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Flooded South Carolina College Team to Get Extra Love in Louisiana Saturday

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Good News Network
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football player south carolina gamecocks facebook

This weekend, the Tigers will be on the prowl for ways to help the Gamecocks feel at home.

Because of the devastating flooding in that state, Saturday’s football game at the University of South Carolina has been moved to the opponent’s field in Baton Rouge.Refugees welcome Twitter RefugeesEFL

New Goal for German Football Stars: Helping Refugees

USC may lose their home field advantage, but in a show of southern hospitality and good sportsmanship, the Louisiana State University Tigers band will be learning all of the competing team’s fight songs.

The school is also donating all ticket sale proceeds to disaster relief in the state.

“We want to support South Carolina in anything they want to do,” Les Miles, coach for LSU, said yesterday. “We have been through weather issues here.”

(READ more at ESPN.com) Photo: South Carolina Gamecocks Facebook

The First Canadian City to Eliminate Homelessness –Here’s How They Did It

By
Terry Turner
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For the homeless population of Medicine Hat, Alberta, the right dose of the perfect solution has led to an amazing revolution.

Tonight, every one of the city’s 60,000 people are sleeping with a roof over their heads, thanks to the Canadian city’s new policy that mandates housing for anyone who has spent 10 days in a shelter or on the streets.

When city officials learn of a person living in these circumstances, they move the individual (or family) into a house or apartment. In fact, Mayor Ted Clugston says 10 days is the absolute limit—the city usually finds housing for homeless people even quicker than that.

Los Angeles Officials Vow to Spend $200Mil on Helping Homeless

The first city in Canada to officially end homelessness, Medicine Hat adopted the “Housing First” plan, where the homeless are given a place to live first before tackling the underlying causes of their homelessness. Utah used this model to reduce its homelessness by 91% in ten years.

“Housing First puts everything on its head. It used to be, ‘You want a home, get off the drugs or deal with your mental health issues,’” Clugston told CBC News. “If you’re addicted to drugs, it’s going to be pretty hard to get off them, if you’re sleeping under a park bench.”NY: She's The Boss

Once Homeless She’s Now the Boss of Her Own Construction Business

The city started building new homes for the homeless in 2009 and has moved nearly 900 people off the streets since then. It costs the city about $20,000 a year to house a homeless person — but $100,000 a year if they are living on the streets.

Since Medicine Hat adopted Housing First, police calls about homeless people and emergency room visits have plummeted.

(Photo of homeless native couple by Doug Brown, CC — Story tip: Murray Lindsay)

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Donations May Reach $1Mil for Wounded Hero of Oregon Shooting

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Terry Turner
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Chris Mintz GoFundMe page

Thousands of strangers inspired by an Oregon student have donated $800,000 hoping to help him learn to walk again, following a mass shooting last week where he emerged a hero.

When Chris Mintz heard shots fired at Umpqua Community College, the Army veteran led classmates out of the building, then returned to trigger alarms and get others to safety. While holding a classroom door shut to keep the shooter out, Mintz was shot five times and twice more once the shooter got through the door.

Two Teachers Praised as Heroes in Lafayette Movie Theater Shooting

Mintz survived the event but with both his legs broken. He’ll need physical therapy to learn how to walk again.

His cousin, Derek Bourgeois, set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise $10,000 for Mintz’s medical expenses.

“While Chris is not the type of person to ask for it, he is going to need all of the help he can get while he recovers,” Bourgeois wrote on the page.

Americans and Briton Who Thwarted Train Attack Receive Legion of Honor

The community in Oregon and strangers across the land were quick to offer help, and donations topped a half million dollars in the first day. The tally is at $788,000 this afternoon, four days later.

(READ more at KIRO News)

Teachers Personally Walk 200 Kids Home From School Every Day

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Good News Network
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Teacher Walks Kids 2 Facebook Whitney Achievement Elementary School

We couldn’t have dreamed up a better story to tell on International Walk To School Day.

Carl Schneider, a special education teacher at Whitney Achievement Elementary School, is part of a group of five teachers committed to personally walking home about 200 kids from school every day.

The volunteer group formed after a number of school staff realized that it might be a challenge for kids to make it home safely without a chaperone—the walk is two miles for some, through rough neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee.

Teen Builds Bridge So Kids Can Get to School Without Wading Through Polluted Stream

“We can just get to know the kids and talk about what they did over the weekend or how their behavior was at school that day,” Schneider told WHBQ.

This has been part of the teachers’ routines for three years, but just now gained recognition in the media after a photo posted by an admirer was widely shared.

(WATCH the video below from WHBQ-TV) Photos: Whitney Achievement Elementary School Facebook

FOX13 News, WHBQ FOX 13

UK Auctions Let Artists Donate 100% of Proceeds To Help Refugees

By
Terry Turner
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Syrian Refugee Children CC DFID - UK Department for International Development

Online art sales have painted a picture of relief for Syrian refugees.

During a five-week run in August and September, the “Creative Collective for Refugee Relief” took in donations of art through their Facebook community and used the proceeds to pay for food, shelter, medical supplies and a truck convoy from the UK to deliver the good to camps in Eastern Europe.

The Collective sold most of the 750 pieces of art that were donated to them and raised more than $31,000 for two relief organizations – Syria Relief UK and Calais Refugee Support.homeless-darryl-portrait-FOSA-Facebook

Artist Paints Homeless Portraits, Donates Money Toward Their Care

The Collective’s founders only planned to keep the fundraiser going through September 30th, but now they are asking for more donated works from online artists for another fundraiser.

This time, the Collective is teaming up with “The Common Good Presents” for an online charity auction supporting Syria Relief UK. The Collective wants to supply another 50 pieces for that event on October 23.

(WATCH the Syria Relief charity video below, and SEE more art at the Collective’s Facebook Album) — Photo: UK Dept for International Development

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One-Day Cancer Treatment Ends Weeks of Daily Radiation Visits

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Good News Network
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women breast cancer walk CC theSuperStar

It’s not often that the word “revolutionary” actually follows through on its promise.

But in this case, a cancer treatment that is cutting cost, time, and side effects for patients with a variety of cancers is making a profound difference in the lives of thousands of people.

When undergoing a traditional radiation treatment series, the patient must receive the therapy every day for four to eight weeks.

A newer radiation treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over a year ago just takes eight minutes.

Known as Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT), the procedure involves one single dose of radiation delivered at the time of a lumpectomy or partial mastectomy. Because there is only one treatment to be had, the recovery time, treatment time, and cost are all significantly lower than traditional radiation. The technology has been used in Europe for decades, but was only approved for use in the U.S. in 2013.

In early stage breast cancer patients, by treating the tumor bed only, IORT delivers a much smaller dose to the area, while sparing healthy tissue and organs such as the heart, lungs and rib cage.

Balloon Shaped Catheter iCAD submittedStudies over a five-year period have shown that the recurrence rate of cancer is comparable to that of traditional radiation therapy, while the cost to the patient is significantly lower.

There are several different IORT machines used to deliver the same treatment for people have been approved, such as Varian, Hologic and Zeiss, but these are large and require special procedures. The Xoft System is small and portable, using a miniaturized X-ray tube technology to perform the same procedure.

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The small device was used on Harriett, 78, of Alexandria, Virginia, who always said she’d never undergo chemotherapy or radiation if she was diagnosed with cancer.

Harriett Foley cancer story submittedBut, when that diagnosis came in April of 2014 after a malignant tumor was found in her breast, she was referred to a doctor where she was offered the IORT treatment and agreed to schedule it.

“There were no ill effects at all, I just had to recover from the surgery itself, the lumpectomy, which took about three weeks,” she told Good News Network. “I got along very well after that, and have been clear of cancer. I had a checkup in May and there was no sign of anything.”

She will be celebrating her 79th birthday this Friday.

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Currently, the small device is being used at 70 hospitals and cancer treatment centers around the world. To date, more than 10,000 patients have been treated globally, across all clinical applications, with the Xoft System, which can also be used on non-melanoma skin cancer and gynecological cancers.

Make Sure Your Friends Know About This (Click to share) – Photo (top): theSuperStar, CC

Coffee Roasters Hire the Homeless –Now Can’t Run Store Without Her

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Good News Network
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Old Spike Roastery team photo Kate Beard submitted

For citizens of the United Kingdom, a call to “be social” this weekend offers more than just the chance to say a fine how-do-you-do.

An initiative called Social Saturday will shine a spotlight on 70,000 socially conscious businesses, including cafés, restaurants and shops, offering free classes and tastings.

One especially unique local business gaining attention is the Old Spike Roastery, a coffee shop in Peckham Rye, London set up exclusively to help local homeless people in the community receive job training, work experience, and land a place to live. crpd-Purple_Door_Coffee_shop_Denver_Instagram

Cafe Serves Up Second Chances to Homeless Youth in Denver

Their first homeless employee, Lucy, was selling copies of the Big Issue—a magazine sold by homeless people—near the London Bridge when co-founder Cemal Ezel met her. He liked her so much that he offered her a job on the spot.

The Romanian native doesn’t speak much English, so Ezel is providing her with language courses, which she uses to practice with their customers.

For more on the Old Spike Roastery, check out their website. To learn more about Social Saturday, click here.

Photo by Kate Beard

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Newly Found in Himalayas: Walking Fish and Sneezing Monkeys

By
Terry Turner
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walking fish snakehead Copyright Henning Strack Hansen WWF

A “walking” snakehead fish that can travel on land and breathe air for up to four days is one of the more unusual new discoveries from the world’s highest and most rugged mountain range.

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The walking fish, also known as the blue dwarf snakehead fish is native to streams, lakes, and ponds in the Eastern Himalayas, where even though it has gills, the fish still needs to climb above water periodically to breathe.

On land, its movement is more cumbersome than a smoothly slithering snake, according to World Wildlife Fund researchers, but it can still travel a quarter mile per day between bodies of water.

The WWF has recently catalogued more than 200 new species discovered in the Himalayas between 2009 and 20014.

Snubby monkey-Faunaandflorainternational
Martin Aveling / Fauna and Flora International

Another discovery includes a monkey with a nose so upturned that it sneezes every time it rains. The local people of Myanmar know it well. Scientists first learned of “Snubby” – as they nicknamed the species – from hunters in the forested, remote, and mountainous (Himalayan) Kachin state. Locals claim that the black and white monkey is very easy to find when it is raining because of the sneezes. To avoid this evolutionary inconvenience, snub-nosed monkeys spend rainy days sitting with their heads tucked between their knees.

The sneezing monkey is likely to be classified as critically endangered due to its restricted range and significant hunting pressures.

In all, scientists found 133 plants, 39 invertebrates, 26 fish, 10 amphibians, one reptile, one bird and one mammal in the five years detailed in the Hidden Himalayas: Asia’s Wonderland.

The group says the discoveries highlight the biodiversity of a remote part of the planet and the fragility of the ecosystem surrounding the tallest mountain range in the world.

Photo: Sharada Prasad CS, CC and Henning Strack Hansen/WWF

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How Untangling Your Ideas About Life Will Change Everything

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Good News Network
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Have you ever noticed that your mind is talking all day long? And, rather than being focused on life, your attention follows your thoughts wherever they go?

When you step back and watch your thoughts, you realize that your mind is a storyteller, “liking” this, “not liking” that, wanting what it doesn’t have, and not wanting what it does have.

All of this “scribbling” that goes on in your mind is just ideas about life rather than life itself.

Here’s how to break that habit:

Recognize That Your Mind Wants to Be In Control

You are made up of 3 layers. The top layer is the controlling layer: this is where you identify with whatever your mind is saying. On average, you have 65,000 thoughts a day, and most of them are repeats from the day before.

If a thought says “I am sad,” you think you are sad.  If thought says, “I am mad,” you think you are mad. If you are like most people, you feel you have to be busy doing life and do it right (secretly believing you have never done it quite right enough).  girl-looking-in-mirror-CC-Salvaje

Wonderfully Imperfect: Don’t Define Yourself By Your Flaws

Try this: feel the difference between saying, “I am so afraid” and “I see that you are in fear, and I see how scared you are.” This is the phenomenal power of human attention. When your attention and your immediate experience are not differentiated, it is difficult to untangle them and let go of your thoughts.

Discover the Phenomenal Power of Your Own Attention

As you grew up, you took on the beliefs that you are separate from life, life is not safe, and thus you have to control it. It is the part of you that thinks if you can just figure it out or if you can just do it right, everything will be okay.

Using your attention instead to be curious about what is actually happening right now is an extremely powerful healer. It doesn’t happen while you are trying to get the “good stuff” and it certainly doesn’t happen by trying to resist or change what life is offering. It happens when you discover how to be curious about life rather than always trying to control it.meditating-on-the-beach-CC-HTB

10 Easy Ways You Can Practice Mindfulness

Let’s say you are caught in rush hour traffic, and it takes you three hours to get home from work instead of the usual one hour. For most people, the mind gets upset and wants it to be different.

What would it be like if all of a sudden you start getting curious? You might ask yourself, “What is my mind doing right now?” Just noticing that your mind is stirred up is a blissful moment of not being caught in its world.  It is also powerful if you can also notice what is going on in your body.  It may feel like there is an elephant sitting on your chest, or there is a knot in your stomach, or your jaw is clenched, or your belly is constricted.

9 Things Successful People Won’t Do

A moment of bringing your attention to your immediate experience (whether you are noticing the stories in your head or the tightening in your body) opens the possibility of your bound-up energy being able to move–and eventually it moves through you, leaving you open to life exactly as it is right now.

Get to Know Your Unacceptable Parts

You have been so used to having your attention pinned on changing, resisting or fixing that you can’t see that right outside of your struggling mind is a whole other world of newness, aliveness, intelligence and trust. When you discover this field that is always with you, you reconnect with the healing power of relaxing into life.

It is important to note that if you try to bring your attention to these places of struggle in order to make them go away, it may not work. But if you truly are interested in what you are experiencing, even for just a second, these types of moments accumulate and you come to the place where your reactions to life simply pass through you, leaving you present for the privilege of living this moment of your life.

Photo: Nickolai Kashirin, CC

Mary O’Malley is an author, counselor and awakening mentor in Kirkland, Washington. Mary’s latest book, What’s In the Way Is the Way, provides a revolutionary approach for healing fears, anxieties, shame, and confusion.

Miami Billionaire Uses Own Helicopter To Rescue Hurricane Victims

By
Terry Turner
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helicopter-rescue-billionaire-CC-Dolphins-CC-Neruru

After seeing the path of destruction Hurricane Joaquin carved across the Bahamas, a Florida billionaire jumped into his helicopter.

Miguel “Mike” Fernandez flew into action, heading 150 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to airlift people to safety. Shortly after arriving, he found a group of tourists missing since the storm hit and he and his crew carried them off a flooded island.

He used his chopper, similar to the one pictured above, to help officials scout storm damage, look for survivors, deliver supplies, and rescue anyone who needed help.

Fernandez, who came to the America when he was 12 as a Cuban refugee, spent three years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper before building a fortune in the health care industry.

RELATED: Wealthy Couple Buys Search-and-Rescue Ship to Save Migrants at Sea

Miguel “Mike” Fernandez-MBF-Healthcare
Mike Fernandez, MBF Healthcare Partners

“I heard that nothing was happening down south, where all the damage was done,” Fernandez told the Miami Herald by phone while refueling his vehicle in Georgetown. “All we can do is provide help ourselves and do what we can.”

He’s one of several wealthy people who’ve brought in personal aircraft to help deliver storm relief to Bahamians. They’re coordinating their efforts in Nassau, roughly in the center of the Bahama island chain.

Photo: Dolphins, CC; Neruru, CC

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Paddleboarder’s Peaceful Encounter with Two Whales Captured by Drone (WATCH)

By
Terry Turner
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Southern right whales paddle board drone Screenshot Jaimen Hudson

This whale watcher actually appears to be the one being watched—by a pair of lounging mammals.

When two friends in Esperance, Australia heard that southern right whales had been spotted off the coast, they set out to pay them a visit.

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Jaimen Hudson grabbed his drone and camera equipment while Dave Price paddled out for a closer look. The drone captured stunning video of the whales approaching Price, checking him out, and following him through crystal-clear waters.

“There was one time when the whales lifted their heads up and looked up over Pricey’s board, they were so inquisitive and wanted to know what he was,” Jaimen told ABC News. “The whole time they were very slow-moving and peaceful.”

The huge southern right whale can weigh up to 80 tons, and has often been curious towards human vessels and friendly toward other cetaceans, especially humpback whales and dolphins. There are approximately 10,000 in the species spread throughout the colder, southern part of the Southern Hemisphere.

(WATCH the video) Photo by Jaimen Hudson, YouTube

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200 Million People Lifted From Extreme Poverty in Just Two Years

By
Terry Turner
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girl_receiving_soup Released World Bank

The media may paint a different picture sometimes, but facts are facts: fewer people are living in extreme poverty than at any point in history.

A new report shows that 200 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 2012 — and since 1990 that global population figure has been slashed by 61%.

As the world advances toward a goal of wiping out extreme poverty completely in the next 15 years, the biggest gains since the last World Bank survey in 2012 have been achieved in East Asia and the Pacific region. There, extreme poverty was reduced by 43% in three years, according to the new report by the World Bank. Since 1990, the rate in the region has plummeted by 91%.

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“This is the best story in the world today—these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty,’’ World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said.

The World Bank set its extreme poverty line based on purchasing power for basic food, clothing, and shelter for the purposes of their survey, defining it as income of less than $1.90 per day.

The World Bank and United Nations both have goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Photo: World Bank

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Cloudy, With a Chance of Chocolate: Tiny Parachutes Rain Down on Public

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Good News Network
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people hugging soul pancake video screenshot

If you were alone on a public street and asked to “show someone you care,” what would you do?

When tiny parachutes carrying the suggestion were dropped on unsuspecting bystanders, some people jumped into action, looking around for someone to high-five, or even hug. Others hopped on the phone to tell someone they were loved and needed.

After the person “showed how they cared” for others, they were given chocolate as a sweet reward.

The forecast calling for acts of kindness was put into motion by Hershey’s Kisses partnered with SoulPancake in a campaign called, #ShowYouCare, to remind people that it only takes a moment out of your day to show someone that you care.project 30 construction worker youtube

Strawberries and Roses for Strangers Turn This City’s Monday Around (WATCH)

SoulPancake, a content production company founded by Rainn Wilson of The Office, has produced inspiring videos and web stars like Kid President whose wildly popular video champions 20 Things We Should Say More Often.

(WATCH the video below to see kindness rain down) Photos: SoulPancake video

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New Photoshop App Lets You Retouch Photos on Your Phone for Free

By
Terry Turner
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Reading-text-photoby-Jhaymesisviphotography

Photoshop can be intimidating for even professional photographers, but now there’s an app version designed for amateurs who only take pictures on their phones.

Photoshop Fix gets down to the bare bones, with a handful of features most people will love.

For instance, the “healing” tool lets you erase annoying objects from otherwise cool photos – a “now you see it, now you don’t” fix for your pictures. You mark the offending item spoiling your shot or photobombing your subject and the app replaces it with the surrounding scenery.Companion-app-top-screenshot-Apple-mashup-Thomas Hawk-CC

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Over all, Photoshop Fix has 10 sets of tools in the app and each is easy to use. It lets people do the most frequently needed fixes to pictures — such as cropping, correcting exposure, or adding favorite effects.

Phone App Finds CPR-Trained Folks Nearby Before Expert Help Arrives

There’s also a “liquify” tool, that allows you to easily change a feature’s shape – so it’s possible to “turn that frown upside down” an put a smile on anyone’s face, even if they didn’t smile in the original photo.

It also includes a “restore” function so that if you’ve gotten carried away with too many liquifications, you can back up — or start over.

Photoshop Fix is only available on iOS now, but it’s coming to Android soon—oh yeah, and it’s free!

(READ a Detailed Review at Gizmodo) – Photo by Jhaymesisviphotography, CC

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A Week of ‘Firsts’ and Perks For Good News Network in L.A.

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Good News Network
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geri in LA-hyatt-tree

We’re just back from sunny Los Angeles and the Online News Association’s annual 3-day conference where 2,000 journalists met with tech companies to discuss better ways of attracting audiences in a media landscape that is as crowded as the 405 – the highway a few miles from the event.

It was a week of ‘firsts.’

LA with HH geriI finally met the woman who has been my assistant editor since April but we had never been in the same room. I flew her out from New York City so we could cover more action-packed sessions and meet more people.

As a writer and former publicist, she brought along some fun perks. (More about that later.)

A lot of cool journalism tools were demonstrated for us at the conference, but one seemed to be such a perfect fit for our small operation that I installed it on the website–on the spot.

icopyright logo smYou might have noticed their logo on some of our stories – it’s called iCopyright. It allows us to reprint news articles from top media outlets like Newsweek, the LA Times, and Chicago Tribune. It also allows other people to reprint our stories for free. Please let us know what your experience is; if you have any questions or trouble using the small buttons at the top of most of our stories. A lot of people write to us about reprinting our material and this might be a good way to speed up partnerships with us.

Google had a large booth at the #ONA15 so I went over for the second year in a row to talk about the fact that Good News Network had been rejected twice when applying to Google News as a publisher. I spoke with a lovely young woman named Natalie and she promised she would look into it. I was pleasantly surprised a few days later when indeed she replied and said that I had been accepted. I am thrilled by this ‘first’!

dress-geri-balcony-LA
Click on any photos to enlarge

Now let’s get to those perks!

It was the first time in decades that I traveled with my luggage in the overhead compartment, meaning I packed a small suitcase and couldn’t bring things on hangers. I had to find a dress that could travel well while scrunched up in a suitcase. My assistant editor, Helaina, talked to someone she knew and sent me this snazzy black and white wrap dress from Leota in New York. It fit like a glove and proved that it really could withstand being packed in a ball for most of the day. It was likely the first time I’ve ever worn any designer clothes that were handcrafted. Very nice.

Dish-food-Wallys-restaurant-nasturtium-violet

The food in L.A – especially in Beverly Hills where we dined nearby – was fantastic. Helaina happens to be a food writer, so she set up appointments in several wonderful restaurants like Wally’s, where I was destined to enjoy my first taste of truffles.

The beautiful French chef David Féau brought the divine earthy tuber to our table, baked with delicious cheese inside a pastry. Also his yellowtail poke with crispy red quinoa was out of this world.

chef wallys David Féau-beverly hillsThe other restaurants were also extraordinary: Breeze, at the Hyatt Century Plaza where we stayed (pictured top, tableside) was my favorite; Caulfield’s with their amazing sweet kale salad; and Culina at the Four Seasons. We saw John Cleese after his appearance on Bill Maher eating at Culina’s–where they serve amazing things on pizza dough which is fried, then baked in a wood fire oven.

One final perk I’d like to mention… Although her suitcase was already going to be stuffed on the trip, HH–as I like to call her in GNN group chats–brought me a hoodie. It turned out to be my favorite perk of all.

I cuddled inside it on the long, cold, flight home. It has the longest sleeves of any top I’ve ever worn, with holes Aviator-hoodiefor your thumbs-great for people like me who tend to have icy wrists. I highly recommend this zipped sweatshirt–it even has pockets on the inside and outside, and the cuffs can be turned down to actually become mittens. Made in L.A., I learned later, and it costs a LOT… $145. Grateful.

Thanks for reading, and supporting Good News Network. See you on Google News!

The “World’s Best Teacher” Gives Kids Choices–Instead of Tests

By
Terry Turner
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Nancie Atwell Global Teacher Award screenshot PBS

Pop quiz: who’s the coolest teacher around? Answer: Ms. Atwell.

Today, for World Teacher Day, we’re shining a spotlight on Nancie Atwell, the “World’s Best Teacher” who doesn’t give her students tests or quizzes.

Atwell received the first “Global Teacher Prize” earlier this year–but she’s been changing the profession for 25 years. She created “The Center for Teaching and Learning” in Edgecomb, Maine, to let students and teachers learn alongside each other. Her philosophy boils down to a simple motto: “Give kids choices.”math teacher CC BurningQuestion

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“Anybody’s achievement is driven by interest,” Atwell told PBS News Hour (watch the excellent video below).

She believes the students will invest in their learning if there is a “real curiosity and passion.” The classrooms in the school are designed to promote collaboration, with students and teachers freely moving to work with one another on projects.

SEE All the Stories About Education at Good News Network

The 75 students in her Kindergarten-through-8th Grade school take the standard school curriculum, but they approach it much differently than most schools. Each student is encouraged to research what he or she finds interesting in each course.

The baseline $8,000 tuition is set up on a sliding scale based on parental income — the less parents earn in their jobs, the less they have to pay. That allows kids of doctors and lawyers to share the same classes as kids of farmers and lobstermen.Oliva Haillsey Google screenshot Google Science Fair

Girl Wins Top Prize Inventing Ebola Test That’s Cheaper, Better, Faster

Teachers from around the world are offered four-day internships to learn alongside the students. They see her ideas in action and look for ways to improve their skills while incorporating some of her ideas into their classrooms when they return.

It is true that Atwell’s school really doesn’t allow tests or quizzes. Instead, teachers are required to assess each student’s daily progress and the students keep portfolios of their work through the year.

She’s using her global award to call attention to the profession of teaching as an intellectual opportunity and is investing the one million dollar prize money back into her school — including new scholarships for students.

(WATCH the video below from the NewsHour) — Photo: PBS NewsHour video

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She‘s Basically a Saint, Following Her Dream to Open This Cafe

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Good News Network
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hugs-cafe-employee-WFFAvid-youtube

If you like your food made with love, then this is the restaurant for you–and it all came to restaurant owner Ruth Thompson in a dream.

Hugs café in McKinney, Texas has hired 24 adults with special needs to be trained for jobs preparing and serving lunch to the community every day.

“We’re conforming our tasks to meet their abilities,” Ms. Thompson told WFAA. ArcBARKS-group-shot-facebook-cropped

Mom Starts Dog Treat Biz So Special Needs Adults Can Bake for Bucks

In addition to food prep in the kitchen, there’s a lot of dancing, laughing—and yes, hugging.

Joan Smiley, a mother whose daughter is being trained at Hugs said, “She becomes alive again. She gets her happy giggle back.”

The grand opening is projected for sometime this month.

(WATCH the video below from WFAA, and check out their Facebook page for updates)

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New Discovery: How We Might Starve Tumors by Cutting Off Food Supply

By
Terry Turner
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cancer cells CC Yale Rosen

In their hunger to find ways to cure cancer, scientists may have found a method to starve tumors to death.

Cancer cells must find nutrients to grow. Now, researchers at Oxford University in the UK have discovered the method used by cells to locate those food supplies.

They identified a protein called PAT4 as the main tool cancer cells use to find nutrients in blood, and their research suggests it may be possible to starve tumors by targeting it.adult cancer Coloring Book crayons submitted

HELLO my name is CANCER: Adult Coloring Book Cheers With Humor

“We found that aggressive cancer cells manufacture more PAT4, which enables them to make better use of available nutrients than the cells around them – including healthy tissue,” said Dr. Deborah Goberdhan, who led the research.

Goberdhan’s team created an antibody that let them see levels of PAT4 in human tissues. They found that cancers with low PAT4 levels grew more slowly while patients that showed higher levels had more trouble fighting tumors and a higher chance of remission.

They also discovered that if doctors can reduce the PAT4 levels, it will slow tumor growth.

In Successful Cancer Trial, Therapy “Dissolves” Stage IV Tumor in 3 Weeks

Now that they’ve identified a mechanism that allows tumors to grow, the researchers believe they can find a way to use it as part of a combination treatment that will lead to a higher survival rate for patients. They believe it can be incorporated into other, traditional cancer treatments to fight the disease more effectively.

The research, published today in the science journal Oncogene, was funded by Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

(Photo: Yale Rosen, CC)

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Boy Uses His Birthday for Good Deed After Seeing Police Protests on TV

By
Good News Network
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After seeing a protest against police brutality on the news, a young aspiring police officer named Jeremie Bordua asked his mom if he’d picked the wrong profession.

“Mom, the cops are still the good guys, right?” he wondered.cropped Ethan-Green-and-Police-Dog-Screenshot-KSTP

9-Year-old Boy Skips Birthday Gifts to Help Protect Police Dogs

The 10-year-old from Lansing, Michigan didn’t like the idea of “good” police officers being mistaken for the “bad ones.” He’s been bullied at school and knows how it feels to be unfairly treated.

That’s when he decided to throw a police “thank-you party.” After his mother explained that they couldn’t afford it, he decided to give up his own birthday party to make sure the idea could work.

“The police are more important than any birthday party,” Jeremie told CBS’s Steve Hartman.

Mother and son got to work making and selling cookies throughout the summer to raise money for the party. Jaden Hayes screenshot CBS

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Jeremie often visited the police station to deliver some of those cookies to the officers.

“There faces would light up.. and it did start to improve morale,” a spokesperson for the Lansing Police Department told CBS.

Hundreds of officers are expected to attend the party, which will take place on Jeremie’s 11th birthday in February.

(WATCH the video below from CBS)

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First Ever Glowing Sea Turtle Is Discovered In South Pacific (WATCH)

By
McKinley Corbley
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Tiny fireflies are old news – the world’s first luminescent reptile was discovered lighting up the waters in the South Pacific.

While National Geographic marine biologists were filming bioflourescent corals in the reefs of the Solomon Islands, a hawkbill sea turtle with an almost alien-like red and green glow glided by.opisthotheusis-adorabilis-sea-floor-octopus-Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute-release

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“I’m taking pictures of corals that we already know are bioflourescent,” marine biologist David Gruber said in the National Geographic Exclusive, “and then in the middle – maybe forty minutes into the dive – out of the blue it almost looks like a green and red spaceship and it came right underneath my camera! The only animal that I can really tell you definitively has two (bioflourescent) colors is corals.”

Fireflies have a different type of glow. Bioluminescent organisms – like fireflies – use chemical reactions in their bodies to exude light, while bioflourescent beings absorb light, and radiate it back out.

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The phenomenon is known to exist in corals, crabs, insects, and more than 200 kinds of fishes. Biologists are still uncertain as to why the sea turtle would need the eerie glow for it’s survival. They speculated that the reptile might light up either as a defense mechanism or to reel in prey.

Scientists are only just starting to scratch the surface of bioflourescence on a cellular level, and the hawksbill sea turtle is a huge milestone on the road to illumination.

(READ more at CNN)

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