It may be true that the best things in life are free, but a buttery croissant from the bakery on the corner or an adorable tchotchke at that perfectly curated local shop can sure go a long way in making a bad day better. In short, we all need a little treat every once in a while to keep us going — even the most successful among us. The New York Times took Gen Z's "little treat culture" to a selection of high-powered creatives, asking them what small joys brighten their days. For actor Richard Kind, it's a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich; for author Delia Ephron, it's British crime procedurals. Read the other answers.
Must Reads
The first four editions of Shakespeare's collected works are expected to rake in $6 million at auction
In a "first-ever discovery," an iconic World War II aircraft carrier was found in a shipwreck
Environment
Former Staten Island Landfill Set to Become Pollinator Haven
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Once the world's largest landfill, Fresh Kills Landfill spent 53 years as a lifeless dump — but it's now set to house 50,000 violets instead. The wasteyard closed in 2001, and was converted into a park nearly three times the size of Central Park in 2023. On Wednesday, the Freshkills Park Alliance launched its 50,000 Violets Project, which aims to attract bees, monarch butterflies, and other pollinators to the purple fields. The Fresh Kills Landfill, which received up to 29,000 tons of trash daily at its peak, was shut down after pushback from locals who deemed it a threat to public health. "What was once a terrible thing for Staten Island is turning into an incredible place of beauty, acceptance, and reclamation," Alliance President Mark Murphy said, per the Staten Island Advance. "This is a testament to 23 years of science, of incredible engineering, to ensure that this is a safe, clean, and reclaimed environment." The project team will plant the violets over the next two years, and scientists will study the impact of the flowers on the region and reintroduce native pollinators to evaluate the project's success. "Our 2,200 acres of native grassland is not just a place of beauty, but a place of highly efficient carbon capture, of resilience, regrowth, and environmental sustainability," said Murphy.
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As Her Final Exhibition Opens, SoCal Museum Director Heidi Zuckerman Shares Why Art Matters
Shawn Chavez
After nearly five years at the helm of the Orange County Museum of Art in Southern California, CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman announced she'll depart the institution this December. A longtime advocate for access to art as a basic human right, Zuckerman will focus on expanding that accessibility through her media platform, HZ Inc. But before she moves on, she's giving Nice News an inside look at one of the final exhibitions she's bringing to life at OCMA. Opening today and running through Sept. 7, "Amy Adler: Nice Girl" is a collection of 20 oil pastel works by Los Angeles-based artist Amy Adler. Playing off the ubiquitous "social media mirror selfie," the portraits of young women who chose to share their likenesses online invite visitors to slow down and reframe their assumptions about what makes someone a "nice girl." "I am really interested in how women and girls are represented in popular media and hope to ask questions about some of the adjectives that are often used," Zuckerman tells Nice News of the exhibition. "I believe that kindness matters and always try and err on the side of generosity. These works ask questions about how we see ourselves as well as how we want to be seen, and suggest the same love and kindness that we show toward others can be directed toward ourselves." See photos from "Nice Girl" and other memorable shows Zuckerman curated.
Science
This Female Professor Made High-Altitude Baking Possible
Archives and Special Collections, Colorado State University
This article was written by Tobi Jacobi, a professor of English at Colorado State University, and Caitlin Clark, a senior food scientist at Colorado State University, for The Conversation. Many bakers working at high altitudes have carefully followed a standard recipe only to reach into the oven to find a sunken cake, flat cookies, or dry muffins. Experienced mountain bakers know they need a few tricks to achieve the same results as their fellow artisans working at sea level. These tricks are more than family lore, however. They originated in the early 20th century thanks to research on high-altitude baking done by Inga Allison, then a professor at Colorado State University. It was Allison's scientific prowess and experimentation that brought us the possibility of perfect high-altitude brownies and other baked goods. We are two current academics at CSU whose work has been touched by Allison's legacy. One of us — Caitlin Clark — still relies on Allison's lessons a century later in her work as a food scientist in Colorado. The other — Tobi Jacobi — is a scholar of women's rhetoric and community writing, and an enthusiastic home baker in the Rocky Mountains, who learned about Allison while conducting archival research on women's work and leadership at CSU. Learn more about Allison's experiments and get her original recipe for high-altitude brownies.
In Other News
One of the world's rarest geological features is in Boston, and NASA just shared a pic of it (read more)
New infrastructure upgrades are set to help Wyoming Native communities endure extreme weather (read more)
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become the first woman to run a sub four-minute mile (read more)
A "magic little animal": Watch conservationists reintroduce an endangered marsupial to the Australian wild (read more)
3D-printed homes may be the ticket to affordable, sustainable housing — look inside (read more)
Something We Love
Daily Crunch Sprouted Nut Snacks Daily Crunch has a pretty unique angle as far as snacks go: The brand soaks its nuts to activate (or "sprout") them, and then dehydrates them, creating a final product that's easier to digest, more nutrient dense, and crunchier. I love their newest flavor, the Sweet & Spicy Sichuan Cashews. – Sean Devlin, Founder and General Manager
Eight-year-old Brooklyn was born with bilateral cleft hands, a condition that results in missing or underdeveloped fingers. Though she sees herself as a "regular kid," her mom, Tina, noticed Brooklyn felt isolated from her classmates at school. So when Tina saw a Facebook post about Bronx, an abandoned American staffordshire terrier puppy with a limb difference, she made a 24-hour round trip to adopt him. "When Bronx came into our lives, everything changed," she said, adding, "It made her realize that everyone has differences and it's okay."
Photo of the Day
WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
Did you know that around 70% of all new EV sales occur in China? The country's plug-in cars are "light-years ahead of the rest of the world," according to InsideEVs Editor-in-Chief Patrick George, and some of the most impressive are on display at this year's Auto Shanghai 2025. The exhibition, which opened Wednesday and runs through May 2, features the latest innovations in everything from battery technology to smart connectivity products and autonomous driving systems.
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If you're a woman aiming to stay fit in your 40s, through menopause, and beyond, then Reverse Health Pilates exercises are a must. The 28-day wall pilates challenge helps tone your body while releasing stress and tension, so you feel stronger and more flexible. You'll see results in as little as one week! For a limited time, plans start at just $7.14 per week for Nice News readers.
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