A Daily Antidote to Everything Else
Vera Wang, a senior at Kaiser High School, won multiple categories at the 2026 Hawaiʻi State Science & Engineering Fair for her research on fungi.
Source: Fungi found on coconut husks can decompose plastic, sunscreen | University of Hawaiʻi System News
Very cool.
A dog that survived a fall from a tall cliff at a popular Nova Scotia park is back with his family after local firefighters used ropes to raise him back up.
Source: Firefighters use ropes to rescue dog that went over cliff at Nova Scotia park
Extremely similar to the local organization where I volunteer: WASART. (Though I don’t jump off cliffs. 
)
A small Finnish town has turned to the world’s largest commercial sand battery to tackle a major hurdle in the energy transition: intermittency.
Source: Finland’s radical answer to renewable energy’s biggest headache: The world’s largest sand battery
I find these types of solutions fascinating.
For 19 years, Joshua Schneeloch grew up in a German Catholic orphanage wondering why no one had come to take him home. Decades later, a simple DNA test finally led him to the father he had prayed his whole life to meet, and to a family ready to welcome him with open arms. Good news stories today.
Source: He Grew Up Feeling Unwanted. After 55 Years, He Finally Met the Father He Prayed For
Wow.
Rosco’s Pizza is in a small Michigan town, but its impact is reaching across the world.
Love this.
97-year-old Westel Creager promised his great granddaughter he would attend her med school graduation. He delivered on his vow this summer.
Awesome.
Sometimes, seeing a problem is all it takes to inspire someone to become part of the solution. That is exactly what happened when Mark Waters noticed women and young children walking alongside a busy road and waiting for a bus in grass that was taller than some of the kids.
Source: Man Cuts Grass After Seeing Students Waiting at Bus Stop in Dangerous Conditions
Simple. Inspiring.
Scientists have figured out how two famously poisonous plants create chemicals with surprising medical potential. After tracking thousands of genes in wolfsbane and larkspur, they identified six enzymes needed to build a complex compound called atisinium. The team recreated the process inside tobacco plants, offering a sustainable way to produce and test these rare molecules in larger amounts.
Source: Two deadly flowers could inspire powerful new medicines
Fascinating.
Sage LaJoie is used to seeing animals in need along her running route in Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge — but this one was her biggest challenge yet.
Source: Runner saves massive loggerhead sea turtle that was hopelessly flipped upside down in the sand
Nice.
Gordon Mellish says he has saved at least 10 people using CPR after being trained in the life-saving technique, but giving mouth-to-mouth to an otter pup was a completely different animal.
Source: Otter pup revived by CPR, reunited with family, after choking on net in B.C.
Pretty cool…