You may know about the waterfalls of Yosemite or the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, but U.S. national parks are home to a whole host of fascinating natural phenomena and little-known mysteries. Smithsonian Magazine recently rounded up a list of seven, from the lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia, to the potential meteorite site in Utah. If you feel inspired after reading the list, consider supporting the parks by donating to our summer fundraiser with the National Parks Conservation Association.
Nice News Today
Animal lovers who haven't seen the new Superman flick yet are in for a real treat. Superdog Krypto steals the show on-screen — and off-screen, the CGI pup seems to be causing an increased interest in rescue dog adoptions in the U.S. Get that story and more in today's podcast episode.
NBA Stars Are Stirring Up Enthusiasm for Chess, One Move at a Time
Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess
Basketball star Quinten Post has officially scored another title for his resume: the first-ever champion of the Chesstival blitz tournament. Earlier this month, the Golden State Warriors player was one of several NBA players who took time away from the court to compete in the inaugural tournament, which pairs professional basketball players with chess grandmasters, like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. "It's a completely different experience," Post, who started playing chess in his youth, told NBC Sports Bay Area. "As in, like, there's no expectations obviously when I play chess against Magnus. There are expectations when I play on an NBA court against LeBron [James] or whoever we face." Expectations or not, Post walked away with both bragging rights and $25,000 for charity, which he's giving to the children's literacy nonprofit Reading Partners. The unique festival, co-hosted by Carlsen and former NBA player Derrick Rose (pictured), aims to inspire more people, particularly kids, to love the mental strategy game in the way many already love basketball — and maybe even motivate them to take skills from chess into other parts of their life. "The goal is to get kids to critically think," Rose told The Washington Post. "Where I'm from, [it's important to] get kids to think about it before they pull the trigger, do harm, or get involved in nefarious things. The game can prevent that if you're playing at an early age. I'm not saying it's the solution to everything, but you've got to start somewhere."
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Humanity
How Nice News Helped Inspire a Children's Book
Courtesy of Renee Bruns
When Nice News interviewed world traveler Renee Bruns in 2022, she had visited 110 countries in her wheelchair. We were impressed: Bruns is a former Fortune 500 exec who traded in life behind a desk for one on the go, defying expectations about people with disabilities. And our readers were no doubt inspired as well — one in particular most certainly was. After the piece went live that November, Bruns received an email from a woman named Virginia De Francisco. A retired teacher who now serves part-time as a school psychologist and also writes children's books, she was "amazed" when she read our article about Bruns, and knew she wanted to share her story with young people. "Her adventure was an adventure on which I wished I'd be brave enough to embark. I wanted kids to know about Renee because she defied the limited expectations anyone ever had for her," De Francisco tells Nice News, adding: "I want kids to feel empowered to dream big and make their dreams come true with the same determination and grit as Renee." One of Bruns' goals was to earn the Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in one year by a person in a wheelchair — and in early 2023, she got word that she'd officially achieved it. De Francisco thought the mission would lend itself particularly well to the page, and with Bruns' blessing decided to focus the book on that accomplishment. The women worked together for the following three years to bring it to life, and on July 1, Unlimited: Renee Bruns Set a Guinness World Record hit the shelves. Take a look at the cover and learn how the book is benefitting others with disabilities.
Health
"Molecular Shield" Aims to Neutralize Allergies in Their Tracks
FujiCraft/ iStock
Here's some welcome news for allergy sufferers who find themselves constantly dealing with runny noses, sneezes, and itchy eyes: Vaccine experts recently developed a "molecular shield" that blocks allergies before they can trigger the unfortunate symptoms many of us know all too well. The shield, which gets applied to the inside of the nose, is a monoclonal antibody (a specially designed protein) that targets mugwort pollen, a common allergen. The idea is that when someone breathes in the pollen, the shield will bind to it before it can set off the immune system, thus weakening the allergy attack or preventing it altogether. "Our method acts immediately and locally at the lining of the nose, by neutralizing the allergen on contact," Kaissar Tabynov, the lead author of a recent study on the shield, explained in a statement. He added that this approach paves the way for new needle-free, fast-acting, and tailored allergy treatments. So far, the invention has only been tested on mice. But the team is optimistic that the shield could be available within the next five to seven years, pending positive human clinical trials. "We believe this could be the beginning of a new class of anti-allergy interventions — smart, fast, and easy to use — that could protect people during allergy season in a way no existing therapy does," Tabynov told Gizmodo.
In Other News
South Africans stirred up over 17,000 gallons of soup to feed the hungry in honor of Nelson Mandela Day (read more)
Dolly Parton's bio musical had its world premiere where the roots run deep: her home state of Tennessee (read more)
The Moon Mammoths' minor league debut drew a stadium-record crowd and dished up some creative, purple eats (read more)
This glow-in-the-dark marsupial was captured on camera for the first time in the wild — see the critter (read more)
A collective$429 million in medical debt will be erased for 352,000 Arizonans, the governor announced (read more)
Inspiring Story
Gestures of love amid loss
Rescue officials and volunteers are stepping up to help reconnect Texas flood survivors with lost items — big and small — that have been strewn about. "When you lose someone, all you have left is stuff and photos, and you cling to that," said volunteer Katy Tidwell. See some of the sentimental items and read more about the touching efforts to return them to their rightful homes.
Photo of the Day
Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A via Getty Images
Texas' Scottie Scheffler dominated the 153rd British Open Championship yesterday — and if he emerges victorious from the U.S. Open later this year, he'll become the first person with an Olympic gold medal to have received a career Grand Slam title. "It brings tears to my eyes just to think about [my accomplishments] because I've literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport," Scheffler said. Hear more from the pro golfer.
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Odds & Ends
🗣️ The expansion of y'all beyond the American South 📷 Mountain lion says: "No pictures, please" 🏡 You can fix up your house without draining your bank account* ⚡ Darth Vader's lightsaber is up for grabs *Indicates a Nice News brand partnership or affiliate
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