CNN 5 Things｜A New View of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'

Krista Bo
Hey there, here's your weekly dose of feel good stories.

Dr. Adam Frank
Art and science are both ways to understand the truth. There's different kinds of truths, but in the end, they come back to the same source. And that's what's really extraordinary about these results.

Krista Bo
Hear about new research that suggests one of the most recognizable paintings was more scientifically accurate than we previously thought. Plus, why a herd of life sized elephants are stampeding the concrete jungle. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo and this is Five Good Things.

Principal Katy Lumb (on the phone)
Hi, can I please speak with Karen? Hi, can I please speak with Jenny? Can I please speak with Brianna or Kenneth? Hi, it's Mrs. Lumb...

Krista Bo
'So all my parents out there, imagine getting a call from the principal's office and feeling excited instead of anxious. Each week at Richard Mann Elementary School in Walworth, New York, a handful of well-behaved and studious kids get nominated by teachers, bus drivers and other staff members. And they get to call home from Principal Katy Lumb's office to share and celebrate their achievements and good deeds. If you're an OG Five Good Things listener, you might remember this from our very first episode. It's called the Proud Calls Program.

Principal Katy Lumb
I think it's important that every child comes to school every day and feels like they belong and that they matter and that they're seen for big things and little things.

Krista Bo
Students have been back to school for three weeks now, and already around 40 kids and counting have done something to be proud about.

Kid 1
I've been helping someone out not be scared.

Kid 2
I have earned a Proud Call because I was a role model for my classmates by spreading kindness.

Kid 3
I was focused and driven about my math.

Principal Katy Lumb
We're so proud of them.

Parent
Yeah.

Principal Katy Lumb
Are you kind to your friends?

Kid 1
Yeah.

Principal Katy Lumb
Yeah

Parent
I'm so proud of you, baby.

Kid 1
Thank you.

Principal Katy Lumb
I want kids to know that it doesn't take winning a gigantic award or acing a test for us to feel proud of who they are at school.

Krista Bo
One of my favorite arts and crafts activities to do lately is making colorful, beaded bracelets with fun phrases on them. The Swifties call these friendship bracelets. The electronic dance music community calls them Kandi bracelets. But whatever you call them. I found making them is just as fun as trading them with people. It's also a nice way for me to unwind after a stressful day. Dr. Helen Keyes says I'm not alone in that feeling.

Dr. Helen Keyes
So there is this sense of kind of mindfulness when you're engaging in crafting. It's a really good way of switching off, engaging your mind and something else entirely and stop your mind from racing in that way.

Krista Bo
She's a psychologist at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. She led a study that found engaging and creative activities is an affordable way to significantly boost wellbeing by providing meaningful space for expression and achievement. They used a sample of data from a major national survey in the UK to investigate how creative activities could impact life satisfaction among the general population ages 16 and over.

Dr. Helen Keyes
'People who engaged in crafting - so things like knitting and drawing, photography were more satisfied with their lives. They were happier, and they had more of a sense that their lives were worthwhile compared to those who didn't engage with crafting.

Krista Bo
Dr. Keith said they were surprised to learn that crafting can be just as satisfying for some people as having a job.

Dr. Helen Keyes
Your employment should give you a sense of mastery, a sense of control, and a sense of progress. Not everybody's employment really does give that to them. It doesn't fulfill you in all those ways.

Krista Bo
So if you're feeling unfulfilled at work, she says crafting can tick boxes that your job doesn't.

Dr. Helen Keyes
That sense of progress, a sense of achievement, being able to get into a flow state, a sense of mastery, all these beautiful things. So it's a really easy route, really into a kind of good wellbeing and a sense of achievement and self satisfaction.

Krista Bo
Speaking of art, one of the most iconic paintings ever to exist is Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night." He painted it back in 1889, and many people think the blue and white swirly skies could have been a reflection of the stormy state of his mind at the time. But some new research suggests these famous swirls are actually pretty scientifically accurate. Scientists analyzed the brushstrokes in "Starry Night" and found they mirror the chaotic but mathematical behavior of turbulence.

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