Good morning! 🌞 

Here’s a fun fact from the Guinness World Records: Diana Armstrong holds the record for the longest fingernails ever, measuring a combined 42 feet 10.4 inches! She’s been growing them for over 25 years, with her right thumbnail alone stretching over 4 feet!

Earth Sciences

Mysterious Space Radio Bursts

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, millisecond-long pulses of intense energy first detected in 2007. Despite their fleeting duration, they can emit more energy than entire galaxies. Since their discovery, astronomers have detected thousands of FRBs originating from distances as far as eight billion light-years away, yet their exact origins have remained a mystery.

A recent breakthrough by an MIT-led research team has pinpointed the source of one particular FRB, designated FRB 20221022A, to a rotating neutron star about 200 million light-years away. By analyzing the burst’s “scintillation”—the twinkling effect created when light from a compact source passes through a galaxy’s gas—the team identified a small region, roughly 10,000 kilometers across, near the neutron star from which the FRB arose. This discovery offers the first conclusive evidence that FRBs can originate in the magnetospheres of ultracompact objects like neutron stars or black holes.

According to lead author Kenzie Nimmo and MIT physicist Kiyoshi Masui, the magnetic environments surrounding these objects are so extreme that atoms cannot exist within them, underscoring how energy released as radio waves can travel vast cosmic distances. By combining scintillation data with observations from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), researchers confirmed not only the FRB’s location but also a unique polarization pattern similar to that seen in pulsars. This finding not only clarifies FRBs’ origins but also opens up new avenues for using scintillation to investigate other mysterious bursts across the universe.

Culture

The Restoration of Beauty

Last month we wrote an article about the reopening of Notre-Dame. However, we did not include any videos of the event. Reflecting on the recently passed year, we wanted to share some videos of the cathedral after it was restored to its former glory.

While not everything was built back exactly the same, it is a very faithful rebuilding of the magnificent building. After some quite terrible (at least in my opinion) initial suggestions on how to rebuild the cathedral, luckily they settled on a restoration instead of a reconstruction. While some of the construction has modern elements like the altar, the bishops chair, and some of the stained glass. Other aspects are how it would have been many hundreds of years ago, like the bright stone walls on the inside.

Here is a highlight video of the ceremony for the opening of the cathedral which included the first responders that came to stop the original fire, as well as many heads of state and officials.

The next day they held the first mass which included the consecration of the altar.

A huge thank you to all the first responders, donators, craftsmen and artisans that came together to restore one of the worlds great historical buildings.

World News

50-Year-old ‘Spiral Jetty’

A Utah graduate student has successfully advocated for the Spiral Jetty—a landmark work by artist Robert Smithson—to be included on the National Register of Historic Places, making it the first piece from the Land Art movement to earn this distinction. As part of her master’s thesis in landscape architecture at Utah State University, Amy Reid worked closely with the Dia Foundation, Utah’s Department of Natural Resources, and the Holt/Smithson Foundation to gather necessary information and secure the landowner’s approval. Her accomplishment highlights the broader cultural and historical significance of the artwork, often compared to other protected sites like Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

Created in 1970 at Rozel Point on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, the Spiral Jetty consists of 6,650 tons of local rock and earth formed into a 1,500-foot coil. Natural fluctuations in water levels have submerged and revealed it several times since its completion—most notably remaining underwater for decades until 1997. This ebb and flow exemplifies Smithson’s vision of impermanence and decay, two guiding principles behind the Land Art movement that he pioneered alongside his wife, Nancy Holt.

For Reid, who moved to Utah 15 years ago and learned of the Spiral Jetty through her sister, securing its place on the National Register was not about permanently preserving the piece, but rather documenting its evolving legacy. Jessica Morgan, Director of the Dia Art Foundation, praised the inclusion, noting that it will raise awareness and encourage responsible stewardship for future generations. Over its 54-year history, the Spiral Jetty has served as a powerful testament to how art and nature intertwine, reflecting changing landscapes and evolving cultural values.

Mind Stretchers

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Yesterday’s Mind Stretchers:

Look closely at the sequence:
2, 5, 10, 17, 26, __
What number comes next in the sequence?

— The differences are increasing by 2 each time. The next difference will be 11.
So, 26 + 11 = 37. , Chris Hostetler got this correct 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]

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.