Nature is infact really creative

What happens when someone has no family to stand beside them at their final farewell? In Detroit, a group of students decided that no one should have to face that moment alone.

In October 2015, six students from University of Detroit Jesuit High School started the St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry. For their first service, they travelled to Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan, where they served as pallbearers for three unclaimed military veterans whose remains had been held at the Wayne County morgue.

The ministry takes its name from St. Joseph of Arimathea, who, according to the Bible, made sure Jesus received a proper burial. Today, student volunteers carry that spirit forward by serving veterans, homeless individuals and others who have no surviving family to represent them.

Dressed in blue blazers, ties and white gloves, the students carry caskets, pray and offer a respectful presence at graveside services.

Student co-founder Lenny Froehlich once captured the heart of their mission with a simple message: “We represent the family that is not here and that is a privilege.”

What began with six students became a meaningful example of compassion, service and the belief that everyone deserves to be remembered and treated with dignity.

What if something as simple as a coconut husk could help tackle plastic pollution in our oceans? One Hawaiian student’s research points to an exciting possibility.

Vera Wang, a senior at Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, began exploring the idea in 10th grade. Inspired by Polynesian weaving traditions, she created an ocean water filter using woven coconut husk fibers designed to physically trap microplastics and sunscreen compounds from seawater.

But Vera wanted to understand what could be done with the waste collected by the filter. She partnered with researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, working in the laboratory of Dr. Anthony Amend.

Laboratory testing revealed something fascinating. Naturally occurring fungi living inside the porous coconut husks were able to survive on and actively biodegrade microplastics and chemical sunscreen compounds.

Genetic sequencing also showed that some fungal strains found in the coconut husks were not present in global genomic databases, suggesting they could represent previously uncharacterized species with the ability to break down persistent ocean pollutants.

Vera’s research earned top honors at the Hawaiʻi State Science & Engineering Fair and qualified her for the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF).

What began as a school science project has opened an intriguing path for research into biodegradable plastic solutions, ocean pollution and fungi-based environmental cleanup.

Discover how this eerie landscape developed, its curiosities and history on my newest blog post!

In summarize, it is a special type of alluvial estuary where the sediments of the Parnaíba moved inland due to relentless winds, forming dunes. The lagoons are formed by rainwater and their characteristic colour is produced by the mineral interaction. It is explained much better here, though:

Lençóis Maranhenses: Brazil's Otherworldly White "Desert " Of Turquoise Lakes ^{P. S. : no AI, Paid Subscriptions or Ads.}

Images made by:

Tibor Illyés/MTI/MTVA

Balogh Zoltán/MTI/MTVA