Goodable

Chris Farley, a comedic legend, shone in roles like Matt Foley on "Saturday Night Live" and Tommy Callahan, Jr. in "Tommy Boy." His untimely death at 33 in 1997 marked the end of a bright career. In 1995, as Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich rose to prominence within the Republican Party, Farley famously impersonated him during a House Republican Conference Meeting, celebrating the GOP's first 100 days in control of Congress, creating an unforgettable moment of comedy.

<p>Chris Farley, a comedic legend, shone in roles like Matt Foley on "Saturday Night Live" and Tommy Callahan, Jr. in "Tommy Boy." His untimely death at 33 in 1997 marked the end of a bright career. In 1995, as Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich rose to prominence within the Republican Party, Farley famously impersonated him during a House Republican Conference Meeting, celebrating the GOP's first 100 days in control of Congress, creating an unforgettable moment of comedy.<br></p>

Watch: SNL's Chris Farley's Hilarious Newt Gingrich Impersonation

Sunny Skyz

An early morning fire in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, had all the makings of a tragedy. Flames tore through a wooden home shortly before 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, burning so intensely that they threatened nearby structures, including a mobile home less than 20 feet away.

But before firefighters arrived, a 12-year-old girl inside the house made a choice that likely saved a life.

As the fire spread, one sibling dialed 911. In the recording, a young caller told the dispatcher, “We do have an injured.” When asked who was hurt, the child replied, “She has severe burns on her neck. She’s 72 and she’s crippled.”

According to Tyler McDow, director of Lawrence County Fire and Rescue, the elderly woman — who had limited mobility — made it outside only because the 12-year-old pulled her from the burning home. It happened before emergency crews reached the scene.

“That child made a decision to help somebody out of the house that some adults would have trouble overcoming the fear,” McDow said. “Obviously, she sustained some burns in doing so, so that tells you that the conditions inside the residence were very dangerous at the time, and so, obviously, she had to make the decision that somebody else’s life was more important than hers.”

First responders treated both the woman and the child on site before transporting them to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Officials said the woman suffered significant burns but was in stable condition. The girl sustained minor burns to her arms and legs.

In a press release, Lawrence County Fire and Rescue thanked the child for her bravery. “We are thankful for the actions of the child on scene at the time of the discovery of the fire. Her heroic efforts quite possibly saved a life this morning.”

What began as a terrifying blaze became a story of instinct, courage and a split-second choice that changed everything.

A 12-Year-Old Girl Just Pulled Her Grandmother From A Burning Tennessee Home And Saved Her Life

ABC News

In the heart of Budapest, a city better known for paprika and goulash, one restaurant is inviting diners about two thousand years into the past. At Neverland Pizzeria, founder Josep Zara and his team have created a limited edition pie made entirely from ingredients available in the ancient Roman Empire, long before tomatoes, mozzarella or even the word “pizza” ever existed in Europe.

“Curiosity drove us to ask what pizza might have been like long ago,” Zara said. “We went all the way back to the Roman Empire and wondered whether they even ate pizza at the time.”

Strictly speaking, the Romans did not. Tomatoes would not arrive in Europe until centuries after the empire fell, and mozzarella had not yet appeared. But the Romans did eat flatbreads baked in ovens and topped with herbs, cheeses and sauces. These early dishes, sold in open air snack bars called thermopolia, were the ancestors of modern pizza.

Zara’s inspiration came in 2023, when archaeologists uncovered a fresco in Pompeii that appeared to show a focaccia style flatbread topped with pomegranate seeds, dates, spices and a pesto like spread. “That made me very curious about what kind of flavor this food might have had,” he said. “That’s where we got the idea to create a pizza that people might have eaten in the Roman Empire, using only ingredients that were in wide use at the time.”

To do it, Zara dug into Roman culinary history, consulting a historian in Germany and reading De re coquinaria, an ancient cookbook from around the 5th century. From that research he created a historically documented ingredient list and handed it to Neverland’s head chef, László Bárdossy.

The restrictions turned out to be the real challenge. “We had to discard a couple ideas,” Bárdossy said. “The fact that there wasn’t infrastructure like a water system at the time of the Romans made things difficult for us, since more than 80% of pizza dough is water. We had to come up with something that would have worked before running water.”

Their solution was unconventional but plausible: using fermented spinach juice to help the dough rise. Ancient grains like einkorn and spelt, widely grown in Roman times, formed the base. The resulting dough is denser than a modern crust, but close enough in texture that diners can still recognize it as pizza.

The final creation leans heavily into Roman aristocratic cuisine. It includes epityrum, a type of olive paste; garum, a fermented fish sauce that flavored nearly everything in Roman cooking; confit duck leg; toasted pine nuts; ricotta; and a grape reduction.

“Our creation can be called a modern pizza from the perspective that we tried to make it comprehensible for everyone,” Bárdossy said. “Although we wouldn’t use all its ingredients for everyday dishes. There is a narrow niche that thinks this is delicious and is curious about it, while most people want more conventional pizza, so it’s not for everyday eating. It’s something special.”

For Zara, it fits the restaurant’s philosophy. “We’ve always liked coming up with new and interesting things, but tradition is also very important for us, and we thought that these two things together suit us,” he said.

There is one modern line the pizzeria refuses to cross. “We do a lot of experimentation with our pizzas,” Zara added. “But of course, we definitely do not use pineapple.”

A Budapest Pizzeria is Serving Ancient Roman-Inspired Pizza Using Historical Ingredients

CTV News

At the bottom of 380 steps, the walls look like dull, mottled stone. But they taste salty, and visitors at the Wieliczka Salt Mine are encouraged to try them. The underground maze just southeast of Kraków is part cathedral, part industrial monument and part tourist attraction, drawing up to 9,000 people a day.

Salt production stopped in 1996, but after 700 years of continuous mining and more than 150 miles of excavated tunnels, only about 2 per cent of the complex is open to the public. Even that small fraction is immense: nine levels of chambers cut as deep as 330 metres below ground.

Visitors can choose a two-hour tourist route or a three-hour “miners’ route,” complete with helmets and headlamps. The classic route opens with a plunge down 380 steps and passes through chambers carved entirely by hand. Many now hold sculptures, biblical scenes and ornate chandeliers made of salt crystals. The tour ends at 137 metres underground. The miners’ route runs between 57 and 100 metres.

Tour guide Patrycja Antoniak explains why the walls are grey instead of white. The salt contains impurities like sand, silt and claystone. “Ninety to ninety-five percent of the rock is salt, sodium chloride, and impurities give the salt the gray color,” she says. Despite the color, it is still edible. “It was used to preserve food without being purified.”

The salt itself formed from ancient evaporated seas about 13.5 million years ago. Tectonic shifts in the Carpathian Mountains lifted the layers closer to the surface, making them easier to discover. Miners excavated inch by inch until 1743, when they began using gunpowder. Mechanical drilling arrived more than a century later. To prevent collapse, layers of salt were left to form natural supports; today, engineers reinforce the chambers with fiberglass rods.

Mining at Wieliczka began in the late 13th century, though salt had been essential long before. Prehistoric communities boiled brine to collect crystals used for trade. By the late 1200s, miners were digging wells and shafts, eventually unearthing the first lumps of solid salt. In the 14th century, King Casimir III made the mine a royal asset. Revenue from salt accounted for up to a third of the royal treasury, helping fund Poland’s first university. By the late 1400s, annual production reached 7,000 to 8,000 tons.

Life underground was tough but, compared to other mines, relatively safe. “It wasn’t a bad job because of the good air, soft rock and short working day,” Antoniak says. Still, excavation often took generations, and some jobs were dangerous, especially for “penitents,” workers who burned off methane to prevent explosions.

Horses brought underground in the 1500s to power pulleys never saw daylight again. One of their wooden carts still remains in a chamber. During World War II, the Nazis briefly turned part of the mine into a factory for aircraft components staffed by forced labourers from the Płaszów concentration camp. The operation ended after a few months because salt and humidity corroded the metal.

Although mining has ended, salt is still produced from brine pumped out to prevent structural damage. More than 10,000 tons a year are extracted this way.

Tourism at Wieliczka goes back 300 years. Visitors once attended firework displays and glided across an underground brine lake in boats. Even Nicolaus Copernicus is believed to have toured the mine in 1493, becoming, as Antoniak notes, “the first ‘tourist’ in the mine.”

The site’s most famous chamber is St. Kinga’s Chapel, a vast underground church carved from salt over 67 years by three miners: Józef Markowski, Tomasz Markowski and Antoni Wyrodek. The chapel, completed in 1964, features salt rock altars, chandeliers and reliefs of biblical scenes. Mass is still held there, and weddings take place in its cavernous hall.

Wieliczka continues to evolve. Some chambers now host events, including galas, a bungee jump from a 36 metre high chamber and even a tethered hot air balloon. A spa 137 metres underground offers respiratory treatments, relying on the mine’s stable, mineral-rich, nearly bacteria-free air. “Salt miners don’t suffer from black lung and they live longer than other miners,” Antoniak says.

Keeping the mine safe remains labour-intensive. About 380 miners work to prevent water infiltration, which is the greatest threat. “They have to make sure it’s safe so we can let visitors in,” Antoniak says. “They make sure the wooden constructions are still supporting the ceiling.”

Nearly 750 years after the first shafts were dug, Wieliczka remains a world unto itself, preserved by the same community that carved it from the earth.

Salt Mine Tourism: Inside A Subterranean World Carved By Hand Over 700 Years

BBC News

Keely Hodgkinson had been waiting for the right race and the right moment. When she stepped onto the track in France on Thursday, the 23-year-old and her coaches already believed she was about to rewrite the record books. She delivered exactly what they expected, running 1 minute 54.87 seconds to break the indoor 800m world record that had stood since the day she was born, 3 March 2002.

The run in Liévin was the version of herself her team calls “Keely 2.0” after a year of setbacks that could have shaken her confidence. Instead, they became the fuel behind one of the strongest performances of her career.

Hodgkinson has trained with coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows since 2019. Meadows, a former international 800m runner, said the confidence going into the race was unusually high. “She actually said to me the day before, ‘obviously I know I'm going to get it’,” Meadows said. Their training benchmarks backed it up. “We had no doubt that she would do it.”

Her only concern was the feeling afterwards. Meadows said Hodgkinson worried she might break the world record but be disappointed if the time did not meet her own expectations. Even then, Meadows said the result in France was “the bare minimum of what she was happy with. She definitely would have liked to run faster, and there was definitely half a second, maybe even up to one second in those legs.”

That confidence was matched by strategy. Meadows and Hodgkinson had circled 19 February on the calendar months ago. Liévin has a reputation for fast times and a long list of world records, so they singled out the meet as the season’s best shot.

Behind the scenes, the training had been sharp but restrained. Meadows said the team had learned not to push too hard, especially after the injuries Hodgkinson battled last year. “Keely can be doing certain repetitions, and she's being physically sick from the lactic acid. It's a little bit inhumane at times,” she said.

Hodgkinson had aimed to break the indoor record at her Keely Klassic meet in February 2025. She was ready for it until a hamstring issue forced her to withdraw. The injury resurfaced 12 weeks later, disrupting preparations again. She still lined up at the World Athletics Championships in September and won bronze behind Georgia Hunter Bell and Lilian Odira, but Meadows said Hodgkinson has barely looked at that medal since. “She wants the gold, she wants the records, and that is what was driving her forward,” she said.

Meadows described Hodgkinson as mentally exceptional. “She isn't the most talented athlete I have ever seen. The difference between Keely and a lot of others is mindset; she can get the best out of herself on a daily basis.”

With the indoor record now hers, Hodgkinson will head to Poland next month as a strong favourite at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. But an even bigger target is ahead. The outdoor 800m world record of 1:53.28, set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983, has stood longer than any other in track and field. Hodgkinson wants it.

She has run 1:54.61, the British record she set in London in 2024. Meadows believes London could also be where she challenges the historic mark. “I think she would like to do it in the UK. London always delivers a great crowd, a great occasion. In 2026, I think she can definitely run under 1:54. If she goes in on interrupted training, she really does stand a chance.”

For now, Hodgkinson has a new title: the fastest woman ever indoors over 800m. And for a runner forged by a year of setbacks and rebuilt confidence, that moment was years in the making.

Keely Hodgkinson Breaks Indoor 800m World Record After A Year That Tested Everything

Talker News

Chase Johnson did not think much of it at first. Her dog, Ceto, a laid back Labrador and retriever mix, suddenly started pacing, whining, and shadowing her around the house. It was so out of character that she and her husband kept trying to figure out what had set him off.

A few weeks later, his urgency sharpened. Chase said Ceto got “all worked up” and poked her left breast with his nose. When it hurt, she checked the spot and felt a lump.

That moment changed everything. Multiple appointments and a mammogram later, doctors diagnosed the 36 year old attorney from Cary, North Carolina, with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease. She immediately began treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a lumpectomy, and lymph node removal. The treatments worked. Chase now has no sign of disease.

Her oncologist told her that timing had been critical. If she had waited even a few more months, the outcome could have been very different.

Chase said Ceto is usually calm. “He never gets anxious and is always pretty chill. A couple of weeks before I found the lump, he followed me around the house, would pace the room, whimpering and became really anxious,” she said. The change made no sense until the day he poked her breast a second time. “That is when I started searching and found the lump. If he had not done that, I would not have found it.”

There was another reason she trusted the warning. In 2021, Ceto had done the same thing with her husband, Ben Byrn. He had followed him anxiously and stuck close to him for days before Ben was diagnosed with colon cancer. When the behavior returned, Chase knew something was wrong. Ben had already had a clear scan, which meant the concern was likely hers.

After she found the lump, Chase contacted her primary care provider. The clinic told her they were booked until May. She said they initially dismissed her concerns. “They told me I was too young for cancer. They said that cancer doesn't hurt, so I probably had a benign cyst,” she said.

Unsatisfied, she reached out to a physician associate at Duke University Hospital. That provider also thought she was too young for cancer until Chase mentioned Ceto’s previous alert with her husband. The physician agreed to order a mammogram. The tests that followed confirmed the diagnosis on February 16, 2021.

Following treatment, Chase met with her oncologist to discuss what came next. “She said if I had waited till May, that we would be having a very different conversation, and I may not have survived,” Chase said.

The experience reinforced what she already believed. “If I didn't have Ceto, and if I didn't have that past experience with my husband, I might not be here. You have to be your own advocate,” she said. “I was told by experts that I was too young and cancer didn't hurt, then I received this diagnosis.”

Chase is now taking part in a Cleveland Clinic clinical trial for a preventive breast cancer vaccine. She joined 35 participants in a Phase I study run with Anixa Biosciences, Inc. Early findings show the investigational vaccine produced an immune response in 74 percent of participants and was safe and well tolerated.

G. Thomas Budd, MD, the study’s principal investigator, said, “It’s a hopeful time for all of us concerned about this serious disease. For triple negative breast cancer, until just a few years ago, chemotherapy was our only systemic option beyond surgery and radiation. Recently, immunotherapy has shown benefit when combined with chemotherapy, which makes exploring a vaccine strategy even more significant.”

For Chase, the science gives her hope. But she credits Ceto with giving her something science could not have given her in time: a warning she could not ignore.

This Dog’s Strange Behavior Led This Woman To a Life-Saving Cancer Diagnosis — Here's How

NASA

For the first time since the mid 1800s, giant tortoises are walking across Floreana Island again. The return marks a turning point in one of the most ambitious ecological restoration efforts in the Galápagos Islands and brings back a species that vanished more than a century ago.

Their comeback is happening with a boost from space. NASA satellite data is helping scientists figure out exactly where the animals have the best chance of finding food, water, and safe nesting habitat. That information is guiding one of the biggest rewilding projects ever attempted by the Galápagos National Park Directorate and the Galápagos Conservancy.

“This is exactly the kind of project where NASA Earth observations make a difference,” said Keith Gaddis, who manages NASA Earth Action’s Biological Diversity and Ecological Forecasting program. “We’re helping partners answer a practical question: Where will these animals have the best chance to survive, not just today, but decades from now?”

On Feb. 20, conservation teams released 158 giant tortoises at two sites on Floreana. For many scientists, it was emotional. “It's a huge deal to have these tortoises back on this island. Charles Darwin was one of the last people to see them there,” said James Gibbs, the Galápagos Conservancy’s Vice President of Science and Conservation.

Floreana’s tortoises disappeared after heavy hunting by whalers and the arrival of pigs and rats that wiped out eggs and hatchlings. Without them, the island changed. Tortoises are ecosystem engineers, grazing vegetation, clearing pathways, and carrying seeds across long distances. Their absence reshaped the landscape for generations.

The path to bringing them back has been long. In 2000, Gibbs and other researchers studying tortoises on the slopes of Wolf Volcano on northern Isabela Island found animals that didn’t match any known living species. A decade later, DNA extracted from the bones of extinct Floreana tortoises confirmed the mystery animals carried Floreana ancestry. That breakthrough sparked a breeding program that has now produced hundreds of young tortoises fit to return home.

Across the archipelago, the National Park has released more than 10,000 tortoises over 60 years. But each island presents a different challenge. Many Galápagos landscapes shift dramatically with climate and elevation. Some areas trap clouds and stay green, while others dry out for long periods. Tortoises typically move between these zones and can travel long distances each year.

“It's difficult for the tortoises because they get introduced from captivity into this environment,” Gibbs said. “They don’t know where food is. They don’t know where water is. They don’t know where to nest. If you can place them where conditions are already right, you give them a much better chance.”

NASA’s satellites fill in the missing pieces. Scientists use data that tracks vegetation, rainfall, moisture, temperature, and seasonal changes across the islands. They combine those maps with millions of recorded tortoise observations to pinpoint where conditions are most suitable.

Christian Sevilla, Director of Ecosystems at the National Park Directorate, called the technology essential. “Habitat suitability models and environmental mapping are essential tools. They allow us to integrate climate, topography, and vegetation data to make evidence-based decisions. We move from intuition to precision.”

The decision tool uses data from multiple missions, including Landsat, Sentinel, the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, and NASA’s Terra satellite. High-resolution commercial images add detail where needed. With those layers, teams can evaluate release sites without setting foot on them, then forecast how habitat conditions might shift years into the future.

That long view matters. “This isn’t a one-year project,” said Giorgos Mountrakis, the project’s principal investigator at SUNY ESF. “We’re looking at where tortoises will succeed 20, 40 years from now.” Considering the animals can live more than 100 years, their future environment is just as important as today's.

The Floreana release is part of a larger restoration strategy that aims to remove invasive species and eventually return 12 native animals to the island. Tortoises are the keystone species expected to help reset ecological relationships that once shaped the landscape.

The decision tool and NASA data are now being used to plan tortoise reintroductions on other islands as well. If successful, Floreana could once again support a thriving tortoise population, restoring a piece of natural history that disappeared before the modern conservation movement even existed.

“For those of us who live and work in Galápagos, this release is deeply meaningful,” Sevilla said. “It demonstrates that large-scale ecological restoration is possible and that, with science and long-term commitment, we can recover an essential part of the archipelago’s natural heritage.”

Giant Tortoises are Returning To Floreana Island For The First Time In 150 Years, With Help From NASA

ABCNews

It started with a familiar question. When a battery dies, what are you supposed to do with it? Most of us just toss it in a drawer, then forget about it until the drawer jams and we promise to deal with it later.

But tossing them in the trash has real consequences. Once in a landfill, dead batteries can leak heavy metals like cadmium and nickel into soil and water. Some can even overheat and spark fires inside garbage trucks. It turns out their afterlife can be just as active as their working days.

The simple fix takes only a few steps, and experts say it’s worth doing. Old batteries end up in recycling centers that strip them down so their materials can be used again. Michael Hoffman, president of the National Waste and Recycling Association, put it plainly. Recycling old batteries “keeps you safe, keeps the waste industry safe, keeps the first responders safe and responsibly sees that battery reach a proper end of life.”

Batteries power everything from alarm clocks to game controllers. Millions are sold every year in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The footprint stretches far beyond your living room. The lithium, nickel and cobalt that make those batteries work are mined in places like Congo, refined elsewhere, then shipped and flown around the globe before they land on store shelves. Every step leaves its mark in emissions and pollution.

Even though household batteries are tiny compared to the massive ones in electric cars, there are far more of them floating around. That makes proper disposal matter. As Harvard environmental scientist Jennifer Sun said, “One person’s single battery is not necessarily a lot. But everyone uses many batteries."

Sorting them is the first step. “Batteries come in all shapes and sizes, but what’s inside differs,” said Matthew Bergschneider, a materials scientist at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The standard AA or AAA alkaline and zinc carbon batteries are usually single use. Most places allow them in the trash. Still, the EPA suggests recycling them so their materials can be reused.

Lithium ion batteries are a different story. They show up in power tools, cordless vacuums and a growing number of single use products. They can leak toxic gases or start fires, which makes tossing them in the garbage a risky move. A lot of rechargeable batteries fall into this category too.

Rules vary by location. New York, Vermont and Washington, D.C. are among the places with stricter requirements for throwing out household or rechargeable batteries. It’s worth checking local guidelines before doing anything else.

Once you have them sorted, tape the ends or seal each battery in a plastic bag to prevent sparking. Then bring them to a drop off point. Depending on where you live, that can be easy or frustrating. Hardware and office supply stores often accept them. Cities and states sometimes run their own programs as well. You can also search by ZIP code through The Battery Network, a nonprofit focused on safe recycling. Todd Ellis from the group encourages people to keep a small collection spot at home. Then, he said, “at some point, hopefully among all the other things that we all have in our lives, you can find a convenient drop-off location.”

Damaged batteries need special care. If one looks swollen, cracked or appears to be leaking, do not take it to a public drop off. Local hazardous waste agencies can tell you how to handle it.

After collection, batteries are sorted and shipped to recycling facilities. They are broken apart into their key materials like cobalt, nickel and aluminum. Some parts become new batteries. Others take on new lives in different industries. Nickel, for instance, can be turned into stainless steel. Even alkaline batteries can end up in something unexpected like sunscreen.

Recycling does not erase the environmental cost of making a battery. But it does slow the demand to mine new materials. As public health expert Oladele Ogunseitan from the University of California, Irvine said, “You continue to recycle and you don’t have to go back to the Earth to mine.”

There is also the matter of safety at home. Old batteries sitting in drawers can leak toxic compounds. Getting them out of the house and into the proper stream is a small act with quick payoff. Sun called it one of the easiest, most controllable steps people can take to reduce their impact.

Americans Urged To Recycle Household Batteries For Safety And Environmental Health

Five years into its mission on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover has built up a photo album that looks equal parts science log and cosmic scavenger hunt. The rover has been roaming the Red Planet since touching down in 2021, sending back a steady stream of images that keep scientists busy and space fans guessing.

Some of the strangest finds have been rocks that look more like characters in a children’s story than geological fragments. Over the years Perseverance has snapped formations resembling turtles, sharks, even what looks uncannily like a lightsaber. That last one comes with an explanation. The supposed sci fi prop is actually a titanium collection tube the rover dropped after filling it with a rock sample.

Other discoveries are harder to explain at first glance. There was the boulder shaped like a giant egg, a pointed rock with the silhouette of a Harry Potter style sorting hat and another that earned the nickname Martian sombrero. Each image sparked online guesses about what they could be before scientists stepped in with more grounded interpretations.

The surprises have continued. In March 2025, the Perseverance Science Team said they were “astonished by a strange rock” made up of hundreds of millimetre sized spheres, some covered in tiny pinholes. Two years earlier, the rover unknowingly carried a stowaway. A small Martian stone had lodged in one of its wheels and travelled with it until finally dropping off. NASA staff jokingly called it an “unexpected travelling companion.”

Amid the quirks, Perseverance has also logged discoveries that matter deeply to researchers. In 2024 it studied a formation known as the Cheyava Falls rock. The rover’s analysis pointed to conditions that could support ancient microbial life. NASA’s History Office posted on X to mark the milestone. “Celebrating 5 years on Mars! NASA's Perseverance Rover safely landed on the surface of the Red Planet 5 years ago, ready to begin its search for signs of past life. In 2024, it made a significant find: the ‘Cheyava Falls’ rock pictured here provides possible evidence of ancient life on Mars!”

For a machine designed to explore another planet, Perseverance has shown a knack for surprising everyone back home. The rover may be hunting for signs of ancient life, but along the way it has also built a record of oddities that make Mars feel just a little more familiar.

Mars Rover Celebrates Five Years With Unusual Discoveries

GoodGoodGood

In the search for answers on how to repair the human spinal cord, researchers have been looking to a small striped fish with a talent that sounds like science fiction. Zebrafish, a type of minnow, can fully regenerate their spinal cords after severe damage. For years, scientists could only observe the result without understanding the steps behind it.

That changed in 2024, when a team at Washington University School of Medicine mapped out the process with new clarity. Their work showed that zebrafish neurons respond to injury by shifting their normal functions, giving themselves time to survive and reorganize into something that works again. It is a natural repair system that humans simply do not have.

“We found that most, if not all, aspects of neural repair that we’re trying to achieve in people occur naturally in zebrafish,” said study lead author Mayssa Mokalled. “Our study has identified genetic targets that will help us promote this type of plasticity in the cells of people and other mammals.”

In humans, spinal cord injuries often cause widespread neuron death, leaving little room for recovery. The zebrafish response works differently. Their damaged neurons take on a protective state, then develop a kind of flexibility that lets them adapt and return to function. Mokalled believes the same biological markers might exist in humans, but are inactive.

“We are hopeful that identifying the genes that orchestrate this protective process in zebrafish, versions of which also are present in the human genome, will help us find ways to protect neurons in people from the waves of cell death that we see following spinal cord injuries,” she said.

The findings suggest that the most promising path forward will focus on keeping human neurons alive long enough for new treatments to work. If the destructive period after injury can be slowed or prevented, regeneration may become possible.

Another study, published more recently by Vanderbilt University professor of pharmacology Valentine Cigliola, expanded the picture. It compared spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish and neonatal mice, a stage of development where mice still have some regenerative ability. That comparison had never been done before, and it offered new detail on the epigenetic factors that switch regeneration on and off.

According to Vanderbilt, the research “provides a valuable foundation for advancing regenerative medicine strategies aimed at restoring function after central nervous system injury.” The university noted that “understanding these innate regenerative mechanisms could inform strategies for treating a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and spinal muscular atrophy.”

The two studies point toward a long term idea. Mammals might not be missing the capability to regrow damaged spinal tissue. The capability might simply be dormant. Scientists are now looking for ways to wake it up.

Scientists Explore How Zebrafish Regrow Spinal Cords, Offering Clues For Human Healing

Barcelona looked a little different on Friday, and not just because of the cranes that have long hovered above the Sagrada Familia. The basilica finally reached its maximum height, a milestone that arrived with one last lift. A crane placed the upper arm of a cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ, bringing the structure to 172.5 metres above the city.

The church confirmed the installation, which pushes Antoni Gaudí’s signature project one step closer to completion. Even so, the basilica remains years away from being finished. It has been climbing skyward since 1882, and when Gaudí died in 1926, only one tower had been completed. He never expected to see the building finished in his lifetime.

The pace shifted in recent decades as tourism surged. Millions of visitors now help fund the work through entrance fees, drawn by the unusual mix of Catholic symbolism and sweeping organic shapes that define Gaudí’s style.

The Tower of Jesus Christ, still surrounded by construction cranes and scaffolding, has become the focal point ahead of June’s centenary marking Gaudí’s death. The interior remains under construction, but topping the tower had been a priority. The church said the scaffolding around it should come down by June for the tower’s inauguration.

As planned by Gaudí, the cross includes four arms, so it is recognizable from any direction. Rev. Josep Turull, the Sagrada Familia’s rector, said the original design also called for a light shining from each arm, describing the idea as a symbolic lighthouse for the city. He noted that this feature still depends on approval from Barcelona’s city government.

The Sagrada Familia already held the title of the world’s tallest church. It became the largest last October, when it overtook Germany’s Ulmer Münster, a Gothic church that reaches 161.53 metres. Friday’s installation widened that margin.

At the base of the new cross, workers added a verse from the Gloria recited at Catholic mass. Turull said it reads, “You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High.”

The basilica plans to host several events this year to honour Gaudí’s legacy, which includes other well-known works throughout Barcelona and across Spain. For now, the skyline carries the latest sign that his long-unfinished masterpiece is edging closer to its final form.

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