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Did you know that it also rains diamonds on Saturn and Jupiter?!

It has long been theorized that it rains diamonds on Neptune and Uranus. However, recent data makes researchers believe this could be happening on Saturn and Jupiter too.

Due to extreme pressures deep in the atmospheres of Saturn and Jupiter, carbon atoms can crystallize into diamonds. As these diamonds fall towards the hot core, eventually would eventually melt. Likely into a liquid sea of carbon.

Good News

High School Reunion Saves a Life

Jereme Peterson, a 42-year-old federal corrections officer, was in a dire situation after three years and ten hours a day on dialysis. Weighing 315 pounds with his kidney function nearing single digits, he had hit rock bottom.

"'What would happen if I stopped doing dialysis?' And he was like, 'you got two months to live, get your affairs in order,'" Peterson recalled his doctor saying. He was added to the transplant waiting list but was told it could take five to seven years to get a kidney. Then, a miracle happened. Angelina Attaway, a high school classmate from 25 years ago in Blountstown, Florida, saw a social media post from Peterson pleading for a donor and felt compelled to help.

"I could just see the relief and I think that was more heavy than anything, you know," Attaway said.

Representatives at Medical City Dallas mentioned that Attaway had intended to remain anonymous. Typically, the recipient doesn't know the donor's identity until a year after the surgery. However, by pure coincidence, the two met in the hospital lobby while trying to pre-register the day before surgery.

Peterson recognized her face, and after a hug in the middle of the lobby, Angelina broke the news that she was his donor. "Time just stopped, and then when she told me she was my donor, time really stopped," he said.

"It’s like we’ve become family in a way. We share a body part, you know, so we always say, 'How’s our kidney doing?'" Attaway added.

Jereme and Angelina, once classmates in a typing class, are now bonded through a living kidney donation. Both surgeries went well, and Jereme is responding well to the new kidney, now on routine medication.

Innovation

Vaporized Plastic Bottles

A new chemical process is converting common waste plastics into hydrocarbon building blocks for making new plastics.

Researchers have shown that the process works effectively with the two most common types of consumer plastic waste: polyethylene (used in single-use plastic bags) and polypropylene (found in hard plastics like microwavable dishes and luggage). These plastics, collectively known as polyolefins, can also be efficiently degraded when mixed, according to a study published in Science.

Professor John Hartwig from the University of California, Berkeley, who led the research, explained that polyethylene and polypropylene are found in a wide range of everyday items, such as lunch bags, laundry soap bottles, and milk jugs.

Previously, the process used costly, sensitive metal catalysts that broke down during reactions and were difficult to recover. Today, the team has replaced these with more affordable, durable solid catalysts, like sodium on alumina and tungsten oxide on silica, which are commonly used in continuous flow processes in the chemical industry. These new catalysts can be reused and scaled for large-volume production.

Polyethylene and polypropylene make up about two-thirds of global consumer plastic waste, with roughly 80% ending up in landfills, incinerated, or discarded, eventually breaking down into microplastics. Scientists have been exploring ways to convert polyolefins into more valuable materials, such as monomers for new plastic production.

Hartwig noted that while there is interest in developing new, easily recyclable plastics, the challenge of dealing with today's hard-to-recycle plastics will persist for decades. "Polyolefins are cheap and effective, so they're widely used, and that's not going to change anytime soon," he said.

Environment

Southern White Calf Born in Aussie Zoo

A rhino at a Melbourne zoo has given birth to a male calf, marking the second offspring for the mother, Kipenzi.

Kipenzi, an 11-year-old southern white rhino, delivered the calf on August 18th. Unlike her first calf, which she rejected, Kipenzi has been a dedicated mother this time.

The calf is currently out of public view as the two bond, but visitors will soon see him in the enclosure. Dr. Mark Pilgrim, the zoo’s director, noted that Kipenzi is “doing her best to shepherd it and keep it close to her, and making sure that it’s not wandering off too far. So she’s just doing the perfect thing we expect a mother rhino to do.”

Kipenzi was born at Werribee Zoo in 2013 to Sisi, another resident rhino who was overprotective of her calf.

The zoo will hold a public vote to name the new calf. Kipenzi’s name means “precious one” in Swahili. Dr. Pilgrim told The Guardian that the calf will likely be "a real handful later on."

Mind Stretchers

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When it is alive we sing, when it is dead we clap our hands. What is it?

Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

Ask this question all day long, but always get completely different answers, and yet all the answers will be correct. What is the question?

‘What time is it?”

Gerry Moore and Chris Hostetler both sent the correct answer in the exact same minute. So we will give a shout-out to both.

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]

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.