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With a little help from magnetic fields and a grandpa (not theirs), baby turtles find their way.

Grandpa found some baby turtles on his doorstep. So he took 'em to the ocean ... and it got adorable.

I stumbled upon this video called "Funny Grandpa Releasing Sea Turtles."

In case you were unsure, it's a video of a funny grandpa releasing sea turtles. And it's pretty adorable:


Take a minute to put yourself into the awestruck shoes of this grandpa holding a plate of baby turtles...


Of course, the cute part is that they're babies. And they are being released by a grandpa who is as in love with baby turtles as I am.

But the part that really blew my mind: Despite being adorable tiny babies, they know exactly where to go!

And they know exactly what to do! I didn't understand how a bunch of baby turtles being let go into the big, bad world somehow all instinctively knew which direction to swim. So I did some digging to find the answer to one simple question:

How is that happening? And here was the pretty amazing answer:

Magnetic FIELDS, more specifically.

You know how your compass always knows where true north is? It's kinda like that, only inside a baby turtle. These guys are moving along with geomagnetic field lines (think latitude and longitude lines) that communicate to the turtles what latitude they're on.

Scientists who study these lil' dudes can't FULLY explain how these turtles are belly flopping onto the beach and making it happen, but they do have some good leads.

One experiment released turtle hatchlings at different latitudes. The result? They changed directions to swim toward their normal migratory pattern. These results essentially mean that those turtles were approximating their own latitude.

Um, wow.


But how are they doing it? What's going ON?! This is when the story got deep. And it brought me to the slugs.

A promising sea slug with a simple and easy-to-study nervous system might hold the secret clue. The mollusk called Tritonia diomedea.



Yeah, it's a sea slug. Don't judge. Image via Dr. Paul S. Katz/Scholarpedia.

Studies show that this slug has neurons in its brain that respond to changes in magnetic fields. And those neurons appear to be attached to the motor neurons that tell that slug where it is and where it wants to go.

Its brain is essentially a compass!

The turtle nervous system is WAY more complex than the sea slug, but these specific neurons are the beginning of figuring out how it works!

Loggerhead turtles aren't the only animals that use the earth's magnetic field for navigation. Others include honeybees, homing pigeons, trout, and whales! Additional studies suggest salmon (and lobsters) and dolphins (and deer and bats) could be on the list too. :)

How cool is nature, huh?? It uses sea slug technology (we think!) to teach infant turtles how to go into the ocean and survive. Ya gotta respect that.

*High-fives Mother Earth*

And that is how I ended up watching "Funny Grandpa Releasing Sea Turtles" with a newfound appreciation for nature and science and, yes, slugs.

All in a day's Internet. Gotta love it.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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A group of men look at paperwork.

The massive changes to the American workplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic invited many to reconsider their professional lives. This reevaluation has led people to push for improved work-life balance, and many now are looking for work to provide a greater sense of meaning and purpose.

When the world returned to work after COVID, many believed they deserved to be treated better by their employers. This resulted in many taking a break from the workforce or changing professions altogether. It also helped usher in a more comfortable culture for calling out companies that don’t treat their employees respectfully.

Recently, a group of thousands came together on Reddit to expose the common mistruths that people often hear at the workplace. It all started when a Redditor named PretenstoKnow asked: "What's the most common lie employers tell their employees?" And over 2,600 people responded.

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Family

Mom calls out teacher who gave her son a 'zero' grade for not providing class with supplies

Her viral video sparked a debate as to whether or not providing school supplies should be mandatory for parents.

@shanittanicole/TikTok

A zero grade for not providing school supplies?

The debate as to whether or not parents should supply classroom supplies is not new. But as prices continue to rise, parents are growing more baffled as to how they can be expected by teachers to provide all the various glue sticks, colored pencils, rulers and other various items the incoming students might need.

What’s even more perplexing, however, is penalizing the children of parents who won’t (or can’t) provide them.

This was the case for Shanitta Nicole, who discovered her son received a zero grade in his new school for not bringing school supplies for the entire classroom.
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Photo Credit: William Fortunado via Canva

Amanda Seals breaks down history of DAP handshake

We've all seen people do it. Anywhere from basketball players on television to kids meeting up at the skating rink. Even former president Barack Obama when greeting a mixed group of men gave "DAP" to the Black men in the group, yet switched to a firm handshake when greeting the other men.

It was almost like watching the president code switch, but with body language, in a move that many Black Americans recognize as a gesture of acceptance and comradery. But did you know that there's an actual history behind the DAP that has nothing to do with looking cool? Social justice educator and actress, Amanda Seales, recently re-shared a clip from "The Real" where she was diving into the history of the handshake.

Seales, who has a master's degree in African American Studies from Columbia University, was also admittedly surprised when she learned there was a deeper meaning to the gesture.

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Health

Neuroscientist reveals perfect amount of time to spend on social media for your mental health

Over several weeks, the participants felt less loneliness, depression and anxiety.

@rachelle_summers/TikTok

Anyone can use this checklist.

There are pretty clear cut guidelines on how much screen time kids should have, but for adults…not so much. And perhaps it’s this lack of clarity that leaves people to go on full blown digital detoxes or get off social media entirely.

And while there is certainly a case to be made for that decision, for many of us, that isn’t quite feasible—especially in certain lines of work.

Luckily, according to neuroscientist Rachelle Summers, there is a way we can still be on social media, without being subjected to its negative side effects.
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Photo by Kats Weil on Unsplash

Ready for a refreshingly wholesome story?

The stereotypical image we get of bachelor parties is a booze-filled evening of depravity and bad choices. Followed of course by a massive hangover…and some regrets.

And granted, there are plenty of viral videos to show that this is sometimes the case. But there are also plenty of grooms who don’t see it as their “last night as a free man.” On the contrary, they see it as an opportunity to simply celebrate the next chapter with close friends.

Case and point: a husband-to-be named Luke, who apparently couldn’t stop “gushing” about his bride, Sam. This, according to a woman also named Sam, who happened to be at the bar Luke was having his bachelor party at.
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