Good morning, Gnusies! I know that the quote I’m using for my opening is the same one that Jessiestaf used to close the news section in yesterday’s GNR, but it’s so good I just have to repeat it — Repetition is Good™. It comes from Jess Craven’s “Extra! Extra!” newsletter on Sunday:
[Today] is anything but happy, We’re at war, American service members are dying, and all kinds of other heinous things are also happening.
But I’m here with a new all-wins list for you, because we can only get through this hellish period in history if we occasionally stop and take in the good things that are also occurring.
So please, take a break from doomscrolling and check out all the things that went RIGHT this week. There are a lot.
Treat this like medicine, folks. Dose yourself with it thoroughly, maybe do it a second time, and then share this list with everyone else you know who’s not feeling so great.
We can get through this. We will get through it. Because of people just like you and through wins just like this.
Grab a mug of your favorite morning beverage, settle into your comfiest chair, and let’s get into the good stuff.
Opening music
As is so often the case, Bob Dylan in 1963 said it best and said it for all time.
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Good news in the Resistance
Trump administration’s third-country deportation policy unlawful, judge finds
From The Washington Post, via archive.today (paywall-free):
A federal judge in Boston ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants to countries where they are not citizens is unconstitutional, saying the government must provide more time for people to legally challenge their removals over concerns that they could face imminent danger.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy’s final decision invalidates a policy memo last spring from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows enforcement officers to deport migrants to countries that are not their own with as little as six hours’ notice.
The ruling could make it more difficult for the administration, which immigration experts said has sent thousands of migrants to so-called third countries, to continue to use the practice as widely, as authorities seek to speed up President Donald Trump’s mass deportation program.
In an 81-page ruling, Murphy said the administration must give migrants “meaningful notice before removal to any third country” and allow them time to raise a country-specific objection. The judge criticized the government for implementing a policy that relies on vague “assurances” that the migrants will not be persecuted or harmed once they arrive in the third countries.
ICE detention facility proposed in Merrimack, New Hampshire will not move forward
This is just one of several recent stories about people refusing to let ICE build concentration camps in their cities. The nice twist in this story is that it happened under a Republican governor.
We need to keep alert (Project Salt Box provides info on where ICE is sniffing out locations), and we need to fight against every single proposed facility.
From CBS News:
The Department of Homeland Security is not moving forward with a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced the decision Tuesday, saying that she had met with DHS Sec. Kristi Noem in Washington, D.C. last week to discuss the proposal. The agency's plans had called for a warehouse on Robert Milligan Parkway to be converted into a 400-600 bed facility that would house detainees for an average of three to seven days. ✂️
The proposal for the new detention facility faced opposition from some in the community. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, called on Ayotte to oppose the detention center, which would have been 12 miles from the state border. New Hampshire Republican state Sen. Tim McGough said there were a lot of "unanswered questions" about the facility.
Democrats in four states seek to bar ICE employees from future civil service jobs
Excellent idea!
From The Guardian:
Supercharged by billions in dollars from Congress, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has hired thousands of new officers to carry out Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign in an effort it has likened to “wartime recruitment”. In several states, Democratic lawmakers want applicants to think twice about taking part.
Bills introduced in recent weeks in the legislatures of at least four Democratic-led states would impose long-term consequences on new ICE employees by rendering them ineligible for jobs in law enforcement, public education, and, in their most expansive form, the entire state civil service.
None of the proposals has been signed into law, and potential legislation may face legal challenges. The bills nonetheless underscore Democratic state lawmaker’s determination to undermine Trump’s hardline immigration policy...
‘Abolish ICE’ gets most votes in Chicago snowplow-naming contest; ‘Stephen Coldbert’ also a winner
From AP:
A Chicago snowplow
When it comes to putting a name to Chicago’s annual battle against its infamously inclement weather, it turns out that the practical is also the political.
“Abolish ICE” was the top vote-getter in the city’s “You Name a Snowplow” contest. Choosing the protest slogan with a double meaning proved a potent way for voters to jab at President Donald Trump after he sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into the city and its suburbs last fall in a major immigration crackdown.
With a surge of ICE officers beginning in September, “Operation Midway Blitz” resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, a fatal shooting and a sour taste among Chicago’s Democratic leaders and many of its residents, particularly in large immigrant populations. Despite mid-winter frigid cold, “ICE Out” protests in recent weeks have continued downtown, near ICE facilities and throughout the suburbs.
The snowplow-naming contest, in its fourth year, also produced winning names ranging from those paying tribute to the new pope, who hails from Chicago, to a homegrown horror purveyor and the popular quarterback of the city’s NFL franchise. The top six winners will get a snowplow named in their honor.
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Good news in politics
Just one in four Americans supports US strikes on Iran, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
I’m not surprised that Americans’ memory of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is still fresh. Almost all of us know someone who was affected, either service members or their relatives.
From Reuters:
Only one in four Americans approves of the U.S. strikes that killed Iran’s leader, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe President Donald Trump is too willing to use military force, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Sunday. ...The poll was conducted during the strikes on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, and closed before the U.S. military announced the first American casualties in the operation.
No administration officials appeared on the Sunday political talk shows
Cowards.
Cruz is obviously cosplaying as an elder statesman. 🤢
From The Parnas Perspective:
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No senior Trump administration officials appeared on the Sunday political talk shows, an unusual absence that stood out as the administration faces the challenge of explaining the reasoning behind and overall objectives of the U.S. strikes on Iran to the American public.
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Republican Senator Ted Cruz: “I have no indication they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons”
Mamdani says Trump agreed to immediately release Columbia student detained by ICE
Mamdani the Magician pulls another rabbit out of the hat.
From PBS:
A Columbia University student was arrested Thursday by federal immigration agents who claimed to be searching for a "missing person" in order to gain access to a campus apartment, according to her attorneys and the school's president.
Hours after she was taken into custody, though, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a social media post that he had discussed the arrest during an unrelated meeting with President Donald Trump, who agreed to release the student "immediately."
The student, Ellie Aghayeva, is a senior from Azerbaijan studying neuroscience and political science. A self-described content creator, she has amassed a large social media following by sharing day-in-the-life videos and tips for navigating college as an immigrant.
A Direct File Revival Effort [by Democrats]
High fives to my great senior senator, Ron Wyden!
From Tax Policy Center:
Direct File Act would make free IRS filing permanent. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) are introducing the “Direct File Act.” It would direct the IRS to operate a free online preparation and filing option, require reporting on usage, encourage integration with state systems, and aim to reduce fraud by getting third-party income information to the IRS earlier in the season. In a survey following the 2024 pilot of the Direct File program, 90 percent of users rated their experience as positive and more than 73 percent of taxpayers said they would be somewhat or very interested in using Direct File if they had access to it.
Kat Abughazaleh’s great new ad
As Jess Craven said, “Kat Abughazaleh (D), who is running in the Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th congressional district, launched an attack ad against herself. It’s awesome!”
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Good news from my corner of the world
[OR] Senator [Wyden] calls for DEA to provide info on "incredibly disturbing" Epstein drug investigation
Sen. Wyden has been dogged in following the money in the Epstein saga, and now (unsurprisingly) it’s led to evidence of drug trafficking and money laundering. I’m proud to have supported him and voted for him ever since he first ran for a seat in the U.S. House in 1980.
From CBS News:
...CBS News first reported Monday on the existence of...a heavily redacted 69-page DEA memo found in the Epstein files.
"In addition to sex trafficking, it appears that Epstein and his associates were under investigation by the DEA for other major crimes, including illicit drug trafficking and money laundering," Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, says in a letter to DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole.
The DEA memo, marked "sensitive but unclassified," was among more than 3 million pages of documents recently released by the Justice Department. The memo, from 2015, refers to a DEA Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces probe nicknamed "Chain Reaction." It noted that the case was opened in 2010 in New York and was "judicial pending," indicating that the investigation remained active at the time the memo was drafted 5 years later.
The co-conspirators, it said, were being investigated for "illegitimate wire transfers which are tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City." "The fact that Epstein was under investigation by the DOJ's OCDETF task force suggests that there was ample evidence indicating that Epstein was engaged in heavy drug trafficking and prostitution as part of cross-border criminal conspiracy," Wyden writes. "This is incredibly disturbing and raises serious questions as to how this investigation by the DEA was handled."
Other than Epstein's, the names of those targeted in the investigation are blacked out in the version released by the Justice Department. Many details about the investigation are also redacted. Wyden expresses concern that the "excessive redactions … go well beyond the intent of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which allows for redactions to protect the identity of victims, not members of a criminal sex trafficking organization."
He also questions why no charges were brought against Epstein or the others for drug trafficking or financial crimes, and whether "DEA and DOJ during the first Trump Administration moved to terminate this investigation in order to protect pedophiles."
DEA did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.
The State AG Whose Lawsuit Brought Down Trump’s Tariffs
Dan Rayfield is a brilliant AG. Oregon is lucky to have him at this pivotal moment.
From Governing.com:
The administration claimed the IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] gave Trump the power to levy tariffs, citing an influx of immigrants and drugs as emergencies under the act. Twelve states, led by Oregon, filed a lawsuit to overturn the tariffs last spring, arguing that they were unconstitutional and would raise the cost of goods for Americans.
The Supreme Court sided with the states in a 6-3 ruling, agreeing with their argument that the term “regulate” does not incorporate the powers of tariffs or taxation. ✂️
Governing spoke with Oregon Attorney General (AG) Dan Rayfield, a Democratic former state legislator who led the lawsuit, about the impacts of the tariffs on his state, the legal issues in the case and the role of state attorneys general. ...
Governing: Why did you decide to file this lawsuit? How do these tariffs hurt Oregon specifically?
Dan Rayfield: ...There’s a recent study that shows that 90 percent of the tariffs so far have been paid by Americans. You have a president that’s passing, effectively, hidden taxes without a vote of the public and he’s doing them willy-nilly, for any reason, for any amount and for any amount of time. It was a very easy decision, for the impact on Oregon and also for constitutional principles, to pursue this case. ✂️
Governing: Can you tell me about the legal underpinnings of your argument? What did you think of the Supreme Court decision today?
Dan Rayfield: When we started talking about this case in our office...the first analysis was, “hey, the term ‘regulate’ doesn’t mean tariffs and doesn’t mean taxes.” If it does, then you’ve got a major questions issue. And if you don’t have a major questions issue, then you have a nondelegation doctrine issue. It was this three-pronged approach that we started with, and that’s exactly what the ruling was today. It was very simple. The case was a lot simpler than a lot of people thought. It’s that the term “regulate” has not meant and never will mean taxes or tariffs.
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Good news from around the nation
SCOTUS rejects private prison company GEO Group's attempt at avoiding accountability
I have to say I’m surprised by this win for the people against the absurd but insidious “derivative sovereign immunity” theory. I really thought this SCOTUS would choose the baddies again.
From Law Dork:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously rejected a private prison company’s effort to grant it an expansive new authority whenever it is doing work for the government.
GEO Group was asking the justices to establish that “derivative sovereign immunity” protects government contractors — necessary here so that GEO Group could immediately appeal a ruling that it lacked that so-called “immunity” in a case challenging the company’s treatment of people in a facility in Colorado that it used for immigration detention via contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Wednesday, the justices dealt GEO Group a loss — not only rejecting the company’s appeal but, more centrally, rejecting the company’s “derivative sovereign immunity” argument altogether.
It is a technical, but important, decision — especially as the Trump administration spends billions of dollars on immigration enforcement, with large sums going to contractors like GEO Group. ✂️
Ultimately, the decision will allow lawsuits to proceed more quickly when federal contractors are alleged to have acted unlawfully or outside of their authority.
Historic New York City Nurses Strike Concludes After 41 Days: Union Ratifies New Three-Year Contract
Nurses emerging triumphant with a whole slew of new protections. Yay!!
From Cancer Nursing Today:
The largest nursing strike in New York City’s history came to a close on Saturday, February 21, after an announcement that a new three-year contract was approved and ratified at NewYork – Presbyterian, according to a press release from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA).
Approximately 15,000 New York City nurses from three major hospital systems participated in the strike, which began on January 12, 2026.
“This is a proud moment for our union,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, in the press release. “15,000 NYSNA nurses went out on strike, and finally all 15,000 will be returning to the bedside.”
The union reported earlier in the week that its members at Montefiore and Mount Sinai approved new contracts, but nurses at NewYork – Presbyterian rejected the deal before coming to an agreement over the weekend, in which 93% of nurses at the institution voted yes, and 7% voted no.
Dania Munoz, DNP, NP, RN, and Darla Joiner, RN, of Mount Sinai Hospital previously spoke with Cancer Nursing Today about their experiences on the picket line, bargaining updates and ongoing negotiations, and the core issues at the heart of the strike.
Several of those key terms were secured by the new contact and outlined in the NYSNA press release, including increased protections for healthcare benefits and against workplace violence, enforceable standards for safer staffing levels, salary increases, and artificial intelligence safeguards.
“We are so happy with the wins we achieved, and now the fight to enforce these contracts and hold our employers accountable begins,” President Hagans said. “NYSNA nurses showed what it means to advocate for patients, and this moment will go down in history as a win for our communities.”
In a nursing update posted to their website, NewYork – Presbyterian announced that the newly ratified contract “reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses” and highlighted that all hospitals and emergency rooms across their healthcare system are “open and accepting patients.”
A new law requires Illinois high schoolers to learn about climate change. It was written by two local teens
The kids will save us all.
From GoodGoodGood:
Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, a new state law in Illinois will require every public high school to include instruction on climate change and the impacts and causes of climate change for grades nine through 12. The law was written by two area students, alongside State Representative Janet Yang Rohr. ✂️
The law’s journey began when Iris Shadis-Greengas, a senior at Naperville Central High School submitted a proposal to Rep. Yang Rohr as part of a capstone course. Then her state representative decided to sponsor it. “I was really happy,” Shadis-Greengas told NBC. “A bill that was written by a high schooler, I thought that was really cool a legislator would actually do that.”
Another student at Neuqua Valley High School, then-senior Grace Brady, was working on a similar project. The duo teamed up with Rep. Yang Rohr, and despite some debate on the House floor, it passed. The state’s Board of Education and Environmental Protection Agency are creating the curriculum now, with a rollout planned for the upcoming school year.
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Good news from around the world
Left-wing plumber helps Greens sink ruling Labour and far-right in surprise U.K. election win
T Maysle gave this news a shout-out in a comment on Friday, and other Gnusies followed that comment with explanations of the difference between the UK Greens (good progressives) and the US Greens (Ayn Randian Republican enablers). So this is legit good news.
From NBC News:
Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer celebrates at an election rally with supporters in Manchester, England, on Thursday.
Britain's beleaguered government has spent much of its time in power concerned about the surging far right. Instead, it just got a sucker punch from the progressive left. The Green Party delivered a stunning blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer early Friday with a victory in a hotly contested special election in the northern city of Manchester.
The vote in the constituency of Gorton and Denton was seen as a three-way tussle among the Greens, the rising far-right party Reform UK led by Trump ally Nigel Farage and Starmer's ruling center-left Labour Party, which has long dominated politics in the area.
It was a comfortable victory for Green candidate Hannah Spencer, 34, who becomes the party's fifth member of Parliament and one of 650 lawmakers in the U.K.'s lower house.
Spencer was a plumber before she entered politics, a hint of the appeal insurgents from both sides of the political spectrum now have in a country where wages are stagnant, public services are ailing and years of government scandal have eroded trust in institutions.
Starmer's position has been under intense scrutiny for months, but recent revelations linked to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal weakened him badly. Enter the “eco-populist” Greens, who want to radically overhaul Britain’s energy system, tax multimillionaires’ wealth, dismantle its nuclear weapons program and reverse its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Bear with me, because this is a lot,” the victorious Spencer told the crowd in her northern Mancunian drawl as she processed the gravity of the result. For people “who feel left behind and isolated,” she said, “I see you, and I will fight for you.”
From Clicks to Cleanups: Juba’s Youth-Led Waste Revolution
🎩 to strawbale for mentioning this wonderful story in a comment on Friday.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
The first time Makur Majeng posted photos on social media of trash-clogged drainage ditches along the White Nile in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, his phone would not stop buzzing. “How can I help?” one message read. Within hours, 20 young people — many of whom had never met one another before — had pledged to join him that Saturday at Suk Darfur, one of the busiest markets in the city, armed with little more than willpower, trash bags and a few pairs of disposable gloves.
An urban cleanup is sorely needed. When Juba’s municipal garbage collection collapsed in March 2023, the streets were left flooded with refuse, choking the White Nile and compounding the disastrous, ongoing decline of the Nile into which it flows. The acrid smell of burning plastic fills the air.
Frustrated by authorities’ failure to take action, young volunteers have stepped into the void, organizing cleanups via social media, training students in environmental policy and pressuring local officials to address the major environmental and health threats posed by the state of their streets and waterways. In doing so, they are building, piece by piece, the nascent foundations of a desperately needed — albeit informal — waste disposal system.
Making a dent in the city’s mountains of waste is a start, but the movement’s “true currency,’ Majeng argues, is what he calls collective frustration transformed into action.
”People care. They just need a platform to act,” he says.
The retired Indian factory worker who built a library of two million books
This looks to me like every booklover’s dream: accumulating millions of books and then turning them into a free library.
From BBC News via AOL.com (to avoid the paywall):
Two million books, housed across a sprawling building, free for anyone to borrow and read. That's the wealth that Anke Gowda, a retired sugar factory worker from India's southern Karnataka state, has accumulated over the past five decades. The 79-year-old made headlines last month when he received the Padma Shri - a civilian honour awarded by the federal government - for his extraordinary contribution to promoting literacy and learning.
Anke Gowda
Gowda - whose eye-popping collection includes rare editions of the Bible, along with books on every subject imaginable - comes from a farming family where books were a luxury. "I grew up in a village. We never got books to read, but I was always curious about them. I kept thinking that I should read, gather books and gain knowledge," he told the BBC.
Gowda's library is located in Pandavapura, a small municipality in Karnataka's Mandya district. It lacks the rigid organisation usually associated with libraries. In fact, Gowda's collection doesn't have a librarian and books are stacked on shelves and piled on the floor in a haphazard manner.
Outside, under the library's awnings are sacks filled with an estimated 800,000 books, still waiting to be unpacked. The collection is still growing, through Gowda's purchases and donations from others.
The place is frequented by students, their parents, teachers and book lovers. Regular visitors seem to know their way around the library and find the books they need with ease. And even if they can't, they say, Gowda can find anything.
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My favorite recent quotes, memes, and videos
x
Credit Where Credit's Due Dept.-
The nickname "Presidementia" is from the JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! NO KINGS PROTEST SIGN NICKNAME GUIDE. Many thanks to @jimmykimmellive.bsky.social & his writers! Save this chart for the upcoming NO KINGS DAY on March 28 next month. What's YOUR favorite nickname?
#PedoPrez
[image or embed]
— Mark Hamill (@markhamillofficial.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 10:44 AM
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Good news in medicine
Expert birders have younger brains: How expertise may protect brain health
This reminds me of the research that showed that London cabbies, who have to memorize the location of every street in the city (a skill they call “The Knowledge”) have larger brains (specfically, posterior hippocampi) than the rest of us.
From Medical News Today:
Research suggests that continuing to learn throughout your lifetime, and particularly as you age, can help keep the mind sharper, and protect against neurodegeneration.
Now a study suggests that being expert in a hobby that uses perception, attention and memory could also be effective at preserving cognitive skills.
The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, found that experts in bird identification had structural modifications in regions of the brain involved in attention and perception. The researchers suggest that these changes could mitigate age-related cognitive decline.
Emer MacSweeney, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR, consultant neuroradiologist and CEO and Consultant Neuroradiologist at Re:Cognition Health, who was not involved in this research, told Medical News Todaythat:
“This study provides intriguing evidence that high-level skill acquisition — expert birdwatching in this case — is associated with measurable structural differences in the brain, particularly in regions involved in attention and perception. […] These changes were linked not just to better performance on domain-specific tasks like bird identification but also to broader cognitive benefits such as enhanced memory for arbitrary information when linked to existing knowledge.”
Common Sweetener May Damage Critical Brain Barrier, Risking Stroke
Not good news, but important news for people avoiding sugar. Click the link to read the details of how erythritol affects the body.
From Science Alert:
Found in everything from protein bars to energy drinks, erythritol has long been considered a safe alternative to sugar. But research suggests this widely used sweetener may be quietly undermining one of the body's most crucial protective barriers – with potentially serious consequences for heart health and stroke risk.
A study from the University of Colorado suggests erythritol may damage cells in the blood-brain barrier, the brain's security system that keeps out harmful substances while letting in nutrients. The findings add troubling new detail to previous observational studies that have linked erythritol consumption to increased rates of heart attack and stroke. ✂️
Regulatory agencies, including the European Food Standards Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration, have approved erythritol as safe for consumption. But the new research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that even "natural" sugar alternatives may carry unexpected health risks. For consumers, the findings raise difficult questions about the trade-offs involved in sugar substitution. Sweeteners like erythritol can be valuable tools for weight management and diabetes prevention, helping people reduce calories and control blood sugar spikes. But if regular consumption potentially weakens the brain's protective barriers and increases cardiovascular risk, the benefits may come at a significant cost. ✂️
While erythritol may help people avoid the immediate harms of excess sugar consumption, its effect on the blood-brain barrier suggests that frequent use could be quietly compromising brain protection over time.
As scientists continue to investigate these concerning links, consumers may want to reconsider their relationship with this seemingly innocent sweetener – and perhaps question whether any sugar substitute additive is truly without risk.
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Good news in science
Overcoming 3D-Printer Challenges, MIT Produces an Electric Motor in Just 3 Hours
This is an amazing breakthrough with almost unlimited potential uses.
From Good News Network:
A broken motor can bring an automated machine factory to a halt—and instead of ordering a replacement part that could take days or weeks to arrive, with costly production delays, it may soon be easier, faster, and much cheaper to make a new motor onsite.
MIT researchers announced on Wednesday that they have developed a multi-material 3D-printing platform that could be used to fully print electric machines in a single step, with 3D materials costing just 50 cents. They used their new system to produce a fully 3D-printed electric linear motor in a matter of hours using five materials. They only needed to perform one post-processing step for the motor to be fully functional.
The assembled device performed as well or better than similar motors that require more complex fabrication methods or additional post-processing steps.
Their system processes multiple functional materials—including electrically conductive materials and magnetic materials—by using four extrusion tools to handle varied forms of printable material, with the printer squeezing them through a nozzle as it fabricates a device one layer at a time. In the long run, this 3D printing platform could be used to rapidly fabricate customizable electronic components for robots, vehicles, or medical equipment with much less waste.
12,000-Year-Old Petroglyphs Found in India May Point To a Previously Unknown Civilization
I’m always fascinated by the similarity between Mesolithic petroglyphs in different parts of the world. These look so much like the petroglyphs in Peru, though the animals are different.
From My Modern Met:
In the state of Maharashtra, in western India, lies a unique window into the nation’s ancient past and rich cultural heritage. A series of rock carvings known as petroglyphs, estimated to be 12,000 years old, offer priceless insight into the history of the area. Sitting atop small hills in the Konkan region, they've become known as the Konkan petroglyphs. Since their discovery, scientists and anthropology enthusiasts have hoped to shed some light on unknown civilizations that once thrived in the Konkan region. ✂️
Over 1,500 petroglyphs, spread across more than 70 locations, have been documented so far—all of them dating back to the Mesolithic era. The designs seem to have been created by a hunter-gatherer community that had yet to discover agriculture, as this activity wasn't depicted. The carvings feature both land and sea animals (some long extinct), birds, human figures, and geometrical designs.
“Our first deduction from examining these petroglyphs is that they were created around 10,000 [BCE],” the director of the Maharashtra state archaeology department, Tejas Garge, told the BBC. “We have not found any pictures of farming activities. But the images depict hunted animals and there's detailing of animal forms. So this man knew about animals and sea creatures. That indicates he was dependent on hunting for food.”
Now, the Konkan petroglyphs are on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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Good news for the environment
UK’s First Geothermal Power Plant Begins Using Underground Heat to Power 10K Homes
A great win-win here — power plus an easily accessible source of lithium.
From Good News Network:
The UK’s first geothermal power plant has just begun operations, using hot water from deep underground to create renewable electricity. The United Downs plant in Cornwall has been in development for nearly two decades, and will now begin providing enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.
...The company behind the project, (GEL) Geothermal Engineering Ltd., had to drill the deepest on-shore well ever drilled on UK soil — over 3 miles deep — to source the geothermal fluid that is used for the power plant.
The naturally heated water, exceeding 190˚C, generates electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of the weather.
The water will...also provide the UK’s first domestic supply of lithium, a critical mineral used in green technology.
‘The river won’: how campaigners in Brazilian Amazon stopped privatisation of waterway
The fight isn’t over, but this is an inspiring start. Cargill is nasty.
From The Guardian:
Activists in Santarém took on Cargill, one of the US powerhouses of world trade.
“A victory for life.” That was the triumphal message from Indigenous campaigners in the Brazilian Amazon this week after they staved off a threat to the Tapajós River by occupying a grain terminal operated by Cargill, the biggest privately owned company in the United States.
“The river won, the forest won, the memory of our ancestors won,” said the campaigners in Santarém when it was clear their actions had forced the Brazilian government into a U-turn on plans to privatise one of the world’s most beautiful waterways and expand its role as a soy canal.
What was arguably most impressive about this historic win was the apparently mismatched nature of the contest: on one side were about 1,000 local river defenders, mostly from the Munduruku, Arapiun and Apiaká peoples, and on the other were some of the most powerful forces of global capitalism and climate breakdown.
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rascal and Margot, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.
After Soccer Ball Slams into Seagull, Watch a Player Use CPR to Gently Revive it
Rascal enjoys watching sports on TV, so he was very excited by how much compassion these soccer players had for an injured bird.
A soccer player for an amateur league team in Istanbul had to unexpectedly deputize as an emergency veterinarian during a match in the Turkish city last weekend.
The goalkeeper for a team playing in red went to boot the ball upfield, but instead left the entire pitch in shock when the ball traveled a mere 20 yards and walloped a passing seagull.
The bird hit the turf, seemingly dead.
A player wearing number 5 ran over, turned the bird on his back, and was filmed performing CPR in an earnest attempt to save it, while teammates and opposition players surrounded to watch.
At one point, the player seems to give up, but then carries on until he sees signs of life in the bird.
Ferrying the animal off the field, he was directed to the medical staff who entered the pitch through a chain-link fence, took the seagull, and the game was allowed to continue.
Cats could hold the key to understanding breast cancer
Margot knows that her predecessor, Nora, died of cancer, so she wanted to highlight this story of how scientists are using similarities between feline and human cancer to help treat both.
From The Independent:
Household cats could help us understand how breast cancer develops in humans. That’s according to the first study of multiple cancer types in cats that has identified genetic changes that could help treat the condition in humans and animals.
...Cancer is one of the leading causes of illness and death in cats, however very little is known about how this develops.
Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada, [and] the University of Bern, analysed tumours from almost 500 pet cats from five countries. They discovered the genetic changes that drive cancer formation in cats are similar to those seen in humans. ✂️
Cats are exposed to some of the same environmental cancer risks as their owners, which means that some causes of cancer could, at least in part, be shared. By sequencing DNA from tissue samples that had already been collected by the vet for diagnostic purposes, the study published in the journal Science, found certain genetic changes commonly found in cat cancers mirror those seen in human cancers. For example, they found similarities between feline mammary cancers and human breast cancers.
A viral video of adoptable dogs choosing their owners was debunked as AI. So this shelter made it a reality
As a rescue herself, Rosy would have loved this story. She did an excellent job of letting us know immediately that we were her forever family.
From GoodGoodGood:
In December 2025, a handful of similar viral videos made their rounds on the internet. In them, a sign to a large room reads, “Here, the dogs choose the humans.” What followed was a heartwarming scene of crowds of people sitting in a gymnasium, dogs of all breeds and sizes sniffing at their feet and eventually “picking” one person to kiss — the person who would then become their owner.
But none of it was real.
Jeremy Carrasco, an artificial intelligence literacy educator and co-founder of Riddance.AI, debunked the video on his own social media channels, pointing out deformed humans in the background, random and indecipherable items in plain view, and odd human behavior. ✂️
“Look for too-staged situations,” Carrasco warned. “Look for real humane societies, rather than AI slop pages like ‘Babies, Dogs, Cats.’ Their videos are made from stolen videos from real humane societies, who deserve your views and donations.”
A real animal shelter, Animal Care Centers of New York, was inspired by this viral pet adoption content and wanted to figure out a way to make it a reality. ...NYCACC has coordinated a meet-and-greet similar to what was depicted in the AI videos, but with real planning and logistics to make things go smoothly. ✂️
Just a few days leading up to the event, spots were still available for participants to sign up, though social media comments indicate that thousands are excited to see the NYCACC make this concept their own.“Finally, something good that came from AI,” one person wrote on TikTok. “I hope the event is a success.” “I wish more shelters did this,” another added. “I would 100% donate money just to cuddle dogs.”
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