Goodable

Great news! Greece is making waves around the world by transforming 287 beaches into fully wheelchair-accessible paradises. This free, Greek-designed technology provides unassisted access to the sea for beach-goers who may have difficulty accessing the water.
147 beaches have been transformed so far into fully accessible havens, complete with essential facilities like parking, bathrooms, changing rooms, and ramps. With the support of the European Union and national resources, the project is on track to make all 287 beaches accessible, allowing people with disabilities and mobility issues to enjoy the sand, sea and sun with their loved ones.<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvDqV_lXwAALj_L?format=jpg&amp;name=4096x4096" style="width: 100%;">At a press conference, Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias emphasized that "equal access to the sea is an inalienable human right." By enhancing the quality of life for those with disabilities and limited mobility, these fully accessible beaches are promoting physical and mental health and wellness for all.

But the benefits don't stop there. Fully accessible beaches also contribute to the local economy, attracting visitors with disabilities and limited mobility. This project is just one example of the country's ongoing commitment to accessibility for all. Iconic landmarks like the Acropolis are being transformed for people with disabilities.

Greece is Making Hundreds of Beaches Wheelchair Accessible

Good News Network

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 landfill.

According to the source text, school uniforms can take hundreds of years to break down in 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 getting sent to 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

Teens Deliver Expensive School Items To 1,400 Families For Free, And It's Saved $140,000 So Far

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

Sunny Skyz

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.

This Teen Meals On Wheels Volunteer Just Saved a Woman During a Medical Emergency

Photo by Efrem  Efre on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/viking-cruise-ship-docked-in-stockholm-harbor-34212497/)

Euro News

A new cruise ship has touched water for the first time, and Viking says it is breaking new ground.

Viking Libra, described as the world’s first hydrogen-powered cruise ship, reached a major construction milestone on 19 March when it was floated out at Fincantieri’s Ancona Shipyard. The float-out happens when a dry dock is filled with water so a newly built hull can float for the first time.

The ship is operated by cruise line Viking and is due to become functional in November 2026. Once it is in service, Viking Libra will be able to operate with zero emissions.

The float-out also marks the move from structural assembly to interior outfitting, which is usually the final stage of construction. In Viking Libra’s case, that final building stage will take place at a nearby outfitting dock.

“The float out of the Viking Libra represents another milestone for Viking and our continued partnership with Fincantieri,” said Torstein Hagen, chairman and CEO of Viking to Euro News.

“From the beginning, our approach to ship design has focused on reducing fuel consumption, and the Viking Libra is our most environmentally friendly vessel yet.”

Viking Libra will use a hybrid propulsion system that is partially based on fuel cells and liquefied hydrogen. Viking says that system will allow the ship to operate and navigate with zero emissions, including in highly environmentally sensitive areas.

By using advanced fuel cell technology, the propulsion system will also be able to produce up to six megawatts of power.

The ship has a total internal volume of about 54,300 tons and, like all Viking ships, it is also a small ship. When completed, it will have 499 staterooms for up to 998 guests. It will also include restaurants, a fitness centre and a Nordic Spa.

Viking says the ship will sail around Northern Europe and the Mediterranean in its inaugural season.

The company is also building another hydrogen-powered ship, Viking Astrea, which is due to be launched in 2027. Like Viking Libra, it is planned as a zero-emissions ship.

Viking Libra’s upcoming launch comes as cruise lines try to reduce the environmental impact of maritime travel.

Last October, Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten launched what it called its first climate-neutral voyage on the MS Richard With. The trip was a 5,000-mile roundtrip along the coast from Bergen to Kirkenes and back.

That ship uses 100 percent biofuel made from materials including fat waste and cooking oil.

“This marks a historic moment in Hurtigruten’s more than 130-year legacy along the Norwegian coast,” said Hedda Felin, CEO of Hurtigruten to Euro News. “Most importantly, it’s further proof that emission cuts are possible today by using sustainable biodiesel, without the need to invest billions in new ships or infrastructure.”

Last November, Havila Voyages, another Norwegian cruise line, also launched its first climate-neutral voyage along the same route.

Havila said the cruise aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90 percent compared to fossil fuels. It uses a combination of battery power and liquefied biogas.

For Viking, the next step for Libra is interior outfitting after the ship’s first float in Ancona. It is due to become functional in November 2026 and will then head to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean in its inaugural season.

 📸credit: Viking

Photo by Efrem  Efre on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/viking-cruise-ship-docked-in-stockholm-harbor-34212497/)

A European Cruise Line Says They're Moving Closer To Launching the First Hydrogen-Powered Ship

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Old home movies and family photo albums can sit in a closet for years, right up until the day the equipment needed to play or preserve them is hard to find.

The Nashville Public Library system has introduced the “Memory Lab,” a space where people can digitize VHS tapes, Beta Max, slides, audio film, photos and negatives that might otherwise be lost as older media becomes harder to access, preserve or keep around.

In a statement, the library said, “Memory Lab is more than just technology, it’s a creative space where anyone can reconnect with their history and capture moments that otherwise might have been lost forever.”

Anyone can book an appointment to digitize physical media in the lab. The space is equipped with a VHS-to-digital convertor and a state-of-the-art, multifunctional scanner.

Reservations are free and run from 15 minutes to 4 hours at the Donelson Branch Library at 2714 Old Lebanon Pike in Nashville. The library said people who make a reservation will receive a confirmation email with instructions.

The library said commercial digitization services might charge $30 per tape and $1 per image, costs that can quickly rise for people trying to preserve a full photo album or a collection of home movies.

Nashville Public Library said the Memory Lab is part of a growing national trend at public libraries, including in DC, Los Angeles and Brooklyn, that are working to bridge the digital divide.

It also places Nashville among a small number of libraries in Tennessee offering free media digitization, including libraries in Rutherford and Williamson counties.

In a statement, the library said, “We are pleased about the launch of Memory Lab, but the most rewarding part is yet to come, all of the stories, memories, and history that will be given new life and preserved for the next generation.”

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-vhs-tape-10600595/)

Nashville Public Library Lets Residents Digitize Photos And VHS Tapes For Free

Reasons to be Cheerful

San Francisco’s seawall has held the line for more than a century, but the next version may do more than block water.

The Port of San Francisco and the West Coast team of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, or SERC, are working together on the Living Seawall Pilot Project, inspired by living seawalls in places including Seattle’s Elliott Bay.

Much of San Francisco’s current shoreline is manmade, and the Port says that leaves it with little natural protection from wave energy, coastal erosion and flooding. Brad Benson, the Port’s waterfront resilience program director, said a more natural shoreline would have a “sloped, gradual area where you can have robust, intertidal growth and activity.”

He said steep, manmade shorelines are harder on marine life. Andy Chang, PhD., one of the project’s lead scientists, said that matters across the ecosystem, including birds, fish and marine mammals.

Even in places where the shoreline cannot be sloped, the project is testing ways to make seawalls more habitable. The idea is that adding protective areas could support more biodiversity and help native seaweeds, mollusks and phytoplanktons resist invaders including brown kelp and European green crabs.

San Francisco’s seawall stretches about three miles. The concrete structure was built between 1878 and 1915 and has so far avoided major disrepair. But its age, along with erosion of the weak soils beneath it, has added urgency to rebuilding plans. Sea-level rise is also a growing concern.

“We’ve had approximately nine inches of sea-level rise over the last century, so during king tide events, we start to see flooding in and around the Ferry building, which is the low point along the Embarcadero,” Benson explains.

Chang said seawalls leave limited engineering choices in places where they are required, but there is still room to improve habitat.

“In places where a seawall is a requirement, the options are limited engineering-wise,” notes Chang. “We can add features that make it better habitat, such as adding texture, or shelving or small tidepools … which promotes a greater diversity of species.”

To test that idea, SERC trialled three kinds of tiles in three separate parts of the bay. One set used standard concrete. Another used ECOncrete, a concrete developed by a company founded by marine biologists, but kept the surface smooth. The third used ECOncrete with a textured design of ridges and small shelf-like protrusions.

ECOncrete supplied the tiles with what it describes as a proprietary admixture designed to reduce the more toxic effects of industrial grade concrete. The company’s co-founder, Dr. Ido Sella, said at least 70 percent of the world’s marine infrastructure is built from concrete, and that has a major effect on coastal marine life over time.

The problem is not only the material itself, but the way it is usually used. Standard concrete seawalls like San Francisco’s are often smooth and ecologically “grey,” with no surfaces that organisms can easily inhabit. The manufacture of standard industrial concrete is also a known source of carbon emissions.

SERC monitored the submerged tiles over several years. Team members visited each site at low tide to photograph and record the marine life they found, test salinity and water temperature, and collect samples.

The fieldwork was demanding. The visits sometimes happened before dawn or after dark, and the sites were often difficult to reach. Chang described the work as “exhilarating” and also cold and wet.

SERC is still preparing its final report, but the early signs are encouraging. The seaweed-covered tiles recently displayed along the Embarcadero showed that treated, textured tiles attracted and supported small marine communities. Those included seaweeds and shellfish, sea snails and small fish. Many of the organisms that did well were native to the bay, which Chang said was a bonus for “one of the world’s most invaded bays.”

The project also points to another role for marine life along hardened shorelines. According to the source material, marine biota can help protect industrialised habitats by acting as buffers against weathering, as part of a carbon sink and as natural water purifiers.

The Port is still waiting for the official scientific findings from the pilot, but Benson said the work is already shaping long-term plans. He estimates that nearly three miles of the Port’s coming 7.5-mile flood plan will include nature-based engineering solutions, including living seawall features.

“We just want to be able to demonstrate to the San Francisco public that as we make these resilience investments, we’re not only just reducing flood risk and reducing earthquake risks, we’re leaving the waterfront a better place,” he says.

📸 credit: Credit: Corryn Knapp / Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

San Francisco is Testing a 'Living Seawall' Design to Boost Marine Life And Fight Flooding

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For Pat Schultz, this research started at home. She enrolled her German shepherd-poodle mix, Murphy, in the Dog Aging Project while her husband was suffering from Alzheimer's, and the project her dog joined aimed to advance research into both canine and human aging.

Murphy, now 12, is one of more than 50,000 dogs in the project. Scientists around the country collect data on dogs' diets and exercise, analyze blood samples and do MRIs of dogs' brains. Dogs develop many of the same aging-related diseases as humans, and because they age more rapidly, researchers can gather answers faster, according to veterinary neurologist Stephanie McGrath.

"We can get a ton of information that would take decades to do in humans," McGrath said to CBS News.

Biologist Matt Kaeberlein, who has spent decades trying to understand and reverse the causes of aging in both humans and dogs, co-founded the Dog Aging Project in 2014.

"I realized, 'Oh my God, we know about three or four or five ways to slow aging in laboratory animals. Some of those are going to work in dogs,'" Kaeberlein said to CBS News.

Kaeberlein said much of the biology of aging is similar across the animal kingdom, particularly across species of mammals. Researchers see dogs as a possible bridge between mice and people. Many treatment trials move from tests on mice directly to human trials, but the latest data shows many drugs that work on mice do not work on people. Dogs live alongside humans and are exposed to the same environments. They exercise with people, drink the same water and even eat human food.

All the information collected in the Dog Aging Project goes into a public database that researchers around the world can access. The database has already been used in more than 50 scientific studies. Many of those studies found correlations between lifestyle, environment and disease risk.

The project has found that dogs living with other dogs appear to suffer from fewer diseases. It also found that dogs that do not exercise have a six times greater chance of developing dementia.

As part of the project, dogs go through tests that measure physical and mental fitness. In one test, dogs are shown where a treat is hidden. Seconds later, they are allowed to go get it, if they can remember where it is. Murphy has gone through testing for the past three years. During one test, he showed signs of anxiety, which McGrath said is a possible sign of dementia.

The project also studies what happens in dogs' brains. When some of the dogs in the project die, their brains are donated and examined. Dr. Dirk Keene, a neuropathologist who has studied human brains for 20 years looking for causes of Alzheimer's, works with the veterinarians and researchers in the Dog Aging Project.

Keene said his interest in the work was personal. He watched his mother suffer from Alzheimer's and also saw his dog Spring decline from what looked to him like the same disease, sometimes called "doggy dementia."

Near the end of her life, Spring would get confused and lost. She would stare into space and lean against things, Keene said, something that happens to people too.

"It's not just memory when we start to have dementia," Keene said to CBS News. "Dementia's a very complex thing that includes confusion, it includes the loss of the ability to remember where you're supposed to be, sort of spatial references. Very similar to what we're seeing in dogs, it happens in people."

Keene said dog brains, like human brains, have a frontal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. He said they share the same basic shape as the human brain, and dementia changes brain size and structure in very similar ways in both species.

Brains from people and dogs that suffered from dementia weigh less than healthy brains, Keene said. As the disease kills neurons, the brain shrinks and the space in the middle cavity enlarges. In dogs, dementia also results in enlarged spaces and brain shrinkage.

Under a microscope, Spring's brain, one of the first donated to the Dog Aging Project, showed beta amyloid plaques, which Keene said are a hallmark of Alzheimer's in people.

The project is also testing ways to help dogs live longer and stay healthier as they age. One focus is rapamycin. In mice, the drug has been shown to slow cognitive decline and increase life expectancy by 60 percent. That has led some longevity researchers and influencers to suggest rapamycin for human use.

Molecular biologist Julie Moreno helped run a pilot study involving 12 dogs, all showing signs of dementia, to see how rapamycin would affect them. One dog, 10-year-old Qbert, received a placebo. Another, 13-year-old Monkey, received rapamycin.

After the dogs died, Moreno studied their brains. She found Monkey's brain showed fewer microglial cells, which produce inflammation commonly associated with dementia. Two other dogs that received rapamycin have since died, and their brains also showed fewer cells associated with inflammation.

"If it works in a dog, and it's safe, and it's helping their cognition, then, maybe, it would help humans," Moreno said.

The Dog Aging Project is now running a larger clinical trial funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. Hundreds of dogs, including Murphy, are being given either a placebo or rapamycin to test if the drug can extend life.

Outside the project, biotech startup Loyal is also testing aging drugs for dogs. The for-profit company was founded in 2019 by Celine Haliou and is testing three drugs.

"My vision is that this is, you know, it's a daily beef-flavored pill that are given preventatively to keep them healthier longer, similar to a statin, you know, for older Americans," Haliou said.

Haliou said her hope is an estimated "one healthier year of life."

One of Loyal's drugs is in a clinical trial involving dogs older than 10, who are monitored for signs of aging. The Food and Drug Administration has signed off on the drug's safety data and says it has a "Reasonable Expectation of Effectiveness," but final trial results will not be known for several years.

Haliou said the aging drug is not something to give a dog on its deathbed. Loyal has raised more than $250 million to bring its drugs to market. Haliou said that if the company succeeds with dogs, it may open the possibility of work on human longevity.

"I think going dogs first is the fastest way to work on and understand the biology of human aging," she said.

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Studying Dogs Could Unlock Longer, Healthier Lives For Pets — And People

"2025 UIL 6A M 800 m" by KnowledgeIsPower9281 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The Guardian

Spring break usually comes with a story or two. For Cooper Lutkenhaus, it came with a world title.

The 17-year-old from outside Dallas showed up at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Torun, Poland, and left as something no one his age had ever been before. A world champion.

Lutkenhaus won the 800 metres in 1:44.24, edging Belgium’s Eliott Crestan by 0.14 seconds. It was tight. It was tactical. And it made him the youngest athlete ever to win an individual world title, indoors or outdoors.

Not bad for someone who still has high school classes waiting.

“I came out here thinking I probably wasn’t the favorite, but any time I feel like I can step into a final I have a chance to win,” Lutkenhaus said, according to World Athletics. “Maybe it came from confidence or maybe from being too young, but I really wanted to try to make a defining move. I believed in that on the third lap — I just wanted to try to take it from there.”

That move came late, and it stuck.

At 17 years and 93 days old, Lutkenhaus broke a record that had stood for more than a decade. Ethiopian runner Mohammed Aman had been the youngest individual world champion when he won the same event in 2012 at 18 years and 61 days.

Lutkenhaus also became the youngest medalist of any kind in World Indoor Championships history, edging out Cuban high jump legend Javier Sotomayor by four days.

Those are big names. Lutkenhaus is now one of them.

The win did not come out of nowhere. His last year has been a fast climb, even by track standards. In 2025, at just 16, he finished second in the 800 metres at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. That result made him the youngest American to compete at an outdoor world championship.

He turned professional shortly after.

But that first global stage did not go the way he wanted. At the outdoor world championships last September, Lutkenhaus was knocked out in the first round. He was also missing time from his junior year of school to compete.

It stayed with him.

“The hardest part about Tokyo was that was my 17th month of racing,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people realized that. I had been racing for over a year. I’m not using that as an excuse, but just being able to be fresh for this one and a lot more confident.”

Fresh legs, sharper timing, better result.

Three weeks before his world title run, Lutkenhaus had already won the 800 metres at the USATF Indoor Championships. He entered the world championships ranked third based on his best time of 2026.

Some of the biggest names in the event were not there. That is not unusual. Many athletes skip indoor competitions to focus on the outdoor season, where Olympic and world titles often carry more weight.

Still, the field was strong. And Lutkenhaus ran like he belonged from the start.

He already had proof he could compete at that level. His 1:42.27 run at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships did more than win attention. It shattered the under-18 world record by 1.1 seconds.

That kind of time usually comes with experience. Lutkenhaus is still building his.

The win in Poland now places him firmly among the top middle-distance runners in the world. It also raises a new question. How fast can he go from here?

For now, the answer might be simple. Back to school.

The championships themselves told a broader story too. The United States once again topped the medal table, marking a 10th straight edition of world indoors where it led all nations. American athletes collected 18 medals, including five golds. Italy and Spain each won five medals, while Great Britain led in golds behind the U.S. with four.

Elsewhere on the track, Bahamas hurdler Devynne Charlton defended her 60 metre hurdles title for the third time, matching her own world record of 7.65 seconds.

In the women’s 1500 metres, American Nikki Hiltz took bronze after a late surge, finishing just ahead of France’s Agathe Guillemot by 0.03 seconds. She finished behind Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell and Australia’s Jessica Hull.

Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson dominated the women’s 800 metres, winning by 1.34 seconds in 1:55.30. It was the second fastest time ever recorded, just behind her own world record set last month.

American Addy Wiley earned her first global medal in that race, taking bronze at age 22.

Anna Hall added another podium finish to her growing resume, taking silver in the pentathlon after winning the outdoor heptathlon world title.

With indoor season wrapped, attention now shifts outside. Athletes will build toward the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in New York this July, followed by the World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest in September.

Lutkenhaus will be part of that conversation now.

For a teenager who just made history, the next race is already waiting.

"2025 UIL 6A M 800 m" by KnowledgeIsPower9281 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

This Teenager Just Became The Youngest Ever World Indoor 800m Champion

Fox News

Five years is a long time to wait for a cat to come home. For one Maryland family, that wait ended with a phone call they never expected.

Melissa and Brooke Garci were reunited with their cat, Artemis, five years after she went missing in 2021, according to WJZ-TV.

The Garcis had tried to find Artemis after she disappeared. WJZ reported that Melissa Garci canvassed the neighborhood with flyers, but she was not able to locate the indoor-outdoor cat.

The break came years later, when a woman brought a cat to the Humane Society of Harford County and said she had found it in her unfinished basement.

"Artemis was brought into our shelter by a caring community member," the Humane Society said in a Facebook post.

The nonprofit said staff scanned the cat for a microchip as part of standard protocol and found one.

"We traced her chip with the manufacturer and called the owner. Her owner picked up the phone and was speechless. Artemis had been missing for 5 years!!" the Humane Society wrote.

The shelter added, "Tears were shed over this sweet reunion. We are so happy to have brought this family back together again!"

Erin Long of the Humane Society told WJZ what happened when staff reached out to the family.

"This woman answered, 'Hello?' And we said we have your cat, and she was unbelieving. And she said, 'Are you sure? My cat has been missing for five years,’" Long said.

For Brooke Garci, seeing Artemis again did not feel real at first.

She told the station she felt like she could not even cry yet when she saw Artemis again, "because I was in disbelief, but when I saw her, I was like, 'Omg, she looks exactly the same.’"

Brooke Garci also told WJZ, "Her instincts are strong."

Long said Artemis quickly reconnected with the family after leaving her kennel.

When Artemis first came out, Long said, she walked over to the Garcis and got on both of their laps.

"It was a beautiful thing," she said.

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