Thursday, April 24th, 2025

Good Morning! 🌞

Today we recognize National Pet Care for All Day, launched by the East Bay SPCA in Oakland, California—one of the oldest shelters in the U.S., founded exactly 150 years ago on April 24, 1874.

This day is about making pet care accessible to everyone, regardless of income. Whether you have a dog, cat, or any companion animal, it’s a reminder to prioritize their health and well-being—and support efforts to ensure others can do the same.

Give your pet a little extra love today—and consider how we can all help make pet care a basic right, not a luxury.

Innovation

App Detects Mouth Cancer

A group of high school students is taking on one of the deadliest cancers with a powerful, low-cost tool. Their invention, Oral Scan, uses smartphone photos and AI to detect signs of oral cancer with 82% accuracy—and can even determine the cancer’s stage with 87% accuracy if a tumor is found. While that may fall short of clinical-grade AI tools, it’s a huge step forward for underserved regions, like parts of Arkansas, where entire counties lack a single dentist.

Oral cancer affects 52,000 Americans each year and claims over 12,000 lives. Early detection can increase survival rates by up to 40%, but most cases are diagnosed too late. The Bentonville West High School team behind Oral Scan built the app to change that. Each scan takes just 15 seconds and costs only 50 cents to run. Designed to work on both Apple and Android devices, the app was created with accessibility and ease-of-use in mind—bringing potentially life-saving tech to communities that need it most.

The students have entered their project in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, which awards top STEM teams up to $100,000 in tech prizes. Already, Oral Scan has earned national media coverage and invites to present at medical conferences—an impressive achievement for a high school project that could have a real-world impact.

Good News

‘Human Chain’ Moves Books

When Serendipity Books in Chelsea, Michigan needed help relocating, the community showed up in a big way. Owner Michelle Tuplin was moving the independent bookstore just 350 feet down the street but didn’t want to shut down for days to pack and transport thousands of books. So she put out a simple call for help on social media—and more than 300 volunteers responded.

Rather than packing everything in boxes, the volunteers formed two human chains and passed 9,100 books hand to hand. Within just two hours, the entire inventory had been moved—and even kept in alphabetical order. It was a show of coordination, care, and love for a local business that clearly means something to the people around it.

Tuplin said the turnout was proof of how much communities still value independent bookstores. The new space is more than twice the size of the original and will officially reopen on April 26, just in time for Independent Bookstore Day. No gimmicks, no fanfare—just neighbors looking out for something they love.

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Environment

125 Year-old Mango Tree

In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 84-year-old Kalimullah Khan has transformed a single mango tree into a living marvel—home to over 300 varieties of mangoes. A school dropout turned self-taught horticulturist, Khan began experimenting with grafting techniques in 1957. He used a mature Alphonso tree from his family orchard as the base and gradually added hundreds of other varieties, including hybrids he named after celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At its peak, the tree produced 350 distinct mango types in one season.

Now maintained by his son, the tree requires constant care—everything from pest control to precision watering and selective harvesting. It's over 125 years old and has drawn international interest from horticulturists as far as Iran and Dubai. Khan’s lifelong dedication earned him one of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Shri.

Despite the accolades and global attention, Khan remains grounded. He often says he didn’t teach the tree—it taught him. When he dies, he hopes to be buried next to the orchard that shaped his life’s passion and purpose.

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Mind Stretchers

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Yesterday’s Answers to the Mind Stretchers:

What five-letter English word can be pronounced the same even with four of its letters removed? — queue, Betty Wade got this correct early! 🌞 

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.