Quote of the Day: “Happy comes from you. No one else can make you happy. You make you happy.” – Beyoncé
Photo by: Polina Kuzovkova / Unsplash+
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?
Happy 80th Birthday to Eric Clapton, the blues-rock musician, singer, and songwriter that Rolling Stone magazine named the second greatest guitar player of all time. The British rocker was a founding member of the Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominos, and Cream, and produced huge hits like Layla, Crossroads, and Let It Rain. He survived heroin addiction to launch a successful solo career and open his own recovery center for addicts in Antigua, called the Crossroads Centre. READ more about the great guitarist… (1945)
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope was finally able to capture bright auroras on Neptune—the most distant planet in our solar system.
“In the past, astronomers have seen tantalizing hints of auroral activity on Neptune, for example, in the flyby of NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1989,” said the space agency this week.
“However, imaging and confirming the auroras on Neptune has long evaded astronomers despite successful detections on Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.”
Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates the signature glow known on Earth as the Northern Lights.
Henrik Melin of Northumbria University, lead author of the paper published in Nature Astronomy, conducted the research while at the University of Leicester.
“It was so stunning to not just see the auroras, but the detail and clarity of the signature really shocked me.”
MORE AMAZING SPACE PICS: Mysterious Rainbow-like ‘Glory Lights’ Observed on Planet Outside Our Solar System for First Time Ever
Actually, imaging the auroral activity on Neptune was only possible with Webb’s near-infrared sensitivity.
The auroral activity seen on Neptune is also noticeably different from what we are accustomed to seeing here on Earth, or even Jupiter or Saturn. Instead of being confined to the planet’s northern and southern poles, Neptune’s auroras are located at the planet’s geographic mid-latitudes — think where South America is located on Earth.
This is due to the strange nature of Neptune’s magnetic field, originally discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989 which is tilted by 47 degrees from the planet’s rotation axis. Since auroral activity is based where the magnetic fields converge into the planet’s atmosphere, Neptune’s auroras are far from its rotational poles.
“This observatory has finally opened the window onto this last, previously hidden ionosphere of the giant planets,” said Leigh Fletcher of Leicester University and co-author of the paper.
“As we look ahead and dream of future missions to Uranus and Neptune, we now know how important it will be to have instruments tuned to the wavelengths of infrared light to continue to study the auroras.
But the study also revealed another mystery, as the team measured the temperature of the top of Neptune’s atmosphere for the first time since Voyager 2’s flyby.
“I was astonished — Neptune’s upper atmosphere has cooled by several hundreds of degrees,” Melin said. “In fact, the temperature in 2023 was just over half of that in 1989.”
Through the years, astronomers have predicted the intensity of Neptune’s auroras based on the temperature recorded by Voyager 2, and a substantially colder temperature would result in much fainter auroras. This cold temperature is likely the reason that Neptune’s auroras have remained undetected for so long. The dramatic cooling also suggests that this region of the atmosphere can change greatly even though the planet sits over 30 times farther from the Sun compared to Earth.
SEND THESE FAR OUT IMAGES To Space Lovers By Sharing on Social Media…
When Jay Falk and Scott Taylor first saw the white-necked Jacobin hummingbird chick in Panama’s dense rainforest, the bird biologists didn’t know what they were looking at.
The day-old bird, smaller than a pinky finger, had brown fuzz all over its body. When Falk and Taylor walked closer to the nest, the chick began twitching and shaking its head—a behavior they had never seen in birds before. (See the video below…)
It turns out the hummingbird might fend off predators by mimicking a poisonous caterpillar that lives in the same region. In a new paper published March 17 in Ecology, Taylor, associate professor at University of Colorado Boulder, and his team described this unusual mimicry behavior for the first time in hummingbirds.
“We know so little about what nesting birds do in the tropics,” said Falk, the paper’s first author and postdoctoral fellow in Taylor’s lab. “But if we put more effort into observing the natural world, we might discover these kinds of behavior are very common.”
The tropical rainforest is a dangerous place for small birds, said Falk, who’s also a researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Snakes, monkeys, birds, and even insects all prey on them.
So how can tiny hummingbird chicks survive? Falk and his team may have stumbled upon the answer during a trip to Soberanía National Park in Panama last year.
Despite the birds’ frequent visits to Falk’s feeders outside his research station in Panama, Falk had never seen a white-necked jacobin chick or its nest before.
But last March, his Smithsonian colleague Michael Castaño and Sebastian Gallan-Giraldo at the University of Antioquia in Colombia (both co-authors on the paper) discovered a female jacobin hummingbird incubating an egg in its nest, not far from a forest trail. The tiny well-camouflaged nest was made of plant parts to blend in perfectly with the surrounding environment.
Over the following month, the team closely monitored the nest and witnessed a chick hatch from the egg. Unlike most hummingbirds that are born naked, the jacobin chick was covered in long brown feathers, looking nearly identical to the nest material.
That’s when the team witnessed the chick’s unusual jerking behavior. Scientists had never reported a similar behavior in any other hummingbird species.
“I started texting a video to people and asking them, ‘What does this look like?’” said Taylor. “And invariably, they said, ‘That looks like a caterpillar.’ It was very exciting.”
On the second day after the egg hatched, the team saw a predatory wasp approach the chick when the mother was away. As the wasp hovered above the nest, the chick started to twitch its body vigorously like it had for the researchers, swinging its head from side to side. A few seconds later, the wasp flew away.
AMAZING: Rare Hummingbird That Sings is Rediscovered in Colombia Cloaked in Iridescent Blue and Green
The jacobin hummingbird chick reminded Falk and Taylor of a paper they’d seen previously reporting that a young cinereous mourner, a songbird native to the Amazonian rainforest, might resemble toxic orange caterpillars from the region by having a bright orange coat and waving its head from side to side when disturbed.
In this region of Panama, it turns out that many caterpillars have brown hairs that can give painful stings to predators and even kill them. Some of these caterpillars also shake their heads when they feel threatened, much like the chick.
Scientists refer to this survival strategy of mimicking a harmful species as Batesian mimicry. For example, some non-venomous milk snakes have developed a pattern of red, yellow and black coloring similar to that of venomous coral snakes to ward off predators.
“A lot of these really classic examples of Batesian mimicry involve butterflies mimicking other butterflies, or snakes mimicking other snakes. But here, we have a bird potentially mimicking an insect, a vertebrate mimicking an invertebrate,” Taylor said.
WATCH AND LISTEN: 2000 Microphones Unlock the Mystery of Why Hummingbirds Hum: ‘Like a Beautifully-tuned Instrument’
While the study described a single observation, the researchers hope to test their theory in the future through experiments like placing artificial chicks with different looks and behaviors in nests to see which are more likely to be attacked by predators. They also hope to encourage birdwatchers and citizen scientists to document more hummingbird nests.
(Source: Science writer Yvaine Ye / University of Colorado Boulder)
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A lottery player has been driving around with the EuroMillions winning ticket in his car for over four months, until it was so crumpled it was unscannable.
Darren Burfitt finally claimed his jackpot after checking multiple tickets that had been left in his unlocked vehicle the entire time.
He only retrieved them when his four-year-old son wanted some chips, which he also had in the car.
“I didn’t want to open a new bag,” said the 44-year-old from Swansea, Wales. “He often ends up with half-open bags and I knew there was a packet which he hadn’t finished in the car so I told him I would pop out and get that one for him.”
“I decided to grab my National Lottery tickets at the same time, and started to scan each one on the lottery app on my phone.”
For months, Darren’s family and friends had repeatedly teased him to check his tickets after an appeal went out across the city to find a missing millionaire from the EuroMillions draw last year.
The greens-keeper at Langland Bay Golf Club told reporters he had a few tickets in the central console of his grey Citroen. “I just hadn’t got round to checking them.”
He perked up when one of the tickets pinged as he scanned it and discovered he had won almost five dollars.
“One of the tickets was particularly creased so I thought I would leave that one until the end. It was so crumpled it wouldn’t scan, so I had to bring up the draw details and read the results.”
The father of two was stunned to discover he had become an instant millionaire.
“I couldn’t quite believe it…. In fact, I still cannot believe it now. I just kept looking at the date and then the matching Millionaire Maker code – and then the date and the code again. I just could not comprehend what I was seeing.”
LOTTERY LOVER: Lottery Winner Pledges Part of $328 Million Prize to Nonprofits, Winning Ticket Seller Does the Same
As the news sunk in, it dawned on Darren that because he leaves his car unlocked anyone could have run off with his jackpot winner.
“My car is honestly a shed on wheels, held together with mud. It has almost no value, so I never bother to lock it! I dread to think what could have happened to that winning ticket.”
Darren’s wife, Gemma, a teaching assistant, was away overnight when he discovered his win.
“When I called Gemma my voice was shaking so much, she was convinced something had happened to one of the children.
The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, are now excitedly planning their future and have their sights set on buying their first home. Darren also wants a new pick-up truck to replace his car which is proving unreliable for the family.
“The kids will love the pick-up and it will enable us to go on even more adventures as a family.”
GOOD KARMA: 5-Year-old Who Emptied Piggybank for Earthquake Relief Now Wins $48Mil Lottery Jackpot at 18
In fact, he bought the ticket on their drive to a family vacation.
“I literally have to keep pinching myself, says Gemma. “thinking it is a dream which I will wake up from.
“It changes everything and we can finally buy a home of our own. It is going to give us so much security for our future and our children’s future.
The couple talked to reporters ahead of a record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot that saw history made on Friday, as a man from Austria, Kronen Zeitung, claimed the biggest-ever total to date—an astounding £209 million ($250M)—after buying a single $10 ticket.
CHANGED HER LIFE: Irish Woman Who Won $145M Lottery Has Given Away Over Half: ‘I’m Addicted to Helping People’
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of March 29, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Ancient Rome’s emperor Julius Caesar undertook a radical move to fix the calendar, which had become increasingly inaccurate as the centuries passed. He added three months to the year 46 BCE, which as a result was 445 days long. I’m thinking that 2025 might seem equally long for you, Aries. Your destiny may feel like it’s taking forever to unfold. APRIL FOOL! I totally lied. In fact, I think 2025 will be one of your briskest, crispest years ever. Your adventures will be spiced with alacrity. Your efforts will be efficient and expeditious. You may sometimes be amazed at how swiftly progress unfolds.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
Guilt and fear are always useless distractions from what’s really happening. Right? APRIL FOOL! The fact is that on rare occasions, being anxious can motivate you to escape from situations that your logical mind says are tolerable. And guilt may compel you to take the right action when nothing else will. This is one time when your guilt and fear can be valuable assets.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
The German word Flüsterwitze means “whisper jokes.” These jests make taboo references and need to be delivered with utmost discretion. They may include the mockery of authority figures. Dear Gemini, I recommend that you suppress your wicked satire and uproarious sarcasm for a while and stick to whisper jokes. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is that the world needs your outspokenness. Your ability to call out hypocrisies and expose corruption—especially with humor and wit—will keep everyone as honest as they need to be.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
In the lead-up to the Paris-hosted 2024 Summer Olympics, the iconic Eiffel Tower was repainted gold. This was a departure from tradition, as the usual colors had been brown on the bottom and red on the top. The $60-million job took 25 painters 18 months. I recommend that you undertake an equally monumental task in the coming months, Cancerian. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, I do hope you undertake a monumental task—but one that’s more substantive than changing the surfaces of things. Like revisioning your life story, for example—reinterpreting your past and changing the way it informs your future. I think you are ready to purge inessential elements and exorcize old ghosts as you prepare for a re-launch around your birthday.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
When I worked on the Duke University grounds crew years ago, I did the work I was assigned as quickly as possible. Then I would hide in the bushes, taking unauthorized breaks for an hour or two, so I could read books I loved. Was that unethical? Maybe. But the fact is, I would never have been able to complete my assigned tasks unless I allowed myself relaxation retreats. If there is an equivalent situation in your life, Leo, I urge you to do as I did. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. The truth is that I think you should be a little less extravagant than I was—but only a little—as you create the spaciousness and slack you need.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
In his film Fitzcarraldo, Virgo director Werner Herzog tells an epic story. It includes the task of hauling a 320-ton steamship up a hill and over land, moving it from one river to another. Herzog could have relied on special effects to simulate this almost impossible project, but he didn’t. With a system of pulleys and a potent labor force, he made it happen. I urge you to try your equivalent of Herzog’s heroic conquest, Virgo. You will be able to summon more power and help than you can imagine. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. While it’s true that you will be able to summon more power and help than you can imagine, I still think you should at least partially rely on the equivalent of special effects.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Researchers discovered that Egyptian fruit bats engage in extensive communication with each other while nesting in their roosts. Surprisingly, they talk about their problems a lot. In fact, they quarrel 60 percent of the time. Areas of disagreement include food allocation, positions within the sleep cluster, and males initiating unwanted mating moves. Let’s make these bats your power creatures. The astrological omens say it’s time for you to argue more than you have ever argued. APRIL FOOL! I was not entirely truthful. The coming weeks will be a good time to address disagreements and settle disputes, but hopefully through graceful means, not bitter arguing.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Unlike many modern poets, Scorpio-born Alice Notley rejects the notion that she must be part of any poetic lineage. She aspires “to establish or continue no tradition except one that literally can’t exist—the celebration of the singular thought sung at a particular instant in a unique voice.” She has also written, “It’s necessary to maintain a state of disobedience against everything.” She describes her work as “an immense act of rebellion against dominant social forces.” I invite you to enjoy your own version of a Notley-like phase, Scorpio. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, I encourage you to enjoy a Notley-like phase beginning May 1. But for now, I invite you to be extra attentive in cultivating all the ways you can benefit from honoring your similarities and connections with others.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a standardized test that many American high school students take to prove their worth to colleges. The highest possible score is achieved by fewer than one percent of test-takers. We might imagine that earning such a premium grade must guarantee admission to any school, but it doesn’t. During one five-year period, for example, Stanford University rejected 69 percent of applicants with the highest possible score. I’m sorry to predict that a comparable experience might be ahead for you, Sagittarius. Even if you are your best and brightest self, you may be denied your rightful reward. APRIL FOOL! I totally lied. Here’s my real, true prediction: In the coming weeks, I believe you will be your best and brightest self—and will win your rightful reward.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
The visible part of an iceberg is typically just 10 percent of its total size. Most is hidden beneath the sea’s surface. References to “the tip of the iceberg” have become a staple metaphor in many cultures, signifying situations that are not what they seem. Of all the zodiac tribes, Scorpios are renowned for their expertise in discerning concealed agendas and missing information. The rest of us tend to be far less skillful. APRIL FOOL! I fibbed. These days, you Capricorns are even more talented than Scorpios at looking beyond the obvious and becoming aware of the concealed roots and full context.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the coming weeks, I advise you to be like the 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson. She lived in quiet seclusion, corresponding through letters instead of socializing. She seemed content to write her poems all alone in her home and be unconcerned about trying to get them published. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s my real horoscope: Now is a highly favorable time for you to shmooze with intensity at a wide range of social occasions, both to get all the educational prods you need and to advance your ambitions.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Some systems and situations improve and thrive in response to stress and errors. Indeed, some things need strain or irregularity to be fully healthy. For example, human bodies require a certain amount of stress to develop a resistance to infection. In reading the astrological omens, I conclude you now need stimulation like that. APRIL FOOL! I lied. Here’s the truth: August of 2025 will be a great time for you to harvest the benefits of benevolent stress. But for now, your forte will be the capacity to avoid and resist stress, confusion, and errors.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
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Quote of the Day: “The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” – L.R. Knost
Photo by: Jay Antol
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?
154 years ago today, the Royal Albert Hall opened in London and quickly became one of the world’s most prestigious concert spaces. It hosts more than 390 shows in the main auditorium annually, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestral accompaniment, sports, awards ceremonies, school and community events, and charity performances and banquets, with another 450 shows in the secondary halls and spaces. READ more about this famous venue’s historical highlights… (1871)
An MIT-startup has found a way to commercialize steel production by the ton using electricity rather than a CO2-emitting blast furnace, promising the beginning of decarbonization in one of humanity’s most carbon-intensive industries.
Called Boston Metal, their industrial-scale production facility can make a ton of steel per month using a technique called molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), which if powered by renewable energy would suddenly make the process a carbon-neutral one, since MOE produces oxygen, not CO2, as emissions.
Human civilization produces around 2 billion tons of steel, accompanied by 3 billion tons of CO2 every year. It’s safe to say that if industries like steel and concrete production don’t see significant amelioration in their carbon footprint, existing climate mitigation efforts will be meaningless.
To that end, Boston Metal was founded in 2013 to scale up and eventually commercialize MOE, a process that was itself developed at MIT.
Steelmaking typically involves a blast furnace, which uses a coal-based fuel called coke to drive the reactions needed to turn iron ore into iron. The carbon in coke combines with oxygen pulled out of the iron ore, which gets released as carbon dioxide.
Inside Boston Metal’s industrial-scale plant, MOE relies on reactors containing multiple large anodes which run an electrical current through the reactor chamber loaded with iron ore. The current raises temperatures to 2,900° Fahrenheit, turning the iron molten.
MORE MATERIALS NEWS: New Low-Carbon Concrete Outperforms Today’s Highway Material While Cutting Costs in Minnesota
The electrical demands are significant, and MIT Tech Review reporting on Boston Metal’s efforts notes that solar, wind, or nuclear would be needed for the process to be decarbonized, however, considering the larger output, nuclear would be the only viable power source for the kinds of green steel production needed to push out blast furnaces—the kind that can produce billions of tons per annum.
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Boston Metal has been at this for 12 years, and the brains behind it admit that 1 ton of steel per month is not economically feasible. Instead, a demonstration plant that can produce 1 ton per day should come online in late 2026 and begin operation in 2027, at which point they believe they’ll be able to license their technology to manufacturers.
SHARE This Significant Step Towards Creating A Path Towards Green Steel…
One of the “largest and most important” hoards of Iron Age artifacts ever found in England has recently been cleaned, studied, and presented to the media.
It demonstrates a previously unknown level of wealth and trading connections typically associated with the southern Britons at this time, but not generally thought of to be present in the north.
Called the Melsonby Hoard after the name of the town in which it was found, it was discovered in North Yorkshire by a metal detective named Peter Heads who secured permission from a landowner to survey a field.
After he discovered the items, Mr. Heads contacted the government as is done in England according to the Treasure Act. Tom Moore, a professor and head of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University and part of the team that excavated and examined the hoard, called it “exceptional for Britain and probably even Europe.”
“Whoever originally owned the material in this hoard was probably a part of a network of elites across Britain, into Europe and even the Roman world,” he said in a statement.
The items are varied, and include two iron cauldrons, over 20 iron wagon wheel components from chariots, horse bridles and bits, ceremonial spearheads, and a large iron mirror.
The cauldron bears some similarities to examples from Leicestershire in the Midlands of England, and from Wiltshire in southern England. However, those finds are not as large as the Melsonby cauldron, which retains unique features including elaborate fish motifs depicted in the base, that are very unusual for the period.
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The wine-mixing bowl has parallels in Etruscan vessels and is decorated with coral beads or studs and two cast copper alloy masks of human faces.
“It was only really when we went back to excavate the hoard and we opened up a much larger area that I think Peter and I, and all of the team, realized we were on to something really exciting,” Moore recalled.
MORE HOARDS: Archaeologists Discover Huge Iron Age ‘Weapon Sacrifice’ – A Curious Custom Predating Vikings
Many of the items were destroyed in what could be considered a ceremonial fashion before being buried, a curious and very European method of demonstrating wealth and perhaps honoring gods and or ancestors.
“The destruction of so many high-status objects, evident in this hoard, is also of a scale rarely seen in Iron Age Britain and demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts,” Moore said in a statement.
WATCH a video on the items and their discovery…
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Up for auction today at a swanky Parisian auction house will be a slightly lazy paint sketch of some lions.
But these relaxed beasts are more than they appear. As it turns out, the work entitled Study of Reclining Lions was a lost creation from one of Paris’ greatest ever modern painters: Eugène Delacroix.
The man whose hand wielded the brush that gave the world Liberty Leading the People, Delacroix also painted these 7 lions in a swirl of brown and ochre savannah, but after a 1830 sale following his death, the work disappears from records.
It turned up during an appraisal at a home in France’s central region of Touraine conducted by Malo de Lussac.
“The owners were not sure that it was a Delacroix,” de Lussac tells Agence France-Presse. “When I arrived in the living room, my gaze was attracted by his magnetism. It was very moving. Delacroix’s works are seen very regularly in museums but very little in private hands.”
Sophia Anderson at the Smithsonian Magazine reports that Delacroix loved very much to observe the tigers and lions kept in the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
“How necessary it is to … stick one’s head out of doors and try to read from creation, which has nothing in common with cities and the works of man,” Delacroix once wrote, and Anderson shared.
OTHER LOST PAINTINGS FOUND:
Up for auction at Hôtel Drouot auctioneers, the estimate is between €200,000 and €300,000.
“Over the course of his career, Eugène Delacroix produced numerous studies of fauves [wild animals] either for their own sake or for inclusion in a scene with figures,” writes Lee Johnson in The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 1816-1831. “In 1829, he considered a composition on this theme for the Salon, hesitating whether to paint lions or tigers at rest, in contrast to the academic subjects of fighting and hunting. He finally opted for the latter, and exhibited a Young Tiger Playing with its Mother.“
SHARE Yet Another Lost Work Of Art Appearing For The Benefit Of History…
A recent court ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights marks the first time an international judicial body has decided that indigenous peoples living in “voluntary isolation” have a right to do so, and that governments must act to ensure that right.
The ruling comes off the back of 20 years of activism challenging the Ecuadorian government’s encroachment on indigenous lands for oil drilling, and this, as well as other extractive activities like logging, were ruled to be intolerably disruptive to three groups living in voluntary isolation in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
International treaties protecting the rights of indigenous peoples have long been ratified at both the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS), but a case specifically determining whether a group living in voluntary isolation, which used to be called “uncontacted,” were guaranteed protection to allow them to continue doing so has never been ruled on.
While the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009 and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2013 introduced guidelines and recommendations that included a right to choose self-isolation, neither were put into writing under international law, nor included in any treaty amendments.
As such, the Costa Rica-based court’s decision that nation-states, in this case Ecuador, must follow a “precautionary principle” when making decisions about future oil operations that may impede a group’s ability to live in self-isolation.
“This principle means that, even in the absence of scientific certainty regarding oil exploration and exploitation projects’ impacts on this territory, effective measures must be adopted to prevent serious or irreversible damage, which in this case would be the contact of these isolated populations,” said the court opinion, written in Spanish, and translated by Inside Climate News.
The three groups in question are the Tagaeri, Taromenane, and Dugakaeri, who are part of the overall Waorani peoples since they share cultural traditions and language.
Testimony was heard from a community leader of the Waorani, Penti Baihua, and two young women who at the ages of 2 and 6 were survivors of violent encroachment by oil workers who killed members of the girls’ group, forcibly introduced them to modernity, and displaced them to different parts of the Amazon.
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In the current case, the court ruled that a protected area the size of Delaware that was established in the early 2000s to guarantee indigenous Waorani (and others) rights was created in such a way as to leave oil exploration areas outside protection, despite being the ancestral home of Baihua and his people.
A 6-mile deep buffer zone surrounding the heart of the Tagaeri, Taromenane, and Dugakaeri’s territory called the “Intangible Zone,” has been repeatedly penetrated by extractive industries, which have built roads and other “colonial” infrastructure.
INDIGENOUS VICTORIES: Canada Agrees 200 Islands Belong to the Indigenous Haida Nation
The court ruled that Ecuador must honor the results of a 2023 referendum, in which voters chose to stop oil operations in that region indefinitely.
The court used the term “living in voluntary isolation” to reflect that fact that there are no unconctacted tribes on Earth, but perhaps as many as 200 who have seen evidence of modernity, and received minimal contact—perhaps from a related tribe that doesn’t live in isolation—and chose to remain without any interaction with the modern world either out of fear or self-interest.
SHARE This Historic And Hopefully Ultimate Triumph Of These People To Remain In Peace…
Quote of the Day: “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. With consistent hard work greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson
Photo by: Joshua Earle
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?
115 years ago today, Henri Fabre became the first man to fly a seaplane. Called the Fabre Hydravion, it was the first craft ever to take off from water under its own power. Powered by a French-made Gnome Omega rotary engine driving a two-bladed Chauvière propeller, it successfully took off and flew for a distance of about 500 metres (1,600 ft) and landed on the water in Bouches-du-Rhône. READ more about this pioneering aviator and his invention… (1910)
In a heartwarming milestone for great ape conservation, Mary, a rescued orphaned orangutan, has been released into the jungles of Borneo following rehabilitation.
After spending four years at the Bornean Orangutan Rescue Alliance (BORA) Rescue and Rehabilitation Center learning how to survive independently in the jungle, she has been allowed to return to her home in the Busang Ecosystem.
The news was announced by the Orangutan Project, a leading conservation organization dedicated to protecting the Critically Endangered orangutans.
Mary was released alongside her two close companions Jojo and Bonti who now live wild and free in one of Borneo’s last remaining viable habitats.
Mary’s journey began in February 2019 when the BORA team rescued her from the town of Longgie, East Borneo. At just one to two years old, she was found to be illegally kept in captivity by villagers.
Young, orphaned orangutans like Mary must learn how to survive in the jungle. At the BORA rescue center’s Jungle School, Mary spent four years learning vital survival skills from expert caregivers and fellow orangutans.
In October 2024, Mary advanced to the next stage of rehabilitation, moving to a pre-release island with Jojo and Bonti. For three months, the trio fine-tuned their forest skills in preparation for their return to the wild.
“The story of Mary, Jojo, and Bonti is testament to what’s possible when we unite together,” said Leif Cocks, founder of the Orangutan Project.
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“These Critically Endangered orangutans deserve our protection, and we’re proud that our BORA rescue center offers long-term support, medical care, nutritious food, and jungle training for orphaned orangutans.”
On January 10th, Mary, Jojo, and Bonti embarked on a 10-hour journey by car and boat to regain their forest freedom. All three orangutans confidently and eagerly ventured out into the forest upon release, heading straight up into the canopy to begin their new life together.
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As part of the Orangutan Project’s Adoption Program, Mary’s journey from rescue to freedom was supported by generous donors.
SHARE This Small Step Towards Restoring And Protecting These Priceless Cousins Of Ours…
Recently, American Humane Society reunited a retired military dog, Frenky, with his former handler, Staff Sergeant Kristin, who were separated in 2021.
She said it was like “leaving a child behind” back then, and two will undoubtedly be looking forward to catching up over rucks, runs, and couch-cuddles.
Frenky and Kristin served together for nearly four and a half years, including a 9-month combat tour in Afghanistan and a 10-month combat tour in Iraq. The 10-year-old German Shepherd was trained in explosive detection and bite work.
During his time with Kristin, the pair completed roughly 20 Secret Service missions helping protect high-profile VIPs, including the President, Vice President, First Lady, and several foreign dignitaries.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to reunite military working dog Frenky with his best friend,” said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane Society. “American Humane Society is honored to help give this courageous canine the comfortable retirement he deserves after six years of distinguished service to our country.”
During their first mission with US Special Forces, the team encountered sniper fire and mortar rounds, tragically resulting in several American casualties. Despite the action, Frenky remained calm, and continued his vital work searching for explosives, earning the respect and appreciation of the Special Forces team they were assigned to.
Frenky quickly became an unofficial mascot for the base. His sweet, goofy personality helped boost morale and provided comfort during difficult deployments.
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Frenky and Kristin were separated in 2021 when the latter was reassigned to Fort Drum in northern New York. She was heartbroken to have to leave Frenky behind
Since learning that Frenky might retire, Kristin has been “chomping at the bit” to see him again and bring him home. When the news became official, she immediately reached out to American Humane Society for help, having learned about the organization from a close friend at Lackland, who used the program to locate and adopt his own retired military dog.
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American Humane Society helped reunite the pair by picking up Frenky from Fort Johnson in Louisiana and personally escorting him to his new home in San Antonio, Texas. Kristin is excited to give Frenky the opportunity to enjoy being a dog, relaxing on the couch, and living in a home, instead of a kennel.
In addition to covering all transportation costs of the reunification, American Humane Society will provide free veterinary care for the rest of Frenky’s life, in honor of the service he provided for his handler, his unit, and his country.
WATCH Good Morning America’s report on the story…
RAISE A Paw In Salute For This American Hero En-Route To A Cozy Retirement…
After a few years of Herculean efforts, UNICEF has reached a point where it has prevented two-thirds of Afghanistan’s healthcare sector from collapsing.
Working mostly in rural areas, the operation has been vast, employing 28,000 full-time carers and physicians and 32,000 volunteers staffing 96 fully-equipped hospitals and 2,400 rural healthcare centers, sometimes as small as a single room.
But for vaccination, childbirth, and routine checkups, even a small room can make a huge difference, and the work that UNICEF and partners have been doing is also helping to build better medical habits among rural populations inured to outside influence and change.
Taking over from a failing medical system that collapsed in 2021, UNICEF has propped up huge areas of medical sector work under ridiculous monetary constraints since no money can be transferred into the country’s financial institutions. Since the program began, there have been 2.2 million babies born in UNICEF facilities, a 20% increase since 2019.
The country that has suffered from 40 years of war presents the same challenge to those seeking to end lives and those seeking to save them: an incredibly challenging geography.
Areas like Nuristan and Ghor are covered in valleys where families eke out subsistence living on terraced villages along the valley sides. In these places, it can take hours of hiking to visit and return from a clinic.
But the 32,000 volunteers do as much as they can to connect these isolated places with difference-making medical services, thereby demonstrating the value of modern medicine to skeptical, enmeshed communities.
In a recent release, UNICEF gave examples of these lifesaving changes at work for the benefit of rural Afghans, whether for Safina, whose village now has a health post that helped her welcome three children into the world, or for Roqia, whose grandfather followed the advice of UNICEF’s community healthcare volunteers and hiked three hours over ice and snow to the clinic at the valley bottom after Roqia contracted polio last winter.
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These first-hand experiences go a long way towards helping convince others to avail themselves of medical services, especially for male Afghans who, like men all around the world, are reluctant to seek care for minor issues.
But when living off the land as Roqia’s family does, minor issues can easily become major issues, and having a community member who speaks the same language to encourage people makes a real difference. These facilities are, after all, only possible and useful if they are used, UNICEF writes, and using them first requires that people know they’re there and that they can help save a child’s life.
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“Community health workers catch the early signs of malnutrition, promote vaccination, and encourage women to breastfeed longer and deliver in institutions,” UNICEF wrote.
Today, more than half the population of Afghanistan receives basic medical services through UNICEF-organized or supported programs and facilities, and three-quarters of the population with hospital-level care, primarily for women and children.
SHARE This Truly Unbelievable Effort With Your Friends On Social Media…
Fearing the worst after a prop plane was reported overdue for landing in Alaska last Sunday, search and rescue volunteers were relieved when news rang out that all three passengers survived.
The pilot and two children of elementary and middle school ages survived a crash landing on the frozen surface of Tustumena Lake, and walked until they were seen.
The story first broke Sunday night/Monday morning that a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser which departed Sunday from Soldotna Airport near Kenai on a sightseeing trip didn’t land when it should have.
John Morris, the father of the missing pilot, told CNN affiliate Alaska’s News Source that his son’s cell phone sent its final ping at about 5:00 p.m. Sunday evening over Tustumena.
Alaska’s News Source reports that a National Guard and state trooper search and rescue operation was augmented by volunteers from the community, with one family friend posting a notice for help on Facebook that was re-shared 420 times.
Eventually, it was a Good Samaritan who saw the plane wreckage and 3 people walking on the frozen lake that helped rescuers find them.
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The three survivors were taken to a Kenai Peninsula area hospital and treated for “non-life-threatening injuries.”
Dale Eicher was one of the locals who heard the call for help. With a background in assisting search and rescues, he went up in his own plane to look for survivors, but had barely arrived in the last known position before he heard over the radio that three people had been reported found.
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“I called the troopers immediately because I was still in cell service and I knew it was a really good chance that the guy that had found him was not in cell service,” Eicher said. ” I was really shocked. I didn’t expect that we would find them. I didn’t expect that we would find them alive for sure…it doesn’t always turn out this well.”
SHARE In This Small Community’s Relief For The Survival Of Their Three Members…
Quote of the Day: “The most important thing is to enjoy your life — to be happy. It’s all that matters.” – Audrey Hepburn
Photo by: Helena Lopes
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2,221 years ago today, the Decree of Memphis, proclaiming the rule of the King of Ptolemaic Egypt, Ptolemy V, was carved in three languages on black sandstone blocks around the kingdom. The top two scripts were Egyptian hieroglyphics and Demotic, but the bottom third was ancient Greek. The block today is known as the “Rosetta Stone” and was instrumental to scholarly efforts to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics on the walls and sides of countless temples, coffins, and other objects, opening fully the window onto the great civilization’s long history. READ more about this famous object… (196 BCE)
