Good News Headlines 11/11/2024
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Your Showerhead And Toothbrush Are Teeming With Viruses. But Don’t Panic – These Microbes Could Save Lives
by , CNN
The warm, damp environments of your showerhead and toothbrush are the perfect breeding ground for microbes, and a new study has identified hundreds of viruses that live there, showing the vast biodiversity to be found in the average home. These viruses, however, are not the kind that will give you the common cold or flu (or worse). Called bacteriophages, or phages for short, they are the natural enemy of bacteria. Each tiny, tripod-looking phage has evolved to hunt, attack and gobble up a specific bacterial species. “The number of viruses that we found is absolutely wild,” Erica Hartmann said in a statement.
Scientists Perfecting New Way To Turn Desert Air Into Water At Much Higher Yields
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
With government funding, a team of engineers at Univ. of Las Vegas are poised to revolutionize how water is supplied in desert climes. Their new system pulls gallons of water a day out of the air around us, and far from sitting on a bench in a laboratory, this incredible innovation is already moving to market. Dubbed a ‘watershed moment,’ UNLV mechanical engineering professor H. Jeremy Cho. took a look at all the ways that modern societies use technology to pull water from the air and believed he could make it substantially better. Desert-dwelling cultures have been creating and sharing innovations for tackling this challenge of nature for millennia.
An Age-Old Midwife Tradition’s Revival Is Saving Vulnerable Newborns
by Geetanjali Krishna, Reasons to Be Cheerful
In Ghaziabad, a bustling part of the Delhi National Capital Region, doctors at a government hospital despairingly watch a newborn fight to breathe. The infant needs specialized treatment that the facility cannot provide, but its chances of surviving the journey to another hospital are dim. As a last resort, the doctors strap the baby to the father’s chest, breathing tube and all, and in that womb-like position, send them to a critical care facility about 30 minutes away. Against all medical odds, the infant survives the journey, a testament to the healing and restorative power of the human touch.
Maryland Company Promotes Empanada Tradition While Giving Latin Workers A Job
by Marisa Peñaloza, NPR
Margarita Womack never imagined she would be making empanadas for a living. She dreamed of spending her life in a lab making life-changing discoveries, she says. Colombian-born Womack is a Ph.D. scientist-turned-entrepreneur. She’s the founder of MasPanadas, a frozen empanada brand that’s distributed nationwide. The empanada is a popular comfort food in Latin cultures, and it’s grown in popularity in the U.S. in the last few years. The half-moon shaped pastries are either baked or fried with either sweet or savory filling. In 2021, empanadas became one of the top 10 most ordered foods.
14 Luxury Hotels Are Donating Outdated Furniture To Low-Income Families In Need
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
Going on 10 years, the municipal government of Seoul has been collecting used furniture from luxury hotels and donating it to low-income earners and homeless city residents. Over that time, partnerships with 14 different luxury hotels in the Seoul metropolitan area have seen 120,000 used furniture items distributed to low-income housing, homeless facilities, and other shelter initiatives. This year, the program has recruited an additional 10 hotel partners, which along with boosting the amount of furniture collections, will also maintain an employment opportunity pipeline to those who are out of work and in danger of living on the streets.
