🌞 The principal who saved 900 lives

This past Friday was World Leukemia Day, and September is Blood Cancer Awareness month. While cancer patients are Australia’s biggest users of blood products, people may need blood for other reasons, including surgeries, accidents and chronic illnesses. According to Lifeblood, red blood cells can only last up to 42 days in refrigeration. This means hospitals need a constant supply to treat their patients. 

With everything going on in the world, it’s easy to feel helpless and disconnected. One way to make that feeling better is to take action or do something kind for someone else. An easy way to do that is to donate blood if you’re able to. 

Some of TDA’s partnerships team went to donate on Friday, and here’s what they had to say: 

Claudia: “A few of us headed down to the Lifeblood centre in Moore Park today and it was such a wonderful experience! The staff were so helpful and kind - especially handy given there were a few first time donors. Plus, the post-donation snacks were amazing!”

Skye: “I donated plasma for the first time over lunch on Friday and it was such an easy process, plus I felt so looked after by the Lifeblood team (with some yummy snacks to follow…) It's one of the most powerful ways you can help someone facing cancer, so if you can, roll up ya sleeve!”

There’s a reason they’re my favourite co-workers (don’t tell the other journos!)

The news coming out of Nepal has been really, really difficult. With that in mind, I wanted to tell you about a “silver linings” story.

A Nepali headteacher’s quick action saved the lives of 900 students and staff. Rajendra Dawadi, the head teacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal, was warned by a colleague that the flood was coming.

He rang the school bell, evacuated classes and coordinated with incoming bus drivers to turn around. As a result, hundreds of students and staff were saved.

In an interview with Republic World, he said he and his staff made sure that no one in the school was left behind.

SBS reports he’s asked the Nepali Government and people around the world to re-establish the school.

Olivia Rodrigo’s music festival Daisy Chain Fields has raised $US20 million ($AU27.74 million) for its non-profit partners.

Olivia described Daisy Chain Fields as a “music festival founded on the belief that joy, community and creativity can inspire meaningful change.”

The festival celebrated female artists in the music industry, with net proceeds going towards nonprofits that advocate for women and girls. According to Rolling Stone, the festival was inspired by another all-women music festival, Lilith Fair, organised by Sarah McLachlan between 1997 and 1999.

The lineup included Chappell Roan, Doechii and Mitski, drawing a crowd of 45,000. The festival raised $10 million in donations, which was doubled by philanthropist Melinda French Gates, bringing the total to $20 million.

The festival’s non-profit partners include reproductive health organisations, such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, National Institute for Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood. It also supports the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the U.S’ leading Black maternal health organisation, as well as organisations supporting babies, Indigenous communities, and gender-based violence survivors.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Olivia Rodrigo said the metaphor of the daisy chain represented “that we’re all so much stronger when we come together, these individual pieces coming together and forming something that’s unbreakable. She added that it was “an event where we can cultivate this community that’s full of hope and togetherness, I think that’s a really, really powerful thing”.

For those of you feeling FOMO, the festival returns next year!

Every community has them – the volunteers, the change makers, the quiet organisers who show up week after week and rarely ask for thanks.

Westfield Local Heroes was built to recognise them properly, and to back their vital work. Since 2018, the program has supported over 990 local heroes and organisations with funding, partnerships and a well-deserved spotlight. This year, up to $1.25M in grants is available, and your vote can help them continue making a positive difference in your community. Find out who the finalists in your area are – you might be introduced to some faces doing amazing things you never knew about!

^{Voting closes 20 September, 6pm AEST.}

Nonagenarian Dale Sanders has become the oldest hiker to complete the 3,530km Appalachian Trail.

The trail stretches along most of the east coast of the U.S. and passes through 14 states.

The Associated Press reports Sanders started his hike on 6 September 2025 , and finished it earlier this week, just under a year after he commenced.

Sanders believes he fell 71 times, with one fall leading to a brief hospitalisation. However, he certainly wasn’t deterred, and completed the trail at the highest peak in the U.S. state of Maine.

In the hiking community, trail names are usually given by fellow hikers. Sanders’ trail name is Grey Beard. I’ve done some investigative journalism, and I think it’s because he has a grey beard. Interestingly, Sanders was born before the trail was even completed.

Grey Beard previously set the record in 2017 at age 82 until his 83-year-old friend M.J. Eberhart (Nimblewill Nomad) snatched his title in 2021. He told the AP: “I feel that I should be in better shape than I am. But I just have to go back and say, ‘But I am 91, so I’m blazing new ground hiking long distances like this.’”

I’ve actually done a 3km hike without crying, so I’d say Dale and I are pretty even.

Women are the majority of prize winners for this year’s Eureka Prize, Australia’s top science award.

The prize recognised 19 individuals and teams across Research & Innovation, Leadership, Science Engagement and School Science.

According to the Australian Associated Press, 11 Eureka Prizes were awarded to individual women or teams consisting either entirely or mostly of women.

Winners included Professor Georgina Long, co-Australian of the Year in 2024 alongside Dr. Richard Scolyer, for her work in melanoma care.

The winners of the primary and secondary school prize were also both girls. In the primary school category, Perth-based Poppy won for her film on optical illusions, while fellow Western Australian Millie took out the secondary school category for her work predicting nesting sites for freshwater turtles.

The future is in excellent hands.

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) are piloting technology that could reduce mining methane emissions by over 90%.

UTS researchers and engineering company Howden are working together to reduce methane emissions.

While the project will initially focus on emissions from mines, it will also help reduce methane emissions from landfill, waste disposal units and high density energy users, like data centres.

UTS Professor Micheal Stockenhuber said: “Methane mitigation is critical for climate action as it offers the fastest way to slow global warming impacts.”

He said the new technology could potentially “reduce methane emissions from mining by more than 90%.” This is especially significant because mining contributes to around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A pilot plant will be built at UTS’ Tech Lab facility in Botany, and it is set to run at the end of this year. Stockenhuber said the technology will “provide a pathway to reach national and international methane emissions targets.”

For the first time in 200 years, a rare species of wild horse has been born in the steppes of central Kazakhstan.

The male foal was born at the Alibi Reintroduction Centre for Wild Ungulates. (For those who don’t know - me included - an ungulate is a mammal with hooves.) His mother, Tessa, arrived in Kazakhstan as part of an international project to return wild horses to their ancestral areas. Their species is the Przewalski’s horse, named after a Russian explorer.

The Przewalski’s horse is the last surviving species of wild horse in Eurasia, and is listed as endangered. It disappeared last century due to hunting, habitat loss and competition from domestic animals, but returned due to zoos and international breeding programs.

Mongolia became the first country to reintroduce the species, with Kazakhstan launching its reintroduction program in 2024, aiming to bring in around 40 horses by 2029.

The foal is exploring the steppe (a grassy plain), and is learning how to survive on his own. Specialists will continue to monitor the herd.

Conservation director Vera Voronova said: “Now we have a new task: to observe how the first generation of Przewalski’s horses born on Kazakh soil grows and develops. We very much hope that this first generation of foals will mark the beginning of a self-sustaining population.”