1. Having Gratitude Linked to Lower Risk of Death Independent of Confounding Factors, Innovative Study Shows
A new study looking at the effects of gratitude or being grateful on mortality risk showed that independent of classic mortality indicators of cardiovascular health, smoking, and chronic disease burden, grateful people showed lower rates of early death than less grateful peers.
The study examined over 49,000 older women in the nursing profession, and is claimed to be one of the first studies to investigate the effects of gratitude on mortality.
This is notable because gratitude is already associated with better biomarkers for cholesterol, immune system function, inflammation levels, and cardiovascular disease risk, as well as lower risks for depression, and better adherence to healthy hygiene like exercise and good sleep.
The authors noted however that a surprising dearth exists in the amount of insight on gratitude’s effects on mortality.
2. ‘Give Nature Space and it Will Come Back’: Rewilding Returns Endangered Species to UK Coast
A broad coalition of natural trusts, farmers and businessmen, and conservationists are looking to turn the southern English coastline and the lands beyond into a biodiversity hotspot—and success can be seen and felt in the numbers of aquatic species that are returning to the Sussex coast.
The effort follows two major turning points for English nature—one on land and one at sea.
In 2022, a ban on trawling in Sussex Bay that had long been campaigned for was passed after decades of this unsustainable fishing practice destroying mussel beds, oyster reefs, kelp forests, and other anchors of the marine environment.
While that trawling was doing the damage at sea, two rogue landowners were looking to reverse what industrial agriculture had done on a lordly estate called Knepp. GNN reported on the Knepp rewilding project after the fact, and though for years surrounding farmers looked at the manor and grounds like a pariah state, their success in restoring a pre-agricultural slice of wild England has become the finest example in the country.
3. Kindness of Strangers Buoys a Family Caring for Their Terminally Ill 6-year-old Girl
A saga in Australia’s news media has come to a head in the best possible way, as a struggling family and their terminally ill 6-year-old daughter are being moved into special housing ’round the clock care.
ABC News Down Under originally broke the story on June 23rd that 6-year-old Audrey Wallace, who was born with treatment resistant epilepsy, had entered palliative care after a bout of pneumonia saw her condition weaken considerably to the point where she could no longer swallow food or control well her left side.
The doctors aren’t sure how long she has left, but father Justin and mother Ashlee are determined to make the most of it—with a visit to the zoo, or at least a unicorn fairy princess party at home.
Entitled to financial support and assistance in adding accommodations for Audrey’s medical requirements from Australia’s National Disability Insurance Agency, (NDIA) the family’s care team ran straight into a slow “reactive” bureaucracy.
Their duplex apartment wasn’t wheelchair accessible, and the hallways were too narrow for Audrey to be wheeled to her bedroom or the bathroom. Additionally, the hospital care team said it was unsafe to travel in a normal car, but the family cannot afford a wheelchair accessible one.
