When was the last time you told your favorite person why you love them? A new social media trend has users describing their favorite people (though sometimes pets are included as well) and watching the recipients’ heartwarming reactions to hearing their positive attributes said out loud. Watch some of the sweet videos, and take this as your reminder to call up your favorite person or people today.
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Science
Staggering New Images Show Highest Resolution View of the Sun
NSF/NSO/AURA/MPS
Scientists have captured the most detailed images yet of our star’s surface. The unprecedented views of swirling textures and ripples on the sun were serendipitously documented by the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope during a test run of the scope, which is located on the Hawaiian island of Maui. “My first reaction was: ‘Wow, how can we see such tiny, fine-scale structures on the sun?’” David Kuridze, a co-author of a study on the findings published Wednesday, told The Guardian. “This is something we have never seen before in any solar observations.” The study concluded that the ripples you see here are caused by bits of magnetized plasma moving past each other at different speeds, reminiscent of ocean waves breaking in windy conditions. While this phenomenon has been captured on Earth and other planets, its confirmed presence on the sun is new — and could help explain why the star’s outer atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. The feather-like textures are also a wonder to admire, as Stanford solar physicist Ruizhu Chen, who was not involved with the new research, told the Associated Press: “[It] reminds me of famous paintings, like the swirling skies in Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’” See the ripples and feathers move.
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At the “Hospital of Emotions” in LA, Visitors Receive a Dose of Art
Carlin Stiehl—Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Eggs cracked on an operating room chair, a giant teddy bear bursting out of a wall, and IVs filled with a rainbow of liquids. These thought-provoking sights are on display at the Hospital of Emotions in Los Angeles: a unique art pop-up in a wing of the shuttered St. Vincent Medical Center, which closed its doors in 2020. Through Sept. 30, visitors (or “patients”) can walk through 80 hospital rooms that were transformed by artists offering their own interpretations of different emotions, ranging from sadness and anger to hope and joy. The idea was brought to life by the design studio House of Art and Dreams, offering the public one last look at the historic hospital before it becomes a homeless shelter and mental health facility. In the meantime, it’s a place to while away an afternoon and perhaps find a sense of catharsis in seeing emotions come to life. “There’s solace in someone else seeing our emotion — whether it’s joy and celebration or sorrow and pain. There’s something about the human experience where we need to be seen,” museumgoer Sharon Maxwell told the Associated Press. “This art exhibit really shows that in a profound way. I think it put humanity on display in a really powerful way.” See more photos of the rooms.
Environment
After 40 Years in the Circus, Julie the Elephant Is Enjoying Life at New Portugal Sanctuary
Wade Million / SWNS
After 40 years of performing, the last circus elephant in Portugal can now be found splashing in mud puddles, foraging for food, and otherwise enjoying life as the inaugural resident of the country’s first dedicated elephant sanctuary. Julie, an African elephant, was captured as a calf in the wild in the late 1980s and brought to Portugal, where she began performing in the Víctor Hugo Cardinali Circus. In 2018, the Portuguese government passed a law prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses, legislation that went into effect in 2024. She was then officially retired from performing and left without a clear future. Her last remaining companion, another of the circus’ elephants, had died the same year. As owner Víctor Hugo Cardinali considered options for her, Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Alentejo reached out to offer Julie a permanent home. The first of its kind in Europe, the sanctuary was still being built at the time, but staff soon began coordinating Julie’s move. Fast-forward 18 months, and on June 30, Julie took a two-and-a-half hour truck ride from the circus grounds to her new habitat, becoming the first elephant to live on-site — and she settled in right away. Watch a video chronicling her journey from the circus to the sanctuary.
Global Good
🇪🇺 Euros are getting a revamp — learn which figures and motifs are being considered for the EU’s banknote design (read more) 🇰🇪 Country music is having a moment in Africa, as evidenced by the Cowboys and Cowgirls festival in Kenya (read more) 🇬🇧 The U.K. is launching its first “super-university” next month, with over 50,000 students on four campuses (read more) 🇨🇳 Scientists confirmed a Chinese mountain flower is carnivorous, proving a theory of Charles Darwin’s right (read more) 🇧🇷 This will surely be a meme: A pair of capybaras strolled through the chambers of a Brazilian state legislature (read more)
Inspiring Story
Winging it
At age 97, Betty Bromage has broken her own world record as the oldest woman to wing walk. If you’re unfamiliar, the stunt involves standing on the wings of an airplane while it’s in flight — which sounds rather terrifying but doesn’t seem to faze Bromage, who said she’s “never nervous.” She added: “The word ‘can’t’ is not really in my vocabulary.” See her perform the stunt while raising money for charity.
Photo of the Day
DBM—Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
Speaking of stunts, athletes dove into Paris’ Seine River against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower during training for the European Aquatics Championships, which are currently underway in the City of Light. Check out the scenic setup from a diver’s POV.
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Up This Weekend
Outside Lands: San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will be studded with stars this weekend, including some who are fresh off their performances at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, like Charli XCX, Empire of the Sun, and The XX
Little League Softball World Series: Eight days of competition come to a close on Sunday in Greenville, North Carolina — get updates on which teams are still in the running
Edinburgh Fringe Festival: The iconic festival, billed as “the world’s greatest platform for creative freedom,” will feature thousands of shows from today through Aug. 31
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