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We reported on Washington, D.C.’s famed cherry blossoms hitting their peak bloom last month, but the nation’s capital isn’t the only hotspot for these springtime trees. They’re of course abundant in Japan, where they’ve been carefully cultivated and celebrated for centuries, but the plants’ pretty pink flowers can also be found everywhere from Paris to Athens, London, Vancouver, and more. See some photos of this year’s bloom around the globe.
Environment
“Air Quality Data Saves Lives”: Report Identifies Cities With the Cleanest Air
Some of the U.S. cities with the cleanest air include Anchorage, Alaska; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Hilo, Hawaii — pictured here. That’s according to the annual World Air Quality Report by IQAir, a Swiss technology company.
IQAir collected data from more than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across the world. The report compared the 2023 results to previous years and discovered that West Coast cities Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles had cleaner air and a less severe fire season, likely due to “aggressive” mitigation efforts like new early warning systems.
The company emphasized the need for more data and monitoring systems. “A clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a universal human right,” Global CEO Frank Hammes said in a press release, adding: “Air quality data saves lives. Where air quality is reported, action is taken, and air quality improves.”
Based on IQAir’s information, Business Insider compiled a list of 15 U.S. cities with populations above 50,000 that have the cleanest air — and added median home prices in case you’re looking to move to one of these fresh air locales. Check out the list.
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Science
Birds With Incredible Recall Create “Barcode-Like” Memories, Study Finds
If you often have a hard time recalling where you placed your keys or wallet, you’ll be especially impressed by the incredible memory capabilities of black-capped chickadees. The small birds store and retrieve thousands of seeds and insects to eat throughout winter, and a recent study shed light on how they’re able to remember each snack’s hiding spot.
Researchers determined that members of the avian species create “barcode-like” memories when they deposit food, and those barcodes are reactivated during the retrieval process. The team arrived at their conclusion by observing chickadees in constructed arenas with various spots for stashing food.
Using motorized feeders, the scientists provided the birds with sunflower seeds to hide, watching them via six cameras and recording their brain activity with electrical probes. Every time a chickadee stored and retrieved the seeds, areas in the hippocampus lit up in a specific pattern similar to a computer hash code.
Scientists said these findings may help unlock insights into the human brain. “Memories entirely define the way we see and interact with the world,” co-author Dmitriy Aronov said in a statement. “With this bird, we have a way to understand memory in an incredibly simplified way, and in understanding their memory, we will understand something about ourselves.”
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Humanity
Phoenix Nonprofit Gives Extra Food From Residents’ Backyards to People in Need
In Phoenix, where 42% of the population lives in a food desert, one man is on a mission to make hyper-locally grown food more accessible to the wider community — and he’s looking no further than neighbors’ backyards.
Jérémy Chevallier is a Phoenix resident and the founder of Homegrown, a nonprofit that taps into a network of volunteers, hobby gardeners, and food banks to provide food-insecure community members with excess fruit, all the while reducing food waste. The organization harvests fruits and nuts from residents’ trees, distributes them to local food banks, and helps people plant new edible trees to keep the neighbors-helping-neighbors cycle going.
“I want people to realize that this food is homegrown, that it didn’t come from a commercially managed and owned grove or orchard, but that it came from someone’s backyard,” Chevallier told Modern Farmer.
Per the outlet, Homegrown’s efforts are already reaping results. In the 2023 citrus season, the group harvested thousands of pounds of excess fruit and raised more than $5,000. And Chevallier says he hopes Phoenix is just the beginning: “If we can set an example of what’s possible in Phoenix, in one of the harder places to do this, then we know that we can inspire people and … expand that model.”
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Something We Love
Urban Outfitters Round Pintuck Pillow
This throw pillow is made of soft cotton velvet and finished with a button tuft in the middle, offering a vintage yet timeless touch to any sofa, chair, or bed. It’s available in six colors — rust, iced lilac, rose, soft blue, mustard, and light green.
Recommendations are independently selected by our team but may result in a commission to Nice News which helps keep our content free.
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Inspiring Story
A legacy that keeps on giving
In honor of his late wife Cathy, Sean Cummings has raised over $70,000 to pay off student lunch debt at schools in Oklahoma. It’s a fitting way to celebrate her memory, as Cathy was a chef and restaurant owner. “Her biggest thing was to feed people,” Sean said, adding: “This is exactly what she’d like to see done with her legacy.”
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Photo of the Day
“Quick — count the seabirds,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captioned this photo of common murres nesting on Oregon’s coast. Each spring, more than 700,000 of the birds flock to the state’s rocky shores, the agency said. See more photos.
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Find a Great Travel Card With Wise Bread
A great travel credit card can turn everyday purchases into once-in-a-lifetime experiences. And Wise Bread is here to help you find that great card, so you can start making travel dreams a reality.
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Quote of the Day
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
– MARGARET ATWOOD, BLUEBEARD’S EGG
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