Funny wildlife, very old cheese and a healing hug

View in browser 

 September 28, 2024

If you're reading this, that means the power held on long enough in Atlanta for me to finish this week's newsletter before getting zapped out by Hurricane Helene. Aw, who am I kidding? We'd find a way to finish it! (That exhausted shudder you heard was our Texas-based Good Stuff editor, Andrew, who keeps this whole operation afloat no matter how chaotic the situation.) I hope everyone is safe! I know I'll be spending the weekend trying to work through my to-be-read pile — even if I have to do it by candlelight. 

If there's something you'd like to see here, drop us a line. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do.

Our favorites this week

Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week

To be, or not to be?
That is the question for this contemplative chimpanzee. This image of primate puzzlement is on the shortlist for this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards (which has to be one of the best photography competitions, hands down). German photographer Arvind Mohandas captured the likeness of this philosophical chimp in Uganda. Other entries, which you can see at the link below, include a smiling elephant seal, a stuck squirrel, and a rather alarmed owl. The awards support a different sustainable conservation organization each year, and the Whitley Fund for Nature has been selected for 2024. This year's shortlist of 40 images was selected from about 9,000 entries. The overall, category and highly commended winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on December 10.

See more images here. 

The newest baby animal celebrity is here
To be honest, I am a little alarmed at how large this baby king penguin is. At nearly three feet tall and 50 pounds, Pesto the penguin (yes, an automatic Name Hall of Fame nominee) is already bigger than his parents at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia. Photos of Pesto being large have gone viral online because just look at him! His fame is also giving visitors more opportunities to learn about penguins. For instance, some may not know that baby penguins have fluffy brown feathers, like Pesto, that eventually fall off when they learn to swim. Or that, according to Sea Life keeper Michaela Smale, penguins poop about every 15 minutes. (Smale also called him a "walking feathery poop machine.") 

Read the whole story here. 

Please do not eat the haunted cheese
As you know, some ancient cultures sent off their dearly departed with supplies for the afterlife. For Bronze Age desert dwellers unearthed from graves in what's now northwest China, that meant a few nips of cheese, placed around the head and neck for a nice snack on the go. A decade after the dairy discovery on strikingly intact remains mummified by the Taklamakan Desert's arid conditions, scientists have extracted and sequenced DNA from the 3,600-year-old kefir chunks. The analysis revealed how the Xiaohe people made cheese, showing the way humans harnessed microbes to improve their food and how microbes can be used to track cultural influences through the ages. Truly, cheese is a universal language.

Read the whole story here. 

Sponsor Content by Babbel

Start speaking a new language in three weeks

Through award-winning lessons, addictive games, and more bonus content, you can start speaking a new language in three weeks with Babbel— just in time for fall adventure! Get 60% off during their Babbelfest sale.

Heroes among us

What do dance and mathematics have in common? They're CNN Hero Yamilée Toussaint's two passions, and she's using one to teach young women about the other. Toussaint (above, left) studied mechanical engineering at MIT, where she was also head of the dance team. She noticed not many Black women were pursuing educations in STEM – an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 2012, she created STEM From Dance, a nonprofit program that integrates dance with STEM education to make these subjects more engaging and accessible. Today, the program works with girls of color ages 8 to 18 in nine cities across the US. The program combines the two in really cool ways: Sometimes girls choreograph dance routines that include STEM elements, such as LED light strips that they code to light up with the music. The girls also create songs through computer science that they incorporate into their performance.

Read the whole story here. 

This week on the Five Good Things podcast, some new research might convince you to dabble in arts and crafts. A pet cat wandered almost 1,000 miles back home. Plus, school is back in session and we're revisiting why some parents of elementary school kids in upstate New York like getting calls from the principal's office. Listen to the latest episode here! 

Hear, hear!

The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.

- Science fiction icon Ursula K. Le Guin, from her 1975 collection of short stories "The Wind's Twelve Quarters."

To your health

So much mental health advice sounds extremely silly until you try it yourself. Eli Susman, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, knows the power of meditation firsthand, and wanted to find out if there was another way to induce similar mental health benefits. In a recent study, he found a single 20-second session of self-compassionate touch significantly reduced stress, increased kindness to the participant and improved mental well-being. Yes, that means hugging yourself, or stroking your own hair — whatever you would do to comfort someone you loved. "In this touch-deprived society, we can offer ourselves the same kindness and compassion we so freely give to others," Susman said. "It's right at our fingertips." Oh, and it really does work. Go ahead, try it. Don't be weird about it, just do it. See?!

Read the whole story here. 

Rec of the week

Brought to you by CNN Underscored

Shameless animal video

There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.

Did we not supply you with enough penguin content? Never fear. Take a journey to Phillip Island, which is home to the world's largest colony of little penguins. At sunset, they create an adorable and unforgettable sight. (Click here to view) 

Made with love by CNN's 5 Things team. 

A newsletter for the good in life

Sponsor Content by FinanceBuzz

Bonus alert: unlimited cash back match

Take a break from high interest with this top card offering 0% intro APR until nearly 2026. You'll get a 5% cash back match after the first year, giving you up to 10% back on eligible purchases!