Pit bull earns “Neighbor of the Year” award, and more

last updated 8 January 2015

Pit bull earns “Neighbor of the Year” award

You don’t have to be a collie to act like Lassie. Just ask Titan, a pit bull terrier from Lawrenceville, Ga., who helped save his owner’s life earlier this year. John Benton was preparing to leave for work when Titan blocked the exit to his house. “He was barking and running around in circles,” Benton said. He followed his dog upstairs to find his wife, Gloria, unconscious on the floor, having fallen and cracked her skull. Titan’s loyalty has been recognized by a local neighborhood association, which last week granted him its annual “Neighbor of the Year” award.

Restoring California's honeybee population

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California’s dwindling population of honeybees is receiving a much-needed boost. The nonprofit Xerces Society has persuaded dozens of farmers in the state to plant wildflowers and shrubs alongside their crops in an effort to restore a bee population that is currently shrinking by about 30 percent a year, partly for lack of a diverse diet. “A real farm is not just a factory in a field,” said farmer Mas Masumoto, who has planted three acres of wild roses, aster, and sage on his farm near Fresno. “[It’s] a way to work with nature.”

Robot attends school for sick ninth-grader

Lauren Robinson’s severe dairy allergy makes it impossible for her to attend high school like an ordinary ninth-grader. But Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, Colo., has come up with a high-tech solution: a Wi-Fi–enabled, wheeled robot that attends classes in her place. Robinson can take part in classes remotely using the $5,000 robot’s mounted camera, flat screen, and speakers, and can even chat with her friends as it rolls from classroom to classroom. “It feels like I’m having the same experiences they are,” said the 14-year-old.