An EMT ran back down a mountain for blood, then back up 1,000 feet in 31 minutes to save a dying climber

Happy Wednesday. I read today's lead story twice because I couldn't quite believe it. Will Soper was teaching a first aid course two hours away when he heard the dispatch. He drove to the mountain, climbed halfway up, learned the patient needed blood, climbed back down, packed blood bags into a cooler and ran back up 1,000 feet in 31 minutes. That's heroism with a backpack.

We also have Callum Smith, born without arms, now hitting 110 mph steering with his feet and chasing a spot at Le Mans. Aubry Allbridge, 22, who has Down syndrome and just led her debut fitness class of 60 people. And seven critically endangered African penguin chicks who hatched at Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach this season.

Here's your good news.

—Stephanie S

Jacob Gregory was leading a climb with his son on Shortoff Mountain in North Carolina when he fell 20 feet down a rock face. His son called emergency services. Will Soper, a 28-year-old EMT and volunteer with Burke Rescue Inc., was teaching a training course two hours away when he heard the dispatch. He knew the area. "The rescue occurred in a notoriously remote and challenging place to access," he said. He drove to the mountain anyway.

By the time Soper arrived, first responders had already reached Gregory and found him in critical condition with internal bleeding. Soper had climbed halfway up when his radio crackled: the patient needed blood. He turned around, descended to the trailhead, packed blood bags into a cooler with extra ice and everything needed for a transfusion, and headed back up. He gained 1,000 feet of elevation over 1.5 miles in roughly 31 minutes carrying it all in a backpack.

"In all honesty, 'run' is a little bit hyperbolic," Soper said afterward, with characteristic understatement. "I maintained a fast hiking or jogging pace and made sure I didn't stop for any breaks." More than 20 agencies responded to the rescue. Gregory was transported to Atrium Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. His family wrote on a GoFundMe: "You saved a life and brought a husband, father, brother, son, friend, and loved one to safety."

Soper ended with a request. "If you read this and thought, I want to help, please contact your local rescue squad or search and rescue team."

Callum Smith fell in love with racing at age two, watching bike racing with his grandad Michael. He was born without arms. That detail did not appear to register as an obstacle in any permanent sense. At 23, he is Britain's only no-armed racing driver, and the world's only one, and he recently signed his first driver contract with Team BRIT, the world's only competitive racing team made up entirely of disabled drivers.

Smith started with a bold email. "The racing started off with an email to Team BRIT expressing my interest in racing," he said, "and I said if they were interested in making my dreams come true, I'd be forever grateful." He passed the tests, did a skid assessment, and was on track. His first session at Donington Park reached 90 mph. Four months ago he hit 100 mph at Silverstone in his own Audi A3. He is now hitting speeds above 110 mph in Team BRIT's modified BMW 1 Series.

His left foot turns the steering plate. His right foot operates the accelerator and brake, with an indicator switch on top giving him controls for the horn, headlights, and wipers. "My feet are like my hands," he said. "I write with my right foot, I play Xbox with my feet, I play guitar with my feet, and I eat by myself using a normal knife and fork." He is working toward his racing license. His target is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "I'm going to be the first person to be racing without any arms, the first one ever."

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Aubry Allbridge, 22, from Kaysville, Utah, had been attending fitness classes at VASA Fitness for years when Jane Johnson, a co-owner of the gym and an UpBeat Barre instructor, started paying close attention. What she noticed was unusual. Aubry could learn an entire choreography routine faster than most students, retain it perfectly, and sing along to every word of every song while doing it. "She has an incredible brain," Johnson said. "Aubry can learn choreography so fast, and she retains it."

Johnson had kept her eye on Aubry for some time before approaching her about getting certified. UpBeat Barre combines strength training, Pilates, cardio, and yoga into what its website calls a high-energy fusion of fun. Aubry had also been attending Zumba, SilverSneakers, and HIGH Fitness classes. The certification process, once she started, suited her perfectly. Her favorite part was motivational cuing and giving options "to make everyone feel included."

Her debut class had 60 people in it. "I had such a fun time," Aubry said afterward. "I love to be on stage. I love exercise. I loved to wear my mic and say every cue, and I love to meet with people and collecting friends. I want to help everyone feel included." Johnson is now helping her turn the certification into a full-time job at the gym.

African penguins are the only penguin species found anywhere in the Old World, living along the coasts of South Africa and Namibia. Their populations have been declining throughout the 21st century. Scientists had previously estimated they might be extinct by now. They are not, and this week at Ripley's Aquarium of Myrtle Beach, the case for optimism got a little stronger.

Five new chicks hatched this season, joining two who arrived in May and have already been named Chel and Vic. The seven together represent a record nesting season for the aquarium, and staff are calling them the Lucky Seven. The achievement follows a landmark conservation moment in March 2025, when a South African legal settlement established substantially increased no-fishing zones around six key African penguin breeding colonies, the first legal action of its kind in the country.

"We thought we were lucky with our first two chicks, but welcoming five more has made this an unforgettable year," said Courtnie Barnett, the aquarium's general manager. "This incredible milestone would not be possible without our amazing animal care team. Their dedication, expertise, and passion for these animals is truly what makes moments like this possible, and we are so proud to celebrate the Lucky Seven with our guests."

🐍 Global: University of Maryland researchers discovered that combinations of toxin-blocking proteins naturally found in rattlesnake blood are about 10 times more potent than current antivenoms in lab tests, offering a path toward nature-inspired treatments for the 80,000 to 140,000 people killed by snakebites each year. Published in PNAS.

💊 Global: A large Swedish study of nearly 15,000 people with bipolar disorder found that semaglutide use was associated with a 21% lower risk of psychiatric hospitalization and a 17% lower risk of bipolar relapse hospitalization, with researchers suggesting it may protect the brain by reducing inflammation. Published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.

🌺 Galápagos: Scientists working to save the Galápagos snapdragon, a plant that had come close to disappearing entirely, are reporting encouraging signs of recovery through a targeted conservation program on the islands. ⚠️ Galápagos snapdragon URL still needs one-click verification

🦜 New Zealand: New Zealand's Kakapo, the world's heaviest parrot and one of its rarest birds, hatched a record 105 chicks in the 2026 breeding season, the most since records began 30 years ago, pushing the total population toward 325 birds for the first time in decades.

❤️ UK: An AI tool developed at Imperial College London correctly identified 81% of heart failure cases and 90% of heart valve disease cases among 67,000 patients by scanning ECGs in under two seconds for signals invisible to human cardiologists, with the team now launching an NHS trial at five London and Bristol hospitals.

On September 9, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to replace the name "United Colonies" with "the United States of America" in all official documents, giving the new nation the name it has carried ever since. The country had declared independence from Britain two months earlier, but had not yet agreed on what to call itself. This was the day that changed.

Two hundred and fifty years later, the name is so familiar it requires no explanation in any language. It appears on passports, treaties, flags, currency, and the documents of nearly every international institution on Earth. It took one vote in a room in Philadelphia.

Other notable September 9 events:

1956: Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, 70 years ago today, performing "Don't Be Cruel" and "Love Me Tender" for the most popular TV audience in America, after host Ed Sullivan had previously vowed never to allow him on.

1947: The first computer bug was discovered, 79 years ago today, when a moth was found lodged in a relay at Harvard University, and Rear Admiral Grace Hopper coined the term "debugging" to describe what happened next.

1957: The first Civil Rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction was signed into law by President Eisenhower, 69 years ago today, establishing the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

1993: The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognized Israel's right to exist as a legitimate state, and Israel agreed to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people, 33 years ago today.

— Mark Twain

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:

🧬 Reading the Clock Inside Your Cells: Scientists have developed epigenetic clocks that can measure biological age independently of chronological age, identifying people whose bodies are aging faster or slower than expected, and are now using them to track whether anti-aging interventions are actually working in clinical trials, for the first time giving researchers a way to measure aging itself as an outcome.

🔬 The Race for Room-Temperature Superconductors: Researchers are making steady progress toward materials that conduct electricity with zero resistance at or near room temperature, which would eliminate virtually all energy loss in power grids, transform the efficiency of MRI machines and particle accelerators, and make magnetic levitation in transportation practical at a scale never before possible.

🌊 Seeing Atmospheric Rivers Weeks Out: Meteorologists can now forecast atmospheric rivers, the narrow bands of concentrated moisture that carry enormous quantities of water vapor across oceans and deliver both catastrophic flooding and desperately needed drought relief, weeks in advance rather than days, giving communities significantly more time to prepare for what's coming.

🛸 Cleaning Up Low Earth Orbit: Companies and space agencies are now testing spacecraft specifically designed to capture and deorbit defunct satellites and rocket bodies, tackling the growing cloud of debris that threatens every operational satellite currently keeping navigation, communications, and climate monitoring running.

🔭 Sequencing Proteins One Molecule at a Time: Scientists are developing tools that can read the exact sequence of amino acids in individual protein molecules, bringing to proteins the same revolution that DNA sequencing brought to genetics, and potentially unlocking a level of biological understanding that current techniques cannot reach.

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