A 68-year-old surfer vanished off the Puerto Rico coast Thursday afternoon and ended up stranded on isolated, wave-battered rocks near Aguadilla — until a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter crew spotted him waving for help Friday and hoisted him aboard. Tired and dehydrated but talking, he beat odds that could so easily have gone the other way.

A 16-year-old followed his AI chatbot’s hiking directions onto a cliff face on Crown Mountain and found himself stranded at the base of the notorious Widowmaker Arete. North Shore Rescue techs belayed down to him, hauled him to an extraction point, and had him home by 6:30 p.m. shaken but alive. — The Inertia

When a guest went overboard from Odyssey of the Seas early Friday morning, the ship spent 14 hours circling the Ionian Sea with the Greek Coast Guard and passing vessels joining the hunt — and around 2 a.m. Saturday a cargo ship found her conscious and responsive in the water. She’d been pulled from the night sea alive. — CruiseMummy

When a van drifted off Highway 1 near Malibu and crashed into the rocks beside the ocean, firefighters clambered down the cliff to free the driver’s dog trapped inside — then carried him back up and reunited him with his canine buddy. Not a scratch on either pup, and only minor injuries to the driver. — Mandatory

Martin County employee Amy Offenbach spotted three girls caught in a rip current at an unguarded Hutchinson Island beach on Oct. 8 and paddled straight out on a surfboard to the one struggling most — then drove her to ocean rescue crews. A growth-management official by day, a lifesaver by instinct. — TCPalm

When flames erupted at his family’s College Park home on Aug. 16, 10-year-old Cornelius Chones climbed onto the roof with a garden hose and held the fire back long enough for all six of his siblings to escape unhurt. This week the city gave him a standing ovation and an official proclamation — he earned every bit of it. — FOX 5 Atlanta

With emergency response suspended as Hurricane Isaias battered Pensacola, a police officer still answered the call on Peacock Drive — and pulled a man from a burning house. Both came out with smoke inhalation, but both made it out alive. — Pensacola News Journal

At 14, Tom suffered a stroke that forced him to relearn how to walk, talk, and write. Now 17, he just completed the Great North Run in two hours flat to raise money for the hospital that got him back on his feet. — Hello Rayo

Between founding a STEM learning platform and making a documentary about CRISPR ethics, 14-year-old Aryash found time to write award-winning historical fiction. His recipe for learning is pure kid wisdom: if he can explain it clearly, he’s got it right. — American Bazaar

Twenty years ago, a student’s classroom idea about organ donation sparked the Chain of Life movement. This October, young flag bearers — including a 14-year-old awaiting a new heart — will lead celebration climbs across 14 Quebec regions to share what young people have taught the world about giving. — CNW

Say hello to Champ, the three-legged street rescue who became a therapy dog bringing smiles to schools and airports; Tiberius, the blind stray who learned to navigate his whole neighborhood; and Bean, the emaciated stray turned hug-happy pug. Every single one is a winner in our book. — People

When tight housing left Lisa Wilson no choice but to surrender Eddie, her dog of 11 years, she never stopped visiting him at the shelter. Then a community fundraiser and a shelter director who refused to give up brought these two best friends back together. — Good Good Good

Months after walking out of the Humane Society of Broward County with her new family, sweet Noelle’s update reel shows her living her best life — her family calls her “an absolute dream come true.” Proof that the happy ending is really just the happy beginning. — DogTime

On October 9, the FDA approved pritelivir (Hovilpri) for persistent herpes infections in people with weakened immune systems who haven’t responded to older treatments — in the late-stage trial, sores healed completely within 28 days in nearly 63% of patients. — Reuters

Also on October 9, the FDA approved WELTRUZA — the first once-monthly under-the-skin injection of olanzapine for schizophrenia, with no loading doses, no daily pills, and no post-injection monitoring needed. A gentler path to stability for millions. — Teva Pharmaceuticals

Announced October 8: a one-time treatment aiming to reverse aging in eye cells was well tolerated in its first three glaucoma patients — and two showed early signs of vision improvement. Tiny steps, but the first human proof that cellular rejuvenation may one day restore sight. — GlobeNewswire

When the beloved Hawkeye Wave swept through Kinnick Stadium on October 3, the crowd turned to wave at the children’s hospital windows — and inside stood Caitlin Clark, waving right back at them with the kids. The most moving tradition in sports just got even more special. — Pro Football Network

After his conditional College GameDay donation raised eyebrows on October 5, Pat McAfee owned it and went all in — a full $1 million to Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital, no strings attached. Admitting you got it wrong and making it right? That’s a class act. — USA Today

Tom Coughlin’s Jay Fund brought the sports world together in New York this week to support families facing childhood cancer — covering housing, utilities, and everyday expenses so parents can stay focused on their kid’s treatment. Thirty years on, a promise made to a young player named Jay is still lifting families up. — Giants Wire

Alex Lifeson is turning pieces of Rush’s Fifty Something tour into help for sick kids — selling his own concert-used guitar strings to benefit SickKids in Toronto and St. Jude in Memphis, and personally donating $100,000 to kick it off. Rock history, recycled into kindness. — BraveWords

Country’s biggest stars are lining up to honor Dolly Parton in an October 21 ABC tribute — and proceeds will go to her Imagination Library, which mails a free book each month to millions of children. A celebration of Dolly that also gives kids the gift of reading? That’s very on-brand. — MusicRow

A group of young singers recorded a fresh take on the 1984 Band Aid classic, with 100% of streaming proceeds going to children battling cancer and rare diseases. The single drops November 2 — Christmas cheer with a genuinely good cause behind it. — Extra TV

Scientists have found Sukunaarchaeum, a tiny ocean microbe with the smallest genome ever discovered — just 189 protein-coding genes, yet still able to copy its DNA and make proteins. It’s rewriting the answer to one of biology’s most basic questions: how simple can life get and still be alive? — phys.org

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected tantalizing traces of gases on exoplanet K2-18 b — gases that, here on Earth, are made only by living organisms like marine microbes. It’s 124 light-years away and no proof yet, but it may be our strongest hint so far that we’re not alone. — Inland News Today

Webb just pinpointed the source of the most distant fast radio burst ever seen — a signal that traveled more than 10 billion years to reach us, from when the universe was only 3 billion years old. Ten billion years of travel, and we finally figured out where it came from. — Space in Africa

Today gamers, creators, and families are turning play into hope at Seattle Children’s — an afternoon of Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and exclusive Minecraft play, with every dollar staying at the hospital to fund life-saving care. This community raised $3.2 million last year and over $15 million since 2008. — Seattle Refined

Just playing your favorite mobile games helped a wonderful cause — SpecialEffect’s One Special Day saw big studios donate a share of sales from Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, and Subway Surfers to give physically disabled gamers the tech they need to play. The campaign is projected to raise over $600,000 for gaming accessibility. — Pocket Tactics

Every month, a group of Louisiana gamers turns tournament nights into charity — entry fees become donations for St. Jude’s, Make-A-Wish, food pantries, and suicide prevention, with all proceeds going straight to the cause. Fellowship, frags, and a prayer-box devotional included. — Webster Parish Journal

Six months after humans flew around the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, NASA opened Artemis II’s full science dataset to the world — lunar imagery and observations gathered by the four astronauts now belong to scientists everywhere. The baton is passed; the discoveries are just beginning. — AIAA

On October 3, 2026, a private company’s spherical torus achieved sustained hydrogen-boron fusion — a clean reaction that produces only harmless helium, not radioactive waste. A quiet announcement, but it could be the first spark of the limitless-energy era. — The Tech Edvocate

Hanwha’s EnergyFluo — an agentic-AI energy manager that helps data centers run more computing on the power they already have — just landed on Fast Company’s 2026 Next Big Things in Tech list. Smarter energy use with up to 25% operational savings, while humans stay in charge of the big decisions. — PR Newswire

People living with rare diseases are getting two years of free access to Mirror, an AI app that captures medical appointments and turns them into easy-to-read summaries of what was discussed and what happens next. For 3.5 million people navigating complex care in the UK alone, remembering everything just got easier — and shareable with family and carers. — EIN Presswire

Google’s AMIE, an AI built to chat with patients before urgent-care visits, just completed a real-world Lancet-published trial at Beth Israel Deaconess — its summaries helped doctors prepare in 75% of visits, and its diagnoses matched the doctors’ own 90% of the time. AI that gives physicians more time with you, not less. — Google

A Finnish AI that helps pathologists spot cancer in tissue samples more accurately — backed by the Mayo Clinic and already in wide clinical use — just won the public vote for Finland’s Digital Innovation of the Year. Faster treatment starts with a sharper diagnosis. — Aiforia

ProLogium just unveiled a brand-new way for lithium ions to travel inside a battery — a “third state” electrolyte beyond liquid and solid — debuting at the Paris Motor Show. Its Dynamic Coordination Network could mean safer, longer-lasting batteries for the cars of the future. — GlobeNewswire

Michigan State researchers found an unexpected hero for battery safety: lignin, a cheap wood-waste byproduct, makes battery separators three times more heat-resistant than plastic — and batteries last 60% longer. Safer batteries, from sawdust. — WVLT

Cold-climate drivers know the dance — hauling an extension cord to the car to plug in the block heater. New Jersey inventor Dylen built a better way: a retractable cord that lives under the hood, pulls out when needed, and winds itself away when it’s time to drive. Simple, clever, and patent-pending. — EIN Presswire