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5 perfect things Jane Goodall told Reddit about hope, work, and Bigfoot.

On Sept. 13, Jane Goodall held a Reddit Ask Me Anything, or AMA, session.

The question-and-answer session gave the internet a chance to pick the famous anthropologist's brain. Goodall is a world-famous primatologist and conservationist, and her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania — not to mention her activism and remarkable common sense — has earned her a ton of fans, including bigwigs like John Oliver and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Goodall hosted the Reddit event in part to promote her new online class about animal intelligence and environmental action.


Goodall at a German zoo in 2004. Photo from Jens Schlueter/AFP/Getty Images.

Between questions about whether she has pets (no, she travels too much) or if she believes in Bigfoot (she's open to the idea), Goodall spoke openly about her life, her work, and humanity's future.

The entire discussion is worth a read, but if you can't set aside enough time to read all 3,684 (and counting!) comments, here are five big points from Goodall's AMA that are worth checking out.

1. Hard work can defy even the most ardent critics.

Ever since she was young, Goodall says, she wanted to go to Africa and study animals. A lot of people laughed at her.

"They told me girl students cannot do that," she said. "But I had a wonderful mother who had supported my love of animals ever since I was born, and she said to me if you really want to do this, then you’re going to have to work very hard and take advantage of opportunity.”

[rebelmouse-image 19532125 dam="1" original_size="750x255" caption="Screenshot via Reddit." expand=1]Screenshot via Reddit.

Today, Goodall — a world-renowned scholar, conservationist, and peacemaker — is an example to others of just how far hard work can take you.

2. Animals are more human than we give them credit for.

When asked how she wanted to world to see her work, Goodall said she'd like to be remembered as the person who encouraged humans to consider the animal mind — which we didn't do much before the mid-1960s.

[rebelmouse-image 19532126 dam="1" original_size="750x255" caption="Screenshot via Reddit." expand=1]Screenshot via Reddit.

Goodall's time with the chimps at Gombe National Park revealed their great intelligence and emotional range. From watching an older male adopt an orphaned baby to seeing chimps wage bloody war against each other, the scenes Goodall documented changed how we thought about the animal mind.

Goodall says she hopes we continue to explore the field of animal intelligence well into the future. After all, there's still a lot to find out.

3. In case you didn't know, Doctor Dolittle books are pretty awesome.

[rebelmouse-image 19532127 dam="1" original_size="750x177" caption="Screenshot via Reddit." expand=1]Screenshot via Reddit.

OK, so maybe this isn't world-shattering, but anyone who's read them knows it's true. Doctor Doolittle was the main character in a series of children's books in the 1920s about an English doctor and naturalist who can speak to animals and spends his days helping and studying them.

In other questions, Goodall  shared other personal facts, like her favorite color (green, although she's fond of blues as well), some of her favorite music (classical and Michael Jackson), and an appreciation for a certain Far Side cartoon.

4. There are plenty of actions we can take to help protect both animals and the planet.

[rebelmouse-image 19532128 dam="1" original_size="750x259" caption="Screenshot via Reddit." expand=1]Screenshot via Reddit.

Over the course of several questions, Goodall listed a variety of ways people can help, from spreading awareness and getting involved in local efforts, to raising funds, to even simple things like changing what we buy and what we eat (Goodall is a cheese-eating vegetarian, she says).

Goodall says she's seen firsthand what happens when people change. One of the things she says she's most proud of is helping empower local Africans to save their national park, transforming it from a green island barely holding on into a national treasure.

5. Finally, while the world might seem dark sometimes, she still thinks we'll reach our true human potential together.

"As we look at what is happening in the world today, it is very, very grim," said Goodall. So much seems to be going wrong all at once, people feel helpless. They give up.

But Goodall isn't ready to give up. "I have reasons for hope," she says.

[rebelmouse-image 19532129 dam="1" original_size="750x379" caption="Screenshot via Reddit." expand=1]Screenshot via Reddit.

Young people have been empowered and fired up to take action. Clean energy is on the rise. Social media, harnessed for good, can unite billions of people for a cause and change politics. And, finally, there's always the human spirit.

“Only when the head and heart work in harmony can we reach our true human potential," said Goodall. "And this, I believe, is to come.”

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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PeacefulBarb's "7 Things Adult Children May Need to Hear"

Just like there are no hard-set rules for raising children, there is no perfect guidebook on how to be a supportive parent to an older child. As parents watch their kids grow and start their own families, it can be hard for them to navigate the new role they have in their lives.

That’s why Barb Schmidt, who goes by PeacefulBarb on TikTok, shared her list of the ‘7 Things Adult Children May Need to Hear’ from their parents. It’s a great starting point for parents who aren’t sure what their older children need.

Schmidt is an international best-selling author, sought-after motivational speaker, mindset coach and mindfulness teacher.

Here’s her list:

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Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS.

On May 25, the show’s Instagram page posted a touching video of an off-the-cuff moment between Barrymore and a fan during a taping of her show. In the clip, Barrymore realizes that someone in the audience is crying. So, instead of ignoring the fan, she jumps to action to see what is the matter.

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Education

Nurse explains how babies breathe in utero and the internet is amazed

A new mom asked how babies practice breathing, and Nurse Jen delivered an answer that's blowing people's minds.

Nurse explains how babies breathe in utero.

There are so many questions out there that we don't realize we want to know the answers to until someone else asks. Once the question is in the vicinity of our ear holes, suddenly we're like, "Oh, yeah. How does that work?" That's pretty much how this TikTok video went for a lot of viewers, myself included.

I have had four (yes, four) children exit my body, and it never dawned on me to ask further than the initial question of how babies breathe in there. It's a question that most new moms either don't think to ask or ask only once and get a similar answer to the one I received, which is that they take in oxygen via their umbilical cord connected to the placenta, so they don't need to breathe in the traditional way we think of until after birth.

But when a new mom asked the people of the internet how her unborn baby was able to practice breathing without drowning, Jen Hamilton, an OB nurse, decided to answer in a video.

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A mother with a megaphone goes on strike.

Every parent knows that sometimes their kids, especially teenagers, can say things in the heat of the moment they don’t really mean. But the mother at the center of this story took her teenage son’s outburst seriously and turned it into an opportunity to teach him a lesson. The question is, did she go too far to make a point?

A 35-year-old mom wanted to learn if she had been too hard on her 14-year-old son, so she shared her story on Reddit’s AITA subforum (we've abbreviated the forum's name to avoid printing foul language). AITA is where people vote on whether the poster was right or wrong in how they handled a situation.

“Lately, he has been acting out a little at home and school, so I decided to sit him down to try and figure out what was happening,” the mother wrote in a post that received over 800 comments. She said that the boy had been cursing out his parents as well as his teacher.

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Dad gives a how-to on "gentle parenting with malicious intent."

By now, everyone has heard of gentle parenting. Even if you're not quite sure what it is, you've heard the phrase. Parents that use this style of parenting set boundaries with their children but with thorough explanations and a focus on healthy emotional development. One dad decided to spin the gentle parenting trend by implementing "gentle parenting with malicious intent" for his older children.

You may be wondering how one gentle parents with malicious intent. No worries, the dad uploaded a now-viral clip to TikTok, where it has over 4 million views, to explain. In the clip, "Ginger Jack" has the camera on himself as he talks to his kids about completing their chores without attitudes…and that's where the twist comes in.

"New rule. Whenever one of you starts giving me attitude, I'm going to start hitting on mom," the dad says before speaking to his partner. "Hey there. sugar. How you doing, baby girl? How do you feel about another child? I could rub your ankles real good." He then makes what can only be described as an attempt at a sexy cat noise.

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