Gavin Rossdale on thirty years of Bush, the mysteries of music making, Steve Albini and the defiance of gravity

Venezuelan Socialist President Nicolás Maduro accused the United States on Monday of attempting to force regime change in his country -- denouncing a U.S. naval buildup in the Caribbean as a direct threat to his "stolen" government.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM It’s a familiar scene in many homes: you greet your child after school and ask, “How was your day?” only to hear a flat “Fine.” You try again with, “What did you learn?” and get a shrug or a vague, “Nothing.” Teachers know this dance too. They pose thoughtful questions, only to be met with blank stares or awkward silences. Even when students are given time to think, their responses are often brief. Some are simply shy, but many are nervous about being wrong or standing out. Many educators and parents have seen how this hesitation to ask or answer can follow kids into adulthood. When adults avoid asking questions or hide what they don’t know, it can lead to willful ignorance. It closes doors instead of opening them. With back-to-school season officially here, now is the perfect time to help kids build their conversation and curiosity muscles. Here are five simple strategies for nurturing more meaningful conversations and sparking real interest. 1. Get creative with your questions It starts with asking something other than the usual. Routine, close-ended questions can signal disinterest, and kids pick up on that. Instead, try open-ended ones that require a little thought and imagination. Some favorites: “What was the most interesting thing you did today?” “If you could go back and change one thing about your day, what would it be?” “If you were in charge of your class tomorrow, what would you teach?” These kinds of prompts show kids you’re genuinely curious, and they create space for storytelling, not just answers. 2. Feed their curiosity—don’t shut it down It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the barrage of “why” questions kids throw at us. But the way we respond teaches them whether curiosity is welcome. Instead of saying, “Because I said so,” try, “That’s a good question. Here’s what I think…” or “Let’s talk about why that matters.” Even better, model curiosity back: “I’ve wondered about that too. Do you think it might be because…?” When kids see that their questions lead to thoughtful conversations, they feel encouraged to keep exploring. 3. Think out loud Let your child in on how your mind works. Saying your thoughts out loud (even or especially silly or small ones) can normalize questioning and problem-solving. Try things like: “Do you ever wonder why cats purr?” “Hmm, do you think I should mix the dry and wet ingredients at the same time?” “I saw the flags at half-staff today at your school. Do you think you could find out why?” Thinking out loud helps kids feel less alone in their wondering and more confident that their questions matter. 4. Be a seeker, not a know-it-all Parents often feel pressure to have all the answers. But “I don’t know” can be powerful when it’s paired with: “Let’s find out together.” Point out resources kids can use to solve everyday questions, whether it’s a recipe, a manual, a glossary, or the internet. And talk about how not every question has a clear answer, which is why we sometimes need to look at multiple sources and perspectives. This gives kids a healthy relationship with uncertainty. They learn that not knowing something doesn’t mean stopping; it means seeking. 5. Reflect back on what you hear Kids don’t always know how to express what they’re feeling or wondering. That’s where active listening makes a big difference. Instead of saying, “I don’t get what you’re saying,” try: “What I heard you say was… Is that right?” Or if your child rambles, focus on something specific: “I really appreciated how you said…” Also, resist the urge to multitask during these conversations. Putting away your phone and making eye contact shows that you’re present. And that, more than anything, encourages kids to open up again next time. Children are naturally curious. As Carl Sagan once said, “The complex and subtle problems we face can only have complex and subtle solutions… A great many children have that capability if only they are encouraged.” When we model curiosity, welcome their questions, and give them room to practice being thoughtful conversationalists, we help our kids grow into adults who are willing to ask, listen, and learn.The post 5 warm, creative ways to spark better conversations with your kids first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Marine biologists are celebrating a potential breakthrough in the fight against one of the deadliest coral diseases in the Caribbean: stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). A naturally occurring probiotic, discovered on a coral colony that survived an SCTLD outbreak, may help slow the disease’s devastating impact on Florida’s reef ecosystems. The bacterium, known as McH1-7, was first identified in 2018 by researchers at the Smithsonian Marine Station. It produces a compound called tetrabromopyrrole (TBP), a naturally occurring chemical that not only appears to protect corals from SCTLD but also plays a key role in coral larval settlement. “If TBP is a natural settlement cue, and if bacteria that also produce this compound protect corals from disease, it makes sense that larvae would settle where those compounds are being produced,” explained Jennifer Sneed, a biologist at the Smithsonian Marine Station. “More of them would survive to be able to recognize the compound.” A two-pronged treatment approach In a recent study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers tested McH1-7’s disease-fighting potential on young great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) colonies. The probiotic was applied using two methods: Injecting the probiotic into seawater inside a weighted bag placed over entire coral colonies Applying a paste directly to visible disease lesions The bagging method, which enveloped the coral in a probiotic-rich microenvironment, proved far more effective than localized treatment. Over a 2.5-year observation period, corals treated with the full-colony bagging method lost only about seven percent of their tissue, compared to 35 percent loss in untreated corals. The results suggest that the probiotics’ protective effects are long-lasting, providing a possible line of defense for coral restoration efforts in the region. By contrast, applying the paste directly to lesions offered little protection, prompting scientists to focus on whole-colony approaches. Diving into practical solutions To scale this solution, the team designed a method for applying the probiotics via scuba diving that avoids disrupting nearby coral species. This careful testing confirmed the method is safe for healthy Caribbean corals and could be adapted as a tool for widespread SCTLD management. “While the whole-colony bagging method does involve more material transport by divers and more time for deployment and retrieval, its performance at treating SCTLD and promoting long-term resistance outweigh these costs,” the authors wrote. “It is therefore the recommended application method of those we tested for probiotic treatments such as the McH1–7 strain.” A cautious step forward Still, researchers emphasize that this is just an early-stage solution, and there is much work to be done. The team calls for more testing across various coral species to better understand how probiotic treatments can be adapted and scaled. “It’s important to understand that this is the very beginning,” said Kelly Pitts, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Smithsonian Marine Station. “This is definitely not a cure-all, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.” In a time when Florida’s coral reefs face mounting threats from disease, warming seas, and pollution, the promise of a natural and effective treatment, even in its infancy, is a beacon of hope for marine scientists and conservationists alike. Source study: Frontiers in Marine Science— Evaluating the effectiveness of field-based probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease in southeast Florida, USAThe post How a beneficial bacteria could help save Florida’s coral from devastating disease first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

I love Dabo, but Brian Kelly cooked his ass