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In a moving full-circle moment, Carrie Underwood reunited with Make-A-Wish alum Noel Miller, whom she first met in 2008 when Miller, then 12 and battling a heart condition, got her wish to meet the country star.

Now 28 and a dedicated WishMaker herself, Miller joined Underwood onstage during the finale of her Las Vegas residency to perform the chart-topping hit All-American Girl.

“That was so awesome, to be able to reunite with my idol, so great!” Miller said.

Underwood presented a donation to Make-A-Wish America of more than $200,000, representing $1 from every ticket sold in the residency.

April is World Wish Month and 2025 is the 45th anniversary of Make-A-Wish, the organization told Storyful.

In a moving full-circle moment, Carrie Underwood reunited with Make-A-Wish alum Noel Miller, whom she first met in 2008 when Miller, then 12 and battling a heart condition, got her wish to meet the country star. Now 28 and a dedicated WishMaker herself, Miller joined Underwood onstage during the finale of her Las Vegas residency to perform the chart-topping hit All-American Girl. “That was so awesome, to be able to reunite with my idol, so great!” Miller said. Underwood presented a donation to Make-A-Wish America of more than $200,000, representing $1 from every ticket sold in the residency. April is World Wish Month and 2025 is the 45th anniversary of Make-A-Wish, the organization told Storyful.

Carrie Underwood Just Had an Epic Reunion With a Make-A-Wish Alum

If bees and butterflies could design gardens, they might look a lot like the ones now sprouting from London to Helsinki.

At the Design Museum in London, a new exhibition called More than Human brings together architects, scientists and artists experimenting with ways to live alongside pollinators, rather than pushing them out. Running until October 5, the show highlights projects that reimagine gardens, buildings and even furniture as shared spaces for humans and the insects we rely on.

“Pollinator Pathmaker,” created by London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, uses an algorithm to generate planting designs that prioritize the flowers pollinators feed on. The result is gardens filled with what she calls “living artworks.”

Bees, butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds are essential for the planet’s ecosystems. The United Nations estimates that a third of the world’s food production depends on them. Yet their numbers are in sharp decline. In the United States, the number of honey-producing bee colonies has dropped from nearly six million in 1947 to less than half that today. Between June 2024 and February 2025 alone, commercial beekeepers reported losing 62 percent of their managed honeybee colonies.

Scientists point to climate change, pesticides, pollution and human development as key drivers of habitat loss. “One of the main causes of declines (of pollinators) is landscape change and the decline of flowers in anthropogenic landscapes,” said Harland Patch, an assistant research professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of The Lives of Bees.

Designers are responding with gardens meant to welcome pollinators back. In Helsinki, the Finnish practice Suomi/Koivisto created the “Alusta” pavilion in 2022, planting cowslip, lemon thyme, wild strawberry and hyssop on what had been a paved parking lot. “We wanted to make a space to represent how our fates are entangled with non-human species,” said co-founder Maiju Suomi. “If they don’t survive, we don’t survive either.”

In Pennsylvania, the Arboretum at Penn State features a Pollinator and Bird Garden designed in 2021 with native plants such as goldenrods, mountain mint and fennel. “The primary rule is plant as many flowering plants as you can,” said Patch, who also directs pollinator programming at the Arboretum. “Start plant clubs and get your neighbors, your town, to do the same. In the 21st century, we should be shocked if a neighborhood is not filled with flowers.”

Beyond flowers, designers are also rethinking where bees live. Traditional beehives have been updated with features to improve ventilation and insulation. At Milan Design Week, London studio Layer and Spanish furniture maker Andreu World unveiled “Host,” a modular timber, metal and straw hive meant to make life more comfortable for bees.

French artist Marlene Huissoud, whose father was a beekeeper, created a hive called “Mama” at the SFER IK Museum in Mexico, tailored for the native Melipona bee. “It’s like a tree that has different channels, and each one has a different swarm of bees living inside,” she said.

But honeybees are just one part of the picture. Of the roughly 20,000 bee species worldwide, many are solitary and prefer to nest alone. Designers have responded with “bee hotels,” wooden or cane-filled structures that mimic natural habitats. Versions have appeared in parks, gardens and even building materials. In Brighton, England, new developments must now include “bee bricks” with small cavities for nesting.

Others have experimented with open-source designs. In 2020, designer Tanita Klein worked with Bakken & Bæck and Space10, IKEA’s former research lab, to create “Bee Home,” a customizable bee hotel that anyone could build using downloadable files. The timber structures, resembling miniature city towers, were patterned with holes for solitary bees to move into.

For Suomi, direct interventions like bee hotels and bee bricks are only part of the answer. She argues that design must also address the bigger forces threatening pollinators. “Climate change alters the living conditions for all living beings, making them worse in most cases, and accelerating the loss of biodiversity,” she said. “All of our design decisions that are not combating climate change are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse.”

The message running through More than Human is clear: if humans want pollinators to thrive, we must learn to design with them in mind. And as Patch put it, we might need to start seeing flowers not as decoration, but as necessity.

How Designer Gardens for Bees Could Save Our Future

Late on August 19, a flash of light lit up the skies of southern Japan, causing quite the stir. At precisely 11:08 p.m., a surveillance camera perched on Sakurajima in Tarumi City captured an extraordinary moment. The sky suddenly turned an intense white, resembling broad daylight for a few fleeting seconds before darkness returned.

Residents across Kyushu, including areas like Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Kumamoto, along with parts of western Japan like Osaka, reported seeing this dazzling spectacle. Social media buzzed with posts describing the event as "a light crossing the sky" and speculating about its origins—could it have been a meteor or perhaps a massive fireball?

In Kagoshima City, some witnesses not only saw the flash but also noticed what appeared to be an orange object descending through the night sky. Footage shared with MBC Scoop from a balcony in the city showed the skyline illuminated by the light, followed by an orange trace lingering in one corner of the frame.

Adding to the mystery, residents in Kagoshima City and Hioki City reported hearing loud explosion-like sounds around the same time as this luminous display.

The Kagoshima Regional Meteorological Observatory confirmed that its equipment on Sakurajima recorded air vibrations immediately following the appearance of the light. Multiple monitoring cameras at their facility also managed to capture this captivating event.

Officials are still working to pinpoint exactly what occurred that night. Their initial assessment suggests that it might have been a fireball—a particularly bright meteor. However, they haven't yet confirmed if any fragments made it to Earth as meteorites.

This unexpected celestial event has left many curious and eager for more information. As investigations continue, those who witnessed this striking phenomenon will likely remember it for years to come as one of those rare moments when nature puts on a truly mesmerizing show.

A flash of light streaked across the night sky in southern Japan late on August 19, startling residents and triggering speculation of a meteor or fireball.At 11:08 pm, a surveillance camera installed on Sakurajima in Tarumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture, captured the sky suddenly glowing white. The burst of light was so intense that for a few seconds the camera feed resembled broad daylight before quickly returning to darkness.Residents across Kyushu, including Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Kumamoto, as well as parts of western Japan such as Osaka, reported seeing the phenomenon. Social media filled with posts describing “a light crossing the sky,” “the sky lighting up,” and questions like “Was it a giant fireball?” or “Was it a meteorite?”In Kagoshima City, witnesses said they saw not only the flash but also what looked like an orange object falling through the sky. Footage submitted to MBC Scoop from a balcony in the city showed the light brightening until the whole skyline glowed, followed by a glowing orange trace in the upper corner of the frame.Some residents in Kagoshima City and Hioki City also reported hearing a loud, explosion-like sound around the same time.The Kagoshima Regional Meteorological Observatory confirmed that its observation equipment on Sakurajima recorded air vibrations immediately after the light appeared. Multiple monitoring cameras at the observatory also captured the event.Officials said the cause is still uncertain, but their initial assessment is that the light may have been a fireball, a very bright meteor. It has not yet been confirmed whether any fragments reached the ground as a meteorite.

Did You See That? A Fireball Just Lit Up the Night Sky

A group of bumblebee catfish performed a gravity-defying display, swimming up a mini waterfall in the Aquidauana River in the central-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, footage captured at the end of last year shows.

The behavior was discovered when the Environmental Military Police spotted thousands of bumblebee catfish scaling up slippery rocks on November 16, 2024.

Within a week of its discovery, a team of Brazilian scientists arrived at the scene to study the rare phenomena, and subsequently published a scientific article along with the videos.

The footage shows groups of bumblebee catfish, otherwise known as Rhyacoglanis paranensis, “clustered and slowly moving upstream,” the study said.

Some of the videos also captured large numbers of the species piled onto walls, which the study described as an aggregation “so massive that specimens were seen above each other, climbing the large cluster of fish.”

Researchers concluded the bumblebee catfish were likely migrating upriver to spawn, noting that this was the first time such a migratory pattern was documented.

A group of bumblebee catfish performed a gravity-defying display, swimming up a mini waterfall in the Aquidauana River in the central-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, footage captured at the end of last year shows.The behavior was discovered when the Environmental Military Police spotted thousands of bumblebee catfish scaling up slippery rocks on November 16, 2024.Within a week of its discovery, a team of Brazilian scientists arrived at the scene to study the rare phenomena, and subsequently published a scientific article along with the videos.The footage shows groups of bumblebee catfish, otherwise known as Rhyacoglanis paranensis, “clustered and slowly moving upstream,” the study said.Some of the videos also captured large numbers of the species piled onto walls, which the study described as an aggregation “so massive that specimens were seen above each other, climbing the large cluster of fish.”Researchers concluded the bumblebee catfish were likely migrating upriver to spawn, noting that this was the first time such a migratory pattern was documented.

Rare Bumblebee Catfish Surprises Scientists With Unique 'Climbing' Skills

euronews

High on a windswept Tibetan plateau, China is building what it says will be the world’s largest solar farm — a sprawling project the size of Chicago that could power five million homes.

The facility, covering 610 square kilometres, already has panels on about two-thirds of its land. More than seven million solar panels will be installed when it’s complete, creating a vast new source of electricity in a region that until recently was mostly desert. Locals now speak of “photovoltaic sheep,” flocks grazing between rows of panels where plants have begun to take root in the shade and shelter they provide.

“In terms of production, enterprises generate electricity on the top level, and in terms of ecology, grass grows at the bottom under the solar panels, and villagers can herd sheep in between,” said Wang Anwei, head of the Hainan Prefecture energy administration.

A turning point on emissions
The giant solar farm is emblematic of China’s breakneck pace of renewable expansion. In just the first half of 2025, the country added 212 gigawatts of solar capacity — more than the entire U.S. solar fleet at the end of 2024. It also added 51 gigawatts of wind power.

That investment is beginning to show results. A study released Thursday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that China’s carbon emissions fell 1 percent in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, extending a downward trend that began in March 2024.

“We’re talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China’s emissions,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based analyst who authored the report. For years, drops in emissions had only come during economic slowdowns. This time, demand for electricity is still rising — up 3.7 percent so far this year — but renewable energy is growing even faster.

Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, called the plateauing of emissions “a moment of global significance.” It offers proof, he said, that a country can expand its economy while cutting emissions. Still, he cautioned that “there’s a long road ahead” given China’s ongoing dependence on coal.

Grid and coal challenges
Solar has already overtaken hydropower as China’s biggest source of renewable electricity and is on track to surpass wind this year. But integrating that power remains a challenge. Much of the renewable capacity is built in sparsely populated western provinces, while the industrial heartlands lie thousands of kilometres to the east.

To bridge that gap, China has built high-voltage transmission lines, including one linking Qinghai to Henan province, with two more planned to reach Guangdong and other manufacturing hubs.

The country’s electricity system is still structured around steady coal-fired power, which makes it difficult to accommodate the more variable supply from solar and wind. “This is an issue that the policymakers have recognised and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,” said Myllyvirta. “So it’s no small task.”

Global stakes
For now, the trend is hopeful. China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, had pledged to peak emissions before 2030. If the current trajectory continues, that peak may already have passed, years earlier than expected.

But sustaining the shift will be harder. To hit its 2060 carbon neutrality target, China’s emissions must fall by about 3 percent per year for the next 35 years. “China needs to get to that 3 percent territory as soon as possible,” Myllyvirta said.

The Tibetan plateau solar farm — vast, experimental, and symbolic — shows both the scale of China’s ambition and the challenges ahead. It is at once a striking image of transition and a reminder that the coal plants still powering much of the country remain the toughest obstacle to lasting change.

China Just Unveiled a Solar Farm the Size of Chicago, Sparking Hope for a Greener Future

Talker News

Scientists have brewed up a recipe for the finest chocolate flavor by applying scientific methods to cocoa bean fermentation. Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences have pinpointed key factors that influence chocolate's taste during this crucial stage. Their findings could soon offer chocolatiers a reliable way to create consistently high-quality, flavorful chocolate.

The team explored how cacao bean acidity, temperature, and microbial communities interact during fermentation and shape the final flavor profile. They identified specific microbial species and metabolic traits linked with fine-flavor chocolate. Abiotic factors like acidity and temperature, along with biotic elements such as microbial communities, are identified as strong indicators of flavor development.

Chocolate's quality starts with the cacao bean, influenced deeply by both pre- and post-harvest conditions. Among these stages, fermentation stands out as one of the most critical steps after harvest. Fermentation sets the groundwork for aroma development, adds complexity to flavors, and reduces bitterness in the final product according to their study published in Nature Microbiology.

Dr. David Gopaulchan, the study's first author, explains that "Fermentation is a natural, microbe-driven process that typically takes place directly on cocoa farms." He describes how harvested beans are piled in boxes or baskets where naturally occurring bacteria and fungi break down the beans, producing essential compounds for taste and aroma.

However, this spontaneous process is largely uncontrolled. Farmers have limited control over which microbes dominate or how fermentation unfolds. This leads to significant variations in flavor and quality between harvests and regions.

The research team aimed to see if they could replicate this often unpredictable natural process under controlled lab conditions. Collaborating with Colombian farmers during fermentation trials helped them identify the factors most affecting flavor outcomes.

Armed with this knowledge, they devised a lab-based fermentation process using a curated mix of bacteria and fungi—essentially a defined microbial community—that could replicate traditional fermentation results. This synthetic community successfully mimicked farm fermentations and produced chocolate with similar fine-flavor characteristics.

Dr. Gopaulchan noted that their discoveries provide chocolate producers with measurable markers like specific pH levels or temperatures to predictably achieve consistent flavors: “This research signals a shift from spontaneous, uncontrolled fermentations to a standardized, science-driven process."

He further mentioned: "Just as starter cultures revolutionised beer and cheese production," cocoa fermentation is ready for transformation guided by data-driven processes tailored toward optimal flavor creation.

Their work lays crucial groundwork for future advances in chocolate production techniques globally through defined starter cultures standardizing fermentation processes while opening up new possibilities for crafting novel flavors.

By effectively domesticating aspects of this pivotal step in making high-quality chocolates around the globe can become more predictable without sacrificing unique tastes prized by consumers everywhere—a tasty prospect indeed!

The Sweet Science: How Researchers Finally Unlocked Perfect Chocolate

BBC News

Two tiny but historic arrivals have stepped into the spotlight at Yorkshire Wildlife Park: a pair of critically endangered Amur leopard cubs.

Born in May, the cubs were only the second and third of their subspecies to be born anywhere in the world this year. With just around 100 Amur leopards left in the wild, according to WWF, each new birth represents a significant step for the species’ survival.

The cubs were released this week into the park’s main reserve near Doncaster, where visitors can now watch them explore.

“The female cub is very confident and sassy like her mother, Kristen,” said Kate Borrington, senior carnivore ranger at the park. “The male cub is a little more reserved, but both have settled in nicely.”

Now past two months of age and fully vaccinated, the cubs have been allowed outside for the first time. Keepers say both wasted no time climbing to the highest points of their new enclosure. “Kristen definitely has her work cut out with these two new playful cubs, but she is doing an excellent job,” Borrington added. “It is fascinating to watch them develop and we know that they will be a firm favourite amongst visitors.”

In the wild, Amur leopards live in the border region between Russia’s Far East and northeast China, with possible sightings in North Korea. Their numbers hit a low point last century, when only about 30 individuals were thought to remain, making them the most critically endangered big cat on Earth.

Poaching, illegal wildlife trade, and deforestation — driven by global demand for timber and paper — devastated their population. Climate change has also chipped away at their forest habitat. But conservation efforts over the past two decades have given hope: their territory has expanded threefold to about 6,000 square kilometers.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s foundation is among the organizations backing the fight to save the Amur leopard. The group supports initiatives like WildCats Conservation Alliance, which promotes breeding, population monitoring, and habitat protection.

For now, the new cubs are keeping their mother busy and delighting the public. Their presence, park officials say, is also a reminder of just how precarious — and important — the future of their species remains.

Meet The Adorable Cubs Making Their Public Debut: A Glimmer Of Hope For An Endangered Species

A British police force has become the first in the country to test a robot dog designed to help officers track suspects and assess dangerous situations.

Nottinghamshire Police confirmed the robo-dog, which can climb stairs, see in the dark and move in complete silence, began a three-month trial this week. If successful, it could be deployed across the UK as soon as next year.

The four-legged machine is equipped with thermal imaging cameras, a LiDAR scanner that maps its surroundings using lasers, and an AI system capable of recognising weapons such as guns, knives, and baseball bats. It also carries a loudspeaker, allowing officers to issue remote commands, and can haul supplies into places inaccessible to drones or people.

“It can be used like a land-based drone and is equipped with several cameras, which could prove an asset to officers,” said designer Nathan Wallace, 22, from Gedling in Nottinghamshire. “We have an AI camera which can detect weapons… and a LiDAR system which can go into a room and immediately scan its surroundings.”

The machine’s design allows it to scramble over tree stumps off-road and enter buildings where traditional drones cannot fly. Police say it could be particularly useful in armed sieges, hostage situations, or incidents involving chemical or biological threats, where reconnaissance is needed without risking human lives.

Superintendent Louise Clarke said the potential was clear even at this early stage. “While still in its infancy, it is not hard to see how this technology can and will be used in the future to protect and serve the public,” she said.

“In the right circumstances, this equipment can enhance officer and public safety but will always complement the appropriate deployment of armed officers to safeguard the public. By doing so, we can gather vital intelligence about a volatile situation without putting lives at risk.”

The trial is being funded by the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser. If the results are positive, other forces could begin using the technology in 2026.

Police stressed that there were “absolutely no plans” to arm the robo-dog and said it would not replace traditional police dogs, which remain essential for duties such as tracking scents and community policing.

Clarke said the force was “delighted to be asked to examine and stress test this very impressive new technology,” adding, “It is really exciting to be at the forefront of what could be a revolution in policing technology.”

Meet the UK's New Crime-Fighting Robo-Dog: A Glimpse Into Policing's Future

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The WNBA has set a new single-season attendance record, drawing more than 2.5 million fans to games so far this year, the league announced Thursday.

The milestone was reached after 226 games involving 13 teams. The previous record was set in 2002, when 16 teams played 256 games, highlighting how quickly the league has grown despite a smaller schedule and fewer franchises.

“WNBA sets an all-time attendance record with 2,501,609 fans as of 8/20/25,” the league’s communications team posted on X.

The surge in attendance is the latest sign of the sport’s rising popularity. In June, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert pointed to “increasing public demand for women’s basketball” as she unveiled ambitious expansion plans.

The league will add five new teams by 2030, growing from 15 franchises next year to 18. The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are set to debut in 2026. If approved by the WNBA and NBA Boards of Governors, teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia will follow in 2028, 2029, and 2030.

“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” Engelbert said in a statement. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league's extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women's professional basketball.”

The record-breaking season continues a string of milestones for the league, which has seen increased television ratings, higher sponsorship investments, and bigger arenas filled with fans. With expansion on the horizon, the WNBA appears poised to keep growing its reach — and its audience.

WNBA Shatters Attendance Records: What's Behind the Surge?

Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered stone tools dating back at least 1.04 million years, dramatically extending the timeline of early human presence in the region.

The discovery, published in Nature earlier this month, suggests that hominins—members of the human lineage—reached Sulawesi hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Until now, the oldest known tools from the island dated only to around 194,000 years ago.

The team, led by Budianto Hakim of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency and Adam Brumm of Griffith University in Australia, found seven sharp-edged stone flakes at the site of Calio in southern Sulawesi. The artifacts were uncovered in sediments alongside a fossilized pig tooth. Dating of the surrounding sandstone and fossil placed the tools between 1.04 and 1.48 million years old.

“We don’t know what they were doing with these sharp-edged flakes of stone, but most likely they were cutting or scraping implements of some kind,” Brumm told National Geographic.

The findings place Sulawesi in the same early timeline as the nearby island of Flores, where tools and fossils of Homo floresiensis—nicknamed the “hobbit”—have been dated to about 1.02 million years ago. That raises a major question: who made the Sulawesi tools?

No early human fossils have been found on the island. The oldest skeletal evidence so far is a modern human jaw fragment only 25,000 to 16,000 years old. Still, experts suspect Homo erectus, a species known to have lived in Southeast Asia at the time, may have made the crossing.

That raises yet another mystery: how did they get there? The distances between mainland Asia and Sulawesi were far too great to swim, and hominins likely had no seafaring technology. Researchers propose that accidental “rafting”—clinging to vegetation mats or being swept out to sea during events like tsunamis—may have brought small groups across.

“It may have been some sort of freak geological event … washing some hominins out to sea clinging to floating trees or vegetation mats of some kind, and then winding up on these islands,” Brumm told New Scientist.

If Flores gave rise to Homo floresiensis, hominins on Sulawesi may have followed a different evolutionary path. On a much larger island with different resources, they may have remained closer to Homo erectus—or transformed into something else entirely.

For now, the Sulawesi tools are a tantalizing clue. They suggest early humans were making risky sea crossings far earlier than once believed, and that Wallacea—long seen as a barrier—was actually part of humanity’s ancient frontier. The next step, archaeologists say, is to find the toolmakers themselves.

Ancient Stone Tools Unearthed in Indonesia are Rewriting Human History

Sunny Skyz

Most people expect a delivery driver to drop off a package and move on. In one Brisbane suburb, however, a courier made headlines for saving more than just a parcel.

Last Thursday, Gurpreet Singh was on his route in Logan, south of the city, when a sudden downpour rolled in. As he approached a home, he noticed bed sheets hanging on a clothesline. Instead of ignoring them, Singh quickly took them down and tucked them under cover, keeping them dry.

The act, caught on a security camera, left homeowner Verrity Wandel stunned.

“I thought I was coming home to find my wash soaking wet but NO,” she wrote on social media, posting the video of Singh’s good deed.

The clip spread rapidly online, with thousands praising Singh for a small kindness that many said restored their faith in delivery drivers often criticized for being careless.

Wandel described her shock on Australian breakfast television. “I just had visions of my washing being wrapped round and round the line, or embedded in the garden, and I drove in and there was no washing on the line. And I thought, that’s odd.”

Singh himself seemed surprised by the attention. The whole thing, he said, only took “one minute.”

For Wandel, that minute was enough to turn what could have been a soggy mess into a bright reminder that even in a downpour, a little thoughtfulness can go a long way.

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