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Transcript

GOOD NEWS SUNDAY EDITION · The Rest of the World Podcast

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Good evening from Paris.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez with The Rest of the World Report,
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday Good News Edition for October the 18th.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: The origami crane.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: A stranger taught a girl to fold a paper crane, and she waited 10 years to look inside.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Rika Matsuda was seven when she got a new bike.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: When she tried the brakes, nothing happened, and she slammed into a wall.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: A man in his 20s took her to a water fountain and helped her wash her injured foot.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then he gave her His phone to call her grandmother.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: He taught her to fold a crane the right way, she recalled.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: As they parted, he said nothing.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: He smiled and handed her the crane, and she put it in her desk.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ten years later, at 17, Matsuda found herself thinking about that moment again.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Her English teacher,
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Benjamin Johnson,
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: had introduced the class to a writing assignment called My Unsung Hero.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Matsuda hurried home from school and unfolded the crane to check.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Inside was a well-known Japanese expression about how every encounter is precious.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Roughly translated, it means cherish the moment.
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  SPEAKER_00: Of the man Matsuda said, then I realized even more how kind and how nice the man was.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The account doesn't name names.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Fire returns to Minnesota Point.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Fire is back on Minnesota Point.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and partners conducted
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: a cultural prescribed burn there on Thursday, October 8th.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota Point is a narrow strip of land between Lake Superior and the Bay in Duluth.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The burn was described as covering 17 acres of woodlands.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: A University of Minnesota Duluth article in June said fire,
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  SPEAKER_00: called Ishkode in Ojibwe,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: would return to the point for the first time in more than 180 years.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: The article said that burn stopped when the Anishinaabe people were displaced from the point.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't give a date for either.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky Defoe, Fond du Lac elder, led the opening ceremony.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The objective is to connect, reconnect to our Mother Earth, he said.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Vern Northrup, an elder and a former wildfire fighter of 25 years, lit the fire.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to help it to breathe, he said.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Valerie Ross,
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  SPEAKER_00: whose Ojibwe name is Jawendagozikwe,
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  SPEAKER_00: Helped with the ceremony and mapped old growth red pine.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: In our way, we believe fire is a spirit, she said.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Evan Larson,
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  SPEAKER_00: who studies fire ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville,
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: worked with Ross's research team.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: The university article credits the researchers with studying fire scars
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: on old downed pines in Minnesota and Wisconsin points.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Larson says,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: clearing the built-up fuel lowers the risk of severe wildfire,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: and the forest stores carbon as it recovers.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: The project is supported by a three-year cooperative agreement with the U.S.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Fish and Wildlife Service.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Roman Telescope Sharpens Focus.
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  SPEAKER_00: NASA says the main instrument
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  SPEAKER_00: on its Roman Space Telescope is performing nearly 30% better than
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: the Roman team predicted.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: The telescope launched August 30th.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: NASA's team measured the wide field instruments optics at an error of just 63 nanometers RMS.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: The requirement for image quality was set at about 90 nanometers RMS.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: All of Roman's sweeping surveys will rely on this instrument.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: The 30% figure compares the result with the team's own prediction, not with the requirement.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Both figures come from NASA's team.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: The coronagraph is next.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: NASA says the team will attempt to demonstrate its light blocking capabilities in
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: the coming weeks.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a big space nerd who is so very excited at what the end results are going to be.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Saving 100 Species.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: A project launched in August is aiming to bring 100 species back from the brink of extinction.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Phoenix Species Project is led by Rewild and the Bezos Earth Fund
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  SPEAKER_00: in collaboration with IUCN Species Survival Commission.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was announced on August 4th.
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  SPEAKER_00: The effort begins with a $200 million commitment and $100 million of it comes from
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  SPEAKER_00: the Bezos Earth Fund.
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  SPEAKER_00: 100 species face imminent extinction.
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  SPEAKER_00: They come from 30 countries and include mammals, birds, fish, and plants.
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  SPEAKER_00: The funding structure is to support recovery work over multiple years.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Four species are highlighted.
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  SPEAKER_00: The bow-mouthed guitarfish is an ancient shark-like ray found in shallow waters
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  SPEAKER_00: from South Africa to Japan and Australia.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: The hickory nutjob green salamander lives only in a small North Carolina canyon.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Charco Azul pupfish, a freshwater fish from Mexico, is extinct in the wild.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the night parrot lives in Australia's remote deserts and dry grasslands.
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  SPEAKER_00: The announcement doesn't say whether the $200 million is the full budget,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it does say that the project will track population recovery and threat reduction
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: and report updates online.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Beaver kits in the highlands.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: At least two baby beavers have been born in the Scottish Highlands.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: They were born in the Glenafric area,
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  SPEAKER_00: about 15 miles from Loch Ness, And are estimated to be from May or June.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: The births are described as the first recorded in the region in four centuries.
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  SPEAKER_00: Eurasian beavers were hunted to extinction there in the 16th century.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: The beavers are part of a joint reintroduction project by Trees for Life
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  SPEAKER_00: and Forestry and Land Scotland.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The kits were spotted at Loch Ben Vien.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I had to Google how to even say that correctly.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Loch Ben Vien.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The report says they were in good health, but does not name who said so.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tobias Leesk is a beaver management officer in Trees for Life.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: These beaver kits symbolize a wildlife success story for four centuries in the making, he said.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Royson Campbell Palmer of Beaver Trust said their arrival is a very encouraging sign
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: that the beavers have settled well.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, running for Joan.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: My friend Chris Weakley is running the London Marathon for his mother, Joan Hale.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Joan died on October 23, 2024, of acute myeloid leukemia.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: His website says it was the TP53 mutation, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: In 2022, Chris ran the New York City Marathon.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Joan was there, cheering near the finish line.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Chris counts it among the highlights of his life.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: After Joan died, he ran again.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: He raised money for the American Cancer Society,
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: and for the first time, he wore some of her ashes in a locket around his neck.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: She ran it with me, he said.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: In April, he runs the London Marathon.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time,
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: the race is being held over two days in 2027,
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: April 24th and 25th, and Chris runs on April 24th.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: His goal is to raise $10,000 for the American Cancer Society.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: As of today, the fundraising page shows $1,181.70 raised.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: The page says that the money helps to fund research,
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: provides information for people facing cancer,
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: and supports free rides to treatments and free lodging when care is far from home.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Full disclosure, Chris is a very dear friend of mine and I'm the one who built his website.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today is my birthday and the best gift you could possibly give me is a donation
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: to his fundraiser.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can find details at jonesadvengers.org.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening to this edition of Sunday Good News.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez and I will see you all again tomorrow morning.
• 7:22
  [music]