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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.
The Firsts, Fastest, and Most-Evers on Everest
CNN 5 Good Things
May 30, 2026
A sixth grader from Virginia isn’t a sore loser at this year’s Spelling Bee. Several climbers etched their names into the history books this month on the tallest mountain in the world.A 6-year-old from Gloucester, England got creative to raise money for charity in honor of his dog. A Michigan welder is set to make history at the “Olympics of skilled trades.” Plus, scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the T. Rex’s tiny arms.
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Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: Chelsea Cook, Coy Wire, Laura Jackson, Isa Soares
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
'Hey there, welcome! I'm Krista Bo Polanco, and this is CNN 5 Good Things. In memory of a sweet dog, one six-year-old did something special in hopes of raising a few bucks for charity, and ended up with much more than he expected.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:15
'Plus, it was an epic month of firsts, fastests, and most-evers on the tallest mountain in the world. Later on, a new study takes on one of paleontology's most famous questions. What was going on with T. Rex's arms?
Charlie Scherer
00:00:27
No one's actually ever put any statistics to this type of idea before.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:33
When we come back.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:00:34
It's not really the destination that matters. It's the journey.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:38
'Lessons learned from this year's Spelling Bee. Just about every Spelling Bee contestant has a word they'll never forget. For Vikyath Tanamala, that word is nightchurr - a nocturnal bird commonly found in Europe.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:00:56
'It's a dialectal word, N-I-G-H-T-C-H U-R-R. And yeah, that's the word I got out on.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:04
'Vikyath, or Viky for short, is a sixth grader from Leesburg, Virginia. He was among nearly 250 participants from around the world who competed in the 101-year-old event in Washington, D.C. This week.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:01:16
'So in round one, I got Guayabara, G-U-A-Y-A-B-E-R-A. And in round two...
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:27
Viky was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but there was a silver lining. It was his best finish yet.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:01:33
I was nervous for round six because I didn't know nightchurr, and round five because that was the round I got out last year. So it really like felt good to me when I passed that. I probably wouldn't be where I am now without my mom so like a lot of thanks to her.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:53
Last year, he finished 74th. This year, he advanced one round further and climbed to 55th place. He hopes to return to the Bee in 2027, but says the chance to win isn't the only reason he comes back.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:02:05
It's not really the destination that matters. It's the journey. It's actually like really fun community. And there's like a lot of bonds that you can form that last years after Scripps has, is done. We are all winners anyway, even if we get out on the first round.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:24
'Viky stayed to watch the finals, where 14-year-old Shrey Parikh from California was crowned national champion. After 18 rounds of competition, it all came down to a "spell-off" tiebreaker. Shrey correctly spelled a record-breaking 32 words in 90 seconds for the win. Here's what he told CNN's Coy Wire.
Shrey Parikh (from CNN 10)
00:02:42
It was just such an amazing moment for me, I was just so happy.
Coy Wire (from CNN 10)
00:02:47
How are you going to celebrate?
Shrey Parikh (from CNN 10)
00:02:49
Not sleep tonight.
Coy Wire (from CNN 10)
00:02:50
Yes, let's go.
Coy Wire (from CNN 10)
00:02:52
'Viky said watching Shrey's win was inspiring. The three-time B competitor had fallen short in previous years before finally taking home the title.
Vikyath "Viky" Tanamala
00:02:59
Because he studied a really long time and he also put in a lot of hard work. And I also think he's like a really good person and he's also like a good friend, not just in spelling but in other stuff as well.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:15
You can see Coy's full story on the National Spelling Bee at CNN 10. The link is in her show notes.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:21
'So it turns out May was a peak month for all kinds of record-breaking summits to the tallest point on Earth. Nepal hiking officials said on May 20th a record 274 climbers scaled Mount Everest, beating the 2019 single-day record of 223. The mountain also saw historic climbs from legendary Sherpa guides, like Kami Rita Sherpa and Lhakpa Sherpa - who broke their own records earlier this month on the same day. At 56-years-old, Kami Rita Sherpa has made the most summits on Everest 32 times. And Lhakpa Sherpa from Nepal has 11 Everest climbs, the most for any woman. And speaking of women...
River Ahmad
00:04:02
I feel so powerful after the summit. That was amazing feeling; I never had that feeling.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:09
River Ahmad has become the first Afghan woman to accomplish this feat. She survived a deadly Taliban attack as a teen, making the climb on May 21st to highlight the plight of women and girls back home under Taliban rule.
River Ahmad
00:04:22
If I can climb this mountain, the highest mountain in the world, I was thinking one day we can climb this darkness back home in Afghanistan and we have to have hope.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:34
'But teams from two American mountaineers say they've also etched their names into Everest history this week. On Thursday, Tyler Andrews, a cancer survivor from Concord, Massachusetts, has summited faster than anyone ever has before with supplemental oxygen, reaching the peak in just 9 hours and 55 minutes. Nepali officials still have to confirm it, but if approved, the 36-year-old shatters the previous speed record held by a Sherpa since 2003 by one full hour.
Garrett Madison
00:05:04
'Hi, I'm Garrett Maddison from Namers Island, Washington, and I just summited Mount Everest for my 16th time. Today we flew down from Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu here in Nepal, and as an American-born climber, I've currently got the most summits of Mount Everest.
Garret Madison (field recording)
00:05:19
Made it up to the summit of Mount Everest. May 27th, nice day, a little cloudy up here, but can't complain.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:28
Garrett hit the peak on Wednesday waving an American flag in honor of America's 250th birthday.
Garrett Madison
00:05:35
After 16 trips to the top of the world, the summit of Mount Everest, what has it taught me? Well, appreciate the people you love and the people who love you. That's the most important thing in life.
Abbie Braley
00:05:54
One day we had a very random, free Sunday, which is quite rare really in our house, and he sat there for an hour, it started raining, he got his umbrella out, and you just stayed there, didn't you, you really were determined.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:08
'On a farm in the English countryside, six-year-old Buddy Braley sat in the rain beside two hungry goats and a handmade sign asking people to feed goats for charity.
Buddy Braley
00:06:17
They saved money for the dogs in rescue centers.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:22
And he did it in memory of his dog Brody.
Buddy Braley
00:06:25
He would sleep with me every night and I used to play with him and give him cuddles outside.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:35
'Buddy's mom Abby said their family's 10-year-old Dalmatian died suddenly from bone and prostate cancer in April.
Abbie Braley
00:06:42
So Buddy wanted to do something, Brody's memory, for the dogs in rescue centers that don't have families to love them. I think Brody was so lucky to be so loved, and Buddy doesn't like the thought of any dogs being in rescue centers and not having a family, so he wanted to see what he could do to make sure that they are as comfortable as possible, especially the older dogs like Brody.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:03
Animals have always been a huge part of the Braley family's life, especially Buddy. After he struggled with selective mutism as a little boy, Abby said they got him therapy animals three years ago, starting with three chickens, to help him come out of his shell.
Abbie Braley
00:07:16
It really helped him develop a confidence and then it sort of spiraled from there, didn't it, really?
Buddy Braley
00:07:23
Yes.
Abbie Braley
00:07:23
When I was younger, my mum would always say, when you're older, you can fill your house with as many animals as you'd like to. And I just took it a little bit too far, I think.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:33
Now the family has more than 30 animals. We're talking a cat, a dog, a pig, four horses, two sheep, 15 chickens, four ducks, and two goats named Bella and Bertie. Buddy used money he saved up from selling eggs to build a goat feeding stand, complete with a painted barn mural and chicken and cow cutouts where Bella and Bertie could poke their heads through. After some slow days, his grandmother spread the word about the stand on a Facebook group, which led to some very generous customers stopping by, making about $155 that day.
Customer (field recording)
00:08:05
You feed that one, I'll feed this one. What's their name?
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:08
The family later shared a GoFundMe on social media where they have over one million followers across Instagram and TikTok, and donations quickly poured in from around the world.
Abbie Braley
00:08:18
It's really against our sort of nature to ever ask for money, but it became to a point where I thought I'm actually standing in the way of potentially helping a lot of dogs here.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:27
Including his time fundraising out in the rain, Buddy has raised a grant total of over $21,000. He's excited to use every dollar raised to buy dog beds and toys for rescue centers. But the most meaningful part for Abbie was to watch her son learn a valuable lesson, even in the face of grief.
Abbie Braley
00:08:45
It's incredible for our children to experience kindness and how communities can come together to just do such good. I'm just incredibly proud of him and I'm so grateful to everybody that's been a part of it.
Mikala Sposito
00:09:02
I've sort of had this childhood dream when I was little that I always wanted to be the first female to do something.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:08
'That's Mikala Sposito from Dexter, Michigan. She's a 21-year-old student at Washtenaw Community College. And now that childhood dream is about to become reality, thanks to her talent for an old school trade: welding.
Mikala Sposito
00:09:21
So I am the first female to ever make it to a WorldSkills Welding Competition from the United States. So when I got to this position, I figured out that this is kind of my shot to make history in a way.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:34
The WorldSkills Welding competition is considered the Olympics for skilled trades, including things like landscape gardening and unmanned aerial technology. It's the largest showcase of tradespeople on the planet. Finalists will compete this fall in Shanghai, China.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:49
To get there, Mikala was working overtime, training for about 50 to 80 hours a week. Then she faced off against some of the country's best young welders in a series of competitions that culminated in the U.S. Weld Trials in Huntsville, Alabama earlier this year. Her competitors ranged from 14 to 20 years old.
Mikala Sposito
00:10:07
So three people from across the country came together in Huntsville, and so we did a three day competition and it was very, very close the whole time, but I was the one who made it to Shanghai.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:23
Winning the trials earned Mikala a $60,000 scholarship and the only U.S. spot at the WorldSkills Competition. So women only make up around 5% of welders in the US. And Mikala's coach and mentor, Alex Pazkowski, is encouraging her to focus on being the best welder period.
Alex Pazkowski
00:10:41
I do think that she's an inspiration to students, male and female. She's very easy to talk to and she's very humble.
Mikala Sposito
00:10:48
It feels really great being the first female to do it is very cool and I think very inspirational for many women in the trades who have possibly struggled with being a woman in the trade.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:04
'Up next, ever wondered why T-Rexes had those tiny little arms? Scientists may have finally figured out the answer. Stick around.
"Toy Story 2" clip
00:11:15
In fact, you're a better Buzz than I am! But look at my little arms! I can't press the fire button and jump at the same time!
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:22
That's Rex from Disney Pixar's Toy Story 2. The comically tiny arms of the Tyrannosaurus Rex have been the butt of the joke forever. And if you've ever wondered why this fearsome predator had such wimpy arms, you're not alone. Scientists have been debating that question for decades. New research may finally have the answer.
Charlie Scherer
00:11:40
We think that it was directly related to that increasing skull strength. And we think that the reason for the increase in skull strength is directly linked to the things that they were preying on.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:51
Charlie Scherer is a PhD student at University College London and the lead author of this study.
Charlie Scherer
00:11:57
'As these big predators with the smaller arms and the massive robust heads grew in size, they grew in-size as a response to their prey getting bigger over time to try and escape predation. It's like an evolutionary arms race sort of thing.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:12:11
This has been a running theory for a while, but he says his research is the first to quantify it and identify this trend across five different groups of dinosaurs. His team analyzed 85 species and developed a new way to measure skull strength, looking at everything from tooth shape to how the skull bones fit together. The result: the stronger the skull, the smaller the arms tended to be because T. Rexes and other dinosaurs like them relied on their bite, not their grip, to capture prey. So if you don't use it, you're gonna lose it.
Charlie Scherer
00:12:41
If you don't need it, evolution will get rid of it, or at least reduce it very much. That's like how humans lost their tails, but we still have the remnants of a tailbone.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:12:52
'So even if the arms were tiny, they still had them. So another big mystery is why? The answers to these questions about life 80 million years ago matter for reasons that go beyond the T-rex.
Charlie Scherer
00:13:03
If we don't care about what happened in the past, we will never know what could happen in the future. We can use everything that we know to help inform future research and or policy or directions for how we manage the natural world around us.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:13:24
All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the show. And if you did, show us some love. Please consider giving us a good rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this episode with a loved one to spread the good vibes. And there's more goodness where that came from.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:13:41
'CNN is on the ground in Laos covering the incredible cave rescue of villagers who've been trapped for more than a week. Tune into CNN for the latest. And be sure to join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing. Erin Brockovich's consumer advocacy work exposed contaminated drinking water in a small town and inspired the Oscar-winning film about her life. She joins one thing to talk about her new target, AI data centers.
Erin Brockovich
00:14:05
I've never seen anything like this, I really haven't. I had no idea that it was the whole country. I've ever seen something this big that's actually bipartisan. I haven't.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:14:16
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Take care, until next time.
