Someone needs to investigate the uncanny physical properties of the average canine. My mom's dog has been staying with us for a while, and even though he only weighs about 20 pounds, at night he somehow expands to fit approximately half the area of a king-sized bed. Not that I mind! It makes for great cuddles, but at some point, as he is luxuriating in a pile of high thread count sheets and the humans are shivering under a single tiny corner of the duvet, you start to wonder, "Whose house is this, exactly?"

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Our favorites this week

Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week

A dominant season
For most of its 68-year history, the football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside has been, well, not very good. "I mean, the team stunk, quite honestly," said one current player. Well, they stink no more! The Cubs recently rode a dominating, undefeated season straight to a historic championship game. CSDR plays in an an eight-player league designed for smaller schools, and is the only deaf team in the league. Every player on the team is deaf, as is their coach. But any team to think that is somehow a detriment has another thing coming. The team communicates by sign language on the field, and can expertly read the other team's body language. After all, as one player pointed out, that kind of communication is often part of a deaf person's native language. After a series of blowout victories, they met up with Faith Baptist, a perennial favorite, in the league championship game. The Cubs put up a good fight, pulling close after a rough first half. But injuries gave their opponents the edge in the end. While obviously they wanted the win, their incredible run sent an unmistakable message: The CSDR Cubs are here to play, and they're not to be underestimated.

And now, we feast
Before his family's first Thanksgiving meal this year, Wahidullah Asghary had to explain to his young daughter what a turkey was. "Turkey is like a big chicken," he said. Asghary, a former translator and interpreter for the US military, and his family are Afghan refugees who came to the US in 2020. This year, they were invited by a nearby woman in Los Angeles to spend a big ol' traditional American Thanksgiving. Their host, Kiki Nagy, worked with Miry's List, a Southern California-based group that helps refugee families, to extend the invitation. Nagy prepared all the traditional fixings, including, well, a "big chicken." But she also prepared a halal lamb to make sure the Asghary family would have something familiar to eat. Together, with other friends and family, some of whom had also come to the US searching for a better life, Nagy and the Asgharys broke bread and toasted to a kindness that knows no borders.

Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images

Monkey business
It's been two years since the town of Lopburi in Thailand has been able to celebrate its beloved Monkey Festival due to the pandemic. But this year, the monkeys were back, feasting on two tons of fruits and vegetables and delighting onlookers. The feast is an annual tradition for locals to thank the monkeys for doing their part in drawing in tourists to Lopburi, which is sometimes known as "Monkey Province." The theme for this year's festival was wheelchair monkeys, and Yongyuth Kitwatananusont, who has organized more than 30 monkey festivals in Lopburi, says he plans to donate 100 wheelchairs to needy people. Throngs of macaques, also known as long-tailed monkeys, gathered outside a local temple to indulge in pricey durian fruit and other delicacies -- and to occasionally climb on some unsuspecting tourists.

A bright idea

Twelve-year-old Lalia Susini has always loved fashion. But her creative career dreams were almost ruined last year when she sustained a brain injury after a freak accident on a porch swing. After a five-hour surgery and the expert care of doctors at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, Lalia miraculously survived the ordeal. However, she still has limited movement on one side of her body. Her experience inspired her to help others like her, so she created a line of fashionable and comfortable clothes for kids who live with medical devices. For instance, one of her designs has detachable sleeves to accommodate a PICC line -- a central catheter that is a common companion for people fighting medical battles. And while Lalia still has fashion aspirations, she also has a new dream: to become a pediatric neurosurgeon like those who helped save her life.

You gotta see this

Marco Gaiotti/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This photo of an Arctic fox is so beautiful, it barely looks real. No wonder it's one of the finalists for this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice competition. The photographer, Marco Gaiotti, captured this image on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard -- one of the northernmost inhabited places on Earth. Gaiotti said every time the little creature called to nearby foxes, its breath would freeze, creating diaphanous tendrils in the air. Other photos in the group of 25 finalists include a nest of cuddling monkeys, a pair of nearly mythical golden pheasants, and a tired little anteater.

Heroes among us

CNN has chosen the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2021! For the next few weeks, we'll be highlighting each of these incredible people who are using their unique skills and experiences to make the world a better place. Voting is now open to determine the CNN Hero of the Year, so be sure to read about each one here and cast your vote before the big reveal on December 12! (You get 10 votes per day and can vote multiple days.)

Dr. Patricia Gordon, whose organization CureCervicalCancer has screened more than 150,000 women and treated about 8,600 in the developing world for the disease. On a medical trip to West Africa nine years ago, Gordon was shocked at how many women were suffering and dying from cervical cancer -- treatable when caught early -- because of a lack of gynecological screening and preventative care. She and her team were able to develop quick, resource-light methods to help women all over the globe. Read Dr. Gordon's story here.

Made Janur Yasa, who turned pandemic challenges in his native Bali into a pollution- and hunger-fighting opportunity. When tourism plummeted due to Covid-19, the vegan restaurant owner started a program where locals could gather plastic waste from beaches, streets and waterways and exchanged it for rice. Bali has a big plastic pollution problem, so the now-monthly exchanges between villagers is doubly beneficial. Yasa also says the gatherings also encompass an important Balinese value: community. Read Yasa's story here.

Wanna get away?

There's something so luxurious about a scenic train ride, isn't there? CNN Travel has compiled some of the best train experiences in Asia that will take you through the rugged mountains of central Taiwan or across India in royal style. Here's a classic: Belmond's Eastern and Oriental Express, which features the original rail cars from the famed Orient Express that connected Paris and Istanbul from 1883 to 2009. The rail line runs a four-day journey between Bangkok and Singapore with stops at the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi and Kuala Lumpur. The interior of the train is almost as magical as the exterior, with cherrywood paneling, Malaysian silk embroidery, fine dining and a unique teakwood observation deck.