A Quebec chemical firm has developed a cyanide-free, and generally non-toxic method to extract gold from mineral ores—an option that could potentially relieve companies from a significant portion of current environmental compliance. The firm, Dundee Sustainable Technologies, also offers a patented chemical process called GlassLock, which addresses one of the industry’s most pressing environmental concerns: […] The post Quebec Firm Pioneers Cyanide-Free Gold Extraction and Arsenic Capture to Clean up Mining Industry appeared first on Good News Network.

By 1971, Linda Ronstadt was already a local music legend verging on a major breakthrough. To accompany her country-folk rock sound for her brief Silk Purse Tour, Ronstadt’s manager, John Boylan, wanted to assemble a band of fellow country rock musicians.  So Boylan reached out to some unknowns: a drummer named Don Henley, two guitarists Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon, and a bassist named Randy Meisner.  For these strangers, the tour was just a temporary gig. They had no idea it would lead to them becoming one of the biggest rock bands ever.  View this post on Instagram As the group played their set under Sleeping Beauty’s Castle for a crowd of high school grads, a connection was instantly made. In his 2014 induction of Ronstadt into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Frey would later recall approaching her with Henley to tell her that they wanted to leave her tour to start their own band.  To her credit, Ronshtad was completely supportive.  “I think where other people would’ve maybe been miffed by that, Linda completely understood, and said ‘Oh I think that’s great,’” said Frey.  @soundbitebio.com The Eagles formation story: How Linda Ronstadt’s tour led to country rock legends. She even helped recruit members! #TheEagles #MusicHistory #RockLegends #CountryRock #BehindTheMusic ♬ original sound – soundbitebio.com As the story goes, a few months after that Disneyland gig, the four took a trip to the Mojave Desert, one that involved peyote and tequila, and voula, the Eagles were born. About a year later, in 1972, they released their self-titled debut album, which included “Take It Easy”, “Witchy Woman”, and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” While that album didn’t top charts or win awards (though it achieved lasting success and was certified Platinum in 2001), over the next few coming years the Eagle would achieve something extraordinary: 5 number-one singles (Hotel California, Desperado, Life in the Fast Lane, Lyin’ Eyes) 6 number-one albums 6 Grammys 200+ million records sold worldwide To this day, their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) album remains the best-selling album in US history, certified at 40 million copies. And it’s all because of Ronstadt. According to Frey, she, “more than anyone else,” helped form the band. She even helped get Henley and Frey to get Leadon and Meisner on board. Though they famously did not stick around for long, and were replaced by Joe Walsh in 1975 and Timothy B. Schmit in 1977.  View this post on Instagram Since Frey’s passing in 2016, his son Deacon Frey joined the band in his father’s place along with Vince Gill.  In February 2026, Don Henley, the final remaining founding member, announced on CBS Sunday Morning that this will likely be the Eagles’ final year.  While this has all the quintessential elements of a great rock star story—humble beginnings, one fateful discovery, a meteoric rise to fame—it also appeals to something even more universal. One of the most successful bands in history exists because an already established artist saw four young musicians’ potential and encouraged them to take the leap. Point being, behind any success story is someone willing to open a door, step aside, and cheer others on. The post In 1971, at a Disneyland gig, Linda Ronstadt unknowingly created one of rock’s biggest bands appeared first on Upworthy.

It’s not uncommon for people to have a “work bestie” or “work spouse.” Often, people spend a lot of their waking hours at work, so they’re bound to feel like they’ve made true friendships with their coworkers. Before too long, numbers get exchanged, and they find themselves venting after hours about work, but this may not be a good thing. Ed Hones is an employment attorney in Seattle, Washington, and he is not only discouraging coworkers from thinking of each other as friends, but also sharing what texts people should never send their colleagues. As an employment lawyer, Hones sees the legal fallout of the lines between friends and coworkers being blurred. Though he isn’t saying people can’t text their coworkers, he lists four specific types of texts to never send in case of a lawsuit. Smiling at work, checking messages during a break. Photo credit: Canva “I see great cases destroyed every single day from one thing: old text messages,” Hones reveals. “You might think that your text thread with your coworker is a safe space to vent, joke, or even scheme, but let me be clear about this one thing: it is not. In the eyes of the law, those text messages are evidence, and if you ever have to sue your employer for something, defense attorneys will find a way to get those text messages and destroy your credibility and tank your case.” Here’s why this actually matters Of course, no one plans to sue their employer or to have their employer sue them, but sometimes things happen that result in lawsuits. Once a lawsuit is filed, discovery often follows, which means phone records and other device communications can be requested. If you’ve been trash-talking your boss or making egregious claims, you may be stuck having to explain it in court. But avoid sending these four texts, and you won’t have to worry about your employer finding something to use against you in a lawsuit. The four texts that could sink your case 1. Asking a coworker to bend the rules Hones explains that this often happens in the form of asking someone to clock you in or initial a form they forgot to complete. It may be something you think everyone does every once in a while at their place of employment, but sending a text message is documenting the request. Explicitly asking a coworker to break this employment policy can result in termination being justified. The employment attorney implores people to avoid doing it completely. Man focused on his phone screen, deep in thought. Photo credit: Canva 2. Awkwardly acknowledging something inappropriate “Here is the scenario,” Hones says. “A coworker or supervisor texts you something inappropriate. Maybe it’s a dirty joke or a comment about your private life, or medical condition. It makes you uncomfortable, but you have to see this person at the office tomorrow, and you don’t want to make it awkward, so you reply with an LOL, laughing emoji, or a thumbs up. But if you send that text, you’re walking into a legal trap called ‘The Unwelcome Standard.'” This means that if this behavior turns into harassment or creates a hostile environment, legally, it can be seen as being acceptable due to responses to inappropriate texts in the past. 3. Texting about job hunting It’s not uncommon for frustration to boil over and result in someone declaring they’re going to start looking for a new job. Not every text or annoyed utterance about needing to find different employment is serious. Sometimes it is about blowing off steam, but other times it’s truthful. Hones says not to let your employer be the one to decipher the difference in a court of law, because it may not work out in your favor. It could reduce an employee’s lost wages claims, eliminate the ability to claim work conditions that resulted in an abrupt resignation, and even result in the company pushing an employee out if the text is revealed before they resign. 4. Talking trash about your boss or company “We all need to vent, but doing it via text message hands the employer the perfect cover story,” says Hones. This comes into play when an employee sues for discrimination or wrongful termination. According to the employment lawyer, if an employee sues for one of those reasons, the burden shifts to the employer to prove they didn’t fire the employee for an illegal reason. If the employer discovers the negative texts about them, then it could give legitimacy to their claims if they have lied about the reasons someone was terminated. Hones says it’s common for employers to lie in these cases by saying the employee was disrespectful or a bad employee, and texts trash-talking the boss would strengthen their argument. Why work friendships need real boundaries Hones explains in another video that it’s not wise to assume your coworker-turned-friend will have your back in an employment investigation. Often, people need their jobs and are unwilling to risk them to help someone else keep theirs. Becoming overly familiar with a coworker may feel genuine and comfortable, but maintaining certain boundaries will help protect you legally should you ever have to sue your employer. “Work relationships do not necessarily have to be friendly to be healthy,” Dr. Maya Reynolds, MD, MPH, Psychiatrist and Behavioral Health Spokesperson at Choice Point Health, explains to Upworthy. “Keeping personal relationships and work relationships separated keeps a person free from additional emotional entanglement, rivalry, and disappointment. Because when work relationships step into personal life, promotions or disagreements can feel personal rather than professional, which brings a great emotional toll on oneself. Also, maintaining boundaries at work promotes your psychological safety.” This article originally appeared in January. It has been updated. The post Employment lawyer reveals the four text messages you should never send to a coworker appeared first on Upworthy.

Throughout her prolific and distinguished career, biologist Lynn Margulis made several groundbreaking contributions to science that we take for granted as common knowledge today. For example, she championed James E. Lovelock’s “Gaia concept,” which posited that the Earth self-regulates to maintain conditions for life. But by far, her most notable theory was symbiogenesis. While it was first written off as “strange” and “aesthetically pleasing” but “not compelling,” it would ultimately prevail, and completely rewrite how we viewed the origin of life itself. The paper that changed everything In the late 1960s, Margulis wrote a paper titled “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells,” that was quite avant-garde. In it, she proposed a theory: that life evolved through organisms merging together to become inseparable. In essence, cooperation is the driver of life, not competition and domination. This directly went against Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” principle that was considered gospel in scientific circles. Margulis’ paper was rejected by fifteen journals before getting accepted into the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Time would be on Margulis’ side, however. By the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, research proved that the two major building blocks of plants and animals, chloroplasts and mitochondria were at one time independent bacteria. This solidified the fact that on a biological level, connection trumps autonomy for longevity. And now that fact is written in textbooks, with no real story of the adversity it overcame to get there. How sexism nearly buried her work While it is customary for most new scientific theories to be met with criticism, especially those that completely shift the current narrative, many have noted that sexism played a key part in Margulis’ initial lack of acceptance. On more than one occasion, she herself had hinted that women were seen as mothers and wives first, and scientists second. She recalled that while married to fellow scientist Carl Sagan, “Carl would finish his sentence, unperturbed” while she was expected to “handle all the duties of a 1950s housewife, from washing dishes to paying the household bills.” View this post on Instagram Her most controversial beliefs And yet, Margulis would have other ideas that were controversial that had nothing to do with her gender. Most famously, she did not believe that AIDS was caused by HIV, and instead believed it was caused by a syphilis-causing type of bacteria, despite there already being decades of research proving otherwise. That view was seen as an endorsement of AIDS denialism, which undermined prevention and treatment efforts. Then later in life, Margulis became a vocal proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theories suggesting government involvement in the Twin Towers attacks. And yet, perhaps this is one of those “you gotta take the good with the bad” situations. Margulis’ inherent contrarian nature gave us both these unfounded, even harmful stances, in addition to entirely new paradigms that altered our understanding of life itself. View this post on Instagram And if nothing else, it illuminated the need for science to include multiple points of view in order to unlock the truth. It seems life is, after all, about coming together. This article originally appeared in February. It has been updated. The post Her groundbreaking theory on the origin of life was rejected 15 times. Then biology proved her right. appeared first on Upworthy.

It can be hard to stay quiet when you feel like you just have to speak your mind. But sometimes it’s not a great idea to share your opinions on current events with your dad or tell your boss where they’re wrong in a meeting. And having a bit of self-control during a fight with your spouse is a good way to avoid apologizing the next morning. Further, when we fight the urge to talk when it’s not necessary, we become better listeners and give others a moment in the spotlight to share their views. Building that small mental muscle to respond to events rather than react can make all the difference in social situations. A man with tape over his mouth.Photo credit: Canva What is the WAIT method? One way people have honed the skill of holding back when they feel the burning urge to speak up is the WAIT method, an acronym for the question you should ask yourself in that moment: “Why Am I Talking?” Pausing to consider the question before you open your mouth can shift your focus from “being heard” to “adding value” to any conversation. The Center for The Empowerment Dynamic has some questions we should consider after taking a WAIT moment: What is my intention behind what I am about to say? What question can I ask to better understand what the other person is saying? Is my need to talk an attempt to divert the attention to me? How might I become comfortable with silence rather than succumb to my urge to talk? The WAIT method is a good way to avoid talking too much. In work meetings, people who overtalk risk losing everyone’s attention and diluting their point to the extent that others aren’t quite sure what they were trying to say. Even worse, they can come across as attention hogs or know-it-alls. Often, the people who get to the heart of the matter succinctly are the ones who are noticed and respected. Just because you’re commanding the attention of the room doesn’t mean you’re doing yourself any favors or helping other people in the conversation. The WAIT method is also a great way to give yourself a breather and let things sit for a moment during a heated, emotional discussion. It gives you a chance to cool down and rethink your goals for the conversation. It can also help you avoid saying something you regret. How much should I talk in a meeting? So if it’s a work situation, like a team meeting, you don’t want to be completely silent. How often should you speak up? Cary Pfeffer, a speaking coach and media trainer, shared an example of the appropriate amount of time to talk in a meeting with six people: “I would suggest a good measure would be three contributions over an hour-long meeting from each non-leader participant. If anyone is talking five/six/seven times you are over-participating! Allow someone else to weigh in, even if that means an occasional awkward silence. Anything less seems like your voice is just not being represented, and anything over three contributions is too much.” The bottom line on knowing when to speak Ultimately, the WAIT method is about taking a second to make sure you’re not just talking to hear yourself speak. It helps ensure that you have a clear goal for participating in the conversation and that you’re adding value for others. Knowing when and why to say something is the best way to make a positive contribution and avoid shooting yourself in the foot. This article originally appeared in February. It has been updated. The post How to keep your mouth shut in conversations when you know you should really stay quiet appeared first on Upworthy.