huts.
A second experiment showed that the chimps could identify and select smaller quartz crystals—similar in size to those found in hominin site excavations—from a pile of 20 rounded pebbles within seconds.
When pyrite (Fool’s Gold) and calcite crystals, which have different shapes than quartz crystals, were added to the pile, chimps still were able to pick out crystal-type stones.
“The chimpanzees began to study the crystals’ transparency with extreme curiosity, holding them up to eye level and looking through them,” García-Ruiz said. The animals then immediately, like the monolith experiment, took them back to their dormitories.
Chimps repeatedly examined the crystals for hours. Sandy, for example, carried pebbles and crystals in her mouth to a wooden platform where she separated them.
“She separated the 3 crystal types, which themselves differed in transparency, symmetry, and luster, from all the pebbles. This ability to recognize crystals despite their differences amazed us,” García-Ruiz said.
The authors pointed out that chimps don’t usually use their mouths to carry objects, so this could mean they were hiding them, a behavior consistent with treating the crystals as valuable, the team pointed out. It could, however, also mean they were testing to see if they were edible, but maybe not.
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Another behavior by the chimps demonstrated the potential that they understood a value proposition in the crystals: that in order to get them back, the researchers had to barter for them, with substantially more pounds of food then the crystal. If indeed they were testing to see if it were edible, the amount of food they demanded in return seems strange.
Philosophically, the food trade experiment mirrors the classical value paradox of gems and precious metals.
One can’t eat a gemstone or gold coin, yet they cost far more than bread. Starving to death, one would trade every gemstone on Earth for a loaf of bread, so why do we assign them so much value? Based on how many bananas and how much yogurt García-Ruiz and his team had to offer, it could be that chimpanzees fall into that same paradox.
An interesting hypothesis as to why the chimps found the crystals interesting is their shape.
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Crystals are the only natural polyhedral objects, meaning the only natural solids with many flat surfaces. When early humans tried to make sense of their environment, their cognitive processes might have been drawn to patterns that were unlike what they knew.
The clouds, trees, mountains, animals, and rivers of the natural world surrounding our ancestors were defined by curvature and ramification, so few items had straight lines and flat surfaces.
The combined observations from the experiments identified that both the transparency and the shape as alluring properties to the chimps. It might have been the same qualities attracting early humans to these rocks.
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However, the fact that the chimps had long become accustomed to living with humans should, the researchers note, be considered a limiting factor in interpreting anything conclusively from the studies. Ideally, García-Ruiz said, the experiment should be replicated with wild apes, and preferably not only with Chimps, but also bonobos and gorillas.
Michael Haslam, an archaeologist with Historic Environment Scotland, told the New York Times that the great apes aren’t the only animals that value crystals: some birds have been known to collect them. Bowerbirds, fascinating birds that will decorate their nests with all sorts of objects, have been documented arranging quartz crystals around the perimeter of their nest to attract females.
The gemstones of our marketplaces today are just certain kinds of scarcer crystals that are cut and polished, and there’s every reason to suspect that if the Hope Diamond were placed in front of Sandy, or the male bowerbird, they’d behave exactly the same.
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Postal Worker Drives 52 Miles After Work to Return Lost Wallet Found in -11F° Weather
Everyone in life has likely gone through it at least once: losing a wallet can be stressful to say the least.
So can delivering snail mail in -11°F, but that didn’t stop a Pennsylvania postal worker from doing a good deed when presented with the opportunity.
25-year-old Bruce Armah, a new member of the mail team, found a wallet half-buried in snow in Coraopolis new Pittsburgh. He tucked it away in his car and continued on his route, but not because he meant to steal anything.
Finishing his shift, he looked to see if there were an ID of sorts that might have an address, and thankfully there was. Speaking with CBS News Pittsburgh’s Barry Pintar, Armah explained why he struck out at the end of a long day in his own car to return the wallet to its rightful owner.
“It was my father’s good deeds,” Armah said, explaining that his did taught him that he should do the same in the stranger’s position. “He lost his wallet, and someone returned it to him, so I was just returning the favor.”
His father’s wisdom at heart, Armah arrived in Clinton, only to find that the wallet’s owner had moved all the way to McDonald, which for readers not familiar with the area is many miles away. He nonetheless made the hike—driving 52 miles in total after work to and from the owner’s house—in order to return that favor his father had experienced all those years ago.
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“There was $100 cash in there, credit cards, ID, healthcare cards,” said the husband of the wallet’s owner, Matt Bryan. “He wanted nothing in return; he just said it was the right thing to do.”
Bryan wouldn’t let sleeping dogs lie, and quickly told his own mailman about the incident, who in turn told another postal service worker, who told another, until it caught the ear of their boss, who commended Armah for taking so much time and effort at the end of a long, taxing, cold day.
His father would be proud.
WATCH the story below…
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“One forgives to the degree that one loves.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Quote of the Day: “One forgives to the degree that one loves.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Photo by: Paul Tinsley
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, March 12
Happy 70th Birthday to Steve Harris, the bassist, songwriter, and lyricist behind the most famous heavy metal band on Earth, Iron Maiden. A true music man, Harris has undertaken many other roles for the group, such as producing and co-producing their albums, directing and editing their live videos, and performing studio keyboards and synthesizers. He is often described as the greatest bassist in heavy metal, mostly as regards his stylistic contributions to the instrument and the genre rather than his technical ability. READ about his side hobby… (1956)
Significant Heart Disease Risk Can Be Detected from Routine Mammograms Using AI – Up to 70% Greater
The risk of potentially deadly heart disease can be detected from routine mammograms using AI technology, a new study demonstrated.
By analyzing the build-up of calcium deposits in the arteries of the breast from standard X-ray mammography scans currently used in breast cancer screening, AI can estimate the risk of heart disease then and later in life.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women worldwide, yet women are consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated compared to men,” said study leader Dr. Hari Trivedi from Emory University in the US. “Mammograms, which women already attend for breast cancer screening, can also reveal calcium deposits in breast arteries and this is linked to heart disease.”
“We wanted to test whether AI could use this to identify women at risk of cardiovascular disease at no extra cost or inconvenience.”
The study, published in the European Heart Journal, included 123,762 women who had taken part in breast screening, but had no known cardiovascular disease.
Researchers used AI to analyze the amount of calcium deposit in the arteries of the breast tissue. Such “arterial calcification” is known to be a sign that the arteries are becoming hardened, and indicates a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, heart failure, and death.
The amount of arterial calcification in the women’s breast tissue was categorized as severe, moderate, mild, or absent.
The research team then compared these categories with information on whether the women went on to develop serious cardiovascular disease, including a heart attack or stroke.
They found that women with mild calcification were around 30% more likely to suffer serious cardiovascular disease compared to women with no calcification, while those with moderate calcification saw a 70% higher risk.
In women with severe calcification, the risk was 2 to 3-times higher.
“This was true even in younger women under 50, a group often considered low-risk, and held up after accounting for other risk factors like diabetes and smoking,” said Dr. Emory explaining the robustness of the findings.
He said it was the largest study of its kind, and had the added depth of covering multiple ethnicities across the US health service system.
“For women, this means a mammogram you’re already having could also provide important information about your heart health, prompting a conversation with your doctor about preventive steps such as cholesterol testing or medication. For clinicians, it offers a practical way to identify women at cardiovascular risk who are currently being missed.”
“The main steps needed are integrating the AI tool into existing imaging workflows and establishing clear guidelines for notifying patients and doctors, and we are now planning a clinical trial designed to test these steps.”
Professor Lori Daniels, from the University of California San Diego, who wasn’t involved with the study, welcomed the findings.
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In an accompanying editorial, she said that two-thirds of women aged 50 to 69 in the European Union reported a mammogram within the prior two years, and in the USA, nearly 70% of women aged 45 years and older were up to date with mammography according to American Cancer Society screening guidelines.
At the exact same time, most had no knowledge of their heart disease risk.
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“Breast arterial calcification (BAC) has the potential to reframe this mismatch, leveraging a widely adopted cancer-screening platform to identify cardiovascular risk in women who may not otherwise engage with prevention,” wrote Professor Daniels.
“Regardless of the reporting metric ultimately adopted, it is time to shift BAC from observation to implementation, leveraging a touchpoint women already trust, to advance prevention for what remains the leading cause of death among women.”
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Satellites Can Help Predict Bridge Collapses by Spotting Tiny Changes, Thanks to Scientist’s Solution
A University of Houston scientist is helping reveal the world’s weakest bridges—and how to fix them before it’s too late.
In a study of 744 bridges across the globe, an international team found that by combining radar and satellite imaging into risk calculations, engineers can identify which bridges are at risk of structural damage long before such damage occurs.
Published in Nature Communications by lead author Pietro Milillo, the team says their method could close a significant gap in the understanding of the structural condition of bridges.
“We can significantly lower the number of bridges classified as high-risk, especially in regions where installing traditional sensors is too costly,” Milillo told University of Houston press.
The international team, including collaborators at the University of Bath in the UK and Delft Tech Univ. (Netherlands), used a remote sensing technique called Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR).
The researchers revealed it can complement traditional inspections by detecting millimeter-scale displacement on the structure caused by all the vagaries of time, decay, and nature. Such a solution could change how infrastructure is protected worldwide: monitoring bridge stability from space to detect problems before they become disasters.
They also revealed that the structures in North America are in the poorest condition, followed by those in Africa. While North American bridges are in poorer shape due to most being built in the 1960s, they still benefit from visual inspections by trained professionals.
By contrast those in Africa or Oceania may be in comparatively better condition, but inspections are virtually non-existent.
In-person visual inspections of bridges can be subjective and expensive, while inspectors may miss signs of early deterioration between typical bi-yearly inspection cycles. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) sensors offer a more cost-effective solution, but their implementation remains limited primarily to newer bridges and specific concern cases, with the study confirming that they are installed on fewer than 20% of the world’s long-span bridges.
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“Remote sensing offers a complement to SHM sensors, can reduce maintenance costs, and can support visual inspections, particularly when direct access to a structure is challenging,” said Millilo.
“For bridges specifically, MT-InSAR allows for more frequent deformation measurements across the entire infrastructure network, unlike traditional inspections, which typically occur only a few times per year and require personnel on the ground.”
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Researchers found that incorporating data from MT-InSAR, particularly pixels with stable scattering properties known as persistent scatterers (PS), into risk assessments provides more accurate risk registers through uncertainty reduction, enabling better risk prioritization and maintenance planning.
By providing more frequent updates than typical visual inspections, this combined monitoring approach reduces uncertainty about a bridge’s current condition, leading to more accurate risk classification.
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Beautiful Tortoiseshell Butterfly Recolonizes England Decades After Elm Disease Had Eliminated it
The butterfly-mad British are celebrating what seems to be a permanent return of this large and spectacular species after Dutch elm disease killed it off from the island.
Unlike the small tortoiseshell butterfly, the large tortoiseshell butterfly hasn’t been a resident of the UK since the 1960s, but after several years of continuous widespread sightings, it’s clearly no longer just a migratory visitor.
Indeed, having been seen in Kent, Dorset, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Hampshire, and Cornwall, Britain’s Butterfly Conservation has officially designated it as the 60th ‘resident’ species in the UK.
“The signs are really positive, which is lovely,” said Richard Fox, head of science for Butterfly Conservation.
“It is resident and therefore it is another species to add to Britain’s total, which is good news. It’s not well-established enough yet to say it’s definitely back for good and will be widespread across multiple landscapes—we’re still in that zone of uncertainty at the moment, but there are exciting signs.”
Its caterpillars hatch on trees and feed on the leaves of elm, willow, aspen, and poplar.
Lepidopterists, or butterfly biologists, believe that Britain represents the northern-most part of the animal’s range, and with Europe experiencing higher than recent-historic-average temperatures, this makes it an even more ideal home than during the 20th century.
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According to the Guardian, sightings have been reported as far back as 2006, but since butterflies can and often are migratory, it wasn’t at the time possible to say the animal was recolonizing its former haunts. Rather, it was more likely a seasonal visitor.
Then, in 2020, sightings of the first wild caterpillars in Dorset confirmed the animal was back and breeding in the wild, and as it spread out across the surrounding, lower English counties, gracefully returned to the resident list.
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Butterfly Conservation are urging residents of these areas to log details of any sighting of the large tortoiseshell on iRecord, a citizen-science application which is helping build a picture of the expanding range of the insect.
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The ‘Miracle Berry’ Helps Chemo Patients Remove Metallic Taste So They Can Enjoy Food Again
A species of red berry native to Africa and now grown in Florida is helping cancer patients reclaim the ability to enjoy food thanks to the berry’s properties which bear a “miracle” moniker.
“Miracle berry” is known as àgbáyun in its West African home. Scientifically, it’s designated Synsepalum dulcificum, with ‘dulcificum’ referring to its unique ability to turn sour foods sweet.
So iconic and striking is the effect it has on those who consume it, the active ingredient inside the plant’s fruit is a glycoprotein that’s literally called miraculin.
Studies investigating this compound report that at low pH (resulting from ingestion of sour foods) miraculin binds proteins and becomes able to activate the sweet receptors, resulting in the immediate perception of sweet taste.
What does this have to do with cancer? Proper nutrition is important to any cancer battle, but this can often become difficult because of something called “chemo mouth.”
“What patients report with chemotherapy is that they may develop a bothersome taste that could be described as metallic, rotten food,” said Dr. Mike Cusnir, an oncologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center who has led several initial studies into using miracle berries to make food more palatable for chemotherapy patients.
Dr. Cusnir told CBS News Miami that the ‘miracle’ in miracle berries doesn’t have anything to do with cancer, nor any method of preventing the damage chemotherapy does to the body. What it can do is restore one of the great joys of life—eating—to those who’ve lost it to chemotherapy drugs.
Julie Ascen has been battling lymphoma for a year, and told CBS that she considers the miracle berry to be just that: a miracle.
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“It is one of those miracles that, if you have this disease, you want to live your life and not have it control you. And this lets it not control me; I can control myself.”
The miraculin glycoprotein removes the chemo mouth sensation for 30-40 minutes, allowing patients to eat a meal and enjoy the flavors again.
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Florida, says one miracle berry grower, is the only place in the US where this fruit grows well, as it enjoys the hot and humid conditions of the plant’s native West African forest home.
Hardly reserved for cancer patients, miracle berry is typically sold in freeze dried form, as the miraculin degrades quickly after the fruit’s separation from the plant. You can even buy it on Amazon. It makes for a fantastic party trick—eat one, then eat a lemon, and watch as everyone uniformly agrees that it tastes like an orange.
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‘What we really are’ matters more than what other people ‘think’ of us. – Jawaharlal Nehru
Quote of the Day: ‘What we really are’ matters more than what other people ‘think’ of us. – Jawaharlal Nehru
Photo by: Petra Bensted – CC License
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Good News in History, March 11
175 years ago today, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto premiered in Venice. This cornerstone of opera seasons present and past tells the story of a court jester who tries to interfere with a duke’s courting of his daughter, but it doesn’t go as he plans. There is cross-dressing, assassins, and one of the most iconic melodies in the tenor range, La donna è mobile. LISTEN to the aria below… (1851)
Rare Species of Pink ‘Fairy Club’ Fungus Discovered in UK for First Time
A rare, pale pink, fairy club fungus native to Italy was found during a mushroom survey in England last autumn, the first recording sighting anywhere in Great Britain.
The tennis ball-sized fungus has now been confirmed through DNA testing, as there are other species that look similar to it.
The “exceptional” discovery was made by a group of Naturewatch volunteers from Somer Valley Rediscovered in England’s southwest.
DNA extraction was done in Scotland and then sent to the University of Aberystwyth in Wales for sequencing, making the discovery a truly pan-British effort.
“This discovery further demonstrates that the South West is home to some of the most spectacular and diverse examples of these unique grassland fungi communities anywhere on the planet,” a local enthusiast named Dan Nicholas who led the mushroom survey told England’s Southwest News Service.
“We are truly blessed to have such a colorful spectacle of nature’s calendar right on our doorstep, something we need to cherish and protect at all costs.”
Clavaria calabrica is a small member of an informal group of fungi called fairy clubs, or coral fungi, that was first identified by scientists in Italy in 2017. Clava is the Latin word for “club,” and calabrica refers to the Italian region of Calabria.
It is usually found in grasslands that have been managed gently over time and are rich in wildlife. While the species has previously been recorded in Northern Ireland, this is the first time it has been confirmed in mainland Britain.
The fungus was discovered as part of the Somer Valley Rediscovered project, a partnership made up of local town and parish councils that aims to improve biodiversity whilst better connecting communities to their local green spaces and landscapes.
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People across the region are being encouraged to take part in the West of England Wildlife Index, a citizen science program tracking wildlife at 20 sites across West England, contributing to the region’s State of Nature report.
Volunteers are asked to help count bees, butterflies, plants and wetland birds as part of well-established national monitoring programs, with guidance and support from the project’s ecologist.
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“Finding a species never before recorded in Great Britain here in the West is something we can all be proud of. This shows again just how rich and unique landscapes across our region can be,” said Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, a combined administrative authority that makes up Somerset but also Bristol and other areas around the River Avon.
“The work of the West of England Nature Partnership helps make sure these habitats are understood and protected. I encourage everyone to get involved in the West of England Wildlife Index, helping us record and safeguard the nature that makes our region so special.”
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New Baby Boom for Cheetahs in India After First-in-the-World Reintroduction
A female cheetah named Jwala in India’s Madhya Pradesh state has given birth to a litter of 5 cubs, the third since she arrived in the country.
India’s Minister for the Environment wrote on X that the birth increases “the number of Indian-born thriving cubs has risen to 33, marking the 10th successful cheetah litter on Indian soil.”
There have been highs and lows for the growing cheetah population in India, reintroduced in 2022 via several groups of animals from African strongholds of Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa.
Their first destination was Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, where they were historically located before going extinct in the mid-20th century.
Though iconic to Africa, much like the lion and leopard, these cats spanned the Asian landmass as well, and in fact still live today as an isolated, Critically-Endangered population in Iran.
In India they were hunted for centuries for their pelts, and for sport. The government of long-serving Prime Minister Narendra Modi made “Project Cheetah” a keystone demonstration of his administration’s commitment to the environment.
However, mortality among the reintroduced cats has been high—a consequence typical of these sorts of projects—yet one which Modi has nevertheless taken substantial criticism over. 28 cheetahs were brought from Africa, but more than half have passed away. Some ecologists warned that they would have difficulty adapting to the predator density in Kuno, which harbors a robust leopard population.
There are now 53 cheetahs living in the wild and semi-wild habitats in both Kuno and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. They total 11 animals remaining that were translocated from Africa, and 33 India-born cubs, some of which are reaching sexual maturity.
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“This achievement reflects the dedicated efforts, skill, and commitment of the veterinarians, field staff and all involved who continue to work tirelessly on the ground,” said Minister Bhupender Yadav on X.
The birth follows a mid-February litter of 3 cubs to another Namibian female cat named Gamini, the second since she arrived in India.
“A moment of pride for Kuno, and for India—may Gamini and her three little sprinters grow strong and carry the nation’s cheetah revival story forward with speed and grace,” Yadev said at the time.
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According to Japan Times which reported on Gamini’s litter, the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India, which oversees the cheetah project, said that survival rates and hunting successes are “comparable to other international cheetah reintroduction efforts, with recorded wild prey kills confirming successful adaptation to the Indian landscape.”
Another cheetah reintroduction program is taking place in Saudi Arabia, where cheetahs also once lived but went extinct.
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Once-in-a-Decade Superbloom Carpets Death Valley in Beautiful, Colorful Life (LOOK)
The largest and most vibrant spring wildflower bloom in a decade is taking place in Death Valley National Park after a confluence of ideal weather conditions left the bulbs and roots ready to explode.
The National Park Service said that ideally-spaced annual rains and gentler wind patterns as winter was giving way to spring allowed flowers the perfect mixture of fuel and calm to bloom.
In lower elevations the blooms are already bursting, and will continue to be vibrant until around late March. Meanwhile, at higher elevations, the blooms are still getting started and will only become earnestly “super” in April.
According to Scientific American, some of the flower species that can be seen are desert gold, wavyleaf desert paintbrush, grape soda lupine, and desert star.
The hottest place in North America, and in certain years the world, Death Valley lives up to its name with precious little water and scorching temperatures. It seems unlikely that anything could grow in such terrain, yet nature is resilient.
(Click below to watch a video from Accu Weather…)
And, no doubt the epic blooms will result in a buzz of insects feeding on nectar and pollen, which will in turn allow bird life to live high on the hog during nesting season.
GNN previously reported that a tiny fish known to live only in secluded below ground pools lives in Death Valley, and recently grew in population according to NPS surveys; proof that Death Valley is livelier than it appears.
CALL Your California Friends And Plan A Drive Out To This Exquisite Show…
Kind Restaurant Owners Take Entire Staff on Paid Bahamas Vacation
As the busy holiday period wound to a close at The Standard restaurant in Toledo, the owners surprised their staff with a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
Admitting that their team of cooks, servers, and hosts were the “lifeblood” of the business, Chef Jeff Dinnebeil and his wife, co-owner of The Standard Megan Lingsweiler, got the idea to reward their team after enjoying a cruise vacation with their own children last year.
The couple even took a few loyal customers and former team members out with them to the Royal Caribbean cruise, which stopped at the islands of Nassau and Bimini.
“Everybody went on there as employees, and when we left and went back home, everybody was like family,” Andrew Jackson, one of the restaurant’s cooks, told the Toledo Blade’s Sheila Howard.
Jackson had neither flown nor been on a boat in the ocean before, so the experience was a life-changing one. It felt the same for server Allison Latta, who like Jackson, said the experience turned her team members into family members.
“I had been on cruises before, but this alone was probably my top vacation,” she told the Blade. “It was just such a unique experience getting to see 60 of your co-workers around the boat.”
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Serving upscale American cuisine with a focus on surf and turf, The Standard is a popular spot on Monroe Street in northwest Toledo.
Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler credit the success of their restaurant to the quality of the team, who also received Christmas bonuses in addition to the cruise. The restaurant was closed to ensure that no team member had to stay behind while the others went and partied it up on the high seas.
Along with the island visits, the trip included Karaoke nights, scavenger hunts, large catered dinners, and a basketball competition.
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“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” – Lao Tzu
Quote of the Day: “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” – Lao Tzu
Photo by: Léonard Cotte
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, March 10
Happy Birthday to Hollywood star Jon Hamm who turns 55 today. He rocketed to fame playing the 60s advertising executive Don Draper in the TV hit Mad Men, for which he won two Golden Globes and an Emmy, after 15 nominations. He also had a recurring role on NBC’s 30 Rock and is reportedly reuniting with his co-star Tina Fey in a new film directed by Mad Men co-star John Slattery called Maggie Moore, a dark comedy about a sheriff in a small town. WATCH some of his funny moments on talk shows… (1971)
Multiple Types of Plastic Are Turned into Vinegar Using Sunlight-Powered Process Without Emissions
Researchers at the University of Waterloo have discovered a way to turn plastic waste into acetic acid, the main ingredient of vinegar, using sunlight.
The breakthrough offers a promising new approach to reducing plastic pollution through photocatalysis, while simultaneously creating a useful, value-added chemical product through a process inspired by nature.
“Our goal was to solve the plastic pollution challenge by converting microplastic waste into high-value products using sunlight,” said Dr. Yimin Wu, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Plastic waste, notably microplastics, has been found across many of the planet’s ecosystems, raising concerns about threats to terrestrial and marine life as well as human health. Plastic recycling rates remain low around the globe.
To tackle this problem, the team developed a bio-inspired photocatalysis process using iron atoms embedded in carbon nitride, a way that certain types of fungi break down organic matter using enzymes.
When exposed to sunlight, the material drives a series of chemical reactions that transform plastic polymers into acetic acid with high selectivity. The reaction takes place in water, making it particularly relevant for addressing plastic pollution in aquatic environments.
Acetic acid is widely used in food production, chemical manufacturing and energy applications. The study shows it can be produced from common plastic wastes, including PVC, PP, PE and PET, and remains effective across mixed plastic compositions.
This makes the approach well suited to real-world waste streams, offering a promising alternative to plastic incineration, and could support more circular approaches to material use while providing a new strategy for upcycling plastics.
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“Both from a business and societal perspective, the financial and economic benefits associated with this innovation seem promising,” said Roy Brouwer, executive director of the Water Institute and a coauthor of the article supporting the techno-economic analysis.
“This method allows abundant and free solar energy to break down plastic pollution without adding extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere,” Wu adds.
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The findings also point to new possibilities for addressing microplastics directly. Because the process degrades plastics at the chemical level, it could help prevent the accumulation of microplastics in water systems.
While still at the laboratory stage, the team envisions that this approach could be adapted for scalable, solar-driven recycling and environmental cleanup and the photocatalytic upcycling system can be further enhanced through strategic engineering of the materials and manufacturing processes.
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