How A Small Brazilian Town Built a Massive 143-Foot Statue

The new Christ the Protector stands at more than 90 feet tall. It is the third tallest statue in the world, after Christ the Redeemer and Christ the King in Poland. The statue will include a viewing area for visitors to see it in its entirety. The cost of the project is estimated to be around $100,000.

Read More

Two Strangers Just Rescued a Man From a Burning Truck After a Crash, and it Saved His Life

It took only seconds for a routine drive in Conway, South Carolina, to turn into a fight for survival. Steve Howell, 73, had been heading back to Bucksport on Saturday afternoon after picking up a lawnmower when he lost control of his 1977 Ford truck at about 5 p.m. Howell said the trailer attached to the truck began to sway uncontrollably. “The truck spun around and did a 180 and headed for the ditch,” Howell recalled. “And the truck flipped with me… dislocated both shoulders and one of my hips.” The crash left Howell seriously injured and unable to move. Trapped inside the overturned truck, he watched smoke rise from under the hood. That smoke then turned into flames. “I knew if I didn’t get out I was going to die,” Howell said. “I could not move my arms. I was totally helpless. And the smoke and flames was getting worse and worse.” Howell said he was alone and had no way to escape as the fire moved closer to the truck’s fuel tank. “I was afraid at any minute the gas tank was going to blow up,” he said. “What was going through my mind was I was going to burn to death.” With the truck overturned and his injuries stopping him from moving, Howell said he began to pray. A short time later, he saw something outside the driver’s side window. “I looked up next to the driver’s side window and I saw the blue sky,” Howell said. “And then I saw two guys looking down through the window at me.” The two men were strangers, but Howell said they acted immediately. “They pulled me out of the truck… burning truck… just in time,” Howell said. “We were strangers. They didn’t owe me a favor, but out of the goodness of their heart, they risked their life to pull me out… and they risked their life to save my life.” Howell said the men pulled him through the driver’s side window and got him away from the truck just before the fire fully engulfed the vehicle. The flames also began spreading to the nearby woods. Emergency crews arrived shortly afterward, but Howell’s rescue had already happened by then. For Howell, the timing of the rescue is something he has no doubt about. “God sent them along at the right time at the last minute, or I would not be here today,” he said. Howell had been on his way home after what had started as an ordinary Saturday errand. Instead, he ended up trapped inside an overturned truck, badly hurt and unable to use his arms as smoke and flames grew around him. He said he believed he was about to die inside the burning vehicle. Then two men he did not know appeared at the window and pulled him out. Howell said they got him to safety just before the fire consumed the truck. “They pulled me out of the truck… burning truck… just in time,” Howell said. “We were strangers. They didn’t owe me a favor, but out of the goodness of their heart, they risked their life to pull me out… and they risked their life to save my life.” Credit: Steve Howell

Read More

NASA Releases First Artemis II Photos of Earth, Marking a New Milestone in Lunar Mission History

A few hours after leaving Earth’s orbit, the Artemis II crew looked back and sent home a view that stopped them in their tracks. NASA on Friday released the first photos of Earth taken by the Artemis II astronauts from the Orion capsule after the crew completed their translunar injection burn. The first image, taken by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, shows the entire planet from space, with both the Northern and Southern lights visible over the poles. Zodiacal light, which NASA said is created by sunlight reflecting off dust in the solar system, can also be seen in the bottom right of the image. "Hello, World," NASA wrote in the photo caption. NASA said the image was taken from the Orion capsule window after the crew left Earth orbit. The agency is also providing a livestream of views from Orion as it travels to and around the moon. In a post on X, NASA described the image this way: "We see our home planet as a whole, lit up in spectacular blues and browns. A green aurora even lights up the atmosphere. That's us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the Moon." Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen told NASA mission control’s spacecraft communicator that the Artemis II crew was "glued to the window" and "taking pictures" of Earth after breaking out of orbit. Wiseman described a similar moment in a live conversation with reporters late Thursday night. "There was a moment, about an hour ago, where mission control Houston reoriented our spacecraft as the sun was setting behind the Earth…but you could see the entire globe from pole to pole, you could see Africa, Europe, and if you looked really close, you could see the Northern Lights, it was the most spectacular moment, and it paused all four of us in our tracks," Wiseman said. NASA also shared another image on X showing a sliver of Earth through the Orion capsule window. The Artemis II mission is traveling on a trajectory that will take the astronauts around the far side of the moon on Monday before bringing them back toward Earth. NASA said the astronauts aboard the spacecraft are expected to travel farther from Earth than anyone before them, reaching about 252,021 miles, or about 405,589 kilometres, as they pass behind the moon. The mission is also set to capture unprecedented images of the far side of the moon. NASA said Artemis II will test the flight controllers and procedures needed to safely send astronauts back to the moon for long-duration stays as the agency plans for a future moon base. "This is a test flight," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told CBS News. "This is the opening act in a series of missions that will send astronauts to and from the moon with great frequency as we return to stay." The photos arrived as Artemis II continued outbound from Earth, with Orion sending back views of the planet through its windows and NASA streaming those images live. One of the first images now released shows Earth in full, framed only by the darkness of space, with auroras glowing over both poles and zodiacal light visible at the edge of the shot. Another shows only a narrow slice of Earth through the Orion window. For now, NASA says the crew is still on course to swing around the far side of the moon on Monday, before heading back toward Earth.

Read More

This Offshore Wind Farm is Sending Power to the Grid, Advancing Clean Energy for 660,000 Homes

America’s biggest wind farm has hit a milestone after a stop-start run. Dominion Energy said in March that its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project had produced electricity and sent it to the grid for the first time, according to Electrek. Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue announced the step on LinkedIn and said it came "right on schedule." "This achievement marks another important step forward, adding much‑needed electricity to help meet the fastest‑growing power demand in the country," Blue wrote. "As additional turbines are installed, CVOW will continue delivering more power on the path to full completion early next year." At the time of the announcement, 176 turbines had been installed and 30 percent of the project was still to be completed. Two Siemens Gamesa turbines, each generating 14 megawatts, supplied the initial power to the grid. Dominion said the rest of the structures would be turned on gradually. The milestone is significant for the 2.6-gigawatt project, which has faced setbacks on the way to this point. Electrek reported that the Trump administration targeted wind projects for cancellation, and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project was temporarily delayed before a judge sided with Dominion. The project’s cost has also climbed. Electrek reported that tariffs and the impact of the temporary stop-work order pushed the price from $9.8 billion to $11.5 billion. Once completed, the project is expected to power more than 660,000 homes, giving the grid a large increase in supply. Blue said the offshore wind project comes as electricity demand in Virginia rises, driven by data centres and artificial intelligence. He described CVOW as "a critical part of Virginia's all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy." The project is also expected to benefit consumers by adding electricity from a source that does not pollute the air in the same way as power plants that rely on oil, coal or gas. According to the source text, the project is expected to generate $3 billion in savings for customers in its first 10 years. It can also create new jobs while supporting grid stability. 📸credit: CVOW

Read More

12-Year-Old Girl Rescues Two Brothers Before House Fire Spreads Inside Their Home

A 12-year-old girl in Richmond Hill is being praised after her quick response helped save her two brothers from a house fire on Monday afternoon. Macy had just gotten off her school bus when she saw her family’s home was burning. Her mother, Lisa Johnson, said Macy reacted immediately. “You can see the moment where she realized that her house was burning,” Johnson recalled to WTVM News Leader 9. “She ran to the front door and just screamed into the house, ‘Get out. The house is on fire! The house is on fire!’” Inside the home, Johnson said her two older sons did not know there was a fire. One of them, 14, had come home from school sick and was asleep in a bedroom directly above the garage, where the fire had already begun to spread. The other was in the shower getting ready for work. Johnson said neither of them heard or saw anything unusual until Macy started yelling. “My 14-year-old… was sleeping. He had no idea,” Johnson said. “And my oldest son was preparing to go to work… again, had no idea until she started screaming.” Macy’s warning gave both boys time to get out of the house. Firefighters from Richmond Hill and Bryan County responded and contained the blaze before it destroyed the entire two-storey home. Even so, the fire caused major damage. The family had moved into the house only a few months ago, and much of what they owned is now gone. Johnson said the loss has been devastating, but her family is focused on the fact that they are all safe. “Hard as it is to know that we’ve lost almost everything… we have each other and we have God,” Johnson said. “And I have faith in Him and there’s a reason for everything.” The cause of the fire is still under investigation. For the Johnson family, Macy’s actions changed the outcome. Johnson said her daughter saw the danger, ran to the door and shouted for her brothers to get out. Both were able to escape after hearing her cries. A 14-year-old boy who had been asleep in a room above the garage and an older brother who was in the shower did not know anything was wrong until Macy yelled that the house was on fire. Firefighters then managed to contain the blaze before it destroyed the full house, but the family is now dealing with the loss of much of what they owned after moving in only months ago. “Hard as it is to know that we’ve lost almost everything… we have each other and we have God,” Johnson said. Credit: WTVM News Leader 9

Read More

This Boy With Cancer Raised $2,000 to Deliver 124 Easter Baskets to Children in Hospitals

A hospital stay can shrink childhood fast. For 12-year-old Nathan Yuill, it also became the place where he decided to do something for other kids. Yuill, who was diagnosed as a child with stage-4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is now two treatment courses away from what is anticipated to be a bell-ringing remission announcement. Before his time at Providence Children’s Hospital came to an end, he raised $2,000 to give almost every child there a colorful Easter basket filled with presents. Providence Clinical Nurse Manager of Pediatric Nicki Thurwanger said the carts normally used to transport meals and other items from room to room were overflowing with baskets. She said nearby residents donated the baskets and helped put them together. “When the kiddos are here, every day becomes challenging and hard, and you look for the little things that make you be a kid,” Thurwanger told Alaska News Source. “And so I think that’s what things like this give back is, yes, you’re in the hospital, but you’re a kid, and you get to still be a kid when you’re here.” Nathan’s mother, Dena Yuill, said she was shocked by how quickly people gave to the project, which her son had come up with. She said donations topped $2,000 in just 24 hours. “He’s amazing. I wish I had half the strength he does,” she said. In total, 124 baskets were distributed in time for Good Friday at Providence and the nearby Alaska Native Medical Center. The effort meant children spending Easter in hospital got gifts during a difficult time. Thurwanger said moments like that help remind them they still get to be kids when they are there. 📸 credit: Providence Alaska Children’s Hospital

Read More

A Single Injection Restored Hearing in Patients With Congenital Deafness

For people born with a rare genetic form of deafness, a single injection into the inner ear is showing early results that would have seemed out of reach not long ago. A new study found gene therapy significantly improved hearing in 10 patients with congenital deafness or severe hearing loss linked to mutations in the OTOF gene. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, working with hospitals and universities in China, reported that hearing improved in every case and that the treatment was well-tolerated. The findings were published in Nature Medicine. "This is a huge step forward in the genetic treatment of deafness, one that can be life-changing for children and adults," says Maoli Duan, consultant and docent at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and one of the study's corresponding authors. The trial involved 10 patients aged 1 to 24 who were treated at five hospitals in China. All had deafness caused by OTOF mutations. Those mutations stop the body from producing enough otoferlin, a protein needed to send sound signals from the inner ear to the brain. To treat that, researchers used a synthetic adeno-associated virus, or AAV, to carry a working version of the OTOF gene into the inner ear. Doctors gave the therapy as a single injection through the round window, a membrane at the base of the cochlea. The effects appeared quickly. Most patients started to regain some hearing within one month. After six months, all participants had shown clear improvement. On average, the level of sound they could detect improved from 106 decibels to 52 decibels. The strongest responses were seen in children, especially those aged five to eight. One seven-year-old girl regained nearly full hearing and was able to have everyday conversations with her mother four months after treatment. The study also found meaningful improvements in adult patients. "Smaller studies in China have previously shown positive results in children, but this is the first time that the method has been tested in teenagers and adults, too," says Dr. Duan. "Hearing was greatly improved in many of the participants, which can have a profound effect on their life quality. We will now be following these patients to see how lasting the effect is." Researchers reported that the treatment was safe and well-tolerated during the follow-up period, which lasted from six to 12 months. The most commonly reported side effect was a decrease in neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. No serious adverse reactions were observed during the follow-up period. The work was carried out by researchers from multiple institutions, including Zhongda Hospital at Southeast University in China. The study also points to a broader push in gene therapy for hearing loss. Dr. Duan said the work is already moving beyond OTOF to other genes linked to deafness. "OTOF is just the beginning," says Dr. Duan. "We and other researchers are expanding our work to other, more common genes that cause deafness, such as GJB2 and TMC1. These are more complicated to treat, but animal studies have so far returned promising results. We are confident that patients with different kinds of genetic deafness will one day be able to receive treatment." Funding for the research came from several Chinese research programs and from Otovia Therapeutics Inc. Otovia Therapeutics developed the gene therapy and employs many of the researchers involved in the study. A full list of disclosures and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper. Photo by Bastian Riccardi on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/creative-shot-of-human-ears-on-dark-background-6244697/)

Read More

Walk for Peace Monk Adopts Three-Legged Shelter Dog, Giving Rescue Pup a Forever Home

After 121 days in a North Carolina shelter, Hopper finally got his shot. Guilford County Animal Services in Greensboro said on Thursday that Hopper, a three-legged dog, was adopted by Monk John, one of the Buddhist monks who took part in the Walk for Peace. Hopper arrived at the shelter injured. Guilford County Animal Services said he had an illness that required his leg to be amputated to save his life. "Despite everything he’d been through, Hopper never lost his gentle spirit … he just needed someone to give him a chance," the Guilford County Animal Shelter said in a Facebook post. The shelter said Monk John developed a friendship with Hopper and welcomed him into a new life full of love. It said it could not be happier for the dog's newfound purpose. "Now, instead of watching the world pass him by through a window, Hopper gets to roam wide open land, explore, and truly be a dog again," the shelter said. A group of Buddhist monks began their Walk for Peace on Oct. 26 in Fort Worth, Texas, and reached Washington, D.C., 15 weeks later on Feb. 10. The walk highlighted Buddhism's long tradition of activism for peace.

Read More

This Museum is Letting Visitors Watch Conservators Restore This 15th-Century Masterpiece

Visitors to a Venice museum can now watch conservators at work on a Renaissance altarpiece that has hung in the city for more than 500 years. Giovanni Bellini created the painting around 1478 for the church of San Giobbe in Venice. The wood panel work, titled Madonna and Child Enthroned, Music-Making Angels and Saints Francis, John the Baptist, Job, Dominic, Sebastian and Louis of Toulouse, hung for centuries inside the church in a custom stone frame. By the 1810s, the painting needed restoration, and the work was moved to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, where it has remained. The painting is more than 15 feet, or about 4.6 metres, tall. “It is a work of immense importance, not only [for] Venetian art but for all of Italian art,” Giulio Manieri Elia, the museum’s director, told the London Times’ James Imam. “It represents that pivotal moment in the Renaissance when the polyptych made with multiple panels transitioned to monumental single altarpieces.” The 15th-century painting now needs another round of work. Conservators have decided it is too delicate to move, so they will stabilize, clean and protect it where it hangs. The museum has turned the exhibition hall into a temporary laboratory, letting visitors see the restoration as it happens. This choice to carry out the work in public view is “not only about caring for an absolute masterpiece of our collection,” Elia said in a statement shared with Artnet’s Richard Whiddington. “It’s about demonstrating how scientific knowledge, responsible conservation and visitor communication are integral to the museum experience.” According to a statement from the museum, the painting is made up of 13 horizontal poplar planks joined with glue and wooden pins. Over time, changes in temperature caused the wood to expand and contract. That movement led to long cracks on the surface. The painting has also become discoloured over the centuries. Conservators plan to stabilize the wood, gently remove dirt and old varnish, deal with the cracks and bring back the original colour. They will then apply a new varnish to protect the surface in the years ahead. “The work site, set up directly in the room with large windows overlooking the working area, will allow visitors to follow the project live, observing up close the different stages of study, analysis and conservation treatment of the artwork,” the museum said in a March 19 Instagram post. As part of the project, conservators will also use ultraviolet fluorescence and infrared imaging to study the painting. They want to learn more about the original composition and about the effects of the six restorations carried out over the past 200 years. The early findings have already turned up several preparatory layers beneath the painted surface, according to the museum statement. Those layers include coats of glue and a clear primer made of white lead. Conservators have also found that some of Bellini’s brushstrokes contain a mix of three pigments. The project will take two years and cost $580,000. Venetian Heritage, a nonprofit that works to preserve Venice’s art and architecture, is funding part of it. Last year, the same group helped fund the restoration of another Bellini work, Pietà, also known as Dead Christ Supported by Angels. That painting belongs to the City Museum of Rimini and is currently on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. Watching major restoration work in person is not limited to Venice. In Amsterdam, visitors to the Rijksmuseum can also observe the restoration of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Conservators there are cleaning and restoring the 17th-century painting from behind a glass barrier. Once work on Bellini’s altarpiece is finished, the painting will move to a former church that is now part of the museum. “That will give it more breathing space,” Toto Bergamo Rossi, director of Venetian Heritage, told the Times. “It will look even more glorious.” 📸 Credit: Matteo Panciera

Read More

A Boston Nonprofit is Empowering Youth With Music, Radio and Creative Tech Skills

An old firehouse in East Boston now sounds very different. Inside Engine 40, young people run a radio station, practice instruments, write songs, and learn technical skills through ZUMIX, a nonprofit focused on music and the creative arts. The organization has been in East Boston for nearly 35 years, but it started on a much smaller scale. Co-founder Madeleine Steczynski said ZUMIX grew out of a specific moment in the community. "The beginnings … really were in response to the epidemic of gang violence in the late '80s and the very early '90s," she said to WCVB. In the summer of 1991, the program was taught out of Steczynski’s East Boston apartment. Eighteen kids learned about songwriting there. Now, the historic firehouse houses a much broader set of programs. Program director Corey Depina said the group now offers instruction across music, performance, and technical media. "Magic happens here at ZUMIX," Depina said. "We make dreams come true. We offer programs that start as a small … like private lessons in guitar, drums, bass, piano. Kids can graduate from that and form ensembles that go out and get paid and do gigs. We also have an audio creative tech media pathway where young kids can learn live sound, audio engineering, studio engineering." That range of programs is reflected in the experiences of students and alumni. Board member and alumnus Bryan Zuluaga said ZUMIX gave him technical skills and work, but he said its effect on his life went well beyond that. "Before, it was the place that gave me technical skills and a job. This was a place where I felt comfortable with other adults," he said. "(One) of the first places in my life where someone that was not my family member was an older person that I could ask about college, or I could talk to about what jobs and taxes were, or just anything else that was going on." Zuluaga now serves on the board of the same nonprofit where he once took part as a young person. Current student Kenneth Palacios said he first found ZUMIX when he was in 8th grade. The Revere High School junior started with guitar lessons, then expanded into other parts of the organization. He now hosts his own live radio show. Palacios said one program led to another. "Radio became storytelling," Palacios said to WCVB. "That became playing guitar for a band, that became making new friends, (then) photography and doing music journalism. All these different things kind of just manifested within each other." ZUMIX describes its mission as empowering youth through music and the creative arts. Its current setup inside the former firehouse includes space for radio, instruments, songwriting, and technical instruction. The organization’s history stretches from an apartment-based songwriting program for 18 kids in 1991 to a nonprofit with multiple pathways in music and creative media. Depina said those pathways can begin with private lessons in instruments, including guitar, drums, bass, and piano. From there, he said, students can move into ensembles that perform paid gigs, or into technical training in live sound, audio engineering, and studio engineering. For alumni such as Zuluaga, that structure offered a place to build skills and find trusted adults. For students such as Palacios, it opened the door from guitar lessons to radio, storytelling, photography, and music journalism. ZUMIX is celebrating its 35th year with a number of events this spring and summer. 📸 Credit: WCVB

Read More

This Artificial Nest is Helping Save the Endangered Palm Cockatoos

For the palm cockatoo, finding a home can take centuries. Now, conservationists say they have found a way to help, after a chick hatched in an artificial nest designed to mimic the rare tree hollows the species depends on. Scientists say the ideal nesting hollow for the palm cockatoo can take 250 years to form. It needs mature trees, termites or fungi to create a hollow, exposure from strong Southern Pacific cyclones, and no wildfires during that long process. Deforestation is making that combination even harder to come by. People for Wildlife says it has now “cracked the code” on getting the birds to nest in artificial hollows, in what the group says is a major step for the species’ protection. “This is huge news,” People for Wildlife associate researcher Christina Zdenek told ABC News AU. “We have a highly endangered species in severe decline, and we’ve been working for years to crack the code of how to help them. And we finally have.” The palm cockatoo lives in Queensland, Australia’s northernmost state. It is a large bird, well over 30 centimetres in length from tip to tail, with a black crest, red cheek and a large black beak. Like other cockatoos, it can use tools. During mating season, it uses a stick to drum rhythms on hollow trees. That behaviour has earned it the nickname the Ringo bird, after Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Fewer than 2,000 palm cockatoos remain, according to the source text. Their nesting needs are highly specific. The birds look for hollows in mature trees made by termites or fungi and exposed by cyclone winds. Logging and more intense wildfires interrupt the long process needed for those hollows to form. To try to work around that problem, People for Wildlife teamed up with a specialist woodcarver to create the “Palm Cockatube.” The design uses a section of old-growth tree trunk hollowed out to mimic the natural feel of the hollows the birds choose in the wild. The group installed 29 artificial nests across prime habitat where palm cockatoos were known to live but were not currently nesting. The nests used three different designs. Last September, Dr Zdenek and her colleague Benjamin Muller noticed adult birds visiting one particular hollow. They later found an egg inside. That egg has now hatched, in what the group described as a moment of delight for the researchers and for the Apudthama Traditional Owners. The result could matter beyond one species. Tree hollows are used by many animals in Australia as shelter, and Dr Zdenek said the success of the artificial nests could help others too. She said animals such as the glider, a tree-dwelling marsupial with wings like a flying squirrel, may also benefit if the artificial hollows work for a species as selective as the palm cockatoo. “Palm cockatoos here are the umbrella species; if you save them, you save dozens of others,” she said. 📸 credit: Benjamin Muller via ABC News AU

Read More