A potential solution to the catastrophic ice loss we are experiencing in the poles?! SAY NO MORE! Read on.

Original article by McKinley Corbley via The Good News Network

A shocking new discovery in Antarctica might be a potential life saver in the fight against climate change.

According to a study conducted by The Ohio State University, the earth under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is rising faster than ever recorded before. While that may sound alarming, it’s actually good news for the crumbling ice sheets above.

GPS stations attached to the Arctic bedrock shows that the “uplift rate” of the region is measured at roughly 41 millimeters (1.6 inches) per year. In contrast, areas such as Iceland and Alaska were considered…

Original article by Klaus Sieg via Reasons to Be Cheerful

Kebab stands. Hairdressers. Shisha bars. Cell phone stores. Berlin’s Hermannplatz is a riot of commerce at the junction of two districts, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The backdrop to it all is the mighty Karstadt building, a 775,000-square-foot department store that was the largest and most modern in the world when it opened in 1929. In September, the Karstadt logged another milestone by becoming the first department store in Germany to dedicate a large portion of its floor space exclusively to used goods.

The symbolism is as potent as the real-world impact — imagine if Bloomingdale’s or Saks dedicated a whole floor to used blouses and pre-owned pants. But in the German…

Two varieties of apples that were thought to be wiped off the face of the earth made a come back in our beautiful home state of Oregon! Our state’s biodiversity never ceases to amaze us.. Read on!

Original article by Shannon Gormley via Willamette Week

Last fall, Dave Benscoter traveled to a remote corner of Oregon in search of an apple that hadn’t been identified in over a century.

Benscoter is the founder of the Lost Apple Project, an organization that tracks down apple varieties deemed extinct. This week, Lost Apple Project and Oregon-based Temperate Orchard Conservancy announced they had found seven more types of apples though lost to time. Two of those…

A beautiful medical discovery regarding detection for early tumor recurrence! Medicine is getting better every day.. Enjoy this read!

Original article by Jennifer Pereira & Mya Green via Good Morning America

A new blood test seeks to change the game in cancer management.

Signatera, a “tumor-informed” blood test developed by Natera, can detect circulating tumor DNA in the bloodstream for certain types of cancers.

“What makes the tumor DNA different is that it has certain mutations that actually lead to the uncontrolled cell growth that became the cancer,” Solomon Moshkevich, the general manager of oncology at Natera, told “Good Morning America.” “And by virtue of analyzing a sample of the tumor, from the patient, we actually know what the mutations…

With the developments of new and improved infrastructures in cities around the world, surely some components of previous growth are left by the wayside. In Paris, underground parking garages are being revamped to grow mushrooms! What an innovative use of the available space.

Original article by Andy Corbley via the Good News Network

What can you do with a dark underground parking lot that isn’t being used anymore? Think fungus.

Unused parking garages around the French capital have been turned into organic mushroom farms, thanks to a company called Cycloponics.

Allowing an extremely nutritious crop to be grown and sold directly in Paris, the initiative is part of a number of renovation projects the City is encouraging and sponsoring.

Along…

Think twice about those little yellow weeds – a tire company in Germany is finding ways to use dandelions in their tire manufacturing process! Read on!

Original article by Andy Corbley via the Good News Network

As companies continue to search for more environmentally regenerative materials to use in manufacturing, the tire industry is beginning to revisit an old Soviet method of rubber cultivation, using a plant that is considered a pesky weed in the West—dandelions.

A major tire company in Germany has partnered with the University of Aachen to produce dandelion rubber tires in a bid to cut back on landfill waste, microplastic pollution, deforestation, and economic shortcomings related to rubber tree cultivation.

While the concept of “dandelion…

Designer Jacqueline de la Fuente turns everyday trash into treasure! Original article by Katherine Gallagher.

London-based designer Jacqueline de la Fuente is committed to turning trash into treasure. She’s the artist behind De La Jardin, which offers decorative vases made from a unique type of cardboard and paper waste clay.

Sourced from discarded or unwanted paper from local cafes and her own home as well as cardboardvia everything from egg cartons to packaging, de la Fuente invented the clay recipe herself, taking hints from papier-mâché. The process begins after the artist collects old paper products, shreds the materials by hand and soaks them in water before making it all into a pulp.…

Amazing progress made by Hande Ozdinler and Richard Silverman on reversing ALS neuron damage! Great read.. Enjoy! – BackyardBend

By Good News Network

In a study using a non-toxic substance on mice, Northwestern University researchers have identified the first compound that eliminates the ongoing degeneration of brain neurons in the paralyzing disease known as ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease in which upper motor neurons degrade in victims, producing a swift and fatal demise.

In addition to ALS, other motor neuron diseases, such as hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) progress in a similar fashion.

In ALS, movement-initiating nerve cells in the brain (upper motor neurons) and muscle-controlling nerve cells in the spinal cord (lower…

Here’s an amazing science discovery-based read for your Tuesday morning from BackyardBend!

Via National Geographic BY MICHAEL GRESHKO

During winter in the Southern Hemisphere, a blue point of light in the constellation Telescopium gleams overhead. The brilliant pinprick on the sky, which looks like a bright star, is actually two stars in close orbit—accompanied by the closest known black hole to Earth.

The newly discovered black hole is about 1,011 light-years from our solar system in the star system HR 6819. Unveiled today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the invisible object is locked in an orbit with two visible stars. It’s estimated to be about four times the mass of the sun and…

From World at Large

In another study on the use of psychedelic compounds as medicine, two doses of psilocybin—the compound that gives “magic mushrooms” their magic—was found to significantly reduce major depressive symptoms in adults when it was combined with assisted psychotherapy.

24 adults were included in the small study that consisted of two five-hour psilocybin therapy sessions and 24 weeks of follow up—and the results seemed to shock researchers at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research (CPCR) at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

“The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” says Alan Davis, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.