Goodable

In Livingston Texas, coach Heather Mosser started a program that paired her varsity softball athletes with students who have disabilities. They exercised and trained together for months. This is what happened when she brought the students onto the field to throw the opening pitch. Want more videos like this? Follow us on YouTube and Twitter @Goodable. Tap the share button to send this inspiring story to a friend.

In Livingston Texas, coach Heather Mosser started a program that paired her varsity softball athletes with students who have disabilities.
They exercised and trained together for months.
This is what happened when she brought the students onto the field to throw the opening pitch.

WATCH: These Texas High School Softball Players Help Students With Disabilities Throw The Opening Pitch

GoodGoodGood

In a small town just north of Sacramento, a concrete house is rising inch by inch—and it could help reshape California’s future.

Olivehurst is home to Corduroy Castles, a five-home development that’s being billed as a proof of concept for something much bigger: affordable, wildfire-resistant housing built fast, cheap, and at scale using 3D printing technology.

The first house, a 1,000-square-foot unit, was printed in just 24 days. That’s a fraction of the time traditional construction typically takes. It’s the work of Sacramento-based startup 4dify, which hopes to make 3D-printed housing not just viable, but widespread across California.

“We want the machine to do the heavy lifting,” said Nan Lin, owner of 4dify. “We want the humans to do detailed work that the machines can’t do yet.”

The approach is already gaining momentum nationwide. In Texas, an entire 100-home 3D-printed community is underway, and smaller projects have popped up in cities across the country. But Corduroy Castles marks a first for California: a mini-neighborhood designed to demonstrate how this technology could be scaled to address the state's urgent housing and climate challenges.

According to Lin, the printer used in Olivehurst can produce up to 10 houses a year. That could expand quickly, with plans to deploy 10 printers capable of producing 100 homes annually. A much larger development of 75–100 duplexes is already being planned in Southern California, with Corduroy Castles serving as the test case.

The technology offers several key advantages. First, speed. Each home is printed layer by layer from a special concrete mixture that’s strong, durable, and designed to withstand California’s increasingly volatile weather. It’s also cost-efficient. Though the printer itself costs about $1.5 million, the labor required to run it is minimal: just three to five people are needed to complete a home in four to six weeks, compared to a traditional crew of five to ten workers over several months.

Endemic Architecture, the firm supporting the project, says the goal is to bring down homeownership costs without sacrificing thoughtful design.

“Consisting of five houses, this project deploys 3D printing construction methods that reduce the cost of home ownership to well below market rates without sacrificing the architecture,” the firm shared on its website.

The homes are expected to be listed between $350,000 and $375,000 once complete—well below the median home price in California.

Beyond affordability and efficiency, the homes are also built to last. The concrete walls are water-, fire-, mold-, pest-, and even bullet-resistant. Samples were reportedly taken to a gun range and shot at—without penetration.

“They’re bulletproof,” Lin said. “The bullet just stops on the wall.”

That resilience has particular appeal in a state where wildfires have become an annual threat. While these homes will have metal roofs supported by traditional wooden trusses, future designs may include 3D-printed concrete roofs, eliminating flammable materials from the structure entirely.

“It’s redevelopment, which is great,” said Yuba County Supervisor Gary Bradford. “It’s adding density, which is also great, and helping to revitalize an older, lower income part of the county.”

Each of the five homes in Corduroy Castles will have a distinct layout and design, offering a level of personality often missing from cost-conscious housing. The final four will be printed in pairs, accelerating the construction timeline even further.

While the homes aren’t on the market yet, the buzz is already growing. For Lin and the 4dify team, this project is only the beginning.

“Long term, we definitely want to be a leader in the industry,” Lin said. “Short term, we want to dial this in for the next few houses and we want to start scaling this.”

If Corduroy Castles succeeds, it could offer a blueprint for building stronger, cheaper, and faster homes in California—and beyond.

California’s First 3D-Printed “Micro-Community” Aims to Fight the Housing Crisis—And Wildfires

rom eerie close-ups to chaotic street scenes, this year’s Grammy nominees for Best Album Cover prove one thing: the visuals still matter.

For the first time since the 1970s, the Recording Academy has reinstated a standalone award for album cover design, shining a new spotlight on the artists and art directors behind the music’s visual identity. And while vinyl may be optional these days, the connection between image and sound is very much alive.

"When a cover in a campaign hits right," said Neil Krug, the photographer behind Djo’s The Crux, “it's part of the language and the fabric of what makes a great record a great record.”

Krug’s comment echoes a broader shift. The new category—separate from Best Recording Package—focuses exclusively on cover art, regardless of whether the album exists physically. Still, all five of this year’s nominees do have vinyl editions, a testament to the staying power of the 12-inch square in an age of scrolling.

Leading the list is Moisturizer by Wet Leg. The cover, a surreal blend of feminine softness and grotesque energy, features frontwoman Rhian Teasdale squatting with outstretched hands and an unsettling grin. Teasdale co-art-directed the image alongside Iris Luz and Lava La Rue during a creative retreat at an Airbnb, hauling along velvet worms, lizard gloves, and an oversized wig for inspiration.

“I wanted it to be something that was both super girly and feminine, but then at the same time, just totally repulsive,” Teasdale said. “That juxtaposition... it just creates something that’s evocative.”

Other nominees took equally cinematic approaches. The Crux, Djo’s third album, is set in a fictional hotel on a Paramount Studios backlot. The cover is a layered, almost voyeuristic tableau: a couple kissing in a window, a man arguing over a parking ticket, Djo himself dangling from a fire escape in a white suit. The entire scene, built from scratch, references films like Hitchcock’s Rear Window and features a custom neon sign designed by art director William Wesley II.

“Everything is intentional,” Wesley said. “It’s the sum of many people’s contributions.”

Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia takes a simpler route but no less potent. Shot in stark monochrome, the cover shows Tyler in a mask, his eyes locked on the lens. It was the final shot of the day, said Luis (Panch) Perez, the director of photography, who called the expression “unspoken language” built from years of collaboration. Though he was later removed from the nomination list, the image remains one of the year’s most haunting.

Perfume Genius’s Glory embraces ambiguity. A dark, intimate shot of the artist lounging in stilettos amid snaking cords and soft window light, it straddles introversion and performance. Photographer Cody Critcheloe, who co-directed the art with Andrew J.S., said the goal was to reflect a push-pull energy: comfort vs. spectacle. “People have said to both of us that they can’t figure out what the aesthetic of the album cover is,” Critcheloe said. “That’s the best thing to hear.”

And then there’s Bad Bunny’s Debi Tirar Mas Fotos (“I Should Have Taken More Photos”), which strips things down entirely. Two white plastic chairs sit beside plantain trees—symbols of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and memory itself. Shot by Eric Rojas and art-directed by Bad Bunny, the cover taps into the album’s sense of diaspora and nostalgia. A backyard, a beach, a conversation not had—simple images, loaded with meaning.

The Grammy rules emphasize design, photography, and illustration as key criteria. This year’s list wasn’t without adjustments: Chromakopia’s credited artists were changed ahead of voting, and Wet Leg’s nomination was updated to remove additional band members. But those details reflect the growing pains of a newly revived category—and the collaborative nature of the work itself.

As Krug puts it, album art is something that lives with us.

“When you have the physical vinyls in your home or your apartment, that stuff lives with you,” he said. “Whether you’re having a good day or a bad day, you’re getting married or breaking up... there’s this rediscovery of the art form.”

For the creatives behind the year’s most compelling visuals, the recognition is overdue.

“I love the idea of making things that are strange and subversive and irreverent,” Critcheloe said, “and having an audience that is bigger than it’s supposed to be.”

For the First Time in 50 Years, Grammy Voters Will Crown the Best Album Cover

CNBC

A San Francisco startup is betting big on beer—and not just any beer, but one made from recycled shower and laundry water.

Epic Cleantec, a clean-water tech company founded in 2015, has launched a line of beers brewed using water it recycles from residential buildings. The idea isn’t to become the next craft beer giant. It’s to change how people think about wastewater.

“A lot of it was psychology,” said CEO Aaron Tartakovsky. “It is getting people comfortable with the concept of recycled water. And we found that if you tell people that the water is clean, maybe they trust you, maybe they don’t. But you take those exact same molecules of recycled water, put them into a beautiful beer can, all of a sudden, people love it.”

The company started by installing on-site water recycling systems in apartment and office buildings, using a multi-step process that includes filters, biological treatment, carbon, reverse osmosis, and disinfection. For its beer, Epic collects only greywater—used water from showers and laundry—and treats it to drinking water standards. The cleaned water is then sent to Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co., where it’s turned into two beer styles: Shower Hour IPA and Laundry Club Kölsch.

Tartakovsky insists this isn’t about selling beer. It’s about storytelling.

“Buildings use about 15% of all the fresh water on this planet,” he said. “We need to do things differently, and that means we need to tell the story differently. We need to engage people differently.”

Each gallon of beer typically requires around 10 gallons of water. By recycling greywater, Epic is making a dent in that footprint. Their beers also use drought-resistant hops and energy-efficient ingredients, underscoring a sustainability focus from grain to glass.

The beers are currently available online in 12 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., and in some California retail stores.

Jordan Langer, CEO of events company Non Plus Ultra, was an early investor in Epic. At first, he wasn’t sure the beer idea would land.

“I was a little bit skeptical. I’m not a believer in gimmicks,” he said. “But I was wrong. It blew up like crazy. It has given a lot of spotlight onto Epic Cleantec, which has made it really, quite, quite interesting.”

Epic has raised $25 million to date, with backing from J-Ventures, J-Impact, Echo River Capital, and three family offices. The company is also exploring a nonalcoholic beer offering.

Tartakovsky, who once called for an overhaul of our “flush and forget” culture, sees beer as just the beginning.

“We’re not just changing plumbing,” he said. “We’re changing perception.”

Startup Brews Beer From Shower Water to Change How We Think About Wastewater

Artnet

A medieval cargo ship long hidden beneath the waves near Copenhagen has just rewritten the history of maritime trade.

Archaeologists from Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum have uncovered what they’re calling the world’s largest known cog—a 15th-century trading vessel measuring a staggering 91 feet in length, 29 feet in width, and 19 feet in height. That size would have allowed it to carry around 300 tons of cargo, making it a true “medieval super ship,” according to the team.

The ship, dubbed Svælget 2, was found more than 12 meters deep in Øresund, the busy strait separating Denmark and Sweden. The wreck surfaced during seabed surveys tied to Copenhagen’s new Lynetteholm district. Buried under centuries of sand and silt, the ship has been remarkably preserved, including rare features that researchers say are changing what we know about shipbuilding in the Middle Ages.

“It is extraordinary to have so many parts of the rigging,” said lead archaeologist Otto Uldum. “We have never seen this before, and it gives us a real opportunity to say something entirely new about how cogs were equipped for sailing.”

Cogs were the cargo workhorses of medieval Europe. Built for durability and bulk capacity, they began to replace smaller Viking-style vessels from the 10th century onwards. Unlike sleek longships or knarrs, cogs had towering sides and wide, deep hulls—ideal for shipping goods over long distances and defending against piracy.

With a capacity far beyond what was common at the time, Svælget 2 hints at a highly developed trading system in the early 1400s. “A ship with such a large cargo capacity is part of a structured system where merchants knew there was a market for the goods they carried,” said Uldum. “Svælget 2 is a tangible example of how trade developed during the Middle Ages.”

Dendrochronological tests date the ship’s construction to around 1410, using timber sourced from regions now known as Poland and the Netherlands. While the ship’s cargo is long gone, everyday items left behind—shoes, combs, cooking pots, and ceramic bowls—offer glimpses into the daily life of its crew.

One of the more surprising discoveries is the ship’s stern castle, a raised deck at the back of the vessel. These features had previously only been seen in old illustrations—never in actual shipwrecks. “It offers archaeological proof,” said Uldum. “And not just that—20 times as much material to study.”

Also uncovered was a brick-built galley, the first of its kind ever found on a medieval ship in Danish waters. Constructed with about 200 bricks and 15 tiles, the galley allowed the crew to cook meals on an open flame while at sea. Nearby, the team found bronze and ceramic cookware, adding to the picture of a ship built not just for commerce, but also for function and comfort.

“It speaks of remarkable comfort and organization on board,” said Uldum.

While dramatic shipwreck finds often bring to mind tales of treasure, Svælget 2 tells a different story—one about infrastructure, innovation, and economy. The sheer scale of the ship implies significant investment and planning, pointing to a well-developed network of trade routes and economic demand across Europe in the 15th century.

“We now know, undeniably, that cogs could be this large—that the ship type could be pushed to this extreme,” Uldum said. “Svælget 2 gives us a tangible piece of the puzzle and makes it possible to understand how technology and society evolved side by side in an era when shipping was the driving force behind international trade.”

With so much of the ship intact, researchers say they’ve only scratched the surface of what it can reveal. But one thing is already clear: this wasn’t just a big ship. It was part of a big idea.

Archaeologists Discover World's Largest Medieval Cargo Ship Off Danish Coast

ABC News

An ancient Cherokee mound in North Carolina is one step away from being returned to its original caretakers.

The Noquisiyi Mound in Franklin, a sacred site that predates the United States by centuries, is set to be returned to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians following a unanimous vote by the town’s council on Monday. The move marks a major milestone in the decades-long effort to reclaim Indigenous lands with deep cultural, spiritual, and historical significance.

“When you think about the importance of not just our history but those cultural and traditional areas where we practice all the things we believe in, they should be in the hands of the tribe they belong to,” said Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. “It’s a decision that we’re very thankful to the town of Franklin for understanding.”

The Noquisiyi Mound, whose name translates to “star place,” was once part of a Cherokee mother town. For roughly 200 years, the land was held by private owners and later the town itself. But the mound, which remains largely unexcavated, still stands tall—and so does its spiritual weight.

“It’s a big deal for Cherokees to get our piece of our ancestral territory back in general,” said Angelina Jumper, a citizen of the tribe and a board member of the Noquisiyi Initiative, a nonprofit formed in 2019 to oversee the site. “But when you talk about a mound site like that, that has so much significance and is still standing as high as it was two or three hundred years ago when it was taken, that kind of just holds a level of gravity that I just have no words for.”

The handover isn't final yet. The next step is for the tribal council to formally agree to take control, which will trigger the legal process to transfer the title. Elaine Eisenbraun, executive director of the Noquisiyi Initiative, said she’s been working with Franklin’s mayor for years to get to this point.

The movement to return the site gained new urgency in 2012 after a town employee mistakenly sprayed herbicide on the mound, killing all the grass. That incident spurred fresh talks between the tribe and the town. Then in 2019, the nonprofit was formed as a first step toward shared stewardship.

“Talking about Land Back, it’s part of a living people. It’s not like it’s a historical artifact,” said Franklin Mayor Stacey Guffey. “It’s part of a living culture, and if we can’t honor that then we lose the character of who we are as mountain people.”

Noquisiyi is part of a series of earthen mounds that served as the civic and ceremonial centers of Cherokee civilization. The Eastern Band already owns another important site nearby, the Cowee Mound, and is working to develop a cultural corridor that spans from Georgia to its current territory, the Qualla Boundary.

The mound site sits at the junction of two roads in downtown Franklin, surrounded by buildings but still largely intact. It will remain open to the public. The tribe also plans to open an interpretive center next door in a building it owns, to educate visitors on the site’s significance.

For Jordan Oocumma, the mound’s current caretaker, the return is personal. He’s the first enrolled tribal member to serve in that role since the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their land nearly two centuries ago.

“It’s also a place where when you need answers, or you want to know something, you can go there and you ask, and it’ll come to you,” Oocumma said. “It feels different from being anywhere else in the world when you’re out there.”

With this vote, Franklin becomes one of a growing number of communities recognizing that Indigenous heritage sites aren’t relics of the past—they’re living places, still central to the identity and practices of Native peoples today.

North Carolina Town Returns Land To Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians

Black News

Laila Edwards is officially headed to the 2026 Winter Olympics — and making history along the way.

The 21-year-old senior from the University of Wisconsin has been named to the U.S. women’s ice hockey roster for the upcoming Games in Milano-Cortina, becoming the first Black woman ever to represent Team USA in women’s ice hockey at the Olympics.

“It still hasn’t really kicked in yet,” Edwards said. “Getting that call is like a dream come true. Always had dreams of playing in the pros, but the biggest dream was to go to the Olympics for sure.”

Team USA announced the full 23-player lineup on January 2. Edwards joins a veteran squad that includes Olympic and world championship regulars like Alex Carpenter, Megan Keller, Taylor Heise, and Cayla Barnes. The women’s tournament kicks off February 6 and runs through February 22.

Edwards, a Cleveland Heights native, has been blazing a trail in elite hockey for years. At 19, she became the first Black woman to join the U.S. women’s national team. By 20, she was the youngest American ever to be named MVP at the women’s hockey world championships. That same year, she helped the U.S. win its 11th world title — and became the first Black woman to win an IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Her rise through the sport has been fast and barrier-breaking.

Edwards’ family is now working to make sure they’ll be in Italy to support her in person. A GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $19,000 to help cover the cost of travel. “We are asking for your help now so that we can be there to cheer Laila, to surround her with the love and support of family,” the campaign page reads.

From local rinks in Ohio to the Olympic stage in Italy, Edwards’ journey has already made history — and her Olympic chapter is just beginning.

She Just Made Olympic History as the First Black Woman on Team USA’s Women’s Ice Hockey Roster

Science Alert

More than half a century after it was first discovered, a powerful cancer-fighting compound called verticillin A has finally been artificially synthesized in the lab — opening the door to new research and potential therapies.

Verticillin A, found naturally in a rare fungus, has long intrigued scientists for its ability to kill cancer cells. But the compound has always been notoriously difficult to study. In nature, it only occurs in minuscule amounts, and its complex chemical structure made it nearly impossible to recreate synthetically — until now.

Researchers from MIT and Harvard Medical School have developed a 16-step process to build verticillin A from scratch, marking a major scientific breakthrough.

“Now we have the technology where we can not only access them for the first time, more than 50 years after they were isolated, but also we can make many designed variants,” said MIT chemist Mohammad Movassaghi, who led the synthetic work. “That can enable further detailed studies.”

The compound’s structure is deceptively tricky. It's made of two identical halves, forming what's called a dimer molecule. But getting the 3D structure just right is essential — even small deviations can make the entire molecule unstable or ineffective.

Movassaghi’s team adapted techniques he previously used to create similar compounds, but they had to significantly change the timing and order of certain steps. The synthetic process involved carefully protecting fragile bonds, rearranging the order in which molecular groups were added, and unmasking key functional groups only after the full structure had been assembled.

“What we learned was the timing of the events is absolutely critical,” Movassaghi said. “We had to significantly change the order of the bond-forming events.”

With a reliable synthetic version in hand, the team tested verticillin A — along with several related variants — on lab-grown cells of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), an aggressive pediatric brain cancer. The results were promising. Like earlier natural versions of the compound, the new synthetic version successfully killed DMG cancer cells.

Importantly, researchers also confirmed that the compound was hitting its intended protein targets inside the cells, a key step in verifying its potential as a therapeutic drug.

Jun Qi, a chemical biologist at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, said the breakthrough sets the stage for a new chapter in cancer research.

“Natural compounds have been valuable resources for drug discovery,” said Qi. “We will fully evaluate the therapeutic potential of these molecules by integrating our expertise in chemistry, chemical biology, cancer biology, and patient care.”

By finally synthesizing verticillin A, researchers now have the ability to not only study the compound in detail but also tweak its structure to potentially improve its effectiveness or reduce side effects. It’s a leap forward in a decades-long puzzle — and a step toward harnessing a powerful natural chemical in the fight against cancer.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

After 50 Years, Scientists Finally Synthesize Potent Fungal Compound With Cancer-Fighting Potential

Euro News

The world’s biggest tech show wasn’t just about AI and foldable phones this year. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, a wave of new health-focused gadgets showed that personal wellness — from hormones to heart age — is becoming more high-tech and more personalized than ever.

Here are some of the standout innovations spotted by Euronews Next:

1. A pod for your brain and body

Right in the middle of the buzz and chaos was something designed to do the opposite — calm you down. The French company Reconcept showcased a mental health pod that tilts users into a zero-gravity position, plays soothing bird sounds, and offers a massage. Climbing out of it and back onto the conference floor wasn’t easy.

Reconcept says the pod helps reduce muscular tension, supports gut health, and aids emotional regulation. It’s already being used by athletes, armed forces, and some companies to combat stress and burnout.

2. A scale with 60 metrics

French health tech company Withings returned to CES with a major upgrade: the Body Scan 2, a smart scale that tracks up to 60 health indicators. That includes everything from muscle-fat balance and heart age to metabolic and arterial health.

During a demo, only four metrics were shown, but the feedback was detailed enough to include personalised advice — in one case, a suggestion to walk 3,000 more steps daily. Withings recommends using the scale at least 2-3 times a week for long-term progress reports.

The scale is expected to retail for around €499 and launches later this year.

3. A menstrual pad that tracks hormones

In a first for CES, menstrual health went high-tech with the debut of a smart menstrual pad from Vivoo. The device can measure follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) directly from the pad, providing insight into fertility, hormone levels, and potential infections.

Each pad will cost between €3 and €4, and the company plans to offer it through a subscription model.

4. A pocket-sized allergy detector

For people with food allergies, dining out can be stressful. A new device from Allergen Alert aims to ease that anxiety.

Roughly the size of a lipstick tube, the portable tool analyzes food samples on the spot. It crushes and dilutes the sample, then tests it for allergens like lactose and gluten. It was inspired by CEO Antoine Burgaud’s own experience with her daughter’s dairy allergy.

The FDA-approved device is already in use in high-end kitchens, including Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse. It’s expected to cost around €200, plus a subscription fee.

5. A more wearable LED face mask

L’Oréal made waves with its sleek, ultra-thin LED mask — a major shift from the bulky, rigid masks currently on the market. Made of silicon, the new design includes targeted sections for the under-eye area, something existing masks typically ignore.

It uses 630nm red light and 830nm near-infrared — the same levels dermatologists recommend — to target wrinkles, uneven skin tone, and sagging.

“You need to reach those wavelengths if you want real results,” said Guive Balooch, L’Oréal’s global VP of augmented beauty.

The LED mask isn’t expected to launch until 2027, and pricing is still undecided. But given the current market, which ranges from €100 to well over €2,000, it could land anywhere in the middle.

Smart Pads, Allergy Sensors, and LED Masks: The Health Tech That Turned Heads at CES 2026

Science Daily

Sleeping late on weekends might be more than just a guilty pleasure for teens and young adults — it could actually support their mental health.

New research from the University of Oregon and the State University of New York Upstate Medical University found that people aged 16 to 24 who catch up on sleep over the weekend are significantly less likely to experience symptoms of depression. Compared to their peers who didn’t recover sleep on weekends, the study group showed a 41 percent lower risk of depressive symptoms.

The findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders and draw from data collected in the 2021–2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants shared their usual sleep and wake times during the week and on weekends, and also reported on their emotional well-being. Anyone who said they felt sad or depressed every day was classified as having symptoms of depression.

"Sleep researchers and clinicians have long recommended that adolescents get eight to 10 hours of sleep at a regular time every day of the week, but that's just not practical for a lot of adolescents, or people generally," said Melynda Casement, a licensed psychologist and associate professor at the University of Oregon’s College of Arts and Sciences. Casement co-authored the study with Jason Carbone, an assistant professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

The researchers emphasized that consistent sleep throughout the week is still the gold standard. But in reality, most young people face packed schedules: school, homework, extracurriculars, social lives, and often part-time jobs. Weekday sleep gets squeezed — and weekends become the only time to catch up.

"It's normal for teens to be night owls, so let them catch up on sleep on weekends if they can't get enough sleep during the week because that's likely to be somewhat protective," Casement said.

Most past research on weekend catch-up sleep has focused on school-age teens in Asia, particularly in China and Korea. This study is one of the first to examine typical adolescent sleep habits in the United States.

The research also fits into a growing conversation around how sleep affects mental health, particularly for young people. Depression is one of the leading causes of disability among people aged 16 to 24, Casement said, where “disability” includes disruptions in daily life — missing class, struggling with work, or falling behind on responsibilities.

That makes this age group particularly important to study when looking at risk factors for depression and how to intervene early.

The researchers point to biology as part of the explanation. During adolescence, sleep patterns naturally shift. Circadian rhythms — the body’s internal clock — start to favor later bedtimes and wake times. That means teens tend to fall asleep later, even if they’re exhausted.

“Instead of being a morning lark you're going to become more of a night owl,” Casement said. “And sleep onset keeps progressively delaying in adolescence until age 18 to 20. After that, you start becoming more morning larkish again.”

For many teens, the most natural sleep schedule runs from around 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. But most schools start much earlier than that. As a result, students routinely start the day sleep-deprived — a problem that sleep researchers say could be solved in part by pushing back school start times.

Until that happens, though, weekends may offer a much-needed buffer.

While it’s not a perfect fix, the study suggests that letting teens sleep in on Saturday and Sunday might help protect their emotional health, especially if their weekdays are packed and their nights are short.

“It’s not the ideal solution,” Casement said, “but it’s a practical one.”

Sleeping In on Weekends May Help Teens and Young Adults Feel Less Depressed, Study Finds

BBC News

At just seven weeks old, Elsa the Yorkshire terrier had already endured more than most dogs do in a lifetime.

Packed into a box with little food or water, she was smuggled in the back seat of a car on a 26-hour journey from Slovakia to the Port of Dover. With no paperwork or microchip, Elsa was seized by authorities in September on suspicion she was too young to legally enter the UK.

Now, months later, she’s found a fresh start with a new family in Yorkshire.

"She's settled in nicely and doesn't seem to have any ill effects from that early trauma," said her new owner, Lynne Austin. “I burst into tears when I heard about her and saw her. It’s just been perfect timing for Elsa but for me as well.”

Austin adopted Elsa after losing her previous dog, also a Yorkshire terrier, in mid-2025.

Elsa was one of three puppies intercepted at the border during that incident. All were underage, undocumented, and potentially destined for illegal sale.

The case is far from unique. Over the last decade, Dogs Trust has cared for more than 3,200 illegally imported puppies through its Puppy Pilot scheme. The charity estimates those dogs would have fetched over £5 million if sold to unsuspecting buyers.

The majority of seized puppies are between eight and 11 weeks old, according to Dogs Trust, and many show signs of neglect or trauma. Elsa, still shy but playful, is considered one of the lucky ones.

“Some of the red flags [to spot illegal puppy sales] would be if the seller has a lot of different breeds available but doesn't have information on some of the puppies,” said Josh Heath, who works at the Dogs Trust centre in the South East. “If they have no details of the mum or aren't able to provide pictures of it, that can also be a serious red flag.”

Puppy smuggling has become a growing concern, especially with the rise of online pet sales and pandemic-driven demand. Some sellers exploit loopholes to import underage dogs with fake or incomplete paperwork, often keeping them in poor conditions along the way.

Matt Henning, who leads the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s anti-smuggling efforts in Dover, said the issue is widespread. “Some of the dogs we intercept can be on death’s door,” he said. “The main cause of issues is from the importers exploiting some of the loopholes that this bill aims to address.”

That bill — the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act — was signed into law in December, after two previous attempts failed. It raises the minimum legal age for bringing puppies into the UK from 15 weeks to six months.

Henning says the change makes enforcement easier. “It can be quite tricky to age some of the breeds, but raising it to six months will leave little doubt. It makes things much clearer.”

As for Elsa, her future now looks far brighter than her past. Her story is one of many, but it’s also a reminder of what’s at stake — and why stronger protections matter.

“She’s just lovely,” Austin said. “And she’s home now.”

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