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Sat, Aug 8, 2026

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16-yo Rookie Lifeguard Leads Heroic Ocean Rescue–With Viral Video of Harrowing Effort

16-yo Rookie Lifeguard Leads Heroic Ocean Rescue–With Viral Video of Harrowing Effort

Lifeguard rescue in Santa Cruz surf – Courtesy of Scott Vander Dussen / @santacruznow on Instagram

The rookie lifeguard didn't flinch.

A giant wave slammed into the California shore and a 10-year-old boy was instantly swept up.

Luckily, a 16-year-old lifeguard ran to help, rushing toward a rescue that would go viral on social media, earning Ryder Williams praise across the internet.

It's Ryder's first summer working as a lifeguard, scanning the shores at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California, where the surf often pounds.

Last week, a sudden sneaker wave surged up the shore, knocking over the little boy and pulling him into the surprising surf. But, Ryder arrived in seconds.

"That's when I turned the camera on and started to document it," California photographer Scott Vander Dussen, who happened to be nearby, told the Los Angeles Times. "I had no idea it was going to be that intense…I've seen lots of interventions and rescues. I have never seen something like this."

Tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific Ocean were producing unpredictable powerful waves and dangerous currents all over the California coast. The massive 8-10 foot wave that

Chihuahua Won’t Stop Pawing at Her Until Owner Finds the Breast Cancer She Smelled

Chihuahua Won’t Stop Pawing at Her Until Owner Finds the Breast Cancer She Smelled

Kristine Richards and her dog Flag – SWNS

A dog owner says her pooch saved her life, by repeatedly pawing at her armpit, which eventually alerted her to breast cancer.

The 61-year-old says her chihuahua Flag started the odd behavior years ago, constantly hitting the underside of her arm with his paw.

She originally dismissed the behavior, until she spotted a small lump under her breast and started to suspect her pup was trying to tell her something.

Kristine Richards, the retiree from Wellington, Somerset, went to an oncologist and was diagnosed with an aggressive form of hormone sensitive lobular breast cancer, which had already spread to her lymph nodes.

But, after a year of intense treatments, Kristine is now cancer free, and says that this is down to Flag's detecting skills – because there were no other symptoms, even though the disease was advanced at the time.

"It was very annoying, I must say, at the time, but then I started to wonder… I had heard that dogs could tell if there was cancer.

Kristine finally went to the oncologist, who said it is quite common for dogs to sniff these

Good News in History, August 3

Good News in History, August 3

On this day 100 years ago, Tony Bennett, the famed jazz and pop singer, who passed away just last year, was born. Winner of 19 Grammys, he grew up in a poor family of Italian immigrants, but his uncle was a vaudeville tap dancer, giving Tony an early window into show business.

After singing in restaurants for money at age 13, he had three No.1 pop hits in the 50s—Because of You, Cold, Cold Heart, and Rags to Riches—but moved on to jazz and became the first male pop vocalist to sing with Count Basie. His 1962 cover, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, won two Grammys and became Bennett's signature song—along with If I Ruled the World. WATCH a spine-tingling song recorded in his home during lockdowns… (1926)

Dwight McCann, CC license

A World War II veteran, Bennett has sold over 50 million records worldwide, including his MTV Unplugged platinum LP that won the top prize, Album of the Year.

In concert, Bennett always sings one song (usually Fly Me to the Moon) without any microphone or amplification, demonstrating

Okefenokee Swamp Clinches World Heritage Status, Joining Ranks of Top Natural Wonders

Okefenokee Swamp Clinches World Heritage Status, Joining Ranks of Top Natural Wonders

Okefenokee terrain – credit, public domain, via UNESCO

Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp is the latest wild wonder of the USA to make UNESCO's hallowed World Heritage Site list.

It joins the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Everglades, and Yellowstone national Parks on the same list, and reflects the stunning biodiversity of American "blackwater" swamps.

Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the 403,000-acre (163,000 hectare) Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the most-visited NWR east of the Mississippi.

Conservation in the swamp dates all the way back to 1918, by which time 1 million cubic meters of timber had already been logged. The federal government acquired most of the swamp for refuge purposes in 1936, and designated it an NWR a year later.

It would go on to collect the designations of Federal Wilderness and Wetland of International Importance under RAMSAR, before the Georgia organ of the National Parks Service announced in 2023 it would be nominated to be the state's first ever prospective entry on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Okefenokee Swamp is the largest, lowland, freshwater peatland in the subtropical zone worldwide, and one of the largest and most intact ecosystems within the North

Canada’s Newest Nickel Mine Will Store 1.5 Millions Tons of Carbon Every Year During Operation

Canada’s Newest Nickel Mine Will Store 1.5 Millions Tons of Carbon Every Year During Operation

The Nickel Rim Mine in Ontario, the only other Western source for Nickel – credit, P199 via Wikimedia, CC 3.0.

On July 31st, mine developer Canada Nickel Company announced it had received final permitting approval from the Ontario government for its gargantuan nickel mining/carbon capture project

The approval is the first issued under Canada's amended Impact Assessment Act, a reform of extractive industry regulations designed to allow the highest-quality projects to be permitted fast.

Financing for the project will come in part through the sale of carbon credits, as Canada Nickel develop what is now a proprietary carbon storage method that allows it to store atmospheric carbon within the milled stone out of which the nickel is separated.

Needed for stainless steel, plating, high-quality allows, and emerging as a must-have for next-generation EV batteries, the market for nickel as a globally-traded commodity is sequestered almost entirely within Indonesia, where poor tropical soils make mining nickel easy.

Some 67% of nickel is mined in the country, a greater share of market control than OPEC has over global oil production. Additionally, in 2024, nickel mining was identified as a primary national

After Stranger Gives Boy a Piano, a ‘Mozart Level’ Is Revealed in Spite of Autism


From Colorado comes the story of a child prodigy pianist whose career was kick-started by a jaw-dropping donation from a complete stranger.

Brought to us via CBS News “On the Road” with Steve Hartman, the story began on the mock ebony and ivory of an unused electric keyboard forgotten in a basement 5 years ago.

It was found, one fateful day, but Jude Kofie, then a tender 9 years old and son of Ghanaian immigrant and father of 4, Isiah. This autistic boy put his hands on the keys and was changed forever; a Mozart-savant style talent had lain hidden his whole life.

As Jude began to express his “miracle” talent, he made the headlines of the local paper in Aurora, which is where Bill Magnuson, a local piano tuner, first read about the boy. Intrigued, the piano lover came to a talent show and saw first hand what Jude could do.

“He’s beyond special,” Magnuson told Hartman in an interview. “He’s Mozart level. It’s coming from somewhere beyond.”

Hearing of his father Isiah’s life story as an immigrant who raises 4 children and routinely sends remittances to family

Do-Good Doggies Fight Invasive Mussels on Team ‘Conservation Canines’

Do-Good Doggies Fight Invasive Mussels on Team ‘Conservation Canines’

Conservation K-9s Winnie, Hilo and Jane – Credit: Province of Alberta

Invasive species of Asian mussels have met their match in Alberta's riverine sniffer dogs.

These K9 conservationists have been employed by the provincial government for over a decade to help catch zebra and golden mussels from colonizing the rivers and lakes of Alberta.

Hilo, Jane, and Winnie, 2 black labs and a black-lab cross, are part of the paws-on-the-ground response at boat inspection stations across the province. It's now Alberta law that any watercraft must stop at an inspection station whether they are coming or going, and these patrol pooches are trained to smell the odor of developing mussel larvae which can be so small as to be detectable only by the faint feeling like sandpaper on the sides of boats or docks.

"The dogs are really complementing that human inspection and giving us kind of a better idea about what could be on that boat," said Cindy Sawchuk, the leader for the province's Aquatic Invasive Species Operations and Conservation Canine Program.

Sawchuk told the Canadian Press that golden mussels recently established themselves in California,

Good News in History, August 4

Good News in History, August 4

125 years ago today, the beloved American jazz trumpeter, composer, and singer Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans. Nicknamed Satchmo, or Pops, Armstrong was one of the most influential figures in jazz, with a trail-blazing career that spanned more than five decades. Take a moment to listen to "What a Wonderful World"… (1901)

With his instantly recognizable gravelly voice, Armstrong broke ground as he demonstrated great dexterity as an improvisational crooner and scat singer, bending the lyrics and melody to make any song more expressive.

Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971—and acted in cameo film roles, including his 1964 Grammy Award-winning vocal performance in Hello, Dolly!, co-starring Barbara Streisand.

One of his most memorable songs, What a Wonderful World, epitomizes the man, of whom Duke Ellington said, "He was born poor, died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way."

MORE Good News on this Day:

  • Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was born—the

64-yo Father of Five Graduates as a Nurse After Studying Alongside His Son as an Immigrant

64-yo Father of Five Graduates as a Nurse After Studying Alongside His Son as an Immigrant

John Adesoye at his graduation ceremony – credit, UWE Bristol

In a story that shows how it's never too late to learn, a man in the UK has graduated from nursing school at 64.

His education actually saw the Nigerian immigrant, who is a father of 5, studying alongside his son, who was attending the very same university.

John Adesoye graduated with a degree in nursing from the University of West England after completing a 2-year nurse associate program, and a 2 year nurse apprenticeship program, at the National Health Services Foundation Trust in Bristol.

John grew up in a poor farming family in Nigeria and developed a keen interest in electronics, having been fascinated as a child with how his family's radio worked. He later lived in Greece, working as an electronics technician and servicing electronic equipment, and then moved to the UK.

The father-of-5, who now lives in Bristol, has secured a nursing role at Southmead Hospital where he had completed his apprenticeship.

"I didn't think I'd ever go to university, to be honest. But I have passion for learning," Mr. Adesoye said in a press

Longest Predator Exclusion Fence in the Pacific Protects Thousands of Ground-Nesting Seabirds

Longest Predator Exclusion Fence in the Pacific Protects Thousands of Ground-Nesting Seabirds

Predator Exclusion Fence – credit, Laurel Smith USFWS, Public Domain

In 2022, the longest "predator exclusion fence" anywhere in the Pacific was completed on Kauai, encircling 168 acres of prime seabird nesting habitat.

The nesting birds include endangered species that were under constant threat of ravaging feral cats and pig before the 11,200-foot-long fence was raised.

Now, 4 years later, these seabirds are following their ancestral instincts and raising their chicks just meters away from nest sites that, 5 years before, would have double as their grave sites.

Originally developed on New Zealand, a predator exclusion fence (PEF) is no mean fence. It was designed to block passage of the 4 most deadly invasive mammalian predators across the Pacific.

It's too high for a cat or fox to jump over, is capped with a slick, claw-proof hood to prevent cats from climbing over, includes a combination rubber mat and skirt multiple inches below the ground to prevent pigs burrowing under, and boasts a metal mesh no teeth can chew through, yet also so fine that no rat can slide through it. The fence cost $1.7 million.

A similar

Self-Healing Contact Lenses Repair Scratches with Just 1 Hour of UV Light Exposure

Self-Healing Contact Lenses Repair Scratches with Just 1 Hour of UV Light Exposure

credit – released by ACS

A major, early-stage advancement in vision technology comes to us now from South Korea, where researchers created a contact lens that repairs scratches automatically when exposed to sunlight.

A scratched lens can mean an expensive replacement, but the UV light-activated hydrogel can repair these small imperfections in under an hour.

The technology also offers greater durability and an antibacterial coating to create a robust and resistant, superior contact lens.

Researchers Jung-Hyun Choi and Byung-Ki Cho used the already widely-employed hydrogel to create their new prototype contact lenses while redesigning the complex polymer structure. Through a process known as disulfide exchange, UV light at a wavelength of 365 nanometers causes sulfur bonds in the gel to temporarily break apart and reconnect with neighboring atoms.

Before and after photos released in a study presenting their invention show how these new connections equate to a repaired scar on the surface of the lens.

Choi and Cho explain that eventually, the lenses could be repaired at home as well—through UV light from devices used to cure nail polish,

Good News in History, August 5

Good News in History, August 5

120 years ago today, American actor, director, and screenwriter John Huston, was born. He also wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 film classics he directed, like The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Moulin Rouge (1952), The Misfits, and The Man Who Would Be King. WATCH his amusing acceptance speech at his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony… (1906)

John Huston publicity shot

During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, won twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins in different films.

An accomplished painter, Huston symbolized "intellect, charm and physical grace" within the film industry, said producer George Stevens, Jr. "He was the most charismatic of the directors I knew, speaking with a soothing, melodic voice that was unique to him." Among his friends were Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway. Humphrey Bogart was one of his best friends and Huston delivered the

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