Sunny Skyz

In the middle of a dream vacation at Walt Disney World, one family made another dream come true — not for themselves, but for a baby they’d never met.

Kelly Shotwell, a retired firefighter and paramedic from Carlisle, Ohio, was scrolling through his phone during a break in his family’s Disney getaway when he came across a story that stopped him cold: a baby boy named Xaiden, fighting for his life.

Xaiden had been born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare condition where the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. At just six days old, he underwent open-heart surgery. Then came a stroke, and a string of serious complications including hydrocephalus and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy — a type of brain injury caused by lack of oxygen.

Recently, doctors told the Stauder family that their time with Xaiden was limited. The advice was devastating: take him home, hold him close, and make memories while they still could.

That’s when Shotwell reached out.

“I had a message on my Facebook and it just said, ‘Hey we're down here at Disney. If I can get you down here would that be doable for you guys?’” said Xaiden’s mother, Alexis Stauder, in an interview with WXIX.

Shotwell and his family didn’t just make the offer — they handled everything. Flights, park tickets, accommodations, even a rental car.

“It just worked out,” Shotwell said simply.

For the Stauders, a Disney vacation had always felt out of reach, something they imagined doing years down the line when their kids were older. Suddenly, through the kindness of strangers, that wish became real.

There was no fanfare, no big fundraiser, no strings attached — just one family offering a moment of joy to another in the hardest time of their lives. A chance to give Xaiden the magic of Disney, even if just for a few days.

And in a place built on fantasy, it was a very real act of love.

Family Invites Strangers On Disney Vacation After Hearing Baby's Heartbreaking Story

Talker News

Europe is gearing up for its boldest alien hunt yet — and it’s heading straight for one of the most intriguing moons in the solar system.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced plans to send a spacecraft to Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, in search of life.

Enceladus is no ordinary moon. Though just 500 kilometers wide, it’s known for shooting massive geysers of water into space from its south pole — plumes that are believed to come from a salty subsurface ocean beneath its frozen crust.

ESA scientists now believe it has all the right conditions to support life. “It checks all the boxes when it comes to conditions for a ‘habitable environment’ to potentially support life as we know it,” the agency said in a statement.

Their plan? Fly a spacecraft through those jets of water and, eventually, land directly on Enceladus’s southern polar terrain to collect samples. If life is lurking in that underground ocean, this mission could find the evidence.

“No space agency has ever landed on Enceladus,” ESA noted. “And yet this moon has enormous potential for new science, particularly in the realm of habitability.”

The mission is part of ESA’s Voyage2050 roadmap — a long-term vision for European space science that outlines priorities for the 2040s. Enceladus is described as a “top target” due to its rare combination of ingredients needed for life: liquid water, energy, and key chemical elements.

While the timeline is ambitious, ESA said preliminary studies are already underway.

If approved at the agency’s upcoming Council of Ministers meeting, the mission would not only push the boundaries of planetary science but also develop critical technology. ESA says it would advance Europe's capabilities in fields like in-orbit spacecraft assembly, operating in extreme environments, and precision landing — skills that could shape the future of space exploration across the continent.

“The impact of such a mission could be enormous for Europe and beyond,” ESA said.

With NASA focused on Mars and other deep space goals, a successful landing on Enceladus would place Europe at the forefront of the search for extraterrestrial life.

Scientists are Planning a Mission To Saturn's Moon In Search For Alien Life

People

Amanda Gorman is adding a new role to her already impressive resume: UNICEF ambassador.

The 27-year-old poet and activist has been formally named the latest goodwill ambassador for the global children’s rights organization, UNICEF announced ahead of its 20th annual gala. The announcement comes just days before Gorman is set to perform an original poem at the 2025 UNICEF Gala on Tuesday, December 2 — a piece dedicated to children’s rights and support for young people in crisis.

Gorman began collaborating with UNICEF in 2021, the same year she rose to international fame after performing “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Since then, she’s been using her platform to advocate for vulnerable children around the world.

“Working with UNICEF has shown me that when we choose to uplift children, we are choosing to uplift our shared future,” Gorman said in a statement. “It is an honor to become a UNICEF Ambassador and to stand with an organization that turns possibility into action every single day, especially for children living through crisis.”

UNICEF highlighted Gorman’s work in emergency settings and her commitment to global equity, noting that she has consistently educated, fundraised, and advocated for the organization’s mission.

“Throughout her tenure, she has used her platform to educate, advocate and fundraise on behalf of the world’s children,” UNICEF stated. “She has worked relentlessly to ensure that every child is healthy, educated, protected and respected.”

Michael J. Nyenhuis, President and CEO of UNICEF USA, praised Gorman for her ability to communicate urgency and hope.

“Amanda has a singular talent for communicating the weight of a moment in a way that invites conversation and enacts change,” Nyenhuis said. “We are thrilled for Amanda to formally join UNICEF’s mission of relentlessly pursuing a more equitable world for every child and look forward to watching her inspire the next generation of philanthropists.”

This isn’t the first time Gorman has used poetry to advocate for change. At the 2022 United Nations General Assembly, she recited An Ode We Owe, a piece calling for action on global poverty and inequality. Her upcoming UNICEF gala performance will continue that theme, with a focus on children affected by crisis.

The ambassador role is one more milestone in what’s already been a banner year for Gorman. In January, she published her fourth book, Girls on the Rise, a picture book celebrating community and solidarity among young girls.

“Being a young girl in these times can be very difficult, very challenging,” she said on the Book of the Day podcast earlier this year. “Unless there's a systemic change that makes sure that girls feel safe and protected... there’s going to continue to be this feeling of being alone. And the more that we can stand with them and amongst them, as allies and as me, as a woman myself, then there's no longer this feeling of being alone but being part of a community that shares your value.”

Gorman says she “couldn’t be prouder” to take on her new ambassador role and plans to continue using her voice — and her verse — to bring attention to the world’s most vulnerable children.

This American Poet, Activist and Model Just Became Unicef's Newest Ambassador: 'It Is An Honor'

Matt Sharp didn’t expect to end up in a hospital bed just hours before becoming a father. But a burst of appendicitis nearly made him miss the birth of his son — until everything came together at the last possible moment.

Sharp, who lives in Arizona, was rushed to HonorHealth Sonoran Hospital in Phoenix on Saturday, November 1, after falling seriously ill. Doctors quickly diagnosed appendicitis and told him he’d need emergency surgery that day.

The operation went smoothly, but while Sharp was still recovering in his hospital bed, he got another surprise: a call from his pregnant wife, Steffanie Diercks.

“She said, ‘I’m on my way in,’” Sharp recalled. She was going into labor — and headed to the exact same hospital.

That’s when Sharp decided he couldn’t let a little thing like fresh stitches keep him from being there for the birth.

“Hey, I need you guys to break me out of here ASAP,” he told a nurse, according to CBS affiliate KTVK.

With the help of hospital staff, he was able to make it upstairs to the labor and delivery floor, just in time.

His son, Colton, was born the next morning, on Sunday, November 2, at just after 10 a.m. He weighed 3.2 kilograms (7 pounds, 2 ounces).

“He was there at the nick of time,” Diercks said. “It was perfect. It was really perfect.”

Now back at home with their newborn, the couple is laughing about the timing.

“The timing was good,” Sharp said. Diercks agreed: “It was good.”

Arizona Dad Makes It to Son's Birth Moments After Emergency Surgery

Spotify Wrapped 2025 is expected to drop soon — and all signs point to it arriving the week of December 2, likely on Wednesday, December 3 if past years are any indication.

Here's a quick summary of what to expect:

• What it is: A personalized recap of your listening habits from the past year — top songs, artists, genres, podcasts, minutes listened, and more.

• Where to find it: On your Spotify mobile app’s home screen banner, or by searching “Wrapped.” A desktop version is also available at spotify.com/wrapped
 once it's live.

How to prepare:
• Update your app to the latest version via the App Store or Google Play to ensure full functionality.

• Listen until the end of the year — contrary to earlier reports of an October 31 cut-off, Spotify says it continues counting data past that date.

• New features: Expect some interactive twists. In recent years, these have included things like “music auras,” personality types, and even cities that match your music taste.

And yes, artist messages are likely returning — with big names like Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny often showing up in fans’ recaps.

Want help finding your top songs or making a playlist once Wrapped drops? I can help you create a Spotify playlist from your results. Just let me know!

Spotify Unveils 2025 Wrapped: Everything You Need To Know About This Year's Music Recap

Black News

Aniaba Jean-Baptiste N’guessan, a senior at Morehouse College in Atlanta, has been named a 2026 Rhodes Scholar — one of the most prestigious academic honors in the world.

Born in Côte d’Ivoire and now a U.S. citizen, N’guessan is triple majoring in economics, mathematics, and computer science at Morehouse, a historically Black college. His academic achievements are matched by a strong record of leadership and community service, qualities that helped him earn the scholarship, which will fund graduate studies at the University of Oxford in England.

He’s the sixth student from Morehouse to receive the Rhodes Scholarship.

N’guessan’s leadership journey began at the African Leadership Academy in South Africa before coming to the U.S. to attend Morehouse. On campus, he served two terms as president of the International Students Organization, working to foster inclusion and mentorship among the college’s global student body.

His research has taken him far beyond campus. At Stanford University, he worked on AI-driven economic models. At Emory, he contributed to computational projects. He also co-founded Viridis AI, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to support life management. The project attracted backing from major institutions, including the Mastercard Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and Blackstone.

Beyond the accolades, N’guessan is committed to service. His volunteer work promotes financial equity and student success, tied closely to what he calls “45-Degree Leadership” — a philosophy that connects excellence with service to others.

“Our achievements are never for us alone but to serve God and serve humanity,” he said, crediting Morehouse for shaping his view of leadership and purpose.

The announcement of his selection was met with cheers, banners, and applause at the airport, where classmates, faculty, and friends gathered to celebrate. It was a moment that highlighted not just his success, but the community that helped nurture it.

As he heads to Oxford, N’guessan represents not just academic excellence, but a broader story of resilience, ambition, and global leadership — one that inspires far beyond the walls of Morehouse.

This HBCU Student Just Made History As a Triple-Threat Scholar and Rhodes Recipient

Carla MacLeod, head coach of the Ottawa PWHL team, has been diagnosed with breast cancer — but the outpouring of support from across the hockey community is helping fuel her fight.

Speaking to reporters Monday, MacLeod said she’s been “humbled” by the response since making her diagnosis public a day earlier. “The overwhelming outpouring of kindness... has really humbled me,” she said at a post-practice news conference. “It was something I couldn't have imagined, so I'm very, very grateful to the hockey community and all the people that have been able to help me in this moment."

A two-time Olympic gold medalist as a player for Team Canada, MacLeod has been behind the Ottawa bench since the PWHL’s inaugural season began. She’ll miss Tuesday’s home game against the Minnesota Frost as she travels to Calgary to meet with doctors, but said she expects to return later in the week.

Despite the diagnosis, MacLeod emphasized that she feels healthy, is grateful the cancer was caught early, and urged others to stay on top of their medical checkups. “I’m looking forward to the next step in treatment,” she said, “and getting back to being healthy and continuing to do what I love.”

Assistant coach Haley Irwin will lead the team in her absence.

Players learned the news in a team meeting on Sunday afternoon. According to MacLeod, their response felt like “the biggest, warmest hug I could ever get.”

Forward Emily Clark said the news came as a shock. “It hit us hard, as it hit everyone,” she said. “She’s been so brave and courageous, and you wouldn’t know because she shows up with the same energy, positivity, charisma every day.”

Veteran forward Brianne Jenner, who leads the PWHL points race just two games into the season, said the team plans to rally around their coach. “Our whole team is behind her and we’re going to miss her,” Jenner said. “We’re a family and we want her to be OK.”

MacLeod is also set to coach the Czech national women’s hockey team at the upcoming Winter Olympics in February. For now, though, her focus is on her health — and the massive community standing behind her.

This WPHL Hockey Team is Rallying Behind Their Coach Amid Her Breast Cancer Battle

A Utah couple has a Thanksgiving story they’ll never forget — their baby girl was born on the side of the road.

Daxton and Vannessa Lowe were racing to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray on the morning of November 27 when their second child decided she couldn’t wait. As they exited Interstate 5 at 5300 South, Vannessa realized labor was progressing faster than expected.

“Nope, I feel like she’s coming right now,” she recalled telling her husband. “And I reached down and I go, ‘Wow, that’s her head!’”

Daxton quickly pulled their minivan over and called 911. But before help could arrive, the baby made her entrance — right there in the front seat.

“She just shot out, and I somehow caught her!” Vannessa said. “As I was pulling off, I literally looked over and just watched the baby launch, right into mom’s hands — boom, right there!”

Paramedics with the Utah Highway Patrol arrived soon after and helped transport the family to the hospital. Both mom and baby are doing well.

They named their daughter Luna Grace, and although she arrived weighing just 5 pounds, 6 ounces, her parents say she’s healthy and strong. “She’s tiny but mighty, for sure,” said Vannessa.

Luna is the couple’s second child, and her arrival has already earned legendary status in the family. “A Thanksgiving never to be forgotten,” Daxton said.

Utah Couple Welcomes Baby Girl Born on Roadside During Thanksgiving Journey

Science Alert

A molecule known for more than a century could hold the key to slowing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease — and scientists say it works a bit like cheese on spaghetti.

Researchers in Switzerland have discovered that spermine, a naturally occurring compound involved in metabolism, may help stop toxic proteins from building up in the brain. That buildup is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In lab experiments, worms given extra spermine showed better health in old age. Their cells stayed more energized and didn’t wear out as quickly — a sign that spermine was doing something protective at the cellular level.

So what’s actually happening?

According to the team from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), spermine changes how two problematic proteins — tau and alpha-synuclein — behave. These proteins, when misfolded, tend to form hard, sticky clumps called amyloids that damage brain cells. Spermine doesn’t stop them from clumping altogether, but it does something different: it makes the clumps soft, liquid-like, and easier to remove.

Think of it like cooking pasta. “The spermine is like cheese that connects the long, thin pasta without gluing them together, making them easier to digest,” explained biophysicist Jinghui Luo, one of the lead researchers.

Instead of letting the proteins turn into rock-hard plaques — the kind that stick to your brain like burnt crust on a pan — spermine causes them to form droplets that are much easier for the body’s clean-up system to handle.

That system, known as autophagy, is responsible for clearing out damaged cell parts and proteins. According to Luo, it works better when it can grab onto larger, more flexible clusters. “Autophagy is more effective at handling larger protein clumps,” he said. “And spermine is, so to speak, the binding agent that brings the strands together.”

Importantly, spermine seems to only step in when tau and alpha-synuclein reach unhealthy levels. That’s useful, because it suggests spermine doesn’t interfere with the proteins’ normal roles — just the misbehaving ones.

Tau and alpha-synuclein are well-known troublemakers in neurodegenerative diseases, though scientists still debate whether the protein clumps they form are a cause or a symptom. Either way, they’re clearly involved, and finding a way to manage them is a major goal of brain research.

Spermine, it turns out, might be one of the tools. It’s been previously linked to brain protection, but this study shows how it might work in more detail. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

The team hopes spermine — or similar small molecules — could be used in the future to treat a range of diseases beyond Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, possibly even some forms of cancer.

“If we better understand the underlying processes,” Luo said, “we can cook tastier and more digestible dishes, so to speak, because then we’ll know exactly which spices, in which amounts, make the sauce especially tasty.”

It’s early days. The experiments so far were limited to worms and test tubes. But the research opens a new direction: using small molecules to gently reshape how toxic proteins behave, rather than trying to block or destroy them outright.

That’s where spermine stands out — not as a hammer, but as a kind of biological sous-chef, helping the body’s natural defenses work smarter, not harder.

Study Finds Natural Molecule Clears Alzheimer's Protein Buildup

Sasha DiGiulian has made history on one of the most iconic rock faces in the world — becoming the first woman to free-climb El Capitan’s longest route, a punishing 39-pitch ascent that tested every ounce of her strength, patience, and grit.

After 23 days on the granite wall in California’s Yosemite National Park — including nine spent hunkered down during a storm — DiGiulian reached the top of the 900-metre rock formation via the rarely climbed Platinum route. “When we got to the top... I just started laughing 'cause I was like, I haven't walked in so long,” she told CBS News.

Now 33, DiGiulian called the climb the “most formative and challenging” of her career. It’s no small claim. She’s a world champion in sport climbing, the face behind the climbing emoji, and someone who’s been pushing boundaries in the sport since childhood.

The climb began October 8, when DiGiulian and her partner, Elliot Faber, arrived in Yosemite. Their goal: to complete the Direct Line (also called Platinum), a daunting route mapped by Faber years earlier but never climbed in full. The two expected to finish in two weeks. Instead, the expedition stretched well past three.

Faber had previously charted the climb, identifying the tiny holds — “credit card-sized protrusions” — that would eventually carry them up the face. Together, they hauled more than 110 litres of water to the summit for later use and began laying ropes and gear.

They started the actual ascent on November 3. Everything was going according to plan — until it wasn’t.

On day nine, a powerful and unexpected storm pinned them down at the 32nd pitch, a section ominously named the Golden Edge. For nine straight days, they waited out wind, rain, and snow in a portaledge — a small tent-like platform anchored to the wall.

They had freeze-dried meals, a Jetboil stove, and DiGiulian’s own line of green protein bars, Send Bars. They rationed Kindle battery and toggled airplane mode to check in with friends. “The storm was kind of this mental but also physical challenge,” she said. “You’re just stripped of any sense of normal.”

When the skies finally cleared, the rock was wet and slippery — a nightmare for free-climbers, who rely only on their hands and feet for upward progress, using ropes solely for protection in case of a fall. Ice chunks rained down from 120 metres above. DiGiulian put on a helmet and pushed through.

But just shy of the summit, another complication: Faber had to leave due to a family emergency. DiGiulian waited two days on the wall, hoping he could return. When it became clear he couldn’t, he encouraged her to finish without him.

With a few friends and a camera crew joining for the final push, DiGiulian reached the summit on November 26 — 23 days after the start of the climb, and nine years after she first started thinking about El Cap.

“For the last few years I've been so committed to this specific line... This climb kind of consumed me,” she told CBS.

Climbing El Capitan is an achievement in itself. Towering above the Yosemite Valley, it’s more than twice the height of the Empire State Building and attracts tens of thousands of climbers each year. Most take the easier routes, which still require five to seven days. Roughly 60 percent make it to the top.

Only a few free-climbing routes on El Cap see regular traffic. The Platinum route isn’t one of them. It’s long, difficult, and has some of the smallest holds anywhere on the wall. Add unpredictable fall weather, wet rock, and days of waiting in freezing conditions, and it becomes even more forbidding.

DiGiulian’s achievement puts her in elite company. In 2021, Emily Harrington became the first woman to free-climb El Cap in under 24 hours, on the Golden Gate route. In 2017, Alex Honnold famously climbed it without any ropes at all — a feat chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo.

But DiGiulian’s climb stands out not for speed or risk, but for endurance and commitment. She lived on the wall for more than three weeks. She waited out storms, adapted to change, and finished alone.

"I don't know what it is that enabled me to like to climb this route and get through it beyond just sheer drive to push myself,” she said.

A professional climber based in Boulder, Colorado, DiGiulian has built a career on mental resilience and the thrill of pushing limits. “Climbing is this space for me where I get to be really locked in and focused on what my physical and mental self is capable of,” she said. “I love puzzle solving.”

Now, she’s solved one of the hardest puzzles on the world’s most famous cliff — and left her mark on El Capitan’s toughest line.

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