Weekly News Recap: August 25, 2023

Weekly News Recap: August 25, 2023

Journalists film the live telecast of spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 landing on the moon at ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network facility in Bengaluru, India, Wednesday. (Aijaz Rahi/Associated Press)

I think a future flight should include a poet, a priest and a philosopher . . . we might get a much better idea of what we saw. -- Michael Collins, Apollo 11

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Candelier, a Chandelier Made from 5,000 Gummy Bears (Moss and Fog) Would not last half a day in our house. #GummyMonsters "Artist Kevin Champeny has a great handmade chandelier made from 5,000 hand-cast acrylic gummy bears. The multi-colored lamp took over a hundred hours to construct, with the bears painstakingly strung on dozens of strings. It puts out a fun, charismatic glow."

  • A rare spotless giraffe was born in a Tennessee zoo (NPR) I think she is beautiful. Any thoughts on names? "Standing 14 to 15 feet tall, giraffes are the tallest mammals in the world. When mothers give birth, the calves are already 6 feet tall, and other than on especially rare occasions, they're born covered from hoof to horn in brown spots."

  • How Artificial Intelligence Gave a Paralyzed Woman Her Voice Back (University of California San Francisco) CANADIAN CONTENT To get the full effect, watch the video, it is truly #MindBlowing "At the age of 30, Ann suffered a brainstem stroke that left her severely paralyzed. She lost control of all the muscles in her body and was unable even to breathe. It came on suddenly one afternoon, for reasons that are still mysterious. For the next five years, Ann went to bed each night afraid she would die in her sleep. It took years of physical therapy before she could move her facial muscles enough to laugh or cry. Still, the muscles that would have allowed her to speak remained immobile. [...] Today, Ann is helping researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley develop new brain-computer technology that could one day allow people like her to communicate more naturally through a digital avatar that resembles a person."

  • VIDEO: Edmonton water skier sets record at age 80 (CBC) EDMONTON STORY #GoReg "Reg Toliver from Edmonton just set a record at the Canadian Water Ski Championships earlier this month at the age of 80."

  • VIDEO: This family's wedding dress has been worn by 5 women spanning several generations (CBC) CANADIAN STORY This is a beautiful story. "Isabella Thomson recently tied the knot in a gown that has danced through several generations. It has been worn by five radiant women in one family with no major alterations since 1957."

  • Hundreds of seals and sea lions are treated each year at the Marine Mammal Center (NPR) #Heroes "'We've gone out and actually administered medication to animals that have been hit by boats, we've disentangled whales that have been caught in trash, so we can still give those really large animals that second chance they deserve.' In the chart room, Rulli points to a white board with a layout of the pens that shows the location of each patient. 'These are the manila envelopes, just like at a doctor's office with the name.' Rulli opens a chart and reads. 'So this one here is Tati. He's in IE6, which is in our intensive quarantine area. It's the 5,039th elephant seal to come through our hospital's doors.'"

  • Lancashire and South Carolina pen pals of 70 years meet for first time (BBC) #PenPals "Patsy Gregory, from Hoghton in Lancashire, travelled nearly 4,000 miles to meet Carol-Ann Krause in Conway, South Carolina, who she began writing to as a 12-year-old Girl Guide. Mrs Gregory said Mrs Krause was exactly as she imagined she would be. 'I recognised her immediately and it just felt natural," she said.'"

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Researchers discover thousands of dinosaur footprints in Alaska (CBC) What a find! "Dustin Stewart has been obsessed with dinosaurs since he was nine years old. But he never dreamed he'd grow up to study 70-million-year-old footprints in Alaska. Scientists have found dinosaur tracks in the Denali National Park before, but never anything on this scale. Stewart, a paleontologist and graduate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), says there are thousands of newly found prints crawling up vertical walls 'like Spider-Man.'"

  2. 14 whales, 1 dolphin have died at Marineland since 2019: ministry documents (CBC) NIAGARA FALLS STORY #Ugh "At Marineland, the Ontario theme park subject to a long-running animal welfare investigation, 14 whales and one dolphin have died since 2019, The Canadian Press has learned. Details about the deaths at the tourist attraction in Niagara Falls are contained in a list created by the Ministry of the Solicitor General following freedom of information requests. All but two of those 15 marine mammal deaths were among the park's beluga whales."

  3. All 8 people rescued from stranded cable car in Pakistan after 14 hour ordeal (CNN) Well done Pakistan SF! What a great effort and an even better outcome. "After a 14-hour ordeal, all eight people, including six children and two adults, who were stranded on a cable car dangling hundreds of feet over a valley in northwest Pakistan have been rescued, the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said in a statement."

  4. The World Is Going Blind. Taiwan Offers a Warning, and a Cure (Wired) Jeepers. "It’s estimated that by 2050, half the world’s population will need glasses, contacts, or surgery to see across a room. High myopia is now the leading cause of blindness in Japan, China, and Taiwan."

  5. How the Banana Came To Be—And How It Could Disappear (Literary Hub) I wonder what it would be like to be in a world without the banana. "Bananas are a fruit that unites the world. We may not all eat the same variety, but we all know a banana when we see one. Depending on where you live and what kind you eat, they are sweeter or starchier, creamy or tough, all loaded with potassium."

  6. Alberta researcher and expert in Arctic climate dies while conducting field work in Nunavut (CBC) EDMONTON STORY RIP. A sad story. "A University of Alberta researcher who specialized in the study of Arctic climate issues died while doing field work in the Nunavut hamlet of Grise Fiord. Maya Bhatia, a biogeochemist and associate professor in the U of A's science faculty, died Aug. 16 while on one of her many research trips into the Inuit community, the U of A said."

  7. Great Pacific Garbage Patch cleanup team hauls in 55 tonnes of plastic waste (CBC) BRITISH COLUMBIA STORY Seems like a gargantuan job. "A fishing expedition of sorts that brought in a mother lode of plastic from the area of the ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been delivered to Ogden Point in Victoria for recycling and disposal. The 55-tonne haul was collected in a six-week operation by the Ocean Cleanup project, a Dutch non-profit trying to rid the world's oceans of plastic. Tackling the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is no small feat. Located 2,000 kilometres from Victoria between Hawaii and California and estimated to be twice the size of Texas, the first phase involved pulling a skimming line between two ships that works to concentrate any floating plastic."

  8. Wagner chief Prigozhin on board plane that crashed north of Moscow, Russian civil aviation agency says (CBC) "Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, was presumed dead Wednesday after a plane crash north of Moscow that killed all 10 people on board. Prigozhin was on the plane, according to Russia's civil aviation agency, which cited the airline. The crash immediately raised suspicions since the fate of the founder of the Wagner private military company has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted the mutiny."

  9. India becomes 4th country to reach the moon as spacecraft lands near lunar south pole (CBC) Well done India! "India on Wednesday made history as it became the first country in the world to land a spacecraft near the moon's south pole, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and the fourth country to achieve a moon landing [...] After a failed attempt in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China in reaching this milestone. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the historic landing from South Africa, where he is participating in the BRICS nations summit."

  10. Capilano University expanding with $63.2M takeover of Squamish’s Quest University campus (Global News) NORTH VANCOUVER STORY Congrats to all. "Capilano University will be soon providing courses and services in Squamish. With help from the B.C. government, it has purchased the former Quest University campus. The province invested $48 million into Capilano University for the expansion, with the university covering the rest of the $63.2-million purchase. The campus of the former Quest University was closed in April 2023 due to financial reasons."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Which is the best position to sleep in? (BBC) Myself, I sleep in any position that actually lets me sleep.

  2. Workouts for Fat Loss After 40 (Breaking Muscle) Some great sets to steal here.

  3. New Study Finally Answers the Heavy Weights vs. High Reps Debate (Men's Journal) Some of you might not like (or agree) with the answer.

  4. How to Build a Better Campfire (Outside Online) Always a useful skill. If you have it, you can perfect it. If you don't, this is an excellent primer.

  5. Hatch.ai Unveils OpenGiving: AI-Powered Search Engine Connecting Nonprofits With New Donors (NonprofitPRO) Only the U.S. for now but imagine how this is going to change prospect research.

  6. The 10 Most Common Types of Work Meetings (and How to Run Them Well) (Better Humans) Yep, there are ten.

  7. VIDEO: The process of making ladle. An 87-year-old craftsman who has been making ladles for 70 years. (YouTube) This was so satisfying, I had to share.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announces $1 million donation to American Red Cross for Maui (Yahoo News) "Just two weeks after deadly and destructive wildfires fueled by high winds ripped through the island of Maui, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is providing relief."

  2. Creighton to receive $5.2 million donation to train nursing students (Omaha.com) "Creighton University’s College of Nursing will receive a $5.2 million boost from the Harper Family Foundation to recruit and train nursing students."

  3. Hospital receives historic $1.4 million-plus donation (Simco Reformer) SIMCOE STORY "The foundation recently received a $1,448,767.95 donation. It is the largest single donation in the foundation’s history and it comes courtesy of the Hagersville Catch the Ace Draw, which spanned 45 weeks."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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