A lynx was rescued from war-torn Ukraine and felt grass under her paws for the first time

Happy Monday and welcome to August. Today's lead story is about a lynx named Ursa who was rescued from war-torn Ukraine and flown to England. This week she felt grass under her paws for the first time. There's a video. Watch it.

We also have all 11 aboard a crashed and burning seaplane in Puget Sound surviving, an ASU enzyme that could clean up abandoned mine sites across America, and Japan's earthquake response reuniting families with lost pets.

Here's your good news.

—Stephanie S

Ursa is a Eurasian lynx who was found seriously ill in Kyiv in January, having been kept illegally as a private pet while bombs fell on the city around her. She was moved to a wild animal rescue center in the Ukrainian capital, where she stayed while the war continued. The Big Cat Sanctuary near Ashford in Kent, England, learned about her situation and decided to get her out.

The team raised $180,000 to fund what they described as a "high-risk" mission, navigating active border crossings in a war zone with a vulnerable apex predator in their care. She was flown to England in February and moved into a temporary enclosure while a permanent, nature-filled habitat was built for her on the sanctuary grounds. That enclosure was completed this week. Ursa walked out onto grass for the first time and immediately rolled over onto her back. She now shares the space with Rhys, another Eurasian lynx, a Bobcat named Blob, and a Fishing cat named Boson.

"To see Ursa take her first steps here in Kent was an incredibly emotional moment for the whole team," said Cam Whitnall, the sanctuary's managing director. "This mission was fraught with unpredictability, navigating a war zone with a vulnerable apex predator, but seeing her safe makes every risk worthwhile."

"Ursa has spent her life under the shadow of conflict and neglect," he added. "She is finally in her forever home." Watch the video and read the full story.

Last Thursday afternoon, a Kenmore Air de Havilland DHC-3 Otter seaplane took off from Seattle with 10 passengers and a pilot. Something went wrong. At 5:15pm, the plane went down in Puget Sound's frigid water. It also caught fire. By the time US Coast Guard first responders arrived on scene, the aircraft had already sunk.

All 11 people on board were rescued alive. Some sustained injuries including broken bones, lacerations, and head injuries, and one was in critical condition. Three air ambulances responded. Flight radar data showed the plane making a 180-degree turn toward Sucia Island before impact, suggesting the pilot had attempted an emergency landing rather than simply going down.

"The pilot probably did a really good job to set it down gently enough to give everybody a chance," said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Marshall Burtt. "A lot of things went right to get everybody out of the plane." The cause of the accident remains under investigation. Read the full story.

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Mining produces a vast category of waste called tailings: crushed and milled stone mixed with water, left over from the process of separating rock from ore. Tailings often contain arsenic, lead, and residues from the chemicals used in extraction. Across America and Canada, thousands of abandoned mine sites still have free-standing stacks of dry tailings sitting in the open, slowly eroding into nearby rivers and groundwater. They are a low-level environmental hazard that most people never think about.

A team at Arizona State University's Mining Innovation Initiative has developed an enzyme-based treatment that may change that. Applied directly to exposed tailings, the solution creates a protective crust that limits erosion and dust generation, immobilizing harmful substances and preventing them from reaching waterways. No specialized equipment is needed. The solution can be prepared on site and deployed at remote abandoned mine locations where conventional remediation is impractical.

"By using an enzyme-based process to form natural mineral bonds within the soil, we can create a protective crust that helps limit erosion and dust generation while avoiding more chemically intensive treatments," said project lead Hamed Khodadadi Tirkolaei. The team is currently testing the treatment at the abandoned Cash Mine near Prescott, Arizona, supported by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. A plant-based biopolymer backup technology has also been developed for sites with high heavy metal concentrations. Read the full story.

When a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kyushu in Japan, it destroyed homes, claimed more than three dozen lives, and scattered pets across the affected area. In the chaos of evacuation and emergency response, animals got separated from their families. What happened next says something about how seriously Japan takes the bond between people and their pets.

An organization called Maigo Ken no Keijiban, or the Lost Dog Bulletin Board, activated its network of 150,000 social media members to amplify notices for missing animals across the region. Within days, a lost Chihuahua named Leo had been identified, located, and returned to his owner a mile from where he was found — entirely through social media. A Shiba Inu named Go is still being searched for by his owner Yosuke Matsuda, who adopted him less than a year ago. "We think he was abused before, so he's very easily frightened," Matsuda said. "The earthquake likely terrified him into running away."

On the ground near the epicenter, the Kyushu Animal Academy, a vocational school specializing in animal care, transformed several of its classrooms into makeshift pet shelters. About 20 pets and their displaced owners are currently housed there. "Pets are family, and having them close makes a huge difference," said headmaster Ryunosuke Tokuda. "Even if you don't speak Japanese, if you and your pet need help, please feel free to reach out." Read the full story.

🌡️ USA: Heat pumps have officially become the dominant home heating and cooling system in America, outselling gas furnaces for the third consecutive year, with installation rates accelerating fastest in the South where mild winters make the economics most compelling.

🐜 Brazil: The world's first giant anteater reintroduction program is showing clear signs of success, with animals released into the Cerrado savanna establishing territories, reproducing, and surviving at rates that exceeded conservationists' initial expectations.

🐳 Global: Scientists have discovered that sperm whales blow a stream of bubbles through their teeth while sleeping underwater, a previously unknown behavior that appears to prevent water from entering their lungs while they rest, solving a mystery that has puzzled marine biologists for years.

⚛️ USA: IBM and the University of Chicago have announced the first demonstration of quantum advantage that meets rigorous verification standards, a computation beyond the practical reach of classical computers that can be confirmed as accurate. "We are now firmly in the quantum advantage era."

🔬 USA: Engineers at Purdue University have transformed a notoriously brittle cobalt-aluminum compound into an alloy up to 10 times stronger than structural steel that can also flex and deform at room temperature, a breakthrough with potential applications in jet engines, turbines, and aerospace.

On August 3, 1936, Jesse Owens, a Black American sprinter and long jumper from Alabama, stepped onto the track at the Berlin Olympics and won the 100-meter dash, directly humiliating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime that had designed the Games as a showcase for Aryan supremacy. It was the beginning of one of the most extraordinary individual performances in Olympic history. By the time the Games were over, Owens had won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay, becoming the first American athlete ever to win four gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics.

The Nazi propaganda machine had no good answer for what Owens did in Berlin. He was the most celebrated athlete of the Games. German spectators cheered him loudly. His long-jump rival, German athlete Luz Long, befriended him openly, walking arm-in-arm with Owens through the stadium after their competition in full view of Hitler. Owens later said Long was one of the finest sportsmen he ever met. The friendship between them, in that setting, remains one of sport's most quietly extraordinary moments.

Other notable August 3 events:

1876: Alexander Graham Bell conducted the world's first definitive telephone tests, 150 years ago today, making the first intelligible call from building to building near Brantford, Ontario, where his uncle David Bell recited lines from Hamlet down the line — "To be or not to be..." — confirming that the human voice could travel by wire.

1778: La Scala, one of the world's greatest opera and ballet venues, opened in Milan, 248 years ago today, with a performance of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, beginning a tradition of musical excellence that continues to the present day.

1992: Unforgiven, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, debuted in Los Angeles cinemas, 34 years ago today, co-starring Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman, going on to win four Academy Awards including Best Picture and gross more than ten times its production budget.

1968: The Doors began a two-week run at number one on the US singles chart with "Hello, I Love You," 58 years ago today, the band's second single to reach the top of the chart.

— Robert Frost

Every day brings amazing advances and uplifting moments that remind us just how wonderful the world can be. Here are five reasons why today is the best time ever to be alive:

🧬 Medicine That Lives in Your Gut: Scientists can now precisely edit the bacterial communities in the human gut, adding beneficial strains and suppressing harmful ones, with early clinical trials showing measurable improvements in conditions from inflammatory bowel disease to depression.

🌊 Mapping the Unknown Ocean: High-resolution sonar surveys are revealing mountain ranges, volcanic fields, and ecosystems on the deep seafloor that have never been seen before, with less than 25% of the ocean floor yet mapped to modern standards and extraordinary discoveries still waiting.

🔭 Listening to the Universe Through Ice: Giant neutrino detectors buried deep under Antarctic ice are capturing particles from distant galaxies and supernovae, opening an entirely new form of astronomy that passes straight through matter and is never blocked by dust, gas, or distance.

🌱 Growing Food Anywhere: Advances in LED technology and climate control have dramatically cut the energy costs of vertical farming, making indoor year-round crop production economically viable without subsidies in several markets, and enabling fresh food production in deserts and dense urban centers.

🧠 The Artificial Pancreas Is Here: Closed-loop insulin delivery systems combining continuous glucose monitors with automated pumps now manage blood sugar in real time with no manual intervention, dramatically reducing dangerous glucose swings in people with type 1 diabetes.

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