If you have ever been discouraged from pursuing your wildest dreams, archeology professor Cameron Smith is a perfect role model for why you should never give up.

Smith made national headlines back in September 2018 after he built his own spacesuit with the goal of testing it at 63,000 feet—a height at which no human can survive without specialized equipment.

SEE: Scientist’s Dream Was to Visit the Moon—After His Death, He Finally Made It There

Smith first fell in love with outer space after his father showed him videos of the moon landing as an 8-year-old boy. Throughout his life, he would write letters to retired astronauts and NASA officials, asking for advice on how he could get into space. When he was left unsatisfied by their answers, he decided to take matters into his own hands and build a DIY spacesuit.

For eight years, Smith used everything from zip ties and pie tins to motorcycle batteries and aquarium pumps to construct his spacesuit.

Despite how Smith endured multiple failures in the process, he finally succeeded in building a $1,000 suit that he would later put to the ultimate test in a hot air balloon flying above the Earth’s surface.

Although Smith only managed to reach 5,000 feet in the balloon, his determination and triumph has since become an inspiration to countless people. Not only that, he is apparently still building and testing his spacesuit with the aim of one day reaching 63,000 feet.

(WATCH the Great Big Story video below)

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When straight-line winds blew through his beloved adopted home of Cedar Rapids, one local hero leapt into the fray with his own very special brand of barbecue to the rescue.

We’re all familiar with the wreckage wrought by hurricanes and tornadoes, but a derecho, with wide-ranging, sustained winds sometimes in excess of 100 miles per hour, can have equally disastrous consequences.

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After a series of derechos tore across a swath the Midwest on Monday, August 10, leaving a swath of destruction in their wake, Willie Fairley, owner of the iconic local eatery Willie Ray’s Q Shack, was driven by his strong sense of community to selflessly volunteer his services and his grill, serving up as many as 400 free meals a day for neighbors in need.

“[We’re] giving out food, doing whatever we can,” Fairley told KGAN News. “Help[ing] the neighbors move trees. I brought the grill home and cooked for everybody and somehow we’re here.”

Cedar Rapids felt the brunt of the derechos’ fury. Approximately 50 people with storm-related injuries were hospitalized, and according to Cedar Rapids Fire Chief Greg Smith, more than 800 residential and commercial buildings suffered full or partial collapse of the roof, walls, ceiling, or floors.

“It’s devastating you know,” Fairley told KGAN, “a city you’ve been in for 18 years and you see it just crumble down.”

A City Comes Together

Fairley set the BBQ ball in play and social media has kept it rolling. Donations keep pouring in. “The main reason we’re doing it free is because there’s been a lot of people donate to us to help us keep feeding people,” he told CNN. “So, we figure we’ll just do it to make sure everybody gets something.”

Even after the derecho cleanup is over, Fairley plans to help out with meals for a homeless shelter at least once a week. “People keep donating, so we’re going to be giving out food for a long time.”

Thomas Clark, who helps Fairley prep and distribute meals, sums up his community’s feelings about Fairley. “He’s doing such a great job and we’re proud of where he’s taken this and how he started from nothing now he’s out here doing it with honestly nothing and just to do it. He’s not asking for anything. I’ve known him for 15 [or] 16 years and he’s always been that way,” Clark told KGAN.

Fairley’s efforts are so appreciated, Willie Ray’s Q Shack has been nominated for the Discover Eat it Forward program, a contest that awards $25,000 prizes to Black-owned restaurants.

LOOK: Tiny Heroes Race to Save The World Before Snack Time

But as much as it’s great to be recognized for his efforts, Fairley believes being able to give back has been the greatest reward he’s taken away from the whole experience, saying, “I wish I could put my shoes on and everybody [would] know how I feel on the inside.”

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The World Health Organization is celebrating the news that the African continent is finally free of the wild poliovirus, 24 years after Nelson Mandela helped Rotary International launch its Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign.

“Today is a historic day for Africa, which has successfully met the certification criteria for wild polio eradication, with no cases reported in the region for four years,” said Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, who heads The African Regional Certification Commission for Polio eradication (ARCC).

The success comes after an exhaustive, decades-long process of documentation and analysis of polio surveillance and immunization of the region’s 47 member states, which included conducting field verification visits to each country.

In 1996, African leaders of every country committed to eradicate polio, at a time when the virus was paralyzing an estimated 75,000 children annually. While there is no cure for polio, the disease can be prevented through the administration of a simple and effective vaccine.

Mandela’s call that year mobilized African nations across the continent to step up their efforts to reach every child with the polio vaccine—and the last case of wild poliovirus was detected and defeated in 2016 in Nigeria.

RELATED: Breakthrough For Kenyan Scientists Who Discover Natural Microbe That Completely Stops Malaria in Mosquitoes

Officials at WHO say the polio eradication efforts have prevented up to 1.8 million children from crippling life-long paralysis and saved approximately 180,000 lives.

“This is a momentous milestone for Africa. Now future generations of African children can live free of wild polio,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “This historic achievement was only possible thanks to the leadership and commitment of governments, communities, global polio eradication partners and philanthropists. I pay special tribute to the frontline health workers and vaccinators, some of whom lost their lives, for this noble cause.”

The announcement Tuesday marks only the second eradication of a virus from the face of the Africa since smallpox 40 years ago.

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While the eradication of wild poliovirus here is a major achievement, 16 African countries have reported cases of cVDPV2. While rare, these vaccine-derived polioviruses cases can occur when the weakened live virus used in the oral polio vaccine passes among under-immunized populations and, over time, changes to a form that can cause paralysis. If a population is adequately immunized with polio vaccines, it will be protected from both wild polio and circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses.

“Africa has demonstrated that despite weak health systems, significant logistical and operational challenges across the continent, African countries have collaborated very effectively in eradicating wild poliovirus,” said Dr Pascal Mkanda, Coordinator of WHO Polio Eradication in the African Region.

MORE: Gates Foundation Commits $100 Million to Speeding Up Coronavirus Treatments and Response

“With the innovations and expertise that the polio program has established, I am confident that we can sustain the gains, post-certification, and eliminate cVDPV2,” added Dr Mkanda.

Thanks to the dedication of governments, the WHO, Rotary International, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, polio cases have been reduced worldwide by 99.9% since 1988. Only Afghanistan and Pakistan still have cases of the wild virus.

RELATED: World’s Wealthiest Men Join Bill Gates to Raise $4 Billion To End Polio

“The expertise gained from polio eradication will continue to assist the African region in tackling COVID-19 and other health problems that have plagued the continent for so many years. This will be the true legacy of polio eradication in Africa,” said Dr Moeti.

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MORE Good News on this Day:

• Michelangelo was commissioned to carve the Pietà (1498)
• John Fitch was granted a US patent for a boat propelled by steam power and using paddles to propel it on lakes and rivers—an invention that created a revolution for the commercial transportation of both passengers and freight, particularly along the Mississippi River, as described by Mark Twain in his books (1791)
• Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic (1847)
• Albert Sabin, the Polish-American doctor who developed the polio vaccine that would block the virus from the bloodstream and break the chain of transmission, was born (1906)
• Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Albanian Catholic nun who made it her life’s work to care for the sick and poor in India, was born (1910)
• The 19th amendment to US Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote (1920)
• Major league baseball was televised for the first time, a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on W2XBS (1939)
• Sigmund Jähn became first German cosmonaut, on board Soyuz 31 (1978)
• In a pioneering operation in Britain, the world’s first battery-operated ‘bionic’ heart, a titanium and plastic device manufactured in America, went to a 62-year-old who had only months to live (1994)
• Russia recognized the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia (2008)
• Kate Bush made her stage comeback in a London theater to ecstatic fans at her first live concert in 35 years, the first of 22 shows which had completely sold out in less than fifteen minutes (2014)

And, Happy Birthday to African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson who turns 102 today. Her calculations of orbital mechanics at NASA were critical to the success of the first U.S. manned spaceflights. The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures honored her genius in 2016 with actress Taraji P. Henson portraying the young Johnson’s reputation for brilliantly forecasting flight trajectories using complex manual computations. Her leadership helped to establish confidence in the use of computers to perform the same tasks, yet astronaut John Glenn refused to fly unless Johnson manually verified the computer’s numbers.  (1918)

The West Virginia math prodigy graduated from high school when she was just 14 years old, and her college, West Virginia State, had to add new math courses just for Katherine. At NASA, which was still racially segregated at the time, her knowledge of analytic geometry helped make quick allies of her white male bosses. She worked out rendezvous paths for the Apollo lunar lander on flights to the Moon and, later her calculations were essential to launching the Space Shuttle program. While the racial and gender barriers were always there, Katherine says she ignored them, and never really felt them. She was assertive, asking to be included in editorial meetings (where no women had gone before). She simply stated that she had done the work and that she belonged… There is even a Barbie doll based on the female role model. WATCH a wonderful clip from the movie…

And, on this day in 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved in France by the Constituent Assembly as the founding document of the French Revolution. The Declaration was drafted by the Abbé Sieyès and the Marquis de Lafayette, in consultation with Thomas Jefferson, and it states, like the US Declaration that came before it, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”

With this document, the rights of the French people were held to be universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. It became the basis for a nation of free individuals protected equally by the law.

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This sweet toddler has a lot to smile about: after 24 hours lost in the Wisconsin woods near her home, she’s been found safe and sound with her trusty dog Peanut—thanks to one big community effort to find her.

Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department reported that little Abigail Ladwig went missing in the Winter, Wisconsin area at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday evening, August 9. She was known to be with her pet cocker spaniel.

RELATED: Grandma Missing 5 Days is Found Alive After Her Grandson and Friends Decide to Search One Last Time

Before long, hundreds of local residents, led by the Department of Natural Resources, went out looking for a brown dog and a little girl known to be barefoot with a flowery shirt on. Others brought food, water, and supplies to help those out searching.

Just over a day later, at 7:20 p.m. the three-year old was found, having wandered through the woods into a nearby yard a little ways from her home.

Abigail had ”minor scratches, insect bites and dehydration during her 24 hours of being lost in the woods,” and was sent to a local hospital for a check-up before being released.

MORE: American Brothers Successfully Save Irish Girl Who Was Swept Out to Sea in Serendipitous Twist of Fate

Pat Sanchez, a coordinator of Sawyer County Search and Rescue, said, ”Thank you to all responders, volunteers who came out to search for Abby and the donations of food and water. It’s amazing how in times of need, we all come together for such an amazing outcome.”

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Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of legendary oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau, is raising money for what would become the International Space Station of the oceans.

Inspired into action by the limitations observed after a month-long stay in the only remaining underwater research station, the Aquarius Reef Base off the coast of the Florida Keys, his new project would create the first modern undersea research base in over 30 years.

Called Proteus, it would be 4,000 square feet—a space ten times that of Aquarius, and one where biology and oceanography research would blend with climate and even pharmaceutical sciences to help create a more modern understanding of our oceans.

Fabien is every inch his father and grandfather. An oceanographer, environmental advocate, and “aquanaut,” he learned the invented trade of his grandfather—scuba diving, when he was only four years old. Yet Fabien, now 52, is fed up with the limits of scuba as a research tool.

Confronted with the restrictions of time and depth, he sees Proteus as a chance to ”have a house at the bottom of the sea, [where] we’re able to go into the water, and dive 10 to 12 hours a day to do research, science, and filming.”

Related: First Hybrid Floating Ocean Platform Can Generate Power From Waves, Wind, And Solar

ISS of the Ocean

Proteus, named after the old Greek god of rivers and oceans, would sit 60 feet down off the coast of Curaçao, the island in the Lesser Antilles. Architect and industrial designer Yves Béhar and Fabien are looking to raise $135 million for construction.

Related: These Scientists Are Fighting Ocean Plastic With Biodegradable Flip Flops Made From Algae

”It will be a platform for global collaboration amongst the world’s leading researchers, academics, government agencies, and corporations to advance science to benefit the future of the planet,” reads the introduction to Proteus on the website for Fuseproject, Béhar’s design firm.

Inspired by Jules Verne, Béhar envisioned that the station would consist of two large disks, one atop the other, connected by a spiral ramp. The edges of the disks would be lined with pods where bedrooms, bathrooms, and laboratories could be added.

At the center would be a social space above what Jacques Cousteau called a “liquid door” also known as a moon pool—a pressurized chamber where resident aquanauts could more rapidly set out for a dive.

The outside would be covered with artificial reef material to encourage habitation by neighborly sea-dwellers, and Fabien imagines a full-scale video production facility so that he, like his grandfather, can educate the world about the oceans’ depths in real time; offering an unparalleled opportunity to educational institutions world-wide.

Understanding another world

According to some estimates, only 80% of the ocean’s territory has been mapped. Furthermore, the 20% that is recorded is often so unspecific as to miss the spires of undersea volcanoes, or airplane wreckage.

With Proteus, Fabien would be able to map a certain radius of the surrounding area to a resolution of a quarter inch, allowing scientists working there to study the changes in a rich marine environment in extreme granularity.

According to scientists speaking with Smithsonian Magazine about Proteus, one of the problems aquanauts and oceanographers have had to face over the histories of their professions is that the ocean often changes faster than they can make record of it.

“Studying the historical responses of ecosystems like coral reefs to past changes in climate provides a useful guide,” says Brian Helmuth, a professor of marine and environmental sciences and public policy at Northeastern University, to Smithsonian.

“It [Proteus] would allow scientists to study the undersea environment by becoming a part of it, rather than working as casual interlopers.”

More: First U.S. Woman to Walk in Space Just Traveled to the Ocean’s Deepest Depth

Finally, as humanity begins working towards a new relationship with the planet, one of total command, yet total respect, undersea laboratories can help discover new species, understand how climate change affects the ocean, and allow for testing of green power, aquaculture, creating a picture of how humans might create, what Jacques Rougerie, a French underwater architect described as a ”blue society.”

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Vanilla is the salt of the dessert world—it enhances the flavors of all the other ingredients that go into a dish. No wonder it’s such a staple in every baker’s cupboard.

Tennessee baker William Cabaniss remembers adding vanilla to brownies just after watching a COVID-19 news segment about long lines for food banks across the States. It wasn’t right, he thought. People shouldn’t be hungry. 

As the 14-year-old was making his chocolatey mix, he had a brainwave. He could raise funds for his local food bank—Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee—by making and selling every baker’s best friend: vanilla extract. 

Since then, William has made over $9,000 dollars in profits, providing over 27,000 meals for those in need.

He says, “If I can only help one person, I will be satisfied that I have made a difference. However, I would like to do this for as many people as I can. No one should have to worry about hunger. This is my goal for Vanilla Feeds Tomorrow.”

It Takes A Village

Setting up your own legal, 501(c)(3) nonprofit isn’t easily done alone. It takes a village. In fact, it takes a special family like the Cabaniss’s. 

RELATED: Selfless Teen is Local Hero After Daily Trips During Lockdown To Clean Dirty Road Signs And Cut Back Town’s Hedges

Since May, William has been creating his own website, designing his own labels, and researching how to make and ship vanilla. He’s also been running the Vanilla Feeds Tomorrow Instagram and Twitter accounts. 

His grandmother helps with keeping up with the Facebook page. His dad helps with legal and financial matters. His mother drives him around to make deliveries, and even his younger brother and sister help by making boxes.

“Proud mom” Jillina Cabaniss told GNN, “William is working so hard trying to help fight hunger in his community.”

In between spending time with friends, running cross-country and track, and the occasional video game, William is preparing to continue making and selling vanilla from premium Madagascar beans when he heads back to Farragut High School in a couple of weeks. 

MORE LIKE THIS: Protest Sign Made by Third Grader Inspires the Nation When it Mysteriously Travels to Protests

Buying a 8 oz. bottle of homemade Pure Vanilla Extract from William and his family means providing 42 meals for people who are hungry. The website is here if you’d like to buy some or make a meal donation. Happy baking. 

(WATCH this kind teen’s story below.)

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The northern white rhino of Africa could come back from the absolute brink as a third round of 10 eggs were successfully extracted from the last two surviving members of the subspecies.

The eggs were taken from two females, Najin and Fatu, who are unable to carry a baby to term, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

“The ovum pick-up went smoothly and without any complications,” the team from Germany and the Czech Republic said in a statement.

They were flown immediately to Italy to be artificially inseminated with frozen sperm from white rhino bulls, of which none remain on the planet.

The scientists hope to create viable embryos to be carried by surrogate mothers in a bid to save the subspecies from extinction.

The most likely candidate would be a southern white rhinoceros, thousands of which roam the plains of sub-Saharan Africa, but it would depend on the rapid perfection of in-vitro fertilization, as well as keeping Najin and Fatu alive.

RELATED: Rhino Poaching Plummets 53% During Lockdowns, Extending 5-Years of Success in South Africa

The last male northern white died in 2018, in Sudan. One year later, those involved in the project successfully created two viable embryos before freezing them in liquid nitrogen.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya was founded to try and save the subspecies from extinction, with the last surviving two males and two females flown in from a zoo in the Czech Republic in 2009.

LOOK: Orphan Baby Rhinos Heal With Help of Hand-knit Blankets

If successful, it would be the latest hour at which a species was saved from extinction.

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These stunning pictures show inside a ‘forgotten’ sea cave that is thought to have special healing powers.

The multicolored grotto was once one of Britain’s most mysterious sites and attracted huge numbers of visitors during the 17th and 18th centuries.

In those days, pilgrims and the sick would make their way to the cave to drink healing waters from the “holy well.”

But in recent decades it has become largely secluded and unknown.

Most tourists now visiting Holywell in Cornwall, England are unaware of its hidden wonders.

The site, known as St Cuthbert’s Cave, creates mineral deposits leaving its stones red, green, blue, and yellow.

The spring water it creates was once described as the “elixir of life” in writings from the 19th century and were said to contain “life healing” minerals that trickled through the cave’s natural limestone.

Read: Tiny Forests Are Springing Up All Around Europe, Inspired By Japan, to Help Restore Biodiversity

John Cardell Oliver’s ‘Guide to Newquay’ from 1877 gave a detailed description of the cave from a bygone era.

He wrote, “The legend respecting the well is, that in olden times mothers on Ascension Day brought their deformed or sickly children here, and dipped them in, at the same time passing them through the aperture connecting the two cisterns; and thus, it is said, they became healed of their disease.

“This well has Nature only for its architect, no mark of man’s hand being seen in its construction; a pink enamelled basin, filled by drippings from the stalactitic roof, forms a picture of which it is difficult to describe the loveliness.

“What wonder, then, that the simple folk around should endow it with mystic virtues?”

The spring water has been described as tasting like cereal milk and forms shallow pools within the basins, before trickling out from the cave and on to the outside beach.

Related: Traveling Green ‘Glacier Mice’ Charm Scientists With Reminder That the World is Still Full of Mystery

Unlike other so-called ‘holy wells’ in the UK, the spring water in St Cuthbert’s Cave is washed out twice every day, when the tide comes in and floods the cavern.

Its popularity was also recorded by William Hals in his “History of Cornwall”, which he compiled from 1685 until 1736. In his book he wrote, “The virtues of this water are very great. It is incredible what numbers in summer season frequent this place and waters from counties far distant.”

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Happy 90th Birthday to Scottish superstar Sean Connery. He played the ultimate smooth and savvy spy in seven James Bond films, and earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1987 gangster film The Untouchables.

The 3-time Golden Globe winner also played prominent roles in the films The Hunt for Red October, The Name of the Rose, Highlander, The Rock (about the Alcatraz islandd prison) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

His distinctive silky voice with its Edinburgh accent has been a favorite of impressionists worldwide. One more time, WATCH the best clips from his Top 10 Films… (1930)

(1971 photo by Rob Mieremet, 2008 photo by Stuart Crawford – CC licenses)

MORE Good News on this Day:

• Hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana and settled in New Orleans (1718)
• Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers (1609)
• Uruguay declared independence from Brazil (1825); Belgium revolted from the Netherlands (1830)
• The National Park Service was created in the United States—and with 412 national parks today, you can likely celebrate by finding a park near you (1916)
• Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run was released (1975)
• Linus Torvalds first revealed he was creating a new free operating system – Linux (1991)
• Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union (1991)
• NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe entered interstellar space, becoming the first manmade object to leave the solar system (2012)

Also, on this day in 1939, The Wizard of Oz was released in movie theaters. Owing to its brilliant use of Technicolor (being smacked in the face with saturated colors after the door opens in black and white); the fantasy storytelling, with munchkins and flying monkeys; the timeless songs, such as Over The Rainbow, sung by memorable characters, it became the most watched film in motion picture history.

The film’s simple premise of self-discovery—beautifully portrayed by Judy Garland as Dorothy, and her cohorts Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man—is summed up by two iconic quotes from the film: “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard,” and “There’s no place like home.”

Although critical reviews were stellar, The Wizard of Oz didn’t become a popular film until 20 years later when CBS began showing it on television every December and families had to wait all year, just to see it again.

Other Notable Birthdays: Elvis Costello, 66; and Tim Burton, 62

Also born on this day, in 1918: Leonard Bernstein, the pianist and composer of West Side Story. Though his working class father objected to his musical aspirations, the family acquired a cousin’s unwanted piano, and ‘Lenny’ was able to pursue his passion. A notably young conductor at the age of 25 with the New York Philharmonic, he became a towering figure of 20th-century music. Also the composer of ‘Candide’ and ‘On the Town’, the winner of 16 Grammys and 10 Emmys nurtured a love for classical music in American youth with his televised lectures and Young People’s Concerts. WATCH a tribute to his 100th anniversary… (d.1990)

On this day in 1944, Paris was liberated from the Nazis after a six-day city-wide insurrection by the French resistance, culminating in the arrival of U.S. and Free French troops. After 4 years of Nazi rule, the occupying Germans surrendered, the tricolour was hoisted from the Eiffel Tower, and Charles de Gaulle made his triumphant entry into the capital. As many as 1,000 local resistance fighters lost their lives in the brave campaign.

It was 440 days after the Allied forces landed on French beaches in Normandy on D-Day. The liberation of Paris began with a city-wide general strike, as police, transportation, and postal workers quit working. The next day the French Resistance staged an uprising against the local German garrison upon the approach of the US Third Army, led by General George Patton. On the night of 24 August, elements of General Philippe Leclerc’s 2nd French Armored Division made their way into Paris and arrived at the Hôtel de Ville shortly before midnight. The next morning, the bulk of the 2nd Armored Division and US 4th Infantry Division entered the city and the German leaders surrendered. WATCH a newsreel report from the day…

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Smokey the Bear admonished that only you can prevent forest fires, but what if Smokey had some high-tech backup?

A team of scientists at Michigan State University has developed a remote forest fire detector and alarm system powered by nothing but the movement of the trees in the wind.

As detailed in their new study published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the battery-free device generates electrical power by harvesting energy from the sporadic movement of the tree branches from which it hangs.

Believed to be the first of its kind, the device, which is the size of a soup can and costs just $20 to produce would likely be much cheaper than manned patrols searching from fire watch towers, and more reliable than satellite monitoring which may be hindered by weather or fire smoke.

“The self-powered sensing system could continuously monitor the fire and environmental conditions without requiring maintenance after deployment,” said lead author Changyong Cao, a mechanical engineer who directs the Laboratory of Soft Machines and Electronics at MSU.

For Cao and his team, the tragic forest fires in recent years across the American West, Brazil, and Australia were driving forces behind this new technology. Cao believes that early and quick response to forest fires will make the task of extinguishing them easier, significantly reducing the damage and loss of property and life.

RELATED: Australian Firefighters Use NYC Billboard to Thank Americans for Their Help With the Fires

The traditional forest fire detection methods—satellite monitoring, ground patrols, and watch towers—are highly labor intensive, expensive, and somewhat inefficient.

Current remote sensor technologies are becoming more common, but primarily rely on battery technology for power.

“Although solar cells have been widely used for portable electronics or self-powered systems, it is challenging to install these in a forest because of the shading or covering of lush foliage,” said Yaokun Pang, co-author and postdoc associate at Cao’s lab.

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TENG technology–short for multilayered cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator—converts external mechanical energy, such as the movement of a tree branch, into electricity.

The simplest version of the TENG device consists of two cylindrical sleeves of unique material that fit within one another. The core sleeve is anchored from above while the bottom sleeve is free to slide up and down and move side to side, constrained only by an elastic connective band or spring. As the two sleeves move out of sync, the intermittent loss of contact generates electricity.

The MC-TENG stores its sporadically generated electrical current in a carbon-nanotube-based micro supercapacitor. The researchers selected this technology for its rapid charge and discharge times, allowing the device to adequately charge with only short but sustained gusts of wind.

MORE: Matthew McConaughey Serves Barbecue to Firefighters in Los Angeles ‘With Thanks’

“At a very low vibration frequency, the MC-TENG can efficiently generate electricity to charge the attached supercapacitor in less than three minutes,” Cao said.

The researchers outfitted the initial prototype with both carbon monoxide (CO) and temperature sensors. The addition of a temperature sensor was intended to reduce the likelihood of a false positive carbon dioxide reading.

Cao and the study’s co-authors hope to field test a production device to monitor forest environmental conditions and test scenarios, making use of materials that mimic a real fire. The team also aims to add additional functionality, allowing the device to be adapted for the weather and environmental conditions where it is deployed.

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These pictures show elderly residents at an English care home taking part in the latest viral internet trend—recreating iconic Vogue magazine covers.

Seniors at Robinson House Care Home recently made like fashion photographer Annie Liebowitz was in the building and struck some brilliant poses.

The care home in Bristol, England decided to get involved with the latest social media craze that originated on TikTok.

The trend sees people recreate celebrity Vogue magazine covers.

Three of Robinson House’s top models were Susan Crew, Norma Hounson, and Terry Chard.

Maria Jones, Activity Coordinator at Robinson House, said: “Getting involved with the Vogue Challenge was lots of fun.

“I enjoyed taking all the pictures of the residents. It was great to see them all smiling—I think some of them felt like real celebrities.”

LOOK: Seniors Recreate Iconic Movie Posters For Calendar That’s Raising Thousands For Alzheimer’s – And They’re Amazing

Lisa Brain, deputy manager at the home, said, “When I found out about what our residents had been getting up to, I thought it was an excellent idea.

“Our carers were extraordinary–the residents didn’t stop laughing throughout the photoshoot, and the pictures turned out lovely.”

Lisa also explained that the pictures will be displayed around Robinson House for family and friends of the residents to see.

Are you ready to see some of the best images from the photoshoot?

Who’s on the other end of the line? Surely it can only be Anna Wintour.

Beyoncé, is that you? No, it’s one fun senior going all out to recreate the iconic 2018 September issue.

77-year-old Terry Chard opted for vintage glamor in his floral photoshoot.

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Yoga could be a lifesaver for people with the most common type of irregular heart beat, according to new research.

A study of 538 patients has found the ancient Indian form of exercise almost halved the number of symptoms among people with Atrial fibrillation (AF).

Lead author Dr Naresh Sen said, “Our study suggests yoga has wide-ranging physical and mental health benefits for patients with atrial fibrillation and could be added on top of usual therapies.”

The participants attended 30-minute sessions—involving postures and breathing—every other day for 16 weeks.

They were also encouraged to practice the same movements and other routines at home on a daily basis.

This gentle form of exercise led to dramatic improvements, in all areas. For example, when not doing the exercises participants experienced an average of 15 symptomatic bouts of AF.

RELATED: How a Yoga Teacher is Saving First Responders Across America From Depression – With Downward Dog

This was reduced to eight during yoga. Their average blood pressure also fell significantly.

Dramatic Improvements In AF

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a potentially fatal condition that causes palpitations, breathlessness, dizziness, fatigue, chest pain, and a racing pulse. One in four middle-aged adults in Europe and the US will develop AF. It causes up to 30 percent of strokes.

Dr Sen, of Hridaya Ganesha Sunil Memorial Super Speciality Hospital in Jaipur, India, said, “The symptoms of atrial fibrillation can be distressing.

“They come and go, causing many patients to feel anxious and limiting their ability to live a normal life.”

The participants were enrolled between 2012 and 2017 and served as their own controls. For 12 weeks they did no yoga.

Patients completed an anxiety and depression survey and a questionnaire assessing their ability to do daily activities and socialise, energy levels and mood. Heart rate and blood pressure were also measured. The researchers then compared outcomes.

Last year another study by Dr Sen of 2,500 heart attack patients found those doing yoga were 16 per cent less likely to die over the next five years.

His latest findings were presented at a virtual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

MORE: How Yoga Turns Your Bad Thoughts into Good Thoughts

That such dramatic improvements in symptoms could occur for those with AF is great news for those with the condition. For those who have never practiced yoga before, and who might be nervous about trying the exercise, yoga doesn’t necessarily involve terrifying body twists and endless Sanskrit chants. It can be as simple as setting aside twenty minutes, putting on a ‘gentle stretches’ Yoga With Adriene video on YouTube, being gentle with yourself, and having a go.

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