Author: Happy

With a population of 35,000 in town and about 100,000 in the region, Fairbanks isn’t a very big city. In terms of truly-unique experiences, however, it ranks up there with much larger cities. Only 140 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks makes an indelible impression on visitors.     It all started on August 26, 1901, when a man named E.T. Barnette founded a trading post on the south bank of the Chena River. Mr. Barnette is said to have had a very strong personality. And he convinced the locals to name the new settlement after an Indiana Senator named…

Credit: Jaddy Liu Feeling happy about getting older can reverse a common type of memory loss, according to a new study from Yale. Older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were 30 percent more likely to regain normal cognition if they were upbeat versus those who were down-and-out about aging. Moreover, a cheerful approach to the silver years allowed participants to recover their cognition up to two years earlier than the others. The Yale School of Public Health study is reported to be the first of its kind to link a cultural factor—a positive attitude towards aging—to MCI recovery. The…

Sangharsh Lohakare In a national first, the Food and Drug Administration has given Intellia Therapeutics the go-ahead to begin testing a drug that uses CRISPR gene editing in vivo. In biology, in vivo means within an organism, rather than in something like a petri dish, and Intellia’s offering is the first time ever that the FDA has approved such testing. Their drug would prevent swelling attacks in people with a genetic condition called hereditary angioedema. Typically, treatments and drugs that utilize CRISPR take place outside the body. Cells or tissues are removed and altered ex vivo before being re-introduced inside the patient. In…

Hybrid micro-robot simulation courtesy of Tel Aviv University / SWNS A tiny controllable robot acts as a real-life ‘Pac-Man’—identifying and gobbling up damaged cells in living things. Scientists say the minuscule robot, which is seven times smaller than the width of a human hair, can identify, capture, and transport cells. Another benefit is that it can be navigated and controlled both magnetically and electrically. It can also distinguish between different types of cells, identifying whether they are healthy or dying. Scientists from Tel Aviv University in Israel say their new micro-robot could be used to administer drugs—and even identify and…

Shriners Children’s Hospital Kids who arrive at this Chicago hospital to get treated for hand injuries don’t expect to leave with a piece of art that’s designed just for them—but thanks to one artistic doctor, that’s exactly what happens. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Felicity Fishman at Shriners Children’s Chicago is the go-to doctor for children who want a grin on their face when they leave for home. She’s drawn everything from dinosaurs and sharks to SpongeBob and Elsa for “Frozen” fans—all personalized with sterilized markers. “The whole team at Shriners Children’s has embraced the simple happiness that the cast art allows…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the lifesaving drug Narcan for over-the-counter use without a prescription for the first time. The nasal spray containing 4 milligrams of naloxone hydrochloride can rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose and is the standard treatment in such emergencies. The FDA action paves the way for the life-saving doses to be sold directly to consumers in places like drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations, as well as online. The timeline for availability and price will be determined by the American manufacturer, Emergent BioSolutions, but the FDA says the transition…

Credit – Lydia Mailloux Plants are well-established partners that when brought indoors can help alleviate stress, and purify the air, and are well worth the constant watering. However, a new study from Australia found their beneficial properties may not yet be fully established, since it could be that our leafy brethren have the power to remove viruses that cause cold and flu from the air. At the moment the authors are calling it a proof of concept, and shouldn’t be taken as a confirmation of causation, but their findings are pretty compelling. When absorbing sunlight, plants produce a biochemical that…

Roselle flowers – RMIT University An unassuming plant and the antioxidants it contains, could be a legitimate health food weight loss supplement, after a landmark trial found it decreased fat absorption. When human fat cells were treated with polyphenols contained in the flower, they inhabited the production of the chief enzyme that converts dietary fat into stored fat in our cells. One of the co-authors, a food scientist and former farmer from Nepal, believes that it could replace many of the side-effect-inducing pharmaceutical substances taken to genesis fat loss in the Australian public. There’s nothing wrong with A: trying to…

This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit news organization covering solutions for just and equitable cities. What happens when old buildings have reached the end of their life, either their useful life in terms of safety or their desirable life in terms of modern living? For the hundreds of thousands of homes that meet their end in the U.S. each year, the answer is demolition. More than 600 million tons of debris from the construction and demolition industry (known as C&D for short) was generated in the United States in 2018 alone. The demolition portion itself is responsible for more than…

The London Lonely Girls Club – Courtesy of Holly Cooke A newcomer to big city life started a Facebook group to make new friends and it grew to 20,000 people in just a few years. The London Lonely Girls Club was founded by 26-year-old Holly Cooke, who arrived from Stoke-on-Trent, a big city in itself, but provincial compared to London. From 2018 to 2022, it attracted 10,000 young women who, like Cooke, found it hard to make new friends. Just in 2022, it grew to 31,000, and now there are 5 or 6 members organizing fun events like brunches, game…