We’re all guilty of telling friends we want to get together to “catch up,” only to never follow up on that promise. But forgetting to schedule plans amid our busy lives doesn’t have to spell the end of a friendship — and in fact, it shouldn’t. “When it comes to social connection, we underestimate just how happy it makes us, just how much value it brings,” psychologist Marisa Franco explained to the BBC. Here are some tips for maintaining close friendships (and rekindling those that may have fallen to the wayside).
Must Reads
The real life of a global activist: Malala Yousafzai opens up about falling in love, experiencing anxiety, and more
Go behind the scenes of the “Met Gala of the canine community,” NYC’s beloved Halloween dog parade
Science
A Win-Win: In This Free Mobile Game, Players Become Real Ocean Explorers
Schmidt Ocean Institute
Stuck in an endless loop of social media scrolling? Here’s how to put that penchant for mobile entertainment to good use: Last May, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute launched a game that directs players to identify real ocean life on their cell phones. And through the interactive experience, called FathomVerse, participants contribute to science by helping train the AI that researchers use to discover marine animals. Once players learn to classify sea creatures through an assortment of minigames, they put their new skills to the test against AI-generated estimations, which helps the Institute’s machine learning models improve. “There are so many elements at play, which is why even something really powerful, like a process like machine learning, still takes so much training and so much input,” Content Manager Emily Clark said in a livestream of the game this past April. “And that’s really where the volume of eyes on them — human eyes — is what makes it a powerful tool.” According to the Institute, 30%-60% of ocean life is still a scientific mystery — but Lilli Carlsen, engagement coordinator for the program, believes the AI could one day recognize new discoveries. “So we can be sure that we’ve never encountered this new animal,” she added, “and that means it’s a brand-new species that is undiscovered and undescribed.” Here’s how to download the game.
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The Anti-Aging Product You Won’t Find in Hollywood
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Humanity
OhHi’s Kindness Challenge Aims to Inspire 25,000 Heartfelt Messages in 1 Month — Are You in?
Courtesy OhHi
It costs nothing to be kind — and there’s a new way to brighten a loved one’s day for free. OhHi, a startup that allows users to send short video greeting cards through its app, is currently running a campaign called Send Kindness 25 with a simple goal: inspiring 25,000 messages of kindness. “We created OhHi because we felt like there should be an easy and modern way to send a meaningful message. Texts don’t always feel like enough,” founder Alex Haldiman said in an email to Nice News, adding, “We felt like there should be a way to send the heartfelt message of a greeting card 100% digitally using your phone.” As for why they’re focusing on kindness, Haldiman shared in a press release that he believes it’s “an important time” for the movement: “There’s enough negativity and divisiveness right now, and we think this is a great way to bring positivity to the world.” If you feel called to participate in the initiative, which is running through World Kindness Day on Nov. 13, download the OhHi app and send one (or many!) free messages.
Environment
Smile! Jaguars, Ocelots, and More Caught on Camera in Maya Rainforest
Photo courtesy of WCS, WSU, OMYC, CONAP, ACOFOP, Coypu.
A reality show of sorts recently took place in the depths of Guatemala’s Maya rainforest. There, a diverse cast of characters lived out some of their lives on camera, much to viewers’ delight. But unlike the series you might find on Bravo, the viewers in this instance were scientists — and the cast was made up of ocelots, tapirs, turkeys, deer, jaguars, and more. The camera traps that captured the animals’ photos were set up by a team of researchers with Washington State University and the Wildlife Conservation Society, who published a new study on the results. The most exciting findings? Not only does a community-managed forest where residents legally log and hunt support a wide variety of wildlife, but that wildlife has largely remained intact even while human activity thrives. “Uaxactun shows that when local people have the resources, the rights, and the will, community-based forest management can sustain robust populations of wildlife and function as one of the planet’s most resilient conservation strategies,” Roan McNab, Wildlife Conservation Society Guatemala program director, said in a press release. See more images of the animals.
In Other News
Aldi’s Thanksgiving dinner for 10 costs just $40 this year, the store’s lowest per-person price yet (read more)
Diane Keaton was honored by a California rescue center for her dedication to animal welfare (read more)
A volcanic eruption nearly 13,000 years ago may explain a mysterious chemical signature in Greenland’s ice sheet (read more)
Over 2,000 “snot otter”salamanders have been released into Ohio waterways to help restore local habitats (read more)
Through tarp art, one Puerto Rican artist is raising funds for hurricane victims in his homeland (read more)
Inspiring Story
Thinking in life-changing ways
Geophysicist Philip Heron has pioneered a “life-changing,” seven-week-long course to teach others how to think critically. Calling it Think Like a Scientist, Heron has taught the program in schools and prisons in the U.K. and now Canada, and it’s encouraged some formerly incarcerated individuals to pursue their own degrees. “The biggest thing I took away from it was the confidence to try new things,” said Phoenix Griffin, one such individual who is now in her third year of college. “It just gave me a new way of thinking.”
Photo of the Day
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
These pensive sculptures make up just one of the 100 installations on display at the world’s largest free public sculpture exhibition. Running until Nov. 3 on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, this year’s Sculpture by the Sea dots a little over a mile of coastal walk with works from artists across the globe. Take a look at last year’s sculptures.
Take a Fall Break With BetterHelp
Crunchy leaves, warm drinks, a little more time to slow down: Fall’s the perfect time to check in with yourself, and therapy can be part of that reflection. BetterHelp lets you talk to a licensed therapist whenever and wherever it works for you. No waiting rooms, no pressure. Just support that fits your life. You can even use your HSA or FSA funds, and right now, your first month is 25% off.
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is appreciation. Go find somebody’s hand and squeeze it, while there’s time.”
– DALE DAUTEN
Note from the editors: In yesterday’s newsletter, we mistakenly wrote Thailand instead of Taiwan in sharing The New York Times’ travel piece on the area’s east coast. We apologize for the error!
