Thursday, February 13th, 2025

Good Morning! 🌞 

It’s Thursday—just one more push before the weekend, and your to-do list is probably giving you side-eye. We get it.

Consider this your Thursday upgrade: smart takes, useful bits, and zero fluff. Because you didn’t open this email just to regret it!

Health Sciences

World’s Smallest Heart Pump

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Impella 5.5—the world’s smallest heart pump—for use in children. Roughly the size of a fountain pen, the device has already saved numerous adult lives and is now set to provide crucial support for young patients suffering from heart failure or cardiogenic shock.

A key advantage of the Impella 5.5 is its minimally invasive implantation process. “It can be implanted without opening the chest,” said Dr. Katsuhide Maeda of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, emphasizing how this breakthrough approach can significantly reduce surgical risk and recovery time. “This is a game-changer.” One of the first pediatric patients to benefit from the device is 21-year-old Katrina Penney, who was born with congenital heart defects. When her first heart transplant failed at age 19, the Impella 5.5 kept her heart functioning for five weeks until she received a second transplant. “It does all the work for your heart,” Penney told CBS Philadelphia. “It saved my life, 100%.”

The pump’s astonishingly small size—it’s no larger than a fingertip—underscores the remarkable nature of Penney’s story. With the FDA now granting pediatric approval, more children facing life-threatening heart conditions may soon find renewed hope with this groundbreaking device.

Culture

Dance of the Black Sea

If you have never seen any of the dances of the Circassian people, then you are in for a treat. The Circassians are an ethnic group originally from the north-western caucasus region. Though most live in other countries now, like Turkey, they still keep their culture alive and dancing.

This first video is of a professional group performing a dance that uses elements from multiple Circassian tribes that lived along the coast of the Black Sea.

This second video is of a group of amazingly talented young boys and girls performing an Ubyh (the Ubyh are one of the 12 Circassian tribes) dance for a wedding. Which is one of the important traditional times that these dances were performed.

Sports

Charlotte’s Bridge Beauty

After nearly two decades of delays, a long-awaited plan to extend Charlotte’s popular Rail Trail across I-277 is finally moving forward. For years, the 3.5-mile path has connected neighborhoods like Sedgefield, Southside Park, Brookhill, Dilworth, Wilmore, and South End to the heart of Uptown, offering easy access to cafes, bars, galleries, and other local attractions. However, the trail has abruptly ended at the LINX Blue Line bridge over I-277, leaving northeastern neighborhoods out of reach and cutting off cyclists and pedestrians from a seamless, car-free commute.

That gap is now being addressed through a $16.3 million contract awarded to Blythe Construction Inc. by the Charlotte City Council. Funding for the new pedestrian and cycling bridge comes from a combination of state, local, Department of Transportation, and private contributions. Once built, the extended trail will help integrate communities on both sides of the freeway; in 2018 alone, more than 500,000 users—around 2,000 daily—took advantage of the existing Rail Trail, highlighting the demand for a fully connected path.

Construction on the bridge is slated to wrap up in the second quarter of 2028. Spanning 280 feet with a 40-foot-wide concrete deck, the structure will feature double arches and suspension cables rising 40 feet overhead. Multi-colored nighttime lighting will add a modern flair, reflecting Charlotte’s commitment to both functional infrastructure and forward-thinking design.

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Mind Stretchers

⁉️

Marla has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother. How many children does Marla have?

Yesterday’s Answers to the Mind Stretchers:

I can make you laugh or leave you groaning,
Sometimes clever, sometimes moaning.
I’m told by many, short or long,
But without me, something feels wrong.
What am I? — a joke! James Godfrey got this first! 🌞 

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.