July 14, 2026

Bears get snow day in San Diego

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news stories: the San Diego Zoo gave rescued grizzly bear brothers Scout and Montana a snow day with industrial snowblowers, highlighting the need to secure food and trash in bear country; Scotland’s Dalrymple family sold Bass Rock—home to major seabird colonies and described by David Attenborough as a top wildlife wonder—to conservationists so groups like the RSPB can better protect it; ETH Zurich researchers restored movement in mice with severed spinal cords using stem cells combined with magnet-responsive nanoparticles (“NPC bots”) guided by magnets to reconnect nerves; in Canada, Leah rescued a young crow with firefighters’ help and has since received “gifts” and visits from local crows; in England, 11-year-old Charlie found a two-million-year-old extinct elephant relative’s molar on a beach.

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Kalaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

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good news stories. Recently, there was snow in San Diego,

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specifically at the San Diego Zoo. They treated their grizzly bears,

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Scout and Montana, to a snow day, using industrial snowblowers

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to replicate late spring weather that they would experience in

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the wild. Scout and Montana are brothers. They were rescued

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as cubs from an area outside Yellowstone National Park about

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twenty years ago. The zoo said they and their mother

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repeatedly found unsecured food in human occupied areas, creating safety

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risks for both bears and local communities. Their story serves

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as an important reminder that properly storing food and securing

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trash and bear country helps protect both people and wildlife.

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I hope they enjoyed the snow. Meanwhile, in Scotland, a

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family that has owned one of the world's great wildlife

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treasures for more than three centuries has decided the birds

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can have it. The Dalrypple family has sold Bass Rock,

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which is a small island in the Firth of Fourth

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that is home to around one hundred thousand gannetts and

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ten thousand puffins. They've sold it to conservationists who will

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protect the site for generations to come. Bass Rock rises

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dramatically from the seeds, covered in nesting seabirds, and dotted

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with the remains of a medieval castle, a lighthouse, and

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a notorious prison once known as Scotland's Alcatraz. Sir David

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Attenborough described it as one of the twelve Wildlife Wonders

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of the World. The family had owned it for three

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hundred and twenty years. Sir Hugh Dalrymple said, I made

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the decision to do this because of the risk the

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birds are now facing. I thought an organization like the

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RSPB would be better equipped to protect the islands and

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their wildlife than a private individual. He said. There was

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some emotional regret, but he's pleased that the islands now

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have dedicated conservation guardians. Scientists continue to get it done.

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There's some scientists in Switzerland that have restored normal movement

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in mice whose spinal cords had been completely severed. They

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did it using microscopic robots, stem cells, and magnets. Researchers

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at et Zurich say the breakthrough could eventually transform the

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treatment of spinal cord injuries. When the spinal cord is damaged,

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nerve cells rarely grow back on their own. Scar tissue

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often blocks new connections, leaving patients with permanent paralysis or

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loss of movement. So the Swiss team decided to try

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something different. They started with stem cells that can develop

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into nerve cells. They combine those cells with specifically diagnosed

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nanoparticles that respond to magnetic fields. The result is something

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they call an npc bot. Think of it as a

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tiny repair crew. The nanoparticles can be guided to an

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injury site and then stimulated magnetically, creating electrical signals that

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encourage stem cells to grow and reconnect damaged nerves. The

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first team tried it in zebrafish. The results were encouraging.

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Then they tried it in mice. Twenty eight days later,

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the nerve cells on either side of the jury had reconnected.

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The mice gradually regained increasingly normal movement. In Canada, a

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woman who rescued an injured crow has been adopted by

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the local crow community and they are paying her back

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with yes Yeah. Leah spotted a young crow trapped in

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a roof gutter. She was looking around for assistance noticed

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something nearby a fire truck. She approached the firefighters and said, hey,

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you look like you want to save a crow today.

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Great line. The firefighters agreed. They brought over a ladder,

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freed the trap bird, and then left Leah with the

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responsibility of figuring it out from there. She accepted, but

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she says, the young crow grabbed onto her finger before

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being taken for treatment. He latched on on my finger

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and held on. That was life changing. Not too long after,

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Leah was walking her dog and noticed a crow fly

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down and drop something at her feet. It was a

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small bundle of feathers, a gift. Since then, she's received

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more presents from local crows. Now, whenever she walks through

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the neighborhood, the birds gather around her, circling overhead and

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falling along, as if she's their favorite celebrity. The crow

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she rescued still visits her. He's easy to identify because

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he has a leg band that was attached when he

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was released back into the wild. And congrats to an

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eleven year old boy in England, he discovered a two

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million year old tooth from an ancient elephant. Charlie was

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walking on the beach and had just been talking about

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how much he loves elephants. He looked down and saw

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an oddly shaped rock, but it didn't feel like a rock.

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Charlie's mother, Eleanor, said it must have been quite distinctive

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because it caught both our eyes. So we picked it up.

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We could tell something different at a different feel to it.

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They contacted experts who said that Charlie had found the

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upper left molar of an extinct elephant relative called Anachus

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or venisis. I probably got that wrong, regardless that species

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roomed parts of Europe roughly eight and a half million

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years ago. I just believed that type of animal weighed

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as much as six tons and was eight feet tall.

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It was also known for long, straight tusks. The tooth

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itself four inches across. Charlie now can humble Braggy is

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the coolest show. Until item in school we said, I've

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found a two million year old elephant tooth on the beach.

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Those are your five good news stories for today. Have

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a great day.