podcast
CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
He Died Laughing & Came Back to Life
CNN 5 Good Things
Oct 11, 2025
Chemistry that works like Hermione Granger’s magical handbag won a Nobel Prize this week. How an Indigenous inventor is working to preserve her tribe’s language. A wildlife photographer is making sure hermit crabs in Japan have proper homes. A man was dead for five minutes at a comedy show – what happened next was really special. Plus, a surprising call leads to a heartwarming reunion.
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Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson
Showrunner: Faiz Jamil
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: Nick Blatt, Samantha Lindell, Clare Duffy, Dan Bloom
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
Hey there, welcome, welcome. It's a good day to look at the bright side, isn't it? This discovery won the Nobel Prize for chemistry, and it's like a Harry Potter spell come to life. And the UN estimates that half of the world's languages will disappear by the end of the century. Meet the Gen Z inventor who's trying to keep her culture alive. Plus, a comedy set no one expected ended with a really sweet encore a day later.
Drew Lynch
00:00:24
I was so moved by it. I was truly just a spectator of of the human spirit. You don't see anything like that an anymore.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:34
I'm so excited for you to hear that story. It's so heartwarming, and so is the unexpected reunion we'll tell you about ten years in the making.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:42
From CNN, I'm Krista Bo Polanco, and this is Five Good Things. Stick with us all these stories and more after this.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:59
A trio of scientists have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a new form of molecular architecture that can help tackle problems like climate change, lead to more customized cancer treatments, and so much more. If you're having a hard time comprehending what that means, same. But Nobel officials compared their work to Hermione Granger's enchanted handbag, you see, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part one.
Hermione Granger
00:01:26
Undetectable extension charm.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:28
In the Warner Brothers film, Hermione reaches into what looks like a small handbag on the outside.
Hermione Granger
00:01:35
That'll be the books.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:37
But it can hold a large amount on the inside. Susumu Kitigawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi developed molecular frameworks that can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume, which can be used for things like harvesting water from desert air or capturing carbon dioxide.
Nobel prize announcer
00:01:56
Hello, Professor Yaghi.
Prof. Omar Yaghi
00:01:57
Yes.
Nobel prize announcer
00:01:57
This is Adam Smith.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:00
One of the new laureates, Dr. Yaghi, learned the good news when he was catching a flight.
Nobel prize announcer
00:02:04
What a place to catch you.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:07
'This win caps a long journey of discovery for Yaghi, who teaches chemistry at UC Berkeley. He was born in Jordan and came to the US at 15-years-old.
Prof. Omar Yaghi
00:02:17
I was born in a family of refugees and my parents barely could read or write. So it's it's quite a journey and science allows you to do it. I mean science is the greatest equalizing force in the world.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:35
Many indigenous languages are at risk of disappearing. Danielle Boyer doesn't want that to happen to hers.
Danielle Boyer
00:02:41
My language is called Anishinaabemowin and it's an endangered indigenous language. So I'm Anishinaabe from the Sioux tribe, which is in the upper peninsula of Michigan. When you lose your language, you lose such a key component of your culture and of your ways. That's a really scary thing. Language is really important.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:00
'So the 24-year-old built Scobot, a robot about the size of a coffee mug that looks like a woodland animal and perches on a child's shoulder.
Danielle Boyer IG
00:03:08
Listen, what language am I learning?
Skobot recording
00:03:11
Anishinaabemowin.
Danielle Boyer IG
00:03:13
Anishnaabemowin. Listen, what is thank you?
Skobot recording
00:03:16
Miigwech.
Danielle Boyer IG
00:03:17
Miigwech.
Danielle Boyer
00:03:19
And so basically it's a cute, adorable little robot that the kids can talk back and forth with.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:23
She figured if a toy like a talking Elmo exists.
Elmo
00:03:30
Oh, hahaha! Let's do it again.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:30
Why can't Indigenous youth have learning toys like that, too?
Danielle Boyer
00:03:33
Languages are living things. It has to be handled with so much care. There's potential here to actually do a lot of good with the robots.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:41
CNN's Clare Duffy dove deeper with Danielle into how this works on an episode of her podcast, Terms of Service. So give it a listen if you haven't already. It's called Keeping a Language Alive with a Robot, and the link is in our show notes.
Shawn Miller
00:03:54
In 2010, I found my first hermit crab climbing up a tree in the forest with a bottle cap. And that's all I could think about.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:04
'Since then, wildlife photographer Shawn Miller has found more and more of them on Okinawa's beaches in Japan - hermit crabs turning plastic debris into makeshift homes.
Shawn Miller
00:04:13
And now hermit crabs they don't prefer plastic, they're just temporary making do with it until they find a shell. They can't fully pull their whole body inside of there to protect themselves. That's the one reason. Another is obviously plastic have chemicals in there, right? That can leach into the sensitive part of the hermit crab, which is the abdomen.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:35
So Shawn decided to help with his conservation project, Make the Switch for Nature.
Shawn Miller
00:04:40
I offer hermit crabs available shells in trade of plastic that they're using.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:47
'He swapped out more than one hundred and seventy five pieces so far - lug nut covers, shampoo caps, and all.
Shawn Miller
00:04:53
When they get in it and they switch, they immediately run away like it's the best thing they ever had.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:59
People from around the world have joined in to help, mailing him shells engraved with tiny words of encouragement.
Shawn Miller
00:05:05
The mission is to spread joy, inspire change, participate in the beach cleanup. Small actions with big impact, right?
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:13
And maybe that impact starts with you, by keeping beaches clean and leaving that pretty spiral shell for the next crab who needs it.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:23
About a month ago, comedian Drew Lynch was in the middle of his set in Spokane, Washington, when the laughter suddenly stopped.
Recording of Drew Lynch's comedy set
00:05:30
Oh, hey, everything okay? Oh no. Is there a medic in the house at all?
Drew Lynch
00:05:38
A few rows back a man had collapsed from a heart attack and they weren't getting a pulse and so they had ad administered CPR on him right away.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:50
'Eighty-three year old Dick Wendy went into cardiac arrest, and two ER nurses in the audience started chest compressions.
Drew Lynch
00:05:57
He didn't have a pulse for more than five minutes, so he was dead for over five minutes, and then by some just grace of God he came back. He was revived before the paramedics even got there. So people in the people in that town, people in that crowd saved him.
Recording of Drew Lynch's comedy set
00:06:12
If I could just take a second here, just guys, with you real quick, because like that was incredible, dude. You saved that guy's life, man.
Drew Lynch
00:06:27
People pretend to have heart attacks to get out of watching my comedy every weekend, it feels like at this point. I can't stop it. I can't. I'm like, please, not another one. No, it's definitely it's definitely never happened before. And I was so moved by it.
Recording of Drew Lynch's comedy set
00:06:42
That was crazy. I have literally the hardest job in the world now.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:47
Canceling the rest of the show was a consideration, but Drew said his planned jokes went out the window, and he spent the rest of his set connecting and laughing with the crowd.
Drew Lynch
00:06:56
You know, I spent the whole time up to that point being a performer, but I was truly just a spectator of of the human spirit. You don't see anything like that an anymore.
Dick Wende
00:07:07
So I was supposed to be, I guess, at that concert at that time.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:14
So the night ended on a high note, but the real encore came the next day.
Drew Lynch
00:07:23
I think the decision to go see him was almost it was almost a non decision. It was just like, of course. And we were like, Yeah, I mean he didn't get to see the rest of the show, so let's go spend some time with him. Let's go finish the show.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:34
Drew showed up with the two comedians that opened for him, and he brought back Dick's walker and autographed the cup holder.
Dick Wende
00:07:42
They brought me flowers and they brought, they came and just cracking jokes and wonderful people.
Drew Lynch
00:07:49
And we just got to sit and chat for hours.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:54
Dick had been a fan of Drew ever since he was on America's Got Talent back in 2015.
Drew Lynch
00:07:58
I learned that, you know, he was a speech therapist for over fifty years. I have a special connection to that. I you know, I stuttered for most of my adult life and I had to work with de several speech therapists trying to get to the other side of this thing and you know, it's just like that's another thing. It's like, gosh, we saved a good one. You know, we brought back a good person, you know.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:22
And now a month later, Dick and Drew still keep in touch.
Drew Lynch
00:08:25
I call him my foster grandpa, he calls me his foster grandson.
Dick Wende
00:08:29
I'm just so lucky to be here. That's that shows that everybody should know CPR. You know, because it it really made a difference in my life and I feel great. I think I've got at least till I'm gone, I've got a true friend.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:46
To see photos from this sweet friendship and to keep the good vibes going in general every Saturday, be sure to subscribe to the CNN Five Good Things newsletter. The link to sign up is in our show notes.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:59
Have you ever been in a situation where the odds were just like really stacked against you, but you just couldn't shake this feeling that it was gonna work out?
Ed Light Hall
00:09:07
Now I've stopped believing a lot of things, but that I didn't stop. And it worked. I mean it paid off. I mean he showed up.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:14
Up next, hear the reunion that this man says felt like Christmas morning after the break.
Ed Light Hall
00:09:23
I'm Ed and this is Pete. And Pete's been gone for ten years and he just got back and he has a heck of a story to tell.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:30
Ten years ago, Ed Light Hall's dog Pete vanished from his backyard in Chicago. He searched for months, but eventually had to accept his poodle mix pup was gone, though he never lost hope.
Ed Light Hall
00:09:40
I just figured there was something special about this dog. I figured if he was alive I'd see him again.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:46
That hope finally paid off when a microchip company called Ed late last month to tell him Pete had been found wandering the streets of northwestern Indiana.
Ed Light Hall
00:09:55
'It was like Christmas morning. It was like being an eight-year-old and unwrapping the gift that you knew you really wanted. He saw me, I called him, he did this little spin greeting that he always does, and then he laid on the ground right in front of me at my feet. And so it was it was pretty awesome. And he's been doing a lot of this ever since.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:21
All right, that's all for now. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing, all about how AI data centers are contributing to higher power bills, and how one resident in Virginia is fighting back. Thanks so much for listening. Take care. Till next time.
