Grandmothers are forces to be reckoned with. Many provide wonderful blessings to their families — namely things like unconditional love, wisdom, and unending home-cooked meals. But that’s far from where their roles ends — certain groovy grandmas have let their age serve as inspiration to maximize their sunset years. They’ve have been known to dance […]
Tammy Holloway-Servedio, a private pilot and senior manager for United Airlines, grew up as an only child. So when her mother passed away a few months before Christmas in 2019, almost 20 years after her father’s death, she found herself feeling alone as the holidays approached. But in a miraculous twist of fate, she was […]
Sometimes a nickel isn’t worth just 5 cents. Last week, one from 1913 sold for a whopping $4.2 million dollars. The nickel in question, called the Walton 1913 Liberty Head Nickel, was acquired by GreatCollections auction house and boasts “one of the greatest stories to ever be told in U.S. numismatics,” per a press release. […]
Many people don’t think about their clothing being anything more than a fashion statement, uniform, or necessity — but the clothes you put on could one day power up some popular handheld products. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have created a new type of fabric that can charge simple electronic devices via solar energy: an […]
Born in Punjab, Pakistan, Zahida Qureshi was paralyzed after a bout of polio as a baby. She learned how to crawl to get around as a child, but she didn’t receive her first wheelchair until she was a young adult entering university. Despite the challenges she faced, Qureshi dreamed of creating change in the world […]
Here’s something Queen Victoria unexpectedly had in common with many of today’s smartphone users: the propensity to shorten words. The queen was an avid diarist and kept a regular journal throughout her reign (1837-1901), so historians have ample evidence to back up this claim. But there’s been a new discovery that has provided further insight […]
National treasure Dolly Parton has been singing her way into our hearts for decades, but the 10-time Grammy winner doesn’t just grace others with the gift of music. Parton is also well-known for her humanitarian efforts, having both contributed to and helmed several charitable organizations. On October 13, she was honored for her longtime generosity […]
From burdock burrs and Velcro to shark skin and airplane coatings, nature has inspired some of the world’s most interesting innovations. Now, an industrial designer has created a 3D-printed clay humidifier that absorbs and evaporates water without electricity, just like trees. Jiaming Liu crafted the eco-friendly Print Clay Humidifier as his master’s graduation project at […]
Can a smile a day keep bad feelings at bay? A global collaborative study led by Stanford University research scientist Nicholas Coles has provided more evidence for the “facial feedback hypothesis,” which theorizes that a smile can indeed improve your mood — even when you’re not feeling so cheery. The facial feedback hypothesis has been […]
A book of Victorian mug shots is now on the third leg of its long life, though it doesn’t possess a history quite as storied as the people whose photographs plaster its 500 pages. Saved from being tossed in a dumpster four decades ago, the ledger covers criminal records from all over England during the […]
Victory Brinker may seem like your average 10-year-old, but her voice can be described as nothing less than extraordinary. At just 7 years old, Victory was named the world’s youngest female opera singer by Guinness World Records, after participating in eight professional performances at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s Lights & Legends show in 2019. Victory, […]
Every year, millions of people are diagnosed with breast cancer around the world. It’s a disease many of us have experienced, either firsthand or through a friend or family member. When one compassionate young woman saw someone close to her feeling discomfort while traveling after a double mastectomy, she was inspired to support her in […]