July 23, 2026

Sea Squirts Squash Cancer PLUS a woman's suitcase vibrates at the airport

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news stories: a Columbia University study of 11,000 office workers finds the best way to counter sitting is a five-minute walk every hour, boosting mood, alertness, and productivity; University of South Florida researchers report toxins tied to Antarctic sea squirts show early promise against melanoma, killing cancer in mice without harming them, though producing enough compound remains a challenge; Montana volunteers called the “Montana Bar Fairies” leave $5 coffee gift cards on cars left overnight at bars to reward people for not driving drunk; Kelsey becomes the first American woman to row solo from California to Hawaii, completing the ~2,400-mile trip in 43 days on her boat The Lily and setting a new fastest time; and an airport moment where a vibrating suitcase turns out to contain an electric toothbrush.

00:52 Sea Squirts Cancer Hope
01:35 Bar Fairies Rewards
02:15 Solo Rowing Record
02:57 Vibrating Suitcase Laugh

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/5-good-news-stories-happiness-and-fun--5747537/support.

5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network

John also hosts Daily Comedy News

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app.

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:09.160
Caloroga Shock Media. Hi there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

2
00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.080
good news stories. Studies have long shown that sitting all

3
00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.519
day is not great for our health, but new research

4
00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:18.320
suggests the solution might be pretty simple. Researchers at Columbia

5
00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.320
University say the sweet spot is taking a five minute

6
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:25.559
walk every hour. The study followed more than eleven thousand

7
00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.839
office workers. During the first week, participants follow their normal routines.

8
00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.960
Then they tested different walking schedules, including breaks every thirty minutes,

9
00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.159
every hour, and every two hours. If you ever worked

10
00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.640
in an office, I'm absolutely doing the every hour. The

11
00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:40.679
results work clear. Walking every half hour offered benefits, but

12
00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.359
interrupted work too often. Waiting two hours helped a little,

13
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:47.600
but not as much the sweet spot five minutes once

14
00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.799
an hour. Participants reported feeling happier, more alert, less fatigued,

15
00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.840
and even more productive. Scientists getting a ton and they

16
00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.880
have found that an Antarctic sea creature might hold the

17
00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.759
key to fighting skin cancer. Researchers from the University of

18
00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:05.079
South Florida say toxins produced by tiny Antarctic sea creatures

19
00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:08.120
known as sea squirts, have shown remarkable promise in early

20
00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:12.120
melanoma research. Divers collected these sea squirts, which is just

21
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:14.959
fun to say, from icy waters more than one hundred

22
00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:18.480
feet below the surface. In laboratory testing, researchers found that

23
00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:22.079
bacteria living inside the sea squirts produce compounds capable of

24
00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:26.280
killing melanoma cells. That's awesome. Even more encouraging, the compounds

25
00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:30.159
eliminated cancer and mice without harming the mice. Professor Bill

26
00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:32.480
Baker said, the good news is it didn't kill the mice,

27
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.680
it did kill the cancer. Now the challenge producing enough

28
00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:38.719
of it. A basketball size collection of sea squirts yields

29
00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.359
only a tiny fraction of the material needed for testing,

30
00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:43.719
so scientists have to figure out how to recreate the

31
00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:47.200
compound in the labor rather than harvesting it. In Antarctica

32
00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.879
and Montana, volunteers were rewarding people who choose not to

33
00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.519
drive drunk, never drive drunk, always choose not to drive drunk.

34
00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.920
A volunteer group known as the Montana Bar Fairies. They

35
00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.920
went viral for leaving five dollars coffee gift cards under

36
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:03.799
the windshield wipers of vehicles left overnight outside local bars.

37
00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:06.040
Here's the deal. If you leave your car behind, you

38
00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:08.199
take a cab home instead of drinking. You get a

39
00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.319
small thank you the next morning to show up. Is

40
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:12.680
that a parking ticket? No, it's a gift card for

41
00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:16.879
a cup of coffee. Congratulations to Kelsey. Kelsey made history

42
00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.199
becoming the first American woman to row alone from California

43
00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:24.800
to Hawaii. Forty three days alone on the Pacific Ocean,

44
00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.439
Kelsey arrived in Honolulu, completing the roughly twenty four hundred

45
00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.680
mile journey aboard her twenty one foot rowing boat, the Lily.

46
00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:36.560
She also set the fastest solo California to Hawaii rowing

47
00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.360
time ever, breaking both the previous women's record by more

48
00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.560
than eighty six days. Throughout the journey, she shared video

49
00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.840
updates documenting everything from rough seas and ocean currents, the

50
00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:49.120
everyday challenges of avoiding sunburn, preparing meals, and coping with

51
00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.759
weeks of isolation, and one entry recorded just a few

52
00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:55.560
days before reaching Hawaii, she was sad she had come

53
00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:59.680
to love life alone on the open ocean. Oh and

54
00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:02.479
you got a feel for this, mom. Mom's there at

55
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:07.960
the airport, and suddenly the suitcase started vibrating. Yep, the

56
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.439
suitcase started vibrating in full volume. Everyone turned around and

57
00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.800
stared at the mom. What was in the suitcase that

58
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.800
at everybody wondering what was vibrating, Well, it was a

59
00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.439
personal item, you know what. It was an electric toothbrush.

60
00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:23.759
I know what you were thinking, kind of show do

61
00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:27.280
you think this is? It was an electric toothbrush. That's

62
00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.520
all those? Are you? Five good news stories for today?

63
00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:30.240
Have a good one.