Hey there, I'm Krista Bo with your weekly dose of feelgood stories. You could soon taste fruits you've probably never tried before. Because scientists solved a 400 million year old mystery.
'We can get prickle-less roses, prickle-less eggplants, prickle-less whatever you want.
Plus, a giant statue of a New York City critter will have the best perch in town. From CNN, this is Five Good Things.
Tropical Storm Debby did a number on states in the southeast, like South Carolina. But ahead of the storm, a community rallied together to make sure every single animal at Dorchester Paws Shelter would be safe in warm, loving homes. That's the shelter celebrating the fact that all the kennels are empty.
We have over 300 animals in our care currently, and we needed those animals to not be in the shelter whenever the floodwaters rose. It just is unsafe.
Katie Fullwood works at the shelter in Summerville, South Carolina.
We made a call to our community, and our community came through. They came in droves, and we got every single dog and every single cat out of the shelter.
She says the shelter put out foster feelers on social media.
'And we had over 500 foster applications submitted within a 24-hour window.
The shelter evacuated the dogs and cats on Sunday, and Katie says there was a huge line of cars waiting some two hours to pick them up. But the wait was worth it.
Local person with dogs
00:01:30
Broken my heart, stole my heart.
Local person with dogs
00:01:32
Hi. Yeah. We're gonna have so much fun. We're gonna have so much fun.
Local person with dogs
00:01:38
We're gonna have such a fun week.
They were cheering on other people as they saw them leave with a dog or a cat. You could tell that people were grateful to be a part of something that was good for the community.
They told the foster pet parents they weren't sure exactly how long they'd need them to take care of the animals, but the shelter created an adoption fee fund that's growing.
So if anyone were to fall in love and make a permanent match, it would be completely free to them to adopt.
You know how the saying goes. Every rose has its thorn.
Well, it turns out. Maybe not for long.
James Satterlee is the lead author of a new study that solved this 400 million year old mystery. How do roses and other plants have thorns or prickles? We know why. Plants have evolved to have prickles, mainly so herbivores don't eat them.
'Now we know the genes that make prickles and thorns and all these different plant species. And with just a simple, really easy to make change in the genetic code, we can get prickle-less roses, prickle-less eggplants, prickle-less whatever you want.
So besides roses, they looked at berries that grow on a prickle plant called the Desert Raisin, which grows in dry regions of Australia.
And they make these little berries that much like a raisin, you dry them down and they have this almost sweet caramel flavor to them. They're actually pretty tasty.
And they were able to remove the prickles from that plant.
This is sort of a nice first step to to making some of those really interesting or valuable wild species or useful plants easier to cultivate.
So you could see more fruits like these at the grocery store, thanks to this discovery. Climate change can complicate how some plants grow overall. So big picture, James is hopeful this can be used to help all kinds of plants adjust to the change.
Maybe we can understand how to engineer it or tweak it to better adapt plants to different environmental situations.
Now an act of kindness that might restore your faith in humanity. It did for the Spiewakowski family out in Massachusetts, at least.
Steve Spiewakowski
00:03:43
People can be so mean to each other and we forget how nice people can be.
Steve Spiewakowski told CNN affiliate WBZ that he and his family have had an emotional year. They moved their elderly dad out of his home and sold the house along with many of his possessions. They unknowingly sold a box of rare silver coins, apparently worth hundreds of dollars for only six bucks to a coin collector they didn't know. Days later, Steve said the buyer returned the coins to them. But what was even more touching than the items return, were the words that came with them. The customer left a heartfelt note with a quote from late Victorian poet, Rudyard Kipling.
Steve Spiewakowski
00:04:23
"I just wanted to share with you that has guided me to a richer life. 'Beware of over concern for money, position or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are."
Steve said he and his family were moved by his honesty and generosity.
Steve Spiewakowski
00:04:41
I hope he knows what a tremendous impact he made. It made a big difference with us.
The Paris Olympics wrap up tomorrow, after a few weeks full of incredible athletic moments and sportsmanship. The GOAT herself, Simone Biles, walked away with three gold medals and a silver. She's now the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast of all time. She had some words of advice for young girls who might be struggling to fit in.
You guys are beautiful, confident. You guys are so smart. Stand in your power, believe in yourself and you guys are going to be just fine.
Biles showed her support for her competitor after she took silver in the floor exercise final, and Rebecca Andrade of Brazil won gold. She and team USA teammate Jordan Chiles took a moment on the medal podium to bow in honor of Andrade. They said they knew this was a special moment, with Black women taking home all three medals for the event.
It was just the right thing to do.
She's an icon, a legend herself, so I feel like being recognized is what everybody should do.
'Another team USA All star Katie Ledecky again cemented her place as one of the greatest swimmers in history. She's the most decorated female U.S. Olympian of all time for any sport. And she's taking four medals home from Paris -two gold, one silver and one bronze. She reflected on what it took to get her there and the support she got from her parents.
Some of those practices would start at 4:45 in the morning. My parents would be up at four, make me a quick breakfast, drive me to the pool. You know, they were just supporting me and supporting my goals.
'Support from family has been a big part of pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, too. The 24-year-old was another big star at the Olympics, breaking his own world record and earning gold this week. Though raised in the U.S., he competes for Sweden to follow in his mother's footsteps. Duplantis started working on mastering the sport at the age of three, when they built a pole vault set up in their yard in Louisiana.
I feel like I always visualize the moment of world record height, Olympic final, and it's just me against the bar. It feels like I've prepared for this for my own entire life, so I feel like for it to work out the way that it did, it's just like, unbelievable, right?
Would you rather be a New York City rat or a pigeon? Ponder on that while we take a quick break. Up next, why you'll see a giant version of one of these in the city soon.
New York City is about to get a new statue that represents something, let's say, iconic in its own unique way. CNN's Emily Williams is here to tell us more about it. Hey, Emily.
Hi, Krista. So I have to start by asking, how do you feel about pigeons?
Honestly, I don't mind them. I know a lot of people call them rats with wings, but I don't know. I like to look at them as, like, dirty doves.
'So I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan. But you can't deny that they are kind of a quintessential urban critter, right? They're everywhere. Some counts I saw say there's more pigeons than people in New York. So there's a giant hyperrealistic, 16-foot-tall sculpture of a pigeon that's going to be built over part of the Highline. That's starting in October, and it's going to be out for 18 months.
Oh my gosh, the rats must be jealous.
I know right? The rats probably think they rule the city. The mock up images of what the statue is going to look like are pretty wild. That pigeon is going to tower over people. And I think the name of the statue is pretty interesting. The artist, Ivan Argote is calling it Dinosaur.
Oh my gosh, the statue is. It's kind of giving Godzilla vibes. And honestly, the name is not helping.
Yeah, so the name Dinosaur is a reference to the dinosaurs going extinct. And birds are the closest thing that exists today to dinosaurs. So the artist said, this statue is getting at the idea that one day humans won't be around anymore, and maybe a kind of remnant of humanity will live on, like the pigeon to the dinosaur.
All right, I changed my mind. That's pretty deep. I like the name now.
All right, that's all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of One Thing with David Rind. NASA says Boeing's Starliner astronauts may be up in space for a lot longer than anticipated. CNN's Kristen Fischer breaks down what happened and when they might be able to come home.
Five Good Things is a production of CNN audio. This episode was produced by Emily Williams, Eryn Mathewson, and me, Krista Bo. Our senior producer is Faiz Jamil. Greg Peppers is our supervising producer. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula is our technical director. And Steve Lickteig is the executive producer of CNN audio. We got support from Joey Salvia, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora, Leni Steinhardt, Jamus Andrest, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Katie Hinman. And thank you for listening. Til next time.
