🕷️ Portuguese teens built a spider robot using AI and recycled junk. What could go wrong?

I, for one, welcome our many-legged robotic overlords.

AI-powered spider robots would be perfectly at home in a sci-fi horror film. I can almost see a terrifying mechanical arachnid chasing down a Sigourney Weaver-ish heroine, intent on planting its seeds. But you won’t find the real-world bots stalking the halls of a spaceship; you’ll find them set loose in the wilds of Lisbon, Portugal. And the seeds in question are not vile aliens, but saplings ready and willing to regrow wildfire-ravaged hillsides too steep and dangerous for humans.

As Erik Barnes reports, college students Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça are to blame credited with creating the prototype, which they’ve named 'Trovador.’

Can a mechanical spider made by two teens and recycled materials make that big a difference? Read the full article to see how the science and the economics are aligning.

Image of the day

😱 "You look like someone who eats the icing first," and 10 other unhinged kid roasts

When the tiny humans go full roast mode, no one is safe.

The show was called Kids Say the Darndest Things because Kids Say the Most Unhinged, Inappropriate, Wild, Left Field, Absurd, Hurtful, Savage, Profound Things wouldn’t fit in the TV Guide. One moment you’re having a pretty good day, then a 5-year-old tells you your breath smells like ham, and you have to reevaluate your entire existence.

In this story by Ryan Reed, adults recount the exact moments pint-sized strangers ambushed them with unsolicited feedback. Identities questioned. Bodies assessed. Vibes analyzed. And more than one adult learned something they can never unlearn.

It’s a perfect read if you’ve ever been blindsided by a child’s savage honesty or enjoy laughing at someone else’s emotional damage.

⏳ A cigar tin, a lost wood fragment, and a 5,000-year-old mystery

Or: How to misplace a priceless artifact for almost a century.

You’d think if you went through the trouble of excavating one of the world’s great ancient wonders, you’d keep pretty good tabs on your findings, especially if there were only three objects left to discover after five millennia. If the wonder in question were the Great Pyramid of Giza, you’d be mistaken.

What were the three objects that were found? A copper hook, a granite ball, and a fragment of cedar wood. The first two found their way to the British Museum, and the fragment of cedar? It vanished, not to be seen for over seventy years. Where it went, how it was found, and what the fragment revealed are all in the full story, and you’ll find yourself having a new appreciation for that last scene from the first Indiana Jones movie.

And what did we learn?

Yesterday, we discussed the power that music has to stave off dementia and other mental issues. I wanted to know which part of the brain is responsible for processing both music and emotion. Only 24.5% of you knew to give love to the Limbic system.

• Cerebellum (26.5%)

• Hippocampus (36.7%)

• Limbic system (24.5%) ✅

• Medulla oblongata (12.2%)

The City of Light was the first in the world to see the wild glow of neon on December 3, 1910. On the opening day of the French Motor Show, French engineer Georges Claude turned a lab curiosity into a public spectacle when he flooded the Grand Palais with an eerie red light. Within two years, advertisers latched onto the new technology.

First, a massive sign for the CINZANO barbershop flickered to life above Paris. Ten years later, a Los Angeles car dealer named Earle C. Anthony lit up a sign for PACKARD so bright that it reportedly caused traffic jams for miles. Soon, whole swaths of major cities, from Times Square to the Vegas Strip, were garishly lit by the glowing gas.

Today, neon is slowly going out of fashion as cheaper, more versatile LEDs take over, but the unique glow of Neon has left its mark on both history and our retinas.

Do you have something GOOD to share?

We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!

💬 From the group text…

Nope… nope nope nope nope nope.

Join the Group Text! Send us your social media gold.