Psst! Scottie Andrew here, filling in for our dear AJ during her well-deserved time off. Shall we?

Spring has sprung, which means it's baby bird season! In my neighborhood, I've spotted dozens of ducklings, goslings and scruffy little fledglings (though regrettably not baby flamingos, as the image above suggests) learning how to be independent birds. Those little scrappers have a lot of milestones to hit, and fast: Leaving the nest, foraging for food, learning to fly and finding a home of their own. I imagine it's stressful for their monitoring mothers to let the babies they hatched make it on their own (I mean, it's stressful for ME, and I'm not the one who coughs up their food every day). But think of how proud they must feel, too, when those brave, feathered souls finally take flight and start their adult lives. I certainly feel it when I see them soar.

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Our favorites this week

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

Rebellions are built on hope
This replica X-wing fighter, painstakingly built over six years by CDC physician Akaki Lekiachvili, can’t blow up the Death Star, but it can help raise money for Ukrainian relief efforts. Lekiachvili, who grew up in the country of Georgia under Soviet rule, said that the “Star Wars” films were an indispensable part of his youth. He started building the replica in his garage in 2016 … until his X-wing outgrew the space, so he built a HANGAR FOR THE STARFIGHTER IN HIS BACKYARD. Clearly, there’s a new standard of “Star Wars” fandom to meet now. But Lekiachvili didn’t complete the project until earlier this year, when Russian forces began to invade Ukraine. He and his wife have family in Ukraine, he said, and since the start of the war, he’s toured the X-wing around Atlanta, accepting donations that will go toward food, medical aid and clothing, among other essentials, for residents of Ukraine. Now THIS is the way!

Mangia with mammas
Boxed mac and cheese and frozen pizzas just don’t compete with meals made with love by your mother — especially if your mother is a whiz in the kitchen, like Peppe Corsaro's is. Homesick for his Italian mother’s cooking, Corsaro founded the London restaurant “La Mia Mamma,” staffed by a rotating cadre of real Italian mammas (and grandmammas!). The mammas are recruited from all across Italy and flown to the UK for a three-month residency during which they cook their own homegrown recipes that showcase the tastes and traditions of their region. Right now, “La Mia Mamma" patrons can choose from classics like cacio e pepe with handmade pasta or coda alla vaccinara, an oxtail stew that’s hard to find a spoonful of outside the Lazio region. Corsaro’s own mother, the inaugural mamma-chef of his eatery, permanently relocated to London to help incoming mammas acclimate to cloudy London. Working alongside his dear mother and a roving crew of women who love to feed hungry guests like their own children has made “La Mia Mamma” more of a “home” than a job, he said. “I hope I'm transmitting that to the mammas."

Give a treat to...

... Max, a black Labrador Retriever whose powerful barks saved his owner's life. Texas resident Sherry Noppe, who had recently been diagnosed with dementia, went missing earlier this month while walking her loyal dog. Luckily, it took just three days to find her – thanks to none other than Max, who barked until a group of volunteers heard him. The pair had made it into a marshy area, three miles from where they’d last been spotted. Max, it seemed, hadn’t left Sherry’s side once throughout their ordeal. Both are now safe and healthy, officials said, and Max is (unofficially) Benji's successor. (And for more cute Max pics, TODAY.com has you covered.)

A bright idea

Oil – you don’t want it in your water supply or your environment. But what about in your hair? One San Francisco nonprofit turns donated human hair into mats used to soak up oil spills on land and at sea – a nifty use for all those salon hair clippings. Compared to standard oil spill pick-up methods, human hair is an environmentally friendly, low-cost alternative that can soak up to five times its weight in oil. It’s simple enough to make, too: The donated locks are cleared of contaminants, separated and spread out to make a two-foot square mat that can collect up to 1.5 gallons of oil. While Matter of Trust has its own process to make the mats, it’s not prohibitively difficult – “Anyone can make a hair mat,” says Matter of Trust’s Lisa Gautier. All you need is hair to spare.

You gotta see this

Maybe it's the "Florida woman" in me that is captivated by tales of finding alligators in unexpected places, so here's another. This cutie — just six feet long; basically a kid by alligator standards — stopped by a South Carolina elementary school (to learn, I assume) and was apprehended by police who interrupted his journey of scholarship. I'll admit, when I read this headline I pictured a gator sitting upright, maybe wearing glasses, eagerly taking notes while his teacher began a lesson on multiplication tables. Alas, this studious gator never made it to the classroom — animal control officials dropped him off at a nearby pond. These kinds of alligator encounters are more common in spring and summer, when the amorous reptiles are seeking mates. Here's hoping that this gator at least found a partner by the time school let out.

Heroes among us

Nora El-Khouri Spencer is helping women build a better future. A general contractor and social worker based in North Carolina, Spencer runs Hope Renovations, a free, 10-week program that teaches women everything they need to know to find well-paying construction gigs. Women make up less than 4% of all construction workers, even though wages earned at construction jobs are often double that of restaurant and hospitality work, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Spencer taught herself the trade while renovating a home before eventually earning a license and found that women she worked with at homeless shelters wanted to learn, too. "We have folks from all walks of life that come to us... single moms, women in recovery, women who are just re-careering," Spencer said. "If we really want to get women into this industry, we need to take out all the barriers that we can." Program graduates even build for their community, often at no cost. It's the gig that keeps on giving.

Wanna get away?

Now, the only Outback I've ever visited is the steakhouse, but you can bet your wombat that, if I ever make it to Australia, I'll refer to this epic guide to the gargantuan, gorgeous country/continent. If you're into Instagrammable views, CNN Travel recommends you head to the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland for cerulean waters and private beaches. Wilderness buffs can hike the Larapinta Trail in the Northern territory and sample bush food prepared by Indigenous chefs. And if you, like this writer, dream of swimming alongside awe-inspiring whale sharks, take a dip in the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia (where, on shore, there are emus, echidnas and kangaroos — AKA HEAVEN). Crikey!

Who knew?

Perhaps you've heard that dolphins lead marine mammals in terms of intelligence. Add one more accomplishment to their impressive resume: The graceful, brainy dolphin uses coral as a sort of anti-itch cream to protect their delicate skin. Researchers who've studied the behavior for years found that dolphins regularly rub up against coral, which contains bioactive compounds with antibacterial or antioxidant properties, likely to soothe irritated skin. "It's almost like they are showering, cleaning themselves before they go to sleep or get up for the day," said wildlife biologist Angela Ziltener, who spent 13 years watching pods of dolphins interact with coral. Yep, dolphins are definitely the reigning royals of sea smarts.

Rec of the week

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