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)

It’s been almost 20 years since Argentina launched what was at the time the world’s first attempt at reintroducing the giant anteater to a landscape it had disappeared from.

A woman was able to help a partially disabled airport worker retire after she witnessed him hobbling across the tarmac on a flight out of Los Angeles.

Heartbroken watching him limp up to the plane she was sitting on, she captured a video of the man for her TikTok account and posted it with a caption asking if anyone knew who he was.

For the 3rd consecutive year, global hunger as measured by malnourishment among continental populations has fallen.

It’s also the first time that the malnourished as a share of global population has fallen below 8% since the government-enforced business closures and supply disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A sprinkle of crushed basalt rock has turned out to be the fairy dust that newly planted forests need to develop faster and absorb more carbon.

That’s what scientists from Imperial College London are reporting in a new study from the largest field experiment studying how “enhanced weathering” and soil microbiome enrichment can potentially improve new forest establishment.

On this day 96 years ago, at the conclusion of the inaugural FIFA World Cup, La Celeste, or Uruguay, won the trophy. Rarely considered as favorites in the tournament’s editions these days, Uruguay was on a tear by the time the first World Cup kicked off in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital. They had won the 1924 and 1928 Olympic football tournaments. Beating Argentina 2-1 in the ’28 Olympics, they beat their cross-border rivals again, 4-2, to win the World Cup. READ about the history of the competition… (1930)

From Big Sky Country comes a rescue story so cliche that even Hollywood scriptwriters would pass it over.

A 14-year-old obsessed with roping cattle rescued a man who’d fallen into a river Indiana Jones-style, catching him around the neck and arm with his lasso.