A midweek bonus from The Morning Lift: “NASA fires up most powerful electric thruster ever tested in the US — a step toward crewed Mars” — one of our most-loved stories, re-read for you. Originally from our May 14 episode. Hear a new lift every morning at themorninglift.org.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) Carolina Hurricanes win their second Stanley Cup; ~180,000 pack Raleigh for the city's largest-ever parade; (2) Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building reopens to the public for the first time since 2004; (3) A sodium-ion battery matches key benchmarks of Tesla's lithium cells; (4) Astronomers catch an early-universe quasar flickering — and find a modern-looking disk.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) North Carolina and Oklahoma meet in a first-title College World Series finals; (2) Cornell's electrochemical bath revives spent EV batteries to ~95% capacity; (3) Gallup finds Americans see far more everyday kindness than they assume; (4) The Utah Arts Festival survives financial trouble to reach its 50th year.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) Kyrgyzstan formalizes a "climate-ready" wildlife corridor for snow leopards; (2) The Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building reopens after 22 years; (3) Researchers 3D-print architectural panels from yeast; (4) Workforce Pell — biggest federal college-aid expansion in 50 years — launches.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) North Atlantic right whales record best calving season since 2009; (2) Make Music Day fills streets in 1,000+ cities; (3) Food-rescue groups close the summer school-meal gap; (4) Study: the brain can measurably improve at any age.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) First in-body CRISPR therapy hits Phase 3 in hereditary angioedema; (2) Mammalian regeneration "switched off, not lost" — two-step FGF2→BMP2 regrows joint tissue; (3) Genicular artery embolization delivers 12 months of knee-arthritis relief — no surgery; (4) "Lucy's hunter": new fossil crocodile shared the riverbanks with our ancestors.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) A real weakness found in PFAS "forever chemicals"; (2) A fixable cause of fading cellular energy; (3) A durable middle path for knee osteoarthritis; (4) Housing built over a food pantry and a bus.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) Messi scores his first-ever World Cup hat trick in his sixth World Cup; (2) A once-a-day pill nearly doubles survival in pancreatic cancer; (3) Two Kenyan teens turn farm waste into a working car-exhaust filter; (4) Cahokia Mounds museum reopens after four-plus years.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) A legendary golden "sea silk," lost for 2,000 years, has been recreated; (2) Battery-free artificial photosynthesis that regulates itself; (3) A single chip that generates, steers, and reads light; (4) Parrots may actually use names to identify individuals.

Four positive stories to start your morning: (1) Children's reading-for-pleasure rises for the first time since 2021; (2) JUNO neutrino observatory publishes its first physics result; (3) Global mangrove forests rebound — net decline reversing — Environment/Conservation; (4) Angkor Thom's 800-year-old water system uncovered — and slated for restoration — Culture/Archaeology.