While You Were Distracted by Trump, Big Things Happened in This World

Even though Trump's dramatic boardroom days on The Apprentice are over, we seem to be entering a new era of reality television hosted by the real-estate-tycoon-turned-commander-in-chief.We're only halfway through season one of four (pending audience approval and subsequent renewal), and the hype is surreal. Ever wonder what the news would be like if Trump wasn't in the Oval Office? Let's take a restorative break from the frenzy and backtrack on the headlines that didn't get the coverage they deserved last week.1. Chinese scientists teleported an object into Earth's orbit.Researchers in China have successfully teleported a photon from Earth into space, to a satellite orbiting 311 miles away. The team not only successfully teleported the first object from ground to orbit but also created the first quantum network between the two. Even though transporting large objects is still a distant goal, this feat is the first of its kind and paves the way for further studies in teleportation.2. An iceberg the size of Delaware broke off of Antarctica, and we might have to redraw its map.A chunk of ice became the largest iceberg ever recorded after it broke away from the Antarctic Peninsula. The crack that caused the breakage was more than 120 miles long and took several years to develop. A lead researcher for Project Midas, which researches the effects of a warming climate on the Larsen C ice shelf, said the remaining shelf will be the smallest it's ever been and that "maps will need to be redrawn."Climate scientists agree this may be a preview of what's in store for the rest of Antarctica as a world continues to warm at the hands of human activity.3. A Texas teen killed himself while participating in the online Blue Whale Challenge.Jorge Gonzalez found his son, 15-year-old Isaiah Gonzalez of San Antonio, hanging from his closet in an apparent suicide. Next to him was a cellphone propped up on a shoe, broadcasting the whole thing.The Gonzalez family believes the suicide was tied to the gruesome online Blue Whale Challenge. Players search for "curators" on social media platforms, who then assign players a list of 50 daily tasks. The dangerous tasks range from cutting oneself, climbing cranes and eventually committing suicide as the final "obstacle."If players wish to leave the game, the curators allegedly threaten to release players' personal information or harm their families.A 16-year-old girl reportedly killed herself in Atlanta on Monday and is believed to have also been participating in the challenge.4. The FCC chairman wants to repeal net neutrality, and the Internet could be in trouble.Net neutrality is the principle that Internet providers can't favor or block particular websites in order to give special treatment to their own content. The Obama administration rolled out these net neutrality rules in 2015. Now, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is leading a campaign to repeal them.Google, Amazon and Facebook are just a few of the companies that have a problem with this potential monopolization of the Internet. If Pai gets his way, our obsession with Trump's tweets may be met with some lag time.5. Another Texan left her toddler in a hot car.Police say a Mesquite woman left her child behind in a car on Tuesday night. Schytique Laqueta Jenkins, 26, was shopping at Wal-Mart while her toddler remained in her car at around 8:20 p.m. when the temperature was 92 degrees outside. Officers were able to unlock the car and get the child out, and they arrested Jenkins on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child with intent to return.Unfortunately this isn't the first time this summer a Texan was arrested for leaving a child in a hot car. In June, 19-year-old Amanda Hawkins was accused of intentionally leaving her 1- and 2-year-old daughters in the car overnight while she was at a friend's house, ultimately leading to the girls' deaths.6. A man pulled three passengers to safety from a burning plane.Earlier this month, Harley Bone watched a small plane crash in Hawaii, narrowly missing a busy freeway. Bone immediately rushed over to the plane, which was engulfed in flames, and saw three men still inside. As he saw the fire growing, he pulled them out, one by one. The passengers, all in their 20s, were taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.The three survived, but their plane was charred and destroyed in a fire that required about 35 firefighters to contain.While many of us have been distracted by Trump, scientific feats have been made, a continent has drastically changed and regular men have become heroes.In the end, it's we the public who suffer from a lack of media literacy at the hands of a Trump takeover.Danya Issawi is an editorial intern with The Dallas Morning News. Email: danya.issawi@dallasnews.com  Continue reading...