Scribble

Krista Bo Polanco

00:00:00

Hey there, welcome. I'm Krista Bo Polanco, and this is CNN 5 Good Things.

00:00:05

A teenager took one of the scariest moments of her life and turned it into a tool that's meant to protect her peers. Plus, ever feel like your dog understands you? New research suggests you might be onto something.

Shany Dror

00:00:17

I think this study really shows the extent to which dogs are tuned into the communication of humans.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:00:22

Later on

Chad Chance

00:00:24

I just can't believe, you know, all the things that she's done in that short period of time.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:00:30

Hear from a family who's honoring their late child's wishes and turning their tragedy into something positive. All this goodness and more after a quick break, but when we come back.

Melani Sanders

00:00:40

There is humor, of course. We have to laugh to keep from crying many times. Just try to tackle this thing and lean in on each other.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:00:48

This club is putting the world on notice.

Melani Sanders Social Media Post

00:00:57

We are putting the world on notice that we simply just do not care much anymore. So let's go ahead and get started with today's announcement.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:01:05

'Melani Sanders from West Palm Beach, Florida, is the founder of the "We Do Not Care" Club, or the WDNC for short. It's a sisterhood for women navigating paramenopause, menopause and post-menopause. Though women of all ages can now join. The movement started with one unplanned off-the-cuff video back in May and quickly grew into a global community with millions of followers on various social media platforms.

Melani Sanders

00:01:28

I looked at myself in the rearview mirror when I was sitting in my car one day and I just realized that I was putting so much pressure on myself to care about so many things that probably I should not be caring so much about.

Melani Sanders Social Media Post

00:01:43

So today I do not care that I don't have no real bra on, and I do care that I don't have edge control in my hair. I don't care. That's it. That's the story. Point blank period.

Melani Sanders

00:01:54

I decided to hit record and X. Other women, did they want to join me in a club and we'll call it the We Do Not Care Club. Overwhelmingly, that video went viral six million plus members later, we actually have a movement.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:02:11

Melani thinks WDNC took off because it was a place where women could hear about menopause symptoms and experiences without judgment.

Melani Sanders Social Media Post

00:02:19

We do not care if the tag says hand wash. It's getting washed, how it's getting watched. It is in the Lord's hands now. We do care if we are looking for our glasses and they are on our face. Be careful how you let us know that information. We do now care if have asked you the same question 13 times. We do remember the answer. Say it again. We do know care if The Family Reunion is coming up. If it is still hot outside, FaceTime us so we can speak to everyone.

Melani Sanders

00:02:54

Many of the feelings that we have in this phase of life, it can definitely feel isolating. There's a plethora of emotion that goes into this stage of life. And together, that inclusiveness just makes it a little bit better to tolerate.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:03:12

All this wisdom now lives in her new book, "The Official We Do Not Care Club Handbook."

Melani Sanders

00:03:17

So it's like a little bit of everything you might need during this time of life.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:03:22

As the club looks toward 2026. Melanie says the mission statement is clear.

Melani Sanders

00:03:26

'We are at capacity in this stage of life, paramount of pause and beyond. And we're not being mean girls, but we're at capacity and we're re-prioritizing and bringing awareness to these things so that we can process it and get our mindsets right. Just try to tackle this thing and lean in on each other.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:03:47

'This week, the dangers of inappropriate AI-generated images came into sharp focus, after Elon Musk's xAI restricted its chatbot, Grok, from digitally undressing adults, and in some cases, children. For one teenager, though, those risks have been personal for years. 16-year-old Elliston Barry from Aledo, Texas, is helping schools confront a new and disturbing reality, deep fake nude images, and showing them how to protect kids when it happens.

Elliston Berry

00:04:13

That's what this curriculum is so important. It focuses on the educators, so that way they are able to protect and they're able to help if a victim were to come to them for a situation like this.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:04:25

This curriculum exists because this kind of help wasn't there when Elliston needed it. When she was 14, classmates created and shared fake nude images of her using AI, and no one around her knew how to respond.

Elliston Berry

00:04:38

All of the individuals, all of the victims understood what was going on, but we couldn't do anything. And when we went to our administrator, we went our teachers and looking for help, they were more confused than we were. They weren't able to offer any sort of comfort, any sort protection to us.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:04:53

'That's why she helped create a free 17-minute online course for middle and high schools, designed for students, parents, and educators in partnership with Adaptive Security and Pathos Consulting Group. It explains what deepfake nudes are, how to recognize them, and what to do if someone is targeted. The program walks through reporting steps, support resources, and the law. Research published last year from the nonprofit Thorne shows one in eight US teens report personally knowing someone who has been targeted by deepfakes.

Elliston Berry

00:05:22

I mean, I know just a handful of girls that have happened to within the past month and it is so, so scary.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:05:30

'Elliston also advocated for the Take It Down Act, which became law last year. It requires platforms to remove non-consensual, explicit images within 48 hours and makes it a crime to share them, whether they're real or computer generated. While that law is a step in the right direction, Elliston says awareness is just as critical.

Elliston Berry

00:05:48

Even if it's just a simple, hey, do you know what a deep fake is? Those little conversations mean so much, especially as it is increasing so much.

Tonya & Penelope (Mom & Daughter)

00:06:04

Look what I've got!

Krista Bo Polanco

00:06:07

'This is five-year-old Penelope and her mom, Tanya, from England. Mattel just gave Penelope a doll that represents her in a way that no other one has before.

Tonya & Penelope (Mom & Daughter)

00:06:15

It's the Autistic Barbie doll. It's got the B for Barbie, doesn't it? B for barbie. B for Barbie.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:06:22

'Penelope's autistic, and like many neurodivergent children, they don't usually see themselves reflected in toys. Launched this week, the Barbie with autism carries a pink fidget spinner and wears noise-canceling headphones to reduce sensory overload. She also holds a pink tablet, a symbol of her augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC device. Penelopes' mom, Tanya, told Mattel she hopes the doll will be used to help start conversations about autism.

Tonya

00:06:46

It helps with inclusion and it will help with opening conversations between children, adults and educators to be able to use the Barbie doll as a way to explain autism to other children.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:06:57

The Barbie with Autism is part of Mattel's Fashionista collection, which includes dolls with a diverse range of skin tones, body types, as well as health conditions, including type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome, and blindness.

Tonya

00:07:09

It was brilliant, it was such a proud moment and just knowing that so many other children are going to have that exact same reaction and that so many little girls are going be able to see themselves in a doll.

Tonya & Penelope (Mom & Daughter)

00:07:18

Did you like it Penelope? Yes. Yes? Did you love all the accessories? Yes.

Shany Dror

00:07:25

I think a lot of parents know this very awkward situation when you realize your kid has picked up a word that you were not supposed to know by listening to adults speak.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:07:35

As it turns out, certain dogs can also pick up new words in the same way toddlers can. New research found that a rare group of dogs can learn the names of objects just by overhearing their owners, even when no one is talking to them directly. Cognitive researcher Shany Dror led the study.

Shany Dror

00:07:51

So we know that almost all dogs can easily learn things like sit or down or stay. These are action words that they can easily turn. What we found in some of our previous studies is that when it comes to object labels, so names of toys like ball or rope, most dogs really struggle with this. And there was a small group of dogs that not only are they able to learn the names of the object. But they're also able to do this very quickly, and they accumulate a very large vocabulary of hundreds of toy names. Shany and her team call these very rare pups gifted word learner dogs.

Shany Dror

00:08:27

We do see more gifted dogs as our border collies. In this study specifically, we had also a Labrador, a German Shepherd, a mini Australian Shepherd, a Blue Heeler, a rescue dog. So we had a variety of different breeds.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:08:39

I carried out three experiments with super smart dogs to test how they learn. First, owners introduced their dogs to two new toys, using the names for just eight minutes total. And seven out of the ten dogs learned both names. Then, instead of teaching the dogs directly, owners talked to each other about the toys without engaging the dog at all.

Shany Dror

00:08:58

What we discovered is that these dogs are not only able to learn when their owners are teaching them, but they're actually equally good at learning from eavesdropping.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:09:08

70% of the dogs still got it right. Researchers took it one step further, having study participants show their dog a toy, then hiding it and only saying its name after it was out of sight. Again, most of the dog in the experiment learned the name and still remembered the names of the toys two weeks later.

Shany Dror

00:09:26

I think this study really shows the extent to which dogs are tuned into the communication of humans and hopefully try to use this with our communication with our dogs at home.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:09:37

Think you have a gifted dog? Shany wants to hear from you, so if you want to get in touch, her website is in our show notes. Up next.

Chad Chance

00:09:45

We just can't believe all the things that she's done in that short period of time.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:09:52

Hear how a child's legacy lives on to help other kids.

00:09:57

'In Pilot Point, Texas, one couple has found a way to turn a tragic loss into a worldwide literacy campaign. In 2016, nine-year-old Vail Johnson died from a rare form of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Her mom and stepdad, Susan and Chad Chance, say she loved to read and write.

Susan Chance

00:10:16

The day before Vail passed away that night, she told me she wanted to be an author when she grew up. That's what she told. That was her dream. You know, she just loved it. And so that was very important to her, so it's important to us.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:10:31

'So they've been working to honor her legacy by sharing her writing and encouraging other kids to read. Since 2019, they've publishing her stories in a series of books called Vail's Tales with the help of several illustrators and co-author Ed Payne, who used to work at CNN.

Susan Chance

00:10:47

We've now published, I believe, 11 stories total in six books. We have included all of her original handwriting and illustrations. All of her stories have fun characters getting into different adventures, but they all ended with a happy ending of friendship and kindness.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:11:07

'The most recent book, titled The Little Red Cran, was published in September. Susan and Chad also launched a non-profit called the Friends of Vail Foundation, which promotes education and literacy. According to a national reading assessment, only 33% of fourth graders read at a proficient level, so their work is necessary. The organization has raised over $200,000 last year alone and about 1.4 million since its launch in 2016. They say the money supports different projects, including educational scholarships, a library in Kenya, and mobile libraries in Texas.

Chad Chance

00:11:38

She was, you know, nine years old and she was, she was 18 now and we just can't believe, you know all the things that she's done in that short period of time with just her writing and how really amazing it is for someone so young to be able to capture the hearts of people. What I want people, especially young kids, to learn through Vail is it doesn't matter where come from THROUGH. Education and change and literacy and learning from that, you can still be successful in your life.

Krista Bo Polanco

00:12:18

All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. And if you wanna keep the good vibes going, be sure to subscribe to the CNN 5 Good Things newsletter. The link to sign up is in our show notes. And join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing, wherever you get your podcasts. Take care, till next time.

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