An Englishman says he lives with the world’s oldest cat—a tortoiseshell born in 1995, making her 31 years-old.

The puss named Millie was first owned by Leslie Greenhough’s late wife, who took her in as a 3-month-old kitten.

83 years ago today, in combat with the Japanese during the Solomon Islands Campaign in World War II, Patrol torpedo boat PT-109 was rammed by the Japanese Destroyer Amagiri. Its commanding officer, a certain Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, undertook almost single-handedly to rescued his crew of 12 men, saving all but two in the process, while being seriously injured. The event won Kennedy multiple decorations for bravery, and made him a bona fide war hero. READ how the event unfolded… (1943)

As NASA’s Curiosity rover ascended the Martian valley named Valle Grande back in June, it sent back images of a landscape covered in honeycomb-like textures.

“We’ve seen a lot of fascinating landscapes through Curiosity’s eyes, but this sea of polygons took our breath away,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

A Eurasian lynx rescued from misery in Ukraine took her first steps on grass —and soon rolled over onto her back—after being rescued by a UK animal sanctuary.

The big cat named Ursa was found seriously ill in January after being illegally kept as a private pet in Kyiv.

New research shows that blowing bubbles helps sperm whales to sleep soundly, hidden beneath the waves.

It actually stops them from floating to the surface during nap time.

While little is known about how sperm whales sleep, researchers believe that the ocean giants doze underwater for 10 to 15 minutes at a time with their heads facing upwards.

Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

61 years ago today, Frank Herbert’s epic science-fiction novel Dune was published. Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefdoms, it tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or “spice,” a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Dune is a landmark in science fiction; a Hugo Award winner that has sold 20 million copies in dozens of languages. And was recently made into two incredible films. READ more… (1965)

An inspiring story of solidarity between pet owners comes from Japan, recently rattled by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

In the wake of the disaster that destroyed homes and claimed over 3 dozen lives, an organization that acts as a digital hub for lost pet notices has amplified the signal of these notices, and worked to help reunite owners with their animals.

Arizona State University researchers are testing ways to neutralize mining’s biggest environmental liabilities.

Miraculously, all 11 souls walked away with their lives after a seaplane both crashed and caught fire in the Puget Sound.

Operator Kenmore Air said in a statement that one of its planes, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, was on route out of Seattle with 10 passengers and a pilot when “an accident” saw the seaplane go down at 5:15 p.m. local time last Thursday.

The rapid adoption of heat pumps in the United States is becoming little short of a revolution, such that these clever HVAC devices in a few years will effectively replace previous systems.

Indeed of all new homes built last year, 46% were completed with heat pumps, just 1% below other more recognizable systems like water boilers, gas furnaces, and air conditioners.

240 years ago today, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns, the National Poet of Scotland, was published in Kilmarnock. It was a hit, and catapulted him to Scottish Stardom. Among the collection is one of his two most famous poems, To a Mouse, which is actually called To a Mouse, on turning up her nest, with the plough, November. Of Burns’ reputation as the “ploughman poet” who writes about rural life, this title is typical, but not as dramatic as The auld Farmer’s new-year-morning Salutation, to his auld Mare, Maggy, on giving her the accustomed ripp of Corn to hansel in the new year. READ some of these poems… (1786)