New Orleans is displaying its resilience in the wake of the New Year’s Day tragedy in the city’s signature style: with music. By sunrise on Jan. 2, the French Quarter’s famed Bourbon Street was cleaned, and by mid-morning, the jazzy sounds of street musicians began to fill the air, ABC News reported. “[Music] takes your mind off everything going on, even though it’s temporary. It’s healing,” busker Aoleoin Broomfield told the outlet. More proof that even in the darkest stories, humanity’s light shines through.
Must Reads
In case you didn’t stay up to watch, here’s the full list of last night’s Golden Globe winners
New travel trend: nature retreats to help people process grief and depression
Health
New Study on Muscle Regeneration Sparks Hope for Heart Failure Cure
Malte Mueller/Getty Images
In 2022, 13.9% of all deaths in the U.S. were caused by heart failure. And contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t only affect older people: Nearly 6.7 million adults ages 20 and up currently have the condition, per the CDC. The good news? Thanks to recent research, there is more hope that heart failure may one day have a cure. The idea is based on a new study showing that the heart muscle can heal itself — in some cases. Currently, the only treatment options for patients with advanced heart failure are complete transplants or left ventricular assist devices, also called “artificial hearts,” which are surgically implanted mechanical units that help the organ pump blood. Through the research, scientists found that patients with artificial hearts regenerated muscle cells more than six times faster than those with healthy hearts. “This is the strongest evidence we have, so far, that human heart muscle cells can actually regenerate, which really is exciting, because it solidifies the notion that there is an intrinsic capacity of the human heart to regenerate,” study co-author Hesham Sadek said in a statement. Dive deeper into the findings.
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Trove of Footprints Found in UK Reveals What Was Once a “Dinosaur Highway”
University of Birmingham
Eons ago, highways were populated not by Toyotas and Fords, but by Megalosauruses and sauropods. Late last week, paleontologists revealed the discovery of the United Kingdom’s largest dinosaur footprint site, a trove of nearly 200 fossils in southern England that dates back roughly 166 million years. Naturally, it’s being called a “dinosaur highway.” “These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited,” Kirsty Edgar, a paleontology professor at the University of Birmingham and a member of the massive team that undertook the excavation, said in a statement. The story of how the prints were discovered begins with a quarry worker who was digging up clay and noticed some unusual bumps. These bumps led to the unearthing of a dinosaur print and then the rest of the tracks, which are notable not only for how numerous they are but also for how precise they are. “The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out,” explained earth scientist Duncan Murdock, who’s affiliated with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Watch a video of the excavation process.
Tech
Nonprofit Helps Minnesota Students Navigate School (and Life) With Screen Limits
skynesher/ iStock
This March won’t be just any month for students in Minnesota — the ides will mark the official start of the new law that requires schools to put parameters on phone use in classrooms. Regulating screen time is meant to counter the negative effects of cellphones, such as worsened mental health and lower concentration. But like with anything new, change can be hard. That’s where LiveMore ScreenLess jumps in. The nonprofit is partnering with multiple high schools in Minnesota to help smooth the transition and foster ways to rebrand cellphones as more of a resource and less of a distraction. One of the initiatives is phone-free clubs to facilitate discussions on all things digital well-being, including mental health challenges and finding balance when it comes to using tech in and out of the classroom. Some of these conversations already seem to be having an impact. High school junior Olivia Kanavati told CBS News Chicago: “[A phone] is a really great piece of communication. At the same time, it’s draining hours and wasting away time that I could be spending with family, or on school, or with friends.” “Our mission is to continue to bring digital well-being forward, and then our vision is young people thriving in a digital age,” added Katherine Myers, the co-founder of LiveMore ScreenLess and a former teacher of 25 years.
In Other News
U.S. unemployment claims slid down to an eight-month low, indicating a healthy labor market (read more)
Children’s asthma subtypes might get easier to diagnose, thanks to a new rapid nasal swab test (read more)
Buckle up! New requirements for domestic and international air travel are officially in place (read more)
In a rare sighting, two female right whales were spotted off the coast of Florida accompanied by newborn calves (read more)
With Love, Meghan: Watch the trailer for Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle series, streaming Jan. 15 (read more)
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Inspiring Story
Democratizing generosity
When David Clarke was left with a 100,000 pound (nearly $125,000) inheritance, he turned to his community to help him determine where to donate the money. He formed a panel of 12 locals who made the call to spread the money evenly across four charities. “It’s a very rewarding feeling,” said Clarke. “This project wasn’t just about 100,000 pounds. It was about showing what’s possible when we trust communities to make decisions. The results speak for themselves.”
Photo of the Day
Sea Life London Aquarium
It’s the annual Count & Clean! Each year, staff at Sea Life Aquariums in the U.K. take stock of the more than 30,000 marine creatures living across 11 locations, counting, weighing, and measuring each animal. And it appears that some of the residents, like this Gentoo penguin, require an edible bribe to comply with the initiative.
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