Goodable

NASA just picked a solar scientist to become the agency's science chief. Nicola Fox, the former top scientist on the Parker Solar Probe mission, has been named as NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. In her previous role, Fox lead groundbreaking research on the sun, including a better understanding of solar wind and how it affects planets and satellites. Now, she'll be leading the charge overseeing some of the agency's most exciting and high-profile missions.
But that's not all - Fox will also be heading up a NASA study group on UFOs (that’s Unidentified Flying Objects). NASA chief Bill Nelson praised Fox's appointment, saying that she has been instrumental in making the complex world of heliophysics accessible to the public. With an annual budget of roughly $7 billion, the Science Mission Directorate plays a vital role in NASA's efforts to explore the mysteries of the universe, from probing for past life on Mars to studying distant galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Nicola Fox Just Became the First Female Head of Science at NASA

Scientific American

Astronomers do not often get to watch a solar system come together in real time. Most of the planets they find around other stars are about as mature as the ones circling our own sun. That is why a new result, published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, stands out.

Researchers say they have confirmed only the second known baby solar system forming around another star. The system sits about 437 light-years from Earth around a star called WISPIT 2. The first confirmed case, PDS 70, was discovered in 2018.

The finding adds a rare new example to a field that has seen decades of discoveries since scientists confirmed the first planet around another star. But systems this young are much harder to pin down.

Planets around other stars can help answer a basic question about our own origins. Astronomers want to know how the spinning disk of material left behind by the sun’s birth produced Earth and the other seven planets in our solar system. Systems like WISPIT 2 could offer a closer look at that process.

“This is a really exciting discovery,” says Jason Wang, an astronomer at Northwestern University who wasn’t involved in the research speaking to Scientific American. “In astronomy, we often joke that when we have a sample size of one, we have an anomaly, but when we have a sample size of two, we have a population.”

The team behind the new study had already reported last year that WISPIT 2 hosted a protoplanet called WISPIT 2b. That result marked the first time a baby planet had been imaged in a protoplanetary disk.

Now the researchers say there are two gas giant planets in the system. They say the second is about ten times the size of Jupiter.

The authors also think WISPIT 2 may hold even more protoplanets. They say the star is surrounded by a more extensive, structured ring of matter than PDS 70. Farther out in the disk, they have also identified a third, smaller break in the material.

That break, they say, hints that matter there may already have collapsed into another planet, this one closer to Saturn’s size. For now, that third object remains hypothetical.

The new result came from observations made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The researchers hope its successor, the Extremely Large Telescope, will be able to take images of the possible third infant planet.

“These structures suggest that more planets are currently forming, which we will eventually detect,” says Chloe Lawlor, a PhD student at the University of Galway in Ireland and the study’s lead author.

Lawlor said studies like this could help astronomers build a better picture of how our own solar system formed. By comparing WISPIT 2 with other young systems, researchers hope to get a tighter grasp on the steps that turn a disk of material around a star into a family of planets.

For Lawlor, the study also carries a personal weight. She said she did not expect to lead such a significant piece of research at this stage of her career.

“Often there is a lot of self-doubt for people at my career stage,” she says. “I hope this discovery helps others to realize that while they might not know it all yet, they still know enough to do big things.”

The discovery leaves astronomers with a sample size that is still tiny, but no longer one. WISPIT 2 now joins PDS 70 as a confirmed example of a solar system caught in the act of forming, with two gas giants identified and signs that more planets may still be taking shape.

Astronomers Say They're Watching a New Solar System Take Shape

Good News Network

A hedge that seems to keep going and going now links two of southern England’s best-known protected areas.

From England’s South Downs National Park, a series of traditional hedgerows can be traced into the distance. That line now runs across Hampshire to New Forest National Park, stretching about 15 miles.

The Hampshire Hedge has taken three years to build. Volunteers and experts in traditional hedge-making worked together to create an unbroken line of hedgerows connecting the two parks and their wildlife.

The project was organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s “Hedgerows Heroes” program. It was supported by conservation nonprofits and the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The project centres on a simple idea set out by its backers. Hedgerows are not only fences or barriers. The source text says they act as habitat corridors and can support wildlife even when they are narrow.

From mice and hedgehogs to insects and birds, hedgerows offer what the source describes as a narrow sanctuary to 2,000 species over the course of a year. Those species use the hedges like a natural highway.

That role has shaped the project’s goal in Hampshire, where the continuous hedge line is intended to improve habitat connectivity between the South Downs and the New Forest.

The hedge is located in Test Valley, and local leaders marked the latest stage of the work this year.

“Hedgerows are a defining feature of Test Valley’s landscape and play a vital role in supporting wildlife, tackling climate change and keeping our countryside thriving,” Alison Johnston, a councilwoman responsible for countryside affairs at Test Valley Borough Council, said to the Hampshire Chronicle.

The work is now almost entirely completed. The third year of hedge laying was celebrated at the Broadlands estate during an event called “Hedgefest.”

The event also marked CPRE’s 100th anniversary as an organisation.

“It was fantastic to see so many people come together at Hedgefest to share skills, celebrate progress and show what partnership working can achieve.”

The source text describes the hedge as being like a highway connecting the two national parks. It says the line of hedgerows should help promote habitat connectivity, a goal that is challenging in southern England because of the area’s population density.

That prospect has also been welcomed by the South Downs National Park Authority.

“The CPRE’s project of joining the two National Parks, the New Forest and the South Downs with these hedgerows is just such an inspiring idea,” said Vanessa Rowlands, Chair of the South Downs National Park Authority.

“We’ve always wanted to have a closer link with the New Forest, and we can do it physically and environmentally for the wildlife. So we’re really excited about it!”

The Hampshire Hedge brings together volunteers, conservation groups and hedge-laying experts in a single continuous project that now stretches across the county.

The source text says the result is an unbroken line of traditional hedgerows between the two national parks, built over three years and designed to support species that move through these corridors over the course of the year.

For CPRE and its partners, the project has also served as a public celebration of traditional hedgerow skills. Hedgefest at Broadlands marked the third year of laying and brought people together to share those skills while celebrating the progress made so far.

The line begins from the South Downs National Park and runs to New Forest National Park, covering some 15 miles across Hampshire.

“We’ve always wanted to have a closer link with the New Forest, and we can do it physically and environmentally for the wildlife. So we’re really excited about it!”

Volunteers are Building a 15-Mile Hedge Corridor Linking Two National Parks — Here's Why

Science Daily

A rhinoceros in the Arctic sounds out of place now, but researchers say one lived there about 23 million years ago.

Scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature have identified a previously unknown species of extinct rhinoceros from Devon Island in Nunavut. The fossil skeleton was found in ancient lakebed sediments at Haughton Crater, and the museum says it is the northernmost rhino species ever documented.

The species, named Epiatheracerium itjilik, is described in a new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. Researchers say it lived during the Early Miocene and is most closely related to species that lived in Europe millions of years earlier.

"Today there are only five species of rhinos in Africa and Asia, but in the past they were found in Europe and North America, with more than 50 species known from the fossil record," says the study's lead author Dr. Danielle Fraser, head of palaeobiology at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN). "The addition of this Arctic species to the rhino family tree now offers new insights to our understanding of their evolutionary history."

Rhinoceroses have an evolutionary history spanning more than 40 million years, and once lived on nearly every continent except South America and Antarctica. The new research also presents a revised rhinoceros family tree and suggests this Arctic species reached North America by a land bridge. According to the study, that route may have remained active for land mammals much later than previously believed.

Researchers say rhinocerotids varied widely in form, from large, bulky animals to smaller, hornless ones. Epiatheracerium itjilik was relatively small and lightly built, comparable in size to a modern Indian rhinoceros but without a horn. Based on moderate wear on its cheek teeth, the individual likely died in early to middle adulthood.

The species name reflects where it was found. "Itjilik" means "frosty" or "frost" in Inuktitut. To choose the name, the researchers worked with Jarloo Kiguktak, an Inuit Elder and former mayor of Grise Fiord, described as the northernmost Inuit community in Canada. He has visited the fossil site and taken part in several Arctic paleontology expeditions.

Most of the fossil material was first collected in 1986 by Dr. Mary Dawson, Curator Emeritus at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a pioneer in Arctic paleontology. She recovered teeth, jawbones and parts of the skull that later helped scientists identify the specimen as a new species.

"What's remarkable about the Arctic rhino is that the fossil bones are in excellent condition. They are three dimensionally preserved and have only been partially replaced by minerals. About 75% of the skeleton was discovered, which is incredibly complete for a fossil," says paleobiologist Marisa Gilbert, study co-author and Senior Research Assistant with the CMN.

Gilbert later joined expeditions to Haughton Crater in the late 2000s led by Dr. Natalia Rybcynski, a CMN Research Associate and co-author. The museum says those field studies also led to the discovery of another species, the transitional seal ancestor Puijila darwini.

Additional remains of E. itjilik were found during follow-up expeditions involving Dawson, Rybcynski and Gilbert. Dawson died in 2020 at age 89 and is listed as a co-author on the study.

The discovery pushed researchers to look more closely at rhino evolution and movement between regions over time. To place the new species in the rhino family tree, Fraser and her team analyzed 57 other rhinocerotid species, most of them extinct. The work drew on museum collections, published studies and large datasets.

Each species was assigned to one of five continental regions. Using mathematical models, the team estimated how often rhinos moved between continents within the Rhinocerotidae family.

The results suggest rhinos migrated between North America and Europe through Greenland using the North Atlantic Land Bridge. Earlier research had proposed that this land bridge stopped working as a migration route around 56 million years ago. The new analysis suggests those movements may have continued much later, possibly into the Miocene.

The importance of the Arctic rhino was also highlighted in July 2025, when a separate study published in Nature reported the recovery of partial proteins from the animal's tooth enamel. That study was led by post-doctoral fellow Ryan Sinclair Paterson at the University of Copenhagen.

According to the museum, the work extends the time range for obtaining meaningful protein sequences by millions of years. It also opens new opportunities for studying ancient biomolecules and tracing mammalian evolution.

"It's always exciting and informative to describe a new species. But there is more that comes from the identification of Epiaceratherium itjilik, as our reconstructions of rhino evolution show that the North Atlantic played a much more important role in their evolution than previously thought," says Fraser. "More broadly, this study reinforces that the Arctic continues to offer up new knowledge and discoveries that expand on our understanding of mammal diversification over time."

The fossil is now housed in the Canadian Museum of Nature collection. Preparation work was carried out at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Funding came from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. Fieldwork and logistics were supported by multiple organizations in Nunavut, with permits granted by territorial authorities and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

Haughton Crater is 23 kilometres across and is identified in the research as the northernmost known fossil site from the Miocene, about 23 to 5.6 million years ago. The crater later filled with water, forming a lake that preserved plants and animals from the region.

Geological and fossil evidence show the area was once covered in temperate forest, very different from today's cold, dry permafrost terrain. Researchers say seasonal freezing and thawing caused fossils to break apart and move toward the surface through cryoturbation. The bones of E. itjilik were recovered from a relatively small area of about 5 to 7 square metres.

Scientists Found a Rhino in the Arctic and it Changes Everything We Know About the Animal

Observer

An adorable turtle hatchling was seen scurrying along a footpath in the City of Cockburn, Western Australia.

This footage was shared by the official Facebook account of the City of Cockburn, who said that they spotted “one of our first turtle hatchlings of the season” as it was “making its way along the footpath in search of water.”

“From March to August, hatchlings emerge from their nests and begin a big journey to nearby lakes and wetlands. It’s a vulnerable time for these little turtles, and a bit of community care can make a big difference,” a caption on the post said.

Credit: City of Cockburn via Storyful

Adorable Turtle Hatchling Caught Scuttling Along a Footpath

Sunny Skyz

One day after learning hands-only CPR at school, a fourth grader from Martin, Michigan, used it to help save a man’s life.

Logan Vangemert was at church in Richland in early February when a church leader named Tom collapsed from cardiac arrest. As adults nearby panicked and struggled to respond, Logan stepped in.

“I did CPR on him,” Logan told WWMT-TV, demonstrating how he performed chest compressions.

Logan had learned the technique less than 24 hours earlier at school. In the moment, he remembered what to do and started CPR.

After several intense minutes, an AED was brought in and used to restart Tom’s heart. He has since made a full recovery after surgery and receiving a pacemaker.

Logan said he felt pushed to act.

“I heard a voice in my head telling me to go, so I sprinted over there,” he recalled to WWMT-TV. “Then it said some pretty good things about me.”

His actions have since been recognised at school and by outside groups. Students and teachers packed an auditorium at Martin High School to honour him, cheering as he received awards for helping save Tom’s life.

He was also recognised by local authorities and the American Heart Association.

Logan’s mother said she was deeply proud of how he responded.

“I am beyond proud of him for stepping up and doing something extremely difficult, even for an adult,” she said.

After the rescue, Logan said he now wants to pursue a career in medicine someday.

 📸credit: WWMT-TV

A 9-Year-Old Used His New CPR Skills To Save This Man’s Life The Next Day

YR - Google News Paramedic

A backcountry ATV ride near Kelowna, British Columbia, ended with a paramedic rescue on Sunday.

Central Okanagan Search and Rescue said it worked with Penticton Search and Rescue and Vernon Search and Rescue to reach an injured rider near the Fur Brigade trail above Peachland.

Ground teams were deployed, while Air Rescue 1 was used to airlift a paramedic to the patient.

The rider was then transported to a waiting ambulance through what COSAR described as a coordinated effort by all three search and rescue teams.

“We would like to thank Air Rescue One Helicopter Winch Society (AROHWS) for providing flight crew, winch and the rescue helicopter,” said COSAR.

A Paramedic in B.C. Was Just Airlifted To an ATV Crash Scene to Save An Injured ATV Rider

For a lot of families, school uniforms do not last the school year. Kids outgrow them fast, and buying replacements is not always possible.

That problem pushed two San Francisco area brothers, Desmond and Ethan Hua, to start a nonprofit that collects donated uniforms and gives them to low-income families in their community.

The idea started after they saw a boy arrive at Bayside Academy in San Mateo wearing shorts on a cold day. When they asked why, the student told them he did not have another pair of pants to last until laundry day.

The brothers then launched HOPE: Help Our Mother Earth. The program collects gently used school uniforms from families who no longer need them and redistributes them to families who do.

“We take in gently used school uniforms from families who no longer need them, and we redistribute them back to families in the community,” Ethan told CBS News San Francisco.

The work helps families who live at a hand-to-mouth income level, where replacing uniforms again and again is not always an option. It also keeps old clothes out of the landfill.

School uniforms can take hundreds of years to break down in a landfill while releasing methane, described as a potent, yet short-lived greenhouse gas.

The operation runs out of the Hua family garage. Organized plastic chests cover the ground, and each one is stacked with neatly folded uniforms in a range of sizes.

The brothers receive requests from students’ families and fill them from the stock they have on hand if they can. They then leave the uniforms in collection bins at school offices.

Those same bins also work as drop-off points for families whose children have outgrown their uniforms. The bins are now placed across nine public schools in the San Mateo-Foster City School District that take part in the program.

“It started with our school, and then now the whole program is across our district,” said Bayside Academy principal Maria Demattei. “We are thrilled that we can contribute to that, to our Mother Earth.”

The brothers say the program has had a large effect on both household costs and textile waste.

They estimate HOPE has saved $140,000 in uniform costs for more than 1,400 families. They also estimate it has prevented about 30 tons of methane from being emitted from uniforms that would otherwise have been thrown away.

“HOPE has saved roughly 13,000 articles of school uniforms from being sent to a landfill, thrown away by families,” said Ethan, who recently collected the Dr. Cora Clemons Emerging Young Samaritan Award from a local foundation.

The project grew from one school into a district-wide program, built around a simple cycle. Families donate uniforms their children no longer fit. Other families request what they need. The brothers sort the clothing, match requests where possible, and place the items in school collection bins for pickup.

The source text says that anyone who has shopped for children’s uniforms year after year knows how quickly they stop fitting. A uniform that works at the start of the school year may not fit by Spring Break.

That gap is what HOPE is trying to address, while also cutting textile waste.

“It started with our school, and then now the whole program is across our district,” said Bayside Academy principal Maria Demattei. “We are thrilled that we can contribute to that, to our Mother Earth.”

📸 credit: Hope Uniforms Program website

Brothers Team Up To Give This Costly School Item for Free, Saving Familes $140,000 Already

Talker News

Some of the smallest residents at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park are getting an extra layer this spring, thanks to volunteers with knitting needles.

Photos released by the park show orphaned lambs wearing hand-knitted sweaters made to help keep them warm.

Each year, the UK Wildlife Park adopts a number of lambs from farms, often when a ewe has a larger litter than expected or when she dies.

When a mother gives birth to three or four lambs, the weaker babies can struggle to get milk and need to be bottle-fed five times a day.

A staff member at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park said, "A ewe is only able to feed two lambs at a time, so when they have three or four, the weaker ones struggle to get sufficient milk.

"They become ‘pets or bottle babies’ meaning someone has to feed them every couple of hours, a task not relished by farmers at this time of year.

"We help by taking these cute cabe lambs and feeding them five feeds from six in the morning until 10 o'clock at night, every day. When a lamb gets cold outside, the mother’s milk will help warm it."

"Our lambs don’t have this option, so to help keep them warm, we put them in little jumpers. We are often short of jumpers so we have a knit and natter group each Wednesday where we offer bottomless tea or coffee for anyone making jumpers for our little lambs."

Volunteers meet each week throughout the spring to knit sweaters for the lambs as they grow.

So far this year, the group has made two blue sweaters for 5-day-old Miss Chief and Menace, and a Union Jack sweater for 2-day-old Jackie.

The staff member says, "Jackie is a fabulous Cheviot X, known for those large sticky-up ears. She's a particular favorite of ours."

The park also offers daily lamb-feeding sessions, where visitors can help bottle-feed the babies.

Volunteers are Knitting Tiny Sweaters For Orphaned Lambs At a Wildlife Park, And It's Adorable

GoodGoodGood

A game of Chinese chess in virtual reality may offer older adults something simple and hard to come by, a stronger sense of connection.

A new study from researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found that virtual reality gaming can reduce social isolation in seniors and boost their mental fitness.

With input from 18 older adults, the researchers created a virtual space modeled after a public park. In that space, the participants played Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess, and spent time in a “Cultural Corridor” to chat after their games.

Overall, users said they felt more connected after playing. Many also said the experience felt more engaging because they could take part as a player or as a spectator.

Lead author Qianjie Wei said the choice of game mattered.

“In China, Chinese chess is a highly popular form of social entertainment among older adults, as it offers a familiar and intellectually stimulating pastime. In order to win or play well in the game, players need to coordinate and work with various abilities such as attention, memory, logical thinking, and decision-making,” wrote Wei, who is now enrolled as a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Rochester.

Wei said repeated use of those skills can support older adults’ cognitive health.

“Repeated use of these abilities during gameplay can help maintain and improve cognitive functioning in older adults. Moreover, the social aspect of the game is equally significant; Chinese chess facilitates social interaction, providing a platform for emotional support and community bonding among seniors.”

The researchers also looked at what long-term use of virtual reality social spaces could involve. Wei and her peers recommended that future research expand into other social games and hobbies.

“Future work could explore a wider variety of cultural activities, such as music, calligraphy, or other highly interactive cultural projects,” Wei said, who has also studied how virtual shuttlecock games can help improve balance in older adults. “This would help cater to the interests of older adults from different backgrounds and provide a richer social experience.”

📸 credit: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.11627

A New Study Found This VR Board Game Helps Seniors Feel Less Isolated And Stay Mentally Sharp

A knock at the door can be easy to miss. For one Fort Worth woman, it was the difference between life and death.

Alekzander Dzivak, 19, was making a routine Meals on Wheels delivery when he arrived at the home of an elderly woman he knows as Ms. Lana. Inside, she was having a diabetic episode.

Ms. Lana had collapsed in her kitchen and could not move. Her phone was beside her, and when her doorbell camera app alerted her that Dzivak had arrived, she got a chance to call out for help.

She later said her mind was foggy and she had not even thought to call 911.

Through the doorbell, she told Dzivak what was happening.

“She was giving me the code and saying she was gonna die, and please call 911,” Dzivak recalled to FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.

He called emergency services and stayed with her through the doorbell camera while help was on the way.

“I was nodding and shaking my head. I was trying to keep her talking to me, keep her calm,” he said. “It was a very scary situation.”

Less than five minutes later, first responders arrived and stabilized Ms. Lana.

For her, the timing was everything.

“If he hadn’t come, I would’ve died. It was that far along,” she said. “He came to the door at the right moment. It’s just unbelievable.”

She said she was terrified after realising she was alone and could not reach anyone.

“I was petrified because I’ve never been that bad before. I knew I was by myself… There just wasn’t any way I could get hold of anybody.”

Dzivak had just turned 19 weeks earlier. He is one of the youngest volunteers serving Meals on Wheels in Tarrant County and handles two delivery routes each week.

On this delivery, though, the work quickly became something else.

“I was very happy I arrived when I did, because I don’t know what would’ve happened had I shown up later,” he said. “So I’m just glad I was here, and the paramedics were as close as they were.”

The incident left a lasting impact on both of them, according to the account, and created a bond that went beyond a meal delivery.

For Dzivak, it also reinforced why he volunteers.

“Any impact you’re able to make is amazing,” he said. “I find it so rewarding to volunteer.”

What began as one of his usual rounds ended with emergency crews at the house and Ms. Lana still alive because she was able to reach the person at her door.

Dzivak did not have to force the moment into something heroic. He answered the call he heard, phoned 911 and kept talking to her while she waited for help.

Ms. Lana said she had never been in that condition before. Alone in her home and unable to move, she said she could not get hold of anybody until the doorbell camera alert showed Dzivak had arrived.

That alert gave her one chance to speak. Dzivak listened.

“She was giving me the code and saying she was gonna die, and please call 911,” Dzivak recalled.

Minutes later, first responders reached her and stabilized her in less than five minutes.

“If he hadn’t come, I would’ve died. It was that far along,” she said.

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