A heartwarming global response marked the 100th birthday of Richard ‘Dick’ Skepper, a former Royal Air Force (RAF) serviceman. Following an appeal by the RAF Association, Skepper’s Warwickshire home was inundated with birthday cards from well-wishers worldwide, creating an unforgettable centennial celebration.

The outpouring of support left Skepper deeply moved. His son, David, shared that the cards came from an incredibly diverse range of senders, spanning multiple generations and continents. The family was amazed to see postmarks from as far as Australia and the Americas, alongside numerous European countries.

David emphasized how touched his father was by the thoughtfulness evident in each card. The veteran took the time to read every message, marveling at the variety of designs and their far-flung origins. While individual acknowledgment of each sender isn’t feasible, the family expressed profound gratitude for the joy these gestures brought to Skepper’s milestone birthday.

The centenarian’s military service began at 18 when he joined the RAF, eventually serving with 7 Squadron under Bomber Command at RAF Oakington in Cambridgeshire. His role as a Flight Mechanic – Engines (FM1) was crucial to the war effort.

To commemorate this special occasion, Skepper enjoyed a garden party at his nursing home, Kinton Manor, surrounded by loved ones. The global card-sending initiative not only honored his past service but also created new, cherished memories as he enters his second century of life.

This outpouring of international support demonstrates the enduring respect for veterans and the power of community to create meaningful celebrations across borders.

Tap Social Movement, a craft brewery in Oxford, hires and trains ex-convicts in ale-making. This approach has been successful in reducing reoffending rates and is seen as a potential solution to the overcrowding crisis in UK prisons.

Amy Taylor and Paul Humpherson, former Ministry of Justice advisers, co-founded Tap Social Movement after becoming frustrated with the lack of support for prison leavers. They saw that many ex-convicts struggled to find housing, employment, and the self-confidence to reintegrate into society.

“We were part of a system that wasn’t addressing the root causes of overcrowding,” said Humpherson. “There are huge barriers for people wanting to rebuild their lives after release, and often, the necessary support isn’t there.”

Taylor, Humpherson, and Taylor’s sister, Tess, started the brewery to show that businesses could help prison leavers and still be commercially successful. They are part of a growing number of businesses, including the Co-op, Greggs, and Pret a Manger, that hire ex-offenders. James Timpson, known for his key-cutting business that employs jail leavers, was recently appointed as prisons minister.

Humpherson believes the government should offer incentives to encourage more businesses to run similar programs. “Having a stable job with caring employers gives ex-convicts the framework to rebuild their lives,” he said. “This leads to less crime, fewer victims, and lower costs for prosecution and punishment. It’s a win-win.”

Since Tap Social Movement opened in 2016, only 6% of the more than 50 ex-convicts they’ve hired have reoffended, compared to the national average of about 50%. The brewery has expanded to include three bars and a bakery, all staffed partly by former convicts.

Staff members have moved on to various careers, including construction, security, hospitality, and car sales. Olsi Vullneteri, who worked at Tap as an assistant brewer after serving a seven-year prison sentence for fraud, started his own sales business using the skills he learned at the brewery.

“When you get out of prison, you think you’ll never be respected again,” said Vullneteri. “But Tap restored my faith. They understand where you’re coming from and help you relearn how to live outside. I loved every second, especially the quality control tastings.”

The beer from Tap Social Movement, including Time Better Spent IPA, is recognized by the Good Beer Guide, and their Inside Out stout won a gold medal from the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates.

“It’s important to us that the product isn’t just a gimmick,” said co-founder Tess Taylor. “People often buy the beer to support our mission, but they keep buying it because it’s genuinely great beer.”

A new type of butter that doesn’t need animals or farmland might soon be available in the US. This innovation, created by the start-up Savor, uses carbon dioxide (CO2) to make a vegan fat. This could help reduce carbon emissions and protect rainforests.

Savor’s “butter” is made in a way similar to how fossil fuels are processed, not food. Kathleen Alexander from Savor says, “There is no biology involved in our specific process.” This butter doesn’t need animals, fertilizers, hormones, or antibiotics. It’s real fat, not a substitute, so it carries the same calories and flavor without the environmental drawbacks.

Savor’s method involves taking CO2 and adding heat and hydrogen to create fat chains. These are then mixed with oxygen from the air to produce fats and oils similar to those we use in cooking. This process avoids the use of animals, palm plantations, and harmful chemicals, making it an efficient and eco-friendly method.

Savor is working with chefs to create recipes using this new butter. They are offering samples to professional chefs and bakers to test in their kitchens. This innovation could change how we make milk, ice cream, cheese, meat, and tropical oils.

Bill Gates, who supports Savor, highlights the benefits of this new butter in a blog post. He explains that the process does not release greenhouse gases, uses no farmland, and requires very little water. Importantly, it tastes like real butter because it chemically is.

Cows produce a lot of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. According to UC Davis, cattle are the largest agricultural source of greenhouse gases, contributing to 14.5% of global emissions. While there are dairy alternatives like margarine, these often rely on plant oils, which still need land and resources to grow. Palm oil, for instance, has been linked to deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Savor’s butter stands out because it doesn’t require the plants, animals, or chemicals used in traditional fat products. So far, Savor has raised over $33 million from investors like Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Climate Capital. The company hopes to bring its butter to the market soon and is also exploring making other products like milk, cheese, and tropical oils.

This new butter could be a big step towards more sustainable food production, offering the same taste and quality without the environmental impact.

A little heat might be the answer to help frogs fight a dangerous fungal infection.

Researchers have found that tiny brick saunas, warmed by the sun, can help green and golden bell frogs battle chytrid fungus. This fungus has been a major problem, causing declines in at least 500 amphibian species, including these frogs, which have disappeared from much of their natural habitat in Australia.

Chytrid fungus thrives in cooler temperatures but can’t survive above 86°F. Frogs, however, prefer slightly cooler temperatures, around 84°F, which still isn’t ideal for the fungus. Infection rates go up in winter when it’s colder.

Anthony Waddle, a conservation biologist at Macquarie University in Australia, wanted to see if warmer shelters could help frogs fight off the fungus. He and his team set up 12 outdoor habitats, each with water, fake plants, and black masonry bricks inside little greenhouses. Some habitats had only healthy frogs, while others had a mix of healthy and infected frogs. Half the shelters were shaded, and the other half were left in the sun to test different temperatures.

The frogs quickly made themselves comfortable in the saunas. When it was about 68°F to 77°F outside, the unshaded bricks provided an extra 15 to 20 degrees of warmth. The shaded shelters were about 4.5 degrees cooler than the unshaded ones.

Frogs in the warmer, unshaded shelters had higher body temperatures and milder infections over the 15-week study. Even shaded saunas helped infected frogs fight the disease, increasing their survival rate to be similar to that of healthy frogs.

Frogs that overcame the infection were less likely to get sick again. The study found that frogs that had fought off the fungus before were 23 times more likely to survive a reinfection.

These saunas could be a big help for bell frogs and other urban-dwelling amphibians. “Bell frogs used to live in people’s toilets and letterboxes and everywhere before chytrid,” says Waddle. “Creating these warm habitats might help them increase their numbers again.”

The shelters are cheap and easy to build, so frog enthusiasts could set them up in their gardens, says Erin Sauer, a disease ecologist at the University of Arkansas.

However, not all frog species will benefit from these warm hideouts, cautions Cori Richards-Zawacki, an amphibian biologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Some species that like cooler environments, like the Panamanian golden frog, might not find these saunas helpful and could even become more vulnerable to the fungus at higher temperatures.

“Chytrid is a massive problem,” Waddle says. While the study doesn’t offer a complete solution, it does provide some hope.

South Sudan is working hard to protect the largest land mammal migration in history. The country has teamed up with the nonprofit African Parks to safeguard the many species that depend on this ecosystem.

The migration helps animals like the white-eared kob, tiang, Mongalla gazelle, and bohor reedbuck survive seasonal changes. The goal of the partnership is to protect up to six million animals on the east bank of the White Nile, a tributary of the Nile River.

Despite facing challenges like flooding, famine, and a recent civil war, many animals have survived by following ancient migration routes. They travel through “No Man’s Land,” vacant areas left by indigenous tribes for the animals to pass through. In 2022, African Parks and South Sudan signed a 10-year agreement to manage Boma National Park and Bandingilo National Park, both located in these areas, to help protect the species.

Researchers knew about the migration but didn’t understand it well. To learn more, African Parks, South Sudanese students from Juba University, and local people conducted aerial surveys over six months in 2023. They collected data daily, counting and identifying each species. They found that the animals moved in a circular route influenced by rainfall, as they searched for water resources.

David Simpson, park manager for African Parks, shared his experience from one of the surveys. “We flew for the first 30 to 40 minutes, and we didn’t see anything. I was like, ‘Oh, no, maybe it’s over. Maybe the wildlife has already disappeared,'” he told ABC News. “Then we get out there and we start hitting one, two, three, four. Then we start hitting hundreds and then we start hitting thousands, and then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands.”

To better understand the animals’ movements, African Parks began collaring species involved in the migration, as well as giraffes, lions, Nile lechwe, elephants, and cheetahs. Last year, rangers collared 126 animals across different species, and this year they collared 127, with plans to increase the number each year.

South Sudan is home to seventeen ethnic groups, each relying on the animals for clothing, shelter materials, medicine, and cultural traditions. They see the migration as a sacred symbol of abundance and prosperity. The communities are also working with African Parks to learn conservation measures that reduce threats to wildlife.

“Most people view the migration as something that has been going on for centuries,” Anthony Abang John Urbano, a member of the Bahr el Ghazal tribe, told ABC News. Urbano has worked as a backseat observer during the aerial surveys and continues to work as a control operator with African Parks. “When it comes to some specific communities, [the migration is] a mystery, but they all are benefiting from the same migration — it’s a mutual benefit,” he said.

African Parks has hired many indigenous members to help bridge the gap between conservation and the needs of local communities. Together, they work to raise awareness about animal conservation and involve the community in preserving the ecosystem.

“They are really proud that we are exposing that natural resource, especially the wildlife under conservation of South Sudan,” said Juanna Kenneth Ali, a member of the Moru tribe and a technician for African Parks. “They are really proud that I am part of a group who did great work exposing our nature to the world.”

As South Sudan faces increasing human development, including road construction and bushmeat poaching, the sustainability of wildlife and ethnic communities is threatened. African Parks predicts that without continued partnership and education on conservation, the animals could disappear within five to ten years. However, they stress that conservation must be balanced with tourism to help boost the economy.

“When it comes to understanding the wildlife and interacting with communities, human development can only lead to a sign of an animal losing its natural behaviors and, some suggest, losing agility,” noted Mapour Kuot Mungu, a control operator for African Parks’ South Sudan team and a member of the Bahr el Ghazal tribe. “With time, these animals become vulnerable to practices being caused by humans.”