Happy New Year!!!

As we welcome 2025, we’re celebrating the moments and insights that made 2024 unforgettable. Today, we’re sharing a roundup of our best articles from the past year—a tribute to everything we’ve learned and accomplished together.

Cheers to an inspiring year ahead. 🍾 🥂 

Space and Innovation

Last Year’s Coolest Space Moment

2024 has been a remarkable year for space exploration, with numerous groundbreaking achievements. Topping the list is SpaceX’s historic milestone: successfully "catching" a Starship rocket booster, a major leap forward in revolutionizing rocket recovery.

The nearly 400-foot-tall Starship launched at sunrise from southern Texas, near the Mexican border, arcing gracefully over the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike its four predecessors, which were intentionally destroyed shortly after liftoff or during planned ocean landings for safety, this mission achieved a triumphant return. Just seven minutes after takeoff, the booster descended back to the launch site, where a launch tower equipped with colossal metal arms, nicknamed "chopsticks," secured the 232-foot booster. The achievement was celebrated with cheers from SpaceX employees as it was live-streamed, allowing the world to witness this groundbreaking event.

While SpaceX has been recovering Falcon 9 boosters for nearly a decade, this marks the first time a Starship booster landed directly on the pad. Falcon 9 rockets typically return to floating platforms or landing zones miles away, but Starship’s innovative recovery system is designed to improve turnaround times and reduce costs. Powered by 33 methane-fueled engines, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, boasting more than double the thrust of the Saturn V Moon rocket. This successful recovery is a major step toward SpaceX’s goal of making space exploration more affordable. With NASA contracting two Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade and plans for future missions to Mars, the spacecraft is poised to play a pivotal role in humanity’s next chapter of space exploration.

Here is a wide angle view from Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal shared that shows a great angle:

Adding to its recent triumphs, SpaceX received approval for a seventh Starship launch, scheduled for January 10, and secured an eight-launch, $733 million contract from the U.S. Space Force. While it remains unclear if Starship will be used for all these missions, the future of space travel looks bright. Here’s to a new year filled with even more groundbreaking moments!

Good News

Reunion Saves a Life

Here’s one of the best good news stories we featured in 2024: Who knew a high school connection could save a life? —Looking back at 2024, this story truly stood out as a testament to the power of human connection and compassion. It all began with a life-or-death plea and a social media post that sparked an incredible act of kindness.

Jereme Peterson, a 42-year-old federal corrections officer, was at his lowest point after three years on dialysis. Weighing 315 pounds and with his kidney function near failure, his doctor delivered a grim prognosis: without dialysis, he would have just two months to live. While he was added to the transplant waiting list, the wait for a kidney could take up to seven years—time Jereme didn’t have. In a last effort, he turned to social media, posting a heartfelt plea for a donor. That post reached someone he hadn’t seen in decades: Angelina Attaway, a high school classmate from Blountstown, Florida.

Angelina, moved by Jereme’s story, decided to become his donor, despite initially planning to remain anonymous. Fate, however, had other plans. While pre-registering at the hospital the day before surgery, the two crossed paths in the lobby, and Jereme instantly recognized her. Overcome with emotion, Jereme embraced Angelina as she revealed her incredible gift. “Time just stopped,” Jereme recalled. The bond between them deepened, as they realized this act of generosity had turned two former classmates into lifelong family. “We always say, ‘How’s our kidney doing?’” Angelina shared with a smile.

Thanks to Angelina’s selflessness, both surgeries were a success, and Jereme is now thriving with his new kidney. What began as a desperate plea became a testament to the enduring power of human connection and kindness. This story of friendship, compassion, and second chances is a reminder of how lives can be transformed by even the most unexpected relationships.

Environment

Invisible Farmers

Here’s one of the most fascinating discoveries we featured in 2024: Who knew that plants could be farmers, too?

Modern agricultural science has introduced us to super-powered crops, but new research from molecular microbiologist Jacob Malone and his team at the John Innes Center in the UK reveals that plants are more than passive participants in the ecosystem. The study highlights that plants, like barley, actively manage their surroundings to cultivate their ideal microbial communities. This finding transforms our understanding of the intricate relationships between plants and the soil microbiome they depend on for survival.

The research focused on barley, a crop central to global beer production, showing how it "farms" beneficial microbes in its root zone—the rhizosphere—by adjusting the sugars it secretes. This strategy attracts helpful microbes like Pseudomonas, which boost nutrient uptake, suppress diseases, and activate plant immunity. Interestingly, the study found that barley varieties exhibit unique approaches: the Tipple variety attracted more Pseudomonas bacteria due to higher sugar levels, while Chevallier supported a more diverse microbial community and selectively managed its soil fungi.

Published in PLOS Biology, this groundbreaking research opens doors to exploring how these dynamics can be leveraged on farms to improve crop productivity and sustainability. It’s a humbling reminder that plants are not just passive crops we harvest—they are active ecosystem engineers.

Support Daily Upsider!

Help our mission to share positive, meaningful news! Your support keeps us going without the need to bombard you with annoying ads!

Mind Stretchers

⁉️ 

"I hold countless stories, yet I'm not alive.
I can take you places, without you needing to drive.
I have pages, but I'm not a calendar or a chart.
Open me up, and you'll find a work of art."

Yesterday’s Answers to the Mind Stretchers:
I light up the sky with colors bright,
A burst of wonder in the night.
I rise and fall in fleeting flight,
Then fade away, out of sight.
What am I? —Fireworks! 🎆 Belinda Quinton-Thomas got this correct early! 🌞 
 

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected] or reply to email.

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.