[goldie0608]

Fla. Deputies Pull Over 10-Year-Old Driver and 11-Year-Old Sister Who Tried to Flee to California

The Alachua County Sheriff's Office said the children's mother chose not to file charges



Two young siblings were pulled over hundreds of miles away from their Florida home early Thursday after stealing their mother's car and attempting to flee to California.

According to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, deputies stopped a white sedan on Interstate 75 in Alachua just before 4 a.m. local time.

"The vehicle was reported stolen out of North Port, Florida causing deputies to conduct a high risk traffic stop," the sheriff's office said. "Much to their surprise, Deputies observed a 10-year-old male driver exit the vehicle, along with his 11-year-old sister."

Authorities said they later learned that the kids were reported missing to the North Port Police Department and "that the stolen vehicle belonged to their mother."

CBS affiliate WTSP-TV noted the pair was picked up over 200 miles away from their Sarasota County home.

The decision to steal the car came after the siblings were upset that their mom had taken their electronic devices, the sheriff's office said. "It's believed to have been done because they were not using them appropriately," they added.

North Port Police spokesperson Josh Taylor told USA Today that the mother realized her car, children and some of their clothes were missing around 11:25 p.m. that night. She then called the police. The family's identity has not been released at this time.

The interactions the children had with the deputies did not lead them to believe that the children had been "mistreated by their parent or any other person within the home," the department continued.

Detectives from the sheriff's office said they also spoke with the mother, who was "clearly doing her best to raise two young children and she was very receptive to the recommendations they provided in helping her get assistance."

According to the sheriff's office, the mother chose not to press charges, so the only criminal charge that could be brought against the kids is driving without a valid license.

"This crime is a criminal traffic violation and a juvenile will not be accepted into the department of juvenile justice for misdemeanor criminal traffic," they said.

[PennySerenade]

These Toronto restaurants were just added to the 2023 Michelin guide



Four restaurants were just added to Michelin’s Toronto guide for their exceptional – and more affordable – food.

The four Toronto eateries were appointed as Bib Gourmands(opens in a new tab), a designation that Michelin calls "not quite a star, but certainly not a consolation prize" granted to high-quality establishments that can provide diners two courses and a glass of wine (or dessert) for under $60.

“We’re so excited to add BB’s, Sunny's Chinese, Tiflisi, and White Lily Diner to the selection of Bib Gourmand restaurants in Toronto,” Michelin’s international director Gwendal Poullennec said in Tuesday’s release.



“The anonymous inspectors were quite impressed with the imaginative, delicious cuisine at these eateries as well as the value and experience. We hope that local foodies as well as international travelers will enjoy these tasty gems we’re pleased to reveal.”

The new additions feature cuisines from Filipino to Chinese, as well as an old-school diner serving their own smoked bacon at breakfast.

The announcement comes a month after Michelin revealed 12 new restaurants that will be added to 2023’s guide, which also includes the four Bib Gourmands unveiled Tuesday. Other restaurants that made the chopping block include Alder, FK, Kiin and Vela.



Just last year, Michelin published its first-ever Toronto guide, which was the first city in Canada to make the list. Vancouver joined the guide shortly after.

Seventy-four Toronto restaurants earned the esteemed recognition in the 2022 guide, representing 27 different cuisine styles. Only one restaurant earned two Michelin stars – Sushi Masaki Saito on Avenue Road in Yorkville – and 17 restaurants were inducted to the Bib Gourmand list.

The full, official 2023 Michelin Guide for Toronto will be revealed at a ceremony on Sept. 27.

[Misstee]

Spider silk produced by genetically modified silkworms is 6x stronger than Kevlar
ByEric Ralls
Earth.com staff writer

Scientists have successfully synthesized spider silk using genetically modified silkworms, creating fibers with a toughness six times superior to that of Kevlar, a material prominently used in bulletproof vests.

This revolutionary work is the first to fabricate full-length spider silk proteins through silkworms, presenting a methodology that might give rise to an eco-friendly substitute to prevalent synthetic commercial fibers such as nylon.
Tackling synthetic fiber issues

Synthetic fibers like nylon have been widely used, but they pose environmental concerns due to their ability to release detrimental microplastics and their production from fossil fuels leading to greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists, therefore, have been exploring spider silk as a sustainable alternative, given its exceptional mechanical properties and potential applications in various fields like medical sutures, textiles, military, aerospace technology, and biomedical engineering.
Innovating spider silk production

Silkworm silk is the only large-scale commercialized animal silk fiber, with proven rearing techniques. Junpeng Mi, a PhD candidate at the College of Biological Science and Medical Engineering at Donghua University, reveals that utilizing genetically modified silkworms opens avenues for the low-cost, mass commercialization of spider silk fibers.

This alternative is not just innovative but solves persistent issues in spider silk synthesis, such as applying a protective “skin layer” to the silk, allowing it to endure humidity and exposure to sunlight. Genetically modified silkworms, by virtue of having a similar protective layer on their fibers, overcome this problem, making them the ideal conduit for spider silk production.
Evolutionary step in silk synthesis

To achieve the synthesis, Mi and his team integrated spider silk protein genes into the silkworm’s DNA, ensuring the expression in their glands. This intricate process involved CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology and countless microinjections into fertilized silkworm eggs, a step Mi described as one of the most significant challenges of the study.

Observing the red glow in the silkworms’ eyes under a fluorescence microscope indicated the success of gene editing, a moment of triumph and excitement for the team. Further, “localization” modifications were crucial to align the transgenic spider silk proteins with proteins in the silkworm glands, ensuring the proper spinning of the fiber.

The team also proposed a “minimal basic structure model” of silkworm silk to guide these modifications, a concept that Mi emphasizes as a crucial shift from previous research.
Future with engineered spider silk

Junpeng Mi foresees the application of insights gained from this study to further enhance the toughness and strength of spider silk fibers by developing genetically modified silkworms capable of producing spider silk fibers from both natural and engineered amino acids.

This introduces the possibility of over one hundred engineered amino acids, unveiling immense potential for the development of engineered spider silk fibers.

Mi is confident about the potential for large-scale commercialization of this innovation, promising a sustainable and versatile material that could revolutionize industries, offering solutions ranging from more comfortable clothing and advanced bulletproof vests to medical sutures catering to global demand exceeding 300 million procedures annually.

In summary, this pioneering research marks a significant leap towards environmentally friendly and sustainable material production, confronting the ecological drawbacks of synthetic fibers. It paves the way for extensive applications, impacting numerous domains, reinforcing the potential of bioengineered products in addressing modern-day challenges.

As scientists venture deeper into the realms of spider silk synthesis, the anticipation of more discoveries and innovations in this domain holds promise for a future where sustainability and technology converge.

[lush]

The Dutch Headwind Cycling Championship Are No Joke
082323*

The Dutch Headwind Time Trial Championship is only 8.5 kilometers long, but it is considered one of the hardest cycling challenges in the world.

If you’ve ever ridden a bike against a reasonably strong wind, you know just how difficult dealing with the extra drag can be. Now imagine doing it in winds of well over 100km (60mph), over a distance of nearly kilometers, using a single-gear bicycle. Some people say that the Tour de France is the hardest bicycle race in the world, while others think that the title should go to Race Across America, but in terms of difficulty per kilometer, the Dutch Headwind Championship could definitely throw its hat in for the title as well. It only takes place during storms, when the wind force is expected to be at least 7, on the Oosterscheldekering storm barrier, which faces the North Sea.


Photo: Sander v. Ginkel/Wikimedia Commons

The Dutch Headwind Time Trial Championship have been held on the Oosterscheldekering almost every year since 2013, gathering hundreds of cycling enthusiasts from all over the Netherlands. Participants are limited to 300, all of whom start in the same place, 30 seconds apart from each other. The cyclist who completes the 8.5-kilometer course first is declared the winner.

With weather conditions as bad as they are during this unique race, any kind of technical advantage can make a huge difference, so organizers try to level the playing field by ensuring that all participants use the same equipment – a single-speed aluminum Gazelle city bike with back-pedal brakes. The only things that can provide an advantage are fitness and endurance.



The fastest time ever recorded during the Dutch Headwind Championship was in the 2013 race, when Bart Brentjens finished the course in 17 minutes and 51 seconds. Considering wind speeds on the Oosterscheldekering storm barrier can reach up to 120 kilometers per hour, that’s a phenomenal time that has yet to be beaten.

You might be wondering why anyone would want to torture their legs by pedaling against winds that could sweep a person off of their feet, and that’s a valid question, but the point is many Dutch do. Even though the championship is only announced three days before a storm is scheduled to hit Oosterscheldekering, hundreds of people register to participate, either individually or as part of a team.



One would think that luck plays a serious part in the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championship, considering the speed of wind gusts can vary significantly over the 8.5-kilometer course. However, in the women’s category, professional athlete Lisa Scheenaard has won the last three editions, which suggests it’s technique and stamina that matter most.

Nature generates more data than the internet … for now

by Rahul Rao

Is Earth primarily a planet of life, a world stewarded by the animals, plants, bacteria, and everything else that lives here? Or, is it a planet dominated by human creations? Certainly, we’ve reshaped our home in many ways—from pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to literally redrawing coastlines. But by one measure, biology wins without a contest.

In an opinion piece published in the journal Life on August 31, astronomers and astrobiologists estimated the amount of information transmitted by a massive class of organisms and technology for communication. Their results are clear: Earth’s biosphere churns out far more information than the internet has in its 30-year history. “This indicates that, for all the rapid progress achieved by humans, nature is still far more remarkable in terms of its complexity,” says Manasvi Lingam, an astrobiologist at the Florida Institute of Technology and one of the paper’s authors.

[Related: Inside the lab that’s growing mushroom computers]

But that could change in the very near future. Lingam and his colleagues say that, if the internet keeps growing at its current voracious rate, it will eclipse the data that comes out of the biosphere in less than a century. This could help us hone our search for intelligent life on other planets by telling us what type of information we should seek.

To represent information from technology, the authors focused on the amount of data transferred through the internet, which far outweighs any other form of human communication. Each second, the internet carries about 40 terabytes of information. They then compared it to the volume of information flowing through Earth’s biosphere. We might not think of the natural world as a realm of big data, but living things have their own ways of communicating. “To my way of thought, one of the reasons—although not the only one—underpinning the complexity of the biosphere is the massive amount of information flow associated with it,” Lingam says.

Bird calls, whale song, and pheromones are all forms of communication, to be sure. But Lingam and his colleagues focused on the information that individual cells transmit—often in the form of molecules that other cells pick up and respond accordingly, such as producing particular proteins. The authors specifically focused on the 100 octillion single-celled prokaryotes that make up the majority of our planet’s biomass.

“That is fairly representative of most life on Earth,” says Andrew Rushby, an astrobiologist at Birkbeck, University of London, who was not an author of the paper. “Just a green slime clinging to the surface of the planet. With a couple of primates running around on it, occasionally.”

Bacteria colony forming red biofilm on black background
This colorized image shows an intricate colony of millions of the single-celled bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa that have self-organized into a sticky, mat-like colony called a biofilm, which allows them to cooperate with each other, adapt to changes in their environment, and ensure their survival. Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School, Boston

As all of Earth’s prokaryotes signal to each other, according to the authors’ estimate, they generate around a billion times as much data as our technology. But human progress is rapid: According to one estimate, the internet is growing by around 26 percent every year. Under the bold assumption that both these rates hold steady for decades to come, the authors stated its size will continue to balloon until it dwarfs the biosphere in around 90 years’ time, sometime in the early 22nd century.

[Related on PopSci+: Inside the search for the best way to save humanity’s data]

What, then, does a world where we create more information than nature actually look like? It’s hard to predict for certain. The 2110s version of Earth may be as strange to us as the present Earth would seem to a person from the 1930s. That said, picture alien astronomers in another star system carefully monitoring our planet. Rather than glimpsing a planet teeming with natural life, their first impressions of Earth might be a torrent of digital data.

Now, picture the reverse. For decades, scientists and military experts have sought out signatures of extraterrestrials in whatever form it may take. Astronomers have traditionally focused on the energy that a civilization of intelligent life might use—but earlier this year, one group crunched the numbers to determine if aliens in a nearby star system could pick up the leakage from mobile phone towers. (The answer is probably not, at least with LTE networks and technology like today’s radio telescopes.)

On the flip side, we don’t totally have the observational capabilities to home in on extraterrestrial life yet. “I don’t think there’s any way that we could detect the kind of predictions and findings that [Lingam and his coauthors] have quantified here,” Rushby says. “How can we remotely determine this kind of information capacity, or this information transfer rate? We’re probably not at the stage where we could do that.”

But Rushby thinks the study is an interesting next step in a trend. Astrobiologists—certainly those searching for extraterrestrial life—are increasingly thinking about the types and volume of information that different forms of life carries. “There does seem to be this information ‘revolution,’” he says, “where we’re thinking about life in a slightly different way.” In the end, we might learn that there’s more harmony between the communication networks nature has built and computers.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You can post as many stories as you like, but you will only get paid for One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can only earn WRZ$ once a day.
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -6)
3:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them short, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[ozswede]

Woman donates electric bike to stranger who walks two hours to work everyday

A Texas woman generously donated an electric bicycle to a man after she learned he walked nearly two hours to and from his job each day.

Heath Nelson used to ride his bike to work, but after it broke down, he began to regularly make his journey on foot.

“I try to do what I can to pay my bills,” Nelson said.

Rebecca Wendt said she saw Nelson walking on the side of the road and felt she had to find out who he was. After she got the 52-year-old’s information from his job, she reached out to him to learn his story.

“It was just like God bopped me over the head and said, ‘Find out where that man lives and what his needs are,’” Wendt said.


Heath Nelson’s bike broke down. He walked around seven miles to and from work each day.

She then decided she would raise money however she could to purchase Nelson a new bike. She shared her mission with family, friends, and Facebook.

She said she didn’t think much of her social media post at the time, but it quickly gained traction.

“Within about two hours I had over a $1,000 raised,” she said.

Wendt made the Facebook post at the end of August. On Tuesday, she delivered a new e-bike to Nelson.

It was the first time the two had met in person.

“Oh, it’s a blessing, trust me. You know, the Lord works in mysterious ways,” Nelson said.

Wendt ended up raising more money than the bike and its accessories cost and chose to give the remaining funds to Nelson.

He said he plans to use the cash for a set of dentures.

“It was emotional and brought tears to my eyes. You know, I mean, what she gave me was just remarkable,” Nelson said.

[goldie0608]

Florida Police Investigating After Alligator Was Seen Carrying Dead Human Body Down Street

"I picked up a rock to hit [the alligator], it was a lower torso in his mouth. It just like swam backward down into the lower canal," a nearby resident said



Florida police said they are investigating the death of an individual whose body had been carried in the jaws of an alligator down a street and into a waterway.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that officers had responded to a report of a dead body seen at a waterway located between 134th Avenue North and 121st Street North in Unincorporated Largo, Florida, at about 1:50 p.m.

Officers discovered the remains of a deceased adult in the waterway near a 13-foot, 8.5-inch male alligator, which was eventually “humanely killed and removed from the waterway” with the assistance of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said that it has initiated an investigation into the incident and that the medical examiner’s office will be conducting an autopsy on the body to determine how the person died. The person’s identity has not yet been released by police and no other details were released by the sheriff’s office.

A nearby resident, JaMarcus Bullard, had told Spectrum’s Bay News 9 that he had been on his way to a job interview when he saw the alligator carrying the deceased person in its jaws.

"I could tell there was a body in his mouth, so I started recording," Bullard said.

"I picked up a rock to hit it, it was a lower torso in his mouth. It just like swam backward down into the lower canal," he added, per Insider.

He told Bay News 9 that he immediately “came down to the fire department and reported” the incident to them, and they had put in the 911 call. Bullard said he witnessed emergency personnel pull the gator from the waterway and shoot it "a few times."

A view from a SkyFOX camera from Fox 13 Tampa Bay showed several police surrounding the large alligator, which had been situated between a pool of blood and a large black police car on the roadway at the scene.

The dead body had been found in a waterway located near Ridgecrest Park in Pinellas County, according to the outlet, which has a 5-acre lake and has been known for alligator sightings. According to Bay News 9, that is also near the location where a 47-year-old man had died in an alligator-related incident while looking for Frisbees and other discs in the water.

"I would’ve never dreamt that an alligator would be in this area," Terri Williams told Fox 13 Tampa Bay. "Of course, I know there’s a lake across the street, and I know about the lake in Taylor Park, but not in this neighborhood. No, I would have never thought that."
American alligators are commonly found in freshwater lakes and slow-moving rivers and in brackish water habitats, but rarely in salt water, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It noted that the largest male alligator spotted was a 14-foot 3 1/2-inch male from Lake Washington in Brevard County and that alligators primarily eat rough fish, snakes, turtles, small mammals and birds.

[Fatima99]

Bats Hold Vital Clues for Cancer Prevention as Scientists Study Their ‘Extraordinary’ Immunity



A new study shows that bats evolved to avoid cancer and the data may uncover how humans can treat or prevent viruses as well as cancer.

A rapid evolution in bats, the only winged mammal, may account for their “extraordinary” ability to both host and survive infections and even to avoid cancer—and that success is in their genes.

Bats are exceptional among mammals for not only their ability to fly but also their long lives, low cancer rates, and robust immune systems.

The ability of bats to tolerate viral infections may stem from unusual features of their innate immune response—and these characteristics may have implications for human health.

For example, by better understanding the mechanisms of the bat immune system that allow bats to tolerate viral infections, researchers may be better able to prevent disease outbreaks from animals to people.

Comparative genomic analyses of bats and cancer-susceptible mammals may eventually provide new information on the causes of cancer and the links between cancer and immunity. Studies of bats and other organisms complement studies based on mouse models; mice are more amenable than bats to experimental manipulation but exhibit fewer characteristics with implications for human disease.

In a paper published in Genome Biology and Evolution by Oxford University Press
this week, researchers used the Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read platform, and bat samples collected with help from the American Museum of Natural History in Belize, to sequence the genomes of two bat species—the Jamaican fruit bat and the Mesoamerican mustached bat.

The researchers at of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York carried out a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis with a diverse collection of bats and other mammals.

They found genetic adaptations in six DNA repair-related proteins and 46 proteins in bats that were cancer-related, meaning that researchers have previously found such proteins suppress cancer.

Notably, the study found these altered cancer-related genes were enriched more than two-fold in the bat group compared to other mammals.

“By generating these new bat genomes and comparing them to other mammals we continue to find extraordinary new adaptations in antiviral and anticancer genes,” said the paper’s lead author, Armin Scheben.

“These investigations are the first step towards translating research on the unique biology of bats into insights relevant to understanding and treating aging and diseases, such as cancer, in humans.”

Founded in 1890 and home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the not-for-profit Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory furthers biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Additional funding came from National Institutes of Health and Simons Center for Quantitative Biology.

Sikh 15-year-old sets world record for longest hair on a male teenager



Meet Sidakdeep Singh Chahal, the 15-year-old Sikh boy from Uttar Pradesh, India, who has achieved a remarkable feat - he holds the world record for having the longest hair among male teenagers, with a stunning length of 4 feet 9.5 inches (146 cm). Sidakdeep's unwavering commitment to his faith's principle of not cutting hair, combined with the loving support of his mother, has led to this incredible achievement.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sikh-15-old-sets-world-183000914.html?guccounter=1

[lush]

Man With Too Much Time Creates Color Gradient Collection of Dung Beetles
082223*

Bored during the last stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, a Japanese man spent a whole month catching dung beetles and creating a mesmerizing color gradient collection.

On August 17, Japanese Twitter (X) user bochimushi posted a photo of hundreds of shiny dung beetles arranged by color – from deep blue to purple – forming an impressive gradient. Apparently, the eye-catching collection of beetles was created in August of last year, as a way to pass the time during the end of the Covid-19 lockdown. Bored out of his mind, the man started hunting dung beetles and then arranging them neatly in this gradient style for a stunning visual effect. Bochimushi’s collection consists of a whopping 450 dung beetles.


Photo:@bochimushi64/X

Interestingly, bochimushi isn’t the only Japanese person to have created a gradient collection of beetles. Mjinko, another Twitter user commenting on the viral photo of the shiny beetles, share their own collection, which looks surprisingly similar. Believe it or not, they also put it together during the pandemic, only a year earlier, in August 2021.


Photo: @mikinko116/X

Bochimushi’s photo was viewed over 1.4 million times on Twitter and got around 22,000 likes. In the Western world, you’d expect to get some kind of negative comments from animal lovers, but scrolling deep into the comment section on this photo, we were unable to find a single negative comment.

去年の私は８月のほとんどを自粛だとか言われてこんなものを作ってたんです
退屈してたんだなと、我ながら思います pic.twitter.com/rpOCEGMG9J

— bochimushi (@bochimushi64) August 17, 2023

[rflash8]

Nasa’s Osiris-Rex capsule with Bennu asteroid samples touches down on Earth

The capsule landed in the Utah desert just before 11am ET, concluding a seven-year trek through the stars


Helicopter recovery teams depart the Michael army air field before the arrival of a space capsule carrying Nasa’s first asteroid samples on Sunday. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

A space capsule carrying Nasa’s first asteroid samples has landed in the Utah desert to conclude a seven-year trek through the stars.

The capsule landed just before 11am ET (4pm BST) after being released by the US space agency’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft. It contained rubble and dust samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.

Released about 63,000 miles (100,000km) out earlier on Sunday, the capsule touched down after hurtling towards Earth at a speed of about 27,650mph (44,500km/h).

The capsule parachuted down on to the military’s Utah Test and Training Range.

Meanwhile, about 20 minutes after the capsule’s release, the transit van-sized spacecraft itself reversed course and blasted away from Earth, bound for a new mission exploring another asteroid, known as Apophis.

It will take about six years for the spacecraft to reach Apophis.

Scientists believe the capsule’s samples are the leftover building blocks from the dawn of our solar system and will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed.

Osiris-Rex’s name is short for “origins, spectral interpretation, resource identification, security-regolith explorer”. It rocketed away on its $1bn mission in 2016, reaching Bennu two years later.

Using a long stick vacuum, it grabbed dust and pebbles from the small roundish space rock in 2020. By Sunday, the spacecraft had traveled 4bn miles (6.2bn kilometers).

Nasa’s recovery effort in Utah includes helicopters and a temporary clean room set up at the range. Crews are then to fly the samples on Monday to a new lab at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Playing Video Games Improves These Aspects of Daily Life Say Gamers in New Poll

Sep 24, 2023


SWNS / OnePoll

Nearly three-quarters of gamers are certain that video games have improved their lives.

A recent survey of 2,000 American gamers revealed how video games are more than just hobbies—72% of respondents attested to the positive impact of the pastime on various aspects of daily life.

Sixty-eight percent credit games for enhancing relaxation, and 67% say they improve problem-solving skills. More than six in ten believe they also sharpen critical thinking and enhance better hand-eye coordination.

38% of respondents said gaming helps them with the ‘soft skill’ of cooperating with others.

More than two-thirds (68%) could feel their moods change when playing video games—with 51% feeling more relaxed, 27% feeling happier and 19% feeling sharper.

The random double-opt-in survey commissioned by the mobile game Solitaire Grand Harvest (by Playtika) was conducted by OnePoll.

“Research reinforces video games are far more than entertainment; they’re a powerful force for personal growth and positive change,” said Amir Coifman, general manager of Solitaire Grand Harvest.

“Our goal is to meticulously craft immersive experiences to offer relaxation, challenge problem-solving skills and foster community, allowing players to become better versions of themselves.”

10 THINGS THAT GAMING MAY HELP WITH

– Relaxing – 68%
– Problem-solving – 67%
– Critical thinking skills – 62%
– Hand-eye coordination – 61%
– Cooperating with others – 38%
– Playing sports – 19%
– Driving – 17%
– Cooking – 16%
– Physics – 14%
– Surviving the apocalypse – 14%

[PennySerenade]

Far from home, young Ukrainian hockey players meet with Zelenskyy in Ottawa



Maksym Shtepa made his way from his new home in Quebec City to Parliament Hill Friday with one goal in mind: to give President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the hockey jersey off his back.

The 13-year-old and his teammate Matvii Kulish got to do it standing alongside Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a hallway of the Parliament building.

"We met our hero today, it was kind of a dream for us," said Shtepa. "It's a big day for us, big moment."

The jersey is stamped with Zelenskyy's name on the back and is adorned with the colours of the Ukrainian flag. A red embroidery-like pattern goes down the middle on the front representing Ukraine's national costume, the vyshyvanka.

"He's a really sweet person, he was really tired but he still was talking to us," said Shtepa of the encounter.

Joining the boys was Olivier Hubert-Benoit who is currently hosting another Ukrainian hockey player at his home.

"The kids were super excited," he says. "They were running on adrenaline and just very happy to be able to experience this once in a lifetime moment."



On Friday, he addressed the House of Commons in an effort to rally support for the war effort in Ukraine.

"There, it's kind of scary right now," says Shtepa.

Shtepa first visited Canada in February when his team participated in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. Recently, he and five of his teammates received special temporary visas allowing them to study and play hockey in Quebec City until it is safe for them to return home.

"Here we saw really good people," says Shtepa. "It's a really good place for us."

Shtepa says he hopes Zelenskyy's new jersey will serve as a reminder that there's great hockey in Ukraine.

"We want to make him proud that we are here, we're at a high [playing] level."

Skunk with cup stuck over its head found walking circles in Maine street



Police in Maine came to the rescue of a skunk seen wandering in a road with a cup stuck over its head.

The Waterville Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers and a Maine State Police trooper responded to a report of a skunk with its head stuck in a cup and they located the animal "walking in circles in the middle of Kennedy Memorial Drive."

The department shared a video showing one officer attempting to remove the cup by reaching out through his patrol vehicle with a baton.

The skunk manages to evade the rescue attempt, and a second officer steps in with a long stick. After a couple of failed swipes, the officer manages to knock the cup off the skunk's head and quickly flees to avoid being sprayed.

"Despite a moment of being stunned, the skunk was uninjured and was able to move from the roadway to safety," police wrote.