A huge dinosaur footprint dating back 127 million years has been found on a UK beach after a rainstorm.
A 23-year-old fossil guide spotted the three-toed print on the Isle of Wight.
Joe Thompson says the one-meter long footprint revealed itself after storms stripped the beach of pebbles.
The recent Bristol University paleontology graduate was walking on Shepherd’s Chine beach, looking for any fossils or dinosaur bones.
“I had been walking for an hour or two and hadn’t found anything – so was a bit down in the dumps.
“But then I looked down and could see one of the toes in the clay. Thinking it could be a footprint, I uncovered it and discovered a pretty big footprint of an Iguanodon.
“It is high up in the sequence, which means it is a bit younger than other footprints on the island. It belonged to a really big animal.”
Iguanodon dinosaur fossil footprint – SWNS
The news comes as this month marks the 200th anniversary of the first scientific description of Iguanodon in 1825, after a collection of the dinosaur’s teeth was discovered by geologist Dr. Gideon Mantell from large fossils found in Sussex, England, by him and his wife Mary Ann.
Iguanodons were large herbivores measuring up to ten meters long and weighing over four tons.
“Iguanodons are pretty cool and were quite common, but to see a footprint so well preserved in this area is great.
Iguanodons traveled in large groups of maybe 20 to 30, walked on all fours, but ran on two feet.
“They went around eating all the smaller plants around the ecosystem at the time,” Joe told news agency SWNS.com.
Joe, who is a guide for Wight Coast Fossils, has recently launched South Coast Fossils, offering his fossil walks in another nearby region of Highcliffe, near Christchurch, saying:
“The Isle of Wight is one of the best places in Europe for finding dinosaur remains and footprints.”
BIG-FOOT THIS DISCOVERY Onto Social Media For Dino-Loving Friends…
A quirky tourist attraction has popped up in another seaside town that lets visitors tour a building where all the furniture is flipped 180-degrees.
‘The Upside Down House’ in Bristol, England, is the 12th one to be erected—or should we say inverted—around the UK since the success of the first one opened in Bournemouth in 2018.
Painted in cheerful colors, the homes look like they’ve been flipped on their heads. With two floors of furniture attached to the ceilings, visitors might feel dizzy from the alternative perspective of life upside down.
A ticket booth connected to the back of the house sells tickets to visitors for $7, with proceeds going to local charities or the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.
There are plenty of places to take photos on the two floors, including a kitchen, living room, bedroom where striking fun poses can really take advantage of the anti-gravity views.
Paying guests walk on the ceiling as tables, chairs, beds, toilets and more hang above them.
SWNS
Upside Down Houses have opened in several UK beach destinations, in cities like Liverpool and London, and now in other parts of the world, including France, Germany and Australia.
Each home’s furnishings feature the work of local artists—hung upside down, of course.
SWNS
They also take advantage of seasonal themes, like Haunted Upside Down House on Halloween or maybe Santa’s Grotto during Christmas.
Upside Down House Bristol is painted bright magenta and located on Anchor Square next to the Bristol Aquarium. Children under three enter for free.
Yuxuan Chen holds carbon dioxide-trapping material with Matt Kanan in their lab – Credit: Bill Rivard / Precourt Institute for Energy
Yuxuan Chen holds carbon dioxide-trapping material with Matt Kanan in their lab – Credit: Bill Rivard / Precourt Institute for Energy
Stanford University chemists have developed a practical, low-cost way to permanently remove atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main driver of global warming and climate change.
The new process uses heat to transform common minerals into materials that spontaneously pull carbon from the atmosphere and permanently sequester it. These reactive materials can be produced in conventional kilns, like those used to make cement.
“The Earth has an inexhaustible supply of minerals that are capable of removing CO2 from the atmosphere, but they just don’t react fast enough on their own to counteract human greenhouse gas emissions,” said Matthew Kanan, a Stanford professor of chemistry and senior author of the new study in Nature. “Our work solves this problem in a way that we think is uniquely scalable.”
In nature, common minerals called silicates react with water and atmospheric CO2 to form stable bicarbonate ions and solid carbonate minerals – a process known as weathering. However, this reaction can take hundreds to thousands of years to complete. Since the 1990s, scientists have been searching for ways to make rocks absorb carbon dioxide more rapidly through enhanced weathering techniques.
Kanan and Stanford postdoctoral scholar Yuxuan Chen developed a new process for converting slow-weathering silicates into much more reactive minerals that capture and store atmospheric carbon quickly.
“We envisioned a new chemistry to activate the inert silicate minerals through a simple ion-exchange reaction,” explained Chen. “We didn’t expect that it would work as well as it does.”
One of the technologies experts say could prevent additional global warming is carbon-capture through the air—but so far, they remain costly, energy-intensive, or both—by using panels or large fans to drive air through chemical or other processes to remove CO2.
“Our process would require less than half the energy used by leading direct air capture technologies, and we think we can be very competitive from a cost point of view,” said Kanan.
Inspired by a centuries-old technique for making cement
Cement production begins by converting limestone to calcium oxide in a kiln heated to about 1,400 degrees Celsius. The calcium oxide is then mixed with sand to produce a key ingredient in cement.
The Stanford team used a similar process in their laboratory furnace, but instead of sand, they combined calcium oxide with another mineral containing magnesium and silicate ions. When heated, the two minerals swapped ions and transformed into magnesium oxide and calcium silicate – two alkaline minerals that react quickly with acidic CO2 in the air.
As a quick test of reactivity at room temperature, the calcium silicate and magnesium oxide were exposed to water and pure CO2. Within two hours, both materials completely transformed into new carbonate minerals—with carbon from CO2 trapped inside.
For a more realistic test, wet samples of calcium silicate and magnesium oxide were exposed directly to air, which has a much lower concentration of CO2 than pure CO2 from a tank. In this experiment, the carbonation process took weeks to months to occur, still thousands of times faster than natural weathering.
Capturing CO2 in this way could also help farmers
“You can imagine spreading magnesium oxide and calcium silicate over large land areas to remove CO2 from ambient air,” Kanan said. “One exciting application that we’re testing now is adding them to agricultural soil. As they weather, the minerals transform into bicarbonates that can move through the soil and end up permanently stored in the ocean.”
Kanan said this approach could have co-benefits for farmers, who typically add calcium carbonate to soil to increase the pH if it’s too low – a process called liming.
“Adding our product would eliminate the need for liming, since both mineral components are alkaline,” he explained.
“In addition, as calcium silicate weathers, it releases silicon to the soil in a form that the plants can take up, which can improve crop yields and resilience. Ideally, farmers would pay for these minerals because they’re beneficial to farm productivity and the health of the soil – and as a bonus, there’s the carbon removal.”
Using mining sites worldwide
Currently, Kanan’s lab can produce only 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of material a week. But the same kiln designs now used to make cement could produce the amount of materials needed to tackle CO2 because of the abundant magnesium silicates (such as olivine or serpentine), which is found in California, the Balkans, and many other regions. These are also common leftover materials – or tailings – from mining.
“Each year, more than 400 million tons of mine tailings with suitable silicates are generated worldwide, providing a potentially large source of raw material,” Chen said. “It’s estimated that there are more than 100,000 gigatons of olivine and serpentine reserves on Earth, enough to permanently remove far more CO2 than humans have ever emitted.” (A gigaton equals 1 billion metric tons, or about 1.1 billion tons.)
After accounting for emissions associated with burning natural gas or biofuel to power the kilns, the researchers estimate each ton of reactive material could remove one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The team is also developing kilns that run on electricity instead of burning fossil fuels—and a grant is already funding their efforts to move the research into practical applications.
(Source: Stanford Report) – SHARE THEIR BREAKTHROUGH On Social Media…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of February 22, 2025
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Have you been struggling to summon the motivation to start anew in some area of your life? I predict that sometime in the coming weeks, you will find all the motivation you need. Have you been wishing you could shed the weight of the past and glide into a fresh project with unburdened mind and heart? I believe that destiny will soon conspire to assist you in this noble hope. Are you finally ready to exorcise a pesky ghost and dash jubilantly toward the horizon, eager to embrace your future? I think you are.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
The Hindu holiday of Maha Shivaratri is dedicated to overcoming ignorance and darkness in celebrants’ own lives and in the world. This year it falls on February 26. Even if you’re not Hindu, I recommend you observe your own personal version of it. To do so would be in accordance with astrological omens. They suggest that the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to be introspective, study your life and history, and initiate changes that will dispel any emotional or spiritual blindness you might be suffering from. PS: Remember that not all darkness is bad! But some is unhealthy and demoralizing, and that’s the kind you should banish and transmute.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
The blue whale is the most massive animal that has ever lived. You could swim through its arteries. Its heart is five feet high and weighs 400 pounds. And yet, when diving, its pulse slows to four to eight times per minute. I propose we choose the blue whale to be your spirit creature in the coming weeks. May this magnificent beast inspire you to cultivate slow, potent rhythms that serve you better than hyperactivity. Let’s assume you will accomplish all you need by maintaining a steady, measured pace—by focusing on projects that require depth and diligence rather than speed. Your natural persistence will enable you to tackle tasks that might overwhelm those who lack your patience.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Over 10,000 years ago, someone walked for a mile through what’s now White Sands National Park in New Mexico. We know they did because they left footprints that were fossilized. Scientists believe it was probably a woman who mostly carried a child and sometimes let the child walk under its own power. Like those ancient footprints, your actions in the coming weeks may carry lasting significance—more than may be immediately apparent. I encourage you to proceed as if you are making a more substantial impact and having a bigger influence than you imagine.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
What’s the oldest known recipe? What ancient food product did our ancestors write down instructions about how to make? It was beer! The 4,000-year-old Sumerian text included a hymn to Ninkasi, the goddess of beer. It tells how to use the right ingredients and employ careful fermentation to concoct a beverage that lowers inhibitions and brings people together in convivial celebration. In that spirit, Cancerian, I encourage you to meditate on the elements you can call on to create merrymaking and connection. Now is a good time to approach this holy task with extra focus and purposefulness.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In November 1963, the captain of a sardine boat sailing near Iceland noticed a column of dark smoke rising out of the water. Was it another boat on fire? No, it was the beginning of a volcanic eruption. A few days later, steady explosions had created a new island, Surtsey, which still exists today. I suspect you will have a metaphorically comparable power in the coming weeks, Leo: an ability to generate a new creation out of fervent energies rising out of the hot depths. Be alert! And be ready to harness and make constructive use of the primal force.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson was a 10th-century Danish king. He united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom. His nickname originated in the fact that he had a prominent dead tooth that turned bluish-gray. More than 10 centuries later, engineers who created a new short-range wireless technology decided to call their invention “bluetooth.” Why? Because they imagined it would serve a variety of electronic devices, just as the king once blended the many tribes. In the spirit of these bluetooth phenomena, I’m urging you Virgos to be a uniter in the coming weeks and months. You will have an enhanced capacity to bridge different worlds and link disparate groups. PS: An aspect that could be construed as an imperfection, like Harald’s tooth, could conceal or signify a strength.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Libran author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, “Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake.” I know from experience there’s truth in that idea. But I’m happy to tell you that in 2025, freedom will be less heavy and less burdensome than maybe ever before in your life. In fact, I suspect liberation will be relatively smooth and straightforward for you. It won’t be rife with complications and demands, but will be mostly fun and pleasurable. Having said that, I do foresee a brief phase when working on freedom will be a bit more arduous: the next few weeks. The good news is that your emancipatory efforts will set the stage for more ease during the rest of 2025.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Always and forever, the world is a delicate balance of seemingly opposing forces that are in fact interwoven and complementary: light and shadow, determination and surrender, ascent and descent, fullness and emptiness, progress and integration, yes and no. The apparent polarities need and feed each other. In the coming weeks, I invite you to meditate on these themes. Are there areas of your life where you have been overly focused on one side of the scale while neglecting the other? If so, consider the possibility of recalibrating. Whether you are balancing emotion with logic, rest with work, or connection with independence, take time to adjust. If you honor both halves of each whole, you will generate fertile harmonies.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
The ancient stands of cedar trees on Japan’s Yakushima Island have a special power. They create weather patterns for themselves, generating rain clouds from the water vapor they release through their leaves. This ingenious stroke of self-nurturing provides them with the exact rainfall they require. I propose that we make these cedar trees your power symbol in the coming weeks. It’s an excellent time for you to dream up and implement more of the conditions you need to flourish.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Tardigrades are tiny, eight-legged animals colloquially known as water bears or moss piglets. Their resilience is legendary. They can thrive anywhere, from mountaintops to the deep sea, from Antarctica to tropical rainforests. They can withstand extreme temperatures, live a long time without water, and even survive in outer space. I propose we make the tardigrade your power creature for the coming weeks, dear Capricorn. Your flexibility and fluidity will be at a peak. You will be hardy, supple, and durable. It will be a favorable time to leave your comfort zone and test your mettle in new environments. Seemingly improbable challenges may be well within your range of adaptability.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the coming days, playing games could be good practice for life. Breezy exchanges and fun activities could stimulate clues and insights that will be useful in making important decisions. What appears to be ordinary entertainment or social engagement may provide you with profound lessons about strategy and timing. How you manage cooperation and competition in those lighter moments could yield useful guidance about more serious matters.
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
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?
On this day 45 years ago, in a stunning upset, the U.S. Olympic hockey team consisting of amateurs and college students, defeated the long-dominant and heavily-favored Soviet Union team, 4-to-3, on home ice, in Lake Placid, New York. This underdog’s victory over a hockey juggernaut, which later led to an American gold medal, was dubbed the ‘Miracle on Ice,’ and was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated. WATCH the crowd go wild and hear the commentary in this ABC anniversary tribute… (1980)
A monkey crossing one of Fernanda Abra's bridges - credit Reconecta, screengrab
A monkey crossing one of Fernanda Abra’s bridges – credit Reconecta, screengrab
Why did the monkey cross the road? Because someone built a bridge for him.
Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, motorists hauling along the few highways that bisect the great ecosystem will have seen a series of rope bridges extending from the tree tops over their heads.
They are the result of one ingenious and now-decorated conservationist who decided to climb up and be counted.
Fernanda Abra has worked alongside one of the many indigenous groups of the Amazon—the Waimiri-Atroari people—to create a unique-in-the-world system of wildlife road crossings specifically for tree-dwelling species.
Primates like the Groves’ titi monkey and golden-handed tamarin have witnessed their homes cut in two by asphalt roads, and often have no choice but to brave the white lines on foot.
In fact, as CNN reports, it was on asphalt that Abra saw her first Groves’ titi, one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates.
In response, this postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian’s Center for Conservation and Sustainability launched the Reconecta Project (remember, it’s Brazil, so it’s pronounced He-conecta)
Leveraging the Wairmiri-Atroari’s knowledge of where local wildlife pass and congregate, the project has used grant funding to build 30 wildlife road crossings that present as a horizontal rope and or wire bridge. Some incorporate Tyrolean traverses as well.
Each crossing has a camera trap mounted on the anchor poles so that Abra can monitor who is using the crossings. The data will help inform conservation actions, including population estimates, as well as where to put more road crossings.
“Every time I see the video of the monkey using my canopy bridge, it’s wonderful because we are avoiding the situation of road mortality,” says Abra. “Connecting the population, we can make it stronger and allow it to grow.”
Abra and Reconecta won the 2024 Whitley Award for Nature in honor of her work protecting the region’s primates.
The best part about the story, aside from the fact that drastic reductions in road mortality in species like the Schneider’s marmoset, Spix’s red-handed howler monkey, and the Guiana spider monkey, is that the Reconecta Project is expanding out from the Brazilian state of Amazonas to Mato Grosso, where she’s already canvassing universities, philanthropists, and governments for funding to build more of these bridges.
“What amazes me about Brazil is the richness that we have, the wonderful biodiversity we have here,” says Abra, “and I will do everything that I can as a person, as a professional, as a conservationist and researcher to protect this rich biodiversity.”
WATCH the video of her work, narrated by Sir David Attenborough…
A company making wooden wind turbine blades has successfully tested a 50-meter-long prototype that’s set to debut soon in the Indian and European markets.
Last year, the German firm Voodin successfully demonstrated that their laminated-veneer timber blades could be fabricated, adapted, and installed at a lower cost than existing blades, while maintaining performance.
Now, Voodin has announced a partnership with the Indian wind company Senvion to supply its 4.2-megawatt turbines with these wooden blades for another trial run.
Wind power has accumulated more than a few demerit points for several shortfalls in the overall industry of this fossil-fuel alternative.
Some of these, such as the impact on bird life, are justified, but none more so than the fact that the turbine blades are impossible or nearly impossible to recycle, and that they need to be changed every 25 years.
Wind turbine blades are made from a mixture of glass and carbon fiber heated together with sticky epoxy resin, and these materials can’t be separated once combined, which means they go into landfills or are incinerated when they become too battered to safely operate.
But there are way more wind turbine blades being made every year than pedestrian bridges and bike shelters, making the overall environmental impact of wind power not all green.
“At the end of their lifecycle, most blades are buried in the ground or incinerated. This means that—at this pace—we will end up with 50 million tonnes of blade material waste by 2050,” Voodin Blade Technology’s CEO. Mr. Siekmann said recently. “With our solution, we want to help green energy truly become as green as possible.”
The last 15 years have seen rapid growth in another industry called mass timber. This state-of-the-art manufacturing technique sees panels of lumber heat-pressed, cross-laminated, and glued into a finished product that’s being used to make skyscrapers, airports, and more.
At the end of the day though, mass timber products are still wood, and can be recycled in a variety of ways.
“The blades are not only an innovative technological advancement but a significant leap toward sustainable wind production,” said Siekmann, adding that this isn’t a case of pay more to waste less; the blades cost around 20% less than carbon fiber.
Additionally, the added flexibility of wooden blades should allow for taller towers and longer blades, potentially boosting the output of turbine by accessing higher wind speeds.
Now partnered with Voodin, Senvion will begin feasibility analysis in the next few months, before official testing begins around 2027.
SHARE This Innovative Use Of Wood And Wind To Create Electricity…
With Japanese know-how and the unwavering support of Japanese experts, Bhutan’s national bird is being hatched and hand-reared in captivity successfully for the first time ever.
The major hurdle to rearing chicks was overcome, and two healthy birds were just hand-reared, bringing the total captive population to five—a crucial lifeline to a bird that numbers less than 100 in the wild.
The critically-endangered white-bellied heron faces extinction due to habitat disturbance from human activities and predation. Professor Satoshi Shimano and his team from Hosei University, Japan, collaborated with the White-Bellied Heron Conservation Center (WBHCC) in Bhutan, to revive the species through direct intervention.
This heron is the world’s second largest, a symbolic bird for the people of Bhutan, and also a typical ‘umbrella species’ that requires a habitat with a vast, preserved environment. In recent years, the white-bellied heron population has decreased significantly.
As of 2024, it’s estimated there are fewer than 45 left in the world, although the official count stands at 60. It’s endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with approximately 25 individuals sighted in Bhutan, and the rest across the border in India. Conservation efforts for the species are limited and fragmented across the region.
In 2021, the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) in Bhutan decided to begin efforts to artificially breed white-bellied herons outside their natural habitat, and the WBHCC was constructed and began operation in 2022. The WBHCC, located in the mountainous areas of south-central Bhutan, a six-hour drive from Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, is supported by the Royal Government of Bhutan, international donors, agencies, and global philanthropists.
Two of the center’s three herons were collected as chicks from wild nests, and the other was rescued as a wounded bird. The center plans to collect not only chicks but also eggs from wild nests to artificially hatch them in an incubator. This was because monkeys were observed eating the heron’s eggs during incubation.
Since pair-bonded adults build their nests on steep cliffs and high trees, collecting chicks and eggs is extremely dangerous. A single nest typically produces around four eggs, and only 3–4 white-bellied heron pairs have been confirmed to nest in Bhutan.
White-bellied Heron at Namdapha NP, Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh, India – credit Rajikimar99 CC BY-SA 4.0. via Wikimedia
The RSPN planned to establish 16 founder populations (8 breeding pairs) by 2028 and release at least 50 herons in the wild by 2050 as part of the population restoration programs, but by 2023, it had only produced 3 chicks, all of which had to be euthanized because of genetic abnormailties resulting from inbreeding, or so it was believed.
Back in 2018, Professor Shimano met a Bhutanese graduate student, Mr. Pema Khandu, who was working to conserve his national bird. Having witnessed the extinction of the Japanese populations of the oriental stork and the Japanese crested ibis, Dr. Shimano readily volunteered to help.
“We must not let Bhutan make the same mistakes we made in Japan,” Shimano remembered saying.
Professor Shimano recruited Japanese veterinarians Dr. Takashi Nagamine and Dr. Yumiko Nakaya, from the Okinawa Wildlife Federation and planned a trip to the WBHCC. They concluded that the chick deaths were actually more likely due to hand-rearing techniques rather than genetic abnormalities.
A support team was formed, composed of experts from the Hyogo Park of the oriental white stork and several member associations affiliated with JAZA (Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums). These experts had been involved in the captive breeding of oriental storks, Okinawa rails, and Japanese crested ibises. The team visited the WBHCC twice in March and April 2024, during the breeding season, taking the Japanese experience with these birds with them. Equipment and supplies were donated to the WBHCC.
One of the hand-reared white-belly heron chicks – credit: Ms. Samten Lekey, Veterinary Officer from the White-bellied Heron Conservation Center, the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Bhutan
Even in Japan, it took more than twenty years to establish the artificial breeding technique for the storks and ibises.
“Japan, which knows the pain of having lost the endemic Japanese lineage and the subsequent efforts that followed, should be the one to make use of its own technique overseas,” said Shimano. “Everyone on the team is committed to supporting the white-bellied heron for the next 20 years.”
Leg abnormalities were known to occur frequently in the ibises and storks during growth. Similar leg abnormalities were observed in the white-bellied herons that died in 2023 and in those hatched in 2024. Rei Matsumoto, a veterinarian and senior researcher at the Hyogo Park of the oriental white stork, instructed that the bedding material be changed to twigs of a thickness that the chicks could easily grasp.
As a result, one of the two chicks showed improvement in its legs and began to grow well.
“There have been past cases where efforts to prevent the extinction of both the crested ibis and the oriental stork have failed. In order to prevent a repeat of this, I hope that by providing the knowledge that Japan has, we can increase the number of these birds, even if only a little,” said Matsumoto.
The team is hopeful that, within 5 to 10 years, when the captive population rises to around 30 individuals, they will release a few into the wild.
SHARE This Asiatic Collaboration To Save A Beautiful National Bird…
Whether one sports hooves or toes, a mop or a mane, autoimmune uveitis can strike away eyesight equally.
A cure for this form of blindness common in horses, but also people, is now undergoing trials that may benefit both.
An interdisciplinary team from the Univ. of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, and College of Medicine—ophthalmology, has published findings on an eye-drop medicine to treat uveitis, a leading cause of blindness in both species.
The disease amounts to 10% of new blindness and visual handicaps in the US every year; affecting around 30,000 people.
Named for the uvea, the middle layer of the eye, and ‘itis,’ the suffix that denotes inflammation, eyesight loss occurs when structures of the eye break down from the disease, and light to the retina is blocked.
If caught early, medicine can prevent uveitis from causing loss of eyesight, but in more advanced cases, the damage is often already done, and the eventual effects irreversible.
“It turns out that the place where the drug sits to have its effect in the eye is the same in people and in horses,” said Joseph Larkin, associate professor at UF/IFAS.
“We think that if we’re able to prove its effect in horses, we’ll also be able to treat the disease in people. People go blind if they have this disease, so it definitely alters their quality of life permanently.”
The eyedrops Larkin and his team developed contain a synthetic peptide that acts to block the inflammatory pathways which cause the inflammation that results in a breakdown of the eye tissue structures in autoimmune uveitis in both horses and humans.
Previous treatments have often proved ineffective due to the condition’s tendency to recur.
Research has already been conducted using this eye-drop therapy on blind or light-sensitive horses at the UF/CVM, in which the horses were documented to have regained calmness and composure during exposure to bright light.
The next step will be a clinical trial in horses.
SHARE This Crossover Medical Breakthrough With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.” – Leo Buscaglia
Photo by: Curated Lifestyle for 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?
February 15th, Cherokee Phoenix front page - screengrab
197 years ago today, the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix was published using the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah. Sequoyah, also known as George Gist, was a Cherokee polymath who was one of the few people in history from a pre-literate group who created the original written system for that group’s language. Just as Sequoyah’s Cherokee language is still in use, the Cherokee Phoenix is still in print today, nearly 200 years after its first publication. READ more about its origins… (1828)
An article at Our World in Data recently explored trends in air quality across a selection of high and middle-income countries, and found that not only is the West breathing better air than at perhaps any point since urbanization, but that developing nations likely won’t need 100 years or more to arrive at similar outcomes.
Published by Hannah Ritchie, the article focuses on two kinds of gases emitted from industrial activity: sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). Both enter the air we breathe from the burning of fossil fuels—coal in particular—while the latter is emitted mostly from internal combustion engines.
Bad air quality is responsible for millions of lost life years worldwide from respiratory problems, cardiovascular issues, and neurological disease—all of which can develop and become exasperated under prolonged exposure to air pollutants.
UK sulphur dioxide emissions – credit Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) 2024, CC BY license.
As seen in this chart, emissions of SO2 have just dipped under levels seen at the earliest periods of British industrialization. Before this, city and town air quality would have been badly tainted through emissions of wood smoke, so it’s safe to assume that 2022 marked the best British air in many centuries, not just the last two.
SO2 enters the ambient air primarily in urban environments through the burning of coal, and the significant reduction in coal use across the West has seen this number plummet.
But as regards middle-income countries like China and India that still rely on coal for electricity—all is not lost, as the next chart shows.
Sulfur dioxide emissions around the world – credit Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) 2024, CC BY license.
While the UK consumption of coal and emissions of SO2 have fallen in lockstep, the US and China present as excellent case studies for nations—like India, the fourth example—who rely on coal for electricity.
Even if coal consumption is increasing, SO2 emissions can fall even below baseline, with the diligent application of existing technologies for “scrubbing” coal.
“In 1990, the US included a cap-and-trade scheme on SO2 as part of its Clean Air Act Amendments,” Ritchie writes. “Each coal plant was given a ‘cap’ for how much SO2 it could emit, forcing it to either implement technologies to reduce its emissions, trade credits with other plants, or pay a large fine for every tonne of extra sulfur it emitted.”
This was hugely successful, as over just a single decade, emissions had dropped double-digit percentages.
Scrubbers are an apparatus that clean the gases passing through the smokestack of a coal-burning power plant. They exist as large towers in which aqueous mixtures of lime or limestone absorbers are sprayed through the emissions, known as flue gases, exiting a coal boiler. The lime/limestone absorbs some of the sulfur from the flue gases.
These have been used to tremendous effect in China, which despite tripling its coal use since 2000, has actually reduced SO2 emissions to pre-2000 levels. India does not use, nor does it mandate coal scrubbers, which explains its upward trajectory in both use and emissions.
One important note that the article failed to mention: if a country is burning coal, it means they aren’t burning wood or dung. While seemingly more natural than coal or oil, these produce their own, more significant health hazards, as the particulate matter in wood smoke is much larger and higher than smoke from fossil fuels.
Air quality in a city will increase if switching to coal from wood and dung, in the same way that switching from coal to natural gas will accomplish the same. Additionally, more years of life will be lost for having no electricity compared to coal-powered electricity.
But not all emissions come from power production. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) is generated through the burning of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene in internal combustion engines, and much like SO2 emissions, there exists a gradual upward trend throughout the 20th century.
Nitrogen oxide emissions around the world – credit Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) 2024, CC BY license.
In the UK, NOx emissions have fallen to levels seen in 1950, even as the number of road-driven miles in the country has steadily increased to near the highest levels in the country’s history.
This was largely accomplished by the increase in fuel efficiency and exhaust systems on automobiles mandated by the EU in the 1990s. The Euro 1 rating was introduced in 1992, and the bloc is now on Euro 6.
“To comply with regulations, car manufacturers have had to innovate on technologies that can reduce the emissions of NOx and other pollutants from car exhausts,” writes Ritchie. “These technologies have included catalytic converters, filters for particulate matter, gas recirculation—which lowers the temperature of combustion and therefore produces less NOx from the exhaust…”
In the chart above, the nations of South Africa, Brazil, and China are those that have adopted similar emissions standards, while those below are those that haven’t, demonstrating how quickly these harmful emissions can be cut out of the air if smart regulation is imposed.
Beijing—once synonymous with face masks and grimy skies, now enjoys a routine weather phenomenon called the “Beijing Blue,” in other words, a blue sky. This, GNN reported, was accomplished by a “war on pollution” that led to an average life expectancy increase of 4 years for the average Beijingren.
SHARE This Great Map Towards Easy Breathy Progress On Social Media…
Six years after their installation on the world’s longest sea crossing, thousands of bamboo panels have withstood six years of intense exposure to the elements without issue.
A report published by engineers in the Chinese paper Science and Technology Daily claims the panels are “as solid as ever,” a mark of success for China’s blossoming bamboo engineering industry, where the world’s fastest-growing plant is becoming its fastest-growing construction material.
While walking last spring through the city of Lucknow, India, I saw a tall concrete water tower under construction. The concrete was clearly setting; it was that dark grey color typical of wet cement, and every right angle was sharp as a knife edge.
I was left in utter shock as every square foot of structure all the way up to the basin at the top was supported by a half-dozen tall trunks of bamboo. Hundreds of them had been used, and they cluttered the future water tower like an artistic child’s popsicle stick sculpture.
It was a sight endemic to Asia—the home of bamboo, undoubtedly one of the world’s most remarkable plants. This member of the grass family contains more than 1,400 species spread out over 115 genera, including some which can grow over a meter a day.
But speed isn’t bamboo’s only characteristic. Some species display a tensile strength similar to steel. Some match up with hardwood lumber, and others far surpass concrete for PSI. It loves marginal land, sequesters 50% more carbon dioxide than typical trees, and some bamboo species even spark like flint when struck with an axe.
These properties make bamboo a rapidly emerging material for so much more than just the eco-friendly cutting board or bedspread you saw in IKEA.
A section of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge terminating at the entrance to an undersea tunnel – credit Am730, retrieved from YouTube. CC 3.0.
Besting the elements
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is the world’s largest and longest sea crossing and is described sometimes as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
It consists of three cable-stayed bridges, four artificial islands, and an undersea tunnel all of which cover 34 miles (55 kilometers) of open sea beyond the Pearl River Delta.
Stretching for many miles along these installations, the scenic observation platforms are lined in 215,000 square feet of DassoXTR bamboo floor panels that have withstood sunlight, typhoons, and seawater corrosion, remaining “as solid as ever,” according to the report in the Daily.
These panels have been specially engineered to act as composite building materials through an innovative heat treatment to remove the tendency of bamboo to rapidly decay due to its rich nutrient stores.
Lou Zhichao, from Nanjing Forestry University’s Bamboo Research Institute, has been working on treatments like these to improve bamboo’s versatility and durability. The heat treatment was perfected in 2016, but since then his institute has developed a low-emission adhesive with reduced formaldehyde and phenol levels specifically designed to create composite bamboo products while adhering to strict emissions codes for the European market.
“China is not only the world’s largest bamboo producer but also holds a comparative advantage in processing capabilities,” Lou told the Daily, which added the total Chinese market is worth around $74.2 billion.
“Maintaining China’s leadership in bamboo technology innovation is crucial. The industry should focus on advancing automation and smart manufacturing while actively shaping international standards.”
In 2023, China announced a three-year plan to promote “bamboo instead of plastic,” to increase bamboo utilization by 20% by 2025 in an effort to reduce plastic waste. That means more bamboo in everything from construction to packaging.
SHARE This Amazing Engineering With The Humble Bamboo On Social Media…
An example of the pods at Dallas Love Field Airport - credit: JetWind Corporation
An example of the pods at Dallas Love Field Airport – credit: JetWind Corporation
An intuitive piece of hardware is collecting a days’ worth of renewable energy from airplane engine exhaust before take-off from a Dallas airport.
“Boarding is completed” is a common refrain heard over the intercom system in the moments before taxiing to the runway.
At that moment, the pilot will begin a series of engine tests and pre-flight checks during which time the turbine engines are idling with their ferocious noise and exhaust fumes.
A company called JetWind has realized that all that idling force is like the strong winds needed to power a wind turbine, and has built a series of pods that can capture it during the 5-10 minutes the aircraft is sitting at the gate waiting for clearance to taxi.
“The main goal of our project is to harness the consistent wind created by jets and convert it into an eco-friendly energy source,” JetWind’s founder and president Dr. T. O. Souryal told Interesting Engineering.
“What was once considered wasted energy can now benefit energy grids, ultimately promoting smarter and more sustainable infrastructure across the globe.”
Three years of testing between 2021 and 2024 have informed the official deployment of JetWind’s flagship product at Dallas Love Field airport. 13 sets of pods will sit beneath the gate hooked up to external batteries that connect to the grid the airport uses. Solar panels add to the energy generation, and the whole set can create about 30 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, enough to power a family home for a few days.
While on its own it isn’t nearly what the average airport will consume during a day of operations, when combined with 12 other systems just like it, it can make a serious difference in reducing the carbon footprint of the building.
“Dallas Love Field has always been a hub of progress, and the introduction of JetWind’s Energy Capturing Pods reinforces its position as a testing ground for innovative technologies,” said former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert.
“By converting man-made wind into energy, we are highlighting Dallas as a leader in sustainable solutions and proving that cities can take significant steps toward tackling global energy challenges.”
The debut of the JetWind pods at Love Field has attracted attention from around the globe, including companies and governments from Switzerland, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, the UK, France, and Australia.
SHARE This Innovative Idea To Create Energy Where Once Was Only Waste…
From the Magazine of the Archaeological Institute of America comes the jaw-dropping chronicle of an Egyptian temple, once covered in dirt and soot, that’s now revealing an ancient creation myth and the cult that worshiped it.
Located far in the south, confusingly called “Upper Egypt” on the west bank of the Nile, the Temple of Khnum has survived since the time of Cleopatra. Recently undergoing extensive restoration work, colors, painted inscriptions, and beautiful carvings cover every inch of the structure.
Even while Egypt was ruled by Macedonian Greek kings playing pharaoh, the locals continued to worship ancient, but also local deities. In the modern city of Esna, these were Khnum, a ram-headed god of creation, and his wife Neith.
They were honored to preside over a temple that is now in ruins 30 feet below the level of the street. However, in the year 30 BCE when the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, took control of the country, work began on an impressive red sandstone ‘pronaos,’ or entrance hall, the remains of which are extremely well intact and measure 120 feet long, 65 feet wide, and 50 feet high.
It’s believed the pronaos would have dwarfed the temple itself—built 300 years before. 200 years passed before the columns, walls, and ceilings were finished being decorated. The scenes thereupon occasionally depict some of the Roman emperors who came and went during this long exercise in inter-generational artistry.
For 1,500 years, the pronaos existed merely as a shelter from weather while the temple behind it was dismantled to build canals. In the 19th century it became a storehouse for cotton and gunpowder.
Over those long years, the soot from fires lit in the interior gradually covered the ceilings, while bacteria glommed together dust and sand which obscured the inscriptions and drawings.
Some of these were cleaned and documented in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until a major cleaning was undertaken, beginning in 2018, that the wealth of iconography and artistry could truly be comprehended.
A joint Egyptian-German team, led by Egyptologist Christian Leitz of the University of Tübingen and Hisham El-Leithy and Ahmed Emam from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, have now cleaned virtually the entire pronaos, and what they uncovered is nearly unique in Egyptian religious architecture.
The pronaos welcomed worshipers into the temple of Khnum, a god of creation whose worship first appears in the hieroglyphic record around 4,000 BCE. By the time of the New Kingdom, (1550–1070 BCE), his appearance and profile had expanded to involve fertility and the Nile, and was depicted occasionally with a crocodile head as well as that of a ram’s.
He is written to have created all things in the world on a potter’s wheel—a tenant captured in a striking mural wherein the Roman Emperor Trajan is depicted as presenting incense sticks whilst a priest in leopard skin below him offers the god a potter’s wheel.
Also at Esna, he is referred to as Khnum-Ra, showing how regional worship involved co-opting other deities, in this case by appropriating the name and perhaps the duties of the greater understood sun god Ra. Exquisite columns at the entrance of the pronaos, and much of the interior besides, are colored in red and yellow along the theme of sunlight.
But Khnum doesn’t reign alone in Esna. Hieroglyphic inscriptions record him having a spouse—Neith. Together they’re referred to as the “Lord and Lady of Esna.” Neith is referred to as the “mother of mothers,” in a nod to her perhaps co-equal role as creator.
“Both these deities are responsible for the creation of a whole universe,” Tübingen’s Egyptologist Daniel von Recklinghausen, told Leonard. “You find this idea of creation everywhere in the temple.”
All over the walls of the building, aspects of classical Egyptian life are highlighted with gorgeous colors, inscriptions, and paintings. In one area, images and hieroglyphics combine to explain how rituals were carried out at the temple. Around 90 days of the year there were feasts and rites to honor the gods.
In one stunning image, a procession carries the shrine of Khnum aboard a mythical sun boat out from the mouth of the pronaos.
Another collection of images on the ceilings bears witness to the Egyptians’ adoption of the twelve zodiac symbols first used in ancient Babylon. All twelve are depicted, separated in groups of six, along with all of the 7 planets known in antiquity.
Leitz and von Recklinghausen suspect there are many more connections between the positioning of texts and images that have yet to be discovered.
“I’ve been quite astonished at the numerous cases of these interactions,” Leitz tells Archaeology Magazine. “I didn’t expect it, and, at the moment, we don’t know whether this might have been repeated in any other temple in Egypt.”
It has taken six years for the team led by Leitz and El-Leithy to clean the temple of Khnum’s extraordinary entrance hall. Only 6 pillars and two interior walls remain unclean, a job to which Leitz ascribes about 18 months of necessary work—suggesting that even more marvels may emerge from the sands and soot of time.
Read the story on Archaeology Magazine and see the beautiful pictures of the interior artwork.
SHARE This Incredible Piece Of History Still Standing And Shining Under The Sun
Quote of the Day: “There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Photo by: MARK ADRIANE (cropped, 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?
Silene stenophylla - credit Maria Khoreva, via iNaturalist, CC 4.0. BY
13 years ago today, a team of Russian botanists successfully regenerated 36 specimens of Silene stenophylla from frozen samples of the plant’s fruit buried in the Russian permafrost between 40 and 60,000 years ago by squirrels. Surpassing the previous record for regeneration by more than 10 times, placental cells extracted from the frozen fruit were radiocarbon dated to 29,800 years BCE. READ what the plant looked like after it was grown… (2012)
Rosemary Farm egg pallets arrive at the Los Angeles Food Bank - provided to CBS by Rosemary Farm
Rosemary Farm egg pallets arrive at the Los Angeles Food Bank – provided to CBS by Rosemary Farm
What do you get when you cross some good eggs with a fire? In Los Angeles County, you get much-needed relief.
In the wake of the Palisades and Altadena fires, and amid continual rising prices for eggs at the supermarket, a California farm has donated 324,000 eggs to victims of the recent wildfires.
54,000 will be given specifically to a charity of chefs and nonprofiteers called Gather For Good which cooks meals for first responders and others directly involved with combating the fires.
Another separate donation will be made to Winter Fate Bakes, a Los Angeles bakery that has offered to bake and donate a birthday cake to any child whose family lost a house in the fire.
The idea for the donation didn’t come out of times of plenty, but times of want. The 100-year-old family-owned Rosemary Farm in Santa Maria has had its flock of hens devastated by bird flu, but has decided to leverage its “sister farm” in South Dakota, which has remained unaffected, to make the donation.
“It’s been a struggle not only for us as farmers but for the entire industry,” Linda Sanpei, who handles marketing for the farm, told USA Today. “This flu has taken out so many producers nationwide.”
“With all that’s happened in Los Angeles, we believe in community and in giving back. There’s no greater time of need than right now for Southern California residents.”
The more than 300,000 eggs will be transported aboard refrigerated trucks and sent to the Los Angeles Food Bank, which will oversee their distribution among the fire victims.
GNN has reported on several companies and individuals stepping up to help the fire victims. National instrument retailer Guitar Center has set up a multi-million dollar fund to replace any instrument or equipment lost in the fires up to $1,600.
SHARE This Eggcellent Story Of Kindness And Charity With Your Friends…
Thyreus species of Australian bee – Photo by Clancy Lester
Clancy Lester with the Yolŋu – supplied by Clancy Lester to ABC
A young Australian ecologist travels from town to town building bee “hotels” and educating children and adults alike about the importance of making room for native insects.
Australia has a high prevalence of solitary bee species: that is, bees that don’t live in colonies or hives and potentially don’t even make honey. Nicknamed the “Bee Man,” his dream is to ensure no more go extinct.
23-year-old Clancy Lester’s interest in entomology was first ignited when he embedded himself with the Yolŋu (that’s pronounced YOL-gn-oo) Aboriginal people in Australia’s Northern Territory, and saw first-hand how their livelihoods were affected by declines in native bee species.
Annual harvests of honey from native bee species not only represent a joyous and nutritious part of their traditional diets but also a feature in traditional songs and fables.
Declines in the populations of honey-making bees, which Lester says is due to a combination of habitat loss and over-application of pesticides in agriculture, is slowly robbing this and future generations of Yolŋu people of their birthright.
Seeing empty hives, he told ABC News AU, lit a “fire in his belly”.
These days, Lester conducts school workshops and community-based conservation projects teaching how people can make simple changes to make room for bees, either planting native species and converting median strips and road verges into native floral beds—or building bee “hotels.”
Australia bee in its hotel – Photo by Dr. Kit Prendergast aka The Bee Babette
“It’s one of the simplest ways of simulating, as best as we can, the natural environment where native bees and other insects will nest in,” Lester said.
Lester has put together a variety of resources that anyone can access on the internet about how to build one of these little structures, 800 of which he has overseen across Australia.
Clancy Lester giving a school presentation – supplied by Clancy Lester to ABC
“Then, when it goes into someone’s garden, they might start to see little bits of leaf from a leaf cutter bee or some tree sap from a resin bee, and that gets them to engage and stay connected with native pollinators.”
Thyreus species of Australian bee – Photo by Clancy Lester
Lester says his conservation hero is the dearly departed countryman Steve Irwin, and has no problem bringing a similar level of enthusiasm when presenting to school kids, community groups, or town councils.
SHARE This Young Man’s Mission To Benefit The Bees…
